DeeSpencer

Can't see what game you were watching. Thought Bruce was serviceable.In: Sylvia, Rivers, Garland* - These 3 must play if fit. Out: Bennell, Strauss, Bartram* FB: Frawley Warnock Grimes HB: MacDonald Rivers Bruce C: Trengove Moloney Davey HF: Bail Bate Sylvia FF: Petterd Green Dunn Foll: Jamar McDonald McKenzie Int: Newton, Scully, Jones, Garland I heard on the radio that Rivers should be right to go. Not sure about Garland. If he's not then Bartram gets a game ahead of Strauss as his defensive work is better. We need that at the moment. I hate to drop Strauss but he will get plenty more chances. Some confidence in the VFL won't hurt him. Bate gets 1 more chance for mine. Started to get into the match a little in the second half. We still lack marking targets and players who can kick. If Miller dominated/s for Casey I'd probably bring him in instead. Bail and Bennell both played as defensive forwards today, I'd stick with Bail. It's probably not his best position but he did a job for the team today, just couldn't win the game. Newton can keep the back up ruck/forward job. If Spencer or Martin want to do it they can earn it!

He's not a full forward, but in Petterd, Jurrah, Green and a fit Matty Bate we would have 4 very dangerous marking players. In the long term we will need to find a big guy (or 2) to play down there - most likely at least Watts. But the bulldogs have shown that you can get within 2 goals of a grand final with multiple marking options. I really hope we can get the small forwards back in form as well - Maric and/or Wona!!! Jurrah > Hill Green = Brad Johnson Bate isn't in the same ball park on current form but has the talent to play like Rob Murphy Petterd, as good as Mitch Hahn? Forwards who compete and put on the required level of pressure are so important. If they do that and have a midfield behind them they will be successful.

Take her to more games. The wins may have been few and far between but their have been some good ones in the last 3 years. If you are only going to make it to select games, take her to the winnable ones! Richmond in round 4 should be a good start, I fancy we should at least manage more than 1 goal to half time.

I'll be stoked if he plays in a flag, regardless of if its his 20th or 300th game. As long as its with us.

Whatever system they use in Supercoach seems to get the best players with the best rankings. It does have a midfield bias (in terms of level of the scores) and the big exception is probably full backs as they are a unique breed. However if you look through it the best forwards score the most points and the class midfielders score the most points (led by G. Ablett). Here is players ranked by average score last year: Best Mids - Ablett, Montagna, Swan, Hayes, Dal Santo, Goddard, Chapman, Goodes, Pendlebury, Davis, Sewell, Selwood, Bartel, Mitchell, Corey, Didak, Boyd, Priddis, Cross, Bolton, Watson, Pavlich, Kirk Best key forwards – Riewoldt, Brown, Fevola, Petrie, Franklin, Roughead, Tippett Best Rucks – Cox, Sandilands, Clark, Jolly, Fraser, McIntosh, Petrie, Ottens, Ryder, Jamar, Tippett So I think Priddis and Davis get a bit over ranked due to racking up cheapies, Petrie is hard to judge as he plays games in both positions and Josh Fraser has done a 'Jeff White' crash course in cheap touches to get that high. But all in all if I was picking players in certain positions to sign for a once off game in round 22 last year (without tanking!) I'd pick in pretty much that order.

Backing Strauss for the rising star is stupid. You should just donate the cash to the club. Grimes is a league above Struass as a footballer and had a great season last year and even if he did play 22 games he was probably not going to win the award. Strauss will be doing well to get a vote.

If it was up to Sylvia he'd probably play this week. I'd love to see him out there but we can't risk another broken jaw, hopefully the medico's make the right decision whatever that may be. Rumour is young Trengove has a bit of an injury - nothing too serious and shouldn't stop him from round 1, contact your sources and figure that one out ladies and gents.

The latest 3 decisions have been Maxwell, Franklin and now Kennedy. I thought the head was sacrosanct and if you got someone high regardless of the circumstance and you injure them you are looking at a spell. Ie. Maxwell But it seems to have changed, my new interpretation of the rule is that: If you bump someone with the ball and get them high then you are gone. Ie. Franklin If you bump someone without the ball but they can reasonably be expecting contact, and get them high, but your technique is good and you didn't mean to hurt them, then you get off. Ie. Kennedy I just hope Melbourne players are not dishing out or on the receiving end of the next bumps the test the rules.

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.