DeeSpencer

Wasnt there first year 2010 and the Geelong game 2011? Anyway Grimesy in the backline this week without Strauss. Should solidify things down back. Frawley - Brown McDonald - Ruckman Garland - Cornelius - Important match up, Cornelius can be good on his day Watts - Paparone - Youngster looks talent, Watts looks like a spud, lets see what he can do Terlich - Greene Grimes - resting mid - Zorko/Polkinghorn Up forward the big matchups will be against their smalls. Our bigs really have to create contests and we'll have to crumb goals. Howe has a tough matchup against Patfull. In the middle I imagine it will be McKenzie to Rockliff whilst Raines heads to Jones. Might be a bit of old mates Sylvia against Moloney. That could get interesting.

Stop bignoting yourself, we all nearly died after the Richmond game (i'm joking by the way). Thanks for sharing. But for anyone out there the Austin spinal unit is an amazing cause. Don't get me wrong I love the royal childrens hospital and most victorians have a friend of family member who has at one time needed the kids hospital, but when I see them get 15+ million a year for the good friday appeal I think about other services that need it to. The Austin spinal unit deal with these horrific injuries and there reputation for care is first class. Usually people go to hospital to get better and are thankful for it. At the Austin spinal unit a lot of the people in their won't ever be the same but I'm sure as you can attest DA they can come out alive and with a life to live.

Yeah I see that as well but Rodan is in (say for Clark) and then who is Blease in for. If he's not in for Jones he has to come in for Davey (who's been great as the sub) or Tapscott who I thought was just getting his game to the level that we wouldn't drop him. It's not that I want to drop Jones it's just I think Strauss has earned his shot, McKenzie has to come back and I don't want to ruin Tapscott's confidence now he's got it. We will have the answer in a couple of hours. My guess is that Strauss is actually the one who misses out. Neeld likes Blease and McKenzie, not sure he likes Strauss.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10151573192673209&id=346777198208 Best to read the article originally (from backpage lead before the site crashed) but he umpired our game last week and we have him again. I don't think he's the best umpire, obviously still trying to improve. But I can understand some bad decisions last week and this week. In regards to him umpiring last week it makes me wonder sometimes if the really compassionate decision isn't to ask someone whether they want to do something but to tell them they wont be. But that might be best for another day to have that argument.

if he was so decent who is responsible for all the GWS mids who all got 25+ touches. He also wasn't as prominent in the last quarter as the other mids. I'm not saying its particularly fair but with rodan, blease and mckenzie back in, and if you straight swap Strauss for jetta then you are looking at a midfielder making way.

davey might just be the super sub. And I wouldn't be surprised if jones has a week for reflection in the VFL as well. Remember our midfield was beaten for 3 quarters by GWS. That's not a good sign. He's more mature, but needs proper development as well

Sounds reasonable to me. The more games means the more years under AFL coaches and the more ideas you've been exposed to. To counter that I believe sattrely, greaves and Craig all had good careers in the level below AFL. Obviously Neeld has gone for guys who have teaching skills different to experience. That's presuming we couldn't attract more experienced guys

Its almost impossible to know every substance. Dank is a cutting edge dude. Dangerously so. But if he produced evidence for this drug working and a letter (fraudulent or otherwise) then I see why the doctor could be fooled.

Is it actually a big issue? I thought our board was pretty good and all clubs have back stage mutterings but I think ours are better than north or the dogs. I think it's the link between the board, CEO, footy department that needs fixing.

You do realise this forward line was the one that kicked 12 goals in a quarter. Sure I'd rather have Clark than not but this forward line lets Howe become an important target whilst Gawn/Jamar and pedersen provide contests. If the big blokes bring it to ground we are actually well equipt to keep the ball in and crumb goals.Essendon smacked Collingwood today with a simple forward line. Bellchambers and Hille deep with Gumby as the CHF then get goals from smalls. Our smalls aren't stars but they are capable to score. The big question is what can Pedersen do? Either pedo or the resting ruck will take a first gamer, lets see how they go.

Interesting that Brisbane have dropped Martin and will also play 2 rucks as well as Cornelius and Paparone. Frawley to brown, McDonald to the resting ruck, garland to Cornelius and watts to show what he can do on the lively Paparone. They've also bought in a debutant to play CHB. Patfull on Howe to be a good matchup. I'm surprise that blease is back. Not sure he's earnt it to be honest. The last pick on the bench will be interesting. One of mckenzie, Strauss, tappy, Davey or jones to miss out. I'd think mckenzie would play and tappy and Davey for one to play and the other be the sub. Potentially it might be time for Jones to take a spell in the 2's to work on his disposal and defensive work rate. Rodan, blease and mckenzie can cover his midfield time. That way Strauss comes I'm for jetta. It would mean mckenzie, trengove and jones play midfield time whilst blease, Byrnes, Evans, tapscott, Sylvia, bail and Rodan all rotate through. Not quite the talent but good midfield rotations at least.

ill tread slightly less carefully, the bloke is a menace. Probably better he stays at gwsBut i dont think its Affecting his game heaps. Runs really hard in a game and goes hard at the ball as well but isn't a great user of the ball. I think that's what's hurting his game. He reminds of a scully or Palmer as a player who starts his career on fire but then goes backwards when they try to work out how to use the ball much better

taggert ran a 14.8 beep didn't he? I think he'll get the fitness base eventually. Like all draftees there's work to be done to get to afl midfield fitness and strength. Particularly the core strength that can take a long time in a taller build mid

Taggert should make it. Has a nice frame, moves well and can kick. Look for him to build this year in the VFL. He can kick a goal as well which is nice. Tynan, whilst I like him, is looking more like a bust. Doesn't have speed or skills required for the backline. Isn't tall enough for a third tall. He'd really need to become elite at defending. Now he's a good worker to win the ball but he doesn't use it. With Strauss, clisby, jetta, terlich all looking preferable as small defenders I think we may be smarter to cut our losses.

Beautiful hands in that video. Anyway... I think he's too young to leave. He'll be content in his position as a developing player at least for the next year or so. It's too hard to get those guys to leave. We kind of have to wait and hope he can't crack the team and then will develop with more senior footy like Josh Kennedy.

Makes it ever more embarrassing when the midfield of Rockliff, Redden and Moloney run roughshod over us. Feel bad for Rich, he needed a consistent period now to work out his worries with taggers to get to the elite level. He's been robbed of this for now. I think he's the best kick of the footy in the AFL.

The last two definitely. But Nicholson isn't tough at all. He runs hard but some of his efforts before he was dropped were abysmal. Fumbling and weak attempts at spoiling are not the sign of a tough footballer.

He's just too good! At what? Letting his man get cheap kicks. Not winning the ball. I'd keep him in because he has talent with the ball and we need to decide on a strategy with him. But in know what is he too good! Another half hearted and poor performance should have him back at Casey without a doubt.

Etihad isn't kind on players feet but again I think the big issue is they are doing 15+ km a game each week. That's not easy. They aren't built for running that distance. How many 100+kg long distance runners do you see in the Olympics. The AFL are trying to slow the game down by making the players fatigued. I think there must be a smarter way to make AFL more a game of skill, speed and power and not just endurance.

How about we draft one. Any considered that remarkable idea. To be honest crumbing forwards are overrated these days. With the way footy is played you either have zero players in the forward line and everyone running back or everyone in the forward line and need bad defense to actually crumb a goal. I like to get a decent crumber to take over from Davey and force our other small forwards to compete for the role but it's very low down my list. None of Bail, Byrnes, Blease or Tapscott are pure crumbers but they can all contribute and can put on forward pressure and rotate to the midfield. Oh and what I've seen of Barry is that he'll be more a wingman than a small forward.

FB: Garland Frawley Terlich HB: Strauss McDonald Watts C: M. Jones Jones Evans HF: Byrnes Pedersen Tapscott FF: Howe Gawn Davey Foll: Jamar McKenzie Trengove Int: Grimes, Bail, Sylvia S: Viney/Rodan Out: Clark, Jetta In: McKenzie, Strauss I think instead of going for a Sellar type we persist with a smaller forward line with the back up ruck, Pedersen and Howe comibinations. It certainly worked well enough on the weekend. Strauss straight swap with Jetta on a half back flank. He deserves his chance. However it really is an inexperienced backline. McKenzie comes back in. If Viney isn't fit then I'd bring Rodan in. If he is then I'd still play him as sub this week.

The red and blue print was dooomed to fail. You can't have a blue print that revolves around dividing success up into quarters and ticking them off. This game is way too competitive for that. What we needed was a simple plan. Invest in football department. Continue to review ways to get better. Have faith in your staff but at the same time monitor performance from board level.

Your first point is very wide sweeping. Do you mean across the club or just in the football department. I'm confident we have a better media/communications team, I think our work with casey is very good, our membership staff I'm sure are reasonable. And based on our financial position the high up financial guys must have done something right. In terms of football department I'm hopeful Taylor will make a better recruiter than BP. This Dank saga questions our doctor, I'm not happy with him. It also brings into question Craig and Misson who I thought up until this stage were doing very good work and just needed time to see results. The development coaches are almost a new investment, therefore they have to be better than whoever was doing that job before. I suppose one question is what are the strengths of our assistant coaches. We've heard rumours or Rawlings and Neeld clashing, we all dislike Royal and who knows about Leigh Brown. And the biggest question of all hangs over Neeld. Now on to your second point. They aren't world beaters but look at how the guys in the VFL perform. Casey are playing great footy. A lot of the guys we send out there each week are physically capable of much better efforts. They might not be able to stop the Selwoods or Abletts or Franklins but I've got no doubt they can run and chase and scrap and go after the ball. We will get a good look at how far we've come this week. Get blown out by 10+ goals by Brisbane and I might agree with you. Fight and scrap and actually make a contest of it and I'll be happier!

I thought it was the worst kept secret that Freeman was taking over, probably at the end of the year. To be honest I think the most important thing is unity. If we are fighting against each other I'm not sure what good can come of it. I think the current board has done a great job in the overall financial running of the club and getting us stable. But the massive challenges remain. The first one is to make sure we get this review by Peter Jackson right and aren't afraid to implement changes. It's obvious that not only is our football department still not up to scratch but it also lacks leadership and accountability. Neeld should report to an experienced head of football or take responsibility for the entire running of the department. Which ever way you work it that person then needs to report equally to the CEO and football sub committee of the board which should be run by Greg Healy. The second one is to get the appointment of CEO right. We need someone with smarts and the ability to plan and execute and above all complete the link between board, football department and supporters.

Considering Rodan, Joel Macdonald and Shannon Byrnes are really only on the list to provide competition and leadership it paints an interesting picture. Our true on field leaders should be Garland, Frawley, Clark, Jamar, Jones and Sylvia and I'd add Grimes because with a his run with injury he should've played more. These guys really should be performing each week. Clark, Jones and Grimes are. If we forgive Sylvia the round 2 game his other 3 have shown intensity at least. I think Jamar is doing as good as he can and Frawley and Garland are just in bad form and sick of being smashed in our backline. Dawes and Dunn are injured. So I do understand Neeld's point about experience. My big question is whether he can keep these experienced guys in form and develop the next bunch. Watts, Trengove, McKenzie are on the border of becoming experienced and the right age where they must perform. Same goes for Bail, Howe, Tapscott and Jetta who are all in the 30 games column. Same again for Blease, Tom McDonald and Strauss who have less games. I'd even throw in Terlich and Matt Jones because they are mature recruits. All those guys are the difference between us having a good future or not. Sure Viney, Hogan, Toumpas, Evans, Taggert and Kent and more will be important but for the next few years for us to actually get somewhere we need the guys who have been in the system for a few years to step up now and these guys to be the cream. Get this team playin competitive footy each week and beating bad sides: FB: Terlich Frawley Garland HB: Strauss McDonald Dunn C: M. Jones N. Jones Trengove HF: Sylvia Dawes Howe FF: Blease Clark Tapscott Foll: Jamar Grimes McKenzie Int: Gawn Jetta Watts Byrnes Emer: Pedersen, Davey, Rodan Then say to Evans, Viney, Hogan, Toumpas, Kent, Fitzpatrick etc try and break in and we will actually have a team that will go place. But if blokes can't develop and we see Watts, Blease and Strauss continue to struggle, Jetta floating around, Tapscott and Bail not making a step up, Dunn and Garland flat lining then I don't think Neeld's line about inexperience will save him.