DeeSpencer

- Tom McDonald was the star key forward last year. 50+ goals and got the best defenders. - Melksham and Petracca were both very good medium options, Joel Smith was shifted forward as another difficult match up - Hannan, Spargo, ANB did their jobs well and we recruited more small and flanker options Hogan v top 8 teams last year - 6 games, 8 goals (3, 1, 2, 0, 1, 1) and 26 marks Weideman v top 8 teams last year - 6 games, 8 goals (0, 1, 1, 3, 2, 1) and 30 maks Hogan has had 2 excellent games this year surrounded with a lot of ordinary ones. At this stage he is miles off a once in a generation forward. In fact he has been miles off tracking like that since his first or second season. The Weid hasn't come on but has shown good signs the last two weeks. There's still good reason for optimism that he becomes a very handy player. Tom McDonald going from a guy who kicked 53 goals in 20 games to a pumpkin is the real issue.

How good is he at injury prevention and management - who knows? But Port were fit when he was in charge. They believed it, they played like it and they ran over teams late in games. It was great footy to watch. I'd be willing to risk some injuries to see our players really believe in themselves. We seem so reluctant to kick the ball and run to space. Our quick ball movement game plan will never amount to anything if we're afraid to stretch the size of the ground with run.

Viney's are irrelevant. I'm not suggesting replacing Jeff with an inside midfielder. Hunt - 14 goals/12 games. 2.2 tackles Hannan (last year): 22 goals/15 games 2.2 tackles Lockhart 6 goals/7 games 2.4 tackles They are guys who have some combinations of pace and forward craft. They also have more flexibility to rotate through the midfield or high half forward line so Baker, Oliver, Petracca etc can all spell deep forward. When he kicked 40 goals a season and had electrifying pace Garlett was a great player, but he's lost a yard and lost the hunger for the ball.

Multiple times in each game he: - Clearly runs under kicks to avoid body contact from behind, spilling or clean missing marks - Takes flying shots on goal to avoid contact - Approaches defenders from behind to lay run down tackles rather than having to attack them from front or side on which requires more force and courage and is more likely to create a turnover - Passes off goal scoring opportunities including the 30m shot against the Pies that was inexcusable All these things are clear to see. If you can't see them then I don't know what you're watching. Yes, he has far more forward craft than any of the alternatives but he's no longer a competitor. He plays like a guy who doesn't want to be there. Now that we've got Hunt, Hannan and Lockhart all available we have 3 guys who can do the job and are actually willing to put their bodies on the line.

I'm pretty sure from watching training that McCartney is a play it on quickly Geelong under Thompson style coach. Lever and May should mean more intercept marks and with a fitter midfield group that could mean more kick mark style. The desperation to move the ball quickly stems from having a forward line without goal kicking power and a midfield with running power. A controlled build up needs more run in to space and forwards who can beat a man.

Maybe. I just look at the Hawks with Clarko and a bunch of young assistants he turned in to senior coaches whilst Fagan had his back. Coaching has evolved so quickly since the mid 2000's that you need guys who are innovating and advancing the game. Anyway, I'll take comfort from the idea that Goodwin and/or Mahoney have made some changes. The worst control freaks are the ones who get their people in positions and keep them forever.

Plapp and Chaplin seem exactly the type of guys Goodwin will keep. Plapp's worked his way through the system from VFL development coach at Willy, to TAC coach at Sandy to being very successful at Casey and now in to the senior coaching panel. I suggest Ben Matthews as stoppage coach is the more experienced of the midfield coaches so I don't particularly see an issue with a less experienced coach there. Chaplin is certainly inexperienced but he now gets sole responsibility to coach the position that he played very well. I don't think he would've been promoted on the way to being shown the door 10 weeks later. I would think the best balance for assistant coaches would be having a good split of experienced coaches and younger guys who are driving the implementation of tactics, analytics and technology. Rawlings adding to the line coach experience plus either putting McCartney where he's best used or replacing him is a good step to using experience. Otherwise I imagine changes are more likely with the guys who just got demoted than with the assistants keeping their positions.

We hired a doctor who had worked in Emergency Departments and as GP to head up the medical team dealing with professional athletes. Not as serious but it's the equivalent of needing an operation - even something simple like an appendicectomy - and going to a GP rather than a surgeon. Medicine is very specialised these days, there's just far too many diseases, treatments and so on for doctors to know outside their speciality. A good GP with time in an ED will know how to manage the basics of what goes wrong on a footy field - stitching wounds, assessing knee injuries, relocating shoulders - but it takes advanced knowledge to accurately assess injuries on game day as well as to oversee treatment plans. The club doctor has to deal with surgeons and other specialists when it comes to injured players which means having the expertise to work on that level. It takes a lot of experience and knowledge to make hard calls in circumstances like if a player has a dodgy foot and needs to see a few surgeons or the player is being rushed back by the fitness guys and needs more evaluation. He now has far more experience and may have even finished his advanced training, hopefully he has, but it was still a very unusual hire at the time.

I'm guessing Rooke didn't have whatever it is that was required for Tom to get out of his own head and back to impacting games. Rawling's is a far more imposing character. It might be a cuddle, a kick up the backside or a demotion to the VFL but something needs to change with Tom. I'm looking forward to some fresh approaches.

For every goal Jeff kicks he stuffs up 1 for either himself or a team mate through gutless efforts. He's a laughing stock.

The medical/fitness changes are possibly more interesting. Dr Z has been promoted. He still isn't a fully qualified sports medic as far as I can tell but hopefully he's on the right track. Looks like they promoted the 2IC as well who was previously at Hawthorn for a number of years. Let's hope that works out. Misson on to special projects before his farewell. Bad coaching can be fixed pretty quickly. Bad fitness/medical management for the next 10 weeks can impact players careers. Hope they've got it right.

If I were Jade Rawlings it would be a big kick up the backside for Tom McDonald, see you later Jeffy Garlett and a commitment to team work from all of the forwards. Get them working for each other and things might turn around.

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

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.