poita

Corey proved himself to be decent depth this year and I am happy to retain him on the basis. He is fine as the 22nd player on the team sheet coming in to perform a specific role. The problem is when injuries hit and suddenly he is the 15th player on the team sheet, as happened several times this year.

The club's mismanagement of Neville Jetta during the 2019 season was as bad as I have seen in all my years of watching sport. He had an interrupted pre season and was thrown into the round 1 side on the back of limited training and match play. He then hobbled through the first three rounds before he was given round 4 off. Upon returning to the side in round 5 he hobbled around with little influence before suffering a supposedly unrelated knee injury which cost him the next three months. Inexplicably back in the side in round 17 of a dead season, again off limited VFL time, he hobbled through three more games before the pin was finally pulled on his season. Neville is a very good player and an important part of the team, so why we are taking unnecessary risks with such players is totally beyond me. I'm sure, as with the Viney debacle of previous seasons, at least part of the blame is with the player, but we have medical staff who are paid big money to make the right decisions. They need to put their big boy pants on and make the best call for the club long term.

The only hope Spargo has of making it as an AFL player is as Jetta's replacement. If he is smart he would ask his coaches to train with the defenders all summer. Lockhart is more likely though.

Certainly exceeded expectations given his low draft pick and poor debut game. Needs to make significant improvements in his defensive work and his disposal to play regularly next year because there is no way that he and Lever can play in the same team. He should be aspiring to push Hibberd out of the team by mid season.

Chandler's work at VFL level was nowhere near where it should have been to get an AFL game this year, and I cannot believe we gifted him one. I still don't see the point to keeping both Bedford and Chandler on the list as neither appears to have the tricks to become an AFL player. As an under-performing rookie Chandler can count himself very lucky to get a second year. Hopefully he makes the most of it.

There is no point having a depth player who is always injured when you need him. Good on him for keeping on going when others would have given up but, at 29 before the start of next season, he would have been delisted if he hadn't retired first. We do need to replace him with the best state league key position forward in the country in the pre season or rookie draft.

Thankfully Goodwin's appalling decision to gift Petty a debut in 2018 didn't completely destroy his confidence, and he showed good signs at both ends of the field this year. I think he can become a really good long term player for the club if we look after him properly.

Jeff spent most of the past two seasons giving off the impression of wanting to be doing anything other than playing football. That said, his body of work in the preceding seasons was very solid and our inability to nurture a replacement during his time at the club is an indictment of our recruiting and player development.

He can play, but he needs to get much, much fitter to be a decent AFL player. A bit of upper body strength would be handy as well. A two year contract gives him time to work on these things at Casey in 2020 and become an AFL regular in 2021.

Most of those games we won without Gawn were in 2017 when Pedersen was in a purple patch. The reason that worked was that it was something different that other teams struggled to combat. Putting in an inferior Gawn clone (ie Preuss) is unlikely to have the same impact. If we think Tomlinson can pinch hit as number 1 ruckman for a few weeks if Gawn does get injured, then we can probably survive.

I get the idea of teaching a young player new skills and roles, but the timing of Fritsch's move to the backline was just atrocious. Not only did he move back without the benefit of playing alongside May & Jetta, but it left the forward line horribly undermanned at the same time. Thankfully Goodwin didn't completely destroy his confidence and Bayley was able to make a strong contribution late in the year when back in the forward line. He is certainly capable of kicking 30 goals or more next year (and will probably need to given that we didn't recruit any key forwards in the trade period).

Our big problem is that we have 12-15 genuine AFL players, about 20 depth players and a handful of kids who are not (and may never be) ready. Richmond have about 28 genuine AFL players, a small number of depth players and some developing kids. That's where we need to get to.

Neal-Bullen's contribution in 2018 was magnified by getting on the end of some good play in big wins against crap sides. He has always had the tendency to go missing when the side is struggling. His biggest problem is that he doesn't win enough of his own football, so is reliant on players around him providing with him opportunities. His running ability and forward pressure can be important, but he also needs to work on his contested marking and his clearance work.

We traded our first and third round picks for Libby Birch. We lost our second round pick because we retained the player (Casey Sherriff) we picked up as compensation for losing Daisy Pearce last year - not really clear on the rationale behind that one. Given that we lost players to both Victorian expansion clubs and have come in so far down the draft list, I really don't see how we can hope to improve this year. Having Pearce back will be great, but she hasn't played for a while, whilst the pressure will be on Birch to perform.

It was good to see Jayden playing some decent football in patches, but it still feels as though he is capable of so much more. I'm not sure that he is best 22 in a full strength forward line playing his current role.

I'd go as far as saying we'll finish bottom 4 if he doesn't kick 50 goals next season. I'm a massive fan, but he had a poor year for the most part. It is no coincidence that his best run of form as a forward was when playing aside Hogan or Pedersen who could give him some protection. Tom needs to be able to use his endurance and athleticism to run defenders ragged, not playing from the goal square where defenders can body him.

They were all dumb risks. Taking a hugely talented delisted free agent for next to nothing with the last spot on the list is a smart risk.

This is 100% my expectation as well. Thankfully Oscar is a much better player when fit and in the right head space than he is given credit for around here. As an aside, Lever is not a genuine key defender, so I expect Oscar to play whether Lever is fit or not.

Billy's first season or so was encouraging, but he never took the next step. Jay a bit the same. Yet again it shows that, if you are small, you have got to have some serious tricks up your sleeves. Being small and just a vanilla player is never going to end well. I hope the club is all over this for the upcoming draft.

Doesn't work hard enough, isn't physical enough and drops too many simple marks. Similar criticisms to those that were made of Watts, but Watts' foot skills and decision making are miles ahead of Weideman's. It is pity that Nick Riewoldt has retired - following Nick around for two hours might give Sam an indication the level he needs to operate at on a consistent basis. I wonder if he mightn't be a better CHB, as has been the case with Liam Jones. Ultimately it was a poor selection, as much better key forwards were taken shortly after Weideman in the 2015 draft, so we have to make the best of what we have.

I got a lot of learnings from reading Matt Egan's review, but I'm still not convinced that Jordon will be a long term AFL player.

Exactly what I was going to write - Jake Spencer's slightly more solid and slightly less athletic brother from another mother. Even experienced ruckmen go for fourth round future picks in the trade period - we gave up a best 22 midfielder for ours.

He has been around 6 years and is still not in the best 30 players on the list. I don't know why we are giving him false hope by not officially delisting him a month ago.

A 27 year old fringe utility player with 7 games in three years. The decision to give him a three year contract on the back of a decent month of football was extraordinary and symptomatic of why we've played 1 final series in 13 years. If he is not in full training (including kicking 50 metres) in a month's time we should be looking to pay him out and free up a list space.

The best state league key position forward is the only way to go. Find a Podsiadly type that can come and play a role for a few years.