DeeSpencer

What game were you watching? Spargo's quick hands and smart position were one of the highlights of the night.

Who Hawthorn go with doesn’t really matter. The Eagles are likely to have Kennedy, Darling and a resting ruck (Vardy or Hickey). Unless we think Hibberd or Hore can go to a ruckman (and concede 10cm) or Darling we have to play 3 big talls in round 1.

The not kicking on his right probably makes a lot more sense now. Was dragging on too long to just be a the foot infection. They're really strict on kicking with quad injuries.

Interesting. Can see why Tommy is keen for some good pressure smalls in the side and Bedford's worked super hard and surely improved and Spargo's had 2 decent games to start. Judging by social media Max is very good mates with Corey Wagner. Josh was excellent against North but his lack of speed and errors under pressure have hindered his career so far, he'd be the most unlikely break out candidate since either Jetta or Pedersen if he became a valuable member of the side this year.

Jetta played 66% game time and whilst the ball movement was quick there didn't seem to be a lot of two way running, I doubt he was overly taxed. I'd play 8 defenders and give them all a good rotation but I think the more interesting selection drama is at the other end of the ground. In round 1 we can probably only play at most 3 of T Mc, Weid, Brown or Jackson and can probably only play 3 or 4 of Vanders, Jones (unless half back), ANB, Spargo, Pickett and possibly C Wags or Bedford. There's going to be a battle for spots on Friday.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/82786/facing-fear-dees-take-scary-challenge-in-the-pool Visser worked with the players on the camp last year. Hendy did a fair bit of work with Buckley as the Pies. I'd imagine there's some Pert influence there.

AFL media reporter assigned to cover the Demons (and several other clubs). Certainly the club should be doing it. The logos on the gear is one thing but I reckon a quick Zurich or Jaguar logo flashing up before or watermarked on the footage probably wouldn't hurt. But my main point was more around the lack of journos being able to cover sports in Australia now with AAP announcing they'll close up today. Mens AFL will always have decent coverage but smaller sports - including AFLW - are going to need to find more revenue for the journos to turn up and cover them. At a minimum McGowan should slip the AFL Media logo on his vision, but if clubs allow it might even have to get his tweets sponsored.

On point 1: Given more job losses in journalism today the reporter should splash a big AFL Media watermark on them and start the clip with a sponsors message. Or to be more cynical maybe the club should ban filming of training by AFL reporters without a sponsors message.

That Lockhart report has me worried about a torn pec. Hope it’s nothing. With Hannan I just want to see him running smoothly rather than so stiff and awkwardly. Is he starting to move better?

A healthy Jack Viney isn't slow. He'll have to do the occasional tagging role and even take a rotation through half forward at times but if he can play some consecutive games at full health no one will be saying he's slow.

Last year the difference between 7th and 14th was 3 wins (12 v 9). 2018 there was 1 win between 7th and 12th (13 v12). 2017 the gap from 7th to 12th was 2 wins (12 v 10). Positions are more than likely going to be very close in that middle range of the ladder, possibly all the way from 4th to about 14th. Keep that in mind if you get too caught up in predictions. Or do you own and try to work out where to put teams like Hawthorn, Essendon, Port Adelaide, North Melbourne and Fremantle.

Doesn’t fix our lack of skill from the backline but could be a huge boost to our two way run and has the ability to win contests against a range of forwards. You can’t play the aggressive zone defensive system we like if you don’t have versatile match up guys. If Jetta, May, Lever (can be up and down) and an improved Hibberd can help the skills then we maintain a good balance. As for the midfield: Petracca increases the skills and hopefully Viney, Oliver and Gus are all fitter and cover the run that Harmes bought. Viney and Oliver should hopefully add line breaking to their game. Gus, Viney or possibly Vanders get the tagging jobs. I think it’s a sensible move to try.

Apart from caring about his health there’s probably injury payments and salary cap consequences that make these things difficult. We added Lockhart and Dunkley last year and Richo was at the Saints when they put McCartin on the long term list. I question Josh Mahoney as much as most on here but give the guy some credit, they’ll be considering the best options.

KK was at the Arden St game, wearing sunnies but so were most of his team mates. He wandered over to Harmes, ANB and a few others and shook hands like he was just meeting them. Asked Harmes how half back was going. I got the sense he hasn’t been at the club in weeks if not months.

Honestly if I were a North supporter I'd be pretty dirty with the effort they served up with more senior players and on their home turf. That said, it all means so little. And rewatching the game we were very solid defensively but it was pretty easy to get the ball back as long as we stayed with a decent structure and pressure they'd cough it up. When it was our turn with the ball we had some nice Melksham moments, a couple of lovely Trent Rivers kicks, a bit of class from Brayshaw, some clean hands around the contest from Spargo, a couple of AFL forwards in Fritsch and Brown making space and that one nice team goal capped off by Bedford. But watching Coll v Richmond today it was clear that even though our young boys cracked in very hard and worked well they'd be about 15 goals off the Collingwood side that played today even without Grundy, Pendles, Sidebottom, Moore and Howe. Or about the same margin vs our team that played Marsh1 v Adelaide. The game is just completely different when the best players are out there.

I was trying to think who number 3 or potentially 4 would be. Possibly Jones but I couldn't imagine he'd be keen on deputy vice captain these days, it would make some sense if he said that's really not required. Jetta, Lever, McDonald, Harmes? The boldest call could be Steve May and then his injury post camp making them rethink it.

They are heavily reliant on Goldstein, Cunnington, Higgins and Brown but most teams rely on their best players. They've drafted very well the last few years and Tarran Thomas (future star), Simpkin and Larkey are very good young players too. They just have a decent sized gap in their list in the mid 20's guys. I've heard a big reason Brad Scott walked away so early was that he wanted to go embark on a proper rebuild around their talented young guys but the powers that be said no. They will be death riding us all year for sure, but the good part of that trade is at least we have our destiny in our own hands. If we are rubbish then handing over a high pick will be just one of many problems!

There was a definite breeze towards the north west pocket which made set shots at the City end (no idea of Arden St's ends names btw) difficult especially from outside 30. At ground level you couldn't feel it too much but the modern balls are so light that any kind of breeze impacts kicks. The overall score line wasn't flash but I thought a fair bit of it was Bedford with some work to do on set shots and Brown just having a very off day in front of goal.

Getting trialled on the wing. I don't think he's had the endurance for that role before but if he's built his tank it could be where he fits in. Watching that highlights video from 2016 reminds me of a theory about Hunt I've had for a while in that he needs to get back to his junior tennis days and get his lateral movement back. Not only did he have brilliant burst speed he also had the ability to quickly turn and hit top gear. He seems to have lost that evasive ability the last couple of years.

75% game time in the middle for each of 4 is plenty of room for Gus. The threats to him not playing midfield are: 1. Vanders a better option on ball 2. Melksham playing regular minutes on ball 3. Sparrow as a tagger

Rivers might've been sent for a 20 minute concussion test and came back on late? I didn't remember seeing him in the last but he easily could've still been out there. On Fritsch - I think he should play to his match up. Obviously played a fair bit deep today as he was the 2nd tallest forward but when he's used as the 3rd or 4th tall option he should aim to exploit the match up. Dropped a few but struggled to get a lot of room against big key defenders today but if we can get him isolated deep on small/medium types he'll be very dangerous.

Got cleaned up on the 3/4 time siren, possibly sat out due to the head knock. Think the last quarter struggles were more about the wind and the mids slowing down. Thought we fought it out well given the number of Casey players on the ground in the last quarter.

His around the ground marking needs some work but add me to the chorus of those liking the work of big 35 in the ruck. Has a ripping leap and moves well. One to watch closely.

Backline: Lockhart the standout, too good for this inbetween VFL/AFL level. Josh Wagner was very solid and took a great mark. Rivers had his moments in the 3rd term, think he's got work to do to get a game but there's something there. Mids: Was nice to see Baker back and showing some of the upside with pace and some nice kicks. Sparrow and Jordon cracked in all game. Brayshaw a cut above when he got rolling. Forwards: Impressed by Brown up against some good opponents apart from his bad set shots. Fritsch dropped some easy ones, missed a few shots but always had signs to his class. Kossie had his moments and he clearly has the most class of the 4 smalls who played today. Spargo was very solid all game. Bedford had some awful shots on goal and field kicks but he very much outperformed what I expected with getting involved in the play and smart determined pressuring.