old55

I think the FD must prefer TMac to Tomlinson because TMac is more versatile, he can go back, forward and do ruck minutes. He did have a good pre-season. Good to see Hore for Bowey, if so that means Salem stays in the midfield. Interesting to see whether it's BBB or Fullarton for Love Shack.

Selection conundrums ... Bowey is out. We could move Salem back but that would disrupt the new midfield set-up. If we do then the logical replacement appears to be Woewodin. The other backman choice is Hore but they may be worried about a lack of pace with Tomlinson and Lever. The left-field alternatives backline replacements are headlined by Billings who is experienced and could learn the system quickest and is a lovely kick. Woewodin and K.Brown are punts. Spargo sounds injured, apparently seen hobbling in duress at the Sydney airport and in the rehab group at Monday's training. The logical replacement is the ubiquitous Woewodin. Longer odds on Tholstrup, AMW, K.Brown or Sestan. Laurie was subbed but IMO, given Spargo's situation, is likely to be retained in the 23. Assuming Woewodin replaces Spargo then again the candidates are Tholstrup, AMW, K.Brown or Sestan. Schache - it seems "the hate Shack is a little old place that we can get together". The replacement candidates in order of longest out of rehab but shortest on recent proven record are Fullarton, BBB and Petty. I think TMac is a backline replacement these days. They may stick with the love Shack. I left out that Kosi is an automatic in. C'mon and bring your jukebox money ...

I think you're having an arithmetic problem. Backs against Sydney: Bowey + McVee = 2 Your plan for backs against the Dogs: 1/2 McVee + 1/2 Salem = 1 You're still short one small back.

Maybe, but I don't think talk about playing both Salem and McVee in the midfield does anything to address the need for cover for Bowey.

Yes Hore is first cab in the rank. Maybe we might worry about being too slow back there with Tomlinson, Lever and Hore. Alternatives are all left field now Gus has retired. IMO Billings is next best suited, he's experienced and could learn the system the quickest and he's a very nice kick on both sides.

Let's hope not. Maybe Billings to HB could be an option. He's a very nice kick on both sides.

Seriously any AFL footballer is likely to murder all but a very few posters here. I played with a guy in juniors who "only" made AFL Reserves level but he was honestly 10x better than me.

Right back at ya baby if you'd trade Petty and JVR for JUH.

Petty + JVR >> JUH

Totally crazy talk.

I don't mind Jefferson playing KPB at Casey, we're not flush with up and coming tall defenders. Adams and Turner - that's it. May and Tomlinson have use-by dates and TMac will be gone next year. KPB succession is important. At Casey we've currently got BBB, Fullarton, Verrall and KFW (or Schache) forward. That's why it makes sense to play TMac back and it gets pretty tall up there if you try to fit Jefferson in too If Petty can stay fit and we can re-sign him then we're pretty well set with him and JVR up forward, and we have Fullarton and Verrall as ruck-forward options. Provided we can recoup the Gus salary cap we should be able to make very good offers to Petty and JVR.

We should have a ritual execution of one of the players drawn by lot. This should happen for each loss. That will get results.

As @Slartibartfast posted, we probably signed him as a Rookie at least partly as part of the coaching team outside the soft cap.

Signed to FA. It's the common move.

Reilly O'Brien is UFA end of 2025. Four years younger than Max. Could co-incide with Max's retirement?

Yes that’s right LDvC, 5 man bench with the sub named from there an hour before gametime. It's a good move overall because the team does have 23 players, it's less good for fantasy footy though

Yeah but you don't have to travel for 30 minutes to get to your car on the way to Geelong and wait for 45 minutes before the car doors open and you can get inside, then wait 15 minutes getting out of the car at Geelong, 30 minutes to get your bag from the boot and 30 minutes to travel back home from your car. That’s at least an extra 2+ hours each trip. IMHO they'd be mad not to stay in Adelaide.

Selection for Sydney will be interesting, there's the starting 22 against Carlton minus Kossie. That means Howe and Windsor to debut plus Billings. We need to add two more and name a sub out of the 23. I wouldn't be adding a tall. That probably means two of Tholstrup, Woey, K.Brown or AMW, if Clarrie doesn’t play. Maybe I'm missing someone?

What are all the possible reasons why Clarrie might not play against Sydney?

Yeah, recruited our premiership captain.

I think we've got 35 fit listed players. If they all play 4 quarters that's 35 x 4 = 140 player-quarters. A full team across 7 quarters requires 22 x 7 = 154 player-quarters. We're short 14 player-quarters. We're going to need at least 4 Casey extras to make up the difference, or 14 players play 5 quarters, or they reduce it to 6 quarters and we only need 132 player-quarters and 8 players only need to play 3 quarters. I think the last solution makes most sense.

I think it's a good well thought out post @Skuit but I'm not sure what point you're trying to make about "first round draft recruits"? Yes, we've got 3 from the past two years. How many do you expect to have? In total, we have 7 first round draft picks under 23yo - Pickett, Laurie, Bowey, JVR, Jefferson, Windsor and Tholstrup. That's 7 from the last 5 drafts while we've been contending for the flag. That's a pretty good harvest.

Wait, what? We're not guaranteed to win the flag and the best is only that we can win it? I want my money back!

Wow I'm amazed that the number gets smaller, it's surprising there's no 5s in there.

I think the injury "crisis" is overblown. The backline is fit and burgeoning with talent. The midfield is mostly fit, yes there's the ongoing questions about Clarrie and Gus but that was known information. Hunter has a calf injury he can't shake but Billings has arrived and Woey, Laurie and Windsor may be ready to step up. The forward line is the issue, but we knew Petty has a nasty injury that takes time to get over, TMac and BBB are questionable propositions and McAdam is known to be mercurial but injury prone. Kosi is out for a week. The only news is Fullarton's injury and who knows if he's better than Schache anyway? If we're a Fullarton injury from panic then we're not who I think we are. I think vs Sydney we can go with JVR, Schache, Fritsch, ANB, Spargo, Chandler and Laurie/Woey/Billings/Kolt. Throw in a bit of Petracca. And then someone has to make way for Kosi vs the Dogs. Sure, we don't want more forward line injuries right now but by the same token Petty, McAdam, TMac, BBB and Fullarton are not dead and some will filter back soon enough.