DeeSpencer

Yeah he was ok, but how many good players in the AFL even had to play reserves. When I think of guys who started out in the VFL reserves I think of Spencer, Juice Newton, Kyle Cheney - guys who end up being good VFL players but never make the step into AFL. I feel like if Barry is going to make it he'd want to at least cement himself a spot in the VFL by the end of the year.

The case for: - We suck The case against: Watson takes a mark on Moloney in the forward line late in the 4th quarter, plus Moloney does very little for most of the game = Continued poor performances and little defense against better teams. The case for still probably wins

Blease might be remodeled into something and it's too early to give up on Barry but.... At the moment it's only Taggert and Hogan who I think are really AFL players in waiting.

A 210 match finishes at 4:45 so really I think it's all about tv. TV is the reason all games are at random times these days

Why? Surely Majak Daw should be celebrated for his culture and not because of his culture. I do believe you can be over emphatic about someones race and have it draw against their feats. Not many people talking about how good Tom Lynch is for a slow white bloke or a red head are there! They are talking up his ability and 10 goal haul.

Does Kelly O'Donnell's director of pro scouting role expand to the VFL? I thought it was purely other AFL players? Obviously that would mean watching VFL and some other state leagues I understand. But he'd be largely responsible for Rodan, Byrnes and Gillies who have been underwhelming as well. Only Byrnes has got a pass and maybe Rodan a pass off the field. Surely Terlich would've been recruited mainly by the scouts in South Australia?

Yep and if flash lets him again he may as well run to the bench, grab the sub vest and never play again. People wonder why we keep letting our leaders go but its because they have as much heart as Davey has showed recently.

Meh. We've had our Clint Bartrams over the time. Morris is good and would mean we wouldn't have to play the likes of Nicholson but I'd rather a Cotchin or Martin. Hell I'd take an Shane Tuck to play hard clearance footy and keep playing wtih a broken scapula.

Kelly O'Donnell and Tim Harrington are surely 2 of the first out the door if Peter Jackson is wanting to rejuvinate the football department.

Yeah I don't like the move especially after getting Dawes and Hogan I really don't think Pedersen is any better than Sellar as a defender. Really we will need to delist guys like Davis or Fitzpatrick who will get to the same level as Pedersen and might have more scope for development. Still it's one player and it is what it is. I'm really not worried about our talls situation. We might end up delisting Davis and Spencer and keeping the rest for the next two years anyway. It's the midfielders where we need aggressive turnover and improvement.

If I was Neeld I'd say that as well. Otherwise he really is screwed

How nice it would be to have pick 1 in this draft and the rights to Tom Boyd who apparently is a bigger badder John Patton and due to our overzealous recruitment of Hogan, Dawes and Clark end up conducting an auction with the dogs and co to trade him for say pick 3 and a ready made midfielder. Nothing surer than us picking the next Tambling at 3 and them getting the next Franklin. But we just couldn't afford to keep Dawes and Clark and develop a top draft pick with Hogan.

Probably. I just don't know where we are at. Nothing the players do seems to be constructive. Maybe after the Carlton game he was happy because we did some defensive work but we practically played without a forward line. The closest to playing his style of game plan was in his first NAB cup against Collingwood at Etihad. Since then we've just been all over the place and so has his message. He's completely lost me and I think he's lost the players as well. They just can't get it right. Dawes in the paper this week said that their GPS numbers were above average in the league. Which confirms something our players are running around like headless chooks. Whilst Geelong are starting to re invent the game again by instead of all diving in after the footy they are letting teams unbalance themselves with over attack at the contests and keeping their space. Simple really when every one says oh look AFL is become a game like rugby where everyone just keeps pilling in like a big scrum. And here comes Chris Scott and he's committed only a few men to the breakdown and has everyone else lining up in defense ready to win the ball back and run off with it. You'd think Neeld would realise that even if you can't win games because players haven't grasped his silly structures that you'd strip it back and at least nail some fundamentals and get tackling, chasing, manning the mark, basic handballing to space and kicking right.

Find me a woman who can play soccer as well as say the A-League or the English championship and you might be started. Soccer is a game that involves a lot of skill, plenty of pace and some fitness and strength. I'm not sure the best female soccer player could get close. Now AFL is a game that requires tremendous speed, strength, fitness and top it off with skill. I'm not convinced any woman will ever have that. For one the lean body mass required to play AFL is amazing. Just to get a woman strong and fast enough would likely mean she's carrying some extra weight. Look at female tennis players, to get strong and fast enough they often look much more bulky on average than the men. Federer and Djokovic are lean athletetes where as Serena Williams, Sharapova and Wozniacki whilst not at all fat are much more bulky. We will never have a proper natural woman good enough to play AFL unless evolution takes a chance and men and women become more equal physically.

Time to play Davey again Id say and Kent or even Bail maybe from the bench? No point having Davey sub each and every week when we are getting smashed

In some ways I feel we are mainly judging him off one game. The ankle injury obvious set him back for the start of the year, he wasn't ready and we rightly didn't stick by him. But the Brisbane game was a huge concern. Offered nothing defensively and then was just a rushed mess with the ball. It's a shame it has to happen but a run at Casey is in his best interest. After that if we can just find enough form for him to play deep it will be great

I can't believe we are stuffing around getting involved in women's football. Some sports are made for different sexes, football is great for blokes and netball for women. Does that mean I hate women's footy of course not. And it's great that women can play. But you don't see Melbourne donating effort to men's netball or men's local footy. So I don't see why we'd support women's football, just a waste of time and effort. That's my 2 cents

I don't. I reckon the guys been lucky to be on an AFL list since he was drafted. And at the moment we need Dawes and Gawn more than him and don't have near enough run to to play another tall. He's playing well but hasn't set demanded selection.I felt for Magner. One more big game and I might feel for Fitzy but I think he'll also get his chance then.

smarter than he looks Beamer

No we are ranked last because the ball never goes in! I bet we are last for inside 50's and if we aren't the stats are skewed by the GWS game!Our forward line are as bad as any other line in our side but does have potential. In fairness none of our line coaches should be judged on performance. What I'd judge them on is who is developing players. At the moment the forward line has Tapscott. The midfield the joneses and the backline Terlich in terms of players who have improved under the leadership of the assistants. Lets see what we get by the end of the year

McGuane is 6'3 at least the same size as Riewoldt and probably plays like a target more than Vickery who gets lost at times. He does good defensive with his background as a defender. I don't think Riewoldt is playing as a defensive forward but trying to play more up the ground as a CHF and getting blanketed by good defenders and therefore is scoring more goals on the ground than from lead and mark. I think we'd miss Garlands run if he actually was giving any. Despite his disposal being shaky I'd like to see what Frawley can do run wise when playing on a lesser player.

Garland looked like a mess on Monday saying how poor the players were and to blame them and not Neeld for the failure. This week we will have Sellar, Frawley and Garland to take on Riewoldt, McGuane and Vickery/Edwards (don't think we'll play Davis and I can't see Tigers playing both Edwards and Vickery). As McGuane has been Richmond number 1 forward target I'd send Frawley to blanket him at the same time it's high time Garland shows his leadership early in a game at a crutial time. He did a good job on Franklin way back in the day as a 19 year old, it's time now as a matured footballer for him to not sit in the back pocket. Time to give him Riewoldt. Similarly if he fails I'd lean to Sellar for a go just to see what he can do as a defender on one of the better forwards in the comp. Am I tanking or am I taking an opportunity to see what some players can do when we are rolling out one of the worst midfields or all time. Thoughts?

Tigers play a fast hard running footy. I don't think they are massive hard bodies. Especially with a few outs like tuck and maric! Toumpas should be ok. I just don't get nicholson. Turn over machine who doesn't man up and also dogged a contest. I know he runs but everything else he stuffed up! I doubt Trenners will play that will likely save Bail. I don't see a need for Spencer (unless Jamar out) or Davis.

Thanks for writing all that for no reason. Thomas is a free agent and trading Hogan would send the message that we are [censored]. How about securing Thomas as a free agent and trading Watts for Prestia or even better a second round pick for Prestia

DemonWA you just agreed with everything in my post! I love it! Some sensibility! Except for what you said at the end. I think you are wrong to see us fitting 3 talls and 2 rucks. Cox, niknat and darling are all freaks for there size athletically. The other 2 forwards aren't slow either. I think we will have one ruck and one of Dawes, Hogan or Clark will ruck as well. Which should be Clark. If there's an injury that's where a Fitzy or Pedersen come in. I'd leave Sellar in the backline group. I think the only reason he snuck forward was due to injuries to Dawes, Clark, Gawn and Fitzpatrick at the start of the year. And of course Hogans lack of availability