DeeSpencer

Took a year off from the weekly tipping this year but I think I did pretty well with my predictions. 2/4 division and 1/2 wildcard in the AFC. Cleveland and Jags weren't so great. Oops. A yard away from 4/4 in the NFC. There's a chance of 4 really good wildcard weekend games and then the two weeks after are probably the highlight of the season each year. Some really good games coming up.

Georgiades has some similarities to De Goey as a shorter full forward full of power. He could play alongside 2 tall forwards and even a mobile back up ruck. Im sure the interest was more about a potential top 5 pick heading in to the season sliding to pick 30 due to injury rather than needs. The need is more for another goal kicker to free up Fritsch and Melksham to play up the ground than a big tall. It is fair to say at this stage that the Weid might still make it as a very good player but it will be because he does the team stuff rather than as a big goal kicker.

It highlights the importance of keeping a heap of currency if you want to move up. The future 4th was only ever going to move pick 30 by 2-3 spots. Calling Carlton and Richmond was a bit of a laugh, although in fairness to our recruiters they seemed to know that. Robertson's slide and Rivers getting to our pick is an advertisement for being patient. I think the smartest set up would be to have extra 2nd round picks on offer to make moves if needed but also to group players in ranges and not go too hard too early if you have options Trade back and still get a player you really like, then use the extra picks to get the next guys on your board..

Yes it’s there for absolutely everyone to read. I’m providing an opinion on the running I saw this morning. You don’t have special powers of comprehension

A new diagnosis that we all hope is the solution but could easily not be. The plantaris is gone but even if it was the cause he’ll still be susceptible to calf injuries given how many he’s had. To my untrained eye he looks round shouldered and hunched and not all that comfortable running. I think he’ll be a very slow build up.

Somewhat but not in this field. My very novice opinion is more from my own back problems. Could be completely off the mark when it comes to Harley but I think posture, gait and core strength are so vital for athletes and injury prevention. The calf operation he had sounds promising but so many of the Suns players from their early years were thrust in to games and clearly not built the correct way.

Got there late but Bennell’s kick to kick was the highlight. He can kick 40m the same way most of our players kick 15. The ball seems to gather pace as it travels. And that’s with the tiny calves. Just a theory but the thing I’d be working on with him before building up his running is his posture. He has big round shoulders and his head is angled forward on his body. It gives him this really aggressive look when he runs but I wonder if it loads up his back than then causes the calf tightness. I’d have him in the yoga and Pilates room (and even the suspect Chiro bed) getting those shoulders and head aligned in correct positions. Then retraining his gait to take the workload off his calves.

About 40 minutes ago today. Longer sessions can go well towards 12 but I’d say most are usually done by 11:30.

They certainly struggle to hold marks inside 50, but are very strong down back and through the wings and half forwards. They play very down the line, contest to contest footy.

I didn't mention Melksham but I've got him as an important forward with some versatility, but still think we'll have one of ANB/Jones/C Wagner in the side as the high half forward. Spargo - certainly haven't given up on but now with little preseason pre christmas he's not an early season player, wait and see. I haven't seen anything from Dunkley that really elevates him from Jordon and Sparrow as mostly unknown prospects. Can they play wing or half forward?

Backline: Positives: - May, Lever, Jetta et al in full training - Harmes a fit runner with versatile ball winning ability Concerns: - ball use, after Salem and May if Hibberd's fallen away and Jetta's 15 touches most weeks then we aren't getting much quality rebound - Oscar - depth. Lockhart, Hore, J Smith and maybe Rivers the next group after the initial 7 and there's not a lot proven there Midfield: Positives: - Health. Especially Viney, Gus, Oliver, Gawn - Petracca the starting mid - Langdon is the hard runner we've needed - Vanders? Vanders? Concerns: - Is the balance of Petracca/Oliver/Viney/Gus still too inside and lacking skills and defensive work - 2nd/3rd wing options especially if Tomlinson remains injured or limited - 2nd ruck? Forward: Positives: - Fritsch - T Mc/Weid/Petty/M Brown/Jackson all competing for tall spots - Chandler and Pickett (and even Bedford) putting their hands up as pressure smalls Concerns: - The lack of pressure from our talls and mid sized guys, none of which are dominant enough in the air not to offer some ground ball work. - The inexperience of the crumbers - The lack of half forward/mid/wing rotation types with skills. ANB/Jones/C Wagner does not inspire confidence Overall If the coaches get a game plan that works and the players execute then we've got enough in all areas to be a dangerous side with weapons. But at this stage I still think we lack a bit on each line of the ground to be a top 4 contender. Not quite skilled enough to be a skilled based side. Not quite quick and drilled enough to play with the kind of pressure the Tigers do. And not quite big and powerful at both ends to be like the Eagles or Lions and own the air. Still, outside of the Tigers it looks a very even competition so if we can get a few early wins and find just what our strength is we could have a very good side but at least bouncing back from last year is probably a reasonable expectation.

Enjoyed the balance over the ball under pressure, the side step to get the ball back in to the corridor and then the recovery and hard sprint to be an option inside 50 here from Kozzy.

Really unfortunate for the young fella. Nice to know they've committed to keep him on for another year. And I guess if it was going to happen now is better than in February again, gives him a better chance at 2021. Silver lining for the team is the chance to add an injury replacement before March.

We had 2 other injuries in the first half of that game so we were down to 1 on the bench and also had to rotate Preuss heavily (in his first ever game as a standalone ruck). We just ran out of legs. Tom's important. How important will depend on the level Petty, Weideman, Brown, Preuss and Jackson are at. Without Tom if any 2 of those guys can hold their own then Melksham and Fritsch can be the dangerous forwards. I'm also hoping for a Sparrow, Jordon or Dunkley to really take a leap so they can play the half forward/mid role and go on ball more to use Petracca as a forward when needed.

That's disappointing because his most glaring weakness is that he struggles to track the ball and man at the same time so he needs drills that force him to learn how to track opponents by body contact and make quick moves to counter leads. The coaches apparently like his positioning but it often looks to me like he's played it safe and got caught in no mans land. I've often thought Oscar and Brayshaw are the 2 laziest trainers in terms of ability to output. If you had a coach just hammer them for intensity all summer you'd have far better players. I've seen Oscar take some strong grabs and big spoils at training when he's been locked in but it doesn't happen enough.

Great report BB. Although a couple of minor quibbles. I think Harmes will be more of a Vlastuin to Salem's Houli/Laird/Lloyd. The plan will be to have Harmes getting to and winning as many contests as possible and hopefully he uses the ball well, but if he can hand it off to Salem running free as the designated kicker then we'll have some counter attack. Again, disagree on Bedford's skills. I'd have him bottom 5 on the list for kicking. Snaps it ok but his drop punt is one of the worst techniques and least consistent and he can be fumbly. That said, he's shown some nice glimpses this summer of his ability to create a big play with some burst from traffic or tackling.

So now that we've got Burgo, how long will he stay for?

He's fit, he's got a solid build, there seems to be a steely determination to the way he approaches training but more than anything in drills he keeps getting the ball - be it intercepting or presenting for an outlet. Not sure he uses it well enough (and that same doubt extends even more so to Sparrow) but if he plays half back or wing for Casey he'll comfortably get 20+ touches a week.

Got there at 10:10 by which time Jones, KK, Petty, Tomlinson, Baker were finishing up. So no idea how much or how little they did. Joel Smith was in the proper match jumper but he was done by then as well. No Spargo, no Vanders, no Kade Chandler as far as I could tell. Viney in runners and sat out the match sim and the running, but was walking from side to side as the mids did 300m repeats runs to pump them up. Dunkley another to miss the match sim and running. Salem was also on light duties and sat out the match sim and just did some touch work with the 3 draftees. And May and Lever finished up before the running. Hopefully just a matter of taking it easy with a lot of guys now they've banked some decent training. Lots of grappling work in different groups. Fritsch again sat it out - assuming due to a taped shoulder - and did double goal kicking. A couple of extended forward groups including Preuss, Gawn and Oliver did goal kicking. In pairs, one kicks to the lead then mans the mark whilst the other takes the set shot. Pickett has a lovely kick to a lead and is a nice goal kicker despite enjoying shuffle steps and looping the ball around. Jackson has a nice simple set shot routine that seems to work well for him. Defenders did some kicking drills and I was impressed by Hore kicking low and hard on his preferred left boot and Rivers also nicely hitting targets. Nietschke certainly not as pretty but under minimal pressure it gets to where it needs to go. They were rotating through some pretty willing handball drills when I first got there, about 7 on 7, aiming to move the ball about 60m to then score a goal before it went back the other way. Missed handball or anyone touched and it was a turnover. Petracca and Oliver the standouts in various teams. Bedford had some errors but also a few nice moments when he could show his elusiveness. Jetta was heavily involved. Lockhart was busy. This was the type of drill that was just completely missing from last year and whilst there were plenty of moments where the ball was turned over it was nice to see at other times the players really hustling up and back. We might just have some midfield transition this year! Match sim was done in 2 groups - blue v green, with 2 players - Melksham and Corey Wagner in the white bibs going both ways. The blues were the starters and had Lever, May and Jetta down back and Fritsch, T Mc, ANB forward, Gawn, Oliver, Petracca mid and some others. Melksham was standout - unsurprisingly given he was going both ways - but he had a number of nice kicks on both sides. The aim was to get a mark inside 15m and Fritsch was the number 1 target, got on the end of a few but Hore and Hibberd made nice spoils at other times. At the other end Steve May went fairly and not recklessly through poor Bradtke at one stage which got a nice high 5 from Lever. Petracca was busy and went on a number of quality runs. Nice to see him bouncing with his left hand. Nietschke had a number of smart intercepts dropping back from a wing/flank position. I watched a few repeats of the running. With the mids doing repeat 300's (or whatever about 3/4's of Gosch's is maybe 250) Jordon and Sparrow again led the way with Petracca, Gus, Gawn, Oliver not far behind then a bit of a gap to big Preussy who was clearly feeling it. From the backs and forwards who were going end to end there were plenty - Nietschke, ANB, Fritsch, C Wagner, Bedford, T Mc pushing hard. Lockhart was one who wasn't exactly getting dropped but fitness probably isn't his strong suit. Trent Rivers casually loaded up a nice torp for a bit of fun from about 65-70 out off a couple of steps that landed on the goal line. Kozzy had a go that finished about 15m short.

So they didn't sit down and review the game in full. Most likely they were watching it in a context of a game plan scenario: Richmond have kicked x amount of goals in a row, what can we do to stop it? Or Richmond's forward pressure has been immense, how do we retain possession to counter that? I think the most important thing to remember with reviewing any one game is it takes no more than 2-3 hours to review a game right? And preseason training goes for the best part of 6 months. It's unlikely to provide motivation for a whole preseason. And whilst there might be some important lessons - which coaches really should know before breaking the tape down with the players - one game won't provide as many as the whole season.

The Dogs were 7-10 with Daniel and 5-1 without him. Most likely just a co-incidence but worth digging in to just how much you have to change defensive systems and the impact of losing one on one contests with a 168cm defender. The point is no Irish player will ever win and use the ball like Daniel so I'd be far more interested in a guy with good size for a half back flanker. Mark O'Connor for the Cats has become a really good player because he's 191cm and a great athlete. His strong defensive ability means the cats can be patient as he builds his skills.

The only thing for us to review - and it’s the same for the Giants - is to not travel insterstate against the best team with a rabid home crowd on the back of 2 hard fought finals. That means finishing top 4 and having the good fortune of the majority of the best players ready for finals

Training as a half back and whilst he's looking good there (and was his best position at Casey) I can't have him ahead of Hibberd, Salem and Harmes yet.

JT didn't give much away, but that's to be expected. Trying to read between the lines I think the 3 most interesting things he had to say were: 1. When asked about the Gold Coast's first 2 picks he wouldn't comment on the clubs draft board but there did seem to be an undercurrent of Jackson being rated very very highly. Possibly at number 2 on the board and hey maybe even number 1 (although I doubt it). There's no benefit to putting your neck on the line further by publicly stating he's ahead of one of the Suns boys but it was reassuring that they made the Jackson pick proactively and not because it was a draft heavily weighted to the top 2 picks. 2. That the difference between Pickett and Weightman really came down to Pickett being more of a crumbing specialist with slightly better pressure skills whilst Weightman has the better aerial game. Sounds like they rated both of them and team fit became the deciding vote. 3. Powerful seems to be the word JT likes best for Rivers. Promising for his midfield potential but also hopefully means that from early in his career he knows how to knocks guys off the ball and use his body.

I think we made an error not going to Viney and Gawn last year. Jones was clearly over the hump of performing as an on field leader and his best leadership was his on field drive. I'd be happy with Viney and Gawn. Viney has done the apprenticeship and might finally have his body right. I still think he has the right on field traits and off field drive to lead the club. Gawn is clearly impressive on field and speaks with passion off field. Why would one of them be stronger without the other? It's a coach driven sport, not one where any player alone can make a huge impact on games to anywhere near the extent of the coaches. If you divide the duties that really aren't that important to team performance - media, sponsors, appearances - then you double the amount of time available for your captain to do the things that do matter