DeeSpencer

Need to see a replay but at this stage I can't believe his tackle would be anything more than a free kick. He didn't pin the arms and there wasn't a double movement. Any slinging aspect should be blamed on the player with the ball as much as the tackler. If you can't keep your balance, evade or dispose of the ball without getting hurt then don't get the ball!

Height - similar Body shape - similar Hair colour - similar Skin complexion - similar Jumper number - similar Come on...

I liked the dominance. Half the teams in the comp are rubbish when the game goes against them as much as we are. The difference is they have the ability to right the ship and they have the ability to dominate when the game goes there way. I'm talking about North, Port, Rich, Adel, GWS and several other mid tier sides from last year.

Did a lot of good things as well yesterday Garland. He's very hard to rate, but when you see the difference between him and Oscar McDonald I think it stands out. I'd like a look at Frost as well but so far that won't happen. Garland's lazy missed kicks and long running floaters frustrate, as do some of his poor 3rd man up aerial efforts, but he was getting more involved in attacking play, was solid in a number of contests and mostly composed under pressure. If he was coming off the back of a good season I'd say it was a good performance from a senior player cruising in to the year but as he's coming off an up and down season I can see why you've been criticised.

Wouldn't give much weight to the website report. Brayshaw was walking a bit in the change rooms after the injury, just as soon as they decided he was done for the day they gave him crutches and the point is not to put weight on it so that it can rest up and start to heal. Nothing to do with whether he could put weight on it, more than for the next few days + he shouldn't.

Low grade medial and should be right for round 1 on current prognosis. Nothings for certain but if they are confident it's not the ACL or other damage then that's a good result, it was a nasty landing on what I assume was firm ground.

They only had 25 players so it was 25 v 25 really. But yeah I'm sure the plan for today was to give everyone a good run of game time and I hope they cut back next week maybe to around 100 and then for the final game go with the 90 cap.

I'm not quite convinced yet. If all of Jones, Vince, Tyson, Viney and Vanders (not to mention Bugg, Brayshaw, Kennedy and Harmes) are fit and planned to rotate through the midfield then Oliver might just get squeezed out. I was super impressed by Oliver around the stoppages, but positional flexibility and endurance have to be considered as well.

FB: Garland Dunn Jetta HB: Salem McDonald ????? C: ????? Viney ???? HF: Kent Vanders Watts FF: Garlett Hogan ????? Foll: Gawn Tyson Jones Int: Vince ????? ?????? ????? Half back: Wagner v Hunt. Both showed positives. Hunt's speed was on display, but his kicking certainly needs work. Wagner had a nice late spoil on Schulz and kicks well, but otherwise wasn't involved in much play Wing: Grimes was ok, positives and negatives. Stretch was good when he got it but not seen much. Matt Jones had a few classic Matt Jones moments but also had positives. Bugg played all over the shop but again, had good and bad patches. Lumumba might be available for wing or half back. Forward/mid rotation: Harmes and Kennedy were both very good. Oliver provided some really great moments. Brayshaw comes off the certainty list whilst we wait to see when he'll next play. 2nd ruck/tall: Pedo took a couple of nice grabs and kicked truly, Frost showed his speed and energy around the ball.

Watch the 2nd half, particularly the 3Q. Not a lot of change. Maybe a bit more zone and attacking defending. Faster ball use. Hard to tell without being at the ground. Hogan looked like he was in first or second gear, but still showed his class at times.

His first half was pretty awful so he was due for a big 2nd half. All about composure and work rate. He's smart and hard at it, if he can run hard and use the ball calmly he'll be a nice addition. If not Kent, Harmes, Vanders etc will keep him out.

I don't think Watts can make the distance from a set shot outside 50. Not a lot of players can these days. Especially not with tide legs late in a preseason game.

Port only played 25, so it was even numbers. We rotated more. Good for us I say. 2 more weeks to drop those numbers back. Port only have 1 more game.

I agree with all of that. Harmes gave a spark with his intensity at the contest and straight running. Kennedy composed himself after half time and started finding space, he knows where the ball is going. The bursting clearance was very exciting. I hope we give him a chance to attack some contests roving Gawn, could be very exciting.

No idea if we are fit enough. And we all know we won't be the most skilled or best ball movement team out there. But plenty of positives and a lot left to come with Hogan going at half pace and Jones and Vince to come back. Plus Brayshaw is hopefully ok and Petracca is still to come.

Fantastic debut. Knows where the footy is going and uses it creatively. Probably needs some work on his transition running but I'm super excited by what he showed today.

Unless the result gets way out of hand I wouldn't be expecting any tactical changes. The rotations should be largely mapped up based on how much they want to spread the game time between 26 players. I wouldn't worry about match ups unless players are playing super poorly or super well. I'd be hoping game sense scenarios are built in to the game plan (ie. when to retain possession, when to go more defensive) but otherwise I'd be happy with 4 quarters of practising plan A.

I was never sold on the idea but if we were to do it, then it was worth doing properly. Being rubbish is the first of many problems but it seems we are still doing some form of school visits and community camps in the region plus the VFL team are still there. I'm not all that impressed with the AFL dropping in 2 power house teams for a NAB challenge game in the region whilst none of our 3 games are in areas that benefit us at all.

Richmond - big following everywhere including the outer south east to play against Hawthorn - huge following in the East and set to move to Dingley, in a game at Beaconsfield on Saturday....whilst we travel to Adelaide then the Northern Suburbs. Not a good sign for our Casey relationship.

I'm a bit over this focus on competitors and competing .We'll assemble a team of competitors only to have a team devoid of skill. I've got Grimes as a starting wingman and am tossing up between 2 debutants (Wagner, Hunt) and Lumumba for a spot on the back flank. We might have competitors but I worry about skills. Just give me a team of footballers who go out each week and play football. Which means attacking the ball, running hard and displaying skills. I like tough, physical, strong football that ensures you are always winning contests and making the other side work very hard, but I love winning more. The best teams always have a standard of competitive football required to keep a spot in the team, but they also always have players with varying skill sets which balance out the team. We won't solve all our problems by putting the cart before the horse and expecting some unachievable standard where by every player attacks the contest like Jack Viney.

How I'd line them up FB: Jetta Dunn Garland HB: Salem T McDonald Wagner C: Grimes Viney Stretch HF: Brayshaw Watts Kent FF: Frost Hogan Garlett Foll: Gawn Vanders Tyson Int: Oliver Harmes Bugg Kennedy Pedersen Michie Hunt ANB Emer: O McDonald, M Jones, Terlich

This has gone a bit off topic, but anyway, I was at a talk given by the Bulldogs recruiter Simon Dalrymple last week and he said ruckman are super hard to find. Apparently Port were willing to pay heaps for Jamar had they been given a top up player. The Bulldogs wanted a look at an 18 year old but the TAC club said that they didn't want to put their forward structure out on the eve of finals. It's very hard to find physical, competitive, athletic (endurance, speed and agility) and skilled big men. Spencer is 0/10 in skills but with a good run at it potentially better than average in the other categories. Max King has lovely skills but needs to work on the other 3 aspects. Mitch King is just a baby for a ruckman but I like his game sense and his skills are ok for an 18 year old ruck. I wish we had the spare cash to have an international prospect developing. Maybe it's something we will get to next year.

Did the ACL in 2011 and the ankle took out most of his 2014, but played a good number of games in 2012, 2013 and 2015. But certainly hasn't had full preseasons (which is common for ruckman).

FB: Garland Dunn Jetta HB: Salem McDonald Wagner C: Grimes Jones Stretch HF: Vanders Watts Brayshaw FF: Garlett Hogan Kent Foll: Gawn Viney Tyson Int: Frost Vince Kennedy Bugg Emer: Oliver Pedersen Harmes Unlucky: Petracca, Lumumba, White, ANB, Hunt, Michie GWS are going to have running machines in Scully, Whitfield, Kelly etc on the wing, so let's get both Grimes and Stretch on either wing and let them do what they do best and run. If we want to move the ball quickly we need fit blokes on the outside who can cover the ground. Don't worry about how many times they get the ball or even really what they do with it. Just covering the ground will make the team better. Pick your best 6 defenders. Pick your best 4 forwards. Fill the rest of the side with midfield rotations to work around them.

If he's up at stoppages and getting caught that's fine, but otherwise if he's playing key defender he should be in space and not get caught with the ball. His endurance makes him an interesting option for a bit of wing time as part of a rotation but he doesn't have the skills or decision making to play there or as a rebounding defender. I'm fine with him taking the game on in preseason but come the real stuff he needs to play within his limits more when he has the ball. We need our other defenders to lift their attacking work rate so that Tom doesn't feel the need to try running around people on the mark and other rubbish. Salem in will help and I expect/hope Jetta, Dunn and Garland step up this season. It sounds like Wagner and Hunt are also right in the race for a spot in round 1.