DeeSpencer

Looking it up Gawn came in against the Pies and looked good in the hit outs against a young Grundy. Then I remember the Saints game the next week, only 3 marks but 16 touches and a stack of hit outs against Longer. He looked like he belonged but tired as the sole ruck and made a big error with an aggressive hit out at the final bounce. Obviously he took the loss personally and also felt like he belonged all at once and produced the cats game. In the space of 3 games he went from injury riddled underachieving prospect in the VFL to star!

The app has him down for only 47% game time against the Suns, in which case 11 touches is plenty. Hard to know if that’s correct. In shorter games I’m actually fine with him getting around 15 touches a week. I’m much more concerned about his ball use than how much he gets of it. If he is out I hope he can still get in lots of skill sessions

If the Vanders news is correct then I think we have 5 realistic options: 1. McDonald in at CHF. Some combination of Bennell, Harmes, Fritsch on a wing. 2. ANB or Spargo in at half forward. Bennell/Harmes/Fritsch wing 3. Jones in on the wing and/or half forward. 4. Tomlinson on the wing 5. Hunt on a wing. The option I like best might actually be Hunt. Attribute wise he's probably the most similar to Vanders in that his speed to cover off defensively is vital. He didn't have the tank to play wing under normal circumstances but with the shorter quarters he can do really short burst rotations. It's the most risky but most upside of the replacements IMO.

Nice to let Brisbane know early in the week

Yeah it's a big slow action that takes time. Obviously not every player has to be the same but a lot of Salem's brilliance with his kicking is how quick and compact his action is. No wasted movement as he gets the ball straight to the foot. If he can get the ball on to his boot quicker and with more reliability he'll trust himself to kick more.

He was still pretty poor with the ball on the weekend but the second half in particular he started to find his range a bit more. In many ways I'd rather he cop the heat now and so there's no doubt in his mind and the clubs mind that he has to get better rather than it drag on and he becomes a poorly skilled player for life. Look at Viney who seems to be getting the message only now. Of course like all our inside mids they are victims of the lack of smart receivers around them. Langdon's made a difference in that regard but obviously we need more. Four big improvements I'd like to see from Clarry: 1. Find a reliable left foot get out of jail clearance kick - you can't get clean ball out of every stoppage, there's times you just have to get it forward rather than invite pressure. 2. Lower his ball drop and work on the technical aspects of his kicking so he can reliably hit targets going from right to left. He drops the ball high and has an inside outside leg swing which means his best kicks are from left to right - see the match winner to Petracca v Suns. 3. Long handballs - take the pressure off the need to kick whilst still getting the ball out to space. 4. Drive those legs out the front of the stoppage, make them catch you, if they get you they get you, but drive it forward.

The problem with attempting to drag Andrew’s deep is that every time you go inside 50 he’ll be there. I’d be trying to work switches and corridor kicks and get the ball to the other half forward flank and bypass Andrew’s altogether.

I'm not entirely sure how the structure changed this week with Jackson compared to Tom for 1/4 last week. I think Tom was starting to lead and jump at the ball better the last few weeks and can still crash a pack as well as a kid in his second game. And either he or Weid could do the forward ruck work and 2 minutes a quarter to rest Max. The most obvious difference between Tom and Jackson, and (Weid and Jackson) was Jackson's forward pressure. That's the one area where he did a few things that made a subtle but important difference. The 2 biggest factors in Max's dominance down the line more than the talls have been 1: forward pressure and 2: the skinny ground limiting options for the long down the line kick. That said, it's the perfect opportunity to make a disguised statement about Tom's form. Plus with all the short breaks Tom will be back in soon enough I'm sure.

Fritsch played full forward in the first 3 rounds and butchered easy set shots. I like that he's getting a mixture of time now deep and a bit higher. He and Weid seemed to have a nice set up today of leading to different spots inside 50. I'd be tempted to give him a bit of Brayshaw's wing time and have Gus fill time at half forward, just to get Fritter a bit more development around the ball and in the game. He's been a bit hit and miss in every aspect so far this year, a touch disappointing given in preseason he looked a class above the rest of our forwards.

I think Melksham has done enough to keep his spot. Given he does little defensively and is now playing up high he was the logical move if you wanted Tom and a taller lineup but I think Jake stays. He seems to be the leader of the forward line as well. Would be nice if he could just go 1 week without throwing the ball or giving away a 50. The only other move I'd think about is whether Bennell is fit enough to go on a wing and provide class from the wing, and then Tom goes in forward with Melk moving in to Harley's rotation and with Vanders out. But I think Vanders is a decent match up on paper for Mitch Robinson and it's best not to rush Harley from where he's been doing well. Vanders absolutely has to start hitting some targets. By hand as much as foot. But he sets the tone defensively and the midfield defending has been so much better since he moved to the wing at half time against the Tigers. Lockhart - one bad dropped mark, but otherwise he competes defensively and the talent to step and opponent and run is evident, surely we're just finding out if he's really up to the level, keep going with him.

Steve May is the only match up for Charles Cameron. About as quick as we've got to chase him on the lead and can hopefully hold him off and out mark him a few times to unsettle him. But we'll need someone like Lockhart at ground level to get on to the loose balls as well.

Too little is far better than too much, but just a little emotion and a bit of fire in the press conference would surely be good for everyone.

Remember what Jason Taylor said, these are 2 of the best small forward prospects since Cyril and Jamie Elliott. Weightman looks very good, but I've been so impressed by Pickett's ability to just repeat effort in attack or with pressure from half back to the forward line. If you've just been watching possessions or goals you've been missing out.

My biggest concerns with Hawthorn is if they get their kicking game going and can move around and through us if our pressure isn't on up forward and our backline gets run out of position. Smith on the wing/forward and Scully can really run and create gaps overlaps. No matter who we play up forward the Hawks will take intercept marks, so we have to make sure that they can then only go sideways/backwards/long down the line. I know it didn't work out in the first few weeks of the season but I'd think about Harmes at half back again purely because he has the run to go with Smith/Scully, where as Lockhart doesn't have a big tank and we don't want Salem doing all the hard running. Hibberd asked to do too much two way running isn't pretty either. I'd think about Joel Smith in a different role for the same reason, or even maybe a James Jordon if we want to take a chance. In the case of Harmes going back ANB would come in, because if we go with 2 talls, Melksham, Fritsch and Bennell we need to have some defensive pressure around those guys. The club will have GPS numbers on Lockhart and maybe we just rotate him and keep him fresh and it won't be an issue.

There's 2 important similarities though if LH's hypothetical about a pick 40 compensation is correct: 1. WIll the compensation be less than a trade return as it was with the Crows/Cats - yes. 2. Can the club theoretically afford to keep him given the contract likely won't be huge (Danger took a big discount) - with a slight asterisk about the salary cap situation due to covid I'd imagine if Daniher is only triggering 2nd round compo that's a yes. That's really all a club needs to threaten to force a match. They'll still trade the player, the AFL will just about force you to is my guess, but they'll get a late first or early second for him. Which other club has ever been in a position to force a trade? Usually the compensation so overvalues a player that it's not an issue. Personally I think even if he doesn't play for the rest of this year Sydney will be keen and I think Brisbane would have to be at least interested, plus Essendon have to make him an offer. I find it unlikely he walks without a contract figure that doesn't trigger end of first round compo.

Nic Nat dominated O'Brien in the hitouts and the clearance stats in the first half show the result of that and set up the Eagles win. Clearances alone aren't worth much but clean centre clearances in particular are incredibly valuable and that's where Nic Nat remains the dominant tap ruckman in the comp. O'Brien could've had 8 marks and 20 touches and probably still have been beaten by Nic Nat given the value the Eagles receive from his ruck dominance. I thought Viney played a slightly better game than Petracca with better decision making and ball use but even if he's using the ball well Viney won't hurt you all that much, you can still keep your structure. Petracca repeatedly broke down the integrity of the Suns stoppage game or gathered the ball at half forward which then makes a mess of their backline structure. This is overly simplistic but Viney gets it and hopefully hits a target or puts it to a good spot in a contest, the game carries on. Petracca gets it and comes bursting out of a pack or takes a grab across half forward and suddenly there's a lot of open team mates. Even if he misses most of his kicks the opposition are scrambling.

I'm not sure that kick was to the forwards avantage. Bennell got pressured and hacked it 50m up in the air. Neither Weideman or Lukosius had any idea what to do but Weid seemed to find the drop of the ball faster and take the mark. The kick to Bennell from Oscar was good but not quite perfect to allow an easy and run on, which was a shame because then we might've seen what Bennell can really do. We just haven't been able to get Harley in to space much, which happens at half forward, hopefully that comes soon. Some of that is on the talls. Lever is dropping marks (or getting spoiled or spoiling his own team mates) and May just doesn't take enough marks, he loves to body spoil his opponent under the ball and his marking technique is poor. The best way to take out the smalls is to mark it to begin with. Otherwise yes, our smalls just aren't all that good right now and we need them to play better or to find improvements. The Suns got a bit lucky with some of the goals too. That's a bold call given their form. Lever I can at least understand, his best footy has a lot of leadership characteristics. Melksham has to stop giving away 50m penalties and has to start giving a baseline of effort defensively. The piece of play where Vanders ran straight passed him to tackle an opponent was embarrassing.

Jeepers an appreciation thread after one good game. We love setting our players up to fail with jinxes. Oscar definitely does what the coaches want. My issue with that is does the coaches plan actually stack up? I reckon I've seen Oscar 100 times coming running up from the deep defensive position to get frontal pressure on a player running towards goal outside of scoring range who's about to be chased down from behind, only for that player to give the easiest over the top kick or handball. Did he follow the game plan - yes. Did it work - not at all. Or he'll sit deep and track the play beautifully and have clear best position to control the contest but we'll send half the backline up with him because they don't trust him to win the contest. Last year he got sent for a preseason in the middle of the year, so he was clearly a long way off his best, so I hope this year is the continuation of some of the form his showed in 2018 and earlier, but reading the play alone won't be enough.

Possession mean very little for a key defender. The only stat that matters there is you'd like him to up the number of marks, but Lever and May were in the side to mark it more than Smith anyway. There was some switching but his primary match ups were McKay (6 touches 1 behind, Rohan 6 touches 0 score, Riewoldt 9 touches 1 goal). Averaging 7 touches isn't so bad when your opponents only get that many too. You say 'bad run with injury'. If either May or Oscar are injured or need a break over the period where they cram multiple games in shorter breaks then Smith will be straight in, there's not really any other options.

The wing is a smart footballers position - knowing how to position around stoppages and where to run to receive the ball. He's a defender, he can position himself from an opponent and with team mates in a structure and whilst he's got to learn how to defend leading players he knows how to position himself between opponents from the basketball background. Otherwise he's a forward and you just embrace the chaos like a Gary Rohan at Geelong. The wing is too much to ask.

Complete rubbish. His 6.3 spoils a game is 12th in the entire competition. His 25% one on one losses is actually a respectable number alongside elite one on one defenders in Talia and Darcy Gardner. There's not a whole lot of difference between his stats and Dougal Howard who just got traded for an end of first round pick. He's not even all that different to Tom Jonas who captains the top of the ladder club. Yeah he made a couple of bad blues against Carlton -flying for a huge hanger that wasn't worth it and one very dumb contest. But he also made McKay look dead ordinary despite having very little midfield support after 1/4 time. Lever and Jetta were worse defenders in the same game, yet alone over the last decade. And if spoiling your team mates was a career ending crime then Gawn, Jetta, Tom McDonald, May and Lever would never play again. Worst case scenario he's depth behind May and Oscar in case one of them go down. A 24 year old back up key defender who's a bit rough around the edges isn't the wrong type of player to have on your list, it's exactly the right type so you've got some physically ready instead of turning to a kid. There's at least half a dozen guys on the list we are carrying holding us back more than having a bit of tall defensive depth - hint: most of them are still in Melbourne.

What position is he going to play: Half back flank: Unfortunately the speed that Richmond put in to the game in 2017 probably took out the option of the veteran on a half back flank similar to Matty Boyd. Lewis did it in 2018 and he had height and kicking on Jones, but even then got found out by the best teams and it was clear in 2019 that wasn't going to work. Wing: Jones adapted pretty well to the wing but once again we saw last year he struggled for speed and disposal under pressure in that role. It's easier in a better and fitter team and maybe he could play a bit on the wing ahead of say Vanders but his fitness will have to be top draw to run out to space and get enough of the ball. Forward: Hmmmm. He just doesn't tackle. And if you can't tackle can you play half forward these days? You better be getting a lot of the ball and using it well. In that regard Bennell is his most direct rival - another player who so far doesn't tackle or pressure much, but the skill upside of Bennell is superior. Melksham's the same, but Melk has overhead ability and hopefully starts finding his kicking boots. I get the feeling they're trying really hard to get his body 100% because his best attribute at half forward these days would be a tank that can all over the ground and keep finding the ball as the extra to the contest. I think his best role would actually be on ball with stints at half forward or wing to rest his body, but that's our strongest spot. This year was always going to be a struggle to get to 300 and once the 17 game season came in and he was dropped it was looking very unlikely. In some ways it could be good that it won't happen this year now because he gets to focus his efforts on playing very well once he gets a chance and making a genuine claim for next year. That's better than everyone than if he had got to 290ish and was limping along and they had to keep playing him out of obligation. Assuming he gets back in the side he'll then have a chance to show he can fight for it on merit.

We've been spoiled with a number of high quality kids coming in to the team over the last few years that we've forgotten that developing a player isn't linear and takes time. This magical idea of Smith being the root cause of Lever's problems has hidden the truth which was Smith actually played pretty well. Did a number of excellent things overshadowed by a couple of silly mistakes against Carlton, was very solid against Geelong and a couple of errors again obstructed what was an ok game against Richmond. I was wrong about Oscar coming back, but on a small sample size the reality might be that Oscar might just be a lot better that he was last year and it wasn't so much about dropping Smith as giving Oscar a well deserved go. Smith can struggle reading a man and the ball at the same time on a leading player, but from what I've seen his instincts on how to close space are very good. His marking should come on, his kicking looks far better and he can really run and pressure at ground level. So I'd be thinking really hard about getting him back in the side as a defensive half back flanker with some intercept game, shifting Hibberd in to Jetta's deeper role. Smith across half back could free Lever, Salem and Lockhart (or other attacking half back ie. Rivers etc) up more.

If we're hunting a key forward it has to be a better player than Tom and Weid. And really Tom, Weid, Petty and Jackson. No point adding another name to that list unless we feel like we're subtracting from that list too via trades. I don't think Wright has the athleticism or hunger to make it as a key forward, I think he's a bit similar to Brad Ottens as the type of big man who flourishes once he embraces being a ruck and using his skills around the ground. Our biggest list need right now I think is replacing Bennell and Melksham with a couple of hard running mids/forward flank type players who can go on ball and get the handballs from the bulls and can also provide pressure and link play in to the forward line. I really hope Bennell can keep improving but it's a lot to bank on and hopefully Melk gets it together as well. And even if they do we can find room on a wing and half back for skilled runners. Interesting to read with targeted Zak Butters in the draft as he's the exact type we need. If a star key forward is out of the question then it's looking for classy mid/flanker types.

It has with Lever. Both a little mentally and maybe physically fragile.