DeeSpencer

Yep he played a big role in the last quarter going in to the middle and then forward. Still happy to base at half back until the backline gets a regular run at it with some additions who can kick -Lewis and Hibberd at least, ideally probably Wagner as well. Then in time he'll start games in the middle and finish them forward or back.

The Oscar, Frost and Tommy Mc backline worked pretty well at times last year. Means we actually get good aerial coverage and allows Frost and Oscar to position in to spots that used their strengths. Frost plays as the full back sweeper and can run his way out of trouble. Oscar gets involved in more marking contests where he isn't directly responsible for a key forward and can intercept and then use his kicking skills which are mostly decent after intercepting. He kicks nicely after a mark. Disposes poorly when on the run. That said.. I'd imagine Hibberd is priority 1 for the backline. So unless he isn't right I wouldn't bring in Oscar. And Harmes would be my next choice to replace Melksham as well. JKH. I think Goody likes him and he had a big summer. Can be a strange decision maker but is another who can kick the ball pretty nicely when in time and space. I wouldn't be at all disappointed in him having a run in ANB's high half forward role. I still have belief he can be a long term player in that role.

Agree with this and would love an explanation from the coaches. He's almost always a decoy and it just has to be a set plan. The poor guy never touches the ball and then lacks the confidence to go and get it when he finally does end up in better position.

Smith will be lucky to get back to playing AFL this year. Wagner should hopefully get a clean run soon. There will always be more injuries and Bernie will have some value on the wing, midfield or forward if need be. Either way the plan should be to get him an end worth playing for by making finals. But he has to contribute to that. I said before I'd leave him in and fix the Milkshake problem first but the reality might be it could be better to fix Bernie sooner rather than later as well. A week off or lower grade to get him comfortable making decisions or comfortable with his nasty toe injury might be in line sooner rather than later.

Any mobile key forward worth his weight will find huge gaps in the zone if the pressure is down the the McDonald is down. We've been lucky that Casboult is a plonker and that Harry Taylor is a defender/Hawkins refuses to move (But got enough service over the back at times).

Agree with all of that, although you have to play with what you've got. Definitely think Wagner and Smith would be competing for a spot if not both in the side and Hibberd anywhere near his best would be an upgrade and in theory our best 2 way defender. I also think Salem and previous years Bernie would both be very good back flankers. They aren't defenders as such but they are the type of player you have from half back, same with Lewis. A kicker/ball winner on one flank, a runner like Hunt on the other. I too saw Watts call for the runner when we hit the lead. The coaches gambled on whether to put a man back or go with a defensive off the square zone set up. We won the ball back so I can't argue with the plan. Unfortunately we then coughed it up. They had numbers and needed to switch and hit a few leads in to open space to get to half way before playing kick to kick. Then after a few kick to kick efforts they should've set up the long bomb. Instead it was a couple of short kicks, back to the boundary line before the cough up. Without blaming Watts for too much he did make a hash of his loose man duties before half time. That probably influenced the decision. He's really not the right type of player to be the loose defender. He had a chance to rush up and make a big smother or intercept or to hold back in space and got caught trying a half baked smother.

And moving him up the ground will just move the turnovers up the ground. That kick inside 50 with the game on the line was absolutely disgusting. Not even Neal the Butcher Bullen would bomb in from there.

Wasn't a good day for big Sam Weideman. But the role he's asked to play is ridiculous. Spent the whole game either 40m or 80m away from a kicker. Not just in game play but from most stoppages. Someone would have the ball on the back flank and he'd be hovering down the line seemingly never encouraged to lead. Some of that might be his fault but so often it looked like he was instructed to keep the forward line deep. Then there'd be a throw in at half forward and he'd position himself 40m from the pack about 30m from goal, with Garlett or others deep. Time and time again the kick would be bombed forward from the stoppage and then he'd stand and try and compete for the ball but get no run or jump at it. From a stoppage just out side 50 I have no idea why he isn't positioned either in the goal square of even in front of the behind post so he can read the play and hit the drop zone at pace. I hope he's dropped because it's just unfair to put a young key forward in a spot where he's always in no mans land. Petracca got to play CHF today and lead up at the ball carrier. Watts got times where he could go deep and run at the ball. As did Garlett running back in to space as the deepest forward. Weed was used as a decoy and got decoy like results.

Maybe just me but I'm pretty sure I saw a captain take a really strong grab and kick a goal to put us in front and it didn't look like Nathan Jones to me. A step in the right direction today.

Lewis and Hogan are two other options to drop back. Otherwise we don't have a bunch of options given the One issue is the drop off in forward pressure. Maybe even bigger is the drop off in midfield pressure around the ball and in transition. Then to compound it we have a backline that doesn't play with a lot of trust in each other. Too many going up for the same ball and not enough confidence with the simple defensive skills like tackling and spoiling yet alone the skills with the ball. I'd rather we play like we do and stuff up than go back to a man on man structure as I've seen the Hawks win 3 flags followed by the Dogs beat Sydney with a huge advantage in rebounding and creating scores due to defensive set up, but there's a lot of problems to work through. The forward structure is probably even worse!

Just like Melksham it's only injuries to Hibberd, Wagner and J Smith as well as Lewis' suspension that is keeping him in the side. Good effort to get up and play today but another ordinary performance covered with the dreadful stench of a player on the way out who instead of contributing as a leader is making rookie mistakes. Probably get rid of Melksham first but the next week when Lewis is back it might be Vince's turn to have a run at Casey.

The bit of the system I hate is that there's no way to now appeal without copping another week. For a fine you should just cop it. If you're already missing a week I think you should get the right to state your case and cross examine the evidence. The AFL are hypocrites in that they say they don't want these incidents and don't want them played over time and time again in costly tribunal hearings yet they are very happy for their media department and the rest of the media to go on about them time and time again.

Contact: Tyson JKH Wagner Joel Smith Vince ??? Hibberd - reported someone stepped on his heel Garland - not sure if it was contact but ACL's are kind of freak leg meets ground and buckles injuries a lot Soft tissue: Garlett Gawn McKenna Hulett Stress injuries: Frost Vanders Kent I'd say bad luck at this stage. To have 3 important players miss time due to stress injuries isn't great but at the same time they seem like 3 injury prone guys and it's hard to avoid that. A couple of young guys doing soft tissues isn't great but it happens. Gawn's really the big injury of the season so far and it's a shame his back tightened up and probably had a role in the hamstring injury. So it's really worth questioning the management there.

Disagree. Where we are vulnerable is that we didn't have a 3rd tall defender playing (ie. a Wagner or Smith) so we couldn't move Tom McDonald (or Oscar) in to the ruck. Didn't have a 2nd tall forward bigger than Bull Smith playing so couldn't use them. And the coaches didn't want to try Weeds in the ruck. In many ways it's a bit of a freak circumstance to lose Gawn in a week where we didn't really have options out of the forwards/backs but most of the time we should. Hindsight is 20/20 and the hindsight move to me would've been to play Spencer ahead of Weeds against Carlton and to give Gawn a lighter week that week and hope that helped his back recover so he didn't end up doing a hammy to begin with. That said, given how much recovery and physio they get it's not like extra time forward would've guaranteed anything. Either way the lack of rucks only hurt us in terms of fatigue not in terms of how we played during the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

May went to high school at Melbourne Grammar. That makes him pretty much a dees fan right? He'd be number 1 on the list of who I'd chase but I also think he'll stay at the GC unless they have another disastrous year.

Rubbish. His dad's been unwell for a long time. There's flexibility and understanding there but it comes with some responsibility on his behalf. If he needs extra compassionate leave that's fine and if he wants to spend that at a musical festival having a dart then sure, let's see him try that. Otherwise he has a contract and without being an AFL CBA expert I assume getting suspended doesn't equal time off. It means you still have to do whatever duties AFL players are given during a week. So the club gave him special rules and he's gone and abused them. Remember the end of the Daniher years and the Bailey years when we had [censored] poor culture and where that got us? What do you think Nath Jones and Jack Viney would think about this. I'd be [censored] off.

Good news is Hogan's now given us an excuse to pull the pin on this 'going back to Perth whenever he's got spare time' routine that's carried on for far too long now. Rewarding him with time off due to suspension was a mistake from Goodwin and he doesn't ever have to repeat it now. Early morning beach session when he gets back I'd suggest.

Glad to see the no forced changes, I think that's just about the right call. The only suggestion I'd have is if Wagner is back in full fitness and playing well I'd have him down back to get Hunt, Vince and Salem up around the ball more. Whether it's Melksham who misses out (although he was far better this week), a midfielder (Tyson) or one of the half forwards I'm not sure. I like Watts as the 2nd ruck and I like the dynamic that the forwards had with Smith, Hannan, Petracca, Kent, ANB and Garlett. Hogan in for Weeds and we'd be away! Since there's no Hogan it comes down to Weeds v Pedda and I understand why they'll stick with big Sam. He's been quiet more than bad if that makes any sense.

The best player in the comp was reduced to a few quality highlights for most of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. If you didn't see that I'm not sure what you are watching. The pressure act statistic can be a furphy but more times than not it's an accurate reflection on which players are involved in the contest in more ways than just their disposals. The last quarter showed what Danger can do when given time and space. The 2nd and 3rd quarter was nothing like that.

Brayshaw, and rotate ANB, Gus, Harmes and Petracca even Bernie and Salem all in stints through the midfield instead of Tyson sucking up minutes there and unable to impact in other ways.

Viney had 30 pressure acts. 2nd most behind Watts funnily enough. Limited Dangerfield to very little influence for 3 quarters. Limped off in the last. He's not 100% coming back from hip surgery and I wouldn't worry much at all about how he's playing or the captaincy. His round 1 game was very decent as well in a similar role - clearances, pressure, limit Jack Steven.

I don't really care for these things. In fact they annoy me. Oscar, Weeds and Oliver I consider young and inexperienced. Others in their 3rd, 4th even 5th year on AFL lists or under say 23 and with limited experience are nice to half but what does it matter if they don't perform and show they have more development? We have to make sure this current crop makes it and then we need to keep adding pieces both young and older.

He should be, most of his disposals were wasted and we are a faster and more balanced team without him but of course he won't be. Put him on George Horlin-Smith and he might play well. Asking him to try and run down or run away from Selwood or Dangerfield is a disaster waiting to happen. My confidence in Smith and Hannan comes from them looking comfortable on the training track, doing well at Casey and them being good VFL forwards who play the way we want to play. Not convinced either of them will be anything great long term (although reasonably confident Hannan has a good shot) but when our other options are: Spencer - only if needed Pedda - slow, old, not playing well at Casey Go in really small - very dangerous against Henderson, Lonergan etc who can control the air. It's like when we didn't have any decent midfield options and we started the year with someone like Magner because you knew he was going to at least have a dip.

Having read the Casey review it's time to bring in the Bull. He's what we need to replace Hoges. He'll compete for everything in the air and chase his backside off. In: Smith Out: Hogan In: Bugg Out: Lewis In: Vince Out: Melksham In: Kent Out: ANB (or Brayshaw or Tyson) FB: Jetta Oscar Hunt HB: Salem Tom Vince C: Stretch Jones Bugg HF: Kent Weeds Petracca FF: Garlett Watts Smith Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Harmes Hannan Brayshaw Tyson

If Pedda is barely getting a kick at Casey then Spencer in ahead of him isn't all that mad. Cats rucks just got destroyed by Preuss and we'll need a legitimate marking target forward. I don't think Pedersen or Weed are going to trouble Lonergan and Henderson. A ruckman out of the square might. Pedersen is the easy option to come in and play a poor mans Hogan role, but if he isn't up to it I'd risk something different. Lightning might strike twice against the Cats.