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disagree, he's playing like a 19 year old key forward. I think he's doing just fine.

May is playing well. Max will atone. BBB ran freely last night and imo will be back soon. Grundy had a head knock. Kozzie imo has had the flair coached out of him and is now trying to imitate ANB and do nothing but pressure. He is often in the wrong position and has caught ANB’s fumbles. He should be set alight and told while pressure is important, so is his flair, other than trying to take mark of the century. He at least kicked a couple this week and that will give some confidence. Next game in the Alice could start his revival.

When you rush in a completely underdone Harrison Petty off a 6 week injury with zero match fitness over a fit, healthy and in form Adam Tomlinson then all it shows is our coaching staff have not learnt a single thing from last year. Viney is a machine but you can tell his body is copping a hammering. Do we bring in Dunstan to try and ease the load a little on him? Hibberd is cooked. People getting sucked in by a few good performance here and there need to accept the reality is that the fact we have to manage him with a week off every few weeks so his body is slowly breaking down. Got greatly exposed by Rohan on Thursday night which was sad to watch. He's been a warrior over the year but the club will tap him on the shoulder at years end. It's definitely catching up to Max. It was always going to come. I think it's purely an age and his body just starting to catch up with him. We have zero protection for JVR. He's literally taking the first defender as was his starting match up with De Koning on Friday night who's a bloody good up and coming defender. Watched the full Casey game last night and Benny Brown was moving around freely. Time to bite the bullet and just bring him. JVR needs an extra senior body to take the brunt of the number 1 defender. This should have been done weeks ago. Now that Kozzie has signed his contract he's just turned to crud. One of the best games I've seen him play was round 1 against the doggies where he was playing high midfield minutes and resting up forward We heard it all summer that he's been training with the mids and has bulked up etc. Hasn't played a single minute in the midfield for a number of weeks. Looks bereft of confidence and doesn't seem to be enjoying his footy. Why Goodwin has gone away from this experiment is completely bizarre. Not only has it taken the unpredictability of our midfield set up but the flair and speed in there.

Don't know to be honest.

This. You can forgive a player for making a mistake in the heat of the moment. No excuses for the coaching staff that took 2 or 3 days to make one of the most stupidest selection decision I can remember under Goodwin.

Isn’t this all a storm in a teacup? He did his hammy. He then got a blister. The blister got infected (bad luck more than anything I’d guess). He had to be hospitalised to treat the infection. The hospitalisation meant he lost his progress recovering from the hammy. So he’s still not ready. Seriously, there isn’t any more to it than this, right?

We're not banged up we're just clueless going inside our forward 50. And a bunch of drunks would have a better set-shot record that us over the past few weeks

Thought Benny Brown was moving well last night. Worked hard up the ground and took a few good contested marks. He'd be my in next week. Thought Spargo was poor. His body language was disappointing and didn't put a performance in that screams of someone desperate to get his spot back. He can stay at Casey for the next 4 weeks based on last night's performance. Vice versa on Harmes. This is his level now. Few attempts at don't argues and then just butchers going forward. Woewodin and Dunstan would be my first preference ahead of him. Thought Daniel Turner was super last night. Just cleaned up off half back and marked everything that came his way. Poor kid would be getting a game elsewhere in the AFL. Will Varrell has something. Don't know what it is, but his leap and timing was impressive.

Well I want a better pick so I want every team to beat Freo. I don’t care about those around us. If we are good enough we make the top 4 on our merit. Maybe having to scrap for a top four might get us actually going.

I was chatting quite a while ago to Ken Melville (Best and Fairest in our 1955 Premiership team) and he said that even in its many premiership years, Melbourne rarely won in Geelong. So nothing new here. What really irks me is that almost every year we are forced to travel to the cattery unlike Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon and couple of other AFL pampered teams. Grrr! End of rant. PS For those who don't remember Ken, he was a minister of religion, played as an amateur, and received some scripture books for winning the B&F. How times have changed.

Bowza must come in. Can’t understand why he didn’t come in for Geelong. He is smart, tough and never wastes a disposal. I wonder if he couldn’t be used up forward like Caleb Daniel. Disco Turner is also knocking the door down.

Bowey playing for Casey, when we can’t hit a target, is a criminal offense.

I’ve never done a hamstring. I’ve also never run anywhere voluntarily. Hope this helps.

WC Premiership players: Duggan, Barrass, Yeo, Darling, Shuey, Sheed Seasoned AFL players: Kelly, Gaff, Witherden, Hunt, Allen, Petrevski-Seaton, Petrucelle It's a disgrace

Do you watch carefully? Fritsch’s head hit the ground forcefully… not the bloke who was caught holding the ball! Not lucky… robbed!

Possibly the worst free against us for the season. A great tackle …and it ended up in a goal for Geelong. Still angry about this one.

A nice boost for the Demons after a few weeks of below par performances. CASEY DEMONS 4.4.28 8.8.56 8.9.57 11.14.80 GEELONG VFL 1.3.9 2.4.16 4.9.33 5.10.40 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Melksham 4 Brown Schache White 2 Laurie GEELONG VFL Byrne 2 Dempsey Neale Quick BEST CASEY DEMONS Harmes Melksham Tomlinson Bowey D Turner Munro GEELONG VFL Dempsey Knevitt Clohesy Van De Heuvel Herbert Parfitt Statistics Jed Adams 7 kicks 1 handballs 8 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 31 dream team points Jake Bowey 21 kicks 6 handballs 27 disposals 12 marks 5 tackles 126 dream team points Ben Brown 2 goals 1 behind 16 kicks 2 handballs 18 disposals 9 marks 1 tackle 1 hit out 95 dream team points Luke Dunstan 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 7 marks 1 tackles 72 dream team points George Grey 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 60 dream team points James Harmes 16 kicks 11 handballs 27 disposals 9 marks 10 tackles 135 dream team points Blake Howes 8 kicks 11 handballs 19 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 76 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 behind 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 31 dream team points Bailey Laurie 1 goal 2 behinds 10 kicks 10 handballs 20 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 77 dream team points Jake Melksham 4 goals 1 behinds 10 kicks 4 handballs 14 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 95 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 5 kicks 11 handballs 16 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 50 dream team points Ned Moodie 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 21 dream team points James Munro 12 kicks 11 handballs 23 disposals 5 marks 7 tackles 95 dream team points Josh Schache 2 goals 2 behinds 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 11 hit outs 81 dream team points Oliver Sestan 3 kicks 4 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 20 dream team points Deaykin Smith 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 8 marks 49 dream team points Charlie Spargo 1 behind 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 7 marks 2 tackles 73 dream team points Roan Steele 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 4 marks 7 tackles 77 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 25 kicks 2 handballs 27 disposals 9 marks 2 tackles 114 dream team points Daniel Turner 18 kicks 2 handballs 20 disposals 14 marks 2 tackles 109 dream team points Will Verrall 1 kick 5 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 23 hit outs 59 dream team points Mitch White 2 goals 2 behinds 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 6 tackles 87 dream team points Taj Woewodin 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 74 dream team points

Re Joel Smith-I wasn't sucked in AD. I saw the excellent work he did in the first half with his marks, contesting, knocking on, handballs when the rest of the. team was struggling. He actually showed leadership with his efforts. He was quieter in the second half but one of our better players overall who contested hard all night and was effective. In my view he is a very important player for us.

They need three goals in a minute and there's only one side I know that can do that.

hopefully Freo

I think a bit of an anomaly that the 7th worst last qtr team handedly outrun and outplayed the best 4th qtr team in the AFL this season. Lot of tired bodies out there and lines up well with Selwyn's designated loading period. Sometimes you need to put yourself at a disadvantaged situation for games for the chance to win it all and this seems to be one of those occasions. Main concern is Viney, was it the same shoulder? Hoping Oliver can come back in next week and possible look to manage Viney so he can heal. He is incredibly important to our finals chances but won't be very effective if he has a serious injury he is carrying each week from now on. I think even more than the missed shots at goal, I was disappointed at the lack of focus and concentration 80-50m from goal. There were a number of Geelong smoothers that where the Dees player telegraphed the handball/kick, and didn't have the same running zip and polish they had back earlier in the season. You could see the disappointment on the key forwards allowing easy marks to Geelong, some were from giving up front position but a lot were because of illegal holding and blocking from Geelong's defensive unit. Don't get me started on the holding of Petracca...

HARD NOSES by KC from Casey The Demons and the Cats met once more at GMHBA Stadium 24 hours after their AFL counterparts saw Melbourne meekly capitulate in the final quarter. This time, the VFL version of the story was a vastly different one. The Casey Demons have been going through a rough trot as of late but this time they took control and established themselves after an early arm wrestle and had the opposition by the scruff of the neck at half time. Josh Schache kicked the opening goal and the Cats responded to briefly hold the lead before three quick goals to Ben Brown, Mitch White and Bailey Laurie had them a handy 19 points in front at the first break. The second term was a repeat of the first — four goals to one in favour of the visitors with Jake Melksham coming to the fore with two majors. Ben Brown was having a good game, marking strongly and picking up plenty of possession around the ground and up forward. Adam Tomlinson had a point to make to the senior match committee and made it well, dominating possession. James Harmes and Jake Bowey, likewise. With a 40 point lead at the main break and a number of players putting their hands up for a trip to the country’s red centre next week, a funny thing happened. The team must have decided to do an impersonation of the AFL Demons from the final quarter of the night before. They released the pressure valve, made the same mistakes, fumbled and were uncertain but to their good fortune, the VFL Cats failed to emulate their senior counterpart’s accuracy in kicking for goal. Two goals for a term in which they dominated and kept the reigning premiers to a single point wasn’t enough to steal the momentum away. A couple of goals in the early stages of the last by Jake Melksham was all it took to snuff out the opposition and the skipper scored his second to restore the Demons 40 point ascendancy at the end. The Casey victory was the result of the return of hard nosed footy and the fundamentals of playing to the conditions. Harmes and Jimmy Munro led the way. Tomlinson made his point. Bowey and Daniel Turner was impressive and Taj Woewodin had his moments. Next week’s challenge is a vital match up at Casey Fields against close competitors, the GWS Giants who sit in eight place, a game behind the Demons with a game in hand. CASEY DEMONS 4.4.28 8.8.56 8.9.57 11.14.80 GEELONG VFL 1.3.9 2.4.16 4.9.33 5.10.40 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Melksham 4 Brown Schache White 2 Laurie GEELONG VFL Byrne 2 Dempsey Neale Quick BEST CASEY DEMONS Harmes Melksham Tomlinson Bowey D Turner Munro GEELONG VFL Dempsey Knevitt Clohesy Van De Heuvel Herbert Parfitt Statistics Jed Adams 7 kicks 1 handballs 8 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 31 dream team points Jake Bowey 21 kicks 6 handballs 27 disposals 12 marks 5 tackles 126 dream team points Ben Brown 2 goals 1 behind 16 kicks 2 handballs 18 disposals 9 marks 1 tackle 1 hit out 95 dream team points Luke Dunstan 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 7 marks 1 tackles 72 dream team points George Grey 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 60 dream team points James Harmes 16 kicks 11 handballs 27 disposals 9 marks 10 tackles 135 dream team points Blake Howes 8 kicks 11 handballs 19 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 76 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 behind 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 31 dream team points Bailey Laurie 1 goal 2 behinds 10 kicks 10 handballs 20 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 77 dream team points Jake Melksham 4 goals 1 behinds 10 kicks 4 handballs 14 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 95 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 5 kicks 11 handballs 16 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 50 dream team points Ned Moodie 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 21 dream team points James Munro 12 kicks 11 handballs 23 disposals 5 marks 7 tackles 95 dream team points Josh Schache 2 goals 2 behinds 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 11 hit outs 81 dream team points Oliver Sestan 3 kicks 4 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 20 dream team points Deaykin Smith 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 8 marks 49 dream team points Charlie Spargo 1 behind 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 7 marks 2 tackles 73 dream team points Roan Steele 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 4 marks 7 tackles 77 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 25 kicks 2 handballs 27 disposals 9 marks 2 tackles 114 dream team points Daniel Turner 18 kicks 2 handballs 20 disposals 14 marks 2 tackles 109 dream team points Will Verrall 1 kick 5 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 23 hit outs 59 dream team points Mitch White 2 goals 2 behinds 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 6 tackles 87 dream team points Taj Woewodin 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 74 dream team points

Very unimpressive. Stewart made us all feel sorry for him after his unreserved apology to Prestia last year, and had us convinced it was just a brain snap. However that act on Viney confirmed his character, at least on field (he might be a ripper bloke off it??)

I can’t take it any longer! I watched the game from Missouri at 4:20am. I had to sign in now to register a few observations. It was wet and slippery! I could see that from Missouri! Talk of dropped chest marks and fumbles as evidence that a certain player is having a bad year or deserving of a public thrashing is malarkey. We were in control for the majority of the first three quarters. We played poorly for 15 minutes in the last and paid the price! The disrespect for Kossie by some tossers is d as ds! He continues to kick goals in amazing ways, 2 out of 8 goals in an arm wrestle is worthy of high praise alone. ANB’s fumble was a sliding door moment, no doubt, but if you look closely you will see he was important in other transitions that created scoring shots. Chandler gave up a goal that may have won the game. The upside is, he was so close on at least two other occasions. Max was not the match winner we wanted him to be, he had a few clanger moments, but to suggest he was useless on the night is ridiculous! He was a contributor. May played his role well. Another one who repeatedly gets tossed into the ‘having a bad year’ basket. He had 1 ordinary game several rounds back. The rest has been worthy of an AA key defender. The Fritsch tackle was holding the ball. The umpires interpretation was a clear example of Administration knee jerk corrupting the game. It was Fritsch who managed to hit his head on the ground after catching a Cat red handed! Analysis I agree with… Spargo was not a good choice as sub Jordan should have remained Petty was short of a run Smith needs to find a few more ways to contribute as a forward (his two goals were golden on the night).

Bowey and Disco probably best on. But both probably more good than great. Bowser didn’t exactly carve them up with ball use. And Disco dropped a few marks (probably could’ve had 10-15 intercepts) and occasionally made odd decisions with the ball. Woey the best mid for the first half, played exclusively wing and was quieter in the second half. Harmes ok. Dunstan in and out. Spargo had his moments but he’s trying to do too much rather than linking up. His defensive intensity was a cut above early thought. Laurie, the classy moments are great but there’s too many slow or not physical enough to get from traffic moments, played almost always forward, way too much Munro and White on ball today. Verrell competed strongly in the ruck and tackled well. But he was playing 2 shortish stints per quarter and running on fumes quickly which wasn’t a surprise. BBB - maybe? Certainly holding marks and looking more sure of foot. Can a ruck miss a week so we don’t lose mobility? Howes - can he just step up and demand selection already. He’s such a pure mover and kick. Contest work just isn’t there yet.

We won Kings Birthday because of our defence and our press. We are a defensive first team. But being unable to score more than 70 points is unsustainable in the long run - pressure lifts, mistakes are made, talent breaks through. So we need to find some structure and trust with how we bring the ball into the forwards and how they navigate space or we make it so difficult for ourselves. Long term - Lamb needs to get us a number 1 forward next to JVR and we need some new ideas to take control of our forward line and our ball movement into the forward half. Territory isn’t enough anymore.

Would love it to be us over Geelong.

You are kidding aren’t you. I am loving how he is going

I would like to know who is responsible for game day moves. I would also like to know why Petty wasn’t moved forward, probably on to Stewart, when Cameron went off. I would have thought it was the obvious move. Did we instruct the players to play wet weather footy and if we did, did they address it at breaks, given the players clearly weren’t listening? The Cats played wet weather footy with more kicks than handball and constant aggression at the man with the ball and often without it. They kicked it off the ground whenever possible to gain metres, rather than try a chain of risky handballs. I would also like to know what the rationale for Spargo as sub was and then, why we didn’t take off a ruckman. Guess I will never know the answers. We need to get back to reasonable disposal and goal kicking accuracy asap.

Dees currently with pick 5 with Sydney comfortably ahead of freo on percentage. Still want essendon to win. I'm of the view that if we have to hope for teams around us to fail for us to qualify for top 4 then we aren't much chop anyway. Let freo fall as far as possible and put top 4 in our own hands.

Definitely not banged up. Still working things out with the front half. Gawn is fine. Coaches votes in 5 games this year in what is in effect a new role. He missed 4 with injury but that is well and truly recovered. Horrible conditions for big men last Thursday. Viney's style means he's going to cop plenty of hits and will miss the odd game here and there. Hibbo is a week to week proposition but fortunately we do have reasonable defensive depth - Bowey and Tomlinson both available but not selected last game. I'm still optimistic.

The famed 2023 super draft was overblown. Fancy that. Just as well we have JT. I'm sure they'll be saying the same things about the 2024 draft. As they do every year. Every year is a so called super draft.

Is the morphine why you are Longsufferingnomore? 😝

Whisky and milk sounds like a good old fashioned hangover cure... which I may be in need of right now Had one too many g and ts last night in an effort to kick-start the weekend after our lacklustre Thursday

lets not forget Max had 15 disposals, 4 tackles and 23 HO, whilst he wasn't taking marks he still had an OK game. not exactly the best weather for a 200+cm player. Were not banged up at all, we are in a good spot i believe. BBB i think they are managing and he will soon return to the side. JVR is 19, might need a break leading into finals but he will benefit from playing next to BBB. Lets just hope we don't have to many games in the wet!! we just cannot play in very slippery conditions.

Further to the errors debate I see a forward playing from behind as a far greater issue than a misdirected kick The misdirected kick is an accident or a mistake (and not meant) where as playing from behind is a 'choice' resulting in a lost scoring opportunity (most of the time) Too many of our forwards are looking for the cheapie out the back A misdirected kick is often the result of pressure from the opposition ... Oliver, Petracca & Viney are the chief perpetrators in the clanger department But chances must be taken and we have to use the corridor in order to win. So I am not blaming those 3 aforementioned players even when an errant kick eventuates from any of the 3 players under zero pressure They are taking a chance ... dare to win No risk, no reward The Pies coach wants his players to take risks and wears the mistakes as a consequence. He's on record in saying that They've lost 2 games and are well set up for September Where as players playing from behind in the forward line is lazy & unprofessional. And it is a chosen path And a coach killer

Chill out, it was a frustrating loss but lets not forget: We dominated Collingwood 2 weeks ago (Score doesn't reflect our dominance), we are coming off a bye (which does have an impact), playing Geelong in Geelong is always tough, and it was Scott's 300.

Maybe, but we are not helping him. BBB back will help a bit.

Tommo got a lot of the ball but his kicks more often than not went straight to a geelong player. Harmes is a vfl player. BBB was excellent getting forward and back and still kicking goals. Straight into the team. Moniz-Wakefield needs to slow down. Seemed rushed and fumbly and turned it over because of this. Bowey was great. Turner was marking everything but also poor kicking let him down. Thought Deakyn Smith played a pretty good game.

Well, you got that wrong! Any other confessions?

Ah @binman. I applaud your resolve, running so openly and strongly with this after mast year. I will maintain my view from last year, which is that I’d prefer to see concrete evidence from the club that shows we have actually engaged in loading through this period of 2023, before accepting this is the dominant reason for our performances as you argue. Last year there wasn’t such evidence IIRC, and we waited to see us bounce back with running fitness as the weeks went by, and it never happened. Granted, that may have been due to injuries, but it meant there was no real evidence that the loading block had occurred. If you can prove me wrong with interviews, or confirmed reports/vision from training, which show us increasing our training load over the last few weeks, I’m all ears.

No it wasn’t, we should’ve been further in front at 3 quarter time. The way we started the last was poor, plus i believe the mistake was not using Gus who was on the outside on his own instead of a handball to ANB who had two Cats up his backside anyway.

Yeh. There's a lot there. But I will give you a simple one. If a Melb player has the ball, in space and under no pressure and the kick results in a direct turnover, that's a serious error . And it's an unforgivable one if it happens in our defensive half of the ground or when we're going inside 50 and have players open. And we are soooooo good at executing these types of errors. Everyone can forgive a certain number of miskicks, fumbles, miss-handballs etc throughout general play and especially through the middle of the ground. And under pressure and heat, errors like these are part of football clearly so I'm not talking about those clearly. Sometimes I wonder if dropping a player would actually wake them up. Like, sometimes I watch Gus Brayshaw with ball in hand under no pressure and wonder what the [censored] he is doing. There should be a price paid for unforgivable errors that continue to happen. Players who continue to execute them need to be dropped. Just as they would if their 'effort' wasn't there. The polarising thing is that decision making and executing under no pressure is effort. It's about [censored] concentrating, kicking with intent and having a will to want to make sure you hit that open target. And if you don't, go and [censored] practice it at training. Either that, or drop some players until they realise that when you have the ball in open space, you need to protect it. And that the same premium should be placed on having care for your disposals as it is with defensive running or bringing the ball to ground or scrapping in a contest. I never hear Goody say, "Geez our fundamentals were off tonight and we just let them back in the game". Other coaches say it all the timeeeee. And every ex-footballer in the media knows how poor we are with ball in hand. Dunstal bangs on about it all the time. Im sick to death of it.

Mike Brady got it right: "You either love or hate it, depending on the score ..."

A good first up effort I thought 'Dee'... ...has missed a lot of football but there's a lot to like about him. When he gets his fitness levels up I reckon he will add a more to his game. Can see him as a very mobile ruck/forward.

I don’t hate him, he’s just not an AFL footballer in any role but sub or defensive undersized tall any more. He hasn’t made appropriate defensive efforts or won ground balls for years and snagging a few goals in a comfortable win against out classed opposition doesn’t impress me.

Sounds like you just saw an Oreopath.

He said osteo Not Oreo