DeeSpencer

Bob Murphy's play does the talking and he's never backed out of a contest or had trouble laying tackles. Let's just see with Watts. I'm still expecting plenty more growing pains based on his first hit out. He's not an elite runner and he's not a solid build. Ok he's tall and fast which is nice but in itself doesn't give him a huge advantage. There's a lot of things to recruiting like character, leadership and personality. But probably the 3 biggest things for the best footballers are: - Athletic talents - Hunger for the contest - Skills I'd give Watts 5/10 athletically. He has to build his tank and add some muscle whilst keeping speed to be higher than that. I'd give his hunger for the contest about a 3/10 and his skills an 8/10. Jack's move to the midfield is about utilising his skills and given his pace and skill an opportunity to shine. But he's still not an amazing athlete and his one preseason game showed that he was working hard to get the ball but had work to do at contests still. Everyone expects him to go from an unreliable forward or defender to quality midfielder. It's not going to happen over night. -

I see the point. And they are flying. But they are also human. Their forwards and backs are mainly just getting by on their top talent. It's their young midfielders pushing for games and the unstoppable Sam Mitchell who are giving them their drive. The Brisbane side they played was a joke, even we would've beat them and maybe comfortably. They took care of North easily but they didn't completely humiliate them. If we get beaten the same was as North did I think we can respond. The hawks have a huge psychological hold on us anyway, the round 1 saints don't. Also I'm not sure we really got to choose the match. Once we were gifted the game at Casey (which is great for Casey and good for MFC) we were probably stuck with the opponent. What I'd like to know is how much we will bend to Hawthorn's negotiations. Apparently they want it as close to round 1 as possible. Where as we'd prefer and extended bench to give guys like Dawes and Viney a run. I hope we don't roll over to Hawthorn.

Fine I'll say it. Do not like this. Throughout the period we were chasing Roos he said time and time again how busy and stressful an AFL coaching job is. Now he signs on and he's got extra time to do media work every week? Yes we need to be in the public eye for exposure but we have to win games. That means a coach who isn't burnt out and who isn't having to get involved with too much media. Luckily Robbo is a complete light weight so won't ask too much tough questions and Gerard is pretty respectful to his guests. Also lucky Bomber is staying on (for now) so mainly they can both talk about their glory days and deflect from their teams. But overall I still dislike it.

I know he had to get fit, that's priority one to play in the midfield. And of course he'll be mainly an outside player. But Watts looked very thin up against the Geelong guys. Stevie J's quads are double the size of Watts'. But he's been at the club for years now so his body can't be an excuse.

Timid, weak, disappointing. Are you describing yourself?

From the time I've been going to these Casey practice games getting in to parking hasn't been too much of a problem. A little slow moving but you eventually get directed to the right area as it fills up. The issue I've got is getting out they only have the one way out at the main entrance. At least last year they got everyone going out of there left or right quicker but they need a second exit which they probably wont do as it would mean crossing the rail tracks or cutting through properties south. Poor design but what do you expect I guess. By the way for those coming down the Monash I've found it much quicker to go via Berwick and Clyde road than go through Cranbourne on the South Gippy Highway. Same on the way home.

On what basis? He was great against the Cats. A solid hit out against the Hawks and he's ready to go. Lucky we have one decent key forward ready no point holding him back now.

I see what you are saying but I think it's wrong. Very few players can go from just training straight in to AFL footy. Hence the build up in game time through preseason matches. Not to mention their is a greater injury risk when it happens. So it's unreasonable to expect a second year player to do so. The notion of being underdone came in when players started running up to 20km a game. When you cover that much distance in game situations the toll on the body is so severe that you need more than just training as preparation. Hopefully Viney plays this week and the next. Then he would've had 2 hitouts to get himself physically prepared for round 1. It will then come down to form.

Might be to increase the crowd as well. Not sure if the club makes money from these games but I think Casey usually do the BBQs and should rake in a fair few dollars which in turn helps MFC. And you'd hope someone makes some money from the car parking disaster.

If we stuff up Jack Viney we may as well fold. His very first game against Port he showed what he can do. A positive against Geelong was that we matched them in clearances and centre clearances. Having a better back up than King in the ruck will give us a bit of a boost. And as much as Geelong missed Selwood within a year or so at least at clearances Viney will consistently show his worth. Especially now we have the 4 new midfielders for support. Viney and Jones were our only clearance winners last year.

For all Demetriou's faults I thought he was pretty fair and was on the right path for most things. I'm more nervous about Gillon McLaughlan.

Got to be fair to Riley and put him back on the senior list once he resumes matches in the VFL. But it's rare to go too long without injury. I'm super impressed with Georgiou but once Garland is back then Georgiou will really have to force his way in (which is good for everyone). It would actually work nicely that if Georgiou gets promoted and then demoted if it coincided with Garland's return. Hopefully in future we go for 5 or 6 rookies so we always have an upgrade at the start of the year.

I don't get why the Age didn't just publish them. The list of 44 bombers has been trimmed to 10 plus the 2 at other clubs plus the 2 out of the AFL. It's good news for the other 30 on the bombers list that year. Now of course if those 10 get sanctions the bombers and probably the comp is in big trouble due to the quality of player listed. Essendon would have to get special list and salary cap concession to sign the best 10 free agents or mature VFL players they could get and they'd be a bottom 4 list for sure. It's also good news for Jobe Watson who now is not alone as the poster boy for admitting to peptides

Which in turn would make Byrnes or Bail the sub (if Blease isn't). But I think JKH is in with a chance with a strong performance against the hawks. His training form and efforts haven't been like a first year player and that's why I'd give him a shot. Besides that pencil in the pencil Jake Spencer as ruck. His play against Geelong has all but got him that role. 1 or 2 of Gawn, Dawes and Fitzy are fighting for the left over spots. Jack Viney probably has the odds against him to get in but if he plays Saturday that can change. Otherwise another of Bail, Byrnes or Matt Jones are in line for a game. Lastly we can't discount Clisby or Strauss with a good performance down back.

Trengove has top line endurance and good game running sense allowing him to get into open space. He's also a good tackler, strong mark, hard at the ball and has reasonably reliable skills. Plenty of deficiencies but a lot to like as well. Clisby v Terlich is interesting. Clisby has a more fluent kicking action but he's not perfect by foot either. Probably a little closer checking as a defender but Terlich takes good intercept marks (and courageous ones). Terlich is also a better tackler and better at winning the ball in space. A little taller as well. Another 2 players that have some positives and negatives. Btw your magical best 22 features a number of players who aren't fit for round 1 - Clark and Garland for a start. As this thread is a round 1 thread it makes it even less useful.

Silly Essendon and players. They should've just denied it all like Dank has. That said if the only evidence ASADA has is that the players said they did stuff then the players will be fine!

Except a lower team on the rise might sometimes have been a better test. I think Geelong were a quality team on paper playing at a decent intensity (maybe 75%). Richmond (with no Maric, Riewoldt etc) were an ok team on paper playing at about 60%. Overall I agree we've had a reasonable test with the biggest yet to come against the hawks.

A couple of shocking kicks in there but some of them were also the receiving player wasn't quite getting in the right spot. For example the Bail one where he ends up handballing to no one. If Michie pushed wider then Bail could've put it out into space to Michie. Same with the Matt Jones floater to Bartel. If Nicholson sprints all the way to the boundary then it takes Bartel right out of the equation. I think the wind and hot weather would make an impact on the quality of run which is really what sets up this game plan. Of course the opposition pressure was much increased but against Richmond we really found the gaps with our running to get nice and wide switches of play and then used the middle. Casey is notoriously windy so it will be interesting to see if they get it together.

Yep. You see them go backwards or sideways when there is a clear easy target up the field and you pull you hair out. Or the extra 2 handballs back and across when the player was already out in space. Plenty of work to go until it's the right mix of retaining possession and attacking.

Well he uses it well for the situations but even though they might shank a couple more than he does my point remains it makes more sense to go with someone like Terlich, Clisby and Strauss as the rebounding players. Either way I'm pretty sure Georgiou will be played like a Dale Morris or Josh Gibson. He'll be the second or third tall defender who has to play on guys with 10m on him but if he uses his body and positioning it will take a very good forward to beat him.

Take out Viney who hasn't seen play yet. Is Matt Jones still in our top 10 mids. The answer is probably yes just. That puts him right in line for round 1 still.

The third Perth team the Perth Pidgeons. Somewhat controversially they will play games at Joondalup and 1 game a year in Pretoria Hogan will be their inaugural captain. A senile Mick Malthouse will coach before handing over to Cam Bruce in year three.

Just saying he wasn't perfect. No one ever is. I think his lot in AFL life is going to be playing on guys with 10cm on him. Like Josh Gibson at Hawthorn. Georgiou isn't going to be picked to play on small forwards and resting mids. You need guys with more ability to find and use the ball for those spots. Against the saints for example at this stage I'd go: Frawley - Back up ruck (Stanley or Longer) McDonald - Riewoldt Georgiou - Tom Lee/Maister Then Dunn can be used smalls to attack the game more with his skills and hopefully take some intercept marks

Was good by foot. Makes fast decisions which impresses me. Once you do that the window of where to kick the ball is much larger than when you delay. But got beat on the lead a couple of times.

We went after mids so that we have fit, mature bodies capable of winning the ball and running out games. Cross has been great but come regular season he'll have his moments when he looks finished. Michie looked good last night but has only played half an AFL game, almost by definition he's not AFL standard yet. Toumpas is playing half forward in a way of conceding he's not yet AFL standard. Matt Jones when he came the club had a bit of a funny kicking technique that saw him sky the ball a bit. If a few turnovers means he's working on it that's fine. If we go 6 defenders, 2 rucks, 2 key forwards, 2 other forwards that means we need 10 midfielders each week. N. Jones, Vince, Tyson, Cross, Trengove, Watts, Viney, Michie, Toumpas, That only makes 9. Viney isn't in line for round 1. So we are back to 8. Means we probably need 2 of McKenzie, M. Jones, Riley, Evans to play round 1 and some parts of the year or we have to call upon Blease, Byrnes, Kent or Bail. By next year we could be looking at Kent, JKH, Salem and Aiden Riley are legitimate members of the midfield mix. Plus other draft and trade options. Of course in an ideal world Matt Jones at his current level with turnovers is considered depth. But right now we have 1 first choice mid injured in Viney and he's in line to play. The depth is limited.