DeeSpencer

1. Players: a) Forward: Tom Mc was one of the best CHF's in the comp, that made it easy for Hogan to flat track 50 goals at FF, or even better when Weid came in and delivered at the end of the year. Petracca, ANB, Spargo, Hannan, Melksham had a very nice balance in the forward line around 2 big talls. Melksham isn't the same player, Petracca is needed in the midfield and hasn't found the forward/mid balance yet, ANB hasn't found that form. Spargo is just getting back to it. The additions since then in Pickett, Fritsch and Jackson are really just finding their way. Weid has taken a while to get back to the same form and belief. b) Mids: Tyson, Jones, Vanders gave us a wing rotation that worked against most sides. Gus was in career best form. Harmes was great. Gawn, Viney, Oliver doing their thing. I'll talk about the midfield more later. The additions since then: Langdon and Petracca. Handy, but not enough to cover other weaknesses. c)Backs: Frost and Oscar weren't asked to do much. Jetta and Hibberd were in All Aus form. Lewis was in the best role to get the most out of him. Fritsch was handy as an intercepting flanker. Salem was Salem. The additions since then: At the moment it's Tomlinson for Frost, May for Oscar, Lever for Fritsch. May's a huge upgrade but the others not so much. Hibberd isn't the same. Jetta and Lewis are been replaced by Lockhart/Rivers/Smith etc. We just don't have a settled backline yet. 2. Game plan: The 2018 game plan was incredibly simple. Go hard to win the ball in the middle, often with coverage with 2 extra off the back flank for bounces. Push up really hard to lock the ball in forward. Pray other teams don't get out the back. Use the corridor to counter because with so much open space back we always had room to counter. It wasn't the worst plan. Port are still doing a version of it now. But I think our coaches rightfully looked at teams like Richmond defending with a spare dropping back to get easy intercepts and stop quick over the top goals as well as full ground pressure and said we need to set up more like that. And other teams like West Coast had had success (especially against us) sitting deeper, kicking the ball around and adding a lot more midfield run and speed to power that game plan and counter teams like Richmond. The Eagles got rid of Mitchell and Priddis pre 2018, meanwhile our midfield was still young and lazy defensively and our wings were slow. The change of defensive gameplan also meant a change in ball movement because you can't just aggressively flood numbers forward if you're trying to defend the full ground and keep a drop back defender. So the bomb it in approach of 2018 - which was never pretty - got very ugly in 2019/2020 when our forwards had to think more than just converging on the top of the goalsquare and seeing what happened from there. In summary we've had to take a step back with the game plan to hopefully take a few steps forward. And whilst the overall list is probably in a similar situation we've lost experience. Other players who excelled in the simplicity of the 2018 plan have struggled. We aren't too far off 2018's results and we're yet to see exactly the changes to the game plan in person, although our best footy this year has looked promising. At some stage next year we'll know if the game plan looks up to the level, we'll know if the recruiters have found some of the missing depth and we'll know if our players can start to show some onfield leadership.

Lewis aggressive? At Melbourne or South Warrnambool? He played well against the Cats from memory. Went to ground and water against the Hawks. Barely fronted up against the Eagles. We miss his on field organisation. Or more correctly we miss a coach who can get all senior players to bring on field organisation. Jones wasn't exactly great on a wing back then but he did his job and that's certainly the level of player that we need a few more of, especially hard runners with decent enough kicking skills.

A lot of that is we ask our deepest forward to lead back towards goal to open up space in front of them for the other forwards to duck in to or for the deep guy to cut back and lead in to. Too often we bomb the ball to the deep forward too late for them to get it over the top - because we don't run, handball and kick over the top - and too early for them to double back. Plus ignore the guys filling the space created. It's far from the worst plan, it just needs the deep guy to realise on occasion the get deep game plan is not the right option and he has to keep front position. That said, front position without the momentum of a lead or the ability to hold space to one side or another isn't a great way to win a contest either. Defenders are too good for that. Melksham and Petracca can kick the 60m darts that get the ball to the deep guy over the top. Others like Spargo and Koz can hit up the short leads filling space created - and can also be the short leads in that spot. If we cut out the players who love to get the ball 70m out, ignore the quick option but be too impatient for the right option we'll see a lot less of our forwards playing from behind.

No sling, but still pretty poor given the ball was out ages ago. Should've been holding the ball, clear prior. Blakey's a little bigger but it's another skinny kid mixing it with the big boys and not doing a good job of protecting himself either. Tacklers, players and umpires all have to do better to prevent nasty tackles.

A weekly award is nice. Gives recognition to a lot of players and is something for fans - especially of rebuilding clubs to care about. There's 23 (or 18 this year) chances to nominate the overall best player, the odds of the winner not having a standout game are astronomically low. Unlike similar awards that run on the back of 'player of the month' like the A league version. Quaynor didn't get the nomination because he's going to win the thing.

Quaynor hardly has a string of notable games to fall back on. I think what they've done here is recognise Quaynor for 2 reasons: 1. Sholl and Rivers were impossible to split and both are likely to be eligible next year, whilst Quaynor is not. 2. The AFL stuffed up, didn't check studs on boots and Quaynor missed 3 weeks as well as suffered a fair bit of pain because of it. I don't mind Trent being made to wait until next year given this funny season we are having. He can build his tank and come out next year and light it up.

I don't think Frost wanted too much money, but paying him what he was worth would've put a lot of salary cap in to 3 key defenders and most importantly cost us the 2nd round pick we needed to do the future pick trade for Pickett. So it's either keep Frost and maybe not have the salary cap for Tomlinson - intended to fix the wing role, and then keep our first round pick instead of Pickett. Tomlinson is now playing as the 3rd key back and I'd rather Frost, but I'd also rather Pickett than this years first round pick. Whether it was Oscar, Petty, Tomlinson Smith or Hore good teams should be able to find a 3rd tall defender who does a capable job. For that reason moving on from Frost was probably still the right call. In this day and age I think you have to be prepared to move guys out who you aren't going to get maximum value for even if you don't have the perfect replacement.

Important to remember the likes of Cripps, Bont and De Goey also rose up draft boards a long way between the media group think and when the recruiters had their say. Bont and De Goey were a bit like Oliver, a fair way back at the start of the draft process but very highly regarded by the time the event occurred and Bont was seen as a risk. Cripps finished last in the 3km time trial and one of their recruiters quit when they picked him. So there's plenty of room for JT to have nailed the early picks without having followed the narrow consensus. I actually want to see him have more success with late round and rookie picks. His early claim to fame was taking Harmes and Vanders and we haven't really followed up with rookies like that since.

Fill out is the wrong word, but most add some bulk and the more rangy guys usually end up very strong in the core. I'm not at all against drafting skinny players like some on here occasionally suggest not to do, but skinny guys without desire for the contest is another thing altogether. Morts didn't seem to have the desire for the contest nor the professionalism to strengthen his body.

I think we were all over Sturt and remember we tried to trade our future first for Butters. I really liked Hamill but one tackle from ANB had him in a bad way. I'm all for drafting skinny kids because they do fill out, it's nonsense to think otherwise, but they have to have the ability to withstand contact. I think teams had Sparrow higher than that 45+ range, the Suns had him next on their board at 23. The JJ pick was more of a reach and he hasn't had his chance to show us what he can do unfortunately. Not convinced by Bailey Williams. Has a nice leap but looks a depth type so far. Vandermeer and McInerny the outside mids we could've taken if we had our time again.

People need to stop thinking the Brownlow finish meant anything. Brayshaw stole all of Gawn and Oliver's votes because he's nice to the umpires where as the other two talk back to them. We had an unsustainable game plan built around mids racking up stupid numbers of possessions and not doing any defensive work. We flooded numbers forwards and prayed the ball didn't get out the back. It's disappointing how much Gus has dropped off but the Brownlow finish wasn't close to a fair representation of his actual output. In the 2018 draft class Taylor focused on hard working good character guys because the list needed an injection of professionalism from the ground up. When you've been a basketcase for over a decade it's not just as simple as the coach for reasons players form drops off. The list isn't close to ready to consistently play in multiple finals. We've seen that with the reliance of 3 first year kids being best 22. We still have big holes on the wing, half back/half forward hard running flankers, a solid key back and probably and inside mid with pace and skill.

We couldn't have got the first rounder to select Pickett if we didn't first give up the 2nd rounder to North first before getting it back. It's Serong vs Pickett and Rivers vs Rivers and a first rounder this year. Unless you include all sorts of other factors like taking Jackson and not recruiting Langdon there's no way we could've got Serong and Rivers.

Spargo played back in round 23 last year. Wasn't terrible, but it's not his go. Playing a tiny defender is asking to give up a couple of goals just through a mismatch. It's a miracle Daniel avoids this at the Dogs and it's because he's off the charts smart and their other members of their back 6 all have size and overhead ability. Spargo is playing well at half forward. If we want to get him in to games more we should start pushing him up higher to attend stoppages and then even in to the middle for short rotations, but he's probably not at that stage yet. They might have to move one to the midfield but if we get Rivers and Salem going we might have a solution for a lot of the backline skills problem. All we need is competently skilled players to support them.

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Hard to know about his spot on the list until we get clarity with list sizes and potential recruits. Who are we trading in or out? In terms of best position: There's so much less space up the corridor than even 3 years ago it's really hard to find room for those huge runs. Plus it might only end up outrunning the forward set up. The thing I liked most about him as a defender was that he had versatility. He could take an intercept mark. He could spoil. He could tackle. It wasn't just the runs. But I think he started to lose some of that from his game. I've wanted to see him play a bit more wing but without a great tank it's not easy to succeed there. The forward line might be the best spot for him.

Baker did play well but I think at least one if not both of Harmes and Sparrow are needed to beef up the on ball rotations and speed. Tomlinson’s the least likely of the 3 defenders I named to go out, but he’s still no good. Smith and Jetta more likely to make way and they haven’t played all that much. Apart from May, Riv and Salem the backline were disastrous in many aspects, hard to say there’s any cohesion worth keeping.

Brown and even Fritsch had made their way to spare defenders by then. So we had a 4 man forward line. Weid for a tall, Melk and Hunt as guys who can halve contests against multiple opponents and that leaves room for just the one small.

He’s been an awful waste of salary cap. Can only play 1 position - 3rd tall defender. He contributed 7 disposals and 95m gained which is stuff all for an apparently skilled player. And his lack of mobility at ground level continues to be costly. He won’t be dropped because he’s probably the best of a bunch of bad options and likely does a lot of work off camera but Burgo has to work a miracle to get agility in to him over summer.

If the Bulldogs get hammered by Freo - who are actually a very competent side right now - then do we just have a 7 team finals series? We’ll be very lucky to make it, but someone has to. Along with Essendon we haven’t had a bye and have played 14 or so games in about 12 weeks. Including FIFO trips to Cairns on 4 day breaks after playing in Alice. Finals experience is finals experience. If it’s on offer we damn well take it an run

Your concern we have no structure when we keep playing the same well drilled structure? I think we should take the short to the pocket to kill more time and get further down the wing, but unless we get more defenders with good skills and some hard running, big, gun kicking mids we're likely to play it safe and play to our strengths.

Had a very good second half and we aren't dropping one of our best pressure players for a poor one.

The defensive structure was mostly ok, one terrible breakdown that led to a walk in goal but otherwise the positioning was good, but in terms of nailing intercept chances, winning the ground balls and using the ball it was horrendous. We gifted so many goals with dropped marks, awful defending once the ball hit the ground and turnovers. None of Tomlinson, Jetta or Smith looked up to it and Lever was his typical hot and cold self. I'd be happy to swap all 3 of those for Hibberd and 2 of Wagner (who didn't do a lot wrong), Lockhart and Hore. Doubt we'll see 3 changes but something has to shift there. In terms of the mids and forwards I don't know how much to change. LJ for Brown has to be a chance but maybe we don't rush the big fella back for a one off game and let Brown face his old side. I think Hunt and Vanders might be the most shaky. Baker is hardly a lock either. I'm assuming Melksham is off limits for whatever reason but most likely goes back to the forward line. Sparrow and Harmes the options.

He wins the ball with a plan to use it, that's almost half the battle. Doesn't get any favours with the umpires either, constantly held and often hit high when he's attacking the ball not ducking. Got to get his crumbing timing right and his conversion. Big issues but not fatal flaws. The pressure and the way he can track the ball in tight are legit, everything else can be worked on.

A retool but not a rebuild. Any team with Gawn, Oliver and Petracca always has a decent inside midfield. Harmes would go straight in on ball in the tagging role. Sparrow looked promising and JJ was clearly close to a debut. Salem and Rivers are viable options too that we really have to be considering to get more class on the ball. The issue is we’d be very thin for flankers and wing options so if it’s midfielders out it needs to be ready made flankers in.

Would gladly trade you for a six pack of thin sausages.