DeeSpencer

A heap of teams are playing with 2 ruckman who offer very little up forward - for instance: Kangaroos - McIntosh and Goldstein Sydney - Mumford and Pike Bulldogs - Hudson and Minson Richmond - Graham and Vickery Geelong - Blake and West Collingwood - Jolly and Fraser It's time we give PJ 4 straight weeks as back up to Jamar. Play him 50% of time in the ruck and little time up forward and when he is forward play him deep so he doesn't get exploited. Give Jamar more time up forward as well where he actually is dangerous. At the end of the 4 weeks we then decide whether he has any future at AFL level and if he doesn't then at the end of the year we thank him for his service. He'd probably be a chance to get picked at an AFL club and if he didn't he'd get a nice state league contract somewhere as he is dominant at the level.

I'm not sure. The game I saw of him in the under 18's I thought he played a fair bit off half back but ran through the middle and kicked long and direct out in front of Watts. No doubt his kicking is his weapon so the question is where can we get the best use out of it. I think eventually the best place for a player of his skill set will be half back flank, but you are right he could be of good use on a wing.My thoughts on what the club is doing at the moment is giving him an education. I think they know he isn't ever going to be a back pocket, but are training him with stints deep to get him to tighten up his defensive side. Hopefully that means when he is knocking the door down for AFL selection he can be played on HBF and be more comfortable. It sounds like a good idea to me, as long as they give him games like this one sounded to be where he gets to play further up the ground to get more touches and keep working on his offensive game. Cheney of course is at this stage a much stronger defender. But I think aiming him to be a HBF in the future doesn't make any sense because that role will not play to his strengths but actually expose his disposal. He should be gunning for Garland's position as the mid sized close to goal defender. Unfortunately it seems Garland's combination of height and speed makes him a player who gets games compared to Cheney who can appear too small, too slow, too unskilled. Not saying that is true but it's a bit of an impression I've got from him, and considering how well he's been playing in VFL without stepping up to AFL maybe the club does as well.

Interesting.I look forward to Frawley or Warnock taking Nicho's spot in the team. Also how damn good were some of the forwards we've had over the years from the mid 90's to mid 00's, as shown by that forward line.

Plus his accuracy % would be screwed. Even if he knew exactly who the GC and GWS rated and wanted to pick he couldn't predict their order.

This has got to be one of the more rediculous posts I've ever seen.What do you suggest, replacing Morton with Joel Macdonald, that will really turn the team right around. Or what about Jack Watts, his record stands at 1 win from 7 attempts, maybe he is the cause of all our problems. Morton was pretty decent against Carlton, after not being the worst the two weeks previously. Took a nice mark deep in defence putting body on the line, mopped up beautifully (besides 1 shonky kick) when loose in the 3rd. He's also got a long penetrating kick which I think is part of the reason they are playing him across half back. His attack on the footy has been fine and his ball use consistently pretty good. I'd be disappointed if he doesn't improve as the weeks go on due to how highly rated he is, but he is fine at the moment. As for him not putting on weight, I'd only be annoyed if it was because he is slacking on the weights, otherwise if its just a club decision and his natural body type to bulk him up slowly then that is fine as well.

Another who might be not quite big enough, not quite quick enough, not quite skilled enough to hammer down a position at AFL level. Interesting it seems he is playing deep in defence from the reports from Casey, maybe they are doing some serious work on his defensive game before letting him get further up the ground. I really liked what he produced at AFL level last year. He looked ok defensively, nice pair of hands and seemed to be a natural at working the ball out of the backline. The longer Garland and JoelMac don't lock in spots and the longer Bruce keeps effing around with it not matter how well he's playing the more I'll be calling for T Mac.

My Maric hate (strong word, probably disappointment is better) was only started this year, before then he was doing fine. Developing as well as injury let him to. Played some very nice games for us as a young player. But this year after a reported a big and relatively injury free preseason his NAB and early VFL form was rubbish. He was horrible at Casey fields in the nab challenge. Also after been touted as an accurate goal kicker he keep kicking points. Now I'm concerned that he doesn't have the speed to beat and opponent and impose forward pressure, neither does he have the strength/marking ability at his size to be a goal kicker. So really it kind of makes him better up the ground either HFF or Wing and I'm wondering if he's good enough to make it. As I said earlier its more disappointment and I really hope he can lift with a big second half. I'm not sure if 2.5 years on the list means we have to keep waiting longer for him (especially now as games are less gifted) or if it means he just wont cut it.

Let's be honest Dean Bailey hires the assistant coaches. So why would he not hire the best person to get the job done. He's also had plenty of experience with Mahoney so obviously didn't hire a dud. I think the board would put a price constraint and a character constraint, besides that it would be mainly Baileys call. Our forward line suffers mostly from lack of experienced personnel and structure. As for an attack on Mahoney's playing talents, yes he wasn't a key forward but he was extremely important to Port for a few years. He probably didn't have the publicity of Podsiadly but he was a gem of a mature age recruit. I'd like to see a key forward do some work with Jack and other marking players - Jurrah, Petterd, Bate, but besides that I see no reason why Mahoney can't build the successful structures and work on all the aspects of a forwards game.

Geelong and West Coast the performance lasted all day. Roos lasted for a half. Dogs we had the better of the quarter, but did give a goal away practically at the start of every quarter.The Hawks and Carlton games have been the most disappointing. Interestingly on the weekend we started with both Sylvia and Bate off (along with Gysberts and Garland). That made no sense to me. I'd start Sylvia on the ground in every game, and if he was off I'd start Bate to give us something to kick to around half forward.

It did stop when we started winning our share of the footy in the second quarter. Execute plan A and they quickly find little to bully about.The best way for Davey to get some respite is to put him on the footy, instead of on a wing. When Jamar wins more hit outs than he loses I can't believe they don't put Davey in the square more often and let him have a free run at the contest. You've also got 3 umpires watching so anything like a hold becomes a free kick.

McKay is a dime a dozen outside midfield, who amazingly, Melbourne have none of! I'd like him but Dangerfield has much more to offer. Douglas is a good player, but a half forward/midfielder probably no better than Sylvia and Jetta with a touch more development.

Can anyone seriously say they weren't calling for him to be dropped a few weeks ago. I didn't see any lets keep Dunn in the side week after week supporters then.

Was thinking the same thing as the OP. I would have loved to see Miller just belt a couple, starting with the clowns getting stuck into Watts especially Joe Anderson. Or Frawley/Warnock taking out O'Hopeless and Houlihan. Line in the sand wouldn't have been the worst thing. I don't want an arrogant Carlton side to have an edge over us. Realistically though I think the guys lifted and we were even in the second quarter, won the third with the breeze but then kicking against the breeze in the strong rain was very difficult.

Did he back up ruck, I think that is his best chance at making it and with Spencer out after Johnson fails again (sorry PJ I love you big man but you've been disappointing since 2008) the spot could be his. He needs to get it and hold it!

There goes QB'day for Sylvia. Not good.

He was rightly dropped, but he was getting to the right spots but panicking and not finishing off good work. 8 goals indicates that he's found some confidence, lets just hope he can bring it to the big league.

Besides us causing an upset, that's having a tonne of faith in the boys doing it for Tyson Edwards. Not sure how much McLeod will lift, but for your sake I hope the others do.

I'd love Riewoldt but our backline would be terrible without Frawley. Both guns and better than Gumbleton, Hansen, Brown *2, Reid, Thorp and other talls at this stage from the first round of that super draft, but it is a long way to the finish line. Looking at Riewoldt I think we can see how quickly forwards can improve when they get some size and confidence in their bodies. Last year Riewoldt just casually led and barely chased, we even played Bartram on him. This year he has confidence to demand the footy and is kicking goals. Hopefully Watts can start to do this over time.

Quite simply at the moment our big strength in key defenders for the future isn't as good as well all thought it would be. Rivers looks very vulnerable against both the very big and the quick. Warnock has been serviceable but I'm sure everyone has some concerns whether he will find the next gear. Martin as a defender was abandoned probably rightly as he couldn't read the play well enough. McNamara undersized and not getting a game. Frawley has been awesome, but as Garland isn't back to his best, Macdonald looks average and Cheney hasn't kicked on he is taking the dangerous marking mid sizers, with Garland playing smaller than that again (which in a way suits him as he hasn't bulked up). This week surely sees at least 2 of Rivers, Frawley and Garland taking on big guys. Bruce or Morton could play on Waite up the ground. Personally if we get a strong midfield and fire up Garland to his best, then I'm sure we can more than live with one of Rivers or Warnock in the side. Whichever one of them plays and probably most of our other defenders will also cop it if we continue to lose, probably due to increased expectation on the most established area of our side.

We would have made the same mistake, except he probably would be getting a game for us. I wouldn't completely give up on him yet, although the fact he is getting paid a similar amount to what Gary Ablett has over the last few years is embarrassing for him.

Our forward line has more talent in line for it than any other part of the ground, but it is inexperienced and suffers from injuries and being neglected for other parts of the ground (I see Bailey as a firm believer of premierships and built from defence and with a star midfield). Tall forwards we have Watts Mid sized forwards we have an amazing collection in Bate, Petterd, Jurrah, Sylvia, Green Smalls we have Wona, Bennell, Jetta, Maric, Bail The current forward line requires very quick ball movement, which means the midfield and backline getting on top. We never had a chance to do that against the cats. Our performances this year have not really had a huge deal to do with how well the forwards play. The good games have been when our pressure is up, we win in the midfield and our defence gets on top. Petterd had a day out to lift the side nearly to a win against the pies and Bate was very good against Brisbane and the dogs I believe. But our most disappointing games this year (Roos and WC) were when the pressure and creativity amongst the midfielders was down.

Did my own ladder predictor to end of Round 14 Took some big guesses at some but came out with: 1 Geelong - 48 2 Freo - 44 3 Collingwood - 44 4 Carlton - 40 5 Bulldogs - 36 6 StKilda - 36 7 Sydney - 28 8 Essendon - 28 9 Brisbane - 28 10 Hawthorn - 24 11 Port - 24 12 North - 20 13 Melbourne - 16 So what I pretty much predicted before I did it came true. 1. I don't think it will be locked in, although I think they're will be less teams still in with a chance than I've predicted. 2. I haven't predicted another win for us in this time frame, but think we are some chance to get one. 3. You clearly rate the hawks and don't rate the dons. I don't think there is much between them, and have predicted the dons to beat them when they meet again soon. That is obviously a game that will have a big impact. 4. Carlton's next 4. Melb (MGG), North (Etihad), Freo (Etihad), Bris (Etihad). I've shamefully tipped them to go 4-0. They really could. They draw doesn't get horribly harder after that as well. Paying $4 to make the top 4 but will need to boost percentage and beat all teams including Freo in the next 4 weeks.

I think that was pretty much it. So it was a Pickett for pick 28, plus we lost out on a few downgrades (44 goes to - 54, 60 goes to - 62).In hindsight we should never have made that trade, but at the time it was a reasonable trade. A late second rounder for a quality player. Pickett added a bit to the side that we thought was getting reasonably close to a flag. But we found out we weren't and Byron enjoyed eating up his healthy pay cheque.

Late in the first quarter Casey 5.6.36 Bombers 1.0.6 Casey kicking with a wind that the boundary commentator estimates to be worth close to 6 goals.

At this stage I'd rather a certain loss playing the competitions best side in Geelong at Skilled rather than a trip interstate for a probable loss. What we need to do is really bolster our performance and bolster our crowds so the financial incentive is so strong that they have to play us with their home game at the G. Hard to do considering how much coin they get for a home game down there.