DeeSpencer

Gives 100% but underdeveloped physically is the reason for lack of genuine physicality. He isn't a good tackler, particularly as a forward or defender where tackling involves closing space and anticipation. He wasn't always reliable over a loose ball as a defender either. He made a number of defensive errors against the Hawks (and a few against the Cats), it really wasn't his position which wasn't a surprise given he'd never played there before. I expect very good things on the wing without going over the top. And I agree with AF that his tank will be important. Running all day is the easiest path for him to become a superb wingman. I hope we can spare him to play full forward for 5 minutes a quarter as well (and not to full back as the loose man).

General Molasses. He sometimes does well at half back because that's the position where his footy brain is most likely to out smart faster opponents, the half forward line is the opposite where you need speed, physicality and/or relentless run to separate from or close down and pressure opponents.

Just give us your best that you've shown some time in the last few years: Gawn, Viney, Harmes, Melksham, Jetta, Hibberd, T-Mac Don't drop off: Lewis, Jones Is there another gear?: Oliver, Brayshaw Definitely still have more: Salem, Petracca Yet to see it at MFC: May, Lever If not injured: Vanders In terms of big improvers: Prove me wrong: ANB, Oscar, Frost - all 3 have played a lot of AFL footy but can they really stand up under pressure? Can improve: Fritsch, Weideman - both set the bar high with some of their games the last couple of years, consistency will be important Hoping he's good: KK Watch and see: J Smith, C Wagner, Hore, Lockhart, T Smith, Preuss, Stretch, Hunt, Keilty Not a lot of confidence: J Wagner, JKH, Maynard, Garlett Everyone else is pretty young and might have some up and downs. Spargo should play a bit but I'd expect a standard 2nd season where he's a bit up and down. Petty and Baker both have a chance to play based on their VFL form last year. Chandler maybe the most likely of the 18 year olds this year. The watch and see group are really our depth players. Every week some in that group will probably have to play. I think the club were hoping J Smith and Hunt had great preseasons and that Hore was a ready made AFL player. I'm not so convinced of any of that. If I had to pick 2 guys to make a difference out of that group I'd probably go Lockhart and T Smith. A couple of deep on the list finds would be wonderful, although maybe the best thing might be Oliver and Brayshaw going up another level and Salem and Petracca showing their full range of talents. Throw in Fritsch and KK settling in to positions and demonstrating their skills because I'm greedy!

Remember 2017 when Max missed a huge chunk of the year and we were fine? Preuss and Keilty are important depth but our mids should be good enough to adapt to playing without a dominant ruck. Max's most important role last year was providing the backline with aerial support. I'd imagine that will be vital against Port as well. When May gets back and then up to speed the backline should be able to hold it's own far better.

Are you sure? I though teams could open up a list spot with a long term injury, and we already have one in Nietschke. Would contending teams in Sydney and Hawthorn add long term tall prospects without the possibility of another mid season pick up?

What’s the odds of Gawn and Preuss both being injured before the mid season draft? And if that does happen early enough that Keilty couldn’t do the job for a couple of weeks. I’d like to add another 22 year old ruck who can be the 3rd option but I’m happy to risk that until mid year and longer if the big guys are both healthy. We desperately lack outside run and skill. It was clear in both our JLT games. We needed a Hunt at both ends of the ground and he might not be good at either. With JKH, Garlett and Hannan all out and maybe Joel Smith as well run was a desperate need.

Similar to a Jayden Short from the Tigers but more a 55m kick than 60+. A poor mans Jake Lloyd maybe

Im a big fan. A small but combative back flanker with legit run and kicking ability. Absolutly what we need. Was excellent at Casey on a back flank and not too bad as a mid who rested forward when needed in the second half of last year. Potentially could replace Lewis or free up Salem

Young guys have a hard time adapting to AFL without ever knowing the stress of a full time job, uni, family etc. But it sure isn't easier for a guy like Cam who was trying to juggle a lot. The look at the person is revealing. Reads like when he signed a lucrative contract with Melbourne it was his first taste of financial freedom for his family, good for him. It didn't look all that positive when his fitness was less than ideal and his play was ordinary but he knuckled down and gave his best. A few heated arguments over the years about him but it's nice to know he had time for the fans and the fans returned that to him. I reckon if he was half a yard quicker or more agile he could've had a very long career at either end of the ground given his skills and game sense were certainly up to the standard.

Far out the incompetency of not keeping a hold over emergency 24th man for a preseason game. One of the Wagners or Tommy Sparrow had to play VFL and couldn't have been kept around for the 2nd half? Both of these guys should've been on ice immediately. Smith sounds like very little chance of playing round 1 now.

There's continuum between bracing for contact when you're about to get run over by a guy with momentum and lining up a guy and dropping him and May is certainly somewhere between the 2. I'd argue Berry draws him before handballing and May realises contact is his best option and instead of absorbing Berry hitting him he does make an active movement to get low and put his momentum through Berry. He's pretty much delivered a strong moving basketball screen. It's saying if you want contact I'm going to put some force in to it to protect himself as much as to clean the guy up. If his intentions were to clean him up he would've turned side on and ran in to him not stayed mostly front on and held his ground. I think the club will take his side that his intentions were genuine and not malicious. Coach him up to do even better in staying low and avoiding force. If I were a coach I'd want May making contact and stopping the guy getting to the next contest and I'd want May on the winning side of that contact. I'd be annoyed he was reported but it would be more a focus on technique than a dressing down. That said it's irrelevant how valid his actions were to him getting off. That comes down to was it high and how heavy was the impact? We need to win 1 or both of those arguments.

Almost certainly too soon, one of the youngest kids in the draft barely draft eligible and doesn't have a strength, fitness or a speed advantage over his opponents. Hore hasn't been good but he's an excellent VFL player, he should be able to adapt more to the pace of the game and play better. He's the type of player who will benefit a lot from better up the ground pressure (like most of our defenders), then he can intercept and use his kicking in more space. They'll have to make a difficult decision on who to back in out of Hore, Hunt and J Wagner maybe until KK and Lever are back and assuming/hoping for no further injuries. Still expect it will be Hore in round 1.

Excellent post, some of his defensive gut running is brilliant, but some of it is him running passed a team mate who should be manning their own man and creating 2 on 1 that leaves a free guy. The beauty of Richmond's defensive work is every forward chases and pressures and creates turnover chances by covering all the opponents. ANB also doesn't nail enough tackles, he has to stick them to be at his best defensively. I think his work rate to get the ball is a little underappreciated but yeah he's not strong at the contest and doesn't use it well. Maybe a silver lining is that back with a more familiar team around him his decision making becomes easier. The way he spins round in circles to evade isn't a good thing but it is predictable for team mates. His more experienced team mates probably read what he'll do faster than some of the guys he played with this preseason

FB: Jetta Oscar Hibberd HB: Salem May Lewis C; Fritsch Oliver Vanders HF: ANB T Mc Petracca HF: Melksham Weid Spargo Foll: Gawn Brayshaw Harmes Int: Hore (back), Viney (mid), Jones (wing), J Smith (fwd) Emerg: Frost, C. Wagner, Hunt, Stretch Smokies: Petty, Chandler There's big doubts on Viney, May and Harmes but the hope is they all get over the line. Frost is the May replacement. Vanders and Jones move inside and/or Salem mid and Hunt/Stretch come in for Viney and Harmes if needed you'd think. I have concerns with Oscar, ANB, Hore and J Smith as well but when it comes to the final side I think they'll go closest to what worked for us last year. You could go with Frost, C Wagner and Stretch instead but is that any better? Roll the dice on kids? From the Eagles game last year it's out Tyson (Fritsch), Hannan (J Smith forward), Smith as a defender (Hore) and Frost (May).

Nothing but chest your honour.

Last year Fritsch moving to a wing (then half back), Spargo to half forward, Frost in to the side and Vanders back took us from flat track bullies to a side capable of playing footy good enough to win a couple of finals, smash the Giants and beat a depleted Eagles in Perth. I'm very concerned with a few spots in the side right now. The good news is there's a few obvious guys that might go a long way to fixing some of them. Inside 50 kicking and forward line spreading out - Melksham Intercept marking defender - Lever/Petty Clearance pace and bite - Viney Half back/wing skill - Kade Kolodjashnij There's others that have me wondering if we've got what it takes as well: Half back speed - KK, Hunt? J Smith? Frost? Midfield pace - Baker Forward line crumb and chase - Chandler, Bedford, Garlett? Can't rely of kids to do what Fritsch and Spargo did last year and not all season - both were feeling it by the end of a long year, but there's options if we need to look at something different to change the make up of the team.

I'm a Joel Smith fan, have been a long time, he's too good an athlete and hard/skilled/clean enough to make a good player in the right role and with the right coaching. But I'm not sure about the so called great form. He snapped a goal from a crumb that looked more good luck than good management. He got a soft free kick. He snuck on the end of one late after initial leading back towards goal. His best goal was the beautiful give and get run from the wing and finish on the run. It was a long way from 4 outstanding goals and as good as his best stuff was he got in the road a lot as well. I like him as a player but absolutely not as a goal square option even if he kicked 4 today. Has to be up the ground using his tank and speed. I expect he'll play round 1 because we don't have a lot of better options right now. He could settle in to a more permanent spot or he could be back at Casey and be training with the defenders again in a matter of weeks. Against the right team he should be thrown in the ruck for a bit as well if we need to get a bit more ground pressure and try something.

Looked more like Liam the Whale Buxton. Not a small boy

He's absolutely entitled to bump in that situation, he's within 5m of the ball, in play and Berry has had plenty of time to dispose of the ball. It all comes down to whether his shoulder made contact with jaw and no camera angle is likely to be conclusive. That camera angle sure isn't. The young man Jarrod Berry from the Lions is a good country kid who should do the right thing and tell the tribunal (if it comes to that) that all contact was to the body and the contact with the ground caused the groggy feeling.

2nd quarter was good footy, the hope is that's more of what we can do. Unfortunately the same errors over and over again are not helping my confidence. How many times can we spoil each others marks, over run contests and bomb the ball in forward? Brisbane replaced their injured ruck and played 3 fresh players to use a full 26, we lost 2 and had 2 more hobbling from our 23, so the scoreboard result which flattered us is somewhat ok. But it's going to take some serious coaching to fix some big errors in the game and we'll be going in to round 1 with some personnel that don't fill me with confidence. Backline: May - ok start considering, hopefully not suspended Salem - just ok Hibberd - up and down Jetta - very solid Lewis - some good but he still [censored] himself and offers little defensively, another slow player ------------------------------------------------- Oscar - awful, slow to defend, slow to attack, chest marks the ball from the ground which makes him easy to tackle, loses his feet Hore - not up with the pace of the game Mids: Gawn - very good Oliver - not his best but whatever Gus - has to find his kicking range Petracca - excellent first half, where's the second? Vanders - scrappy Fritsch - some good then injured -------------------------------- Harmes - injured Stretch - slow to make decisions and his wobbly ball drop really hurts his kicking and rhythm with the ball, isn't a fluent player. Nope Forwards: Weid: Did ok Tommy - scrappy but give him time Spargo - some nice things but not his best ---------------------------------------------------- ANB - a long way from his best with fumbles, not holding tackles and even been slow to chase at times Hunt - I can see why they tried it but a hot start obscured some ordinary play J Smith: 4 goals flattered him, some ok efforts up the ground but too many errors leaping for the ball JKH - injured Keilty - better in the ruck but nothing stood out forward Viney, Jones and Melksham should help but we'll still be going in to round 1 with a number of players we can't be sure of and with doubts about the outside run and quality in the forward line.

Might be ok up the ground but Marty Hore stinks deep

Might not be a compound fracture, reporting on this stuff is notoriously bad. Could just cracked in a few places clearly in need of surgery. If it’s easy to pin it could be pretty quick, if it’s really a messy job it might be more like 6

Hopefully it’s a case of saving it for the real stuff

Off for an X-ray is my guess. Fingers can be really nasty. Got to hope it can be a quick fix

At this stage I’ll take my chances with C wagner over ANB