DeeSpencer

Don't mean to tear Cripps down but he's a 1st rate clearance midfielder, not quite the same as a first rate overall mid IMO. Great around stoppages, but doesn't do a lot of damage in general play. Although, that's not a surprise in a bad team.

Last year there were 10 judges. Have the judges been listed yet? Still would be remarkable if it were split 5 v 5. I'd rather Hogan lose than a tie to be honest.

Stiff, but wasn't making the 22 so who cares about the 40. Every year they leave a bunch of good players out of the 40 for guys with bigger reputations. I'll save my outrage for when the team gets named.

What I like about Newton is he seems good enough at contested ball to play in the guts, good enough by foot to play on the wing and smart enough in space and knows where the goals are enough that he can play forward. He has most of the skills and ability to play as a depth rotation guy. With the interchange cap going down that will be even more important. Only 22.5 rotations per quarter means you'll need to rotate between spots frequently. Unfortunately he doesn't look like an AFL level runner yet so he can't play to the best of his ability in any position. Hopefully he learnt this year that he wasn't just unlucky at Port and needing an opportunity but that he needs to be a lot fitter to have a long career.

I think it's the opposite. Players under-performing due to injury or otherwise compared to their contracts have huge stress put on them. Buddy has still done well this year but he's missed games and hasn't been at this best and last year he carried Sydney in a similar (yet different) way to Clark carried Melbourne in 2012. It's why I dislike the contracts given to Scully and Boyd. Way too young and way too much pressure for young guys. No one at age 20 needs that money so don't give them that burden.

Yes the world is unfair. If you have private health insurance and access you can get the best of care. If you are an ordinary Australian without it you'll get adequate care in the public system. If you are a Syrian refugee you will be happy with shelter, food and water. Buddy has made the most of his physical talents, I don't begrudge him good care.

Was just starting to regather his form I thought before the hammy issues. Needs a big preseason to get his running up to the elite level. If he does that then his form will go with it. We know he can find the ball. He's not great short kick but has penetration in his kicking and can kick a goal. Jack Viney had a bit of a meh year last year before rebounding strongly. That's why you have a deep core of young players coming through together.

I love Brayshaw, love the pick 3 as well, but the highest pick available should for compo should be pick 11 so that all non finalists get a crack at a top 10 pick. That's what we should've got last year for Frawley. Carlton this year would either get pick 11 or pick 20 for Kreuzer depending on which category he fell in and we could all live with that. The AFL should just come out today and say, we've changed the rules, Melbourne got lucky, top pick will now be 11, move on.

He's very ordinary and doesn't have a fixed position. Too short for a 2nd ruck, too slow for a key defender, not agile enough for a midfielder.

Petracca, Harmes, Brayshaw, Vanders and dare I mention him Jack Watts. All above 185cm. All with some pace. All (to varying degrees) can take a mark over head. Chuck in Hogan and a half decent 2nd ruck and we don't need a specific 3rd tall forward. That would be my plan. Keep the picks and head to the draft and keep drafting more 188-192cm athletic, strong marking midfield/forward types because as the interchange cap comes down the importance on multiple positions will go up.

Spot on Arrow. White was struggling to run heading to the bench when he was subbed though, so I suspect it was a good sub. The main difference between Grimes and White will be that Grimes has the fitness for AFL, unfortunately that's about all he has. The good news I guess is that Grimes should at least know where he stands for preseason. Ie. he's pretty much done as an AFL player unless he gets his speed, decision making and skill up. The club will know it as well so there's no reason to sugar coat it. We also know he'll give his all for 4 quarters even if he doesn't have much to give. He did kick an important goal in the 3rd quarter and hit a few more targets in the second half as the game opened up. He was good against Freo as well after coming on when a bit of heat had gone from the game. So the challenge is for White to have a big preseason so he's in the picture as a regular player. Our backline was probably our best group when Roos arrived which means we stuck with the same players whilst the midfield and forward line have been largely turned over. Last year we recruited Frost, White and O Mc for the backline and sent Salem back there, next year we will probably see more of that group.

I think that's really up to them. Offering up what is fair value factoring in the off field issues and there desire to be rid of him is the way to go. Talk of 1st round picks are unreasonable. The Hawks have always paid up for players they want but never have they paid overs out of desperation. Each deal and year is a new deal and you start again. Obviously if Howe wants to go to the Gold Coast that complicates things and I'm not suggesting we turn in to Essendon who thinks every one of their players is worth 3 first rounders. We just have to put the focus on getting Bennell to choose us not offering up a big deal for a trouble player. We've done that too often.

Does Ox know Todd is the list manager not captain now? In all seriousness though Mark Williams has apparently been huge for keeping Dustin Martin in line. A type of father figure who knows that young guys will get up to trouble but tries to make sure it's not crossing the line. If we were to get Harley I think we'd need someone to fill that father figure type role. His old man is in jail after all. Maybe that's unfair on him but I think it's true. We'd then probably need players willing to keep track of him when he's out and about and make sure if he goes out for a good time that it's the responsible sort of good time. That's where Karmichael went wrong with Harley. Apparently he made sure he trained and prepared for games like a professional but then he partied like a semi-professional.

Here's the thing as far as I'm thinking. Bennell's contracted for 2 more years. He can't be traded to a club without his permission. Gold Coast can't send him to the PSD as he's not out of contract. If they out right sack him then surely he'd become a free agent I would've thought. If they don't agree to a trade then they'd have to either sack him or keep him which would be a huge embarrassment to them. The point is the club (or clubs) that Bennell nominates to be traded to has a lot of leverage. Especially if he is steadfast in his desire to just get to one club. So whilst the easiest thing to do would be to pay fair value for him to complete the trade and satisfy Bennell and the Suns there isn't any need to get in a bidding war. Our best chance for this to be a success would be to convince Harley that our team, facilities, playing group, leadership etc is the right group for him and then only satisfy Gold Coast with the minimum value that gets the deal done without fuss.

Playing devils advocate but: Fevola, Jurrah, Sylvia, Dayle Garlett, Murray Newman. Then all the kids who never get drafted because the clubs know they the risk is too high. Someone like Yarran who hasn't got in to trouble but hasn't reached a consistent level of footy and you wonder if the off field stuff is contributing. Another worry for Bennell is he's repeatedly missed games with soft tissue injuries. Which is a give away. Now GC have been ordinary in that regard but we haven't been much better. Our strong leaders: 1. Nathan Jones 2. Jack Viney 3. Dunny 4. ?Tom McDonald 5. ? Jesse Hogan Our questionable leaders who train well but don't do much on the field: Grimes, Lumumba, Trengove, Dawes, Garland etc We have a reasonably deep core of committed young/mid career footballers who train and play the right way - Jetta, Watts, Garlett, Gawn, Vanders, Tyson and the younger guys like Stretch, ANB, Harmes, Kent, Brayshaw etc. But most of these guys are only just making their mark as footballers. I have confidence that these are talented young professionals working really hard to be part of a good culture. Again though, the next couple of years are crucial in making sure as a group they work really hard to get the best out of themselves in order for us to cement the culture instead of it falling down like at the end of the Bailey years.

I'm not so much worried about Harley doing damage to other players or doing damage to the club, but more that he doesn't grow up quickly enough and flames out, thus wasting whatever it is we give up for him. I'll take a risk on the contract, but I'd be close to saying I'd only be willing to risk a 3rd round pick. If our second round pick in the draft and/or a Howe trade nets us picks in the top 25-30 I would hate to waste them. Outside mid is our biggest weakness but we can draft and develop there. I'm glad we are interested. Cost nothing to scope him out. But we will need to be very very thorough.

The attacking Howe has played half back most of the year. Salem has when fit. Stretch played half back. I'm not sure why Lumumba was getting a game all year but it certainly wasn't his defensive work. It might've taken a while but eventually young Oscar Mc and White got a chance. Frost has been injured all year and Terlich is Terlich. I'm not sure who everyone thinks Garland should've been dropped for? I'd love to have played Vince more at half back but he was our best mid and with Tyson battling injuries, Vanders injured, Brayshaw tired, Michie and Newton not coming on quickly we didn't have that luxury. You can go around in circles all you want and eventually what you find is that the 22 who played round 1 for us plus Bernie Vince was probably our best team. Stretch, ANB, Harmes, Oscar Mc and Mitch White all put their names up during the year but that's how development is meant to work.

A couple of ordinary kicks, at least one marking contest where he stayed down when he should've gone up but otherwise some pretty solid efforts. Read the play pretty well. Set up young Mitch White and Oscar McDonald in good spots for them to impact. Likely played a high TOG percentage as well. If we are trading Howe and can't get good FA compensation from Garland then it's a no brainer to keep him on a 1 or 2 year incentive based deal. Oscar Mc and Frost might be the future alongside Tom McDonald in our backline but if we get rid of the competition and depth that Dunn and Garland provide then those youngsters (especially given Frost's injury status this year) have to do a lot in a hurry.

A good hanger never hurt. Yesterdays Demons game certainly did no harm to the plan of drafting from the Dandy Stringrays. My understanding was once a father son gets through the main draft you can nominate them as your last rookie pick. In a weak draft and a year where we are planning to probably have a few rookie picks I think that could be the right result for Jake from what I've heard about his draft chances.

He might be able to lose a little weight but he won't be able to play full back if he drops much. I'd leave him as is if you want to keep him as a deep defender who can go with big forwards and marshal the backline. Unless you have a lot of faith in Frost and therefore want to transition Dunn quickly in to more of a 3rd tall running defender I woudn't worry much. Increasing his fitness a little would be the main priority, if he can keep the bulk it's even better.

I'd be surprised if a few poor games and a dropping would undo all the good work Watts did for about 10 weeks in a row. Not now. Not with light at the end of the tunnel. He's a free agent next year and would fetch decent compo so if there wasn't a good deal on offer this year then there's no need to panic.

I don't think the carpark at the G is below the playing surface. From the times I've been down there it's below the stands isn't it? Either way, I agree it's probably irrelevant to him getting knocked out but Etihad, especially in seasons past has had a lot of issues due to the ground being very firm. Although today it looked in really nice condition and better than the MCG is at the moment.

Was fantastic. One of my proudest moments of a supporter in many years was cheering Crossy today and giving him a standing ovation. I hope he felt the love the fans have for him.

I've said this to others since his debut you notice a lot of good things from him live that you miss on TV. His tackling is great for his size. His skills are good and he makes smart decisions and as he gets used to the pace of the game he'll get better in that regard. Work rate is great. So much of our Etihad hoodoo has come from not having good outside runners and half backs as you have to move the ball quickly or you'll get trapped in the small ground. No surprise that Stretch, Salem and White were a big part of the win.

Neat kick, mainly used it safely, loved that mark going back with the flight, handball wasn't so great but we all want to see more attacking footy, so that's the price. Decent one on one. Didn't look to be moving too well when he came off so clearly the challenge will be for him to have a big pre-season. Overall I think he'll need to improve his speed to either be a one-on-one small defender or take more intercept marks to be an efficient rebounder but the tools are there. He missed a lot of preseason as well so you'd think there's a lot of room for improvement.