DeeSpencer

Or even Geelong's recruiting in the middle and later rounds with guys like Christensen and Mitch Duncan who were very good junior footballers with not too many weaknesses but got overlooked due to implied faults instead of their footballing ability. I think you can make an argument that Zak Jones is also worth more to us than other clubs because Nathan will develop and mentor him very well.

We need players who win footy by running and taking marks as well. Of course priority number 1 for us should be inside midfielders but if we get a rotation of guys like Karnezis, Howe, Evans and Toumpas on our wings/half forward then that's important as well. I'm confident Karnezis can win the ball at half forward and on the wing through smart running and play a role. Well he's a lot younger than Pedersen that's for sure and I think part of the reason he hasn't played is that Brisbane have seen this coming for quite a while. He also has lots of things to work on in his game. As bad as Pedersen has been if he was a midfielder he'd be going better than Magner, Couch and Rodan.

According to afl.com.au Karnezis is homesick and set to walk out on Brisbane - Karnezis keen to leave Lions at season's end He's got some skills and height and could be a handy half forward/wingman. Needs development but can certainly find the footy and run in space. Considering how keen we should be for immediate improvement I'd be consider our second round pick on the table. I'd certainly offer our third rounder in a flash.

Alternatively we could hire the Collingwood 2IC of recruiting, someone who has expertise in that regard... oh wait that's what we did! Last time I checked Shifter Sheehan is involved in identifying talent to get into the under 18 program. Finding the kids from alternative sports or very good athletes who are worth a look at. That's not the same thing as recruiting for an AFL club.

Out: Gawn, Howe, Watts, Davey In: Dawes, Strauss, Tynan, Nicholson FB: Dunn McDonald Garland HB: Terlich Pedersen Strauss C: Toumpas Jones M. Jones HF: Grimes Dawes Tapscott FF: Byrnes Fitzy Kent Foll: Spencer Viney Sylvia Int: Trengove, Nicholson, Clisby, Tynan Gawn is unlucky but I really don't like playing 3 ruckman I think it leaves you on a hiding to nothing and Spencer has earned a shot right now. Besides that I want to get 3 dead lazy forwards out of the team and put in some fresh faces. Strauss brings skill and deserves another shot and the other 2 couldn't hit the side of a barn between them kicking but at least Nicholson will run and Tynan will rip in around the contest. My theme this week would be all about pressure and hard footy. The Gold Coast made us look silly against them earlier in the year, they brushed us aside at ease. This week it's time for us to at least make the work to beat us. I don't care about the score I just want to see hard effort footy. 20 tackles a quarter minimum. Oh as for Garry Ablett I'd send the lovely Col Sylvia to play on him. Sylvia needs an education in work rate and smart football. No better time to start learning than now.

Pros - Good relationship with the AFL - Knows his footy - Good for public image Cons - ? Business skills - ? Passion for the job I'd say he'd make a good President if we are going down the CEO runs the club in conjunction with the AFL and the board just provide basic oversight route. If we want a more engaged board we should focus on someone at least willing to run for President without being coaxed.

If the player is a ready to go midfielder aged 22-25 then I'd take the player thanks as long as the value of the player equals the value of Watts.

You mean 2009. 2008 I'm pretty sure we legitimately stunk, same as 2007 and 2012 and this year. But for 3 or 4 games towards the end of 2009 we didn't play to our full potential yet still nearly beat Richmond and we end up paying for it. We should do what we can to avoid the wooden spoon. Unfortunately we have 3 away games against Gold Coast, Adel and Bulldogs at Etihad and only one home game against Freo. We won't get close to another win.

yeah I worry about how big an advantage his endurance provides him. But I love his class and he doesn't seem afraid to mix it inside. I think he's skills are better than Scully's.

316 your point gets hidden behind your recall bias. Sloane was a late pick and isn't exactly a star, he's a strange example. Freo are one of the hardest toughest teams going around and there 3 best mids in Fyfe, Mundy and Barlow were all skinny kids at one stage. Although they are tall for mids. Chad Wingard was a skinny kid who put on a clinic and won a show down today. Michael Walters did it for Freo last night. The Predergast drafting era was a disaster because he focused on attractive elements of a player rather than the collective worth. But Toumpas v Wines is different. It's simply 2 guys with different skill sets at different stages of development. But very importantly Toumpaa is a footballer. The clubs development of players has been atrocious, at least the recruiters changed last year and the coaches will change now

Not Blease. But with McDonald and Garland against GWS and Gold Coast for that matter we likely only need one of Dunn or Pedersen. We don't need extra height if the players don't use it. If we want Garland on a tall then keep Dunn, If we want Garland on a medium height player then keep Pedersen. Or keep both and use Strauss, Clisby and Terlich through the wing positions and play all 3. Either way Strauss has to be played. Suckling from Hawthorn took years to find his feet at AFL level. But when he did everyone raves about how much of a weapon he is with his kicking and how Hawthorn will miss him. We our backline we can't justify not playing Strauss.

They always say they don't discuss it but of course they have some inclination. I presume the guys get issued pay slips just like the rest of us. Plus some would share managers etc. Unfortunately Pedersen represents a horrible bargaining point for the football club. About 20 of our players will now be asking where their 3 year and 330k deal is.

Pedersen let Giles pick the ball off the deck and turn round and snap a goal. Plus he got another one on him. Although offensively Pedersen was pretty good and got a nice goal. All in all it was an ok game but he's still just depth and you have to question the use of having or playing depth players when you are as bad as we are.

Take hope from the Port rebuild. We will need every bit of a miracle.

The more obvious question is why not take one of our best tacklers and players at winning the ball and taking the game on in Terlich and put him in the centre square and then get Strauss in the team at half back. It seems if you are a small forward you'll get a game every week and I mean Blease, Davey, Byrnes, Kent, Tapscott have all got soft games throughout the season. So why not let a resting mid take one of their spots and get Strauss in the side. If you don't want Terlich in the guts then rotate Terlich, Strauss and Clisby through the wing position.

Yeah and I think they have a plan. Jolly will stick around for another year as the established ruck and the improvement over a preseason from Witts and Grundy will leave them nicely placed. Jolly has been as good as Jamar and is unreliable injury wise. With the 2 young guys a year older they won't need Hudson's cover. They'll probably look for a 4th ruck to go on the rookie list possibly recycled from another club or from a state league like a Hannath. Even if they did want Jamar why would they give up Witts. It makes no sense. Buckley is rebuilding on the run and Witts and Grundy will be key planks of the rebuild.

Jamar for Witts? Are you people insane. You really think Collingwood would go for that? A bloke the wrong side of 30 for a guy who's yet to enter his prime but has a tonne of talent. Yeah Grundy might go slightly ahead of Witts right now but they are both Collingwood's future and imposing ones at that. Jamar is worth a third round pick these days at best. Be realistic.

I'll save you from consecutive thread fail there! Jamar has 2 years left on his contract. (yeah massive face palm on that one thanks Tim Harrington). I don't think he'll be looking to cut a deal to prematurely end his career just yet. I think we look into trading him but we need experienced heads around the club. We thought we'd figured out the midfield future when we wound McDonald up. I love Gawny and Spencer has surprisingly been decent but it's no done deal. I think unless the offer is very very good we keep Jamar and get at least 1 position where we have depth and experience. Gawn will be a better player if Jamar is pushing him every step of the way. Not to mention Gawn is still at the age where an entire season as starting ruck is a big call. Sam Blease I think should be offered up to trade. A new coach will want to save him because they'll see the speed that represents a good talent but I just don't see any footballing skills. By that I mean chasing, tackling, pressuring, winning the ball in close, winning the ball in space and most damning knowing what and being able to execute when he does have the ball. He plays like a headless chook and isn't a natural small forward and has zero tank. I'd settle for preferably a decent B grade mid who can make an impact but otherwise a high third round pick would do me. I just don't think we have the luxury of the time to wait putting effort into Blease anymore.

I like him when he's in the contest, particularly against smaller or tall but cumbersome opponents. My problem with him is when he's on the edge of a contest and can't get into it and also his disposal. All in all though Dunn is a very small part of a our problems at the moment, he's a back pocket. But he's also quite possibly not part of the solution. Where's the young bid bodied midfielder who could be learning AFL by taking Dunn's spot is my question.

Oh please don't.

We can possibly blame Schwab for not locking down one major sponsor for a long term deal. Hopefully WebJet stay around which gives us some stability. If you want to buy some votes Mr Stockdale then show us a sponsor.

We shouldn't be aiming for a succession plan for at least 5 years. But what we do need is some young and talented assistant coaches. The best clubs have very good assistants and they are also always turning them over with smart operators, often bringing in freshly retired players to development coaching then bringing them up the ladder. If we get Roos I expect he'll know that AFL coaching is best done as a team and also with an expiry date to avoid burnout and I'd expect within 3 if not 2 years he'd have 1-2 assistants who could end up part of his succession plan without a distinct policy and he'd slowly give them more reign as he did with Longmire.

If he can't do a half decent defensive job on a resting ruckman (Giles or Brogan) or young Tomlinson then he probably never will. The other thing I'd be looking for him to do is use his strong marking ability to take some rebound marks. And it would make me happy if he actually looked like he wanted to work for the 3 year contract we gave him and not like it was all such hard work for him.

I think the AFL would prefer GWS to not go winless through a season. We are already a basket case getting help. The AFL are meant to be convincing us all is well in Western Sydney. As for the PP I think you'll find GWS would be the one club who doesn't much mind, it's not like they are short on top draft picks. In fact taking away the decision on Tom Boyd would probably do them a huge favour especially if they really are going to get Franklin.

The people defending him (and I'm not one of them) do have somewhat of an argument though. It goes like this: CC didn't hire himself we were the fools who hired him as head of the football department when most of the football world could tell an independent voice who didn't apply for the head coach would've been a much wiser move to support Bailey. We then moved him out of the FD where he did some good work in the community and was a passionate voice for the club. He also took the wrap for the tanking affair, which he had some roll in but never should've come to an investigation anyway based on the AFL rules and previous AFL ambivalence. Unfortunately that's another problem Schwab created. If Connolly had failed so poorly as head of FD why was he moved sideways and not moved on. Now he's done a good job in his new position and will be moved on for his previous failures because we didn't make the tough call when needed. We can no longer cater to different fan groups on a whim but at the same time we need to keep them involved otherwise we won't have a club. A difficult line for all involved and a key to our success.