DeeSpencer

Well it was reported when he won the community award. Otherwise I'm not sure what Sylvia has to do with my post. I'm not trying to be critical of the previous players. Some if not most of whom would've done great work in the community. But for years I've watched Jack Watts be nearly the only player to show any interest in the kids who run out through the banner each week or hang around after training. I just think there's more maturity in this young list and a greater engagement as a club. Is that so unreasonable given we've had 3 years of stable admin and Paul 'relationships' Roos as coach compared to the turmoil in the admin and the coach who came before?

This might be a case of bias but I think it's great to see so many players go up and introduce themselves. Gawny hoist him on his shoulders. Others listen intently to what he had to say. A few years ago I wonder if most of the players would've just done the bare minimum as part of their job. Now they seem engaged with the club. I don't think they would've had to be told to get involved, they just did it. Watching this I didn't get the same emotions that a lot of others on here and on twitter etc have seemingly felt for Andrew but I had a great sense of pride in the club and I'm sure that means he would've had an amazing day.

Unlike the Melbourne players who all were sober at Riva on Saturday night at Jack Watts' board shorts company? Come off it. Going round to a team mates house for a BBQ post training is good culture. I'm sure most players had no more than a few drinks on a Saturday afternoon/evening, pretty standard across all AFL clubs and all of Australia. That Impey had a few too many and did a bad thing seems far more reflective of him than Port Adelaide.

The pessimist in my thinks we'll now get the skills right but not have the run! But they train long hours and do some heavy running drills then add in the running sessions when needed. The rehab group certainly do a heap of running with some mixed in. I often wonder if they are fitter than the main group and some of the would be. But I guess it's an indication that high intensity constant movement footy drills are a lot more taxing than they appear. Tommy Mc, Viney, Trengove and Vanders were in a group doing heavy repeat sprints towards the end of a solid session today. All the rehab guys are frequently timed between two cones as they run up and down the far wing. I haven't quite cracked the code to see if they fitness coaches are aiming for max speed or just repeat sets at a steady pace. JKH was in to longer sprints around the bend. Wagner was seemingly pounding out the laps.

I'm excited by this development and it's in nearly every drill. Maybe you've riled him up Saty but Dom Tyson even seems to be going out of his way to use his right in drills. I think every AFL player should work very hard on their non preferred to have it at a standard that allows them to use it reliably to get out of trouble and kick to space or in front of a target. But I'm not sure you can create dual sided players out of previous one sided players within one preseason. So when game simulation or games come around I wonder if Goodwin + co will try to reign it in to prevent turnovers. I hope there's a few Goodwin's coaching under 12's, under 14's and TAC teams because that's when you can really make a difference to kicking. AFL players take years to improve steadily but it's very hard to fix the ones who come in with bad habits. The Hawks were way ahead of the pack when it came to tapping the ball on. Helped that they had Cyril and co who could read the play and tap cleverly, move like lightning + pick up the loose balls. Other teams tried it last year including us with some mixed results. I think it's a great strategy when moving the ball forward in space. I think it's a terrible idea under pressure down back!

Good to see he and business partner Matty Jones are sticking together on field as well as with the tables! Good luck to them.

I was hoping I got a reply! Maybe I just saw the wrong bit of it coming out from his shorts. And yes that sounds much dirtier than it should.

I'm not an expert on the workings of AFL contracts but: He could turn up, go through the motions at training, play at Casey and collect a full wage. Or he could turn up, take a bump in the first training session or VFL game and probably collect injury payments for the rest of the year and an injury settlement as well, we can't exactly say he doesn't have concussion now. And whether he has a case or not he could file some sort of grievance about the performance based aspect of his contract and how missing games affected that. Paying Lumumba a percentage of his yearly salary to go away sounds like the best of the bad options. A sad end but seemingly necessary. AFL players must get good protection within their contracts which is probably fair enough because once the contracts are finished the get very little.

Split in to forwards, mids, backs now. Petracca, Harmes, Ben Ken fwd. Salem, Melk, Lewis in the mids. Vince with the backs. Spencer held his own against Gawn in throw ins. Clarry went over to the physios with what looked like a sore hip flexor. Now jogging laps at various speeds. Must be something preexisting because I'm surprised given his grimacing they didn't just shut him down for the day

Tom McDonald looks like a mix between Jason McCartney in his final game and Bad Grandpa. Fakemumba 8 is a tall athletic lad. Dec Keilty is a surprise contender for worst tattoo. He also has unusual long arms. main drill split in to 4 groups for keepings off. 2 kicking. 2 handballing. Kicking, bag tackling and other skills stuff for the rehab group

Two kids from the AFL academy I assume (don't look like Casey players). 1 in rehab wearing 31, the other in the main group wearing the vacant 8. King, Viney, T Mac (in compression socks and shorts), Wagner, Hannan, Vanders, JKH, Pedersen, Flippers, Trengove, Maynard, unknown 31 in rehab. Lewis back in the main group. Hogan on deck

The Arrivals Lounge piece on Hannan on the club website is quite interesting. He seems articulate and affable. His personality matches his new hair more than the long blonde locks that he had going for Footscray this year! Interesting that he'd be up at 6, working and straight in to Dogs training before getting home by 10. They are full on days so the change to full time probably means a fair scope for improvement. Which I guess is true for most state league players but some of them probably had easier and more flexible jobs compared to full time in an architectural office. He's open to the idea of midfield time as well as forward and I get the feeling that was part of why we drafted him. I'm hoping he gets a good run at preseason because I'm keen to see him play in the preseason games.

Well this is a very strange and specific complaint. I think they'll beat us in round 1 because they've had better coaching for longer, match up well against us and play their home ground particularly well. I also think they've recruited very well through the draft rounds to create a nice balanced list that probably has more depth than ours does, although I do favour our top end talent. I don't take particular notice in recruits looks so all I'll say on that is I'd never be adverse to drafting a footballer because they look too much like a footballer. I'd recruit a neanderthal if they could play.

Listeners to his Sounding Board podcast will know the real Hutchy does appear to be a understandingly flawed person, a loyal friend, a cunning and eager businessman and a savvy media mind. The footy classified Hutchy is largely an act and he suffered this year from no Garry Lyon and Lloyd battling along in the 4th chair. He could do well on the footy show. Bec Maddern has proven herself to be a pretty decent host. The issue with the show is that it's Sam Newman's show. Everything revolves around him. And he hasn't changed his act in 20 years and it's more than worn thin with most of the viewers. Given that he's the centre of the show, the show also has struggled to adapt to the change in AFL media circumstances and technology. There's no need to watch the footy show for the teams anymore. There's little need to watch it for news or opinion on footy stories besides the occasional interesting Damo news break. If I were in charge I'd probably just carry on with Sam as the show whilst enough idiots watched it but it must be getting close to having to really reinvent itself and not just shuffle hosts in around Sam.

I think the small group drills have an even more physical edge if that's possible. Lots of pressure and tackling. But that might just be me not recalling how they were last year. Otherwise the biggest change is a greater focus on opposite foot kicking. Whether it's the warm up, kicking drills, small group or large drills there seems to be a lot more of it.

Got there closer to 10 and no Hogan and I didn't see Hannan, Maynard or Flippers. Rehab group as standard; Viney, T Mc, Pedda, JKH, Vanders, Trenners, Mitch King. Restricted group pulled out of the main drill for running and skills; Lewis, Oliver, DJ, T Smith, Keilty, Wagner I'm interested in how long Lewis is staying out of the main stuff. They seem to be really pumping the work in to him with the rehab group. Maybe management after years of finals footy, maybe a change of role to an outside player and they just want him fit. One for Saty. Oliver (who had been in the main group) and Lewis were running repeat sprints when the rest of the rehab group had finished up, with Oliver a slightly lesser distance. Working hard. DJ impresses me. Kicks low and hard. Leaps for marks and takes it out in front. Reminds me a bit of Jamie Elliott from the Pies. Keilty has some spring to his movement and a neat kick. Smith isn't overly tall (obviously can play above his height) but does move well enough and can kick on both sides. There was a drill where the 6 in the restricted group paired up and took a few reps before swapping over of leading out from the square whilst the other gathered a loose ball and kicked to the lead. It was really nice to see mostly well placed and penetrating kicks hitting leading targets. No pressure but still good to see. Tyson hopped off at one stage but it appeared it was just to get what I assume are blisters tended to and then he was back in. Seems a very common ailment with others doing the same. The main group went from multiple series of in tight drills to full ground team ball movement. Ben Kennedy slid in with a perfect bump above knees to skittle Frostly who jumped back up and kept competing. Was very willing. I'm often critical of him but Spencer was starting to resemble an AFL footballer today. I'd say after a long build he's now got the right AFL body that resembles Gawny. Plenty of strength without looking heavy and appears balanced. He was presenting for the ball and moving it on nicely in the main drill. Doesn't always come off but Watts receives the ball in drills looking towards the corridor, when so many others focus first on going wide. In the main drill McKenna doesn't panic and backs himself to kick on both sides. Joel Smith impressed with his leap for aerial contests and a perfectly timed sprint up the middle to intercept an attack. Hibberd is powerful and calm but also one of the first to have hands on hips and sucking in the big ones. To be a big negative: Jeffy Garlett was getting out in space and running with the ball but a lot of kicks keep bouncing in front of the intended target, in match simulation and smaller drills. It's just laziness that needs to stop. ANB has a habit of just rushing to give or receive the footy, he induces fumbles, just needs more timing, he was better as it went on. Petracca is a little but unsure when in the back half. He wants to move everything on. Watts kicked to him at half forward and the ball was touched and then play on. Tracc did his best to avoid tackles but about 3 of them got him down and piled on him! There was plenty to like and it was a high intensity fast paced session for December.

I'd be surprised. The Weed is looking good on the track so far and last year did the typical new draftee preseason after missing most of the year. He could make big improvements to his body which carry him in to the year, even if he then needs a fair bit of management after the early rounds. Smith would have to do a fair bit more than Weed in preseason games to get the nod. The advantage Smith might have is the match up v the Saints and the game being at Etihad. At the G I'm sure Hogan is our CHF and we'd be looking at Weed to be that 2nd tall marking/contesting option with his own space to work in. At Etihad and especially against the Saints Hogan has been deployed as an inside 50 target and Smith's versatility and tackling pressure might be a better fit with Hogan playing deeper. Etihad is very much a ground for 1 power forward playing 30-70m from goal and the other talls to move around.

I call this Schwabermetrics. The analysis of unimportant minutiae instead of focusing on core business. Hawthorn wear trash jumpers. Clash, away, even their traditional home strip that seems to change every year with different coloured numbers or stripe patterns. They win football games because they invest in people and facilities.

I saw him train early in that block at thought his endurance was poor and skills were ordinary. I actually thought Moncrieff was the far better prospect of the 2. So I was very surprised with his Casey form this year. I get the feeling big raw country lads would be Macca's specialty.

Only the Ox's mind could put those 2 sentences together.

Clarry has an ability to raise his fitness, speed and footskills to high levels when needed and then to look like he can barely run a lap or kick a drop punt when its not a competitive endeavour.

It's amazing that Petracca has lost 6kg because he's still noticeably thicker in the legs than almost every other player. I'd like to hire Byron Pickett as his personal bumping coaches because whilst it might cost him a few weeks on the sidelines if he can lay a few shepherds with his size and power he could make everyone walk taller.

Last year Hogan was noticeably heavy, not running as well as he had previously and spent a lot of the time scowling. Saty told me he was fine but I think it's now clear he wasn't. I wouldn't be making comments about his overall happiness but hardly a shock that being fitter and running on top of the ground would have you enjoying training more.

Probably silly. But there's 22 games in a season and I'm a big believer in picking a very fit side for round 1. So often in recent years (at least before the Roos times) we'd pick a side for round 1 and then drop 3 guys and bring in 3 runners for round 2! He'll probably play his was in to the round 1 in the preseason side just as he did this year and unfortunately there's always injuries. I hope he's healthy to run the post Christmas time trial, because obviously if he's running up to scratch he's an automatic inclusion.

I agree Dunn could be the most missed and was the best player moved on. The drop off from Dunn to Keilty is a far greater unknown and more important than the change in running players. Because if injuries strike to key defenders and Garland hasn't recovered form then Keilty has to play. If we have injuries to running players then our list of guys outside the best 22 is at least pretty long and varied. Bugg, Trengove, Kennedy, Wagner, White, Smith, Harmes, ANB, Vanders, JKH, Hannan, McKenna. I didn't rate Grimes so my bias is never going to see it that way, but for those who did want to keep him (or Matt Jones, Michie or otherwise) who's spot would you take out? I think we need the tall depth on the rookie list and McKenna and DJ are important developing players to have as well, we need that next wave of youth coming through. The only spots I'd give up on the senior list are Lumumba's and Trengove's. And Lumumba had a contract and they chose to give Trengove another chance. Mitch White's senior games chances don't look all that great but he's very fit and can kick, he's a better half back option than Grimes and Michie.