DeeSpencer

Number 1 speed in attack, number 2 speed in defense, number 2 total work rate. Really the only option would be Woey forward/wing and ANB as part of the core 4 mids tagging. It’s not crazy but Woey just seems slow to react anywhere but behind the ball and isn’t a great user either. I don’t think it helps us.

Can’t play West Coast every week but Chin was very good yesterday and was good against Brisbane too. Continuity in the talls and finally getting some run back through the middle should let the small forwards find more of the ball in space too.

Trade Chandler for what? A late second rounder? In order to play who? Spargo who’s been MIA all year? Laurie who doesn’t have the speed, power or marking game to be a small forward? McAdam, Sesto or AMW who don’t have the tanks. Chandler’s rock solid in his effort each week and a great culture guy, he won’t be traded.

Zach Merrett is so huge for Essendon, the question is can we get by with some combination of Viney and Sparrow on him, or do we need to specifically go with ANB (post centre bounce). And if we go with ANB who can we rotate as the 3rd winger? Probably has to be Sparrow again if not taking a risk and going with Kolt. I also think both Howes and Marty Hore will come in to consideration for AMW. AMW is a big time talent but he's defensively at sea at times and we just lack height down back with AMW, Bowey, McVee, Salem as the 4 flankers. For an Essendon forward line that has Peter Wright, potentially 2 rucks and/or Caddy, Harry Jones, Langford and Stringer we could do with a back pocket with some height.

Positioning/concentration still poor (but not the only Melbourne defender with that problem right now), disposal/decision making with room to improve but love his contesting and tackling. Still think it might be mid/forward but there’s an AFL level talent in there, just a matter of getting it out of him.

He was never at Carlton, he was listed by Carlton then on traded as part of their mature age draft concessions. Adelaide was his first club. He was an injury prone inconsistent talent in a poor Adelaide side who came to us unfit and unsurprisingly got injured. Why we ever felt he was worth a second round pick I’ll never know, but it’s not like it was a super early one and JT generally hasn’t valued 2nd rounders (for better or worse). I still like the gamble to get him because he can be a genuine match up nightmare. But it’s all about the preseason for him, he’ll either come in fit and be a contributor or come in underdone in which case he’ll be playing VFL if healthy.

RIP Clyde the Glide

Short of a big move for a gun tall I still think we need to chase athletic, aggressive, early prime age role players even if they are lesser names and focus on draft and development for skills. Keep hold of our first pick for a home grown gun mid. That said, Ro Marshall would certainly get a phonecall.

I still see Disco as no more than depth until he puts together a season and preseason for that matter. I’d rather he be the 4th choice key back next year with 3 mature players ahead of him. 2 of which are prime age, not just May, McDonald. Adams remains in the project player department and might be there forever.

As bad as Petty has been the alternatives at CHF would’ve been worse. There’s a reason Fullarton hasn’t been picked so far. And let’s not forget round 1 Schache And this has been a fun T Mc year but I’m not sure he’ll even be on the list next year (assume he will), could possibly retire or might get a deal to swing over to North for a veteran 2 years or some such thing. The move right now is to rehabilitate Petty’s value next year not sell him for parts after a year with no preseason. The last 2 weeks have been a glimpse in to just how well he can still mark even if it hasn’t come together. We can’t go in to a season with Lever as our only prime age tall and teams almost never give up good ones. Because there’s a chance May and McDonald go sooner than later and we’re stuffed down back and hardly proven up forward.

I can’t think of a key forward who’s played in the last 20 years who Jefferson reminds me less off than Fraser Gehrig! Perhaps Barry Hall. Jeffo needs to develop physically but it will never be a core part of his game. The player he’s most similar to is Josh Kennedy. Throw back kick-mark full forward who was low disposals but heavy goals.

Lost a yard of pace due to injuries and not sure he really suits the new game plan given his default method is to get the ball to safety and find marks off half back when we want to encourage run. Midfield experiment got abandoned quickly when we had backline injuries and then he did a hammy. If Rivers goes on ball then Salem, Bowey, McVee even AMW are all a bit the same height wise and Howes doesn’t use his height so may as well be 185cm too We could do with a genuine back pocket with a bit of size and then have the half backs compete for 3 spots. The salary cap relief could be worth considering if we get a good useable pick too. If you got pick 25 and drafted a replacement who ready to go in 2-3 years you could put Salo’s wage towards a tall or on baller.

Love the way Jeffo’s going about it but not sure he’s ready just yet if Petty is good to go. Our forward line is no place for skinny young talls. Can we get away with 3 talls and 4 smalls down back against the Eagles land of the giants? Wouldn’t shock me if they keep the 4 talls or go with Howes (who has height but no aerial game) even tho we’ve got better overall players. If Salem comes in for Woey we could have Rivers follow Reid everywhere and Salo switch on ball. I think we’ll stick with Sparrow because there’s no other option and I assume the same for Windsor. Howes’ lack of intensity would be a big worry on the wing and Bowser’s lack of size would worry me too.

Much better in the first half. Tailed off later. He’s got to keep driving his legs, wear contact and be willing to use his left (hand at least). Just want to see him charge at the ball

Jeffo, Brown, Howes, hopefully Sestan in addition to the guys in the team in Kolt, Windsor, AMW, Woey, Disco should all be expecting to the play senior footy next year which is exciting. Plenty of work needed from all those guys but they’ve got tools to work with. McAdam had a nightmare preseason and Fullarton a nasty hammy right when match simulation kicked in. Both flawed but if they have big summers they do have things to offer

I reckon we could do worse than giving Ned ‘Moodle’ Moodie a train on opportunity over summer. He probably isn’t skilled enough but I like him as a competitor and athlete. We don’t have a lock down medium defender on the list and I reckon he’d come on quickly with a proper training block.

So TMac has been great down back but he should be forward where he hasn’t had a kick since mid 2021? The forwards play won’t be fixed by shuffling deck chairs. We need better coaching and mids, but aside from anything we need continuity in what we do have. Fritsch somewhat pulled his finger out last bought. Petty’s having a go. Disco has a real crack. This is as good as it gets for 2024

apologies if this has been posted earlier in the thread

I’m keen to get a better look at him live but it looked reasonably clear to me. Reville had 9 touches and 6 score involvements in the last quarter across half forward after doing nothing on the wing for 2.5 quarters. Whether he was the chicken or the egg in Brisbane finding free men everywhere I don’t know but he was huge in the last term.

He was more composed as the game went on after early struggles and he did some special things. But Rayner’s second goal came because he was completely asleep and left Hipwood alone at the drop of the ball in the goal square. And that’s just one occurrence. Even if the ball didn’t go through his opponent - although Bruce Reville killed us in the second half after being swung forward - Brisbane had gaps everywhere and I feel confident in saying Andy was responsible for a number of them.

One of the more unusual debuts I’ve seen. In that he didn’t play well at all. Killer fumbles early and generally poor (at best) positioning. But he also showed more talent than most debutants do. 9 contested possessions, won some tough ball, backed his speed, clean handballs in space, tackled and pressured very well. There’s probably only 1 other player on our list who I feel has such a wide range of career outcomes from here. You could tell me he plays a couple more games and is never seen again or you could tell me plays 200 games in any of 3 zones of the ground.

Who should we have subbed off last night? The moment Petty came off we looked small up forward and gave up easy intercept marks. If we made the move late in the 3rd we’ve had been down 2 when Petty went off. Brown looked fairly ineffective on a wing and our half forwards were doing pretty well. Waiting as late as possible so he’s got a big freshness advantage was probably the right call.

1. Held him up in the first place. Danger swung his legs under Walsh and was lucky not to swing right through the back of his ankles and give him a 6 week high ankle sprain. But at that stage he put all his weight on to Walsh who was then buckled forward. Chris Scott even said a few weeks ago he's telling players not take guys to the ground, why did Danger not heed that warning? 2. Turned him. This is the big one. Any time you tackle a player from behind in a chase down scenario you try to turn them side on so they land on their hips and shoulders. 3. Released him when it became inevitable that Walsh was going to fall forward and land at least part of his body face first in to the ground. This was a very ordinary tackle that's been reframed by people in the media saying things like 'what else could he have done' and 'he held him up' when the actual biomechanics of the tackle aren't true at all. Meanwhile Jack Higgins got 3 weeks for a gentle pull on Aliir's arm.

Of course you can, clubs do it all the time. Make it known he’s at a minimum sub again against West Coast. He did very little to deserve a game to start with. Sub was a nice taste. He’ll get another go as sub. But I suspect AMW will get a starting gig and Brown will stay sub this week

Lever for Tomlinson. McAdam's been underwhelming but at least he'll try to chase and tackle. We simply can't cop Fritsch's ongoing efforts and whatever that disaster was on Saturday night. Seriously, why keep tolerating such below par efforts in the hope they change rather than do something proactice? AMW for whom? Bowey? Howes? Salem? They all have to be options. Or play him as sub. Kynan Brown can go back to Casey and push his case for a full game when he's more ready.