DeeSpencer

Except endurance. A knock on Rivers before the draft was his tank, it’s probably why he fell a bit in the draft and didn’t play as many games as he could’ve this year. I’d put Rivers in the same boat as Salem, far more valuable at half back or on ball than the wing. Especially if we’re planning to go direct to goal with big talls. Hard runners is the need for the wing, the class players do more damage at half back or on ball.

I am Smith fan but that bombers game was very concerning. He was beat by Stewart multiple times, Laverde and Draper. I don’t think size was as much the issue as an ability to read the play and stand a man. The same problem has hurt all our defenders apart from May, but Smith is particularly worrying given his lack of footy. Earlier in the year Smith shut down McKay and Rohan who are dumb straight line footballers, then got exposed by Riewoldt who he could easily handle for speed and size but who confused him with short leads and fakes. Some of our deep zoning was truly diabolical which makes me worry about Chaplin. I don’t think he’s the right man to develop Smith. If Smith was at a side like Richmond or Sydney that develops defenders properly I think he’d make it. We insist on a lot of zoning even inside d50 and the likes of Lever and Tomlinson just won’t be trusted deep, which means Smith has to be deep if he’s in the side and any mistake is super costly. Smalls who he can play man on man on is likely an easier role than talls who can confuse him. Frost had all the same troubles but started to get the hang of it this year at Hawthorn. So it is possible but it takes a lot of good coaching and time. Smith might not have either of those.

Roos handed over to Goodwin for the last game of 2015, who completely re did the game plan and built a side that made finals but wasn’t a real contender. Now we’re rebuilding again on the fly because we didn’t get enough talent in the first time and the fundamentals were never truly established. Im not saying Roos was all bad. He turned around a sinking ship which was a phenomenal effort. But he didn’t put anything in place to last long term. Almost all the people he bought in are gone. When the AFL stepped in to take over Brisbane they did it with David Noble heading up the footy department and an experienced coach in Chris Fagan. Watts and Hogan were ticking time bombs. Credit to Goodwin for making the tough calls on both of them. ‘The no [censored]’ bloods policy clearly didn’t make it down from Sydney

Goes well with all natural insecticide.

Phil Merriman was promoted to Freo's main man. So we needed a second guy, whether that's as part of a Burgo succession plan or not time will tell.

Pretty much. He won't be the first or the last. Only have to watch the cricket last night for the Indian's to create a concussion when convenient.

The Muir story was mostly great, especially the way it outlined how footy has failed him and all the background of the abuse. The way it outlined the cycle of destructive behaviour was a must read. It was just missing one part. Lots or room for ego, but where are Lumumba’s friends? The people most interested in his story are those who are invested in to buying what he’s selling. If you’re going to lecture an entire country then don’t move across the world to a country with a worse racial history.

Having followed him and a loyal band of fawning followers on twitter for a long time I can say he's a classic champagne socialist. He's a very good writer who was nearly lost to journalism but with both this story and the Muir piece I think he's been overly flattering of the subject. Robbie Muir belted the living daylights out of a lot of people, it's ok to include some reflection of that in a huge piece about him. Lumumba has more than a healthy ego and did revel in the publicity and his justification to not taking part in the inquiry about him seems way too weak to me. You have to really buy in to every part of his story if you're going to let that slide.

I’ll remember him as a failed recruit who we didn’t mentally screen properly who promptly invented concussions to get a retirement pay out. He was the AFLs first multicultural ambassador and lauded by the Prime Minister. No doubt he was the victim of things at Collingwood and the media turned on him but geez he was keen to play the martyr. The mainstream footy media do like doing the league and big clubs bidding for them but not nearly as much as left wing journos love a sob story. He’s a footballer who took too many magic mushrooms, he isn’t actually Patrice Lumumba.

I put it in these terms: Will any club give us a future 2nd round pick for what will become pick 34 ish in this draft? - Right now, surely the Suns have phoned all 17 clubs and found that answer has to be no. Some clubs don't have one, some clubs can't trade it etc. Which future 3rd round pick is the best option? If the Suns have predicted from the future 3rds on the table for that to be Melbourne then it's defensible. I'm just interested to know come draft night that not a single club would've up their offer to a future 2nd. Or that no other club might've offered a future 3rd with some other later swap like a future 4th or a late pick that can be spun back in to a future 4th. Theoretically they could've moved the pick back a few spots for a future 4th and then done the same deal they did with the Cats. It seems from the outside they didn't really think how to get maximum value from that pick.

Melbourne doing something stupid would hardly be a surprise! The Brisbane deal was a fair deal, but certainly a huge risk. Surely we knew when we did it that 18-19 combined to move up would’ve been tough and keeping those picks has to be an option. But whether we get 1 or 2 of our prime targets is an unknown. Gold Coast have set the bar very low, probably far too low, for a pick in the 20’s. We have to at least get a future second and hopefully for a team that misses finals if we’re trading out. Usually on draft night teams will overpay. If we’re trading out we hope that’s the case. Most clubs are just valuing next years draft far higher which makes a lot of sense.

Anyone else get that sinking feeling we were probably keen to get Macrae, Laurie or Stone with our early picks and all 3 will be gone? Now we’ll be scrambling to trade out one of the first 3 picks.

Made too many short term moves. Wasted two years with an awful one way defensive game plan that didn’t provide any value when Goodwin took over with a modern attacking game plan. This was the first year we’ve strived to both attack and defend at the same time. Also left Goodwin to deal with Watts and Hogan when they should’ve been his number 1 priorities. The club didn’t secure the right CEO and didn’t get an experienced head of footy. The list build switched far too quick in to trying to plug holes rather than trying to add talent. Glen Bartlett can talk all he likes about the list management strategy but I don’t believe there really is one.

Jones was meant to be the right man to captain until he wasn’t. Viney the same. Gawn even more so. I feel like it’s May at the moment. Either the captaincy is cursed or there’s not the right leaders and culture at the club to get people to elevate themselves. Cotchin completely changed his playing style and leadership. Hopefully Gawn can do the same.

He had big first quarters on ball then was done by half time in previous years. The shorter quarters helped, but the fitness was more about him doing it in the midfield for longer - and earning the coaches trust to do so.

Also, I freaking hate this. The last challenge David King had was to pass a breathalyzer. Salem isn't coasting at half back, he's working really hard. Could he be given more responsibilities by going on ball - yes. But it's hardly a challenge. The challenge is for our coaches and list management team to build a more complete side.

Wingmen mainly get the ball at half back. It's a furphy that wings deliver the ball inside 50. The wing isn't a precision ball use position either. Mostly it's about busting your backside getting in to space then moving the ball on safely often with long kicks. Half forward is the same. Gut running with the occasional hit up kick. Kozzie and Spargo are actually far better at that than most supporters give them credit. For Salem it's either half back or on ball. If we move him on ball then we're weaker at half back and even more congested on ball. I'm not against doing that. But we didn't make any moves in trade week to remove a midfielder and find a half back flanker. If we did Brayshaw or Viney out for Saad, Zac Williams etc in then Salem on ball would be a lock. We need to wait and see what we get from the draft, but the designated half back kicker is a vital position. We need more classy ball use on ball but I actually think if it's one of Rivers or Salem to move on ball I prefer Rivers.

Burgo and co must always get nervous when players go off for offseason training from their own trainers but results do look good. Very suspicious on the claim Jackson couldn't do a single chin up though.

He’s right about the value of most rucks and them taking time. But then he says Jackson will take time when he played from the second game of the year. Then he says: all the players taken around Luke Jackson have made an impact. Then names Ash, Stephens, McAsey who all played but had very little actual impact on games. Nankervis was immense in the finals for the Tigers so the whole basis of the conversation is silly. Dwayne admits as much. He says Jackson will take time and won’t be the number 1 ruck whilst Gawn is around which isn’t as inflammatory as the OP suggests. But I think it’s fair to say he doesn’t recognise the value Jackson can have whilst not being the number 1.

Goldstein won the hit outs, but I thought Jacko did more around the ground. The question is not: will he make it as a ruck? The question should be: what else can he do to maximise his value? Personally I think we shouldn’t try to make him in to Grundy but rather aim for something like Goodes. Mid/forward/ruck utility. I’d have him spending time on the wing as well as forward and ruck this year.

Would be smart for Hawks to try to push up but the issue is clubs have gone cold on going back down the order. Most are actually looking to swap picks into the future - the Crows and Melbourne are a couple who could look at that, as may Richmond. But that takes a buyer who wants to trade a future pick, and at the moment Collingwood is the only one. The Tombstone suggesting we could look at a trade out. 19 for the Pies future first would be a good deal if the players we want just aren’t there at 18/19. It looks like it will be difficult to combine our 4 picks to 3 and get a good deal so moving a pick out might be the way to go. The problem is it will be hard to get value. Collingwood are the 1 club looking for picks

If there’s a certain player we are keen on we can get them to pull their draft nomination and sign on as a rookie after the draft. The DFA window only matters for signing senior listed players on 2 year deals. Clubs will be in ongoing negotiations for picking delisted guys as rookies, it’s just a question of whether we want to commit to anyone before the draft.

They’ve deleted that photo from all socials so it’s either someone who they don’t want other teams to know about or who isn’t meant to be there

Who’s the second from the left?

No it wasn’t. All 3 lines need to get better. The backline is solid but still not up with the best teams. It can’t just be May and Salem. Lever has to improve. Hibbo has to turn back the clock as he did mid year before tiring and they need to find answers at the other spots. The midfield was ordinary against good opposition. Brisbane killed us. Port ran rings around us. Geelong spread. Richmond out worked and out smarted us. So did the Dogs. Yze has a huge job trying to create a cohesive unit that holds up under pressure. He has to retool some of our best players to change the way they play. We have more tall options up field that could help the consistency of scoring and ball movement. But it all means little if the defensive pressure isn’t good and our talls and mediums are defensive liabilities. Adding Ben Brown and then thinking of adding back T Mc means needing to find big gains with pressure. Again, another huge coaching job and likely a change in personnel