DeeSpencer

Dew's coaching them very well. They are just super young and super injured, neither of which is his fault. But yes, as long as they stop leaking players like crazy they'll bounce back. The thing is they have way more talent than when Melbourne or Carlton were bad. In 2 years a team that has: Bowes, Ainsworth, Fiorini, Brodie, Ballard, Miller, Weller, Powell, Wright, Ben King, Rankine, Lukosius and pick 1 will be incredibly well placed. That's 13 players taken in the top 25 or so draft picks. When Roos took over we had Hogan, Viney, Nath Jones and not a lot more.

My biggest concerns with Amon and Langdon are that they are both small and both have had career best years and will be at top of their price range. Amon would've been a hidden gem last year. We might have to rotate Fritsch on to the wings to cover them against certain sides or hope for a return from KK, Vanders or someone like Jordon comes on as a forward/wing option. Or Melksham gets back to his wing game. But in terms of fixing our problems with run then Langdon is a must and Amon is a nice piece too who also brings good skills.

KK - broken. As is Vanders. Sparrow - inside mid/half forward/half back - a see ball, get ball type Jordon - maybe, too early to tell, he's so young and raw next years only year 1 for him really, can't expect anything next year Dunkley - not a winger, average pace, average fitness, average skills Hunt - absolutely not a winger, looking more like forward or nothing Brayshaw - not a winger! That leaves us with that actual wing options: Baker - worth another 1 year deal but he has to get fit or he can't play wing Stretch - just refuses to take on difficult kicks or to tuck the ball and run with it, could be kept but would only be depth JKH - actually has shown flashes now 2 years in a row late in the season that he could be an ok depth wingman, but he's small, he's afraid of contact, he's injury prone and he's shaky with the ball, there's a lot of negatives C Wagner - not really a natural outside runner or user, depth in a variety of roles but probably best across half forward What's your current plan for the wing if it's not new players??? If it's not experienced players then it's going to be either the draft, going with kids or injured players or going with guys on the bottom of the list in Baker, Stretch and JKH.

Retired: Lewis Delisted: Garlett Sign on: Frost, Baker, J Smith, ANB (barring a trade) Train on: J Wagner, JKH, Stretch, Jones Main list spots: 2-6 Retired rookie: Maynard Delisted: Keilty Retained/Added: Chandler, Lockhart, Dunkley (Bradtke, ?Walker) Train on: T Smith, C Wagner Rookie list spots: 0-4 I don't see the rush to delist anyone else. None of Wagner x 2, Jones, Stretch, JKH or T Smith are so bad they should go immediately, likewise none have a strong case to go around again next year. If the trade period breaks our way and we end up with 4 good picks and 4 good players without giving up too much then we see who and what we've bought in and maybe they all go. If Tim Smith retires or his body is shot that's fair enough, if we can't attract a good key forward prospect and he's back healthy then I'd keep him. If we find the wing upgrades that we need then we say bye to JKH and Stretch or Corey Wagner. Find a good half back then it's Josh Wagner. I'd imagine this process would go until the rookie draft really, that's how the smart clubs are managing the bottom part of their list.

Honestly leaking this is just a way to soften us up for losing pick 2. I'd trade pick 3 for a couple of quality first rounders but they better be good. The Kelly for Salem-Tyson trade was a balls up because we didn't get near enough value. If it was Billings for Salem at 2-9 that's fine but we had to give 20 for Tyson as well and only got a late pick back. When we traded out pick 2 we should've got a fortune for it. The same applies now for pick 3. If a team isn't willing to give us 2 top 10 picks then forget about it.

There's one former MFC Jack at Port we should look to get back. I'd love to have Jack Trengove back and playing for Casey. There's a quality person who would add value to the club.

The transition the Dogs made from McCartney to Bevo is what we need and what Alan Richardson has to work with Goodwin on.

Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Harmes and Petracca can absolutely play in the same side. Every one of them bar Brayshaw has good burst speed. Every one of them apart from Viney has outside run as part of their game. Harmes is the only one who has top end fitness. The other 4 need the Burgess magic. Harmes can play in multiple spots. Petracca can play forward and mid. Oliver, Viney and Brayshaw are all good enough to play minutes in other roles. I’m in the camp of trading Brayshaw if we can get value but there’s no reason it can’t work a whole lot better than it did this year.

Some teams have all the Luck. Going from Manning to Luck was one of the greatest moments of fortune in NFL history and the Colts just ruined him with an awful GM and no protection. The poor guy's has been belted for years and has had enough. Although you wonder what the heck is going on with his ankle - high ankle sprain, calf strain and something else all at once??? I hope he gets right and makes a come back but I'd bet against it. I think he's burnt out - remember he would've been a prodigy from high school to college to the NFL. 15 years or so of being the man. Of not messing up. It's a lot of pressure. So his ankle gets better and then he just comes marching back in? I don't think he'll want to do that to the Colts. By the way - Jacoby Brissett might be good enough to keep the team together, he's a very good player, but keep an eye out for Swag Kelly. That's a guy with NFL level talent if his head is right.

I'm happy to delist him at 10:01 or 11:01 if it makes you happy. Ideally package him up and trade him to some other battling team. Honestly I'll keep him if he's willing to play VFL and get paid minimum chips and that would be a decision made through loyalty, but it will also take loyalty from Jones to put his hand up and be honest about where he's at. And some strength of character from Goodwin to back in younger players with a healthier list next year. Unfortunately Jordan Lewis' career at Melbourne has shown Goodwin is incredibly soft on declining older players. So I don't trust him to manage Jones. Jones lost us the game yesterday and I'm angry at him but the whole club should be because it's complete trash for a captain to just throw away a game with an awful error but that's where we are at as a footy club.

Dan Butler from Richmond is the most logical target. Papley and Tippa are likely out of the price range but I’m sure we asked the question. If not those guys then I have more confidence in Lockhart as one option who can win the ball and use it pretty well. Isn’t a goal sneak or a great inside 50 tackler but he brings a fair bit to the table. And I want to see more of Chandler who has consistently good tackle numbers at Casey and some smarts. Small forwards are risk/reward draft picks. Unless you can get a great one then just keep picking them with later picks and develop them up. I’d rather use a list spot on bringing in a high upside speculative kid than the hope that Garlett turns back the clock.

I assume the first line of that paragraph indicates they've signed new deals, but it also has a number of inconsistencies. Rookie draft pick, so he's only on a one year deal, but I'm pretty sure he'll get a 1 year extension.

A recent AFL.com.au article states that we are just about singing every player. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-08-24/resign-or-let-go-your-clubs-outofcontract-players If it was up to me I'd start with delisting Jones at 9:01 Monday morning.

Hell no. A prerequisite for playing AFL football is the desire to win a contest and wear some physical pressure. Garlett's had no interest in any of that for a couple of years and is only getting slower and more brittle.

If you look back at when we really did ruin careers the most common factors were: 1. Complete lack of professionalism at the club: That seems unlikely these days even if things have wandered I still have faith that most of our playing group are professional and we have resources invested in the footy department. Plus Dunkley can see what his brother is doing, it's not like he doesn't have a guide to being a professional athlete. 2. Awful fitness and medical management: The injury management is still a concern but I think overall we have got better and that's before hiring Burgess to try to fix that up. 3. Overburdening young players with leadership and/or expectations: Dunkley is unlikely to be subjected to the Grimes/Trengove or Jack Watts treatment

Not sure about that. We had Weideman coming along slowly but well enough to dominate a final last year. Spargo also was dropped/rested at times around playing some very good games last year. This year has been a typical 2nd year blues mess. Oscar played earlier than expected but was mostly protected from doing too much damage and played about as well as his talents have to offer last year. He's played games he shouldn't have this year but that's due to injuries to the team as well as his own lack of fitness. Kaiden Brand for Hawthorn is a similar talent to Oscar and has probably played 100 VFL games and 30 senior games. He's not getting any better either. Petty's been managed pretty well for a young tall. The gave him a game last year, he wasn't up to it, bought him back and he's done well enough at both ends to suggest with the right coaching he could have a career. When you've got 15 injuries you have to throw some guys in and see how they go. It shouldn't really hamper their long term development. Dunkley's had some good moments and some not so good moments. He's playing low minutes on a wing and at half forward and I'm sure the coaches instructions are very simple - run hard, attack the contest, keep it simple with the ball.

I'll keep my thoughts about his Melbourne career elsewhere but I will say it was nice of Clarko to be at the press conference because Lewis had a long and successful career at Hawthorn.

The only reason to jump off is if you believe the club is doing something unethical or if it's a protest vote against the Board. Bartlett seems to be having a red hot dip and whilst they've made some mistakes - not just this year but in years leading up to this year - I think they are well worth sticking with. It's a crucial time to support the club because our best chance of sustained success and finally leaving the rubbish of the last decade behind us is investing in this current playing group and investing in getting a proper home base. Jump off now and you're pretty much saying you want to see the club fall back in to the awful ways of 2007-2014. I know this year has been like that but it's a one off if we snap out of it.

Dunkley. Even with a bit more angle a player with time and space running in on goal is always the better option than having to steady up after moving to his non preferred side and then having to generate momentum. An easy left hand handball puts Dunkley directly in on goal. Momentum is actually the big problem with Oliver's game right now. What's he going to do with the ball if Fritsch gives it to him in the first clip in this thread? Take a flying shot on his left, or give a handball to a player under pressure that goes nowhere. For all his brilliance Oliver's kicking lacks power and takes a big wind up with a high ball drop and he's lacking any cohesion with his fellow mids to dish the ball out to advantage. His game is really just hunting the ball with amazing ball winning skills then getting absolutely nowhere with it because all that drive to win the ball takes him out of position to be able to use it. Just as much as all our mids Oliver needs a summer of handball drills on both sides of his body under pressure. Stuff we did very well in Roos' first year or two then dropped away at since. And Clarry needs to practice all summer on shortening the big windup on his kicks and getting a 20m speering kick on both sides that he can use to get the ball clear of a pack.

Yep. It's something I'm hoping Burgess does for the club, not only get our players fit and strong but actually give the coaches and recruiters a good kick up the backside about the type of athlete it takes to play AFL football. You can't just be fit (ANB) or quick (Hunt), you need to have agility, strength and more than anything smarts. Spargo's meant to have agility and aggression, 'the most competitive player in his draft'. He came in to the system with a big set of quads and wasn't afraid to use them. Hopefully he gets that back next year and can put it to work across half forward. I still have some hope for him and hope for Lockhart with a preseason. But I'm worried we need a small defender (Jetta's replacement in time), a half back flanker (replace Jones), two wingers (replace Vanders and KK - and Stretch etc) and a crumber (Hannan) who can chase, tackle and win the ball. The current group are a mile off it. It's hardly a surprise we can't handle pressure when we don't have good pressure players on the list!

He's one week away from by some miracle getting through the season and having a chance to actually train over summer with his team mates. The pace and running problems of our midfield can easily be solved with Jack Viney if he's healthy - he'll cover the kms with work rate and has more than enough burst speed. He doesn't help the kicking skills problem but if Oliver, Harmes and Gus aren't going to use the ball better with Viney why are they going to use it better without him?

Waiting to judge his offensive game until we have something that resembles a forward line and he picks up the pace of the game with the ball. But thought his defensive game was really promising. For once we might have a small forward who understand how to pressure. The proper way to corral, pick your timing and lay a good tackle. Since I first saw him train I've liked this kids natural footy instincts. Like most small players it won't always be pretty but I think he's got a fair bit to offer.

Amen, someone paying attention. His speed and strength come at a cost and that is a poor tank, it's part of why he struggles to start the year each year. And largely why he's a full back/back pocket rather than an intercepting machine at half back - apart from the whole lack of game sense.

Bump this one in April next year when he once again looks like he's never played the game before.

If the things Mahoney and Goodwin were doing that led to 10 wins, 12 wins and then 14 wins and 2 finals last year could suddenly change to this year why exactly can't they change again to more success?