Intraclub Practice Match - Thursday 20th February, 2014

[pitmaster 3,577]

Dawes may be just a corky - could be nothing to worry about.

I remember seeing a cork on Schwarter's calf that made it seem he had gangrene and he did not miss a game.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

Michie, Watts, Dawes and Spencer best of first half. Salem has kicked two crackers one soccer, one set shot from pocket.

Only played three periods. Michie and Watts good throughout. M Jones and Trengove built as the match went on. Hogan not many opportunities couple of grabs and probably 5 touches all up. Hopefully Dawes is just a knock on the calf as he looked good for the first two periods.

[Bossdog 2,002]

Dawes is injured all the time. Tapscott not much better. We need some resilient men who are suited to football. Many of these guys are just not built for the job.

Ok....I'll bite.......

Where do we find these "resilient men" who never get injured

What is the requirement for being "built for the job"

All teams have injuries throughout the season many are just bad luck....I understand the frustration but come on..

[ManDee 7,220]

Dawes may be just a corky - could be nothing to worry about.

I remember seeing a cork on Schwarter's calf that made it seem he had gangrene and he did not miss a game.

Jimmy Stynes regularly had broken arms, legs and ribs but he was always there on game day. Miss you Jimmy

[Hero1 74]

Corky for Dawes equals 3 months recovery

[Hero1 74]

We have way more injuries than other clubs. This was just an intraclub hit out at low pace. Stynes and yze had multiple games without a break even playing when injured...

[DeeZee 7,445]

So sounds like the best players were Michie and Wattsy, how did viney go , and do u think Salem can break into the side sooner rather than later.

[deeko 952]

We have way more injuries than other clubs. This was just an intraclub hit out at low pace. Stynes and yze had multiple games without a break even playing when injured...

I don't think we do have more injuries at all. It's a case of the grass always being greener.

Unfortunately for us last year it seemed we had more as we were so desperate to get Clark, Dawes & Viney on the park as we sucked so much.

Yze was a great player but if Grimes played as outside as Yze did he would have hardly missed a game as well.

[3Dee 1,153]

so we lost to Carlton?

[Vipercrunch 2,827]

How Roosy manages Salem will be very interesting. He has obviously played well in both intraclub games now. Will he be held back and given a long period of development at Casey or will he be put on the big stage earlier than normal for young players under Roos?

Our management of younger players in the last 5 or so years has been widely criticized, but will we as supporters be patient enough and let Roosy do it his way?

[Lampers 563]

I attended, leaving into the 2nd quarter (or period as it turned out).

Some observations - not as comprehensive as some of the other excellent contributions.

A drill in front of me had a ball kicked to a player, who knocked it at the feet of two approaching players on the half forward flank. One of the approaching players picked up the ball, handpassed to his teammate, who then kicked to another teammate 30-40 metres away back on the wing, who immediately handpassed to a teammate running past who kicked to another teammate 30-40 away on the lead in the centre, who turned around and hit a leading Dawes, Hogan or Fitzpatrick coming out of full forward.

This sequence was executed perfectly probably 80% of the time, which was very impressive given the blustery conditions and it requiring 5 consecutive good disposals and 3 marks.

Noticed a lot of talk and voice - calling teammates in, calling for the ball. Obviously there has been a big push on this from the coaches.

On the negative, every time I saw Dean Kent he was fumbling the ball, or missing a target. Hopefully just one of those mornings for him, he looked better in the game proper. Harmes also was a bit fumbly in the drills and didn't appear to have a particularly penetrating kick on him. Dom Tyson seemed a bit sloppy by foot, which I noticed in the Richmond game, but then later in the practice game he seemed tighter. Spencer made Spencer like errors.

As mentioned by others, Aidan Riley was taking part in the drills and looked fine to my uneducated eye. You wouldn't think he was on the LTI list the way he was moving out there.

I was surprised how big Christian Salem is in the hips/glutes/legs. He's noticeably bigger there than Toumpas.

In the practice match, it was a pity there were so many Casey players as they were (unsurprisingly) clearly inferior to the MFC players, and it was often them who made mistakes that broke up the flow of play - or got comprehensively beaten and therefore not providing an AFL level contest. Perhaps it was Panozza on Gawn (#35 with hair up), but he may as well not have been there given how loose he was playing, and didn't really give Gawn a taste of what an AFL level defender is going to dish up. Also wondered how on earth the Casey players are meant to be in sync with the style of play Roos wants to implement (probably similar to Brent Moloney running around doing his own thing come to think of it) and how beneficial the practice is in that case.

[DeeZee 7,445]

Did Gawn play in the ruck....is he any chance for round one, or is spencer a shoe in?

[Its Time for Another 4,286]

How Roosy manages Salem will be very interesting. He has obviously played well in both intraclub games now. Will he be held back and given a long period of development at Casey or will he be put on the big stage earlier than normal for young players under Roos?

Our management of younger players in the last 5 or so years has been widely criticized, but will we as supporters be patient enough and let Roosy do it his way?

Salem has been compared by some to Hannebery. Although bigger bodied and taller than Hannebery, certainly when he started. Roosy had him playing in his first year. He was stil finishing school at Xavier and used to fly up for final training and games. So it wouldn't be a total surprise to see him bring him in this season.

[Satyriconhome 10,879]

Can we please put the negativity away and get back on topic,

Went today

Michie, Tyson, Watts, Fitzpatrick all were good, Viney was Viney, King is a natural footballer just needs a body to go with it, Salem was classy, until the knock Dawes was looking ok

Went down the end to watch Hogan in 1st qtr, Georgiou took him first up, it was good battle, one passage, Hogan led at least 3 times and then led again, heard Georgiou mutter the f word, Hogan's work off the ball is exemplary

I asked Jack Fitzpatrick about his size, he did look bigger, now he has all health probs under control he is a tick under 100kg, so we have some size up forward, said that is his playing weight.

[Bossdog 2,002]

How Roosy manages Salem will be very interesting. He has obviously played well in both intraclub games now. Will he be held back and given a long period of development at Casey or will he be put on the big stage earlier than normal for young players under Roos?

Our management of younger players in the last 5 or so years has been widely criticized, but will we as supporters be patient enough and let Roosy do it his way?

I think that some players make it impossible for coaches to ignore.....If he keeps putting his name forward with good games he will be rewarded maybe sooner rather than later....

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

Did Gawn play in the ruck....is he any chance for round one, or is spencer a shoe in?

Gawn played predominantly forward with some short ruck stints. What Salem did was quality but he probably had 5 touches that I saw.

[Roger Mellie 4,099]

In the practice match, it was a pity there were so many Casey players as they were (unsurprisingly) clearly inferior to the MFC players,

Best was pretty good

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

Short summary on AFL website calling out Watts and Tyson as best. Tapscott is a 2-3 week medial

Tapscott injures knee, Watts stars

[Cards13 9,117]

How Roosy manages Salem will be very interesting. He has obviously played well in both intraclub games now. Will he be held back and given a long period of development at Casey or will he be put on the big stage earlier than normal for young players under Roos?

Our management of younger players in the last 5 or so years has been widely criticized, but will we as supporters be patient enough and let Roosy do it his way?

ST I doubt Roos or Jackson will be doing anything supporters or anyone within the club is pushing them to do in the development of young players these days. What has happened in the past will not happen in the present.

[Yokozuna 1,004]

Hi all, just got back from the game.

The weather was very blustery, but I was impressed with the level of skill.

They did pretty much a full training session prior to the game started, so they were working while tired.

2 notes about other peoples comments. I dont think the game was played at half pace, they were going hard and hitting hard and in regards to the casey players not knowing Roos' style, well that is probably good, or else both teams would be playing the same style and would already know each others games back to front, this way it may have offered some more surprises for the players.

So, to the game:

POSITIVES: (of course i understand this was an intra club, and this must be taken into account, but no need for everyone to say "lets see it under real pressure")

Watts: Was fantastic in the middle, got clearances, used the ball really well, was clean off the ground and was going in and getting the ball and taking the contact. He wascovering plenty of ground too. If he plays like that in the season proper, moving him to the mids will be a master stroke.

Mitchie: I thought he was best on ground. He won plenty of clearances and got the ball out to others, he also used the ball well and had heaps of the ball. Was very happy with his display.

Fitzpatrick:Did not realise how big he is, he has built his body up nicely now. He moved very well, marked on the lead at full pace and kicked goals. Particularly impressive after missing plenty of the pre season.

Kent: I thought he was great. Looked slimmer and really quick. He had clean hands both in the air and off the deck and he has a beautiful kick.

Tyson: Really dtrong today, head over the ball and got plenty of clearances. Kicking was better today too.

Terlcih: Reads the ball so well and is strong and attacking from defense.

Viney: In and under as expected but also moved well and found the ball in space.

Trengove: Reads the ball well and will rack up stats this year in Roos' game plan, which is perfect becuase he is a wonderful field kick and strong mark.

Dawes: Prior to whatever injury he was leading really well and looking strong.

King: I think he shows all the attributes to be really good, in a few years. He marks well and already can see him using his body well in 1 on 1s and ruckwork, has improved heaps. He is also better skilled than most ruckmen.

Gawn: I know he was playing on someone smaller, but he is huge and can take contested marks. If he gets fit, can be a great asset to rest in the fwd line.

Blease: ran really hard and kept on presenting today, also went in hard. Was really happy with his game.

Overall: The voice and direction was great all round. Skills were so much better than previous years, I just think the players are being more patient and choosing the better option, and when kicking/ handballing to a loose player, the skills should be better.

MIds: despite no Jones, Vince, Cross, the mids were really good. They worked well and there were some fine, quick clearances amongst the tough tackling stuff.

Style: we move the ball back to loose players who have time to see upfield, will annoy some people, but will work. We also switch heaps, which outs the onus on HF and mids to push to the other side to create the next lead and also relies on high skill level, which I think will be our biggest challenge.

Again, I know it was an intrclub, but considering who was missing, I was really happy with the hit out.

Any questions I am happy to answer.

[Satyriconhome 10,879]

The comments about the Casey players are crass, Panozza, Tim Smith and Jake Best of the ones I recognised all played as well as they could.......of the Melbourne players I thought Kent, Clisby and Byrnes were ordinary, but it was their first hit out

The AFL report has it just about right.

To show how finely tuned they have these blokes these days, spoke to Jayden Hunt who got hit with the gastro bug, lost 3kg, but already has it back on, on the playing side he showed his zip once by taking off down the corridor at one point with a multiple bounce run

[Demanding Success 298]

Salem played as a small forward. He won't go near the midfield at senior level. He will get time at Casey. Imo he will be at casey in r1.

It was good to see some big forwards on the ground. We were able to kick it a bit more direct to 1 v1s. Fitz is huge and marked nearly everything that came his way. Dawes was very very good until he went off. Gawn took quite a few marks in the f50. Spencer was good in the ruck and did a lot of work around the ground. King looks a great get, when he has a body he will be one of the best bigs in our team. Coordinated, marks really well, is the best kick of the big guys already. We won't see him anywhere but Casey for a while though. He still has a lot of ruck work to do but being bigger will help that.

Watts and Tyson were everywhere in the blue team. Michie in everything for the white. Viney is all grunt and was pretty good. He took the ball from a throwin, ran away and delivered to Dawes who got a free from McDonald. Viney tackles hard every time. No one gets away from him.

Hunt was ok but had one really impressive run along the centre square with a couple of bounces and dangerous kick to about 20out.

It's interesting watching 2 teams with the same game plan and watching players trying to stop it even when they know what is happening.

The kicking by everyone was pretty good following on from Fridays game.

Roosy was in the middle the whole time and once pulled watts, Tyson and viney together for some quick instruction.

Guys like terlich, clisby, georgiou were all pretty solid.

McDonald is so competitive. The umpire paid a 2 touch mark to Dawes which he thought he got first hands to and remonstrated fiercely with the umpire. His kicking was pretty good when he had it as well.

[Slartibartfast 17,554]

The game was played in blustery conditions but I thought the skill standard was pretty good. Having said that the tempo of the game was nowhere near AFL level.

I had two major observations from the game. The first is that Jack Watts looked an absolute natural in the midfield and had a lot of the ball and used it very well. He has time in the same way Travis had time. I'm not making any further comparisons but will be interested to see how he develops. It's ironic that he was drafted as a KP forward which is what we really needed at the time but may well turn out into a quality mid which is exactly what we need.

The other observation is that Jack Fitzpatrick will be very difficult to keep out of the team. His leading and marking was good and I thought he was the most impressive of the tall forwards. How we deal with the talls in the forward line will be one of the more interesting things to see this year.

On Salem I wouldn't get too excited about a debut early. He played little cameos that were full of class and might earn him a practice game. But I think Roos will ease him in and I'd expect blokes like Toumpas, Viney, Kent, JKH and Salem to all spend some time at Casey.

[McQueen 17,867]

The game was played in blustery conditions but I thought the skill standard was pretty good. Having said that the tempo of the game was nowhere near AFL level.

I had two major observations from the game. The first is that Jack Watts looked an absolute natural in the midfield and had a lot of the ball and used it very well. He has time in the same way Travis had time. I'm not making any further comparisons but will be interested to see how he develops. It's ironic that he was drafted as a KP forward which is what we really needed at the time but may well turn out into a quality mid which is exactly what we need.

The other observation is that Jack Fitzpatrick will be very difficult to keep out of the team. His leading and marking was good and I thought he was the most impressive of the tall forwards. How we deal with the talls in the forward line will be one of the more interesting things to see this year.

On Salem I wouldn't get too excited about a debut early. He played little cameos that were full of class and might earn him a practice game. But I think Roos will ease him in and I'd expect blokes like Toumpas, Viney, Kent, JKH and Salem to all spend some time at Casey.

I sometimes wonder of Fitzy would make a good backman. Strong overhead with some real zip he really just needs to read the play better.

Just putting it out there.

[nutbean 8,838]

I giggle to myself every time I hear of the progress of Fitzpatrick.

So many writing him off in the early days. He still has a long way to go but there is a take home message - Big boys around 200cm take longer to mature and develop. Guys like NicNat tearing it up from the onset are the exceptions rather than the rule.