DeeSpencer

1. He barely gets any of the ball if at all, might just be the hit to head that moves the ball 2. The mark is already completed 3. The elbow hits flush to Pedersen's face and there's no motion towards the ball No one ever gets a suspension thrown out for a bump due to it being a legitimate attempt to bump. It's why we have negligent and reckless gradings. Biggest bugbear: The MRP seem to have just taken Lynch's opinion in the commentary and run with it. Guess who Merrett's manager is - Lynch of course!

No I got what you meant, I was still ewwing at a second rounder for Moore. He might be ready to go but he's always looked like a battler to me.

I'd say how soon someone will be ready counts for about 1% of a recruiting decisions. If that. Guys are drafted with injuries that will hold them back all the time. Jake Stringer at the dogs. Matt Scharenberg at the Pies. That's 2 in consecutive top 10's. Every key forward like Patton and Boyd who have gone number 1 have been drafted knowing whilst they might play they are unlikely to get a kick in the first 2 years and unlikely to perform consistently well until about year 4. Rucks the same. And the main reason rucks have slipped down the order has been because the top guys (Nic Nat, Kreuzer, McEvoy) haven't looked any better than just other guys drafted way later, not due to how long it took them to come on. Anyway, fitness is the number 1 physical determinant of how soon a guy can play. Doesn't matter if you've got all the size if you can't run you won't play early. If Stretch has speed and fitness (and is any good!) then he'll play early on a flank or wing whether he's 75kg or 85kg. I've never heard anything dumber than recruiter one type of player at a time. You develop a team from the inside out and defensive first. But you draft footballers based on their overall talent.

Ewww Andrew Moore, no thanks.

Bit slow and small for a clearance mid these days isn't he? Would take him for sure, but no way 3 years. We've got some good state league mids in Michie and Riley who need an opportunity. We won't necessarily get better just with more of the same of these guys unless they can play forward, wing or half back.

Cox is concussed this week. So maybe Lycett gets the game as the best alternative. The other players know nothing is finalised and know that the game is a profession these days so probably aren't highly strung as back in the good old days. Plus it's West Coast. If they were going to get serious and get angry about anything they'd have done it by now, such an insipid lot at the moment. I think West Coast will have seen Brad Ebert go from plodder at the Eagles to almost an A grader at Port. They wont be keen to lose Lycett to Port after Cox has retired (and even part of that retirement being due to wanting to see Lycett get a bigger role). If it's true Lycett is keen to go to Port I'd expect this one to get pretty ugly. I'm not sure West Coast have the nuts to push him in to the preseason draft or if it's the right option. Also not sure he'd be a guy we'd go for in the PSD and annoy him, the AFLPA and Port at the same time if it even happened. Maybe our best role could be to be the third party to the trading deal and see if we could provide something to help out. I wouldn't mind spinning our second rounder from pick 20 in to two picks in the 30's for example.

I'm not sure why they can't schedule the Friday nights in advance and most of the travel appointments in advance. As for the numbers of available umps I think they need to pay the state league umps more. No idea what they are getting but if the state league guys are all up to a professional standard then they'll have a much bigger elite pool to draw from. Whenever I've watched VFL it's been young umps. So it seems once guys hit the VFL stage they either go up to AFL level where it's a legitimate and profitable second career that they can do well in to their 30's and even 40's or they go back down to local leagues where it's a bit of a spare change hobby.

So I umpired a game of local footy the other week. First (and probably last) time doing it. And I tried to not carry on too much but I did find myself doing this (without the hand gesture). I think it's for your own peace of mind. You know you've got some big boys behind you who are keen to get in to the space you are vacating and compete with an opponent and the ball. Just reminding them where you are going makes you feel more confident in doing what you are meant to be doing which is watching the ruck contest and watching the players.

I think the theory is Terlich's still eligible for selection as he hasn't gone back to the VFL and played badly, he's just jumped in and out of the team and being emergency. Compare that to Strauss who they've decided just hasn't done enough yet at VFL. So I understand the logic even if I don't agree on it. If Strauss plays a 3rd straight good game and doesn't get picked and Terlich doesn't perform then I'd agree. I still expect Terlich as a better mark, better tackle to be the slightly better player than Strauss, I just want to see something different Michie at half back, not convinced by that. Especially when Brisbane have their fleet of dangerous smalls who are genuinely quick.

Can't help but think we missed a chance to play Strauss instead of Terlich here. He's had two great performances in a row in the VFL and if we are playing Blease and Tapscott then may as well lumped Strauss in for one last look as well.

Interesting. Think Terlich is the natural replacement for Grimes at half back anyway. If Cross plays I'm not sure it will be for Grimes. Also not sure what benefit if any there was to hiding Cross for a day.

His pace isn't fine. Or that's my opinion. He might not have lost any but he probably didn't have much to begin with and when it comes to inside midfielders they prefer Kennedy, Parker, Bird as slower types then mix in McVeigh, Jack, Hannebery and McGlynn. Those guys like Cunningham and Lloyd play half forward and wing and so aren't in the comparison for O'Keefe. It's Bird's emergence as a tagger and quality mid (previously just floated wing and forward) and Parker's emergence as a quality hard inside midfielder that have hurt O'Keefe. Ahhh the Swans and Hawks, both have about 8 quality midfielders. About 3 or 4 who are tough and hard inside. Another couple who are quick, fit and skillful to play outside and some versatile ones. We might have 4 and be halfway there.

Retirement - Meh, pretty much an accelerated delisting Time at the club - double meh. If you want a nice retirement thread it should be started on a Geelong forum.

If you are worried about doing a knee and seeing your value drop then sign on with your current club!!! The players wanted free agency. Now they want contracts ahead of time. Come on. Also which clubs will do it? Wont most of them be smart enough to just wait until the end of the year. Or are the clubs paranoid enough to get in with early signings? IF you want to be a free agent then finish the contract and become a free agent. That's my advice.

When did he give it a real crack? Sure he ran hard and attacked the ball at an acceptable level, obviously trained hard to be fit, but I think besides the GWS game where we came from behind I can't recall a game where I thought oh wow Byrnes is really giving it his all. We have coaches for off field work. Neeld got 3 brand new development ones in when he started. Why didn't he hire Byrnes for that job? In years to come Byrnes will look back on his Geelong career with satisfaction. That's what he was, a Geelong player. 2 time premiership including a really good game in 09. He'll look back on his Melbourne career as a bit of a chance to stay in the game and an opportunity to see a different club. Just because he's retired (which he should've after last year) doesn't mean I'm going to sing his praises now.

I'll be upset. I want us to try our best and beat GWS, hopefully beat Brisbane and have a crack in the other games. If we finish last then the draft pick is the compensation. That's how it's meant to work. Not the other way around.

Fumbled, missed tackles, never did anything with the ball. Sure he had a crack and apparently was a nice bloke but he was enjoying collecting cheques for 2 more years than he should have.

Explain to me how Adelaide win? I think Lyons might have a future as a haf forward/midfiled player with decent speed and size. I think Tapscott whilst really hard and tough is short, slow and not all that great with the ball and isn't up to AFL.

He was listed as 3-4 before the first week of round 18, which would have him at 1-2 weeks away now if all things progressed well. Which would probably mean Casey next weekend (4 AFL matches left), if not the week after (3 AFL matches left). Best we can probably hope for is a debut round 22 v West Coast in Perth in front of his friends and family. Or in the final round of the season v North. I'd settle for some good VFL games so that he's right for the preseason, but if he plays that will be great.

Good news. Typical MFCSS about the successor and it all being a balls up but Roos is locked in for 2 years. That's sorted now. No more, no less. There aren't going to be any jobs at top 5 ladder clubs any time soon. There might not be jobs at Ess, Adel, Coll, West Coast or any other financial power house. If you were an aspiring senior coach you could hold out in hope that Gold Coast or GWS get cold feet and pick you to take over the list at the perfect time. But I'd be keen to work with Roos as his 2IC and then take over a rebuilt club.

In second place, but possibly the Comm games doesn't mean much for them. Not when they have Olympic, World Champ and fame/money on the line in winning some of the worlds more lucrative marathons. My (limited) understanding on marathons is you can only run so many per 6 months/year as they take such a toll. A bit like horse racing you really have to set yourself for particular races as grand finals. Which is probably why Trengove did such a good job as she had a foot injury and did really well at the last world champs. She wasn't far behind the female Kenyans so lets hope she can bridge the gap and maybe do something amazing in Rio.

No excuses for Jack Trengove not to be the fittest player in the AFL. (What someone had to say it).

He seems a bit rushed with the ball to me. But then again doesn't get much of a run and hasn't played enough games to reach the ceiling of his composure. He'd be a risk of adding another limited player to the list who plays a few games but never makes it as a regular but we've got the list spots. All about what the crows would want. Hopefully after a year of limited chances Lyons would be keen to come home and therefore Adelaide couldn't ask for much.

Shaw, Wellingham, Dawes and Thomas all gone and all fetched top 25 draft picks. They will analyse all their guys over 26, but that's: Almost certainly Staying: Cloke, Macaffer, Toovey, Swan, White Almost certainly Going: Marty Clarke, Maxwell, ??Ball, Hudson, Lynch Depending on contrats not sure: Goldsack, Dwyer, Blair, maybe Lumumba (wouldnt go anywhere) or Clinton Young The Collingwood list clean out has already happened. Swan's going to stick around for a year or so more. Cloke, Macaffer, Toovey will stick out their careers more than likely. But the leadership and experience has already passed to Pendles, Beams, Sidebottom, Reid to make something with all the guys younger than them. They are in the enviable position of rebuilding and bottoming out whilst still being around the 8. Plus they have A grade mids, rucks, key backs and key forwards mainly set in place except for the need to find an A grade key forward at some stage to take over from Cloke.

My apologies. What a silly system where he's part of the academy despite not being able to be selected from the academy. I suppose it makes sense. I wonder how much of a knock on him will be that his brother was a gun junior as well but now is a bit of a plodder who was cut by the Suns (but is turning it around at the Saints a bit as a tagger). Didn't seem to affect the Swallows but maybe Lachie will have noted the things Mav didn't do in his early years at AFL level (ie. get super fit, work on his skills, speed and versatility).