Mental Demons

I don't think we will win this one. We are top heavy will struggle with their pace. The quicker teams are always more competitive against us even when we win. Including Viney, Jackson and Brown does not help our pace. Picking Brown does not mean we have a working forward line that is use to kicking a score. We are one of the slowest teams going around, if we have to chase them we will lose. Their forward line is better than ours and they are hard at the contest. If they halve contests it will be hard for the demons to win.

The other teams have figured us out and Goodwin is not a good enough of a coach to be able to have a different way of playing other teams’ styles. Goodwin is a one trick pony and we were very lucky in the first half of this season, it went to our heads. We have become instantly beatable and without a competent forward line. All teams have to do is halve the contest and challenge us to kick a score. I still don’t think Goodwin will win a grand final with us but we have a good enough list to win one. The two most deserving of being dropped is Viney – because he is playing like he is too old and he did not have to prove himself at Casey to be selected. Perhaps when one is on as long a contract as Viney the team is stuck with him anyway. Make Viney earn his place, drop him. A while ago I warned that picking Jackson as a forward is going to stop us developing a good forward line. It seems I was right. Last Saturday we did not have a tall forward target, that was meant to be Jackson’s job if he was picked as a forward. The reality is Jackson is picked as a second ruck and the only goals he kicks are joe the goose goals. He is not a forward and has been holding genuine goal kicking forwards out all year. No wonder we have such a poor record in the forward line. I still expect Jackson to be traded back to the west at the end of the season. If we do not pick tall target forwards we can’t expect our crumbing small forwards to do what they are best at. I suspect Kossi and Spargo have not been doing their job but it is not really their fault. We have good small forwards doing well at Casey but I would like to see Kossi and Spargo have a go at crumbing to a tall forward. I would drop Jackson for a tall forward. Viney is easy to replace as we found out in Viney’s last extended injury break, we can win without him. I would not have a problem with having a look at a different small forward setup but as happy to give Spargo and Kossi a chance to work with a tall forward.

Weid has kicked 14 goals in 3 weeks. He has been successful at AFL level. Weid could make our forward line as hard to match up on as our backline. He could make our team harder to beat. Weid has earned a go. It would seem the FD agree with me according to Goodwin. It may be years before Jackson is as good as Weid as a specialist forward, if ever. If Weid does not work we can try something else. That applies to the whole forward line. We have been very good at developing players through Casey.

You are an ignorant blind faith fan and I am putting you on ignore. Your opinion is not worth listening to.

I am not providing evidence or making an argument. I think the Petracca deal will be good value, if in the next 8 years there is an increase in the salary cap. I don't think there is much evidence of that happening at the moment as revenues are not up to pre -covid levels. We have 42 list spots and a range of contract values. The trick is to pay more for the ones we want to keep longer. It also means we need to trade and develop players. Oliver has just signed an extension that will take him to free agency. There are a lot of contracts to juggle and I don't think we have been great at that in the past. I suspect we have too many on too much for too long.

I think the Suns list management has been excellent in the last couple of years. It would not surprise me at all if they are where we are now in a couple of seasons.

He has a different skill set to Weid. I suspect we are more in need of what Weid offers. Jackson has value and we could get good picks/players for him. We have done well at the draft in recent times and this is better value for money.

While I agree That T Mac will be a FA next year and will probably go somewhere else. There is no cap saving in this but we might be able to get some pick compensation of some sort if we can trade him. I suspect that is is unlikely that we will be able to pay Jackson what he will be offered elsewhere. Have a read of the article that I posted and put yourself in the position of list management.

I have mentioned a few. I suspect that the FD have been wanting to get Weid in for a while. This injury allows that to happen. The reality is Jackson will be getting offers, that is the main one. We could not move a couple of players last year. You can only trade something that someone is willing to pay for. There are not many on our list that fall into that category.

This move has been long anticipated. Despite all the logic, and being howled down on here before, I think it is very unlikely that Jackson will be in red and Blue next year. Weid has to come in or there is a danger of losing him too. Even Max has said that it is a luxury having Luke. A luxury is not a necessity. Jackson has been good but is superfluous to need. The upside to this for Jackson and the team is that he is now valuable and the team has somebody to trade something good for. The lure of a move back to WA has always been there for the young player. Not being second to Max is also an attraction. I doubt there is a place for Jackson in our best 22, come finals time. If there is, who would be dropped for him? He is not more productive than our forwards. It is great having depth but it is hard to keep rising stars to be bit players for ever. Perhaps if this team won a GF and Jackson was a part of that, he might want to stay. Short of that, I think it will be hard to keep him and he might have more value to the Demons as a trade. The only thing that may change this situation is if Tom Macdonald or Weideman leaves the club at years end. We have a short list now with long term injuries and there will be a new draft mid season and at seasons end. We are probably paying some players too much going forward. In this group would be Viney, Tomlinson, Tom Mac, Melksham, Jetta, Hibberd, Brayshaw. It is unlikely we will keep everyone. With the long term signing of Petracca, these issues will start to be a problem. Value for money vs length of contract will start to be an problem. There is a good analysis of this problem. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-13/demons-christian-petracca-is-he-worth-seven-year-contract/100133302

20 teams is ok but I would rather two divisions of 10 teams. North East Vs South West. Everybody plays every team in their division twice and half the other division once = 23 rounds. Finals can be a playoff of the best in the divisions.

Haven't you made that joke already? If you want to be funny, get a new writer. My girlfriend thinks football is stupid. I don't have pets, I have human friends. Unlike most on here, I have seen the demons win a Grand Final. I do not think it will happen under Goodwin so think about where the team will be in a couple of years.

No insult, I am engaging you. You seem to have an idea that winning on the field does not happen unless the off-field is excellent, I agree. I actually think Jackson will be pretty good in 2-3 years. Max took years of Casey before he was the best in the league. No other ruck on our list will get the gig while Max is around. They are there for back-up. If they can't kick goals they won't keep forwards out of the team. The best career move a ruck on our list can do is go to another team. Footy is a business, the Dees have done some things very well. They have also done things badly. There is an issue ahead that if you want to have the best players in the league, you have to pay them what they are worth. Trac and Oliver are possibly in the top ten in the league - Viney and Brayshaw might scrape into the top 100. Jackson may be worth rolling the dice on to be a top ten player, I doubt there is the budget or the years that might take to happen here. If the only way to keep Trac and Oliver was to trade others out there s not many that are worth enough to make enough difference. I think it will be bye to L.J. and probably Brayshaw, maybe others too. I think we will be open to offers if we want the best. The cheap talent we have is very good value as a supporting cast. It is something the club have done OK with.

At no time did I say you did support trading LJ. At no time did I say I wanted to trade anybody - it's not my job. I hope those at the club that locked Viney into such a long contract do a better job keeping Trac and Oliver. They will walk if they are not better looked after than Viney because others will make big offers for them. I have had 60 years of poor management since my Dad played for the dees in the fifties. You suggested club management was important. I don't really care who is traded. I was having a reality check. If we want keep Trac an Oliver and pay them what they are worth, others will be traded. I am open to any suggestions to who they might go and who would want them at what price. The ignore option on here is great. It is the ultimate insult to say someone is not worth listening to an opinion from. There is a few fans on here must have such sad lives to chase negative attention with multiple accounts.

What a lot of the blind faith fans on here don't seem to realize that, as suggested by Sydee, successful clubs need to be well organised business wise. Loyalty has little value and can be a trap if not managed well (Viney, Treloar etc). That is why you see many clubs trading proven players with value. Paying the ones you really want to keep is the trick.

It is not a matter of what he wants or why would we sign him. The answer is simple. If he walked unsigned we would get nothing for him. I just had a look at the contracts and cap, It will be hard to keep Petracca and Oliver and pay them what they are worth, unless we free up some room in the cap. We don't have many players with much value to others. Jackson is one and I suspect he will head west. Brayshaw has some value and we can't afford (or properly use) him and Viney. Either way we will be moving players on at years' end to afford the future we want.

the reality is if we are going to keep Oliver and Petracca we need to free up a lot of cap space or we have a Treloar/Collingwood problem. The problem is we don't have many players with much value to be traded. We should not have signed Viney to such a long contract. We tried to move him on but now he is too expensive and we are stuck with him. I am sure Jackson will not be at the club next year and I would say Brayshaw will be moved on too. That may not be enough. I expect they will try and get rid of a couple of others too. I doubt we need Kelly or any big price tag players, we will be stretched just keeping what we want to have.

No, I think it is funny that so many here want to pick a forward who can't kick goals and still expect the team to win. We could cover it against Freo but it won't work against the saints. Let Jackson learn where the goals are at Casey. Jackson does not fill any particular needs now and I doubt he will be a match winner for years. How many years was Max at Casey before he was a regular? If we can get something good for Jackson we should move him on.

Jackson will never get a go at Max's job. We need Jackson to kick goals, he does not seem able to do that and we can't afford to keep picking him in hope. Let him earn his place by kicking more goals than anybody else at Casey. The reality we don't really have a place for him in the best 22, and he is not busting the door down. Jackson is quick for a big guy but he is far from quick against a team like the saints. If he needs to develop it should not be in the best 22. If others see he has so much talent then maybe we could get a player that is more useful to our needs. We don't need a part-time ruck that can't kick goals. I suspect that if we get any half decent offer for Jackson at years end we will move him on. We have too many others who are more ready to play. There is a logic that if we don't play him he will be worth nothing so I expect he will only play games that we can cover his lack of production.

Shoosh yourself. If Jackson plays as well as he usually does we will lose. If Jetta is best available, pick him he did nothing wrong. Would others be more help was my question? You are a very insecure blind faith fan and don't seem to know much about the game. Jackson is worth more to us as a trade, there is no room for a forward that can't kick goals. I have never thought Baker was best 22 but he does have pace that others are lacking. This is what we will need to beat the Saints. Daw may be a spud but he has kicked a lot more goals and had more marks than Jackson has this year.

If we are going to beat the Saints, we need to be quicker. I am not too sure how much we can do that. St Kilda are not a big team. Chandler for Jackson is an improvement. I think if we play Jackson we are no chance of beating the Saints. Jackson just does not do enough we can't afford to pick him in hope. Sparrow will make way for Viney. Much as nobody did too much wrong last week, it is more about what we need to do to beat the Saints. We do have more experience and pace at Casey and I would be tempted to drop Jones and Jetta if we could get more out of two of Sparrow, Bedford, Melk, Hibberd or Baker. Daw has been taking marks and kicking goals don't know if he has enough fitness yet, maybe a sub.

I don't have anything against Jackson personally and agree he has potential. If he turns out to be another Bontempelli, it will not be with us because he is years away from being a regular first choice, best 22. We just don't really have a job for him to do than be a forward. He will be better if he has to earn his place in the team by kicking lots of goals at Casey. I think it would be better for his career if we traded him at years end. Freo would be a better fit. They are still rebuilding, he would get more of a go.

There is a lot of sense in what I say. if we have to carry him while he learns to be a forward, we will lose too many games to make the finals. Daw is a better forward. Courtney is a better ruck and kicks goals. We have two Browns who are better forwards than Jackson. Weid is a better forward too. Would you hold these guys out for Jackson? I think Chandler would have been more useful last Saturday and he definitely will be against the Saints. Crawl back up your own hole, fool.

The only reason to play Jackson at the moment is to increase his trade value. Jackson is superfluous to need and it was a mistake to draft him. He will never be a first ruck and if he can't make this team as a forward he will be playing at Casey most of the year. We have 2 guys running around Casey that would do Jackson's job better. Majac has been doing well and Andrew Courtney is a better ruck and a better forward. The best hope is that some team sees value in Jackson and take him off our hands.

He is right. There is plenty of evidence that the Melbourne brand is soft and badly managed.