M_9

Agree with inclusion of AJ for Fritsch. Disagree in dropping Kolt. He's our future, not Sharp. Kolt won't improve playing at Casey. Confidence is a wonderful thing. Also he's more versatile than Sharp. If JvR is to return he plays purely as a forward. In the history of the VFL/AFL how many players his size have succeeded as a ruckman and sole key forward?

Just getting a senior game with the MFC is hardly a measure that your skills have improved. It may just be we've no one else on the list to fill that spot. If Max goes down we're likely to play TC. He's older than Max, at his fourth club, and I'm not sure he'll perform any better at the Dees than at his previous clubs. Then again, maybe our coaches can turn it around for him.

I said 'young talent', not 'good young talent'. In the last 12 months have we seen any marked improvement in the skills of Laurie, Jefferson, Adams, Verrall , Fullerton, Howes, and Brown? IMO minimal if any. JvR was playing better footy in 2023. Sparrow ...? We do have good young talent and they'll progress irrespective of who is coaching them, as did the likes of Clarrie and Trac. I'm saying that our overall record as regards player development is poor. Let's see if we can develop AJ, Henderson, Sharp, Kentfield and Culley. That's 25% of our list I've mentioned, all under 25.

IMO the main reason we've fallen in a hole the last 12 months is due to the fact we've failed to develop our young players. There's not one player at Casey pressing for senior selection. Most of our young talent have failed to progress their skills. Again, IMO, our assistant coaches, including Jones, are largely to blame. If Max gets injured we're no hope. We've got three young ruckmen on our list. Plus TC. Are any capable of playing first ruck? No way. I'm predicting our next win will come against North in round 15.

Our best in rounds 1 and 5: 127 AF points (highest) v Giants: 24 disposals, 46 hitouts. 118, 22 and 49 v Bombres. Poor rounds 2 and 3. OK round 4. Also best last two weeks as you have said. Bluey voting a bit difference - there can be large margins between 1st and 2nd in a game.

Pretty confident it'll be closer to: Max (by a fair margin) Clarry (strange I know) Salem TMac Chandler Bowey

'we have lots of good back up and support players' - I'm not sure we have that. I assume you mean the likes of JvR, Turner, Howes but then who? I think we've got a lot of dead wood, fast becoming list cloggers.

Jed Adams says 'Hi'.

Not strictly on topic, but related: It's an indictment on our player development that JvR isn't playing seniors. Looking at his stats he has not improved one iota in the last two and a bit years. Average disposals from 8.7 (20 games) to 10.2 (21 games) to 7.8 (5 games). Less than a goal per game on average. Casey is full of players who'll be delisted with few or no senior games. Youse all know who I'm talking about (Carl Barron/Shane Crawford,).

Turner an/or Petty I guess.

TMac was 7th in the Bluey last year. I reckon would be top ten currently, possibly top 7.

I go with Sparrow on Reid. He went OK on Holmes. Limited him to 17 disposals and no score.

Judging by his performance against Xerri I'd certainly agree. But where does he rest? It would have to be on the bench. Like TC, AJ would be competing against the opposition's second ruckman. David King, Gerard Healy et al have shown, with stats, there's absolutely no correlation between ruck dominance and clearances. I posted those figures elsewhere on this forum. We had the same number of clearances as Cats and Freo despite Max dominating.

Not so sure. Last time TC kicked a goal at AFL level was nearly 4 years ago (Rd 10 2021). I'd prefer AJ. More chance of adding to our score. Unlike TC can rest forward.

My bad, although I did say 2 goals every three games, so I was right on the money.

Who has the club got to teach JvR how to play as a forward? Chaplin? Chocco? Mark Jackson?!

Including the pre-season match v Freo and his round one game AJ has kicked 2.4. (1.2 each game). They're the figures I went with.

The beauty of having Max is that he's a great ruck rover. As you say, he can take it out of the ruck. The anomaly is that the stats don't reflect this. This thread is about our next game. We need to better utilise Max's dominance. He's good enough to win a Brownlow, as his last two games have shown. Similarly JvR, IMO, has the potential to be a very good KPF. But not if he has to ruck. TC is 'break glass' - too old and not proven. AJ currently the best option. Fit enough to cover all bar centre square ball ups? Probably not. But can play forward, kick two goals every three weeks (more than Max), and throw some weight around.

A ruck contest is simply a way to restart the game. Winning a ruck contest has become completely irrelevant. Gerard Healy said exactly this on Saturday after analysing the third quarter of our Thursday night game. Only one of Max's hit-outs in the third quarter, which we dominated, was a hit to advantage. Max has been the best player on the ground by a country mile in our last two games. Was his ruck work of any benefit to us as regard clearances? Marginal in round 6; zero benefit in rounds 4 and 7. Hitouts v Dockers +12. Clearances +5 Htouts v Tigers +8. Clearances 38 each Hitouts v Cats +7. Clearances 32 each. A team with 'ordinary rucks'. We do not need Max to be involved in ruck comtests all over the ground.

Exactly. Meek was keeping an eye on Stanley oblivious to the fact that Bilcavs was taking the boundary throw ins.

An apology if this has been mentioned elsewhere: David King analysed Chris Scott's use of two ruckman (Stanley and Bilcavs) v the Hawks. Meek was confused when Stanley essentially only contested ball ups in and around the square and Bilcavs took all others and boundary throw ins. Meek was caught out numerous times. King reckons the Cats have been using this ploy for three years. I'd like to see us trying a similar strategy with Max ie Max staying between the arcs but not out to the wings. I know it would mean he wouldn't be taking those clutch marks both deep forward and deep back. If JvR plays he plays as a permanent forward in my team. It's the only way he'll develop. AJ rucks outside the square if he has the fitness. TC won't be part of our next flag. A slim chance AJ will. Maybe Turner doing some rucking if playing in the backline.

The very reason I'd have AJ ahead of Campbell. He's some 8 years younger.

My mate asked Alan Richardson at one of our preseason games why Fullerton hadn't got a game. 'lack of a competitive nature' was the reason he gave. Strange recruit given our experience with Schache and Weid.

I hope the Demon Army wrote the text. We don't want the teams running a banner that reads: 'Lets wee for Jett'