CHF

Petracca and Oliver to play Batman and Robin. Max to play Bond.

Expecting and hoping for a win. I will take any win and the 4 points. I would prefer an easy win as it will make my breakfast all the more palatable. Dees with another 40 point win. Go Dees!

Binny, we made 5 changes from the Round 1 team for the round 2 team. One, Bowey, was forced because of his injury. There was discussion around this, but to my mind the selection of Hore to replace him was not contentious and was generally accepted. Three players, Spargo, Schache and Laurie were dropped from the team because their form was questionable. I do not recall much discussion on them being replaced. One player, Tomlinson, was dropped and replaced by TMac and there was a lot of reaction to that selection as the general opinion was that Tomlinson had performed adequately. I was reacting to this comment of yours .... "As BDA notes his selections last week, much ridiculed on here, turned out to be very good decisions." I do not agree that the decisions of last week were much ridiculed. Four of the five selections were accepted without much, if any ridicule.

nil all draw anyone?

With due respect, I think there was just one selection last week that was questioned and that was the dropping of Tomlinson for TMac.

Ok, I'm trying to make some sort of sense of the Baffling Selection of the Week. Not easy as an outsider looking in. Big Question is "How many cheese boards did they go through making this decision?" Gotta be three at least. Maybe they will sub him into the game at 3/4 time and also give him a run at Casey the following day for a half. They may 'Schach' him and have him on the pine for the whole game. FIIK.

Petty …. Baffling Selection of the Week. GMF??? (Scratches head)

True. I would hope that they will not make the same mistake twice in three rounds.

I find it hard to understand why some are calling for Petty to come into the team for the Hawks. He has had one run in the practice match for Casey where, from reports, he played for 3 of the quarters and did not get very much of the ball. Meanwhile, we beat the Doggies by 7 goals in a meaningful 4 point match with a well functioning forward structure. I would hope that the selectors put together a team to win this Saturday by looking at the possible structure of the opposing team, the expected conditions and the form of the players and their ability to execute the game plans. Petty does not have any sort of form line that would justify selection and I would doubt his match fitness at this stage of his comeback. I would play him at Casey until his form improves as I would a number of other players.

A pleasing response by the club against the Doggies after the game in Sydney. It was a club wide response lead by the coaches and the selectors, the players as individuals and the team response. The reaction of the coaches to the first 10 mins of the game where the doggies came out firing was quick and decisive. They worked out what the doggies forwards were doing, adjusted the matchups and the positional play and the results were immediate. very good to see. Defence. I was one that doubted the decision to drop Tomlinson for Tmac. The decision worked out well with Tmac doing his job well. The rest of the defensive make up worked very well led by May in his '[censored] off' mode. Howe and Hore worked well as did McVee and Rivers. The defence has skill, structure and personnel depth that makes it a great rock to build on. The success of the defence on Sunday was also partly the result of all team pressure that was brought to bear all over the ground. I loved the pressure on the ball and also off the ball on the next kick/receive. An excellent game in defence. Midfield. Nothing to complain about in this area of the team. Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Salem as our main men in there at the feet of Max. It is a daunting task for the opposition midfield to line up against. The rotations and mixes that we can run through there must be a nightmare to coach and play against. Sparrow, who did not really get a run on the ball on Sunday, Pickett, ANB and Rivers all offer differences when used at stoppages. Langdon and Windsor on the wings look to be in form and I loved the run down by Windsor. Chop out for Max by JVR worked as well as expected. The midfield is now purring along as is the Defence. Forwards. I have said a few times that I will not write off any player on our list. I loved seeing Brown out there doing 'Brown' things. He is such a valuable addition to the team and the forward structure. He not only popped through a couple of goals but he also allowed JVR to have a bit more freedom to move and position himself in better places. The structure of the forward line also helped to bring the smaller forwards into the game. It did help that the positional play of the smaller forwards was a hell of a lot better than last week with Chandler in particular working hard at the drop of the ball at the contest. The other ting I enjoyed watching the forwards was the application they brought to defending the forward 50. I expect the same team to line up against the Hawks as played against the Doggies [censored] long as they have all pulled up ok. Might be temped to brin in Sestan or The Kolt as sub to give Taj a full VFL game. Next up is Hawthorn at the G. would like to see the team carry on where they left off against the Doggies. An all team performance with pressure and decisiveness on the turnover. I look at this as a fairly critical game with some tough travel and games in the next three rounds with a trip to Adelaide to play both Port and Adelaide with just a 5 day break between the two followed by Brisbane at the G a week later. A big ask of the team. A couple of good things re the Brisbane game is that they will have one less day to prepare and will be travelling back to Melbourne after their game in Adelaide. Go Dees

Contrary to the media reports I am sure that we are looking at JUH and have made enquiries.

From the club's injury report it would seem that our tall froward stocks are suddenly looking much better. Fullerton and BBB are available for selection and Petty is to undergo a test later in the week and may also be available for selection. Mind you, being available for selection and match fit are two different things. BBB and Fullerton have both had trots around with Casey and may be ahead of Petty even if he gets through the test. Personally I would bring in BBB for Schache and possibly look at also including Fullerton. It will make selection interesting this week.

Selection this week will be interesting. Not just for the team that they end up selecting but for what it might suggest about the selections last week. I hope that they just write the Sydney game off and start with a clean sheet. Bowey injured and out for 8/10weeks will test the smaller man depth in defence. As others have suggested, I would move Salem back into defence with Howe on the IC to make up the 7-man defence group. If one of those goes down during the game, we will be tested. If May is not right, then TMac or Hore comes in depending on matchups. Midfield will require a change or two. While I would send Laurie back to Casey till he is bashing the door down and full of confidence, I think the selectors will retain him for this week. Windsor and Langdon on the wings with backup from Billings who gets a start. If required, ANB to fill in there. Oliver, Petracca, Viney and Sparrow primary rotations with Pickett, Rivers, Salem and ANB getting a run or two in there as well. Moniz-Wakefield to get a debut. Either that or Woey to get a run there. He looks to have put on a bit of muscle, and I would be interested to see him through the middle. Our forwards are always going to be a talking point of each and every match we play this season…… so? What to do? After last week I would drop both of Chandler and Spargo. It won’t happen which is unfortunate in my opinion. Neither of them was anywhere near good last week both look out of form and a bit lost out on the field. You bring in Pickett for one of them and I would give Sestan a run to see how he has developed and if he fits the team. The Medium is Fritsch, of course. For a tall I would like to see BBB if he is anywhere near fit enough. From training reports he is on a modified program to nurse him through the season and will most likely be a game to game proposition with his knees. I would also have Fullerton on the bench as back up forward/ruck. Not sure how good he is in the ruck but from reports he gets around the ground well. If one of Brown of Fullerton are not match fit then we look to Tmac as he could cover both ends of the ground and even contest a ruck or two. So this is the team I would like to see. FB: Lever, May, McVee HB: Rivers, Tomlinson, Salem C: Windsor, Oliver, Langdon HF: Neal-Bullen, Ben Brown, Sparrow F: Pickett, Van Rooyen, Fritsch Fol: Gawn, Petracca, Viney IC: Howe, Fullerton, Billings, Moniz-Wakefield, Sestan (sub) Not going to happen – 5 changes? More chance of me getting pregnant.

I seem to recall that we played Fritsch for at least half a season at HBF and it did not work out too badly for his forward work.

Disappointing start to the season but I am not one to write off the whole of 24 on such a small sample size. I want to see how we respond to this. Selection was baffling in my view as was he selection of Billings as Sub. I have wanted Bailey Laurie to succeed and have seen some good bits and pieces of ply from him. I have to say that I would not have him in the gameday 23 until he has absolutely battered the door down with a succession of dominating game at Casey. The forwards have been a problem for a number of seasons and I do not see any improvement in the situation. Delivery has been blamed but if you do not have movement or a dominating target to kick to then it does not matter how well it is delivered. Last night I saw a forward line group that did not look to have a clear plan to work too. Schache really did not give us anything worthwhile and I would look at playing anyone else and put Schache in the same basket as Laurie. Here are half a dozen doors marked Casey..... let me know when you have knocked them all down and then we can talk. Our small forwards were nowhere at the fall of the ball at contests. Chandler and Spargo have to be better than that to have any sort of influence on the season. Ben Brown is having a run at Casey today as is Fullerton. Bring in either of them or both. Bowey is out for a time by the looks of it and My was tentative in the second half. there may be a number of changes on all lines of the team for the next game. Howes looked good and not out of place. I hope he can bulk up a bit over the next few years. A lot to work with. Same with Windsor. He looks able and the more games we get into him, the better. A shoutout to Tomlinson..... he was very good and did his job. Petracca had a patchy game and Max was outplayed and out thought. sure he lacks protection from the umps, but that is par for the course for him and he usually sorts it out during the game. Clarry did what he could and was effective. Viney BOG. He was at his best. I liked the games of Salem and Sparrow but after that lot we had no grunt or cover from others that worked through there. Sydney picked us apart with quick accurate passing by foot and a load of pressure and running. We did not cover them and our pressure on the ball was very uneven. Now let us discuss the coaching.... I saw nothing from them during the game in response to the way Sydney were playing or in response to the situation in the game. With Yze gone, who is calling the game from on high with Goody on the boundary? it worked well the last couple of seasons but did not look to have the right level of understanding last night. The coaching group have a lot to work on. not just the team and the tactics, but also their own game time performance. So on to round 1 against the Bulldogs...... what to do?

I find myself not really bothered by the whole discussion regarding our ruck and forward structures. As far as the forward structures are concerned, I really do not see us performing a badly as last season. We had a raft of injuries to a number of key forwards that kept them out of the side and the players we had there for a majority of the season were relatively inexperienced. Add to that sub-standard delivery into our forward 50 and poor conversion rate when the forwards did actually get the ball. We traded in a couple of options and we have a bit of flexibility and variety to plug and play into the forward mix to see what is the best setup. I am one of those that do not write off any players stepping up and performing at some stage during the season. Any improvement on the performance last season is a bonus as far as I am concerned. With the ruck situation, again, I will look at how they set up and how the perform in the season. This is where the coaches show their value and work out the setup and game plan for stoppages. At the center bounces we have Max as a tap ruck that, in the past, has not consistently found a man. This has lead to our mids being a very good reactionary team. Hunt down the ball, nail the player with the ball and turn it over. Where max is of great value is around the ground as a critical link. So often he is hit up as a target, he marks and feeds off via hand or foot to initiate attacks. So I am not so much concerned about the actual ruck work. We need to find someone to do the running to position as Max does. Not an easy thing to find. It is a very different list to last year and I think we will se a different team, setup and style of play.

Yep. Good advice. I have been having regular blood tests every 6 months for many years. 18 months ago there was a significant jump in my PSA levels which is an indicator for Prostrate problems. After additional tests and a biopsy The indicators showed that the cancer was a vey aggressive type of cancer. Had all the offending bits removed as that was the recommendation of the surgeon. 1 months down the track from the op and all is clear and trending the right way. the regular tests meant that I got it early. Get tested!

It will be interesting to see which way WC go with this pick. I just do not see the advantage for WC to keep pick 1 and take Reid. I do not see a single player having the impact they need at the moment given the situation they are in. I think they will split the pick with either us or North depending on the way they see the draft selections going. While I am sure they would like to get Curtin into the club along with another top 15 selection this year, they might well think that they can forego Curtain if they believe there is other quality options. I think we need to keep in mind that WC have all their draft options in play for next year as well. I think this will only be resolved on draft night.

Petty is not the first and will not be the last to be in a situation where he has a preference to move closer to home and family. (yeah, I know he is from a small country town miles from Adelaide) I do not have a problem with that. I will judge him by the way he plays and approaches next season. I will judge him on the fact he is a professional sportsman and I expect him to work and behave as a professional sportsman.

Speculation only. Does an offer of Pick 6, Pickett and a F 1st get consideration from WC for Pick 1?

Agree that is a move I would like to see. I think he would really have an impact there. The move I have heard is related to key position.

Not really hearing anything leaking out of the MFC. Hearing a couple of whispers but nothing really solid. Heard a couple of people say that they believe Flynn will get across the line to us. I think that would be a good result. Mc Adam move might be in doubt. No idea why and I do not rate this whisper. Have heard that the club has a few different strategies in play and that the direction they take will be dependent upon what trades fall early, and not just trades we are involved in. Harmes more than likely to stay along with Tomlinson. I did hear that there may be a key positional switch coming up during the preseason. Will keep the name to myself until after the trade period. Heard nothing re: Oliver except what has been on here.

Heard a few whispers but do not have a lot of faith in the veracity of said rumours. I do like that there is little or no leaks coming out of the club these days. We know that Deakin Smith is gone...... Dunstan retired..... Hibberd retired...... Jordon 99% out the door as a RFA.... Grundy 80% out the door traded to Sydney? but I think the club would not mind if a deal cannot be done and he stays for another season. For what it is worth unfounded whispers..... Harmes is looking at options but I have heard that there is a deal available for him if he stays. Chandler or Spargo may be on the table depending on the offer. Brown and Tmac I have heard that one of the two will retire with the other staying on the list. both have been mentioned as staying and both have been mentioned as retiring. No idea which way this will play out. Tomlinson will be getting more games next year as the third leg of the main defensive tall trio. As for drafting and trading...... More whispers. No real news on possible forwards. We are talking to a few players with regard to this year and trade period next year. seems hard to get a clear idea of who they might be and the chances of getting them. I did hear that we might be going a little left field for a possible solution in looking at a kpp, not necessarily a recognized forward, to cover the position should JVR of Petty go down. I heard that we will try for Reid but will not sell the house to get him. We have spent a good deal of time talking with him and his agent. I think we will be taking a longer term view of this situation. Not really a lot out there from what I have heard.

I think that there is an agreed strategy in place between the club and both players dependent upon a number of different and, at present, unknown factors. These factors may include how the players themselves feel after their after season break, the attitude of the football department after the trade and draft, their understanding of the players vision of their future and a prognosis of their potential fitness to face another pre-season. Brown, I can imagine might want to continue working in football through a coaching stream whereas I would think Tmac might well be looking outside football for a future. Both know they are close to the end of their footy playing days and both can retire knowing that they have a premiership to look back on. Good luck to both of them. I do not pretend to know what will eventuate or have the knowledge to venture an opinion but do have faith in the ability of the club to make the right decisions.

Still on the other side of the world. Enjoying the weather, food and wine in Tuscany. It’s a hard life but someone has to do it. Will be streaming live and look forward to the Dees winning. I expect a hard close opening but we will get on top in the third as our structures and contest take centre stage. Dees by 7 goals. more wine! More food! More wine!