DeeSpencer

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I was going to include something about this is my report today but forgot! I agree 1000%. What's the point of a dummy if it has no hands? These things seem to be designed for soccer walls and not for AFL footy. A simple redesign with some waving arms couldn't hurt!

5 minutes is a little overkill but a good panel, good tv interview and clever highlights can and should take 3-5 minutes per pick if done properly. If the AFL mandates 5 minutes then take all of the time just in case a late trade happens. Why not? The bottom clubs will do anything for PR. We should all know that, it wasn't long ago that we were doing that and you never know when it might happen to us again.

One more thing after a lead either Weid or Tommy doubled around and May stood them up with a big body check. Just a glimpse in to his physicality. He also tunneled through Preuss to set up the play that led to the Kolo goal against play. I would say it was a free kick but it’s still nice too see some grunt and pace defending a lead.

Lever jogging laps. Jack Viney on the footies for some snaps at goal. Big rehab group of Nev, Vanders, Baker, Oscar, Tracc, Oliver, Hunt, Stretch, Harmes, Bull kicking and marking. All moving well. Harmes did repeat sprints with the runner who Brendan Mc at least has dubbed ‘rabbit’. Hore welcomed in to the main group with plenty of applause for a drill before returning to rehab. In to some 2/3rd of the ground up and back match simulation. I call this one the 3 team tango with 3 little mini teams. Spargo a nice stand up tackle an early highlight. Sparrow got the ball on the wing and tried to take on the Prooster and probably regretted it, got dumped on his shoulder. My guess is Preuss injures someone at some stage this year, I hope it’s not a bad result! They split in to a couple of groups. The one at the punt road end with a ground ball in the pocket, hands hands to 45 out, then a short hit up kick quick handball and a shot on goal from 20m out 45 angle. Quite frankly this was the worst drill I’ve seen in years. Jeff and Preuss were about the only ones who could kick a simple goal. Weid dropped 3 sitters on the hit up kick. The hit up kicks were often awful. Bedford has no momentum in his kicking action so his snaps and hit ups were awful, smoothing out his kicking action has to be a priority. It was just a bad drill. Not sure why it wasn’t stopped. Anyway about that time Rdb rolled in on a golf cart in a dark suit. Looked like the Pope (redacted redacted). The players were doing a tackling/grappling drill. Not sure who the coach taking it was but he wasn’t suffering fools. It was down for push ups repeatedly. Jones giving them a rev up. Lewis’ push-ups were ridiculous. Pretty much like this: Kade Koko took running shots at goal in this time. Looking smooth. Rejoined the group later. The kids went off for some development work. The main group in to some match sim. Spargo a highlight with clean use. Steve May looked buggered after a rep, nice to see they made him work. Fritsch and Kolo clean on the outside. Kade Kolo the won a contest and ran in to goal for the defensive team which had them up and about. May very vocal and supportive. Anyway, that was about enough for me.

Yeah come to think of it I think he said something like he'd seen him play for NSW in the under 18's. Probably the same for Josh Wagner and QLD 18's. This is just a guess but I'd imagine in any draft year they look at something like 300+ maybe even 500+ kids who come through various pathways and then keep track of where they end up. It's a little arbitrary but the guys who come out of juniors and end up at Casey I see a bit differently and I include Corey Wagner in that because he went straight from AFL to Casey and back.

There's a few distinct categories here. 1. The Category B rookies: J. Smith, Maynard, Walker Really anything from this group is a bonus. It's not easy finding Irish, American or non footy players. Who knows with Walker, seems athletic and a nice enough kick, but Maynard should be decent depth and J Smith I'm still very hopeful for. 2. The guys we tracked from 18: Fritsch, Hore, Keilty, C. Wagner Jason Taylor confirmed recently Fritsch was on their radar years earlier but they didn't take the gamble with injuries. Hore was someone they looked at when he was 18. Surely Keilty to go to Casey was on the draft radar. Corey Wagner as well. I see these guys as more where AFL recruiting is going, getting guys to your VFL side or monitoring guys who go in or out of the AFL system. 3.Regulation mature age picks: Vanders, Hannan, T. Smith, J Wagner Would be interesting to know how far back some of these guys were looked at. Vanders had a dominant NEAFL season. Hannan a very good VFL year after a strong Ammos year. Not sure how the Bull got to Casey. Josh Wagner rose through the ranks in Queensland to get himself looked at. Interesting they are all guys who had or have had a fair bit of upside, they weren't plodding midfielders or lumbering rucks. Vanders and Hannan particularly are guys who can really turn games. Bull is a bit workman like but that's to be expected for a key forward. Josh Wagner a little more vanilla but the hope was his kicking and smarts could be valuable, who knows, it might still be.

Kupp is a massive loss and Cook never got the chance to stretch the field. That means it's also going to be tight throws or short stuff. More than anything though it seemed like the Rams O line just had a stinker, that can happen on the road. Fix the O line, the run gets going, Cook becomes a factor and things open up for Goff. Handing off to Gurley when he's going nowhere isn't necessarily smart given the Bears defensive line were monstering, but I was shocked he couldn't get the ball in space. Roquan Smith is a good rookie linebacker but Gurley is even faster than he is and way more powerful. Gurley only 3 completions on 7 targets but a 10 yard average. I'd be dropping it off to him on tosses, screens and short passes all day if he's not getting the yards up the middle. The shock of the game that tilted it in the Bears favour was the Bears being able to run the ball after failing to do so all year. I don't know what Wade is doing with Suh and Donald there shouldn't be anywhere to go!

I think the players get 3 weeks over Christmas break now. Whether they take the 3rd week now or in early Jan I'm not sure. My guess is they spend at least part of next week training either in closed sessions at Gosch's or at another more private location or they hold something beginning with c that rhymes with damp.

He’s too good an athlete not to be given a lot of chances, you don’t want to waste that upside. That said, he trained with the forwards the other day, is that still the go? His agility and repeat speed could be a huge forward pressure weapon. Also wouldn’t mind seeing him in the ruck for teams that don’t have a proper back up. As for down back I think Hore is the immediate 3rd tall cover. Hopefully he’s in full training soon. KK if the wing role doesn’t work. Get Hunt back to his best. Or play Frost and Oscar, use May as a back pocket, slide Hibberd up the ground.

Pats, Saints, Rams

Footywire keep a list that isn't always accurate (see Kade Kolo listed for us) but is a rough guide. https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/out_of_contract_players?year=2019 Teams in transition will have the most - Carl, Gold Coast as young sides, the Hawks going through a rebuild. Richmond have a lot and are being aggressive with the Lynch move to bring in such a big money guy that they need flexibility. That's a new model that could be dangerous for a club with retention issues that goes all in and gets caught out. Good culture and a fair payment model is important. For the Hawks it's the older guys that blow out their numbers Veterans: McEvoy, Stratton, Frawley, Birchall, Burgoyne, Roughead, Puopolo, Henderson I think all of those guys are 30 or close to 30. That means some tough decisions. Most teams have half the number in that age bracket at most. Otherwise I think they are pretty standard. A number of important signatures they have to get. Some depth types they keep on one year deals, some will stay, some will go. Kids on initial contracts or rookies that are pretty easy to sign up. Best 22: Mitchell, O'Meara, Hardwick, Shiels Depth: Mirra, Ceglar, Schoenmakers, Mohr, Minchington, Miles, O'Brien Youth: CJ, Greaves, Glass, Moore, Ross, Cousins, Worpel, Pittonet, Golds Salary Cap: Langford

Key defenders: May, Oscar, (Frost, Petty) 3rd tall: Lever, Hibberd, (Hore) Key forward: T Mc, Weid, (Kielty, T Smith) 3rd tall: Melk, Petracca, Hannan, (J Smith) Ruck: Gawn, (Preuss, Bradtke) Wings: Vanders, KK, Fritsch On ball: Oliver, Brayshaw, Harmes Plenty of height there. Our key position players are more around the 195cm mark than the 200cm size but I don't think that's an issue. 200cm talls with the endurance and mobility required are hard to find and it's not like our guys are small. Oscar, Petty, Tom and Weid are all big guys. May is a little shorter but has the strength and athleticism. Our 3rd tall and midfield options aren't stacked with 190cm+ size that some teams have but Lever, Hibberd and Jetta down back gives us plenty of overhead ability and Melksham, Petracca and possibly Hannan do the same up forward. Fritsch on the wing could be a weapon with his marking. KK has scope and Vanders is a physical beast for a midfielder. We could have 16 of the best 22 being 186cm or above plus Jetta. Our other half back options aren't short either - Lewis, Salem, Hunt, Hore. Which means our short guys are Viney, Spargo and ANB - all playing in positions where winning the ball on the deck, tackling and evasive skills matter more than overhead ability.

Some great photos as always Saty. Just wanted to say apart from mentioning the players in your captions you can tag them in the photo itself, that way it will show up in their tagged photos. They might appreciate that more than the captions.

Ben Guthrie covers the Demons for AFL.com.au and has his articles reposted on the club site and Stevo works for channel 7 who pay for the game. You throw a little bone here or there and you get better coverage when needed on the things that matter. Not to mention they'll come to training and cover what they see. The club doesn't need to be reporting every minor incident to fans, it's not in our best interest to know.

It's certainly more than the average that we've had. Playing deep in to September and a lot of surgeries will do that. Players consistently in the rehab group last preseason (from what I can recall): Hannan, Weed, T Smith, J Smith, Garlett, Kent, one or both of the young rucks at times, McKenna + Vanders (both rarely sighted outside running), Viney.

Oskar Baker - did 2 hammies in the back end of last year, probably just a slow build up Angus Brayshaw - was in the main group last week but called for the physios a couple of times Mitch Hannan - think he's had knee problems in both years, had an op James Harmes - had a shoulder op, seems to be fine Marty Hore - unsure, but is doing a fair bit in rehab, paired up with Melk Jayden Hunt - had shoulder surgery, doing a fair bit on the track Neville Jetta - had knee and shoulder procedures Jake Lever - knee taking it's time according to Stevo's tweet Oscar McDonald - unsure? Jake Melksham - probably just the ankle he carried in the back end of last year, doing plenty Clayton Oliver - legs look good, obviously hasn't done upper body weights for a while Christian Petracca - had a knee op Tim Smith - unsure Billy Stretch - coming back from stress fracture Aaron vandenBerg - had a shoulder op, out running Jack Viney - had an ankle procedure, doing laps, I expect they'll take him slowly It's a long list and it's way too talented! Lever due to it being a long term injury and Vanders and Viney with their injury histories are the guys I'm worried about. Just a rough guess but I think Baker, Brayshaw, Hore, Hunt, Melksham should be good to go soon based on them doing more ball work from what I saw. Clarry seems fine, will just be a matter of when he can resume contact drills. Jetta and Petracca seem paired up and looked ok. It's not panic stations now but I think we need to have the list back in single figures asap after Christmas and have as many of these guys right to go for the preseason games. If they haven't done enough training to play in the preseason then they're likely playing catch up during the regular season which is a risk of further injuries.

Round 12 this year. Dogs v Roos VFL Hitouts; Preuss - 36 Roughead - 25 Campbell - 15 Xerri (NM) - 9 Disposals Preuss - 15 Roughead - 24 Campbell - 14 Xerri - 10 Looks to me like Preuss was probably the best tap ruckman of the group, but Roughead the best around the ground. 1 goal for Campbell forward. In terms of instant back up Roughead was probably the best of that lot, the Pies moved to get him. Preuss is 23, Campbell is 27. That's really what a lot of it comes down to. Preuss is yet to enter his prime. Campbell might lose athleticism quickly, some big guys do and then they start to struggle. Yes, I see the point about having 3 rucks, but unless we are planning to play 2 at AFL level - and I don't think we are - then we've got a 3rd guy sitting in the VFL getting in the way of development and team structure. Austin Bradtke can do 5-10 minutes a quarter in the ruck and 5 minutes forward and develop at Casey, whilst the forward line stays open for Tim Smith and (at this stage) Keilty to get some space as tall forwards. With the new pre season and mid season rookie spots we can add a 3rd ruck if needed during the year. They might not be as good as Tom Campbell but we'll have all the state leagues to pick from if need be.

Last report for the day. Tom McDonald had some beautiful salmon coloured boots on.

Tossing or turning whether to go with this in a report because I don't want to be premature, nor do I want to get others overly excited. But I guess it's December so even I can be positive. I'll also say that Josh Wagner is one of the best 5 kicks at training and even the worst kicks hit their targets more times than not in simple drills. That said, here's my big call - James Jordon might be the best kick on the list. He's balanced, has a simple action and has lovely penetration and shape on his kicks. The guys did a drill that required a kick from the wing to land up in front of a forward who was positioned 10m or so inside the boundary. The gusty wind took apart the guys with suspect techniques - Maynard and Tommy Mc kicked floaters and Frost was sending them everywhere, even some of the better kicks were missing short or long. Jordon's kicks were cutting through the breeze and landing in front of the eyes of the forwards.

I think I saw all but Lever, Vanders, Oscar do ball work. Melk and Hore who seem teamed up, as well as Hunt did kick to kick in a triangle. Others with some kick to kick and handball stuff.

They did some longer running. Then boots on to split in to 3 groups for some in tight ground ball and handball drills, then some kicking. A full squad longer kicking drill sorted out the good and bad kicks in swirly conditions. Sparrow kicks it low and hard, more hits than misses. Nietschke is just solid, gets it to where it needs to be. now it’s some gentle match sim. 3 of Weid, Keilty, J Smith/C Wag and T Mc as the forward vs 2 of May, Frost, Petty and Josh Wag. Zoning and leading patterns the aim of the game

Oskar Baker has given the day weights a fair go during his time off. Hasn’t found a good hairdresser yet

Line drills have finished for now and it’s in to some repeat sprints the new players split from the main group, a couple of academy kids joining in, both solid sized lads Bedford and Chandler have gone hat free. Sparrow the backwards visor. Jordon the regular visor. The rest with the white caps, Bradkte the only one going backwards . From the main group Spargo, Fritsch, Wagner, Hibberd and JoelSmith are backwards cap guys

The rehab group: Viney, Lever, Vanders, Tracc, Hannan, Hore, Baker, Melk, Harmes, Bull, Stretch, Hunt, Jetta, Oscar, Brayshaw, Clarry