Bonkers

Yeh it’s a good foundation or footing for our game. But that can be built upon in other areas when we have the ball.

What do those stats prove about winning games when you have more territory and more I50s than your opponent but don’t win the game?

I don’t see much difference in our deficiencies from last year. In a finals type game where the game was contested, tight and hard to score our forwards apart from Petracca struggled to impact the game until the last quarter. We had enough I50s last night and territory over the whole game to kick a winning score. That has been our issue now for 3 years. I can see that Goodwin and co. are trying to adapt and create different methods to create scoring opportunities. But overall our forward entries at times are still to often long bombs rather than using skills to hit up a free option inside 50. It’s a work in progress. The difference maker would be a reliable marking target I50 and some more efficient ball use going inside 50. Out of last nights game there are a few more concerns for me, we allowed Carlton to score 5 goals from Centre Clearance which used to be a strong part of our game. Another concern was the way that Carlton messed with our zone defence in the first quarter and were able to take 3 marks for goals. Their ability to take inside 50 marks in that period was the game difference in my opinion. Following that the game was an arm wrestle and we had to push Petracca forward to generate scores which moves him out of the midfield. We’d get some momentum but then Carlton would score out of the centre bounce again. The loss of Brayshaw is a big blow as he could cover many positions for us tactically. I may change my opinion if McAdam and Melksham can start making a difference for us in the forward line when they come in. At the moment we seem too reliant on our defence to win games for us.

Laurie should be pretty fresh, apparently he has a pretty big tank? Top 3 in the time trials at the club? He could be a decent option for this game after the 5 day break and potential tired legs in the midfield. Whether he is able to get his hands on the ball enough is the unknown. The other in is probably Bowey, I guess he comes in for Woey. In: Bowey Out: Billings Sub: Woey I wouldn’t be against Laurie as the sub and giving Woey some more minutes on the wing or through midfield. Laurie is more a like for like replacement for Billings however. The same applies for Bowey replacing Woey in the current lineup.

Yes this is something that is not really being talked about much amongst the media up until now. The team has really evolved a lot since the 2021 GF win, it’s not the same side and we have had to reinvent ourselves in many different ways. We’ve lost a lot of experience and talent from that team, we’ve also had positional changes. But the nucleus of the most important players are arguably still there in Max, Trac, Oliver, Viney and May. We’ve been forced to change the way we play, but also throw the magnets around a bit due to injury, age, retirements etc. To be 5 wins and 2 losses while getting games into the younger players is a good achievement. If they can tidy up their disposal efficiency a bit more then I’d say we are probably still a top 4 side. Let’s hope that as they play more together these sort of things gets ironed out a bit more and they make less mistakes in transition etc. Hopefully they get better as the year goes on.

AFL app is saying Windsor is injured. Not sure if it’s correct.

That may be the case but most of our errors have come from disposals that are under no pressure at all. Simple basics of the game.

What time do we find out when the AFL reserve will be opened up to GA and what bays do they usually allocate for GA on the night?

At Casey...

Ben Brown, Tholstrup, Windsor, McAdam and Fullarton will all be vying for best 22 spots based on current info. I'd say that is where there will be more dramatic improvement in our game rather than Jefferson, Laurie and Turner. Turner and Laurie really need to start pushing to become best 22, but the club aren't reliant on them at this stage to become best 22 for their to be improvement in our game, it's more of a bonus if it happens I'd say.

Great Interview, certainly gives us members and supporters more insight into our trade and list building strategy than the traditional media currently provides.

Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) used it as continuous motivation and mind game for his players throughout the 90's and early 2000's. In England particularly, you either love or hate Man Utd, a bit like Colonwood in Australia I guess. The media scrutiny is immense and it's something that some players don't particularly deal with well, so Ferguson would take the heat of the media off the players by playing mind games with the media and other managers, and then privately build an us against them environment in the dressing room. At times it boiled over on the pitch with players like Roy Keane who was fearless and confrontational with opposition and also referees. Overall I think his management style produced results as they were successful over a long period and his leadership methods are the stuff of legend really.

Who will want to trade down though? If the quality players in the draft are only available at picks 1-15, and rumoured to be the reason we exchanged 14,27 and 35 for 11, it makes it difficult to see why any club would like to trade pick 5 or 7 for example in exchange for a raft of late first rounders. Unless they wanted points, but it seems like most of the teams that needed points have them now.

He is contracted to the end of 2025. I assume he's also going to be a RFA, so we could match any offer if we wanted to.

It wasn’t just Judd. They had Cousins, Kerr, Embley and Cox to name a few. I’m not saying they won’t take Reid, but they will need a lot more than just him over a few drafts to have any chance of a successful rebuild.