Whispering_Jack

Either that or he's going to get one hell of a surprise when he sees Meesen run out onto AAMI Stadium in his place.

Is that 11 for the Demons or the Scorpions?

Only half of that side will play tomorrow. * 8 players are out injured; * 2 players (White & Yze) have moved on and * 1 player (Newton) will either be at the ground as an emergency or playing with Casey. They're pretty extraordinary figures. Many other clubs only have 2 or 3 on their injury lists. We have others who are also injured or couldn't be considered because they're still building up fitness at Casey after coming back from injury (eg Robbo).

It's partly luck and partly the resources the club has at its disposal i.e the money, equipment and people necessary to diagnose and treat your players. Unfortunately, we're behind some of the more well-heeled clubs.

There are clearly going to be a few issues to be decided at the selection table. I have no inside information on this but I wonder about Brock McLean. Over the first two weeks I've noticed that he lacks some penetration with his kicking. When he was starring with the Calder Cannons he had no problems slotting through the goals from outside 50 but you wouldn't back him from that distance ATM. His pace hasn't improved either; to the contrary, he appears slower. Is he fit or will he be a surprise "out injured" when the team is released tonight? There's no doubt a few changes are warranted - it's just a matter of what tack the selectors decide to take given the team is in a development phase. I think Jetta and Bennell will probably be sent back to the VFL and that should be fine. They've now had a taste and can continue with their learning curves at Casey. On the other hand I think Spencer will retain his spot - in the specialised ruck position he is going to learn more against the big Port ruckmen than against whoever Sandy has to throw up against him. The "ins" to me are Dunn, Maric and Meesen - all based on form with Bail also an outside chance. Although Maric didn't impress Pringle I have to say that I've been impressed with him since coming back from his hip operation. Last week at Casey he played a different role to that of the small forward which he fundamentally filled in his first two games. He was allowed to move down the ground and demonstrated that he's no longer simply a one dimensional FP crumber. I think therefore that he's a must for this team because he adds something different, something opposition club's will, in the not too distant future, have to work hard to counter.

Oh well, it is early but in case anybody is interested this is what took place today at the Morwell Football Ground:- Gippsland Power 2.0 4.3 10.5 13.8 (86) Dandenong Stingrays 6.5 8.7 14.10 16.11 (107) Goals: Gippsland Power: Butcher 5 Pincott 3 Vardy 2 Carr Northe Golby Dandenong Stingrays: Pitt 5 McInnes 2 Petropoulos 2 Stringer-Morris 2 Parker Clifford Bastinac Robertson Hallahan Best: Gippsland Power: Vardy Butcher Stevens Pincott Dowse Heppell Dandenong Stingrays: Scully Pitt Hallahan Mitchell Baumgartner Andrews That is all ...

Half time and we've managed to concede the lead after looking the better side for most of the first half. We played well but paid heavily for a few unforced errors. We're getting monstered in the ruck and need a focal point at FF. And Nathan Jones should have slotted that last shot. All in all, a fair improvement on how we played for much of 2008 but we need someone to take control after half time. Brock? Col?

We seem to have fixed that one up over the week.

I think the story's title says it all. Unfortunately, the Age has descended rapidly from the lofty heights it once occupied as a newspaper of quality. If you think it's footy coverage is bad then don't bother with the general news or anything in the international sphere.

Well put and I can't argue with your stats but I look at a ruckman in terms of his overall role and in that regard McIntosh did a lot more than win hitouts. You can see from his overall stats and his three goals how telling his role was yesterday. He was a ruckman, a midfielder who can kick, took some strong saving marks in defence and when he went forward he ended up kicking more goals than anyone else on the ground. I just hope that Spencer and Johnson learned something from all that.

6 - Moloney 5 - Cheney 4 - Jones 3 - Frawley 2 - Green 1 - Petterd

Yes, we're off the bottom for the first time in 19 months. Not much of a big deal when you've been beaten comprehensively by a team that's being touted to finish outside the 8 this year. I thought we were outcoached today, apart from the fact that we fell away in our skills and decision making as the game went on. Our forward line is a shambles and doesn't get good service from midfield and our structures and positioning were poor. I saw one ray of light out at Casey yesterday in the form of Addam Maric who is a player who knows where the goals are and is desperate to kick them. Unfortunately, we don't have any tall KPP's readily available who can kick bags of goals on any given week, let alone every week.

Absolutely. It was something reminiscent of one of those clotheslines from the World Wrestling Federation in the days when wrestling was a fair dinkum sport and not a single cut lunch thrown in the Hawthorn v Geelong game came close to matching Grinter's effort. Still, I reckon 6 weeks was a tad too much and under today's system he would have probably gotten off on appeal with 97.5 demerit points because Wallace did play the following week and Balls nearly died of septicemea from the infection to his forearm.

I've never rubbished the alignment but I'm sure Redleg will vouch for the difficulties he had with one of the gatekeepers trying to get into the ground on a Melbourne supporter's AFL members pass two years ago. The bloke might have only been doing his job but I know that more than 1 Melbourne member wasn't happy at the treatment. And while the alignment was a success, there are Sandy officials going around saying what a great deal they've done in dumping Melbourne and taking on the Saints. In any event, my comment was directed more from my own personal viewpoint at the friendly way the Casey people are accommodating Melbourne fans down there at the moment. It's a very positive and refreshing thing to see and augurs well for another successful alignment from our pont of view. Anyway Zebraman. Keep it up because it can only help stir things along and get more people down to TBO for round 1.

I've never rubbished the alignment but I'm sure Redleg will vouch for the difficulties he had with one of the gatekeepers trying to get into the ground on an Melbourne supporter's AFL members pass two years ago. The bloke might have only been doing his job but I know that more than 1 Melbourne member wasn't happy at the treatment. And while the alignment was a success, there are Sandy officials going around saying what a great deal they've done in dumping Melbourne and taking on the Saints. In any event, my comment was directed more from my own personal viewpoint at the friendly way the Casey people are accommodating Melbourne fans down there at the moment. It's a very positive and refreshing thing to see and augurs well for another successful alignment from our pont of view. Anyway Zebraman. Keep it up because it can only help stir things along and get more people down to TBO for round 1.

Don't listen to what they tell you at Coburg. Just follow KC at Demonland - CASEY SCORPIONS PREPARE.

The question is whether the coach was getting an accurate diagnosis. From the sound of it (ie. Doc Larkins) there is some confusion over it.

Fantastic if that's the case because I doubt whether we ever got that sort of assistance at Sandy. Also, I found the Casey staff at the ground to be more friendly and accommodating than at TBO.

Casey Scorpions v Frankston Dolphins at Casey Fields 28 March 2009 Seniors - game starts at 2:00pm 1 Kyle Matthews © 4 Ben Waite 5 Michael Stockdale 6 Peter Faulks 7 Nick Scanlon 11 James Wall 17 Rian McGough 18 Jared Matheson 20 David Collins 22 Ben MaCreadie 24 Pierce Liddle 31 Alex Silvagni 38 Kainen Schrape 41 Aaron Hillberg 51 Liam Jurrah 55 Addam Maric 57 Shane Valenti 61 John Meesen 65 Stefan Martin 66 Jordie McKenzie 69 Rohan Bail 70 Michael Newton 73 Austin Wonaeamirri 77 Trent Zomer 79 Colin Sylvia Reserves - game starts at 11.10am 2 Beau Vernon 8 Scott Mcleod 9 Matthew Moore 12 Andrew Oldmeadow 13 James Taylor 14 Evan Panozza 15 Tim Mohr 16 Chris Clay 19 James Terry 23 Matthew Rosier 25 Wade Lees 26 Gus Patti 27 Cade Maskell 29 Tim Crespin 33 Terry Mildren 34 Jack Mazurek 36 Josh Bolton 37 Jed Costigan 39 Sam Benbow 42 Scott Virtue 45 James Dean 46 Sam Gibson 47 Dean Kelly 53 Kyle Swinden Thanks to Casey Scorpions for releasing the team sheets. KC should be down there to report on events.

I agree that it was pressure but not necessarily from the opposition. This was self-imposed pressure after a pre season of razzmatazz with the club under constant scrutiny over the Ben Cousins recruitment. It served its purpose in terms of selling memberships and getting bums on seats last night but the Tigers have learned in the hardest way possible that it has a dark side as well. Their season isn't lost but they're going to have to pull of an upset in the next fortnight because it's hard to come back when you're 0-3 and you have a lousy percentage.

I was privileged to be at the club's Debt Demolition evening last year. The actual presentation was spectacular and I'm sure that many supporters would be happy to come along to a similar function and contribute to the club. I think it could work in its own right and therefore if its promotion were focussed in the direction of providing entertainment for the members at a cost which they could willingly pay for then we could have a winner. I agree however, that it shouldn't be focussed on the tin rattling aspect.

Any danger of you blokes playing out this lover's quarrel via PM's rather than boring the rest of us with it?

I think the game did a little bit to clarify the make up of Sunday's Melbourne team v North Melbourne. PJ clearly grabbed a rucking position for the game where he will team up with Jake Spencer. They should form the team's ruck combination until the Russian comes off the LTI when the selectors might face a dilemma. Jared Rivers has had 2.5 games since recovering from his ankle injury. He did enough to warrant a return to the Melbourne jumper next weekend. The others need time. For Jurrah, it was his first run for the year and he needs a lot more hard work. If he can repeat some of those individual flashes of brilliance in the AFL he's going to be a sensation but there's a fair way to go as I indicated elsewhere. Aussie & Addam also need more games at this level to build up their fitness. Both will make the Demon forward line a more dangerous place for the opposition because they know where to be and have good disposal skills. As an aside, I watched the Tiwi Islands grand final on ABC2 today and it was interesting to see Aussie's father, Matthew, who is president of the competition up there.

Thanks RudeBoy. I'll accept the verdict and visit my optometrist in the morning. It was a sensational piece of play!

Thanks Andrew (we might take a little while to do the redesign but it will be up soon!) I believe the tech people are working with Demonology to enable new posters to register as we speak. Go Dees.