DeeSpencer

Wouldn't hate if he didn't keep making the same mistakes. He wasn't alone, Harmes didn't start well and Vanders was pretty fumbly at times, but I thought Corey Wagner and JKH probably used it better than ANB today.

Hore took a couple of nice grabs intercepting and used the ball pretty well, a couple of shanks under pressure but a lovely kick to get us started. Didn't look all that great when playing from behind or side to side though, not sure he's got a lot of power and the step up in pace might catch him out at times so it will be interesting to see where he fits. Looked more like a guy who can do a job than a threat to really break out.

Pressure really good from both sides. Apart from the first 10 minutes our pressure was good and structures seemed sound. Pies were missing their 3 most dangerous forwards in De Goey, Stephenson and WHE, although Elliott makes up for one of those. So the low score from them isn't a huge surprise. That was pretty much 2017 Collingwood we played when they couldn't score. I was a little disappointed we didn't switch the ball more around half back, we seemed comfortable to bomb it out. Backline: Frost and Oscar both started very poorly missing chances to kill contests with intercepts or strong punches. Frosty clean missed a few chances to mark and Oscar looked slow. But they got going as the game spread out a bit more and our pressure came up. Jetta excellent. Hibberd solid. Lewis did enough defensively and apart from his trade mark dumb free kicks he played well. Hunt good. Mids: Gus had it on a string early and his clean hands and tackle pressure was excellent. Tracc then took over. Vanders cracked in. Young Sparrow tagged Treloar in the second half, nice goal and won some ball, probably wasn't as clean with his tackles as I expected. Max dominated, hardly a surprise there. Salem showed his class at times. Forwards: Pressure was really good. Joel Smith a nice addition in that regard and C Wagner worked hard. Tim Smith did ok. Preussy hit some contests very hard but I wasn't impressed by his positioning, did get on the end of it a few times though. One nice grab and a solid but not spectacular game from Weids. Nice goal from Garlett and good pressure but he made some dreadful errors kicking the ball along the ground and making bad decisions, didn't do enough to convince me he was in any way back. Stock up: JKH - really got us going in the first term and was dangerous all game, strong enough at the contest, high work rate Hunt - no huge runs but opened the game up and used it nicely at times Petracca - midfield oomph Stock down: ANB - very scratchy ball use and decision making Stretch - didn't take the game on enough or deliver well

Gee God Boy Wow

Maybe the most AFL part of this is instead of letting teams come up with their own symbols they are going to have a choice of 40 AFL approved emojis (but don't call them emojis). A shame because there has been some great ones in college football.

Bench rotation numbers make a lot of sense. I'm surprised it's not already a thing. Runners are still allowed on to the field after a goal and the 3 or 4 oncoming players can deliver messages to their line groups. Seems crazy to me to flash up signs. If it's going to happen I hope we have someone smart enough to work out the best possible messages to send and how to disguise them.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/demons-battle-of-the-giants/news-story/e0b5bae12803940174eb6fb87b7443b9

I'd go with the body! But I want him to have both!

Maybe, maybe not. The photos are consecutive in the album and have the same background so they are likely doing the same drill. Doesn't really matter, I've seen enough of Petracca's kicking to know his action is always imperfect.

I find it funny that there was a heated debate over Petracca's body a few weeks ago when I think these pictures (well done Eleanor) show a far greater problem for him. This can't be a good kicking technique. Plant foot isn't planted. Balancing arm is swirling around in the breeze. Hips and torso aren't aligned. Compare with Spargo who's very aligned and balanced and you can see why Spargo is a nice accurate quick kick where as Petracca is capable of blasting a superb kick but just as likely to spray it.

Imagine the outrage if Tommy Mc played AFLX then had an operation after it. What the hell were they thinking? Why was he even training today and not in for surgery right now? This is a weird one.

Mostly split in to 3 diffferent groups and doing light craft work. I tried to watch a bit of Corey Wagner but nothing stood out. Sparrow’s size and acceleration stand out, no idea what it means in game terms yet but he’s an athlete. In a drill where Rawlings kicked a high ball then Chaplin whacked defenders with pads it was clear Hore picks up the flight and marks well overhead. I like Chandlers energy. Salem was in with the mids when they did a little bit of center clearance work near the end. Hunt has a few random barrels that made it to half way from the goal square.

I got there at about 10:15 and stayed for 50 minutes or so. Tommy Mc walking off with a staff member. Lever was finishing up, Jones doing ball work, Hannan boxing. Didn’t see Viney or KK. Nor Walker or Neitscke. None of the 5 Indigenous players were there, assume they’re still on their camp. As far as I could tell everyone else was in full training.

Bummer, he looked ready made enough to make an impact at Casey. The silver lining for him is he’s got a long time until next season and maybe the extra rehab and sidelines time can be used to work on his strength and some extra coaching time. For the team: we’re now have 2 list spots open, do we add a player before the March deadline?

Conspiracy theory: Because they want to trial conferences in AFLW before bringing in to AFL to guarantee more rivalry games. Likely theory: Because there's no perfect way to have 10 teams play 7 rounds (just as there's no perfect way for 18 to play 22 in mens) they came up with some creative in the pursuit of fairness. Which is crazy because it's sport. Players will get suspended and miss a game against your side. The wind will swing. The umpires will botch things. Injuries. Illness. Etc. Fair isn't really ever going to happen so just get the best 4 teams in the finals would be my advice. The crazy thing is they split the conferences on ladder position from the previous year as 1, 3, 5 and 7 v 2, 4, 6 and 8. Why on earth would you do odds and evens! Don't have to be a genius to work out something like 1, 4, 5, 8 and 2, 3, 5 and 7 is at least smarter. Then they chucked North - who signed a heap of gun players - in to the group with 1, 3, 5 and 7 and the Cats in to the lesser group. That's bush league.

Anyway, fantastic performance by the girls today. Loved the way they played the wind again with smart defensive footy against it and then attacking footy with it. Pearce led the mids really well and they were great around the contest against a strong Brisbane side. Used the ball by hand and foot in the right balance. Forwards did the job. Newman a weapon in space and crumbing. Hanks an absolute beauty, sets up so much with her clean hands, a natural. Hore was quite. Zanker stuffed up 1 goal terribly and another where she should've snapped but went a drop punt but he she keeps competing. Backs were dominant. Guest has made a difference after missing round 1. Downie is probably still building in to her game. So is Lampard. Edmonson a few iffy decisions but a lot of good. Cordner was probably best on ground. She monstered big Sabrina. Never let her get in to the game at all. Fantastic performance. BOG for mine.

The conference system wasn't a terrible way of deciding who plays who. They needed a way to do 7 rounds in to 10 teams. What they should do now is simply realise the error of their ways and just announce the top 4 will make the finals regardless of conference. Every team will have played 7 games, the who plays who stuff is always overvalued, you either win games and make finals or you don't.

7 round season. A team in Con A will play the other 4 teams in Con A and 3 of the 5 teams in Conference B A team in Con B will play the other 4 teams in Con B and 3 of the 5 teams in Con A Then winner of Con A plays runner up Con B in the semi finals, and vice versa with winner Con B and runner up Con A.

Doubt it's diet, I'm not sure there's anything new happening there after the wave of paleo that's become more common lately. Same goes for supplements, teams are surely pretty restricted there since the Essendon business. They've had a heap of hammies, my complete guess is they're doing more weights and training for power with sprints instead of longer running. But they aren't getting bulky, it's very lean and powerful.That's what they look like to me.

Yeah a heap of injuries but if you look at their players they are (to use a non technical term) jacked! Experinced players like Sidebottom suddenly look like this, which is also how Hawks and Tigers look recently.

Not sure that's entirely true but I don't have any inside mail. Wasn't Todd Viney moved in to a role that included overseeing the medical department at the start of last year when he moved away from list management? The AFL hired Misso's 2IC in Rob Jackson to oversee the umpires when they had an umpire fitness crises, the AFL are usually pretty clever at who they pick from club land. The foot injuries have been a struggle but not massively out of line from where the rest of the comp has been, hopefully we're improving that regard. If our players are healthy, strong, fit, running out games and not suffering from the more preventable injuries like soft tissues then I don't think you'd move a guy on for a slightly higher than average foot injury list. And if you did why not do it last year? Carlton poached Andrew Russell from the Hawks, if you wanted to make a change that would've been the one to make.

As for Jake his inside 50 kicks and aerial contests as a forward have been a revelation. Not bad for a midfielder we recruited as a defender. Not the ideal preseason but I wonder how much his ankle injury restricted him last year, still think he has a level more to go to with defensive work, crumbing and getting even more of the ball around the ground.

A sweet finish from Jake but the thing I love about that goal is Tommy flies and Melk and Hannan both put themselves in a great position to crumb, as does Spargo who outworks his opponent from the middle of the ground to get there as well. Smart team footy and a lovely piece of skill.

Seeing all the injuries around the league id actually be happy if this was kept to a bare minimum. Maybe 2 x 20 minute halves. Especially if the Pies ground is still rock hard. Teams that are super keen on match simulation just sound like coaches who can’t create drills that replicate in game scenarios.

Wasn’t a fan when he started. Players did lap after lap and had no power. Also the experienced doctors left in less than ideal circumstances and the current doctor was under qualified/inexperienced for the role. We had the flirtation with Dank as well, was that when Misson had arrived? Plenty has changed since though and you only have to look at the GC boys comments about Melbourne’s preseason to see standards have risen. So a credit to Misso and the club for getting things going in the right direction. Now we have an opportunity to improve things yet again. I’d be looking at Hawthorn, Coll and Richmond where players are very well defined and explosive athletes. Tigers have had a great run with injury and the Hawks are the masters of rejuvenating players.