DemonDave

Never forget his comments about the late, great Jimma when considering the opinions of this oxygen thief http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/jason-akermanis-attacks-late-jim-stynes/story-e6frg7mf-1226307365211

Bounced back from possibly his worst game for us against Carlton, to top the posession count in another miserable sojourn West. A true professional to the end. Good luck in future endeavours Crossy!

Hmm, no. He's nowhere near afl standard yet. The only reason he and Terlich got in the best is because the ball stayed down there for most of the match. Their disposal and decision making was ordinary. No-one really put their hand up today which is not surprising given it was probably the weakest side we've fielded all year. No chop out for Jamar in the ruck, no fitzy down back, no Casey captain to marshal the defence and horrible conditions. Jkh tackled well but had limited impact after the first quarter in what was a role spilt roughly 50-50 to my eye between midfield and forward. Kent showed glimpses of that blistering speed and booming left leg, clearly his best game at vfl senor level but again like so many of his afl games he flashed in and out of the play for long periods. King had a tough day, weather wasn't conducive to big markers, he continually found himself outnumbered in pack situations as Smith and Muir failed to draw their opponents away from the area ri give him a 1 on 1. Copped an almighty spray from Brendan Mccartney at the last huddle. Jamar won plenty of hitouts but after a while the zebras players figured it it was easier to rove of him, we got smashed in all the stoppages in the middle. His impact around the ground was minimal, again conditions mean he gets some leeway. Toumpas was fairly anonymous, fumbled and waited for the ball to bounce to him on several occasions, a day to forget. Bail continually set up his teammates to be tackled or spoiled with his hospital posessions, probably had the toughest match up against Clint Jones.

Just the one goal for the whole match kicked to the grandstand end such is the wind. Need to have a big quarter here.

Plenty of talent sitting in the grandstand a few rows in front of us, Brayshaw, Vandenburg, Tyson, Dawes. Plus Jordie and Hunt. Bail is playing so Riley the traveling emergency and maybe Harmes

what's happened to Evan Panozza?

I did have a chuckle when Carlton played Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" before their theme song as they ran out yesterday. I guess it worked for them!

Makes Levi Casboult look like a good player, no thanks

Quite a lot of change there... That Garlett fellow will never amount to anything either..

And yet they had record membership numbers this year didnt they?

Not sure if the voting criteria is still the same, but David Neitz only ever won one Bluey, so not sure how they'll view Hogan vote wise. For mine its a 3 horse race between Tommy Mac, Dunn and Bernie. With Jones and Cross not far behind. Viney missed 6 games so will be hard for him to get up there as it rewards consistency. After that its a crapshoot as nobody has really been consistent for long stretches.

Seems odd that all this talk of 600K a year is bandied about for Howe for next year, however he hasnt been linked to a single club as far as I've been reading. So is this purely just his manager doing his job of pumping up his price? Or is there genuinely a club interested in him?

Lets hope he plays better than Tapscott, looks a similar shape!

What more is there left to play for though? 13th spot? The reason the Dogs and Saints are thriving now is partially due to the fact they've been willing to give games to kids the last 18 months, and play them repeatedly together. I'd rather see Harmes, ANB, Stretch et al get games from here on than Bail, McKenzie, Michie, Terlich etc.

This stood out particularly in that stoppage in our defensive 50 in the last quarter, they started side by side, Higgins took off, picked a gap in the pack, left Michie for dead and gave off a handball to I think Nahas for a cinch of a goal. Michie not getting goal side was crucial, despite playing OK these shortcoming will cost us big time against the quick ball movement of the Dogs next week so Viv has to go. Salem back for me, he's had a couple of full games now at Casey, his silky skills will be welcome.

All three are miles...miles off being ready for AFL footy. May as well throw Jake Lovett in as well. If we dont beat GWS by 10 goals with these four in the side I'll microwave my membership. This kind of attitude of play anyone who's had a decent half of footy at VFL level is the very antithesis of the way Hawthorn and Geelong went about building their dynasties.

Thanks Tim Webster!

"The Demons are waiting on AFL approval for the trip, which is expected to come later this week, and club football manager Josh Mahoney said it would be a good opportunity for the No.2 draft pick." Why would they need the AFL's permission for such a trip?

Finally looked comfortable at the level, I liked that he took one of his big marks that he frequently was able to take at Casey as well, this is something he's really good at. Even some of his tackling, pressure acts, and little knock ons to a teammates advantage that don't necessarily show up impact-wise on the stats sheet were really pleasing. Look forward to him keeping it up for a few more senior games.

How many other teams have two 'Big' capable forwards, one of whom can deputise decently in the ruck? North (Brown), Sydney (Tippett), Adelaide (Jenkins), Richmond (Vickery) - any others? This is a very quick guesstimate.

Every single time they've done press red for ed they've lost. Can they do this every week please?

He'll be eager to square the ledger with Jack Frost who soundly beat him last time around. He needs to be told to stop trying to go for speccies, which has crept into his game since the West Coast game also.

Also interestingly both players that got injured and didnt see out the game, Fitzy and Toump are named. Ed Morris didnt recover though by the looks. Very strong side otherwise.

Stats are one thing, but his impact on the actual game didnt scream out '40 possessions' to the naked eye. McKenzie had much more impact on the game. The last time ANB played a VFL game, he also played Collingwood, and he had 35 odd that day and had a much bigger impact, so maybe he likes playing the Pies, in that case bring him in next week haha! He's definitely got ball-getting ability, his problem might be that he's too similar to all of our other onballers, loves the contested footy, but not a lot of outside speed, and thus he failed to have a huge impact at senior level with his 'preferred game' as he was played out of position as a half forward.

Yep that was my frozen fingers replying inferring Hunt was deep forward, not O Mac whoops! He was indeed #74. Gets just that bit better every game, still needs to work on his awareness and quickness getting rid of the footy when in a defensive area, but that will come as his ability to read situations improves. Max King had barely touched the footy for the first 3 quarters, it wasnt a day conducive to big men, and we had 4 of them nearing 200cm, but his last quarter was one to enjoy. Kicked a couple, set up Hunt twice with near identical kicks to the space running towards goal, and shows good ability to pick the ball up at his feet as well as taking a couple of marks over the top of our 2 ruckmen. He's still nowhere near ready for AFL footy, but will definitely be worth persevering with next year. Ironically his good final quarter came after Plapp had instructed them at 3/4 time to clear the 50 out for the smalls JKH and Salem. His spray to the players to 'stop reading their own press' at that change was also a good one, he can get fired up, I like it. At 1/4 time, in a term where we dominated possession with the wind but failed to capitalise on the scoreboard, it was also good to see first McCartney grab Plapp at the huddle and have a few words, and then Roos do the same. Managed to overhear Roos mention that he knew they were playing the better footy, just have to tell them to keep at it. All the senior coaches were there for at least a quarter and a half, all in their civvies and seemingly incognito, but all seemingly keen to see this side do well.