Simmo0911

Needs to shave his head. Can't have confidence with a hairline like that. Only half joking... For what its worth I've always been a big Petty fan, he'll come good soon enough.

They have the players playlist up on the big screen and apparently Jake Lever selected Strawberry Kisses by Nikki Webster. Maybe we do have a culture problem after all...

Said pregame I didn't care how it looked, just wanted the 4 points and no injuries. Really annoyed at Kozzie tbh. His lack of discipline really hurt us in the sf against Carlton last year and he still does dumb stuff like that. Still very pleased overall though

Don't care if it's one of those "we won't beat the top teams if we play like that" kind of games. Just want to bank the four points with no injuries

So Brown played really well but seems to still only have a half of good footy in him. No idea how he will pull up for next week. Judging by the public comments, Goodwin seems to think that Petty will find more form playing in the AFL than the twos. But from the people who went to the Casey game it seems like he's not going to be kicking bags for a few weeks. How did Fullerton look yesterday? Second tall forward/ruck still seems the week link but I reckon Brown deserves some congrats for his game today.

John Ralph just said Oliver was likely to play against Sydney. Said he just needs to get through training tomorrow or something like that

The commentators have mentioned it a few times but the one positive from today seems to be Viney's inside 50s

I was introduced by my uncle who was dees fan and used to take me to games in the 90s. Unfortunately he recently died a miserable death cutting himself off from the world and not talking to anyone for 20 odd years. But I smile knowing he saw 2021. I became a fanatic in the 2000s when I first met one of my best mates who also happened to be a dees fan and we'd go every week. I've got a lot of friends who don't really "get" sport and can't understand why I'm such a rabid supporter, but I've spent so much time watching Melbourne with people I love.

I know nothing about the medical side of things, but it doesn't seem likely Adelaide were willing to pay a guy that much money next year if he was going to be on the injured list for half of it. Even if it was a long term investment I assume he would be cheaper next year if he had an injury interrupted 2024.

Do you think the lack of stability with personnel in the forward half contributes to this? The fact there was a different forward set up every week means they were more conservative? Or is it just a completely separate issue?

Devastating news, no other words for it. I have no idea how clubs function, but what is the likelihood he will remain at the club in a coaching or staff role if his playing days are over? Goodwin seems to have always rated his leadership skills very highly. I recall he was the main driver in getting him over from Essendon and he named him captain once against North when Gawn and Viney were out. Trying to look for some kind of positives...

Looking at the injury list this week I saw Disco is 1-2 weeks away. I haven't seen anything of him this year. What are people's thoughts on him getting a run before finals? Obviously he's been out for awhile so not ideal, but I seem to recall he was ahead of Tomlinson in the pecking order for tall backs last year. Or was Tomlinson still recovering from his knee?

Was at yesterday's game. As most have said the Melbourne fringe players dominated and were a class above. Grundy seemed okay, but not amazing. Spent the entire day forward except for five minutes in the ruck before half time. The positives were that he seemed to work well with the other forwards. He wasn't getting in anyone's way and made a few good leads to space, getting on the end of a couple. He looked his best when he crashed a pack once or twice and reacted well when the ball went to ground. One on one he lacked that initial burst of pace and didn't seem to get too much separation on his opponent. He's never going to be the number one forward but it depends on the role he is being asked to play at AFL. My overall impression can be summed up with 'meh'. As others mentioned he easily could have had four goals and missed a few very gettable opportunities but all players struggled with accuracy. I think he worked well with Jefferson and Sache and if he is supposed to just play third tall for ten minutes a quarter, giving another option then yeah, okay, it could work. But Coburg is struggling this year so he could have looked better against poor opposition. On Jefferson though, I was impressed. He was quiet to begin with, but worked his way into it. Took some good grabs and did a few things at ground level that made me sit up. A few people commented in the match day thread he looks like he's bulked up a bit and I got that impression in person. I don't think he will be making a debut this year but was enough to get me excited about a future JVR and Jefferson forward line. Of the other Melbourne listed players AMW looked good as did Smith. Jed Adams didn't look too far off, but the ball was hardly in the Coburg forward line so didn't see heaps of him. Verral looked decent in the ruck. Sestan was quiet. I didn't see much from Kyah Farris-White but he's very young and skinny so best to wait a bit. Didn't notice Duursma too much but he took a couple of good grabs and looked okay. One more observation of the day. Good work from Coburg lions and their fans. It's not easy being flogged every week but there was a really friendly atmosphere there and the fans seemed really positive about their team. Felt like a nice community. I overheard a few other Casey fans express similar sentiments.

I think it's important to note that Round 2 we probably had our fittest forward line and named Brown, McDonald, Fristch, Gawn and Grundy. Everyone knew heading into last year and this year we were short a key forward and Tmac and Brown were running on fumes, but you can't conjure a key forward from thin air just because you need one. I think McStay was the only one on the market last year? Goodwin was probably hoping Fristch, Gawn and Pickett would be serious threats while some combination of Brown, Tmac, and an up and coming Van Roo (possibly Sache for one or two games) would just play their role throughout the season. Grundy would be the ruck and then has a rest in the forward line just to keep the headaches coming for the opposition. The fact that Brown, Tmac, Fristch and Petty have often been injured, and Gawn hasn't looked as threatening as last year up forward means it never got off the ground. I don't think a plan like that is ideal for winning a premiership but seemed the best option given the circumstances. Just seems like Grundy is being asked to try and be a bit more of a threat come finals because the plan didn't work the way we'd hoped. Not ideal to drop an All Australian ruck but doubt anyone at the club is asking him to be Jeremy Cameron and it's better than doing nothing. Also with Gawns age and the amount he gets beat up every game it seem unlikely he gives us a big finals campaign unless Grundy has played serious minutes in the ruck throughout the year.