Tough Kent

Has someone got Tim Lamb's number for J???

Never underestimate a footballer's ego. He'll be backing himself in to play in our senior 23. Hopefully with our coaches support they can help him to make this happen.

To those questioning Dunstan's recruitment. If any of our midfielders from the GF were injured next week, who would you bring in from the list to replace them now that Chuck and AvB are gone?? There is not one true mid amongst the remaining 16 or so players on our list. It's a no brainer for mine.

I was taught by Gerard's sister at primary school. I idolised Gerard and Greg. I had his number 3 on my little MFC jumper. It broke my heart when he left us for the mone.... I mean to play finals. One of my best moments in footy was when we flogged Gerard's Swans in the 1987 first semi-final, knocking them out of the finals. It's fair to say I have forgiven, but not forgotten. :)

Thank you! I tried to find that song for ages. Appreciate it dude!

Does anyone know this song or who sings it?

One of the Casey boys, George Grey played as a top up player for the GWS reserves side last weekend.

I just had a lengthy chat to one of our assistant coaches this morning. I asked him about the rumours of a few players being sore and potentially missing on Monday. But Jake Lever (He acknowledged Jake's ankle was sore) and Christian Salem (groin) both trained strongly and should play. The boys fly up tomorrow, have a Captain’s Run on the SCG and come home Tuesday. They then have 4 days off before the Bye. We spoke about the small forwards as this bloke looks after them. He’s really excited about Kade Chandler who kicked 5 goals in a little scratch match last week with players from Carlton, Essendon and Collingwood. We also spoke about the new training facility. One thing he told me that I didn’t know was that the oval at Gosch’s Paddock is being expanded to MCG size. That was definitely going ahead shortly. He was also fairly confident that the new facility would be built in the current AAMI car park.

Baker, Chandler and obviously Weid were the players from outside the 22 last week who trained this morning with the main group.

I was at the Captain's Run this morning. Not only did Trac train, he looked completely unimpeded, ran at full pace and looked sharp. He did every drill and there was no sign of any limp. From what I saw in the first 30 minutes there is no way in the world he is not playing.

It was stated on MMM over the weekend that despite clearing the three players at the end of last season, Collingwood's salary cap is still extremely tight and a real mess. They will not have the room to chase a highly paid recruit. They're not exactly a destination club at the moment either. (How the wheel turns.)

You don't flirt with your form. You pick the side that gets it done for you. If T-Mac's form drops away, you drop him. What message does it say to our players when they are getting dropped because of their birth certificate? I think you're giving Weid far too little credit. He won't sook up because he's not getting a run at the moment. His time will come. It's a great position for the club to be in.

What a ridiculous notion. Based on that logic, we should drop Stephen May because he is 29 and bring in Harry Petty immediately because he is younger and out of contract. Regardless of form.

The Saints have a plethora of explosively quick small forwards. The ability of our small defenders (see Jetta and Salem) to cover them worries me. Viney comes in for Sparrow. Yze needs to sort out those centre clearances ASAP.

I just took a call from T-Mac and asked him about the blood clot rumour. He said Oscar even rang him to ask if he was okay. Apparently there was a young Casey fella in the B game that looked a bit like him who got taken to hospital with a blood clot after the game. Someone saw him at the hospital and confused him for T-Mac.

As good a player is Gawny is, check the stats on our ability to win the ball from stoppages. He's hitting it, but for whatever reason, we aren't dominating clearances. There's a real lack of cohesion in there. I'm all for Gawn spending 2 or 3 centre bounces a quarter in our square, hoping we win the clearance and then releasing him up the ground.

Forward. He got on to the end of a few and kicked a few goals. He presented really well and seemed to be moving a better.

Thanks mate. Rosman trained with the mids and was used as a wingman. He covers the ground very well and I couldn't believe how he was passing some accomplished runners in the interval stuff. He got his hands on the footy a bit during match sim and definitely didn't panic. His ball drop is unique, but he was certainly trying to spot up targets in wet and greasy conditions. They work with this kid and I think he will become a player.

He looks fantastic. Lean, engaged and he mopped up everything. I'm not sure why he was taken from the main group to work with one of the fitness staff, but he did a heap more running and work whilst there so he is definitely fit.

They both trained with the mids. It was interesting watching them in the drills where they were up directly against Trac, Oliver and co. JJ in particular held his own and broke away from a couple of contested situations with the footy in hand. JJ AND Nieta did the interval running together and are very similar in size and running ability.

Thanks mate. BB seems to be moving quite well and wasn't restricted at all. I watched him closely in one on one duels and we certainly won't be relying on him to take contested marks. Maysie had his measure in the square and moved him around quite easily. Brown is very vocal on the ground and was definitely happy to have input into discussions around ball movement into the 50.

Thanks mate. Petty did the whole session. Hibbo was in a tracksuit top and didn't do much at all outside of some light ball handling. James Harmes was the only player that I didn't spot today.

I got down to Casey today. It was good to be back watching the boys live. I waltzed into the ground and moved around at will, until Benny Gibson came over and told me I was welcome to stay, but that I had to stay in a certain part of the ground. So I stood just in front of Jeff Farmer and Matty Whelan who were on the hill chatting for hours! Some observations: -Brayshaw, Pickett and Lockhart made up the re-hab group. (Although vandenBerg and May spent time working away from the group with the fitness staff.) Gus did quite a bit of light running and kicking. They ran Kozzie into the ground. -Jordan Lewis was there today. He even did the interval running with the players at the end of training. -Choco ran a drill early where the focus was on kicking. He was very vocal and dead against players kicking around corners. -Clayton Oliver was wearing a pink hat at training. I'm not sure why, but I overheard he was wearing it because he came first in something. -T-Mac was a stand out for me. He marked and moved well. He seemed to be involved in everything. -Jake Lever was by far the most vocal on the ground. He likes dropping the f-bomb, does old Jake. -Jayden Hunt was training with the defenders. Melksham was with the mids and spent a lot of time out on the wing in match sim. -Kobe Farmer and Deakyn Smith were training with the group. Both looked lively at times without standing out. -A lot of the drills were focussed around ball movement, defensive structures and delivering the ball inside 50. There was a lot of stopping of the play by coaches to talk through the way players were setting up on the ground at various times. I'm happy to answer any questions.

I'm not someone who obsesses over DFAs and would generally give an untried kid a spot on the list through the draft, but Schultz is a tackling machine and would be our best defensive forward straight away. He always looks threatening around goal, and at the feet of Brown, Weideman and Jackson, he may get more opportunities than he would at Freo. Surely a 2 year deal, a return to Victoria and a spot on our list would trump a year on Freo's rookie list?

What are you waiting for?? Go and have a froth or two and see what you can find out. It's your Demonly duty.