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Took the 5 minute walk from home to Casey Fields yesterday. Got there about 20min into the 2nd term of the reserves match. Meant to post my thoughts on all the players earlier, but pregnant wife & two year old at home meant I had to delay things to today sorry. The Seniors: Rohan Bail: Provided plenty of forward pressure and was good to see him get on the back of some of our forward plays by booting 3 Goals, which he has failed to do much before. Played mainly half forward, and hes kept his name in contention if someone like Vandenberg were to cop an injury or loose form. Jack Fitzpatrick: One of our best all day. Controlled the play across halfback, by taking several marks and running the ball out himself rather then looking to free up someone else to distribute. Dropped a couple of marks he possibly should have taken, but played well and used it reasonably well also that was nice to see. Max Gawn: Provided a huge target up forward, taking several strong marks and also provided the ruck work in the forward half of the ground as well as chopping out for Spencil occasionally. If he kicked straight hed be in contention for Frosts spot. The website said he kicked 1.4, but I had him down as 1.6. Should have kicked at least 4, but he moved well and really did dominate. If only he could sort out that kicking. Jack Grimes: Dont really know what to say about Grimey. He didnt do anything wrong or have any shockers that I could see, but struggled to stamp his authority on the game. A couple of really strong tackles, and played his role well, but for some reason I was just left wanting more. Cant fault anything he did though. James Harmes: Didnt sight him much in the first half, apart from getting pinged holding the ball in the 2nd term that gave Frankston their only goal for the half. He did have a much stronger 2nd half though. Provided quite a bit of run and showed his pace by out running a few Frankston defenders in the final term to run onto a loose ball and kick a goal. Was hard to always pick him out, as one of the Casey players (Pattinson) looks quite similar. However, he looks to be a really good size now Harmes and I think there could be something there for the future. Matt Jones: Ran hard, moved well and put in day. Disposal was pretty scratchy at times, but you cant question his endeavour. Dont know how often well spot him n the seniors this year Matty Jones, but will be a good player for Casey. Jordie McKenzie: Typical Jordie game. Bottom of every pack, tackled hard and again gave it his all. Sadly for Jordie hes a few rungs down the pecking order at the moment, so hes probably in a similar position to Matt Jones. Viv Michie: Played well Viv. Looks to have developed that ability to play both inside and outside which is obviously important. Got several hard balls, but also saw him running clear of packs on more then one occasion. Hes sure to get a call up at some point. Just a question of when. Cameron Pedersen: I will open up by saying that although he didnt dominate or anything, Pedo would have to have put himself ahead of Gawn to come in for Frost next week. Presented well all day, took several strong & clean marks and kicked a lovely torp goal from outside 50 into a Gail in the 2nd term. Even though it was VFL, it was still nice to see him recapture some of his early season form from last year. Aiden Reilly: Bit of a forgotten man, but played a good game. Hard at it, on the bottom of a lot of packs. Kicked two goals in the 2nd term within a minute of each other to give Casey their initial break on the game. Hes put himself ahead of Jordie in the pecking order, but Michie would still have to be ahead of him. Jake Spencer: Dominated the ruck with some really nice taps to advantage Spencil. Having said that though, outside his tap work, and 1%s which are always important, he is still one of the worst kicks on an AFL list and just doesnt get enough of the ball around the ground. This is where Gawn has a massive advantage over Spencil. Billy Stretch: First time Ive ever seen Billy play live and I must say I was very impressed. Moved really well, provided plenty of run and chases the other way also. Used the ball well and Id have to say despite his small stature, hed have to be a chance to debut this year if he keeps showing the form he showed yesterday. Dean Terlich: Similar to Harmes, started really slowly, in fact I barely noticed him in the first half. But really got into the game in the 2nd half. Started to show some signs of that run & dash we saw from him in his first year, and used the ball reasonably well. Kicked a nice long goal off his left in the final quarter. Is really important he regains some form as we really lack depth off halfback. Some good signs there. Jimmy Toumpas: Similar to Billy, was good to see Jimmy provide a heap of run and use the ball well also. Has certainly put himself in contention for a recall. Along with Fitzpatrick, I thought Jimmy was one of our best in the 1st term when kicking against the breeze when it was at its strongest and played well all day. There was one contest early in the last where I wouldnt say he pulled out, but think he thought Jordie was going to lay a tackle, so didnt go for one himself. End result, neither player laid one and the Frankston player ran between them. Small sore point, but only one I really have. Was happy to see him play well. Reserves: Max King: Ended up kicking three. I only saw one of them, but he just seems to lack an ability to impact some contests that at times it looks like he should get to. Obviously a big year for him and hope he does well. But my early prediction would have to be that he wont be with the club next year. Oscar McDonald: Plays just like his brother, but at this stage he seems to suffer a case of the fumbles, which means by the time he had it cleanly, he had to get rid of it quick because the opposition had closed him down by then. Defended well and is a good size. Took a nice contested grab over Waylon Manson in the 2nd term in trying conditions and showed he should be a player. Alex Neal-Bullen: Saw in the scorecard that he kicked a goal, but was unsighted by me. Not sure if he only played the 1st half, or if there was an injury, but I cant make any comment sorry. Mitchell White: Thought he looked quite good. Used the ball well, provided plenty of run and he also looked very comfortable in the air. Should play VFL firsts before to long Id expect. Happy for any questions.

Yes. Let's panic and overreact.

Robbo: Will Watts play this week? Roos: Absolutely! Bad luck Watts haters. He'll be there Friday night!

Reliable source from Europe with sports Law connections told me last week that WADA are very, very interested in this case! How that translates into action after today's ASADA move remains to be seen but It's apparently well and truly on their radar!

Matt Jones in for Jetta. Now I've heard it all!

Watching 360 now - Roos played a fairly straight bat to Walsh's comments but seemed a bit bemused by them. I have a sneaky feeling that Buckley is not a Walsh fan either. Said something about Scott Burns working with him in past and knowing what he's like - smirk on face and all.

Never really understood comments like this. None of the women I know that play high standard netball are even remotely soft.

So why doesn't umpire protect Jones He is scagged every week and is blocked way off the contest illegally in my opinion

There is no way in hell Watts will get dropped. Those talking about Newton getting dropped, that's not gonna happen either. He has an ability we've sorely lacked over the years, the ability of a mid to kick goals. We'll probably see one forced change, Frost for Michie that's it.

Dudes. We're in prime time Friday night football this week.

WARNING: POSITIVITY AHEAD As we head into round four, we are getting an early indication of the lay of the land. Prior to the season, many predicted the bottom sides to be some regulars of recent times in St Kilda and the Bulldogs, with Carlton to make a further drop as they finally come to grips with the state of their list. Whilst the Bulldogs have started a lot better than was predicted, a 70 point belting from the Hawks shows they are still a fair ways away and will struggle at times throughout the year with currently a very inexperienced 22. The other two have shown they will be bottom four material. Added to these teams are some unexpected names: - Brisbane, whose much hyped midfield has failed to make up for a lack of key position players - Gold Coast, who have fallen off the perch in dramatic fashion with no immediate signs of recovery - West Coast, whose B grade midfield is now coupled with an injury list that has exposed a lack of depth. In total, that is six teams that it doesn't take a wild imagination to see us beating and finishing above on the ladder. Then there are teams who could still push for finals but could just as easily finish mid table or below: - Richmond, the perennial plodders - Geelong, whose aura is finally diminishing with a heavier reliance on younger players, the majority of whom are yet to show much - Collingwood, also a young team with some stars filtered throughout. A tough ask but far from impossible. That's nine very beatable teams. You can throw in the annual upset against Essendon and it's ten. We still look every bit a developing side, but the potential for this season to be one to make a jump up the ladder remains high. I saw getting out of the bottom four as the pass mark. That remains the case, but with the above mentioned teams and the possibility of an upset or two, I'm starting to think that a finish of 10-12th is very much a realistic aim. Am I nuts?

Gawn.

The last 3 years of carrying this club must of caught up with him!

Grace and ASC Chairman John Wylie "...both said the report had unfairly concentrated responsibility for problems in the sport on the current board". Yes, this is the same John Wylie (mate of AFL Comm Chairman Fitzpatrick) who was asked to (quietly) negotiate with Ess and James Hird in Aug 2013. Is Wylie, head of the highest sporting body in Australia, now criticising his own staff's report, to support a mate (Grace who acted for Ess players)? I now fear that even if we had a National Tribunal for hearing ASADA charges whether that would be independent, as it would probably come under the auspices of the ASC... Wylie, Grace, Fitzpatrick, EFC, AFL, ASC all inextricably networked. Its all too incestuous for my liking...just hope WADA win at CAS.

Someone who can ruck cos dawes is poo and someone who can mark cos dawes is poo

At least Kent creates the opportunities, he is well worth persevering with.

Every team gets injuries. Frost is probably the most replaceable of anyone in the 22. He's athletic, hard at it and versatile. But he is hopeless as a forward (can't kick) and is not needed in defence at the moment. Pedersen has less upside but will be a more than useful replacement.

Just announced that ASADA will NOT appeal! Futile to do so really. More of the same. Only plausible path is for WADA to do its thing with CAS. Let's hope they pick up the ball and run with it now. Edit: Just saw this in the Age: "ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt hinted at a lack of trust in the AFL system by saying any appeal by ASADA would "ultimately serve only to delay consideration of these matters" and deny WADA an immediate chance to take the case to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport." Game On!

I have no problem with Essendon. I have many problems with Collingwood. During World War 1, the clubs with the highest tally of players serving came from "upper-class" (at the time) clubs: Melbourne, Geelong, St Kilda, South Melbourne. Essendon had many players serve during the war, but Collingwood was very under-represented: of the four "working class" clubs -- Collingwood, Fitzroy, Richmond and Carlton -- the Pies had by far the lowest amount of players serving. Melbourne stood aside from the competition and along with University had the highest number of players serving die: 16. In WW2, Melbourne lost a further 13, including ‘Bluey’ Truscott, and the Rat of Tobruk, Ron Barassi Senior. Collingwood's enlistment was half that of the Lions, Tiges and Blues. But this pisses me off the most: Melbourne name its best-and-fairest trophies after fallen war heroes, whereas Collingwood named theirs after Copeland and treasurer Bob Rush, who disguised gifts to players and committeemen during the wars as presents to soldiers, when they were anything but. Also consider that the neighbourhood was mainly Irish Catholic, heavily unionised and against conscription. In the 1916 and 1917 conscription referenda, Collingwood voted against conscription. Whether you agree with conscription or not (I can't see how you would), it seems bizarre that a club so aggressive in its campaign against the wars would be rewarded with arguably the biggest game on the regular season schedule that recognises those who served. If ANZAC Day was about "tradition", Collingwood most certainly wouldn't be there. The day is about nothing more than branding and corporate exploitation. If it had anything to do with the "ANZACS" and tradition, Melbourne would be playing. But it's not like Melbourne was smart enough to conjure up the day itself. It had an obligation to. It didn't. Now it's someone else's day, evidently, someone that most certainly shouldn't be held up on the day as a "club for the ANZACS".

Wow, that sounds thrilling... Anyone else want to share what random [censored] they spoke about yesterday?

I was there today in the function room for the round 1 luncheon and saw the bloke up there streaming in an out of the way spot from the main function area. I am pretty sure it was Casey's main sponsor that took the initiative to live stream it and it can be re-watched if anyone missed it: http://livestream.com/WilkarProductions/VFLRd01 Not sure if it was going to be a regular thing, but I would imagine they would stream the non-televised home games. He was there all through the development game, so hopefully he uploads the footage he got of that. Of the Melbourne-listed players, Max King looked impressive up forward. As for the function, Justin Plapp and Shannon Byrnes talked about how the two clubs would be more unified in 2015. He has all the Casey boys on almost the same program as the AFL players with less weights for the younger guys. Shannon hinted that after his playing days are over he would be moving into a full time position with the club. Not sure if he meant with Casey or Melbourne. Fitzy looked bloody great in defense. Pederson played a good game also and would be the most likely to replace Frost.

Hey Phil Walsh, what do you have to say about this? Bernie went in hard and tough, while Dangerfield acted like total loser trying to get a free kick

Anzac Day - Essendon &Collingwood The debate pros and cons will go on. For mine, it's a farce that these 2 teams, and especially Hubris Hirds mob have a monopoly on this great occasion. I have always advocated that this day should belong to the 2 sides who played off in the GF, this approach gives the opportunity for any team to play. This monopoly is outdated and needs review. As for the bombers....well what else can be said!

He's crap. We should trade him.

Oddly enough, Watts immediately 'redeemed' his non-marking attempt by gathering the footy and having eyes in the back of his head to see Hogan streaming toward goal. This is the conundrum of the situation - he is never going to take that grab, he is only going to be value in that situation if he brings it to ground and turns it into a battle of wits. But we damn him for the 'way' he did his job, why do we continually do this when we know he wouldn't be able to do it any other way? I will remind people that contest led to a Watts goal assist.

As the team improves so will Jack Watts. He is creative and uses the ball well and will be a dangerous high forward as we get better delivery to the forwards and more inside 50's. Geez, Hogan will be a gun!!!!! Extend his contract even further - now!!!!!

Roosy isn't so silly as to have Vince tag twice in a row. He'll give that responsibility to another player as the umps will be focused on Vince.

This perfectly sums up for me the dichotomy of views on jack and the tendency for confirmation bias from his critics. Luckily handed it off? Please. It was a brilliant bit of play that resulted in a GOAL, one of only a handful on the day. Yet some dees fans would have preffered he out muscle his opponent and cleanly snag the greasy wet ball. And if he had failed to do so would have used it as yet another example of his weaknesses.

Loved the attack on the Crows by Bernie Vince. I want to see that passion and effort every week. I have more admiration for Bernie, now that he was prepared to have a go at his mates and really upset them for his new club.

Maybe like last year it takes 6-10 weeks to see a constant improve on that style of play and where we come out of our shell a bit. Pity the next batch of games we play some of the best which could hurt. I'd like Roos to say to the guys 100% attack v Hawks. Don't worry about mistakes, attack hard!

You're making a whole heap of assumptions - about a) Watts, b) Demonlanders, c) Roos and the coaching staff. Watts won't be dropped, and I for one don't really see the point of doing so. Rather he work on his shortcomings with McCarthy, Goodwin, Roos and co. Running round at Casey getting easy possessions isn't going to help anyone.

So says the lynch mob.....

Seems the MRP has missed Vince elbow to Sloans face. Got away with one

Footage of Viv waiting for his chance: IN: Michie

get over yourself. Who gives a flying as to what Dawes gets paid. These comments are pathetic. We have to pay someone and at the time he was recruited there wasn't a long list of gorilla ex-premiership players queing to join the dees. Move on FFS.

Before the season I queried Roos' ability to teach a team to kick goals and was very pleased to see after round one we'd kicked 100+ points for the first time since he started. This was in contrast to our inability to kick goals in his first year. Many here, and indeed Roos himself, have commented on the apparent lack of confidence of our team and the way we are quick to go into our shells when things start to go wrong. FWIW I think we did well in this aspect against GCS and were ok against Adelaide but we were terrible against GWS. Ken Hinkley made (not for the first time) the following comments in an interview which was reported in this mornings Age in an article by Rohan Connolly: "I'm a big believer that confidence is about scoring. If you're not scoring you lose confidence. and once you lose it, whether you're defending a stoppage or playing attacking football, it just seems to disappear. I think the scoreboard's important." In our two games since GWS we've failed to kick the score we did in that game alone. While it's correct to point out that Saturday's weather was not conducive to scoring the conditions in the first half, although blustery, were mainly dry and we only scored 5 less points in the second half compared to the first half. Conditions in Canberra were very good as were the conditions for our first game. Roos came to the club recognizing the mental fragility of the players and I'd image Hinkley faced the same thing when he went to Port Adelaide, they were a basket case. Hinkley chose to score and we chose to defend. PA's list is far better than ours but I don't think Hinkley would have done anything different if he'd been appointed coach of Melbourne. It's a striking point of difference between two good coaches. My view is that if we get behind by a few goals it's very unlikely that we'll win because our game is based so much on defense that we don't have the ability to catch up. I reckon the players consciously or subconsciously would think the same and this would sap their confidence. I wonder if Roos' defense first philosophy is outdated (or just simply wrong) and like successful coaches before him he's failed to move with changes in the game. Hinkley taught PA to kick goals and is now working on improving its defense. Roos taught us to defend and is now trying to teach us to kick goals. If PA get behind they never think they are out of it and yet if we get behind I never think we can win. It's an extraordinarily different mindset. Richmond play an attacking brand of footy which relies on run from half back and risk taking. That gives us an opportunity to score as well. It will be instructive to see how we go on Friday and I think Roos would do well to consider Hinkley's view very seriously if he hasn't already.

The whole sorry affair is probably finished and will gradually slip from view. The AFL wern't fair dinkum and manged the fallout and ASADA only played politics and wern't fair-dinkum Essendon Football club have got away with it. Hang your heads in Shame AFL Your govenance is just a sick joke

I'm basing my votes on Kevin Bartlett's call on SEN: 6: Him 5: He 4: He's 3: Himself 2: His 1: Them Gee, it's hard work listening to his commentary. Half the time it's unclear which team the "Him" refers to. So I might have just given votes to someone in the Adelaide team.

Can we translate that same sort of defensive consistency that we saw against Adelaide against Richmond? I'm not convinced that this team has the capacity to play well consistently, two weeks in a row. We haven't seen it for four years. I hope they prove me wrong. Let's look at the stats: Richmond averages 60 more possessions a game (387) and 20 more marks (98). They lead the league in marks-inside-50 at 17.3, which is 10 more than we do (7.3). Adelaide averaged 19.5 marks inside 50 in the first two rounds but only had 5 on Saturday. That said the conditions didn't suit the forwards so it definitely made it easier for us. We average 7 more clearances per game (40) but we both average 11.3 center clearances. This should be a good tussle between the midfield, but I hope the likes of Jones, Tyson, Kent and Bernie can rough the Toiges up a bit like they did the Crows. We average 5 more stoppage clearances (28) and 4 more rebound-50s (40). We average almost 20 more tackles per game (70). It's just our capacity to get the ball forward inside-50 with good delivery that kills us: we're 17th for inside 50s with 42.7, whereas Richmond averages 55. We're also not that efficient going forward: it's 4 inside 50s for every goal, compare to Richmond's 3.6 entries for every goal. How can we win? We need to limit their marks inside 50, and translate our 40 rebounds per game (6th in the league) into goals. Richmond averages 5 more goals per game. Because of our inefficiency, if we permit Richmond too many marks inside 50, we'll need to rely on inaccuracy to keep us in the game, because we've really struggled to get the ball forward and score in rounds 2 and 3. Maybe playing on the MCG again will change this. Tackle hard, win the stoppages, restrict their push forward and completely cut off the supply to their marking forwards. We can get on top of their mids. My Tip: Dees by 123

Will not support anything EssendonFriday night is a seperate game

Will not be watching.

I only watched highlights from the game but what I did see was Watts pass to Newton for his first goal and also provide goal assists for both Hogan's goals. Not sure why there is all this venom towards him but I guess Roos will assess his contribution to team balance in a more considered manner than some posters on here?

Ludicrous.

Richmond's played Carlton, WB and Brisbane so far. That's two of the four worst sides in the comp, and against the only decent side they got comprehensively beaten. They are not a good side yet. I have confidence that we can beat them, but in order to do that we have to start like we did against Adelaide and we need to convert our scoring chances. That involves straight kicking (Garlett and Kent have to learn to kick set shots) and getting enough inside 50s to get enough scoring shots in general when we're on top.

Don't worry, "Hame & Bas" should be on soon...

Robbie Flower wasn't a "physical" player, but he was very courageous and always put his body on the line. He was also a superb tackler. Watts' "efforts" regularly make him a liability. There's one reason Watts will never emulate Jack Gunston. Gunston has balls.

Nice work by Yarran yesterday. Chapman made an error of judgement. And went down like a sack. Nice left hook.

one thing's for sure... Brayshaw will be there

Coming of a 13 goal win at the Gabba, I can see how the Toigs are going to be down in confidence next Friday night. They must be quaking in their boots at the very thought.

why stop at potential AFL fans. This 60+ year VFL/AFL fan is disillusioned by this new trend - using drugs to gain an edge, which I believe Essendon freely admitted doing. Not working their arses off, but rather using injections as shortcuts. And I have a friend who had what he described as a serious man crush on Hird who now cannot look at anything Essendon or even AFL. Vlad may have thought that tipping them off was clever, and would help prevent a scandal, but he in fact has made it all far worse.