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The bald umpire- number 15. He's on my list.

Another one behind the paywall, but well worth a read if you can get around it: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/christian-petracca-has-lofty-ambitions-and-the-confidence-to-help-him-get-there/news-story/35182e694d13a8a0f4714ae491eaed2b I didn't put the click bait title in the heading as it would make Trac sound arrogant, which is not the nature of the article, but the best part of it was the final few sentences which read: “I want to be that person that can play midfield, but one who can rest forward to go deep if the game is in the balance.” He’ll be doing that in red and blue. Out of contract at the end of next season, he said re-signing was a formality. “I absolutely love it here,” he said. Amen to that, Trac. What a great thing to read on a Sunday morning. You are welcome to sign a long term deal whenever you like my friend!

I don't feel angry about this loss, even though I should. I'm not sure why really. We should have won this game but I still feel as though we had a red hot go and were undone by things outside of control (mostly, anyway). Their height had us covered all day and we could do little about it. Most will smash Oscar for it, but Ben Brown was too tall for him and when he was allowed to get a run at it Oscar had little chance. I'm not sure what else he can do. I still feel as though we need another key backman, though. What I got out of today was that we missed Jesse big time this week. Watts and Weideman didn't trouble the scorers and both Thompson and Tarrant were too strong in the contest for them. With Hogan, he can beat both of those one on one or at worst get the ball to ground. We didn't have that today and it meant our smalls, like Garlett and Kent, were kept out of the game. We kept bombing it in and they kept marking it. Not much our small players can do in this situation. The last thing I got out of the game is that we're now a side who are never out of the contest. Even after a horrid first term I knew we would bounce back... and we did. We might not have won, but that will come. We aren't pushovers anymore and sides can't walk all over us anymore. Once we learn how to win more consistently then we'll be a tough side to play. Finally, kudos to Mitch Hannan who played superbly today. I was really impressed with his efforts.

A comment purely on the uMrs as I don't have anything nice to say about the players right now. How Vince can gets clearly punched and not be a free is beyond me. What's the bet the North players gets a fine at worst. How Salem got the bloke high while being tackled without the ball is a joke. Ben Brown is a protected Muppet. That holding free he got against Frost was one of the stupidest frees I have ever seen. I counted at least 4 clear trips not paid, in fact one was paid as us holding the ball as we couldn't kick it while being tackled around the ankle. They got a goal from a throw plenty of times, double handed, one handed, off the ground, they were all there to be seen, none more obvious that in the last straight over their head and got a goal. I can't recall them being called for holding once, even though they dragged it in, dropped it, and threw it all day. Watts was hip and shouldered out of a marking contest by a player who didn't get close to contesting the mark, right in front of the ump, no free of course. These are just the ones off the top of my head. A complaint must be made! I normally don't watch our games against North as they have been protected in our games for years. Only watched this as I hoped we would pummel the pretenders, good to see nothing has changed and we are still pretenders too.

A number of commentators were calling Melbourne's win over Adelaide "season-defining" and I wish that were true but the reality is that our season to date has been defined by other things, such as injuries, illness and suspensions to important players, slow starts to games, narrow losses and defeats snatched from the jaws of victory. I don't really like the expression "season-defining" and I would prefer that it be confined to the context of a single win in September but if it must be used then it should apply to the day when the club finally shows that it can perform consistently as it did last Saturday night at Adelaide and win games that it's expected to win. Melbourne opened the season with a great win over St Kilda but in the following march it played poorly against Carlton. We haven't played two good games in a row so far this year. It's time.

Not a finals side.

I just wrote to the AFLUA. Gave Nichols a spray. I encourage you all to do the same.

Watts back to the soft player that we used to loathe so badly. Lays half-arsed tackles, stages for frees, doesn't contest marks etc, etc. A terrible game from him.

What made it worst was he was joking and laughing with a north player as they walked off at 3/4 time!! Appalling stuff and a terrible look especially after giving them all the 50/50 and soft calls and not giving us any of the obvious ones let alone the 50/50.

I know I'm biased but pretty surprised he didn't get in the best, nearly every Casey player did have a great game though. Missed a set shot after taking a ripper contested mark in the pocket but I thought it was Decs best game of the season. Took a few really important marks, seemed to win the majority of the ruck contests he was in, against a much taller opponent (will be interesting to see his hit out stats) competed really well on the ground and got numerous handballs/clearences out of the contest. He is usually pretty humble when it comes to his performances but he was pretty rapped after the game, probably more due to the fact that it was a great win and the boys did really well, reminded me a bit of the Adelaide game. Lets hope the seniors can do the same agaisnt North tonight!

Watched the game. It was a great win and the team was fantastic! A couple of things from me: - Melksham is too good for the vfl (yes, I'm serious). He was heavily involved and was one of the key ingredients to the win. - Mitch King is developing nicely. He looks like more player than project. Still a while off AFL ready, but is certainly developing ahead of expectation. Will see if he can back it up next game. - Huelett is back in town. Took some strong grabs, and provided a real target up forward. Really even effort all over for Casey.

Went in against one of the premier ruckmen in the competition without a recognised ruckman. Proved the difference.

We are a different side this year and we're hamstrung without two of our best 5 players. Midfielders can be easier to cover, talls not so much. I'd like to see how other sides go without these two players (eg. GWS without Cameron and Mumford). They would be in the same boat. If supporters can't see that we've improved then that's totally up to them, but they're wrong.

I cant understand why there isn't more urgency to dispose the ball. On 5 occasions players were tackled from behind. When I played soccer, team mates would call "Man On" when a player was about to tackle you from behind. It frustrares me when a player thinks he has unlimited time to dispose of the ball. Only to be caught in posession.

And the trip on Hunt.....And the Punch in the guts of Vince...A number of incorrect disposals by Norf not payed in front of our goals. It wasn't just the lop sided ones PAID. It was also the ones that weren't paid. Definitely influenced the result.

Hannan looked fantastic

Not as bad as Salem getting hauled out of bounds - taken off the ball - only for the free kick to go against him. The club should demand to the AFL that Nicholls doesn't umpire a Melbourne game again. He cheated. Plain and simple, and I never whinge over umpiring. Today was clear bias. It was a game full of terrible decisions. Cost us the game.

Mentally weak. Fuming! A game we simply should have won but no, typical Melbourne [censored]. And Weideman is utter useless. Send him back to Casey and leave him there till next year when he puts on weight and actually grows a pair. That was one of the weakest games from Jack Watts since 2012. Your a 145 game veteran, play like one!

Kent looks like Tarazan plays like Jane. Soft as butter. Bugg is a joke. Watts put in a half arsed performance. Trac and Oliver well shut down. OMac and Weids have a lot of potential but until they put on 15kgs each they won't be competitors. Very very very disappointing. The one game I wanted to win this year just showed us for the mentally weak team that we are.

We were out played. But what was the go with those umpires? Putrid.

I was at the New Members Function before the game. Brendan McCartney was there and wouldn't stop talking about the Adelaide win. He brought up how Oliver is 15 percent the player he will be, Trac is 10 percent, Viney a third... And the win against Adelaide is an indicator of that etc. Even when Trengove and Stretch came out, their first bunch of questions was about the Adelaide win. I get it was a great win, but 4 points is 4 points... What we saw from Melbourne today was the exact same performance we gave against Hawthorn. Everything went according to script. The team was not switched on. In every single game we've been starting favorites this year, we haven't turned up. Yes we beat Carlton, but compared to what we showed against St Kilda in the first round, we were not On that day. And we weren't today. This was a problem last year as well.

Let's think about this rationally. We're 4-5 and *should* hit the halfway point at 6-5. That'll be a good record having played without a ruckman or KPF. We have a tougher second half of the year and it'll test us but our percentage will help us. Our wins haven't been "ugly", they've been tough hard fought games where our deficiency has been exploited well by the opposition. Today was always going to be a tough game. There is a consistent theme in our Roos, Freo and Hawks losses, and that's that their talls absolutely destroyed our lack of aerial ability. We have been fighting an uphill battle since round 3 and to still be in the finals hunt halfway through is encouraging. Drop the next two, however, and it's lights out. That said, we have been in winnable positions in every game, and in every loss, our leaders have been majorly disappointing. Jones plays like a perennial loser. Lewis sometimes seem to be checking his retirement pay. Vince is close to pushing daisies. We're not "weak" anymore. We battled so hard. These losses hurt because they mean so much. Today [censored] me off because Norf is a nothing club and I just want to pound them for once. Will we turn the corner this year? We still have a lot of time to.

He got punched in the stomach and went off vomiting. In the outside world that's assault. No matter which way you look at it, it's a free kick and a suspension.

Weideman is the biggest loser as part of our injury crisis. The kid shouldn't be playing. But with no Gawn, Spencer and Hogan, and with Pedersen doing the majority of the ruck work, they need him in the side. I feel bad for the kid as he clearly isn't ready, but we seemingly have little choice. Hell, even Tim Smith is still injured. We just have to stick with it for the time being.

All those cheap shots could have been stamped out if they gave oliver a free at the start of the day when he was punched. Nicholls is a very experienced ump. Did he have money on nth or something?

You're extracting the urine with Hunt, Watts and Petracca surely?

How about that deliberate out of bounds in the last quarter he paid. Hibbards handpass was partially intercepted for gods sake.

The umps killed us, but not the reason we lost, pathetic effort after last weeks great win

Relocation seems to fit the Bill. Go you Tassie Tigers ? richmond lost half their members last night, seems right we should set them up with a new supporter base. *conflict of interest alert: I do have share in an electrical goods store in Hobart.

Thanks Wise, nice article tells a bit about the man. This is another bit that I really liked: "Petracca, recruited as an explosive forward-midfielder, has set his mind on improving his endurance to become a more regular onballer in the form of Richmond’s Dustin Martin and Port Adelaide’s Robbie Gray. The 21-year-old Demon has slashed more than 40 seconds off his 3km personal best — now 10min 29 sec — since arriving at the club".

I have picked the last 3 weeks.. Knew we'd lose to Hawthorn, beat Adelaide & lose to North.. I'm not in the slightest suprised by today.. I'm so fkn over it though

I've been calling Jones putrid with disposal for years but kept being howled down. Finally some have taken the rose glasses off.

I'll preface this by saying I was only able to catch the last 10min of the third quarter and the final (nail in the the coffin) quarter. First I'll say is while our inside mids were able to win the ball last week from the stoppages, this week faced with Goldstein he was able to give the North players clear advantage. He can do this against the proper ruckmen of the competition, it stands to reason he'd easily be able to do it against our makeshift rucks. Secondly when last week everything was going right, this week a lot went wrong. Simple stuff. Bugg's kicking for goal, Oliver dropped mark in the last couple of minutes in the third, streaming out of defence kicks and handballs missed their mark. Maybe it was Norths pressure, maybe it was internal pressure, but either way things that worked last week didn't this week. Finally, and this is not the reason we lost, the umpires were biased. Can't say it any simpler. Frees that were given to North weren't for us. A CLEAR 50m penalty to Bugg was completely ignored. They were crap. The worst part about this loss is it doesn't surprise me.

Just saying....but it's never seemed to be a problem for Selwood.

We are wonderfully consistent!! At being shockingly disappointing

I really enjoy hearing about how we're a developing team (for the last 10 years.....).

Typical Melbourne garbage. False dawns after false dawns. Also the umpiring has to come into question. What the actual [censored] was that?

If we win we'll be 6th (if Carlton win) or 7th (if Freo win) above Tigers, Dogs and Saints. Get it done and get it done early Demons, don't disappoint.

Agree especially the point about lack of height. A large part of our problem today was structural. They have tall backs and forwards and a monster ruckman. We had to manufacture every goal today, working with small running players hoping to link up and spot up a small target forward. At stoppages we had to tackle and handball our way forward to get a clearance. In contrast they always had the option in a tight spot to just kick it high to a marking forward or in clearances they often received a clear tap from Goldy and ran straight into the forward zone. In many respects we battled manfully and executed some brilliant patches of football but we were always manufacturing outcomes, compensating for deficiencies in our team. The forward line is patched up, the Weid is not ready to take the best defender, the other talls are playing ruck so we depend on the Trac and the smalls up forward. Hannan played well, while Jeffy struggled in a game like today with no clear space to run onto the ball as out intercepts were few. And Kent needed to work harder. Where are Stretch and ANB. Until we have the ruckman back and Hogan up forward I believe we will battle to string wins together. Land finally I think Norf will be up there in end as they have an easy run home apparently and lack clear weaknesses.

lol what, last week didnt show you that our ruck isnt necessary to have a win? Its between the ears, not on the team sheet.

What??? We didn't have a ruckman. Do you not understand what difference that makes to the side?

It's games like tonight that really highlight just how important Gawn is to our team. Goldstein was clearly the difference today, our mids are forced to work so much harder to win the ball when playing against a quality ruckman. I'm almost ready to call finals off for the year, but excited to know what the team is capable of when our key players are on the park.

We really miss having a classy winger with speed, smarts and ball use. What I would give for Josh Kelly. Also, I have tremendous respect for Cunnington. What a superb display under a massive injury cloud. Poise, calm, and execution.

Umpires gave 22 to 10 free kicks in favour of the Roos! Absolutely crucified us! ?

So? Cunnington hurt his ankle badly and end up BOG. Enough with the Watts excuses

I hope the MFC lodge a please explain about this bias [censored].

Ricky Petterd is next to us here. I keep lobbing things at him and he can catch them quite well.

North are the most disgusting, infuriating bunch of fuckwits. If Higgins and Zeibel knock themselves out and do their knees simultaneously I would clap. Dirty filthy hacks. May we win with a kick after the siren from a Zeibel free.

I'm sick to death of being beaten year after year by the whinging Scott brother's marsupials. Time to put another hoodoo to bed. Make 'roadkill' of 'em Dees!

Firstly, congratulations to the Casey Demons on the win - it certainly did come from left field. Secondly, about the team song ... We might have taken over the club but I can't agree with this - it's disrespectful to the last vestige of the old Springvale club even if very few of the old Scorpion faithful still follow Casey. But it's also disrespectful to Port Melbourne which is the oldest of the existing VFA clubs still in the competition and it makes a mockery of the fact that they've sung this song for decades in a competition where the Casey Demons have been around for five minutes. Surely, a slight rearrangement of the old Springvale/Casey song could have been an appropriate concession to history and tradition? I defy anyone to tell me that the Casey team played fine in the year of thirty-nine!