DeeSpencer

Our backline next year is: May, Lever, Salem, Rivers. If we move 1 of Salem or Rivers to the midfield then it's down to 3. Who's going to fill the last 4 spots? Hibberd 1 more year and not an automatic selection. Tomlinson and Lockhart are suspect at AFL level, they shouldn't be plan A without a decent plan B. Oscar? Smith? Chandler? Hore? Nietschke? Petty (might be needed forward). Jetta, KK, Wagner likely go. Port and Richmond are 2 of the best backlines in the league, very hard to get games in. Webster was a good player for a long time, Ratten is just making sure the side has some youth. I'm happy to listen to any other suggestions as well. Either way I think we need to bring in some cheap defensive depth options.

Phillips is a bit too similar to Langdon for my likings. Great runner, but not good in the contest and shoddy kick. I think we'd have to use either Langdon or Phillips through half forward if we had both of them just to spread out the traits. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Daicos is my suggestion. The kicking skills we need. We don't seem to be involved in the Xavier O'Halloran sweepstakes. The Crows would probably give Seedsman up pretty cheaply given they are getting younger. There's a couple of guys who went in the draft 2 years ago to good clubs and haven't got games - Jacob Kennerly to Geel and Fraser Turner to Richmond. No idea how they are tracking but might be worth a look. I'd also very much consider training up Harmes and/or Melksham for the role if we can find some flankers at either end. JJ too. And Baker has shown at least a flicker that he's not completely out of the equation.

Gunston's a professional goal kicker who would be great, we can move Fritsch around. But spending up on a tall forward would be a big waste. Tall defender is a big need, but you can find them cheaper.

Chiefs, Niners, Ravens. Handy when you pick 3 of the best teams in football. Let's see how they stuff it up.

Not sure Narkle has the tank, forward craft or skills to be an improvement at half forward. Even for 700k when the Pies can only offer 450k would Daicos not leave? I'm saying go hard and see what happens. I'd rather Hooker than Hurley. Can play both ends and is more reliable defensively. Would make us play 3 big talls but he's smart enough to make it work. Not convinced by Polec. Something is wrong if North are so keen to push him out. I don't Geelong would. Stanley and Esava are no worse than Preuss. GWS maybe, but if I was them I'd be looking for a long term starter who might have less exposed form than Preuss but has more upside. I think Preuss is at best a 3rd round pick and we still need him.

Weid kicked multiple goals in all but one game and averaged 4 marks a game for 9 rounds between round 6 and 14. His 18 goals in 9 goals was very strong. Then came the short breaks and awful cairns conditions. One more preseason of the right physical improvements and he'll get there. Jackson is a stud. Harry Petty came in to a disaster of a side in 2019 and was clunking marks and hitting the scoreboard. We'll be fine with what we have. We have to allocate resources in other positions - namely guys who can run, pressure and kick. We do that and our forwards will look a whole lot better.

Zero interest in Hogan. All he does is lead up to the wings and slow ball movement. Keep Mitch Brown if that's what we want. Happy to go for the Jackson and Weid combo with Petty as back up. The only big ticket items we should be chasing are guys who can run and kick. Genuine solutions to those issues - ie. Saad or Daicos. Otherwise we should bring in a number of lesser valued players and replace our depth types who clearly aren't up to it.

We aren't getting that for Pruess and if we think Sparrow is a player we're better off keeping him and moving out guys ahead of him. If a team - mainly Adelaide - come for Sparrow with a 2nd round pick that would mean they think he's a player.

I think we have 3 big weaknesses: Wing, half forward flank class and backline depth. It's nearly impossible to find the quality half forward pieces, head to the draft for that, but the best wing option IMO is Daicos. There's plenty of backline depth out there so that should be an easy one to find and fill cheaply. 1. Josh Daicos. Pies have to find room for De Goey, Mihocek and Moore. Make Josh Daicos a big money offer and get a skilled wingman to complement Langdon. Yeah he's Collingwood royalty but money talks. 2. Saad. If the price is right, pull the trigger. 3. Jarrod Lienert - solid 3rd tall kicking defender type. Gives us some badly needed defensive depth 4. Oleg Markov - quick mid sized defender, if the price isn't right on Saad he's a nice option 5. Jimmy Webster - should be free to a good home and can play

Thought he had given up Alcohol for life. Or at least for the season. Failing to wait to get the all clear to be on holidays and away from the hub is just monumentally stupid.

The Sydney and Freo games with wind and rain and short breaks aren't a fair indication of our defensive system, which has worked almost all year. They are an indication that our midfield lacks run and skill to retain possession or forward movement in the wet and that our backline are incredibly flaky under adverse conditions. Plus a condemnation of the list that we couldn't shuffle in new players and play to the same standard. It's really hard to get pressure on a team when your midfield is gassed, dishing out nothing handballs and you can't retain possession from the backline. Our pressure was great for 3 quarters yesterday, then dropped off which is all mental application, getting way ahead of ourselves. Then instead of immediately settling in to a chip it around game plan to take the heat out of the game we give up 3 goals first. Because we lack on field leadership and we lack mental strength to know what to do - which is keep running hard and attacking but use the ball safely. We went in to ultra defensive not moving or trusting ourselves mode. Again, it's mostly mental but combined with a lack of run and skill particularly in the backline and midfield. The craziest thing about the commentary yesterday was hearing them say Melbourne need to go in to all out attack more. The thing we need to do is beef up the flanker and outside mid work rate and skill so we can be comfortable mixing tempos and using the ball far smarter than we currently do.

The problem I have with Tomlinson is he doesn't do anything that talls are meant to do and doesn't move like a small at ground level. So eventually the ball is going to end up on the deck and he'll get exploited. Essendon worked that out after half time. They kept Stewart and Daniher/Draper deep and knew that meant Tomlinson, Lever and Hibberd had to chase smalls around (and also that Smith was isolated). If Lever didn't take an intercept mark it was panic stations. Now if Tomlinson can learn how to spoil and mark like even an average 194cm defender then he'll be useful. But he's miles off that. We certainly can't be adding in another tall without great speed on the deck in Petty to the mix. One or the other. If it's not Smith, Hore or Wagner then we need to go get someone like Oleg Markov or Jimmy Webster to just be a competent mid sized defender across half back. Guys who are 188cm to play on forwards who are 188cm. Rather than Tomlinson who can't keep up when the ball is bouncing around, struggles to pick up leads too. Bennell is a pipe dream. If he works, great, but don't plan for him. We can't keep going with a one paced midfield without guys who are naturals are giving/receiving handballs and with poor kicking skills. Brayshaw's the only one in that group who has a nice linking running game but he can't kick under pressure. Harmes has the run but lacks skill too.

Doesn’t need a lot of muscle, needs a tank. The 16 minute quarters have helped him. Needs to match his mate Jackson once they get back to Perth over summer

But he won't keep kicking 4 a week because he just doesn't do that. Even 1.5 goals a week seems unlikely. Well done by him for doing it today but it's a luck of the draw thing. I'm defensive of Pickett who gets low disposal totals but whenever he's around the ball he's doing the right things to pressure or create. I don't think that's the case for Hunt and if he's up on the wing he absolutely has to find the ball. If you're wingers aren't finding the ball then you it's unlikely you're moving the ball or spreading well - we saw that, it's called Melbourne 2018. Langdon, Baker, Vanders played the bulk of the wing minutes, not sure how much Hunt did, but more time in that role without finding a lot of the ball is a worry.

Maybe we should just delist him for groping Petracca. I don't care at all that his hands were in inappropriate places. I care that he's been a complete moron at 3/4 time in a must win game. We thought we had the game won and played like it.

His best footy often came on the back of tagging or defensive forward jobs. Give the man an assignment and he'd do it. Tackling and defensive work were never a strength but when set a task he had the competitive ability and physical capabilities to do it. Now he seems to be down a yard of pace and even less interest in competing. He never liked putting his head over the ball but he would at least be brave in the air. Moving him on to the ball has gotten him involved in games but hardly been a success. I still think the wing would be a strong spot for him. Decent on the outer ring at stoppages, good one on one, strong mark, thumping kick. But he'd have to really buy in to make a transition back to a role he played a lot at Essendon but never really nailed.

The difference between our best 4 defenders and the next guys on the list is massive. And we probably have to move one of Salem or Rivers to the midfield if we want to fix the class issues there. Tomlinson is just plain ordinary. Can't mark. Can't pressure at ground level. Has huge mental lapses where he trails his opponent in to easy possessions. Smith does one great thing for 5 bad things. Hibberd needs to be replaced immediately, or at least sent deeper, he couldn't get near AMT when up the ground. Lockhart's gone missing and Hore and Petty have missed a year. Josh Wagner came in, did little wrong and then was never seen again which is weird because we've kept him around for years and never given him an extended run to prove himself one way or another. North just delisted half their backline and they're probably better players than we role out down back. St Kilda have a couple in Webster and Savage who don't get games who we surely have to think about. At the moment if it's not May, Lever or Gawn marking it or a clear 2 on 1 we're under intense pressure down back. As soon as the midfield dropped away the backline was screwed.

Best I've ever seen him balance up to kick on the run today. Nailed 2 difficult chances. They like to play him deeper as a forward. I don't think they trust his tank nor his smarts to get to the right spots - both in attack and defensively because otherwise he has such a trick bag as a high half forward with his ability to mark on the lead and to split a game open with pace. Seemed to play a bit more on the wing today but still only had 7 touches. Hmmm, hard to know what to make of it all really.

I thought he had a very good chase down tackle today. The days of Aaron Davey style 30m run downs are largely over. It's going from opponent to opponent in tight, without over pursuing that is important and he's looked as good as anyone. The ability to tap the ball on, gather and hit up Hunt on his left was sublime skill. In front of goal he's been dreadful. 7 goals 13 that should be at least 10 goals 10 even with missing some easy ones. But Pickett's so often sprinting in with the kick from a half forward position and we love putting multiple talls or marking targets like Fritsch deep so we can not be out marked. We could go to have Pickett at the feet of Weid and he'd kick more goals. Or we could find kicks capable of hitting up the half forwards inside 50 rather than always going deep as well. There's a lot of ways to get his goals up that aren't his fault.

Playing half forward, you wouldn't get near it. For 3/4's Essendon couldn't get a touch in the corridor. They were forced wide and slow. Koz was a huge part of that, whilst creating goals and unrewarded running. Look at the Tracc kick to Oliver in the centre where he stupidly played on and get caught holding - Pickett's streaming through half forward in a mile of space. The focus on possessions is missing all the good he does.

I think the tank has been an issue in years previous but his work rate has looked very strong this year and he's consistently been high up in the tracking numbers. Shaun Higgins was a flanker until his mid 20's. David Mundy the same. Both became genuine superstars when they went in to the middle.

If you replace Smith with someone who gets more involved in attack, leave Hibbo deeper where he's not as gassed and give the mids and Salem/Riv (and Lever, May) a much needed rest then Tomlinson's work rate isn't as much of a factor. I'm certainly appreciative of that part of his game but jeepers peeling off to get 20m kicks should be the bare minimum from every player on the ground not something special. Brown chased kicks to the wing. Good luck to him. But that won't happen against the Eagles. Remember round 1? The only way we have a hope in scoring against the Eagles is to have key forwards who can provide a contest. Which means they are willing to jump and compete in the air and Brown doesn't do that.

He does get tagged by defensive forwards every week. Every other side has a Spargo/Pickett/ANB type out to stop him. Once again in the top 5 for most metres run today, 3rd for us behind Langdon and Brown.

Depends on Rivers' fitness especially if/when the game reverts to full length quarters. He might not have the tank to do it in year 2. Otherwise everything I've seen makes me think he'll be a very good midfielder.

If at least one of Salem and Rivers aren't put in to the midfield next year at the expense of one of our bashers then we are kidding ourselves. If we don't recruit at least replacement level defenders to fill their void that will be a sign we don't know what we're doing.