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I suspect that both Blease and Morton might be out because they infringed team rules in their last game. If that's the case then the omissions are warranted and what the club needs from them is to demonstrate back at Casey a more disciplined team approach. I know that's a difficult pill to swallow for players and supporters alike when you're 1 and 10 but that's what you need to succeed in the big league. Let's get used to it.

i reckon he'll stay

Had a dream about this thread last night. Whole of the G was covered in banners around the fence. The AFL came out and spray painted over the lot 15min before the game so we pulled more out. Then somehow the playing surface sunk underground so that you coudn't see the banners and my hotel room was flooded, and that's where the weird started.

And back to Jared. Sign him up. He's clearly part of the future.

I still can't believe Bailey shelved Junior (a genuine leader and one of our very best MFC clubmen in decades), and yet seemingly protected our 'talented' youngsters for so long. More than anything from that period, this annoys me the most.

When lamenting our woes my Brother recently asked me, "When was the last gun midfielder we had ?". I said, "It would have to be Todd Viney, who made our Team of the Century". He replied, "FFS, we're just about to draft his Son". "Yes, it's been a while". I note that some are saying that we call the other minnows bluff. How about we just accept that we're going to draft a very highly rated progeny that may just be the best mid we've had in a while ? Lord knows he won't go astray.

If Clark gets 9/10, Jones easily deserves 9/10 too...

Rubbish, for one Lucas was no where near ready to play AFL last year.. Having Fev in the side did not hinder his development in fact helped him, imagine if he got smashed by the biggest strongest defender each week, you learn nothing from that. Look at Casey's team this week, every available Melbourne player that is fit will be playing in the firsts, we have a Melbourne person coaching all Casey do is try to get the best VFL players to top up our team. We will have 12-14 players at Casey could even be more. Even if the AFL brings back the reserves you will have 8-12 players not on your list playing as top up players. Casey is a good fit for us.

I think I can speak for all at Demonland in wishing James Strauss all the best on his return to senior footy tomorrow at TBBO. Melbourne youngster James Strauss to play for Casey in VFL Preview here

Neelds not about to throw babies out with bath water. Hes not about to take any game too lightly either, esp as he hasnt a lot of points on teh baord as yet. . Neeld wants to win this one, almost as much as he darent lose it. Not a game for chances, of any kind. Plenty of those to come...imho

Ok... Wait... What??

Because he only gets the ball 3 or 4 times a game

cant believe the pies had a president called Ronald McDonald haha

"Hey Tom! The drinks are on you!"

Col is in his 8th season, Has never finished inside the top 5 in the B&F. I am not sure what you don't get? Cannot regularly produce. Full stop. As for Cale: Still picked..... yep, sadly. But for a first year coach he has to I guess try every avenue to get a player to come to the party. Cale is contracted for next year so wile they can dump him if they want (and I do want) the reality is Neeld actually has no choice but to try and get him playing consistently good footy. I wish him the best of luck.

On Barty , is this where all parties just need to bite the bullet . If he's really that shot then ought he simply retire immediately with the club helping with his physical rehab, payout whatever is due and we move on ? I only suggest this if there is no reasonable expectations of him being able to resume at this elite level with results suitable to all concerned then isnt this the realistic and fair thing ?

"It's difficult to forget you Tom, but well worth the effort"

kick in Scully's scrotum?

I'd rate McDonald and Rivers higher. I agree with you on the rest.

Thought of bumping the Training Load thread or creating a new one but there seems to be so many new threads of late that it is hard to keep up or keep across stuff. I'll put my thoughts here instead: Season 2012/13 starts this week I reckon this one of the most important matches for the dees for a long time. If my theory is correct about them training them super hard them on the track for the first half of the season, easing up in the second half and getting some wins to move forward with, we should see the proof on Sunday. I think we have some evidence already of the team being fresher in the last couple of games before the bye with us winning (remarkably) our first second half quarters for the season. We definitely looked fresher than Collingwood, you could really see it, meaning they (the dees) probably actually eased up 3-4 weeks ago. I suspect they will have planned the training load so they are close to cherry ripe for this game. They will have heaps of time into working out how to ensure they come out of the bye in tip-top mental shape (which has been a problem for many clubs after a bye, at least last year, seems to be less of an issue this year). Fascinating timing of the team bonding trip to Torquay ie before the Collingwood game rather than during the bye break. Of course this isn't their grand final but there is no way on gods good earth that club will accept a loss here (and this has nothing at all to do with Scully). For the first time we will play a side that is physically weaker than us in the midfield and I expect us to absolutely smash in. I wonder if that's why Bate has been brought in to the squad - to maximise our muscle and strength advantage. I expect him to play. I also expect Maloney to have his best game for the year. Happy for him to be a flat track bully this week. Spewing Tappy is out as no doubt he is. McKenzie to go with Ward and wear him like a glove. Frawley to monster Cameron. I also reckon they'll pick Davey, a wet day and we will desperately need someone to crumb under Clark's feet (hasn't he been crashing packs - love his DeetV highlights package). I have posted before that there is a really strong sense of unity coming from the club and that perhaps the air has been cleared, some issues dealt with and Neeld may have slightly tweaked his approach. The players are playing form and the talk from everyone is much more inclusive. We will be focused on this game and i have no doubt we will come to play. The first 20 minutes will be very instructive. The rain will help our cause and the GWS will come out of the game knowing they have played an AFL game. Worth noting that they played in really heavy conditions last week, played super well (though the tigers were definitely limping towards the bye and played accordingly) but it will have taken a bit out of them. to have to back that up with a trip to Melbourne and more tough conditions will be hard work for a young team. Huge game and i will be devastated if we lose. The pre season has finally finished at the 2012/13 season starts on Sunday. J Riv said as much. Go dees. Smash them

While he's had a very good year I feel that Jones gets slightly overrated because of the lackluster nature of the rest of the midfield. He's been good, don't get me wrong but it's hard to say a midfielder averaging 23 disposals in this day & age is having a near perfect year. I feel Clark shades him marginally & would be just about in the top 3 KPFs in the comp on form. Jones would struggle to be in the top 20 Mids in the AFL.

I think I've got a Frawley bias but a 4 seems overly harsh. He's been taking the number 1 foward each week and thus far hasn't has more than 3 goals kicked directly on him.

There is nothing wrong at all with our alignment with Casey at the moment. Bringing up the past to support an argument about the future is all well and good when it is appropriate but it is not so with Casey prior to this year. If you have been to Casey games, you will see Casey playing the same game plan that MFC are trying to play. The new development coaches that MFC have added to the staff this year are, effectively, assistant coaches at Casey. Both Casey and MFC are on the same page. Brett Lovett was obviously given this brief, and is doing it very well. Then there is the bigger picture. Casey is the fastest growing municipality in the country. Casey Council and MFC have spent a lot of money upgrading Casey Fields. Casey is a big part of our future. I realise that things change but I am not about advocating the club shits in its own nest by mindlessly following what it perceives to be the current trend.

I'm not against the idea of alignment in general, but it's a pain when the VFL side isn't playing when it's crucial to get miles in legs for whatever reason. But what's the answer? I don't see how having a standalone VFL side makes any difference to that; we're still going to be subject to the same draws, byes, weeks off and so forth. And we can forget the idea of there ever being an AFL reserves competition, with a national competition and lists that are too small to field two teams, you'd need to have amateur "supplimentary" players, and it's too much to ask of them to travel interstate to play footy every few weeks. It wouldn't work. The idea of a reserves side is romantic but I expect that the reason we haven't got one is because it doesn't actually really help that much. It'd just be extra money down the drain for nothing.

No.1 P_ick!

Blease out? WTF?!

Line in the sand game this 1. By rights , with our mature bodies in the wet weather we should absolutely beat the beejeezus outta them both physically and on the scoreboard. I want us to give Sheedy a healthy taste of his own medicine as the smug plick has mocked us all week.

Not happy with the final team. Davey and Joel Mac in the side, Blease and Davis as emergencies. We have two older players who are very limited in what they can do getting a game over two young players with the potential to be far more. On top of that, when will we have a better opportunity to debut Davis? Surely this is a game where he will be reasonably comfortable with his ability to hold his own with whoever we play him on? A huge opportunity thrown away here.

There is no difference between what we have now with Casey against having our own VFL team. You will still have 10-14 AFL listed players with top up VFL players, we have a Melbourne man as Coach that has the best interest of Melbourne, we get a good surface and facitiity to play and train on. The name is the only thing that would change. For posters that think Casey is going to hinder the development of our players, you are way off the mark, we have bigger issues with our playing group and it wouldn't make a difference if play for Casey or Melbourne in the VFL

Nothing wrong with being "selfish" IF you deliver Fail to deliver and the door beckons

I see your point...How valid is it really tho... Every player at MFC & all clubs starts fringe really..they are always up against senior players to start with. You build your reputation over time & some quicker than others. Not sure if you mean Casey is the A** end of Melbourne but that happens to big one of the biggest growth areas in Melbourne so its not really the a** end is it. Casey or Cranbourne is actually not a bad place now...I lived there for ten years and the change is astronomical to what it was. Its a smart move by the Demons to be there. But yes,I would rather we had the Demons back than the scorps but I'm also happy with the Scorps and will support what MFC decide.

His main argument was that he wanted a reserves side because the leading clubs do. When challenged with the West Coast example, he said he didn't care what other clubs did. That is a complete and utter contradiction of himself. Even if you did give him the benefit of the doubt that way, consider this. In the last 10 years we've seen premierships from clubs that have stand-alone VFL sides (Collingwood, Geelong), clubs that have an alignment (Hawthorn), clubs that stand-alone reserves sides in outrageously weak competitions (Sydney, Brisbane), and clubs whose players are scattered amongst clubs in the second tier leagues (West Coast, Port Adelaide). Without a scientific study, that's pretty strong evidence that it doesn't make that much difference how the "second tier" competitions are set up.

10 goal win this weekend. They were very very very lucky to get close to richmond. They were smashed in inside 50s 66-35 Richmond kicked 11.20 to GWS 12.2 Those KPI's and obviously others indicate that GWS should have been destroyed but it was just one of those days. Melbournes last 3 matches have been great because of the improvement we have shown. Fresh from the bye and with the feeling that MFC have seen this coming for a while and would have said 'do not lose at any cost' I think the MIGHTY DEES will win by 10 goals.

Michaliades is a super player for sandringham, only young but can tear you apart. Im happy to put him down as a mature age rookie in years to come, im going to call it early

What, you mean like West Coast and Hawthorn?

Im happy enough with the current situation. I cant see anyones career being stifled at the moment for want of opportunity etc. Of all ppI couldnt see Lovett impeding the MFC.

Good reviews Jimmi, but I'm getting a bit lost alphabetically!

Let's be honest. The Fev debacle notwithstanding, Casey IS essentially an MFC reserves side. Brett Lovett as coach, playing a similar game style to the 1st's; the selected team for Casey this weekend has 5 of the back 6 and 4 of the 6 forwards as MFC listed players. And IIRC, wasn't Cook injured for much of last year, therefore rendering the Fev situation pointless?

Sandra says Hi !!!

"Col Sylvia - "Rating: 1/10 - career worst form & really should be having more of an impact (or at least looking like he cares) interrupted pre season notwithstanding" - which part of players saying "it is great to get a full pre season in, as it sets you up for the season proper" do posters on this board not get......I am sure Col would like to get one in one of these seasons" That's all very well bro, but finishing upside down in a car at 4.00a.m in the morning, and being dismissed from the Australian Squad for being on the sauce for the umpteenth time is not really conducive to being prepared for a good season.

"Jared says no one is safe at Melbourne"...............and, not before time one could add.

"No.1 P_ick!" succinctly makes the point with enough class & such hilarity. It MUST be prominent at the ground & the only way to be certain is to have SEVERAL "No.1 P_ick!" signs brought by different people in to different stands! Please. Being on numerous signs around the ground will really make the point, get tv time & pictures in newspapers. Otherwise we're carrying all our eggs in one basket & it could easily be missed, something could go wrong & the one sign mightn't even make it in to the ground etc.. I imagine Lucifer's hero would feel honoured to have come up with the favourite. Also loving: Just down for a look, Tom? (McQueen) $cul-lie (Range) Will lie for money (Sloonie) Scully is a w@nker! (disco Demon) "$cummy" (Brock Machine) Paybacks a [censored] (Face your Demons -ONLY AFTER we've won -if we win!) etc..

Jack should be told to shirk the contest for the rest of the year. Headline "Jack loses nerve after broken jaw". Do you think GC & GWS would take the bait?

I interpreted it as him saying that we need to get better quickly so he can play finals before he is too old to keep playing.

Little Tommy would still be having nightmares. It would be a huge Chris Mew lets be honest. He should have told the truth!!!

That part was not quoting Rivers as using the word "youngsters"... that was the Jon Ralph's word. It is obvious that he asked a question about the "youngsters" to which Rivers responded: "It definitely takes time for those guys, but it's time now. We have had enough time to get them going,".

retro interview... upon learning that Scully was leaving the building various Melb players were asked to comment.. The intrepid reporter caught up to Max Gawn: Mate....whats your view on this ? Gawn ..." Spewing !!!"

I hope he gets a few kicks on the weekend. Head Bum Nuts Shins

Scully did us a huge favour Two first round draft picks for a weak as [censored] skinny unbalanced outside skirter And we got Mitch Clark as well God bless Tom Scullduggery