DeeSpencer

Public or private, whichever political party you like, I can't help thinking how dumb we've become. We have so much good farming land and so many precious metals in the ground we should be able to have good paying jobs for 10 million people (even though we don't have that many needing them) farming food, mining and most importantly then making those food ingredients in to products and making those minerals and metals in to something. The rest of us can then all have jobs being the teachers, nurses, accountants, media, footballers whatever. And we should be able to do it all with free trade in place. Anyway that's all off topic. Back on topic what's everyone expecting from the crowd on Friday? Attendance number? Loud? Big demon contingent in Alice? Will the great man Liam Jurrah be in attendance (is he locked up at the moment?). On a similar note given that it's still a practice match it's probably worth it to include Dom Barry in the team as a local boy. It might get us a bit more interest and he'd probably be keen to play and do well anyway. We have to be more ruthless and less sentimental as a club but nothing wrong with the occasional pragmatic decision in selection.

I don't know what to make of the media. It seems to me some successful coaches have amazing records despite horrible relationships with the media but they usually are the ones who show disdain more than the ones who get so hung up with the press. I'm thinking Bill Belichick or some of the soccer coaches. Brad could learn a lot from his own brother Chris who is usually quite cool and calm and likes a joke but when it's business and he's ticked off he gives them some clever quick witted jabs to put them in their place. Brad on the other hand gets angry and sulks. Of course they've had their ups and downs with young players. But under Brad Scott North have had more winners than losers when it comes to draft picks. He's developed Thompson, Atley, Mullett, McMillan down back, Cunnington, Ziebell, Bastinac, Gibson into above average mids, Goldstein in the ruck and Black, Leigh Adams and Lindsay Thomas up forward I'd say they are the big successes of his player development. His question marks are Tarrant, Daw, Harper, Wright, Jacobs and McKenzie. They are classic 'next level' guys. Ie if they also kick on and make it they have the skills to take you up a step. The other thing Scott has done is taken a group of mature players that I'd say were both questionable in terms of talent and leadership and made them successful. I think at any one time North supporters would've had doubts about Petrie, Wells, Hansen, Grima and Swallow but they've all played good footy under Scott. Mainly I'm impressed that he managed to rebuild to a capable level quickly. He took over a 7.5 win team and went 11 wins, 10 wins, 14 wins then 10 wins (that should've been more) all whilst improving the age profile of the list most years. He's obviously reaching critical years now as in a few years there won't be Harvey, Petrie, Wells, Dal Santo and Firrito so it's not like they are Geelong of 07 having had success and with years to come based on the list but at the same time they are unlikely to fall in a heap at anytime soon. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a top 4 finish at some stage but ultimately fell pretty short of a flag in the next few years and they became the next team for Ross Lyon (or even a famous old boy of the club in John Longmire having transitioned the swans) to take over as a finisher type coach.

And that's why she's your ex right?

Definitely. I'm just talking round 1 and not planning on Clark until he's back on track. By the way it's so good Fox are doing all these nab challenge games. No way in the past that Melb v Geel in Alice gets on TV. We'd be lucky to get single camera coverage like the port game last year

Clark for sure and maybe Fitzy but I think Roos will be keen to play 2 rucks instead of Fitzy unless he's improved his ruck work a lot since last year. I totally agree we want as much run as possible with a young side but Roos will still base the game plan on stoppages and that means rucking is important. I think Gawn and Fitzy are in a pretty tight battle to back up Spencer in round 1. For that reason both will be keen for a big game on Friday. Even though his chances of taking clean grabs and slotting goals are pretty remote maybe with some new found confidence and his athleticism Spencer won't actually be a complete disaster up forward. You never know.

At the same time if we lock someone away for 15 years for the same crime it costs us a heap of money and also gives them less hope for rehabilitation making them more likely to settle in to criminal prison life and come out worse than they went in. I don't know what the answer is Arrow. We could certainly start with harsher sentences, bail and parole conditions for repeat offenders. Ie. we will give you a first chance but we wont be so kind next time.

What do you base that on? The fact he has a beard and he had a big night in China a few years back? No doubt Gawn is a bit of a larrikin but I think he takes his footy pretty seriously and is always training hard. Injuries have just meant he hasn't got the preseasons under the belt yet. Last year he badly ran out of puff on a super wet night in a hard slog of a game rucking against Minson. Besides that he competed with some other top rucks without any fitness issues. And that was coming off a bad hamstring injury that needed a lot of rest. This year he's done a more minor hamstring injury early in preseason and has been building throughout.

No way Gawn should be more advanced. Just turned 22 and missed a year with an ACL. He's tracking fine. Played some top games last year when he finally got the chance to be the number 1. I like King but he's hopeless in the ruck, has little endurance and really didn't do anything too amazing in the NAB challenge game (the goal was lovely). What he has shown is he's got some talent and he's a brilliant kick. But that's really a bit irrelevant until he can at least show he's physically ready for VFL seniors yet alone AFL. Jolly...No way! First the guys a serial whinger. But besides that he's just the same as Jamar. Why have 2 of the same things. Spencer and Gawn will both be capable of measuring up most games. I just have my concerns about whether they'll stop the best rucks and whether they'll break even against some mediocre guys. But there'd both a decent future and ok for now. Grundy looks very good. But he was an exception as such a ready made big guy in terms of physique. I'm pretty convinced he dropped so low in the draft for a combination of factors. The first is if you already have good young prospects you don't need him. I'd love Grundy instead of Spencer. And take a Grundy for Gawn trade even though I really like Maxy. But given the state of our midfield I wouldn't have used pick 18 on him unless you could gaurantee a decent pick when off loading Spencer. I think a lot of teams thought the same if they already had ruck options why get another. The other big concern I think must be his attitude. His fiery on the field and opinionated and unique off the field. Chances are he's just a confident brash young guy who we could do with but it could also be he crosses the line sometimes. I wonder if he'd qualify for Roos' famous no DH policy.

It's good spanner. Spencer and Gawn fight for the first ruck job, Fitzy and Clark for the back up job. Plus there are combinations. In a good hard running side you can probably get away with Gawn as the second ruck especially if you can sub off Spencer in the last quarter and use a key forward to do the 5 minutes rucking needed. Fitzy can be a key forward as well. I like Jake and I hope he has improved enough that he and Gawn have an honest battle and raise each others standards.

I not convinced we have one our list right at the moment. And it's not a major concern for us but if you are a top team you can't be caught short without one like Geelong were last year and Collingwood were in their GF against Brisbane. So when you say ruckman are overrated I argue. That's all. I'm verbose because others here are overly blunt. There's no point coming to demonland to just read a bunch of off hand statements without explanation. I over explain because I think the repetition is often needed.

No but I'm saying the one's who can do enough to limit the impact of a Cox/Sandilands are extremely important and not every team has one at the time they need it. Max Bailey is the latest premiership ruckman who was a dime a dozen player but if they Hawks didn't have him they might not have won the grand final. Same can be said for full backs. Obviously a very good one is great but as long as you have a decent one who doesn't get exploited you can make do. Again it's a lesson Hawthorn learnt losing big games with Schoenmakers. Spencer and Gawn are both very close to the level at which they can limit the impact of their direct opponent, which particularly for Spencer is what I want to see from him. Jamar rose to a level above that but now is probably not quite at that level again. Rucks become unimportant when they cancel each other out. When the opposition get a bonus midfielder capable of taking marks around the ground AND/OR a guy who wins 80% of the hit outs and spoon feeds his midfielders then the team is in trouble.

You see I don't understand that because for their to be a Dean Cox it means he has to have a direct opponent to play on. Jamar was huge in 2010 and that was the first and last time in a long time we had a close to dominant big guy. Not only did he help us win games by smashing some opponent he also got us in games against the likes of Cox, Sandilands etc by limiting their output. I agree there are a couple of A graders running around at any stage and then a couple of guys who in any one or two years play at that level (Minson last year, Maric the year before) and then mainly a lot of similar B graders. But you got to have one of those B graders because otherwise you can get destroyed by an A grade player. The horrendous skills are one thing from Spencer but they are what they are. I feel he makes up for them by chasing down midfielders and laying some big tackles that no other ruck even Cox does (ok maybe NicNat). What I judge Spencer on is his ability to win at least 40% of the hit outs so his opponents are stuffing it down their midfielders throats and getting easy clearances and Spencer's ability to spoil (or mark) around the ground. When he's a long target he has to get his hands on the ball and if he doesn't mark at least bring it to ground and when he's defending a long bomb from the other team he has to not be outmarked. In the past he's had a tendency to be out of position and/or pushed out of way too many marking contests given his size and strength.

If there was a ladder for late 80's, 90's and up until 2005 we would've been quite good. We had our moments in the 90's where things went wrong but those were the days that if you had some talent on your list and ability to coach things could turn around pretty quickly. The last few years with the introduction of GWS and GC and the monumental increase in footy department spending at a time where a number of clubs including us still aren't financially secure has made it hard to turn things around. I know he left in pretty bad circumstances but Bailey with proper sports science, training, recruiting and coaching budgets very well could've made it as I coach I believe. If he succeeded then there would've been cause for the 'even made it at the dismal dees' line. If Roos turns this club around it will be a huge testament to his ability as a coach. But it will also likely mean Peter Jackson has done a fantastic job as CEO, Todd Viney in list management, Jason Taylor in recruiting and Dave Misson in sports science. The point about Daniher not getting another senior gig is interesting but I would've thought after nearly a decade coaching the Dees he would've been happy with the West Coast job for a time and then probably felt once he settled in to that job there wasn't much point going for another ride on the coaching bandwagon. I do think Roos should be considering Brett Ratten for the senior assistant and successor job. And Voss or Matty Knights could be worth an interview at least if they had strong interest. But Ratten was great as our midfield coach. And took a limited Carlton team from a mess to the 8 by developing young talent. Plus I think the recruiters he had working for him were pretty average besides from getting the number 1 picks somewhat right. If Ratten had a weakness it might have been his tactical knowledge but that would be improved by working under Clarkson and I think Ratten would be receptive to Roos' philosophies on defensive play, stoppages and ball control.

But just as worrying is relying on Terlich, Grimes and Dunn to be the distributors from half back in a final. Luckily I have a solution! Persist with those guys as well as Strauss depending on form whilst we improve as a side. Designate Bernie Vince and Watts in particular as midfielders who's job it is to float across half back to get involved in chains of disposal. Develop more midfield depth and then move one of the midfielders with top skills to half back like Sydney have done with Jarrad McVeigh. I actually think this is in Roos' plan for Vince. If he gives us a couple of years of his best tough in close midfield footy he can then be transitioned to the half back flank to play on a lesser forward and be the distributor. This year is his year to learn about AFL and training etc but another option I'd be fully supportive off would be to move Salem to half back from next year. Beautiful kick, left footed which we desperately need at half back and likes the hard physical stuff so wouldn't be out of place in the backline.

If Ben Reid plays forward (and it will be hard not to leave him there considering how dangerous he is). Collingwood's backline is as follows Talls: Keeffe, Brown, Frost Mediums: Maxwell, Goldsack, Lumumber Smalls: Seedsman, Sinclair, Armstrong, Toovey (from a knee reco), Marty Clarke and possibly Marley Williams if he's not in prison. Plus some kids. Now those talls aren't bad and the mediums are serviceable but that group isn't winning a premiership as a defense in 2014. Like most areas of the ground they do have a lot of talent available eventually and in a couple of years could have a really talented group considering they've got high draft pick Scharenberg and some other youngsters I rate in Broomhead and Langdon but that's the challenge for the Pies. The most cohesive and maybe best backline in the league in 2010/2011 has been deconstructed with the trading of Shaw and moving Reid forward.

Might not change their chances of getting to finals but puts a big hole in their chances of finishing top 4 and of winning finals. Rucks; Simpson (big, unproven, promising), McIntosh (often injured), Blicavs (undersized, raw) 2nd ruck/forward options: Walker (bit small at 196cm) Key forwards: Hawkins, Kersten (bit undersized at 191cm) That's a pretty benign bunch besides Hawkins. Of course Geelong still have enough talent in the backline talls and with a huge mixture of smalls but key forwards who win one on ones and big rucks who impact games are pretty important. Geelong now look a bit vulnerable in that area. Say they play Freo again in a final and the come up against Sandilands and Zac Clarke then that's a big advantage to the Freo midfield. And down back Freo have Dawson, McPharlin and Johnson, who would really put pressure on the second and third tall Geelong forwards.

Our first hit out was reasonable but the Tigers were asleep and we just got passed them. Although the longer the match went the better we seemed to get. I think a lot of that might have been confidence and coming to terms with the fact we were winning and should keep playing well. Today Collingwood are asleep and the Tigers up and firing in terms of intensity and whilst the game got close in the 3rd quarter they kicked away. You could tell Richmond weren't giving much against us because Anthony Miles was there best player. Today Cotchin, Deledio and Martin stood up. Biggest concern for Richmond is key defense. Rance has good days and bad, Grimes is injured, Astbury i'm not convinced on and Chaplin is really a third tall. North. Let's wait and see a little while. Personally I reckon their young talent is good not great and their experienced talent is missing a bit as well. Wells, Petrie, McMahon, Harvey and even Nicky Dal, there's a front runner aspect to that. Scott is empowers young players to go out and play well and have a go. Not sure he's a great tactician though. In trying to change tactics over the preseason for more defense they might end up shooting themselves in the foot.

We'd like more control in Casey but we need to provide them with valuable reason to give up the independence they keep. Realistically unless we've got the dollars to provide them in terms of paying players and running their club they have little incentive to join on to us. Better for them to suffer and stay independent than suffer and be dependent as well. Same thing goes for a reserves side, we don't have the cash to make it happen and we don't have facilities either I would say. If we provide a keen interest in the Casey players (drafting one every now and then wouldn't hurt but at least making sure Casey players get drafted), provide our coaching excellence in to the Casey system and our players commit when wearing the Casey jumper then Casey will return the favour by falling in line with our footballing principles. That's about the best hope we can ask for in the short term. If we wanted to be based full time at Casey fields I think we could do it in a flash and the Casey council would be very supportive. They've already got the grounds and gym and together with some fundraising from the AFL, governments and councils to fund some sport science gear (?do they have cold pools and spas, bike room etc) all they'd need to build is enough office space for the footy department and admin. But it's windy, it's 30 minutes from anywhere at least if not more from where players actually want to live. Not to mention supporters, staff and other facilities such as medical specialists. St Kilda are struggling with Seaford and it's 30 minutes or less from Moorabbin. Casey is further again. I think it remains an option for a primary base but at the moment is best used as a secondary base. Even if controlling a NT team generated revenue I couldn't see it as significant and any publicity would die off pretty quickly. Then we are busy controlling a team that no one cares about. It wouldn't help us draft players. It wouldn't help us develop our players. It would really be a largely unprofitable side project. Not to mention as I said before I don't think the AFL would be too keen to have mini franchises set up in NT league or anywhere else for that matter. I'm all for thinking laterally but the other thing we need to do is keep the main focus on the basics. That was the first lesson from the Schwab era was it not? PJ's got a pretty simple plan - it's to spend as much money as he can get on coaching, developing, sports science, list management and recruiting. Everything else comes down the line from that.

Good to have Panozza signed on gives them a leader and reliable key defender. Troy Davis also means a flexible tall capable of playing forward or back. They should have one of our senior rucks (likely Jamar at the start of the year) available, plus King, maybe a tall forward of quality like Fitzy or Hogan especially once Clark comes back and the likes of Georgiou or Pedersen in defense if we don't suffer injuries to key backs. That would be a start to a decent team. My mail I've heard though is the scorps are light on for top experienced signings this year due to financial constraints so injuries to Melbourne guys will see them struggle. Especially in the midfield where last year Rodan, Magner and Couch gave them so much drive. They've been replaced by better players in Cross, Vince and Michie who will likely feature for Melbourne but in some ways at VFL level Rodan/Magner/Couch were likely better than young demon guys who miss the best 22 like Evans, Blease and Barry. Of those senior Casey players returning without knowing a lot about them I think Gent is a senior midfielder but a lot of the others are more flanker types. I'd like to see Jake Best take his game to the midfield though this year. He's got pace and run that he used so well forward, stepping it up to midfield might help him get drafted. Anyway it might be a young and fresh Casey side this year. If they gel early they might get some success. I'll be pretty keen to hear how the likes of Salem, Hunt, Harmes and King go at Casey. Plus it looks likely that Garland and Clark will make their return via Casey either in practice or real matches.

Those myki's are pretty solid and sharp. Wetting it wont do much but if it had a sharp edge you might be able to cut someone with it. Sounds like fighting stupid with stupid but the other problem is the cultural shift. If you whacked someone out the front of the local pub years ago someone would've whacked you back and half the chance the coppers would've whacked the whole lot of you for the troubles. These aren't fights anymore with men squaring off toe to toe. It's just an assault usually on the innocent who can't fight back. Don't get me wrong I don't want a return to brawling but at least you knew what was coming. You don't hear the phrase do you want to take this outside anymore, you just hear a punch in the back of the head. This might upset people and we do live in a nanny state in a lot of ways but I'm with the government's ban on MMA due to it's nature as cage fighting. I don't see the need for it and the need to produce more trained and physical young men.

He's got the fitness and form to be straight in to round 1 but what bit about Dunn is integral? He's proven time after time he's a dumb footballer. He's a good athlete with a nice mix of size, speed and skills. He can play on B grade forwards either tall or small which makes him handy. And he's a technically proficient kick who can kick short or very long. But as I said, very silly footballer. Mental mistakes with the ball, silly mistakes off the ball and soft moments attacking the ball. If he plays to his best and minimises mistakes he will be a guy who gets picked every week. If not then Georgiou looks equally adept defensively and a much smarter player even if his kicking is limited. Once Garland comes back there will be competition between the mid size defenders. So far Dunn's career can be summarized as being a guy who got picked in bad teams to fill gaping holes. Post Neitz no FF - ok Dunn can do it. No defensive forwards - ok Dunn can do it. No tagger - let's try Dunn. No medium back flankers besides Garland - oh let's give Dunn a try there. I'd really love to see him play some consistent good footy to justify the years of develop and opportunity that he's had.

Lot of player turnover in the off season. Any good new names? Either fan created or player created Of the guys who regularly get called by the nicknames it seems it's Chunk, Chip, Pickles, Russian and Pencil. Most of the rest get the Paul Roos treatment with a y on the end of their name. I think Salem gets 'Sals' and Kennedy-Harris I head some of the guys yelling JK (but not JKH). Of the mature recruits I think it's Dom, Bern, Crossy and Viv. But Aidan Riley gets Pig which is quite a funny one.

Of course Casey should be playing the same game plan as us. The question is how do we make this happen. The Casey coach isn't listed as an MFC employee on our website. I'm sure in the past we've split the employment of the Casey coach so he can act as a go between the clubs. I'm also not sure what role if any our development coaches will have at Casey on match day. I know last year I think they tried to get the Casey and demons VFL guys training a session together each week but not sure if that will happen either. I'd love to have our own VFL team but it's not a financial reality for us yet. Barring that then I'd like to have greater control of Casey so that we can get a shared game plan and shared development of our players. I'm not sure if that's a reality either. I don't think we can just buy an NT team. 1 because there'd be little benefit in it. 2 because we can't afford it and 3. I'm not sure it would be allowed.

Reminds me of some of our losses over the last couple of years. I'm pretty sure a few times we've had percentage boosting losses. Hawthorn tonight experienced the percentage eroding win.

10 Things I think I know from the NAB Challenge so far: 1. Melbourne can't possibly be as bad as last year. 2. Neither can GWS. 3. If Hawthorn are to have a premiership hangover it won't be at the start of the year. 4. Brisbane have very little depth. If they have a long injury list including a number of their better players they will be bottom 4. 5. The phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder" does not apply to Fox Footy commentators. 6. Games of footy without a whole bunch of new rules are good. 7. So are supergoals, preseason is probably their home but they are fun. 8. I expect a much closer comp and some real battles to get in the 8 this year. 9. 18 games in 18 days with every team getting on TV is a great thing for equality and exposure. 10. A game every day isn't. Mondays and Tuesdays could be days without footy with double headers on the weekends instead. I watched patches of the early ones and all of the Melbourne game but couldn't get through more than 5 minutes here and there of the last few games.