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Can we get Eddie McGuire to toss the coin down at the cattery? I hear he's an expert tossar

Casey defeated Geelong 12-7-79 to 7-9-51 Carryover emergency : Hore Goal scorers : 2 Stretch, T.Smith, Keilty, Gent 1 Preuss, Chandler, C.Wagner, Munro TEAM B: WHITE, HUTCHINS, TYNAN HB: J.WAGNER, PETTY, MUNRO C : BAKER, MAYNARD, MCCAFFERY HF: C.WAGNER, T.SMITH, GENT F: BEDFORD, KEILTY, CHANDLER FOLL: PREUSS, STRETCH, SPARGO IC: STOCKDALE, STEPHENSON, D.COLLIS, W.COLLIS, M.LEWIS, WALE-BUXTON, D.FRITSCH, GAHAN SPARGO: Disappointing, slow start got into it a little bit but is a long way from a senior recall. BEDFORD: Quiet done a few good defensive things finds it hard to find the ball. STRETCH: Had a blinder he was everywhere and kicked 2 goals very close to senior selection. MAYNARD: Nothing to write home about really a few good inside things but he isn't playing near his best like he did a few years ago. PREUSS: Beat his opponent in Zac Smith but needs to do more around the ground. BAKER: Just a game done a few good runs but that was about it. PETTY: A class above Oscar should be in the side. Done everything right. CHANDLER: A work in progress but showed some good signs. T.SMITH: After a slow start worked into it Pretty well, missed a few shots but kicked 2. C.WAGNER: Fantastic game but let's himself down by foot sometimes. J.WAGNER: Really good second half a solid backman. KEILTY: After a good start realitively quiet took some good marks. McCaffery spent the second half on the bench not sure if injured. Good to see Hutchins at full back as solid as ever don't play him forward again.

It's two things. You can pin it on specific players all you like, but individuals aren't really the problem for us right now. It's how quickly we move the ball, and the poor use of the ball going forward. Both are related. We get it, we bomb it and we generally turn it over at the moment. Our gameplan is to kick it in there, keep it in there and get a goal. Every now and then we might hit a lead, or get someone out the back, but it's a rarity. Teams have pretty much worked us out when we go forward. A prime example for me was the first foray forward in the last term. Melksham marks, turns and kicks... to basically a three on one, as the Cats all went straight to the hot spot. When the ball hits the deck they have the numbers, because we usually don't move it quick enough, and then they run it down the other end as they've set up to do so, while we have sent numbers forward to lock the ball in. They have acres of space to hit targets and we can't defend it. I'm an optimist, but this isn't working. We need to look closely at it. What's the fix? Weideman and Tom McDonald can't get near it, so we get stuck into them, but what chance to they have when the ball is kicked long to a contest all the time? What are they supposed to do? I know we have players down on form, but the way we go about things doesn't help. Shifting a few out for others won't change a whole lot at this stage. I thought our efforts around the ball were much, much better. We had a dip pretty much all night and worked hard to match them in all areas. Our ball use was poor, though, while they took every chance they got. Think about the third term. We kicked a few points - one of them being a goal might have changed our mindset, changed our outlook. But we missed them all, they scored one from one entry and it was pretty much all over. I mean, getting it forward isn't the problem for us. Using it properly and/or keeping it in there, is. Positives? Our mids worked hard all night. I like the look of young Sparrow and what he can bring to the side. KK will be better for the run. Outside of that, there isn't a whole lot else. Individuals aren't the problem, here. As I said, we have players down on form, but they aren't the core issues right now. The game plan is the major issue. We need to fix it and quick. It's not panic stations for me yet. We can easily still make finals. But we need to change it up to do it. Chin up, people. Let's do our best to stick by the club and hope we bring the same intent, and better usage forward of the ball, on Friday night. If we do then we win and get our season back on track.

Today's game was very similar to what happened v Hawthorn last year. We got smashed bombing it into our forward 50 and Geelong rebounding and getting us out the back. Im confident we will sort out the problem, like we did last year and went on to win 20+ quarters in a row, but need to win at least two of Peptides, Sydney and Saints to keep in touch. Positives for me were our engine room starting to work, Oliver, Brayshaw, Gawn and Harmes, along with Viney and Melksham working back into form, a game into May and KK, and that we are fielding one of the youngest sides. Our system is clearly not working at the moment, bombing into our forward 50, losing crucial contests resulting in opposition goals and not applying enough pressure to create defensive stoppages. Next few weeks will be important.

BEST 22 TEAMS WERRIDEE CAN SUPPORT INSTEAD: B: RICHMOND, FREMANTLE, COLLINGWOOD HB: NORTH BALLARAT, FRANKSTON, RINGWOOD C CARLTON, FOOTSCRAY, UNIVERSITY HF: NORF, MARYBOROUGH, BELL PARK FF: CORIO, SHEPPARTON, BRISBAND RUCK: GEELONG, GEELONG, GEELONG BENCH: CASEY, SANDRINGHAM, WILLIAMSTOWN, OLD COLLEGIANS

I’m friends with Cynthia, who tossed the coin, and I spoke to her partner earlier today. They were putting on a brave front but I could tell they were absolutely gutted, not just by the comments, but at being forced into the spotlight because of that bumbling fool. The subtext of the apology - that it’s ok to mock someone but not if they’re an ‘inspirational’ and ‘courageous’ plane crash survivor - was equally pathetic - “I wouldn’t have said it if I’d known it was Cynthia.” Thankfully, the Swans hit the right note with their statement condemning McGuire, which said that everyone invited to toss the coin is chosen because of their love of the club and game, and none of them deserve to be humiliated on national television. Grrrrrrrr ???

The garden show- FMD - that's an afternoon of my life I won't get back. Anyway I've just opened a Heathcote Shiraz to calm me down. As to the footy. Well the ducks will have to line up just right or the [censored] will [censored] on us from a great height. We were clearly underdone last week and we've brought in May and KK who you would reckon could also be a gallop short. However, we will need May to play a good one and shut down .. probably Hawkins. If Frost lifts from his shocker last week, his athletic and running ability may do the job on Ratta - he will need to. If Ablett plays forward that will be up to Nev, who at least made an effort last week. All that going well, some drive from Hibbert would be handy. Of course the best way to nullify the opps forward line is to keep the pill at our end. I reckon Max will find the opposition more to his liking and will lift. Clarrie and Brayshaw will need to get 30+ possies. Viney's fitness worries me but he's one of those blocks who can turn it on in unlikely circumstances. Jones is experienced and proud - he will lift. Tmac and Weid must kick goals …. and Trac …. please play a blinder. Pray for the ducks!

*Pun unintended* Just an amazing story first off for Jay & getting a game 16 days after being added to an AFL list - We all wish him well.. just had a chat to a member of the “inner circle” whom tells me it was revealed yesterday that he was brought in to play a lock down FWD role inside 50 to replace Spargo, perhaps meaning Hunt stays back or at times they perform a double pressure role but either way I think it’s exciting to know that may be the role he’s been brought in to play!!! Can’t wait for the bounce back effort this week - should be a cracking WIN ?

Final Score Casey 12.7.79 to 7.9.51 Preuss kicked Casey’s last goal (if you’re looking for emergencies)

I'll keep it simple. If our structures are smart and performed well, and our best 8 players play well we'll win. The match will be decided by the performances of Gawn, Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney, Tom McDonald, May, Jetta, and Harmes ability to negate Kelly or Dangerfield. I think our best is better, so hopefully the best version of ourselves turns up.

Rubbish. It's marathon, not a sprint. We'll be there in September.

Seen any fuchsias?

Knees, ankles, broken bones etc are just bad luck. But I had an interesting chat with a conditioning coach at an unnamed AFL club over preseason. He shared what they were doing quite openly. Hopefully he didn’t think it was confidential. I won’t name the club just in case. This club had an horrendous injury list last year. I asked him the same question re bad luck, and his view is it’s a combination of bad management and bad luck. He told me they did a massive review in the middle of last year and changed lots of things. They have always been like most clubs measuring GPS stuff and looking st loads. But they have taken the science stuff to a new level. Players muscle strength is now measured using some kind of machines before every training session and compared to normal. They do pin [censored] blood tests regularly as apparently they can tell when muscles are more vulnerable. They measure players sleep patterns. They video players running at training and it automatically measures gait to look for overstriding so they can correct it. All the data is reviewed all the time to try and work out when to drop training loads. He said they are working with a Uni to have AI analyse all the data, and believes in 5 years they’ll be even better than their current interpretation of the data. I was interested to see that they went into the season without a single soft tissue injury. I’ll be interested to see over the season if that was just good luck or whether all of this sports science they are doing so far is making a difference. We have had a lot of soft tissue injuries over summer. And really bad history with feet. Potentially it’s time for Melbourne to get new ideas in. Or maybe it’s just bad luck. I don’t know.

We can take it right up to them, even on their own dung heap and in dirty weather, but a return to our 2018 style of hard contested footy, and playing for eachother, is a prerequisite! Just do it Dees!

Thanks so much Demons.... Over to you Goodwin, i am over it What did you do over summer?, i know you refused to watch the Perth Final but Maybe, just maybe you should have watched it many times, and i mean all of it... You may have learnt about attitude....

25 more inside 50s. Lose by 80 points.

Good article on Jay on his journey the past 18 months. https://coupler.foxsports.com.au/api/v1/article/amp/afl/melbourne-matureage-recruit-jay-lockhart-wasnt-on-the-demons-list-a-few-weeks-ago-now-he-is-making-his-debut/news-story/783b2315f88a85a7afc171f58747d1f2?__twitter_impression=true

Neeld has clearly lost the players

Cannot believe all the negative energy on this page. I thought I was looking at Bombers page instead. We lost that quarter by a point !!!!! We've been good in the second half of most games recently. Tough to win down at Geelong. You get no help from the umps as the crowd make the decisions. Oliver Brayshaw, Viney, KK Salem, Gawn have been great. The commenators dribble all over Duckwood and Ablett but its been the Cats young guys that have played well. I predict a Dees comeback in this quarter

So many armchair critics here. Its wet, really wet. They play much better wet weather footy than we do. We stemmed the bleeding that quarter and we are still in it. Our forward line is the big problem, we just fall apart once its past the half forward line. Its not going to change much tonight, but lets hope an answer can be found. Cant help it im an optimist. Where are you @Wiseblood ?!

So I bought a new fishing rod and reel today.

Dec Keilty marks and goals to start proceedings.

@old dee - see what I meant? Exciting news. A win tonight coupled with a prime time Friday night game next week could give us another nice boost.

Our response, if you look at individuals, was good in some areas. Oliver, Gus, Viney and Gawn, for example, all played much better than last week, which is quite hard to believe when you look at the result. But the gameplan, coupled with some seriously out of form players, an injury to May and bringing in someone like KK who will need time to get match fitness up and assimilate whatever the gameplan is at the moment, means that we have copped an absolute hiding tonight even with that improvement. It's such a strange outcome.

I agree re: the game style, LT. It's a mess at the minute. The stats suggest we are still doing some of the things that make us a good side, but our use going forward and the pressure in there is non-existent. Not to mention the ease with which they run it out of there and the acres and acres of space they have.

One word..... Gameplan

One prelim finals appearance in god knows how long and yep, that'll do us...

Dunno how we can be even this close when, apparently, 20 of the 22 selected are pathetic, terrible and VFL standard.

So far it seems that we: 1- have no forwardline 2- have lost our ability to win contested footy 3- have gotten slower 4- are carrying way too many injured or unfit players 5- one of our captains is cooked 6- Fritsch, Petracca, Harmes and ANB have gone backwards big time 7- Gawn is sick/unfit/out of form Have I missed anything?

Need a Hogan.

Kudos to any Demon fan who is game enough to show their face at GHMBA Stadium tonight. Not because you support the club, but because you have to sit among the worst set of supporters on the planet. They are arrogant, dumb and ugly. When you add vocal to the mix, you'll get spittle on the back of your head all night and a bunch of unintelligible words that only someone from Corio could understand. Good luck and God bless.

That doesnt surprise me. Thought it was odd we would bring in Lockhart and KK when Hibberd and Hunt were in the side. If Lockhart does play that role it is his to lose, we need a small forward badly. Would be nice if he could snag a few goals tonight.

That seems a tad extreme chook. If things go awry I shall simply give the maid a jolly good thrashing.

When they did the fixture, this afternoon was left free for the AFLW Grand Final. The idea was to give it some media space and exposure without competition from the men's game. A lot of people would have watched the GF today, especially in Victoria given the weather. It was a meritorious idea but what do they do - they schedule the GF tomorrow afternoon up against a heap of AFL games. Only the AFL can shoot itself in the foot. Everyone loses: The Grand Finalists, their sponsors, the AFLW comp and fans in general.

Good boy Billy.

I’m currently having a very exciting pre game experience at the garden and flower show

Three quarter time and Casey lead 9.7.61 to 5.7.37 ?

Awesome to hear Dec has 2 goals already thanks KC

I don’t think a loss is the end of the world. If we show dramatic improvement in all facets of last week and lose a close game, then hopefully we can build some momentum into 3 winnable games coming up.

Could you let me know what you had for breakfast GCD

I'm not concerned about the cats.. dees by 19 in a low scoring game.

Congratulations to Mitch White on his appointment as captain of the Casey Demons. Joining him in the leadership are James Munro, Mitch Gent and former skipper Jack Hutchins.

I have a natural pessimism every game day. Hey... I’ve been a Supporter fr 47 years so anything else would seem like inviting trouble! That being said, win lose or draw I want to see them aggressive and switched on tonight. Seasons can slip away fast. Early losses lead to loss of confidence and game plans fall apart when players begin to second guess themselves. It’s easy to start sliding down these slippery paths. So I’m hoping they play less like it’s a practice match tonight and more like it’s a season that matters.

Eddie puts foot in mouth again. Eddie's gaffe He ridiculed Cynthia Banham’s coin toss who was trying to balance herself with a walking stick as she had both her legs amputated after an airline crash. Cynthia is an incredibly accomplished and courageous person and the Swans No 1 ticket holder. To my mind this isn't about being pc it is about feeling empathy and showing respect. If he could see the coin toss, Eddie could see her struggle. Rightly, he has unreservedly apologised but this goes down as one of his most insensitive comments of all time. Somehow, an apology over the airways doesn't seem enough.

Our last three appearances there (from memory) have produced one win and one two-point loss with a kick for the win, with the remaining match a dead rubber (albeit an admitted flogging). How does that compare against other teams? That record dates back to 2015, with just seven of the same players who will appear for us tomorrow: Us, the MFC, evolves over time. This current lot aren't the ones who haven't won a flag for fifty-plus years - it's the fans who carry the statistical scars.

Double click on the photo.

of the players out of contract this year, here's some names that stand out: hugh greenwood (crows) - sort of their equivalent of harmes, i guess riley knight (crows) - he most plays outside mid, has some pace daniel mcstay (bears) - very good tall defender, not sure we need another brayden sier (pies) - tough inside ballwinner, has some defensive liabilities tom phillips (pies) - jet wingman, would love him; no way they're losing him darcy parish (peptides) - a slightly better version of stretch...pass ed langdon (freo) - pace to burn, we've gone after him a couple of times nakia cockatoo (cats) - has skills but his body has let him down peter wright (gc17) - another key forward who doesn't seem to read the play that well adam tomlinson (gw$) - free agent, not sure what role he's play with us given kk and fritsh play def wingmen jacob hopper (gw$) - another inside mid, might be able to get him if he's squeezed out cos... josh kelly (gw$) - ...stays at the franchise, and so too does... steve coniglio (gw$) - ...this bloke brandon ellis (tiggas) - turnover merchant, but has pace jack billings (aints) - so we have someone else other than petracca to complain about harry cunningham (swans) - another rfa, a bit limited as a wingman, occasional rotating inside mid zak jones (swans) - all the brothers! josh dunkley (dogs) - another inside-outside mid-forward combo player, big bodied of that lot my preference in order would be a top five of coniglio, kelly, dunkley, billings, jones and then of the more likely lads langdon, tomlinson, hopper

how bout we target a flag this year