DeeSpencer

No issues with his game last night. Played restricted minutes and played forward as well as mid to protect his shoulder but he won important contests in the middle and forward, pressured well, and actively looked to handball rather than bomb kick. Round 1: Shouldn't have played Round 2: very good against a huge tide of Cats Round 3: the only mid who could lay a glove on the bombers at the contest, beaten away from it Round 4: a more defensive role but did a good job Round 5: same as Essendon game Round 6: excellent for a quarter/half then ran out of puff/injured Rounds 8/9: doing a different role and contributing He's not the player we want him to be right now but it's not panic stations after the last 2 weeks. Haven't seen him live but looks to be covering the ground and strong at the contest. If he stays healthy I think he'll bounce back. Ball use is obviously a concern but the whole team is completely out of sync going inside 50. There's no easy targets/easy decisions. Most AFL Players struggle to make good decisions under pressure. The whole point of team work and coaching is to set up players to make easy decisions. Viney, Jones and Oliver keep butchering the ball because there's no midfield runners or hit up forwards to catch their eyes. They should be better regardless but team work will make it easier on them.

Gawn dominated. Harmes and Oliver led the stream through the midfield. Rag tag defenders more often than not for 3/4's held up. Forward line created space at times, competed hard at others and pressured well. If Tommy Mc was in anything like his best form or if Petracca or Garlett wouldn't go to water mentally or physically the forwards would've put up a winning score by 3/4 time. Eventually the backline will improve and develop chemistry between the good players, which will cut down so many easy goals. There were still a ridiculous number of Frost specials: - running 30m off Kennedy to go up to Hickey 70m out with other defenders converging on the ruck - the goal line stuff - some crazy turnovers Not to mention Oscar turning a great first half in to more of his usual stuff - he's the one who should've occupied space at the drop of the ball to stop Ryan's mark. Throw in Petty who's super raw, Wagner who's going ok but limited and Fritsch who really should be on a wing and it's a miracle they did as well as they did. Disappointing night if the plan was to win and get back in to finals contention. A pretty decent night if the plan is to use this year to have a good look at players and build a more sustainable defensive game plan.

Started well, but then trailed off. Lacks the strength and technique to break tackles and dish handballs in tight at the packs. That's a vital thing to develop. But his evasiveness in traffic and pace are both strong assets. Seemed to play more forward after ANB went off. I think he's more of a natural on a wing but looking at VFL stats this year I don't think he's at peak fitness after an interrupted pre season and he's not an endurance beast either. So half forward with bursts on the wing seem likely for now. Think he's too raw for a sustained run of games this year but did enough to look like he's still worth developing.

Almost certain Petracca swam over there.

Hogan was excellent first up then pretty awful for a few weeks IIRC. Hibberd could be back for the Crows game but just as easily could be given until after the bye.

4-6 means 4 - never playing again, so I guess that's inclusive of 6-8. Seriously though that's good news, anything that's still 8 or more over the next few weeks is probably getting to the shut them down for the season range.

Not so sure on that, they only played 1 ruck last week (Vardy) with Oscar Allen the back up. We might decide to use Tim Smith to back up Gawn and then include another mobile forward option like Baker or ANB to replace Melksham. Sustaining really high forward pressure and locking the ball forward might be the only way to stop their forwards tearing our backline apart.

I'm not sure the 6-6-6 is responsible for anything that happens after 15 seconds from a centre bounce. It's made the centre bounce more valuable which in turn means teams have to defend it cleverly and not risk too much. Otherwise any other chances come from some of the other rules and the evolution of the game. I think a big impact on scoring has been the comp being very even with a lot of teams being competitive. Just look at us - for most of last year we steam rolled bad teams and struggle to score against the good sides. It doesn't take much for those bad sides to get a bit more experience and structure in and therefore restrict our scoring. My prediction is no small rule changes will impact scoring. We can either live with it and wait until a team discovers some attacking secrets/skills or go for a drastic rule change. The most obvious one to me is 16 on the field.

Alternatively we could just have a half forward with any kind of game sense watching repeat stoppage after repeat stoppage move towards the benches and then sprint off for Gawn. A second ruck who can do the job forward as well would be nice and hopefully Preuss can do that, but Keilty v Peter Wright wasn't a concern tonight and he held up against Witts pretty well too. The other players on the ground should be aware of when Gawn is desperate to come back on.

Really ordinary game today, maybe a hangover from doing a power of running against Smith, Gunston, Henderson and Scully last week? He's not a wingman, but he's too slow in transition running to play on ball with Oliver and Viney, and his poor disposal in the centre square hasn't helped either. Wing is actually easier to position away from the contest on the defensive side than midfield running. Really he's been given the Dom Tyson's and tonight he played like Dom. I'd rather see him at half back if he's not on the ball. At least his dual sided kicking could be more useful at half back and it's more of a contested role. Anyway, could be as simple as carrying a cold. Hope he lifts next week.

Out: Hibberd, maybe Melk, Lewis, Garlett, Keilty. In: Preuss (Keilty), T Smith (Melk), ANB (Jeff), Jordon (Hibberd), C Wagner (Lewis). My guess is they keep Lewis and Garlett despite the damage they must be doing to team culture with continued weak efforts.

Wonderful goal that really capped Hore’s rapid improvement in disposal since round 1. Sticking his tackles too. Well done. Lockhart just does some real footballer things - holds some good marks, bursts from packs, reads the bouce of the ball. A bit down from last week and he has to hit more targets to do more damage but he’s such a change from the rest of our battlers who usually get the half forward jobs.

I would train there once a week if not more during Jan-March lead in to the season period that requires full ground drills, which combined with the Sunshine coast camp gives them a decent block of training on bigger grounds. Then fortnightly during the season. Maybe in the weeks leading up to games on bigger grounds or the weeks with longer breaks that allow for more rigorous training sessions. Fitness and game plan are still bigger factors in our lack of spread that can be corrected without a larger oval. Casey might be the best long term option but I wouldn't race out there now like the Saints did with Seaford. I'd still be looking for something closer to the city. If we were to go out there I'd want to spend 50m+ on moving the whole club, building some community projects and side businesses, increasing the stadiums capacity/shelter/amenities, making sure there's access to 2+ ovals etc etc.

That would be a St Kilda to Seaford style failure. It would further separate the Footy department from the admin, annoy the players with a 45-60 minute drive twice a day and leave them stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. Moving there would only work out if the facilities were as good as or better than any others in the league. The Hawks are about to put 100 million in to Dingley and that’s 20 minutes less drive.

Measuring from google maps: Goschs' is 155 x 109 and often they cut in to a flank for the rehab group. Casey looks more 160 x 134, very similar to Metricon. Gosch's just isn't big enough to work on full ground drills that focus on space.

I think the reasons we are struggling this year especially on the MCG and have been since Goody took over are: 1a. Fitness 1b. Game plan But 2. a small training oval not at all similar to the MCG would be up there. I think they have gone to Casey for the bigger oval and for some greater privacy but it does raise the question about if they should use it more often and also what is the progress on a new training facility.

If you think that's worthy of a suspension maybe stop watching AFL and go find something better to do. I'd lose the plot if one of our guys was suspended for that. Chrisso just generated some free publicity for the media for a couple of days.

How I detest that imp. Can't believe the club briefly employed him.

His ridiculous preseason suspension now seems like such a sliding doors moment. He was busting his backside on the track and looking good, had a hamstring that he rehabbed and was probably going to fine going in to round 1. Now it's looking like a wasted season. New recruits needs some friends in the playing group, that's what I'm seeing. A few beers once in an 8 week rehab block wouldn't hurt. The no alcohol in rehab is really designed to assist short turnarounds from short term injuries. He should've been out on Saturday night with the players and been allowed a few drinks with them. A few beers on Saturday night probably wouldn't have impacted Monday's rehab running session. A good club makes smart rules that are inclusive of all players rather than strict standards that are just sitting ducks to be failed and then generate negative press.

If you don’t see Gunston as quicker than Hore then I’m not sure what you’ve been watching. There’s a reason Gunston can play wing and dominate a grand final, he’s a beautiful athlete as well as a footballer. I meant Gunston is too dangerous an attacker for Lever to man. Lever’s best footy is playing on and dominating lesser forwards by dictating position. We saw that last year, as soon as Lever was playing on kids against Adelaide and Carlton he went from ordinary recruit to dominant intercept machine. I hope Hore does, after a shaky first game he’s done very well. He might go to another level or he might be replaced as Lever and May take intercepting roles and we need more lock down defenders alongside them.

I’ve had this argument a lot and it’s not that I think Hore or other guys at his level of speed can’t be a solid role player or even better, it’s just you need team balance to get the match ups right. For example we could have May, Oscar, Lever and Hore all in the team without a match up for Gunston. He’ll still be too quick for Oscar and Hore, too fit for May and too attacking for Lever.

Short term: Just want to see him back playing at Casey. Medium term (later this year): Another mobile marking forward would be very handy. Long term: I'd still like him down back. If you look at Collingwood and Geelong - maybe the 2 best teams in the comp - both have tall, strong and athletic backlines that aren't always the most skilled and so make simple decisions with the ball. I'm thinking guys like Henry, Kolodjashnij and O'Connor from the Cats and Langdon, Maynard and Howe at the Pies. Those guys are the 3rd, 4th and 5th tallest defenders and they all have size and athleticism to make life very difficult for forwards. Grimes and Broad are the same for the Tigers. You can play uptempo fast ball movement game and trust your defenders to hold up because they can cover the ground and win contests. Hore is going pretty well, although I worry about his upside if he isn't all that fast or fit. Wagner not in terrible form either but his lack of speed concerns. Lever hopefully back soon. Still think we could do with another athlete back there who can get up and down the ground and beat dangerous forwards.

Doubts about his body but Burgoyne was a superstar, every club would've had him if they could and depending on cost. Key backs: Lake, Frawley Rucks: Hale, McEvoy Those types were always going to work as they were filling needs in a great side with great culture, fitness staff and so on. Gibson was a wonderful pick to get an undersized 3rd tall type and make him a gun CHB in a zone defending system. Guerra similar - take a talent and put them in a new position. Gunston a star on the rise. Mitchell similar, great get to fill a need. But O'Meara (given the price), Scully and Wingard the verdict is out and they've had guys like Jon O'Rourke along the way. It would be silly just to try to copy and one up their every move. They've lost their fitness boss to Carlton. They've lost many of their superstar players. They might lose some of their culture. They might lose their coach eventually.

Was just about to post the same thing from Hawthorn Fan TV. I'm not convinced this guy in the innocent victim he's been portrayed as. Doesn't make the violence right, but the verbals might've been flying from both sides and the physical contact was started by the Hawks fan. His family might want to have a word about losing with dignity and not putting himself in situations that could escalate. This interview shows he's actually rather articulate and has the capacity for quite a lot of footy knowledge. Maybe not a hapless victim.

They are pretty selective and limited stats. He had 3 intercept possessions, the equal lowest of any of our defenders with Wagner and only 108 metres gained. So the marks and rebound 50's are mostly coming because he sets up for the short kick out or sideways kick then gets the ball from back 50. He had an exceptionally limited attacking game, which is a concern because he has the size and skills to take more intercept marks and to get involved in rebounding the ball with counter attacking play. He'll never be a defensive star so a two way game gives him the best chance of contributing each week. The 1%ers come from spoils and he was better yesterday at getting some decent spoils. Some of those should be marks against the likes of Mitch Lewis and Roughead - both limited key forwards - but at least he wasn't conceding marks when matched up on those guys. At the end of the day he's in the team ahead of Petty because he runs hard and smartly to get to the right defensive spots and on good days he can spoil the ball, plus he doesn't turn it over as he uses it safely. All the stats in combination point to the style that he plays. Petty reads the ball better to mark, but that means he can be caught or pushed under the ball. He has a more natural counter game by taking intercept marks and a nice penetrating short kick, plus good handball skills on both sides. But he can't string together a good month at VFL, he's far too up and down. Until he puts together a consistent run of games he's too risky to pick. He wouldn't be directly replacing Oscar anyway, he'd be put in more of an intercepting role which would mean Hore and Frost would have to be reshuffled/replaced. With Lever hopefully not too far away and Lewis in the side now the last thing we need is another intercept player who struggles to defend. Oscar is only an mediocre defender but he at least positions himself to do that defensive job.