DeeSpencer

I personally never gloat in the misfortunes of guys who are willing to work their butt off for the benefit of the club plus run hard and attack the ball when playing for the team. Especially when so many others of late haven't done that. But I do agree Trengove will benefit from some time in the reserves if managed correctly. The first thing that needs to be addressed is how to get him to play good footy whilst limited by his speed. What I'd be doing is planting him square in the centre and developing his confidence in his inside game. Plus also working on his quickness to hide his speed. By that I mean he has to run learn how to change directions, stop and prop, push off etc so that he's not exploited for pace.

He might be fit but he's barely AFL endurance. He's not AFL speed or skill in any position. I noticed he lifted his physicality in the second half. But the game was almost over at quarter time. And his physicality didn't leave any Eagles on the ground in his wake or result in goals. Let's see him attack the game against a bunch of kid opponents from the first minute. Preseason I was impressed by Pedersen on the track. But nothing has translated on field so far.

No Garland, no Gawn. Bummer.

The thing is when he was in the team last year I thought he leading was one of his strengths. Often led to the right spots to get on the end of it. Possible a sing of being way out of form. Unfortunately Gawn seems to still be injured so it's either Fitzpatrick or Jamar as the second ruck, not a great combination.

His hit outs are pretty ordinary. He's not tall enough to be a first ruck. Not without a big leap which he doesn't have. He's a forward. Not a pack marking strong one though. What he has to be is using his pace to be dangerous leading but he can't seem to get in the right spots at the moment. Plus he's fumbling like crazy and totally unsure what to do with the ball. He isn't a half back. He lacks the physicality and skills for half back. We just need to get him in the 2's and get him back to form as a decent back up forward/2nd ruck which is what he can be.

Not sure I agree with this. Against West Coast: Contested possession: Won 130 v 129. Tackles Won 62 v 56, Centre clearances Lost 13-9 (had been belted early in the game), Clearances - Lost 39 v 31. Considering the huge advantage that Cox, Nic Nat, Sinclair v Spencer, Fitz/Pedo gave West Coast I think after a really poor start we got our hands on the ball. Inside 50's - lost 53 v 39. We only kicked 4 goals from 39 inside 50's. That tells me whatever quality they were we obviously had no one capable of winning up forward. The first quarter was an insipid effort winning the ball. The remaining 3 quarters were more plagued by not having anyone to kick to. We need to improve our inside work. And we massively need to improve our ball use around the ground regardless of forwards. But decent forwards will help us do that. The forward line is some panacea but I think it's worth at least 5 goals to how we are playing if we get Dawes and Hogan in for Pedersen and someone else. Plus Gawn for Fitzy.

Kennedy-Harris must start. For all the talk of Trengove's bad form he still has an edge on that lot I think. Raffle the last two spots but I'd prefer Evans and Kent. At the same time with Kennedy Harris likely starting and Viney first up it wouldn't surprise me if they wanted Byrnes' 'experience' whatever it counts for.

If the all star combination of Fitzy and Pedersen with support from either Howe or Dunn are ever going to do something it would be against Frost, Haynes and Plowman. Devon Smith is a serious player and very dangerous, he's one to look out for the same as the 3 big guys they'll have down there. Hopefully whatever niggle that kept Cameron quiet against St Kilda persists. Callan Ward is a gun, I think we stick Cross on him at the contests. Coniglio and Treloar aren't kids anymore and are serious players and Toby Greene is great at finding the ball hopefully he's in a mood where he likes to give it back. Good test for Tyson, Jones, Viney, Vince and co to serve it up to that lot. Spencer has to use his fitness and speed to give Mumford something to chase to tire him out. Otherwise Mummy will maul the Pencil.

I don't think he has any more pace the Sellar. Nor do I think at his age he's likely to improve and be a reliable quality defender. But I do agree he is most suited to the backline. Seems to read the ball in the air better as a defender and can take a couple of grabs and isn't too bad at linking up and kicking long from the back half. At the same time last year he had goals kicked on him by Kosi, Grimley from Hawthorn, Q Lynch and other non AFL level forwards. Right now whilst Garland is out of the backline and we have so little to offer in tall forwards it seems the perfect time to shift one of the better defenders (McDonald, Dunn or both) and plug Pedersen in down back. Hopefully Jamar, Gawn, Garland are all back soon and that means no Pedersen in any position, yet alone when Dawes and Hogan are back.

They are surrounded by so many others of similar failings that they remain chances. Only have to follow the Lynden Dunn career plan of 10 good games in the last half a year of their contracts to get new deals. The real pain at the moment is the VFL season is yet to start. When it's up and running we will actually get proper reports of who is and isn't performing at the lower level and that way when we have these threads attempting to shuffle the side to get improved performance we can bring in guys with confidence and belief.

But by promoting loyalty you are punishing clubs who don't want to be loyal. It's not a solution.

Roos talking positional swaps instead of wholesale changes. I'd give this a try: FB: Georgiou Pedersen Terlich HB: Howe Frawley Grimes C: Watts Jones Vince HF: Bail McDonald Trengove FF: JKH Dunn Byrnes Foll: Spencer Cross Tyson Int: Fitzpatrick, Toumpas Viney Blease Out: M. Jones, Michie, In: Blease, Viney - Howe to the backline as flagged by Roos - Dunn forward - Pedersen to FB to play on Giles/Patton - McDonald to CHF so we have a high work rate and high energy guy forward - Toumpas to be the 7th defender in the rotation for some run and skills behind the ball - JKH in to the starting team

But botch a group of players like we have and we are really in trouble. Take Vince, Cross, Miche, Byrnes and Tyson out of the team on the weekend are we are even worse. Not to mention Dawes and Clark if they ever play will be handy. We are in trouble at the moment. Frawley leaving would be a blow. But we have to keep fighting and hoping things will turn around and when they do we can benefit from free agency. Making crazy rules like the above would just be a way to further hurt teams. Plus imagine how well GWS and Gold Coast will be under that system. At the moment the league is relying on some of those guys leaving due to salary cap pressure.

The issue at the moment is: - Big clubs are attracting the big name free agents - The salary cap isn't putting pressure back the other way Biggest named free agents so far (Goddard, Dal Santo, Thomas, Betts) mainly went to middle of the ladder teams trying to buy success. Franklin was the one that changed that but the salary cap kicked in and Carlton (Everett) and GWS (Mumford, Lamb) got bargains from it. If Frawley does leave for monstrous money then the salary cap should squeeze the team who got him and result in players forced out. The main problem is it's a half baked free agency due to the 8-10 year rule. That means if Frawley goes we have no one (Bryce Gibbs lol) to spend the salary cap space on. It's free agency in a highly restricted market. In the NFL if you lose a good player in one position there is a big market of other guys to buy (either in that position or another). You really get a lot of choice how to spend your cap. The one exception above all at the moment seems to be the Oakland Raiders who have got so miserable their best young and talented free agents left and they have only been able to sign old guys with only a few years left in them. Melbourne risk becoming the Oakland Raiders of the AFL.

I think Salem just hasn't had enough game time at Casey due to the byes and so on. I expert him to play some good VFL footy sometime soon and then get a shot. Kent, Blease and Evans first though. Don Barry isn't a top 10 pick. He was rated somewhere between late second round and rookie draft. Because he was thrown in to the Hogan deal he will never have an exact draft position but that's not a bad thing. Either way from what I saw of him in the preseason he's still a kid. Doesn't find the footy at preseason level, panics under pressure etc. If he has a good season in the VFL then maybe we can think of a few games for him when he is in form but he's the perfect type to follow Roos' mantra of learning what it takes to be an AFL player.

Didn't notice it until today. Either way instead of potentially (and I use the word loosely) useful information for rival clubs they should spent the money and effort on a proper back drop to Misson's segment.

Watts, Toumpas, Dawes, Jamar, McKenzie, Grimes, Blease, Riley, McDonald, Bail, Cross, Spencer, N. Jones As seen in a list on the back wall in the MFC injury update on Misson's office. Professionalism. It's overrated.

Thanks anyway. Hope Viney is back this week and Garland in the VFL.

I wont get too upset about that because at least I know we have Roos coaching and PJ running the club but I do sometimes wonder about a lot of the people we have getting paid (not usually big bucks I will add) to do all the things like website, membership, promotion,logistics etc. I am hoping that PJ and Roos' level of excellence spreads throughout the club and all staff are happier but also working harder and smarter.

I think because the game opens up and defenders get tired (they have little rotations) a forward is the most dangerous fresh. A clearance winning midfield is great but he then has no one to kick it to. Ideally we'd add someone who can play forward, inside midfield and outside so we have impact in all 3 areas. The sub isn't the problem, but I think we should let JKH play! He's a competitor, that's more than some.

Not really. It's his job to play football. Goals are just a part of that. Well done for making decent position on his crumbed goal (but Pedersen you epic spud nearly stuffed it) and he got another on the lead at some stage. But he played the entire game forward, at some stage he's going to get opportunity. His two goals doesn't make his game twice as good as Toumps 1 goal. His constant errors after being in good position are what frustrate me. Not going on his right when a clear path to goal was on was a shocker today in the second quarter. Several other mistakes through complete lack of composure and he offers so little in any other regard. If JKH starts ahead of him is it not likely for him to get Byrnes' 2 cheap goals just from being out there (considering he got one today and had other chances at times). I get the need for experienced runners in the midfield as well as a guy like Bail at half forward who can motor all day. But a last legs veteran in the forward pocket? Surely Kent and Blease offer more.

Stretch them how exactly? Anyway we've suffered through too much losing to rush Garland or anyone else back. He'd hardly perform well anyway. VFL for him for a week. Pedersen and Fitzy were the two today who I thought were epic proportions of bad. The rest were just a team collective effort of abysmal. We can't replace both Pedo and Fitzy until Jamar is back which probably isn't for a fortnight. Or Gawn which is probably longer. Even then I don't expect too much from those guys. One of Fitzy or Pedo has to play next week to give Spencer a chop out.

A lot of time and effort but also a lot of good options for him to kick too. Tom McDonald has improved his kicking to an extent. We are capable of improving some players, we just have too many who don't. Or at least didn't under Neeld. Have to give Roos a chance to sort out a few blokes.

Bennell and Petterd had played decent AFL games for us. They showed they could mix it at AFL level hence the second chances. Cheney showed he dominated VFL and was hard as nails. Clarkson took a chance because he loved the way he played and thought if he taught him to kick he might make a player. Hasn't fixed his athletic limitations that make him a super short key defender or a slow lock down defender but I get the feeling he is a good culture guy even if he's about as talented as Georgiou or less. The hawks are in a position to give the 40th spot on the list to Cheney for the sake of it. Agree on Pedersen, Bail, Byrnes for sure and probably Matt Jones. All can get by in an AFL team as Byrnes showed for years but they add nothing positive. Given the strength of the other 18 they play with adding these 4 gives them nothing. It's where the problem is we need out top 7 better and our middle 7 better and our bottom 7 better. Spencer has kind of impressed me of late. Completely unco but he's a competitor. Looking around at the back up rucks at clubs (Cam Wood, Dan Currie, Tom Derickx, Robbie Warnock, John Ceglar, Angus Graham, Trent West, Stef Martin) I'm not upset we have Spencer. He took on Cox, Natanui and Sinclair today and didn't get embarrassed. Right now he's top 5 B+F I'd say.

He plays like that not unfrequently when up against gun rucks, gun key defenders and in a non functional forward line. Concussion might effect your movements and some of your thinking but if you're a lost player you are a lost player. Remember Fitzy didn't play v Richmond, got little of it against Geelong or Hawthorn and only played a quarter against Saints. He hasn't found his form for the season yet. I wouldn't blame his game today on him suffering effects on concussion, more suffering from missing game and training time and maybe some confidence due to the concussion. Same result but slight difference. If Pedo stays then Fitzy goes to the VFL. If not vice versa. There are no winners.