Copuchas

Because he wasn't selected in the AFL side. Brayshaw, Wagner and Bugg were added to the AFL squad which will be trimmed to 23 players by 5pm today. Someone will be the emergency and the other two will go in to the Casey team

Another aspect of Jack that hasn't garnered much attention is his durability. His mental resilience is apparent by virtue of what he's been through. But physically, he's barely missed a game. This makes him an even more valuable player to have on the list. Long may it remain the case!

Main session is Friday but dropped in to see if any evidence of lingering after-effects from Darwin. Of note (and in no particular order): Vince jogging slow paced laps. Interestingly upon completion looked down at and felt his right calf, rather than his shin; Omac - handball drills with Daniel Cross, walked a couple of laps (no limp), compression bandage on left ankle, Wagner - participated in full training. Has a compression bandage over quad / mid hamstring region but nothing on his knee ??; Pedersen, JKH and Salem joined in main training, Lumumba - jogged laps; Jayden Hunt didn't participate in the main ball movement session, undertook 15-20m kick to kick with Crossy but was moving freely. Everyone else seemed to be there (although I don't recall seeing ANB but wasn't especially looking for him either). So all in all, a pretty healthy list for this time of year. Spirits were high but couldn't really catch any of the banter in the stiff westerly breeze!

Concur Stuie and would add a) Grimes / ANB have been playing most of the season in slippery conditions at Casey; b) we did fall away badly in the last quarter, reflective of the 6 day break? Surely a lesson we needed not to have to learn once more??. There are several prerequisites for successful wet weather football: big bodies, hardness at the contest, skills (they actually stand out more in the wet eg Watts), familiarity with playing in the wet, freshness. Our selectors failed us again I'm afraid. I don't think it would've changed the result but we would've been closer and the pyschological damage that goes with a loss like that would have been avoided.

!!!! Oscar dropped a straightforward chest mark from a perfect pass (in the conditions ie not kicked hard) from Tom. It was indeed a pivotal moment and team deflating stuff. If we are about getting games in to kids, play Hulett and Weideman etc. Otherwise, send Oscar back to Casey (and the gym) so that he can at least amass the basic prerequisites to play AFL senior football.

Grimes played in Ballarat yesterday!! As did Harmes.... Michie is the only emergency up there. Dawes has been consistently one of our better wet weather players and the focus needs to be on big bodies...

Where have you been? !!! It's not even remotely up in the air....http://www.accuweather.com/en/au/sydney/22889/hourly-weather-forecast/22889

No speculative element in "maybe" of course, just opinion! I am relieved nonetheless to see you've discovered the proper noun "English". Trust you're aware what constitutes a proper noun? I reiterate that Healy's comments weren't open to multiple interpretations - go back and read the verbatim quote. Moreover, subsequent events in recent days (including the Paul Roos observations) would tend to vindicate my assessment that McDonald's manager has been overreaching in the discussions to date with the MFC. Seemingly that is now the consensus view in this thread! The "jnr" component of your Demonland handle seems most apt!

Yes....and they have the head throwback king Puopolo as well plus the new ducking apprentice in Stewart. Clarkson insists other clubs have a greater inventory of cheats than Hawthorn but the maths isn't working out for me.....

Speculating / inferring again??? What gives you that right?

This is tiresome. For a Sunday game where a squad is announced, a player can be pulled from the starting 18 or the extended interchange in the 24 hours until the trimming of the interchange and replaced with a player from outside the initially announced 25 (as the Swans have just done). From 5pm on Friday, the extended interchange is finalised and emergencies are named. Subsequent withdrawals of either starting 18 or interchange bench players up until the commencement of play (eg Dylan Grimes in Hobart) must be replaced by a named emergency.

Fact free conversations always good. Laidler 190cm / Garland 191cm. Talls perhaps? Hunt 187cm. AFL staff writers clearly morons too: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-06-17/knee-puts-swan-laidler-out-of-demons-clash Obviously the "Primary Administrator" role not necessarily congruent with insightful or factual analysis....

The Swans are on to the weather - Laider out with a "knee" and Cunningham back in. If we don't drop out one of the talls, I'll be surprised and more than a tad disappointed...

Franklin kicked one in the wet against Gold Coast. Rohan and Parker got two each (out of a total of 11). Tippet was their best player. Sunday's match will be played in extreme conditions - maybe not quite the Gold Coast conditions of a few weeks back, but a very wet track nonetheless. If our guys come out handball happy like we did in the early stages against the Hawks, we'll lose. Ferocity at the contest will win on Sunday, pure and simple. Dawes good on a wet track, must stay in. Grimes or Michie in for Stretch makes sense if they don't elect to take Oscar out of the 18 today (illness!). You can bet they'll be monitoring the weather forecast hourly until 5pm....but it looks like it's all locked in. Hopefully Rohan doesn't come up.

Is there a boat service afterwards to get to the ground? !!

100% concur other than seemingly it's not a maybe.....it is forecast to bucket down the entire day with 24 mm in the 9am-9pm period alone. I trust we have the Gold Coast / Swans tape close at hand. The guy who's stood out in heavy conditions is ANB (at Casey). Grimes as well. We need all the wet weather exponents on deck with a emphasis on big bodies.

round 8, 2012 is the answer.....99 point drubbing. Watts, Jones, Trengove, TMac are the only one who played.....

Has to be purely injury and/or fatigued based this week. You wouldn't drop anyone on yesterday's performance. Sure, Vandenberg is still building but remember he only had one game at Casey after quite a long lay off. Dawes played three and took an important step yesterday. We're better with him in the side and both he and Vanders bring toughness around the footy - required to beat the Swans as GWS demonstrated. Those baying for Kent's head have gone quiet I notice. I think we're a chance this week. When did we last play at the SCG? Not a happy hunting ground but don't think this group has played there much?

There's no assumption, not even an assertion. I was relating directly comments made by Healy on the Fox Footy round table for the benefit of those who may not have access. Go and listen if you wish / have a subscription. The arrogance of some on here is truly breathtaking.....

not really because Healy didn't. But the clear inference was that McDonald has been getting bad advice from his manager but things are well down the path to being put back on track and will culminate in a signature shortly...

TMac's contract was also discussed on the Fox Footy mid season review last night. Jed Healy made a thinly veiled reference to the deal getting done now that McDonald had sorted out his management. Who manages Tom? Reading between the lines it looks like a classic case of manager overreach that has required an expectations realignment process to take place. The club will have been quietly undertaking the exercise behind the scenes.

Good point!! Just to get things back on track, Hogan was discussed by the Fox Footy panel last night during the mid-season review. Jed Healy said he thought Jesse would stay. Brereton (who conveyed the impression of being 3 parts cut for the duration) emphatically countered with "He'll go". No elaboration. Whateley, who was the facilitator, then moved on to the next topic. It's an interesting exercise to marry up those Melbourne and Perth based teams with potential upcoming premiership windows that also have a need / opening for a key forward. There's none in Perth (West Coast have Darling / Kennedy already no nearby window for Freo). Geelong have Hawkins / Clark plus the other talls. Collingwood (dubious if they're entering a window) have the Cloke contract headache to overcome. Dogs have the Boyd mill stone and now the Redpath optionality, North on their last gasp with the veterans but Brown as the go forward, Tigers were just dreaming in terms of a window. Saints have McCartin and Bruce. Essendon not yet an attractive destination and list quality unclear. Carlton entering a false dawn most probably given the age profile of the list. Hawthorn trying to defy gravity and determine what O'Brien offers but must be increasingly concerned about Roughead's future prospects. Back to the decisiveness of the Brereton retort...... Gossage may well be correct but that doesn't necessarily mean the Dees win the day....

Note that I started the thread through a sense of outrage that the footy media had run with the interpretation they did!! He most definitely did not squib it from where I was sitting. He'll come good this week, no doubt whatsoever.