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Sam Frost Sam has had a really good five or six weeks in our pre-season program. Along with Oscar McDonald and Jake Lever, the three talls have been working really closely – and well together – on our defensive mechanisms and structures. The three of them have been looking really good as a unit and we’re excited to see what they can produce in 2018. According to some learned DL posters Tmac's younger brother is not up to it and is destined to continue his development at Casey. That would make it hard for him, Frost and Lever to play as a unit. Still happy to take bets (with avatar of choice being the currency) that if does not get injured he will play the whole season in the ones. Bit surprised his critics have not taken up the offer.

I Observe the opposition player making a break down the wing Orient myself so it looks like I am in a position to chase Decide that he is too fast for me Act and point him out to another player who is already marking an opponent Simples

Huh?

Good application, Saty. It ain't so difficult.

I thought it was just me...!

Not confident about the Jags at all now.

Good year overall for the Rams, disappointing night. good luck JV7.

You beat me to it!

I'm actually interested in understanding whether we're going to continue to implement the frenetic high possession game plan that we clearly started last year, or whether we fall back to the conventional zone game plan leveraging key position players. Understanding the 'tricks in the bag' that we might implement, and what impact that has across the lines - and for training - would be useful, but likely to be closely guarded. My hope is that we implement something that resembles a high OODA-loop cycle (google it if you've never heard of it). This is essentially making informed decisions quicker, than your opponent can recognise, and taking the initiative, to the point where they become reactive and are forced to play catchups. The approach (furnished during WWII) has now been adopted by investment banks, militaries and other 'industries' where two or more competitors have it out for the advantage. Shall be an interesting year.

Jordan Lewis has been tearing up Sorrento oval over the last 8 days....been down there everyday and he’s been looking awesome.

Jonesy wants a decent write up. Most players are sitting poolside sipping cocktails and our co-captain is doing this during the break.

Looks like we will get a rundown on players for the next few weeks. Today Baker to Bugg http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-01-04/list-update-baker-to-bugg Its interesting to get the coaches of view of player progress. Some extracts that caught my eye: Goodwin: Oskar Baker has demonstrated some elite fundamentals, from a kicking perspective within our program. I like the sound of the elite kicking - just what we need. Goodwin: Harley Balic has been outstanding at training. He won one of our training ‘player of the week’ awards. I wouldn't be surprised if he got a game earlier than later. (Interesting to know we have 'player of the week' award for training). Goodwin: Angus Brayshaw is starting to emerge within the group, in terms of his training standards. Determined young fella - slow and steady will be good for his confidence Goodwin: Tomas Bugg has been working closely with the forwards. Sounds like he is keeping his head down working to regain respect. Admire him for that.

The Brisbane winter carnival is one my favourites. I lived in Brisbane from 2011-14 and would frequent the local on Saturdays to watch the Dees with the races in the background. With our performances during that time it wasn't hard to turn your attention to the races. I attended Stradbroke Handicap Day one year whilst up there. It was a great day out with many quality horses running. Best part was you didn't have to push through 100,000 people to get to a bar.

Yep ... the prizemoney on offer is remarkable for the Magic Millions meeting. As previosly mentioned, I'll have a go at the 1400m Cup race and will probably have a few 'Interest' bets on the other feature races. There's not a lot of sport happening on Saturday arvo's now so the races takes centre-stage. Even in the footy season we rarely play on a Saturday arvo so the Brisbane & Adelaide carnivals fits nicely after the Autumn Carnival. And the big races from Europe kicks off in early May as well ... there are any number of Set Weight or WFA races to hold my interest. 'Winx' travelling over there for a few races adds to the interest.

I enjoy having a flutter during the carnivals and will do as much study as possible. I tend to mix it up during those times with quinellas, trifectas and first fours. I will back a horse to win if I believe it's overs in the betting. I finished slightly in front during the spring. I haven't had much success after the carnival but no great damage done either. This time of the year I rely on a work colleague for tips, he has a horse with the Weir stable and gets some good word on horses, especially mid-week. The fields aren't as strong and you get some decent value for runners. I was going to share a tip yesterday on here but the Mornington meeting was called off. The horse is Von Richter, I'll see if it's worth following next run. I'll always have a small bet on the Zephyr when and where he runs and I've been following your selections lately for races you mention. I'll invest a small amount with a small combination to boost the percentage, today the 7 split me and I missed out on the tri. Silly me, in hindsight I could've taken your top selections for 1st and added the 7 and 8 for second and third. I look forward to your Magic Millions selections, it's usually a great racing day. There is a $242,000 Maiden Plate on the day with $142,500 for first. Not bad for a first time winner compared to the horses that slug it out in $15,000 maidens around the country.

Keep forgetting to ask about how either of you are faring or if you even have a flutter at this time of year? I tend to bet the same way all year round ... a trifecta on a feature race or 2 most weekends (when they're up) and that's about it. First 4's sometimes but they are really hard to get unless one throws the field in for 4th (and by doing that you often end up with a low percantage of the dividend)

Got 33% of the Tri D77 but missed the First 4 because of the topweight running 4th. I ended up putting the 6 in for the placings otherwise I might have got 100% of the dividend! ha ha The 7 and 8 were way overs but they'd both been running against the 2, 4 & 5. in the lead-up races. Running 5th a few times (the pair) Premiere got a great run. Anyway ... onto the Magic Millions we go ... the Cup race might do me at the big meet as the feature 2yo & 3yo races are a bit of a lottery. Any of the horses in those events might shine through. The Cup race is over 1400m with a million up for grabs.

To simplify: have a set of decision rules. Each decision rule is specific enough to be applied instinctively, but flexible enough to be altered if conditions don’t apply. for example: half backs should look to kick at 45 degree angles - where a player has a reasonable chance of receiving it. If not, run like you are being chased like a bear. The kick in example above might have a rule: don’t kick out to formed packs. If pack is formed, the kicker should look for alternates, whilst other players should see the pack and know to create other options. a team with simple, applicable decision rules that are well drilled becomes a very strong team. Teams that can follow their rules look like Adelaide in the GF.

Hi Macca, once again spot on with your selections. I hope you got some kind of return with the right combination. The 7 was showing $62 on the tote at the jump.

I’m still coming to terms with today’s play calling. No Jet sweps, don’t think I saw Austin at all... no slants and sod all screens.

Yeah you guys are playing good D. Ryan will be much better for tonight. Played good solid O. And did so with Jones being solid and Sanu decent. Yep. Bad call. But all in all the refs were good i thought. Gotta sign Donald, make a call on Trumaine Johnson and Watkins. I think Donald gets 100mil, Watkins re signs. Think Johnson will leave us flr more money.

Yep, not your night tonight Gorg although full credit to the Falcons. Their big players had an impact and they got better as the game wore on. Ryan managed the game well for Atlanta. The Rams will no doubt bounce back although this loss will sting. The older heads in the organisation need to get around McVay & Goff.

Btw that no call on Watkins on 4th & goal for a hold was rubbish. Jones was all over him

Hard luck Gorg... You are right though, have to be happy with the improvements made in year 1 under McVay, the future is bright. I think the experience helped the Falcons & like Macca said they controlled TOP. Quinn gets the D playing right at the right time of year again. A foles lead Philly next opens it up a bit

Atlanta held on to the ball for 26 plays in that 3rd quarter ... playoff experience at work.

See Mr Moon, a picture can say a thousand words. Keep up the good work.

Phew, I felt all alone on that one as well....

It is a great example of thought to overcome observational situations. It is rapid in its deployment. Thus, ideal for a footy team. An analogy might be kicking out from fullback to a pack loaded with opposition talls, thus unnecessarily involving these ball winners in rebound play. Solution: Create pathways that by-pass these players, consistently and at at different points of expectation (in terms of where and how it may occur). That is a pretty 'loose' example but one that annoys the hell out of supporters asking 'Why did he kick it there?' It is up to peripheral players to create rather obvious alternative pathways of thought and progress. Interesting, huh? If it happens all over the ground, you win the game convincingly. Amazing, yet again, how dated models continue to show solutions once applied to a variable series of options in the modern structures of events. These approaches can 'geneticise' decision-making up to a point and provide enhanced flexibility in the options that may be applied. By not kicking out to a pack, those opponents are withdrawn at that point from the game, perhaps. Remember the immediate effect of the backline possession game? That could be seen as part of Step 1.

If we have a fit and uninjured viney we will win both.

I've been meaning to do this for a few days. Locked until further notice/developments.

Ditto OD for a "pass mark" .... for a "good season" I have 6th and one finals win as my benchmark

it really pisses me off that they made the finals and we missed out. It's laughable that they think they're in premiership contention.

We've done some stinking bad drafting and trading over the last 10-15 years, but getting Hibberd for a second round draft pick would have to go down as one of the best trades in recent of years, of any club. I wonder how many other traded players got an AA in their first year at his new club. The question now is whether he can maintain his form over the next 3 years or if 2017 was his peak.

It wasnt our drafting It was our development End of story

So my buoyancy for the New Year has been healthy. In high spirits, I packed up the family for a day at the beach on a beautiful day. Frolicking in the water with my young twin daughters, building sandcastles, eating sandwiches and much merriment ensued. Then 3 boofhead blokes and their squeezes set up shop next to us. I noticed 2 of them were wearing Collingwood FC shorts. Then I realised with horror it was Adam ‘the list’ Trelaor, Daicos junior and some other knuckle dragger I couldn’t identify. Trelaor was playing the alpha male and generally being an a-Grade [censored] as the boys played some beach cricket and the girls spent time bronzing their bodies, giggling at the boys’ hilarities and taking selfies. ‘You’ve gotta be better than that’ yells Trelaor as his mate puts down a slips catch in the shallows. Clearly distracted, one of my girls did a wee on my foot. In a fluster, we decided it was home time. My attempts to fold up our new beach shade tent were nothing short of disastrous (how do you fold the bloody thing back into a circle is anyone’s guess). As I flailed and cursed, I could see the 3 boofheads guffawing and their WAGs giggling at me. It took every ounce of self control not to outburst at them by either making one of many CFC jokes or hurling rocks at them and blaming my 2.5 year old daughters. Trudging back to the car with unfolded tent and two cranky toddlers with sand up their bums had memories of Round 23 rising in my gullet like reflux from eating a Big Mac too quickly. Happy [censored] New Year everyone. May the Dees rise and the Pies remain in their deluded mediocrity. BLEUGHH

I'm not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, so apologies if it's the wrong place. I saw reported in one of the daily papers that the Brayshaw brothers, including Angus, again did their now traditional 100 x 100m runs on Christmas day. The story referred to the self-imposed time limit in which they have to complete each run with any "spare" time carried over. I immediately thought of two things. That's a seriously dedicated footballing family. And, secondly, Christmas day must be really boring in the Brayshaw household.

Word is that if the City of Casey build a grandstand on that southern end (where the wind comes from) Melbourne will play a game for premiership points there in the future

Last year the Casey jumper and name was changed to Demons. Now, we have significantly beefed up the Casey staffing. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-26/exciting-times-at-casey-maynard This is a far cry from the pre Roos days. He recruited Plapp to start integrating Casey and Demons. Looking at MFC website the Casey staff are fully integrated into the MFC structure. It is no coincidence that most of the recent AFL premiers have very successful and integrated VFL teams. Bodes well for the future of both teams.

Weak players and weak members?

I sent mine back. I told them unless at least one starting 22 player gets hit on the head with a brick by Xmas I won't be able to support such a soft club. Goodwin wrote back asking if it was OK if he got one of his mates in Adelaide to hit Jack Watts with a cricket bat. I'm thinking it over.

Seriously? Honestly SWYL, I've never seen someone make such a mountain out of a mole hill. His strategy has been rebuked? It was a 2 day boot camp. Have they rebelled against the 99% of the other training they do? Have they cracked it over the gameplan? Did they kick up a fuss about what they needed to do before they returned to training, or what they will do over the Xmas break? No, they didn't. They just felt the boot camp wasn't worthwhile, so it was cancelled. I'll say it again, you LOVE this stuff. I bet you sit there and rub your hands together at how hard you can go with it. It's like Xmas has come early for you.

I disagree totally that this is a MFC issue. Every club has its own issues and they always have. The Cats had hand bags the Toiges ate their own etc etc. A training program that clearly had serious player welfare deficiencies last year has been been abandoned as a result of a lack of support from the playing group and recognition by the FD. The players are no less tough and the FD no less demanding. These guys all have a common goal and they know what it us. For outsiders including the mainstream media, social media and posters here, it is easy to focus on the decision and lose sight of the Club's resolve. I refuse to accept any superficial criticism of the players, the coaches or the footy dept will have any impact on our performance next year. In the end, it is performance that writes history. The rest is noise that so easily distracts the restless mob.

For what it's worth, I don't think Goodwin has lost control at all. Getting feedback around the camp and acting on their concerns is what any normal person would do in the situation. Goody might be disappointed but he'll move on quickly, as will the players.

I was lucky enough to spend last Christmas with a Dee. He was shattered. More exhausted than he had ever been (and this was 4 days after it). His body was covered in blister ans scars that impacted on the training he was able to do afterwards. He said he hoped he would never have to do it again and he couldn't really see the great advantage it would give the team. This is from a fella that pushes his body to the limit all the time, has been through awful injuries and come back again even stronger. I am prepared to take his word for it that it didn't help his game training in any way, shape or form.

Working for a small corporate who does sponsor an AFL team and having worked at a medium corp who sponsored the Hawks there are so many layers to these kinds of things. Is it a brand only play? If so how much is the spend/over how many years? How long is the season so the brand is in play for as long as possible? Can you use those $$ in other ways to drive more brand or sign ups? Can you get more eyeballs through a billboard on Citylink or more from digital spend than this sponsorship? How big is the member base/how much access to them do you get to pitch your product (whats the reach)? Is the club on the up and potential for new members in yrs 2 and 3 etc. Does the product you have align/can it be sold to the members/fans? What kind of acquisitions do you think you can get out of the members and other fans who may see your product? The old company did well out of Hawks, they signed up just before hawks won the first of the 4 flags. Lower cost, lower CPA for first couple of years, decent take up by members with an ok CPA. How well do you work with the club? We have an awesome relationship with our club who work hard to provide value to the partner. In our case what kinds of values does the club have and do they align with or exceed our values? We are constantly pitched to by NRL clubs... no fkn wwwaaayyyy mate! What kind of access can you get to other sponsors/partners/anyone else associated with the club or code? etc etc It is pretty subjective especially if it is a brand play only (but clubs provide "value metrics" you need to pick apart), acquisitions and CPAs are easy to measure.

News to date Jade Rawlings - new coach Tom Couch - player and assistant coach Mitch Gent - signed up for another year Some of the development team (2017 premiers) are trialling at Frankston including Jake Lovett. Casey confident that 7-8 of key development list will stay at Casey and push for the senior team (Collis, Hillard, Cox, Allsopp, Lefau, Vanderhaar, Gordon)

Colin Garland is what footy ought a be about. Have we had any better a clubman, then Garlo? Takes the train to the footy. just a great fella I reckon. A real community spirited person imo.