The Melbourne Football Club website has a report on the start of the preseasons for the Casey Demons VFL and VFLW groups.

The leading recruit for the VFL group is former Sydney Swan Zac Foot, a 19 year old 181cm, 73kg midfielder, who made his AFL debut in Round 12 but was delisted last month after only two senior matches.

The list is led by stalwarts in Jimmy Munro, Mitch White and Jack Hutchins along with Kurt Mutimer who joined the club earlier this year and Foot. Others who attended the first hit-out were promising youngsters Riley Baldi, Ryan Sparkes, Tye Hourigan and Andrew Courtney.

 

Has anyone heard from KC from Casey or for that matter Saty???

50 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

Has anyone heard from KC from Casey or for that matter Saty???

KC’s currently in Queensland with his folks. Should be back here in March.

On 12/16/2020 at 6:44 PM, Whispering_Jack said:

The Melbourne Football Club website has a report on the start of the preseasons for the Casey Demons VFL and VFLW groups.

The leading recruit for the VFL group is former Sydney Swan Zac Foot, a 19 year old 181cm, 73kg midfielder, who made his AFL debut in Round 12 but was delisted last month after only two senior matches.

The list is led by stalwarts in Jimmy Munro, Mitch White and Jack Hutchins along with Kurt Mutimer who joined the club earlier this year and Foot. Others who attended the first hit-out were promising youngsters Riley Baldi, Ryan Sparkes, Tye Hourigan and Andrew Courtney.

 

Can anyone fill us in on the promising youngsters and Foot maybe Norm?

On 12/17/2020 at 10:54 PM, WERRIDEE said:

Can anyone fill us in on the promising youngsters and Foot maybe Norm?

They could all be handy if given the chance.

The three ex-Gippsland Power graduates, Baldi, Sparkes and Hourigan, were all above average NAB League players and very good team players but probably lacked the X-factor to be drafted.

Baldi is a pretty highly-credentialed junior rover who can play forward, wins a lot of the footy, cracks in, does everything pretty well, but probably just not penetrative at his size (he's probably 175cm) to be have been drafted to play midfield at AFL level and not tricky enough as a forward.   A poor man's Caleb Serong.

Sparkes is a wingman/flanker, neat with what he does with with the footy, but again for a wingman maybe deemed a tad vanilla.  Doesn't do much wrong, but not a hugely impactful player, a get it in space and safely move it on-type player, not a gamebreaker enough for the most part.

Hourigan is a third defender, similar in style and appearance to Tom Jonas but obviously not as good a player.  He's pretty good but probably not athletic or big enough to shutdown good AFL forwards and doesn't compensate with enough rebounding punch to have been draftable.  He can play forward a bit as well.  Probably will compete for the roles Hutchins has been doing for Casey.  Probably would fit best in a zoning back 6.

Courtney is a ruckman who will probably be Bradtke's backup, depending on where Tom McDonald fits at Casey.  Has unbridled athleticism, but his game is uncultured. His mobility lets him be used in other positions -  A project player.

Foot is a run and carry wingman/half forward.  Probably has the most X-factor and game-breaking ability of the group, but obviously didn't do enough to stick with the Swans, a team who aren't super blessed with outside runners.

@goodoil is spot on with his assessment of these youngsters.  

Ryan Sparkes was probably the one youngster from the 2019 U18s season (Gippsland Power) who I thought was a late pick or rookie chance but missed out in the 2019 draft. It would have been good to see him develop at Casey as he has good skills and run. 

I’d be interested to see if Casey can convince Tim Smith to pull on the boots in 2021.  He was a heart and soul player like Jimmy Munro at Casey and was unlucky with injuries in his AFL days.

I’ve been out of the loop due to the fact that I’m interstate. Thanks to the posters above who have covered the club’s new faces. With the exception of Foot, most of the new names are players who came to the club from the Under 18 NAB competition after the 2019 season. This year, that competition will become Under 19 so many players will stay a year longer in  the NAB Cup system making it a bit tougher for second tier club recruiting. They will probably be looking at more seasoned players from interstate or the country.

Followers of the Demonland training reports will no doubt be aware that Dandenong Stingray Deakyn Smith who was part of Melbourne’s New Generation Academy has been training with the club. Smith is a 179cm half forward/midfielder from South East Juniors.

Paul Amy is reporting on Twitter that the Stingrays also have a group of players on the track at Casey Demons, including Clayton Gay, Will Bravo and Bryce Milford.

More information on the three Stingray players training with Casey Demons -

Clayton Gay

Will Bravo

Bryce Milford

 

 

On 1/21/2021 at 10:59 PM, Whispering_Jack said:

More information on the three Stingray players training with Casey Demons -

Clayton Gay

Will Bravo

Bryce Milford

 

 

That Will Bravo might sound like a West Indian cricketer but in fact he apparently goes well at football. He was added to the train on playing list at Hawthorn as a potential supplemental draftee after Tom Scully’s recent retirement announcement.

Two former MFC NGA prospects Kobi George and Ryan Koo Kwet Kim also training with the Casey Demons.

A local update ~ Kurt Mutimer leaves Casey Demons, heads to Narre Warren

In this report for the Leader Newspapers, Paul Amy says that while 2020 recruit Kurt Mutimer, formerly of West Coast, has left the Casey Demons and returned to his original club Narre Warren, the club gains a like for like midfielder Zac Foot, who is coming off two years on the Sydney Swans list.

The club has retained experienced trio Jack Hutchins (closing in on 100 games), Mitch White and James Munro (already a centurion). Others back this season are Tom Freeman, Mitch Lewis, Nick Lowden, Aidan Quigley and Cory Stockdale while Cory Machaya, who suffered a knee injury ahead of the 2019 season, is back in training.

The club’s talented 2019 NAB League signings, Riley Baldi, Andrew Courtney, and Corey Ellison, Luca Goonan and Ryan Sparkes are all back on deck. The Demons expect to have a VFL list of between 20 and 25 players with access to the Gippsland Power and Dandenong Stingrays squads when they need top-ups. Three Melbourne NGA players Deakyn Smith, Kobi George and Ryan Koo Kwet Kim will all be over age players at the Stingrays (Smith is training with the AFL Demons). 

Ex-St Kilda rookie Jack Bell joins VFL club Casey Demons

The Cranbourne leader reports that the Casey Demons have landed a 202cm ruck man in former St Kilda rookie Jack Bell, a Victorian Metro representative in 2019. He will link with former Sandy Dragons teammate Andrew Courtney, who signed with Casey for the 2020 season that never got off the ground.

Kyle Stainthorpe, who has been with Casey since 2018, re-signed last night.

14 hours ago, KC from Casey said:

Ex-St Kilda rookie Jack Bell joins VFL club Casey Demons

The Cranbourne leader reports that the Casey Demons have landed a 202cm ruck man in former St Kilda rookie Jack Bell, a Victorian Metro representative in 2019. He will link with former Sandy Dragons teammate Andrew Courtney, who signed with Casey for the 2020 season that never got off the ground.

Kyle Stainthorpe, who has been with Casey since 2018, re-signed last night.

I reckon this is Jason Taylor/Recruiters driven for this pick up. We'll be keeping a close eye on him if given senior opportunity. The modern prototype ruckman/forward who's got a incredible leap and strong contested marking for someone so light.  When resting up forward he makes an impact with his strong marking and ability to impact the scoreboard.

Well worth keeping an eye.

Excuse my ignorance but how is this competition going to operate when the AFL is forecasting trouble already with the senior teams being able to fly around the country. 
It seems to me folly in the extreme to be starting this system in 2021. 
Has anyone seen any recent comment about the system from the AFL?

8 hours ago, old dee said:

Excuse my ignorance but how is this competition going to operate when the AFL is forecasting trouble already with the senior teams being able to fly around the country. 
It seems to me folly in the extreme to be starting this system in 2021. 
Has anyone seen any recent comment about the system from the AFL?

especially when they had a resonably workable local comp.

It's not as though it's a great improvement on the old comp given the number of byes and truncated season.

The good news is that post May the likelihood of border closures should in theory lessen.

22 hours ago, old dee said:

Excuse my ignorance but how is this competition going to operate when the AFL is forecasting trouble already with the senior teams being able to fly around the country. 
It seems to me folly in the extreme to be starting this system in 2021. 
Has anyone seen any recent comment about the system from the AFL?

I can't see a single benefit to the proposed structure in normal times, and even less so in the current climate.

Expect to see an exodus of players to local comps after this season.

On 2/25/2021 at 8:37 AM, poita said:

I can't see a single benefit to the proposed structure in normal times, and even less so in the current climate.

Expect to see an exodus of players to local comps after this season.

But have you ever seen a benefit in any single thing?

For those who watched the B game and have an interest in Casey, some of the players to the best of my eye were

8. Jack Bell 

10. Corey Ellison

11. Andrew Courtney

22. Mitch Lewis

26. Tye Hourigan (not 100% it was him, but may have been)

29. Ryan Sparkes

34. Riley Baldi

42. Tom Freeman

44. Luca Goonan

Few others (14, 28 etc)  not sure who they were, 14 may have been Kyle Stainthorpe.

 

Edited February 26, 20214 yr by goodoil

Goon is good

Luca Goonan certainly stood out as did Tom Freeman across half back.

Yes Tom Freeman is definitely a player who has improved year on year.  Had a good game imv

On 2/27/2021 at 12:42 AM, goodoil said:

For those who watched the B game and have an interest in Casey, some of the players to the best of my eye were

8. Jack Bell 

10. Corey Ellison

11. Andrew Courtney

22. Mitch Lewis

26. Tye Hourigan (not 100% it was him, but may have been)

29. Ryan Sparkes

34. Riley Baldi

42. Tom Freeman

44. Luca Goonan

Few others (14, 28 etc)  not sure who they were, 14 may have been Kyle Stainthorpe.

 

Number 28 is Hunter Howden from ACT. One to watch as a tall wing (185cm). Great hands, great kick and mark given the chance. Big tank, can run all day and with his footy IQ was free most of the game. 

7 hours ago, AMH said:

Number 28 is Hunter Howden from ACT. One to watch as a tall wing (185cm). Great hands, great kick and mark given the chance. Big tank, can run all day and with his footy IQ was free most of the game. 

Thanks, he kicked a set shot goal very nicely, but was quiet from what I remember, did look a good size and moved well, but couldn't get into it.  Is he on Casey's list?