DeeSpencer

Because there’s no trust in the AFL, it was seen as just a normal AFL giving something a tick, like they do with missed free kicks.

I think we’ve mishandled this and left space for rumours and innuendo whilst also now having football people (the coach, the GM) out over their skis. What I’d have done: Appoint Dr Peter Brukner (or similar) in the days after the game for a review to show the clubs total commitment to getting things spot on. Announce the review (late last week buried in with the footy news cycle) found no significant errors, correct clinical judgment but maybe something like room for process improvement. As well as commend doctors for getting him to hospital. Back the doctors with the evidence above.

Assuming Geelong stick with Conway who's very promising and English signs at the Dogs I can't see a Victorian team where big ROB would be the starting ruck. Maybe the Hawks but they'll stick with Meek/Reeves I'd imagine given they suit their timeline. So if the rumour is true that he's keen to come back to Victoria to continue his medical degree he'd be signing as a back up somewhere. If he costs nothing in a trade and takes genuine back up ruck money he'd certainly be the easiest solution, but the question is do we invest in a younger option who can take over from Max seamlessly, that's obviously the better solution if possible.

Back pocket: Ben Paton? Sean Lemmens? Wing: Brayden Cook, Curtis Taylor, Caleb Mitchell, Ethan Stanley, Angwin?, Hugo Ralph-Smith? Half forward: Ted Closehy, Sam Wicks Mid: Will Phillips?, Brandan Parfitt?, Cooper Craig-Peters, James Peatling Medium forward: McInnes (would also try him back). Ruck: Moyle, Max Ramsden, Max Heath, Henry Smith Key forward: Corey Ellison! Some lesser names, most out of contract, a couple of state league guys tossed in. I hope we can go out and land a big name, particular a tall or a gun on baller but they aren’t cheap nor easy to find. What we do have for the first time in 4 years is the ability to offer playing time on pretty much every line of the team. A back pocket would free up Judd. A bigger bodied wing would compliment Windsor, especially one who can go forward so there’s a rotation with Langdon. Speed in the forward line is badly needed. And a couple of quality tackling players would correct the midfield imbalance and add some overall competitiveness back in to the side.

Correct. The only way Gawn/Grundy was going to work was if Gawn - by far the better mark and reader of the play - was the forward and Grundy played at least 65% ruck. And Grundy was half fit and routinely out of position around the ground, so there was little incentive for Max to give up the position. Plus Gawn forward was somewhat flawed because we didn't have the right mobile talls to play alongside him. The Dogs have used Darcy in way we could use Gawn, but that's because JUH and Naughton are both super athletes and Naughton especially has played way up the ground.

- Kolt to play and look comfortable - AMW debut - Laurie to hopefully start to show something and get some midfield time - JVR to have a purple patch - The entire team to begin to embrace/understand flowing ball movement and the basic concept of the fat side - Fritsch to sub or Casey Oliver, Viney, ANB, Pickett, Salem, Rivers, Kolt, Laurie, Chandler all to see centre bounce time.

Im hardly a Pert fan but this is brain dead stupid: “When Demons’ CEO, Gary Pert declared on radio in October last year that: “Our culture at the club … is the best I’ve seen in 40 years”, that one statement opened the club up to immense scrutiny and a whole host of critics waiting for the club’s downfall. It, in effect, loaded up the club with pressure it couldn’t handle.” Our downfall has mostly been poor list management, perhaps some fitness but also a new game plan and natural playing group turnover and fatigue. It’s hard to be up for more than 3 years. It’s hard to reinvent a side to play a new way. Has anyone written about Richmond’s culture for their collapse in 2022 and this year? Our focus should be addressing any cultural issues for sure, but apart from that we need to keep stressing the culture is overwhelmingly good. Gawn, Viney, Tracc, ANB, Lever, Salem, Langdon, Chandler and so many more make it the best playing group culture we’ve had in decades. And I’d include the coaches in that too. Hard workers with close bonds to the players. The challenge is to fix what needs to be fixed - which might involve a few changes for cultural reasons - but overwhelmingly to ignore whatever point Mick is actually trying to make and stay the course.

Early in the year when Viney and Oliver looked somewhat like themselves and Tracc was covering the ground well sure. But since then we’ve desperately needed ANB on ball, and without him forward Langdon has been our best connective forward in a team desperate for that player. The saints were trash but we controlled that game and eventually put in on the scoreboard and Langdon had the second most score involvements. No doubt the best version of BBB is a good player but we’ve seen for 2.5 years now he starts the year well, cops an injury and each time he comes back after that he’s good for a game or a half at most. With the season all but done I’d much rather keep trying more new things that go back to Brown and players locked in to one set role.

Tholstrup, McAdam/Sestan, AMW should’ve all been picked ahead of Laurie, Billings, Howes and a focus in the offseason has to be finding a couple of mongrels. We miss Vanders, he set the tone.

We don't need Petty and Disco in the backline, we should get either Lever or Hore back and be perfectly well stocked for tall defenders. We can do worse than Petty and Disco, hence why they're getting games. Brown can't move and Fullarton is scared of contact. With ANB required on ball Lagdon's the only winner we have across half forward. We'd love 2 or 3 of him but he's needed forward as much as the wing. Taking the game on at half back and through the corridor requires half forwards with speed and smarts to get to the right spots to keep play flowing. Langdon has been great at that. Sparrow clearly hasn't cut the mustard on ball, it's vital for him and the team that he finds a new role. He's an A grade athlete, culture guy, team mate, he needs to find a spot to get value for the team. There's no personnel answer to suddenly fix everything. We've don't have the cattle in the tall forwards, lack quality in the mid/forward rotation and even before the Petracca injury our midfield was shallow, inflexible and below the required skill, speed and fitness. The best way to get value out of the rest of the season is to try a lot of guys in different roles.

Some of our best form this year - the come back against Carlton, the St Kilda win, has come because Langdon has gone to half forward with ANB going on ball. BBB has played in 6 games for 7 goals, including 2 goals in his last 3 games with an average of 4 touches. Since he was inexplicably picked for the quick back up against the Crows he's been about as useful as a big red witches hat on the field. He can come back in, he'll soon go back out.

Kind of over the footy aspect of this dirty player. But I'm still wondering what the legal ramifications for dangerous driving causing an accident were. https://au.sports.yahoo.com/afl-brayden-maynard-car-crash-details-emerge-collingwood-magpies-accident-211452650.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANeLIwy8JYSO-cBV9v2ZEOrW7LhSq_8yGPKl0BbzBTJvJNGdl_hPQ6B3qkIac92Wb1el-iSY4Kobxxkh2LB4DcSVSuUsr_R2NkbQ0FQ4kD9mtO3MkVzIazSS3CJpDbENZ_139cE7lhjGkTVZywOjyL-4izKbAJ-Zbs8QGN55SlLs#:~:text=Seven's report contained a statement,was injured in the accident.

We've all be long suffering from the Age rolling out this guy whenever the Dees hit a rough patch. When the sports editor gets an email from him pitching a story they could simply delete the email.

You probably can’t these days, not as a free agent anyway. But we should be targeting mids and talls with any big cash offers. Stengle’s a class player but paying him top of the line money makes sense for Essendon who have a huge hole there rather than us.

Looked to me like he was trying to encourage the Dees players to be more active in the zone, something we’ve badly needed this year. Either way, he crossed the line. Why they’ve allowed the runners back on the field more often this year I’ll never know, it was fine just after goals

I’d certainly try it, I think he has more of a future there than on a wing.

It was 2 back end first rounders in a [censored] draft, it wasn’t really that valuable unless we on traded them and got lucky with a team moving up. We can still rehab Petty’s value next year or even better, get him signed up long term playing great footy.

If we get a first round pick out of the transaction to use on another mid or tall it’s a win. If this era really is over we need to cash someone with value proactively and there’s not many choices.

Dodoro might have no idea what to do with top picks but he can find a late gem. I prefer the pies model the best, they’ve identified the exact guys they need and made great role players out of them. And they’ve utilised the preseason supplemental period as a time to get guys in to compete for list spots. That strengthens their preseason training numbers and adds intensity. Plus you have flexibility to take the guy you need based on injuries.

We’ve been so bad we’ve missed him. Couldn’t kick or run in more than second gear but he could tackle, accumulate and handball.

First person to go should be Kelly O’Donnell. He’s been the pro-scout for years and aside from obvious high profile targets like May, Lever, Hibberd and Langdon he’s found no one, especially since the flag when we’ve had the chance to offer success. Our delisted/state league talent is non existent yet alone attracting anyone of quality aside from a dice role on Grundy. Time to get someone who isn’t part of the furniture in.

Hore listed as 1 week, Lever 1-2. Either/both should be available after the bye. McAdam might not have the tank to do it for long but his 2nd efforts and tackling have been strong inside 50. Is there evidence AMW was sent back for work rate reasons? It may have been part of it but we'd run out of defenders when he was sent back. He has been a consistent tackling player forward or back the last 2 years at Casey. He's got speed and he attacks the ball in the air or on the deck. We aren't going to suddenly stumble upon a midfield or forward line that is in synch and can kick, so our best option is to get our fastest and best tackling players together and try to hunt some forward 50 turnovers. Kolt, AMW and McAdam are the 3 at Casey who consistently lay tackles. Get them with Kozzie and a couple of talls and keep it simple going inside 50.

Exactly, we tried tweaks in both 2022 and 2023. Tweaks were not enough. Our players couldn't be cajoled in to simply playing a more flowing attacking style from behind the ball. It was time for a fairly substantial shake up. And when you shake something up it usually gets worse before it gets better. This game plan - like any game plan - requires it to be drilled and practiced and it requires the right kind of players. Which is guys who can run with and without the ball and guys who can make decisions. Clayton Oliver who has done a full preseason in this system would be very useful. Clayton Oliver with no preseason not so useful. Gus Brayshaw would've been very well suited as an inside mid who could accumulate the ball and make good decisions when handballing at least. Petracca playing forward more and getting used across half forward by guys streaming through the middle would thrive in that role. We've seen glimpses of it on the days we haven't butchered it across half back on through the middle. The change is right, we aren't beating teams like Sydney and Collingwood going slow and long bomb footy. And not only that but we aren't developing players as any more than role players in that kind of footy.

May was a one may wall late in the first and through the 2nd when we actually had the game on our terms (aside from the no scoring bit). Not at all disinterested or lazy. But he is struggling with trying to cover a man and trying to cover everyone else. It's pretty common stuff in a team which can't get consistent pressure on the ball. Same thing happened with Tom Stewart against Sydney for example. Tim Watson's about as lazy a commentator as it gets so I wouldn't put much notice in to him

In: Kolt, AMW, Hore/Lever, McAdam Out: Howes, Billings, Tracc (inj), Laurie FB: McVee May Lever/Hore HB: Rivers T Mc Salem C: Windsor Viney Langdon HF: AMW Petty Chandler FF: McAdam JVR Pickett Foll: Gawn Oliver ANB Int: Bowie Kolt Sparrow Turner S: Fritsch Some speed, pressure, competitiveness and aggression in the forward line please!