DeeSpencer

Where did you get the idea Lumumba is on big cash. Not saying it's wrong but I'm interested. We know Dawes is on good money. It's the going rate for a key forward even a battler. Nath Jones and Vince would be paid well. I doubt they skimped on Hogan's extension. I'm sure we have a lot of players getting paid more than they would at a top club. That's the price you pay as a struggling club to keep them happy. Lumumba would likely fall in to that group. But there wasn't huge competition for his services. I'd be shocked if he was getting paid more than 500k.

I think Lumumba spent a lot of the game on McStay who ended up with 5 touches and no scoring shots. By playing tall alongside Garland it allowed McDonald to go forward and give us the extra tall that seemed to do wonders for Dawes and Hogan. Lumumba hasn't been great, but without him on Sunday we might've had to play Fitzy who could've reverted to tunnel ball at any stage and cost us the game. If our deep defenders aren't touching the ball but their men aren't either then I'd consider that a pretty good result.

Brisbane's midfield now: Beams, Rockliff, Hanley, Redden, Rich, Zorko, Christensen, Taylor, Aish, Mayes Melbourne end of 2013: Jones....Viney.............. They traded away Patfull when they had he and Merrett as experienced tall defenders. Everyone knows they need tall forwards but they aren't the only team in the competition with that problem. If they want AFL assistance they should get it like the suns in someone to sort out their fitness department and some money to run a good footy department. That will do more for them than a priority pick.

Casey scored 100, had 49 inside 50's, had a healthy kick to handball ratio, seemingly dominated the hitouts and inside ball and still had 60 tackles (compared to NB 77). I'd say they played a pretty balanced game between attacking and defending. Toumpas' game doesn't look that great on stats but he had 7 inside 50's and 3 rebound 50's which likely indicates he did a good job of working both ways. I'm glad our mature depth player types are finishing out the season strongly even if there's obviously a few too many of them and they haven't been able to make the impact at AFL level they'd like. But it's good leadership for the younger players. Newton is one guy I'd really like to see lift between now and the end of the season.

Watching the 1st half replay again (not bothering with the 2nd) it's clear JKH made a few mistakes but he was also running in to space a lot that helped the rest of the forward line function. He should probably go back to Casey to clean up his game but I still think he's got a lot to offer with the way he creates space for others. I'm not sure if we can get away with Garland and Lumumba as tall defenders against the saints. If we do then McDonald stays forward. If we don't think we can and McDonald goes back then we might need to throw Garland forward I think. Does Grimes come in for Stretch? Does someone of Riley/Hunt/Michie/Newton/Toumpas come in for either JKH or ANB I'd be just as happy to go with the young guys if the coaches back them in.

Jamar is still a more reliable tap ruckman than Spencer even if he's limited in his range of where he hits it. A better kick. Likely a better mark and more importantly he's much less likely to give away silly free kicks or make the comical errors that Spencer does with things like not punching the ball through the goal line. If Spencer (or Dawes) were young players showing promising signs then I'd stick with them. But the reality is Jamar, Spencer and Dawes are all depth types and we should play whichever are in the best form. I don't think playing Jamar will influence whether he or Spencer stays on the list next year and even if it would there's enough rounds left to play Jamar for a couple of weeks and see if he can do something forward than Dawes isn't giving us.

From the VFL website. Can't seem to find much else but well done to Hunt and Jamar. With our lack of forward line options Jamar would have to be in contention and as crazy as it sounds Hunt has come from nowhere to probably not be that far off. Speed is a rare commodity.

I've got no problem with Adelaide ringing him, what I dislike is the leaking to Barrett. That's if it's true and not just Barrett making it up. They've just had Walsh's funeral. There's plenty of time left in the season to get together a coaching selection panel at a respectful time and then to make a decision to ring Goodwin.

Whilst I think they can drop guys out of the 18 not just the extended bench I get the feeling they won't. So Dawes and Howe likely survive which means no Jamar. Do Grimes and Riley come in for any of Harmes, ANB or JKH? Maybe. There's really little to do short of being brave and throwing McDonald to CHF to fix the forward line. So I guess you just hope they play better.

If you're over 30 stop commenting about social media. You don't get it. You don't understand it. Just let it go. For the rest of you move on. We will never get over the bad losses and negative culture by dwelling on more losses. The boys are close friends. That's a bloody good thing. Most of Hogan's pictures feature him at games, trainings, in MFC games or with team mates. Nathan Jones interacts with the guys on social media as much as anyone. Bernie Vince is out with the lads. They have the extra days break this week. They may as well the chance to have a Saturday night.

Why? He should be dropped. If he's suspended it gives everyone a nice easy out. But there's no way he should actually be suspended for a pretty standard tackle.

If the King plays well I'll suggest he comes in and IDGAF who disagrees with me. Rumour has it he can kick, attempt marks and back up ruck. If he's out on his feet at half time or pushed off the ball then so be it.

Rubbish. The 'mature bodies' we didn't play are all absolute battlers, hence why they never stay in the team. We have to play the kids, they are our future. Dawes, Howe, Garland, McDonald, Tyson and many others are the reason we lost. Not the kids. Look at the stats sheet, Essendon's kids did no better than ours. But enough of their senior players stood up.

We missed the chances today that we took against Geelong. But overall it wasn't nearly the same level of quality forward entries. The game was lost 3 different ways in 3 different quarters: 2nd - terrible forward entries 3rd - terrible lack of ball movement and control of the contest, poor one on one defending 4th - missed chances by McDonald, Viney etc to get the lead

FB: Garland Fitzy Jetta HB: Lumumba McDonald Grimes C: Toumpas Jones Watts HF: Vanders McDonald Brayshaw FF: Dawes Hogan Garlett Foll: Gawn Vince Viney Int: Tyson Stretch Cross S: Harmes Out: Howe, ANB, JKH In: Grimes, Fitzy, Toumpas Howe has to go. Simply not performing up forward. Try McDonald in his spot and give the 3 prong forwards a try for 1 week. See if that lets us get the ball to the ground (marking it is b bridge too far). Fitzy to come in down back in place of McDonald. Then it's a matter of bringing in Toumpas and Grimes. They aren't much chop but they can actually play midfield and half back respectively. That allows Brayshaw and Vanders to play half forward and get back to their pressure and tackling ways that result in some decent forward pressure. JKH should've played a full game. Probably last week. He's missed too much footy now and needs full games at Casey. ANB is a hard worker at half forward but he's really a midfielder and needs to develop his game. Brayshaw and Vanders are much more likely to win one on ones forward.

Better in the 2nd half but terrible first half. Agree that we can't have Jetta, Cross and Garland in the same backline. Not the current Garland who can't run the ball out as he did in 2013. Injury and resultant lack of fitness have killed him. Would let him go for a 2nd rd compo pick. Would consider it for a 3rd rounder as well but the draft is shallow.

It's reflective of the ineptitude of the forwards and also McDonald's own ineptitude as a defender that by swinging him forward we were a better side. That said, he should play there next week.

Maybe the sub next week to see if he can make more of an impact when fresh. He laid a couple of tackles and had a few touches, certainly not the worst debut and not the reason we lost.

Needs to play forward. He's lost the plot down back. 2 of Daniher's goals were really Dunn's fault but overall Tom just can't stick with a smart opponent on the lead, he isn't making any semblance of smart decisions down back with the ball and his confidence has completely eroded.

Wow fancy that, supporters not happy with the coach after a loss. I wasn't rapt with Roos today. But he can only do so much. He picked the team most of us wanted. He's known to coach a defensive and one on one based style. I'm sure he didn't advise the players to have terrible forward entries in the 2nd quarter and I'm sure he didn't ask for them to put in terrible efforts in the 3rd.

Time and again Garlett ran to the front of the pack as he should and his man zipped around the back and time and again the forwards couldn't bring it to the front. You can blame Garlett, you can blame the coaches for not adapting. But really at what stage do we blame the forwards for not doing the job required and brining the ball down in front. Howe and Dawes need to [censored] off. Fitzy should come in down back, Tom McDonald can go forward and lead up and Hogan can then stay deep. He'll bring the ball to ground when not matched up against as good a player as Hurley and with no help to get one on one contests and kicks to advantage.

He had 50 or so hit outs. 11-5 from the centre square. A few very hand marks. Didn't butcher the ball when he had it. In no ways a great game and he wasn't up against much but at least he did his job. He was good but I wouldn't single him out for it if that makes any sense.

+1. Bloody embarrassment that a first year rookie keeps showing mature players how it's done.

Howe hasn't been chasing and hasn't been attacking the ball well in the air, but he did enough with a couple of mark and kicks against the saints and cats. He'll get that chance when not up against a true key defender v Ess. One more week. Dawes can't mark that's for sure but I think his mobility and chasing is good enough when up the ground. The MCG should suit him more than if it was a small ground like Etihad. I think it's a lot to expect from Harmes to be a marking player off a few good grabs at VFL level. Vanders is the one I want to see use his height to take more grabs and play as the 3rd tall, but besides round 1 he's been used as a midfielder/high half forward and I think he'd get that role again.

Positive injury update. So: In: Grimes, Vanders, Lumumba Out: Bail, Spencer, M Jones FB: Jetta Dunn Garland HB: Cross McDonald Grimes C: Lumumba Jones Watts HF: Brayshaw Hogan Vanders FF: Garlett Dawes Howe Foll: Gawn Vince Viney Int: Tyson ANB Stretch Toump E: Fitzy, Harmes, JKH Leaning towards giving Howe one more week back as a true mid sized forward. Hurley will go to Hogan more than likely as I think Hooker will stay forward. Then it's a matter of having a couple of good marking options to take advantage of Gwilt and Steinberg. I'm tempted to leave Spencer in (ahead of Howe) but I think the best balance against Essendon's lack of ruckman is to ask Dawes to do a bit of time in the ruck and to put the challenge on Gawny to run out the game. It's time he shows he can do it.