DeeSpencer

If it’s bucketing down then yes. Although the other option is the sub (differing opinions on who that could be but I think Langford) starts and Jeffo is sub. He’d be an unusual sub but he’s mobile enough to come on fresh and we have the flexibility in this team to move guys around. If obviously different if it’s 6mm of rain across the day or 20mm dumped right during the game

Should only be 3 of them down there at any one time. Apart from the ruck advantage I think AJ’s ability on the deck is actually better than Disco, who for a really mobile tall and great tackler down back doesn’t seem to offer the pressure he should. He got walked around against Freo and not by the world’s quickest half backs. AJ won’t exactly catch many but he’s sneaky athletic moving laterally. The big question that we will seemingly never know is just how did Jeffo go at Casey v Sandy. I suspect he kicked a bag. And not only that I suspect he did some good ground level stuff. His defensive work at Casey last year went from complete zero to kind of promising, hopefully he’s taken it up a notch.

I think the Jeffo inclusion (in what would’ve been the McAdam role) is a sign that Fritsch will get a sustained trial in a new role pushing up the ground this year. He has the tank, smarts and skills, it would be great to see him as a dynamic half forward not just a deep goal kicker. Great achievement to come from nowhere (Coldstream) to Casey to 150 games. A premiership and of course the big one - the only 2 time AFLX champion. Now it’s time to go to a new level for 100 more!

With 3 talls and Fritsch forward and 5 mids (Viney, Tracc, Oliver, Riv, Langdon) I think we need to start both Sharp and Lindsay on the wings and Henderson across half forward. Langford is the sub for mine. You need a plan for Lachie Whitfield and co that isn’t serving up a one paced 19 year old midfielder at half forward on debut.

Maybe Disco is being held back for a heavy training phase and managing his loads

I mean, it wasn’t shining all that brightly! Couple of cameos aside from the Suns game. But the footy department did like what they found. And I really thought he looked the best of our tall forwards this summer. Certainly moves the best. At the same time I never liked the idea of AJ, Disco and JVR. Had to have one of the talls (if we played 3) with some mobility and goal kicking nouse. I still think Jeffo is going to fill the role McAdam was going to play. Fritsch was always going to be tried more up the ground at times. AJ’s outplayed Disco for the CHF role and JVR’s demanded the full forward role is how I see it. With GWS rucking Keefe we should also ruck AJ a lot and chuck Max forward far more than he usually would as a lone ruck.

Jvr for 5 minutes a quarter doesn’t hurt him, the Giants don’t have a second ruck so if JVR is hot and Disco is cold then it can be Disco Better question is who gives us the best impact forward especially working around the 2 bigs, Fritsch and Tracc

The struggled in the 3rd quarter and then Sicily went forward and they got their balance back. Not opposed to a tall sub but you need flexibility in the team and the right weather

We deliberately haven’t named wings to keep GWS guessing so I expect Billings and Lindsay are first picked out of that 7. Leaves 2 more spots at the sub. Probably change my mind 10 more times between now and Sunday but as of right now I’d probably go Jeffo and Henderson. Not sure Harvey is ready. AJ’s too much bulk and I just don’t want Sharp turning it over in dangerous spots (he’d be sub).

Are you basing that of this? This happened last week. Casey play on Sunday

Don't think Riv plays back. Don't think we change plans and suddenly start Langdon wing. Doubt we'll see any total shocks like Jed Adams over Howes. Still not sure on 3 talls (AJ or Jeffo), Langford or neither. Woey, Jack Henderson and perhaps would we pick Spargo out of the blue again (surely not right? right?). FB: Howes May Petty HB: Salem Lever Windsor C; Billings Rivers Lindsay HF: Sparrow Turner Tracc FF: Fritsch JVR Chandler Foll: Gawn Oliver Langdon Int: Bowey, Viney, Sharp, AJ/Langford S: Woey E: Henderson, Jeffo, AJ/Langford That might be the 26 man squad and we won't know exactly who's in until we see conditions on Sunday.

I would never have recruited Billings because I do somewhat agree that every player in a good side should have pressure and physicality. But hard runners on the wing present options for your backline to clear the ball quickly and avoid the negative outcomes that come when your backline are dump kicking or indecisive. Windsor had some excellent games mixed with very quiet games where he looked tired. Battled through for nearly the whole year which was a great effort. But you don't have a plan for speed off half back if he's not back there. And we need that to break down zones and create attacking opportunities. This is nonsense. Nothing beats unselfish team footy. There's moments for superstars to step up and do special things but passing inside 50 has been a really poor part of our game in recent years and it's well and truly time we see more players dish it off to guys in better spots. Billings will be on the wing if he's in the side, it will be rare that he'll be the one receiving these passes. Bayley Fritsch - known competitive beast. That's a new one. If you don't like Billings' intensity wait til you watch Fritsch play when there's not a goal on offer. Spargo cooks his team mates more than anyone inside 40 and spits the dummy when he isn't used when open (which I actually don't mind). Complete nonsense if you think he's not goal happy and shuts his mouth. No idea what Chandler did to get this criticism. If nothing else he's excellent at the role player aspects of his position.

Jeffo and Langford in white jumpers. Sharp and Taj in blue, from the clips shown on Instagram Not that it necessarily means anything

Can you dial down the font size and desperation? 1. We need fresh wings. a)We have no raw speed down back and if we want to speed up our game plan it requires it. Windsor is also a repeat burst speed player more than pure endurance. Half back suits him. b) we absolute need fresh run in the midfield. Sparrow has just about failed as a mid, doesn’t accumulate the footy and uses it terribly. Viney is getting old and slowing down. Clarry isn’t at full fitness. Tracc is hardly a gut runner. Someone has to provide the run if we want to run the ball through the middle. 2. We definitely need speed in the forward line especially without Pickett. Hence Sharp starting there. Sharp is also a bad decision making and ball user, plus a relatively low possession player. He’s more use trying to kick a goal than making decisions up the field. 3. Billings IS noticeably fitter and stronger this preseason. Plus is coming off a full year of footy where as he’d had a stack of set backs at St Kilda the 2 years prior. I share you concerns about his lack of physicality in his game but he’s playing wing not CHF. And you’re totally right he can’t kick for goal to save himself. Mostly the other options for the wing are Lindsay and Taj. I hope they both claim the spots but I’m fine with accepting Billings has a better tank and more experience in the role so might start the year.

I think they might, but it's worth noting GWS kicked a big score with Cadman (5 touches, 1 goal), Gruzewski (9 touches, 2 goals) and Callum Brown (7 touches, 2 goals) and those goal totals outweigh their actual impact on the game.. We kicked 11 goals 24 playing a similar style in a lot of the Freo game. It's a trend across the league now to get your deep fowards as deep as possible to draw defenders and for the scoring to come from the half forwards. In which case we don't need to keep trying key forwards, we need our half forwards to be more dangerous and finish better.

Do we try to run with GWS? Or do we create an extra back by dropping Rivers from the middle in to a back 7 or sweeper role. Rolling an extra mid on ball and living with 5 v 6 at our end (knowing scoring will be very hard). I suspect we’ll start out trying to play with them. Not sure how long it will last.

He’s never done anything at Casey to look like he deserves a game and has spent a good chunk of the summer recovering from a hamstring. If he plays well at Casey then I agree, sometimes you got to chuck a guy in and see what happens. But you don’t pick a guy when others have trained more often and better all summer. That’s just asking for a miracle.

I’m pretty sure it was the form on the wing that saw him get drafted, rather than some traits as a forward. We’ve often played him as a lockdown back pocket due to lack of other options which might not suit. But he’s hardly demanded to play as a half back, yet alone anywhere else. And back is the easiest place on the ground to win the ball and rack up disposals. If he can’t do that part where it’s easy I struggle to see how he makes any impact forward.

Very strange that we all got used to hands in the back then it changed. Either to boost scoring or boost Tom Hawkins! Not sure which

Cameron was only trying to brace but with his size and momentum Briggs was shifted forward. Left him in a terrible spot. There’s been no penalty for any of them this year, they won’t start with a pies player. But they probably need to go back to hands in the back. Use your forearms if you want to hold space.

FB: Petty May Adams HB: Windsor Lever Salem C; Lindsay Tracc ??? HF: Langford Disco Sparrow FF: Fritsch JVR Jeffo Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Bowey, Chandler, Langdon Rivers? Billings? Sharp in the seconds, replaced by a third tall in Jeffo. Adams in the 1’s as part of a 4 tall backline and Howes out for Petty (although there’s Petty’s in both sides) the changes from the Freo game. Could we play 4 talls down back? Maybe, but it would probably be designed around May getting the Toby Greene match up. I still expect pace and pressure in the forward line with Sharp in especially if he was a strong performer for the grey/whites.

Roos did a very good job for us but if we can change from 14/15 we can change from now. We were 61 and 72 points per game back there. Now scoring is lower and we were still 78 points per game.

Collingwood pushed really high but kept at least one defender (generally Moore but sometimes Quaynor and Murphy) back and would often get bailed out of 1 on 2 or 2 on 3 because they'd be sitting deep and have a clear run at the footy So often we'd bomb it long to Moore and have a guy running free in the forward pocket. Their pressure dropped just a smidge and teams started to find that spare guy last year. Geelong are always staying at home. Brisbane fairly at home too. Both of those sides use kicking to make the ground big once they turn the ball over and slow suck up forwards and midfielders to chase down uncontested kicks. Then go forward in to open forwards lines by spacing their forwards out. I reckon with Hipwood/Morris and Neale/Cameron they've both started to hit leading CHF's in their ball movement too which is something that went way out of the game. Skills are a factor, but neither Geelong nor Brisbane have amazingly skilled backlines. What both teams do have is midfields and forwards that are drilled like soccer teams and know how to move off the ball for each other to create spaces in the zones. Both teams as failed in finals for multiple years because they mucked around with the footy, weren't direct enough and would turn it over in high pressure moments. A big question is whether our bash and crash big 3 mids are willing to add smart unrewarded off ball running to their games after they've had years of getting to the feet of the long down the line kick.

We didn't have the key backs or a deep 2 way running midfield but Goody took over from the most uninspiring Paul Roos footy and built a very strong attacking side in 16, 17, 18. I don't think that was ever the plan as the finished product but our attack was building really well. And in 2021 whilst we were more boundary focused it was always quick movement. We seemed to regress in 2022 as everyone got tired. But 2023 had flashes of change and last year they absolutely tried to change but didn't have any players to adapt. The big factor this year is whether we have the players to adapt. We've certainly moved magnets but there's some old dog, new trick guys that concern me. Mostly in midfield skill and backline run. As well as the bandaid that is Max Gawn that holds us back at times (not blaming Max, just our players know he's there).

I think it’s 90% psychological but I also think he has an across the body motion where as Choco coaches everyone in straight lines. I’d be training Jack to allow him to swing out more