DeeSpencer

To some degree the number 1 pick hurts him, but the bigger problem is he throws in the occasional half hearted soft effort that ruins a lot of good work. That is his test for the year. Don't flinch, hit the ball hard in the air on on the ground, if he does that all year he will have a great year. The biggest problem remains the lack of effort to spread and force an opponent to beat us going through us not by simply romping around or over us. To me it's very disappointing because from under 12's everyone learns the concept of manning up yet it seems the dees players haven't quite understood it yet. It's on the midfield at the centre bounces where you see 1 opposition player evade 3 melbourne witches hats to then handball to 2 running opposition players, but its a full ground problem. We still don't seem to create any defensive pressure to lock the ball in the forward line. Some of that is on the mids not stopping the outlets, but a lot in on the forwards not realising when the ball is won by their opponents and working super hard to stick to their men.

Jones needs to lower his kicks a bit, probably something that comes with adjusting to AFL. Seems ok though. Couch did show a bit, but he was a fresh in the second game. All we know based on last year is that Magner has the edge on Couch but that could change. I think it comes down to injuries as to whether Couch or Magner get upgraded and a spot in the team for round 1.

Defensively he is fine unless he goes 3rd man up when he isn't needed. But he makes brain fades by hand and foot too often. It's upsetting. He should benefit from the long down the boundary or safe switch form of kicking but he doesn't do it.

Just in reply to the OP is it too late to move Toumpas to a clean flowing exciting number 1 and get Hulk Hogan in the number 5 of the OX!

Hogan - wow. jones has to carry the midfield Byrnes not involved much but positions well Viney got thrown a tough match up in swallow and competed I think we will have teething pains but also some success long term with Dunn, watts and McDonald down back Jordie mckenzie was rusty David Rodan made an impressive difference in the clearances Michael Evans was lively Think Jetta doesn't have the speed to play down back I'd really prefer to play grimes down back, he seems robotic as a midfielder and not quite zippy enough in close Kent missed a good opportunity and a chance at winning the game but he also found the ball. Natural ball winner at half forward is important All in all I think Rodan and others will be vital to support jones to get us a midfield. The skill level might be slightly improved across the board. The defensive press still needs attention to detail but our biggest problem will remain our inability to spread at speed to cover off rebounding attacks. Oh and hogan wow again haha And I just don't think Dan Nicholson is clever enough to play Afl. Makes the same mistakes too often in terms of lack of accountability and with his disposal.

Maybe you need to take your own advise. Some guys need repeated injury free preseasons to get to their best. It's the same across all clubs. Has their ever been any indication that Tapscott hasn't given 100%. Does he look like a guy who doesn't put in?I've actually seem some good footy from tapscott including a very good game I think against gold coast last year. Let's worry about the end of the season at the end of the season

2 early season wins might get us an extra 2,000 members that at $100 each is $200,000. My point is we should focus on the season proper and the pursuit of a premiership not the nab cup.

I was there but I won't comment on the level of training because we will find out more tomorrow than any critique of today's training. Firstly Tynan jogged laps, some set back after the intraclub. Mostly skills training and divided in positional groups. Clark and Trengove appeared briefly on the sidelines to watch training. Grimes, macdonald, davey, spencer and jamar amongst others had light sessions. Taggert, tapscott, bail, stark, Davis, Barry did an extra drill late as they aren't playing tomorrow. Sylvia looked sharp. The big Fitz moved well up forward and practiced a lot of snaps in his own version of the j curve. He'll be damn hard to stop in the Vfl I'm just not convinced about him at the top level yet.

I see your point. I thought we were looking to learn from the pressure put on Watts. That said one promo is fine, but I don't want to see Viney as the face of the club.

No Bail, Trengove, Clark, Gawn (all inj) or Davis, Barry, Tapscott, Tynan, Taggert. Or Clisby (inj) or Stark from the rookie list Seems interesting that Tapscott, Tynan and Taggert all aren't in the side. I think Tappy has been carrying a niggling injury but haven't heard anything about the other 2. Maybe the plan was to save a couple for the game next week. I see the 2 games this week and the game against Port as warm ups and trials prior to the last two NAB cup games which are much more about actually readying the best 25 for round 1. So this week I'd play the kids only for 1 match each as well as the veteran/important players. FB: Strauss Frawley Macdonald HB: Dunn McDonald Watts C: Viney Jones Nicholson HF: Blease Dawes Howe FF: Davey Pedersen Fitzpatrick Foll: Jamar McKenzie Sylvia Int: Spencer, Kent, Magner, Evans, Matt Jones, Terlich At half time I'd make the following changes: Garland (Macdonald), Gillies (Frawley), Toumpas (Viney), Byrnes (Howe), Hogan (Dawes), Rodan (Jones), Grimes (McKenzie), Jetta (Kent), Sellar (Jamar), Couch (Sylvia) FB: Jetta Gillies Garland HB: Dunn McDonald Watts C: Toumpas Grimes M. Jones HF:Blease Pedersen Byrnes FF: Davey Hogan Fitzpatrick Foll: Spencer Magner Rodan Int: Strauss, Sellar, Couch, Evans, Nicholson, Terlich

I was going to continue with the puns but I thought I'd bail out of it.

Because the first ticket listed is for NAB cup Rich/Melb/NM AFL Members so it will ask you for your AFL members details. The second ticket listed is NAB cup etc GENERAL ADMIT. Click on that one and you'll be right to go. Although you might still need a ticketmaster login for whatever reason.

http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/NAB-Cup-tickets/artist/1104163 They are $21 Plus the $6 handling fee which is a rort considering you print your own ticket and they never handle it. PS - If you are struggling to find something just whack it in google, found it in 2 seconds.

How many has he had? Obviously 1 big one last year and now 2 in a row early this year, but if it's 3 in total you might feel ok but if its more like 6 or 10 I know I'd be very concerned. Unfortunately there are no scans now to predict the future. The period of rest is obviously needed and very wise but it's hard to tell where to go after this. I hope he gets back, keeps playing if thats the decision he makes and never has another one.

He's a lawyer and has experience at what until probably the last year or two was regarded as the most professional sporting league in Australia. Based on that CV he's probably not a bad candidate. He's left the AFL in time for all the allegations into PED, matchfixing and tanking to blow up. Quite possibly he was pushing for a more in depth review whilst the more pragmatic Demetriou and McGlaughlin were going in a different direction.

You don't want one individual losing match fitness then being part of the starting 21. However if your designated sub isn't planned on breaking into the team it's not such a bad option. Admitting Davey's knee +\- work rate has permanently derailed his ability to play full games you could use him only as a sub. Then drop him back to the Vfl once a month to play a full game and keep the skills sharp. We need to see how Davey goes in the nab cup. A few decent performances and he'll change straight away to best 22 vital player. I hope you can flash!

I agree 110%. Winning is a habit and we have to get off to a good start for the year. Another 0-4 start morphs into a 0-10 start so quickly these days. It looks like we wont have Clark and Trengove but we should still have some goal kicking power and a reasonable defense. What I want to see in the NAB cup is a competitive effort across the ground particularly with midfielders winning the ball and some decent ball movement. If we can't display that then I don't see us beating Port and that would start the year on a very bad note.

Your brilliant article led me to check out the latest from sports news first just for a laugh. They didn't fail to disappoint. On Cale Morton "Early indications are that the potentially high-flying, loping midfielder and handy forward has tweaked a knee cartilage. The one-time highly regarded number four pick from the 207 national draft crossed to West Coast through last year’s trade period after Morton managed just 33 games in the past three seasons at the Demons. Morton will contest for a berth in West Coast’s highly efficient small and crumbing forward battery or even for a spot on a wing. Morton is also up against the likes of other handy opportunist forwards Josh Hill, who bagged 36 goals from 22 outings last season, Ashton Hams, Brad Dick who is also recovering from significant injury woes as well as Wellingham and Cripps who offer West Coast similar versatile forward and midfield credentials to the former Demon." No wonder Morton didn't succeed at Melbourne! We never uncovered his potential for high-flying, trialed him as a crumbing or opportunistic forward and he must be really old if he was drafted in the 207 draft.

The thing about intraclubs is if it is a free flowing skillful affair then you have to be concerned about the players defensive pressure. If it is scrappy then you worry about the skill level. What we should see is patches of both and an improved intensity. The training I've watched this year hasn't impressed me in terms of skill level but has impressed me with a better intensity. Especially the likes of Dawes, Dunn, Viney, Rodan, Byrnes and a few others are training at a high intensity which should improve the team. One thing we can't tell until the season proper is who has actually improved individually and whether all the improved individuals can combine to form a better team.

Petterd had punctured lung, OP, Achilles, shoulder and probably more injuries. I hope he does well as he needed some luck. I don't blame the club for letting him go though. Although sometimes I wouldn't mind the club rookie listing guys like Petterd instead of just delisting him. Not for now but if we ever do become a flag thread I could see Petterd being like a Mitch Morton and bobbing up randomly in a grand final. Thread hijack over I await the Byrnes show version 2.0

The club has said training back on the field in the next few weeks. From that timeline I'd say it would be another 3 weeks until training with the main group. That takes us to round 1. From there I'd think he'd need at least 2 matches in the vfl. One to play a half then another to play more of a match. So all things to plan we are at 8 weeks which means back around round 3. The thing to watch for are progress. If we see him out their training properly that means he's graduated a step. After that look for him making the main group and so on.

The bulldogs gave me both hope and fear last night. A bit of me thought well at least if we get Clark and Dawes out there together we will have tall targets and our kicking can't be worse than the doggies. Then I realised nothing can shock me with how bad Melbourne can be and they at least have Boyd, Griffen and Cooney for some spark in the midfield. Still I'm looking forward to watching us next week to see if we can be at all sharp with our ball winning and movement whilst also pressuring the opponents. That's what you want to see from NAB cup.

I do like the sound of Kent. I mean who doesn't love Kent.

This is the problem with the inequality in the draw. We dont play on Friday night this year, therefore we don't get exposure to draw new supporters and consolidate current ones. The end result is we get less crowds and therefore a worse stadium deal. No amount of compensation can adequately compensate for that disadvantage. The AFL must realise they exist for all the clubs and serve the clubs and not be an organization focused on profits and maximum dollars. If we don't get on top of this issue soon then a salary cap and draft won't be enough to keep the competition fair and we will end up with an EPL style completion but it will be a farce.

Got there at half time. Family day for the players it seemed. Miss McKenzie taking some photo, all families getting handout folders. Chris Dawes' old man to boost match day pie sales. On field I watched a drill or two before they went into a full ground match practice with whites v blues. The blues featuring most of the starting players. Except Dunn, Watts and Strauss in white. The drill primarily seemed to be about ball movement. One team would bomb it to the their forward line and then let the other work it out under pressure. Bit messy especially at the start but picked up a bit. Byrnes and Dawes working nicely up forward. Dunn controlling the white back line. Toumpas made a couple of errors early. Most of the class players got involved. Howe seemed to roll his ankle and from my vantage point it looked like he did it trying not to take a hanger! He had Tynan in front of him and instead of flying over him try to reposition to out body him. Seems to roll his left ankle. Might of been better just taking the hang! Got up and walked to the sheds after being assessed. Promising to see Clark and Trenners running but not with the main group. Big Gawn was also on track and then after training did some kick to kick and leading with a staff member. Moved and kicked well. I'd think he'd be within reach of getting back to the main group and playing VFL practice matches if not nab. It's very hard to judge how far the other 2 are away but at least they are running.