DeeSpencer

Agree with this. It was nice to see Jurrah getting a bit physical. Wasn't a bad hit either for a skinny bloke.There was another moment when Grimes went over when Raines was applying his [censored] and we got a free/50. I thought Davey did hunt his ball a bit in the second quarter and made a bit of a difference. The problem is he's not the guy you want to be winning his own ball. It reminds me of Judd at Carlton. He's still a gun player but a lot of his game is now restricted to inside due to not having the players around him. If he doesn't win the inside ball he wouldn't be a star outside player like he was at West Coast. The thing we need is more dangerous players. It's like saying Riewoldt is crap in grand finals so needs to be played at CHB when really what he needs is some other forward targets. If we get Scully back, Morton racking them up and hurting teams on a wing, Blease in the team and playing well and Sylvia finding more of the footy then all of a sudden I bet Davey will be getting 20+ with a tag or 25 without.

Can't wait for QB'day. Show those Collingwood filth with our news reporter, flag and trumpeter! Go Dees. PS How good were Jeff White and David Schwartz today, fantastic games from those old boys.

He was never going to produce much today. I'd say throw him back to Casey and lets see him get some 4 quarter form, but if they played him today then I don't think they were ever planning for him to play VFL. I'm still not sure of his best position, but it probably is on a wing. I hope he can be left to play on a wing and use his height as a marking option out of the backline and his endurance to work up and down the park. His first 2 years were very good and last year he was apparently up and about before injury and a poor return. It's too early to make any rash judgements on him as a player.

Some top ideas in this thread. 1. Drop Davey - oh yeah top idea that, because he's struggled with a tag so let's get Sylvia tagged instead and bring in Maric or some other star. 2. Bring in Warnock - oh year we're playing a team full of kids but we really need a gorilla keeper full back. It's not like Frawley is AA, Garland's done 2 good jobs and Rivers was top 3 on ground today Anyone else have any brilliant suggestions? I would however, suggest: 1. Keep Watts in. Dunn and Green will never be AFL key forwards. Watts might be. Let's keep giving him chances, he wasn't that bad today. He laid a few tackles. 2. Drop Morton. Bringing him in was a bad idea. Again he wasn't horrible but I think he felt the pressure on trying to make a difference when he hasn't played a game all season. Let's get him back for some full game time in the VFL. My suggestion would be Maric to come back in up forward. Bennell to start in the midfield. Trengove (who was down today) to play as the sub. 3. Seriously consider Newton to give us a genuine target at FF. Only problem is to keep the run in the side it might have to be Dunn to make way. Any objections?

6 - Moloney (did what was needed) 5 - Bail (tagged, won the ball in tight, and used it well) 4 - Rivers (strong, and Frawley was much better as well) 3 - Jurrah (goals!) 2 - Jones (alot of crap mixed in but good work rate and became important) 1 - Wona (just his smartness as a football is worth its weight in gold, he knows where to lead and brings others into the game. 1.3 wasn't a great return but I really like what he brought to the team) Unlucky - Gysberts, Jamar, Martin, Frawley

Great to hear Maric bounced back strongly. Despite a poor performance and playing as a sub I think he was unlucky to be dropped. I think there is room for him and Wona in the same side and I hope he can get back in. Same goes for Jetta, but I think Jetta needs increased fitness until he'll really cement himself at AFL level. Sounds like Juice is on fire and Petterd is just a bit off boil but should be back soon. Joel Macdonald is ticking over nicely ala Warnock. Let's hope Strauss and Blease can lift soon. I heard Strauss was ok last week, and even this week turned a shocking first half into something we can work with. I want to hear how he's defending is going, I've heard he's stepped it up a notch but is now struggling for confidence to get and use the ball. Good on Tom McDonald for keeping his form up. I don't expect to see him unless things go wrong this year, but a good first season in the VFL can often mean a player has settled in well and will make it one day.

A torrid run with injuries explains the lack of fitness. If the fitness comes he'll be more than handy. Until then I think he'll be in and out of the side. It took Leroy a long time to click at Essendon, and now he's a jet (excuse the pun) apparently. Nev should build his game slowly. Bennell is more interesting. He's been showing flashes of brilliance forward and back since game 1. He has to find more of the ball. However I can't help but think he'd be better served in a more successful system of football.

Newton is clearly a very good VFL player these days. The decision needs to be made as to his prospects at AFL level. I'm sure if Martin lost form Juice would get a run as back up ruck, a position he was ok in last year. But to bring him in for a tall forward spot would be more controversial. I would rather keep Watts at CHF. However we are currently playing without a FF and rotating smaller players through. The problem is for Juice to play FF we might have to drop another running player. We clearly need the extra run, but maybe we need to extra structure more??? Even if it comes in the form of Juice.

Thats pure BS.You get judged on intensity - lacking in the second half yesterday, and general signs of improvement - largely non existent so far this year. Injuries are part of the game. We've got a few out or underdone, but it's not excuse. There is only so far waiting for all the best players to come back in and waiting for improvement will take you. All I want to see is us learn from our mistakes. Bailey seems to have less and less conviction every time he speaks. At the moment I'm hearing too much the players weren't up to it blah blah blah and not enough we are on a course and we will be ruthless and unacceptable efforts will not be tolerated.

75 inside 50's for Hawthorn. Grimes rebounded 15 or so of them. Very few AFL players have 100% accuracy over 15 touches under pressure. Even Tapscott turned it over a couple of times tonight. I was most annoyed when he didn't stick tight to his opponent. His kicking I'm not overly fussed about.

A maximum payout of 100,000 and this idiot Ange thinks he'd be greedy to seek financial gain. Someone needs to let Ange know we're not talking about a bit of a sore knee here. How would you like to be having early signs of dementia in your mid 20's?Belly would be stupid not to seek some assistance in maintaining his health, even if that is to the detriment of the club. I think these claims should be the AFL's responsibility if (as in this case) the medical staff have done nothing wrong, but even still if the club tried to dodge this in any way I'd be ashamed. What kind of club are we if we don't look after those who represented us???

Dawes takes big marks and splits packs. Bate has strong hands on a lead out in front, but can't get his hands up to take a mark 1 on 1 yet alone in a pack. He's simply not big enough for a key position and not quick enough for a medium/small position in the forward line, or most likely anywhere else on the ground.

Why wait for the odds to shorten. If you think he can win then you must believe he will get a nomination. Take the speculative odds now!I think next week David Swallow will show what he's got and the whole thing will be over.

I don't think he'll be any better as a defender. But at the same time I didn't think Tarrant could do it either. He's certainly out of it as a forward at the moment, and as a midsized player he's going to be hard pressed to get past Petterd, Jurrah, Dunn or Green. I'd say give it a go. It can only help his forward game to try him there, instead of him slowly wasting away by playing more average VFL footy.

Most likely Mark Williams would be running the board upstairs is my guess. He's had experience coaching a team of his own and is our 'ball movement' coach. I think he'd be taking input from the 3 line coaches. Coaching at ground level and coaching from the box have obvious advantages and disadvantages. I'm happy with Bailey been at ground level however I think it wouldn't be the worst idea to see him move upstairs for patches of games as well. Why not mix it up?

I'd like to see Watts come on as a sub. It might be good to have him sit and watch for a while and then come on in the second half knowing he could be the difference. Also could give him the confidence to beat an opponent. He seems to play better second halves than firsts anyway so to have him in fresh could be handy.

The rule is an improvement I think, and as the players get use to it I think we'll be happy with it. However I still think whistleless advantage (whereby the ump realises it's advantage, and waves play on) is the best way to go.

Subject to fitness: Out: Macdonald In: Frawley Joel wasn't terrible but I think the team was nicely balanced. If Frawley is fit then Macdonald misses out. He doesn't have the height to take on Hale/Roughy/Buddy and after that Hawthorn are mainly small forwards. As for the sub: Ricky should play a whole game if fit. I still think Maric was clean enough with the footy to be worth preserving with. So in that case I'd go with Watts. I know Watts needs whole games but I think we're better off with Petterd as an undersized. Watts should bring in some run in the second half.

Green - missed winning polish Jones - shouldn't play wing!!! Watts - needs 10% more Bennell - started season nicely Trengove - all round class - except kicking for goal wtf! Sylvia - needs more ball Dunn - useful and wasteful - like this one Petterd - match lifting performance - like this one Grimes- so much courage Maric - still showed improvement Garland - overcome early stagefright Moloney - brilliant second half Jurrah - must chase harder Rivers - intensity should lift Macdonald - typical average performance Martin - string games together! Tapscott - tough, skilled, brilliant Davey - still most dangerous Jetta - does hard things Jamar - solid all day Bail - tagging career awaits

It was a game of fair standard for round 1 with both sides missing some good players. We will need to lift to beat Hawthorn.

Jono Brown isn't the greatest athlete, Nick Riewoldt struggles with his kicking for goal and Dane Swan struggles to take pack marks. Does anyone think Grimes doesn't work super hard on his kicking? Usually his problem is out on the fulls when close to the boundary. I'm sure he can improve it. It seems 8/10 of his kicks are perfect, but 2/10 are (often costly) turn overs. Frawley, Macdonald and Garland are similar. In an ideal world we get more of the Blease/Straus/Tapscott's in the team. The other thing that will really help is to get a CHF with a presence and an ability to read the play. Someone who can provide the contest for the bail out kick. Let's hope Watts or Cook bring that in soon.

If Frawley is ready to play (as in not at any increase risk of reinjury) but hasn't had the match fitness then I nominate him. Start the match just with Rivers, Garland and Joel Mac and have Frawley ready to go after half time. He would be a once off propositioned though. Otherwise I'd look at Jamie Bennell. He's the perfect type to bring up either forward, back or through the middle if we get an injury or if someone is a bit off their game. I'd be bringing the sub on about half way through the 3rd quarter. That's probably the stage when players start to tire after half time. Any earlier is risking an injury that would reduce you to 2 on the bench. Much later than that and you don't get the benefit of using the fresh legs. Besides Bennell I'd look at using midfielders like Jones, Gysberts and Blease or players who can play multiple positions like Morton and Tapscott.

One thing I don't like after reading this is Prendergast's recruitment. Surely when the club was about to enter a stage where recruiting was absolutely vital you get someone with experience in the role, not someone who's done other jobs in the industry. I hope he ends up being a recruiting genius, but I'm not sold on it yet.

It's not the importance of the match it was the fact we demonstrated little improvement either individually or as a team. I'd be more than happy for us to play kids each week in the nab challenge as long as I could see some game plan and some individual improvement.I don't think that has anything to do with the fact that Spencer looked rubbish against Brisbane (despite winning hit outs) and anyone who calls for his inclusion or comments on his impressive performance in a VFL practice match is kidding themselves.

1. Frawley 2. Green 3. Sylvia 4. Davey 5. Grimes 6. Jamar 7. Jurrah DAYLIGHT 8. Petterd 9. Rivers =10 Moloney, Scully, Trengove, McKenzie EDIT If we're doing totals I need a proper number 10. Go with Trengove because he'll be up and about early this year.