The Taciturn Demon

Interested to hear what regular Casey watchers think of Brown this season. Got a senior game very early last year (as sub) but then seems to have been ignored ever since. Is he just not showing much at the moment?

Sorry if this has been covered already but at (I think) three quarter time I noticed Judd McVee standing away from the final huddle. He was given encouraging pats from one or two trainers and when he joined the huddle he seemed doubled-over the whole time. Anyone know what happened there? Illness maybe?

Damn. What a pity. I think he's very close to our most important player. With May, Oliver and Petracca not the players they were only a few years ago, he's just about our best player (behind Max) as well.

GOOD LORD!

Fremantle have snuck over the line against Sydney at home, had a three-goal win against the Bont-less Dogs at home, comfortably beaten Richmond and lost the rest. Their injury list is long, but Hayden Young is the only huge out. (That might be hard on O'Meara but not on Walters or Fyfe.) They've won one final and played in one finals series as they've assembled this list. (One final in nine years, actually). Is that list, seemingly considered excellent by a lot of people (not least of all their own supporters), actually pretty [censored]?

Fox barely a step up from Zero Hanger.

An excellent sentiment that applies to so much more than mental health. Well said.

It's a massive list.

I think you're right. For a very long time I've thought Petty was the ideal replacement, Turner being a good (and probably more physically robust) replacement for Lever eventually. If Petty still has a desire to return to South Australia that throws a spanner in the works.

I come to Demonland for the footy goss. I stay for the poetry.

It's a complete disaster. They've pillaged and ruined a once-great competition while also failing to turn it into a fit-for-purpose, reserves-style second tier comp. Talk about worst of both worlds.

He has. Not quite at the Adelaide and Brisbane level, but still very strong. And if he was responsible for the Pick 2 for Mithen trade... that's bordering on magic.

Not generally a fan of the colour TV away strip, but this version is a cracker. Both are great, but there's something about that Argentina blue...

He chooses Melksham as if he's some James McDonald-esque ultra-consistent team player.

As painted concrete tends to do.

I think this is a good point. Until we find someone who does the ANB role even 75 percent as well as him, others need to fill the gaps But I still err on this side of this: I think as supporters - or maybe this is just a Demonland thing - we happily wave away the enormous, glaring limitations of some while homing in on and becoming obsessed with the obvious limitations of others. I'd love Fritsch to become Tom Atkins with his tackling. I'd love Charlie Spargo to get 20 every week. I'd love Ed Langdon to learn how to handball. I'd love Tom Fullarton to go full early-2012 Mitch Clark. I'd love Jake Lever to be like Matthew Scarlett one on one. None of these things are ever going to happen. And as others have said, when you kick the ball as poorly into the forward 50 as we do (and have for years), a bloke who can make something out of not very much is absolutely gold.

Actual lol.

I can't wait to see more of this. One of the most exciting elements of his under 18s stuff was his ability to take a big contested mark up forward.

Definitely Turner. I'd love Tholstrup to be clearly in the best 22 as part of that change you referred to over the year. For me Melksham is nowhere near our best side.

Good call. Unheralded game. I've been surprised to hear so many on here talk about him in the same breath as Windsor, Langford and Lindsay. I haven't seen anything close to that. But I really liked his game on Saturday. Six possies is low, obviously, but as you said, kept presenting hard outside 50 and made smart decisions when he got it.

The Big Easy.

Oops. This example of "of-the-field" action just fell out of my images folder and landed in this forum. Oh no. I can't seem to delete it.

Hird at the end downplaying off-the-field actions. Genuinely funny.

Yep. That seems to have completely gone. He used to change games with this sort of stuff.

I think this is a really good point. From memory it (lack of strong middle-career players) was offered as a major (and plausible) reason for the team looking promising but failing to get all that far in the years between Roos righting the ship and the Flag - 2018 aside. We had some obviously very good players, but they were either coming to the end or just at the start. In 2021, we had: Gawn at 29 May at 29 Brown at 28 McDonald at 28 Viney at 27 Petracca at 25 Salem at 25 Harmes at 25 Lever at 25 Brayshaw at 25 Neal-Bullen at 25 Fritsch at 24 Oliver at 23 Also had numerous players in that age range who contributed during the season and could be considered unlucky not to get a game in the GF. EDIT: Just had a look at Geelong 2023 to compare and their "old men" tag was entirely warranted. Majority of best 15 players above 29.