DeeSpencer

They wouldn’t be able to afford Jackson, Darcy, Amiss and JVR. Would have to involve swapping Darcy for JVR, but let’s not worry about that. They have the big Cohuna who’s not a bad 3rd option

I've never liked his playing for free kicks and what a surprise with the interpretation change he stopped getting them last year. I don't like the way he attacks the ball, especially with how much his aerial game has diminished. I didn't like that he was having issues getting through preseasons and losing pace and penetration on his kicking. If it's personal in any way it's because I don't like his off field behaviour and didn't think we needed to add that to our group. Possessions mean little to me if you don't do anything with them, especially in an outside role with a strong half back line and midfield feeding you the ball. I was literally at training yesterday where the focus was on bringing the ball back through the corridor, especially with run and carry in the handball drills but also in the full ground drill. Maybe that's a coaching change with Yze out and McQualter in, but I'd argue that coaching change needed to be made in mid 2022 not now. Plus you can still use the ball around the boundary and hit targets, most of Hunter's up and under kicks went to no one or the opposition. He found targets in the preseason then couldn't do it when the real stuff was happening. Taj Woewodin is a bit more off the pace than I would've liked and I don't think Windsor is ready just yet, although he does a few excellent things with raw pace. So it's Billings or Brayshaw as the likely wing options and we might like them elsewhere. So I've softened my stance that yes I'd like Lachie back somewhat sooner. I'd never seriously wish injury on a demons player either, I'd just like coaches to try some alternatives than a declining player who spent most of the year demonstrating the same flaws.

Because there’s not actually anything to discuss and I still can’t work out the contention. I enjoy the level of self indulgence but I have nothing to add. I’m delightfully stumped.

I’m not worried about their food choices, more so their decisions to step out, retreat, run, stop half way, run back and eventually make it across one or Melbourne’s busiest roads. Using the traffic lights would be my suggestion.

2019 was a mess all summer, we’ve had good numbers on the track this year. Would like to see Salem back in soon but he’s done a mountain of work. Same goes for Hunter back on track (he was in drills last week). A Viney cork isn’t much to worry about. Wait and see on May but he’s looked fitter than he has been since 2020 to my eye. Petty is by far the biggest concern so far especially with the backs ups also sidelined.

Caught about 40 minutes today, some of the handball drills and then a few periods of main stuff. I think Bowey was the standout, he’s really charging off the back in the handball receive drills and kept that going in the match sim. Using it well too. The other player who really impressed me was Fritsch just much more involved as a complete player coming up the ground in match sim. Match sim was fairly messy and unremarkable. Certainly more focus on run and carry and switching. Bowey, Pickett, Viney Spargo all had moments in the corridor. Blue team had Chandler and ANB at half forward and seemed to have an easier time pressuring and moving the ball than white team which had Gawn, Pickett, Tracc and a talent edge in the middle. Not too much on the new guys. Kolt had a few link ups and found space in the match sim. Windsor still iffy with some of his disposals but there’s times were his pace is a huge advantage. They’ve finally got him a jumper that fits and he looks stronger. One that stood out a bit in the small handball drills was Jed Adams. Kossie burnt straight passed Schache and was planning the do the same to Adams but Jed quickly chased him down. I know he was impressive in the grand final sprint but he has really good speed off the mark too. Plenty to work on but that’s such an advantage for a tall defender.

I think I just witnessed them crossing Punt road to go the servo, you’ve got more teaching to do. Learnings as Goody would say

It’s training, not the bachelor reunion show

Is this thread in relation to some other thread? I'm confused. New coach aggressively turns over a bad list is hardly a shock.

If Viney isn’t seen as the right fit then Petracca. Maybe just Tracc regardless. Max’s play slipped last year, even with the Grundy distraction, too many poor decisions with the ball attempting to do too much. I’m hardly buying there’s widespread cultural issues but they’ve let a couple slip through the cracks. Empowering fresh voices and taking some load off Max could lead to a better spread of leadership across the playing group.

Continues a run of overly safe and uninspiring decisions since the flag. Was time for someone else.

Fullarton can go on the Inactive List if done for the year but surely worst case scenario is tendon tear and missing 12 weeks.

Hore was added to cover Joel Smith. Howes can’t defend, Adams is a baby. It’s either Disco or the Tomplods, I’m happy to have Hore to cover our 2nd and 3rd talls. We need to add forwards/rucks as the list spots come available. Some finality on the Smith ban should open a spot

Ravens 7-12 Niners 1-6

And the other 30 or so who did the full session would’ve got the loads needed to get through matches so they don’t all ping them in round 1

They might go taller with Hore as a 4th taller option, depending on match ups and with McVee adding more run and rebound to his game, but I generally expect Hore to compete with the talls. He’s always played above his height. My answer on who’s ahead hasn’t change tho. Marty doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat. Howes is still developing and unless it comes quickly (which it might) his lack of contested game would drive Steve May mad.

His build is great, he looks fit and athletic, and he found the ball a couple of times in match sim, but he’s coming from a mile back that’s all. I hope he’s improved enough to get some touches at VFL level or they can find him a lower level

Verrall does a few promising things, a tackle, a mark, a ground ball get, KFW is still a mile off.

He always finds space well at training but I didn’t seem him win a contest all day and he was spoiled easily by Bowey, same old Schache in case anyone expected anything different

It’s a deep backline group but it’s not as well rounded as 2021. May took a bit of a step back the last 2 years, Lever still battling niggles. Tom and Tommo are fringe talls without the mobility or height to stop elite forwards. Disco isn’t quite there. Hore might be the best player out of that group. McVee is great but isn’t prime Hibberd. And we lack true top end pace in the flankers and truly elite kicking of Salo goes on ball and Gus back. Bowser is ready for more tho. Still a strong backline group but not as good as they once were. The midfield needs to come back together to near 2021 levels and the forward line needs to get back to that and even beyond, which is can if we get Fritsch, JVR and Petty all firing.

Very different roles but I’d pick Hore as the 3rd tall over Howes as a flanker right now.

I was looking for him in the first period but I think if he was involved it was on the far wing to where I was. He was on the wing in the later periods when Hunter was rested and he got involved a bit, showed some pace but seemed to miss his kicks.

Team impressions: More focus on run and carry and forward handball More full ground spread and switching in the match sim which was great to see McQualter vocal in drills and in revving up his blue side. Tracc and Viney are both rolling, but with Clarry sidelined, Gus smartly being held back (and down back) and Salo and Sparrow out for now it's hard to judge the 2 way impact of the midfield Individual impressions: Howes: I'm not quite there yet, can nail quick penetrating kicks but still very thin and has too many contests where he doesn't impact the ball or the body Kolt: very busy half forward, marks cleanly over head, puts in the work rate, moves the ball well by hand, not perfect by foot but there's some good decisions mixed in and bobs up in dangerous places Windsor: He found a really good chunk of the footy in the match sim. Kicking wasn't quite in sync and even missed some handballs as he gets up to the pace of AFL level but I was impressed by how he was getting the ball and the number of defensive efforts he produces. He'll lay a tackle or get a hand in to cut off a kick or handball a fair bit. Jed Adams: Didn't see a heap of contests with him involved but there were times he linked up or swooped on to loose balls and used it really well. Marty Hore: looks really comfortable JVR: Last year he bashed and crashed with Petty and Hibbo most of the summer and he held his own against quality defenders, where others and the media were hyping him up I was more cautious as to his early season prospects. He wasn't up against that same quality today but what I saw was a real presence with the way he draws the ball. Billings: I reported above that he underwhelmed me in the handball drills, a little fumbly, didn't hold his tackles, didn't dish it cleanly. The match sim was an entirely different thing. Time and time again he found pockets of space to receive the ball and then quickly and accurately moved it on. Kind of left feeling conflicted that he might be our best ball user and not by a small margin. As someone skeptical of his recruitment and aware of his injury history it feels every uneasy to witness just how important the was.

I asked Chatgpt for 500 words of Star Trek fan fiction to honour Pickett Fence but what it produced was too magical to share. Melk looks just about ready to go! I'm sure they'll hold him back but he's doing a lot of moving around and kicking. Lever on the bike. BBB in the tent. Jeffo doing a bunch of whatever. AMW with a really solid running sessions, had Ricky Korda Mentha with him for a bit. Sparrow in and out of some running. Totally agree that Salo looks fitter than he has in a long time. Not sure if he's lost weight or if he's just added a lot of core strength. He did a huge session of sprints and longer runs. Petty was in full drills early then taken out. Hunter in full stuff until about half way through the match sim when he went for some run throughs. After some warm up drills the first competitive one they went in to was a 2 way handball drill, split in 2 different groups. A middle group with an extra mid going both ways and then a group out on the wing that had 3 different back flankers taking turns to run off the back off the drill for overlap. It was Rivers, Bowey and McVee. I was impressed by Laurie's quick skills at times but he's a guy who takes it on and will make the occasional error. Petty was in the drill and looked strong and agile. Riv and McVee have great moments of burst off the line. McAdam's a bit iffy at times but there's other moments where he just plants the foot and is gone, he has incredible acceleration. Billings struggled a little in this, he found the contest a bit hot. Then it was time for a couple of periods of 14 a side match sim. Starting midfields of Viney, Pickett, Spargo in white and Tracc, Laurie and Billings in blue. With Windsor and Brown on one wing and the starting wings on the other. The first period was high class. Howes hit up Fritsch with a couple of beautiful kicks. A Seston dart in to corridor found Fullarton and on to Billings then Chandler close to goal. Spargo hit up Viney charging through the middle, who spread it wide to Windsor on a forward flank, he rolled inside and actually missed Koltyn who picked it up on the bounce and dished a handball to ANB for the snap. The second period was a bit messier as teams stepped up their pressure. Verrall nailed Spargo in a tackle. JVR out marked Adams and T Mc with relative ease. After about 4 errors in a row Tracc swooped on a contest and cleanly set up a goal. Melk was on the boundary with plenty of advice for the guys coming off and had a long chat to McAdam. Then it was more 2 way handball. This time it was Howes, Gus and Bowey in the orange bibs. I noticed Laurie in pink going both ways in the other group. And then handed over to Viney. I mostly watched the close group but I did look up to see JVR just destroy a Viney fend off and eat him up in a tackle. Fritter also sling tackled Bowser in to next week but let go before any damage done. I saw more tackling from Fritsch today than I've ever seen his career. Might've been one more match sim period in there somewhere then I left as they were moving in to more craft stuff with the talls working doing some lead up contest work, wingers and new guys some ground balls and the rest kicking goals on the run from 40.

Even then it’s not a huge issue as long as the ruck is physical or big enough to make sure the opponent can’t hit it 360 degrees. Pedersen was great at that, he’d crash in at make the taps very predictable so our mids could either shark the taps or just crunch the receiver. Brown doesn’t have the bulk but he has the height and long limbs to try to mess with an opponents taps. He’s been generally fine to my eye when he takes boundary thrown ins inside 50. Yep I’d never enter a game with the plan for Ben to be the second ruck, just more an option if the game goes a certain way. Brown’s now at the stage where I see little need to protect him unless his form is far better and he’s our main goal kicker. So if he’s in the side and JVR is on fire I’d just throw Ben in after the centre bounces to have a run around.