DeeSpencer

Classic case of player in a bad side reaching his ceiling I think. As North have got better and better they don't need an accumulating wingman without any other great attributes. Plus Sam Gibson took that role and is a bit harder at it I think. Other guys like Wright, Atley, McMillan had to fit into the side.

Colyer yes. Cline Jones is 29 no thanks.

Like all those reasons, and a 4th, how will the poor blokes confidence be if he plays for Casey and Nathan Vardy kicks 6 on him! May as well spare him the indignity.

I know it's super early in the season but we may as well start looking now so we can watch these guys through the season. We desperately need to add some players to our list in these positions. Patrick Karnezis (BRIS) - High half forward flanker/wing man 190cm 88kg Pick 25 2010 draft Would be recruited to play on a wing with added height a bonus. Finds the footy and ball use can be great or a bit so so depending on the day Currently spending a lot of time as an emergency ROLE: Upgrade on current half forwards like Byrnes/Tapscott and time on a wing in competition with Matt Jones/Evans/Toumpas VALUE: Mid to late second round pick Ben Sinclair (COLL) - Defensive forward, untried in midfield 181cm 80kg PICK 62 2009 draft Very good defensive work rate and hunger for the contest Skills are reasonable over short distances can be very clean ROLE: Upgrade on Rohan Bail as defensive forward, midfield potential VALUE: 3rd round pick Viv Michie (FREO) - Versatile Flanker/wingman 185cm 85kg PICK 44 2010 draft Currently named to extended bench for game against us this week 2 injury ravaged seasons (navicular stress fracture) at Freo But can seriously play, clean skills and calls ROLE: Similar to Karnezis as a half forward/wing prospect VALUE: 3rd round pick, possibly higher depending on injury/form for rest of the year Tom Curren (STK) - midfielder 178cm 78kg PICK 24 2010 ROOKIE draft Spending his third year on StK rookie list Obviously a loyal kid given he won Sandy's b+f last year and still wasn't upgraded Can win the ball inside and out ROLE: Midfielder competition with the likes of Evans, M. Jones etc VALUE: Late 3rd round pick and would need contract incentive to draw away from Saints Jesse Stringer (GEEL) - Midfielder 182cm 82kg PICK 61 2010 Rookie draft Obviously fails the character test with his poor behaviour previously Currently recovering from hamstring injury Skills a bit iffy but displayed a good knack for a goal and hard running in his brief AFL career ROLE: Midfield competition, can play half forward as well VALUE: 3rd round pick Liam Anthony (NM) - Mature Outside midfielder 189cm 88kg 2009 Rookie draft Will be 26 by the end of the year and in and out of North's side so is a bit of the Pedersen's about this guy but he has a career average of 23 disposals and always finds the ball. Ball use isn't perfect and I believe he gets dropped from North for better and younger defensive guys with more positional versatility But considering we went aft Farren Ray last year this guy is very similar ROLE: Upgrade on the wing position increasing midfield competition VALUE: Late 3rd/4th round pick only Todd Banfield (BRIS) - Small forward 183cm 83kg PICK 41 2008 AFL draft Out of favour small forward who was the next big thing but is now rarely sighted When he burst on to the scene he looked good defensive and could hit the scoreboard ? Concerns over fitness ROLE: Small forward VALUE: With such lack of game time at Brisbane I get the feeling he's headed for the scrap heap, rookie pick up Aidan Riley (ADEL) - inside midfielder 182cm 86kg Former NSW scholarship rookie Hard at it clearance midfielder 22 touches, 8 clearances on the weekend in the SANFL Just 10 AFL games and yet to break into crows team this year ROLE: Hard at it inside midfielder VALUE: 3rd round pick

I think the other main thing saving Hird is he repeated said in emails to make sure the substances were WADA approved and Dank always said everything was above board. Now Hird was naive in the highest to trust Dank by he issued Dank a clear directive. We also see that the doctor wasn't involved and expressed his concerns (to who). So the main issue is this guy wasn't properly vetted or supervised by the doctor, strength coach or head of football. Therefore the issue comes from the people who organize the management chain and were directly responsible for Dank's employment. So CEO and head of footy department are gone an head strength and conditioning coach has been stood down. This is a lesson that you need a quality head of footy department to be supervising millions of dollars worth of modern day footy spending because in my mind asking the coach to be in charge would leave the coach no time to actually coach. I'm pretty sure Peter Jackson is on to this for Melbourne.

Johncock's been fat for years. No thanks. Cross would interest me because he's of such high quality off the field. However I'm not sure he's be of much use at all on the field

A new theory..... Gillies is yet to travel with the team and therefore is the emergency to get him used to the Melbourne routine on the road (of genuinely sucking). You'd think Spencer doesn't travel unless we have an injury to a ruck and Bail and Gillies go as an emerg. Really though do you think players care about being emerg. Surely is getting picked or not that bothers them

Here's my point. Lets wait and see a couple of months to see if Watts actually is best 22 or not! Right now he's just a fringe player in a bad side.

Yeah the 60 extra points shows me he did a nice job but if he was running around like Scarlett mixed with Enright mixed with Fletcher it might have been less. One good half doesn't = form. As melbourne supporters we are so quick to pick the guy who was best on for Casey and say lets put in back in the team. Magner had VFL form. Couch has VFL form. Yes Vickery got a few marks and kicks but that's expected when a side has good delivery. He also got a fair few of those touches against Gawn/Jamar in the ruck. But Sellar also spoiled him making good spoils on a few occasions. It's not that I think Sellar is a star but we know Pedersen is no superstar either and if one is in the team going ok why swap him just for the sake of it. It would be just like swapping Magner for Couch (if he was available) now because 20 touches isnt enough.

Have you seen the lad. Fair to say he's still carrying a few kg's. Plus have you seen the games he's played, even for a guy in Melbourne's forward line he hasn't racked up the touches. Not to mention at Casey they were openly working on his ability to run both ways. I really really like Kent but he's just not ready to get rushed into our team too often. He's had a taste lets get him back to Casey to work on things. Then he can come back better.

Pedersen played one good half on a bunch of no name Box Hill forwards with their midfielders practically kicking it to him. Why are you judging Sellar on touches when he played deep in defence on Vickery. Same for Strauss. Is doing a nice job defensively. Sure he isn't racking up touches but when he's got it he's been very good and hasn't made the simple mistakes that haunt our backline. Again I'm not sure of the logic behind dropping him. As for Kent I'm sure he'd love to play at home but an extra leg won't be enough to get him a kick against a Ross Lyon defense both individual players and as a team defense. He won't get the space to operate. I think the best thing for him is getting extra fitness through a solid game at Casey and becoming a two way runner. Putting games into him now and we risk him becoming a bit Blease like.

Kent doesn't have nearly the fitness to play in Perth against Freo. If he plays I'd only have him as the sub and this week I'd be keen for him to get some more full match time after some time as an emergency and sub for the dees. I don't see the point in swapping Sellar for Pedersen. Surely both are set to play on the reserve Freo ruckman in Hannath or Clarke. Pedersen played well down back for Casey in the second half but before that had been moved around a bit. From my point of view I'd rather stick to Sellar whilst he is going ok. I'm not convinced Pedersen is any quicker than Sellar. He's got better hands but Sellar is a nice kick I think. Fitzpatrick for Nicholson is interesting. I'd love to drop Nicholson but I don't see it happening yet. You'd have to cover his role on a wing/half back which I suppose you are doing with Watts so really it would be more Watts for Nicholson and Fitzpatrick for Bail. Obviously you'd move Howe up the ground as well who has been playing deep. And then go with a Fitzpatrick/Gawn/Dawes forward line with Gawn going into the ruck. I'm not convinced that will work. For me I'd keep it simple and go with: In: Watts Out: Toumpas In: Byrnes Out: Bail. Keep Bail if Byrnes is not fit FB: Terlich Frawley Garland HB: Strauss Sellar Dunn C: Evans Jones Jones HF: Byrnes Dawes Davey FF: Howe Gawn Tapscott Foll: Jamar McKenzie Magner Int: Nicholson Trengove Watts S: Jetta

19 touches, 3 goals (one stolen from Dawes, one he was lucky to get a second shot at), a couple of very nice goal assists. He played very well. But I don't see the fuss. The way I see it you can't really coach talent, you can foster it and develop it but that's about it. Davey showed his talent. But you can set standards and letting Vlastuin go was a huge no no. It's upset me greatly which is why I'm still going on about it. Because there was a moment in the game where Tapscott did it with Morris. Blease does it whenever he plays. And its correcting these simple things added in with some desire to win the ball they can very quickly take us from a debacle of a side to one that at least stays in games long enough to inspire some faith and get supporters through the door.

What's with the 12 years your junior thing about. He's 30 and had 12 preseasons Vlastuin hasn't had one full one yet. He wasn't out run he was out worked. Which is the reason we got Neeld in. The first step of being the hardest team to play against in the comp is to man up on a direct opponent. We (as supporters) shouldn't tolerate players not doing this. Now it was an isolated incident but it shows how far the team has to go.

Great work (or luck) from the Scorps getting involved in the first game at skilled under lights!

In principle I agree but it reminds me of Sir John Monash. Perhaps the greatest ever Australian who refused to command his troops like the British and send wave after wave of man over the trenches and instead planned his battles and enjoyed much greater success. Without trivialising war, I worry sometimes that Neeld is commanding our young players up over the trenches one by one to attempt his much loved game plan but instead we'd be better suited trialing a simpler game plan.

Firstly no Jurrah shaped place? What place would that be? A prison cell is the most suited place for Liam at the moment. Jurrah got his chance to play after he recovered from injury last year. Neeld couldn't save him from his community troubles. No Green shape place? I remember Brad playing most of last year and was tried both on the wing and forward pocket and found to have no agility or speed required to defend at all. He was all but certainly finished. As for Watts he started last year on the wing and did ok for a period, then play half back and did well. He'd previously played forward without great success. I'm not sure what other place there was to play. If Neeld has made any mistake (and it will likely continue this week) its playing him too much. The state of this current team is that you have to win the ball before you use the ball. So whilst we aren't expecting Watts to be a Mitch Robinson we have to see his desire to win the ball regardless of what position he plays. If he think he'll have it easier else where and just be able to rack up disposals then he should watch some footy in September. Because I've never seen a big final where you can get away without winning your own ball.

This was highlighted to me when I watched the Essendon game and we were trailing about 100-20 and the errors were Essendon 20, Melbourne 10 or something like that and I thought holy hell when we get the ball we aren't even trying anything to get something productive happening. Obviously the initial problem was barely being able to get our hands on it but the point remains.

Some much happiness in that post thanks RG! 1. That Nicholson is in the Casey group means we likely won't see him this week. 2. I've been waiting for even asked the club twitter for Neeld to get involved in training more. I thought there was a degree of mixed messages sent by Craig and the assistants largely running training sessions and then you get to game day and Neeld is addressing the players. I'm all for delegation but he's the boss and I think he'll get more respect from the players by being out there

I disagree. I think when he's not under pressure he's a nice balanced kick which is something we need. Yes he makes the odd mistake under pressure but that's because he's taken the game on as instructed by the coaches and often his mistakes get recovered (often by him). If you look at Geelong and Collingwood they move the ball at a fast speed and often make mistakes. Corey Enright does some crazy things when he gets himself into pressure but is so good he can get himself out of it or his team mates clean it up. If you trained Terlich in a Hawthorn manner of more methodical play from the backline I think you'd find he'd rarely make a mistake, but instead he's going for a flat out approach and making the odd error. He's also would have to be top 5 for possession for us this year I would think.

Oh and I should add Gillies being let go by Geelong isn't solely related to Rivers. Rivers and Lonergan are both getting on in years and they must have wanted to some contingency on the chance Taylor leaves. Their regular VFL defenders I believe are Ryan Bathie (former basketballer) and Mitch Brown (Converted forward who seems to struggle when he plays AFL). If they had faith in Gillies I think they would've kept him regardless of getting Rivers in.

The most straight forward way to sum up the Watts situation is to say that the rest of this season will dictate whether he should be traded/wants to be traded. If he improves on his hardness for the contest and intensity then it will be obvious to me he's a player worth keeping. The upside will be too much to let go especially given he's the age and games played where he should be right on the cusp of cementing a spot (and I mean within AFL players not in the 22, anyone can cement a spot in our 22). If he still can't work out how to defend an opponent and how to attack a contest with vigor then we may as well let him go because he probably never will whilst he is wearing red and blue.

I saw it live and on replay and their is zero ambiguity Clear as day Davey was with Vlastuin at Melbourne's CHF, both players began following the ball along the wing as Richmond moved the ball forward. As play unfolded they were what I'd class as a quick jog towards Richmond's goal and Vlastuin turned what was a 3m gap between them into a 10m gap, the ball was kicked to Vickery at CHF, Vlastuin saw an opportunity and began sprinting, got the handball receive and slotted the goal on the run. Davey quickened but couldn't catch him and trailed in behind. It was a blight on a game of a senior player who was with his opponent but through poor mental and physical effort let him get goal side and kick a goal. Now back in 2004 when footy was different Davey was great defensively because players played in positions and Davey would stalk and catch slow moving defenders/mids coming from the back half. Now footy requires constant focus and repeat efforts and Davey fails to give them over the course of a game. Now I really like Davey. He was a hard working dangerous small forward who then took his game to a new level peaking in 2009 with a brilliant season using his foot skills to help pick apart zones and create plenty of goals. But the injuries caught up with him and he has the rest of this year to show he can really be a solid contributer and get an extra year. I'm not at all against keeping our senior players but they have to play like senior players and train like senior players. Otherwise they are useless.

Well the ASADA report has nothing to do with Essendon's corporate governance and I don't think ASADA actually have any right to ban a CEO who wasn't informed on the alledged undertakings. Certainly WADA/UCI has never been able to sort out all the bad apples in cycling, they've barely caught half of them. The most dangerous line of the Ziggy report so far was the one that mentioned that AFL football clubs are no place for exotic substances and biochemical research. ASADA now has the job to work out exactly what the substances were and if they were violating the WADA code and who to blame for giving and taking them. Robson was clearly not across all undertakings of his business. For that he had to go eventually. But in some ways I feel for him because the Ziggy report seemed to say that he knew so little of it. The senior coach (the apparently naive Mr Hird) and head of the footy department (Paul Hamilton who already got the axe) both failed to tell him what they were sanctioning and both failed to oversee the mess they were creating. I doubt Robson and Jackson are mates but if somehow it went down I would think Robson wouldn't be a bad candidate for our CEO position. Yes he's made a grave mistake here but I always thought mistakes deserve second chances compared to flat out malicious decisions that don't.

But if you look at the Geelong guys who have played as much VFL as Gillies they should be ready to perform when given a shot. Gillies came and in and found big forwards too big, smaller types too quick, stunk when he got the ball (remember his point) and in the Essendon game was completely shot and barely moved after 3/4 time. If it was a matter of fitness then that's a massive slight on him. But to me he doesn't have size or speed and you need one but preferably both to play as a tall defender. If you go down the list of good key forwards you'll find they are all either too big or too quick for Gillies. Now Rivers can have the same problem but that's why he mainly plays as a third tall and has great smarts and skills to get him out of trouble.