DeeSpencer

One thing we have to do is get all defenders able to kick. Maybe Warnock can have a rest but the rest of them have to do it. Strauss can take the delayed kick ins but the rest need to take quick ones. Running to provide options is definitely the key. Especially on big grounds. The long bomb to Jamar is an acceptable play, but it needs to be deep (like 65m+) and we have to have the numbers at the fall of the ball. Besides that we need a lot of movement to try and get the short/medium kick out to a target. This is where players need to work hard to get someone on a lead 30m out and at least not right on the boundary. Finally we need to get a better zone when we score points, because our zone is as bad as our kick outs.

Bate makes the same mistakes but so do a lot of quality players (not elite players) who have deficiencies. He does get run down from behind and can make a few shoddy decisions at times. But opposed to that is the fact that he is our best presenting target across half forward and has a booming kick. If Jack Watts becomes a solid bodied tall forward and we eventually become a half decent side then Bate, Petterd and Jurrah would make a pretty amazing mid sized marking combination. Maybe my expectations are too high after seeing how effective Jack Grimes was off a half back flank in his second year - but it would be nice to see Bennell and or Strauss have seasons in that ball park.

I thought it got pushed back from a March start to May. Hopefully it is soon. We need every little boost we can get right now

Has to work on his hardness now. He's had a few too many soft efforts in the preseason and it's not acceptable. The other thing he needs to do is to continue taking the game on and backing himself. He did it very well in his first season even in losing sides. Bennell has all the talent to play like Harbrow from the dogs, or even better (which is where the Mcleod comparison comes in), but he has to cement himself in the team first.

This news is worse than Cam Schwab's tattoo.

So I went and watched today, here's my team based on what I saw, my thoughts are intertwined. FB: Garland Frawley MacDonald HB: Bruce Rivers Bennell/Strauss C: Trengove Moloney Scully HF: Davey Bate Green FF: Petterd Miller Maric Foll: Jamar McDonald Grimes Int: Spencer McKenzie Jones Bail Sylvia was obviously injured and if its the jaw then he's gone. Backline: Warnock is not up to it. He's slow, he switches off and he's halting the development of other defenders. Frawley (who was poor) can take the big boys and I'd rather play Col Garland or if he's not right Cheney. We missed Rivers and MacDonald's experience and calm skills today. Bruce also didn't seem to play his usual 100% game time. Take your pick of Bennell or Struass and I like Bail for some unknown reason. Cheney and McNamara are not quite there yet. Midfield: Aaron Davey plays like he's just signed a 4 year deal. Pull your bloody head out Davey. Jones, Moloney, McDonald will always be serviceable but never be Daniel Kerr. Grimes needs to be the hero of this sorry lot. McKenzie, Scully and Trengove may as hell have first go ahead of Dunn. We need multiple Brad Greens Forward: Petterd is our best forward at the moment. Miller our second best. Bate should be better for the effort. I liked Maric first quarter then he did nothing, but as they wont play Dunn forward and Danny Hughes is a VFL level spud who can't handball we may as well play Maric. Stef Martin doesn't deserve to be on an AFL list. He can't read the play as a defender - he gets can't ball watching, and I'm surprised he didn't melt in the sun he is that soft and useless as a forward. As a ruckman he's not the worst - but I'd rather Spencer. Rucks: Jamar and Spencer get the go ahead as we have no other options. Both will need to play time forward. Finally when we can win it out of the middle (which requires Jamar and Junior), when we have strong forward pressure and when we back ourselves, surprisingly, we aren't that bad.

He doesn't appear to be in the squad. Care to explain?

Obviously you missed the 3 career games and 1 career goal of T Mac, was a nice goal as well.

I feel that either Maric or Wona can play along side Petterd in the forward line - but not both of them. Petterd plays well when given space to roam, using his solid marking ability and apply some defensive pressure. There is still room for a designated crumbing type. However if neither of Maric or Wona have done enough come round 1 we might be better served by playing another midfielder.

Sorry guys I'm all questions, but would love some answers if anyone has them! Again conflicting reports on Maric. I really hope Jones and Rivers are right to go round 1 - maybe Riv was just being rested? I'd be interested to hear more on how McNamara, Strauss and Bail went. This is the second week in a row I've heard positives about Bail. McNamara I want to see more off I like his run, and it sounds like Strauss has played another solid game and might be a chance for round 1. Also - Cheney, Dunn, Bartram - is the answer for round 1 as of now - probably, maybe and no. Sounds like Tippet kicked 5 of Warnock, but 1 from a ruck free kick and another from the last free of the game. I hope Warnock actually did some better stuff than his first 2 games. Finally, Spencer v Martin - who's looking likely for round 1.

"It's a crazy time in Adelaide" - first accurate thing I've heard in the 20mins I've been listening.

Disagree with your comments regarding Meesen. I was convinced he was a spud until the games he did play for us last year which were pretty solid and if repeated for the rest of the season would have him as a reasonable prospect to make it as an AFL ruckman. By reasonable I mean far from certain but in with a chance - similar to a Jamar 3 years ago, every bit as much a chance as PJ, Martin, Spencer or Gawn. I think his injury (stress fracture in a big ruckman) is the reason for his rookie status. I'm not yet ready to write him off, and due to the nature of our ruck stocks I'm hoping he can recover from his injury. If Jamar has a solid year and Gawn can prove anything at all I think possibly 2 of PJ/Martin/Spencer/Meesen will be let go, but I'm not willing to vote which ones.Also feel free to disagree but I don't think Garland, Blease or Watts could go straight from a Casey practice match to the round 1 side. But they will certainly add to the talent looming on anyone who dared to under perform in round 1 for us!

IIRC Saturday 4pm

These guys won't play, inadequate runs on the board without match practice regardless of how well they have recovered from injury. Garland due to length of injury, of course he's a slim chance if by a miracle he gets a run in our practice match at casey next week. - Colin Garland – Foot – 1 week - Neville Jetta – Groin – 1-2 weeks - Jack Watts – Back – 2-3 weeks - Sam Blease – Ankle – 2-3 weeks FB:MacDonald Frawley Cheney HB:Bruce Rivers Strauss C: Davey Moloney Green HF:Sylvia Bate Trengove FF:Jurrah Miller Petterd Foll: Jamar Grimes McDonald Int: Martin Jones Scully Bennell Emer from: Spencer, Maric, Wonaeamirri, Warnock, Dunn, McKenzie. With presumed fitness: Backline: MacDonald, Bruce, Frawley, Rivers are locked in the backline at this stage. With no Franklin I've left out Warnock in favour of Bennell, Cheney and Strauss. Speed and youth need every opportunity. If they flood their forward line with a ruckman, Stef Martin can follow him. I'll back him as a defender against Taylor, Renouf or Skipper (sidenote - Jamar must be a real strength in this game). I've got no doubt our match committee will go with Warnock, but I like the gamble of leaving him out. His preseason form has been average so far. Bennell has been average as well, and I'm not a huge fan of Cheney - I'm hoping someone interesting like Tom McNamara or Rohan Bail can step up in the last 2 practice games. Midfield: Davey, Moloney, Green, Grimes, McDonald, Jones appear certain. Scully and Trengove get the opportunity over Dunn or another forward. Sylvia also rotates through. Forward: I've only named the 4 set forwards - Bate, Miller, Jurrah, Petterd. Miller is needed, the other 3 are good. I wanted to get another forward in but need convincing Maric or Wona deserve a spot come round 1. Also midfield rotations are important and Green, Sylvia and Davey can play forward when not in the middle.

2-4 with wins against the Crows and the Tigers. North will beat us at Etihad, they always do. We should be a good chance in the other games, especially Brisbane. A massive upset against the pies or hawks would do us a world of good.

He's done a good job of damage control in an average team and has been rewarded by the B+F voting. Brisbane and StKilda are the only team with 2 BIG forwards, most others have one bigger guy and one more athletic guy. Such as Hawthorn with Roughy and Buddy. I'd like to see Frawley take on the role as number 1 big defender. When you do that we surely can't have all of Warnock, Rivers and Garland in the same side. I like Rivers as a natural CHB and think he's defending ability is often understated (and his zoning ability often overstated but that is another topic). Then I'd prefer Garland as the 3rd tall.

Joel MacDonald's recruitment doesn't have much bearing on tall forwards at all. I suppose we could have got Daniel Bradshaw but he had no interest in playing for us and he will only be around for 2-3 years so would in a way only delay the inevitable. We took who we rated as the best key forward in Fitzy at pick 50. The fact is good key forwards are hard to come by. But Geelong have reached the ultimate success without a great one and the bulldogs have nearly made consecutive grand finals without any at all.

Okay, you've tempted me in to doing this. Let me first say that a best 22 is almost impossible, it changes after every performance especially in a side so unsettled as ours. Instead I'm going to select what I see as the team I would pick each week, if I had all 40+ Melbourne players fit and firing. B: MacDonald Frawley Garland HB: Morton Rivers Bruce C: Grimes Moloney Green HF: Sylvia Bate Jurrah FF: Watts Miller Petterd Foll: Jamar Jones Davey Int: Martin McDonald Trengove Scully First point - regardless if its Brendan Van Schaik or Trent Zomer every team needs a second ruckman. It's take your pick between Meesen, PJ, Spencer or Martin. PJ + Meese have the form on the board but I've gone with Martin for his athleticism. Backline - I don't think Warnock will ever amount for more than a good ordinary player. I'd prefer Frawley, Rivers and Garland. Joel Macdonald has impressed so far, Bruce is steady off a flank and Morton has the edge over Strauss, Bennell and co. That list is near endless such as Cheney, McNamara, Bartram but I'm not keen on any of them. Midfield - Moloney, Jones, Davey the cornerstone. Grimes, Scully, Trengove the future, the latter two must play if showing anywhere near enough. The skipper still very important off the pine and I'd love Green forward (Green goes forward, Morton midfield, Strauss backline was an option) but he's still dangerous from a wing. McKenzie and Dunn might be the closest 2 to getting a spot here. But I heard Bell tagged well during the last practice game and I've heard Rohan Bail showed some nice signs on a wing. Forward line - 2 default selections here. Brad Miller - we need his presenting and size atm. Jack Watts - he needs top level experience. Sylvia plays his half forward roaming role, with modern zoning defensive it was the role he was born to play. Bate, Jurrah and Miller form a combination. Neither of the 3 can command a forward 50, but if used properly can be dangerous marking options. Petterd gets the last spot, he played good footy last year and can mark and kick goals, get up the ground and apply solid defensive pressure. I couldn't fit in a crumbing option, but Wona is straight in if he can get back to his best, it's been too long without him! Maric close on his best as well.

Jamar, Moloney, Jones, Davey, Green, Sylvia + Bate. Sorry I went 7 like others have. Jamar is an obvious one. He is far and away our best ruckman and vital this year. The other 6 are primarily responsible for clearances and forward structure. If we get those two things right we be a much better side. I'm making the presumption that with the experience now obtained by Frawley, Warnock, Rivers, Bruce, MacDonald and hopefully Garland back and young players (Strauss, Bennell etc coming through) the backline can take care of itself. If guys like Jurrah, Grimes, Scully + Trengove etc have huge years they will become our most important 6, but they won't win lots of games unless the 7 above perform.

Thought he was a bit soft in the first quarter - don't know if anyone else agrees with me? After that he was pretty solid though. Wins some of his own footy and doesn't get destroyed by ordinary forwards, carries the ball well, kicks nicely. But I think we will have days when the majority of thought will be why did we recruit this in between size soft flanker.

If our recruiters took blokes every bloke that wasn't even playing a decent grade of footy and was recommended by an aunty I think we would be in more trouble than we currently are. I don't blame them for missing him in 2008.

It sounds harsh - but anything we get from Bell both this year and into the future is a bonus. He's a good hard worker and courageous so young players should learn from that.

Bryce Gibbs played a lot of footy off a half back flank/back pocket in his first year at Carlton. People routinely criticised Pagan for it but Gibbs is going along pretty nicely at the moment. If Scully's best role in the team is as a tagger, then I'm happy for him to play there in the short term. But I'm not sure it will be.

I'll watch it in my living room thanks. I'm just a tad disappointed that we get a raw deal again.

With no Franklin playing - could we afford to sit Matty Warnock out? I know he is a very handy defender and each year surprises me that he keeps improving but maybe Frawley and Rivers could be enough up against Roughead and possibly Dowler. A lot depends on Garland - if he can play a preseason game and prove his form and fitness he must play. I'm happy with Jamie Bennell, James Frawley and Jared Rivers being locked in at the moment, then would add 4 of Bruce, Macdonald, Warnock, Garland and depending on if he's not in the midfield Grimes or possibly the best performer out of Strauss/Cheney and all the other currently spare parts backmen McNamara (personal fave), Bell, Bartram, Bail. Any chance we have of beating the hawks will need an inspired midfield performance - Jamar, Moloney, Jones and Davey and co will have the get on top of Spud Ruckmen and star midfield - Hodge, Mitchell, Burgoyne, Lewis, Sewell, Batemen, Ellis and co.