DeeSpencer

The sad thing is apart from the silly kick across goal I actually thought he was decent against the Saints. And had been pretty decent for most of the year especially when playing a mix of wing/forward. And he put the team first by pulling out of the game against the Dogs. The club has really failed him by not playing this week on a short break and getting him right for the Freo game. Now he's likely injured and probably done. Or might hobble out for a farewell game infront of no one in round 18. Nathan you have failed us but we have also failed you. That's what this club does.

He rarely jumps at centre bounces at the best of times but even less so since the injury which is understandable. But he's just not a good centre square ruckman because he seems too keen to win the hit out even if it's to no one and then struggles to follow up. We desperately need pace, skill and team work at the centre bounces but I don't see us making those changes now, this side has taken us too far and the best guys on the list to mix things up are: 1. Harmes - struggling, doesn't really fix the issues aside from some more speed 2. Salem - needed at half back 3. Rivers - just a kid trying to find his feet at half back. 4. Sparrow - injured 5. JJ - more injured And Luke Jackson - injured.

FB: Hibberd May Tomlinson HB: Salem Lever J. Wagner C; Harmes Oliver Langdon HF: Pickett Melksham ANB FF: Fritsch Preuss Hannan Foll: Gawn Viney C. Wagner Int: Petracca Brayshaw Vanders Lockhart Out: Smith, Jones, Oscar, Brown, Weideman (rested), Rivers (rested), Spargo (rested), In: Hibberd, Vanders, Lockhart, Preuss, Hannan, Pickett, C. Wagner Clearly the midfield needs fresh legs. Harmes on ball or wing. Vanders in. C Wagner worth a try. Backline goes back to the unit that mostly has been doing the job. Forward line needs a shake up. Weid just looked spent today. Time for Preuss to have a go and can spell Max efficiently. If we don't have a good half forward lets stop playing with one and use the mid sized guys.

Wagner did his job last week and did his job this week. He's frustrating because he always makes a few head scratching mistakes but overall he's solid enough. Smith kept Papley very quiet. Did a few bad things and has to get more involved in the game but when Smith was on him Papley had 1 behind which was a top from 55. If you said Papley was held to 2 behinds you'd be pretty happy.

Flat after the Alice game and started awfully. No smarts working with the breeze against. Senior players as guilty as anyone. Way too slow down back and in the midfield again. Oscar out and Tomlinson made us immediately better. Forward line stank, had to have some talent there. Pretty much all the usual problems

Height isn't really all that relevant. Melksham plays above his height as a strong mark when given space. Finlayson doesn't play to his height. Melksham 3.3 marks, Finlayson 2.5 Melksham 1.1 M Inside 50, Finlayson 1.3 You're right that Melk is probably 35-70 on the heat maps, I checked on the AFL App. Finlayson a fair bit around that, plus more around the ground from rucking, and a little more deeper. Jeremy Cameron playing so much as a lead up CHF means Finlayson was often deeper but his best position is surely using his running and skills up the ground, he's not a contested marker. 0.7 contested marks per game. Weid, Fritsch and Jackson are more dangerous deep, if we added another tall to that mix it would be a guy who gets up to the wings. He likes to play for free kicks and he likes doing silly things like patting blokes on the head or giving them a push and shove. I don't think players like that do anything more than eventually grate on their team mates. We had Tommy Bugg who was an all time pest like that and it meant little when he couldn't get a kick. If you're Toby Greene it's great, but he backs it up with play that lifts a side.

Isn't a true KPF. Would be replacing Melksham as the lead up half forward with a good kick, but I think the way we play with speed and direct movement probably doesn't make that such an important role. We already have Fritsch as a medium forward and when Hannan is in form he's good in that role too. Plus Petracca should always be spending time close to goal. As much as it would be nice to replace Melksham with a taller, faster, younger version I think it's probably not a high priority.

Backs - I'd like a burner off half back but if we have Rivers and Salem and good structure we can be fine. Forwards - Hannan is almost as quick as Hunt and knows how to use it with forward craft, although his skills have gone out the window which opens the door for the likes of Hunt. Kossie obviously. Spargo - doesn't have Hunt's pace but he has a very quick change of direction due to being smaller and football smarts, quick mind and quick feet beats pure pace. Long term Spargo is better suited coming up the ground more and getting more of the ball, in the role Jones is currently playing, but for now I think he's ahead of the other pacey options. Outside mids - Langdon, Vanders, Tomlinson. Clearly would like to replace one of those last two with someone quicker. Vanders still has the pace in a straight line and at least some understanding of the wing role. Can Harmes or Hunt do the same? Fritsch has done it before, do we go back to him playing at least a share of wing minutes? I'm more worried that we don't have a smart/skilled winger who knows the position more than pure speed. Inside mids - I actually think this is our biggest weakness and it shows up at centre bounces and when the structure breaks down. Harmes was the answer in years previous. Sparrow has provided some cover with decent results at times this year. But we need to cut it to the time our 4 main guys play on ball and find a 5th option with speed.

Linc McCarthy had hardly played at Geelong and hasn't missed a beat since going to Brisbane. If I were Cockatoo I'd be on the first flight north. He has tremendous talent but I do wonder if he's the quick pressure mid/forward we need. We need a guy like Parfitt or Butters or both. Someone to add pressure like Parfitt does who doesn't need 25 touches a game or someone like Butters who can run contest to contest at half forward. Cockatoo has speed and skill, but he's also a ball winner and after 3 years out it's hard to train that explosive pressure and contest to contest run in to a guy. The Cats midfield is playing far better this year with Parfitt and Guthrie alongside Danger and Selwood rather than Tim Kelly.

Kent's been a regular fixture in a team higher on the ladder than the one ANB can't get a game for. Neither are great though. Frost, Lever and May played in 4 games together, which was really 3 as Frost was KOéd right at the start of QBday. All came at the end of a dead season with May and Lever far from peak form/fitness. That's not a proper trial. Frost started to become a reliable mark and reliable short kick when not playing Frost ball last year. In a more settled side he could've been trained up to play within the structure. Reading the play was never a strong suit but we've seen the backline function with a first year kid in Rivers, a new player in Lockhart, Tomlinson in a new role, Oscar in and out, and Harmes - who never looked comfortable. If all those guys can slot in and the backline can largely function well when there's up the ground defending I can't see why Frost couldn't. I saw the Frost trade as making sure we didn't have so many resources tied up in one position. We recoup a 2nd round pick and save some cash. The cash we saved was then spent on Tomlinson who now looks best suited playing as a tall defender.

Would love Frosty back, but we needed to generate the 2nd round pick to do the Pickett deal. So it is what it is. Kent’s going better than Hannan and Nibbler right now but the real answer is to find another Butler or a mid/forward with pace/pressure and class. The case for Watts is as a back flanker with tremendous kicking skills, but he’s struggled to ever become that player. I’d overlook some other flaws if he nailed 10 corridor kicks a game!

Watch the replay. It's inexplicable to be a tall defender in the perfect position and not get a decent spoil on that kick before half time, in fact Oscar barely made the contest. His legs were stuck in quicksand as usual. Then he trails in his opponent to let the ball go over the back that leads to the Ryder goal. Lever played his part in those same stuff ups but Oscar had prime position both times. The confident quick feet of his first couple of games back in the side this year look gone and he's back in slow motion.

I can't see Jones backing up in both of the next 2 games. It's wrong to pick a bottom 6 player twice in short breaks, fresh legs are required. He should get one of those games to push to 294, then be in contention to play the last two home and away games. No one will think any less of his career or him as a bloke for playing 295. Does anyone really care that Neitz played over 300? Personally I don't care at all. Garry Lyon played 226 and was just as good if not better. Same goes for Flower 272.

AFL Life Membership includes preseason games. Jones is already over 300 on that total and was awarded life membership in the offseason

May and Lever play pretty well without Oscar too. Oscar was deliberately responsible for the Marshall goal just before half time. He had a clear chance of the spoil, lumbered to the contest and let the ball spill straight to Marshall to crumb. He also was responsible for the Ryder goal I think in the 3rd. Ran straight under the ball. Plus the easy Membrey lead. Plus the easy Marshall mark in the first. The Saints kicked 7 for the night and Oscar gave up 3 of them.

Jackson is expected to return in round 18. It was a serious hamstring. Transition defending remains our biggest weakness and Bennell shouldn’t be seen until that is fixed. Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw will make things happen in the midfield. We are one of very few sides that can create through the corridor. Keep learning to walk before we run.

Collingwood and Geelong did the hard yards with the Perth hub. West Coast have had a mixed bag. Half home, half very much away. Brisbane and to a lesser extent Port have been fortunate but that’s out of the AFLs control. Richmond do seem to have had a good run but they’ve lost Houli for a period and Edwards. The only difference in their fixture and ours seems to be we’re up to Cairns for a couple of games, not the end of the world.

Well things went quickly south under Neeld but improvement every year from 2014 to 2018 will keep the incumbents in place. Mahoney has generally shown an ability to fix problems. It might take a while and isn't always pretty but things usually get dealt with. The Misson era ended poorly but remember the days when we ended young players careers with injuries and the team clearly weren't fit enough, those days started to end once Misson was at the club for a while. Then when it was time for Misson to go Mahoney got Burgess. When it was time for McCartney to go we added Richo. And tonight was a testament to the coaches getting a far better structure. When it was time to trade out a bunch of players who weren't up to the professional standard we did that and our players hopefully keep doing the right things. The reasons to keep Mahoney are pretty simple. He's surely better at his job now than he was 10 years ago and if you look around the league for people with football and management experience - especially at a time where the league is cutting a huge chunk of footy department spending - you'll find there's very few good candidates.

The last time we had Brayshaw and co in the centre clearances was 2018 and we covered them with loose men off half back for that reason. Gawn won't face too many ruck combinations like Ryder and Marshall and will be better for the run but yeah we were belted in the middle. I'd like to have Harmes back in the side purely to play at some centre bounces and give a bit of speed and tackling in that area. After the bounce he can swap forward, the wing, the bench, whatever!

Average includes a bunch of guys including Bedford and ANB who have barely played. So it's a good to consider both the average and total. If I could filter average with a minimum of 5 games played I'd do that. Either way, Kossie is a pressure king! The stats ignore a lot of his crucial tap ons and spoils as well. Hopefully he settles down and just hits the crumbing spot a little slower, that's all he needs to do to get his disposals way up

IN: Fritsch, Lockhart, Baker, ANB, Hunt, Harmes OUT: Melksham, Hibberd (injured), Oscar, Pickett (rested), Hannan, Jones FB: J. Wagner May Lever HB: Rivers Tomlinson Salem C; Vanders Brayshaw Langdon HF: Petracca Brown ANB FF: Fritsch Weideman Spargo Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Lockhart, Baker, Harmes, Hunt

The wing defending was awful last week but overall Langdon and Vanders have been our best combination and the wing defending went up a level when Tomlison was out of there. He knows how to play the position so was rightfully moved back there when a spot opened up this week but I'm still very doubtful that he's quick enough mentally or physically to cover off well in that position. He seems to do a good job at half back but there's a question whether we need him there or if he's a long term answer.

Despite missing 2 games Kossie is 11th in the entire league from small forwards. https://www.afl.com.au/stats/stats-pro#/?state=NobwRA1glgdgJmAXGAgmANGADgQwC4AWSwYAZlADZ4CmATgEI60CSNAtgM5gC6msc1AB5IADH3ZJw0eEjAA5DGFoEuicAGMC1dRGpwA0tQCeqkgFkAogBFmAVTMB9AGIB5AEoB1FG6s9Muo1ksChwjOgAFAHsOKDwoSJgwAF8U9Cl%2BWQtFXEJiMA5qCm0aOABlPHwAGRwAI0K-MAoVWTd8WABzAAIo2DwuTGVVMHDaag4OAFdRzpR1PuS0yAzkLMwcokQSAqK5vXL8Q0DeRubkWjaYdp6YeYHT7FHxqepZ%2BaTF6QRkBTX8Da3CsU9gRIgB3ap1CgNQayAAqkQqUKS3CAA Take away 9 guys who aren't regulars in their side he's 6th on average pressure acts per game. He doesn't have to do much with the ball to have a huge impact on games.

Harmes isn't in the side. Oliver lifted in the second half but still is a bit iffy in making smart decisions. Petracca was really struggling in the midfield and Gus had a bad night. But those guys along with Langdon give us a core group of midfielders to keep us in games even if it's not their best days. May, Gawn and Lever played like leaders and Tracc played like a top line talent. We've lost a lot of games to teams like Geelong when we've been the better overall team but they've had a handful of leaders and a superstar step up and beat us.

Brown and Tomlinson were both ordinary until the last 10 minutes or so. Tomlinson was better down back when Hibberd went off. Brown hit the wings for a few crucial impacts late in the game, and yeah was better than his predecessor. Rivers and Wagner at half backs were both very solid.