DeeSpencer

This is the MFC Messiah theory in full force. On field (and off field) leadership is about more than 1 guy. The co captains model is fine and we should continue with it. Both Jones and Viney had important games where they led from the front this year, including late in game moments. Both had games where they went missing. I can see Viney more than Jones having the demonstrative physical take over of a big game like Cotchin is somehow experiencing right now but that really doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. Cotchin also played 4 years of ordinary footy with the captaincy and I don't want to saddle Viney with that responsibility either!

Lever plays half back flank for the Crows. The position is changing and he has great intercept skills - reads the play beautiful, strong in the air and then whilst not a great kick he gets the ball moving quickly. Has an excellent side step. What he hasn't done so far in his career is ever (from what I've seen) defend a tall opponent one on one. He might become that but he hasn't done it yet and so it's a pretty blind leap of faith if we are going to use him in that role. Making him accountable to a tall would limit a lot of his strengths - particularly his intercepting and attacking drive. I think he's worth a lot of money (not stupid 900k but a lot) in his current role and that's how I'd use him. Maybe once he fills out he can transition to a tall defending role but for now I'd keep him roaming on a flank. There's always the draft, trades and delisted free agents to find a decent lock down tall.

AFC N: Steelers dragged down a level, Ravens and Bengals yuck E: Pats rolling, Bills frisky S: Titans steam rolling, Jags and Texans have something W: KC firing, Denver and Oakland not as convincing, poor Chargers NFC: N: Looks a fun division. Packers need to stop the injuries. Vikings need reliable QB play because the rest is great. Lions somehow are now dependable in some odd way. Bears will live and die on getting easy run defenses. E: Big test for Cowboys tomorrow. Giants are such a waste of talent. Eagles need a run game, hope they found it. Washington aren't done yet S: Falcons scraping in again. Odd games elsewhere else. Think it could have a few twists and turns W: Could the Rams win it?

My thoughts on the 10 second run off rule are if it's 1st or 2nd down that's really unfair because I'd back a team to line up and spike the ball within the 8 or so seconds that were left if they had to. The Lions were on 3rd down so if it was called a no score correctly the first time they would've had to be seriously quick to get lined up and run any kind of coherent play and so the 10 second run off makes sense. In this situation I guess you have to always throw so it ends up in the end zone. The falcons defender comes off his man and makes one hell of a tackle to stop him short, so credit to Atlanta for a great play as well. The 10 second rule is logical and consistent if not always fair I guess.

My main take away is people really drank the Paul Roos kool aid didn't they? We played woeful footy in 2014 but it was all about developing the defensive efforts even though it involved shoving everyone behind the ball and not taking risks with it. We fell away badly after a few early wins in 2015 until it seemed they gave Goodwin the chance to coach the final game at Etihad against the Giants and break that hoodoo. Then 2016 Goodwin was coaching the team and Roos was the PR spokesperson. Watts will always be the focus until he plays well consistently or the team develops a bunch of stars. Not really any point hiding it. The Giants game was an abject failure for 20 minutes in the first quarter after we kicked 3 to start the game. Lack of on field leadership and also a lack of run - the Giants do run hard forward that's for sure. Then Pies game was the same. Big off season bringing in some talent and getting a lot of injured players healthy including Viney and those problems might correct themselves.

Rams were great but lets not forget the 9ers were doing it with Hoyer who I really like as a back up but shouldn't be a starter and a younger less talented defense. I'm all in on Kyle Shanahan just as much as McVay. Both teams will have to up the defense and get better QB play to sustain good offense against good teams, but loving those offensive coaching gurus. I'm expecting coaches from their system to spread throughout the league like Hawthorn assistants. The way they design run-pass option players and simplify the decisions for QB's is just a mile ahead of a lot of other coaches right now.

Steelers Dolphins Cowboys

All of that said: They were always short on depth and injured this year. That can change pretty quickly next year. No more Stevie J. Mumford, Deledio and Shaw will have to prove their worth, not walk up starts. Adam Kennedy is their back pocket specialist, he's been badly missed, Buntine is another injured defender who actually defends. Dylan Shiel has been beat up. Cameron has been injured. I'd expect they'll get it together and have a stronger run at it next year and if they don't I'd be looking at the coach.

It's funny that GWS have struggled because of their list build. So many top draft picks that many had to be moved on (largely back to Victoria), so those who stayed have all demanded big money to stay. Then with limited list spaces around all the stars they've ended up without any role players. And because they went with Scully and Davis as their oldest signings at the time (aside from the 30+ guys like Cornes and McDonald) the only veterans they have now are all mercenaries coming to the end. It's an unnatural list build that's created an unbalanced team.

Griffen sure. Deledio no, he would've loved to stay at the Tigers, they moved him on for a first round pick and to stop having so much tied up in an injury prone player.

Looking at the main injuries: Viney - that's on the physio's. Watts - think the poor form post injury was mainly in his head or related to a poor base Gawn and Watts - back related hamstrings annoy me, poor management Salem - still not fit enough Had a few other soft tissues - Jones, Tyson, Patty McKenna but not exactly a raft of them Had a lot impact injuries this year Still had too many stress injuries but every team has them and it was bad but not horrendous Salem, Petracca, Oliver, Oscar McDonald are all young guys who were regular members of the best 22 without having the endurance to do it, so a lot depends on how much they can improve before judging the overall team fitness. Especially Petracca and Oliver. I got the feeling our game running tailed off towards the end of the year and I think Misson said that in the season review chat he had with Burgs. It was an even split between young players getting tired and injured players not at peak fitness. Unfortunately we didn't get to see how the team went after a bye week freshen up in to a final.

Unless contracted I don't think they'll keep Ben Ken but I'd also be willing to wait and see through the trades until it comes down to the final list spot. He had an injury interrupted preseason and Goodwin's game plan requires elite fitness at half forward. They might've all but put a line through him for the year but not through his career if that makes sense. King isn't far off what you'd expect from a 20 year old ruck. He was looking more athletic as the year went on at Casey. Again, see what is out there in trades or delisted players and then see how his offseason is going before making a call.

The squeeze on list spots really makes me think someone is getting traded. For salary cap reasons as much as anything. Very few players on draftee deals and not a lot of picks coming in either draft. And I mean more than King or Kennedy getting traded or not picked up. The timing on Vince and Vanders deals interesting. I think Bernie they probably wanted to give some time to reflect on his levels of interest. Vanders probably more about seeing how long it would take to get his heel right and get the all clear. King and Kennedy seem to me to be guys you'd wait and see what trade week brings. If there's a mature ruck or midfielder with more potential on the delisted free agents or free to good home trade market then you'd take them instead.

If he gets through the year fit I think he'll have no issues getting at least another year. Tigers have based a game plan on pressure forwards who don't do much else. GWS are scrambling to find guys who can do it. If he's fit and healthy I think he can be an important player in the side or at least a fringe player who keeps everyone honest.

We are rumoured to be interested in one of the best half backs in the comp. Young fella, name rhymes with Snake Beaver. Otherwise he's not going to get any faster or more reliable by foot and we've got Hibberd, Hunt and Jetta to play down back, hopefully we keep Brayshaw at half back, it's a great spot for him, I really hope we keep Salem and I'd like to see Joel Smith play more senior games if he's fit and healthy. Not sure he can play wing or half forward. If he's a first choice option in the team other than for select tagging jobs I'm not convinced we'll have made progress.

If it means we are still in the development stage where we need leaders around the club I can understand that. If it means we are in a winning phase where we can carry an older guy in the 2's who can come in a do a job I get that. If they thing he's actually still in the best 22 we are in trouble.

- 0:05 clean take and dish off at pace - 1:03 nice lead up and extension to the ball, double grabs the mark. Weights the kick in to the corridor - 1:30 keeps his feet whilst gathering - 1:58 nice finish for a goal - 2:12 nice gather and slips a tackle to dish the handball - 3:20 good run to receive and hit up - 4:12 excellent smother and left foot finish After that I'd seen enough. His tackling is bad, his kicking technique is a little funky. I'd want to see more to know if he's going to have the physicality required to be a regular player but promising WAFL stats are a decent sign he can mix it with men. But he's got really nice movement in tight, decent vision and seems solid over head. If he's a strong runner and got some physicality I'd be happy with him as a depth half forward/midfielder with some upside.

Melksham and ANB aren't fast and don't have a great amount of x factor and they thrived playing half forward this year. I'd see Balic as a similar player. Getting numbers to the contest, winning the ball and linking up with team mates in congestion then spreading out of it seems to be our playing style. So whilst I'd love to only trade for guys who fill needs I don't think that's always going to happen and doubling down on the players who can play how you want to play isn't a bad idea. Especially if they're available at a cheap price.

He had a nasty wrist injury that saw him slip a lot in the draft, otherwise would've been closer to 20. If his personal problems are all homesickness related I could see why Freo would want more than a mid 3rd rounder, but they aren't in a great position to negotiate. He has a busted shoulder, fumbles the ball, struggles to tackle and pressure without falling over either via poor instincts or poor lateral movement and seems more suited as a player who runs hard in to open space than in the way Goodwin operated the forward line this year. I'd expect they'd be happy to let him go for a pick in the 40's.

Rance, but he can play on an opponent and he's a one man wrecking machine at full back preventing teams from scoring. Lever might become that but right now he hasn't shown any ability to play on a key forward opponent and gets to float around half back where there's more room and less at stake. In terms of comparing positions I'd say an intercepting half back isn't as rare and as valuable as a key forward, but I'd also say Lever is about as good as a prospect as you'd find in that position.

Garlett was at Carlton - a team and club seriously struggling when he came to us. We weren't going much better but after a year of Roos we were steady and on the rise. Besides a bad final year at Carlton he'd been a consistent 40 goal a year player who struggled in tight games - and still does. Motlop's been at Geelong, one of the best run clubs with good leadership and well prepared and supported players. I'm not sure he's really a player that will be or needs to be turned around, he's a good player now with some flaws and that's what he'll be in the future. I'd gladly have him but with realistic expectations and I'm not sure the price will be right.

Arizona (But yuck they aren't that good, but the Colts might be terrible) New England Dallas

Definitely needs work, I was just expanding on that saying it appears he was working on it and if he gets more help from his team mates it will be less of an issue.

Think we might have to give up more than pick 10 but I don't want it to be much more. I'd try to keep next years first off the table, but at the same time I wouldn't want to give up 2nd round picks either so it's a tricky one. We have to give Jason Taylor some ammunition in the draft. I'd probably be willing to add 2018's first round pick for Adelaide's pick this year or next year but that would be a gamble. A couple of second round pick shuffles might be the safer bet. Or maybe we give the Saints something small to move pick 10 to 7 or 8 and then that satisfies the Crows. The big question might be what other business do we have in trade week and if the answer is nothing major then we can bit very patient. The last few years Mahoney has always stressed the importance of locking in deals early to allow some more movement with other players but I'm hoping we don't trade anyone out and I don't think we'll be trading anyone major in if we get Lever.