DemonDave

He's averaging 14 possessions, 4 marks, 20 hitouts and 0.5 goals a game this year. Spencer in his one game has 13 possessions, 4 marks, 15 hitouts and 2 goals a game. If you think these differentials require us tagging him, then you've been sucked in by the Richmond hype train.

Half a BILLION hours wasted watching Sandlers latest Netflix exclusives, apparently! http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/17/15331674/netflix-adam-sandler-movies-half-a-billion-hours

Anyone else catch the end of afl 360 tonight? They had an eye opening interview with our assistant coach Craig Jennings, who in the pre-season after considerable urging went to our club doctor who found a melanoma in between his ear and temple. If he'd procrastinated and put off catching up with the doc any longer it would've spread, so luckily he'll pull through. He's very highy rated throughout the league's coaching circles and its the first time I've ever seen him interviewed. Good luck to him in his recuperation!

A few years ago I got kicked out of the MCG for allegedly swearing in their presence, had as many witnesses around me willing to tell the security guards otherwise, but no they dragged their supervisors down, and was promptly told by them that the employees heard me swear. So they've blatantly lied to their boss, ignored all the witnesses pleas, and kicked me out (We were already 10 goals down to West Coast so I didnt miss much). Needless to say the ineptitude of the Securecorp grunts and their supervisors was farcical, they had no logical thought patterns for assessing the situation, merely as someone has mentioned what they were told on their short mandatory course as preferred action to follow. An polite email the Securecorp early the next week, with a request for explanation of the situation was met with an automated response email, and then I unsurprisingly never heard back from then again. An more underskilled, unprofessional group of employees I've never seen

Except, you know, the top 6 highest rated shows last year were sport, and 9 out of the top 12. For those with Foxtel Satellite, rather than cable connections, there's also restrictions on which of the secondary channels the FTA networks transmit due to bandwidth restrictions, so until recently they couldnt get 7Mate, now they cant get 7Two as a tradeoff.

Disappointing day out for the team formerly known as the Scorpions today. This year was always going to see a vastly different looking Casey side, having lost the experience and nous of Dunn, Grimes, Terlich and Garland, as well as the ball winning abilities of Michie, Newton and Matt Jones. Most of this group of players were mainstays and consistent regular good players last year, and they've been replaced by Under 18 and local players essentially. Add in our current MFC injury list that's in double figures,and I was always a bit hesitant of our chances today. Nevertheless, a bright opening quarter where we dominated around the ground, offering great forward pressure to keep the ball down there, and a midfield having the run of play, despite not winning many ruck hitouts, and we probably should've been further than a goal in front, Williamstown made the most of their limited forward thrusts. At quarter time, where coach Plapp really only highlighted two players for sloppy play in Tom Baker and Bayley Fritsch, all seemed rosy. However, from the start of the 2nd quarter, and for the rest of the day, Willi proceeded to show more intensity than us around stoppages, aided by the dominance of Meese at the hitouts, to simply outclass us in general play and ran out deserved winners. Plenty to ponder for Casey, although next week's opponent North Ballarat are coming off a 190 point loss, and look even worse than some of the latter day Frankston sides. Here's my 2 cents on todays MFC listed players: 37 Dion Johnstone - I only noticed he was playing late in the 2nd quarter, went on to have zero influence on the game, extremely disappointing. 38 Tim Smith - Started up forward, wasnt a good day for tall forwards with the service they were getting, so moved onto the ball ten minutes into the 3rd term where he had a bit of impact as a bullocking onballer. 41 Mitch White - Played a pretty typical game for him, lots of intercept spoils, using his judgement to get to contests and take timely marks, but will really be missing the better players he had around him last year (as a comparison his compadres this year are the inexperienced Moncrieff and Hillard) 45 Dec Kielty - A quiet day, started in the ruck and didnt have much influence on the contest throughout. Was moved to be a permanent forward for the last term, but after having both legs worked on during that break, looked to tweak a left hammy early in the last. Came back on but not a great day. 48 Cory Maynard - First time I've seen him go, and was impressed with him, a very good size, started on the ball and not afraid to throw his weight around, but when he does do this tends to be a bit rash. Accumulated possessions at will, moved to good ground position, and has a good workrate. One to watch. 54 Jack Trengove - The best onballer for us, his workrate to get to contests and do the 1%ers was enormous. His disposal however, doesnt hurt teams that much, so while he accumulates, he doesn't cut teams to ribbons like say an Oliver can do. Will be thereabouts for selection based on this game though. 57 Jay Kennedy-Harris - Started brightly involved in lots of forward pressure acts, then went a bit quiet for the 2nd & 3rd qtrs before finding it a bit more in the last, had his arm pretty heavily bandaged from his broken arm, only an OK game from him. 64 Angus Brayshaw - Was one that I wanted to really step up today to be in the selection mix, but he didn't do it. Just didnt seem to have the intensity expected, and while he still got a bit of it, was easily shaded by Trengove. Someone who appears to be going through the motions rather than demanding a place. 65 Cam Pederson - Pedo was, after Hibberd, our most influential player on the ground. He made himself a target, worked tirelessly all over the ground to be involved and was very good. Ruckwork, like Kieltys, as only average against taller opposition. Would surely come in for Weideman though. 69 Ben Kennedy - A slow start, barely noticed him in the first term, was more than made up for with his final 3 qtrs, he worked his butt off, got in an under for hard balls, ran and lead countless times in good position that went unrewarded by teammates probably due to his size. Our 3rd or 4th best player in the end. 91 Michael Hibberd - Best on ground for us by a country mile, was a wall in defence today, and was constantly the focal point as teammates looked to him to use his long raking left foot to get us out of trouble in defence. Would've gained around 7-800 metres for us. I suspect that he may have been our 7th man in defence, along the lines of the way Melbourne play, at times, and he has the perfect skillset for this role. Probably the last time we see the #91 play for Casey this year. Special mention to Angus Scott with 4 goals whose skills looked as sharp as ever and Ed Morris who was a rock across the half back line and barely wasted a posession.

Maynard may be in trouble for that hit on carr of Willy in those last free seconds of that half, he was retaliating for a big crunching (but legal) bump the player did on BenKen. Trenners the first one in to fly the flag in the ensuing scrap. Williamstown clearly got a rocket at 1/4 time they lifted their intensity noticeably that quarter. Best for us without seeing stats would be Hibberd (a clear class above this level) , Trenners, Maynard, Morris and Pedo

I would've thought a goal advantage to the bouncy castle end from where I'm sitting on the boundary

Whoever the genius was at Williamstown who decided erecting a giant inflatable bouncy castle in that pocket, thereby blocking the view of the only scoreboard at the ground for most people on this wing should be hung drawn and quartered, diabolical planning! Good quarter against the breeze

Jimmy Munro named in the leadership group but picked in the twos? Also shocked to see Dyl Collis miss out on a spot, both had great second halfs to last year. Any idea if these two have missed chunks of the pre season, or merely out of form?

2 outta 3 aint bad! Haha. Seriously surprised that Brayshaw got dropped after 1 bad game, but I'm all for keeping our guys on their toes.

Interesting to see that Maynard is already on the coaches radar from his presser quotes today. For a player, as a Category B rookie, to have not even played an official VFL game yet, he must've seriously impressed the hierarchy with his improvement. For the track watchers, or those that have seen the VFL practice matches, can anyone tell me where he's being primarily playing?

More like a squad of closer to 30, given this is our current injury/unavailable list: Melbourne injury list: round three Colin Garland (knee) – season Michael Hibberd (Achilles) – 1-2 weeks Jesse Hogan (suspension) – 2 weeks Liam Hulett (hip) – 1 week Mitch King (knee) – 3 weeks Jordan Lewis (suspension) – 3 weeks Pat McKenna (hamstring) – 6-8 weeks Joel Smith (shoulder) – 3-4 months Aaron vandenBerg (heel) – 6-8 weeks Given that Tim Smith has been mentioned a couple of times by Goodwin in the press already, you'd think the subliminal hints are that he'll debut this week. It seems from reports Pedo Bear has been underwhelming so he may well pinch that spot. Vince for Lewis / Smith for Hogan / Kent for Hannan for mine

This! Was the most eye opening tactic I've seen for some time. Without wading through the game day thread amazed no-one else has bought this up. At times in the 2nd & 3rd quarters we even had a 9 man backline for centre bounces. Having just watched the replay on tv I'm amazed none of the so- called expert commentators picked up on this tactic, and certainly if you only watched it on tv the camera angles have no indication as to just how often this was happening. Would love to see the behind the goal camera footage of this setup.

Strange that Hannan didnt see a minute of JLT action, yet they feel he's going to be good enough to survive the cut and thrust at AFL level. The only other fit non key-position players, apart from the 3 emergencies, are realistically Trengove, Kennedy and first year players Johnstone and McKenna, so we dont have a lot of midfield depth at the moment. While Spencer had a terrific pre-season, the fast deck of Etihad means it was too much of a risk to play him, Gawn, Hogan, Weideman and Watts in the same side. Hopefully next week Tyson & Kent put their hands up for selection.

What I dont understand is, after say 2 or 3 weeks of inadequate training intensity they didn't pull Watts aside, tell him to lift his training standards or he'd face the consequences, rather than let him plod along for a few months and then inform him he's in the dog house. It's a long lurid way to prove a point to someone.

Plenty of ruminations on here already, having witnessed the game at ground level yesterday then re-watched again today here's a few of my random observations: -Jones left foot disposal was outstanding when called upon. -The prolificacy of combination disposals between the 'veteran' stars in Jones, Lewis Vince across the half back line, while the younger midfielders in Oliver, Brayshaw, Salem and Viney did the bulk of the middle of the ground grunt work. -Spencer playing very well allowing Gawn to use his skillset up forward. -Fringe players doing little to change their status as fringe players with very little impact on the overall contest, namely JKH, VDB, Harmes and Nibbler. -Joel Smiths first half. For someone who's played relativity little football, his potential was there for all to see today. Some great tackles and attack on the footy highly promising showing. -The disposal skills of Hunt & Melksham off the half back line. Were very poor. Hunt has to be more than just someone who can run and carry the footy with alacrity, he needs to also concentrate on hitting targets so he doesn't undo all his good work. We've seen Melksham's propensity to shank the footy at essendon, it was back again in this game. -Great to see David Rodan wielding the goal umpires flags. A lot of the centre bounces by field umpires left a lot to be desired. -What's better than signing the song after a win? Singing it again 2 hours later when the women also beat the dogs! Perfect end to the night.

The lighting there tonight was worse than the Casey night games! Was great to be there to see their first official win, and sing the song with a bit of gusto. The ball movement was quicker in the second half, we took more overhead marks than them and Phillips kicked a couple of great goals. O'dea and Paxman the best for mine Always great to beat collingwood!

Was at this game in Lavington, can still remember the noise from the opposite side of the ground of someone sitting on the bench smashing the wall of the tin dugout when they realised it was Schwarter that went down. Seem to remember Shaun Smith playing well in the main game, but everyone was just in stunned shock at what had seemingly happened earlier in the day.

Hulett was picked up earlier in the draft than Tom McDonald, Oscar McDonald and Jadyen Hunt, off the top of my head to name just a few, so he was hardly pick 86 or the like. He would be expected to keep his gradual progression of improvement up this year and push for a spot mid-late year I'd imagine

Ah you are probably correct, I was only going on memory having read it last night!

I can't see if it's been raised anywhere else here, but did people notice that the calendar included with our membership packs included the Nab Cup/Nab Challenge/Wizard Cup/Escort Cup or whatever it's called nowadays pre-season game details? We play: Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval Caaarlton at Princess Park West Coast at Subiaco An interesting mix of games, would this be the 3rd year in a row now we've played the Dogs after Craigieburn last year and Ballarat the year before? We beat them in both these games, but now that they're reigning premiers I imagine interest in this game will be massive, will be a full house. The fact that I can walk to this ground is also a very big bonus! Carlton are one team that we haven't beaten as often as we should in the last few years, and they'll have a fresh set of GWS discards eager to underwhelm again, so let's hope we dispatch them accordingly on their own dungheap. West Coast may be a good chance to get a win at this ground, as it'll soon be replaced by a shinier newer ground paid for by the taxpayers. We should've got over the line this year over there, still don't know how we lost that game. I'd imagine the club will also schedule a bit of leave for Jesse Hogan around this game. Surfs Up. The aim would be at bare minimum beat the BlueBaggers, and possibly Wet Toast.

Thanks for the training reports, much appreciated! Did we ever find out what Oliver's punishment was from the club for his drink driving offence?

Absolutely wrapt with this pick! He's worked hard to improve his consistency this year, which was the only thing previously holding him back in years prior, really looking forward to see if they give him a crack in the NAB Challenge, as he's already big and strong enough to compete at that level.

Great stuff for the Scorps to see 2 of their own upgraded to Melbourne's rookie list, a definite vindication of the success Plapp & co achieved this year as a coaching group...