DeeSpencer

Jetta came back from injury and immediately played better games than Maric was in the VFL. He then got selected on merit to play in Darwin and played a blinder. His next few weeks at AFL were progressively not as good and he now finds himself in the VFL. Maric has been building all season off an almighty sloppy start to the year. He should now find himself above Jetta and Wona in line for a game. Unfortunately he is behind Bennell/Green/Bate/Watts/Sylvia/Jurrah for a spot in the forward line. If he continues his good form he should be able to force himself a spot in the team (maybe as early as this week). But as of last week he certainly hadn't earned his right to play. Sure he might have had a case for cheap games like Watts or Wona in Darwin, but he hadn't earned it.Cheney and Bail have played consistent BOG to get back in the side. When Maric finds consistent dominance not just consistent decent games at VFL level I will be calling for him.

I think we're still waiting on Strauss to save the day for the kickouts. Lot of pressure on a guy who has played 2 games and has had a few injuries unfortunately stopping him playing more.

It's why Jordie McKenzie and Trengove are 2 of my favourites because they instinctively do the 1%'s because they strive of the physicality. Also alarmingly I think we are starting to get a few too many guys wanting to kick the long goal instead of hitting up a leading forward. They obviously have lost faith in their footskills and the guy on the lead. At this stage we should cough up goals sharing the ball too much, no too little.

You know that's the same Alistair Clarkson who stuck with Roughead week after week when he was barely getting a touch earlier in the season. It's easy to send lessons to the group when you are off to play a Brisbane in Tasmania without Simon Black. They could have sent a lesson to half the side and still got home. I'd drop Bate if he's not working hard enough and not putting his head over it. At the moment all he is doing wrong is making a few bad decisions, generally when he gets the ball at high half forward, looks to move it on quickly and finds no one up field.

It must have been a huge corky to stop Beamer. Think about it the guy would surely have gone on for a spell at the end of the third/sometime in the 4th quarter just to get some rotations up if he was anywhere near able to run. Hopefully he can get stuck into some recovery over there and be back for the Syndey game. If not if Junior and Trengove are ready to come back that would be nice.

6 games left. 4 at the MCG and two trips to play current bottom 4 sides. If we win 3 or more games then we can start with the could of should of would of. But for now I think we just have to look at it as a year where we still have massive deficiencies but are also starting to build something.

I thought Sylvia and Jones both played great second halves. Sylvia certainly seems to be more at home in the middle now than up forward. Jones was rubbish until probably a third of the way into the 3rd quarter where Bailey had a chat to him. After that he was very strong around the clearances and kicked a lovely goal.Bartram I agree had a good game. Used the ball well within himself and I thought he did a good job on Ballantyne. The stats will say he kicked 4, but one was a push from Davey and some good acting, another a gift from Bruce and I'm not sure of the 3rd. The 4th was the game sealer and Bartram did lose him for a step there but at least had him pinned near the boundary.

You are kind to say it was an accident, I think Davey tried to bluff the ump and his actor skills were not of the same calibre as H. Ballantyne and co. I'm pretty sure Bate got a legitimate handball anyway. But we certainly didn't get any of the soft 50's that we did last week.Rivers' 50 was much more costly than either of Davey's. And you could make a case for the first of Davey's not being paid as Bartram turns Davey away to stop the abuse, therefore highlighting the right attitude toward umpires (which is the exact opposite of why that 50m penalty gets paid).

Yellow maggots and those 3 were all average in the last quarter, but the 19 besides PJ, Scully and Bennell who played in the first half were the guys who cost us the game.

Pressure - Nope Run - Nope Skills - Nope When we don't have any of the 3 we get smashed. Games like this highlight my belief they we desperately need to get more pace and skill into the side regardless of what the short term result is. Also Freo's drafting and player development is just unreal and so much better than ours. That's an absolute fact.

They did take 3 similar players (Harris, Iles and some other guy) at the start of the rookie draft so they obviously preferred them to Valenti.Valenti can certainly hold his head high though. Played some decent footy when given a chance and even got a brownlow vote.

I'll put my hands up for both of them. Bruce I've really respected and he has done a huge amount of work on field in getting this backline set up, but his disposal has gone to shreds up until the last couple of weeks when its come back a bit. Maybe freeing him up on the wing against Adelaide gave him some good confidence. The more he takes the game on himself and kicks the thing the better he actually is. It's his disposal I've bashed the most (especially shocking handballs to players under pressure).Rivers has just been beaten in too many 1on1's this year. And hasn't given much going forward compared to Warnock. He's looked undersized or slow. Against Neagle and Leigh Brown he's looked big, strong and very solid. Just wonder when it comes down to teams with 2 very good talls whether Frawley and Warnock would serve us better (like against Brisbane earlier this year).

Quality players can be moved positions - ie. Murphy (who started back, went forward and is currently back again), Harbrow, Enright, Kelly, Hodge. If Rohan Bail and Jamie Bennell make it as well or even better than I hope they do I see no reason why they couldn't become quality half back flankers to add some class to the back half. Morton is another with no set position. One thing about this thread, I do wonder if Lynden Dunn can just be kept on the list for a special tagging and defensive forward option. His last month of football has again seen him shuffled positions but has been really successful. He played a nice defensive forward role against Coll and StKilda and tagged beautifully today (without conceding free kicks and with getting a lot of his own footy).

Added Alwyn Davey to his list of victims today. I particularly enjoyed how dirty he was with himself late in the game where the ball floated over an Essendon and Melbourne player and landed in Alwyn's lap. Barts gets a big test up against Ballantyne next week. He might be a serial pest but he's also a pretty darn good footballer who can bag a few if let off the chain.

Surely there was some champion of the 1950's/60's who was a left footer that we've all forgotten about!

Hmm Cheney, I love his strong marking going back with the flight, unfortunately thats all I like.PJ today was ok, but you sensed we really lacked the advantage we have with Jamar when PJ is on the ball. Besides a nice kick here and there and less tendency to fall over and suffer a month long injury I'd prefer the big Spencer. The time in the 3rd quarter when we kicked out for PJ and he dropped what should be a basic mark for a tall and ended up costing a goal was really disappointing.

Tackling today especially early was much better than usual. Sure they could have stuck a few more but the missed tackles were probably a sign of the increased desire and application to tackle. Jordie McKenzie didn't rack the stats up today but was back to his best in tackling. Fit him with a Scully sized motor next preseason and he'll go to another level.

Ideally you have 7 defenders all capable of shutting down an opponent and running off them. I'd say Frawley, Grimes are capable, Bruce as well until his disposal went missing. Joel Macdonald can attack and defend but seems to struggle to get the balance right. An inform Colin Garland (see QB'day) can certainly do both as well. Unfortunately Warnock/Rivers/Cheney/Bartram are primarily stoppers. Before injury Strauss was improving both aspects of his game particularly his defending. Morton as a defender needs to improve his defensive work. The question is how many can we carry of Bartram's nature. Geelong probably have none, maybe only Lonergan can't use the ball as well as the rest. On the other hand Steven Baker and Zac Dawson are both shaky by foot, but seem to do their bit in the side well enough to get by. Clarkson loves to play Tom Murphy to bolster the defensive players at the hawks. Bartram has been extremely good defensively and will probably continue to get a free ride until Strauss/Bail/Bennell really push for his spot. Unfortunately Strauss is injured and Bennell is up forward so that might be a while. Joel Macdonald and Kyle Cheney don't have the speed from what I've seen to take the dangerous quick crumbing small forward.

Can anyone add weight to the rumour that Knight's contract has KPI's that must be met one of which is making the finals - therefore at this stage he could easily be given the chop at the end of the year (with Williams a perfect replacement). I'll miss Choco, is a character. Port were silly to reappoint him though, he was never going to resurrect the list enough to get a job past 2011 and both the club and the individual were silly to try.

Lynch is just poor man's Matty Bate no? He's that kind of mid range size with a long left boot and red hair. Can mark well but isn't really a key forward. With Jurrah/Petterd/Green/Bate/Dunn I don't know how keen I'd be on Lynch. Stanley I like. I don't think he'll be a ruckman just a very tall forward who leads up well. Kind of like Watts with a couple of extra cm's but less class. I'd love to have him (despite not even being 100% certain he will make it as a good AFL player - he's still a project) but think we'd have to give up a decent pick. The saints also have Paul Cahill who goes pretty well at VFL level. He might be worth a look.

2. Anthony Nicholson 3. Brad Miller 4. Matty Whelan

PJ might very well be back this week. I think we might see him ruck a good patch of the game up against Bellchambers as both Jamar and Ryder go forward in an attempt to make an impact.

I can't believe how harshly he is marked considering how bad Jamar was for years. Spencer is every bit as good as Jamar at 21. Hasn't everyone heard the stories of how unco Dean Cox was when he first joined WC. Spencer is still worth his spot on the rookie list and as Miller/Newton/PJ aren't part of what I predict the MFC future is, then I see no reason to not play big Spence.

Will Newton ever really make it at senior level? If he does it will be as a back up ruck/forward similar to Leigh Brown. Come September teams go with 2 big ruckman, its a proven recipe. Spencer has the height to become a strong tap ruckman, unfortunately he's at the level of Jamar 2002 probably, and whilst I didn't see Jamar coming and I don't see Spencer making it any time soon for development of proper back up rucks he might be worth a game.Newton may be worth keeping as pure depth, but that is all. No doubt Casey would love us to keep him on the rookie list.

All comes down to how we perform against Essendon. They will come out absolutely pumped but we've seen in the form line that we can beat them. It's sad I'm writing off the saints game already, but the bombers game is a huge opportunity we need to take.