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Ventured to Casey this morning to find the arena "bathed" in light. Thinking I might have stumbled on part two of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, I was somewhat intrigued to see that the lights at Casey had in fact been turned on!! Warmups consisted more or less of similar to last Friday, before segueing into a full scale practice match between the navy blues and the royal blues. Unless you knew the numbers, the colors were somewhat indistinguishable! Here is my report. NO SHOWS, VINEY, KOSSIE, BEN BROWN, HIBBO, JOEL SMITH??? There might have been others but being outside the ground again made it difficult to distinguish LIMITED DUTIES MITCH BROWN, SPARGO, GUS , MELKSHAM MATCH REPORT The match ups were interesting with the navy blues containing what I believe to be the probables against the possibles, although having said that players who made up most of last year’s list were sprinkled between the two sides. RANDOM HIGHLIGHTS AND A FEW LOW ONES AS WELL Game split into 4 about 15-20 min quarters, stiff wind blowing northerly away from the city, umpires were AFL list, I hink. Trent Rivers played well across HBF and has become more at home and composed with the footy. Ed Langdon was all over it on the wing and won possession after possession. Harry Petty was played down back and whilst he did a few nice things, was not noticeable. James Jordan has skills and played well in a variety of roles. Vanders was back and was involved in a few bone jarring tackles and was his usual imposing self. At one stage Max took umbrage to his fierce tackling and let him know about it. Clayton "Minestrone" Oliver was in everything and was the catalyst to so many clearances. His disposal was crisp and clean. It was between Max, Langdon and for BOG. The name "Minestrone" for me conjures up the fact that in one you get everything ... That was choo choo today! L.J WOW ... has he come of age? Took marks, kicked three goals, rucked, roved and was a catalyst - is ready to impose this year! Harmes played ON BALL resting on a half forward flank and was back to his best. Expect to see him more in midfield this year. Bailey Laurie and Jake Bowey - take a bow recruiting team led by team Jason Taylor. Both are quick, decisive with hand and foot and both are excitment machines destined to play early this year, probably Bailey Laurie more so at this stage. Fraser "The Freak" Rosman, WOW, Today took the MOTD and also kicked TGOTD. Was instrumental in some set ups and will play early. Faded towards the end but ... is exciting. Trac just cannot be tackled he is soooo elusive just reminds me of myself in my heyday LOL ... Played like he did last year. Tom McDonald was quiet early (matched up against Steve May) but kicked 2 or 3 good goals. Similar to last week where I singled out Chunky Jones, today it was NEV JETTA'S turn to wind back the clock with a really good display down back. Fritta was fritta laconic BUT dangerous. Max did as he liked and whilst this is good please God if he or Clarry gets injured >>>>> ? Others to impress were Aaron Nietschke, will be a formidable ruckman, Jay Lockhart, Toby Bedford, Kade Chandler and Aaron Bradke, Hunt was busy of the hbf and Chunky decisive POSITIVES As above, plus plenty of endeavour skills seemed better under pressure and players looking for smart options, we should have plenty of scope for multi options and a very strong second tier who are sure to put pressure on for game day spots in the ones. NEGATIVES We still have issues with kick out strategies. other teams seem to be able to do this at will but we struggle and a few times played on only to bomb hopefully. we stiil will over rely on our core group , but i can see visible narrowing of superstars and next tier. Hitting targets under pressure needs to be the focus No slitherers seen today thankfully Cheers PF

This was my answer to the final question.

Yep. I find the most telling aspect of this is that there's no unifying reason why people decided they were booing Goodes. You would ask 5 people and get 5 different reasons: 'he pointed out the racists girl', 'he did a dance', 'he didn't deserve Australian of the year', 'he faked for free kicks', 'he's a dirty player (after he slid into a pack)', 'he's just an anchor' .... etc. It was around people being told an uncomfortable truth when he was Australian of the Year. Before that there was almost no talk about any football related misgivings but rather pretty widespread acknowledgment as a respected community leader. People will try to justify it to themselves, and indeed probably convince themselves of it. But the origins of the booing were pretty clearly related to his uncomfortable truths during his time as Australian of the Year.

So let me get this right. You can invade a country, dispossess the natives of their lands, rape their women, carry out acts of war, gather up the natives and move them away from their homelands but if you declare you are protecting them, it is OK. FMD

Trac reminds you of yourself PF > Lost half my coffee with that gem. Loved the report, super effort. Thanks very much

From the club's twitter account today at training. Got to admire the resilience. Webber was all over it when he suggested there was nothing stopping Sam building the upper body. Looks like he's made a pretty good start of it already.

Picket, your the best, love your training reports, they always put a smile on my dial.

@Lord Nev 100% agree with your take. Goodes' being a proud black man confronted people and made them think of the uncomfortable truth. And we don't like the truth - that racism is alive and well in Australia. So rather than face the truth we deflect by saying it was about Goodes 'singaling out a teenager' or the fact he was a lair of a player. Same way people wanted to ignore what Hertier Lumumba had to say because he was a bit of w*nker.

Anyway, back to Eddie and the report which brought him down. I watched an interesting interview on the ABC news app with Tony Armstrong, a former Collingwood player and ABC commentator (he is indigenous). He gave an insight into how the playing groups of the Collingwood clubs came to issue that letter of apology. The players felt frustrated their feelings couldn't be heard with all the distractions surrounding the first press conference, hence the reason for their letter. Armstrong also made a good point about football playing groups always going to be young. These younger generations are more open minded and socially aware. More open minded than perhaps the ones in charge of the clubs or the 'old guard'. When someone is in power for so long and used to doing things their own way, and getting other people to do things their way, they are in danger of becoming inflexible and blinkered. Eddie saw himself as the saviour of his beloved club when he first became President - "When I came to Collingwood, it was a club driven with rivalries, enemies and division." He succeeded in making the club a powerhouse, but he also became in a sense bigger than the club. Perhaps he was blinded by his own success and never learned an important word - humility. He also didn't learn how to listen to others when they were trying to tell him something he didn't want to hear. He had to be the one to do the talking. That was his biggest problem. The talking came before the thinking.

I see this one wheeled out a bit and it's simply not true; both were absolutely abhorrent to indigenous people. It's hardly reassuring to say lucky you got British genocide, cos French genocide was much worse!

Dazzle gee I can see a truckload of potential there, I wouldn't say he looks overawed but still finding his feet in the pressure cooker. He is very very quick and skills are neat.Took a clever mark and just missed kicking a goal into the breeze. Has a box of tricks ,but needs to grow in confidence, will need a few seasons but a definite keeper?

Thanks, PF. Really appreciated seeing your excellent report pop up. Such a refreshing change from some of the endless drivvle on this site of late! Just one question, re your comment about Nietschke being a ruckman. You being serious? I've no idea what position he plays, but ruck wasn't one that has ever entered my head. Can you elaborate?

Whatever about the intentions we all know the consequences. The fate of indigenous Australians is the same as every vanquished people the world over since time began. Defeat, subjugation and dispossession. We can argue all day about the history of it but it won’t change anything about where we are at which is that the indigenous population of this country feel justifiable resentment and anger because of the ongoing consequences of the colonisation of this country. As a nation, we have to deal with this issue. The uluru statement from the heart offers a pathway. I think we should all engage with it and hopefully we can create a future where our indigenous population feel a part of this country. I mean, what do we have to lose? By far and away the most disappointing aspect of this sorry affair is that Collingwood, a major sporting and cultural institution in this country, had the perfect opportunity to start a conversation, to lead the way. And instead, buffhead Eddie completely stuffs it. Another wasted opportunity.

I never know if Biff is extracting the urine when he posts but effectively wiping out a whole species of people like what happened in Tasmania doesn't sound like a harm minimization policy! In Tasmania, there were around 15,000 Palawa people pre-colonisation. In the ensuing 30 years that number dropped to an estimated 400 people (full blooded Palawa's). That 400 was further reduced to around a dozen over the next decade with most dying in internment camps. Of that initial group, 200 were rounded up and put on Hunter or Flinders Island so they couldn't escape. It is true that many died from European introduced diseases, but also subject to horrendous violence at the hands of settlers. In what is known as the 'Black War', up to 1,000 Palawa and around 200 whites were killed in guerilla warfare. White folks were given legal immunity by the Governor of the day to kill aborigines. Also, rewards were given to settlers for the capture of aborigines and bounties were also paid. One of the reasons for the Black War apparently was that among the colonists, there were six times more men than women and the settlers took to raping native people due to a lack of white women! The locals, perhaps understandably, didn't take too kindly to that! Anyway, the Black War was an act of genocide no doubt. Here's an example: In 1827, two shepherds were killed by natives near Launceston, and settlers with the help of the 40th Regiment launched a reprisal attack at dawn that saw as many as 70 Aboriginal men, women and children slaughtered. Seventy unarmed men, women and children! Imagine if that happened today! So Biff, your statement: "The British policy was to protect Aboriginal people from harm as much as possible at the time... and to kill a “native” was punishable by death in the 18thC and beyond..." is absolute bollocks! You are extracting the urine!

https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml Definition Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Article II In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

You took quite a long paragraph there to illustrate how much you don't understand. No one has said change the date and everything is fixed. Your straw man arguments are plain silly. 1. Telling Indigenous people they should get over it because if it was the French it may have been worse is idiotic. 2. Other invasions happening through history don't diminish the suffering felt by Indigenous Australians. 3. "Take control of their own life"....? You've managed to illustrate with that statement how much you don't understand. 4. 'How many Indigenous friends do I have?' Is that a serious comment? Does having Indigenous friends mean you understand systematic racism and the hurt of Australian society felt by them? Pretty obviously not given your ignorant comments. Members of my family, including my kids, have Indigenous ancestry. My best mate is an Indigenous artist and Reconciliation Speaker. I still have close mates from sports years where I played in predominantly Indigenous teams. I've also stayed in remote communities volunteering in arts & education programs for Indigenous kids. Does that start to paint a picture for you? Does that give me cred in your eyes now? No? See how that works. I couldn't give a stuff about you parading your "heaps" of Indigenous friends around, it has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on your abhorrent views. 5. You don't know me. We've never met. Your assumptions about me say more about you. 6. If you truly had "many Indigenous friends" I very much doubt you'd be throwing around this "victim" narrative you've chosen to throw about.

They were/are victims. Are you going to tell jewish holocaust survivors and their families to just get over what the Germans/Nazi's did to them? I think most people would recognise that changing the date of Australia Day won't solve all the problems, in fact it would merely be a small step towards reconciliation. Much the same way that Kevin Rudd saying sorry was a small step in the right direction. How can we expect to celebrate Australia Day as a united nation when it's the day the British people essentially began the atrocities against ancestors of our first nations people? Regardless of whether the British were any better or worse than the French, Dutch, or Spanish.

I'm going to make the observation that this thread has descending into uselessness and ask that the mods close it.

Thanks Picket as mentioned earlier that was a great report you got right into the heart of it, some really positive signs for us all, you really nailed it, thanks again. Go Dee's.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks. Picket. Awesome report. Thanks to you and the other track watchers who have made the effort to get down to Casey and give us some insights and opinions.

I will be going. Another lockdown and we are back in the land of stupidity.

Given Nietschke is list at 185..... Must have been one almighty growth spurt over summer!!! Was thinking PF must have muddled up Nietschke and Bradtke but ?‍♂️

That's because its not his foot

Now I get it. It is OK because others have done it. Seriously Cranky give up.

Beautiful day for a drive so I decided to take the Corvette out for a test drive and headed down the Eastern to the Monash and on to Cranbourne. Got there late but watched for about 50 minutes or so from behind the bloody fence! I found it difficult to identify the newbies during the session and one group kept their yellow tops on for the whole session, so no numbers. Conditions were near perfect, the ground surface looks superb, it was sunny, warm and there was no wind! Very odd conditions for Casey. They were doing full ground ball movement when I arrived, then broke into 3 groups, 2 doing the handball keeping off routine that has been described in other training reports, the 3rd group included the big boys, Max, Bradtke, TMac and LJ contesting marks and kicking passes back to Farmer, Harmes, Jetta. They then moved to another full ground more contested, ball movement exercise, yellows vs blues. This went for two 10 minute halves. one group was doing exercises off to the side for most of the session, Viney and Gus in a harness pulling weights up and down the boundary. AVD, Weideman, Chandler, Mitch Brown, Petty, Smith all working hard on a weights circuit that looked punishing. Melchum was in and out of routines, then doing laps, then disappeared into the gym. The last full ground contest was interesting, they are certainly looking sharp and energetic, they all look to be in great shape. But as this routine progressed I found it was a mix of the good and the average. Players at times missed targets, turning the ball over at worst or picked a poor option passing to a player that was clear but because the delivery was not to his advantage, too high or to the wrong side, defenders were able to make ground to intercept or punch the ball away. The other disturbing thing for me anyway was that I don’t believe I saw a goal kicked from beyond 25m in this exercise. Shots on the run from 35m missed, the few set shots from 35 to 40 looked like they missed as well. However Goody was watching this intently and seemed pleased with the play, he only pulled play up once and reset everyone because maybe there were players out of position? As I say the ball movement looks good but there was a lack of polish given the contest meter was at about 70% compared to game day but of course the coaches may be urging them to push their ball movement skills to their limits. Individual observations: LJ took a screamer on top of Jonesy, who ended up face planted in the turf but got up OK. He is moving very well and has clean hands. May and Lever on opposing sides were each standouts for their defences, May took a great pack mark, one handed, played on and passed off to an opponent unfortunately. TMac generally playing forward of centre, he did some nice things, he does seem to be moving better this year, still managed to get tackled, holding the ball when he took on one defender too many. What’s new? You always have your heart in your mouth when Tommy decides to take on the opposition with ball in hand. I think it was Rivers for the yellows who took on all comers from half back to sprint past 2 or 3 blues and deliver a pass to the forward pocket. Very impressive piece of play. Bradtke took a couple of nice pack grabs and competed well against Max at the centre ball ups, umpired by Jordon Lewis. He just might develop into something. He has always had skills and agility just seemed he needed to put on some muscle and learn to throw his weight around. Salem stood out as the link man when the yellows were transitioning the ball from defence to attack, he had a lot of it and I don’t think he made a false move all session. Best on ground today. Rosman took a good contested grab up forward for the blues and had a set shot from 45, it was close and no problem with the distance. That’s about it, sorry with half the guys in yellow and often on the other side of the ground I could not identify many of thee new guys. As I left most were doing goal kicking practice and the rehab guys were still busting their guts on the weights circuit. It was time to head off to Tooradin and lunch at the Jetty Cafe! The Vette never missed a beat

I like players who try super hard and play with intensity. And tackle. No time for weed? Again with the misrepresentation. When did I say I had no time for him? Or even imply I had no time for him? I've always 'had time' for sam. I gave him credit for his goals and highlighted his marks inside 50. Have always been a fan. I'm a fan of all our players (though melksham is testing my patience) I said I had lost faith, explained why, and supported that view with evidence. All very logical and dispassionate i would have thought. But I sincerly hope he makes it. I am open for my faith to be restored. He has the talent, as I have acknowledged throughout his career. Just has to get to AFL level intensity. I'm critical of a player and you of all people find that curious? And on Marshall I landed on him because I was looking for a comparable player and correctly assumed he fitted the bill. Believe, or not believe me, I don't care but I didn't look at his tackle count unti after I selected him. Either way it proved my point. But for fairness sake here are the number of tackles in 2020 of a random selection of some other key forwards (young and old): Max King: 22 Ben King: 7 Josh Kennedy: 16 Luke Jackson: 8 (in 6 games). So 2 more than Sam in 7 fewer games. A kid in his first season of footy. Tmac: 15 (in 9 games) Dixon: 18 Sam Day: 21 Jeremy Cameron: 24 Hawkins: 40 Oscar Allen (who i should have picked because he is pretty comparable age wise etc and plays with the sort of intensity I wish Sam did. And his name is Oscar): 41 Charlie curnow: six fewer than Sam, with zero. Had a good excuse though as he didn't play a game last season. But over his career averages 2.2 per game so on that average would have had 28 odd if he had played Sam's 13 games. Tom Lynch (tigers): 23 Tom Lynch (crows): 13 Tex Walker: 14. Darling: 35. You get the point. Maybe. Perhaps you are ok with a key forward averaging a tackle every two games. Maybe in your analysis of a players you don't rate the tackle stat or don't mind that a 95 kg, 23 year old key forward doesn't throw his weight around, crunch defenders, apply pressure or trap the ball inside 50. Call me crazy, but I do.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Yeah- they wanted them all gone. Displaced, killed off, bred out, denied their lands, culture and language. It was attempted genocide.

I don't reckon anyone has ever said that Australia would never have been invaded otherwise or that invasion was an experience unique to Indigenous Australians. Neither of those things are points being raised. Eddie's "proud day" is a microcosm of white Australia's approach to racism in this country. Don't admit any wrong doing, don't say sorry, just tell everyone it's in the past and they should just get over it as where not racist anymore, are we?

I'm buying Smith shares. He'll make it.

The Weid’s ‘stressy’ sounds like femoral neck, given he has hip pain. Should be on the quick end of healing (fit, young, best care) but as off-loading is the required management, getting back to full loading ‘match’ fitness is the time swallower. 12 weeks at absolute best, think more 16+. It’s much simpler than a stressy of the foot, so there won’t be complications. Just time. On the plus side, he can go nuts on upper body.

Let me guess kick out to the left side or short in pocket.

Sorry. I know I've come in at the end of this thread. But, are we still talking about Eddie?? Didn't know he was a sailor!

Williams was a good strategist. In their winning GF, Tredrea surprisingly played up the ground allowing the less famous tall Toby Thurstans to kick a decent number of goals. Won them the match without doubt.

They are not as different as you think, Db. Hence the relevance of this debate. You are aware, no doubt, of the wars the US has perpetrated since WW2? Allow me to list some of them: Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Cambodia, Cuba, Lebanon, Bay of Pigs, Laos 1953, their part in the IRanian Coup 1953, Dominican Republic, Lebanon 1981, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, First Gulf War, arming IRaq and Iran pre first Gulf war, arming Saudi Arabia to rape Yemen, Sudan...We won't even mention the coups by stealth in Chile, Columbia, Puerto Rica, Venezuela, Honduras, Bolivia etc In other words, this notion which is a direct descendant of the notion of White Supremacy, a notion inherited from the British, that it has the right to wage war and interfere in any country it chooses to. I believe it is the reason the US is such a basket case - simply because from day one of its history it has lied to itself and to the world about what it stands for.

Not many would disagree with that comment, however he wouldn't have been many most clubs best best midfielder

You can't always just 'move on' when things have not even been dealt with properly, let alone still celebrated.

What date to the Brits celebrate that invasion day? Or the Irish their invasion? Easy to say 'move on' when it's not your invasion being celebrated.

That was Voltaire...

I'll just weigh in saying that at that time in history they probably would've classified essentially enslaving them in order to modernise them was considered to be doing it in their best interests. Much in the same way the stolen generation was because they wanted to get them out of the hands of their true parents to move them towards a white way of life (and basically breed their culture/race into extinction). I've got no doubt there would've been countless undocumented acts of cruelty in the name of "harm prevention". We are largely ignorant to our own bloody history because we aren't taught enough of it, and because the history books are always written (or re-written) by the "winners". Also it may well have been punishable by death to kill a native, I'd be very interested to know how many were actually convicted of it.

Biff Let's be equally clear. Whether they were convicts or stowaways, is not the point. They were sent here by the British Government as an act of appropriation of the sub- continent called Australia so that no other country could take it over. Also, unless they were very good swimmers, their only option was to come by boat. Secondly, White Australia was neither Labor nor Liberal not National. It erupted from the innate prejudices of Europeans who settled in the goldfields. Turdly, to raise semantics about the definition of 'boat people' ignores the great claim of Abbot and Scumbag Morrison that they stopped the Boats. Fourthly, we are definitely not a communist country: for once you are not playing tricks with me. I fail to see how this is relevant though. You skipped Fifthly because you probably got it mixed up with Filthy, so we'll go to Sixthly: There is this fiction that the British Government wanted the natives to be unharmed and protected. Sure. That's why they shot so many. They protected them so much that many died of disease. And there is this nebulous shadow between the 'word' and the 'deed'. Most of all, your notion of what happened, totally ignores the simple fact that the Brits felt they had a god given right to dispossess the native people of Australia. Once again, your mention of 'communism' is out of context here: perhaps it goes back to the days when your Parish Priest brainwashed you every Sunday morning about the Red Peril. God only knows... Oh, that perhaps I am an id''t is probably indisputable - Dostoevsky, after all, wrote a book about me - however I have never been an '[censored] of communism'. Where did you get that silly idea? Are you drinking a reliable brand of methylated spirits?

As I wrote in one of my previous posts, racism is a universal phenomenon. We live in a country founded exclusively on white privilege, that's what we have to live with and deal with. We also have a very, very long way to go as a nation before we can look ourselves in the mirror and admit that the treatment of our indigenous people was and largely still is shameful, and a situation which needs to be urgently addressed. The fact that it's 2021 and we're still learning how not to deal with it is an indictment of how little headway we've really made.

Told Kobe has been offered a list spot with announcement to follow

The evidence is there over hundreds of years, you just refuse to see it.

That's just arrant nonsense: Goodes was booed because he wouldn't play the passive Aboriginal game, because he raised his hand and said enough is enough, because he was brave enough to simply be himself. The bottom line is that Australia was founded by a Racist White Supremacist country called Britain, and it has always behaved accordingly. It only stopped practicing the White Australia Policy less than 50 years ago, and it's policies against so called Boats are an extension of that mind-set.

Couldn't care less if you agree or this whole idea of "narrative" you keep pushing, that's simply what it is and is why the 'others didn't get booed' logic doesn't stack up. You've just further made my point for me by bringing up Betts & O'Loughlin. Long and Goodes' scenarios are not really similar. You may want to look into the response Long got at first though, including death threats mailed to him. Doesn't seem you're really THAT up on the story mate. Plus there's the fact he was combating onfield racism and was strongly supported by the AFL. Wasn't exactly the same with Goodes hey? Winmar had a poignant moment after being racially abused for a whole day in horrendous ways. Not at all similar to Goodes who was booed more intensely after winning Australian Of The Year and having numerous public appearances totally misrepresented by the media. Let's not forget that Eddie said Goodes would have been treated better if he had 'given some warning' before doing his goal celebration; an Indigenous dance taught to him by Indigenous kids, after he (an Indigenous man) had just kicked an Indigenous ball through for a goal while wearing an Indigenous jumper in Indigenous round... Stop making excuses for others and clearly yourself.

Hard to know how to judge Yze. He had some terrific seasons. Led the league in kicks and was a beautiful kick too. But he wasn’t a superstar wing to such a level that he compares with the on ballers. I think Jones is being underrated. He was heavily tagged at times and his kicking in his prime was really underrated because it started poorly and has tailed off. He would’ve had at least one AA in a mid table team. Oliver’s already reached a level equal to or better than Jones’s best but he’s plateaued the last two seasons. He has to use the ball better by hand and foot. He can’t be big numbers and low impact. If the hot potato at the stoppages isn’t cut out of his game immediately this year then it’s bad news for his career path.

Disagree. The 'nub of the Goodes issue' is that he didn't 'know his place' and in Australia's particular racist environment if you're a 'minority' and dare to stand up to racism, be proud of your heritage and/or challenge people's internalized or casual racism then you will be hounded until you're back in the little box where we like you.