DeeSpencer

I don't believe this 10kg thing. He's the same size he was in 2018. Why would we slim down Steve May to as thin as he's ever been and bulk Tom up? If anything Tom might be better off adding a bit of muscle to help him turn and play with power, but there's no way it was or ever will be 10kg

I wouldn't want to attempt to turn Saad in to a winger, he's a natural defender. Got to look elsewhere to fix the wing situation. Possibly Salem and Rivers shift up to the wings but I don't think either are best used there.

I suspect we'll lose to GWS. If not the Dogs will do just enough. Bont kicked the winning goal against the Eagles that was touched on the line and came from a 7m kick. That's the kind of BS that's perfect to knock us off

I just want to know if they think he has the ability to build a tank because he clearly hasn't had a full preseason and doesn't seem a great endurance runner. Which probably means he's fatally flawed as an AFL player. If the guy can build a tank then no matter the limitations with poor contested work and game sense you keep trying to see if he gets it together. Speed and a penetrating kick is just too valuable. That's the ability to break open a game. 1 good run and kick a quarter that sets up a scoring chance is so important. But as I said, it has to be on the back of a good tank. If you don't have the tank you need incredible smarts and contested ability to play the wing role - or any role - and Oskar isn't that.

Steelers, Colts, SeaHawks

Shouldn't happen - Phillips can't kick, we can fix Harmes. Won't happen x 3 - Gus isn't worth a first, Preuss isn't worth Aliir, Vanders isn't worth Cumming. Could happen, but I see it as unlikely. Won't happen x 2. The Crows don't need ANB. Williams we can't afford.

No idea if the kid can play given he hasn't made it for even a proper practice game, skills haven't always looked great, but whenever I've seen him he's been an excellent trainer. And this still appears on the club website "As a show of faith, the Demons have promised to give him another chance in 2021, hoping to see the defender reach full fitness and impact at AFL level"

FB: Lockhart May Hibberd HB: Salem Lever Rivers Int: Hore/Tomlinson/Petty Depth: ??? not a lot, I'm the last Joel Smith fan I guess Lockhart still needs a good preseason, he's run out of puff, the shorter games have helped but the shorter breaks haven't. Hibbo's had a decent enough year but thrown in some bad mistakes recently, still does a lot of good when sticking a role and healthy. Lever has actually stepped up to the contest more this year and probably made a case to be a CHB and halve more contests, so I can see him playing as more of a stopper and getting a guy like Hore next to him. Otherwise Tomlinson should be trained up as a key back, he's not going to be a winger anymore, just too slow. A preseason of backline contested work could see him improve and get more involved as an interceptor and rebounder. C; Langdon Petracca ?Harmes R: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Brayshaw, Sparrow Depth: ??? Preuss as a ruck, JJ, Vanders The question is what do we do to make this unit better by diversifying talent. I still think Harmes can be trained in to a very proficient wingman with a few tweaks in his game and good coaching. Athletically he's perfect. Think a Mitch Robinson combative winger. Sparrow showed a knack for good support play. The big question here is do we trade out Gus or let Viney go via FA and attempt to change the mix of this group. HF: Hannan Jackson Melksham FF: Fritsch Weid Pickett Int: Spargo Depth: ? Petty ? Bennell ????? Tommy Mc, Bedford The Jackson/Weid combination is actually the best thing we've got going for us. Weid has put together enough of a block now to think he can really do it. Jackson just has to keep improving but there's a lot to like. Pickett keeps kicking points but he's has a very good first year, his pressure is legit. Fritsch, Melksham and Hannan frustrate but they all have the talent, it's a lot of mind over matter. Spargo's the best of the rest in an actual smart footballer with some skills, short of drafting a proper half forward flanker he's it.

Someone from Fenway Sports Group, the owners of the Boston Red Socks and Liverpool. We need to find an edge on the competition and stop being a poor, smaller, dumber version of every other club. Analytics is that edge. There's going to be assistant coaches out there who will just about work for free given the money crunch. So we can find coaches. We can hire one just to work with a new GM and teach them the game if they don't know anything about it. In fact it's probably better they don't because they won't have any preconceived biases.

Max isn’t the answer. Too much ego, too much stupidity. A lot talk, not a lot of listening.

I would've made a few changes for the Dogs game, but the reality is we were fresh for Pies game and shouldn't have overexerted ourselves then and were fresh again for the Dogs and Saints. We made changes against the Saints and then again against Sydney. The problem as you have correctly identified is we can freshen up some of the chasing half forwards but the team doesn't have the positional flexibility or talent to freshen up other key areas in Weid and the mids. Geelong have done this very well. Dangerfield goes to full forward. Hawkins sits his large backside inside 50. They bring in fresh on ballers and they win games early with powerful bursts then keep the heat out of games. Petracca should've got the full forward only treatment against the Swans and Weid should've been banned from leaving the 50 and/or dropped down to 70% game time. A fresh Tom McDonald with a hope and a prayer to play CHF. Then bring in 2 fresh mids to play big on ball minutes - say Harmes and C Wagner (unfortunately not Sparrow and Jordon). Brayshaw has a game off. Oliver and Viney play limited minutes. The mistake we seemed to have made is we've confused physical fitness to run out games with the energy and motivation needed to sustain high levels of effort. I believe Burgo when he says 16 minute quarters make the running required for AFL games similar to soccer but I think he's miscalculating just how much tackling, being tackle and tough contested footy zaps the energy levels.

The camera work at Cairns was particularly bad, we really didn't see much of what was happening off the ball at all, but overall I'd say we play what basketball or american football calls a man-zone which is where players still pick out an opponent - choosing based on size and position - and then zone from them. You can't just sit back in a designated zone because that's too easy to force mismatches, nor can you go man to man all over the ground. So it's a mixture. Apart from when he was in the midfield I saw Smith mostly and then Rivers on Papley. Smith took Hibberd's spot in the back pocket so likely had Papley when he was deep, other times he had Hayward.

Serong's 178cm and has kicked 2 goals for the year. His kicking runs hot and cold but he's a quality midfielder with class in traffic. I'd love him for our midfield and maybe you just take the best midfield type players and work the rest out later, but at the same time judging Pickett by disposals is madness. Kossie's pressure has been awesome and he just needs a bit of coaching and development for his front and centre game - and a structure that sees a mix of talls and smalls working together rather than our current plan of bunching all the talls together. We also got a very good talent in Jackson at the top of the draft and we traded 2 picks with North to get the initial pick 8 and then split it in to 2 picks again. Possibly the biggest thing our list needs is a more even spread of skilled talent. So I'd be happy taking Pickett and Rivers types every year rather than worrying about missing out on the midfielder.

The sad thing is apart from the silly kick across goal I actually thought he was decent against the Saints. And had been pretty decent for most of the year especially when playing a mix of wing/forward. And he put the team first by pulling out of the game against the Dogs. The club has really failed him by not playing this week on a short break and getting him right for the Freo game. Now he's likely injured and probably done. Or might hobble out for a farewell game infront of no one in round 18. Nathan you have failed us but we have also failed you. That's what this club does.

He rarely jumps at centre bounces at the best of times but even less so since the injury which is understandable. But he's just not a good centre square ruckman because he seems too keen to win the hit out even if it's to no one and then struggles to follow up. We desperately need pace, skill and team work at the centre bounces but I don't see us making those changes now, this side has taken us too far and the best guys on the list to mix things up are: 1. Harmes - struggling, doesn't really fix the issues aside from some more speed 2. Salem - needed at half back 3. Rivers - just a kid trying to find his feet at half back. 4. Sparrow - injured 5. JJ - more injured And Luke Jackson - injured.

FB: Hibberd May Tomlinson HB: Salem Lever J. Wagner C; Harmes Oliver Langdon HF: Pickett Melksham ANB FF: Fritsch Preuss Hannan Foll: Gawn Viney C. Wagner Int: Petracca Brayshaw Vanders Lockhart Out: Smith, Jones, Oscar, Brown, Weideman (rested), Rivers (rested), Spargo (rested), In: Hibberd, Vanders, Lockhart, Preuss, Hannan, Pickett, C. Wagner Clearly the midfield needs fresh legs. Harmes on ball or wing. Vanders in. C Wagner worth a try. Backline goes back to the unit that mostly has been doing the job. Forward line needs a shake up. Weid just looked spent today. Time for Preuss to have a go and can spell Max efficiently. If we don't have a good half forward lets stop playing with one and use the mid sized guys.

Wagner did his job last week and did his job this week. He's frustrating because he always makes a few head scratching mistakes but overall he's solid enough. Smith kept Papley very quiet. Did a few bad things and has to get more involved in the game but when Smith was on him Papley had 1 behind which was a top from 55. If you said Papley was held to 2 behinds you'd be pretty happy.

Flat after the Alice game and started awfully. No smarts working with the breeze against. Senior players as guilty as anyone. Way too slow down back and in the midfield again. Oscar out and Tomlinson made us immediately better. Forward line stank, had to have some talent there. Pretty much all the usual problems

Height isn't really all that relevant. Melksham plays above his height as a strong mark when given space. Finlayson doesn't play to his height. Melksham 3.3 marks, Finlayson 2.5 Melksham 1.1 M Inside 50, Finlayson 1.3 You're right that Melk is probably 35-70 on the heat maps, I checked on the AFL App. Finlayson a fair bit around that, plus more around the ground from rucking, and a little more deeper. Jeremy Cameron playing so much as a lead up CHF means Finlayson was often deeper but his best position is surely using his running and skills up the ground, he's not a contested marker. 0.7 contested marks per game. Weid, Fritsch and Jackson are more dangerous deep, if we added another tall to that mix it would be a guy who gets up to the wings. He likes to play for free kicks and he likes doing silly things like patting blokes on the head or giving them a push and shove. I don't think players like that do anything more than eventually grate on their team mates. We had Tommy Bugg who was an all time pest like that and it meant little when he couldn't get a kick. If you're Toby Greene it's great, but he backs it up with play that lifts a side.

Isn't a true KPF. Would be replacing Melksham as the lead up half forward with a good kick, but I think the way we play with speed and direct movement probably doesn't make that such an important role. We already have Fritsch as a medium forward and when Hannan is in form he's good in that role too. Plus Petracca should always be spending time close to goal. As much as it would be nice to replace Melksham with a taller, faster, younger version I think it's probably not a high priority.

Backs - I'd like a burner off half back but if we have Rivers and Salem and good structure we can be fine. Forwards - Hannan is almost as quick as Hunt and knows how to use it with forward craft, although his skills have gone out the window which opens the door for the likes of Hunt. Kossie obviously. Spargo - doesn't have Hunt's pace but he has a very quick change of direction due to being smaller and football smarts, quick mind and quick feet beats pure pace. Long term Spargo is better suited coming up the ground more and getting more of the ball, in the role Jones is currently playing, but for now I think he's ahead of the other pacey options. Outside mids - Langdon, Vanders, Tomlinson. Clearly would like to replace one of those last two with someone quicker. Vanders still has the pace in a straight line and at least some understanding of the wing role. Can Harmes or Hunt do the same? Fritsch has done it before, do we go back to him playing at least a share of wing minutes? I'm more worried that we don't have a smart/skilled winger who knows the position more than pure speed. Inside mids - I actually think this is our biggest weakness and it shows up at centre bounces and when the structure breaks down. Harmes was the answer in years previous. Sparrow has provided some cover with decent results at times this year. But we need to cut it to the time our 4 main guys play on ball and find a 5th option with speed.

Linc McCarthy had hardly played at Geelong and hasn't missed a beat since going to Brisbane. If I were Cockatoo I'd be on the first flight north. He has tremendous talent but I do wonder if he's the quick pressure mid/forward we need. We need a guy like Parfitt or Butters or both. Someone to add pressure like Parfitt does who doesn't need 25 touches a game or someone like Butters who can run contest to contest at half forward. Cockatoo has speed and skill, but he's also a ball winner and after 3 years out it's hard to train that explosive pressure and contest to contest run in to a guy. The Cats midfield is playing far better this year with Parfitt and Guthrie alongside Danger and Selwood rather than Tim Kelly.

Kent's been a regular fixture in a team higher on the ladder than the one ANB can't get a game for. Neither are great though. Frost, Lever and May played in 4 games together, which was really 3 as Frost was KOéd right at the start of QBday. All came at the end of a dead season with May and Lever far from peak form/fitness. That's not a proper trial. Frost started to become a reliable mark and reliable short kick when not playing Frost ball last year. In a more settled side he could've been trained up to play within the structure. Reading the play was never a strong suit but we've seen the backline function with a first year kid in Rivers, a new player in Lockhart, Tomlinson in a new role, Oscar in and out, and Harmes - who never looked comfortable. If all those guys can slot in and the backline can largely function well when there's up the ground defending I can't see why Frost couldn't. I saw the Frost trade as making sure we didn't have so many resources tied up in one position. We recoup a 2nd round pick and save some cash. The cash we saved was then spent on Tomlinson who now looks best suited playing as a tall defender.

Would love Frosty back, but we needed to generate the 2nd round pick to do the Pickett deal. So it is what it is. Kent’s going better than Hannan and Nibbler right now but the real answer is to find another Butler or a mid/forward with pace/pressure and class. The case for Watts is as a back flanker with tremendous kicking skills, but he’s struggled to ever become that player. I’d overlook some other flaws if he nailed 10 corridor kicks a game!

Watch the replay. It's inexplicable to be a tall defender in the perfect position and not get a decent spoil on that kick before half time, in fact Oscar barely made the contest. His legs were stuck in quicksand as usual. Then he trails in his opponent to let the ball go over the back that leads to the Ryder goal. Lever played his part in those same stuff ups but Oscar had prime position both times. The confident quick feet of his first couple of games back in the side this year look gone and he's back in slow motion.