DeeSpencer

Nice to see Roosy jump at the chance for a bit of cheap publicity and no doubt deflecting from the fact that we recruited an absolute lemon. It's shocking to have Lumumba's claims verified, even if it wasn't widespread or mean spirited what an idiotic playing group at the Pies. What I can't work out is why Lumumba has such a grudge against Buckley who was turning over the list and had the good sense to notice Lumumba's form and focus on football were both slipping. It seems the awful nickname was far more prevalent at the time Malthouse was coaching than Buckley, yet Lumumba's grievances are with Bucks.

The thing Carlton did well to create one on ones inside 50 or at least let their big boys fly with a good chance was put on an excellent display of switch kicking and spread running. It's something few teams ever achieve down at Geelong. Docherty, Simpson, Weitering and SPS in particular kicked beautifully and they spread really well. They timed their leads so they had a target moving in to a space 30-40m behind a player who had led to 20m up to create pockets to kick in to and hit those pockets. I don't think you can tag Stewart. He's going to go where he wants to go, and if you play narrow and safe he'll be the extra defender at the contest. Salem, Harmes and Rivers hitting the switches and the wings/half forwards providing the options might be more important than the big forwards winning match ups. For that reason I'd stay smaller and quicker and keep rotations high running for those options.

I'd love to have Matty Taberner and get him wearing that special Trav Cloke glove so he stops dropping sitters. His movement and jump at the ball is as good as any.

Seriously underrated player in his prime and we took a swing at getting him then I believe, but I think the game has gone by him now. Plus what would we do with Melksham? Melk, Fritsch and Petracca/Oliver resting should give us a trio of dangerous medium sized half forward players and that's without factoring in Hunt and Hannan. Tall forwards and fit, classy kicking and tackling versatile flanker/mid types is what our forward line needs. In terms of raiding the Crows I think they've got a few handy backline players who might be available and help us keep some experience if we have to replace Hibberd and Jetta.

I’d argue Viney and Brayshaw have peaked and Langdon and Tomlinson are about at their best. Brayshaw needs to add a string to his bow to stay in the side. Tomlinson is a fringe role player. Langdon’s very valuable but it’s hard to see improvement. Obviously Viney bouncing back would be great but it’s hard to see him being better than he was a few years ago. Petracca and Oliver have untapped potential, and Tracc has taken big step forward this year. Oliver’s clearly coming from a higher base but he has to start rounding out his game to go to the next level, If not now then when? The biggest concern with the midfield is the imbalance with a lack of positional flexibility, speed, skill and defensive pressure. The coaches are desperate for Vanders and Bennell, and if I was the midfield coach I’d want Salem and Harmes as options too, but someone has to play half back!

I would've thought at a minimum you would make sure not to have 8 best 22 in the one group, even if you're going by position. For 2 reasons: 1. Minimise the risk of infection wiping out 8 best 22 players and all but guaranteeing a loss. 2. To keep training standards consistently high and reduce the risk of a gap between the big names and those on the outside So if it were a midfield group I'd have Gawn, Oliver, Brayshaw, Vanders, Sparrow, Langdon, Dunkley, Wagner in one and Bradtke, Petracca, Viney, Bennell, Jordon, Tomlinson, Baker, Jones in the other. That way our young guys aren't getting left behind and they are all still practising the same structures and game plan. I'd do that for one week and then the next week I'd focus more on drills that connect the lines in the team. We've had midfield dominance with awful forward entries. Tom McDonald should spend some of the time training with Langdon and Petracca, they'll be the ones kicking it to him as much as the rest of the forwards. Rotate through difference mixes of players and train up the things that correspond with the groups. If you've got 4 forwards and 4 backs then it's one on one contests, if it's backs and mids then it's transitioning from the backline. It wouldn't hurt to train some more versatility in to players as well.

People sooking that we should've got the 4 points or get to play a half strength bombers side are missing the big picture here. Every club will be put out at some stage this year. Some clubs have already had to go in to hubs. Essendon and North did same day travel etc etc. It easily could've been our boys getting the positive test. The club shouldn't be worrying about what they can't control and should turn up wherever and whenever and win games.

I don't see why we'd have to move. Casey Fields is surely locked down purely for our use, and the players drive there, train and surely drive straight home. It's far more secure and locked down than Goschs' where they'd have to fence off the oval and work out a plan on how to keep the players safe in the facility (is the gym and pool still shared with Storm and others)? Stay at Casey, make sure our players are getting their coffees and filling up the petrol tanks back where they live.

Are the umpires going to give Bennell special rules because he hasn't played since that rule came in? I was only highlighting Jetta because it looked like he had conceded the 50. I don't care what type of game it is giving away 3 goals from 50's isn't good footy, hence why I was glad it wasn't the real stuff.

Langdon failing to give the ball back. Bennell protected area. Possibly Jetta looking upset when Spargo kicked a goal. Looks like 3 goals came from 50M penalties. I guess we should be thankful it wasn't in a real game.

8 goals combined from Melk, Fritsch, Hannan and Hunt operating as mobile marking targets inside 50 in a team with only 1 key forward. Not the game to read much in to McDonald not hitting the scoreboard. He was involved in play, that's a start.

Somewhat ironic that 1 Essendon player and 2 of our players were caught breaking the rules and then we are now the clubs getting punished by the karma bus. Hopefully everyone is ok and the AFL find a reasonable solution. Possibly more alarming is that this might be a community transmission and might indicate there are now a lot of asymptomatic people walking around in Melbourne right now. If we were all tested twice a week I think the case numbers would skyrocket.

Look at the set up and tell me it’s not a 99% chance it was a centre bounce. Gawn’s a pro so I’ll give him a break but otherwise our lazy poorly disciplined midfielders need to learn how to defend space away from the contest. That’s not based on one training it’s based on years of unaccountability.

The McEvoy Mexican wall worked! Worth watching how it goes for a longer sample size and having at as an option for Max

We don't have forwards who can win one on ones so I'm pro moving the ball quickly and getting out in space. We have defenders who can win it back and our mids can thrive in fast paced contested games. A loose ball hacked in to the middle with Oliver and Petracca around and an open forward line is perfect. But that entire style is reliant on a lot of pressure and it's not enough to just throw numbers at the footy to create that pressure, you have to be disciplined as a team to cover off the outlets. Two experienced wingmen were a good start. Notice Langdon above plays it perfectly, covering his opponent whilst creating doubt in the player with the balls mind. After Saturday's game there was a lot of bemoaning Joel Smith flying for contests where he should've stayed down, but I see our midfield and forward pressure as pretty much the same thing on a team wide scale. We leave open guys running free all the time and when we do get turnovers we struggle to capitalise as everyone is congested.

I'm not suggesting every little thing I've highlighted is a huge issue. Petracca may have been working on an attacking clearance. Gawn's not exactly going to kill himself chasing a springy kid at training. But there's a few endemic problems we've had with our midfield being awful defensively (Brayshaw), our pressure game reliant on players rushing towards the ball rather than working together (Oliver) and our mids overusing it and making skill errors (the white team). We're not going to get any better if we can't sort out the basics.

I'm willing to give Clarko the benefit of more than one match. McEvoy has a better kick and movement than Max and is the second best intercepting mark for a ruck, I think it can work in a team that has more run and skill around him. Less Stratton and Frawley, more Impey etc. Gawn sometimes plays like our best backman when he sits behind the play and takes marks, would it really be that crazy to erect a 208cm wall at CHB! I'm thinking more do it for a half or so in a game this year if the game is all but over at half time, or trial it a bit next year. Not this week. Jackson has the tank to play a role early, yes he doesn't have the size and strength to win hit outs and he has a heap of work to do with marking contests, but the run in the legs means he has something to offer. Hit outs themselves are the most overrated part of ruck work, our midfield weren't any worse with Pedersen than there were Gawn.

Nice chase down from Tracc, highlights his improved second efforts. But I have so many questions: 1. Why is he so far forward of the contest to begin with? 2. Why does Gawn let Bradtke out sprint him forward? 3. Why does Brayshaw (sans helmet?) blindly crash in to Oliver, and then after that he seems to drift towards the backline but not even pick up Bradtke on the way through to help Max out? 4. Why does Oliver - forced in to a 2 on 1 after Gus wipes out - initially do a good job of corralling both players and creating doubt in Wagner's (I think) mind then rush up on Wagner right when Tracc is closing in to make a tackle? If Oliver hovers for another step or two Tracc gets the initial tackle or Wagner kicks under pressure. 5. Why does Wagner not hit Jordon (I think) in stride with a regulation handball and why is Jordon thinking about anything else but turning and hitting a leading target. He knew he was free when he called for the ball, but suddenly he's looking to handball out wide to a covered winger? That's a lot of criticism for a short little burst of play that ultimately ended well for the blue team, but if Wagner could handball and Jordon had confidence then 4/5ths of our starting mids have given up a decent kick inside 50. Shiel, McGrath and Merrett will have a field day on Sunday if that's the best we can do and Petracca isn't running down any of those guys with a big headstart.

Goldstein is the closest. Nic Nat if he gets a consistent run of it. Marshall the one who will bridge the gap to the top 2.

Max is great at boundary throw ins but he can’t risk a big jump at the ball at centre bounces due to injury risk and difficulty recovering and following up. Combined with slower inside mids it’s why we’ve always been defensive out of the centre square. Around the ground he’s the best intercept marker in the comp not named McGovern. I just hope we find a defensive system that allows him to keep up with play and be an attacking option as well. If Jackson comes on quickly there’s a case to be made for experimenting with Gawn at CHB like McEvoy

If the plan is to get Lever to intercept by finding the right match up for him then I understand the desire for someone like Oscar in the team. But if the plan is to get Lever to intercept by allowing him to patrol the half back line and dictate to the opposition then Smith's speed, endurance and versatility is a better fit. I think teams have smartened up significantly on intercept defenders. The Crows just chucked Lever on the last dangerous half forward who will often roll up to the stoppage or get stuck in no mans land and then Lever would sit a kick down the line and take easy marks. The days of getting those match ups are over, teams will make an interceptor accountable and drag them back to goal or move the ball around them. To create that intercepting player you have to have versatile defenders capable of swapping opponents and covering for each other. Of course to make that all work you then need a lot of pressure up the ground.

Have you seen us play in the wet under Goodwin - we've been rubbish. It will be a good test to see if we have a game plan that can move the ball and lock it in forward for once, otherwise it's big trouble.

He had 2 defenders next to him to just chip a short pass to. They weren’t moving for him which was disgraceful but he could’ve demanded it. A 4 on 2 wasn’t a good result, it was more luck than anything that the kick fell to the late arriving Dees players.

If we persist 3 flankers in Harmes, Salem and Rivers/Lockhart for more linebreaking run from the backline then it might be Hibberd and Jetta competing for the one lockdown small job. Hibberd has the extra height and speed defensively and more attacking drive (which isn't always good if his disposal is shot) but close checking isn't his strong suit. It feels like it's either one or the other right now.

I wouldn't be too upset if we lost 70% of the clearances if we could actually make sure the opposition doesn't win them cleanly and with free runners going forward and were forced to hack kicks under pressure or turn the ball over. That's pretty much Richmond's game plan. Unfortunately we are acting like it's still 2016 and trying to play the territory game with a group of slow big bodied midfielders. Funny you mention Jackson, if we develop him properly he'll be a weapon at ground level and help us play the kind of accountable footy around a clearance that we should be playing. I hope Gawn has plenty left but he'll always be struggling to keep up with the little guys at the centre bounces.