DeeSpencer

Usually embargoed until tomorrow isn't it? Because it's obviously such huge news! But thanks for breaking the story _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

You would've thought a lawyer would know the difference between a k and g but anyway. Maybe you can take the full back from Perth out of Perth but you can take the Perth out of him. I also doubt his future as a stand up comic, not sure all the jokes hit the target. But I do like his straight forward approach and willingness to admit to failures. Let's see what specific plans the board can come up with next.

Strauss (inj) - Frawley - If Frawley available otherwise take your pick of Jetta or Nicholson or Pedersen depending on match ups Blease (inj) - Rodan or Nicholson Byrnes (inj) - Toumpas Watts (omit) - Taggert Howe (omit) - Magner Spencer (omit) - Gawn - Spencer hasn't been too bad but Gawn's VFL form demands a call up and don't want to drop Fitzy Davis (omit) - Dawes - Davis tries hard but if Dawes available he comes in FB: Dunn Frawley Garland HB: Terlich McDonald M. Jones C: Toumpas Viney Grimes HF: Taggert Dawes Trengove FF: Davey Fitzy Kent Foll: Gawn N. Jones McKenzie Int: Sylvia, Magner Tapscott S: Rodan/Nicholson

If Aaron honestly as a man thought he was up for it he wouldn't have been in such horrendous shape in 2012 that he wasn't up to being played for the entire year and then hardly doing much better in 2013 when he's looked ok but hasn't attacked the contest with anything near a high standard. I'm all for being open and honest but we also have to be much more ruthless. Players will respect that because we will win and that will inspire loyalty. AFL is a performance based industry and it's about time we realise that.

Old hack has beens who never played with strong leadership anyway (ie. Green and Bruce) weren't the answer though. This current Richmond side has climbed the ladder on the back of Brad Miller, Shane Tuck, Chris Newman and even now guys like Jake King and Dan Jackson. That's the kind of leader we needed to keep around. We all agree on Junior but I don't understand how letting Junior go when things were actually looking up necessarily makes Green and Bruce bad decisions. And I certainly disagree with anyone who thought Jeff White or Yze had time left.

It's funny because we always want our players to be traded and don't get me wrong it's not the worst idea. But why can't we ever give Sylvia or Watts a good spell in the 2's. For what it's worth I actually think Sylvia is having a dip at the moment. He's attacking the ball hard and tackling and probably running about as hard as he knows how given the culture has been ingrained into him. Personally from what I saw today I actually didn't think work ethic was the problem for most of our players. And 3 our blokes off and 2 of theirs off injured showed we tried physically. Today was about a team that has been coached up for 2 years on 110% attack at the contest and 120% work rate against a side that's got away with all too little for the best part of 5 years.

I'm not convinced he is or ever will be AFL level. Lacks speed and skills. Very much like a shorter version of Troy Davis. That said both seem to be good trainers and play hard footy. So that means they'd have the edge on a whole bunch who have had more opportunities.

I'd like to thank the MFC for over extending the career of Aaron Davey. For not been held hostage to Cameron Bruce. For finally stopping Adem Yze's consecutive game streak about 100 games too late.

Liam Jurrah could take marks like Howe. Where is he now? We need good players. Players who win games. The 1 hanger per game means nothing to me if we lose by 100. I'm not ready to trade Howe unless the offer is very good but he's far from untouchable. His defensive efforts today were crud. I hope for his sake he's been carrying an injury.

Yep Watts was atrocious. Midfield as we predicted got soundly beaten but their were patches in the the second and third quarter that looked ok. A revitalized McKenzie does make us better. Jones and Viney have each other for solace and that's at least a start against a very strong clearance team. Backline held up in the first 3 quarters pretty well. I know Freo don't often score a bunch but they could've scored at ease today but we didn't. We got another look at Spencer and I think we now know he'll compete but should be relegated back to depth. Fitzpatrick had a go. Davis wouldn't be the worst key forward to ever grace a football field Disappointed with the efforts of Watts, Blease and Howe. Disgruntled that Sylvia seems to be trying but butchers the ball Despondent that Grimes is struggling so much Down right sick of Dunn's shoddy decision making and kicking As far as 95 point losses go today was one that I at least thought well we have some hope and pieces of the puzzle.

Rubbish again today. Can't for the life of me work out when we are so desperate for midfielders why Howe plays deep forward unable to get a kick when he has the endurance to play on a wing. Back to Casey next week.

Fitzpatrick is already better than Martin. Win. Dawes and Hogan for the Scully compo picks. Win. Losing vital experience even if they were flawed characters in Moloney and Rivers is a loss but Port haven't missed Chaplin and Pearce. Giving up on Petterd when we had plenty of other duds to chop was a bad call but he's really just a flanker. More than anything it's McLean that annoys me. We did get fair compensation but completely [censored] it away with Gysberts. Any half decent reliable midfielder drafted in place of Gysberts would've satisfied me but that was obviously outside our reach

Watch the footage and try to convince me. I think you'll struggle. And my opinion is good players get suspended every now and then, because good teams play on the edge. Ill discipline is never good but attacking the contest and man can sometimes lead to suspensions and we haven't done enough of that in recent years

You need outstanding people to drive excellence and belief. That's my view anyway. But I do understand that we can't be in the market for more untried and inexperienced types. So I'd be all for Hayes as midfield development coach, someone like a Voss or Adam Simpson as midfield coach/senior assistant and further well credentialed assistants for forward and back. Eade is 55 and I don't believe he's reached an age where he can't work his butt off and keep a fresh mind if coaching is his passion. So I'm all for him having a good run at it. But having a senior assistant and a plan for handover in 3-5 years makes sense. I'm not sure any one coach could take Melbourne all the way to the top by themselves.

Will play one more VFL match then hang them up. Came to us in 2010 to help provide some leadership. Formed part of a top quality half back line with Rivers, Bruce and Grimes in 2010 that help us climb the furthest up the ladder since 2006 but after that has really been a fringe player. His new business is - liquorun.com

I'm concerned he's not committed to leaving.

GWS won't touch him and he'll end up at StKilda, cop it!

I would've dropped Davey weeks ago but now is not the time. Let's give him a farewell game and see if he can produce. He has had his patches this year. Down back it's a question of bring Pedersen in and free up a Dunn or Garland for smaller opponents or not. I say we don't and we let Terlich and Strauss show what they can do against the best small forward pairing in the comp in Walters and Ballantyne. Midfield is just a question of how bad the damage will be but we were smashed last time and it's time to see if Jones, Viney, Trengove and co can at least gain some respectability back. Up forward it's obvious that Fitzpatrick, Davis and Watts isn't half the combination that we hope Clark, Dawes and Hogan will be but again if they work hard it will be a start. Although I would consider Watts for the roaming wing and half forward role again. In the ruck it will be a question of 3 rucks with Gawn in or not. Personally I'd expose Spencer to a full on battle against Sandilands and Clarke. He's got the speed to go with Clarke and to get away from Sandilands and it's the ultimate test of his rucking ability. Things I'd love to get out of this game: - A small forward - Kent, Tapscott or Blease to find a way to influence the game - Aaron Davey to go out on a high - Strauss and/or Terlich stand up as small defenders - Spencer and Fitzpatrick to match them in the ruck - Colin Sylvia actually pay an opponent some respect - One of Trengove or Grimes to have an impact in the middle - Watts to play like a man against a team of men And as always against Freo - Ballantyne and/or Crowley to get some of their own medicine.

Sporting Pulse Goalking Statistics 51 Ben Warren (Werribee Tigers), Michael Lourey (Frankston) 48 Dean Galea (Port Melbourne) 39 Jesse Hogan (Casey Scorpions) 37 Jackson Paine (Collingwood) 36 Liam McBean (Coburg Tigers) He's twelve goals behind the two leaders who are on 51. Who knows if he kicks a huge bag this week against Bendigo Gold he might be some sneaky chance but you'd think he'd need at least 8 this week to get within range going in to the final round.

Skill wise Davis was pretty rubbish. Clearly lacks the pace to get enough separation on the lead or the size/marking ability to hold the marks. Also can't kick when he did get it. But his work rate was so far higher than others who have played across CHF this year - I'm talking Watts, Howe and Pedersen etc. At this stage I'd much rather play Davis with him giving 110% than some of the others mentioned. Agree on Byrnes. His kicking was crud but in terms of getting the ball it was the best game so far this year by any small forward in the red and blue.

With Jones the top line midfielder, Viney the contested ball machine and (based on last week anyway) McKenzie a good tagger the difference for our inside midfielders at least is guys like Trengove and Sylvia taking a step up. Sure Jones and Viney isn't a top 2 like a Pendlebury and Swan or Selwood and Stevie J but they are what we've got. If we are waiting for a superstar for our midlevel players to step up we will be waiting a long time.

I understand how a player could get better with support around them but I don't understand how Trengove gets to elite and damaging due to other players. I also don't understand how getting his disposal count to 25 per game makes him a freak. Here's what we know about Trengove: Strengths - Hard at the ball - Strong tackler - Good endurance that is likely to pick up with a good preseason - Good mark for his size Weaknesses - Speed - Disposal has been only average I think with a good preseason he'll accumulate more footy and also find a quicker initial step to win more ball at the contests. Right now he seems so plain and to lack a weapon in any form of the game. Hopefully that changes in the next couple of years. If he does improve a little everyone will appreciate him because besides his speed he won't have a lot of weaknesses.

FB: Dunn Garland Terlich HB: Strauss McDonald Clisby C: Trengove Jones M. Jones HF: Tapscott Davis Kent FF: Byrnes Fitzy Watts Foll: Spencer Viney McKenzie Int: Sylvia Davey Grimes Nicholson That's last weeks team. What does everyone think of the potential changes for this week? Clisby out but besides that you might think of dropping Matt Jones (quiet for a few weeks), Nicholson or Tapscott. Most others you'd think are pretty safe. Big Gawn as well as Jetta were 2 of the best in the VFL. Toumpas also got involved. Not sure you'd bring back Frawley or Dawes to rush them in this week. Magner solid as always. I wouldn't think this would be the week to play Dom Barry or Taggert. Could bring Pedersen back to play on the resting ruckman and allow one of Dunn or Garland to play small on a dangerous Freo forward or back in the likes of Terlich and Strauss against Ballantyne and Walters.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/stephen-dank-sam-newman-seen-at-hotel-having-lunch/story-fni5f22o-1226697352452 I know Newman isn't a journalist but a TV presenter but he's pledged his faith in Essendon all along and acted like a fool whenever Barrett or others have attempted to explain the drugs scandal. If he truly has been mates with Dank for so long he should apologise for misleading his viewers.

I think Craigy's loyalty to a playing group hurt him at Adelaide and might hurt him again if he stayed on as senior coach. Stability is great but now is the time with nothing to lose to really have a look at a few different guys and different positions.