titan_uranus

You know he coached us to a flag last year, right? FFS. The reactions of some, seriously.

Too many on here probably did. Fuelled by the media who had nothing to say about us in the first 10 weeks other than various forms of "how will they ever lose".

Brown's out of form, but to be fair to him and as has been noted already, there were a number of times tonight when he was either leading and ignored, or leaving space to lead into but the kick went somewhere worse. We overcame poor mid-forward connection last year. We're going to need to do it again, because it's the dominant reason for our loss tonight.

Spargo repeatedly takes too long to dispose of it after a mark, and repeatedly runs into the pocket then tries to pass it when he should be running straight at goal and scoring. ANB's becoming too fumbly under pressure, although he's certainly not alone. I'm far more lenient on Lever and Petty than most. Sydney moved the ball well, but that was in no small part because of our turnovers. We exposed our backline through giving the ball up. And that was contributed to by our forwards not just failing to mark, but failing to bring the ball to ground.

6 - Gawn 5 - Petty 4 - Jordon 3 - Oliver 2 - Fritsch 1 - Brayshaw

But you know as well as I do that Hibberd is far better one-on-one than either of those two, and can "play tall" much better than those two.

Focusing on the positives for just a second: Gawn was phenomenal tonight, should get 3 Brownlow votes for that. Bounced back from being beaten by Darcy last week in stellar fashion. Petty was our best key defender despite a knee and a shoulder injury. Salem looked great early - not sure he ran the game out all that well though. Brayshaw's still composed as ever in the backline. And of course, most of us looked at that game and thought we were pretty poor and yet we led for most of the night. Which is the glass half full reminder that we're not as far off as the losses make you think.

The forward line is a mess. Ben Brown's far too far out of form to warrant selection next week. The problem is that there's no good replacement. It seems TMac's out for ages, and Weideman keeps putting in poor games even after he looks to have shown some AFL form. IMO, we have no choice but to drop B Brown for Weideman and give M Brown another game. B Brown has to go find form at Casey. Elsewhere, if Petty's fit then Tomlinson goes straight back out for May. We then need to make calls on Sparrow, Hunt and Spargo. Bedford could take Spargo's spot, and I'd be thinking about getting Hibberd into the backline for some height to help out. We're just a touch too small with Bowey, Salem, Hunt and Brayshaw back there. Hibberd's height helps take pressure of the talls, particularly when Petty's half-fit. But that's probably only 2 or maybe 3 changes. Like last year, the improvement has to come from the core A-graders. Trac's got to turn his slump around, Viney has to fix his kicking, Lever has to fix his decision-making, Oliver has to work through his tags, and anyone delivering the ball inside 50 has to think about it before they kick it.

Playing a stable 22 last year went a long way to us winning the flag. Awful take.

Yep this was a rubbish crowd. If you're not going because you think we don't play exciting football, you are the problem. Get off your [censored] and go support us. We are the reigning [censored] premiers and we're top of the ladder. [Censored] it infuriates me to hear Melbourne supporters say "oh I just don't think we play exciting football".

There's plenty to think about and cause for concern, but not for most of the reasons people are suggesting in here. If you're potting the backline, you're focusing on the wrong thing. What did they score from turnover tonight? I don't know the number but i know it was far too much. If you're potting our lack of forward half pressure, you're focusing on the wrong thing. We can't pressure them if they're marking it, and they marked it far too much. We lost this game in two areas - belted in the middle in the second quarter, and a horrendous lack of connection in the forward half in the second half. We held them to two scoring shots in the third quarter, they barely had a look at goal. We had 16 inside 50s. But we scored 1 goal. Then in the fourth quarter we still generated opportunities but whether it was Fritsch not scoring from 30m out, Gawn missing from 5m out, Gawn then missing his pass, Sparrow missing his handball, Spargo centring when he should have had a shot, Viney turning at least one inside 50 kick over - this is why we lost. Ben Brown's either injured or out of form. Regardless of the reason, he's ineffectual right now. It doesn't help that he has no foil when TMac doesn't play, and it doesn't help when we continually miss him when he's on a lead, but when he has the chance to impact he's failing to do so. Mitch Brown's not up to it. It's sad that Weideman hasn't been able to cement his spot in the side because we are crying out for a key forward right now. Jackson, Sparrow, ANB, Spargo and Hunt are all out of form. Last year the first four were key reasons for our flag. This year, they're not able to lift when we need. Our poor form is compounded by Sydney, like Fremantle, playing probably their best game for the year. But that's something we have to expect now. Opposition sides set themselves for us. They plan for us, and because we're out of form, it's working. That's all then further compounded by some critical umpiring decisions that hurt us. The late Gulden and Papley goals were from soft free kicks. The early Reid goal was not a mark. And in the third, ANB and Oliver were both denied 50 metre penalties that were there (in ANB's case would have led to a certain goal). But the umpiring compounds the poor form, it doesn't cause it. It's hardly time to throw babies out with bathwater, because the first quarter is a reminder that our best is still the best, but we need to fix our forward half connection very soon, or we're not going to make the most of this season.

Yep, seems so.

Confirmed here: The emergencies were Bedford, Rivers, Melksham and Brown. Looks like Brown is either the sub or taking TMac's spot. Which of the other emergencies are playing right now for Casey?

Don't get me wrong, the weather would never stop me personally going. I'll be there tonight, even if it's wet and/or sub-zero. But I know there are plenty who make a decision on the day/evening and if it's cold and wet and it's a long trip home, compared with a warm house and a couch, some will choose to stay home.

IIRC it was rather nice weather last year. Tonight is going to be showery, windy and cold. Whether we like it or not, when coupled with the hassle many people seem to feel at going to the footy this year, the weather is going to turn people off.

I love this quote. Great stuff from Laurie and Goodwin.

Franklin's a huge loss but Kennedy not so much. Far more importantly for them than Kennedy, Hickey's out. Means they are rucking Ladhams as their first ruck and Sam Reid as his back up. Gawn had his toughest opponent yet last week in Darcy. He shouldn't find the going as tough this week against Ladhams. That, coupled with a fit Trac, the return of Langdon and the return of Harmes, should mean our midfield doesn't get blown apart like it did last week.

Sydney's best is good but they have been inconsistent with games all year. They're not as good as they were last year, either. Since Round 2 their only win of substance was last week, a 6 point win over Richmond where they conceded 100 points. Having said that, we're not in our best form either, and we're working 5 players back into the 22, which is a huge amount of change for us. We know that when we bring our A-game in the middle we make it hard for any side to compete. Last week we didn't get near our best, with Oliver tagged out of it and Petracca sick. The hope is with Trac back to fitness, Oliver will have more support if tagged, and with Langdon on a wing we won't be trying to support our mids with Spargo and Melksham. I'm really hoping for us to return to some of our prime form tonight, but I'm not at all expecting it. I'm predicting a win, but a tight one.

What's with that VIctorian team? Dusty's played like 4 games this year and not all of them have been great. Lever's nowhere near his 2021 form. Weitering's missing.

Calm down picket, OIiver's amazing but there's nothing at all unreasonable about someone putting Cripps above him right now. Whether we like it or not, Cripps has reached incredible levels so far this season. I'm more miffed at May only being 14.

I should always defer to Webber on injury-related issues. Makes me feel silly for being so surprised he's coming straight back.

I'm stunned Salem is in. I trust the FD, but I fully expected Salem to have a run at Casey to get his legs back. The other changes are all as expected. It's tough for Bedford but we had one too many small forwards and whilst he kicked two goals last week, he disappeared after that. Hunt deserved to hold his spot over Rivers, whose form just hasn't been great all year IMO. No excuses this week. We're really now only one player off our best 22 (May). As an aside - we're so close to making history. If Rivers is the sub, then we're only two players off fielding the Grand Final side, which has never been done before. May replacing Tomlinson brings it down to just one. Would have to find a reason to get Hibberd in over Hunt, which likely won't happen barring an injury to Hunt, but still, so close.

Good post, but like others I don't agree that Sparrow should be dropped. Hasn't been bad enough for long enough to warrant it, yet. As harsh as it is, I think it has to be Bedford who makes way instead of Sparrow. The balance of the side is out of whack if we bring back Langdon and Harmes and then keep Bedford along with Spargo, ANB and Pickett. With Bedford, we pushed Spargo up onto a wing. That wing spot won't be available, so what do we do with the excess small forward?

What world are you living in where Mitch Brown has "proven he can play back"? He's a depth forward, that's all he's ever trained as with us. TMac also isn't a defender, and we don't select him as a defender any more. We throw him back in games where we have injuries we need to cover, which is different.

Correct decision. Disappointing, as I'd prefer to watch Buddy on Saturday night at the G.