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Walk Out to Winter - DemonDave So the Indian Summer that was experienced at Pirahna Park last week was one of those early season abberations, and heading to Werribee was a stark reminder of that. Extreme winds and heavy thunderstorms punctuated the earlier parts of the day, it was only a late afternoon burst of sunshine that convinced me to make the trek down. Luckily in the end it was worth it! This game had special significance for the home side, their first home game of the season in their new standalone guise, and it was also the unveiling of their new multi-million dollar new facility. The stand itself looks fantastic, when leaving the social club area a peek in the window into the home changerooms revealed a very state of the art looking warmup area, and the social club itself with a huge screen showing the AFL game and full flowing bar in the welcoming warmth was most impressive. The stand was comfortable and offered a good vantage point of the game, albeit the dugouts are quite high and the bay behind them has clearly had the seats installed too low, the first two rows would not be able to see a thing! The floodlights are on a par with Caseys, ie. very poor, there were so many black pockets out there on the outer where if I didnt have binoculars would've had no idea who of our players had the ball. The home team lined up for a team photo, both teams lined up for the national anthem sung with the sort of gusto that suggested this was a final in September. Onto the onfield action, the home team were clearly wanting to keep the goodwill of the locals going, and were all over us in the opening stanza. Their desperation was evident, the ball was falling their way and so inevitably was the scoreboard after a bout of sustained forward pressure. Smothers, tackles, a massive but fair hit on Jayden Hunt and our poor delivery to a too tall forward line left the Tigers with a handy and deserved lead at the first break. Mitch White was a rock early on, providing spoiling nous and rebound run. Stretch on a wing was handy, and Jayden Hunt was absolutely running his headband off from a half back flank in this term. This is the kind of form I expected from him last week but I thought he was very underwhelming against Coburg. The 2nd quarter was more of the same, they looked more desperate and moved the ball quicker than us into their forward line. It wasnt high scoring, but they were clearly the better team. After half time, Tim Smith was moved onto the ball, Hunt moved up forward and halfway through the third quarter momentum shifted and we started swamping the packs, forcing the ball forward, all of a sudden a previouslydormant Pedo was influencing the game in all corners of the ground, setting up and giving off goals and we were flying. All it needed was for us to get our noses in front before the 3/4 time siren, and that was achieved thanks to a huge pack mark from Weideman who duly converted from 30 out. Momentum and the scoreboard were now tipped our way. The coach knew it too, his emphasis on singling out superb individual efforts lifted the huddle, lots of back slapping and encouragement. Goodwin prowled around the fringes intently, you could sense we were on. The last quarter was more of the same, albeit a lot more open, with both teams kicking long to more open forward lines, but we all of a sudden seemed stronger around the packs and quicker than them. Another long quarter finally eneded, and we were 2 from 2. Also a nod to Casey for allowing the fans into the rooms after the players to witness the singing of the song. Is this a regular occurence, or did we just luck out? Either way it left me buzzing as I left the ground. Without seeing the official best or stats, my best were: White, Hunt, Stretch, T Smith, King, Pederson White - As mentioned he rebounded well and spoiled well all day, the pick of our defenders. He also stood out with his white long sleeves. Hunt - Firmly back in the selection mix after that performance. A few passes still missed their targets, and one final quarter kick in dig land in an opponents lap 25 out dead in front, but he ran, chased, gained meterage and generally got back to something approximating the Hunt of old. On this he's close to selection for the Anzac Day Eve. Stretch - A fine four quarter performance on the wing, his ability to take a couple of quick steps, find space and look for a teammate in a better position was a standout tonight. He's always tidy, rather than damaging with his posessions but he's a very smart player. T Smith - His pressure when he was in the forward line was very good, and in the second half he moved into an onball role and was very influential. Not a typical Smith game because of that, but nonetheless it was a very good game. King - He doesnt seem to have a presence as a big man, but the longer this game went on the more he stood out as the best big man around the ground. Not for his ruckwork per se, but taking marks, puting his body in the middle of packs to put off opponents, little things like that tell me he may well make it as an AFL ruckman in a few years time. Pederson - Was almost invisible for mine in the first half, but he was the one that turned the momentum of the match our way with a purple patch in the 3rd qtr, 2 goals and an assist to Hunt got us back into it. From there he was great. Weideman- Like his other key forwards was very quiet early, but got more involved up the ground with long leads or when relieving King in the ruck. Took a nice mark in front of the grandstand wing, but instead of kicking along the line centred it to a 1 on 3, which was duly turned over for a Werribee score. But conversely he showed with that pack mark and a good last half what he can do. Maynard- Was busy in and under and niggling all night, gave away a needless 50 metre penalty for a goal too. Wasnt one of his better nights, but not a bad one. Balic- Was never going to beat his debut game of last week. Started the opening bounce in the centre this week and played a fair bit of time onball, given this weeks team was minus Brayshaw, Hannan and Spargo who all rotated through there last week. Looked ok at times, but other times I wondered if he was still on the ground, he's a bit of an anonymous workhorse type of midfielder like Maynard but did go forward to get a crucial goal in the final term. JKH- Another nothing game, his kicking lacks penetration, he's not quick he just seems to go ordinarily most times I see him. To be fair he was busy enough, just not damaging. Joel Smith-Took two hangers in the 3rd term on the opposite wing which were the highlights of his night, and was OK otherwise. Johnstone-Another who doesnt get involved enough in the game, forward pocket can be a feast or famine position, but he's not having enough impact when its in his area. May struggle to hold his spot with Spargo back next week. Keilty- Was again solid down back without being spectacular, his last quarter was good though Petty- Didnt notice him too much tonight, and he may have spent a chunk of the second half on the bench? Filipovic-Started in the ruck, but was quickly usurped by King, and for the sake of balance spent time on the pine rather than resting up forward in the 2nd half. Is some way behing King in terms of game craft. Baker-I like his football smarts, he started running to the right spots later in this game where he could use his evasiveness and footskills to advantage. Still some way off senior footy but promising signs. Special mention to Casey listed Gent, Wagner and Scott who were all very good, as was Munro. I just realised White is Casey listed now too, but his description can stay up there as he was BOG for me.

http://websites.sportstg.com/round_info.cgi?a=MATCH&fixture=124983435&c=1-118-0-477472-0&pool=1 The Dees won a tight and hard fought contest by 16 points CAPTAIN: White IN: GENT, MUNRO, BRIGGS OUT: BRAYSHAW, HANNAN, SPARGO J.SMITH: Started on the bench. He got out marked in the goal square 3 times but he did take a speccy on the wing. Still struggling to find his feet after coming back from injury. KEILTY: A dour defender doesn't do a lot but what he does is good. HUNT: BOG but his kicking did let him down a bit. Kicked a beautiful goal in the pocket. PETTY: Was injured not sure what was wrong with him. BAKER: Started on the bench. He was quiet but did a few good things in the last quarter. STRETCH: Got plenty of the ball but doesn't do enough with the ball. MAYNARD: Heavily tagged by 26 and was well beaten but he did get into the game in the last quarter. Kicked a nice goal. BALIC: Pretty quiet but kicked a nice goal. PEDERSEN: Had a terrible first half but improved after half time. Kicked 2 goals one was running 50 metres into an open goal where he almost lost control of the ball the other was to seal the game. JOHNSTONE: Gave away a 50 metre penalty to give Werribee their first goal and that was about all he done. He doesn't seem to be at VFL level ATM. WEIDEMAN: Thank god he's not playing on Sunday. Really quiet first half improved as the game went on. Took a nice mark and goal to get us in front. T.SMITH: Kicked a goal due to a Werribee player dropping a mark, other than that he was ordinary. KING: I like the look of him. Dominated the ruck and did a few good things around the ground. Took a good contested mark in the goal square and kicked a goal for our first for the game. KENNEDY HARRIS: Like Stretch he just doesn't do enough. I think he is a better midfielder than forward. FILIPOVIC: Pretty quiet but he doesn't really get the opportunity to dominate due to both King Weideman doing plenty of ruck work. Wagner and White also played very well for Casey. We are currently on top of the ladder GO THE MIGHTY DEES

We only lack 3 things - brains, ticker and skills.

I'm here for the Sicily v Bugg middleweight title fight.

Are the rumours true that halfway through the final term our players contacted the AFLPA about how Hawthorn were treating them?

In - Roos Out - Goodwin Hey someone was gonna do it.

We have a problem. If you took away the scores from today's game, you would think it was much closer than the scorelines suggests. Disposals pretty close, we have more inside 50s, more contested possessions... although we got beaten generally in clearances and their tackling work showed greater desire, while ours was a disgrace when you factor in that they had more of the ball, yet had almost 40 more tackles. That just shouldn't happen. Having said that, you wouldn't have thought with well over 50 inside 50's that we went two quarters without a goal if you didn't know the score. But there in lies the problem. At the moment our efficiency going forward is terrible for large parts of the game. There are times when we pour it on and look a million bucks, but these seem to happen for only a quarter at a time. From then on when score in little spurts but the opposition pick up quickly that our general tactic is to bomb it long into our forward line, and if we don't mark it (which we usually don't) then our intent is to keep it in there for as long as possible to try and manufacture a goal, either from a stoppage or for us to mark a quick kick out of defence and set up again. However, it's not working. It's not even close to working. You could argue that missing McDonald really hurts our structure, and that we didn't handle the conditions well at all, but this has been going on for a month. Goodwin and the FD must be sitting up there in the box and seeing this happen. How could they not? We have all the talent in the world but it's going to waste with a gameplan that just isn't playing to our strengths. Then we have the 'press' that leaves us susceptible to goals out the back, which we gave up ad nauseum today. When we get the ball in our forward half we push numbers forward to do everything we can to keep it there. When we don't, the opposition is just a couple of handballs away from getting out the back and it's goodnight from there. We look second rate when we do this. The team haven't worked out how to use Lever effectively yet and it's hurting us big time. What I'm trying to get at is that we've seen the same things happen over and over and over again... and nothing has been done. We can't expect massive changes during a season, but we need to see some tweaks to the game plan to fix up these mistakes. Forget blasting individual players as right now it's not the issue. The issue is the game plan and how the opposition works it out quickly and we don't react to it at all. I'm not going to go banana's after this loss - it's a long season with plenty of footy to be played. But make no mistake - Goody is under the pump a little here. He was smashed after quarter time by the best in the business and he didn't know what to do. He needs to show that he's not stubborn and willing to make the changes necessary to harness the talent in our side. If he doesn't then, well, he's in a quite a bit of trouble. Lastly - the only thing I will really have a big dig at here is his decision to play Harmes in the ruck. Really, Goody? Why do this when we have Weideman and Pedersen, both tall enough to play there, running around at Casey? It makes zeros sense. Heck, even throw Frosty in there for a run. At least he's tall. Supporters are right to be annoyed at him doing this as there are far better options for us.

TAMING THE TIGERS - PART ONE by KC from Casey The Casey Demons spoiled the Werribee Tigers’ party last night when they came away from the newly refurbished Avalon Airport Oval with a hard fought 17 point victory. The home side was returning to their millions of dollars state-of-the-art home after 18 long months and was hoping to mark the historic occasion with a win. And that definitely seemed to be on the cards after ten minutes into the third term when the Tigers opened up a three goal lead in what was up until then a dour, low scoring affair. The Tigers had made all the running in a truly gutsy performance for the club which is now completely stand-alone after North Melbourne severed ties with it at the end of last year. With several of their “unknown” brigade combining well together under the lights, keeping a tight rein over the opposition and their key position players dominating the marking duels at either end, the prospects of a boilover win were as high as the Tiger spirits. Enter Cam Pedersen and the Demon runners whose superior fitness turned the situation on its head when they finally managed to open up the game. The next 15 minutes saw a complete change of direction as Casey piled on three quick goals to get themselves back into the game and eventually, they took the lead by two points at the final break and went on to win by 16 at the end of the day. Such was their dominance that in the last quarter and a half they scored 7.5.47 to 2.1.13 with the majority of play constantly in the Demons’ forward line. Pedersen directed proceedings and Jayden Hunt returned to form and with Billy Stretch revelling on the wing, provided run and fed the Casey forwards enough of the ball to stop Werribee in its tracks. Play was congested all night and, as a consequence, the Demons were constantly prevented from playing the attacking style of game evident last week at Coburg. Later in the game however, the tiring Tigers were never going to win the game with their defensive tactics despite a very honest performance from their players. Max King put in his best game in the ruck and around the ground and he had good support on the ball from Lachlan Filipovic, Sam Weideman and occasionally, Pedersen. Jay Lockhart showed class in defence and Corey Wagner gave great support. Earlier in the game, Angus Scott was the danger man up forward with two of his team’s first half goals. Casey’s next assignment will be much tougher - a trip to Richmond’s Swinburne Centre at Punt Road next Sunday and more Tigers to tame await. Peter Jackson VFL 2018 Casey Demons 2.1.13 3.5.23 7.8.50 10.11.72 Werribee Tigers 3.1.19 5.4.34 7.6.48 8.7.55 Goals Casey Demons Pedersen Scott 2 Balic Hunt King Maynard T Smith Weideman Werribee Tigers Corbett 3 Barrack Gribble Hooper Munro Robinson Best Casey Demons Hunt White King Lockhart Stretch T Smith Werribee Gribble Moloney Corbett Nott Hanson McFarlane

I’ve had a couple of hours and a few glasses of red now to relax and calm down and reflect on the game. Bad idea reflecting on the game because I’m now quite frustrated and angry again.

Omac was fantastic. He was literally the only player who did not panic once. Kudos to him. Lewis needs to retire and Bugg needs to sign a VFL contract.

Opportunities. That’s all this AFL game is really about. Last year going into the final round of the season, an opportunity had presented itself thanks to the season we’d had. Win the game, and we’d be playing in the finals for the first time since 06. It was against a seriously undermanned Collingwood side and we absolutely fluffed it. For days, I was waiting for a statement from the club and an answer as to why and how we could lose such an important game against an undermanned side.The answer was surprising. Jones spoke of everything but that round 23 game. He spoke about the fact that we’d lost games during the season that we shouldn’t have. Well, Jonesy. Here is another opportunity. An opportunity against Hawthorn in round 4 where we can make a statement. A statement to let the football world know that we are genuinely turning the corner. We can string wins together. We can beat sides who we should be beating. And we can go into next week full of confidence and take it right up to the reigning premiers. We have an opportunity to change even if slightly, the story that the MFC become too content with themselves after a win. I want a four quarter team effort with us playing the “Melbourne way”, a term that I’ve heard a lot over pre season but have only seen glimpses of to date. There are no excuses today. Umpires, weather, personnel. It’s time to deliver. Give em’ hell Dees.

Hawks mascot must have been in our huddle at quarter time and freaked our players out

Not wholly his fault, but gee it can knock the wind out of you when a team mate turns the ball over every possession and I mean every possession. Even his poster from 20 out gave them possession and yes I know that was facetious, but I thought that was nothing but a terrible game by a skilless footballer who destroyed every thrust we had when he got involved. I would have delisted him at half time. We will go nowhere if we play guys like him. They just kill you.

Mods, please pin this ^ in the 'best philosophical quotes' section of demonland. Saty is seriously underrated when it comes to making insightful comments and frankly he deserves more recognition.

Our natural evolution for prolonged success needs to be beating the lower teams without exception and beating those around the middle to 5th on most occasions. Thats what good teams do. Then we can start worrying about seeing how we stack up against the best. How frustrating was it last year seeing us have the Tigers covered until injury took hold and smacking the Crows on their dung heap to then see us lose to the Roos, Freo and half a Collingwood side. Today allows us to get the first part right and next week allows us to start to measure how we stack up.

I’ve just put on 3 separate bets with mates, so I’ll either be he proud owner of 2 cartons of little creatures pale ale and a bottle of Sailor Jerry or I’ll be explaining to the missus what the $200 credit card transaction at the bottle-o is. C’mon dees.

[censored] Whorethorn. Dees by 10 goals.

Well done Casey! And a massive thank you to those giving running updates , muchus gracias ✌???

I feel so emotionally invested in the club but I feel I’ve invested into a Ponzi scheme that’s never going to pay out

Best part of today was my 5yo son made us leave at half time as he saw the Hawks mascot sitting near us in the crowd and it freaked him right out. So I missed most of the 2nd half debacle.

I bloody hate Hawthorn. This brought back all the worst memories of playing them over the years, 1 goal in 3 quarters in miserable conditions. Yuck

Note to self - don't get excited about this footy club ever again.

Update. Got rid of pizza boxes and empty Carlsberg. Kids are bathed, fed and we all have our stories straight. Got slow cooked beef and gnocchi bake on the go and I even changed the bed (who doesn't love clean sheets) just have to vacuum the mashed playdough in the carpet. ETA is 3pm and she loves the footy nearly more than me. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and if the Dee's can get up and the boys stay in their own bed (unlikely)... Well it's a family forum but I'm sure you can imagine

I positively believe we get thumped!

what did you guys expect! we played terrible against Brisbane and north but we accept mediocre performances. Even some of these demonlanders who say 'a wins a win' is the attitude that leads to these losses.

Lever finally starts to take marks and puts his body on the line and people wanna drop him?? Wtf melksham is a definite out. Frost is a liability. Just not a footballer. Out. Hunt and pedo in

I have no idea about game plans etc . The big change for me has been Rawlings has been sent to Casey to manage and Troy Chaplin is the new and shiny defensive line coach .. taking over from Rawlings and this year defensively we stink !

Problems are actually simple, we have no idea how to play in the wet, and no plan b. The players spent half the day looking frustrated because our game plan needs it to be dry and we have no wet day game plan. Out coached, which made us out classed.

Outcoached. Full stop.

We’ve got a coaching issue folks...

Surely the board must be considering looking for a new coach. This is crap coaching

Goodwin has a LOT to answer for. Pathetic coaching.

So glad we had that closed training session to work on that super secret strategy of PANIC BALL.

I will go against the flow a bit here. I don't think the Hawks are any particular measuring stick, just another game we should win. To me they are another mid rung team. Yes these games are dangerous, if we're not switched on we can lose. If we are switched on and playing our best football (we haven't so far this year) we are the better team and will win comfortably. The teams I want to see how we match up on are the Tiges, Sydney and GWS. These games will tell us a bit more about where we sit in 2018.

Liam Jones reminded me of Liam Jones.

Wagner is in for a big weekend. Isn't he having a run against the Hawks tomorrow?

Bugg is killing us

Oscar has improved enormously, can’t deny that. A very solid defender now

You take that photo while collapsed on the floor SWYL?

Girls and trannies ?

Carlton have scored under 100 points in their last 35 games.

The radio commentators gave Hunt a big wrap, probably BOG

I cannot remember a season in which so many of the games have been so bad to watch. 6-7 times already this season I have sat down to watch some footy (not the Dees, just trying to relax) and have switched it off. I actually switched the Commonwealth Games on, only to have to choose between synchronised diving, rhythmic gymastics or basketball!! Carlton v North on a Saturday night - give me a break.