DeeSpencer

He'll go to Essendon and proceed to tear every single soft tissue in his body, unless he continues just front running in which case he might be their only healthy player. Guys this seasoned 28 year old experienced midfielder got absolutely creamed by Toby Greene and Harley Bennell amognst others this year, and why? Because he just doesn't work hard enough on the field.

His number 1 attribute is marking, surely we want to max out on that quality instead of whatever else he does. High half forward for mine, who has the scope to come up the ground and be used as a target out of defence, who can be a target through half forward and who can also play like a midfield.

I disagree. Whilst I don't think he will ever be a damaging user of the football I see no reason why he can't work off an opponent to win his own ball. I'm super concerned about our lack of top end midfielders and our lack of development of more promising types in that regard but I'm not worried about McKenzie who can clearly perform a role.

He's shown the ability to win contested ball and rack up reasonable numbers of his own whilst shutting down an opponent before. Remember he missed a fair chunk of preseason and is still doing a reasonable job. I expect him to improve next year especially as everyone becomes more familiar with the Neeld plan.

What's everyone's thoughts on a straight trade with Shane Valenti? Sounds fair to me.

I know he's had a mountain of injuries but I wouldn't say no either. He plays like an old school hit up hard working CHF who can take a contested mark but really his best work is as a target who presents up and then marks well. But not just money wise I think Essendon would still value him, they've invested too much now to let him go when he's starting to look a bit less like a man made of chalk.

So what you are saying is that it would be a smart idea to sack a senior coach we've just appointed 1 year in and replace him with a guy who has been handy but not spectacular because Carlton made a dumb move by sacking him. Sounds like that would be an equally dumb idea.

I'm not talking up a conspiracy, more a self fulfilling prophecy. When you aren't tough or intimidating it stands out when you are. Look at Nathan Jones, no doubt he's a good player now, but we all think he's a top midfielder, when really its hard to tell how good he is its just blatantly obvious he's up a level on the rest of our spuds. Similarly Moloney has gone from our go to mid to a VFL player. A lot is perception and focus. If we up the focus on being uncompromising the football community will expect it more and it wont stand out so much when we are.

Ok maybe its just me but it seems whenever a Melbourne player does anything unsociable on a field its always a free kick and often a report. To me Rohan Bail getting a reprimand for tackling Doughty into the fence in a perfect example. Doughty was on the boundary line in play when the tackle started and Bail's momentum has driven him down and into the fence. No doubt it was heavy handed but if you stand with no momentum on the boundary line you should expect to be taken across the line and sat on your backside. If you end up in the fence then good luck to you. Early this season Jackson from Richmond converted a Grimes tackle into putting his full force through Grimes' head and knocking him out. It wasn't a reprimand at all. I'd really like to see Neeld adopt a brutal physical approach next year and if it means players get suspended or give away undisciplined free kicks for the first half of the year then I'm fine with that. For too long we've been playing with a little league approach in the big league and I think its time our players all run out there at 110% intensity. Then we can always scale it back. But I'm sick of complaining about half hearted spoiling and tackling efforts. We seem to get punished every time someone in the red and blue does something forceful and I think a lot of it is because its been years since the football community has seen uncompromising acts from someone is those colours. At the very least if we give it out a bit more a few of our players might learn how to take a bit of pressure.

From what I've seen of Cook - what he does at VFL is pretty good but he doesn't do enough of it. He has 10 possession, 5 mark, 1-2 goal games where he needs to have 20 possession, 10marks, 4 goal games. I think he's worth another year to see what he can do this preseason as he's barely got started on developing his body, but I really want to see him next March having put on some weight and got a lot more physical.

Most of the year he's been serviceable and late in the year he's been just reasonable which I expect is due to injury. Today was probably a culmination of that. It's not an excuse but it was certainly a bad performance. I have faith he'll bounce back. Certainly I'd like to see Rivers down back again soon to give the backline some more leadership and a calming influence. I've been saying it all season but could we just give Tom McDonald a go at CHF and put Rivers down back for a game late in the season now. What is the worst that can happen!

But we don't have the talent on our list that other clubs do and paying over the odds for players just to spend 100% of TPP isn't necessarily the answer is it? I'm happy to front load the hell out of contracts but we shouldn't over pay the players on our list or free agents/trades unless we think they will be value for money. I hope at the moment we are only paying 80% in real terms to our players and front loading 20% so that we've got room to fit in some signings.Considering we haven't lost a player due to salary cap concerns for a decade now I'd say recruitment and development would be just as important. I agree that football should come first though because of all the community/marketing etc stuff we do none of it is as effective in building the club as winning some finals would be.

I understand how it can work for looking at existing AFL players for trades or even for evaluating your own players - throw together a whole bunch of stats in the computer and eventually you can drill it down to ones that correlate with winning and then isolate those players. It's certainly a much harder exercise than in baseball where the numbers are easier to calculate but eventually you could get there. Fox footy has its own money ball criteria with disposal efficiency, contested ball and possessions or whatever it is. However I struggle to see how it really will help with under 18's because its such a difficult age to work out who will progress to AFL level. For example, if you drill it down that contested ball winning and disposal efficiency are the 2 most important stats how do you then apply that to a group of players who play in different competitions and have different athletic ability. Take the top SA under 18 who's been playing SANFL and a few games in the Under 18 carnival compared to a guy playing TAC and then plays most of his minutes against NT or Queensland in the under 18 carnival because he's injured against WA and SA. If i was a recruiter I'd come back to the 4 following points over and over again - ball winning, disposal, basic athletic ability and character. Whenever we recruit guys I look for them to be proven in winning the ball at the highest level they've played, I don't see any point recruiting the guy who barely got a kick in the TAC cup. I think look at whether they can use the ball by foot and whether they are making good choices. I then see if we've got a guy who will eventually have the fitness/speed/strength/height to compete at AFL level and I hope the club has picked someone who will do the work required.

I'd rookie Jurrah but I'd want to be certain that someone else wont grab him in the mean time. At the end of the day we've invested a lot in him and if there is any chance he'll make it we may as well keep him as his talent is undoubted. I'd offer Gysberts 2 years if he rocks up in October having put on 5kg and improved his running. If he hasn't I wouldn't be interested in more than 1.

Out: Green - Retired Spencer - dont be fooled by some hardworking efforts he's not going to make it, Rookie list for depth if you want Bate - too slow Bennell - not hard enough Petterd - too slow, too inconsistent, unable to make it in the midfield Bartram - injured, no point keeping Macdonald - I like him but he isn't up to it, keep for experience if Moloney wont accept a one year deal or if by some miracle we can trade Morton One year deals: Dunn, Moloney, Gysberts, Cook, Davis, Jetta, Jurrah Rookie promotion - Nicholson Retain rookies - Magner, Evans, Sheahan, Williams Rookie delistings - Couch, Lawrence Veterans list - ? Jamar ? Davey Draft picks - 3,4, mid 1st round, 2nd round, 3rd round, 4th round, 5th round Rookie draft picks - 1st round, 2nd round

I would be so dirty if we won this week, went above the bulldogs only for them the nominate Viney and force us to use pick 4 on him.. Luckily I think Adelaide got the message against Brisbane and will be pretty ferocious this week. Considering we can barely beat GWS I'm not overly concerned. But the bulldogs loss this year is up with the worst of our performances so far.

How did those kids look in the 3rd term though? It's much harder to look good when you are getting smashed each week but I agree some of their kids are sensational. I'm a huge wrap for Mitch Duncan, he has a tonne of composure and I think is very underrated. He'd be our second best midfielder behind Jones.

I'm not sure why Rivers gets thrown in with this lot. Potentially to encourage him to up his fitness base before preseason?

Possibly injuries may have slowed him down as well. Once you lose the yard of pace unless you have elite fitness then its very hard to play as a medium forward. He's just been missing that edge that made him look like a very likely type up until 2010

He's safe for mine. Remember he has never had an AFL preseason to build the endurance that will make him look and play faster. Really he and Tapscott have produced about the same amount.Hardness at the footy and commitment to win the ball back from opponents should be enough to keep Jetta.

Richmond play well in the west, but not well enough Luke Power's 300th game! What you have to way up is the young bodies in a team not all that keen on winning or kids who will get up for a champs 300th and want to finish off the bottom. The opinion of the GWS recruiter on the difference between Whitfield and the number 2 pick might play a role in the result of this one. Also the pride of our players, inparticular our midfield and someone like Tom McDonald who will likely play on Cameron.

Sign him for 3 in October if he's improved his fitness in the month off. Otherwise don't get trapped into a longterm deal if the penny still hasn't dropped.

It's hard to blame a few isolated decisions when you look at: An aging list after Daniher years Horrible drafting Poor facilities Poor leadership from the players who were coming through Under resourced football department I have no doubt we made a mistake with junior but I'm still not convinced tanking was necessarily a bad idea. We had the worst list in the competition, why not use the system to full advantage.

Forget Moneyball. I'd love our recruiters to just watch Collingwood v Sydney from last night over and over again before they draft players and think to themselves "could player A who we are looking to draft find himself a spot in one of those teams playing that type of footy". From there you have a start.

The footy world caught up with Green, Davey and Moloney. Neeld's game plan was never going to suit any of them unless they lifted and for varying reasons they couldn't. I can't see that happening to Jones. However he will face more pressure next year and so needs Grimes, Trengove, Sylvia, McKenzie and whoever else he can find to lift and help him out.