DeeSpencer

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.

I'm sure they would if they could - and if he had the tank to do it regularly. He started todays game with the forwards. Moved back when Frost went down. He barely missed a target last week. 4 clangers from 26 disposals this week. Has to improve that aspect of his game but any of a) a bit of run, spready and carry around him, b) a good CHF forward or c) a safer/slower game plan with more switching would help as well.

You had T Mc but you didn't have Melksham nor the realities that beating up on bad sides has no relevance to how you perform against the good teams. We couldn't score against a top 8 side last year under round 22 against the Eagles. Took 22 weeks to get it together.

So due to the Pies wearing black shorts for a home game the jumpers now clash? Let me see that in writing. It's never been a clash when they've been in white shorts.

You've lost it with dropping Fritsch. One of the few in this side who can run and link up. Yeah his game has issues, disposal goes hot and cold and his defensive positioning isn't ideal , hardly a surprise for a skinny kid with very little backline experience but he's exactly the player we need more of not less. Almost any team in the comp would love to have someone like Fritsch developing in their side.

I assume he was the clown behind us wearing a clash jumper against the Pies. Weak rubbish like that won't help us.

8 problems and you missed the 2 of the 3 that really matter. Number 1 is Tom McDonald turning in to a cactus Number 2 is Melksham - the 3rd tall match up player who can goal as well as hit targets inside 50 Number 3 is the 110 point forward line largely existed against crap sides. We were held to a lot less by good teams for a lot of the year.

Jones played his best game of the year last week at half back. This week we drop Stretch (who isn't up to it but whatever) and put Jones back on to the wing, keep Wagner at half back. I would've had Jones at half back and Stretch on the wing rather than Wagner. There's a chance Nathan has one more year left in him at half back. A chance. He shouldn't still be captain but I don't think that really matters all that much, he's earnt having that a year longer than he should've. With the midseason draft and preseason supplement period I'd have no issues keeping Jones for one more summer with the reality being if he's not performing he's at Casey or retires.

There's clearly no connection between the forwards and mids. 50/50 blame. The only thing I can say to defend the coaches is that the forwards are trained to focus so much on defensive work - partially because the midfield and backline have been so poor defensively to start the year - that they have lost a lot of attacking focus. The backline and midfield are defending far better and the forwards are going ok in that regard. The focus can shift back on to attacking play. Also look at the personnel: Hannan's 3rd game this year - rusty as heck. Garlett - cooked Spargo - limited Tommy Mc - awful Hunt, Petracca, Weid ok. Judging a coach largely requires talent, which means a healthy and confident Tommy Mc or a different tall target plus some better smalls.

Agreed. I’d even want a good look at him later this year if he’s fit. There’s no point running Max in to the ground in August in dead rubbers, that’s the time to split Gawn/Preuss 50/50.

I’m happy to stick with Tom and Sam. I think you can almost win a flag with Tim Smith and Declan Keilty is you have the right mids, mediums and smalls. Pies nearly did with Cox and Mihocek. Dogs did with Boyd and Cordy. If the draft falls the way of taking a tall then that’s fine, but I wouldn’t break the bank for a B grader. Save the cash, we’ll need it elsewhere

The only goal kicking coaches I know of are: Carlton - Sav Rocca St Kilda - Ben Dixon The most well known kicking coach was David Rath at Hawthorn - the biomechanist who really set them apart with kicking as well as other smart tactics. He now works for the AFL. This isn't a bad video for anyone stuck in the 1990's who can't understand how footy has changed. Should we have a specialist kicking or goal kicking coach? I'm not opposed to the idea. Should we make sure all goal kicking training is done under game like scenarios, with routine and reviewed - that's a yes to me.

I don't particularly see the appeal of kicking it around at Casey for 10 weeks but good on him if he's willing to do that. The first 2 years were a success even if he was just hanging on under pressure really throughout both years. It was pretty clear for the get go athletically he didn't have a lot left in the tank. The benefits of some good football combined with bring successful culture and valuable on and off field structural leadership have to be weighed against the cost of money and game time in to a player without a long term future as well as whatever damage his slipping over and refusal to put his body on the line was worth. But even as a strong critic I'd say he was in the positives there. I'm convinced this 3rd year has been a futile effort but maybe he'll do well at Casey and give the guys there some value.

Too empathetic - nope I wouldn't say that. But Sam, Max and all our players need to use this to get mentally stronger. They can't go back in their shells. I remember when Gawn was finding his way he stuffed up in the Saints game we lost narrowly with a dumb hit out from the centre bounce. The next week he exploded down at Geelong and announced himself as a star. The Weid needs to respond with something similar. Roos was apparently quite good at having the players backs but knowing when to give them a rev up. Goodwin might have to do the same with Weideman. The Pies will try to get stuck in to him, he needs to be ready.

They had 2 extra picks last year (that they traded away in part for McGovern or Setterfield) plus the first pick of the midseason draft. They don't need more draft picks, they simply need to get in some half decent experienced players and they've had a heap of opportunities to do that. Their percentage of 74% shows they are far from hopeless at competing, just terrible at winning. Melbourne turned it around with Vince, Cross, Bugg, Garlett, Melksham, Hibberd etc. No reason the Blues can't offer up some decent picks to land some quality experienced players. This place (probably led by me as much as anyone) wasn't happy when we gave a 2nd round pick and plenty of cash for Jake Melksham. And I still think we overpaid for a late career rental of Bernie Vince. But it's those kind of deals the Blues have to make and refuse to.

The NT Government aren't taking that risk without some guaranteed return, particularly with the Crows having links to the NT with their AFLW side I expect we'll see the Crows in one of the games most years.

Darwin - Adel, Freo, Adel, Freo, WCE, Freo Alice - ( WCE ), Adel, GC, Port, Port, Port Port might've cleverly extricated themselves from the NT games due to the China game. I don't particularly care who we play and where as long as it's not the same team at the same ground every year. I can deal with it being the Crows up there every 2nd year. We go there every year and can adapt to the conditions more often. It won't be a huge home ground advantage one way or another.

In: May, Hore, Salem and maybe Lockhart out: take your pick of Wagner, Stretch, JKH, Spargo, Garlett, Hannan (not ready). No Lewis please and no Lever with less than a full game. Who plays on the wing is one of the biggest challenges this week. Baker will not have the fitness to play big minutes on Phillips or Sidebottom, he needs to rotate through the wings in spurts.

20k to a home game on a nice weathers day against GWS. Yes we are struggling this year but the reality is we have to get bigger crowds at our current 9 home games to demand 11 at the MCG. We'd probably only ever get 10 at the MCG and 1 at Marvel anyway, which we do play quite well these days but we wouldn't attend all that well. Hawthorn have shown the brilliance of the Tassie deal was it worked in 3 ways: 1. Home ground advantage 2. Cash 3. Made their members hungrier for remaining home games. We don't have the home ground advantage - although you'd think we are better adjusted than several other sides - but we get benefits 2 and 3 and there's no reason to stop that.

Spot on. I hate the 2 men on the mark that then leads to open men in the pockets ------> open men on the flanks -------> open men in the corridor to goal. That said, if Garlett could actually chase a defender kicking in and force them to dispose that would be wonderful. Right now he waits until they are passed him to start chasing so he can get a run down tackle rather than getting up in their face and risking body contact.

Historically he's done a decent job on Jenkins, which tells you he's even worse this year than previously. No physicality in the contest No intercepting or strong play Zero creativity or drive with the ball Like so many Melbourne players he did a few nice things in the VFL and was then promoted to a locked in spot in the senior side. At least now he should get the chance to show he can dominate at Casey. Maybe if he can he could have a future at AFL level.

Pretty sure Tom McDonald had the ankles done a couple of years ago and did a solid preseason this year up until developing some knee tendinitis late in preseason. It sounds like McDonald as well as May and Joel Smith have actually been victim of training too hard. Oliver, Hunt and Harmes all had shoulder surgeries and were ready to go. As were Jetta and Vanders who's injuries weren't related to their shoulder ops or rehab time as far as I can tell. Petracca recovered well enough from a knee procedure, as did Marty Hore from an ankle. Viney and Jones probably shouldn't have played round 1. More faith should've been shown in fringe guys like Stretch who were ready to go. They decided an underdone Viney was more valuable than a fit Stretch. Given Viney got through without injury I can't argue it was the wrong fitness decision, just a bad football one.

Need more tempo build up from the backline with switching. Clearly they midfield work rate and defensive skills aren't there to encourage that style. Getting guys back from injury and hopefully some good recruits could fix a lot of that. The Cats are playing a very controlled style from the backline but their midfield work rate has been exceptional to allow the options to continually be created and the ball to keep moving. Otherwise I wonder if it's because we're having too many short angle changing kicks rather than one short kick, some handballs and then a longer kick inside 50. In general though I'd rather we play like we did against the Eagles than how we did against the Giants. Taking the game on has to be encouraged.

If I can recall correctly he started the preseason healthy, then lost a few weeks in rehab before getting back in to the main group ahead of many others. The injury wouldn't have helped but he did more than enough sessions to be ready to go. And he was in terms of ball winning but clearly hadn't improved at using the ball nor his defensive running. I'd try him back in the middle as a ball winner but if it clearly isn't working then tagging would be the next step. Depending on availability of other players I'd probably try to use Jones forward/wing and on ball. I don't think at this stage of his career he was moved to play better. Jones is in the side to do what he can to help the team win, I doubt they are concerned about making him look good by putting him on ball. I think he was moved purely to provide some defensive run and has done a pretty decent job of it.

The real concern to me is Gus did most of the preseason, probably more than Harmes and certainly more than Oliver and Viney. He should've been ready to go to another level with defensive work rate and ball use. Wing is definitely not the long term answer and the diminishing results the last few weeks make me think Gus absolutely knows that. I'd think about using him as a tagger, although the question then becomes does Harmes have the smarts to be a ball winner or do we use him elsewhere.