DeeSpencer

He was certainly far better than last week! He's never going to be a perfect half back flanker. He should get to roam around the ground as we develop more players who can play multiple positions. But he's embraced the role pretty well. He's taking the kick outs because he's an experienced player down back who can kick! Once you take out young players and ones who can't kick he's pretty much the only one left!

They certainly have a tight salary cap and might have to cut list size as well. The issue is with 10 Victorian clubs circling I'm not sure it's that easy to get a good deal. Obviously if you get the player to pick you that makes it easier but I think GWS have had so many draft assets and players over the years that they are in a strong position to potentially knock back deals. The points system was a nice way for clubs to do win-wins and I don't think it's changed yet, although every club will be out to use the loophole this year, which means GWS will benefit more and clubs looking to move up in the draft won't have it so easy.

Tomlinson keeps a lot of value as a tall, Carlton seem to always be keen on him and he's often linked to Essendon. I think Carlton offered up a pick around 20 last year and got very close to getting the deal done. WHE was living up to his draft pick back in 2014, not sure what's gone wrong with him with injury and others going passed him over the last 2 years. Does he have the tank to play as a wingman? If he's just a half forward we might stay clear

If Oscar attacked the ball with full conviction the best result would be a spoil and hopefully we clear it, the probable result would've been Gunston marks but gets taken to ground or held up. A good learning situation for him. The worst thing was probably the lack of 50m penalty! (If my memory is right). He probably was forward enough to pump it in, but the game plan of the day seemed to be to deny the Hawks the ball and not bomb it and get caught on the counter attack. Especially after bombing it in so much against the Eagles I can understand why Brayshaw (and several others) wanted to share the ball around.

I think GWS would set the bar pretty high for both those guys. Tomlinson as a tall in particular would cost at least a decent 2nd rounder and WHE might be the same. They both seem to have a little more currency in my mind than Bugg last year. Trading next years 2nd rounder could be an option for us. I'd rather keep this years as it could fall at a nice spot where someone we rate highly gets through to it.

Not attacking the ball was Oscar's mistake. He stood and waited for it and didn't help the team by putting his body on the line. Bad kick from Brayshaw, too much hang time, but Oscar could've bailed him out.

Probably because we don't want Frost, T Mc, Oscar, Hunt or Harmes ie. 5/7 of our backline doing the kick ins. Even Jetta isn't a great option. So a lot of the time it's waiting for Vince to get there. In time more of the backline (including some of those guys) will be capable of taking the kick ins. Edit: I think we scored 2 goals from kick ins on the weekend and the Hawks had only conceded a few goals from kick ins all season, so we got some of them right!

He's starting to become very good in space even if he's bad in close still. His work rate is high and it stands out. Skills are getting better. 1 or 2 errors per game in concentration and 1 or 2 per game where he just needs to get more physical. The concentration should come and given his age and body type he's deserving of some benefit of the doubt when it comes to his physical play. A few kilos of muscle and then some really good contested marking/spoiling training could go a long way to fixing it over the summer.

He was and good luck to him. Nathan Jones doesn't mind finding a young player and giving them a bit of what for. Hopefully more of our players do. Although even better has been watching Clarry clean up some veterans of the game.

Agree with that. The Brayshaw tackle looked particularly like it had a lot of lift in it and was very close to getting him in a dangerous position. Very surprised it wasn't looked at (or not really).

There's a mixed bag and a team effort but Watts, Oliver, Kent, Jones, Tyson, Gawn and Viney certainly were heavily involved in the scores. The one that did surprise was how much the Weid was involved in the goals, particularly in the first quarter! He was in nearly every one of them. Mark and goal, clever handball, chest mark and moving the ball on and so on. Now it helped that the side seemed 'on' and were up and running through the corridor but the way the Weid got the ball on was great to see. Short attacking kicks and quick movement has been the way to beat the Hawks for a while now (even if most teams can't do it) so maybe that was the catalyst to get guys leading up more, but along the same lines I think the addition of Petracca and Vanders then now Weideman could give us a lot more movement around half forward. The Jeff out the back, Kent in to space (a new addition this year) and Watts (also new this year) and Hogan both carrying a big load forward line was far too predictable.

I saw him having work on what I thought was a hip at one stage but then looking closely on the replay it looked to me like he had a scratch going up towards the bandage that looked like he was studded. If so I doubt it will be an issue.

Seeing him in person (ie over the fence) I'm always shocked at how tall he is. I also think he's actually lost some size over the season - both in muscle and certainly trimming down and giving him more definition. If he does the work and we get the balance right he should hopefully go in to next year with a body that looks like a finely tuned machine and not the big oversized slow body that some of the young bull mids from other teams have carried in recent years. He moves so well through traffic and he tackles with fantastic desire and technique. He doesn't need to be 90+kg.

Neitz coaches with the backs at Hawthorn I think, not sure he'd want to do it full time. I think Goodwin is the forwards coach this year, and the forward coach from the last two years in Dan McPherson has moved in to a ball movement coaching role with Melbourne and Casey. He might go back to forwards coach from next year. Or they might look to hire a new coach. Will be interesting to see what happens with the assistants.

Worry about it then. There's 3 games left + whatever else of VFL finals. Terlich is probably the only sure thing. The rest of the names have all played at least 1 game this year. They might only have to show they are the best of 2 options to keep a spot. I really think Dawes and Pedda have between now and the end of the year to fight for 1 spot I'm hoping for a year in which we don't have anyone we want to keep leave. That will be a big step forward for the list and culture.

10 goals 8 for the year isn't exactly breaking the record books, but yeah he does seem to get forward for a goal more than others and hopefully he can keep bringing that up. Certainly I think he's now edging ahead of his 2014 season so that's good progress after injury hurt him last year. I still think he needs an uninterrupted preseason or 2. He put on size this year but I think he can back that up and increase his endurance and speed. He needs to kick the ball more when he's out in space and he needs to find a practical right foot kick to get the ball in to space when required. Just a safe chip on the right. Certainly his kicking has improved since the start of the year. His movement and hands around the contest have always been great and they are getting even better. His tackling needed work and he's improving in that regard.

It's really more Essendon. Peter Jackson - tick. Goodwin comes on board. McCarney then signs on knowing long term he'll be working with Goodwin who he knows from Essendon. Then Jennings was at Essendon for much longer than he was at the dogs. I know the Essendon connection will scare people and displease others, but the best people and the best combination of people don't always come from the perfect background. Clarkson has built a super team with the help of former Melbourne coaches and players. Mark Evans, Chris Fagan, Bruce, Yze, Neitz etc.

They dropped Bugg, they dropped Matt Jones, they dropped Grimes. Doubt any of those guys were dropped for not playing their role without the ball. I thought Harmes was a necessity against the Hawks due to his speed and competitive nature and a few bad turnovers aside he did some very good things. But the turnovers are becoming a recurrent problem so I think they'll have to consider someone else - most likely Wagner, White or Michie. Given Port are a quick side and those 3 aren't as quick as Harmes he might stay for another week.

Against the Eagles he did. Against the Saints at Etihad he did (it worked last time we played them). But on so many occasions he plays as a fantastic leading CHF who then doubles back towards goal. Before he hurt his knee he was doing that wonderfully against Gold Coast last week. He's not so great at leading out of full forward because it's not his position and he wants to be there for the long kick inside 50. Some small part of that might be selfishness but I think it's mainly that he's mentally and physically tired and tired of seeing the ball kicked long to Dawes or smalls who can't mark it. The forward line looked better without Hogan playing badly stuck inside 50, but there's no way it was better than if Hogan was playing one of his great 10 mark games leading up around the ground and then doubling back inside 50!

1. Wrong - he was solid 2. True enough 3. Wrong - his handballs were great 4. That was true, struggled in the 2nd half 5. Super wrong - nailed both shots 6. Right!!!

I'd rather get his tank and mobility up first and worry about much of the bulk later. Just build him up enough to try and prevent injuries and give him core strength. Any more and he'll slow down like Tom Boyd.

Me neither. Not convinced he's a pure small forward though, not all that quick. Still like him as a half forward who has neat inside 50 kicking skills and a good step. Similar to Jetta but as a forward, I'd like to hang on to him like we did Nev.

Still loves a 1m handball to no one and some strange defensive efforts, but got to give him credit for his positioning, ability to find the ball and improving disposal. Not convinced dribbling it inside 50 is a great long term strategy but it the option was right. I'd love to find a young Josh Gibson instead of playing 3 talls, but I like the way Oscar is developing a two way game and with more size and strength you'd think he starts to impact contests. Not fully sold yet but some good steps in the right direction.

I'd only watched draft highlights at the one MCG game pre draft, so I'm going off characterises there, but seen a few Casey games, training as well as the match simulation session at the start of the year. I'll back my ability to sum up a player pretty well, where I go wrong is predicting which players can or will improve, which has also been Melbourne's problem!

Harmes is a willing tackler, if he's not laying a tackle either he might've missed one or two or he just wasn't in position to do it. Wagner is tiring, I think he'll be left out this week and rightfully so. Newton and Michie are the other options, both are slow and Viv is hardly perfect by foot. Neither is Bernie Vince when played back or Matt Jones on a wing. Bugg could be a chance, but the same issues of disposal and he probably doesn't break the lines from half back as well as Harmes. He's far from irreplaceable but I see him as the better choice.