DeeSpencer

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.

I know you have links to the Russian so thanks for the update. I think the truth lies inbetween. His body has not yet failed him but full training only in late February is a sign there's not a lot of tread on the tires at the moment. Getting your first hit out either in the last practice match or only in VFL practice matches isn't a great sign either. I'd be inclined not to play him against the Hawks so we can use the game minutes for Fitzy, Gawn and Spencer to all rotate through the ruck. Don't get me wrong I think Jamar still has more to give and he can even recapture the first ruck job and then roll with it. But if the others have it then they should stay with it and Jamar can build up through the VFL. The true indicator of a player being finished isn't so much if they struggle to get back. Young players struggle to get back from injuries at times. It's when they get back if they can't stay up. I'm tipping Jamar to make a serious run at the first ruck job and maybe even keep it as his based on form. But then if he breaks down he'll be in trouble. I hope all of Spencer, Jamar and Gawn can be fit for most of the season so they can push each others game. Spencer will know he has to use the ball better. Gawn will know he needs his endurance to lift. Jamar knows he has to find more footy around the ground and all 3 know they have to be better at hit outs. That's good exciting development. Jamar was exploited a bit being made to be number 1 ruck and also ruck coach pretty much, Stafford should be good for him as much as the young guys.

I'm just saying that maybe the way Dwayne didn't go in to specifics about Newman is because there are more to the specifics. The more likely scenario is that Dwayne cant recall one fact from another. At this stage all I've heard about Williams is about what happened that night via the trial and how he's been well behaved since. I wasn't necessarily saying his good behaviour should buy him much sympathy. I just wanted to highlight that there might be differences between the cases in a lot of ways. He will now get his punishment. I too have been assaulted without warning and it's a horrible feeling. The police didn't even find who did it and considering that I didn't have any obvious immediate physical trauma besides cuts and bruises to be honest they didn't care. I went off to get patched up and I had no follow up. If I ended up with a delayed medical condition my family or I probably would've had to notify the police because they weren't checking on me. Not that i blame them individually they have so many other cases to get on with. One difference between you and I and this guy Williams hit is that we were minding our own business yet Williams was earlier set upon the toilets by this guys friends. In a lot of cases I'm all for big sentences and giving clowns who commit coward punch attacks the most we can. Same rapists and murderers and so on. But I think the Williams case deserves some proper judicial consideration when sentencing.

Newman's legal predicament is pretty simple as you say but I think there are a lot more issues in his background and involving family that he's had to work through. Doesn't excuse his criminal behaviour I'm just saying there's more behind that story I think. Williams is a bit more straight forward. He might have been a bit of a lad around town in Albany and not exactly a clean skin but really at least since his incident he's been a good citizen and an improving player.

A moment of madness when he decided it was 'self defence' to go smack a bloke with his arms down because the guy and his mates had jumped him in the toilets. A cowardly and stupid decision. Walking, running (these AFL players are pretty fit) or getting assistance from police or bouncers would have been the gutsy and smart decision. Anyway I have no tolerance for these drunken cowardly assaults. But at the same time Collingwood or not he's avoided trouble since and done charity work. He's not a repeat offender who needs to be taken off our streets for good. The judge has a tough choice whether to side with the communities need for a message to be sent or side with communities need for young guys who make mistakes to get a second chance. But Collingwood, dear high horse cleaning out the rack pack Collingwood. They too should stick by this guy and let him get a shot at making a career and a life for himself long term. But in the short term he should be at least stood down regardless if he gets gaol time or not. He's a convicted criminal now.

Theres always confidence. But usually it's based on hope of this and hope of that. This year we've at least actually seen some results already. In previous years we'd be saying Salem and JKH are key parts of the team. This year we hope they can give us some decent games and play a role

As the ruckman who plays 75% of the game I'd rather Jamar. But mainly a Spencer or Gawn!Hit outs are overrated but getting destroyed in hit outs really kills you. As the second ruck competing with the opponents second id rather Fitzy. But it's not Fitzy v Jamar for that it's Fitzy v Gawn who is a better ruck and a better contested mark forward even though Fitzy is a far superior forward in all other aspects

I get the feeling Etihad isn't Clark's go anyway. Too firm and small. Let Fitzy or Gawny fill in for round 1. Big Mitch is a man of the people and that means playing at the peoples ground. That's how I'm convincing myself of a positive!

Oh FFS. You're making stuff up. Dawes appears perfectly fit and has been managed up until this point. Off restricted training today he came out and kicked a couple of goals and probably beat Tom McDonald. Clark was improving and then pulled a hammy. You are right to be speculative in regards to Clark because of his troubled history of late but you can't just guess injuries and then say how smart you were. Hogan was not substandard today. He was not unfit or overweight. He was on the losing side of a completely unrealistic practice match against a decent enough opponent (I think Georgiou was on him for a bit). He kicked a goal didn't he or at least had a shot. Won a lovely ruck tap and followed it up and won the ball at half forward kicking to the north end and did one of the best handballs of the day to release a runner. If round 1 was tomorrow he wouldn't play. But it's not. It's in a months time in which he will be back in ball work training. He should also play 2 practice games that will allow him to highlight his ability. Maybe Fitzy, Dawes or heaven help us Pedersen with his 8 touches and 1 mark games will out play Hogan in to round 1 but you can't make a judgement on Fitzy and Gawn taking a few grabs on undersized young Casey defenders.

I like it when Fitzy gets the ball 60m out and can race away in to an empty 50 with his speed and blast a goal with his high ball drop strangely effective kicking style. I'm not so keen on him getting the ball up on the wing and trying to kick it to a forward target. I'd be much more confident with Bernie Vince or Jack Watts! Either way if Dawes proves his fitness the next 2 weeks and Spencer is set in the ruck (almost by default considering Gawny is just warming in to his season and Jamar is MIA) then it probably leaves 2 spots for 3 talented guys in Hogan, Gawn and Fitzy. I can't remember the last time we had a confident best 22 to line up in round 1 (2013 we played Gillies, 2012 an outmatched Tynan debuted and maybe even Spencer himself played round 1 in 2010 or 2011) and this year we might still be guessing on the last forward or defender picked but at least in terms of big guys we might get a competition for spots. That's exciting. That's how you get better when good young players aren't improving in preseason just so they can say they got better or to keep their spot on the list but they are doing it because they desperately want a round 1 spot.

It's Jesse Hogan we are talking about here. He won the B+F at Casey last year. He looked more than capable of mixing it in the NAB cup last year. I don't care if he spends most of the year back in the VFL if that's deemed necessary but this is not a guy who needs cuddling and protecting psychologically. To be honest I don't think Watts ever needed that either he just needed to be supported physically and not ruined psychologically. As I've said before they made a lot of mistakes pumping up Watts' debut but maybe the bigger problem was they didn't work out how to send him back to Casey with specific goals and expectations and without feeling like a failure. Hogan will lose confidence if they chop and change his role and keep him in the team if he's underperforming or drop him and not set him specific targets. I'm 99% sure that debuting him even in round 1 wont hurt him at all. The young midfielders will be protected from heavy work loads as well of course. Viney wont be playing 80% game time in the centre square. Toumpas looks set to start at half forward. Salem will need dominant NAB challenge games to even get close to round 1.

By the way possibly the best look on track today was Todd Viney. He looks to have lost about 2 stone. Was looking good.