DeeSpencer

When you take out Hurn and Jetta kicking it to you and take out the options of kicking it to Kennedy and Darling are we sure Masten is better than JKH and Stretch? The basic stats on this year say he wasn't. Upgrading the bottom end of the list is smart if you're upgrading to an AFL quality player, I'm not sure Masten still is one. I'd probably stick with one of our own guys who's still young enough to improve or take a chance with the draft.

If he was white I'm not sure anyone would mention him as having speed or pace. Falling for the stereotype on that one. A crafty footballer at his best who was a sharp mover but never anything special in a straight line. Now he doesn't really have the size, speed, strength or fitness to be damaging at half forward and can't draw free kicks as he used to. I can't see us being interested.

Not that it's every just one night but a night on the charlie for your birthday doesn't necessarily make you a trouble maker, nor does having a knockabout country mates. I'd bet money on Clarrie having come across a few undesirables in his time. Family is often a better guide. But my concern with Murray is he's a bog ordinary kick. Might run really well and win contests but there's no point getting it if you can't use it.

Ouch, poor guy. This one might be a costly one for the club/insurers as well. Rotten luck for all involved. We'll never know if he could play at all but he looked like he had a bit of something at trainings.

I really feel like from an on field coaching and tactics situation that Goodwin in charge of the side whilst Roos oversaw him and took responsibility worked very well in 2016 - to win 10 games with that list was brilliant coaching - and set us up well for 17/18. A lot of the failures in fitness, injury management, list management and game style had roots in that same time frame but overall I'd still give it a tick. The problem with transitioning from one coach to another is you're more likely to either keep things in place or bend towards the new coach without a proper clean out. Which should be fine, but if you aren't well set up across your footy department you risk the situation we are in now. But that's true for keeping a long term coach and if you bring in a completely new coach you can toss out all the good with the bad. But for the actual succession - as long as Worsfold doesn't pull a Mick Malthouse - I'd actually think it will work for Essendon short term. Long term they might end up needing a harder look at their list, their full coaching set up, their medical staff etc.

Both teams were content to bomb the ball up and down the line, if you look at the heat maps there's almost no switching or corridor play. And with multiple talls at either end it's not like he was going to be an aerial presence. He was really the 22nd player used to fill some ruck time, a little bit at half forward (which isn't his go) and some wing time. It wasn't a good performance but I thought he did ok in the ruck (at least compared with Mumford) forcing the Brisbane rucks to hit to predictable areas and I noticed a few times that he does keep his space well at stoppages which is another key part to the wing role. All comes down to the what the contract is. If we're paying him valuable money it might turn in to a waste, if he's on a pretty standard contract then it might prove to be money well spent for a good character/no fuss type player.

Oscar Allen has very fresh legs, half back flankers can be found and so can competent rucks. They are still in a far better position than Freo. I always thought Gaff's contract resigning was odd and that he wasn't 100% locked in forever and I have thought about whether we have a nibble, but really if we were chasing an expensive outside mid I'd have won the race for Brad Hill and gone down that route. Gaff these days seems not dangerous enough on the outside and really more of a hard running accumulator who skirts the stoppages getting handballs from Shuey and Yeo and goes contest to contest. Watching him closely I can see why the Eagles didn't miss him all that much last year. We could do with that kind of player, but at the same time we could get Brayshaw, Oliver and Viney fitter and develop their outside games.

Still [censored] off that Patricia did a Lions special and they couldn't get me the tip in round 1. Pats Chiefs Browns

Hodge is absolutely locked in at Brisbane for next year and probably the short/medium term but it's worth working on him now for if/when he comes back to Victoria.

I still think the sky is the limit for Lever but it has to be in the right role. Haynes - an AA squad member this year - is about what I expect next year. Get back to intercepting and at least break even in more contests. Plus better ball use, those guys I name all use it very well (apart from the occasional Howie special). If we got our midfield and forward pressure spot on we could get Hore in the side alongside Lever but then we'd be a bit top heavy like the Cats which worries me because I still think the Tigers model is where footy is going. Speed. I think we can carry one bad skills guy in the backline as long as they have good decision making. Smith can potentially have a higher decision making ceiling than Frosty, the basketball background can help with that. I'm not expecting anything from Smith anymore, he's just missed too much crucial development time. But if we commit to Fritsch and bring in reinforcements up forward then I think the depth is more useful down back. Ideally both but at least one of Jetta and Hibberd better play well next year or we are in big trouble, we need replacements waiting for deep small/medium defenders.

I really like Petty but the gap between his good games and ordinary games at VFL and good efforts and ordinary efforts at AFL down back is a little scary. When he's on it's good, when he's forced under the ball or misreads it he gets beaten badly and lacks the pace to fix it. If Frost goes I'd have him in line for the CHB role but if he's messing up (as above) I'd like to see more of him forward, the lack of speed and dynamic skills isn't ideal there but he jumped at the ball way better than I expected, held a few marks and kicked straight and that's half the battle these days. I'd genuinely consider an outside the box solution next year and swap Weideman and Petty between CHB and CHF as required. It might end in disaster (and I wouldn't be chopping and changing every game) but I just think the best possible development for both of those guys would be getting time at either end. I reckon the Weid would hold so many more marks after some time down back.

Talia and Hartigan took the dangerous marking forwards - usually talls, although sometimes Hartigan would move to a medium marking type player and Lever would take a dud tall and dictate position. Jake Kelly was also there to take a mid sized player - he's the most similar to Hibberd at this stage of his career (and Luke Brown played on the smalls). The reality is Lever is most like Nick Haynes, Tom Stewart and Jeremy Howe and not like a proper key defender who intercepts like McGovern. At this stage Lever's not even as good as Haynes and Howe one on one but hopefully he gets to that level with a preseason. It's a vital position if done well. We'll always need another taller player to go with May to free Lever up to play his best footy. Hore doesn't have the speed, strength or height, he might be good enough to still get a game but he's not ideal. If Frost goes I think we'll see a competition between Oscar and Petty which doesn't inspire a lot confidence not but might not be too bad (especially if Petty wins). I'd also be moving Joel Smith back (assuming he's still on the list), he's undersized but at least has the athleticism, even if he's not the answer to replace Frost he's a chance to replace Hibberd or Jetta.

He’s kicked more than 30 goals in 4 seasons, might be 5 after this year. But sure, he’ll add nothing more than Ben Ken. Be concerned about injuries and overpaying - but free agents are always overpaid - don’t be silly and say he doesn’t have talent. How do you want us to play moneyball? There’s not a lot of good players out there for free or at below market cost, particularly not goal kickers. Go through the list of goal kickers who have kicked more than 30 goals, not many of them would be cheap. Sam Lloyd is one who was a good pick up by the dogs but he stank in the final, his home and away season goals probably outweigh his talent

My mistake. Wins not ladder position, I forgot that going from 2 wins to 4 wins didn't come with a step up the ladder. 4 years of ladder improvement, 5 years of wins improvements. Even if making a prelim last year was overachieving we had 10 win and 12 win seasons before that, a long way from our goal but also miles from the dark days of 4 wins or the 2 win Neeld season. Premierships are the aim, Brownlow's, Rising stars, AA's - popularity contests as much as anything most of the time. This years step back was dramatic but we won the same amount of games this year as Brisbane did last year and they are still a chance of making the grand final. It's possible to be critical about a lot of the club whilst still having some belief that we can get back to at least where we were in 16/17 if not better. I don't really buy the idea that the players aren't allowed to be positive, if they don't have belief that they'll bounce back what hope is there that it will happen?

The Members forum is a failed Collingwood idea, where Eddie would try to calm the masses. It's not a Melbourne thing. We are a bespoke club that should be centred around our history, our legacy and being small, efficient and smart. Quality over quantity. Peter Jackson seemed to understand that, he linked the club in to the city and focused on the heartland. Pert's desire for 70k members and silly things like a members forum won't get us anywhere. 2018 is done. Finished. Mistakes have been made, they are being rectified. If the administration wants to rebuild trust with the fan base then get the players back in to training in November and preach community interaction at open training sessions. Shake some hands, talk to the people who turn up. Anyone else is just hot air.

Did we or did we not improve ladder position every year for 5 years? Nothing in your post refutes what is a clear fact.

The Pies might decide with his injury history that the free agent compensation might be more worth to them, our contract could go all the way up to an end of first round pick compensation. With Stephenson and De Goey they don't really need Elliott and they could use the money and draft pick to sign a key forward (still rumours of Pies in to Jeremy Cameron) or draft some midfield replacements. Not to mention Grundy is out of contract next year and De Goey as well. Wouldn't shock me at all if there's a price point with Elliott where they have to bow out.

Or if you're spending your future free space. The worst possible result isn't being unable to afford Frost and him leaving or even trading out someone like Brayshaw. The worst possible result is locking in a bunch of cap space then being unable to match a big offer for Petracca after a breakout season next year.

A risk but a risk worth taking. If we think Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Petracca, Harmes, Gus, May, Lever, Salem, McDonald etc is the basis of a quality team just short in a few areas then we have to go all in on fixing those problems. What are the two biggest problems - lack of outside run and lack of goal kickers. Has the potential to go balls up but Elliott's a genuine forward talent on a list that is devoid of them.

It's hard to really judge these signings until after the trade period where you look and who came and went and how we are placed for depth but it is what it is I guess. I don't think he has the skills or decision making to be a regular but I guess his speed/endurance is decent and he did a couple of good things towards the end of the year.

Hawthorn would do with Frost exactly what they did with James Frawley. They'd try to have him play zone defending, probably end up moving him forward when he can't get the hang of it or keeps turning over the ball then eventually have him just sit on a man and bring the ball to ground. If he picks it up he handballs or kicks it simple and often sideways. In fact he'd probably just end up replacing Frawley at some stage in the next 24 months. I'm in the camp of keeping Frost because we don't have depth of back pockets or lock down key defenders but the idea that the Hawks are going to turn him in to star or capitalise on his pace to make him an attacking player don't seem right.

His decision making, tackling and poor aerial efforts would be found out even more on the wing. Half forward is his role, it's exactly the same role Clarkson got Scully for this year. We just weren't good enough to have that role provide value this year, but the coaches putting him straight back in multiple times this year tells me they still think it's vital. He protects the midfield by closing off the corridor and he tires out back flankers chasing him around all day. Simple development coaching on how to tackle and how to win the ball and get out of pressure with simple decision making could go a long way to fixing his greatest weaknesses.

He fumbles under pressure. He gathers and holds the ball in a kicking position and blind turns in to traffic. He slips away from tackles when he's in a vulnerable position. That's 3 things you absolutely do no want in a midfielder. What he does do well is run his backside off contest to contest, which makes him an up the ground player not an inside 50 player. What position is that most beneficial to - a half forward flanker. What position does he play - a half forward flanker. ANB doesn't need reinventing. All he needs to do is play the exact role he played in 2018 but to do it with more poise under pressure, better tackling technique and a slight but important work on forward craft when he finds himself forward. He went backwards big time this year mostly because the team went backwards and whilst I wouldn't bet on him being a long term quality player he doesn't need huge improvements to get back to a useful role player.

The turnover was one thing, but that's not what's stopping Frosty being an excellent player. Smart players with poor skills can just dial back the difficulty and be very handy. Dylan Grimes is a perfect example of the kind of ball user Frosty could be. The thing that this clip really highlights is Frost's lack of game sense. He lets Kennedy go up to the contest for a 2 on 1, not helping Hore at all, then isn't mentally quick enough to cut the angle down and tackle Petrucelle before he gets by him. Luckily he has great effort and speed to run him down but a smarter defender would've made a better play earlier.

He took a mark directly in front and kicked it further away from goal than towards it. He is what he is.