Where Demons Dare

As long as we beat the Pies in our last game of the season I can stomach last nights putrid loss.

Goodwin gambled this season and he lost. He lost it from the very beginning when Brayshaw and Smith were basically forced to retire. He gambled that we had enough talent to get us through to finals with our A grade mids and nothing underneath. Losing our second string mids in Harmes and Jordon (even Dunstan would of been handy this season) have shot us in the foot and we've had to play kids who aren't ready, but have put in a mighty effort. Anyway I have faith in us next year, the talent is there and a new draftee gun Mid plus Noah Yze will help us back to greatness again soon. Similar to our 2019 disaster of a year... it resulted in some great draftees which launched us to the top of the ladder in 21', I see a similar trajectory and we'll be back in the hunt. Stay the course Demon faithful!

Smith and Brayshaw's absence has hampered our season greatly. We'd most likely be top 4 with those players in the side. add to that Brown who can never get on the park and Spargo's ankle we've been 4 players down all season. While it gives opportunities to our younger players like Howes, AMW and Turner we're doing incredibly well to be in the hunt for finals with no Gawn, Pettracca and a NQR Oliver.

Redemption time Dees, let's get a big percentage boosting win today and keep our finals hope alive!

We can't afford to have the mindset heading into that game like we did with West Coast thinking it will be an easy win. Yes... the Pies have many injuries, but they'll still be thinking they are a good chance of beating us if they pressure us all day. Our win/loss record to the Pies is an embarrassment!

It's great seeing the young fellas build confidence and getting better each week. Windsor, McVee, Howes and Woey all putting in good performances. It will be tough at selection soon with Bowey, McAdam, Hunter and Salem not far off a return. At this stage I'd swap McAdam for Billings for Carlton next week.

Can we get Hibberd in for the back half of the season? One last crack at another premiership with his best mate Melk, and not to mention reaching that 200 game mark which he fell just short.

People People chill... round 1 hasn't even started yet! let's not get our [censored] in a tangle already...

Many coaches and football experts say a player reaches his peak performance around the age of 29 and we have a great core of players in that 26-29 age bracket like Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Lever, Salem, Fritsch, ANB and Langdon which will keep us in good stead for finals contention over the next few years. With further improvement from Petty, JVR, Rivers, Bowey, Pickett etc. I can see us pushing for the flag this year and in 2025. I'm not sure we'll be top 4, but that hasn't really helped us the last couple of years anyway so as long as we're in the 8 I'm happy.

Marty Hore for me. Melbourne recruited the 28 year old for a reason so they obviously see a role there for him.

MFC best 22: FB: J.McVEE, S.MAY, A.TOMLINSON HB: C.SALEM, J.LEVER, T.RIVERS C: E.LANGDON, C.OLIVER, L.HUNTER HF: A.NEAL-BULLEN, J.VAN ROOYEN, J.BILLINGS FF: B.FRITSCH, H.PETTY, K.PICKETT RR: M.GAWN, C.PETRACCA, J.VINEY INT: S.McADAM, T.SPARROW, A.BRAYSHAW, J.BOWEY SUB: J.SMITH Casey best 22: FB: M.HORE, T.MCDONALD, D.TURNER HB: B.HOWES , J.SCHACHE, J.ADAMS C: C.WINDSOR, K.BROWN, T.WOWOEDIN HF: C.SPARGO, T.FULLARTON, O.SESTAN FF: M.JEFFERSON, B.BROWN, A.MONIZ-WAKEFIELD RR: K.FARRIS-WHITE, B.LAURIE, M.SZYBKOWSKI (CASEY) INT: W.VERRAL, K.CHANDLER, K.THOLSTRUP, K.SHIPP (CASEY) SUB: K.WINDSOR (CASEY) INJURED: J. MELKSHAM I see this as the predominant best 22 for most of the year other than match ups which will determine whether we go with Fullarton, Smith or McAdam. Fullarton used when the opposition play 2 rucks or if Max isn't 100%. Smith we all know what he is capable of and is a very damaging 3rd key forward or capable defender if we want to stretch the opposition talls. McAdam to play the Melksham role with a bit more speed and creativity than others provide. If our forward pressure is breaking down then Spargo and Chandler will be recalled to create that turnover football. I'd like to see the emergence of Howes, Laurie, Turner, AMW and Woewodin the most this year. I think they've all had long enough time in the system now to be making an impact at senior level so a 5-10 game season for all of them would be a good result as I don't see any of them outclassing their team mates in the 22. B.Brown, Schache, Tmac and Hore will all provide roles when required this season but I'm not focusing on them too much. Jefferson, J.Adams, Sestan, Tholstrup, Windsor and K.Brown I don't want to place any pressure on them this year so just let them develop at Casey and if they can play a couple of games then that will bring great confidence for their 2025 season.

I'm backing Clarry in this year to play 20+ games. He will be ramping up his training soon after recovery from his knee clean out and be fully integrated in the main group by Feb. Let's go!

IMO, Tomlinson fully deserves the 3rd key defender position first up. He made a strong statement coming in first place in the time trial and the coaches will be taking note of that. I'd be more than happy to trial Disco as our super sub who can play forward or back if one of our tall's aren't firing. As for Laurie, I just don't see how he gets in the team when we brought in better skilled forwards in McAdam and Billings. If anything Laurie would be trying to get ANB's/Spargo's spot as that running forward that creates options. Laurie finishing 4th in the time trial is really promising so I think he just needs to keep plugging away in the VFL much like Chandler did for 4 years. I do feel it's time we see what Howes is made of so I'd like to see him get 5-10 games this season and with Hibberd's retirement there may be a spot for him to break into our strong backline. As for Jefferson we don't need to rush him, we have ample depth and I would much prefer to play Turner forward than Jefferson this season as he has had 2-3 more years in the system and should be AFL ready by now. Don't write off Schache this year either it's probably his last crack at AFL this season so he has to show something to warrant a contract extension.

Yes, but we moved up the the draft order to try and get a better player when we could have already got Tholstrup with our original pick 14. If we keep our current pick of 11 and take Tholstrup then we’ve essentially given away two 2nd round picks for nothing. I think the media are hyping up that Melbourne want to pick him is because JT went over and met with his family and Curtins also which he mentioned was only routine. JT mentioned he would take best available in his media segment yesterday. Tholstrup may be in first round contention and certainly will be a good player, but isn’t the best available at pick 11.

What is the purpose of trading out Picks 14, 27 and 35 for Pick 11 only to land Tholstrup who wasn't even considered a top 15 player in the draft which we could of taken with Pick 14 anyway. If that's the case then it's very amateur by Melbourne. More pick swaps to come I feel.

Pick 6 - O’Sullivan Pick 11 - Leake Pick 42 - Ashton Moir F/S - Kynan Brown Rookie - Marty Hore