DeeSpencer

Hard to know about his spot on the list until we get clarity with list sizes and potential recruits. Who are we trading in or out? In terms of best position: There's so much less space up the corridor than even 3 years ago it's really hard to find room for those huge runs. Plus it might only end up outrunning the forward set up. The thing I liked most about him as a defender was that he had versatility. He could take an intercept mark. He could spoil. He could tackle. It wasn't just the runs. But I think he started to lose some of that from his game. I've wanted to see him play a bit more wing but without a great tank it's not easy to succeed there. The forward line might be the best spot for him.

Baker did play well but I think at least one if not both of Harmes and Sparrow are needed to beef up the on ball rotations and speed. Tomlinson’s the least likely of the 3 defenders I named to go out, but he’s still no good. Smith and Jetta more likely to make way and they haven’t played all that much. Apart from May, Riv and Salem the backline were disastrous in many aspects, hard to say there’s any cohesion worth keeping.

Brown and even Fritsch had made their way to spare defenders by then. So we had a 4 man forward line. Weid for a tall, Melk and Hunt as guys who can halve contests against multiple opponents and that leaves room for just the one small.

He’s been an awful waste of salary cap. Can only play 1 position - 3rd tall defender. He contributed 7 disposals and 95m gained which is stuff all for an apparently skilled player. And his lack of mobility at ground level continues to be costly. He won’t be dropped because he’s probably the best of a bunch of bad options and likely does a lot of work off camera but Burgo has to work a miracle to get agility in to him over summer.

If the Bulldogs get hammered by Freo - who are actually a very competent side right now - then do we just have a 7 team finals series? We’ll be very lucky to make it, but someone has to. Along with Essendon we haven’t had a bye and have played 14 or so games in about 12 weeks. Including FIFO trips to Cairns on 4 day breaks after playing in Alice. Finals experience is finals experience. If it’s on offer we damn well take it an run

Your concern we have no structure when we keep playing the same well drilled structure? I think we should take the short to the pocket to kill more time and get further down the wing, but unless we get more defenders with good skills and some hard running, big, gun kicking mids we're likely to play it safe and play to our strengths.

Had a very good second half and we aren't dropping one of our best pressure players for a poor one.

The defensive structure was mostly ok, one terrible breakdown that led to a walk in goal but otherwise the positioning was good, but in terms of nailing intercept chances, winning the ground balls and using the ball it was horrendous. We gifted so many goals with dropped marks, awful defending once the ball hit the ground and turnovers. None of Tomlinson, Jetta or Smith looked up to it and Lever was his typical hot and cold self. I'd be happy to swap all 3 of those for Hibberd and 2 of Wagner (who didn't do a lot wrong), Lockhart and Hore. Doubt we'll see 3 changes but something has to shift there. In terms of the mids and forwards I don't know how much to change. LJ for Brown has to be a chance but maybe we don't rush the big fella back for a one off game and let Brown face his old side. I think Hunt and Vanders might be the most shaky. Baker is hardly a lock either. I'm assuming Melksham is off limits for whatever reason but most likely goes back to the forward line. Sparrow and Harmes the options.

He wins the ball with a plan to use it, that's almost half the battle. Doesn't get any favours with the umpires either, constantly held and often hit high when he's attacking the ball not ducking. Got to get his crumbing timing right and his conversion. Big issues but not fatal flaws. The pressure and the way he can track the ball in tight are legit, everything else can be worked on.

A retool but not a rebuild. Any team with Gawn, Oliver and Petracca always has a decent inside midfield. Harmes would go straight in on ball in the tagging role. Sparrow looked promising and JJ was clearly close to a debut. Salem and Rivers are viable options too that we really have to be considering to get more class on the ball. The issue is we’d be very thin for flankers and wing options so if it’s midfielders out it needs to be ready made flankers in.

Would gladly trade you for a six pack of thin sausages.

Well his trade value just went from slim to nil.

I don't believe this 10kg thing. He's the same size he was in 2018. Why would we slim down Steve May to as thin as he's ever been and bulk Tom up? If anything Tom might be better off adding a bit of muscle to help him turn and play with power, but there's no way it was or ever will be 10kg

I wouldn't want to attempt to turn Saad in to a winger, he's a natural defender. Got to look elsewhere to fix the wing situation. Possibly Salem and Rivers shift up to the wings but I don't think either are best used there.

I suspect we'll lose to GWS. If not the Dogs will do just enough. Bont kicked the winning goal against the Eagles that was touched on the line and came from a 7m kick. That's the kind of BS that's perfect to knock us off

I just want to know if they think he has the ability to build a tank because he clearly hasn't had a full preseason and doesn't seem a great endurance runner. Which probably means he's fatally flawed as an AFL player. If the guy can build a tank then no matter the limitations with poor contested work and game sense you keep trying to see if he gets it together. Speed and a penetrating kick is just too valuable. That's the ability to break open a game. 1 good run and kick a quarter that sets up a scoring chance is so important. But as I said, it has to be on the back of a good tank. If you don't have the tank you need incredible smarts and contested ability to play the wing role - or any role - and Oskar isn't that.

Steelers, Colts, SeaHawks

Shouldn't happen - Phillips can't kick, we can fix Harmes. Won't happen x 3 - Gus isn't worth a first, Preuss isn't worth Aliir, Vanders isn't worth Cumming. Could happen, but I see it as unlikely. Won't happen x 2. The Crows don't need ANB. Williams we can't afford.

No idea if the kid can play given he hasn't made it for even a proper practice game, skills haven't always looked great, but whenever I've seen him he's been an excellent trainer. And this still appears on the club website "As a show of faith, the Demons have promised to give him another chance in 2021, hoping to see the defender reach full fitness and impact at AFL level"

FB: Lockhart May Hibberd HB: Salem Lever Rivers Int: Hore/Tomlinson/Petty Depth: ??? not a lot, I'm the last Joel Smith fan I guess Lockhart still needs a good preseason, he's run out of puff, the shorter games have helped but the shorter breaks haven't. Hibbo's had a decent enough year but thrown in some bad mistakes recently, still does a lot of good when sticking a role and healthy. Lever has actually stepped up to the contest more this year and probably made a case to be a CHB and halve more contests, so I can see him playing as more of a stopper and getting a guy like Hore next to him. Otherwise Tomlinson should be trained up as a key back, he's not going to be a winger anymore, just too slow. A preseason of backline contested work could see him improve and get more involved as an interceptor and rebounder. C; Langdon Petracca ?Harmes R: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Brayshaw, Sparrow Depth: ??? Preuss as a ruck, JJ, Vanders The question is what do we do to make this unit better by diversifying talent. I still think Harmes can be trained in to a very proficient wingman with a few tweaks in his game and good coaching. Athletically he's perfect. Think a Mitch Robinson combative winger. Sparrow showed a knack for good support play. The big question here is do we trade out Gus or let Viney go via FA and attempt to change the mix of this group. HF: Hannan Jackson Melksham FF: Fritsch Weid Pickett Int: Spargo Depth: ? Petty ? Bennell ????? Tommy Mc, Bedford The Jackson/Weid combination is actually the best thing we've got going for us. Weid has put together enough of a block now to think he can really do it. Jackson just has to keep improving but there's a lot to like. Pickett keeps kicking points but he's has a very good first year, his pressure is legit. Fritsch, Melksham and Hannan frustrate but they all have the talent, it's a lot of mind over matter. Spargo's the best of the rest in an actual smart footballer with some skills, short of drafting a proper half forward flanker he's it.

Someone from Fenway Sports Group, the owners of the Boston Red Socks and Liverpool. We need to find an edge on the competition and stop being a poor, smaller, dumber version of every other club. Analytics is that edge. There's going to be assistant coaches out there who will just about work for free given the money crunch. So we can find coaches. We can hire one just to work with a new GM and teach them the game if they don't know anything about it. In fact it's probably better they don't because they won't have any preconceived biases.

Max isn’t the answer. Too much ego, too much stupidity. A lot talk, not a lot of listening.

I would've made a few changes for the Dogs game, but the reality is we were fresh for Pies game and shouldn't have overexerted ourselves then and were fresh again for the Dogs and Saints. We made changes against the Saints and then again against Sydney. The problem as you have correctly identified is we can freshen up some of the chasing half forwards but the team doesn't have the positional flexibility or talent to freshen up other key areas in Weid and the mids. Geelong have done this very well. Dangerfield goes to full forward. Hawkins sits his large backside inside 50. They bring in fresh on ballers and they win games early with powerful bursts then keep the heat out of games. Petracca should've got the full forward only treatment against the Swans and Weid should've been banned from leaving the 50 and/or dropped down to 70% game time. A fresh Tom McDonald with a hope and a prayer to play CHF. Then bring in 2 fresh mids to play big on ball minutes - say Harmes and C Wagner (unfortunately not Sparrow and Jordon). Brayshaw has a game off. Oliver and Viney play limited minutes. The mistake we seemed to have made is we've confused physical fitness to run out games with the energy and motivation needed to sustain high levels of effort. I believe Burgo when he says 16 minute quarters make the running required for AFL games similar to soccer but I think he's miscalculating just how much tackling, being tackle and tough contested footy zaps the energy levels.

The camera work at Cairns was particularly bad, we really didn't see much of what was happening off the ball at all, but overall I'd say we play what basketball or american football calls a man-zone which is where players still pick out an opponent - choosing based on size and position - and then zone from them. You can't just sit back in a designated zone because that's too easy to force mismatches, nor can you go man to man all over the ground. So it's a mixture. Apart from when he was in the midfield I saw Smith mostly and then Rivers on Papley. Smith took Hibberd's spot in the back pocket so likely had Papley when he was deep, other times he had Hayward.

Serong's 178cm and has kicked 2 goals for the year. His kicking runs hot and cold but he's a quality midfielder with class in traffic. I'd love him for our midfield and maybe you just take the best midfield type players and work the rest out later, but at the same time judging Pickett by disposals is madness. Kossie's pressure has been awesome and he just needs a bit of coaching and development for his front and centre game - and a structure that sees a mix of talls and smalls working together rather than our current plan of bunching all the talls together. We also got a very good talent in Jackson at the top of the draft and we traded 2 picks with North to get the initial pick 8 and then split it in to 2 picks again. Possibly the biggest thing our list needs is a more even spread of skilled talent. So I'd be happy taking Pickett and Rivers types every year rather than worrying about missing out on the midfielder.