DeeSpencer

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.

Wells is brilliant but he's also had a decent run of failures that corresponded to when they were trading in players and having later picks - the Thurlow's and Lang's etc. With the footy department salary cap as it is you'd have to shed elsewhere to make a huge offer like that. And a lot of the Cats gun pick ups have been local kids as well - Stewart, Henry, Miers, Tom Atkins as well as Ablett, Rohan and Dahlhaus coming home. Take away the home town, the lifestyle, the coaching, the culture and the Cats recruiting might not look as strong. We don't know what impact Roos had on recruiting. ANB and Oscar seemed like Roos guys to me but I'm probably wrong. Stretch Father Son is hard to turn down. A lot of those picks are the reason our depth doesn't look all that promising even if functionally those guy can perform at AFL level and haven't been total busts. If we were making changes I'd look at the Taylor's team which has 3 other full time guys I think, plus the whole network of part time scouts. There's room to change things and I'm sure that industry does go through a fair bit of it. The Giants have done very well since adding Emma Quayle to add a journalists and female viewpoint as well as a good recruiting mind. No reason we can't think outside the box with adding different ways to evaluate players. I'd love to know where the club and league are at with analytics, I'd be trying very hard to be at the front of that movement.

I would say we have decent depth. We could've beaten both Adelaide and West Coast with a stack of injuries. That's good depth. After an awful first 3 weeks with so many players clearly underdone we've gone 3 wins, 5 losses and had chances to do better than that. The issue we have is that the promising young players from previous draft in Fritsch and Spargo had already made their debut. Baker comes in now and is looking good. If Spargo wasn't having second year blues but made his debut this year and played like he did last year he'd be looking good. Didn't find a standout ready to play 18 year old from last year it seems but give him time. Can't knock him yet on guys not being ready to play. The previous drafts he's missed a few too many times with back end picks in 14/15/16 but they weren't the best picks of all time. I'm willing to give him a few misses there based on a few really nice picks with Hunt, Vanders and Harmes. If Hannan and Joel Smith were both up and firing them maybe picks in those drafts don't look so bad. Taylor's going to have to make the most of a bunch of picks to build up our depth as we cut the current guys who are filling out the last 4-6 spots in the team each week right now, but that's true of every club these days, you have to keep nailing picks. The lack of quality depth comes from having to spend so many draft picks and list spots on experienced players in the Roos years to avoid ending up like Carlton. Really revitalising the depth on the list and turning the current depth players - who can do the job of holding the fort - in to promising youth takes a lot of drafts. He's not the messiah but if he can turn around his poor record on talls and find a small forward the list will be looking very healthy and he's been a big part of that.

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.

I'm disappointed with a couple of things: 1.His selection of talls. King, Hulett and Filipovic all gone, none of them had the bodies, skill or athleticism for AFL footy. Keilty - we like him around here but he's slow and lumbering. Oscar waddles along. Petty has an awkward running style and not a lot of pace. And Weid isn't exactly lighting it up. Every list should have a few spots for young athletic big guys who can add muscle and develop skills. We don't really have anyone who fits that criteria outside of Austin Bradtke. 2. The lack of upside with several recruits. Where's the next Harmes or even Hunt coming from? Baker might be one but he needs to make huge leaps in his endurance to be an AFL midfielder, otherwise he's a half forward with some pace. But in hindsight with Stretch and JKH staying for another year why did we need Corey Wagner? Spargo is such a safe pick, maybe too safe to even be a good player. What is Nietschke, a slow outside mid, only 184cms and without a smooth kick, that's not the ideal AFL recruit. DJ was a wasted pick. We've been looking for pace and skill for a couple of years, why haven't we found a Sydney Stack or a Gryan Miers?

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.

Wait he didn’t retire and get replaced yesterday like several other over the hill players?

It’s a tragedy on a tragedy. Might be best done privately to a large extent but MFC need to step up big time. Unfortunately our next proper home game isn’t for a month but maybe then or later in the year it would be wonderful to gather a lot of Daniher/Bailey era players for something for Brad and the family.

I'm one of the first to say we need more pace and outside run/skill and wanted us to use multiple picks taking some gambles, but it's also true that after Oliver, Viney, Harmes and hopefully a rejuvenated Brayshaw our inside ball winners do drop away pretty quickly. Jones is close to the end, Petracca hasn't shown he can step up and be a midfielder, Vanders' foot is stuffed, Maynard's gone backwards. After that it's Sparrow and that's about it. Same thing goes for ANB, Spargo, JKH etc as that half forward who rolls up to the midfield. If he can tackle, get contest to contest and hit the scoreboard then he has a chance in that kind of roll as well. Keen to see him play for Casey.

The is my opinion only not mail but I'm very confident in it: Brayshaw's on the wing because he's too slow and lazy in transition running and butchered the ball in the midfield. He lost the trust of the coaches to be around the footy. It helps if your wingers are quick but it's not vital these days as long as they run hard and keep in position. Slower, unaccountable inside mids get torched and Gus wasn't keeping up with the play. He'd get 30 but they'd do nothing and his many would get 35. Decision making and transition running are easier on the wing. Pacey wingers would be nice but Baker doesn't have the tank for it. Lockhart lacks the tank a little and the ball winning. Stretch knows how to play the position but is just going. Corey Wagner is meh. There's really not a lot of other options. With Salem and Hibberd back this week Fritsch should go back on the wing and give us one decent outside runner but we're still short other options. The preseason plans for Vanders and KK have fallen through. Gus should go back on the ball at some stage but if he doesn't show defensive transition and better ball use I won't feel like the coaches are to blame.

Agree. He could’ve taken a few intercept marks along with some spoils and had a pretty decent first half yesterday. Instead he went for some safe spoils. Then he cops a knock and looks limpy and slow. He slow and lacks a physical presence at the contest but there’s still signs of talent with reading the play, quick hands and a nice kick. Needs to go back to Casey and show 6 weeks of consistent form rather than a couple of good weeks then a couple of quiet games.

Clearly I don’t know of the salary cap implications, nor do I know of the cultural implications of retiring or making inactive a bunch of senior players. I just think teams are being super conservative with a new rule whilst usually teams find advantages by being creative or bold. We’ve seen it with academy pick trading, future pick trading, the Tigers taking Sydney Stack etc etc My plan is probably more of the Mark Neeld style moneyball but if these picks are all 10-20% chance of being a good player I’d rather multiple swings.

Why don’t we: - Retire Lewis and Garlett - Inactive list Vanders and maybe even Jetta Take 4 or even 5 picks. It’s 50k a pick, plus 20k if they’re delisted at the end of the year. We know Lewis and Garlett are done so why not look at replacements now? We’ve also got Stretch, J Wagner, JKH, Maynard, Jones and other options to come off the list at the end of the year. There’s usually plenty of 19 year olds or state league types taken in the 2nd-4th round of the draft. Some work, some don’t. Why not take a huge roll of the dice?

Hore looks like an AFL player. Needs to keep working on his disposal and lack of size/pace means he's not the ideal match up for a lot of opponents but he judges the ball in the air, gets to the right spots and his decision making with the ball is solid. The only concern that could see Hore not playing a lot of games is if Lever takes his role and 2 intercept marking defenders can't play in the same side but I doubt that's the case. At this stage I want to see a backline of May, Lever, Hore, Jetta, Salem, Hibberd. Until we get that group on the field together it's hard to know exactly who the best 7th player is to go with them. Frost is still Frost but I think he's also looking like an AFL player right now with a decent amount of spoils, running out of trouble more than in to it and kicking better than he has before. The question is more does he look good because we've got some pretty slow and average defenders next to him or is he really turning a corner.