DeeSpencer

Why? Because he looks like Wellingham? Wellingham was a decently skilled tagger at the Pies, I don't know what he is now at the Eagles. Sydney is our model. I'd suggest if young Billy could hopefully follow his development like Jake Lloyd and Harry Cunningham have been with the swans that would be great. Start at half forward or as the sub and progress to playing time on the wing. Learn to be defensive and win contested ball as well as using his strengths as a good runner and outside link up player. 2 way running and solid decision making are the vital characteristics. Presuming no one bids top 20 he's ours for a 3rd round pick and you'd be mad to bid top 20 on a guy unless you had him in your top 12-15 names incase someone slides like Jack Darling or even Lewis Taylor or Dunstan last year. In that regard with Brisbane and Sydney maybe needing second round picks for their own academy types and Dogs for father son stranger things could happen than Billy falling to our forth round pick.

Not sure if serious. Can't kick. Slow as can be. Isn't a forward or a back. Couldn't hold a regular game for Brisbane last year or early this year when they pretty much had no reasonable options (they found a bunch of promising kids who needed the start of this year to find their feet). Highlights: - Blind turned Sam Shaw - Took a mark with Matthew Watson on him - Crumbed a pack and shot out a handball that wasn't even that good - Took a chest mark - A couple of other decent marks but that's about it Traded out of Hawthorn when they could've done with a good tall defender. Unable to hold a spot at Brissy. Just because Roos worked a miracle with Pedersen doesn't mean we should try to add more battlers to our list. We can make do with a combination of Hogan, Dawes, Gawn and Fitzpatrick forward and Dunn, McDonald and Garland down back. Then Pedersen can fight for a spot at either end as well. Georgiou on the rookie list. We can then replace Frawley either with Frost or hit the draft for some youngsters with real potential.

Would love to say I'm surprised. But as I said above a Bills win wasn't going to surprise me at all. Our defense blows and it's the coaching that's the biggest issue although the personnel is still louse. Our offensive line and WR's had injuries so it came down to Cutler doing enough and instead he made one of the worst INT's you can make. I really should've picked a team with either no QB and hoped they drafted a good one or a franchise QB. The bears have the worst possible situation, they are tied to a borderline franchise QB too good to cut with no replacement but not good enough to win games he should. If our defense wasn't so lousy I'd suggest we draft a QB in the first round next year and light a fire under Jay. But we have so much work to do to fix the defense

Detroit choked. Chicago's defense was just all time bad with the injuries. Not just a little bad like Green Bay with injuries but the next level of bad! Cutler played one of the best games he's ever played against GB last year and went drive for drive with Rodgers. It came down to a 4th and long, Peppers couldn't contain or get to Rodgers and our safety blew the play. It's one thing I like about the NFL is how unpredictable the playoffs are and how one slight mistake by a player can turn a game. A bad read by a WR can turn an easy reception to keep momentum in to a pick 6 that changes the result. Maybe I'm overrating Seattle but I can't see them faltering at home. Injuries will be key to stopping them. Totally agree about not super teams winning the superbowl. It's another great thing about the NFL. But my main concern remains physicality. I'm struggling to think of a team that wasn't super physical. Baltimore - not a great team but O line played out of their minds and defense has always been hard and tough. Giants underdog teams that had D Lines that became dominant at the right times of the year. That's the achilles heel of Seattle if their O line take some injuries. But as of the first game they dealt with the Packers easily.

You probably will. Rodgers will find a way to score more than he did against pretty much every team besides Seattle. My comments was more saying how good they are (particularly at home) not about you guys. That said I'm not all that high about the packers doing anything come January because I see the O and D line play of NFL is pretty much contested ball in AFL. If you don't win there you don't play 'finals footy' regardless of skill players. Packers O Line looks below par. The D line is relying on ancient Peppers and injury prone Matthews on the outside but looks very soft on the inside without Raji. Bit of Geelong about the packers.

Whilst the Sandy situation didn't work I think you missed the biggest problem. Poor Juice was never that good. Could take a hanger but couldn't hold enough simple marks and was slow when the ball was on the deck. Poor set shot at AFL level. Not at all physical. He was a tease. Worth several years development because until you get the body and the games under the belt you can't judge a tall with talent and you dont want to do a Jay Schulz at Richmond style job on a guy who's about to find his form. But overall just couldn't close the gap between state league and AFL.

That said Hogan, Dawes, Fitzpatrick, Gawn we can worry about key forwards later. Right now I'm interested in two way running players who can either use the ball very well or win the ball very well and can preferably do a bit of both. Not fussed what designated position they usually play be it half forward, half back, wing or in the guts just as long as they have the attributes.

I'll believe that will work when we move to Sydney and get the attraction of outside the cap AFL ambassador payments, maybe a form of COLA, set up a team right near Bondi and give the players relative anonymity to party it up or sit at home doing whatever Plugger did.

2 issues for San Fran: On offense: One of your best O linemen held out of camp. Another is injured. Without top O line play your running game doesn't work as well (just like every team). Without the running game Kap has to do more by making good reads and throws and the offense struggles. Every chance the O line steps up. The veteran receivers play well. Gore is Gore. Kap makes enough plays with his legs and throwing and your offense scores against a dreadful Dallas defense. Wouldn't be overly concerned. On defense: Lost some players in free agency. Aldon Smith suspended for the start of the season. Bowman coming back from injury. That's 2 elite players missing. Ray McDonald should be suspended already but will be dealt with in Nov for domestic violence chargers. It just doesn't seem the same defense as the last two years. So I think you'll fix your offense and be an average solid offense but I'm concerned you wont be a great defense overall. Which means wildcard spot at best and doing it the hard way through away post season wins. That said you've got Dallas away and Chicago home to start. Not a bad way to get to 2-0. Home game momentum at new Levi stadium will be interesting. They've ripped up the grass twice after the first preseason game. And a fan died from dehydration after the first game. Not a great start.

Missed the official start but no one was ever tipping GB right so its ok? New England New Orleans (with caution) San Diego If in doubt go with the top QB's is my theory. Whether Rivers is a top QB is another question but he was last year and Jared Rivers form my transfer to cousin Phil. Also wanted to tip Minnesota over St Louis in a battle of back up QBs (Cassel is backing up Teddy just in reverse!). I'm a very nervous Bears fan. Bills having so many issues they might just all be a smoke screen and our defense and special teams are awful.

Can't help but think we should've kept him on the books for 2015 as well until after trade period as part of his retirement settlement. Maybe that's what an experienced footy manager would do and Josh Mahoney wouldn't. Agree we have to hear from Mitch and the MFC. The sooner the better. Damian Barrett teaming up with player manager Colin Young makes this all the worse.

We aren't getting any of those players. We will trade our most talented player even if his body and mind have been broken and now are repaired, for at best a 3rd round pick I'd say.

Could well happen. Say he states his desire to return to Perth and with West Coast committed to Naitanui, Lycette (4 year deal), Kennedy and Darling do you think they'd even bother ruining Freo's PSD party?

Trade with Freo seems likely to me but Freo wont want to give up anything for him. They've already signed free agents in Sylvia and Pearce (subbed out yesterday) and traded a late pick for the failed Gumby experiment. Don't expect anything better than a 3rd round pick I'd say. Of course the option is we don't trade, put him in the PSD and pick him (presuming St Kilda stay away). But clubs haven't gone down this route before yet alone with a guy coming back from retirement due to mental health issues.

Major weaknesses from 2014: Skill from half back - Malceski Outside runners who break the lines - Lumumba Key forward - Hogan Midfield depth - Toumpas, Trengove That's from a personnel point of view. It won't represent sustainable improvement unless we have fixed recruiting, development and culture of excellence.

I wouldn't think you'd negatively judge a coach for being sold some anti aging or weight loss wonder drug when you've already been conned in by a guy who's apparently doing miracles with your players. I mean we've all drank the Paul Roos media savvy and hair without too much trouble. Maybe give Goodwin a chance. Think about it if you were an assistant coach and Hirdy has brought Dank in to fine tune the players with 'evidence based' and 'cutting edge' science. Would you toss him out or would you take a few free supplement injections? He was a fantastic player. He's had a valuable apprenticeship in what not to do under Hird in regards to off field stuff but also seen a pretty decent bomber side under Hird, he's then had a year under one of the recent great coaches. The assistant coach pool is pretty low at the moment. I wouldn't write Goodwin off.

He trains hard and prepares like a pro. He's leads the guys on the track. He (reportedly) gets around the younger players and helps them settle in. He (has been) a hard and uncompromising player. It's a fine line between positive player who impacts games which is enough for any player to be captain and player who is borderline best 22. Grimes showed as what he can do against Adel when he was istrumental in the win. Unfortunately it was the only time in the season. If Roos thinks he can be an above average player then he should maintain the co-captaincy. If he think the form we saw this year is more permanent then he should resign the captaincy and go with Jones alone.

Should read given he was moved around due to failing to have consistent impact in any of the initial positions he was tried in. Went wing, half forward, deep forward, half back and finally finished the year back on the wing. Some very good performances - v Saints, v Adel, v Port (2nd half), even v North on the weekend. He played some games that put him in our top 6 but plenty that had him in our bottom 6. That he was never dropped tells me he was always in our best 15 as Roos shuffled the bottom 7 or so with injury and form. I'm slightly annoyed that a going through the motions year gets a top 10 finish in the B+F. But then again Bail and Matt Jones didn't do much more and they are around that mark as well.

But soccer and AFL are probably the two sports where defense and attack are influenced by game style so much. You can extrapolate to baseball and cricket type sports in the way batters bat or the strength of a team. Basketball can be affected by game style a bit but mostly it's personnel. As long as teams force it in to a series of somewhat unrelated half court sets then you aren't sacrificing one for the other in terms of style so much. I do have confidence in the Ross Lyon game style for winning finals and grand finals I think he's been beaten by better sides. Whether that extremely defensive style is a way to develop a young side is a different question. I'm not sure it's been tried too many times before Roos giving it a go now.

I'm disappointed we had games where we couldn't move the ball or score at all. Those games are a waste. But so are games where you lose by 100 no matter what you score. Against a lot of opponents (in the 4 wins and several close losses) we moved the ball and scored. If we do that and score 60 or 100 I don't mind. Whatever gets the wins. I guess my main point is you can't be afraid to take the game on and even if you are sacrificing your scoring power by focusing on defensive structures there has to be attacking in games. No doubt forwards who win one on ones and get to the right spots will help as well. Next year will be a big test.

Tell that to Nath Jones or Dom Tyson who without Vince providing the 3rd competent midfield option would've really worn a lot of attention. Agree it's something to keep in mind for this years trade period that every draft pick represents an opportunity for a really good player who's likely to stay around for a long time. But I don't think you can say Vince was a bad call. I guess all you can do is look at our midfield now as say - Jones, Tyson, Vince, Cross (1 year max?), Viney then the more speculative - Trengove, Toumpas, Watts, Riley, Michie, Matt Jones etc and say what's the priority. Is it getting ready to go guys to support the top line mids or is it getting kids who can build a sustainable unit along with Tyson and Viney. Last year the surety of Vince was too important.This year we have a more stable base to work with.

There's plenty on O'Rourke in other threads. Some think he could be a Dom Tyson like bargain, Personally, I'm not so convinced. Frost is similar to his brother who plays at Coll. Tall, quick athlete. Bit like Tom McDonald. Not so great as a kick. Presuming Frawley leaves it would be nice to have another mature replacement. But not overly convinced about his long term result. 3rd or 4th round pick but we'd want to have some decent small defenders with skills if we are lining up Frost and McDonald in the same team.

It's twice as funny in Swedish

So you suggest we get rid of the 7-10 who can't even get a game and then what 5 or so more in the senior side who aren't up to it. Nice in theory but there aren't 15 decent players to replace them with. I'd rather start with the truly dead wood and work our way up. That said I'm all for trading out some of those underperformers in the senior team if they have value because it means you can find a decent replacement for them.

It's disappointing we didn't see more of Clisby this year. Don't think he was a long term player but I did think he could be slightly better depth than some. Not sure about this soft notion. Got the feeling he was decent at the contest for an undersized defender and he was a good runner from the backline. Kicking not perfect but better than Grimes and Terlich. Overall I'd say he and Terlich were about even so the FD made their choice for the more experienced and bigger guy. Nicholson. Well we were all were seduced by the athleticism but he just doesn't have the talent. Surprised they just did 2 to start with but I guess there's not a heap of benefit going early on some of the others. Wait and see who's out there by way of other delistings and how the drafts are shaking up.