DeeSpencer

What can the WAFL watchers tell me about Gordon Narrier. His highlights package is as good as they get.

Was he training? He wasn't on Monday. I think his tank is the bigger issue about him getting a game. Strength is important for confidence with big guys but the run in his legs is what he needs to make more of an impact.

The centre circle rule and the soft turf due to drop in cricket pitches have killed the bounce. Having to throw the ball up when the ball goes out of the circle makes umpires look bad and wastes time. Bouncing the ball on soft typically around the ground turf instead of the firmer cricket wicket turf makes it much more difficult to get good height. I'd like to keep it for the start of every quarter otherwise I won't really miss it. I do think the throw ups in the middle need to have good height on them though and if that's not happening I can see a role for drones dropping the ball from height in the future.

Great to have stats - from different leagues - and the combine results as well as the write ups. That's great work.

Turned up before 11 to catch 45 minutes or so. Rehab group: Tim Smith doing laps Joel Smith, Flippers, Hannan, McKenna and Tom McDonald with some simple handball drills, kick to kick and then some running. I'd say these 5 are all pretty advanced and just being taken along slowly after injuries. Hannan looks noticeably stronger - couldn't do weights after shoulder surgery before he was drafted. He looked very sharp in an in close handball weaving drill. McKenna another who looks to have done plenty in the gym. Lovely kick on both sides as well The main group were doing a bit of 3/4 ground ball movement, seemed to be about 8 on 9. 4 down back, 3 in the middle, 1 or 2 up forward and just moving the ball to score. As noted a couple of nice Brayshaw kicks were the highlights. Mitch King is another looking much stronger. Still has a bit of puppy fat to trim off his middle but that's probably the price to pay for getting extra bulk in the offseason. His running was decent and he took a nice leap at one stage. Keilty was walking laps around the oval as the main grouped trained. Looked a bit under the weather. Later joined in some of the running. Mainly Max, King and Keilty were in their own big man running group. The rest did runs first in shorter sprints and then some longer laps. Gus and Harmes led the boys off with ANB given something to chase, sometimes he got them, sometimes they were ahead. Rough order after that of Hunt, Salem, Stretch, Wagner, JKH, Oliver then not far back to Tracc, Frost, Vince, Oscar, Maynard, DJ and Balic usually towards the end. In the shorter runs they were all pretty well keeping up. In the longer runs Balic was with King and DJ and they were pushing each other along. ANB made a gap from a tight bunch with Tracc and JKH a little from the back in the longer main group. Around then Weids came out with the boxing coach I think and walked a lap before heading off again and that's about when I left. Takeways: - Good to have Max and Tom back on deck with both looking all clear from injuries - Salem looking strong and running towards the front - Hannan looking stronger - 18 or so in full training and another 5 doing a fair bit in rehab

Purely based on that highlights video he reminds of me Clarry with his ability to make quick smart decisions that put team mates in to the clear. If that's true I can't see him slipping out of the top 20.

Have a look at Oskar Baker's highlights on the AFL website. Kicking needs work but he looks like a lot of fun. Speed to burn.

After a great start his season went off the rails when they kept trying to develop his inside game instead of getting the ball to him in space. If allowed to run hard on the wings and spread from stoppages he'll play with confidence and contribute. If the focus is on overusing the ball in tight again he might lose his confidence and start making errors that he didn't make in the first 2 years of his career.

Don't think so. Our last pick in the draft is too good to not wait and see who's still there, but not good enough that we are certain to use it. Will be a case of watch this space on draft night.

Get him fit at the start of the season and playing all the practice games - compared to his usual month at Casey getting match fit - and I think he has to be considered to play as a key defender.

So not there is: Lever - grand final in late September, fair enough Jones, Lewis, Vince - veterans who don't need to be out there Gawn, Tyson, Tommy Mc, Hogan, Melksham - all good trainers Hibberd, Jetta - playing international rules Garlett - stays naturally light and does a lot of boxing early in preseason anyway Of that group I'd like to know that Gawn is fit and running well and that Hogan is healthy and happy. I'm not concerned that the others are doing their own thing for 2 more weeks. 2 weeks in which they can't change how fit their team mates came back anyway. Viney can lead the young guys and it's fitness improvements from the likes of Salem, Oliver, Petracca and Brayshaw that will lead to improvements on field.

Flow is really a great way of describing how Richmond played later in the year, and the Dogs the year before and the Swans for over a decade. Maintaining high level physical aggression with mental calmness must be one of the most difficult things for AFL players. I don't think every player needs mindfulness but it will help some and I really think every coach probably needs it. I've been impressed with the way Goodwin has made adjustments in games without losing his cool. The slow starts certainly need addressing and personally I think the game plan needs tweaking to avoid poor starts. How much of the pre game routine needs to change vs mindset vs tactics is all up for debate but I hope the club is reviewing everything.

Ok he looks good overhead on the lead which is nice. And his kicking and decision making seems decent. Better at pack hangers but he actually reminds me more of Luke Breust than of Cyril. More of a goal kicker who can gather possessions up the ground as well than a pressure player.

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Season Grade Games Kicks Handballs Disposals Marks Goals Points Tackles Hitouts Frees For Frees Ag. 2017 League 23 255 56 311 108 73 35 39 0 22 18 Table doesn't come up very well and is out by a column but it's 23 games, 255 kicks so about 10 a game, 108 marks so 4 a game, 73 goals which is very impressive but only 39 tackles. Under 2 tackles a game when surely he would've been told time and time again that to play AFL he has to impart forward pressure isn't a good sign. That said, the counterpoint is at over 3 goals a game he was most likely the focal goal scorer so it's harder to tackle when your job for the team is to kick goals. And the WAFL footy is more open anyway, it's not the same style of game as AFL. Having just turned 21 I think he's too good a goal kicker not to have a go in the AFL system but from the reviews on here and the stats I'd rather use our 4th pick than any of the first 3.

I think we really need to find a couple of players to replace Watts, Lewis and Vince and keep the depth of the list improving. It's kind of more important to keep adding good players now we've built something than before when we were just trying to get some talent. I know that missing on first round picks when you're down the bottom really stuffs you up but now we've got the 4 picks and we have to get a couple of decent players from them. It's really difficult to predict who we will draft with where our picks fall which makes it hard to study the talent but I'm with you on the excitement building 3 weeks out.

He sails a kick through to the back netting from 50 on the run in that highlights video, I think it's fair to say truly awful kicks don't do that. If we do end up with him I hope they just scrap his kicking and start again from scratch like the American ruckmen and Irish lads do. He's got the leg strength and should be used to building a routine for a skill with basketball shooting.

Financially: 12/21 on FTA - Good Q'Bday and Anzac Eve - Good Very few Thurs/Fri nights - bad No etihad home game - good Our first 6 MCG home games come against Vic sides, should average 45k+ to those games and bank profits - good Football: Repeat against Geel, Adel, St K, WB, GC - Ok, not too unfair - Saints and Dogs could be the same as this year, Crows almost certain to go backwards, Cats a good test 4/5 at the G to start - Great! 3 finalists in the first 9 games and all of those in Melbourne. 3/4 at the G to finish - nice, not too much travel leading in to finals Only 11 games at the G - yuck All in all I don't think it's as bad as some are making out. Silver lining on getting screwed on Friday night games and extra Sunday's = no players going out on the beers after Friday nights and getting in trouble!

I've looked through Brett Anderson's Big Board, Cal Twomey's 25 to watch and Knightmare's rankings: 8 - Top 10 regulars: Rayner, LDU, Dow, Cerra, Stephenson, D Fogarty, Naughton, Higgins 7 within 20: Brayshaw, Bonar, Hayes, Brander, Clark, Coffield, Constable Father son + academy likely gone before 29: Naish, Ballenden Consistently next best: Murphy, Garner, Ling, L O'Brien, Richards, Oscar Allen, Balta There's always a lot of group think with the popular media players but I'd say getting any of the top 15 is unlikely. It's more likely a few of the next batch fall to 29.

Didn't look out of place when he trained with the club.

I'd like to announce that I'm the founding President of the Blaine Boekhorst to Melbourne Society. Blaine will make the goals rain.

I go to most games with a friend's wife who's a physio and had the same opinion as NtG when she heard he was playing the Port game. 'He'll injure something else' was her quote. I guess it was risk-reward and I didn't mind them playing him against Port but he couldn't walk after that game and they should've held him out of the North game, likewise the GWS game the next week when it was clear he was struggling and the opposition was always going to be too good. Anyway, they obviously kept taking the risk and hopefully it doesn't impact long term. Selwood was the same with his injury this year as well. Must be pretty hard to tell those guys no but they really should.

Boxers are our new basketballers. Lever, Melksham and apparently DJ all handy with the gloves and Jeffy favours boxing training over doing heaps of running which makes sense to me. Hope it translates to a tough team not afraid to take a few hits during the season. Garlett's first half of the year was great last before he trailed off badly towards the end of the season. I hope DJ is pushing him because we need that competition for spots from the small forwards.

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Please not another player just for leadership. Lewis won't be in the best 22 if or when this team is challenging for a flag unless (touch wood) we pull out something special this year. He should still have value on and off field but the best players need to become the best leaders. I think it's getting closer to the time where you bring in a risk-reward player like a Stewie Dew or Brian Lake, who could do nothing but also could fill a specific need in September. I'm not sure Crameri could be that kind of player but he has some things that work in favour. He can kick a goal, at his best he was a superb athlete with a rare combination of endurance, speed and size and might be able to play different positions.