DeeSpencer

Jurrah, Green, Petterd, Dunn, Newton even - any of these guys should be able to kick a bag on their day. But it's not our problem. Our problem is having a big bodied CHF capable of taking a mark of at least forcing a contest. We have 2 potential players on our list: Cook and Watts. In the mean time we need someone a bit undersized like Howe or Bate or Dunn or Petterd to take some heat at CHF and use pure work rate to get some ball and help our forward movement. Watts is improving his game in other roles but should get a chance tonight at CHF, possibly with Howe next to him they might just be able to work something out. I won't be holding my breath but if they lead hard and attack the ball they'll give themselves a chance. Of course it's all reliant on winning the ball in the midfield/quick ball movement from the back half.

Often the depth players get a hard mark. If a kid played as well as Joel Macdonald did last week (despite the flaws) we'd be praising them, instead we are saying, oh he was ok he can have another week. The 24+ year olds are also better trainers, better leaders and have less injuries. In a perfect world your depth players would all be young and improving, but still good enough to get the job done.

Tapscott and Martin have been the two. They've been our two finds so far this year. Martin still needs to improve be a good number 1 and a worthwhile number 2, but he's at least proved to be a good backup number 1/not a useless second option. Probably a bit harsh on Gysberts, but I expected him to have the talent after watching him last year. Maric had an impressive preseason, which has made him more useful come match day, but he hasn't found any consistency to show he can make it long term. Gawn, Evans, Nicholson and Tom McDonald have impressed me at VFL level (although I'm going more on what I saw preseason combined with others reports). Wouldn't declare any of them as regular fixtures of the future yet, but by the end of the year we might be able to be confident on a few of them. Of the senior core I think after a slow start Jones stepped it up pretty well. Still makes a few errors but he seems willing to get the best out of himself regardless of the state of the match. Sylvia, Jamar, Garland, Watts, Trengove, Moloney I think are all playing well, but not outside the expectations each should have on themselves. Credit to Jamar for been such a work horse.

I'm not a doctor, a physio or an orthopedic surgeon, but to me it sounds like they thought it was a jarred knee with maybe some minor meniscal damage, kept him playing and got him to see the surgeon late last week. The club doctors probably thought it could settle down with a week or 2 rests. The surgeon probably reviewed the MRI and thought surgery was a better option. The problem here is delay in seeing the surgeon. Maybe if you were a US NFL team you would have you might have better access, but here is probably wiser to wait until you can get access to the expert.The change for a short rest and surgery is probably the expert surgeons opinion. The club doctors are very good, but at the end of the day they can only really say when things are very bad or perfectly fine. They can't always recommend surgery, due to the fact that they aren't surgeons. The other thing to take into account is that if it was a grand final you could probably get away with playing him if you could control the pain and take the risk of damage.

Bellchambers - Ruck Hille - Frawley Ryder - Tom McDonald Hurley - Rivers Crameri - Joel Macdonald If McDonald is really struggling, Martin can go down back when resting from the ruck (which will be quiet a bit due to Gawn's inclusion). There is no way Warnock deserves another game on last Fridays effort.

I'll give him a mighty send of if he's retiring. But right now he is a Vice Captain. Vice captains shouldn't hear footsteps. What example does that set to the young players?I'm pretty sure Aaron knows this himself. Would you want Dean Bailey going up to him and saying, bad luck about taking a few short steps and unlucky on those umpiring decisions, I'm not having a go at you because it's clear to me you had a sore knee. Have a look at the footage, if you are content that a sore knee stopped him going back on that ball then that's fair enough. To me it looked like he didn't want to put the body on the line.

Our tactics weren't ballsy. They were drop a man behind, stay close enough and hope to steal a win late. Looking at Carlton though, they seem to be a top 4 contender based on Waite and a few clever smalls up forward, the guns in the middle and a backline that works together well. I think we certainly have the good backline and whilst we don't have a Judd but we have a whole crop of young midfielders coming through. So really all the we lack is a good structure, 20 odd of our better players fit and some targets up forward. That's the questions I'd be asking Bailey. 1. Can you get this group playing consistent football for you 2. Is there a structure in their somewhere 3. What's your answer up forward If he can demonstrate points 1 and 2 by the end of the year and provide a logical answer to question 3 then I'd reappoint him.

Anyone heard the story that on mad Monday Scully was at a pub and walked passed some smokers. He caught a bit of passive smoke so immediately went home and went for a 5km run to punish himself for copping second hand smoke. Not sure if its true or not. If it is it's a fanatical commitment to being the best, which is either very good or crazy.

The knee injury didn't prevent him going back with the flight or giving away stupid 50m penalties. I can't understand sub par performances, but won't excuse his complete lack of on field leadership displayed in that St Kilda game.

From Blease: productive day off, a bit of touch work and then a walk in the bay with the sculldog! Maybe he reads demonoland?

Martin has played time and time again as a forward. He can provide a bit at CHF, but you want a true CHF not a ruckman playing that position. And deep forward he hasn't been up to it, if he has he can't kick accurately at goal anyway.Why can't you rest him down back. Rivers, Frawley and Garland all need a rest during the game even if they are small rests. So put Martin down back when the opposition ruck is resting forward. This is only an issue when he is second ruck anyway. But this week has a logical solution. Use Martin in the ruck for half the game and both back and forward. Use Gawn in the ruck for the other half of the game and rest him forward. Play Tom McDonald primarily down back but Martin can swap with him if he's struggling and he can then go forward with the simple aim of making a contest.

In hindsight yes, but Warnock hadn't been that bad the previous weeks so probably deserved his spot over McDonald. Same goes for Newton who whilst full of his usual brain fades against the saints wasn't completely disastrous and Gawn only had one game of VFL seniors since been dropped. The VFL bye the week before hurt his chances. Get them both in this week. Gawn to ruck with a short stint up forward and McDonald to take one of Ryder, Hille or Hurley. If one of them gets hold of him then Martin can rest out of the ruck to full back and McDonald can provide a contest up forward.

They are fit, quick, work well as a team within a structure and are committed to doing the hard stuff. Who cares how good they actually are that's enough to beat us right there. The bye has helped them freshen up. If Watson and Hurley don't play then we might be competitive, but I doubt it.

The press is pretty simple, up to 18 players zoned in strategic locations crowding space with the aim of forcing you into a turnover. They use the advantage that deep in your back 50 you have to kick it forward. Much like defenders have it easier than forwards because they can go 360 degrees with their possession and don't have to put it between 2 sticks. So take a few defence measures: 1. Put a ruckman/key postion player leading to 60m out on a boundary. 2. Put a few backmen, generally those with speed and good skills deep in your defence (ie. man up the zone in close). These players are to be used in case of a quick turnover as well as to link up with the short targets. For us this should be Davey, Tapscott, Grimes, Garland, Strauss, Trengove etc. Not Warnock or Bartram. Then you have 2 options: 1. Load up one area of the ground with players and kick long to it. Generally 60m out on a flank but down the guts is another option. 2. Use the advantage you have, in that your players can run anywhere and in any direction. Make players lead hard into the spaces and kick to them. A couple of well placed kicks even if they are diagonal and you are out to your 50m arc. From there a big long kick might get you over the back of the zone. The other important way to beat the press is to kick out quickly when a quick behind is scored. Right now, due to our injuries, I'm more concerned about our lack of forward pressure (which stems from ONE simple thing which is work rate - of the forwards to be chase and tackle, and of the mids to pick up the men dropping back) than our ability to beat a good press.

In the gun: Morton, Warnock, Bate, Maric, Evans, Newton, Jurrah, Bennell, Petterd OUT: Bate, Morton, Newton, Warnock IN: Scully, Trengove, Gawn, McDonald FB: Macdonald Rivers Frawley HB: Nicholson McDonald Bennell C: Green Moloney Jones HF: Sylvia Watts Evans FF: Maric Jurrah Petterd Foll: Martin Trengove McKenzie Int: Gawn, Gysberts, Jetta, Scully Juice isn't the worst FF, but is horrible in the ruck. Time to give big Max a go. Bate might be a bit unlucky, but I'd rather stick with Petterd and Jurrah. Morton just isn't quiet there yet with his skills or hardness. Back to Casey to really fix it up. Finally, who are we kidding with Warnock. Time to give Tom McDonald a go.

Pretty accurate post I think. Bailey tried to bottle it up early and then swung a few changes in the second half. They didn't work, but there wasn't much more he could. The encouraging this is that the players are still playing for him at this stage.

Who cares. I bet the coaches take all of 2 seconds to do these votes. One thing for sure was that St Kilda's half back line got on top somewhere, so one of the coaches may have been keen on Gwilt. How can we even know it was Bailey who went 3 votes for Martin and/or 1 for vote Gysberts.

Great news. Put him in the VFL and then hopefully he does enough to get through. Scully and Trengove both due to return should put the pressure on a few of our midfielders. Especially up against Carlton I'll be looking forward to seeing what Jones, Moloney, Sylvia, Evans, McKenzie, Gysberts and Jetta can produce.

If Robert Warnock does not play I'd probably be happy to go with Martin and Newton against Hampson and O'Hailpin. Can't really see what bringing in Gawn would achieve. I think we just have to be patient. Also if Rob Warnock does play there is a high likely hood he will play on his brother at some stage of the night.

Have to agree with that. I feel if we get Scully and Trengove back then the tag might move to Sylvia as much as Davey.Until then move him to a forward pocket and get him to focus on off the ball work rate. If he lays a few tackles and takes a good defender (or tags Yarran?) then he's contributing. I don't expect him to be best on ground every week, I just want him to play like a leader. That's what Green is battling to do at the moment, same with Moloney who even in his off weeks keeps attacking the ball. If he plays like a leader this week then he keeps his spot regardless of output.

We all know why Trengove got suspended - because the AFL hates concussions at the moment. But it's now very clear to me that Trengove got found guilty for 2 reasons. 1. The slinging action Any sling action or pile driving action, especially when delivered in 2 motions or with the arms pinged is illegal. See the AFL rules video for this. I've got no issue with this. 2. Unreasonable force Tackles delivered with unreasonable force will be punished. I have no problem with this, however, I will staunchly argue that Trengove's tackle was not delivered with unreasonable force. I will also argue that the resultant injury is not a fair method of measuring force. Either way if penalty fit the crime (ie. reprimand due to good record or at most 1 week) I would not have a major problem with the Trengove decision. The Bartram decision (hopefully) clears this up now, and we don't have to be calling for more suspension when players tackle hard and fair.

They get a fair bit of criticism back on twitter as well. I think it's pretty good, they get more (almost direct) contact with fans. Everyone knows what's going on.

To the post above, pretty much what are you saying is that if Bailey could make the bad kicks better and the players who don't win the ball better at winning that ball then he'd be a better coach. Well thanks for the revelation. This season so far. 1. Bailey has put Tapscott and Davey in the backline to address this need 2. Bailey has attempted to play a collection of small forwards to increase forward pressure 3. Bailey has tried to increase the forward pressure We've twice turned it up half way through games (Hawthorn and North) and once not even rocked up (WCE). But for the rest of the time the problem has been simply not having the cattle. Now good coaches make players better and I don't want to sound like a massive Bailey supporter, but right now there isn't much we can do about it. Let's have a look at Collingwood's best back 6: Tarrant - Frawley: Not much in it when Frawley is at his best Reid - Garland: Both good long kicks who occasionally have a brain fade Maxwell - Rivers: Probably give that one to us Toovey - Bartram: They win this one, but both sides would want minimal touches. O'Brien - Tapscott: Both great long kicks H. Shaw - Grimes: They win this one, but not by much, a lot of Grimes mistakes come under severe pressure

Salopek? Are you related to him, or just love an excuse to watch the SANFL?

Can't believe the love for Selwood. Sure he's good but doesn't the ducking the head crap just kill you? It's within the rules, but I can't see it been within the pure spirit of the game. I respect Judd and he's an amazing footballer to watch at times, but his face is a killer. 1. Bartel - marks, goals, wins contested ball, sensational to watch and a personal favourite. 2. Hayes - his first grand final last year I think is just amazing. Should be shown to all our blokes who aren't putting in (cough Davey cough). 3. J. Riewoldt - Buddy is good, but Riewoldt takes it up a notch. Apologies to Nat Fyfe, Stephen Hill, Buddy, Brown, Ablett, Dangerfield, Dusty Martin and Cotchin. Lewis Jetta's run of points last year was also pure gold entertainment wise.