Neil Crompton

indoor kicking area is also great for soccer Ghostwriter!

I’ve mentioned this for a few weeks now - I’d like Sestan to be blooded this week. Reward for good consistent performances. Fritsch gotta go, and reinvent himself at VFL level. Jeffo out. I’d give him a few weeks playing wing at VFL, cause he’s not looking promising as a forward. Milkshake and Petty to return. One more out - time for Kolt to get his confidence back at the lower level. Possibly Laurie for sharp?

probably need to build 4 ovals in that case! - got to be at least 2 or 3 out-of-state teams per week coming to Melb.

I specifically look out for your weekly post N34. I'm always "pumped" and primed after reading it.

Gus was the heart and soul of this club. We've been on life support since he left, awaiting a transplant. Best wishes Gus.

Hey @picket fence would you have selected him this week? PS is Andy ok? where is the game day thread?

Sharp, i think, just needs more confidence / belief in his talents - he has the "Ricky Jackson's" about him to my eyes.

or it could be utter BS

So many posters on here have been, in the past, so critical of McClure and Morris and the gutter trash they seem, somehow, to dredge up. Yet suddenly these same posters are ready to believe the latest scraps these “journalists” have spewed forth about Clarry. Give me a break. So until proven otherwise, I’m prepared to back Clarry and the club to get him back to the champion he was and still can be. I doubt very much that Tracc would have gone out on a limb and say the things he did in supporting Clarry if the Morris / McClure Shiite was real. For one thing, it wouldn’t do his brand a lot of good. As an absolute champion of this Club, he not only deserves our respect, but also our public support with his MH issues. Best wishes champ!

@Rab D Nesbitt - I'm in nsw and I saw the whole interview live on Kayo. I had swapped to the Cats Pies post match discussion and i think they went live to Tracc from there. The section where he talks about Clarry is on the AFL website.

Just a comment on Fritta’s game. On the plus side, he did kick 2 goals, and his goal kicking radar has improved - but he should of had a third. On the minus side, there is hardly a “team-first” bone in his body. If he feels he cannot mark a ball, he showed again today, on a number of occasions, that he’s happy to let his opponent mark it, without even making any effort to spoil him. He gave away far too many silly free kicks. He didn’t lay one tackle. We are basing our game around pressure, and he provides so little of this. I don’t care how out of form you are, you can still chase, tackle, shepherd and spoil - all the team first things that should be non-negotiable. IMO he needs to play at Casey until he shows that he is prepared to do these team first things.

The most consistent performing eagle is the eagle itself - 200 straight games now. Why you’d wish anything but freedom for that bird is beyond me.

Listening to the podcast, the old chestnut of "loading" was brought up and @binman spoke about some teams apparently preferring to load early in the season. The inference from this is that, if we are loading, it could partly explain our 4th quarter fade outs. I have no idea on this, but it got me thinking about our training. Correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm sure someone will if i am) but didn't our main training days used to be on Tuesdays, and an easier one on Thursdays for a Saturday game? With the apparent swapping of the most strenuous training session to two days prior to a game, is this a form of loading for our players? Perhaps @binman could comment on this for me please. If it is, are we likely to see us swap our main training days back to Tuesdays later in the year when we have "achieved our designed loading levels"?

OMG please don’t mention Port Melbourne again!

I’d like to use the WC game to try a couple of things: I’d give Campbell a game to assist Max - and make the mix work. I think Sparrow and Chandler are showing what our forward pressure should be like, and I’m afraid Fritta hasn’t added this to his game yet so I’d let him learn this back at Casey for a couple of weeks. The obvious replacement would be Melksham, but I’d rather go a different route and try a younger player in Sestan. I know he has been playing very well in the backline, but his DNA is as a forward. His backline “learnings” will have him bring the defensive pressure we need up forward from all players, and he certainly knows how to kick a goal. So I’d play him in Fritta’s spot in the pocket. Turner to return to the backline, JVR to get another go, Rivers moved to the mids, and Windsor to the wing where he belongs. Spargo and Tholstrup to lose their places not because they were poor, but because they didn’t do enough. McVee, May, Turner Bowie, TMac, Lindsay Langdon, Viney, Windsor Sparrow, Petty, Chandler Kossie, JVR, Sestan Gawn, Tracc, Langford Bench: Campbell, Rivers, Salem, Oliver 23rd: Melksham Out:: Spargo, Fullarton, Sharp, Tholstrup and Fritta out. In: Turner, Sestan, JVR, Campbell, and Melksham sub. Five changes is probably too much, but it’s what I’d like to see happen.