redman

Pretty sure Grimes didn't play as a forward. While he kicked two great goals - he was in the middle for the majority of the game... Were we at the same game?

My 2 cents about the game today Definately alot better in endevour and application compared to the game against Freo. You could see more of the game plan being put into effect. Alot of handball use through the middle of the ground to release someone to kick forward. But with a young and inexperienced side it often falls down 1 handball away from a good attacking move. It sounds strange but we are only one or two possessions away from pumping the ball into the F50 more regularly. As the team play together and game plan becomes second nature we will be flying. Until then we will show patches of great movement but not on a consistent basis. Player notes: Nathan Jones - hard at it, wins the contested ball but turns it over at the worst time. Jordan Gysberts - while he was quiet he showed glimpses - namely hes head over the footy diving on the footy, got the handball off for a goal. He will add some good size to the future midfield. Jordie McKenzie - I love Jordies work - great in the centre square, he and grimes work well together in getting the clearances. Must promote to the senior list. Ricky Petterd - good game from Ricky - marks well over head and finds space. Could have easily had 5. Jack Grimes - what else is there to say than brilliant. Clearances, marks, goals, good disposal.. and hes only play 12 games! Addam Maric - I think people have jumped on his back abit to quickly. The only bad thing people remember is he shocking kicking for goal in the intra and freo games - other than that his field play is really good imo. He had 81% kicking for goal effciency in u18's from memory so i'm sure it'll return. His pressure and tackling was good today. Tom Scully - Was the best of the youngsters - last quarter was his best - needs to adjust to the speed of the game though. Considering we played a near full strength Bombers side - and we had davey, bate, green, bruce, garland, spencer (need another ruckman to push martin's big body into the f50), mcdonald wonna & jetta from out starting 22 I think it was a better effort than the score suggests. We just need to be patient..

TB, the AGM starts and finishes within 1/2 an hour. The information night - talks from the coach, board etc starts at 7.30pm and goes from there. Think I might have a look myself. I assume the jumper presentation will be held then?

Heres Aaron's acceptance speech, its a ripper.. Davey's Speech

Morton put on weight over the last preseason, 3 kgs I think but he grew 2cms and he was back to square one! Hopefully he will stop growing and will start putting on some size. With his endurance and ball winning/space finding abilities he could burn CHB's into the ground. And hes a straight reliable kick. Bring it on!

Usually an assistant at the AFL club, takes on the coaching at VFL level.. i.e. Jade Rawlings was an assistant but coach Coburg before becoming the caretaker... If the assistant can manage to have some involvement with the AFL listed clubs on some matchdays (logistics and game timing permitting) i think it would be beneficial to ensure they are reading of the same sheet game plan wise. It would assist in the smooth transition from VFL to AFL.

Saint plays hard Ball Well another article mentioning Simon Buckley as a trade, will be interesting which clubs are interested and what they are prepared to offer. Don't really see the point getting a 2nd or 3rd pick for a player in a weak draft for a young player who has some potential. Wouldn't be upset if Carlton took Bell off our hands. Miller to be offered a new deal though, looks like hes staying after all.

i hate collingwood.

DF, yeah he was a late withdrawl with injury and couldn't force his way back into the side. If he falls through to the PSD would be worth a look.

Obviously quite quick and agile, supposedly hes not as good football wise but I think hes a late developer. He was named BOG in Northern Knights win against North Ballarat and he was in the teams best in there 1st final loss. Hopefully he is starting to put it together. He spoke to 14 clubs at the Draft Camp so obviously theres some interest. With any luck we can pick him up late on in the draft.

Another article on this: Bulldogs appoint German as development coach Disappointing that German is leaving, he got casey winning even without alot of AFL listed players... Hopefully the scorps/dees can keep hold of the next coach for abit longer this time.

Hated the part in the article where it says that we should have rookied him last year, after being in the car to visit Nev Jetta and Bennell... Turns out it would have been a steal! Oh well... win some you lose some...

Thanks HT, hopefully I keep my hair a tad longer than him and not to become such a disliked individual. As much as he can be a annoying hes pretty good at his job. Hes the one of the last players we should be worried about on our list. He gives his all.. he might not be the quickest but he loves a contest... He had a slow start ot the year, but his midseason form was really good including a career best 36 possies against the Bulldogs, Got injured in Round 16 and after a lay off never go going again. I think if we weren't so decimated by injuries at that point he would have been rested longer. Preseasons are crucial these days, Hawthorn are case and point. Brock will be back in 2010 (injuries permitting)

No need to worry people, according to the no.1 newsbreaker Hutchy (in his page in Sunday HS). Brock "has opened contract negoiations in a move that could mean a paycut for the Demon midfielder. The 22 year old has been paid about $400,000 in recent years. But injuries and form have curtailed the popular Demons appearances. McLean and his management met the Demons on Thursday to discuss the deal. McLean played 19 games for the Demons this season averaging 21 possessions." Personally I think Brocks been carrying some kind of injury throughout the majority of the season (aside from that knee injury).. when fit hes definately a required player. Smart move by the club though to reduce his wages until he starts improving. Teams need to run 8 deep in the midfield and if Brock and Jones are 7 & 8 in the future then we will be looking good... On a sidenote: Hutchy also mentions that we are leaning toward Trengrove with Pick 2.. nothing new there.

Agreed. Harrington didn't give anything away... and they will protect the names until draft day.. But the comment re: Morabito has me swaying from Trengove to him, if they see him as a potential KPP, Pavlich type then we could have a very explosive player on our side. Appears to be alot more skillful than Butcher and if he can move into the midfield when required that would be a huge asset...

Last year I truly believed we needed two big key forwards to build a premiership attack, so with Watts coming on board, Butcher seemed the obvious choice in this years draft to be JW's partner in crime. But our biggest weakness is our lack of forward 50 entries. We do not give our forward line not only enough oppotunities (melbourne averages 46.8 per game compared to geelongs 55) but also low in quality. Now, the 3 highest goal scoring sides Bulldogs (16gpg), Geelong (15.4) and Carlton (15.1) in 2009 all do so without 2 big key fowards. It is all based on quick, accurate disposal into the 50. If you can hit a target laces out with the rules how they today, its unbeatable the majority of the time. Butcher isn't going to be the solution imo. Improving our side's midfield with high quality users of the footy (see recruitment of Blease, Strauss etc) but we need more... Scully and whether it be Trengrove, Morabito at 2 would be the best way of doing that. Take a forward prospect like Panos with Pick 18 because he can replace a wasteful Miller/Newton in the future. A top quality midfield is crucial don't you think?

There were definately suspect positional moves being made today, but the sinister connotations aside can't trying players in different players in a variety of roles be benficial? Jack Grimes got to play for the best part in the midfield, Pettard started his career in defence but through a change appears to be better suited as a forward. Stef Martin is being tried as a forward, whats to say that Frawley and Warnock can't do it too? Can't hurt to have options when plan A, B and C fail... The hawks play a ruckman (robert campball) as a defender... So while it appears quite obvious as they were in the same game surely it can't all be negative? We had the game won with 4-5 secs left.. must have been doing something right...

I remember seeing Zomer in a praccy match out at Casey at the start of the year and i was impressed. Expected him to start really pushing his name forward this year considering hes on his 2nd year of a rookie contract. Unfortunately, hes been stuck in the reserves obviously through form and a strong casey forward line. With the chances been given to Newton and Co in the MFC side this week, hopefully Zomer can seize the oppotunity... We could do with another key forward/ruckman. Great goal in the 1st quarter...

The game has changed so much that where the reliance on big contested marks in the forward line isn't required, so with precision kicking into the F50 onto a lead or a player in space becoming more prevalent then another gun midfielder becomes more vital. But an over reliance on the one target a la Carton and Fev... then options are required. So both as important as each other so we just need to pick the best player available.. if Trengrove is going to be a star and Butcher a good player then Trengrove is the call... And judging but the article in the Age last week thats exactly what they will do... pick the players with potential 'star' quality over positional requirements!

Couldn't agree more, with Rivers & Frawley out I would expect him to be given an opportunity as early as this week. Bailey said a week or so ago that he was in the mix for selection, hes been in the best for the past few matches. From what I've seen, he is footy smart and reads the play very well. Digga, sorry mate but he won't be delisted if he doesn't play a game this season... considering we have kept players like newton on the list for longer with only glimpses of potential. Hes a young key position player who needs time, draft position means nothing once they are in the system other than the expectation that is placed on them by us and the media.

Really happy with whats developing with the side, young players are being given oppotunities to play an attractive brand of football. At the moment we don't have the entire skill set to carry it out for full games but we are seeing it in patches in each game, like our 8 goal qtr against the tiges and for the majority of sundays match. If we had a few more experienced/developed forwards we would have won or been close to winning a few more matches so far this season. Full credit to not only bailey but his assistants who are each influencing the teams development. Each player has improved something, Nathan Jones has never kicked better, Frawley put on size and has grown into his role... Meesen before his injury was starting to show something, after alot of us (definately including me) had written him off. We have competition for places, and even with injuries to experienced players like wheatley, whelan, green etc we have had a youngster come in an fill in the role. And we haven't even seen our top 3 draft picks from 09, our no.1 preseason pick and our rookies all look like potentially making onto the primary list. Thats just the tip of the iceberg... Have can you not be happy or excited about whats being developed down at demonland??

Haha, scapegoat for what? a win? I think hes going to be a good little player, and he definately has attributes to develop further (specially when he turned a sydney player inside out on the wing @ visy park during the NAB challenge match). Agree with him not being on his Pat Malone but its not based on the one game. Sometimes going back to the reserves for a couple of games can be more effective than staying in the senior side. Plus Maric deserves a call up and not sure if we can fit in both of them at the moment...

I want to like Newton, hes a pretty good mark... spectacular at times. We need to remember that he is still developing and has deficiencies but we can see evidence that he is working on those. Hes definately chasing (laid 4 tackles) alot more. Could have easily had 3 goals if he kicked straighter but it was his first game back for the season so hopefully he will improve again in the coming weeks.

Its funny that a lack of class is now our problem. Our midfield a few years ago was a 'rolls royce' midfield and lacked some V8 grunt... How times have changed. Moloney is a great inclusiong this season. He does alot of the one percenters, gets contested possessions, clearances and puts it into the forward 50... Hopefully Sylvia can produce this kind of goal kicking display more regularly...

Personally I would give Jetta a spell at Casey for a couple of games, I'm happy for as many youngsters to be in the team to develop... But, I think he hasn't done alot in the past couple of games, doesn't look confident out there at the moment. Thought he coughed up the pill a little at times against Richmond & Port. So it would be good to get him back to casey and let him loose and build up some confidence now that he knows the level of performance required. Maric more than deserves a call up, has been our best performed player at Casey the past 3 or so matches. Bennell might do with the same treatment.. but think he is more versatile and will stay. Out: Green, Jetta In: McDonald, Maric