The Oracle

I think you are completely missing the point. People are pointing to players no longer there to demonstrate the difference in the quality of the team’s midfield strength this year compared to last and not because of regrets about their leaving. What disappointed me was that there are some development players on the Casey list who were close to being drafted in the past year or two but not selected. I refer to the likes of Brayden Laplanche, Kobe Shipp, Ziggy Toledo, Oscar Van Dam and Kai Windsor. The club might be better served giving games to players of this ilk than to a few on the fringe who struggled to get a touch yesterday.

In relation to the club lists, I have included Kynan Brown as a Category B rookie which leaves the club with 36 primary list and 5 Category A rookie list players. This leaves 3 Category B rookies. However, I am still looking for confirmation that this is the correct way to classify the list.

Close. According to the team list issued by the club, he’s wearing #46.

The most important thing to look at here is the weather report. Last time we headed up north for a game, we felt the heat and had trouble handling the footy. Let’s hope the team gets up there in time to acclimatize and get a decent training run on the surface of the ground. My Weather Ap forecast for next Saturday is sunny and 23 degrees.

And once you reach that pinnacle, there’s a lot more effort required to replicate further success. As season 2022 ended with Melbourne’s disappointing straight sets departure from the finals, I noted on Demonland here that the club had built up a stockpile of young talent who could be gradually nurtured by the club in the hope that they could make the grade at the highest level. I identified nine youngsters on the club’s lists of who, only Daniel Turner had worn the guernsey at AFL level. In Turner’s case, it was less than half a game thanks the injured incurred in the Queens Birthday game. Only one of that group, Fraser Rosman (delisted) has since left the club. Of the others, Bailey Laurie, Judd McVee and Jacob Van Rooyen have debuted at AFL level while Blake Howes, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Deakyn Smith, Taj Woewodin and Turner continue to develop at Casey along with the new batch recruited in the 2022 drafts. We are in a healthy position not having put all of our eggs in the one basket.

Collingwood and GWS have completed the first trade of the 2022 AFL Trade Period with Bobby Hill finding his way to Victoria after missing out at the deadline in 2021. Having made a play for the small forward last season, the Pies proved able to secure Hill's services after parting with a future second-round selection. The Pies and Giants also traded third-round selections ahead of the 2022 AFL Draft, with Collingwood securing Pick 40 for the price of Pick 43.

It had to happen … SANFL Player Focus: Tom Scully (West Adelaide)

With seven weeks to go, five clubs - Carlton, Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney - have list spots free that can be filled via the mid-season draft, with all other clubs having full lists. Gold Coast (for Ben King) and St Kilda (Nick Coffield) could place their respective injured players on the inactive list closer to the draft to open up a mid-season pick at their clubs. These numbers are likely to increase over time as more players are inevitably ruled out with long-term injuries and placed on the inactive list.

It descended on them a little while ago.

6. Stubblety-Oliver 5. Stubblety-Petracca 4. Stubblety-Harmes 3. Stubblety-May 2. Stubblety-Jackson 1. Stubblety-Brown

Strange one this ... the less he plays, the better he gets.

MFC predictions Ladder position at the end of the H&A season: 3rd Position at the end of the season (e.g. stage of finals): Premier after winning grand final B&F top 5 1. Christian Petracca 2. Clayton Oliver 3. Max Gawn 4. Jake Bowey 5. Ben Brown Leading goalkicker: Ben Brown (74 goals) Most marks: Ben Brown Best first year player: Jake Bowey Most improved player: Oskar Baker All Australian 40-man squad selections: Gawn, May, Oliver, Petracca All Australian final 22 selections: Gawn, May, Oliver, Petracca, May Big Ben Brown will kick his biggest goal tally against: North Melbourne Biggest winning margin:81 points Biggest MFC story of the year: First premiership in 57 years Other MFC predictions: Christian Petracca’s Brownlow Medal Jake Bowey pips Rowell for NAB Rising Star AFL predictions Premier: Melbourne Runner-up: Richmond Wooden spoon: North Melbourne Biggest improver: Melbourne Biggest slider: Collingwood Brownlow medal: Petracca Coleman medal: B Brown Rising star: Bowey

So this is where we stand. PRIMARY LIST: — Oskar Baker Toby Bedford Angus Brayshaw Ben Brown Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn James Harmes Michael Hibberd Marty Hore Jayden Hunt Luke Jackson Neville Jetta Nathan Jones James Jordan Kade Kolodjiashnij Ed Langdon Jake Lever Tom McDonald Steven May Jake Melksham Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Christian Salem Charlie Spargo Joel Smith Tom Sparrow Adam Tomlinson Aaron vandenBerg Jack Viney Sam Weideman 34 TO BE UPGRADED TO PRIMARY LIST: — Jay Lockhart 1 ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A — Mitch Brown Kade Chandler 2 TO BE PLACED ON ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A: — Aaron Nietschke 1

If you’re asking questions and want serious answers, might I suggest that you don’t ask on a strictly rumour thread.

Yes, of course. He will most likely receive a mention in my next article once the trade period begins. I’m assuming that the Bulldogs will, at some point, offer some sort of trade - most likely draft picks. The Dogs could be willing to effect a reasonable trade which might enable us to upgrade our first pick because they will be using selections to pick up Jamarra Ugle-Hagan. The points available to match a bid are going to be more important than their exact placement.

And on Monday, I’ll be going for the Suns to beat the Pies.

I suppose my preview theme about the final humiliation hasn’t aged well.

Jed Kemp, Matt Johnson, Tyler Brockman, Taj Woewodin and more impress in Subiaco’s colts pre-season win over East Fremantle

Demons won the game by 8 goals. That’s all the info that I have at the moment.

I don't think we've had many results going the way we would have liked so let's hope we get through tonight.,

Heaven forbid they make us go to Cairns. What do I call the match preview? Further north of the border? Enough, please.

Going a bit early, aren’t we?

Press conference in front of Bill Ponsford’s statue. Please leave the statue alone.

Since we are due to play both Essendon and Sydney in the next few weeks, one would expect Goodwin watched the game closely. I hope that he’s worked out a forward strategy that doesn’t involve us in constantly kicking to a one on two situation in front of goal where we constantly cough up the footy time and again. I didn’t see much of that in the game at the SCG or anywhere else other than our forward line over the weekend. This has to be fixed.