KingDingAling

I turned it off at 3 quarter time. By that point I'd seen enough. After last night the last thing I wanted to see was MFC get umpired out of an important win, so I have no idea how the umps were in the last quarter, but I can speak on the first 3 quarters and the umpiring was deplorable. At this point I am getting a bit disheartened by AFL.

We are too short down back. Thank christ Gawn is starting to push back.

Every single time.. Never have I seen a team give away so many goals in the last 30 seconds of a quarter. Every single time. Just pathetic and its not good enough.

Worst umpiring I have seen in a long time. Needs to be looked into.

I agree. Once it (prospect of getting Gaff) becomes a likely trade scenario it loses its appeal. At present we have nothing to offer. That may change. I tend to give the club the benefit of the doubt in that if we do make a play for Gaff, and decide to trade for him, that we will be offloading some players who could get us some picks. Don't forget, whoever orchestrated the picks swap with GC that ended up landing us Oliver, those people are (highly likely) still at the club, so if they decide to trade for Gaff, I would trust they will make it happen. I completely sat on the fence in relation to the Watts deal that landed us Fritsch, but whoever it was knew what they were doing. If we make a play for Gaff I'd back the mind trust.

We wouldn't go both. Gaff is a reasonable fall back option. But obviously if we had the pick of the two we'd go Sloane. We are at the point in our journey where we are entering the premiership window. You get the best players possible. Sloane is an A grader. Gaff is a B grader. Given a choice its a simple decision for mine.

Hopefully we go hard at Sloane. As far as FA's go he is the pick of the bunch for us (fits our needs big time).

I would put Petracca on Ollie Wines and tell him its a close tag. If not then drop Petracca. But two things, we need to tag Wines IMO, he is by far their most damaging midfielder, and we can educate Petracca at the same time. Its out of left field, but Petracca needs education not to be dropped to Casey to dominate the learn nothing. In this circumstance we can kill two birds with the one stone. Let Viney and Oliver go head to head with Port's remaining two midfielders. They will steamroll straight through them.

The appeal of acquiring Gaff is that we don't have to trade for him. If circumstances were to change and we did have to trade for him, then it loses appeal IMO. We aren't at all in a position to trade for Gaff. If that were the case I would be surprised if the club even entertained a trade. We simply have nothing to give.

Pert is a great get. Wiser heads prevailed on this one. Pert - who has experience - against someone with no business experience. Good call to go with the tried and true. Melbourne cannot afford to appoint anyone who could fail, we are in a good position and have to go with the safe - and logical - option. We want to be in a position such as the likes of Collingwood are in, and who better to get us there. Personally I couldn't care what the critics have to say, I mean, our coach was involved in a systematic doping regime, so I am pretty sure whatever skeletons Pert has in the closet - they aren't as serious as setting up doping programs to inject our players. Welcome aboard Gary.

Clearly a very talented footballer but looks a bit slow lately. The fact that he is always dangerous close to goals has probably kept him in the side longer than it would others. But now he is right on the cusp of being demoted.

That is what Billings should do when dropped back to the VFL. Most AFL players - even those of a lower standard - should be dominating the VFL when dropped back. Confidence booster for Billings. He needed it.

Competition for spots. That a great sign. Not only do players have to be in top VFL form to break into the side, but they have to maintain that form once they are in it. Smith only had one down week, I thought he was great the week before, but it is a good sign to send. It says that at a minimum, players need to contribute at the top level every week. Smith didn't for just one week. He can consider himself stiff, but these are the standards of a top 4 side. He will now go back to the VFL, bust a nut to break back in, be a better player for it and we will be a better team for setting those standards.

There probably isn't a person on this site who doesn't want Kielty to get a game, so its understandable he comes into the equation at this point (as far as poster's discussion Lever's replacement). He does look the type of player who could fill Lever's role. I just question whether Kielty is in the type of form that warrants a promotion right at this moment. The challenge is there for him and personally I hope he eventually is the guy for the job, he would add a lot to our side. Kielty is versatile and can also ruck, so its a plus. He just needs to start really knocking that door down in the VFL.

I disagree entirely. Loyalty means absolutely nothing if you aren't in good enough form to remain in the side - ala Tyson. He can be as loyal as he wants but if he isn't making an impact it means jack sh*t. I am sure many of his teammates at AFL level would prefer if Tyson was putting in more 1% efforts and defensive acts so it makes their job easier. But he isn't, and as a result he is at Casey.

Kielty has barely even got a mention in the Casey best's all year. And that is at VFL level. I am one that believes the gap between VFL and AFL is bigger than most believe. If you aren't going really well at VFL level and aren't consistently in the bests you shouldn't even be spoken of getting a game at AFL level. There was a time when Kielty was regularly getting in the bests, and he got drafted because of it, so I am not suggesting he isn't potentially an AFL level player, but he is hardly in great form to warrant selection at the moment. Its not a kick in the guts to not be handed a promotion when your form doesn't warrant it. In all likelihood whoever fills Lever's position this week probably won't be holding onto it every single week onwards, so those in the VFL need to be pushing themselves to their limits. That means getting in the best every week to warrant promotion.

Billings for Tyson in a heartbeat. If we had to add to that deal we could - and should. I would prefer we traded into Gresham, but if Billings is all we could get I'd be keen on that. Jack Billings is going to be a very good football player, he just looks disinterested and unhappy at times (too many times and most times). I suspect he isn't happy at St Kilda, would probably be a far better player in a better side. We should at least ask the question. Tyson is too slow for our side, he will struggle to even break back into it, plus he isn't versatile, at least we could sit Billings in our forward line and get something out of him.

In other words, if Frost is in form Roos would bring him in. Trouble with many of the guys being speculated to fill the role for Lever (Frost, Smith and Keilty) is that none of them are in good enough form to be promoted. The is a massive gulf in quality between the VFL and the AFL, and the fact of the matter is - if you cannot dominate the VFL then you shouldn't get a game in the AFL. It is a shame Pederson most likely won't be available to fill Lever's role this week. I would be looking to promote Billy Stretch and use Bernie Vince as a key defender for a week. We need to be rewarding players who are dominating VFL, and not giving games to players who can't just because they fill a need.

Howe would be a logical choice as he is an endurance athlete. We may be able to expose Dunn late in the game though (if he is a match up), because there is no way he runs with Hogan and McDonald all day, and if he tries he will be blowing in the last half. That match up looks like something we should be able to expose. Because Dunn is their main key back, even if they rotate him (if he can't keep up) they are then vulnerable in the air.

Good to hear Dion Johnstone had his best game. Hopefully that gives him a bit of confidence and he can kick on from that. As a player, I would prefer Balic to be promoted ahead of Stretch. Balic would offer our senior side a different set of skills - he has a bit of X factor about him and is a classy user of the ball. Hopefully he gets a chance soon.

Keilty hasn't been in the top 5 best players on the ground once this year. That is not even nearly enough to warrant selection. I understand we need to replace Lever, but whoever replaces him needs to be of AFL standard. Pederson is the logical replacement if he is able to take the field next week. He is in form and we know he is capable of playing at an AFL level. If Pederson doesn't make it then we may need to shift our side around at senior level and swing someone down back for a game.

Pederson is the one I would be bringing in and send down back. I remember watching him when he played at North Melbourne. He was predominately down back and I thought he was excellent. Has played down back for us at times with success. But overall, as a backman I think Pederson is seriously underrated. He would step into that role effortlessly, and could also give Max a chop out rucking in the backline, allowing us to use Max as a target in the middle of the ground as he has a breather.

He looks far better evasively in that clip. I know his top end speed probably sticks out in comparison to what we see today, but I see a guy who moved evasively FAR better then than he does now. Also, he looked a bit more desperate to move the ball on. These days Tyson holds onto the pill too much. If we can move Tyson on for anything better than a 3rd round pick we are doing well IMO.

Since our last loss.. We have brought in Fritsch - and played him on the wing. Hannan has come back in, and has been influential. Spargo has replaced Garlett and appears to be making an impact. I look at it and think Fritsch, Spago and Hannan have been huge for us. They give us versatility and all are hard match ups. Its not like Tyson or Bugg where they can be exploited. If Fritsch is given a spare metre he will kill you by foot (he is one of the best kicks in the league). Angus into the middle, Salem more back than middle, Petracca more forward than middle. McDonald more forward than back, Viney back in is absolutely huge. Lever into form allowed more opportunities for Hibberd and Lewis. Goodwin really looking like a genius with all these moves. They have all worked. Be interesting to see how he handles players like Bugg, Tyson, Garlett and Hunt. My guess is they will more than have to earn a game because our balance at the moment is spot on. Its even going to be hard to get Tim Smith out of the side now, as he is playing great football and really provides something up forward.

Everytime I watch Oliver play I am thankful we picked him ahead of Parish. Imagine the uproar if we had've let Oliver slip? It would be crazy. Lyon is right, Oliver is the best kid to emerge in the last 20 years. We would be slitting our wrists if we overlooked him.