fr_ap

Me too. Worst day at the footy I've had.

Hallelujah Standards at the club slipped after 21. I called it then and it continues to slide.

The comparisons to Neal Bullen are interesting. People forget we made ANB learn at Casey for the best part of 3 or 4 years until he was absolutely banging the door down and we were all screaming for him to be selected. You don't need to do this with all kids - some are more ready than others, but we simply don't have the integrity at selection or long term thinking to do this anymore. I miss how the club was run in those days when you had faith they were making calls with the long term in mind. The flipside is Laurie, who is arguably showing more at VFL level than ANB ever did and still can't be selected in his natural position. We've given the guy zero chance to succeed relative to the opportunities we've afforded the Kolt so far. You could argue we have a need for forwards with presence, but right now I think we have a clear need for smaller mids with smarts too.

It's Richo that needs to go.

He's basically rivers

Kentfield looks quite good...

Whatever you think of the deal as an armchair expert, there is not a dees fan in this world who would be happy to see Kozzie play for anyone else. So focus on that - this keeps him in the red & blue, OUR star, OUR gamebreaker that every other club and AFL fan (yes, even those criticising the deal to make themselves feel better) would love to cheer for. The dollars, the 2nd and 3rd order implications on other players - none are clear right now and all are someone else's responsibility. All we have to do is enjoy when the kid flips games for us as he's doing more and more. It's brilliant news that I never expected given how things have gone the last few seasons.

Spot on mate

Post of the year

We should be thinking about him as Salo's heir apparent. Of all the players on our list he arguably has the most scope to play that quarterback role from a kicking POV and he's naturally offensively minded like Salem is too. Salem had to work on his defensive stuff over a period of years and I'd expect that to be similar with Ollie. Salem is playing well again, which lets Sestan develop in the VFL. Happy for that to continue for both players sakes, but Christian does have a chequered injury history so Ollie may not need to wait too long to get a look.

It's the hair. Never should have cut it

AJ had 5 or 6 direct goal assists today caused entirely by chaos. Same impact as good as 4-5 lace out target hit ups. His skill level will need to improve long term - that can come as he gets comfortable with the level and the speed. As a big man effectively playing 2nd ruck, his ability to compete and defend is far far more important than being able to kick straight

This is actually totally incorrect. Their pressure was over 220 for the entire first half - that is something very rarely done. They totally came to play. They were a bit impotent up forward without amartey, but Heeney and Warner both fired at different times and they still played dangerous footy through the corridor. Of all the things going well (and there are a lot ATM), I am absolutely thrilled with the full ground defensive application and intent. We are fighting for every inch, desperate on defence, all the time at any spot on the ground. Goody always said that would unlock our attack - certainly did today. It does result in messy shots - but the weight of numbers usually eventually tells. I will say we had a very kind umpiring performance - but it's not really important. It was probably a 3-4 goal favourable umpiring performance (really), but we missed at least 3-4 absolute gimmes you'd kick 8 times out of 10 anyway.

JVR still has currency. Huge trade candidate imo

Though he missed the goal, loved how he stepped up to that moment instead of chipping it to the top of the square. Good instincts and leadership

His goal was everything Jefferson is not...jeffo would have been loping at 1/8th pace back at the original contest. AJs clearly not overly skilled (his shot on the run was genuinely hilarious) but will give his all again and again for the team. It's an indictment on Jeffo that we had to go pick a mature age bullocking psycho out of the hardest working team in the VFL. What is it they say about hard work beating talent?

I agree. I liked the draft selection as he's a naturally offensive mid with an eye for goal. He hasn't done himself too many favours with the opportunity he has had, but I feel he's never been given the 5 game stretch that Henderson, Kolt and many others have enjoyed to see what they've got

Needs a trade Bill. Has some AFL level attributes and hasn't been given a fair go to see if he can develop any others. That the likes of Henderson were plucked from the VFL and played within 2 weeks was totally unfair. Guy is amongst the hardest trainers at the club and consistently Casey's best player. Not saying he's A grade or even B or C....but we don't really know do we?

It's all been said in here, a tale as old as time for us going forward. The game plan/coaching generated plenty of shots at goal from kickable positions. The coaches did their job. Including the forward coach (yes, that's right). The reason no one leads and we can't buy a goal is not coaching - its that outside of Koz and Fritsch who is mentally cooked, we have no natural forwards. Spargo is close & was ok today - but he doesn't impact the scoreboard enough. He's just not that player. Melk has great forward craft and we miss him when he's not there. He also makes other forwards better (a clear trait of a natural forward). I have held concerns on JVR for a long time, well before his dip in form - actually BECAUSE he's such an accurate set shot. It's papered over a lot of cracks as he's only needed 1 or 2 shots a game to look like he's done his job. He struggles to create separation, has hard hands and lacks lateral agility. He's easy for an AFL KPD to defend as he can only kick goals one way - a mark or a free kick. He doesn't generate any other looks because he just doesn't know how. If he kicked set shots at a league average rate, I think the concerns around him would have come to the fore more quickly

I can understand there are some who don't see it with Kolt, but I think the coaches will be ok with where he's at. The best way to describe him is that for a 10 gamer he's actually doing the hard things quite well. He knows when to lead, takes front position to win frees, doesn't often get outmarked even against very senior players and knows it's his job to bring energy and pressure and culture. It's the easy things that are letting him down - I think those will come. The danger is that he's a classic utility that never finds a position. He shows flashes of being a good forward, and there have been moments as a contest mid too (one notable one in his first ever pre season match against Carlton). He's made of the right stuff though - will go a long way to giving him the best chance.

Langford makes some mistakes, but a few of them were in service of the game plan hitting up the corridor / 3 qtr kick - I'd rather see him make this mistake at this stage. He had a couple of very important defensive involvements when he was almost last man, and I watched him work up the ground to get involved in the play afterwards. Has quite a tank. He's not the prettiest player - Lindsay is an easier watch, but takes fewer risks. When Harvey he is involved we look a better team imo and he has an air of unpredictability to him.

He always does that. Hams it up - has a rep for it. Players have spoken about it in the past. Re. JVR - what people are missing is he often looked his best as 2nd banana with petty or brown or another taking kpd #1. He's not at the level to take the best defender - doesn't have the skills or the strength yet. He will look more like the JVR we know as a 2nd forward and will at some point come back into the team in this capacity.

Koz...

It's not hard to understand ...he plays for himself. Culture killer. The best clubs understand that a team is a mix of people and personalities as much as football or positional abilities. The pies are very strong and well run club and have a bold FD that act on what they are seeing. He's been OK at the Hawks in a team they were trying to inject personality into. Now they're getting serious he'll fall by the wayside.

The reason North looked amazing against us is that we apply absolutely zero pressure. No physicality, no desire from us since round 1. All Carlton had to do today was be a little harder...put a few goals on north and their very attacking mids drop their heads. They don't work two ways. We didn't even try to test them - we are so so so slow, lethargic, one dimensional and gassed that it genuinely provides energy to the other team