Samael

You do realise that whilst Viv has been in the system for 4 years (entering his 5th) he has virtually only had two seasons and played 6.5 games. Would hardly call him a seasoned pro. His first two years at Freo were all spent on the LTI list not to mention the last 6 games at Peel when he did his meniscus. He has had 2 preseasons in 5 years.

Malceski has largely been ignored and I personally think he is a fabulous pick up for the Suns.

Viv was among our best in the last four games last season, was ranked in the top 3 or 4 against Freo in the Nab game, went okay for the 15 minutes he played in Ballarat and according to TDI and somebody else was the best last week for Casey. He is among the top tacklers, gets plenty inside 50s (but for some reason does not go inside himself) and has excellent disposal efficiency meaning his disposal results in another disposal down field. I don't think you need to justify your selection. TDI is right, he gets it done with a minimum of fuss and before you know it he has a ton of touches. Just wish he would go forward and kick a couple so that he does get noticed. Or dye his hair blonde and wear fluro boots. Brayshaw will be in as well in my humble opinion.

I think that you are being a bit harsh on the midfield developed in the last year and this preseason. Great midfields don't just happen and this year will see a further jump in the development and more importantly competitiveness.

And I am betting that the delivery into them even in their early years was better than I have seen in the pre-season.

Thanks for the report. Must have been frustrating. Fitness?

Bit confused with these assessments. But I don't think you can be critical of a bloke getting the hard ball. Plenty of passengers to get the easy ball. I would be interested to know whether Viv went into the forward 50. I think he has been told not to as he never seems to.

Is Michie playing?

Not my style and I don't think I have the "cred" to question any coach at this level. Just a view I have.

All this happened at training yesterday? WTF?

I think that Roos relying on his other staff would be fine if he had been around for a few years but to my way of thinking he is trying to change the culture and to have a number of listed players running around in the magoos and not bothering to even go and watch them was a mistake on a couple of levels. Firstly PR could not possibly know the match day player, just the training player and if you look at Garlett as a for instance the two are very dis-similar. Footy is a confidence game so just imagine a young bloke being picked in the Casey team for whatever reason, and knowing that your boss is not even bothering to watch. How would that effect (or affect) your mindset? I think it would be very disheartening but that may just be the way I am wired. Apparently the Casey coach was playing a different style than Roos' game plan (it was reported thus) and he should have at least been confirming that his charges were being coached in his style. That in itself must have been confusing to the players impacted. I hope with the new players that he has this year, that he gets more personally involved, particularly with a new coach at Casey.

I don't think anyone doubts the size of the task Roos took on last year. However he is not under the same pressure as other coaches are as he is on defined tenure and is virtually immune to performance measures. This is a good thing IMO because he can experiment over his tenure with no fear. His success will be inevitably be measured in the team he hands over to Goodwin. Unfortunately for the supporters this is not necessarily the same measure of success we want. Wins and ladder position matter to the average punter. We need to see some degree of improvement and according to my mates (various team supporters) after the Essendon game (and a lesser extent the Dogs fade out) even though they were practice matches we have not improved. They also delight in reminding me that we set the last 2 NAB games up as "our Round 1" suggesting we were not treating them as friendlies. My only query on Roos approach thus far is why he has not been to one Casey game? I know he would get down the ground vision and possible full ground tapes but as we all know no amount of vision replaces being at the ground. I would have thought a new coach intent on changing the culture would be keen on evaluating all his resources and not relying on other to provide him with their opinion. I go to a fair few VFL games and you always see the other AFL coaches including their support staff and many of the firsts. Never saw Roos at a Casey game and have had it confirmed that he only views tapes of Casey games. Personally I think its a flaw but then I am not an AFL coach and he does have the pedigree. I am loathe to criticise players because I simply do not know what their specific instructions are. I often wonder why certain players do things but expect that if it is that obvious to me and they don't act as I would then they must have certain instructions that stop them from doing the obvious. It hass happened to me in my own career ("don't go past the forward 50" "drop back on the resting ruckman" or "wear no x and forget the ball". After all they have made it to the big time and I didn't. I do get annoyed at basic skill errors but I see all players make them and I certainly make mistakes in my job without some 6 and a half foot gorilla (or Messerschmidt) on my back about to kill me.

Melbourne InterchangeNathan Jones was changed with Ben Newton due to an injury. From AFL Live

Is N Jones injured? AFL Live says he is.

Why "unfortunately we are going to have to rely on Michie Bail and M Jones...... I don't get the lack of love for Viv. His last 4 games last season were excellent and I think he was twice named in the best. The first NAB challenge he was our 4 best (based on stats) and only had part of the last qtr in the 2nd game. In that time he garnered 5 touches, 2 Inside 50's 100% efficiency and 2 tackles.Compare his 21% of game time to Frost's 76%. Frost Viv Michie 22 4 0 4 1 3 100 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 21 26 1Sam Frost 17 3 4 7 4 3 42.9 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 100 76 28 I well know that stats are not the be all and end all of a players worth but they are a consistent measure when looking at all players. Just my opinion and I am bias

Your comments re the umpire are interesting. I was with some doggy supporters and they were annoyed at the umpiring as well and thought that there team was hard done. I did not think the umpiring was a factor at all. They missed and paid frees for both teams that the other side would have been howling about.

How did she pass the pre- nuptial checks?

Hogan was subbed off in the 4th qtr.

Thanks. Will get 3 tickets

Michie end of 2015 I believe

Do members get in for free or do we have to buy tickets?

http://www.afl.com.au/

Michie? 4th best on stats/possession. Game High Tackles for both teams. Only 72% game time.

Even harsher on Michie.

You, me and most demonlanders. Rarely gets a mention in training reports as well. He had 7 tackles tonight and I can only remember 1.