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In a prelim final...i saw in person our team get thrashed and humiliated. Tonight on the couch I saw a very young team who pretty much had travelled from the Gold Coast with a stop over in Melb to pick up a few players head onto Perth and play 6 days later. With most predictions of thrashing’s and mental scarring ...we got a team that played three and a half quarters, but inexperience and lack of class just showed in the end. We were by far the better team and I was pretty happy with Petty and Baker ...the continued form of Lockhart and Hore, def Max’s best game and also thought Brayshaw, Oliver, Hunt, Harmes and T McDonald continued to also improve. Frost and O McDonald were def not disgraced and others that are probably not best 22 but because of injury are in the team....were probably the difference between winning and losing. If we hadn’t had such a bad start to the season we would have probably been quite happy with the result. There were some appalling umpiring decisions and some appalling shots on goals but whilst i am extremely disappointed I am also extremely excited. ou

Billy Stretch is infuriating. When he has the ball he is so slow to make a decision that he allows the opposition to set up and a turnover results.

This post is not going to be well received and I'm putting it here because if this thread is representative I'm going nowhere near the post match discussion. Apologies if others have tried to fight the good fight. And I'm responding to this post as it seems representative of the views I'm reading on here today - I'm not having a go at Elegt alone. I was really proud of the boys last night. Gee did they have a red hot go! Playing the current Premiers on their own patch with 5 players with 22 games experience going into last night (Smith, Hore, Lockhart, Petty and Baker) and another group who give their all but are probably short of ALF standard (Stretch, ANB, Garlett and Wagner) we did not disgrace the jumper and I'll look any other club supporter in the eye today will pride. And with a bit of luck we'd have won. Petty on the line, Frost with a cruel fumble, Shuey with a freak goal, Ryan with a sensational mark and some weird umpiring decisions all went against us. Yes, our goal kicking was terrible and it wasn't just Petracca. Garlett, McDonald, Baker, Brayshaw, Stretch and others missed easy goals. But guess what, we created the chances and won everywhere but on the scoreboard. I like Joeboys three worder's but this one doesn't give credit where credit is due. Just look at OMac - "not our worst". No Joeboy, it should have been something like "played really well". And he's just an example of the poor evaluation of many of the player's performances by so many today. A bit sad really many don't have the balance to what a game performance that was.

Are you serious. A goal to Kennedy from a free that commentators admitted wasnt there early. A throw in the goal square for a goal in the last. A ball touched on the goal line allowed to stand. A player speared to the ground 20 out, straight in front, in what all commentators agreed was a reportable dangerous tackle, with the player concussed, with the WA umpire 10 metres away, in the last, when scores were tied and then allows the player to play on ahead of the mark to goal and cause a 2 goal turn around. A total failure to pay a block or hold to any of our forwards despite it happening over and over, yet paying slight bumps or holds at the other end. David King saying their will be a lot of anger from the Dees at the umpires and Eddie highlighting the dangerous tackle incident and calling it unbelievable. Oh come on. Yes we kicked poorly but we are discussing the umpires.

Kicking has always been a weakness of his - or maybe non-strength is a better word. His inside contested work is elite, he’s very strong overhead for his size, and he works his arse off to get it on the outside when we’re running, even though he’s the slowest of all our mids. I think we have to be a little realistic with expectations; no player is going to be great in every aspect of the game. To me there’s no doubt Jack is a hugely important player to our game, and high up there with the least of worries.

A bit surprised so many on here are bagging so many of our players for mistakes. It was a fast, high pressure game and mistakes will happen. And, how many players did we have with more than 100 games experience? 3 maybe 4. With a bit more experience, Petty would have been animated that he touched the ball, giving the umpire enough doubt to not call it a goal straight off. With a bit more experience, Smith may have played on and kicked the goal rather than stand there waiting. With a bit more experience... you get my drift. But we aren't experienced so lets factor that into our reactions. Each and every one of our players played their hearts out for four full quarters! That is enough for me to look forward to games and enjoy the rest of the season. We won't make finals but by golly we will have a big say in the shape of the final 8. Go Dees!

Sparrow: Really just didn't stand out for me. Get in and has a crack but has no hurt factor. Pruess: he was our best player for the day behind Wagner. Controlled the ruck but our mids didn't make the most of his silver service. Umpires had it in for him all day. Lever: started like a house on fire when he came on in the first qtr but was quiet for the resy of the game. Coaches would have just been thrilled that he actually got through hos first game. Will get better with more game time next week. Chandler: Barely noticed him. Kicked a ripping goal though. Bedford: flashes in and out. Development year for him. Good to see him hit the scoreboard at least. That will get his confidence up and going. Jordan: like Bedford its a development year for him. Barely noticed him except when he turned it over in the 3rd qtr. Maynard: Does what he needs to at this level. But he will be delisted at years end. Just doesnt havent enough tricks to take that to AFL level. Good on him though for sticking up for Chandler when he got stomped on! Wagner: Liked his game, has a good burst of speed from stoppages and was clean throughout the day. Expect him to play next week if ANB doesn't come up from that concussion. Casey have some very ordinary VFL players. White, Munro, Dipasqual, Briggs Quigley, Stockdale are just example of the gap between ours and Port Melbournes. Mitch White as captain is puzzling.. Lafua is a very interesting prospect though. Love the look of him.

you are as mad as the proverbial cut snake @picket fence

The single worst missed umpiring decision of the game wasn’t even the throw ornthe smith tackle. It was the fly by Kennedy when he went early drove a knee into McDonald (May have been Petty) lept on his back and didn’t touch the ball, taking the Melbourne defender completely out of the contest. It was not a realistic attempt. It was early. He was more concerned about kneeing his opponent than marking the ball. The Melbourne player is down , no call and he floats inside 50 takes and mark and goals. What a disgrace.

Pathetic post

I've been noting the impressive body of work of Dean Margetts for some time now and I thought he was just terrific last night. With almost cat-like reflexes he saw an opportunity to halt Melbourne's momentum (yes, we weren't helping ourselves) and he did so with bewitching guile. Couldn't blow the whistle fast enough to give WC the advantage. It wasn't just the free kicks paid to West Coke, it was the missed throws and blocks, and, by the end, an absolute failure to show any impartiality whatsoever. He may as well have put on a WC Guernsey and punched the sky when the final siren sounded. Is the AFL so tight arsed that it can't, in a National competition, use an umpire who didn't grow up barracking for the team he's officiating (and by officiating I mean kissing on the dock). Razor Ray may be a [censored] but he's an impartial one. Actually, take that back and leave it at '[censored]'.

Finished watching the 1st half. Umpiring is absolutely deplorable! Must be the same ones from last night. Pruess is BOG so far for me. Controlling the ruck and also dominating around the ground. Lever came on and immediately made an impact by taking a huge intercept mark. Only just the 1 disposal in the 2nd qtr, but he'll be enjoying just getting out there and having a run. Munro is a an idiot! Chandle kicked to him 30m out in front and the [censored] decided to try and play on around his fan and completely [censored] it up. That completely changed the momentum towards port favour. Wagner has been good also providing run and been clearn around the contest. Sparrow looks like he is doing a tagging job on Lang i think it is?

Nah the worst non call was Hurn playing on from a kickout and running close to the 50m line without taking a bounce

He cops too much crap here imo. Truth is He’s excellent and terrrible both. Missed two sitters one from a set shot and another a snap from 5 metres under little pressure. He also dropped an uncontested mark 25 meters out... and so from the critical angle that’s three goals and we win the game. All costly and wasteful of the good work that got the ball to him. But he also kicked two, set up a couple more and imo is a constant threat around the ball. He’ll be super important fr us going forward just taking him a long time to really mature. I just about threw my glass at him thru the tv last night... but im still a fan.

Okay: Here's the thing - we walk taller with Jack Viney in the team Fin

I remember Robbo was a terrible kick for goal but he spent an off season correcting it and became a very reliable set shot. I don’t accept that with discipline it can’t be corrected.

I thought O Mac destroyed Darling tonight.

I said it at half time too, but I thought Hunt was great tonight from start to finish. Was super clean with the ball and used his pace magnificently. Great to see him back - didn’t look the same player at any stage last year.

That was a new look team and I liked it. We were quicker, more mobile and had better agility. Preuss up forward would have been good to help provide relief again McGovern. Baker and Petty a big tick. Wagner, Smith (despite brain fade), Lockhart and even Stretch were all solid. Get a Fritsch back into the forward line, get Petracca a sports psychologist, get Preuss in the team, keep Lewis and other slow players out and we’ll be fine. The focus this week at training should be how to pick the ball up off the ground, we simply can’t do it.

Played our best footy of the year by far, and lost. That’s life. I made the call early in the week that the watchability of the Gold Coast win was of no concern because it would be irrelevant to the standard the West Coast game would be played at. Pretty happy with that call.

Despite the one eyed parochialism of the crowd I heard at least two “he threw it” comments from WC fans behind me when Darling threw it and they got the goal that buried us. We were 150 metres away and I saw it and all the WC supporters saw it. But no umpires did and there were three of them a lot closer.

I don’t think we should be so hard on Stretch. He is really only playing because we have so many injuries. He has played 40 odd games at AFL level which is an achievement not too many on here have done, and despite his limitations he always gives 110% and is noted as a very professional footballer, attitude wise. To call him a “hopeless AFL footballer” is just disrespectful IMO.

All is not lost. All this is making us stronger and we are finding out and learning a lot, getting games into young players and finding some beauties in Hore and Lockhart. We have ten first choice players out. Just watch us go in the second half of the year, whether we make finals or not, one step back ward and five steps forward. We will be ok.

What a strange and sad season. Like a lot of people here, I was deeply impressed by the team last night. In every area except one, of course. A horrible case of the yips in front of the goals, which has affected a swathe of otherwise reliable (tmac, Garlett) players. The dwindling standard of goal-kicking in the AFL has been well documented of late. It’s a deep shame to see the Demons as the poster boys for it, especially after being the highest scoring team in the league last year. I don’t think it’s due to a lack of skills In that area (the list has changed since last year but not THAT much), I think it’s fear of failure. And in many ways that is a much more difficult issue to tackle. We all know that mental weakness has been an issue at the club for years now, and we all see the lack of confidence, the skittishness, the nerves and the dearth of belief on display at disappointingly regular intervals. And we feel these things as fans and supporters too. It’s a shared epidemic. The Melbourne Demons shouldn’t invest in one or two sports psychologists. They need to invest in a comprehensive psychological program. Combined with the returns of Lever, Hannan, vanDenberg, Jetta, Melksham, Hibberd and the debut of a fit Steven May, I’m quite sure by the end of this season we’ll be defeating whoever the eventual grand finalists are, and we’ll hit 2020 with all clubs wary of us. We’ll also win the flag and Trump will get arrested. It’s going to be a great year folks. This one’s just a grind though. But hey, at least we can enjoy watching the club in a calmer, analytical way. Once you remove that rubbish called “hope” you can actually relax.

Great post, particularly agree with your analysis of Preuss vs Smith. I thought Smith was important last night - not just for the mobility he adds as you said, but also for the times he didn’t fly when TMac had a one-out. That’s how he got his goal - he stayed down and it fell out the back, but a few minutes earlier he stood to allow TMac to fly, which should have resulted in a mark. He forced accountability in their defenders, which disappeared as soon as he was knocked out. I also think the rating of Preuss around here is way over the top too. I’m a fan, but in a “now we’re not stuffed if we lose Max” kind of way. He’s a lumbering dinosaur as a forward, which makes him useless defensively. The likes of McGovern could defend against him and still peel off, all with their eyes closed.

Petracca should be waking up to a 4 or 5 goal performance in a huge interstate win, but not to be, again. I actually think he is having an ok year, but he is so close to having a very good year.

Frost - becoming more valuable Hore - bye bye Lewis We are missing Lever, May, Lewis, Hibbo and Jets from the back half, I have to give credit to Hore and Frost who have been really solid the past few weeks. If our full backline was available I'm wondering if Hore has gone past others for a spot in the best 22. He is getting better by the week.

Absolutely fantastic effort tonight by the boys, play with that intent every week and we will win more games than we lose.

We let this one get away, but some positives: - We're still hungry. - We'll get better as some of our starters return. - Great to see Hunt in such fine form again. - We can't ask much more from Maxy. - Once Baker gets into the swing of things, he's going to be a great player. - Hore gets better every game. - TMac looks like he's finally finding his feet. He could, and should, have kicked a few goals.

There have been multiple studies that show that umpires in all sports are affected by home town crowds. Basically they involve experienced refs picking rules infringements with the sound on and the sound off. With the sound on, they pick more "frees" (violations, what have you) in favour of the home crowd. In every study. The AFL has an "integrity" department. (Legend has it.) Whether that is an actual office with real people staffing it, or if it's a waste paper basket in the corner of Gil's office, if the AFL had real integrity, they would not permit "home town" officials. Caesar's wife and all that. (Cricket no longer permits "home country" umps, and hasn't for many years, for that very reason -- the appearance of it.) They have empirical evidence that home town bias is real, and still do absolutely nothing about it. Manifestly, they don't care. The AFL competition is a joke wherein the umps do not adjudicate to the rule book. No-one knows what the standard is they do referee too. And the officiating body does not not seem to know either, does not seem to care, gives a free pass for objectively faulty decisions, and charges the players (literally) for the faults of the referees. It's a joke, corrupt competition that has lost its way in pursuit of ratings and $$$$. If it were not for my foolish and inexplicable devotion to the mighty MFC, I would pay it the same attention I do to the 2nd tier Czech handball comp, ie, none.

You do realise ANB plays a high half forward role that requires gut running workrate to work up and down the ground. Maynard is completely different type of player who is an inside mid who is slow and has poor skills. I watched him in the VFL today and he will be delisted at years end.

Goody actually coached well last night, shut down McGovern until we ran out of players, they couldn't get any free movement and had we finished better we could have won by a fair margin. Harsh call on ANB given he barely played a third of the game

1st game in 12 months and on limited game time. Got through the game which is a huge step forward for him and our side.

Ken Preuss has gone mad, he looks like he’s about to blow a valve with those frees against.

Let's keep perspective here. Half of our Casey team (eight players under 50 games) travel to Perth. Play a magnificent three quarters, get stitched by the umpires in the final term, and nearly pull off an incredible smash and grab win. Yes, poor kicking is poor football, but the overall sentiment should be positive. The coaching for the most part was brilliant. The effort superb. We have had luck in the last two games. Last night wasn't to be. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I agree that Smith provided a good target. Hopefully he is available for selection next week, the poor bloke just cannot get a clean run at it

What do we think of Petty second up? I thought he looked totally different to his debut. Confident, gathered several intercept possessions and i thought he took a great pack mark which wasn’t paid. Good return to AFL level.

Oh yeah, Jayden Hunt has been a revelation up forward... hes getting better every week. I thought he would struggle there. Love being proven wrong , especially by exciting young talent. Dont ever move him back Goody.

Good debut and showed a lot of the traits that we’ve been wanting to bring into the team. He’ll hopefully pick up the pace and awareness with a bit more experience at senior level; his brain was definitely on VFL pace on a few occasions. I liked his instincts to run, carry and attack- we need more of that.

Why is everyone going on about Preuss. How would have he helped on a big ground. McGovern would have had a day out against him.

Omac very good all game, a lot on here will call for him to be dropped but he was very strong tonight. Tmac had a great first half then looked like he thought he was on and forgot he had to try, should have kicked 5

Really like Marty Hore

Massively disappointing to be the better side for most of the night & let a 19 point lead slip but you can not question the endeavour & effort by the side tonight. Grossly undermanned & backs against the wall, no ones mentioned the 6 day break & double travel which is a joke, I don't think any side would have 2 trips back to back let alone on a 6 day break... Proud of the effort just disappointed we didn't get reward

Let's be fair though, most people on here had written us off before the game, so the fact we led for 80%+ or something like that and should have won should be a positive to the same people who thought we were in for a 10-goal loss or a repeat of the prelim.

Im most Peed off that Tim Smith was given Holding the ball, Every other instance of players stopping has been a ball up. 12 point tunaround and a concussion. Game over.

In reply to BrisbaneDemon From gameday thread RE: Fritsch. "I watched him against the hawks and GC live mate, tonight has been the same, if we didn’t have so many injuries he’d be playing are casey we’re he belongs this year" I honestly don't know how you can call Fristch a turnover merchant based on watching 2 games live. The guy has 80% disposal efficiency for the year. If you can find a better user of the ball coming out of our backline other than Salem be my guest.

It’s true, but Petracca and Garlett kicking easy goals would have helped too. We could have had the game sewn up by the final break.

I've only seen the second half and that was clearly the best football we've played all year. We lost this game because we dominated the third quarter but barely scored. We were playing top 4 football at times, other than in respect of shots on goal. We were tough at the contest, quick on the spread, we hit targets by foot, we had players leading up at the ball, but when we needed to kick the goal we missed or fluffed the mark or didn't make the distance or dropped a soda of a mark. We should have been 5+ goals up at three quarter time, not 2. Key umpiring mistakes in the fourth didn't help. I'm pretty sure Petty touched that first goal, there was the non-call on the throw, but the biggest one was Jetta's sling tackle on Tim Smith which should have been called a dangerous tackle. Each of those cost us a goal and the third one was when our confidence broke. The crowd found its voice, they had their confidence, we were a runner down on the bench and on a six-day break with too many VFL level players we hit a wall. We should have had a nice 5 goal buffer though, so that we could afford those things to happen. Play like that for the rest of the year and we can improve significantly and do far better than our current record suggests.

Vardy played such a great game, it's the only time I noticed him on the ground all night. What a weak ....

Once Baker adjusts to the speed of the game he’s going to be a very good player.