Folks, the season is not over yet for every Demon. I know that the number of Melbourne listed players eligible and available has declined dramatically over the past few weeks with injuries and departures but let me remind you that there's a big game on Saturday afternoon at Casey Fields and there will still be some enthusiastic Demons on show.

Please also consider giving the lads and our coach (ex Demon and Coach of the Team of the Year) your full support. The venue's great even it might be a little far from where you live and I can vouch for the fact that you can still be comfortable there even when the winds are 100kph.

First Semi Final

Casey Scorpions v Williamstown

Saturday 8th September, 2012

Casey Fields, Cranbourne at 2:10 PM

Casey Scorpions

Backs Corry Davis Collins

Half backs Matthews Panozza Clay

Centreline Sheahan Gysberts L Tynan

Half forwards J Tynan Gent Nicholls

Forwards Couch Hill Smith

Followers Cook Riseley Petropoulos

Interchange (from) Cleven Fieldsend Lindsay Page Patti Pollard Salton Thompson* Weekes

Williamstown

Backs Lockwood Frost Charleston

Half backs Goodes Roberts Witkowski

Centreline McHarg Carr McNamara

Half forwards Moles Panos Veszpremi

Forwards Anastasio* Hill McCallum

Followers Wall Greenwood Jolley

Interchange (from) Bugeja Conway Cravino Fogarty Georgiadis Sing Talia Woods Wyatt

* 23rd player

Both sides are light on for AFL listed players so it should still be a great contest.

Is Cook still in the team?

Is Cook still in the team?

Lucas Cook has been named in the ruck for Casey this week in a very much weakened side.

Just the 6 Demons named.

Lucas Cook has been named in the ruck for Casey this week in a very much weakened side. Just the 6 Demons named.

Only 9 were eligible to begin with: Couch, Gysberts, Spencer, Davis, Sheahan, Cook, Williams, Tynan and Fitzpatrick.

Who are the six playing?

Only 9 were eligible to begin with: Couch, Gysberts, Spencer, Davis, Sheahan, Cook, Williams, Tynan and Fitzpatrick.

Who are the six playing?

J Tynan, Couch, Sheahan, Cook, Gysberts and Davis.

http://www.sportingpulse.com/round_info.cgi?a=SELECT&fixture=123661699&c=1-118-0-204557-0&pool=1001

Lucas Cook has been named in the ruck for Casey this week in a very much weakened side. Just the 6 Demons named.

So what miracles does Cook have to perform to turn his career around in one of VFL's greatest ever performance?

74 hitouts?

11 goals?

Huh, no Spencer & no Fitzpatrick!

Huh, no Spencer & no Fitzpatrick!

Both been put in for post-season operations. Fitzy knew he was going in weeks ago and would take no part in the Casey finals.

Both been put in for post-season operations. Fitzy knew he was going in weeks ago and would take no part in the Casey finals.

Yet again no one bothered about the supporters, or the Casey players or the staff.

If they've booked them in for Ops, FFS tell some one who can inform the rest of us.

And Spencer?

Yet again no one bothered about the supporters, or the Casey players or the staff.

If they've booked them in for Ops, FFS tell some one who can inform the rest of us.

And Spencer?

I don't particularly care too much for casey, melbourne has to come first, but some communication as to who is out and why sounds fair enough to me. Good luck to Tynan and Sheahan (the 2 of the 6 I haven't given up on).

Yet again no one bothered about the supporters, or the Casey players or the staff.

If they've booked them in for Ops, FFS tell some one who can inform the rest of us.

And Spencer?

You cannot watch then from Penguin, can you?

I don't particularly care too much for casey, melbourne has to come first, but some communication as to who is out and why sounds fair enough to me. Good luck to Tynan and Sheahan (the 2 of the 6 I haven't given up on).

I don't care for what you don't care for.

I care about what the people who go to watch Casey care for. They put in effort every week & invest the hopes & emotions in that @ Casey. These people are footy people, & what is happening to Aussie rules is very bad for the game as a whole.

It's turning lifelong footy people off the game. Their turning they're backs and walking away from it altogether.

And it's our club who is doing the damage in our chosen region.

The AFL-VFL has to do something about this asap.

If you think we all feel like we're losing hope, well you should imagine what they're also going thru getting into finals to have the rug pulled from under them every year.

I just do not understand why MFC would put so much effort into the region to build up a new supporter base and then weaken the relationship and surely their cause like they are doing. As I said during last weeks game I overheard someone from Casey bemoaning the fact that their were two players who only had to play one more game to be eligible to play with Casey but the MFC played them at Fremantle. I have yet to take time to sort through the team for that night but he also made the comment that they (MFC) have done it again to Casey again after setting players for early operations. There are few areas where MFC can build up a new supporter base and from my understanding in all other aspects the relationship had improved. The players participation in local community and school programmes certainly is appreciated and that is where a new generation of supporters will be emanate from. This relationship needs nurturing and some kind of compromise on boths sides is required.

While I agree that the club might have been more accommodating in helping ensure that more players were eligible for the finals series, I don't think the comments from these Casey officials are right. I understand that the qualification of players had to be completed before the last VFL round so games played in the first week of the finals (i.e last week) didn't count. It didn't matter therefore, who played for Melbourne v Fremantle. The matter of qualification was already determined. It was bad luck that three potentially important players in Spencer, Fitzpatrick and Williams were all injured/required surgery.

On the other hand, you have to hand it to Brett Lovett. He has continually brought young unsung players into his team and their performances have improved during the course of the season. Players like Luke Tynan, Riseley, Hill (a promising young ruckman) and Smith (tall, high marking forward) and a few mature players in Matthews, Collins, Panozza and Nicholls have filled the gaps reasonably well.

I know Lucas Cook is on the outer but he, like a few of the others in the team, will be playing for his future as an AFL player. It's going to be interesting to see how they perform.

The bit I don't get about MFC's decision to withdraw so many players from Casey and send them off for "early operations" is that surely it is good for a players' development to play in finals and to play in winning finals.

With a bit of commitment from MFC, Casey could have a viable finals series. Surely players playing in finals and getting to sing a song at the end must be good for them. I would have thought that most players want to play footy and want to play in finals....not get wrapped up in cotton wool after an inglorious MFC season to prepare for another season where they probably won't play finals either.

Surely getting the opportunity to play in any finals must be a highpoint for players after another dismal MFC season.

Should the Mfc who pay the players put their surgery off for up to a month, which could lead to chunk of the preseason being missed?

Or should they do what's best for their players and the team.

Those who are calling for players to have surgery delayed would be the first to whunge and moan if the players concerned didn't have a full preaseason and couldn't perform at their best next season.

Better they have their surgery.

While I agree that the club might have been more accommodating in helping ensure that more players were eligible for the finals series, I don't think the comments from these Casey officials are right. I understand that the qualification of players had to be completed before the last VFL round so games played in the first week of the finals (i.e last week) didn't count. It didn't matter therefore, who played for Melbourne v Fremantle. The matter of qualification was already determined. It was bad luck that three potentially important players in Spencer, Fitzpatrick and Williams were all injured/required surgery.

On the other hand, you have to hand it to Brett Lovett. He has continually brought young unsung players into his team and their performances have improved during the course of the season. Players like Luke Tynan, Riseley, Hill (a promising young ruckman) and Smith (tall, high marking forward) and a few mature players in Matthews, Collins, Panozza and Nicholls have filled the gaps reasonably well.

I know Lucas Cook is on the outer but he, like a few of the others in the team, will be playing for his future as an AFL player. It's going to be interesting to see how they perform.

WJ you missed out Gent.

All I am asking for is some kind of compromise which allows the two parties to work together. What I want for my club (MFC) is that we are able to grow our membership otherwise we will remain a minow.

I hear what you're saying LS but in the end, I'm not sure that we as a club can, in it's present state, compromise with best practices. If a player requires surgery then from the point of view of the forthcoming season then it's best that he gets it done and is right to start the preseason on time in October/November. Based on what we've been told, the coming preseason will be an important one in getting the list up to speed fitness wise as against the rest of the competition.

If and when that happens, Casey will benefit from having better and stronger depth at the MFC and in the meantime, as WJ mentioned above, Brett Lovett is doing a great job with his young troops.

Just to clarify, Jack Fitzpatrick was overlooked all year for senior action (aside from two fleeting appearances) and was clearly not part of Neeld's plans at any stage, but come VFL finals time he is such an integral part of the MFC that he must be rushed into surgery immediately.

Similarly, we would not have seen Jake Spencer at senior level this year, if Jamar had not been injured, but Spencer must be taken out of action as soon as we tick into September to protect such a valued commodity.

As other have said, the best thing for young players is to be getting experience in big games and it is a disgrace that the MFC is so eager to shaft Casey each year.

Hi KC, I'm wanting to take public transport in and out (might have to leave early) is there a shuttle bus that runs to and from the station and Casey feilds at all?

The agreement between the players and the AFL requires all players to have a minimum rest period between when they finish their football year and when pre-season training starts. Does anyone know whether playing in the VFL Finals is considered to be still part of the football year? If so, any player involved in the VFL Finals will have to have extra time off before non-VFL playing MFC players return to pre-season training. I don't think this is desirable for a team whose priority is winning AFL senior matches.

There’s a comprehensive preview of the game on the VFL website – Casey Scorpions v Williamstown Preview

Hi KC, I'm wanting to take public transport in and out (might have to leave early) is there a shuttle bus that runs to and from the station and Casey feilds at all?

Not sure Pates. There was a few years ago but you might have to contact the Metro train people to see if that's still the case.

Wish more of our players were playing this game, I still remember when Geelong won the vfl gf at optus oval and had a heap of afl players in the side. Great expirience

A bit of a wind blowing here ... déjà vu!