DeeSpencer

Not really the Topic headline I would've gone for. Rawlings promoted to Demons forward coach. Rooke demoted to development role. McCartney shifted back in to development. Changing the forwards coach was a pretty clear reality after record forward line inefficiency. Not saying it was all Rooke's fault but it was time to make some changes.

Name me one person outside the umpires who thinks that was a reasonable result, or probably didn't laugh that Gus was ahead of Oliver. Completely irrelevant. What is relevant is Brayshaw this year is playing like a future Dom Tyson. If another team offers up value for him we either say yes or have a plan that involves better training methods and a new head of fitness vastly improving him.

No club will chase after Viney with his injury history either. I also think Viney has far better defensive efforts and ability to break from the contest than Gus. If we want more skill then Viney is equal or worse than Brayshaw, but if we want more two way run and pressure then Gus is the one to go. As seen by the coaches shifting him to the wing this year.

Plan A: Trade Brayshaw if the value is high enough, particularly if we can find or develop another high quality on baller plus fill the gaps in our side in terms of outside run and class. Plan B: Hope that with a good preseason Gus, Viney, Oliver, Harmes and Petracca plus the rest of the side are all fitter and thus finding more space to run in, able to effectively rotate through the forward line and make decision making and skills easier. I'm more than open to trading Brayshaw but it has to be for good value. Selling him cheaply due to a poor season won't help us. I dislike his defensive efforts away from the contest and his ball use as much as anyone. Even last year I was critical of him. But there's still a lot to work with.

Also my conspiracy theory on this wouldn't extend to the AFL so much as Disney sponsoring the stadium. They want that place to be a safe haven for kids. Funny when Marvel movies are mostly violent!

Reasonable security expectation: 1. Security on the gates 2. Visible police presence inside and outside the ground, monitoring hot spots and walking the aisles 3. Security dispersed through the venue And maybe: 4. A text line for antisocial behaviour Overall I think the text line is a good thing but it does create a culture of dobbing that seems to be all the rage these days. Unfortunately we've lost either tolerance or the ability to politely say something to disarm a situation and not only that but instead of getting off our fat backsides to go find an attendant at the back of every bay we now text it in. So you have a text line and you get: 5. Antisocial hotline zone supervisors 6. Behavioural awareness officers Because being a progressive orginisation Marvel can't do anything without snazzy titles and flouro vests. Gone are the days of sensible uniforms and being in the background. Now it's all about a visible presence. And whilst it's unfair to judge these people on race or migrant status it's reasonable to ask what experience they have with football crowds and where to draw the line. Hopefully they learn to scale it back a little and be street smart. It shouldn't be that hard to know who the real troublemakers are. And hey, FFS can people stop fighting at the footy. The verbal abuse stuff never becomes a problem if a bunch of idiots don't start punching on! Control yourself tools.

Thanks for the report. Wanted to avoid turning this in to a goal kicking thread but I think that's the way it will go anyway, so here's my two cents. Players have to have a routine and they have to have a workable repeatable technique. It doesn't have to be perfect but it does have to get the basics right - namely the ball drop has to be smooth, as low as possible and consistent with the motion of the kick. It's probably not practical to have every goal kicking session slowed down to feature a coach working with the players. At some stage they need to just practice goal kicking by themselves and not be coached through it. As long as it's monitored to make sure they are sticking to a routine and keeping their technique that's fine by me. And yes, when it comes to game day you have to be in your routine and in a clear head space. Focusing on technique never works, just ask any golfer. The focus has to be on the routine which should be a series of mental and physical processes.

- Win 3 of the next 6 as the backline settles in and forward line regresses to the mean from complete disaster to ok - Beat the Tigers and Pies to disrupt their run in to finals - Coast the last 2 weeks to preserve draft position and then dive in to the mock drafts - Seeing what Lockhart, Baker, Hore can keep doing and maybe adding Dunkley and Chandler to the list of debuts. - Hopefully adding Hannan and Kolodjashnij to the list of guys we might be able to rely upon in positions of weakness - Preuss!!! I'm not a believer that he's best 22 but I think he needs a run of games at some stage to preserve Gawn - Vanders, Jetta, Joel Smith, Tommy Sparrow all back healthy and ready to do a full preseason

And no one would argue with turning Billings and 20 in to Salem (who's still waiting patiently to get his chance in the midfield) and Tyson who was very useful for a number of years. We got it wrong on Kelly, but I will say the guy gets it pretty easy at a Giants team full of elite running mids who play exactly to his style. He has a thin build and light on style when playing inside mid and Harmes ate his lunch last year when he copped some attention. The one thing on Tyson that amazes me is looking back on his early highlights how much quicker he moved and how he was far more confident with his kicking. It was never a strength but he backed himself. Did the game speed up so quickly in 5 years that he's gone from adequately paced to slow? Or was he Dave Misson'ed with knee injuries? Top end pace was lacking but the lateral movement and sidestep were right up there.

He struggled at the start of this year playing forward, it's only when they swapped him and Libba that his form took off. Good player but not what we need based on the cost. Yeah he'd be great for us but it would mean moving Brayshaw or Viney and I'd rather just get those guys right. Viney hasn't been nearly as bad as some around here think and Brayshaw should come good even though I'm not a huge believer in him as a superstar. 2018 might be his peak but it's a matter of getting him back to that level with a better defensive game and cleaner kicking. In terms of improving midfield and high half forward depth we should develop Kyle Dunkley, Sparrow and Spargo. James Jordon played forward/mid for Casey before the bye as well and had some nice moments. And I still want to see Lockhart with a preseason up around the ball more. Trade for needs, draft for depth.

Longmire hasn't made a move in a decade. Pyke never does anything different including when watching a grand final slip away. Brad Scott did the same thing over again Richo has plan A which is pressure and that's it Ross Lyon's had the same plan for years Leon Cameron has the Ferrari almost always running in straight lines Worsfold can't fix Essendon's all or nothing plan The coaches who try things are: Clarkson Hardwick Bevo - way too much since the Premiership Chris Scott adapts each year And Kenny Hinkley mixed it up as well Goodwin's plan with moving the ball and defending has been reasonably consistent. That's plan A and it's clearly what he believes in. But he regularly makes personnel changes looking for a better balance and he changes things within games to mix things up every time the team is struggling. In both of the last 2 seasons he's made changes to try to sure up the defensive side of the game - last year it was Maxy behind the ball, this year it's been a dedicated focus on transition running after an awful start. A lot of Melbourne supporters miss things because they are frustrated with the side but even against the Pies: - Spargo starts on the wing given the job on Tom Phillips - Frost's injury sends Fritsch back who was playing forward - Petracca and Hannan get moved up around the ball to create more numbers at the stoppages - Hunt moves on to the wing to add more pace - Fritsch/Hunt/Hannan/T Mac/Garlett/Petracca all tried as the deepest forward looking for a match up

In regards to Goodwin: - High work ethic - Strong bond with players - Willing to try new plans and adapt far more than a lot of AFL coaches - keeps calm in the coaches box and media I get the feeling he has a few blindspots with things he doesn’t know. The management of injuries fits there. And I think he could go to another level if he showed more of his personality at times. I get why coaches are guarded but I’d like to see him open up. Both of those faults can easily improve with experience and support around him.

Bevo was a tax man at Austrac. Don Pyke I believe ran a mining company. Clarko was a PE teacher. Not usually a position that requires great intelligence. Buckley has refined media skills from his playing and media days but took years to use that to his advantage. Hardwick has a great feel for his players. But his coaching career changed dramatically when Balme - a failed coach - gave him great support. Longmire I sense isn’t all that clever but he has excellent strength of character. There’s never a perfect coach, there’s plenty of ways to do it.

Games naturally open up in the last quarter, unless one team with the lead sits back and plays very conservatively. Once the game is open midfield transition and one on one defending becomes vital and they are areas we struggle in. The one on one defending should improve now we’ve got quality defenders back, although we’ll still miss Nev. The midfield transition has improved since the start of the year but is unlikely to reach a high level this season.

Because with Frost off we had no one else. When JDG and Stephenson were both forward: Hibberd had to to got to Stephenson. May had to go to De Goey. Any other defender - Hore, Lever, Fritsch, Wagner on either of those guys would've been a disaster. That's why long term we probably need to replace Wagner or Hore with a mobile shut down player, although short term getting Frost and eventually Jetta should be a good start. I thought May did a number on Cox a few times early, held a couple of marks and got good hands to others. Then he held De Goey pretty well. Ran him under the ball with good physical pressure on every occasion aside from once when De Goey turned him and goaled. May isn't a pure lock down defender but he can do it. Frost should be the lock down tall defender. Lever the interceptor. May then can take the match up and play it as per the circumstances.

I'm sure his training routine has them sailing straight through but under game pressure his desire to get it straight on to the boot seems him hook it right. The moment you get him aiming way to the right would be the moment he kicks it straight and it misses as well. It's a flaw in his game but I'm more worried about our forwards than Max.

Absolutely missing Melksham. He was one of our 2 reliable forwards with Tommy Mc last year. There's a few things I don't love about his game - he's not a good pressure player and can be a lazy defender when not given a task, he likes to draw a free kick and in particular this year he's been iffy about taking shots on goal from around 50m out. But he leads up at the ball, plays in front and can kick to a forwards advantage. I guess the silver lining of him being out for a while is it means he's not covering for the weaknesses of others. Every mid and half forward now knows they have to improve their inside 50's.

Lockhart was the standout in terms of playing a class above. His ability to break out of traffic, use the ball well, mark strongly etc etc was a cut above. Dunkley was really good to watch as well mostly around the stoppages. He has a natural ability to create room for himself to get a kick away and just as importantly he has the penetration to make that kick useful. I'm sure he has a lot to develop including using his hands more creatively but I can see why he was recruited. For some reason no Melbourne player can get a long snap out of traffic either at a stoppage or in the forward line so I hope we don't ruin Dunkley's ability to do it! Kyle Chandler is the other one who plays like he'll be a handy player. He's quick on to the ball or to tackle, seems to read it well and has a decent mark for his size. His sidestep to get on to his left is very nice as well. Oh and he's almost certainly too slow and small to have it work at AFL level but Mitch White dominated as a lead up 3rd tall. Played like Tom Lynch (crows). A little more speed and good health and he would've had a decent AFL career I think. Glad he's sticking around at Casey.

My first thought is there isn't much to this. He's probably one of 20 out of contract players we have interest in across multiple positions. Any time you can upgrade a key defensive spot even if you've got money and resources tied up in that area already then it isn't a bad idea to try. Frost is out of contract so we'll have to either sign him or a replacement anyway. Is spending an early 2nd round pick and an extra 100-200k a year on Keath over Frost a good idea? Salem, Melksham and Weideman have all signed on. Lewis and Garlett are going. Jones maybe 1 more on a veteran money deal. Oskar Baker the next priority and you wouldn't think he'd break the bank. So if we've our salary cap in decent order there should be some cash to go after some players.

It's true and it's probably because they are. We missed the Frost grunt from the backline and Wagner and Hore are not quick but otherwise the backs had a dip. The inside mids did too, as did Baker. But largely our wings and forwards are tentative and/or poor athletes and/or just incapable of running hard, fast and hunting the ball. Petracca was good and so was Weideman. The disappointment was that Pendlebury was put off his game and Gawn monstered Grundy. De Goey and Stephenson were too good but that's ok. Really all we needed was some outside run and forward line class/power to really pressure the Pies defenders and things could've changed.

Yes I saw the game. Yes May was good. 1 good game in 12 weeks, hardly establishing himself as a leader. Either way how well you play in any one game is largely irrelevant to what good on field leadership is. Constructive criticism is good. Yelling at team mates for mistakes is bad. His spray of Baker who had stuffed up and got himself a sore shoulder for his troubles was in no way constructive. Didn't see what he was saying to Hore, so maybe it was great instructions and leadership

Leadership is constructive criticism for lack of effort, not following the game plan or selfish play. Spraying people for mistakes is the exact opposite of leadership. Weideman made a costly mistake last week and his team mates supported him. He responded well today. May needs to be careful to keep it constructive, especially before he's had the chance to establish himself in the side.

Sprayed Baker for stuffing up at the end of the game too. Not great when one of the big reasons he dropped the mark was cause the kick was ordinary from Fritsch. I like that we've got a key defender willing to give directions but he can't get too emotional or it isn't good leadership. Particularly when plenty of players were giving May directions as well. Hore had a rough first quarter but once the pressure backed off a bit had another very good game.

My argument is they took a chance on Spargo because the alternatives are either no better or even worse (JKH, ANB, Stretch, C Wagner) or needed a run after injury (Lockhart). Baker looks good but his lack of tank creates it's own issues. Also if we had another Baker he'd be playing instead of Spargo, but we only have 1. We held a very hard running Pies team for a lot of the game, that only happens when you have guys like Spargo busting their backside. He'll almost certainly go back to Casey now but I'm not all that upset about his performance. If it were JKH or ANB I'd expect the exact same complaints.

Spargo compared with: JKH: has a longer future (by default) better tank and really no worse disposal. So he was set to the tagging wing role on Phillips, then moved forward ANB: He's a disaster right now, two head knocks recently, needed the run at Casey Lockhart: Missed time with a knee, isn't a huge endurance athlete, reasonable that they gave him a game at Casey. I would've put him straight in but I get it Corey Wanger: yeah/nah The reality is we need more talent but also more guys who are willing to run hard and to the right spots. Spargo's 17 touches and good pressure numbers show he did all the right work today, just very ordinary with the ball/contest.