DemonDave

Given that its rivalry round this week. And we have such a long standing rivalry with North that every time this fixture comes around its a grudge match. On no wait, thats not North at all. Seriously the league must've had Melbourne, North, Geelong and Richmond left in the pool, and not known how to work it so that there was a perceived rivalry between any of them, so just hoped people wouldnt notice. Can anyone name any historic, famous or vital match we've played against North since a Prelim Final all those years ago?

Now that the squad is up, I cant wait for the first poster to say "I hope they drop Bartram" or "I hope they drop Bruce" despite the fact they're both named in the starting 18. FWIW I'd pick Jordie Mc, Joel Mc, Bennell and Juice from those 7 interchange players. Scully to have a dominant hitout for Casey to get some confidence.

The wind was very swirly and strong on Sunday, perhaps it had something to do with that, but I noticed it as well, you could hardly hear the start of the song. If only they showed such discretion with the mega-decibel ads they blast on the screen at any break, I can almost hear them from my house...

So still no Jared Rivers. Does anyone know anything about his injury, severity/length of time on sidelines other than its a 'knee'? Very frustrating. Would doubt Garland would be rushed in that quickly, seeing he didnt play in the VFL last week, but given they've got Tippett, Hentschel and Walker up forward all offering tall leading and marking targets (and Frawley is the obvious matchup for Dangerfield) we may not have a choice. Also good to see they didnt bring Miller straight back in, his spell in purgatory continues for at least another week. I for one hope they don't drop Bate, he's the type of player who's better served finding touch and fitness in our forward line. So my preferred bench would be McKenzie, Jones, Bate & Newton or Garland.

Has anyone seen Michael Newton? He's the missing one of the I/C list...

McKenzie's start to the season justifies Adelaides attempts in the off season to lure him over there, that fact that he was offered a 2 year deal on their senior list, and knocked it back, speaks volume of the commitment of this kid, I love the way he goes about his footy. Last year nothing stood out to me from his games, and yet this year he really seems to have taken the next step.

Nathan Thompson playing for Kangaroos vs Melbourne a few years ago a perfect case in point. The game was there to be won, he'd been killing us earlier in the game, and he put his hand up saying he wanted to go off in the heat of battle. Copped a rightful caning for his decision too.

Being dropped while in the leadership group is not a good sign for Brad Miller.

We certainly are scraping the barrel here arent we? Interestingly from the MFC story Newton had 29 possies and 4 goals last week, so good luck to him, he's earnt the callup from hard work. The article also states which 3 players are actually on our long term injury list to allow the now 3 rookies to play: "and joins fellow rookies Jake Spencer and Jordie McKenzie on the senior list in place of injured trio Max Gawn, Luke Tapscott and Liam Jurrah"

Well our bench : Strauss, Spencer, McKenzie, Scully have a total of 0,6,3 and 0 games! The emergencies: Maric, Bail, Bartram have a total of 11,1 and 59 games. The hawks bench: Kayler-Thomson, Peterson, Suckling, Shiels have 0,0,1 and 11 games experience. Beat us by 3 games(!) Their emergencies: Duryea, Stratton, Williams have 0,0 and 0. 3 duck eggs. Talk about inexperienced bench and emergencies!

The Blues beat Fevolas mob at Judd Park. You'd think it'd be almost a certainty one of the two papers will publish a 'pre-season' ladder to fill papers this week. I think we'd almost certainly be last, not a good portent.

Funny you should mention Gerard Healy. In the last quarter my Dad stated that Trengove reminded him very much of a young Healy. Let's hope he doesnt bugger off to Sydney chasing a big bundle of cash when about to hit his peak!

Well I'll add my observations that probably reinforce what others have already said. The first and most obvious was Trengove. Wow. This kid is gonna be something, would've had high 20s-30s in stats, in the first quarter he went back with the flight to take a pack mark deep in defence, you'd have to rub your eyes to make sure it wasnt just a flashback to that mark for Sturt in the PF last year. His running, silky kicking and second efforts to offer himself as an option were a sight to behold. He ran all day too, and stood out more and more for his class as the game went on. Scully got more involved as the game went on, his hands look very good. He does look very similar in size, stature and haircut as Clint Bartram, who was playing on the same whites team as him. Playing for large parts of the game on our Captain can only help him too. Gysberts has great hands, didnt get a lot of it but was clean and assured. Probably not ready to push for seniors just yet, but I'm sure they'll give him a run in the NAB Cup. Fitzpatrick got very little of it, made one nice turn for a guy his size, but it wasnt a good day to be a whites forward, the Red defenders led ably by Chipper (who was on Newton all day) towelled them up. Down the other end the matchups were Bail on Jurrah, and Warnock on Miller, which was a terrific physical contest between those two. Probably points would goto Warnock, but Miller wasnt too bad. Jurrah didnt touch the ball much but when he did the crowd were electrified, he almost took a Shaun Smith-esque 'Mark of the Century' in the first quarter, leapt over the pack from behind the goal lines. Spencer was the big improver for mine and will grab a NAB Cup spot too. Kicking the first two goals of the game within 5 minutes was a pleasant surprise. Great to see Garry Lyon there with Jimmy. Chris Connolly MC'ing before the game to the grandstand crowd was a treat, as was his quip for the bus driver of the Bendigo Demons to return to the bus to turn his lights off, or it'd be a very long walk home at quarter time. Kudos also to the players for being so obliging for the kids with the photos and autographs for a good while after the game.

The highlight of the night for me was the presentation of Stuart Spencer with his 56 Truscott Cup. He said the club told him to keep the night free for a presentation. He went through the checklist with his family - "I'm a Life Member, in the MFC Team of the Century and the AFL Hall of Fame so I dont know what else it could be". The guernsey presentation was also extremely well done, past prominent players were on hand to give over each number as follows: #5 David Schwarz -> Jordan Gysberts #9 David Neitz & Brian Dixon -> Jack Trengove #28 David Cordner -> Joel McDonald #31 Ron Barassi & Paul Wheatley -> Tom Scully #35 Noel McMahon & Antony McDonald -> Luke Tapscott #37 Jim Stynes - Max Gawn #48 Darren Cuthbertson(!) -> Jack Fitzpatrick No other jumper number changes were mentioned other than those already stated by WJ. There were relatively few questions from the floor this year. Bails gave a good, lengthy answer to a query on our seemingly growing injury list. Mentioned we won 21 quarters of football in 2008, and this increased to 33 this year. The average points kicked against us dramatically dropped this year compared to last, but our points kicked remained reasonably stagnant, he said we need to improve our attack this year, and that the more players play together, the better we'll get at this. The night ended with a rousing rendition of the club song led by Brian Dixon & Noel McMahon, arm in arm.

Can any of the fine folk such as KC care to give us an update/overview of all the summer comings and goings down at Casey? There were many rumours of players/staff/coaches being poached by Williamstown to follow Peter German. Given our young list last years season was a very good one, but will be seemingly very hard to replicate. The losses of Silvagni, Valenti et al are significant IMHO.

That makes 3 of us, I won a prize a couple of years ago that never got sent.

At least it doesnt include a certain ex-player who wore number 5, unlike the commercially available calendar currently in the shops, which does. Whoops.

I for one cant work out how you could ban someone from an AFL ground in Australia. Anyone can go up, pay their cash up at the window, and walk through the turnstile. The 'woman' that threw the cup of beer at Brad Johnson last year while bragging about it to a friend on the phone 'banned' herself from Lions games for two years or something didnt she? It's merely a symbolic gesture to be banned from games here. Same with a cricket game, if you get thrown out for playing up during a One-Day game at the G for instance, whats to stop you going around 3 gates further up and buying another ticket??

I dont read our local paper very often, the Maribyrning Leader, but 'er indoors pointed out to me last night there was a big article on a Melbourne player 'named Jack' in this weeks edition. Here's the online version, a good read: Hell of a relief for Demon Jack

I believe the main reason for this presser was to announce Volvo as our new shorts sponsor, replacing The Age. Also, on CC's tweets, he mentioned that historic guernsey numbers, such as Noel McMahen's famous #35 would be symbolically handed over to people soon.

Bucks to be coached by Bucks in 2 years time?......Was a surprise to be sure.

Stable Pony!

According to this story just published on the little papers website, Collingwood will have exclusive use of the old Olympic Park area when it gets redeveloped. Athletics Australia are getting shunted off there to a new complex in Albert Park. Co-incidentally, who is on the Athletics Australia Board, none other than an Edward McGuire. Hmm, something smells very fishy there! So i assume that means we'd be training at Goschs Paddock? Collingwood Get Exclusive Access to Olympic Park Redevelopement

KC, is there any word as to whether James Wall and Peter Faulks are going to be at the club next year, or are the rumours in Inside Football they're going to be poached by Peter German in his move to Williamstown true?

Would you have said that at the time after Cuthbertsons first 9 games though? No, we wouldve all been salivating about the future star forward we had on our hands, saying 'look how good he's been, and he's only played 9 games...'. I dont see how the style of game dictates that a forward who's able to kick bags of goals,take big marks and influence games is relevant?