DeeSpencer

I've been a strong supporter of the idea of Pedda playing back. He's a lovely kick and reliable mark. That said, I think he'd have to play the full back role Oscar McDonald is playing and there's probably not room for both of them. If things ever get to the really experimental stages I'd like to see Weids thrown back at Casey. He'd find it easier to take grabs at CHB and his clean hands at ground level would be very nice.

Agree. He's a natural reader of the play and should kick to space. When he tries to thread it in tight he gets in to trouble.

Harmes going back to cover Lever meant Gus was shifted to the wing a lot more. Think he shifts back inside more next week.

In a number of preseason training threads I said Gus keeps finding the ball but is sloppy with his kicking. Would've been nice if he started in the team from round 1 but I think reading between the lines Goody put the foot down and said he had to do the extras on his body and his skills at training. It's starting to pay off and should only get better if he keeps the focus on nailing the fundamentals. We got smashed at the clearances today so all the mids have a fair bit of work to do for next week.

His right foot isn't always any better! In space he should use his right, but I like the idea that he goes on his left to get out of trouble and hope he keeps using it. His dual sided ability has always been his stand out trait, especially out of congestion by hand and foot.

Lever is what, 194 and 90 or so? He's not a strong big body, he's mobile and good overhead. And fit. Joel Smith is far more like for like as a roaming CHB than Frost. Big Frost has size and speed but is more suited deep one on one. His endurance and positioning gets found out up the ground.

Depends on Collingwood's structure. Oscar is the logical match up for Mason Cox at FB. Jetta to DeGoey. Lewis, Salem on the flanks. Frost seems unlikely. Could be an option for Stephenson if they are worried about his pace. Could play CHB but it isn't his strength. Joel Smith makes sense to play CHB on a tall if the Pies play another one. Hunt if they want to play another runner and use Hibberd/Vince as the talls. Harry Petty is the smokey if they want height and want to give him a run at CHB.

Terrible news for Jake. I saw it live and the change in direction on a shifting surface is classic ACL. Unfortunately a risk of signing Jake was that he did another ACL. Hopefully he rehabs like the professional he is and ads some size and comes back bigger and better. Might be able to coach up his replacement as well.

He won't walk out on us a year after coming back from Freo. AFL footy doesn't work like that. I could see him signing a contract extension sometime before the VFL finals once we get some big names signed.

Half back - really sitting off the back - of a good midfield group is really the role he should've been playing all along. It's the role he trained for all summer but injuries to Viney and Gus needing to come through the VFL opened up the wing spot so they used Lewis there for the first half of round 1 and rounds 3, 4. He's just not suited for the wing any more, in fact probably never was. Half back is a far easier position to see the game and zone off his opponent. Along with Salem we now have a couple of smart ball users and guys who naturally get in the right positions. They are predictable to their team mates which allows Hibberd to play his full throttle style. Bernie can also take a man and simplify his game. The other benefit is Lewis is out of the midfield so he can communicate and position those guys from behind the play and he can bark instructions at them. The big test for Lewis will come against a side like West Coast that has 7 dangerous forwards and can move the ball quickly. He'll have to show he can defend but I'd still rather that than having him floundering on the wing.

Some interesting points. Personally I think round 1 is round 1, don't read too much in to a round 1 performance. Brisbane and North games were good besides terrible patches. Hawthorn game had a great first quarter but terrible once the rain started Richmond game we played very well for 3/4's and just didn't have the fire power up forward, eventually not scoring enough leads to a break down in motivation when the game becomes out of reach A lot of 'what's changed' really needs to be in context of what happened in the first 5 weeks. The foundation of a good side was still there in those 5 weeks.

6 goals, 1 goal. 1 month injury lay off. 1 goal, 1 goal, 3 goals. Wouldn't exactly call him a goal kicking machine. Can find a mark and find the ball, which I think puts him in line for backing up Melksham or Petracca's spot. I doubt his lack of fitness will allow him to really excel as a pressure small/mid sized forward to take Spargo or Hannan's spot. This year for Balic was really about adjusting to life back at home and as an AFL player. Signs were good in December but he's had some injury niggles after the first couple of VFL games.

Cross' last game - he gets concussed putting his body on the line for the team. It was the breaking of the Etihad curse, stuff all crowd there but the standing ovation he got at the end of the game was as big as any I've seen. 4 young guys came in to that team that day and there was a distinct feeling Goody was handed the keys to start implementing a zone defence. The Giants were down on players as well as pretty much done for the year but it was important to go out there and get the win after we'd tailed off as the year went on. Even looking back now so much of the team has changes, pretty much a new forward line and a lot of new parts down back since 2014/2015 but so much of our development started with having a midfield that kept us in games. You can't develop players if you're getting smashed in the midfield and you can't throw young guys in the middle and expect them to perform every week. I think Jamar and Spencer should get credit for making Gawn fight to play games until it clicked for him in mid 2015. But mostly the work Jones, Vince and Cross did along with Viney and Tyson was so important. We couldn't beat the top teams and we often lost with terrible errors against the bottom teams as well! But we had a good shot against any side from 6th down and whilst 2014 wasn't pretty we turned the corner in 2015.

It's silly there isn't 3rd and even 4th year club options for 1st and 2nd round draft picks, but it's still nice to sign them up. Gives the guys some financial security and locks in their price for 2020. That should come in handy now that the focus turns to some big deals for the McDonald's, Brayshaw, Harmes and Jetta.

Gawn wins a lot of hit outs to advantage, so any midfielder playing with him is going to get the ball, but Viney and Harmes are the two I've noticed far more than others who nail the timing and get the ball straight from the tap on the run bursting to goal. Harmes kicked a goal earlier in the year from a hit out that was beautiful to watch. All of the mids have improved their work with Gawn massively since the Hawthorn and Richmond games which were disasters in that regard.

Played all last year with injuries. The plantar fasciitis was hurting him from the early rounds all the way through to the surgery, and then he came back underdone from that. He wasn't healthy at any stage last season. Hopefully he can get back to 2016 form and even more. He also seems to have the best combination with Gawn, somehow with Harmes the other midfielder who reads Gawn well.

At this stage, no I don't think so. The AFL approved a Saints ruckman to play for Frankston not Sandringham to get him more game time and help Frankston out, so they might be willing to consider a proposal.

I think a guy who hasn't played an organised game of footy in over 3 years is a bit of a gamble, but drafting any rucks at 18 is and this has cost nothing in draft picks, doesn't take a legitimate list spot and his pedigree is first class. My biggest issue with it is how do we get game time in to him without the VFL development league? Do we make him the 3rd ruck next year? If he's 4th in line and there's not injuries that's a hard ask to see game time. Might be a test case to take to the AFL and see if he can play for a VAFA team.

I thought the cricketers were treated harshly but I was impressed by Nicho during the SA scandal. He forthright and spoke calmly early on in the piece when the drama was pretty fiery. By all reports a smart guy and cricket has been through a lot in his short time there. That he's even a candidate (as far as we know) is a good sign I think. Not sure in previous years we'd get someone in his position even interested.

If we promote Mahoney then we will need someone to take over the footy admin. If he's the best man for the job then so be it and footy is the core product so having a footy guy in charge makes sense, but they have to be ready to oversee the whole club and delegate the footy stuff. We've seen what goes wrong when a CEO overreaches in to football. If we promote this de crispy fellow then we better make sure our commercial staff are strong. The strength of the Roos-Goodwin handover was as much to do with having Mahoney, Jason Taylor, Toddles, Misson and Brendan McCartney in place. The new CEO is a big test for President Bartlett because he'll have to be more prominent.

I think our plan last year was Tommy Mc - CHB, with Oscar and Frost competing for FB. Garland was mature depth - he did play a very good practice game before injury. Keilty a developing option. Dunn was traded, probably with the knowledge he was going to improve with a new club but we had younger options to play and Garland contracted who we couldn't move on. Tom started well before being required forward/ruck and that left both Frost and Oscar carrying the load. They played pretty well, both were great against Adelaide in Adelaide, Oscar was nearly best on against the Dogs at Etihad. They fell away towards the end of the year and part of that was on them and part was because our midfield defensive work also disappeared with the Viney injury. I'd say Oscar never fell away to the levels that Frost did. I've been as negative as you on Oscar at times. It was his lack of physicality combined with only average speed that concerned me. But if you're talking up attributes then his marking and kicking have always shown promise, and he's fit and should only get stronger and translate gym strength to footy strength. But more than anything it's probably his coachability that inspires the most faith. In 2016 when experienced defenders couldn't get their heads around zone defending Oscar was noticeably getting to the positions the coaches wanted and I believe that's why he was getting games. Tom Lonergan was one of the best 5 or so key defenders for at least 5 years if not more and he didn't have a standout attribute. Part of scouting is sometimes just trusting the opinion of good coaches right?

Not buying that Hogan has moved quicker than all but 2 players we've played this year. I think that's a GPS error. Surely at some stage in a game someone like Kent, Harmes or Hannan ran quicker than Jesse's quickest. Oscar plays the full game time and often follows an opponent up to a contest then runs back to true CHB position. When we get the ball forward he often rests as the deepest defender. So it's logical that he does some of the most km's but it's far less intensity than the midfielders.

The vision wasn't anything particularly special, if you didn't know Tracc was there you shouldn't be playing AFL. But the side step and kick out in to space was very classy. Right now I'm very happy with what Spargo does but also even more pleased with how he does things. He keeps his feet, bodies the ball, moves with great evasiveness and doesn't rush. In the forward line as long as you've got equal numbers or better - keep it moving, keep the defenders guessing. In the backline - take the ball, tuck it in close, take the tackle and stop play. The same thing applies with kicking off the ground. It's risk-reward.

No, no PS! Our midfield are all runners - of course. Our backline has runners and I'd expect Vince to be replaced by Hunt. Our forwards - well the 2 big guys in T Mc and Hoges are very good runners! As is ANB. Spargo, Melksham, Bull, Hannan, they are all in the side to chase and pressure and run! If there's selection changes it's surely based on form not conditions.

We went a little more direct in the 3rd quarter but mainly because Carlton were all over the shop to start the 3rd and then very flat in the last quarter. It also rained a bit more and the wind that was very strong in the first half had died down. Beside a series of stuff ups to concede a goal on the siren our first quarter was very good in to a stiff breeze and the second quarter was composed with the ball as well.