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if moana hope could please go nuts and boot the crows out of the grand final next week that'd be great kthxbye

VitalDread is a Casey official who post on bigfooty a fair bit and this was his run down. Hannan- Really showed class with the footy and broke the lines open, really has elite speed esp coming from a part time footballer Tim Smith: Took some solid marks up forward and kicked 2 goals form memory, played high up the ground Maynard: rotated through the midfield and on the wing, did some nice things, still learnign the overall game Trengove: just do trengove stuff, nothing special was a class above Jetta: Looked really fit after missing out on somany games, took some strong contested marks in defense Kent: played a solid game as a midfielder and forward, nothing too special did appear to havehis hammy worked on a bit Johnstone: hard running midfielder that hassome class with the ball McKenna: didn't spot too much of patty throughout the game Pederson: used in the ruck and down in defense and had a solid hitout, nothing overall special from him just classic pedo game Kennedy: took the game on when he had the ball and was a spark of forward, though he did drift in and out of the game Hulett: Didn't notice much of Hulett, kicked 2 goals i think

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T? by George on the Outer Well that was the JLT pre-season practice series and the final one for Melbourne was away against a side that lost in the first round of the 2016 finals to the ultimate premiers. Both clubs took the field in this game with probably their best available sides so we expected what should have been and was a close tussle. The thing that was noticeable was that the game was treated as a true practice match with both coaches trying different options, but not giving too much away. Melbourne under Simon Goodwin went into the game with the two ruck option again but did it work? We really don't know because although Jake Spencer finished with three goals, he also had a paltry seven possessions and his hit-outs were against WCE’s third and fourth choice ruckmen in Vardy and Petrie. Melbourne also played a match attempting to simulate a 22 man team set up as close as possible which left Jack Trengove stranded on the boundary line. Has he recovered from his tragic injury run - again, we now simply don’t know yet but the team was left one man short in the Perth heat. For almost three quarters, the game itself was almost goal for goal with some momentary lapses allowing the Eagles a margin of less than a couple goals until a run of goals in the final term allowed the Eagles to nudge out to a winning margin. Even then, with ten minutes to go, the Demons could have been within a kick, save for some easy misses in front of goal from Jesse Hogan and Sam Weideman. The result could have been different, but we won’t know. The unfortunate observation was the lack of finishing skill into the forward line. At one point, eight West Coast goals in succession had come came from Melbourne turnovers into the forward areas. The quick counter attack saw the defenders with simply no chance, and both LeCras and Kennedy took advantage as they were left either one on one or on their own in a replica of Pagans paddock. No defender in the league could defend against that. We have to give Dom Tyson some leeway since it was his first hit-out for a long time, but some of his field kicking was way way below par. Likewise, Jack Watts needed to show more than what he produced, particularly with his defensive efforts. For someone with a selection cloud over himself, it was necessary to show the same level of intensity that Clayton Oliver, Tomas Bugg, Jayden Hunt, Nathan Jones and Max Gawn were displaying. Does he have it in himself to get to the level to play round one - we still don’t know. Oliver played an absolute blinder again. His vision in tight situations, and his ability to get the ball when it seems impossible, are rapidly approaching elite level. Thirty-one touches including 13 contested is well up there with the best, and yet the Coach had him off the field for long periods, probably because in his case - we do know about his capabilities yet. Others needed to be evaluated and were given the chance. James Harmes, ANB, Weideman and Colin Garland are at the fringe area of selection, and while the latter is a work in progress in need of senior game time, the others only showed enough to confirm their fringe status. Will we see much of them during the season - we don’t know as they aren’t knocking the door down, and we still have the likes of Jeff Garlett, Dean Kent, Nev Jetta and eventually VDB as choices before them. The match showed that the Demons still have a way to go. We should have known that the inconsistency of youth would show a drop-off of what we now expect from Christian Petracca and even Jack Viney. They still played well, but they just weren’t there at times. Finally, let's reflect that despite this series being a training run for both sides, the team has beaten last year's premier on its own home turf, flogged a bottom for side that for some reason it usually struggles with and has taken it right up to another finalist. We don’t know if that means anything or nothing at all but for years we have been saying "we want to be competitive" and "we want to challenge for finals and better". In order to do this, we have to win comprehensively when expected and to be truly in the game against the better sides. That we have done, and if it translates into the season proper, then finals will beckon. We still don’t know what we can take away, but two out of three ain’t bad. Isn't it? P.S: Will the AFL please stop using W.A. based umpires in games in WA? They need to be exposed to how the rules are applied in the rest of the country and not just in Domain Stadium. Melbourne 0.2.2.14 0.6.3.39 0.8.5.53 1.9.7.70 West Coast 0.3.5.23 0.7.5.47 0.12.8.80 0.14.11.95 Supergoals Melbourne Jayden Hunt West Coast Nil Goals Melbourne Spencer 3 Hogan 2 Brayshaw Jones Salem Viney West Coast Kennedy 5 Darling LeCras Vardy 2 Gaff Hill Priddis Best Melbourne Oliver Oliver and Oliver Hunt Lewis Bugg Salem West Coast Mitchell Masten Gaff Vardy Kennedy Wellingham LeCras Injuries Melbourne Nil West Coast Nil Reports Melbourne Nil West Coast Nil Umpires Haussen Dalgleish Kamolins Adams Official crowd 5,337 at Domain Stadium

Close your eyes & think of Melbourne

Just watched the game again. The mistakes and turnovers were incredible. The amount of goals they kicked from our basic disposal errors was amazing. They also had 3 shots at goal from deliberate out of bounds. And 2 of those were rubbish decisions. Our kicking and decision making into our forward 50 was also the pits. It makes you wonder why the game was relatively close. Obviously we did some things well, but I'd argue we almost couldn't play any worse. It's easy to pick one the usual suspects like ANB, Harmes and the McDonalds, but Lewis, Viney, Vince, Watts, Jones, and especially Tyson (understandably rusty) had some horific disposal errors where they couldn't spot up easy 20-30 metre targets. That said, most of that stuff is quite easily rectified.

I like Pav as a special comments person...I just hope he doesn't go backwards at the rate of knots most, if not all do. He has some good insights.

Just had a little shoulder scan at Aami park and popped in for a coffee next door and I see Dion, Hibb, Jeffy, Nev and Shannon Byrnes. Coming from the bush it's a wonderful surprise. Too shy to speak to the players but had a quick chat with Shannon who said Frosty will be playing tomorrow in the intra club and should be fine come Rd 1

also, has it been thought at all that we should just have a single board, not separated out into men's and women's teams? things like jumper sponsor, essendon, etc. get discussed on what is more or less the 'main board' - don't see why it's not just a 'main' board rather than having women separated out from the men's football discussion.

Umpires are a [censored] joke!

Sometimes I find myself wondering just how different a game it will be even as soon as next season. There'll be twice as many players to pick from, a full year of development and ambition, clubs will now know the value they can get from it, the investment will be much greater... the games will likely open up a lot more as the share of terrible kicks and mishandlings gets cut back. More immediately, I'm just hoping that the second half will be unrecognisably improved for us, compared to the first!

From what I've seen of Rance, he is definitely overrated. I don't get the media's obsession with him, and he's a bloody weirdo.

Drink driving was pre finals

Terrific human being and a better coach than he had a chance to show. I'm sure his legacy lives on on the many people who he influenced to be a better version of themselves.

There's not enough of this type of behaviour anymore.

I would like to give it a go but I think you're trying to rip me off. I checked at Bunnings..I can get a plastic bucket for $2.50 and at Coles a packet of 3 select brand heavy duty scourer sponges is only $3. My mate Dingo reckons I can get 20c for each car (he gets a dollar but he's done it for a while.) So I think I could do about 2 or 3 cars and hour so over say 10 hrs ...................... .I would be ............I mean you would be .....making about say $6 a day...not bad. You would be getting a 100% return on your investment on the first day! Multiply that by 3 weeks and we are looking at quite a haul. Dingo also reckons that making me do a 3 week unpaid trial sucks. Dingos mate Squirrel has also offered to help by looking after my bong and the sealed box.

As Guru Bob once so famously said: "When two big men fly for the ball... only one can find Nirvana"

As was pointed out to me today, to lose by 4-5 goals against a good team on their deck when only two players played very good games shows there's a bit to take out of the hitout. Other than Oliver and Hunt, I'd say not one other player played what they'd call a good/very good game. That's somewhat an issue in itself, as we need Brayshaw, Petracca, Stretch, Viney, etc. to start making a real impact THIS year. Top notch 21-22 year olds start making an impact at AFL level. For us to be the team we expect we need these players to start impacting games in 2017.

Good: It was only a practice game A much needed reality check, especially for a player like Petracca Oliver Hunt It made us realise how badly we need good small forwards, injuries have hurt us badly in this area It made us realise how badly we need Frost It made us (maybe not Goodwin) realise how much we need Jetta It made us realise how much we need Hibberd The Spencer experiment continues Bad: Leaking easy goals out the back, St Kilda would have been loving it Our key defenders were exposed Tyson's decision making Our depth can't be relied upon Kicking skills, even Lewis was terrible at times Vince needs to be played in the middle, I still think he should be a tagger that can get his own ball and Sam Mitchell would have been the perfect match-up Taking Trengove all the way to Perth and not playing him while Harmes and Tyson struggled Brayshaw still doesn't seem to have a position This effort by Oscar McDonald Weideman is not quite ready, Pedersen should have had at least one JLT game (assuming he is fit)

Those last 2 goals could cost us in percentage terms. The second to last goal shouldn't have happened. The umps should have called a stoppage well before the Adelaide player put a boot on the loose ball that somehow exited the pack.

Moral dilemma - I now have to barrack for a Collingwood victory next week. Please advise.

About 75% of our supporters, in their imaginations.

A good servant of the club who deserved better. Hounded by the AFL. All the more disgraceful when compared to individuals who most definitely brought the game into disrepute but ended up being rewarded. RIP Dean!

I think, on reflection, we had the best possible JLT3 match up given our Round 1 opponent. They are, of course, called practice matches for a reason. We got to practice for Round 1 against West Coast in Perth. We sucked, but the result of the match is meaningless, It's all about what we learn from it and we've surely learnt a lot.

I rate our JLT season 6 out of 10. This isn't necessarily based on Wins/Losses but more on who and how we played. We beat the reigning premiers who, like us were rusty. We played well but gave them some easy chances to get back in the game with 'junk time' goals. Last night they annihilated NM after an ordinary first half. WBD have improved out of sight since JLT 1, MFC less so, if at all. We beat Carlton in their first, rusty runout but didn't put them to the sword by letting them get some easy goals. (The Saints smashed them by keeping the pressure up the following week and Freo beat them convincingly last night). So not much to crow about from JLT 2. In JLT 3 we stayed in the game despite adverse weather conditions and our terrible turnovers. Our fwds and mids couldn't lock the ball in our fwd line so totally exposed our zone defence. Even the wise and mighty Jordan Lewis couldn't get the team to stem the tide. A discouraging hint to the players mindset going into JLT 3 was in hunt's post game interview where he said something like ... the loss was disappointing as the guys were on a high after the two wins. I'm not sure we have learnt the lesson of 'not drinking own bathwater'. Did they take it easy vs WCE? So some good signs and some bad signs. For mine there is still work to be done on our game plan, finding a Plan B when zone defence isn't working, and fwd/mid defensive pressure. While I welcome back Garlett for his speed and crumbing abilities we desperately need Kent for his 'pressure acts'.

Yet we'll continue to throw him to the wolves and the end result is our defence will leak easy goals. Bit disappointed we didn't push hard for a experienced tall defender like Eric Mckenzie who was on the trade table last year. Personally i think its a huge hole that we have left open. I don't think Frost has ever been more important then what he will this year.

JLT observations pointing to selection and strategy 1. No one but Gawn and Spencer have contested the ruck. Did Watts ruck at all against WC? Weigh this up against Goodwin clearly concerned about our lack of forward pressure. 2. No tag even when WC mids running rampant. I'd expect us to at least try that structure if we intend to tag any Saints. 3. No Jetta even though he has been fit to play.

Thanks for the heads up Hemingway ...but Squirrel reckons I've got Biffen right where I want him.

Yup they're exactly what I expected them to look like, training tops. Boring and uninspiring, glad we've got the other one, I hope we can wear it most of the time.

Just guessing but I think drunkn167 might be there and, if I'm right we should get some insights from him.

Learning the art of Murdoch media 'bing'... The turnovers are a problem when you are pushing up to attack, you get caught out with nowhere to go. I think both Oliver and Hunt learned some great lessons last night. Priddis got off Clarry at a centre bounce for a goal at one stage that I'm sure will come up in the review. I'm not too worried about these guys. I think Oliver is close to our best mid already and Hunt our most important running back.

This one I have to agree with 'picket' on and have stated it a few times recently. Jack has to involve his teammates and play smart football. He might think he's trying to lift the team but to me it comes across as selfish school boy football. He's a gutsy, tough kid and a good player but would be so much better if he made better decisions.

The thing that was clear last night is you cant play him and Weideman. One is getting to the right place at the right time and last night made it count and is an able ruckman. The other is not getting to the right place as much, when he does is not making it count and cannot play ruck. Weid will be fine but needs development at Casey. I want to see him dominating games, particularly whilst we have potentially another option. Hogan, Watts and Spencer/Gawn as the talls with periods where we just have Hogan/Watts on ground surrounded by mid sized forwards is where we should head for round 1.

I feel as though Spencer diminishes Gawn. Gawn's not great resting forward, he's much better drifting forward with the flight of the ball and taking a mark inside the 50 while still playing on-ball. When he's stationed there I don't see him being much of a forward threat. And Spencer is no full-forward either. Fair enough if they don't include Weideman or Spencer, but given the choice of the two I'd rather Weideman, as I feel he works better with Hogan. Spencer will just get in Hogan's way and is useless with defensive pressure. Anyway, I appreciate your thoughts.

It's probably only a small crack, but it's definitely another crack. Honestly, it would be really good if the Hawthorn Football club slid into an era of bitter recriminations and failure for a couple of decades. Remembering just how many of their fans are both soft and arrogant.

Ever since the VFL era, grounds have been wider, longer, narrower, shorter etc etc, except there are fewer variations these days. However, just like the good old VFL days, successful teams must learn to win on all grounds, in all weather conditions. In the grand old days, the Dees could win on grounds the size of a school playground, in the mud, against teams with different game style and tactics, and despite crook umpiring. We overcame and made adjustments before the game and on the day. I want to forget that these differences result in a difference on the scoreboard. We need to win at the G hard and win interstate. Looking forward to the days when we can play away from the G and still expect to win.

The sun in the eyes didn't help in the first. Naturally, it wasn't an issue in the second. This time last year West Coast were favourites for the flag. They'll be good this year. This game will be great for the coach/players to review. Despite most of our good players being underwhelming our gameplan held up. It's rock solid and will be the foundation for many wins in 2017. We're still an improving side, so it's unsurprising there were mistakes in a practice match. Notwithstanding his 3 goals I don't like the two ruck policy and Gawn is the poorer for it. It robs us of run and diminishes Gawn's role. I wouldn't play Spencer round 1.

Even though it was a practice match, I'll rate this as a very ordinary performance by the team with the only exception being Oliver and to a lesser degree, Jones. It was just an awful game to watch live. If we play a similar brand against St Kilda we'll get smashed. The umpiring was plain shitful. The Eagles supporters carrying on like it was of H&A game importance was pathetic but not unexpected. Josh Kennedy is a gun and will win the Coleman this year. Weat Coast were at a level higher than us tonight however I don't think we played very well at all. Both teams were only in second gear so it was hard to get a good read on the levels of skill and play. I will say that if this is a 'dress rehearsal' for Round 1, well, we've got some major ground to make up!

RRR and Radio National for me. Might on occasion tune into SEN if Pies have lost. Too much waffle and kerfuffle.

Our Mel addressed a breakfast for International Women’s Day today as part of a panel on the theme The Media – Women’s Friend or Foe? In front of a packed audience at Box Hill Town Hall she spoke eloquently with conviction, passion and excitement. An asset to the Mighty Dees

From a report on the Casey thread, these players took part in the intraclub game last night:- Jack Trengove Dean Kent Mitch Hannan Cameron Pedersen Liam Hulett Ben Kennedy Dion Johnstone Tim Smith Neville Jetta Patrick McKenna Chris Maynard

Not a fan, every now and then the play needs to breathe a bit and reload. I don't know why they decided to change it in the first place a couple of years ago, it was fine. Now every time the ball goes out fans and players are going to shout for a free, it's heading to last touch out of bounds.

I, also, am interested in finding out which of their players are actually downhill skiers! (yeah, I'm a proper wit) But seriously, it will be interesting to see who has had their limitations covered by the luxury of being able to play roles specific to their strengths, while the group of serious, determined stars kept the wheels turning. Or maybe i would be more accurate to say the stars kept the wheels in the right places - Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis, Roughead, Burgoyne, and Gibson would have to be any coaches dream group, when it comes to keeping a game plan in order and keeping less experienced or alert players 'on task'. 2 of those six are now gone and the other 4 are all 30+, and while they have several other quality players, none are at that level of leadership quality.

What am i missing here? He missed a training session and is internally suspended by the leadership group. Awhile ago he was caught drink driving and pretty much gets off scot-free. So putting lives in danger is nothing and missing training is a big no no. There must be more to this.

Cannot see the Hawks sliding too far for too long. IMO they may not even slide outside the eight before rising again. 2017 is not 1907. Claims they may dip to the bottom or spend 10+ years in decline are wishful thinking. Noble, nonetheless, I might add.

Yeah, I can't come at it. Spencer is just not a good enough footballer for me. I'll be disappointed if he's named, but I'm virtually certain he won't be.

The question is how much Spencer should ruck. If Gawn can still ruck 70% then that's almost ideal as he can still run around in the ruck and be in the game and is only forward for about 20% - really just a short change up, maybe when Hogan is either off or on the ball so the 2 don't get in the way. That would mean Spencer rucks 30% and probably plays forward for no more than 50% of the game. Can he grab a mark or a free and kick 1 or 2 goals and not get in the way deep? Will he chase effectively and efficiently or just give away free kicks. I kind of want to find out. The Swans and Hawks are 2 teams that play 2 rucks most of the time including some pretty ordinary forwards (think Ceglar/McEvoy etc) and they manage to just get their rucks out of the way up forward. I'd love to learn how they get their ruckman just to sit on a forward flank whilst the ball gets directed to the star forward. The other thing playing Spencer does is allow Watts to stay forward, maybe with a little change up on the wing. The ruck was good to get him involved in games last year but it really isn't his go and if he's down on intensity and physicality will it really help him? Without the 3rd man up even against Josh Bruce he'll be in trouble in the ruck. I'd laugh at the idea of picking Spencer even a month ago but he's fit, he's training better than he ever has, he gives his best, he's physical. It goes against everything I think about round 1 which is to pick a fit running side, but I just think Spencer is the fit running player compared to Weeds.

G'day, Happy. I can't recall seeing the team breakdown as listing emergencies. Trengove was in his playing kit, sitting on the pine all game - a practice game. I can't imagine it would be an enjoyable experience for any professional and driven athlete - particularly for a bloke with a history of battling through adversity like JT has. I and many others feel for him. Maybe if you put yourself in his shoes you would too.

He was named in the team, he was not an emergency. If Goodwin wanted him to play- he could have. People aren't questioning the technicality, rather the choice that was made for him not to play. Did we really need three full preseason games into Jones, Vince and Lewis? Maybe you and some others think so, but the frustration for many is the fact that we have shown little versatility over the three games and have left ourselves with many unknowns going into round one. Jetta hasn't played at all and we got carved up last night by Lecras; Weidenman is talented, but is he going to outperform Pederson, who we also haven't seen; are the two Macs in better form than Frost, again we don't know. If the plan was to have Trengove as an emergency, why not take over a first year played and give them some experience traveling and preparing interstate? It's not 'stupid' for people to be asking some of these questions.

Agree this one umpired consistently, although I'm not a fan of it. It seems like it's all about getting the players to disguise it better and not about actually keeping it in. Others were not though. How they missed the high tackle on Harmes (which resulted in WC goaling) I don't know.

earl, you just can't remove the graffiti from fitzroy. quite apart from the fact it represents the only indication of culture (albeit of the lesser variety) in fitzroy, but i fear if you remove the graffiti being the only binding matter holding the suburb together, the whole place will simply tumble down