DeeSpencer

Amen, someone paying attention. His speed and strength come at a cost and that is a poor tank, it's part of why he struggles to start the year each year. And largely why he's a full back/back pocket rather than an intercepting machine at half back - apart from the whole lack of game sense.

Bump this one in April next year when he once again looks like he's never played the game before.

If the things Mahoney and Goodwin were doing that led to 10 wins, 12 wins and then 14 wins and 2 finals last year could suddenly change to this year why exactly can't they change again to more success?

5 years of sustained improvement and a good finals showing? I don't know who Richmond got to review their footy department, I think it was Gale the CEO and the President deciding to bring Balme in and a number of assistant coach changes. But there were obviously a fair number of people - Hardwick, the fitness staff, some of the coaching group - who stayed as well.

Who do you get to do an external review? There's not many qualified experienced football people around. A former football director Jason Dunstall, maybe? Former coaches? If the club are happy with Mahoney's work over a period of time then you trust him - along with guidance from the CEO and Board and input from the other leaders of the footy department - to make the changes as required. An external review would probably only find the same problems that we can all see. Then it may or may not propose a solution of sacking Mahoney or Goodwin, both of which seem unlikely. So skip that step and get on with Mahoney and Goodwin getting in people they think will help.

Hot take: Gawn is not a very good centre square ruckman. The follow up work is so important in there and isn't his strength at all, so he stays close to the ground rather than jumping for clean hit outs. Apart from that neither Oliver nor Viney have even passable kicks on their non dominant sides (Clarry not terrible but not even good) and Viney's lost the burst to get clear. And Brayshaw's too slow to even be at some of the centre bounces. Teams are using quicker players at centre bounces to get that balance and we don't have a forward who the coaches trust to come in and do that. Petracca kind of does but he's not super quick changing directions and is another player without a left. Around the ground Gawn is more suited to winning decisive hit outs but around the ground stoppages rely on wingers, half backs and half forwards and we are clearly short on quality there.

Yeah this is bad, but it starts with the awful awful kick I think it is from Hibberd, that instead of going to Gawn as he's running towards the boundary comes in board by about 20m for no reason. Then instead of getting extra numbers at the contest sweeping through to win the ball and take it away we end up with a bunch of guys stuck in in no mans land too close. Midfield play is pretty much a series of dice rolls, knowing when you've got the ball and to take off forward. I don't blame Brayshaw for his initial movement, but to then not turn back is bad. And why at least one of the mids isn't with that collection of Pies mids (who by the way have been lazy and haven't run) is beyond me. The cherry on top is the half forwards aren't smart or quick enough to round up the mids and cover the corridor either. Pretty much it's bad coaching and it's lazy midfield group, but it's also a team making dreadful skill errors and likely trying to mix up plans to generate ball movement and scoring as well. It's crap that it's gone on all season but it's not an easy one to fix now.

Are we sure we're leaving him and it's not him leaving us? Interesting that he and Goodwin could share the coaching box for so long right next to each other and not be on the same page. I'm not against changes but we better be bringing in some good names. Goodwin losing the guy we thought was his mentor (Macca) and the guy we thought was his closest colleague at the same time worries me.

His marking is better and his short kicks now hit their targets more often not. But I worry his defensive mistakes won't improve. He's a defensive beast when tasked with a simple situation - see ball, punch ball - but when a forward can move him around he often makes bad errors.

Short term: would hate to lose him. Long term..... it's not just the mistakes with the ball that are the issue, it's the way he gets caught out of position when forced to make choices as well as some of the bad defensive errors he makes like spoiling back in to the corridor and not being able to use both hands that concern me. Will he ever be smart enough to play consistently well under pressure? But with Hibberd looking close to the end and Jetta the same, as much as needing a key defender we need him as a back pocket like he played on the weekend.

I think it lasted 4 weeks and whilst he wasn't great in the first 2 weeks in round 3 he had 8 clearances and looked very good against North and his tank and play has been stronger this year. Results don't matter for the next 2 weeks, the only concern is Salem doing so well we have to start him there next year but that seems unlikely to me. Give him a go just for something different. I'd give Harmes a go across half back and put Salem in the midfield for the last two weeks. For next year we certainly need another gun half back to take Jones' spot.

Gifting games to young players who can't consistently perform well at VFL level is how we got in this situation to begin with. Stretch and Corey Wagner can get 25-30 touches in the VFL, so let's pick Jordon who gets about 10-15? Or Chandler who I like as a little forward pocket but is good for 1 goal and 8 touches a game. Nope. I like both of those players. Let's see them in the preseason games next year after a summer of hard work, not now. Plus they might have a Casey final to play if they beat Frankston and then get lucky.

King has very little inability to think. He's the kind of idiot who gets caught drink driving in this day and age where you can get an uber in less than 3 minutes. If you are critical of a coaching move you have to lay out the pro's and cons and what did and didn't work. To simply say these 2 things didn't work because the team lost is about as stupid as it gets. Let's look at the Gawn/Grundy match up: Grundy's not only been the best ruck this year but quite possibly the best player in the comp. Asking Gawn to stick tight to him rather than drop a kick behind play or drag Grundy forward makes perfect sense. We had the long kicks covered with May, Frost and Lever, we didn't need Gawn behind the play. Could Gawn have run off Grundy more when we had the ball - yes. He did once to get a goal. But Gawn's not the best forward - he's a bad shot for goal - and we also needed Max playing the 103 minutes of game time that he did play given our lack of back up. As far as I'm concerned the 'tagging' was about keeping Gawn and Grundy together on the park and then giving Max an ability to win the contests. Max still was involved in plenty of contests, we won the clearances, all but levelled the inside 50's - 43 v 44 - and when our run and pressure was up to AFL standard we were right in the contest. When it wasn't for patches in the 2nd and 3rd we were miles off. I'd rather our coaches make moves based on us playing the footy that will win games rather than planning to be rubbish. And when we played well in patches the Gawn move made perfect sense. The Sidebottom factor: Sidebottom played most of the game as a wing and parts of it as a half forward. At both times he was left alone at stoppages, let's look at why: Wing: Melbourne made the coaching move to drop a wingman to the edge of the square to cover a half back and to then run a half back in at centre bounces. Why? Because the Pies centre square midfield is faster than ours and really dangerous from the middle. Adam Treloar - who broke the game open a couple of times in the middle quarters in transition play - was minded at stoppages by Harmes and stopped from those centre square bursting runs. Grundy: who plays like an extra midfielder was held up. Brayshaw, Viney, Petracca etc weren't punished for lack of pace or defensive effort and we won the centre clearances 8 to 5. The Eagles don't have to tag Treloar because their inside midfield set up features Yeo and Shuey who are both super quick (and Gaff, Redden etc). For them it makes more sense to sit on Sidebottom, it doesn't mean it's the case for us. Until the last 2 weeks Sidebottom has had a mediocre season for his talents, whilst Treloar has been the most prolific midfielder in the comp and is using the ball better. If Harmes plays on Sidebottom and/or if we left the front of the centre square open we've got Treloar running straight in to the Pies forward line without pressure. Could JKH, Dunkley or Corey Wagner been sent directly to Sidebottom - maybe, would they have really done the job of stopping him - almost certainly not. Half forward: Sidebottom played as the high half forward coming right up to stoppages, often leaving Jones and/or Salem back from the contest as the sweeping defenders. Something that nearly every team in the comp does. Teams rely on their wings and mids to man the half forwards and use their own half forwards to get involved at the other side. Shock horror that Sidebottom got involved more around the packs and was more dangerous than JKH, Baker, Corey Wagner etc and found room because the likes of Brayshaw, Oliver and Viney don't defend the outer ring of a clearance. Does that really mean it was a coaching mistake? Again, in the first and last quarter when our pressure and running was with the Pies it wasn't an issue. The Coaches also made an adjustment and sent Lewis to man the back of the stoppages as a half forward himself, taking the space that Sidebottom was operating in. So they did make a change during play. However that meant we were one short up forward and hindered our ability to score - that was already not great - and our ability to lock the ball in forward (which was already pretty much non existent). Salem: As above I don't really think he was the problem with Sidebottom. I think teams have put a lot of time in to him and with Jones at half back playing the sweeper role it's meant Salem has to do more defensively. It's the same problem as last year when Lewis was the main uncontested cheater at half back. Apart from that he's pretty much had about enough playing half back for a crap side after a huge first half of the year. I'm disappointed he's dropped of a little but King's pretty much called him out on something that isn't his fault and after a couple of down games. I'd certainly give him a go in the midfield just for a fresh look for the last 2 rounds but in the scheme of things it's all bit meh. I'm sorry Mr King but your peanut gallery level analysis doesn't hold up. Melbourne's coaches made a choice and an adjustment to that as well. Someone was always going to get off the chain when the pressure and running dropped away. The coaches could've made different match up choices and he could've written about Grundy and Treloar as the best Pies players.

Reasonable point but not entirely fair given Jones was playing as one of if not the teams most damaging midfielders at that time, you'd hope there's some stoppage structure stuff he's doing in there but otherwise his job was more to get the ball, tackle, provide constructive praise for his team mates and he was doing all of that. Hodge was playing the role of backline general and the backline's always got the most chance to set up and work together given they can adjust to where the ball is and where their opponents are. When Hodge was in the midfield in the prime of his career he was probably still talking a lot about stoppage set ups but was probably getting yelled at by Gibson about the backline system. Really the video highlights the importance of having leaders across all 3 lines. May and Lever are surely the guys who will be tasked to organise the backline and if Jones signs on and gets a role across half back I'd imagine he'd be part of that.

I'll give you McCartney but I'll say Roos was still head coach at the time, he had to be ok with the idea and I'm not saying McCartney was even bad, he might've been the right choice for then but not now. Otherwise it was Roos' job to give the tick of approval to the others. PJ bought in Roos to get the footy department right. If he had no faith in Mahoney, Misson, Taylor and Goodwin then what the hell did we pay him megabucks for if they were going to out last him? Roos wasn't a standard senior coach with a team around him, he surely had both the power and the responsibility to make changes anywhere in the footy department.

The last thing we need is Roos as a coach stacking the list with plodding midfielders and creating a game plan of flooding the backline. Goodwin got the game plan on the right path but there's been a few errors along the way. Fitness and injury management is the big one. List management has been another - for some reason we've clung too many who clearly weren't going to help us but that loyalty comes about when you think you're closer than you are. Then the coaches have to be responsible for the lack of skill development and the lack of cohesion on field. We pretty much start every game 5 goals down because of a number of players with poor skills and a number of players who repeatedly make the same mistakes in terms of positioning and team work - running to the same space, too many up, not sealing off the corridor or goal square etc. Would Roos make a good mentor checking in on all things footy department to make sure the above issues are rectified and not repeated - I'd probably say yes. But he also left the club with Goodwin, Mahoney, Misson, Jason Taylor and Brendan McCartney. Probably the 5 pillars of football club and 2 are already gone. If the other 3 are good at their jobs then we'll sort out the problems, if they aren't then Roos was no use to us long term.

I don't like his one on one efforts nor am I a fan of his kicking under pressure. It scares me that there's times when he's Oscar McDonald one on one as a defender and Frost with the ball. But......... Watch him play and you'll also see: - He comes over the top and spoils definitively as a third man and bravely - He peels off and intercept marks - He can handball on both sides of his body accurately and quickly - He gives good encouragement to team mates - He makes space, shepherds and runs to receive like a good player The best backline interceptors - McGovern, Harris Andrews, Sicily can all take an opponent and defend them to a level Lever can't now but he could still improve in that way. Otherwise though there's no reason Lever can't get back to the best of his games when the rest of the side does their jobs too. There were some good signs against the Eagles and Saints. Foolish to make too much of a judgement right now.

There's a rule about allowing the other ruck a chance to jump at the ball but as long as Grundy is under the bounce/throw up and goes for the ball then I wouldn't penalise him for taking up space. The interesting this is the 1m rule now that says both rucks have to separate. If both rucks want the same position I guess they have to split it half half then fight for it once the ball goes up? Unfortunately Preuss is rubbish and maybe someone like Vanders is injured because if I were coaching against Grundy I'd absolutely rough him up. The Eagles did it to Gawn but he was very sore after 2 big finals, that they then did it to Grundy in the granny was even better and worked a treat.

No thanks, the last thing we need to do now is hand out undeserved debuts. If a new player is to get a chance it should be Jordon but even then it would be getting pretty desperate. They won't play well. About the best that can happen is they kick a goal and we all get a bit excited but it's adding a number to the jumper list for no reason.

You'd think Hore, Lockhart and Stretch would only have to get through the game and perform at an ok level to get picked in the seniors next week, although the Sunday to Friday turn around is less than ideal. With Box Hill losing today a win would put Casey in the 8, although they'd need Box Hill to lose one of the last 2 against the Blues or Pies due to the final round bye.

Gawn won't be. Too many good mids and even though it was a bit of a 0-0 draw today they'll give the points to Grundy, call it a split for the year and give him the spot based on games where he racks up a bunch of handballs and uncontested marks on the back flank rather than doing his job and getting down the line.

Disappointing we couldn't keep the scoreboard ticking just a little in the 2nd and 3rd to make a game of it. But it is what it is. The same errors keep occurring and we'll likely keep occurring until the side gets a fresh start next year. The midfield is so one paced they are forced to drop the wingman at centre bounces to stop a quick burst out. No issues with that plan. Apart from a drop off in intensity in the middle quarters when Oliver was off or forward and Viney got tired they did a pretty decent job. We just have to get in about 4 fresh bodies in around the midfield mix who can make smart decisions about how/when to run, can lay some tackles and can keep pressure up. Forward line did about the best they could. Fritsch and Petracca looked excellent but were supported with stuff all. The defensive aspects are a mess. Kick outs the most excusable that there's no plan at all. Backline - mostly did ok against an undermanned forward line but still a lack of cohesion and trust with the talls. Lever kept getting dragged deep because the midfield and forwards couldn't hold position. Hunt can't lay a tackle or break a line so he's not valuable down back even though we need someone with pace. Hibberd's lost it. Jones has lost it. Salem's going through the motions after carrying the backline pretty well for about 15 weeks. This isn't fun or good for anyone but it is what it is and we've just got to get through the last 2 weeks. Hopefully May's injury isn't serious. Hopefully the way Petty's carrying his shoulder isn't serious and it can all be over soon.

Preuss hasn't been good up forward but in the one chance he got in the ruck he did the job. We're stuck with him for a while so I'd be looking at finding the next guy rather than rushing out to replace Preuss with a different older back up for a year or two.

Looks to me like he's lost a yard of pace or hard running, the Hawks have used him at half back a fair bit this year and he's kicking more end on end floaters than ever. If we want a pure outside runner we'd be better off looking at Brandon Ellis who has some flaws but as a free agent in his prime could do the job. There's plenty of other alternatives as well. Whatever we do we shouldn't involve pick 2 or go after a 31 year old.

The reason they keep losing - particularly after the first month of the season - is because they are so young, not because they lack talent. They have a pick 3 from last year who hasn't even got on the park. Their list is far more talented than Melbourne and Carlton at the same stage. That's the argument against a priority pick. If the AFL wants to help them improve quickly then help them sign some free agents or mature players.