DeeSpencer

For a 2nd year kid who barely played last year and in his first game as a defender he's amazing defensively. Gets to the right spot of his opponent and spoils or tackles really well. Probably got lost one time with a messy Gold Coast entry had him worried about tackling or corralling but he does so much right defensively and the attacking part of his game will start to flow the more he's out there. Kicked 1 goal and just fluffed a kick he'd make 99 out of 100 times that would've had the ball on a forwards chest straight out from goal. The only thing that may stop him being a quality defender is that he'll be too good and have to be released in to the midfield! But at least in the short term he shouldn't be seeing much time at half forward we've got too many other good options!

Started with Dean Kent getting hammered and getting back up. The physicality of pretty much the entire back 6 and most of the rest of the team were a joy. Brayshaw in his first game was ripping in to the contest. Viney not letting Ablett off the hook and getting him with a crunching tackle. I think it was Jones' goal in the 2nd quarter that really gave some belief. We kicked 17 goals without a lot of easy ones. There wasn't a lot of well placed kicks on to leading chests followed by an easy set shot and I'm fine with that! Hawthorn score as many goals in that non traditional way as they do with mark and kick footy. They are great team goals and we have plenty of them yesterday

Jesse Hogan only 2 goals? Patton is a gun but injuries have wrecked him for now. Boyd is a man mountain who will struggle for a while but end up dominant. We didn't have to choose between the two and at 1 mil per year we weren't ever in the market for Boyd! I'm just thankful we have our man. Let the Dogs enjoy Boyd and Stringer, we can do well with Hogan, Watts, Vandenberg and co. I'm jealous about Bont! But even if they weren't at their best yesterday I'm still pretty happy with Tyson and Salem!

Unless I was wrong Grimes was 46 with his head taped up in the second half. Hard to tell the difference because he looks like a VFL player. Same can be said for Riley and McKenzie.

Vince can take Brayshaw's role that was a lot of half forward and wing as well as some midfield time. Brayshaw then becomes the sub. Jones, Tyson, Viney, Crossy still do most of the centre square minutes. In fact Vince can even pinch hit at half back and Lumumba can get around the ball a bit more as well. Thanks for reminding me of how much talent GWS have. They should dispose of St Kilda easily tomorrow.

Didn't have to be Brayshaw, could've been one of the half forwards, but I was screaming for the Toump to come on. Mistakes or not a fresh player is invaluable. More than happy that Gus got 3/4's and Gold Coast sans O'Meara and with Ablett playing outside aren't the usual contested ball beasts but Swallow and Prestia are big lads these days. So are Rischitelli and Hallahan. When in at the contests Brayshaw held his own. And that mark and subsequent clever pass off to Watts (even if he missed the goal) was brilliant stuff from a skinny (but not slight) first gamer.

Saw the second half. Casey had patches of solid play to kick away for the win but also messed a bit up. Bigs: Spencer - won the ruck against a VFL listed pie and 210+ cm American. Linked up pretty well around the ground, Kicked a goal Gawn - mostly forward, took 3 solid marks forward against young defenders Pedersen - underwhelming, seemed out of the game at CHF. Wouldn't mind swapping him and Fritzel Fritzel - looks like he just finished the overnight shift at KFC. A haircut and some weights wouldn't kill him. Took a couple of solid marks in defense, 1 poor kick but solid Oscar - Looks lively at CHB, probably just needs to react and get in position faster when the game breaks open. A couple of nice spoils Max King - think he was only used sparingly. A nice mark and a nice running goal in the 3rd quarter. Intensity isn't there but the footskills are lovely Smalls: Vince - what I saw was enough to show some class, got crunched in the packs a bit as he does McKenzie - bull in a china shop in close, really physical, but often flat footed with the ball around the ground Riley - bull 2. A little more outside run and work Harmes - hard to pick out much but was involved Stretch - the class. Reads the play to break for an inside mid to distribute to and gets the ball out and running going forward. Gets involved in space as well. Very solid Michie - wearing Eddie Betts massive shorts. Was at half back a bit and wins contests, my big concern is not what he does but the way he seemingly doesn't run. Looks heavy Grimes - some nice link up play and run but didn't jump out completely. Went Mitch White - didn't see too much of him Bail - didn't notice much either way Terlich - 2 of the worst defensive efforts 1 on 1 defending a small forward with a kick coming in you'll ever see. No body contact, miss timed spoils. Just dreadful. Bit of run and hopefully is very rusty first up but forget about any kicking issues the From what I saw today: Spencer could be called upon if Jamar goes down/needs a rest and perform decently. He's the right size/shape now. Max Gawn is too good as a forward for VFL, he just has to keep working on it so he can hold a few more marks in the AFL as a forward/ruck. Bernie Vince should be ready this week. Billy Stretch will be a long term player. Michie/Riley/McKenzie could all provide some role at the contest if called upon but don't really impress. Casey won more of the one on ones all over the ground. Loose ball, hardball, marks etc but the best patches of play might've been Collingwood with guys like Kennedy, Freeman and Seedsman involved. They are some decent players with speed and skill, which is something we lack at Casey.

Dawes is fitter and faster this year and on limited sightings he's holding his marks much better than last year. He'll provide the lead through CHF that creates the space for the other forwards. Hogan is already ahead of Dawes in a lot of ways. Any team worth their salt will send their number 1 key defender to Hogan and number 2 guy to Dawes unless he's in hot form, just as teams sent the number 1 to Frawley last year. However, Hogan isn't ready to command a forward line on his own every week, not one where the help is Frost (a defender having a go forward), Jack Watts and a debutant (vandenBerg). I mean I'd love to believe that Frost, vandenberg and Watts stand up week in week out but I think it's realistic to expert Dawes' experience and size will be particularly handy in helping out Hogan. If Dawes' field kicking form is in reasonable standard (and he's a solid kick in form) then his defensive ability in such that he'll be very well suited to attacking style of play.

Chicken or egg as to whether Watts powers the team or vice versa. In the passed he's played much better in games were we've been beating a lowly opponent. Today was very good though (minus the dropped chest mark and strange half back turnover). Half forward has always been his go but his lack of intensity combined with a terrible team has seen him being sent to the wings or half back to search for easier kicks. A couple of good marks today but the standout in his game was some really clever and strong ground ball gathers under pressure. He picked a few up off the bounce that looked like basketball bounces, that's not easy in footy. That late goal was something nice as well.

Against a lesser ruck, if Frost proves his worth in there then we could go Gawn and Frost at times. Best way to get a (better) marking target forward and better run from our big fellas. But Jamar's defensive positioning against Zac Smith deserves credit. Smith was a beast in presesaon with his mobility for a big man

Haha no. Against Mumford and sons. No thanks. Jamar frustrates, but like an opening batsmen who doesn't score but blocks out the morning session he has his value. Dawes can't jump, can't ruck. Dawes will prove his value at CHF leading up the ground and creating space for others. Hogan can then play closer to goal. Frost will just buzz around the forward line defensively and might even have a run in the backline temporarily. Watts and Vandenberg will get great match ups to use their marking against, it will just be a matter for them to keep getting involved more up the ground.

Luke Beveridge is proving that former Melbourne players make the best coaches. The Dogs are electrifying to watch and are running and making as good decisions like a top 8 side. The Eagles are letting them and they don't have the talls or probably the midfield grunt, but they are doing beautifully.

Brisbane are a very young team getting ahead of themselves. Pies are a team with some smart veterans playing hard. Every time I hear about Stefan Martin's weight room dominance I feel it's cursing him and Brisbane. He's had a career year as a mobile speedy ruckman and he goes and turns in to being built like a monster but not moving nearly as well?

Nah got to have the song for the kids. Hells Bells was ok, but didn't really blend in the song. Bells then trumpets? It's not really right. I'm not sure if there's a way to blend it in correctly. Wouldn't mind if they turned the sound up on the Bells through the roof either. Get it pumping.

There was a 5-10 minute patch when we gave up 3 goals. But I can take one of them a game if it's not the usual 8 goal runs we concede.

Lumumba's ability to bounce back from a contest is amazing. He'll be up in the air then next second he'll be back on the ball and getting it out. Same with a tackle etc. He seems on a higher level athletically than pretty much everyone on our list. I don't want to turn this in to a race based thread but so many of the great athletes of the world have African heritage. Majak Daw hasn't been a great success but his athleticism is super. I hope these Northern state academies and TAC clubs are working hard enough to crack in to the Sudanese and other African migrants in Australia. AFL players are only getting fitter and faster, the Dees could get ahead of the curve I reckon. Lumumba in full flight is a joy to watch, we need another couple of super fast, fit and agile half back/wing types to keep improving.

Every time he touched it he stuffed up. The handball in the goal square in the last quarter was a big blunder, but there were others. The biggest thing he does is spend it before he has it. Still seems to lack confidence in his ability to avoid tacklers. 10 weeks at Casey where he'll have 20-30 each week then 10 weeks in the AFL side and we might have a player once he just plays footy instead of over-thinking it so much. He's hard to watch! I will say one positive for him, before he came back on as the sub we were completely out of run. Once he came on the team seemed to find more run in general. His work rate seemed to lift all the others. His running to get deep forward in the last quarter was great stuff, the terrible handball in to the only opponent around wasn't.

Jaksch is ok, I'd give him time, he's probably a solid 2nd tall forward than a key defender though. The issue I have is taking Boekhurst, much like us taking Salem and Tyson you have to make sure you're at least getting 1 class player. A mid level WAFL player with a bit of speed is unlikely to be as good as pick 7! That said I doubt Carlton would've had the guts/ability to make the tough call and pick Nakia Cockatoo whom with hindsight seems the steal of the first round (Heeney aside). I think they had their heart sets on Kyle Langford lasting all the way to 19 but the Bombers pounced and got him at 17.

Somewhere under sensational but a long way from terrible for me, he just seems a little less composed with the ball than this time last year. No where near being dropped though. Not if we want a hard edged competitive gut running midfield.

Vince for Toumpas, Brayshaw to the sub is the obvious first choice. Finding room for Dawes is harder but at this stage I'd say it's JKH. Kent and Vanders probably just did a bit more.

Crossy was rusty. I wasn't happy with his 3rd quarter. But he was running to space, taking marks and using it well enough in the last quarter when we needed him. The midfield won't be better by removing Crossy at this stage. Maybe when Vince is in peak fitness then Jones, Vince, Tyson, Viney, Lumumba can carry the load around young/inexperienced players but now is not that time.

I was booing him for his dreadful haircut

A late second round pick would be amazing. I'd love to see more evidence of this winning of his own football. I don't know his contract status but if this year doesn't go well I can see him sticking around for another year before possibly retiring at the end of 2016.

So AFL players for us: Gawn, McKenzie, Stretch, Pedersen, Michie, Vince, Riley, McDonald, Grimes, White, Spencer, Harmes, Bail, Jones, Terlich, King, Fitzpatrick For Coll: Dwyer, Kennedy, Marsh, Freeman, Armstrong, Broomhead, Moore, Karnezis, Maynard, Goodyear, Manteit, Seedsman, Abbott, Gault, Cox So 15 for them but they'll probably pull 2 out to get to 13 (I suspect Gault and either Karnezis or Kennedy as travelling emergencies). Worth watching Kennedy, Freeman, Broomhead as highly drafted kids from 1-2 years ago who have AFL talent. Karnezis and Seedsman have AFL talent as well. Darcy Moore's worth watching, hopefully if he becomes a good player for the Pies he eventually comes over to the Dees! 17 for us if everyone's fit but we'll probably take 1 emergency (Matt Jones the logical choice) out and who knows if everyone else is fit or not What I want to see: - Gawn and Pedersen dominate against inexperienced key defenders - Vince get through a full/close to a full game without issue - A little excitement from Billy Stretch - Jack Grimes looking composed with the ball and aggressive without it - Michie spreading and running and attacking the game away from the contest

I think it's because we've been hearing about Hogan non stop for the last month! But yeah Angus has flown under the radar but being at Casey. I would've liked to have seen him in one of the NAB challenge games but he did so well at VFL level and others so poorly at AFL level that he's snuck in without fanfare.