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May out for 2 games, gawn out for one and Tom a bit lame. They are basically all our contested marking players

Pretty deplorable performance all round, hard to find a winner anywhere. Looked slow, reactive and the most bruise free I've seen us in years. Not sure why our tough midfield decided to basically white flag it. A shame on Gawn either way but honestly you can't tell me one player getting injured is a sufficient reason to basically give up, which it looked like the midfield did for large parts of the game. Some of the overconfidence on here today was genuinely ridiculous against a team that knocked us out last year, rarely loses at the Gabba and had a huge point to prove after a horror showing last week Worst I've seen us play since 2019

Jon Ralph saying Tommo a very good chance to take May's spot

Fair enough and don't want to distract from the point on Judd. Was indeed a good debut. Interested to see his lockdown capabilities. I can see him getting Charlie Cameron this week which is equal parts exciting and terrifying

? Petty's debut is widely regarded as one of the worst ever.

100% - the amount of Geelong fans commenting tells you how worried they are about him Witch hunt well and truly on

Sorry but this is just wrong. His disposal barely improved in several years on the list - he's a real butcher. As in, was the worst kick on our list. It was not close to anyone else on the list aside from maybe our lumbering rucks. He's a busy, high metres gained player and maybe the dogs are pleased with that. But ultimately he will need to hit targets in this game, another, or crucial finals and he'd be close to the worst amongst all starting 22s at doing so. He may have improved over the dogs off season and I wish him well (not too well against us!). But it was the right time to move him on.

One thing about him is he gets a lot of shots at goal. He only needs a night where they stick to really cement his place. He's much more capable of a bag of goals than Spargo for example. I hope he doesn't try to take on too many though. I'm also conscious his pressure off the ball isn't at the Spargo or anb or Pickett level.

Gee whiz not sure we'd deal with the attacking threat (or replicate it ourselves) of either of these teams

May's clearly injured his calfstring guys don't ask too many questions

Couldn't agree more.

Awful game, Rioli a cut above every other player on the field. The AA half back so far.

Correct. This notion that they're lumbering oafs is ridiculous. In fact, that more accurately describes gawn or Grundy when resting forward

Considering we have a stack of unproven talent - Chandler, Laurie, Mcvee and probably Tomlinson (jury's out) and they've added a seasoned ruck forward and full back, I think they are clearly the stronger side on paper. Not sure why we are saying 'their depth must be in trouble' with Baker when we're starting Chandler who's no more accomplished and a member of the same Casey premiership side

Gee whiz Tomlinson. Last I saw he couldn't turn, jump or push. Naughton will have an absolute field day. Disappointing they didn't go D Turner.

Not much has been said about Richmond - they werent much chop. Always difficult to tell what's one team being good and another bad - but I counted several goals that came directly from poor Richmond kicks under no pressure (Dusty in particular - they need to keep him close to goal now)

Let's just cool it on Laurie. He was a damaging player in U18s around goal and delivering to the forwards. He has a way to go and I don't expect him to light it up first game - but what separates us from the FD here is they are playing the long game. They seem to think he can make us better long term. Only way that can happen then is to play him - put his feet to the fire, build his experience and his confidence. The knock-on against Richmond I think showed them all they needed to see - smarts, poise, courage to take a hit for the team. They've always known he has the skills to play the game. They spoke at the end of last year about being bolder as an FD and giving the Casey talent the promotions they deserve. They're staying true to their word, starting round 1. We might lose the game but you never know what it could be the start of.

Wouldnt think it would be Woey or Schache as they would have been part of the announcement. Disco potentially...

Very very surprised on Laurie as I don't think he got time in Practise #1 (happy to be corrected) and in Practise #2 he had 6 touches for ~60m gained (inc. a very important knock-on) in 56% gametime. Woewodin had 5 touches for ~90m gained in 21% gametime.... That said, Laurie had a good finish to last year in the VFL. Hope he's fit enough to play at the level. Who would've thought McVee and Laurie before JVR???? If Taj isn't playing and we assume for a moment that May is, who is the final change from the team that took on Richmond? JJ? Can't be Schache as they will have told us as part of this video. D Turner?

Yeah I should have added that against the dogs, I think we'd be foolish to assume midfield supremacy. Dunkley and hunter aside it still bats very deep esp. if bont spends more time in there. I suppose my point is we often don't overload our backline and rely on our exceptional kpds to win 1v1s. They might lose quite a few to 4 200cm forwards...

If the dogs play the 4 talls what do we do? Do we change our A1 lineup? Knowing goody the answer would be no, but it has the potential to mitigate the gawn/Grundy forward thing if one of them has to swing back to play on a 200cm forward. May - Naughton Petty - Lobb (I actually think Petty's weakness is ruck-forwards so I'm not hugely comfortable with this and would prefer he switches with May) Lever - JUH? Or Darcy? Darcy - ????? Rivers/Hibberd/Mcvee?? Anyone of them will be giving away a lot of height I'm not convinced their strategy will be a resounding success but in general, the only forwards that kick a lot of goals on our backline are ruck-forwards. They've almost got 3 or 4 of them...

None of that fills me with confidence, especially the comparison to Jacko & that they were also "confident" on him whilst he was touring Freo's facilities during an MFC granted trip back home during the mid-season break. Wouldnt have taken Richo as one for naivety Blood in the water

'Lol' - Hes played 49 games, 24 last year. Ergo, it was effectively - at least in terms of experience - his 2nd year when compared to Clarry who played almost full seasons from his very first year after being drafted. Yes last year he had the benefit of being older, fitter and probably stronger than Clarry was during his 2nd season; but games played is the only reasonable benchmark.

Brodie has played 49 games, half of those at a dysfunctional rabble. If he can continue his trajectory, he's well on his way to being elite. Avg. 27 touches last year, same scoring as Clarry (0.2 goals, 0.3 behinds), & same number of tackles. CP/UP ratio (40/60) needs improving if he's to be an elite contested player in the comp (Clarry averaged about 60/40), as does clearances (avg.6 compared to clarry of 9). 5 score involvements per game on average (Clarry 7). Clarry an extremely high benchmark here...Brodie's stats are very similiar, sometimes exceeding Ollie Wines' stats from last year. An ex-brownlow medallist. If we go back to Clarry's 2nd season as a point of comparison given games played, Brodie's stats are superior. The kid can play, don't sleep on him. Re. us having two - yes we are blessed. + Viney who plays big bodied even though he's not. Not many teams are blessed with what we have in the middle. Not sure why that diminishes Freo or why its even a valid point of comparison. Brisbane, Collingwood, Sydney, Geelong - none of them quite have a contested midfield like ours and all finished above us.

That's a better explanation but I think you're overrating the players who've left (all of whom are NQR) and underrating the improvement that will come from within. Their overall list profile is terrific bar a dominant key forward (sound familiar?) Not saying I'm entirely convinced on them either, but I think some of the discussion here is reaching and somewhat self-assuring