DeeSpencer

The most straight forward way to sum up the Watts situation is to say that the rest of this season will dictate whether he should be traded/wants to be traded. If he improves on his hardness for the contest and intensity then it will be obvious to me he's a player worth keeping. The upside will be too much to let go especially given he's the age and games played where he should be right on the cusp of cementing a spot (and I mean within AFL players not in the 22, anyone can cement a spot in our 22). If he still can't work out how to defend an opponent and how to attack a contest with vigor then we may as well let him go because he probably never will whilst he is wearing red and blue.

Betts can put on forward pressure but I haven't seen him do it for a full season, he seems more of a lead and goal type player. He'd be handy but I can't see him leaving Carlton and still being a good price. I'd look to the draft more than anything for a small forward. They can come in and play quickly if fit. I agree its an area of need for our list.

Terrible turnover, terrible player. He might find some more ball in the middle but he plays without pride for himself or for the jumper.

I'm underwhelmed as well. It looks like we generally have 3 positions for full time staff in recruiting. A head recruiter whose job will be essentially left blank this year and merged under Viney's role until the Collingwood chap comes out of contract, and 2 full time recruiting officers. It seems those positions will be filled by Burleigh who seems to me to be part of the team who have recruited poorly in the last decade and now a guy who hasn't ever done the job before. Sure he's got a good background with community and football experience but couldn't we lure a part time guy from Geelong or Hawthorn into this full time role in football? I don't think the magnitude of this years draft can be underestimated. We've got 3 first round picks, one of which will be Viney but we need to nail the other 2 and all our other picks. It's the best opportunity for us to get talented, tough footballer players in so that with the talent we've already added we can craft a proper side. If we stuff up this year then I'm not sure we'll ever get it right.

My thoughts. Bollinger out: fair enough Hilf + Johnson in: Hilf had one bad test, deserves to be in squad and only missing out if the wickets aren't meant to swing. I don't like the re inclusion of Johnson - but he is a test performer so I won't go all high horse on it. There's too much to complain about to worry about what they are doing with MJ. Doherty Out/ Beer In: We don't seem to have a spinner in the country who is up to it. We need a plan going forward on how to address this. All I want from the selectors is some kind of plan. Ie. were going to go horses for courses for a while, or where going to give everyone a try, or were including this guy and that's how its going to be. I hope this Beer dude can field. North out: had to happen Smith in: BAD! if he's going to be an all rounder or spinner the pressure of walking in now to bat at number 6 will ruin his bowling development. They've pushed the trigger too early in searching for a replacement. Both Hussey and Khawaja have first class averages of 50+. Hussey has an average of 55 with over 10,000 first class runs. Khawaja is technically organised, 24 and not in hopeless form this summer. Blooding youngsters is fine, but you have to give them a chance. Now Smith is in he needs a big chance, even though I think at 6 he is destined to fail. Man it sucks that McDonald got injured. Hughes In: He's had some success at test level and a good first class average. I'm willing to give him a shot as his only competition is Marsh, who despite some good scores of late is not up to it.

well played!