DeeSpencer

The missed punch of the ball that went for a deliberate when it was 3 on 1 was one of softest things I've seen on a footy field this year. Of course Derm and the rest of the crew covered for him but any Demon fan who has been watching closely knows he was afraid to gather that ball and to get tackled.

Joel Smith - thought he was ok down back but looked to be hobbling and was sent forward, where he did some good and some bad (getting in the way, what's new). Can't carry injured guys coming back from Darwin Lewis - Same old, same older ANB - needs a run in the 2's for his own sake, just no confidence right now Melksham - another game without a tackle, just drifting around, needs a rocket put up him to get back to the form he was in a month ago In: Vince - in Lewis' role Hannan - in for Melksham, playing up the ground using his run, his intensity at Casey today was excellent, a cut above with speed JKH - in for ANB, couldn't be any worse Baker - in playing wing/forward, move Harmes to half back as they did tonight Not sure how may of the 4 should happen, and the safe option is probably just Vince for Smith, but there were 4 guys tonight and really for 3 of them over the last month who haven't been up to it.

I don't mind Wagner, always had more time for him than a lot of others have, but if he does get a game I think it has to be as high half back and the slowest defender. Given Vince is nearly certainly done at the end of this year and Lewis shouldn't be in the side either we will have plenty of spots in the team/on the list to fill so I'm not concerned about giving him another year. I think he can kick, mark and read the play at AFL standard and has good endurance, just isn't quick or overly strong so can get caught out. Playing up the ground with some athletes around him and he can do the job. I also think there's a strong chance they draft his brother based on his VFL form and attributes so far this year so keeping Josh over some other bottom of the list players makes sense. Harmes - still not convinced by him on the wing, but he has physical attributes to play well on ball, at half forward and to me at half back. If he's 22nd picked we'll have a very good team. How much his decision making can improve in this next contract will determine if he plays for a very long time after or not. 2 year deal is interesting, maybe we only wanted to commit at good money for 2 years, or maybe his manager is chasing a big contract and trying again in 2 years.

I'd like to see him played as a forward to see if he can provide some speed but I get why the club are keen to develop him as a wingman and to play that role at AFL level I think he needs at least another preseason for fitness and he needs to work on his kicking. Right now the ball lobs of his boot and that can mean a lot of missed targets at AFL level. Stretch is the safer option if we want an outside runner. Spargo and/or rolling the dice on Jeffy for a forward. Only if they want to really make big changes would Baker come in and play a bit wing a bit forward I think. Hopefully he stacks a few good games together though so the coaches are forced to look at how he could improve the side.

I hope we keep close tabs on Cyril Rioli. Could even sign him and leave him up North until the season starts then get him fit. He's what we need.

He played well against Brisbane and snuck on the end of a few against North but his games against Geelong, Hawthorn and Richmond were about as bad as I've seen from an AFL player. He wasn't getting front and centre to the packs, he wasn't tackling and particularly against Richmond and Hawthorn where he had 6 and 5 possessions he didn't even want the ball. There were moments in both of those games where he had a chance to run on to a loose ball under very little pressure and refused to do so. The coaches aren't going to just put a guy straight back in after they've done that. And Garlett has been doing that since about half way through last year when a near AA season turned in to very poor form and bad habits in the second half of the year. It's also worth noting that whilst he's probably better suited in a different role that Hannan has actually done the job more weeks than not until recently. He had a poor game against the Pies but bounced back with a good pressure effort against the Power (as did the entire side) and had 5 shots on goal. Had an absolute stinker against St Kilda and it might cost him his spot.

His decision making should improve with more games at AFL level and he has the athleticism we so desperately need. Aside from getting caught under the ball at one stage I though his defensive positioning was quite good. He couldn't quite execute the kicks or decisions needed but his athleticism stood out when the game opened up in the last quarter, he was running the ball and getting it forward. Stick with him because he has some special tricks that we'll start to see if he gets confidence at the level.

Don't care about the non week, in fact prefer it. But I do find the lack of a free kick a joke, especially when the umpires were pulling ridiculously soft holding the man frees all the time at centre bounces. We seem to be a big victim of those frees despite doing no different to any other side.

Happy for Stretch to be trialled again. I don't see ANB as a wing at all even with his fitness. If we are to play a guy purely for fitness on a wing it should be Bugg. Did the job there under Roos. Fritsch is quick enough, lovely skills. Fitness is good but not great, should improve in future years. A lot of our problems come from just not having the experience in our midfield group. They all have to get fitter.

Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw clearly have a way to go with their fitness. As it lifts that will help our midfield transition. God knows the forwards and backs should improve as well. As far as the wings go though - I think we need to just pick who we will play there and back them in. Fritsch was looking really good. Now suddenly he's a forward again? He's a very good forward but moving him around robs peter to pay paul. Gus and Harmes have been tried. Both like to hunt the ball too much IMO. Gus too slow as well. Lacks sustained speed. Maybe now Viney is back we commit to Jones playing wing and train him as much as possible to be the outside player. The inside mids were obliterated against Port, so we put Tyson on a wing to boost the stoppage play and provide a hard worker with a fit, capable body. But with no pace he doesn't help. So we all know that is only a stop gap. From here I'd go: Jones and Fritsch on the wings, maybe Harmes rotating wing/mid/forward. Add Spargo, T Smith and maybe even Baker or Bugg to the forward mix.

Maybe Viney would've, maybe Jack Steven would've. Jack Steven is a good player and for years the oppositions best mids have killed us. Viney on him has been a proven tactic that any coach would repeat. Should it have stayed for as long as it did, maybe not. That's a different question. No doubt Hogan isn't playing well but the guy has always shown more natural ability as a running/roaming CHF. If by astute footy brains you mean the idiots in the footy media, well, no thanks, I'll trust what I see. Hogan has rarely shown any ability to do anything when the ball is sent to him high and long in a pack. Jake Carlisle is a mile stronger than Hogan under a big high bomb and if you didn't see that today then go get your eyes tested.

Enjoyed his farewell goal when he finally found himself in a decent position. Otherwise it was 120 minutes of turnovers, being pushed around, refusing to bend down to gather the ball, trailing his opponent to contests and doing little if anything at all to set up the backline.

Viney has tagged Steven - whilst getting his own ball - successfully and as part of a number of wins against the Saints the last few years. He's the right match up for a very dangerous player. Oliver, Brayshaw, Jones, Harmes and Petracca had to drive the midfield with Viney on slightly reduced attacking output. They failed to do so. A free wheeling Jack Steven has killed us multiple times in the past before Viney played. Hogan in his first few years was a great CHF, lousy FF on the MCG. (seemed to play well at FF at Etihad). Unfortunately we love to try to possess the ball and outnumber and overlap down the field which takes away the use of a great CHF. We need to find a game plan that allows Hogan to lead up the ground and get one on one leads or contests. That's his best footy. We love the over the back kick and Hogan loves that too as a deep forward on the G. Often is caught flat footed and worked under the ball. He's part of a bigger forward problem but Fritsch showed what happens when you lead today. Whether it's his instructions or not Hogan has to lead up and demand the ball.

Spargo and Tim Smith in first. But with Jeff it's getting to the stage where you just throw him back in and see what happens. 7 tackles is better. Although watching the second half of Casey there were numerous times Garlett was afraid to go get the ball and skipped over it or meekly flung an arm out. Team mates lose faith in guys who don't go when it's their turn and that's not what we need right now even if the speed would help.

The other solution is to send Hogan back. Played back as a junior. Will teach him a fair bit about competing and show him how much more he's possible of, both in the air and when the ball is on the ground. I would've swapped him with Petty today at half time. Initially I'd bring in a tall defender Frost or Keilty and go with a McDonald, Hogan, T Smith forward line, but I'd like to see the coaches at least try Hogan back.

Keilty's form in the VFL prior to the last few weeks has been ordinary, and Frost was moved forward to make room for those two. I loved Keilty's game against Essendon but that's for next week and beyond. Similarly Frost has been in good VFL form the last two weeks after a poor patch. Petty dropped a few marks early that would've drastically changed the impact of the game, then spent most of the game running around after faster, smaller opponents. He had a few clean handballs and wasn't completely terrible with the ball but the lack of time up a level found him out, that happens. The idea of picking him was to give us a tall to work off at CHB but with no up the ground pressure he couldn't use his aerial ability. In this kind of mad scramble free running game Frost would've been better but you don't prepare for the rest of the side to play poorly. Tim Smith was the right selection last week. Leaving him out this week was the mistake. Maynard wasn't the worst decision in round 1. Tyson was omitted and rightfully so. Brayshaw was sent back to the VFL to cut the lazy bad habits from his game and while he found form when he came back in those bad habits raised their heads today big time. The lazy one step kicking resulted in some very easy turnovers. 1 selection only ever does so much. The question I'd ask is why are so many of our more talented players out of form, instead of focusing on the 20th picked.

Backline had the same issues multiple times last year, when the forward and midfield pressure is off they are caught out time and time again. We used to blame Rawlings. Now we blame Chaplin. Rawlings seems to be enjoying the freedom to run his own show to an extent at Casey. No point moving from there. I'm sure all the coaches will have a say about the backline issues. I'm not sure how much the backline systems were to blame today. Personnel is/was a problem. Lewis just can't defend against any footballer with a pulse and Petty was move off talls to limit how much he was caught out. There was a lack of coverage speed. But a lot of the Saints goals came from terrible midfield or exiting the backline turnovers, soft free kicks, dodgy 50m penalties from the midfield. I wasn't convinced it was really a backline issue. Today I was far more worried about the midfield spread and terrible lack of forward pressure. And the lack of system going forward.

Out: Petty, ANB, Hannan, Lewis, Weideman, Tyson, Melksham In: Frost, Spargo, Bugg, Vince, T Smith, Stretch, Baker T Smith and Spargo should never have been dropped. Aggressive, tackling, smart players. They dropped the wrong ageing defender. And they picked Petty after he had a poor VFL game instead of when he played a superb game the week before. Battle has elite endurance was always going to run him around and force him in to mistakes. If he holds his marks he'll be a player when he's ready and when there's up field pressure. Melksham has been non competitive since injury against the Dogs. More than had enough of him. FB: Jetta Oscar Frost HB: Vince J. Smith Hibberd C; Baker Oliver Stretch HF: Harmes T Mc Petracca FF: Fritsch Hogan Bugg Foll: Gawn Brayshaw Viney Int: Jones Salem Spargo T. Smith Time to really churn the midfielders and half forwards and find some guys willing to run, chase and use the ball skillfully. Spargo, Baker and Stretch will give the team some run and dare. Bugg will add a competitive steak, as will the Bull, and then the backline will actually defend. The open space the Saints had going forward was nothing short of disgusting today.

Lewis can't get anywhere near his opponent and they aren't talking about him either. A bit of media work buys a player a lot of grace. That said, the footy media rarely talk about anything that happens during a game these days anyway. Trades, suspensions, injuries, firing coaches, supercoach points, expansion teams, changing the rules. There's not much time for them to watch the games and work out how players are going.

In 2011 in his 3rd year as a 20 year old he played every game averaged 16 disposals, 5.5 marks and a goal a game. He played as the floating taller flanker with good skills and was looking promising. We all know what happened next and it took 5 years for his mind, body and talent to get it together in 2016

Sylvia and Watts both had pretty good seasons as young players. They became Sylvia and Watts because the club had no standards and didn't develop them to reach their potential. If Petracca is giving his all at training and off field to be the best he can be then he will get better. And his first quarter on the weekend was indicative of a guy who knew he had more to give. If he's not quite getting it done at training and/or the coaches think an easy kill at Casey would get him some more touch then he should be dropped. In the stats that matter for a guy playing half forward this year compared to (last year) Disposals: 20.3 (18.8) Goals: 0.8 (1.2) Tackles: 2.7 (2.5) Score Involvements: 6.2 (5.7) Clangers: 3.8 (2.9) Disposal efficiency: 66.5 (66.8) Those numbers - and the eye test especially when he goes in to the midfield - tell me that he hasn't improved his work rate and he hasn't improved his skill execution.

Dropping Hogan was a hypothetical in how to get better balance in the forward line. Not a serious consideration even if he's been in the bottom 5 players two weeks in a row. Dropping Petracca has to be a serious consideration. The Saints took forever to drop Billings and after an easy kill in the VFL he played far better the next week. How many weeks of Petracca having very little influence on games have to go by until something changes?

Two step plan for Mrs Tracc then: 1. Stop feeding the kid so much 2. Shoot his stupid dog The clubs handling of his finger injury was almost certainly a classic Melbourne medical mistake, but I care little for any players parents especially once the player has been in the system for a few years.

I don't believe playing midfield time has any bearing on it. When he goes in to the midfield he plays midfield. But I do think the emergence of Tom McDonald as a pack marker and Gawn in the side drifting forward has impacted Hogan. Our forwards crash in to each other all the time and they have to get better and working for each other. Hogan also has to get much better in his defensive pressure and part of that is knowing when to keep your feet and be first on to the contest. More than anything though I think Hogan just needs to toughen up and be uncompromising in his attack on the ball. He gets sooky and bruise free when it goes against him. I don't care if he's baking team mates or the umpire, but I want to see him fired up.

More athletic? Nope. He's slower, less agile and not as fit. Better handballer sure, I like Sam's hands on both sides of the body. Better contested mark - well he averages 1 a game compared to Smith's 0.8. Smarter, that's hard to qualify - smarter handballer but that's about it. I've just given you stats to show Smith is good at negating a ruck. Either Smith or Weideman will play minutes in the ruck and their ability to win, lose or negate the hit outs and then follow up is an important part of that role. How many talls do we need? We have Hogan, Tommy Mc as well as Melksham and Petracca who should all be good strong in the air one on one. None of those guys are good pressure players. Tracc is when he's on but he often isn't. Surely you agree forward pressure is a vital part of the modern game? Surely! So if it's not coming from Hogan, Tommy, Weeds, Melksham or Petracca who is doing it?? Hannan and ANB chasing their tails off trying to lay tackles and getting little help. Weideman probably will replace Smith, his VFL form over the last fortnight has been very impressive, but in a couple of weeks he'll get dropped because the 3 talls aren't getting in the game and the forward pressure is lacking.