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What we’re seeing at present is the advent of the elite young player coming in and playing well from the get go - Nick Daicos, Harry Sheezel, Will Ashcroft, Cam McKenzie and Mattaes Phillipou. They’re all medium sized midfield types (although not necessarily playing there yet at this level). Jacob van Rooyen is a key position player with a season of VFL behind him and before that, a few WAFL games. He has to be rewarded with an AFL debut very soon and if it’s true that Schache is out with concussion, next week against Sydney is the time to make it happen.

CASEY’S NEW CAMPAIGN by KC from Casey The Casey Demons unfurled their 2022 premiership flag early on Saturday afternoon at Casey Fields and commenced their campaign to earn the honour of back to back champions in 2023. They did so emphatically beating Footscray by 37 points in a contest they dominated throughout and, but for some wayward kicking for goal early in the piece, they could have determined the issue a lot earlier in the day than during the final term when the Dogs finally hit the wall. The Demons were forced to make changes to the selected side with Jake Melksham and Adam Tomlinson in Brisbane and Daniel Turner also out. Trent Burgoyne, Max Gregory and Miles Shepherd came into the side to replace them leaving 14 AFL listed players in the side. Last week against the same club, Casey was listless and struggled to score. This time, the game was played in near perfect conditions with just a slight breeze but the Demons were struggling to find the middle of the big sticks. James Jordon and Luke Dunstan held sway in the clearance battles but the forwards were missing some easy shots at goal, as reflected in the quarter time score line. The trend continued early in the second term with a couple of behinds added to the score before Josh Schache, Jordon and Dunstan found the goals opening up a 26-point lead. A late Bulldog revival narrowed the margin back to 8 points at half time. Michael Hibberd was in everything during the second term, Bailey Laurie was coming into his own and Josh Schache was putting his hand up for the likely vacancy caused by the injury to Max Gawn at Melbourne. There were some hints of future forward line strength through Jacob van Rooyen and newcomers Matt Jefferson and Oliver Sestan. Jefferson was winded and came off temporarily after taking a great mark. The Doggies came hard early in the second half but Casey’s class came to the fore and a flurry of goals to the home team including two in quick succession to Sestan saw them off to a handy three quarter time lead which was stretched to 37 by the final siren. Sestan finished with three goals while Schache and Andy Moniz-Wakefield scored two each in their team’s impressive start to the season. Hibberd was the star with 36 disposals and 10 marks. Other strong performers were Dunstan with 29 disposals, seven clearances and a goal, Laurie with 27 possessions and four tackles and Jordon (25 touches, 2 goals). Schache took a knock to the head and was off after the final break and if cleared of concussion, is a good chance for Melbourne against Sydney on Sunday. Note however, that Schache did not take the ruckwork in this game. Jacob van Rooyen continues to promise to become a potential point of difference at AFL level with his enthusiasm, leap and versatility. He finished with 19 disposals, 11 marks, six hitouts and a goal and surely must get his chance soon? James Munro was again a tower of strength amassing 16 tackles while Max Gregory made an excellent 20 touch debut in these ranks. Next week, the Demons play host to the strong Sydney side with an early start at 11:00am on Sunday. CASEY DEMONS 1.7.13 4.10.34 10.11.71 13.16.94 FOOTSCRAY VFL 1.1.7 4.2.26 7.5.47 8.9.57 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Sestan 3 Jordon Moniz-Wakefield Schache 2 Dunstan Grey J Smith van Rooyen FOOTSCRAY VFL Goater Hannan 2 Clarke Johannisen Khamis McPherson BEST CASEY DEMONS Hibberd Jordon Dunstan van Rooyen Laurie Munro FOOTSCRAY VFL Sullivan McPherson Khamis Craig-Peters Garner Hannan Statistics Jack Bell 7 kicks 4 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 22 hit outs 67 dream team points Jed Adams 6 kicks 1 handball 7 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 33 dream team points Matt Buntine 10 kicks 4 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 53 dream team points Trent Burgoyne 1 behind 2 kicks 4 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 22 dream team points Paddy Cross 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 34 dream team points Luke Dunstan 1 goal 20 kicks 9 handballs 29 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 107 dream team points Max Gregory 12 kicks 8 handballs 20 disposals 9 marks 2 tackles 87 dream team points George Grey 1 goal 1 behind 4 kicks 5 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 47 dream team points Michael Hibberd 23 kicks 13 handballs 36 disposals 10 marks 1 tackle 128. dream team points Blake Howes 11 kicks 8 handballs 19 disposals 7 marks 5 tackles 90 dream team points Matt Jefferson 4 behinds 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 7 marks 2 tackles 66 dream team points James Jordon 2 goals 2 behinds 13 kicks 12 handballs 25 disposals 7 marks 4 tackles 116 dream team points Bailey Laurie 16 kicks 11 handballs 27 disposals 7 marks 4 tackles 101 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 2 goals 12 kicks 4 handballs 16 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 78 dream team points James Munro 12 kicks 4 handballs 16 disposals 16 tackles 94 dream team points Josh Schache 2 goals 1 behind 8 kicks 2 handballs 10 disposals 7 marks 60 dream team points Oliver Sestan 3 goals 1 behind 10 kicks 2 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 76 dream team points Miles Shepherd 13 kicks 3 handballs 16 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 71 dream team points Deaykin Smith 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 62 dream team points Joel Smith 1 goal 10 kicks 4 handballs 14 disposals 8 marks 1 tackle 72 dream team points Roan Steele 6 kicks 9 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 44 dream team points Kye Turner 11 kicks 6 handballs 17 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 78 dream team points Jacob van Rooyen 1 goal 1 behind 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 11 marks 2 tackles 6 hit outs 102 dream team points

There is something true to all walks of life about the Jackson trade - rarely do people who achieve significant emotional (premiership, fulfilment, contentedness) & financial success at a very young age go on to even better things. It's the reason child actors seem to inevitably go off the rails, happens in the Corporate world all too often and especially with junior sportsmen who very quickly achieve what they always dream of. There are exceptions of course - Joel Selwood would be one -but he has clearly always been driven by something internal (competitiveness, pride, a chip on the shoulder?) rather than external factors. All professionals need to be self-motivated - they'd never make it to the grade otherwise, but there would be degrees of it. Jackson is physically gifted, but could have picked basketball, and achieved plaudits, success and now money in his preferred environment very young. There is something to be said for the journey and discovery of delayed gratification. IMO those close to him have misguided him and selected short term outcomes over long. Nonetheless he has all the tools and I wish him well long term....but not so much this year for our draft hand sake! There are many other examples in the AFL of a newly hyped player achieving enormous success/money only to fail to carve out a long term career. Boyd, Patto, Hogan, you can keep going

I don't think I've ever barracked for West Coast before. even when they played the pies in the granny i was neutral. but it'll be Go Eagles Go in this household next weekend. followed by fumigation and a long shower.

Went along to the game yesterday and was quite an enjoyable one to watch. Was happy for my concerns about their pre-season form to be put to bed. Once the real stuff started and they were playing at home, it was back to regular viewing. Given the games are now streamed and everyone can watch them I don't really feel the need to do one of my old break downs of all the Melbourne listed players, but just a couple of observations from the day. 1. I think Casey have found themselves a player in Miles Shepherd. I know he debuted back in 2021, but this is the first time I've ever really noticed him and I thought both he along with Kye Turner and Hibberd gave Casey plenty of run and rebound off half back. 2. Bacon & Egg rolls were gone from the menu. Well they were on the menu, but not available. I hope this never happens again! 3. Based off today, I hold some hope for Josh Schache that he can still have value at AFL level. Won't ever be a star, but he showed some real signs today. Shame he got concussed. 4. They need to find a way to get Van Rooyen games at Senior level this year. I really like what I saw from him today. The way he launches himself at the football and an ability to just hang in the air when at the height of his jump. Kid will be something!

I have never once wished anything bad to happen to him. I don’t want him to get injured, hell I don’t even want him to play badly. All I want is for Freo to stink it up, so that we can get what we deserve for the investment we made in him. That he chose to go home for a contract that he didn’t deserve, but was stupidly given to him, is his call. He might be playing badly but at least he gets to sleep on a pillow made of cash in his mum’s house. Good for him. We all live and die by the choices we make. We chose to spend pick 3 on Jackson and he chose to believe that Freo dumping 5 best 22 players for him wasn’t going to end in tears. And by the way, Jackson is a premiership player because he played for Melbourne. Melbourne isn’t a premiership team because of Jackson. Let’s make no mistake about that.

We wasted pick 3 on a player who then won a rising star and a flag within the first two season of his career, and then decided halfway through his third season that he just couldn’t be stuffed giving anything to our club anymore. He decided mid season he wanted to go home and didn’t even try after that. He also couldn’t care less about us being screwed in a trade deal, refusing to even engage with West Coast. He treated our club like it a means to an end. I have no idea why I need to be kind to him.

Jackson comments on the Freo boards * Jackson is a unicorn bull [censored] the guys a bloody donkey * Said Jackson was s**t, was s**t then preceded to trade for him. All the great trades prior to this, evaporated. * I watched Jackson pretty close and there was 1/2 a dozen times where he should have been breaking out of his running patterns to react to the ball but he just kept his head down motoring along to get to where he was ‘ supposed’ to be * Need picks for the Jackson disaster. * Jackson can’t mark s**t up forward. * I don’t think Jackson is a Unicorn, more like a clapped out cart horse. Except I think a clapped out cart horse could mark better. * Jackson would be good if he actually had some impact in some way on the game. It would be good If he took a mark * Jackson is clearly not worth what we paid.

Kyah played for the Dandenong Stingrays today in their 5 goal loss to Geelong Falcons. He kicked a goal, had 3 kicks, 4 handballs, 1 mark and 5 tackles. He had 11 hit outs. These stats compare favourably with Geelong’s ruckman except in hit outs where the opponent had 21 hit outs. All in all, promising for what was essentially his first game.

How good is it having 3 teams to support this year 1. The Dees 2. Whoever plays Collingwood And the new comer 3. Whoever Plays Freo So much more interest in this season - statistically interest level is up by 50%....

A bonus about their losses the controversial finish will feed in nicely into freo's fans and players sense of the world is out to get them and the Jackson recruitment is a curse that will condemn them to mediocrity until his retirement.

Here's hoping Hibbo gets rewarded for that effort.

If you go back to my post last week before the round 1 game you'll find that I mentioned that Melksham is a smart option for the sub purely because he has the ability to kick quick goals. He came on 5 minutes into the first quarter and had absolutely zero impact on the game. Not sure why you're bringing the whole "he replaced Max" , because he didn't? Grundy replaced Max. Its not like he came in to replace the actual position. That's not the way the sub should be judged on. After watching Casey yesterday it's reassured to me that it's time we start focusing on the likes of Laurie, JVR, Jordon and even AMW (who was pretty impressive) as options moving forward.

Agree. I suppose it's possible pundits think Sydney's opening fortnight has been soft and perhaps that losing to Brisbane is no major issue. Whilst both of those are true, all markers point to a Sydney win. They are a better side. They will be closer to their best 22. They have the wood over us. It's being played at the MCG, where we play them worse (I'd be more confident if this was at the SCG). IMO, a win this Sunday will be huge for our season.

I have lain awake in bed at night, wondering when my kids will get the chance to see Hawthorn win a wooden spoon. There's only so many times you can tell them, "don't worry, it will happen ..... one day ......" before they start losing faith. I may have to start leaving games at 3/4 time just to experience the thrill of riding in trams and trains packed with brown and gold despondency.

Dr Schadenfreude reports that this case may be terminal. By the time Hawthorn genuinely experienced a season on the bottom, and were obviously tanking according to a plan, they already had Mitchell and Hodge running around earning Brownlow votes and then added three top-7 picks in a single draft. Just one more season of tanking and they were back climbing. Meanwhile, the team still had a collection of charismatic players which the supporter base were attached to and which were still young enough to ride the rise again, led by Shane Crawford and the bonus return-to-sender of Trent Croad. At no point in that little dip did they ever really have to feel beaten or broken. This time, though... they've already been weak for a few years, they are looking like they are only now about to truly bottom out and they don't have the charismatic established players that can sustain an emotional connection to persevere though tough times. There is also no real sign that any of their recent high draft picks are going to be destiny-changing; just good. Which is fine as a player but inadequate for the club. Throw in the lurking suspicions that an arrogant club president is the reason they are currently watching Alastair Clarkson prove his genius at a whole other rival club they will feel directly compared to after mocking just six months ago, while their untried shiny new coach is looking more and more like the Hird/Voss/Ratten tragic destiny of favourite son turned to first-time coach and dumped straight under pressure while the board keeps giving its 'helpful' opinion and prognostications. They're doomed, I tell you, doomed! Ahhh ha ha ha ha haaaa ha ha ha haaa haaaaaa ha ah ah ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa ha haaa ha ha ah aaah ha ha haa

I’m totally with you on the timing of his debut. Ideally he’d be debuting when we’re closer to full strength and therefore the pressure on his performance wouldn’t have the potential for overwhelming him. Personally, I think he is ready. He’s a confident boy but still seems very grounded and not inclined to get carried away. At that age kids seem to be fearless and this can be a good thing going into next week’s match. I know he’s had the best possible psychological preparation, not only from his senior teammates but also from our staff who (I’ve been told by a little birdie) are amazing when it comes to the mental well-being of our boys… above and beyond type things. Physically? Also ready, imho.

Kye Turner was the big surprise for me. Haven't not seen him play before he was impressive giving drive and dash off half back. He certainly drills the footy low and flat as well. Keeps his form up and he could potentially debut this year.

0-2 makes them statistically unlikely to play finals. The fact they had what was considered an easy draw to start makes it a disaster, and difficult to recover from. Punters have them not making finals (based on current odds available). It's a massive win for us if they don't make the finals. Even just finishing 9th and we'll get picks 10 and 28 to go with last year's pick 13. Points equivalent of pick 2 (2517 points) for the trade. Drop to 11th and it's points equivalent to pick 1 (3000 points) they've given us!

A few days ago we didn't know who to drop, now we don't know who to promote.

For those that are wondering why Kyah didn't play for Casey yesterday? Kyah will be playing at lower level in the Coates Talent League level for Dandenong Stingrays. He was named in his first game today but not sure how he went.

Bris played terribly against port, we played terribly against Bris, Sydney will play terribly against us. Ezpz.

Hawks need a seasoned and experienced coach like Clarkson to take over and arrest the malaise.

If Hawthorn only want to recruit players that will be part of their next premiership then they should be scouting prenatal clinics.

I was hoping #3 was Brown but worried it was Lorenz. My take away so far (watching on and off) is that his tank seems to be much more developed than the other mids and seems to be ready to “hunt” it more than others. I thought Oakleigh’s clearance game suffered when he wasn’t in there. I thought #15 was a top ager (Yze is bottom age). His kicking and vision are afl level and while skinny, he looks like he stands up to the older boys. I also thought you could see he has been in a program (or at least his dad is coaching him). His half forward running is fantastic. Up and down a lot of unrewarded running and doesn’t get sucked into the content. Set up a beautiful goal before half time where he ran into space, lost his man, and instead of blazing for goal he put a pass out in front of Oakleighs key forward who had no choice but to run to the ball as it “Drew” him in. It’s only one half - but if I was picking players I would want to be drafted to Melbourne - they’d be in my top 5 I’ve seen today.

Yep. And losing to the roos AT HOME in round two, after losing round one, is a shocker.

Jackson had an easy ride developing in Max Gawn’s slipstream and our powerhouse midfield. Looks like he was expecting the same easy ride at Freo off Darcy and crew. Mundy is now gone and Fyfe is burned out, tall forward woes are desperate and Jackson for the first time as an AFL player is under real pressure to deliver for the club.

Fremantle Bigfooty board makes for some entertaining light reading. Happy to see them stew in their own juice. They have given me the brace'n'bits for years now starting with their constant pestering of Jesse Hogan from the moment he got to us. And when they finally lured him they did more damage to his career than his bung foot did. Would love to see him bag 60 goals for the Giants just to stick it up the Wanchors. It's a cautionary tale for any young forward. They killed of Cam McCarthy's career and transformed Rory Lobbe from a rising star into a goal a game plodder. Come to think of it they've given me the brace'n'bits since they tried to nick Stephen Tingay off us. Followed by pinching The Wiz.

Noah made his debut today as a bottom age player for the Oakleigh Chargers against Brisbane. There was some good glimpse from Noah today who gathered 10 disposals and kicked 1.1. He's listed at 189cm tall but being a bottom age player and still growing he could end up around the 191-192cm mark by mid next year where he'll be eligible for the 2024 AFL draft.

Its pretty simple This is the real test for whether Goodwin and Co have learned anything from last year. The Swans are a good side and their style of play is difficult for us. We have tried to play the same way and come unstuck repeatedly. We have to stop their overlap run and ensure their mids do not get control. Last time Buddy took May out of the contest and their other talls killed us as well as their medium fwds like Hayward. If we have learned anything it will be on show here. If not the same fate most likely awaits us.

Bizzare comment. 143 games, key premiership player, gets a game at at least 15 other clubs.

Brown this year, Yze next and think Kalani White the year after that if I'm not mistaken.

I think we got shell shocked and went back to old habits. Ive said this before (and been proven wrong), but if we play slow contested footy and continue to bomb it in to our F50 we will struggle again this year. We are great defensively but terrible offensively. Brisbane exposed our lack of skill and poise, and I am not sure we can support all of our inside mids in the one side of they can't hit targets. I know we've trained for faster crisper ball movement and I know and trust goody will back the boys in, but my gut is telling me bring in the kids if they can keep poised and find targets. Did clarry or Viney hit any targets before 3qtr time? That's our fatal flaw.

Peter Bellend has gone and stuffed what was developing as a good list build. Rather than going to the draft again or using the picks to address an actual need, he got distracted by the shiny thing. His mistake, our gain.

If they start winning, they'll suck it up. Winning cures all ills in a football club. But if they keep losing ... Imagine the twin-prong forward setup the Giants will be able to boast in '24 or '25. Hogan AND Jackson. Too late! (I see Demonland has posted a few of the comments being made.) Player manager: "SHOW ME THE MONEY! SHOW ME THE M-- what? Development ... ? Better ... for his .... devel ... SHOW ME THE MONEY!"

I realise Harmes and Melksham aren’t popular right now, but surely you can squeeze them into the Casey team W’DEE.

Another undeserved Melksham drive-by. He ain’t keeping your boy out. Not any of your boys (generally waving at the rest of Demonland). Literally just played the worst role for the first two weeks that there is in the team; come on for 25 minutes to make an impact in a blowout, and… replace our generational AA ruckman and Captain… I have had my own critique of selection the last two years - but Jake doesn’t rate a mention in the Table of (dis)Contents…

It's JVR time!

I would very much consider Hibberd to take on Papley.

Take May Pickett Salem Max equivalent out of Collingwood then compare!

My personal favourite from their Board ? "Jackson's idea of contesting for a mark is doing star jumps''

I always understood that the game stopped when the umpire blows his whistle - not when the siren sounds. Big surprise to see the AFL back the decision- they have such a great track record for calling mistakes out fearlessly (irony)

Jackson's 2 games in, give the kid a chance. What is he, 21? It'll be 3 -4 years before he reaches his potential. I hope at that point he tears the competition apart in a side that struggles to play beyond the first week of finals.

He didn’t “replace” Gawn. He was subbed in but it’s not like we asked him to play ruck. He played 3.5 quarters in his preferred forward role. He had no influence. It’s a minor spot in the 23 but if there are others at Casey in form it’s hard to justify Melksham getting another game ahead of them.

Just play JVR.. seriously, he's done his time and deserves reward ahead of the likes of Melksham.

This. We served the world to him on a shiny silver platter and he chose a BBQ at his mum’s.

1. 45m kick 45 degree angle in to the breeze sails through narrowly left 2. Sharks the subsequent kick in, probably nervous about the wind and the miss, plays on and gets partially smothered. I’d imagine he would usually go back and nail this one, just a rush of blood 3. Quality quick snap in heavy traffic that doesn’t catch the breeze, not a bad effort 4. Long range set shot with the wind that probably started just left when he needed it just right of the goals. Not a bad kick, made the distance easily Not sure what the 5th was.

Harmes played majority in the midfield and only gathered 10 disposals. No he didn't tag anyone before some jump down my throat again. Enough is enough, his efforts tonight were simply deplorable. McDonald is cooked. No simple way to look at it. We all know his foot nearly done so while we have a fit Schache and JVF then may as well see what they got to offer. I'm a broken record with Melksham so I'm not adding anymore to this. If Petty is sore then just give him 2 weeks. He was woeful tonight and Tomlinson was the better defender. Reward good form at least when May comes back next week.