Deespicable

Yep, I think it shows that PR has not been watching the previous Darwin games closely. It also shows a total unawareness that the indigenous guys usually step up a gear in Darwin. How anyone could leave out the clean hands of JKH for this game defies belief. JKH obviously shouldn't have called for the ball against the Pies a few weeks back - those errors seem to have made Roosy stamp his papers with too small to lead up. We will be physically competitive early and then when our plethora of bigs tire, we'll be run over.

Yep, Allison's reviews have been way too negative all season and I'm sure the players would prefer he kept such honesty to behind closed doors. He also should have not bothered with reviews for the past two weeks because when you get flogged, what are you going to be able to say that is remotely encouraging. As to JKH I'm delighted he got a good mention, but after last week's words about Dom Barry's superb 8 disposal game, you can see it's just justification for senior selection. What that unfortunately means is that Allison won't be putting up Bleasey for inclusion this week, just JKH and Tapscott.

Selectors will have a tricky night this week with a few extra factors to consider with the game in Darwin. The traditional heat up there coupled with the evening dew means our tall line-up could be badly exposed and we are up against a fairly fast side with Hill, Ballantyne, Fyfe, Neale, Spurr etc. I'd be amazed if we kept all our talls in but then again I was amazed that Dom Barry could get a game after being virtually unsighted against Box Hill, so who really knows. I certainly can't see how we can add Tom Mc into the line-up this week, if he overcomes his calf injury. I think a choice will have to be made on whether we can afford Gawny along with Jamar, Pedo and Dawes, although Maxy's height makes him more suited to Sandilands, so maybe they all play and one is subbed off. I'm happy with Dom getting another chance - it is his hometown after all. And JKH is a must - his clean hands will be suited to these conditions. Jordie comes in if they want him to play a role on Mundy, but the two keys at moment are Hill (probably a job for Bail) and Fyfe (could we go with Jack Viney and have Garland pick him up when he rests forward). Jetta gets the serial pest. Terlich's injury and Freo's pace means Nicho probably survives for another week - maybe he takes Pearce. I'd take Bleasey up there as well and make him the sub with a view to him replacing one of the bigs at three quarter time. So I'd go: In: McKenzie, JKH, Blease (sub) Out: Terlich (inj), Kent, Salem (both of whom should go up there with squad for big week of training in heat).

12 Demons played against a Willy side that had not one AFL-list player. If you include Troy Davis, a very reliable defender last year, we had 13 players who should be very prominent and confident. We lost by 80 points. I know some of you are blaming the standard of the Casey lads this year and some of you just reckon our fringe Melbourne players are crap. But you don't lose that badly without something not being right. Quite obviously Rowan Welsh has lost them and I suspect Brett Allison's highly critical player reviews would be losing some as well. You don't bag players in public as Allison has been doing. Some may also be questioning how Dom Barry, with just nine disposals (eight in Allison's review) and two tackles gets great praise for a game in which he quelled the influence of Sam Iles, who is so good, he is not on a list anymore! That is not to say I'm not pleased that Dom will get a chance to see if he can lift at a higher level, but there would be 10 guys in that side who would have felt aggrieved at his promotion ahead of them. Here's my remedy. 1) Give Brett Allison the next month off doing reviews - he's about as positive as Mark Neeld. 2) Get Jade Rawlings in to take over from Welshy for the rest of the season - the players all respect Rawlings. He will clearly give them Roosy's gameplan and the players will have confidence that he has Roosy's ear when it comes to selection. 3) If we are not broke, lure a couple of in-form players from country or amo's on a three or four-game trial basis with the aim of having a look at them to see if they might be up to AFL rookie list level next season.

I don't think anybody saw him - full stop. I've watched the replay and he's in the corner of the screen a couple of times - a bit like Where's Wally. He came over to lay a tackle on Iles once in the forward pocket and gave away a free kick. He only laid two tackles for game you will have to ask the Wizard how he stopped Iles.

I reckon there are five players they will consider for inclusion this week. Terlich - he was 23rd man this week and we missed his pace - he may have been able to do a better job on Harvey than Grimes. The Dogs are also smallish up forward so he is a certain inclusion in my opinion. Gawn - toiled manfully against Hawthorn's bigs (McEvoy et al) and showed he is worthy of another game. Big issue is whether he can come into a side that includes Jamar, Dawes and Pedersen so unless one of them gets injured I suspect he will be emergency this week. Michie - racked up 30 touches and whilst it was more accumulation than impressive, he must be close to being given another shot and Mckenzie's week off makes him a likely replacement. Blease - we now have a great method of play, but we are slowish and struggle to break lines unless the ball is in Jones, Watts or Dunn's hands. Blease was sensational in first half for Casey and he's a linebreaker. While we all can see he has some limitations defensively and lacks peripheral vision, the same can be said of several others who are getting a game ahead of him. JKH - He hasn't set the world on fire at Casey, but he's always clean with his touches and he has that freakish goalscoring ability that was missing against North. Ultimately though it will probably be: Out: Mckenzie (susp), Salem or Riley In: Michie, Terlich

Two major areas of improvement. He now keeps his feet and as a result he is winning more than his share of one-on-ones against really dangerous opponents. He also gets more involved than previously (maturity) and as a result is providing rebound which is great because his kicking skills have always been precise - just previously rarely seen. The outcome of these two improvements is that he's now the real deal as a defender in the Matty Whelan style. Sometimes rookie-listing players can have the desired effect in terms of hunger. But the switch to defence is obviously the biggest factor. We've had a great year for reincarnations: Christian Salem is Adem Yze. JKH is the Wiz. Howey the defender is Clint Bizzell. Cam Pedersen is Spud Dullard before he did his knees. The Russian is also back to being the Russian.

Sorry I had forgotten about Thomas in my assessment - I think Jetta's more likely to mark him than Harvey. That would leave Grimes to take Harvey, although Garland's pace could make him a good option on Boomer and he'd have a clear marking advantage on Harvs lead-ups and is less likely to be pushed (tunnelled) under the contest as Boomer is prone to do. I reckon Nahas will be dropped this week and possibly one of Black or Tarrant.

I can't imagine Roosy and selectors discussing too many players and strategies this week. North have a lot of hardworking honest toilers, so I think Riley might get another chance. The two key match-ups for mine are Harvey - this will probably be Jetta's biggest test to date - and Atley's run off the backline and I imagine Roosy will want Bail picking him up. North usually clobber us physically, but it's nice to have three strong bodies in Dawes, Pedo and Frawley against Firrito, Hansen and Thompson. Swallow, Ziebell, Cunnington will be a tough ask for Jones, Tyson and Vince. So for me there's no change, unless they decide they want Terlich for insurance in case Boomer takes out Jetta. If that's the case, Riley would surely have to be the one to make room.

We decided to go top-heavy against Pies and paid price up forward when we couldn't apply enough defensive pressure when it came in, so the question is whether Roosy can afford to play Frawley, Dawes, Pedersen and Gawn together again in one forward line. We also lost the tackle count again and overall were beaten in stoppages - although not massively like last year so the question is whether we can afford to continue to overlook both Jordie and Riley. I reckon Jordie would have been a monte to play on Watson, but with him out, we now must face a dilemma of whether we can alter our midfield to accommodate him. Perhaps Jack Viney can spend more time as small forward. Our defence overall was great, although Terlich and Col were a bit down - but hardly worth considering any changes down back. So for mine it comes down to this: Adem Yze (CS) reincarnated back down to magoos for a week or two to play more of a midifield role. Kent to replace him to provide a quick, bigger bodied tackling small forward. JKH back to twos to play full game for a week or two. McKenzie to replace him and tag Goddard with Viney to go forward. A difficult decision on whether to make a third change on one of the bigs - Gawn's kicking was poor but he did run out game better this week, so it's a hard call whichever way we go and that might mean we do nothing. Perhaps we could make Garland the sub and pull a swifty and start Chip down back and then get rid of the non-performing tall midway through third term. Dom may again cop a hard tag from Hocking, so Roosy needs to figure out how to free him up.

The older guys really did well and led way on the big occasion. 6 Dunn 5 N.Jones 4 Vince 3 Cross 2 Jetta 1 Grimes Apoloigies to Bail.

Yep thanks for that. But the real issue is the teams that have picks 10-18, because they could force us into using him with our first pick. The teams that are 1-9 picks are no problems because he's not rated anywhere near that level yet. But based on his recent form in U18 comp and SANFL he could be moving up into top 20. We need to remind all recruiters about Stretch and Dipper.

I may have forgotten the rules on this but my reading of F/S is as follows: If we want Stretch as a second rounder, then any club that offers up a first rounder would force us to use our first-round pick on him. So the worst case scenario for us is that if he is ranked between 10-18 by the recruiting gurus at other clubs. That would mean that all those clubs that finish above us on the ladder would have the choice of forcing us into giving up our early pick to claim him. Let's assume we finish 12th-15th, which is likely on current form, then we'd have to give up our top pick (4-7) for him. At this stage he's certainly not regarded that highly. The only good thing is that the Hawks won't take him no matter what, so there's only about seven other sides we have to worry about.

On Spencer, not sure where your 99% came from. I think I was one of many who altered their opinion of him when he got a chance and played so well against St Kilda last year about Rd 12. It's no surprise he's been offered a new contract given Jamar has one more year to go after this one, we have lost Clark already and Fitzy has failed to come on this year - in fact he has gone backwards faster than he runs. Gawn remains a bit of an enigma - too early to tell if he will ever be good enough to hold down No.1 ruck spot. We also saw pre-season how you need back-up talls to guard against injuries. I expect we will have to draft another project tall this year.

Will be interesting to see if Dunny or Pedo get sighted for their bumps - neither player they hit was majorly hurt so should get off. Not sure if big Max was ill or not, but he was sure struggling with pace of game against Port and is the obvious omission for Dawes. Pedo will just have to give Jamar a bit of back up. Cross probably would have gone to Sidebottom, but I wonder if he'll pick up Beams now.

Go back and watch his disposal in the first quarter and then decide if he still rates six. I still love the way he goes about it though and look forward to him going head-to-head with Pendles next week, unless he cops Macaffer. My votes: 6 Dunn 5 Pedo 4 Tyson 3 Cross 2 Jetta 1 N.Jones

He's only played five games and three of them were as a sub, so it would be pretty hard for it not to be.

Toump got a lot of games last year which he didn't deserve and by contrast he has been a bit stiff this year. He had a really strong pre-season doing all the running and then when it came to selection found himself being made a small forward, which we all know is a graveyard when you lose. His first two games were just OK but like others he struggled to get the ball and because Shannon Byrnes kicked two goals against the Eagles, he was victim of the only purge we had this season after the shocker against West Coast. He looked fairly classy against Tigers and with Salem playing that small role, he was able to play a bit more upfield and got his hands on a bit more cheap ball where he used his classy disposal skills. Ultimately, however, just like Trengove, he needs to find an extra yard or he will never quite make it. I just hope Misson realises that they need a sprints coach to come in and assist and both these guys need to make a session of 50x50m part of their weekly routine. Toumpas still might make it as a Kade Simpson type because he has elite disposal skills and the good thing is that he is very willing to tackle - unlike some outside players. He might eventually become an inside-player, but we all know that's not why he was recruited - he was chosen because he was the most skillful outside running player of his year - the problem was that because he was injured mid-season, our recruiting gurus failed to realise that he lacked true speed - a pretty important commodity I would have thought for an outside player. Todd Viney, if you recall, wanted Wines but was overruled. What I'd like to know is whether he was over-ruled by Neeld? But regardless of whether it was Neeld, Jimmy T is a great bloke to have around the club from all reports and he has shown that he might become a very handy inside player down the track when he gets another chance. And if we get another player with speed in this year's draft - eg: WA's Clem Smith - then the issue about his leg-speed and Trengove's becomes less crucial - because he has the right other attrributes.

Babyshit is more gold than brown in my recollection - perhaps babyshit gold and arrogant, smug, [censored] [censored] brown.

Babyshit is more gold than brown in my recollection - perhaps babyshit gold and arrogant, smug, [censored] [censored] brown.

It's a good point others have made about NT being different conditions and I imagine it will be dewy - so not as suitable to taking marks like our boys did against Tiges and yes Port are the fastest side in comp, so too many talls seem illogical. But against that is the fact that we average more stoppages this season than any other team under Roosy's lockdown plan, so having two ruckmen working in tandem means that we can hopefully tire out either Lobbe (if fit) or Susan Renouf and therefore gain a late advantage. I would have been worried about playing Gawn and Jamar along with Pedo and Dawes, but with Dawes now out, Chipper's inclusion will mean we are slightly more mobile. If for some reason Chipper doesn't come up, then perhaps we will opt to go shorter and quicker. The only other change I can imagine is the inclusion of Jetta, but there's no way he can play on Wingard as someone suggested - he'd kill him in the air and I'd expect either Dunn or Col to get him. If Jetta gets in, then he'd have to go to either Mitchell or Impey (assuming one of them lines up forward). If he ends up having to man Gray we are in deep trouble - much too strong for Jetta. But I'd be very surprised if Grimes doesn't go to Gray - captain Jack has been getting all the hard bodied small/medium forwards. So assuming Jetta gets back in, then it surely will either be at expense of Riley, Salem or Toump - unless Frawley doesn't come up. I can't imagine any of the VFL players getting back in this week, although Jordie surely is mounting his case and Kent must be getting closer to a recall. The other fact that I'm scared of considering is that Shannon Byrnes may be fit and he has defied every logical formula on performance to get six games so far this season - so he could be back!

Roos has said he wanted to build up confidence and faith in the group after a few years of brow beating and he preached a similar loyalty doctrine at Sydney. It's why he must have decided to stand by his men after the loss to Sydney. But in some ways its easier to drop players after a win, because there's less favoritism shown towards fellow underperformers who don't get dropped because there are less underpeformers. There are two obvious changes this week and only blind stupidity will not see them happen. Col Garland is a recognised senior player who has now played several VFL games and was clearly fit yesterday from all reports. He must come in and that means Alex Georgiou - who has been a reliable, but less talented servant in his absence, gets dropped or if he is still a bit groggy from the weekend's clash, he can be rested. The second change is that Jimmy T is 19, worked hard all summer and got dropped after two moderate games as a small forward. Hopefully he is the future along with the other five youngsters that played so well in Adelaide. Shannon Byrnes is 30, has now played six moderate to poor games as a small forward and once again underwhelmed in Adelaide. His pressure count is nowhere near Rohan Bail's, so as much as he provides wisdom and maturity to the line up, I think with 17 players aged 23 or over in the side at moment we have got enough of that in spades. If Kent is fit he will need a game in the VFL to get him going again. Max Gawn and Mitch Clisby have made strong cases for a recall, but I can't see who they can replace at moment with Jetta off his first good game in 45 outings and Jamar and Pedo doing well. The only other issue that I see is deciding if Frawley needs to go back to defence to get his confidence back up again. But I'm not sure who can be sent forward instead given Howey looked better down back - perhaps Col!

Go back and watch the game - particularly the first quarter and see how many times he miskicked it. A couple of times he overkicked it in second and third quarter but I wonder if you are being as harsh on him as you are on other players. I would have thought his courage dropping into the hole in first term was crucial to our superb start. You may have to get over an anger that stems from last year and realise that he's stepped up bigtime this year. Yes he'll still make the odd mistake but tell me which defenders go through error-free each week.

Just got back from boys weekend and most enjoyable part was that the place we stayed at had Fox Sports. Our first decent win interstate since I suspect 2006 and I haven't done so much fist-pumping in a long time. I know he wasn't BOG but to me JKH set up the win - cleanest pair of hands we've seen in a long time and he showed the guys how to score goals in the first quarter setting up Bail and then doing his own little miracle goal. From then on everyone got their tail up. I had Grimesy in my best six as well - his past four weeks have been sensational and he set the tempo in the first quarter with his courageous intercept marking and that spoil on Danger in final term was brilliant. Vince was terrific as well given how emotional it must have been for him. I still reckon Danger was the best player on the ground, but Bernie also made him pay the other way and had the last laugh and I hope all the boys went back to his pub and really let the locals know what loyalty is all about - walking out with your side 10 points down and five minutes to go - what were they thinking? Well done to Jamar and Jetta - the Russian showed he can still play at this level and Jetta has now played one good game in 45 matches - I remember Brent Grgic once polled votes in a good win at Geelong and I thought he might have turned the corner. But no, he went back to his old ways for the next 25 games or so before Geelong picked him up. It's also great to come home and not find every blog taken over by the Jack Watts commentators. My only anger this week is that Shannon Byrnes got to play - is he the only one who attends meditation sessions and gets a tick? It's nice that the only five players in our side who are under 23 were all prominent - perhaps god helps us, Roos might drop Byrnes and play another kid so that we aren't the oldest side in the comp and that we have even more hope for the future. But given that he made no changes last week after a poor game against the Swans, I can't imagine Byrnes being dropped for at least another seven weeks or so. Which probably means Salem will again have to start as sub!

Good of you to provide a distraction to the Watts' bloggers and assuming you are from earth, you might want to consider inside 50s when assessing how many goals we scored - usually a good guide. Given that Frawley was also quieter, you also might want to note that they had better opponents this week with AA defender Ted Richards and Heath Grundy wearing them along with double-teaming. Anyway the issue with selection this week is whether Gawn can get back into the side and how it might effect team balance given that Jamar was solid and Pedo has been one of our better players in recent weeks. With Adelaide likely to have three big talls up forward this week - Jenkins, Pods and Tex - as well as Lynch, Pedo can probably play solely as a defender (more possible now with Garland unlikely) and take Jenkins. Tom Mc would get Tex on return, Georgiou cop Pods and Dunny on the more mobile Lynch. I also think McKenzie is a monte to play and deserves his spot because he was BOG in twos and apparently laid nine tackles as well as most disposals. So the two clear changes are: In McKenzie and Gawn Out Jetta (yes I know he's skilful but he can't win it - he's now played 43 games and has probably had 20 disposals or more in just two of them), Byrnes (ditto Jetta's comments about good skill but can't get it). I'd also make Howe the sub this week, thereby freeing up room for Gawn in the forward line rotation. I'd also be very happy for Blease (or Kent if fit) to come in for Bail but can't see it happening. What also worries me is that last week we fielded one of the oldest sides in the comp - only 5 guys under 22 - and we are meant to be in a development stage.