Whispering_Jack

He was a revelation for most of his first season with us because he protected his teammates and often made opposition players tread warily. However, in his second season, he was unfit and didn't seem to have the thirst for the contest any more which was disappointing because it impacted on the team performance as a whole.

Troy Davis who we recruited at #50 in the 2010 AFL National Draft suffered from a thyroid condition which curtailed most of his first season at the club. When he returned to play at Casey he looked quite overweight and although he fought back to full fitness and finally played a couple of games for the Demons late in 2013. He was obviously not as talented as Salem is but I'm not aware of him having an ongoing problem with the illness. Davis sidelined with thyroid disorder Let's hope that the medication does the trick and that he's back playing sooner rather than later. We now have two early draft picks sidelined just as another in Jack Trengove is about to make his return.

Paul Roos was quoted in the Herald Sun as suggesting he was confident of "putting three or four guys in and leaving three or four out". That thinking would be based on the fact that a few were left out of last week's team who could easily come in after a six day break and presumably also to assist with load issues following the interstate trip to Alice Springs.We've never handled the situation well in the past and it's good to see that we're in a position at last to make some adjustments of this sort. I'm looking forward to team selection in the next couple of weeks.

That said AOB, Oscar still has a fair way to go in terms of physical maturity and experience (in fact that could be said of at least half of today's team). In Oscar's case, he was still pushed off the ball too easily on occasion and was fumbly but my expectations weren't very high for him this year anyway. He's where I expected him to be at this stage of his career but I think we can expect better from him when he has 50 games under his belt.

Statistics Chris Dawes 3 goals 2 behinds 22 disposals 12 kicks 10 handballs 5 marks 1 tackle 90 dream team points Sam Frost 14 disposals 10 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 3 tackles 62 dream team points Jack Grimes 35 disposals 16 kicks 19 handballs 7 marks 11 tackles dream 149 team points Liam Hulett 1 goal 1 behind 9 disposals 6 kicks 3 handballs 3 marks 1 tackle 41 dream team points Max King 1 goal 8 disposals 4 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 2 tackles 14 hit outs 58 dream team points Christian Salem 28 disposals 20 kicks 8 handballs 7 marks 3 tackles 106 dream team points Joel Smith 11 disposals 2 kicks 9 handballs 1 marks 4 tackles 43 dream team points Jake Spencer 1 goal 1 behind 8 disposals 3 kicks 5 handballs 7 tackles 32 hit outs 85 dream team points Dean Terlich 1 goal 3 behinds 15 disposals 11 kicks 4 handballs 5 marks 5 tackles 82 dream team points Jack Trengove 30 disposals 11 kicks 19 handballs 3 marks 5 tackles 98 dream team points Aaron vandenBerg 18 disposals 7 kicks 11 handballs 1 marks 6 tackles 1 hit out 63 dream team points Sam Weideman 4 disposals 3 kicks 1 handballs 2 marks 11 dream team points Mitch White 26 disposals 18 kicks 8 handballs 6 marks 4 tackles 103 dream team points

I am almost as confident of a big Demon victory today as I was about seven weeks ago when we played the Bombers. ?

I've been going to Ajax games in the ammos for decades. I have never seen an egg and bacon roll at one of their home games. ?

Thanks Nasher. I think it's great that he can go through the year without the pressure of having to come into the team too early. There are also plenty of key forwards in the Casey side to contend with at the moment as well with Dawes, Hulett and Tim Smith. A couple of games perhaps late in the season will suffice, if any at all.

Oscar McDonald will have to make do as second ruck tomorrow. As for this game, it was terrific following the game from home but was the Weed out there?

A cracking game at half time with the Scorpions dominating the last half of the second quarter. They lead 9.4.58 to the Hawks 6.6.42. Goals Dawes T Smith 2 Hulett Max King Spencer Terlich Disposals White 16 Grimes 15 Pattison Salem Trengove

Sorry. It's #29.

Tim Smith puts Casey up by 14 points.

David Parkin once famously said after coaching a Carlton to a premiership that he needed to recruit at least five new players for his team to improve the next year. I don't think we should forget this.

Knightmare has turned up on ESPN ~ Knightmare's AFL Draft power rankings: May He has the magnificently named Hugh McCluggage at the top of the power tree.

Actually, what was said was not that GWS is over the salary cap at the moment but rather, that it will need to make room for $600k of salary cap space to cater for increased payments negotiated for next year. That's before the next collective bargaining agreement which is certain to give clubs more room in their total player payments so the story sounds like a storm in a teacup to me.

I thought our team selection was a little weird but is that really Lewis Taylor at CHF for the Bears? At 173cm I think he might be a bit short for the role.

Last week he was named on a HBF. Mr Versatility?

I would be interested to find out whether any stats have been kept on how Melbourne fares when Max is playing on the ball compared to when he's being rested. The feeling I get (and it has yet to be proven by available data) is that we have done significantly better when he's been on the ball and that many of our lapses in games have come when he has been off the ball. If that's in fact the case then it might be worth trying another genuine ruckman to play that role - and at the only player we have to fit that bill is Spencer.

VFL Review: Round 6

Results from the second week of the Div 2 championships ~ U18s: Suns academy product Jack Bowes stars in big win Queensland 5.1 11.6 14.8 22.9 (151) NT 0.5 2.9 5.10 7.12 (54) GOALS Queensland: Rolls 3, Allison 2, Bowes 2, Dawson 2, Himmelberg 2, Perry Warren 2, Simington 2, Charlesworth, Gordon, Kempe, Mason, Scheer, Watson, Williams NT: Farrell-Nelson 2, Olango 2, Bricknell, Jeffrey, Taban BEST Queensland: Bowes, Scheer, Allison, Rolls, Kempe, Dennis NT: Lockyer, Grant, Taban, Jeffrey, Abbott, Armstrong U18s: Hot prospect Marshall solid as NSW/ACT thumps Tasmania NSW/ACT 4.0 8.2. 14.6 21.11 (137) Tasmania 3.3 3.4 4.5 5.6 (36) GOALS NSW/ACT: Davis 4, Maguire 4, Fisher 3, Brown 2, Marshall 2, Bance, Cumming, Highmore, Mutch, Perryman, Sproule Tasmania: Farrow 2, Edmunds, Hinds, Maple BEST NSW/ACT: McGuire, Perryman, Byrne, Bance, Sproule, Powell Tasmania: Thomas, Farrow, Dixon, Hanslow, Auckland

Maxy on Marngrook tomorrow (Thursday) night ~ from Twitter:- "Tomorrow night @gawndog37 Nick Daffy & Jack Newnes join us at #Marngrook ?"

OK - I've said it already but today's game will go a long way to telling us about our team. We've had some real highs as well as a couple of really poor efforts. Our defence in particular has been questioned. However, this is the first time in a decade that we've played to defend a place in the top 8 against a very good side. This is the moment.

Bob "Tassie" Johnson who wore #8 for over 200 games in that era passed away recently. He suffered ill health in his later life due to diabetes and he had to have a leg amputated. The MFC Past Players & Officials managed to help him get out of his one bedroom apartment into a place where he could comfortably have a bath. They have now formed the Ron Barassi Club to assist past players who suffer health and/or financial difficulties. I will put some details up on the site if anyone wants to donate. It was sad hearing about Tassie's problems because like Barass, he always looked so big, strong and healthy as a player and as Barry Bourke pointed out every club that has 45 men on its list at any given time is going to have someone in need.

I came before you but did play in a school match in which Bill Walford later of Richmond and South Melbourne played for the opposition. He intimidated us but not me - I was 19th man and didn't get on until three quarter time and he was buggered and sent to rest in the back pocket. I was in the forward pocket and we were kicking against a raging gale so the ball didn't come anywhere near us. Even though he threatened to kick my head over the change rooms if I touched the footy, it didn't happen and I can boast that I actually held a VFL player kickless in the quarter I played on him.

I have on many occasions in the past commented about Ronald Dale Barassi and am convinced that it's virtually impossible to convey to those who were never privileged to have seen him play, the influence he had on our sport. He is our game's Don Bradman, Mohammed Ali and Joe DiMaggio all rolled into one - the Steph Curry of our current times if you like. He represented strength, courage, determination and the indomitable belief that as long as he was with us, we would always prevail. I don't agree with the comment that Melbourne's era of dominance would have ended even had he stayed. He was that influential a person and that farsighted in his approach that he would have seen to it that the club moved into the modern money era rather than to languish and pride itself as an amateur old school relic which it remained for the next decade or two after he left. We never caught up to the others because we constantly sought our next messiah, someone in his image without recognising that there can never be another Ronald Dale Barassi. In his era, there were two others who stood strong and tall at other clubs - the late Ted Whitten and the great Murray Weideman (who incidentally was in attendance last night). You can't reproduce men of that calibre and you can't reproduce them today because the times have changed (and will continue to do so). Barass will forever be etched in my mind - the iconic picture of a raging bull crashing through packs, taking strong marks and kicking the miracle match saving goals from 60 yards out (that's how we measured distances then). For those younger Demon fans who still don't get it, imagine waking up on a Saturday morning like today and knowing that your team just can not be beaten no matter who they're playing. He raised us up. That's how it felt when you had Ron Barassi on your side. The two singers who performed last night, sang this song at the request of the Barassi family. Here's a version from Josh Groban that might help people understand what Ron meant to thousands of impressionable youngsters like me -