DemonDave

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.

Hunt is nowhere near ready for AFL footy, and his two goals yesterday were of the "Joe the Goose" variety. Toumpas left the field with a head knock after bravely crashing a pack. So neither of them will be in. Fitzy spent the second half sitting on the bench with a blanket covering his legs. Word is an ankle injury. No way he gets up for next week sadly, he was playing quite well on Reid up until that point. There wasnt anybody from the Casey game yesterday, which I watched in its entirety, who screamed 'Pick me!'. Probably the pick of the bunch was McKenzie, but we know what he brings to the table. ANB looked pretty comfortable, especially early, he finds the ball in close very easily at that level, but I suspect they'll ask him to play 2 or 3 good games before reconsidering him. Salem would be the obvious candidate, he had minimal impact from restricted game time, his touch early was terrible but he slowly got back into it. Riley was also pretty decent as the atrocious conditions suited his limitations well. IN: Salem(sub), Riley OUT: Stretch, Harmes

3 players down going into this last qtr. Fitzy with a leg injury?, toump from a head knock and Ed morris with a leg injury

Yes he's played deep forward all day Stuie alongside Jake/Jamar and Max King. Been a barren day standing in that fwd line. Fitzy limped of with a leg injury this qtr. goal to jordie makes it 52-35

Oscar with the first goal of the quarter

Hunt had the first set shot of the game bjdee, but yeah hasn't been a day for forwards of either team given the conditions. As soon as i posted about Salem he came on! Had 3 touches in the first 3 minutes of being on, two of then turnover handballs.

Salem did the full warm up and has the track suit on so i assume the plan is just to play him for the second half

Pies had a couple of kicks inside 50 at goal last qtr that looked like they hit a brick wall they stopped mid flight. Maybe a 2-3 goal breeze?

King with the first of the quarter against the breeze

Only the good teams keep their opponents to 4 goals for the game

D!ck Foster-Smith on the half back line, is he any relation to the Bears own Rod Lester-Smith?

It stinks that successive State Governments have wilfully chipped in loads of taxpayers money to upgrade their hole of a ground, only for them to charge an arm and a leg, close to $60 I think it was a fortnight ago for our seats, to sit in the forward pocket or behind the goals. How can they possibly be crying poor?

I was trying to think who to compare him to, I think AngryAtCasey has nailed it with the Duncan comparison. Seems to play a bit taller than his 185cm, and his overhead marking is a highlight, seen him drift deep forward and kick a few goals at Casey. Rookies don't generally get promoted to continue playing at Casey, so looking forward to seeing how he does against Essendrugs. Will we have too many inexperienced first year players if he comes in, with Stretch and ANB also in the team? I think he'll take one of their spots and play a similar role that they've been doing.

What relevance does a single kick in 2010, in his second senior AFL game have to do at all with the present? Do you think if he wasnt any good at doing what the coaches are asking, that he wouldnt be getting a game? We could pick apart elements of Nathan Jones first 50 senior games and say just how terrible he is if you wanted..