DeeSpencer

Played at Western Jets with Majak Daw didn't he? I thought they got along pretty well. These are hard times to be a White male in Australia

The appalling Etihad stadium deal will probably mean we lose more money at Etihad than we would've at the G. But closing the top level is hopefully a measure that aims to alleviate some of that lost money. Also I'd rather not play North there - they have something like a 30% win record away from Etihad and 70% at Etihad under the Scott leadership. But once again at least it will drag in some North supporters which should hopefully boost the crowd. Given we would lose anywhere I'd rather not lose money as well.

One thing Craig seems miles ahead of Neeld in is player feedback. I know they have game reviews every week but it seems Craig is making it a priority to break down trainings and games and really give feed back to the players on what they need to improve on. Where as Neeld seemed to have a very limited dialogue with the players. These are Gen Y guys, you can't just keep flogging them and telling them what to do you have to break things down and explain them and tick off goals etc.

Possibly with Pedersen contracted and Davis not it makes more sense to give game time to Pedersen if they've given up on Davis. But players have saved their careers with unexpected performances in the last 6 round many times. The possiblity is that Pedersen was always playing better VFL than Davis was and Davis has never to date showed enough to get himself a gig in the AFL team. Which is why they sent him forward at Casey which to me is the biggest crime. Sellar, Pedersen or Gillies should've been playing forward and Davis should've had an uninterrupted run at being the number 1 depth defender so that he could come in at a time like this. The thing about Davis is he's a guy who hasn't ever showed enough to break into one of the worst AFL teams in modern history. That alone means his chances of actually being any good are very slim. So I'm not going to be too upset. But I expect Pedersen to put in a much improved performance than his last stint in the team where he looked slow and soft and his defensive skills look very average. A few well timed spoils and some serious attack on the ball would be a start.

I'm shocked as well. I just hope it's more of a title change and a more regimented program which is probably good but could largely just be semantics. But if we already had Viney and 3 development coaches why weren't they running what is practically an academy anyway? I like the idea of structure but I get it's not for everyone. But to me you take the 6 young defenders on our list and you say ok today we are teaching spoiling and until they get it right you don't pass them. Then you teach them spoiling with their non dominant hand. Then you teach them spoiling using your body to run a player under the ball etc.

1. Tanking. Yes tanking happened for years but here's the thing. Just because the PP is gone doesn't mean clubs wont continue to focus on next season and continue to try different things. See Mitch Clark out until next year and Jack Watts in the ruck. The AFL has now got itself in a another conumdrum about what to do with us this year and probably several other clubs over the next few years. 2. Tribunal. I saw the two incidents Corey McKernan lost a rising star (trip by hand) and a Brownlow (incident drop of knees to a players neck in an awkward marking contest) and I thought the tribunal will always be contentious. This tribunal throws up some bad anomalies - sling tackle >number of weeks than elbow to head. But the decisions are often explained in a straight forward manner and we now know with most incidents whether they will be reviewed and subjected to the points system or cleared. That's good enough to me. If a player gets 2 instead of 1 or 3 where 2 would've sat better I don't care. A numbers based mandatory sentencing system will always throw up some slightly out of whack penalties but almost every decision the match review panel has made this year has been consistent and reasonable. Yes the bump is all but dead but it's time we get over it. Tapscott this year for us has shown you can bump if you are very careful otherwise you are asking for trouble. If he can adjust I don't see why every other player in the comp can't. 3. GWS. Going to the moon cost a bit as well. So did going to Sydney the first time. If you want to be on Demonland the Soccer forum so we can debate whether we will beat Melbourne Heart that's great. But I want AFL to continue to grow and to stake its self as the national sport. 4. Drugs in sport. Firstly anyone who links recreational and performance enhances drugs like you have is a nutter. The league has acknowledge a recreational drug use problem and put in place a policy to fix it. If you want a zero tolerance policy to illicit drugs that fine but call for it properly and show me it will actually deter players. And show me it will influence the community because I doubt it will. I'd rather we be more open and less confidentially and give players who get 2 strikes a 4 week ban but I understand the AFL's policy created with EXPERTS. 5. Players ducking in tackle. I haven't seen the White incident but I doubt it happened ducking in a tackle. Ducking in a tackle usually results in a high tackle that 99/100 times results in no injury. Casey Tutungi got injured after picked the ball up he innocously ran into a players stomach. More like the Jake Spencer incident a few weeks ago where he got 3 weeks despite so little intent. The AFL are continually working to make the game safer so it's very harsh to criticise them for 2 freak injuries. 6. Diving. Firstly I don't think the Selwood's dive (besides maybe Adam). They duck and draw free kicks. The CEO of the league shouldn't review this but the Manager of footy ops (who is new) and umpires should wake up to it. 7. The compromised draw. This one I agree with you. But bare in mind to keep the comp strong we need to have some commercial advantages in the draw I believe. No body wants to watch GWS v Brisbane on a Friday night, the balance will hopefully be corrected not exaggerated. At least Demetriou has started the conversation on equalisation. 8. Goal line technology - It's early in it's existence. Tell me goal review is worse than Cricket DRS. It's not. 2 goal umpires might be better but what happens when they stuff up in grand finals? We need technology and we need patience. The rules of the goal review are simple, it's the umpires stuffing it at the moment and the lack of good TV angles which needs to be adressed 9. The umpiring. People have and will always continue to complain about the umpire. AFL is a crazily hard game to umpire, get over it. 10. For 12 years every rule change sped up the game for TV. The rules of the game committee were also trying to make the game more like it was intended to be played with one on one contests and quick ball movement. The game looks pretty good right now. 11. Jeff Geishen. See point 2 and 9. My point I guess if you have raised some interesting topics but not all of them are broken I don't think. And a lot of them are for the new football operations manager in Mark Evans to fix. He comes from a strong footy background having worked at Hawthorn (and you guessed it) Melbourne. So I look forward to seeing what he can do. If I was him I'd review the position of Jeff Geischen but he may well be the right man for the job, the umpires need help on ducking and diving but it's not a major problem. I'd continue working on goal line review and aim for mandatory goal line cameras in all games this finals series and look to make it all games next year. Then I'd look to review the match review panel to see if some simple changes can make the crime fit the time a bit better. Now that we've got a TV deal for the next few years locked away I'd look to even the fixture out a bit for weaker Victorian clubs and keep working on equalisation. My comments on the PED issue will wait and see the outcomes. Right now I'm glad Essendon players have Demetriou and the AFL on side. I hope the club isn't spared so easily.

Interesting is that we've appointed Greaves as interim head of development Yet we already had - Todd Viney - General Manager - Player Development & Strategy Now I don't mind that we have an academy. You either give it an official title or you don't one way or another you have to poor time into young players on specific areas and graduate them through that training. But I'm confused about Viney's role and I'm confused by what on earth Neeld was doing!

I'm not at all musically inclined, BUT.... Does the guy only know 3 chords? It's not a bad song but you can't fake a galvanising footy song. We have our song and if we do find something else to pin our hopes to it will come naturally. It won't be Mike Brady or a Bugler or a special logo. Read the story about how "We'll never walk alone" and you'll understand that Liverpool embraced the song naturally in a lot of ways and of course it's been built up over generations. That's our hope I guess.

Mike Brady is a musician and not running the club. He can buy an expensive desk and sit at it designing blazers, logos and whiteboard wednesdays all day long as fair as I care.

Also saw them win the 2000 grand final and almost be the perfect team.

Bit of case of whatever they say making news as well. Harry O and Eddie are always in the news, it's just this time they made a bigger splash. Not convinced the other 4 players said anything too out of line either. And you can add Dane Swan to the list. Buckley is revamping the club to do things his way. He would've learnt that under Mick and with his natural confidence/arrogance it's not a surprise either. It's just a question if it will work.

You can only have 1 of Clark or Fitzy in the team at once and only 2 of Hogan, Dawes and Watts. To me Jack will undeniably asked to play a lot of other positions including midfield and half back because they will still be a weakness. I'm not saying we don't want Watts or Craig can't make Watts into a very good player. I'm just thinking if I was impartial and advising Watts my advice would be not only would he get a fresh start somewhere else he'd also probably get better treatment.

If I was Jack I'd leave. He still plays his best footy without doing any hard stuff as a third tall forward who may be able to get up into the midfield and float around or even be a decent undersized second ruck in the right side. With Clark, Dawes, Hogan, Fitzpatrick and Howe all more than capable of playing similar positions I'd be considering my future. Because if I was the incoming Melbourne coach next year the first thing I'd do to Watts would be Mark Neeld 2.0 and get him to toughen up and play off half back until he shows me he can consistently win one on one battles and play well under pressure as backman must do. Because his ability to read play and use the ball with beautiful foot skills is still so adeptly suited to being behind the play. Or if he showed he was up to it I'd release him to a wing in a Goddard style role. But I wouldn't take out a decent key forward prospect like Hogan or Fitzpatrick to gift Watts games as a floating third tall when the team has plenty of other roles to fill and Jack has the talents to fill them. So as I said if I was Jack I'd ask for a trade and get a fresh start. If I was the club though I wouldn't accept anything less than a ready to go decent midfielder and if that players talents aren't worthy of a high second pick I'd say no thanks.

It's all about best available and it has to be. The problem with Predergast's drafting was that he went for these apparently skillful types in Blease, Strauss and Bennell (as our skills in 2008 were deplorable) and then the next year over corrected and went for Gysberts and Tapscott because they were meant to be hard ball winners and forgot best available. Our midfield mire is a complete issue both with contested and uncontested ball. We certainly need another inside guy but say we got Wines last year and then all of a sudden this years draft was full of inside mids but didn't have anyone with outside class then you'd be disappointed. We have to give our (New) recruiters some faith. After his rising star first season where he drew comparisons to Joel Selwood everyone thought Rhys Palmer was a star and certainly if they were choosing between him or Chris Masten who was drafted higher everyone would've gone for Palmer - but now look where we are at.

Lyon - sounds like complete crud he isn't going anywhere B. Scott - As noted has a contract Bucks - Eddie wouldn't fire him if they hadn't won a game, reasonable pies supporters know where they are at Malthouse - Again most reasonable Carlton supporters know he was hard up this season Sheedy was pre-arranged and he actually got an extra year Hird - still has the supporters on his side So really it's Neeld and Worsfold and so far every indication from West Coast has been is they won't push him out. Not too bad in a highly strung competition. Certainly doing better than the NFL or major soccer leagues.

I think what the Geelong players hadn't considered were the wind which was very strong. Obviously we know instinctively how wind influences drop punts but the players don't know so much about how the wind influences snaps. And yes to the OP they were both snaps not checksides.

Is Spencer better than Gawn? And was Gawn really defeated by Mumford/Pyke and Leuenberger? I don't think he was. And I also think so far Spencer's record was a defeat by Warnock against the blues and a victory over McEvoy against the saints. Hardly dominant form when he has been in. Let's hope Fitzy is ok though.

Besides 2 games against Collingwood we really did struggle against better sides. But at least when we were good against bad sides we were very good! We were certainly ahead of Richmond but like some Richmond sides (under Frawley, for a year under Wallace even) the base of our team was built on a fraud. We might be bad now but at least some of our players give their all week in week out in Frawley, Garland, Jones, Dawes, Grimes. Back in 2010/2011 when we were on for the day it was because Davey and Moloney were having good days in the midfield and Jurrah and Green were beating some C grade defender who was either too slow or too short for them.

Out: Toumpas, Garland In: Tapscott, Nicholson FF: Blease Fitzy Watts HF: Byrnes Dawes Kent C: M. Jones Jones Trengove HB: Terlich McDonlad Howe FB: Clisby Frawley Dunn Foll: Gawn Sylvia Viney Int: Grimes Tapscott Nicholson S: Davey I think Toumpas needs a rest. 2 possessions, not a great defensive job and emotionally spent. Coming off the back of a trip to Darwin it makes sense to rest him. Nicholson is the best available replacement in terms of midfielders - the cupboard is simply bare. As far as replacing Garland in defense I think it's at the point in the season where we start to look to a teaching role to a degree so I think it's time for Howe to learn how to use his body in a contest and mark the ball on a lead without taking a hanger every time. He's also a nice match in terms of his ability to play tall or small. Therefore I'd move him to the backline and include Tapscott in up forward.

Let's examine this: 1. Troy - Not up to AFL has been Geelong VFL captain/part time job at the club, would only want at MFC/Via Casey 2. Adam - Barely up to AFL as a slow half back flanker, would be a list clogger 3. Joel - Captain of the most successful club in the league 4. Scott - decent tagger/defensive midfielder So you'd offer West Coast a high pick and pay overs for the Adam/Scott combination and could get them. Say an early second round pick for Scott and pay overs with a third round pick for Adam and offer them big cash. Then with 2 brothers together in Victoria if you offered Troy a big money VFL deal and a job at the club you might get him. The issue would then turn to Joel. You'd have to offer both a monstrous amount of cash and draft picks to even get his interest. Or you wait until he becomes a free agent but with his loyalty you'd still have to blow the bank. All up you'd get 1 elite midfielder, 1 decent tagger/defensive midfielder and 2 guys who wouldn't make the team. And you spend an entire draft class and more plus a tonne of cash. Alternatively with could overdraft Nathan Jones' brother and have a solid brother combination on our list and forget about spending big for no reason. We've got Mitch Clark and Dawes the last two years without breaking the bank. For obvious reasons they haven't been a success but I'd still say they were wise moves. We can now focus on a midfielder from any of the other 17 clubs who fits the right age/experience/cost bracket. Especially if we land Chocko Williams or Roos I would imagine there'd be a young player somewhere for the right money and opportunity would be interested. I know if I was a Josh Kennedy type midfielder not getting a game at my current club and someone pointed towards an experienced quality AFL coach with the worst midfield in the league I'd be very interested.

Just a crazy decision from the AFL. He should've sued them into next week. Welcome back Dean.

That's crap. Only one club rated Dangerfield higher than Morton in Adelaide. You can't get them all right. Development with Morton was sorely lacking and the other thing is recruiting is not an exact science, every year there is 1 highly ranked guy who doesn't make it at least.

Why don't you read the financial reports to find out where the money is gone. We made small profits the last few years and got back to a reasonable financial position but our revenue hasn't plummeted this year and next on the back of horrendous on field performance and our expenses has increased on the back of Schwab and Neeld's severance pay. What do you want Schwab to say? Oh I'm sorry I deliberately stuffed up because we know he didn't do that. Or for him to do a Mickey Arthur and sue the pants off us? Be grateful he's gone and gone quietly. As for the tanking look at the facts. We were rubbish in 2008. That was part of the cycle of success that happens to all clubs we just amplified it. 2008 was as much a reflection on Daniher and his poor list management and development from 2004 when he sensed a flag to 2007 when the wheels fell of unexpectantly. 2009 we tanked for half a season. We had signs of improvement in the middle of the year but decided to abandon them in search of a better 2010 and on wards. In hindsight a poor decision but not in any way one that hadn't be done before - I speak of Collingwood 2005 to get Thomas and Pendlebury, West Coast recently, Carlton 2008. Of course perception is reality and if we had stronger leadership in 2010 we might have foreseen this mess. Or if we had stronger leadership heading in to 2011 we would've resolved the drama that went on that year. Heck we might have had stronger leadership if our president didn't get gravely ill and pass away. But the reality is where we are at now. We have a new CEO, are assembling a new board and having a playing list that has gone from worst ever as of a month ago to one that now shows some signs of life. How don't you see that all as improvements?

His new favourite phrase of "pearl harbouring" a player in reference to a player sneaking up on another ie under a high ball and taking them out is completely insulting to war veterans.

Harsh on Neeld with that one, he was heading backwards under Bailey as well. In fact he played some half decent games in the centre square mid year last year under Neeld but couldn't string it together. His first year as a loose wingman was great but he just couldn't fix any of his deficiencies without losing his strengths. Half back on a big ground like Subi is perfect for him. Follow a non dangerous half forward up the ground, keep with them, use his height advantage to spoil or mark then get out in space as he did yesterday. I think he might have made it in the same role with us but we were so inept against the forward press that he was constantly under pressure and his physical attributes and kicking action/efficiency don't lend him to be a good player against the press. As teams learnt how to at least diffuse the press he would've looked better. His body still doesn't look right and I know guys have great careers with funny body shapes in the AFL - see Dane Swan but I don't get how he doesn't have more bulk. It would be fine if he had blistering speed but athletically he is moderately paced, decent endurance, zero strength.