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I'm not trying to be a Joel Smith defender here but pretty much every player in our team will make some mistakes in every game - such is the nature of the sport However if you purely focus on the negatives you may lose sight of the positive contributions - and for Joel recently I think there have been quite a few. We all need to remain mindful that he has played less than 30 games of AFL and in the early days these were arguably marred by injury interruptions and not having a clear/specific role There is absolutely no doubt that he has some special qualities that others do not have - speed, leap, strength, high marking. His skills are not bad in terms of disposal and his decision making seems to be improving with more game time Will he continue to evolve into a better footballer with consistent game time - personally I believe that is very likely and I believe the coaching group feel the same way. Will he find himself out of the team if he puts in some poor performances - again highly likely as we finally have strong depth and competition for spots all over the ground If all our backline players are fit and available I'd argue the first picked would be May, Lever, Petty, Bowey, Rivers, Salem (this may depend on specific opposition and getting best match ups) That leaves no room for any of Tomlinson, Smith, Hibberd or Hunt In our strongest team these guys are probably going to be hoping to fill an interchange - and imo Smith is the most versatile in that role at least for now

Not being able to pick a player inside the top 40 is one of the more ridiculous drafting rules they brought in. I can kind of understand the top 20 to an extent, but there is just no incentive to put any time or effort into the players if you lose access to them.

I'm not seeing a problem with Max Lets take the last game as it's the most recent example Up against Draper (who I think is a dud but touted as the next big thing in the media) and Phillips (honest battler) Both Max and Jacko lost (not by much) in the overall HO stat - question is always how effective these are Max had 22 disposals almost twice the number as Draper and Phillips combined Max had 4 contested marks while Draper had a donut Max had 4 inside 50's while Draper enjoyed another donut Max had 3 centre clearances - the donut guy had another donut Draper did beat Max on disposal efficiency - you have to give credit where its due. It does however help when you only have 2 disposals for the game. Max does a hell of lot around the ground not only on the stat sheet but supporting and encouraging his team mates In short, I'm not seeing a big problem with our Captain. Do you think every other team in the comp would love to have Max running out this week - you betcha they would I think I'll start worrying when Max isn't playing at all

I must say I find the notion that you wouldn't play someone who has done a full pre season, played the first 2 games, then misses 1 game but not injured, can train just not with the team for a week, mind boggling.

A shame that Heath missed out. She will have her day though. You just know when she lays a tackle they're not getting away from her, no matter the size difference. A fierce competitor; we're lucky to have her in the red & blue.

Lever is on the list 😜

The player awoke before dawn He put his boots on He took a jumper from the equipment store And he walked on down the race He went onto the ground where the Lions played, and then he ... Paid a visit to the Hawks, and then he ... He walked on back to AAMI, and And he came to a derby And he picked his side "Adelaide?" "Yes, Port?" "Please don't kill me" "Melbourne? I want to ... AAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!!!!"

Agreed. Power were stiff to lose to Lions at the Gabba. They aren;'t near as bad as portrayed by some and will be a hard game for the Dees.

Really? Directly caused three scoring shots. Two from simple dropped marks, the other from doing his usual running underneath the ball and out positioning himself. He's not a trustworthy defender. I'd go Brown and Lever in for McDonald and Smith, but they won't. They'll keep Smith in until Petty is fit again.

I attended Rd 1 at Casey and don't agree with this description. He's much thicker than Fritsch and not elusive in the way that Fritsch is. There are some small elements of Naughton....but his timing is not quite at that level and he certainly doesn't jump as high. Gunston? Yeah maybe a little. Not a comparison that jumped out at me. Honestly the player he reminded me of the most - but it's not a perfect comparable - was Jesse. Largely in the way he works up the ground - hustle bustle - with a low ish centre of gravity, good and tough at ground level at that 193cm mark, which honestly these days is almost small in the age of 2m KPPs. I think he's more dynamic than Hogan - can jump higher and chase faster - but not quite as good at the ground ball body positioning stuff that served Jesse so well even as a young player. The other place my mind went particularly on the up & back endurance stuff was Saint Nick. Also maybe a little of Jack Darling but not quite as rigid/straight line? If I had to give a triple comparison those would be the three. He's not the finished article but it was an impressive first showing. Sandy were pretty crap though - waiting to see more.

Couldn't help myself but go watch it again after seeing your comment, What an amazing goal! And for those of you playing at home, just hit the play button

Thought this would be a worthy spot to park this information. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/apr/05/concussion-researcher-claims-afl-hindered-two-year-research-project-into-players-health I'll let others comment on why this may have occurred.

"I wish I knew where I wanted to be where I wanted to be where I was today" Just another day out at Beautiful Casey fields today Demonlanders, coolish day some minor precipitation around. The endless drone of the school sports adjacent, did nothing to drown out the crecendo of the largely techno Music emanating from the P.A system and although some of the songs were likable compared to other occasions The rhetorical cataclysmic monotone of the house musak was still somewhat annoying. You know the stuff..... "Went to the Party, Had some Bacardi, went to the disco , all dressed as Cisco, took a swig of drink, which forced me to think, yeah Im here baby, come and back me, before they ready to sack me! Anyway on to training... hold on, what is that Sound???? Crikey, oh wow! Is that a Delorean??? Oh no couldn't be , could it!? Picket Fence " Doc, Marty, What are you doing here?" Doc, " Where are we and who are you"? Picket Fence, " I am known around these parts as The "Picket Fence" Marty, "I don't see any Pickets around here, strange name" Picket Fence, "You don't know half of it" Doc " Great Scot, Marty what do the time sensors say" Marty, "Hang on Doc..... 4th April 2022 1.41 pm 2022 DOC WE HAVE GONE INTO THE FUTURE" Doc, "GREAT SCOT not only time but space as well, Where are we"? Picket Fence "You are in Australia, and this place is Casey Fields training ground of the mighty Melbourne Demons" I do training reports see over there, that's the Dees training." Doc " Picket or whatever you are called, I need to find a power source measuring 1.21 Gigawatts of power to get us back to the future" Picket Fence" Relax Doc, Marty, I have all the power you need" Marty "Where"? Picket Fence " As everyone knows now Electric powered cars are almost a way of life, just hook up the Delorean, drain all available power thus descending Casey into darkness and in no time you will be on your way." Doc" Of course, this is something I have dreamed about and its all coming back to me, I was hanging something above my toilet, slipped , hit my head on the porcelain and I had a vision Picket Fence, " I know this line Doc, Ive seen the movie a million times, THE FLUX CAPACITOR"? Doc " Not quite right, "THE FLUX CAPACITOR MRK 2 WITH IMPULSE GIGAWATTERS SOLARISED AND DEODORISED, WITH ELECTRODES" T.M Marty " This script is getting wackier and crazier by the minute" Picket Fence "Agree... Ok here's the deal, You guys hang out with me I'll finalise the Training report and I'll give you a tow to the nearest Power station, deal?? Doc " Well Ok, these boys sure look good, Marty "Heavy Duty Doc" One other thing the roads around here are diabolical, Road works, Potholes a DEESGRACE! Doc "Roads???? Where were going we don't need any.... ROADS"! ABSENT Mitch Brown, also didn't notice Jake Melksham, BBB. Jake Spencer also a notable absence. ON MODIFIED DUTIES Michae Hibberd, Oskar Baker and Deakyn Smith at some stage looked to be sitting out a drill or so NOTABLE TRAINERS (full training) SKILLS DRILLS AND MANOUVERS Interestingly the Mid fielders and Forward lines came out first and completed a session of midfield Center Bounce set ups and set plays for around 15 -20 minutes. Also of interest Luke Dunstan was in this group, but no other Casey players. The Forwards were completing set shot routines from various distances. Squad then went inside for about 10 minutes before reappearing and completing a pretty solid session , which I think would be the main session seeing as we play Thursday Night SKILL A Each player had a partner roughly positioned 15 Meters away kneeling down it was stand and in one movement deliver pass, This then was Stretched out progressionally until 40 meters away. Another interesting aspect was players had to spin 3 and 4 times and pivot and dispose of the ball after doing "The ring a ring a Rosie" SKILL B This is a very Melbourne maneuver that I have seen before and is replicated in games, Using the 3 and 4 man weave, players overlap , handball and then set up projectile kick into oncoming players who do exactly the same thing . It not unusual to mix this up by going to the next group or to handball back to originator. This is a drill of beauty and when we do this in games leads to the exhilarating runs and carry that when we play well obliterates the opposition. SKILL C, D, E,F These were multidisciplinary events which had groups of 4, 5, 6 7, 8 doing a myriad of small discrete open and cloze setups. It might have been Clarry, Vines, and Tracc doing breakaways in stoppages or Forwards practicing leading patterns, In tight handball and keepings of drills. At any time there were about 9 or 10 things happening SKILL G BLITZKRIEG KAMAKAZI BALL Players alternated between pink shirt harassers and players in a glorified keepings of routine HIGHLIGHTS AND PLAYER WATCH Probably the best thing to see was Jake Lever participating in full training and he looked very good. Unless he pulls up sore I'm sure he will play Thursday night. Likewise, Harrison (Tom) Petty ain't a heartbreaker no more looked very good on the track and unhampered by his injury. Kade Chandler is an interesting player, seems to have some tricks, kicked a couple yesterday looks a likely type, who trained well. Likewise Jacob Van Rooten, Blake Howes, Judd McVee and Andy Moniz-Wakefield continue to impress. Taj Woewodin is a nice size and continues to learn the caper. All in all and energetic session and one which looks to be preparing us well for the game against Port Adelaide Thursday night. Minimal injuries and the likelihood of both BBB and Jake Lever coming in will cause selectors pleasant headaches. Righto Doc, Marty lets get you "BACK TO THE FUTURE" P.F

I like your creative thinking here, and love the idea of maximising the use of Jackson's mobility, but resting either Gawn or Jackson up forwards or on the bench as we currently do still works best I feel. I really don't see Jackson as a competitor with the elite midfielders from opposition sides. Definitely more mobile than opposition rucks and I love his and Max's follow-up work after the ruck contest. I don't really understand your thinking here. It's pretty unkind describing our current Back 7 as second-string and my (admittedly not-particularly-well-informed) analysis is that most of our defensive issues this year have been created by the midfielders not putting enough pressure on upfield. In any case even without Lever I can't see TMac as part of our defensive setup currently. He's either in the side as a Forward or out of the 23 IMO.

Coaches Split: 10: 5/5 Oliver 8: 4/4 Brayshaw 4: 2+2 or 3+1 or 1+3 for Weideman, Langdon, Wright. Consistent coach voting; good to see all players get votes from both coaches. Absolutely rapt for Sam.

Great to hear ur observation I will observe again. Cheers P.F

Nice try though Sue. Well said. Speaking as a +65 year old with 3 doses of vaccine. Still got it. Few if any symptoms. No hospital. As the medical experts predicted. Did i pass it on?. Maybe. But was happy to lockdown for 7 days to mimise risk to others. Lining up for 4th shot in 4 weeks time. Go Dees.

ffs