DeeSpencer

Even the last 30 seconds. Ok the turnover is clearly Bernie's fault, but Tom turns his back on play and stands in no mans land as Lynch gets in a position to intercept the kick down the line. Tom could've led in for a short kick, could've led out for a long kick or at least could've faced play and moved a bit so Lynch had to defend him. It's just a minor thing but these minor game awareness things add up to make the difference between good and bad teams and you want experienced players who have played 100 games to have mastered them.

I was thinking the same, but then I remembered: 1. Defence wins big games, getting a star CHB can't be that bad an idea right? 2. She started playing at 24, no reason why she couldn't play to 35+, maybe even 40+ given female athletes in a number of sports have proven to be very resilient. Experience also wins big games. 3. The marquee system wasn't necessarily created on a first come first served basis. If we got the best player with 1 of our marquees we probably weren't getting the best with the other. 4. Culture is vital, especially with a new league and new teams. Hickey seems really smart. Having possibly the 2 best leaders could be vital. We don't have the advantage of a coach, facilities or money. Our one advantage over other sides is we already have a winning culture and a team that's use to success. If Hickey is a vital part of that - and experienced key defenders usually are - then she's worth keeping. 5. Who really knows how teams will fill out the rest of their teams? Who really knows just how good the best players are now and whether in 5 years the development going in to all the teenagers right now will make the current group of 22 year olds look dreadful when they are in their prime?

He scrapped with Bernie at training early in the season, had to get a couple of players to calm him down. He seems to have an angry streak. Hopefully he finds out how to get the balance right.

Boyd will end up a better footballer than Patton. If he's not already. The mistake the Dogs made was not backing themselves in the draft and taking 2m Peter. He's as good as those other two, far healthier than Patton and far cheaper than Boyd.

The market for him might be stronger than people expect and the tigers can force a trade if the compensation isn't good enough. All up that could mean paying a lot for a C grader who might give us a few years before the game moves past him. I'd rather get a D grader (ie. Dawes, Pedersen or a delisted player) and go in a bit short at one position until fixing it properly with a quality player either via trade or draft.

He can be decent in space with his speed but I think his limited tank and contested style lends him more to half forward/on the ball. So I'd probably only give him a little time on the wings. Michie seems to be playing more half back at Casey to set him up to play the same role in the AFL. But for Ben Kennedy I like the idea of getting him around the ball and getting 30+ chances to dispose of the ball because I think long term that's his biggest weakness. Fitness is an issue but he'll either fix that or not with a couple more preseasons.

Garland has 2 more years on a deal and no one will want him. I expect if the FD have decided he's finally turned his form around in the VFL - and I expect he either has or is getting closer to that stage - then he'll come back in. Grimes is near certain to move on at the end of the year, so there's less reason to play him. Kennedy's height doesn't bother me, it rarely impacts his role as a high half forward. But bringing him in would achieve little given ANB played ok and had to do a good stint in the VFL. Now it's ANB's time to have 1 or 2 more chances and Kennedy's chance to play consistently well at VFL level.

The 2 main reasons for Hogan's 'poor form' which is really just 2 quiet games are: 1. A long season catching up with him Therefore I can't see how replacing Dawes - who for all his faults does work pretty hard - for Pedersen or a kid in Hulett helps things. 2. Being stuck deep in a role that isn't his natural game This is where replacing Dawes with the better marking Pedda might help, but if Hogan is tiring then asking him to keep carrying the load at CHF isn't wise. Especially if we lose forward pressure with Pedersen or Hulett over Dawes. I'd stick with Dawes for another week and just get the balance between who plays deeper better. If it becomes a lot of slow ball movement in to a crowded 50 then Dawes can be deep for the long contests and Hogan can have a run around. I also think we're marking him harshly for failing to take a bunch of grabs or lead where there was no space against the Eagles. The problem with clobbering them so well in the midfield was they always had numbers back, and on a wet day we didn't want to overuse the ball more than we already were. All the attacking we were doing made the counter attacking game we play well redundant. Unfortunately we aren't good at getting the ball in long and quickly in traffic to a forwards advantage. So many long bombs went to the wrong side of the contest. McGovern and McKenzie are very good aerial defenders as well.

I'd like to see Hulett play, but I'm not sure about throwing him in to take Oscar's spot down back after never playing there at Casey. So I'd really like to see him line up down back at Casey next week and show he can do it first. I'm not big on the need for blooding new talent either. The team is full of young kids - Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, Stretch, ANB, Hunt etc. Oliver's had a good run and might come back in for a few games at the end of the season. Salem should get back in as well if he's healthy. The young talls and Joel Smith are the only players who are yet to debut on our list, and JKH and Terlich the only others who haven't had a game. I expect we might see more of the likes of Dawes, Newton, JKH, Trengove, Grimes, Michie as out of contract players needing to show their worth than throwing in more kids.

Garland (shudder) for Oscar. Based on Oscar struggling with injury and some of his really poor moments, mainly failing to chase down the Kennedy goal. That's inexcusable lack of attention to detail. I don't expect Garland to star but if he's done what the coaches asked at Casey then it's worth bringing him in and letting Oscar learn the lessons back at Casey.

I wasn't all that impressed by Weideman today but I wasn't that disappointed either. He's coming off nearly an entire missed season and we know he's not that fit. He started the year really well and the season is probably starting to wear him down. Not to mention the conditions he plays in are nearly impossible for key forwards. I still think he'll make a very nice mark and kick player at AFL level it's just going to be a slow build and he's not going to be the full package over night. He could possibly benefit from dropping back for a week or two in the VFL reserves to get a few goals on the board. It seems they did that with Max King this week.

Tom will play CHB, use his endurance to run around with Lynch. Frost will play fullback on Wright. They are both pretty well suited to their roles, with both needing to improve skills. The balance to that is if we can improve the other defenders around them so they take safer options. Hibberd's a good option. We've got other good small and medium defenders as well. Finding the 3rd tall will probably be the greatest challenge. What I'd give to have Josh Gibson in his prime alongside Frost and Tom McDonald, they'd look like stars.

Probably, but he's not exactly a regular. Had an injury and had to fight his way back in. Certainly agree that he's worth more to us than in any kind of trade.

Soon to be 29 journeyman who can't nail down a regular spot for Melbourne. He has absolutely no value. A really bad team - which is Brisbane and that's it, could take him for free but that's it. I think he'll stay as he's a handy fringe player on a wing in a position we don't have a lot of depth in. 1 more year probably ends a handy career for a bloke plucked from the VFL.

They managed to deskill their players by playing Malthouse dribble and then ruin several of their players both current and former with terrible fitness and injury management. Thomas, Dawes and Wellingham were 3 traded out, but plenty others like Cloke, Reid and so on stayed and aren't close to the players they used to be. We have to make and win a few finals first before cleverly trading some offcuts. The Hawks have done it better than most.

Needs a bit of work, but helps him kick long when running flat out. Has improved. At this stage kicking it's his weak point, but he does enough defending and running with the ball that he stays in the team. He doesn't need to be the pinpoint kick from half back. Hopefully they sort it out over preseason.

I think he'll be the type of fringe player who ends up playing a heap of games because if a forward, inside or outside mid gets injured he can do a bit of both + pinch hit down back as we've seen. Obviously that depends on drafting and injuries over the next few years, but if we're leaving out Harmes more often than not then I'll be excited about our depth.

I'm more worried about the repeated moments of dumb footy from individual players than the game plan. Oscar not chasing down the Kennedy kick. Gawn manning the mark from a slow play whilst his opponent ran down the line. It's hard to see the number of players who make really smart examples for the rest of the team to follow.

Watering the ground is a good way for Tyson to not get caught with it. He's a gun in the wet, just needs to improve his burst a bit so he can do it on a dry day. Plus watch tapes of the good parts of Priddis' game. If this is Gus with some lingering issues then I'd hate to see him fully healthy! I think it's a guy who's missed a lot of footy and has barely played at the top level. A few poor handballs in traffic and a couple of less than ideal kicking options let him down, but his hands around the packs, tackling and zip all looked good to me. Plus it was nice to see him kick well on his left. A dual sided clever stoppage player is a handy weapon and he'll tidy up those handballs.

I agree. Don't think the backline will be his go, but still think he offers something and am glad he's having a crack there for now. Will make him a more dangerous forward/mid for having some time down back.

Could pull his head in just a little Bern. We need in your face aggressive play but not silly frees and reports. I'm willing to forgive him for the slip. Just pumping it in wasn't working, we needed to do something different to score.

I didn't think the plan was all that bad today. West Coast have a great aerial defence led by McGovern. Bombing it to him does no good. It's really the lack of decisive kick when running free that gets me, but from what I saw in summer there was a certain plan to get the ball forward quickly. We just have a few too many midfielders and half forwards who struggle to get in to space with time to hit a target and we still need more forwards who demand. It's Hogan, Watts and that's about it. Garlett doesn't lead up as much as he should. No one has faith in Dawes. Otherwise it's kids and midfielders forward.

His pace helps the zone because he can sprint back and cover someone and that takes a decision away from the player with the ball (and from his fellow Melbourne players). Purely because of speed he doesn't have to do as much defending which is great. Certainly a heap to work on and I'm not even convinced he's a lock for a long career but his pace sure is exciting.

Plays well for a bit, gets an injury, looses fitness and he's stuck back at Casey. He's 29. Dawes is 28. They both don't have a lot more to give. I'd be surprised if we took both of them in to next year and I don't know where we will find an upgrade from.

Not true. Vanders last year was promoted straight away. We've had similar players to Viv who have been dropped back to the rookie list then delisted.