DeeSpencer

Whilst I agree you have to judge teams against the best sides I think it's fair to count the finals wins against Geelong and Hawthorn and not just the games we lost. Switching or no switching we moved the ball very well against the Eagles and Giants late in the year, and against the Cats (first quarter and all game out of the backline) and the Hawks. Our ball movement was good when the midfield held up. The 3 biggest losses for the year (Hawks, Pies, Eagles) were all midfield beltings. We have to improve the outside personnel, I'm in agreement there, but that can be true and it can also be true that we did about as well as we could've done this year trying to maximise our inside midfield power and midfield running. Also look across the competition at the wingers in the best sides: Eagles - Masten, Sheed, Redden Coll - Mayne, Phillips Rich - Grigg, McIntosh, Graham Hawks - Smith, Henderson It's big body endurance runners, only one of which is Smith is super quick and not many who are very skilled. And even Smith would rotate to half forward or half back to find more space.

His set shot kicking has been rubbish all year, of course he'll pass it off. It was excellent the year before. This year, he creates a routine, attempts to kick better drop punts and kicks like trash. Something to fix over summer. Have we hired a kicking coach yet?????????

The first shot was bad Bernie. Getting the ball in a worse position from a lovely kick. That's selfish football. Costly. The second shot was a lovely smart option and a beautiful kick but just went the wrong side of the post

Hunt wasn't terrible, I thought he made a number of good defensive plays and after a few bad kicks wasn't that bad with it. Had a number of repeat efforts to move the ball forward. The greater frustration must be that he isn't a cut above VFL, but with the season he's had that's not a surprise. I guess the greatest shame watching was there was no player who really was a cut above. Fritsch looked very good, but still had some poor defensive efforts. JKH started in amazing touch then faded. Petty looked a class above for a half then got turned around. Keilty was good all game but then would drop a chest mark or miss a handball. He can do a bit of everything but isn't really dominant in one area. I'm not sure what happened to Tim Smith. He went from covering the ground really well at Casey and being clean with the ball to fumbling. And his set shots went way off. No preseason so maybe he'd bounce back if given the chance. I remember the GF two years ago Oliver looked amazing and the rest didn't impress. This year was kind of similar that there just weren't many AFL listed players really on the up out there. Where was the young small forward or outside mid with some talent?

I'm not saying they are good, just they are (possibly) the better option than having guys who fatigue and are then completely useless. Vanders, Tyson and Jones got the job done because our inside mids won against the Hawks and Cats. The Eagles outside mids are Masten, Sheed and Redden. None of them are speedsters. Yeo, Shuey and Hutchings won it on the inside, that's what killed us. Plus the Eagles forwards got real pressure on when our forwards couldn't, and the Eagles half forwards kept bobbing up in to space where our half forwards ran in to each other. If we had proper wingmen we could've extended the game out more and worked away from the contest, so it's certainly a needs area, but we went with the midfield that was doing the job when play A - win the ball in tight worked.

New England, Green Bay, Dallas

I'm not convinced we never switch, I think we do ok in that regard but it comes when our backline is on top so are actually driving the ball out. If the backline are under the pump they lose their confidence. Fritsch and Vanders on the wings would actually be switching weapons. Both really good size and strong in the air. You'd look up at half back and back them in to win it if you kicked to advantage. Adding another wing is certainly a priority so we have depth and quality. Tyson and Jones are getting the games because they cover the ground in an endurance fashion. It's endurance that our mids need. Certainly pace is required too but we need that hard gut running. You can't just throw a fast guy on the wing, they need the tank. Viney, Oliver and Gus getting fitter to spread out for the switches would help. It's: 1. Wing 2. Proper small forwards - I like Spargo but he's a flanker, similarly ANB is a midfield connector type, not a forward. Hannan if anything is a flanker, he doesn't have the right speed/agility tackling mix 3. Key defensive upgrades if possible 4. A skilled back flanker to replace Lewis 5. Ruck depth to ease the load for Max

That was a pretty awful coaching performance by Rawlings' and co. Pedersen had to ruck most of the last quarter. Without winning it at the source they would never get it to him forward. Using Smith in the ruck for so long was a disaster. Fritsch was being dragged deep in the backline. Why not move him on to a wing? He'd help get the ball moving. Lockhart wasn't very effective mid/forward, he would've given some drive at half back. JKH didn't get thrown in to the midfield despite looking like the cleanest mid to get his hands on it. Munro, Bugg both can tackle and crack in but they could never get a clean possession. Not surprisingly Jeff was hopeless but where was the use of him off the back of the square to get him in the game? It was yet another victory for Clarko footy over the rubbish we like to play and can't seem to drag ourselves out of.

Whilst I agree the failures were in winning the contested ball I thought for the first 10 minutes or so of the game we weren't terrible around the ball and got it forward a few times but were unable to lock it in. Just locking it in our half for a while would've stalled the Eagles momentum. The Eagles nailed kick after kick across from the middle of the field to the fat side forward flanker, some of that is midfield related and bad defending but a lot of times we couldn't get them slowed at half back. The Eagles were nailing their skills at a really quick pace. The kind of pace only Richmond, Collingwood and the Eagles have been able to sustain this year. Smith looked like a guy who could disrupt that more than a lot of our forwards.

No but he'd help us get it back. The Eagles were pumping it inside 50 at times because not only do our key defenders get beaten, they just don't take marks, nor do they regularly sink the fist through the ball and clear the contest. So even if you win it back you're under pressure and not in control of the ball. Oscar wasn't entirely terrible today but missed a bunch of marks and had plenty of chances to really thump the ball through. Frost had a bad Frost game. Lever will help the marking and rebound but is best used as a third option, especially coming off a knee. Maybe Frost and Oscar can improve again, and they showed against the Cats and Hawks they can do the job with midfield support, but it's hard to win a flag without 1 gun key defender.

The midfield were belted today and that's both our strength and probably the area where we can find the most natural improvement. Harmes showed what a big summer can do. Time for Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca to do the same. And Viney and Vanders getting healthy. Those 6 guys I named can probably get 140 touches a game pretty easily. They had 141 combined today. If they improve their 2 way running and clean up their skills it will make the life a lot easier for the rest of the side. For Clarry it's finding room to kick the ball more. For Brayshaw it's finding the kicking efficiency he badly needs to improve. Petracca it's two way effort and being cleaner under pressure, plus his goal kicking.

I think we need reinforcements on all 3 lines. A gun key defender would be nice but probably won't happen. So at least adding more flanker depth would be handy. Forward line needs to work out the plan for Hogan and then find some crumbing and pressure players. Go get a Rioli!!! Midfield just add some depth ball winners and then find the solutions on the wing. The wing desperately needs changes.

I'll update this as the list changes come in. And after trade week. But I thought I'd get some things down on paper and see where we are at and what we need to bring in. FB: Hibberd Oscar Jetta HB: Lever Frost Salem C; Fritsch Brayshaw ##### HF: Spargo ?Hogan Petracca FF: ##### T Mc Melksham Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: ?HBF, ?Forward/Wing, Harmes, Vanders I've left Frost and Oscar in because I don't think we are getting May and we have to back them in. Depth: ANB, Hannan, Stretch, Baker, Maynard, Wagner, Jones, Lewis, Hunt, J Smith, ?Garlett, ?Tyson Key defenders: Frost, Oscar, Petty, ??Keilty 3rd tall: Lever, J Smith Back pockets: Jetta Flankers: Hibberd, Salem,Hunt, ?? Lewis, Wagner Inside mids: Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw, Harmes, Maynard Outside mids: Fritsch, ??Tyson, ??Jones, Stretch, Baker Ruck: Gawn, ??Preuss Mid/forward: Petracca, Vanders Key forwards: T Mc, ??Hogan, Weideman 3rd tall: Melksham Flankers: Spargo, ANB, Hannan Crumbers: ???Garlett

I have no issue with Joel Smith in. They just got the wrong out. Interestingly though when Smith went forward despite some moments of poor skill and getting in the way he looked like our most athletic forward. That shows you how much work we need to do in upping our forward pressure and really just getting some speed and real pressure in to the mix. Melksham does absolutely nothing at ground level, he's awful in that regard. Petracca runs out of puff. ANB doesn't have great agility or power to stick tackles. Hannan has poor agility for a modern foward. Spargo has a bit of movement but is only small and young. We need to get guys who can really bend, twist and lay tackles. The focus on forward pressure this year was excellent. The execution of that focus was poor.

They'll push out Lobb and Finlayson. That's if they don't get what they want for Shiel. They'd be mad to trade Kelly a year early, he's vital for them to win the flag and won't lose value in a years time.

I watched the last few minutes of the 2nd quarter and the 2nd half. Seemed to rotate between the midfield - where he was involved in play - and full forward - where the ball largely avoided him but he'd go in chasing runs. Had a nice clearance in the 2nd quarter. In the 2nd half he had a lovely crumb about 40m out but missed the goal. Went on some big blistering chases to get from a long way to the contest. Nailed a big tackle which gave away a free but was worth it. Was involved with a few link up handballs. Skirted the packs a bit and I thought there were chances for him to jump in a get the ball. I'd say he looks like a draft prospect because he can get the ball in a pack and he loves to chase and tackle, but I'd also be concerned he's pretty limited in his involvement otherwise.

Game plan is pretty good. Pressure based field position attacking defensive set up. Aggressive ball movement with fast playing on and getting the ball in quickly. What we need to do is get the balance right between skills and ball winning, and develop the team and list so we have more players with better skills under pressure without sacrificing the ability to win the ball. We have a lot of the pieces but we need to round out the side. To win a prelim on the road without: - A reliable key defender - A reliable dangerous pressure forward - A quality outside runner Would've been a massive effort even if the side had turned up!

Jones deserves a year to see how he can play in a new role and a lightened work load - he carried the midfield in the first 6 weeks of the year. Lewis is playing the only position on the ground we can almost attempt to hide him and he's missing simple handballs under perceived pressure afraid of contact and giving away undisciplined free kicks. We gave him an extra year he wasn't going to get at the Hawks. Worked well for both parties. There's no need for 1 more.

Played some decent games towards the end of the year but cracks started to open in the final term against the Hawks and they busted wide open against the Eagles. Coaching or media role surely beckons.

JKH seemed to play forward quite a bit from what I saw at Casey last week. I think he's an option to come in if there's a forward flanker injury. If they seriously had him in plans for the wing I think he would've been up the ground at Casey. He looked great in the second half against GWS but I think the first half was exactly the concerns you've mentioned above. He'd be long odds to come in. I actually think Fritsch is just as likely to come straight out for Smith as Tyson is. If Goody really is all about the contest then he'll value Tyson's contested work on the wing and he'll want Smith's contested work down back over Fritsch's. That does mean we lose skill and the concern is Joel coughs it up too much but if the plan is to keep the game tight and attempt to defend very well then it's an option. Skill wise Smith would be one of our worst but I think he could easily impact as one of our better players with his run, tackles, smothers, intercept marks etc.

Fritsch looked ok as a forward at AFL level but his defensive pressure was poor, it's hard to create room for him on the lead - particularly with the way we play - and he's not going to out body or take many pack grabs against good AFL defenders. AFL footy is significantly different to VFL footy and I think Fritsch is more suited as a wingman who rotates forward or as a back flanker at AFL level. His marking and skills are best utilised in space. The only game he looked really dangerous as a forward in was the Saints game which was way too open. The conversation this week will surely be whether Fritsch has done enough to hold his spot down back, and if not whether he's the right option to slide back to the wing. Sacrificing some endurance and ball winning that Tyson has for more dash, dare, kicking skills and marking. I'm not convinced Hunt will ever have the endurance to be a wingman, he's too much of a sprinting athlete. Nor the stoppage craft. I like the wing options of Fritsch, Baker, Stretch and hopefully an even fitter and meaner Vanders plus some draft/trade additions.

I'm not a believer in tribunals altering scores. That's a slippery slope. Unless it was a deliberate ploy 19 on the field is breaking the rules just like a push in the back, a throw or a high tackle. And you can't go back through the game vision and start awarding free kicks based on the wrong decisions. There's a process to correct 19 men on the field via a count, just as there is for umpires to pay free kicks during the game. The 19th man had to line up either in the forward line, wing or back line and one of the opposition players should've worked out the opposition had a spare at the start of the quarter. They didn't. They were dumb. Bad luck. I don't think you can simply deduct the 8 points days later at the Tribunal. You have to deduct the score during the game or it's too late. The fine and suspended sentence to North Adelaide makes no sense either. Unless they deliberately cheated in which case they should be stripped of the game.

I assume you mean Lewis? Vital goal. 20 touches, 14 kicks, only 2 clangers. 4th highest supercoach score. I'm not saying he's a world beater but he's a player we better curtail.

AFL Draft 2018: Pick 1 and top 10 prospects, Jack Lukosius, Tarryn Thomas, Toby Bedford Settle down Toby. Late round pick should do it. Loving those tackle and clearance numbers.

The interesting thing is WC got on top of Collingwood by using Redden and Sheed on the wings (along with Masten) and giving themselves a big ball winning midfield with an advantage that way. The Pies were well on top and I thought the Pies midfield would go on and win that game but Redden, Sheed and Yeo in particular got on top at the contest. So Jones and Tyson actually match up well against those guys if we what to match them and beat them their and use that as the strength of our game. There's no Gaff and Jetta plays half back where ANB/Spargs will have a huge task in curtailing him. In general I'd certainly like the extra leg speed through the middle but I wonder if the Eagles achieve their quick pace via their backs and forwards and their excellent skills and not really via the wings and mids? We might stick with the same midfield purely because we want to win in our strongest area. Should we change to match up better with them or should we stay to our big jumbo midfield of ball winners?