DeeSpencer

I can understand how Dawes is less mobile than JKH, but Frost is a mobile player. Watts is as well, he's in no way a tall. vandenBerg as well. So I can see how the forward line might have functioned a bit worse than last week with a change. But we still had the 7 main mids with Kent, vandenBerg, Garlett pitching in. So I'm not buying the too tall at all. Our mids were smashed and in particular our best mids - Jones, Tyson and Vince just weren't up for it. Dawes in compared to JKH had absolutely no bearing on our inability to win a clearance or run with the GWS midfielders.

Dunn should do ok on Jenkins. Yeah he's got him for speed and height but Dunny can compete, he did the job last year. Garland or Howe can cover Lynch, he's less of a marking target than McCarthy was today. Frost is playing as the 2nd ruck for the time being. I think following similar logic to what you used (and I agree with) I think Frost should stay in his current role until going back to the VFL to play as a key defender again. That said I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is the week to change the 2nd ruck option (make it Dawes or bring in Spencer/Gawn/Pedo) and I'm not sure if that would mean giving up on Frost in that role entirely.

Last year we went Vince to Dangerfield, Cross to Sloane. I'd consider it again. I'd like to see what Viney can do back attacking the ball. Back Jonesy to bounce back. Get Brayshaw in the mix. Hope Newton playing a bit more half back as well finds more of the footy. Then more than anything I hope Dom Tyson can bounce back and play a good game.

Backline: The back 6 is settled. It should stay that way. The first half is a better reflection of their talent than the 13 goal run. That said: - Howe was very very sore this week. Misson eluded to it. Not sure why really. Keep it quiet. If he's still sore then give him a week off. If a lesser effort kept him quiet then back him in. - Jetta needs to find match fitness. His efforts around and with the ball have been fine, a dropped mark here or there aside. But he gets gassed quickly - Lumumba might better deployed in the midfield full time and a 7th defender might need to come from somewhere else Forwards: - Dawes, Hogan, Frost has been the plan since early in the year. Let's give it another week at least. Hogan seemed no worse off of, if not better off for Dawes being out there - Jack Watts did seem to suffer. But still found the footy. Still had his chance at marks that he fails to grab. One solid defensive tackle, one or two poorer ones - I don't think we lost due to Kent, Garlett and vandenBerg. All 3 had moments. Mids - Clearly the big problem area. - Jones, Tyson, Cross, Newton all got creamed when the heat was on - Viney was ok. - Vince ran out of puff but had moments of quality, you have to presume he improves, particularly back in Adelaide - Lumumba can't find the same space as in the preseason - Is 7 primary midfielders plus the sub enough? Can we afford 2 rucks and 6 other forwards? I don't think so. But how many mids do we need? I think we need to bolster the midfield options by rotating more through half forward. But we've got half forwards who can play some time on a wing and we don't have a great variety of mids who can play well forward. So my plan is actually no change. Newton becomes the 7th defender at half back so Lumumba stays on a wng. Brayshaw steps in to the starting 21. Vince on the wing. vandenBerg back to sub. Frost is on notice. We have to think about a 2nd legit ruck even if Jamar plays more forward. The midfield need the service Watts and Dawes are on notice vandenBerg and Kent are on notice Cross and Newton are on notice. But I still believe they are superior to those at Casey More than anyone Dom Tyson is on notice. He has some credits in the bank but he needs to show defensive work rate, more of his spread and run the lines hard. He's a good clearance player when he's got the ball, but provides little resistance to opponents. He needs to get physical defending at the stoppage.

Ratten was a solid midlevel coach. But if he made a mistake it was to base him team around Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer and a few other good performers (Simpson, Scotland, Waite at times, Betts) whilst their recruiting was terrible and never got any better. If you're going to be a responsible senior coach you have to step in and sort the problems. Carlton weren't exactly flush for funds but they had a good CEO in Swann, a stable President in Sticks. so Ratten had to see the writing on the wall. You can't spend first round picks on Kane Lucas, Watson, Bootsma, pass on Cotchin for Kreuzer, pass on plenty of more reliable talent for Yarran, bungle a bunch of 2nd and 3rd round picks as well and expect to keep a side playing finals/push for a flag. Maybe behind the scenes he was trying to sort things out but the coach has to be head of the footy department if they don't have people in those roles they can trust. Ratten presided over the erosion of talent on Carlton's list and Mick's trying to fix it but it's not really happening for him yet as it's taken a long time for it to sink in for him and only now have they moved for SOS to run the recruiting.

I think he means Betts. Garlett left because he sacked him, hard to know if he was right or wrong without being at Carlton and without waiting a few years. But Betts didn't just leave for success. He left for coin that Adelaide were willing to offer whilst Carlton spend the money on Dale Thomas.

As it should. Clark gave us a passionate, strong and bold focal point and he put his body on the line. He was the best on field leader we've had for years, maybe top 5 since 1960's.

Yeah he was much more physical than Smith v Jamar. Moves well and has neat skills. Physicality has been his big issue to date. He was a star as an under 18. He's now tried to return to SA twice via trade week and been left at the altar twice. Publicly burnt Port after they went for Ryder and couldn't fit him in this year. But Port have been smart recruiters. If he's still down the pecking order and out of contract then we could hopefully scoop him up cheaply if he wanted to come to us. We could probably promise him a 3 way duel with Spencer and Gawn for the ruck spot. Or if Jamar goes one more then he and Gawn could battle it out and we could move on from Spencer. I think he'd be high up on our list of ruck prospects and I'm sure we are monitoring them for a post Jamar world.

Poor mans Tom McDonald. Couldn't have both in the same side. Hasnt' played a good game since 2013 anyway.

Because he's protecting his beloved Hawks. I've been critical of Adam Goodes plenty of times. Wasn't at all happy with how he handled the situation initially with the young girl. Don't like a lot of his divisive comments. But when someone attacks him purely for skin colour it's not on. The same for Clark. Say all you like but leave the depression out of it. Bit rich for Brian Lake to attack a guy for giving up on a club as well. He gave up at the dogs and they traded him for a pick upgrade to get rid of the peanut.

Now I know Roosy is a PR master. But he described Trenners as having the best preseason of the group. That's a huge pump up. I didn't think Clark would play again, now I think he'll kick 40 goals this year.

Demetriou had a 2 million dollar bonus for consistent increases in revenue. Tom Boyd gets 1 mil per year at 19. Even Roosy gets his 1.5mil a season. Essendon have so much money they employ a dodgy biochemist! There's no reason to sell the game out so much for the most lofty broadcast deal. 250mil per year is enough money to easily stock 18 teams. So I think you're spot on. The TV networks can work out value for money but giving them Coll, Carl or Rich so much isn't it. We are all getting sick of watching Mick and Stevo. More fans will keep watching footy long term if they put the best games on and this year that should be more Port and more North and much less Carl. I must admit it's natural human interest to follow the big clubs more. I found myself tuning in to Coll v Bris instead of WB v WCE. But after a quarter the dogs game was the much better product so I watched it until the Pies game got close down the stretch. But had they been Friday night games the Pies game may have rated more but the Dogs-Eagles game would've been the one that left fans enthralled in AFL at the end of the contest.

Rubbish. North and Port both top 4 last year. Compare their draws to Richmond, Coll and especially Carlton. I get that we are in for our fair share of dodgy time slots, foxtel coverage etc. But I'd watch Port and North any day of the week over Carlton. Round 1 - Carlton first game of the season. Round 2 - Carlton first Friday night of the season. Getting Carlton back to 40k crowds and 50k members seems more important than getting Port some ripping free to air coverage so they can sell sponsorships for mega bucks and getting North a fair run so they can build their crowds above 30k and members above 40k. If you don't reward top 4 then I don't see how clubs will ever get rewards that they need to then funnel more investments in to performance. Hawthorn did it. Geelong did it in a less competitive era really. But it's getting harder and harder and there's no sign of reward unless you strike gold like the Hawks did in several areas (Coach, Tassie deal, multiple successes).

He was back on our list effectively as he was ours to trade. We got him fit so he had trade value that we could use for Lumumba. Instead of burning a 2nd or 3rd round pick on an important player in Lumumba we traded Clark and then had a stronger hand at the draft. If either Neal-Bullen or Oscar McDonald ever go on to be good players we can thank the fitness staff for getting Clark back on track for having those selections. There may or may not be plenty to be critical of Clark about. But I'm thankful he got it together in time for the trade period. You should be too.

The way Hogan protects his team mate as much as he can and cleans up Malceski is brilliant. Then because Newton was going across him he gets the best of May. It might just be me but Hogan doesn't even lose his feet entirely. It's brilliant. Newton isn't quite a complete player. I want to see a bit more run from him as he's not the biggest or fastest midfielder so he'll need a high work rate. But I love his toughness, he laid a great tackle at one stage. And he gets collected here and only a few minutes later gets collected backing back for another mark. That's serious courage when you've been cleaned up once and you aren't afraid to have it happen again.

Haha. What about those in mental health hospitals? What about those who have attempted suicide. Those who can't get out of bed and are on the dole or pension. Or those who have to give up one form of work for another. Are they getting on with it? Clark is getting on with it. He's back working and doing a bloody good job. Yet so many on here are angry at him for it not being at Melbourne. That's fine. But don't bring down the legitimacy of all people with depression based on Clark not wearing our colours.

Weed is about as risky as walking your dog. Heavier stuff is definitely a risk, but you have to remember that footy players often take a bunch of caffeine before games and then absolute go wild on adrenalin during games. They are wired up through the roof but because it's not illegal we don't care. Same can be said for sleeping tablets on the way down. Trans fats. Wow they are the real killers. One fish and chips could wipe out an entire team if they were unlucky. Come on. If the Collingwood boys go down as rumoured then that will and should scare a lot of AFL players away from drugs. As should Ben Cousin's tragic tails. But I don't believe AFL players should be tried in the court of public opinion by being named and shamed. I'd rather them in contact with club doctors who are keeping a check on them. The biggest issue I have with the policy is that the 3rd strike never happens and if it does it is probably too late. But up until it's working well for most players. No AFL player has gone off the rails since Cousins (unless you could Dayle Garlett who came and went in a flash in the pan). What I'd do is change the strikes a bit. First strike as is. I'd remove the self reporting and other loop holes and have any player on a strike target tested very heavily. To trigger a 2nd strike I'd have 2 positives then in the same month or 2 monthly period would indicate that player has a problem with drug dependency and should be named and removed from the game for a short period. Then after that it's the big 3rd strike. AFL players should mainly want to protect each other and the league from drug dependency. That is the aim. Vigorously trying to make the league completely drug free is just a silly idea.

2 words. Jeff Garlett. Elite on field standards and preparation doesn't = perfect player behaviour. Most premiership teams have the majority if not all players absolutely preparing professionally. Not all of the 22 are choir boys though. Especially as younger players. I'm willing to dismiss the Caddy, Smedts, Christensen and Simpson issues as young players being young players. No senior player or culture at a footy club can prevent those issues. Hartman isn't much different to Dom Barry. An Indigenous kid who didn't love city life and professional football. There's probably been one at every club in the last decade. We've had 3 or 4 (Barry, Wona, Jurrah and the short lived Kelvin Lawrence). Their more mature younger players (the ages 21-24) hitting a wall as you've mentioned (Caddy, Murdoch, Walker, Horlin-Smith, Smedts etc) is their biggest issue right now. Because the older guys will have to hand over in the next 24 months and these guys currently aren't showing they are up for it. In fact Guthrie, Duncan and Motlop are the 3 who are looking like above average players. The rest aren't. Off field stuff isn't that big of a deal. There's not an AFL club that can keep all of their young guys in line and some of the incidents you mentioned are non events.

I didn't like the booing of Clark. Hawthorn never wanted him. Collingwood, maybe they can boo him for not picking them. Same with Freo or Brisbane. But Hawthorn fans can get stuffed. I don't want their pity. I'll boo Clark myself if we ever play Geelong in Melbourne and if I feel it's appropriate. And I've got no doubt Barrett is muck raking as usual. But it doesn't excuse what Newman said and wanted to say.

So by anything and everything you meant: - Not the death of a sister/cousin Presumably, unless you are a bigot you meant - Not racism - Not religion - Not sexuality But you're fine with mental illness, which just like your skin colour, sexuality, death of a sister you can't choose? If there's proof Clark was a lying weasel then I'm all for it. If you want to take the [censored] out of his photography, knocking up some chick in Brisbane, stupid tatts or even saying he shouldn't have left the dees then that's fine we me as well. But you can't attack a guy for having an illness. If you're smart you wouldn't do it because the karma bus can hit pretty hard. 1 in 6 will have depression. 1 in 4 will have anxiety. 1 in 2 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they are 85. The odds aren't on your side buddy.

The second Hogan goal likely did, I can't see a replay. Either way several of his marks did. JKH's forward pressure is overrated. It's likely a big part of why he was left out of the team. The swap is Dawes for JKH. Dawes provides similar defensive work rate and pressure, yes he's not as nimble but he's a much stronger tackler and smarter defensive worker. Frost will likely play the same minutes and role forward. Watts will still have plenty of minutes deep. Watts makes a great marking option when matched up against a patchy (at best if not soft) Gold Coast defense, but even GWS are likely to provide more resistance with quality medium sized players like Haynes and Patfull. Until Watts shows consistently that he can be a reliable target who can compete in the air then we are better of using him as a mobile player who gets up the ground as well as deep. If Jack Watts shows himself to be Jack Gunston then fine, get him in alongside Hogan and a 2nd ruck and we are rocking, but 1 game isn't enough evidence yet. The other thing is it's round 2. Winning is a big priority but not winning at every cost. Exposing Hogan to a full season carrying the load as the only notable tall forward is not a wise thing to do at this stage. It was fine against Gold Coast and might be fine against GWS but eventually we will play Sydney, Freo, Geel, Port and some other teams with physical key defenders who will take it to Hogan. Not to mention we will play teams who will carve up our midfield and badly limit the supply. Dawes will be important for Hogan and I'm pretty sure Hogan will be very important to Dawes, he'll take the best tall defender and the attention. The benefits right now are overwhelming in favour of getting a 2nd big man in the side IMO.

Newman is a tool. Attack Clark for having depression is ridiculous. Clark has declared himself fit to play, he'll cop it over the fence but he shouldn't have to cop it from players. You wouldn't sledge a player for having any other illness. I doubt anyone is laying in to the several diabetics in the AFL or Tom Lonergan who lost a kidney. Anyone who attacks Clark on part of depression is a gutless wonder. If you want to criticise his move from Melbourne, the retirement etc then you can but have some class and leave the depression out of it. FFS can some of you people move on. Aligning yourself with the views of Sam Newman is not a smart idea, this isn't the 1960's.

Hoges took 3 or 4 after well timed body work. Jamar will play 10% forward, 70% ruck. Frost will play 30% ruck, 50% forward. Hogan 85% forward. Dawes 85% forward. In total that leads to 230% forward. So really only 2 will be in the forward line for most of the time if the rotations are managed correctly. Watts pushes up and plays as one of the mobile forwards taking JKH's role. Frost plays closer to goal as a pacy lead type and also does a lot of defensive pressure. It's his speed that has him in the team and will allow the 3 bigs to work together. vandenBerg has to play higher up as well. Plus the big luxury is Hogan can now be used both closer to goal and more up the ground as he and Dawes can isolate. He spend a lot of the game kind of 30-70m out for goal as the main big guy. Now he can get up the ground knowing Frost or Dawes will be in behind and he can also send Dawes out ahead of him and stay closer to goal.

Yes we do. But the issue is how we check that professionalism. Skin fold testing, 3km time trials, attentiveness at training and in meetings. There's no way players should sign up for out of competition drug testing as a professionalism test. They should only sign up as a wellness test and to help prevent bad apples giving them all a bad name.

Whilst at work, not in their holidays. And for safety reasons.