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Had a good sleep on this. OK… Teams have bad days, I get it. But this is our SECOND very bad day in just 5 rounds. In both cases we were outplayed and outworked by a team who wanted it more. We may have been tired last night from travel, who knows, but that’s a lazy answer - we had team mates burning each other, and guys playing millionaire football. No teamwork. it’s time to wake up - WE’RE NOT THE REIGNING PREMIERS anymore. That would be the cats. Either we get used to hunting now - do we want this dynasty or not?? We can either be the Doggies and rest on our one flag, which would be such a waste given our list or we can play our guts out week in, week out - and earn it!!. The bombers were hungry and smart last night, and they outran us. Where did our intense levels of training go??? Wasn’t that what we kept hearing? Anyway, I hate that I never know which version of my club will turn up at games. We’ll never be great, and we’ll never have that dynasty they talk about so much until consistency is in our DNA. So annoyed at last night’s loss. Wasted points in what will obviously be a very tight season 😔

Adelaide and Port should be made to play each other from now on in Gather Round. They’re both essentially getting one more home game than the rest. Every game should be neutral.

As much as I hate to say it, not enough credit is being given to Scott's tactics, taking out our danger players, especially in the first half. Langford/Stringer used as decoys to get May away from the goals leaving us with an inexperienced makeshift defence and a lone ruckman. (Was Petty injured early?) Ran the ball through the corridor. A great tactic at any time let alone when there is no Lever or May to defend. Kicked the ball to their tall timber close to goal. Two ruckman. Tagged Oliver (Setterfield and Snelling). Can't believe he didn't get more frees from holding/blocking Tagged Kozzie (Kelly) The stupid frees Tomlinson gave away early, gave them goals that upped their confidence and they didn't look back. It was a repeat of his game vs Reid last year where he gave away early frees resulting in 2/3 goals. Like yesterday it gave Sydney belief and momentum He didn't get another game last year and shouldn't this year. Add their work rate which we couldn't match and the game was theirs for the taking.

A big Thanks to KC for regular scores updates and all posters for added observations and comments. There is great belief at Casey despite losing a lot of the key components such as - marks, disposals, hit outs, contested possessions and tackles the boys still won by nearly 7 goals. It is a great result and a great environment for our youngsters and second tier players to develop in.!!!

Except win us the round 23 game at Geelong to give us the minor premiership, kick 5 in a prelim, lead us to a flag, etc etc.

The gap between our best and worst is too big and we have a problem with regards to motivation and preparing well. Lazy? Certainly not switched on Nothing that can't be sorted as we've got plenty of talent. But we've got to turn up ready & able We play the flanks and wings too much on occasions. We've got the talent to use the corridor way more often as other teams do. Essendon used the corridor and took chances and it paid off We lacked dash & dare and played from behind and were 2nd to the ball all game. Where as they had numbers at the contest, played as a team, chased hard and pressured us Yesterday mirrored the Lions encounter. By contrast, we were fantastic against the Doggies & Swans. The Eagles game was a training run

Our coaches didn't anticipate their tactics to take out our danger players (May, Oliver, Kozzie) and how they would cover their two missing tall forwards. Their remaining danger forward was Stringer and based on Goodwin's mid week interview he was our focus. Not sure we had the resources to do much to counter their tactics during the game. Nonetheless, I'm surprised we do not yet have a system to counteract the 'running at our defence through the corridor' strategy which has been so successful by a lot of teams in the last few years. Last word: Not enough 'being a good team mate' that we prided ourselves on in 2021. Team work and care for team mates went missing.

James Harmes was a class above. Schache and Laurie deserve consideration for promotion. I’m not sure where Schache would stand in light of Maxy’s possible return - it depends on whether the selectors want to give him the extra week’s rest which I think would be a good idea. There’s also Ben Brown’s impending return which might complicate things for Schache but his form warrants the consideration.

I haven't seen the full game so I'm not as qualified as others to comment on what went wrong. There's no doubt IMO that covering for Gawn's absence every week is not straightforward and that the fact we were able to beat Sydney without him doesn't automatically mean we can beat everyone or anyone without him. Not having Lever makes us exponentially worse as well - Lever was in AA form and him out means our two best intercept marks were missing. Then you add in that Petty's been thrown back and forward without continuity, and IMO hasn't actually been in much good form all season at either end of the ground, and May's still not close to his best, and all of a sudden the part of our game we've relied on being consistently good at for 2+ seasons, our back half, is now porous and weak. Then there are the factors that you'll either think are a disgraceful unjust conspiracy against us, or are [censored]-weak excuses: We were playing in Adelaide off a six-day break from a (warm-ish) game in Perth This was our third road trip in five weeks (it was Essendon's first) We haven't played two consecutive games in the same State, let alone venue, all season We haven't played two games in the same timeslot all season - Sat night, Fri night, Sunday arvo, Sunday twilight, Saturday twilight (and won't next week, with a Monday night) We've already had two six-day breaks and have a five-day break coming up between Richmond and North Melbourne To be 3-2 after these five opponents is probably no better than par (you could have budgeted losses to both Brisbane and Sydney but would have expected the win over Essendon). I'm still OK with that, as we know all too well we don't need to be in peak form in April, but I'm not OK with a defence that can't stop scores as well as it should be able to, nor am I OK with a midfield that doesn't seem to produce its best with any degree of consistency.

Pencil in neck. Done.

Here I am at windy Hill MK2. Blowing a gale and threatening clouds. I must be mad coming to this.

I am bitterly disappointed about how poorly the Demons played against the Bombers. We really were off our game and there were many poor performances. The Demons played dumb football too with a lot of terrible decision making. Brad Scott outmanoeuvred and was tactically a bit too clever for Simon Goodwin in the coaches box. However, the poor endeavour of our players compared to Essendon's needs to be taken into account. Overall, a horrible day yesterday and the sooner we get Max Gawn back the better.

The Brisbane game was a horror show and yesterday was nearly as bad. I don’t think the brains trust can put this down to a bad day at the office and move on. Some honest conversations required. No point talking about individual players because the whole team were shizen. We were totally outcoached for sure. Their ruck strategy worked a treat and the quick ball into their forwards had our defence scrambling all day. Essendon outworked us all around the ground. Their contest work was outstanding, and their defence stood up. Credit to them. They were very good and are a better team than I realised. But you can talk about game plan and tactics all you like but without the right attitude and appetite for work it means nought. They came to play and we didn’t. We need to find out this week why that was and address it. And I'm not buying fatigue as a reason. 9 days til Anzac eve. I expect a big response. And if we’re going to get beat let’s die with our boots on. No more of this half-hearted rubbish. Having Essendon pull our pants down like that is embarrassing.

I didn’t think the umpires had any impact on the game at all. We got belted around the contest and outworked on spread.

The forward line is an issue but we were beaten all over the ground in contest after contest Even with a functioning forward line we still lose the game yesterday. Our players were 2nd to the ball, we often played from behind and we didn't hunt in packs. Our pressure was ordinary Teamwork was poor where as the Bombers did all the basics properly Beaten in the overall rucking, midfield, stoppages, clean clearances, backline & forward line. All phases. We had a dirty day The upside is that our best beats any team so it's not a disaster We have to turn up fully motivated and fully prepared

Impossible

Yes he should be dropped but do you really need the vitriol

I really hope this is the last time we try and 'phone it in' this season. My mood is as dreich as the weather outside right now.

Melbourne were talked up preseason by David King because of the intensity of our training sessions. Where is that intensity now? We just cruised yesterday. Not acceptable. Rubbish effort. Sort yourselves out Dees.

Laurie was a class above today

Game over and the Demons win by 40 points. CASEY DEMONS 2.5.17 5.7.37 10.8.68 12.10.82 ESSENDON VFL 2.0.12 4.6.30 4.8.32 5.12.42 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Schache 4 Valentine 3 Bell Dunstan Edwards Neocleous Sestan ESSENDON VFL Voss 2 Munkara Phillips Sutton BEST CASEY DEMONS Harmes Schache Laurie Bell Dunstan Turner Woewodin ESSENDON VFL Hobbs Bryan Rasinac Phillips Fitzgerald Hoare Statistics Jed Adams 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 35 dream team points Jack Bell 1 goal 9 kicks 7 handballs 16 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 10 hit outs 86 dream team points Paddy Cross 4 kicks 3 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 28 dream team points Luke Dunstan 1 goal 12 kicks 12 handballs 24 disposals 7 marks 1 tackle 89 dream team points Tyler Edwards 1 goal 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 1 mark 89 dream team points Tom Freeman 8 kicks 2 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 46 dream team 12 points 2 Max Gregory 8 kicks 4 handballs disposals marks 1 tackle 39 dream team points George Grey 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 64 dream team points James Harmes 15 kicks 17 handballs 32 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 97 dream team points Blake Howes 13 kicks 7 handballs 20 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 74 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 behind 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 28 dream team points Bailey Laurie 2 behinds 16 kicks 16 handballs 32 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 89 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 2 behinds 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 4 tackles 35 dream team points Harvey Neocleous 1 goal 3 kicks 5 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 44 dream team points Josh Schache 4 goals 2 behinds 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 8 marks 1 tackle 7 hit outs 114 dream team points Oliver Sestan 1 goal 1 behind 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 53 dream team points Miles Shepherd 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 2 marks 19 dream team points Tim Sheridan 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 33 dream team points Deaykin Smith 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 56 dream team points Roan Steele 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 46 dream team points Daniel Turner 16 kicks 3 handballs 19 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 71 dream team points Ryan Valentine 3 goals 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 53 dream team points Taj Woewodin 1 behind 11 kicks 11 handballs 22 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 74 dream team points

If Gawn is ready then he plays. We need his leadership.

Didn’t Brayshaw keep Stringer to 5 kicks and one goal?

Did a fine job on Stringer early, potting performances like his today is splitting hairs. Thumbs down on the coaching stuff for not throwing him into the middle later on.

At least he looked like he could give a flying [censored] unlike many others.

After losing to Essendon. I will not take any game for granted. We should turn up with same intensity for Richmond and Norf as we do for Sydney and other top teams. Schache in and Laurie. Reward them. Sparrow was supposed to be our next big thing and has drifted off.

Am I correct that Harmes, Laurie and Schache had good days

Bill Laurie our short little fast hands king has had himself a big couple of quarters since going on ball more. Still not convinced he’s ready for AFL midfield time but geez he does some great stuff

Harmes to Harmes to Harmes to Harmes to Edwards for a goal.

I don't think not switching and kicking straight to a contest was deliberate. We have switched a lot during our wins this year and used the corridor to go i50. Yesterday, Essendon blocked the df50 exits and owned the corridor forcing turnovers or making us play down the line.

Hard to argue with that. Goodwin backs us in to regain momentum mostly by depending on us to win back contested ball. Yesterday and the lions felt the same purely because they knew we were going to be predictable and were set up to absorb it. It’s clear now that teams have the blue print on how to beat us and will do it all year unless Goodwin can make it so we aren’t so predictable which plays into opposition plans. Wouldn’t mind seeing us switch more to be honest just to make oppositions have to change their set up, up the ground. We kick it straight to a contest constantly in which Essendon was winning at ground level. I don’t understand the point in persisting with that when we are getting outworked around the ball.

This thread should be renamed, The Long drive home in support and acknowledgement to WcW and all of those who travelled to Adelaide to cheer on the team. Can we now stop Gather round please.

I feel like I'm back in the 90s tbh. Fast high scoring footy, no club dominating for more than a season, contending for 2-3 maybe, but never being in with a realistic shot of more than two flags, due to the huge amount of fluctuation of clubs rising and falling from year to year. Rule changes fostering a style of footy that can aid 'young' lists built with speed in mind to contend and fall away very quickly. Time will tell I guess. But the 2000-2020 period feels like a different era now. Things changed so slowly.

It worries me if we rush Max in. Just last week Goodwin said he was at least a month away and we wouldn't take any chances. We are playing Richmond and they have some key experienced outs: Lynch, Nankervis, Broad, Soldo, Graham so match-ups may drive selections. Out: Spargo (Concussion), TMc (back/rib injury???), Tomlinson (Form) In: Laurie, Brown, Lever Melksham probably out but don't know who we would bring in for him. Jordon but he is not a fwd... There are others that should probably be out if injured or out of form but doubt we can or will make too many changes. And no one should be dropped on one poor game.

i don't get this comparison at all i thought he was the only mid working hard enough defensively in the first half and he finished the only dee in the top five for tackles as well as being third for metres gained, behind langdon and trac huge game

Of course but physical fatigue is different to mental fatigue. They were off by 5% but that's enough for a team that is on to make you look silly. If you're not mentally switched on then things look hard, last two weeks we've been gang tackling and running hard, today we weren't sticking tackles or running hard both ways. So which is the real Melbourne? The team that ran the Dogs and Swans off their legs or the teams that turned it up against Brisbane and Essendon? We'll have to wait and see.

I hope WCW is shouting food and petrol on the return home - she had a big win today!

IN: Lever, Hibberd, Gawn and Brown OUT: Spargo, Tomlinson, McDonald, Melksham B: McVee, May, Bowey HB: Brayshaw, Lever, Rivers C: Hunter, Oliver, Langdon HF: Petracca, van Rooyen, Neal-Bullen F: Fritsch, Brown, Chandler FOLL: Gawn, Viney, Pickett IC: Hibberd, Sparrow, Grundy, Petty SUB: Jordon

He had stringer contained and then moved to cover others. He wasn’t the problems today

I'm not convinced Fence. Robbie was the best I've seen in red and blue. And he played on the wing. Not key forward getting smashed under packs by large, nasty defenders and ruckmen dropping back. Don't think you're comparing apples with apples here. Let the kid develop

Was not.

I thought Grundy played well and has been good in all games. My only issue with him is he only took 3 marks despite being the player everyone kicked to. 3 marks is the most he's ever taken in a game . He really needs to fix this. Tmac. I'm sorry I have defended him a lot up until yesterday. Zero tackles. This is inexcusable. When your having a bad day getting your hands on the ball, the least you can do is go and wrap up some opposition players. This reveals a complete lack of effort and can't be ignored. Sparrow is woefully out of form. Goody was too slow to make any changes. Our backline was a rabble yesterday and it looked like amateur hour. Bowser is having a bad season. But it's rare for us to be so poor in this area. Our mids seem slow to switch on in several of our games. We have also had a shocking run of injuries this year . But the biggest issue is our forward line. As mentioned Tmac seems gone. Jvr is in his 3rd game at 19 and we're depending on him. Bbb is greatly missed and I hope he wasn't omitted due to rain. The club is short of a reliable, not injury prone strong experienced forward. We have mids galore but didn't think it was important to cover an aging Tmac and Bbb. Maybe the Max and Grundy combo can ease this problem a little but I'm not sure we can depend on Grundy with his marking issues to hit the scoreboard big time. We don't look like premiers at this point in time and I'm not sure how we fix our fwd problem. Yea we will play finals but like last year will be beaten again. I just don't see the commitment from them.

Two things that were distressing: The umpire making Spargo stand the mark when he was not even able to stand, Draper running at speed 20 mtrs from the ball drop to deliberately launch a knee into TMc's back, Wouldn't have minded if a team mate had gone to the aid of our two fallen clearly distressed players. Spargo won't play next week and will be surprised if TMc does. Chris Scott is right: ruckman launching a knee into the ribs (or back) of other ruckman has to be stamped out of the game. It was that horror person Cox who did it to Max on QB last year and set Max back for the whole season.

Well that was yuck. My nearly two year old was very demonstrative that her play dough biskies were more interesting than watching the game. In the third quarter I bowed to her superior judgement and turned it off. I then had to try the biskies and I feel like I'm probably ahead. We missed Lever so much, and I can't wait for Max to get back. Other than the run in the 2nd, we looked like the boring old demons of 2nd half of last year, wouldn't lose by much, would beat the lower teams but we all knew something was up. Really sick of players not looking inward in the forward half too with Oliver working into space and screaming for the ball. He wants to take his game to another level, the other players need to help him there. It's only early but, our run isn't too bad, just keep building and keep in striking distance of the top four and not risk our players and get them peachy keen for the back half is my optmistic take.

How many times did we burn open players in the 50 today! Quite a lot of visible bickering as a result of it too.

Similar to the Brisbane game. We were off after the first bounce. Incredibly loose defence and disorganised forward line. Three great games mixed with two complete dud efforts. Something NQR upstairs. The contrast is perplexing. We are not ready to be considered premiership favourites yet.

Melksham played as the 3rd tall forward and when we moved the ball he looked as likely as any of our key forwards. BBB struggles to stay upright in the dry, I’m completely fine with that change. Not sure why you’re comparing him with noted key forward 180cm Bill Laurie. I wasn’t impressed with Tommy Mc and he’s just about impossible to pick again any time soon, but if Schache’s the answer we’re probably just as stuffed. His VFL form has been good not great and he’s still iffy at the contest. How long has been on an AFL list without getting a regular gig? Totally agree on Disco, but the plan looked fairly simple. Use Tomlinson on the resting rucks. He towelled up Lobb, surely he won’t struggle too much with Phillips and Draper? That allows May to play full back and Petty to play as the interceptor. Disco also had 1 game back from a 3+ week lay off, it’s not unreasonable for him to play a second VFL game. For his own sake as much as the teams. His second ever AFL game going in underdone? That’s not a recipe for success.

Time to be serious now. The club needs to start making decisions some serious decisions on the likes of Melksham, McDonald and Tomlinson moving forward and how by giving them games benefits us at all moving into the future. Could not believe my eyes that we decided to bring in Melksham off the back of no performance last week over Bailey Laurie who was BOG by a length with 35 disposals. Is this the true definition of rewarding form? Why on earth are we continuing to gift games to Melksham when there are guys at Casey who are who are constantly busting their [censored] week after week with zero reward. People may think it's a joke bit you can't tell me there is some genuine bias by Goodwin here with this one. McDonald is genuinely a cooked footballer. Some got sucked in by his performance last week against a WAFL but no more from now on He should be purely for depth if we are decimated with injuries. This spot now should be between Schache and Brown. Again, we lose Lever and pick Tomlinson who's not even a like for like. If Daniel Turner can get games based on the blokes who plays a similar style to him (Lever) then when will he? What's even more of a joke was that selection committee had the audacity to fly Turner up as an emergency.. genuine pisstake? Now is the time where we need to start seeing whether Turner is up to it. I've really liked what the selection committee have done this year, I really do. But these 3 are simply not the future at all and can't be relied upon every single time a player goes out. The age is shoeing out in big games and it's costing us.

Are you trying to get him killed Fence ? JVR with a mature body and a full year of preparation is struggling at AFL level. Jeffo, for all his promise, is so spindly that his body can't even hold his head up straight

IN: actual effort against an opposition, whether or not they're long term contenders OUT: complacency against sides we perceive should be low