DeeSpencer

Another awful performance from Plugga Lewis. To all the people who said mean things about me in this thread, don't worry, I'm not angry. Will gladly accept any and all apologies.

I can't imagine a max exodus from the MCC bars to pack in to a modern version of a social clubs, those days are long gone, but I can see the club offering post game drink invites to certain select members, most of whom have reserved seats in Northern Stand or are MCC members and it's the perfect location for that. I've often thought extending over the Richmond rail corridor near the tennis centre when the Southern Stand was redeveloped was our best chance to build an MCG adjacent facility. Jolimont is just as good and surely a simple proposition building over 2 rail lines instead of the 12 or so that run to Richmond!

With a minimal amount of landscaping those pathways should all be protected, certainly the long stretch from Richmond Station to the G won't be even close to impacted and the walk down from Jolimont should also be untouched. The area is already used as the AFL Live site/ Grand Final parade finishing spot. It's not nearly as steep as people thing.

The Pullman and other buildings opposite the station are 10+ stories, and the RACGP building directly opposite the proposed site is 6 stories. If the Government gives the approval to build above the train tracks I don't see a reasonable argument against a 6 story building. Covering over the train lines should mean increased pedestrian access. I don't think this piece of land slopes nearly as much as some of Yarra Park but it would be a challenge. It's a matter of selling the oval as a part of the park and as a community facility. I know East Melbourne residents are a certain type but there's Fitzroy Gardens, Treasury Gardens and the rest of Yarra Park to be enjoyed as purely park spaces. With apartments going up all over the city of Yarra and population booming the strong argument should be made that they need ovals. Council's can create parks from acquiring properties or re purposing car parks. Unless they have a huge vacant area they can't do that for an oval.

A professional quality oval for community use would be a huge win for the council. Especially with the rise of Women's footy. They'd have no problems finding clubs to allocate it to. The development over the train tracks comes down to whether it will be approved for apartments next to our site. You put a few apartment buildings and you've got a council rates bonanza. That's the income councils love. Shutting down the trains for a select period of time to build over the eye saw that is exposed tracks and create useful community space and housing. That's a win win. Then Melbourne build next door with a community oval, medical facilities, maybe even make the gym public use outside of certain hours, some form of Indigenous cultural centre - pretty much you are doing the council a favour!

You can run it across that corner of land and pretty much fit it in without losing many trees. The trees that would be lost could be replaced with native varieties. It would stop an area being used as a car park (a dying trend anyway) and replace it with an oval that can be used for a functional purpose whilst still maintaining a park feel. Pretty much all you are doing is levelling an area of grass, fencing it and painting a few lines. With the right approach it should be allowed to happen. Getting the funding, planning and design of the building over the train line should be the harder part of the project!

Restricted free agent, I can't see how we wouldn't have to trade for him. Eagles would match the deal, or do what Adelaide did with Danger and threaten to match whilst they worked on a trade. The only exception to the Eagles matching - It's the perfect situation to rort the system. They take the first round pick compo. We trade them a bunch of stuff at cents on the dollar to make up the rest of what's needed - ie. a couple of 2nd round picks they can package up to move up the draft and a nice depth player (Tyson, Kent, both?) for a guy they are about to delist and a 4th rounder. We just have to sing the praises of how much we love unwanted Eagle (ie. back up ruck Fraser McInness) and get the AFL Integrity department to tick it off.

I don't care about 1-3 and 5-6 Saty but on point 4 Gaff has been an ultra consistent and very solid wingman for years. His increase in form this year I'd put down to: 1. The return of Nic Nat meaning he can play inside mid and get spoon fed the ball from clearances. Nic's hit outs and ground level pressure makes the job of his midfielders so much easier. Gawn would provide the hit outs, if not the follow up. 2. Confidence - the increase in West Coast's form in general - confidence is infectious 3. Maturity - he's just turned 26, we expect too much from AFL players too early, a player should keep improving on weaknesses through their mid 20's. 4. West Coast's general skill level improving meaning Gaff's unrewarded running becomes rewarded running I've really liked Gaff since his draft year but his Grand Final in 2015 stood out to me, not because of the result or how well he played, but the style in which he played. I was superbly impressed that under the weight of massive Hawthorn pressure he kept going contest to contest and willing his side on. If he came to us his work rate - either on the wing, on ball or maybe one day even at half back as he ages - would make the team better and make the other mids better. He'd run hard to provide an option which makes ball movement so much easier and he'd work back hard to block off options or help the backline. At this stage I actually think the contract and trade will both be too much for us to get Gaff, but I certainly hope we are trying.

Watching Wallis this year I don't think he would. Struggling big time to get contest to contest as a half forward, and for all his faults ANB is constantly moving. Obviously the Dogs aren't moving the ball at all well but I'm not impressed. Remember how nasty his leg injury was. If we were to get Wallis I'd play him as a tagger and make the other mids rotate more forward or outside. I think that's his best role. Given other teams like Essendon are interested I'm not sure how much money I'd commit towards a tagger. Might not be too may other Tim Kelly's out there but there's surely some state league or delisted players who could do a tagging role.

Does his strings on cold nights. Which reminds me of Cyril Rioli, who does his strings in Tasmania so they stopped playing him there! Kent's not to the same level, but the reality is we don't have anyone really who's closer.

Who would you trust to build a training base at Gosch's? Josh Mahoney - jointly in charge (with list management committee) of allocating a salary cap amongst the 44 players and doing some trade deals, as well as resourcing the coaches and players Or: Gary Pert - overseen a club that turns over maybe 77 mil in revenue and has built the Holden Centre with all the same stakeholders to deal with. If we are smart and rate Mahoney so highly then the succession will actually be from Pert to Mahoney after Pert has built us a training base.

Apologies to Perty. Pub deal was before his team. https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl/how-pies-lost-8-million/news-story/54631eb7122cea71af64e81327cdecb1?nk=c5c3f57ae8e15e99b04955486daba99f-1528976623

Pros: - Knows how to get a facility built, especially in the Olympic Park precicnt - Experienced in football - Experienced in media relations Cons: - The Balme/Gubby Allen/Buckley etc fiasco. Collingwood's footy department has been a mess the last few years - Very prominent in the media on a range of issues including on drugs where I thought his attitude and understanding was limited - Losing money on the pub deals

Sign immediately: Brayshaw, Jetta, Oscar, Harmes Probably stay: T Smith, Balic Could go either way: Kent, Keilty, Wagner, Vanders, Flippers, King, Johnstone, McKenna Probably go: Bugg, Vince, JKH, Pedersen As far as contracted players: Frost, Stretch and Tyson the three most likely to seek trades I would've thought, unsure there will be much interest for any of them. And we might want to investigate moving Garlett.

Lucifer's contract template

I was a Kent fan from his debut up until 2016. Last year was shocking. But in a very small sample size his 2018 games looked vastly improved. - Nailed his shots on goal - kept his feet - laid some tackles - held his marks As for the rest of our small/medium smalls: I love Spargo but he is just a kid. I'm still very sceptical on ANB who works super hard but makes terrible decisions under pressure and isn't quick enough to get out of trouble or to run down good defenders. Garlett is pretty well done unless he proves otherwise. Hannan is just floating through games and isn't a proven tackler either. Bugg has the right work rate but his skills are just too far below the standard. Vanders is a hope that he can get back. Balic is yet to prove anything. Pretty much what I'm saying is I have little faith in any of our small forwards and I really could see Kent coming back in and making the team better and I'd like to see him rotated up to the wing for short bursts as well. I wouldn't bet on it happening or working, but there's a lot of people putting faith in some players who haven't done anything really. If Kent does come back in and isn't picked then yeah both he and club would be better off parting ways. But there's still a lot of time left in the year.

I've actually liked his year (outside of the Carlton game stinker) but there's very little composed about Bernie Vince right now. He's just running around giving his best. So I wouldn't put him in the composure category. Joel Smith played a fair game under immense pressure first up for the year and 3rd game overall. His spoils, smothers and tackles stood out. He'd made some blues with the good stuff but at 1/4 time he was probably the only defender who had broke even. Made some errors with his kicking but those are the kind of errors you cut out pretty easily with some more games and development. Harry Petty looks a natural, I'd love to see what he can do. I think you can play those guys and they can fill roles as willing defenders and competitors. Composed ball use is vital. Jetta is great at it. Salem is the best user in the team and doesn't panic when faced with a contested ground ball. Oscar now has a steady kick. Hibberd when not trying to do too much is reliable. All of Harmes, Brayshaw and Fritsch could do the job and we could bring in another forward or mid if needed. Or Nath Jones. The high half back sweeper role is the easiest position in footy. The ball comes to you and you can use it in any direction.

Really, I thought yesterday under pressure in the first quarter the backs were incredibly slow to set up with a number of stoppages in Collingwood's forward line. In fact I think they got one or two goals from forward stoppages when it wasn't right in the first 20 minutes. The backs also failed at spreading quickly and encouraging the switch. Hibberd and Salem are the two players I'd have in charge. I'd use them to get Joel Smith and (if it were me) Petty lined up correctly. Probably room for one of Lewis or Vince still as we don't have a lot of obvious inclusions so no doubt that experience is valuable but a 30+ year old guy shouldn't be in charge of the show, there's enough others who have played plenty of footy. And surely Oscar and Jetta don't need to be told what to do, they've been playing back in this system for the longest?

The hair is relevant. He spent all last year making sure it wasn't pulled out of place. Seems to have a stronger more reliable rug this year, I was hoping it would help his form. Look good, play good. He's not just a regular player, he's a player who does more media for the club than any other, a responsibility and a privilege. It also makes him harder to drop. AFL 360 probably don't want to hear from a Casey player every Tuesday night.

Stress Worried about making mistakes Pressure Overwhelming Overly frustrated Yeah Tom sure sounded like a confident defender. Tom is clearly a player with a new found confidence and at the time I made a thread about him he was clearly a player without a lot of confidence. I stand by it. Just as I'll stand by this one. There will be a touch of short term pain against certain sides where Lewis' ability to find and sometimes use the ball will be missed, just as there was short term pain last year without Tom down back. But in the long run we will have defenders who can actually defend and physically compete with the best sides.

You need to go to the footy with some new people. Might've been third best for Collingwood.

TOM MCDONALD believes a permanent move to the forward line will allow him to play with newfound freedom, with the Melbourne swingman glad to be free of the pressures of defence. Following surgery on both of ankles at the end of last season, and integrating into main training in the past month, McDonald said he was relishing his time training at the opposite end of the ground for the first time in his career. "I don't know why but it's taken a bit of the stress away from playing footy," McDonald told AFL.com.au. "Sometimes as a defender I was so worried about making mistakes. The pressure that comes with being a full back or centre-half back can be overwhelming at times, and I tend to get overly frustrated with myself and it costs me." http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-02-12/mcdonald-ready-for-his-crack-up-forward I was paraphrasing but I stand by it. The guy was making mistakes and I'd be pretty sure he meant with the ball more than defensively. Either way, he's a whole new player as a forward and my point was that Tom openly admits he had issues playing as a defender. I'd love to find a new position for Lewis but there's no where to hide a plodder these days. Half back is the best option but eventually the time comes from there as well.

0 impact. How many did he get from playing on from the kick out.

Has Tom McDonald played as a defender since then? Or did the coaches eventually - through injury or otherwise - wake up to the fact it wasn't working and move him forward. Even Tom himself admitted he'd lost all confidence in his ball use as a defender. If you got them to speak honestly I think you'd find a few team mates who have lost all faith in Jordan Lewis as capable of winning a one on one contest or willing to really put his body on the line for his team.

What the heck is the point of a defender who can't defend. What role is that? If he could run, kick long and tear the game apart I'd accept his lack of defensive skills but he can't. What he can do is find the ball but Hibberd and Salem can do that. Find me a defender who can't defend who's ever won a premiership. If they do exist I bet they are bringing more to the table than racking up little dinky kicks.