DeeSpencer

Just a tip but a 5 man forward line with a loose man behind the ball will not be conducive to stopping WC getting easy fast entries. They'll waltz the ball out of their backline and straight in to the forwards if we start a loose. We are better off starting the 6 forwards. Using Dawes and others as lead up forwards to hopefully take McGovern (and Hurn, Yeo and Shepherd) away from his intercept marking to then isolate the dangerous forwards deep. Stopping West Coast forwards will be a handfull and we will need good defending once the ball goes in to our backline and composed rebounding and of course we will need to win the midfield battle which will be much harder than against the Cats. But moving the ball with composure and putting on some scoreboard pressure as we did against the Cats might be the biggest challenge.

Interesting VFL review. Fitzy and JKH in contention for Darwin Seems the youngsters in King, Harmes, McDonald and White got beaten but missing so many other MFC players probably made it tough. I like that they are given roles and held to a standard not just set aimlessly to go play as they like. The comments around King sound promising that it was a good learning experience. Disappointing that VIv had a downer after such a consistent run of VFL form even if he couldn't repeat that at AFL level and Terlich went full Terlich.

Fitzy played a few games then was injured. Newton had a good run of regular games to start the year. Your mate Viv has had a rough run of it but that's the life of a depth player who hasn't taken his chances. Getting dropped back to VFL games still provide a chance to impress. The club have done a decent job of rotating who misses games as the travelling/held over emergency as well.

I don't think we need to play him to give him another year. I really think he's almost done enough. He's doing what the coaches want and improving. Fitzy is probably the one from our list who I want to see the most of at AFL level as he's shown he can dominate the VFL forward, back or in the ruck yet never settled at the top level.

Rotations might drop but they might introduce the 4th bench spot back, which could get interesting to see if teams rotate 2 rucks through the bench and keep 2 or even 3 key forwards on the field. I still think positional versatility will stay important and the option of a forward/ruck who gets to get in to the game in the middle then swap forward will still be handy. It will save on bench rotations as well.

I'm not sure we are getting Brayshaw level players out of many picks in the draft after pick 3 any time soon and having a few more experienced guys on the list helps for a few reasons I think. Mainly: 1). Older guys get less injuries, giving you more depth to choose from 2). They train harder, better and for longer letting you raise the training standard overall 3). Consistency and leadership at Casey. You don't want guys who have given up on their AFL dreams but 1 or 2 guys who spend more time that not at VFL I think helps develop the kids you've got down there as well as giving the VFL team a base to work from Existing contracts, a shallow draft and less players to trade out will probably keep our list changes down from the levels reached the last 2 years which is ok. We might not reach the perfect list of 44 without any guys we perceive as lucky to have a contract next year but that's ok. I get the feeling those who do narrowly avoid the chop this year will put in a huge preseason to save their careers and compete for a game knowing the list pressure is starting to build.

Hogan and Dawes are our starters with Pedersen the depth. None of those 3 can adequately ruck. Pedersen is the best but he's only about 195cm and if you look at the current top 4 in Freo, Haw, Syd and WC they all have back up rucks at 200cm (Clarke, Hale, Tippett, Sinclair). Max King is the only player on our list who has the skills and build to play forward and ruck and he's still probably a year away from even getting a taste of AFL footy. Fitzpatrick is currently a key defender. Gawn and Spencer are really ruckman only. Gawn has shown some aptitude as a forward but it's not his real position and in the absence of another ruck who play well forward it's unlikely he could play well for 70% of a game there. Splitting Gawn and Spencer is risk/reward and suboptimal as Roos alluded to post game. So in summary we need a young key forward anyway to give 3 or so years building their body now to replace Pedersen and Dawes and if that player isn't 198cm+ and we don't have confidence in Max King we need another of his type of forward/ruck player. We don't have to chase them as a priority but with later picks needs trump best available and unless we changed our minds on either of Frost, Fitzpatrick or Oscar McDonald as forwards I think we'd be wise to draft another.

Conflicting battles between 2 rucks and the Darwin conditions. Hogan and Garland should come back if fit. JKH has to be at least in consideration for the sub at minimum. Fitzpatrick is an interesting match up to give us the 2nd ruck and to give us the extra tall defender, as good as Garland can be at times I don't like the match up of him on Sinclair or Darling. I believe our best team would actually be: FB: Jetta Dunn Garland HB: Cross McDonald Lumumba C: Toumpas Jones Watts HF: Brayshaw Dawes M Jones FF: Garlett Hogan Howe Foll: Gawn Vince Viney Int: Tyson JKH Stretch/Fitzy S: ANB Out: Bail, Spencer, Riley +/- Stretch In: Garland, Hogan, JKH +/- Fitzy But I almost expect Roos will just go for Hogan, Garland in - Bail, Riley out and I can respect that. Rewarding Spencer for his good form and having the 2 rucks certainly wouldn't hurt. I'm not sure can play 3 talls and Howe in the same forward line but I guess if it happens we will find that out as well. It would certainly test the Eagles backline but at the same time they'd run all over us if we weren't holding marks.

A selfish perspective no doubt but I still think it's a shame Barry couldn't reconnect with his family in the offseason then find a way to keep that bond whilst down in Melbourne and keep giving AFL a crack. Tambling especially and Patrick had a crack at it and eventually finished up their careers when they weren't up to it. I'm not saying Dom did the wrong thing I'm just saying he's still playing footy for NT Thunder. So that means he's travelling to Darwin, NSW or QLD every week to play in the NEAFL. In a way both the thread title and video title are wrong from Barry's point of view. He didn't give up footy and it seems the elite AFL challenges weren't really the problem (although you wonder if the reports about him slacking in the preseason which were denied might've been true). The main issue seems he couldn't be involved in his community and play AFL football with geography probably the biggest challenge more than anything. If there was a team based in Alice he could probably do both, unfortunately there isn't.

Nope. Today reaffirmed why he's not a regular forward. Doesn't get the ball enough, probably doesn't read the play well as a forward, isn't creative or hard working enough with his leading and running when forward of the ball. Intercept possessions aren't as good as goals but they are super valuable and he can bring them down back whilst also stopping his opponent. The reality is that when in form of course he's a forward. Anyone who can take a grab and slot a goal should be as near to the sticks as possible. But if he doesn't work to find the ball or defensively then he needs to be trained up to do that. For some players that means the backline and for some that switch is permanent. That's what happened for Andrew Mackie who was a very similar forward to Howe back in his day and thrived at half back. He's far from the complete package as a footballer but I'd rather the players pump him up and we stay positive than focus on what we can't change in regard to his contract negotiations and/or desire for a trade.

Staying or going he needs to play well for the next 11 weeks. Sometimes I think guys in contract years let the media speculation get to them and then their form dips and the pressure builds and it all gets hard. Coming off an interrupted preseason and being swapped back to the forward line there's probably a bit of pressure on Howe. There's nothing lost in trying to support him a bit. 2 goals and a direct score assist from the tap down, if he's going to have a super quite game then this was a good type of one to have.

The only thing I don't get with Dunn is how he lets forwards mark the ball a good 5-10m ahead of him. Yeah I get that he's been out bodied or blocked and the forward has got the break but would it kill him to then charge out to catch up and at least get in camera. You never know when a forward will double grab one and what seemed like a pointless effort just became a worthwhile one. Footsteps etc. I don't know, maybe it's just me. But it seems he either wins the contest or if he's well beaten he gives up a little.

He's probably the best player to get a head coaching job if you take out those who were gifted the role at their former clubs - a list that includes Roos but mainly I mean Voss, Buckley and Hird. Now that counts for little overall but I think the great players who were often great captains/leaders get respect and get the players to play for them very naturally. If McCartney helps him with the teaching then that's teaching and motivation ticked off which is probably 2/3rds of the coaching puzzle. When Roos goes maybe we can snaffle someone from the Hawks system for some tactical advice and we might have most bases covered.

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2015-06-21/secondgamer-saves-watts-blushes Ignore the ridiculous headline. Check where ANB comes from in this clip. He's next to Lumumba when he kicks. Then next to Jones when he kicks. Then gets the jo the goose. Fantastic.

I love the Jones and Vince combination. They look for each other and share the ball and are playing like team mates. That makes such a difference to Jones I'm sure. With Viney tagging and other mids running through it makes a great combination.

Love that Gawn referenced the game shown on fox footy during the week when Melbourne beat Geelong down there. Belief goes a long way. Hopefully we get more of it.

Spencer certainly helped Gawn and they both did enough forward, but you'd think ideally against such a non ruck of Walker than Dawes could've held his own and Hogan would've given us even more up forward. But the 2 rucks brought dominance at the contest and did enough forward to make it work. We all know the answer is a good forward/ruck player who can legitimately play 30% in the ruck to give Gawn a chop out and still be useful forward. In the mean time its about picking the 3 or 4 who actually bring the most competitive output.

He'll certainly have to work on his speed but not to a crazy extent. In every confident good game he plays he looks quick. When he's chasing tail and not getting the ball he looks slow. Sidebottom is a gun outside mid without a lot of speed. He does have a lot of other great traits (marking, dual sided kicking) but mainly he reads the play so well and has such a great work rate that he can be slow. The other comparison I'll make is Nathan Jones. He went from a pretty slow player in his early years to now playing very fast. More fitness and speed training would've helped with that but mainly it was about adapting to AFL level. Andrew Gaff might be a top 5 outside mid in the comp and he's not that quick. We certainly need more pace on the field in a lot of spots and a lightning fast wingman would be lovely but mental quickness and work rate beats speed 9 times out of 10. It's why Lewis Jetta barely touched it in last years grand final and why Crossy can tag guys way quicker than him.

He did his ACL on the 16th of Feb. So he's back to running in 4 months but to play in a game he'd have to be back within 6.5 months. That's completely out of line with any other recovery from an ACL in AFL. The good news should be in his mental recovery as much as physical. If he gets through the rest of the season training he can probably take an end of season break with the rest of the players and whilst he'll be on a modified program he can start preseason with a focus to playing just like the rest of the group.

I think that last bit hit the nail on the head. Billy Hartung for the hawks doesn't win much inside footy at all. And whilst he's tough and has a crack he could easily play most of the year (not sure about Sept) without winning a lot of contested footy and without making perfect decisions on where to run (he's got elite endurance and probably makes good decisions though). Coming in to Melbourne the last few years (or more) it wouldn't have been easy to just know where to run and you would have had to win contested ball as well because there just hasn't been enough free flowing footy. And to make things more difficult for Toump unlike Hartung or Brad Hill for the Hawks his fitness wasn't at it's best due to injury. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed Toumpas is striding out a lot better in his running now instead of shuffling? I think he's picking up the tempo and not running himself in to the ground and then when he needs to make an effort he's got more burst.

I worded that wrong. I too would aim for a 2 year deal if his current form continues. My thoughts were his management team would push for a 3 year deal and if they demand that and the salary terms are reasonable then I wouldn't necessarily baulk at it. If he starts to cement himself as a regular player we won't have much choice.

Fitzy back in. Gives us 6 defenders with McDonald, Dunn, Jetta, Cross, Lumumba. Use a midfielder (Toump, Watts, Brayshaw, Bail, Michie etc) to pinch in on a back flank as required.

He flashes AFL attributes but his decision making is poor and his kicking is only marginally better than Bail's. Plus he makes a lot of little mistakes with things like fumbles and poorly executed tackles. I agree if it's wet that might be enough to keep Michie in. But if it's dry it might have to be one of those 3. I know it would make us super young but I'd love to see Harmes get a chance.

After reading the Casey report I think we might be better off with Jamar than Dawes. We can swap the 2 rucks out of the goal square and get Hogan up the ground. In: Jamar, Fitzy Out: Pedersen, Michie After the bye we can get Dawes and JKH back in when they are ready to go and they should help our forward line. Hopefully Salem and Garland not too long after that.

He does appear to get a dodgy bounce at the centre stoppages so I'll forgive him for that one. Not sure how he doesn't catch Steven before he gets his 2nd possession in that chain. The camera zooms in and we lose them from the play though so possibly the mids switched men or Viney got a bumped or held behind play. It was the lack of assertion that really shocked me and worries me about our players and the way we train and are coached especially in our backline. Our good young players have it. Or had it when they started. Watts and Toumpas are starting to get involved in the game much more by demanding the ball and backing their skills. Tom McDonald is a great example. He had it in spades at the start of the year. A bad quarter on Cloke seemed to effect him yesterday for parts of the game. To his credit he peeled off Riewoldt and attacked the footy. But maybe he had doubts in his mind and 2nd guessed himself and the combination with a bad bounce saw him beat by the ball.