The Great Pretender

Up early and getting a bit toey. Read on the Casey thread that three MFC players pulled out of their side yesterday. Some changes in the wind are likely. Any guesses?

Toigs by 15 points. No argument from me on that score. Is it mathematically possible for them to finish 9th?

Unofficial list (TBC) Rohan Bail (buttock splinters) - 1 week Clint Bartram (blurred vision) - 1 week Matthew Bate (anaemia) - 2 weeks Daniel Bell (shoulder) - season Jamie Bennell (general soreness) - 1 week Sam Blease (broken leg) - season Cameron Bruce (fatigue) - 1 week Simon Buckley (groin) - 1 week Kyle Cheney (inflamed right nostril) - 1 week Aaron Davey (flu) - 1 week Lynden Dunn (general soreness) - 1 week James Frawley (back) - 1 week Colin Garland (foot) - season Brad Green (scaphoid) - season Jack Grimes (back) - 4 weeks Rhys Healy (groin) - 4 weeks Danny Hughes (general soreness) - 1 week Mark Jamar (quad) - 2 weeks Neville Jetta (flu) - 1 week Paul Johnson (agorophobia) - 4 to 6 weeks Nathan Jones (upset stomach) - 1 week Liam Jurrah (shin) 2 weeks James McDonald (indigestion) - 1 week Jordie McKenzie (exhaustion) - 4 weeks Brock McLean (knee) - 1 to 2 weeks Tom McNamara (bunion) - 1 week Addam Maric (shoulder) - season Stephan Martin (tennis elbow) - 2 weeks John Meesen (stress fracture) - season Brad Miller (dyspepsia) - 2 weeks Brent Moloney (peptic ulcer) - 3 weeks Cale Morton (general soreness) - 1 week Michael Newton (sunstroke) - 3 weeks Ricky Petterd (general soreness) - 1 week Jared Rivers (air sickness) - 1 week Russell Robertson (singing engagements) - 4 to 6 weeks Jake Spencer (hypothermia) - 3 weeks James Strauss (shoulder) - season Colin Sylvia (bruised buttock) - 2 weeks Shane Valenti (tonsilitis) - 2 weeks Matthew Warnock (general soreness) -2 weeks Jack Watts (schoolies week) - 1 to 2 weeks Matthew Whelan (toenail) 1 week Paul Wheatley (quad) - 2 weeks Austin Wonaeamirri (knee) 3 - 4 weeks Trent Zomer (repetitive strain syndrome) - 2 weeks

I reckon he's dead set scared of facing up to us.

Umpires are killing us!

What an insipid effort by the team today conceding 7 goals in the first quarter without scoring a goal ourselves. I say ring in the changes and bring in some of the kids who are doing such a good job at Casey!

The problem with that analysis is that having the priority pick gives you two selections of which one is most likely going to be Scully, acknowledged by most as the best young kid in the country. Therefore, securing the pp improves the percentage chances of making rapid development in your favour. That's more important for our future than one win here or there. The club can't afford to blow this opportunity now because, with the concessions available to the new clubs, the chance won't come again for a long time.

Port has greater incentive to win and that's why they'll probably make it in the end. Chad Cornes is a big inclusion for them because he always causes us great damage.

Pollyanna, there are people around here who would be embarrassed when we win, let alone lose.

Yeah they were thugs then but we would have loved it if we could have given them heaps and won the game and not lost it!

MFC forward scout Dave Dunbar is an absolute legend. A few weeks ago he was in disguise mowing the grass at Gosch's Paddock so he could spy on Collingwood. This week he joined the local croquet club at Windy Hill to keep a close eye on the Bombers' training. Write up in the Footy Record - read it tonight while celebrating the win.

Yes, I wonder if the club could stage manage his first appearance so that it's a home game? He's now played a couple of games at Casey after coming back through the reserves from an injury. Our next home game after tomorrow is against West Coast on 4 July. Sounds perfect!

Anyone know what's happened to Tom McNamara who has been showing good form with the Scorpions seniors recently?

The weather on the Coast is fine today and I'm sure the ground at Carrara will dry out in time unless there's more rain later in the week. How do we overcome the undefeated Saints? They have a super midfield and two great key forwards who are in form - not unlike the Hawks who beat us last Sunday. Well, we overcame a poor start and not only avoided a blow out but we came back nicely to finish with only two scoring shots less than the Hawks. It would have been one less had Robbo decided not to lairise. So it's all about application for 100% of the game, not 60% or 80%.

To be fair it was Bruce and Phil's show where the pre-requisite for their football experts is that they must have attended the ballet or the opera once or twice a month. Stick with the Fox panel and you'll be right!

Do I detect you're shirking the issue of tipping the winner this week?

Good read and I like the conclusion. A couple of forwards who know how to kick goals would have been worth their weight in gold. Robbo's five for Casey would have sealed his place and Addam Maric has been waiting in the wings for far too long this year!

FWIW I think these are hardly the words of someone who has no passion for the Melbourne Football Club.

Damn good read Oracle. I'm ringing my stockbroker tomorrow morning to buy some shares. What would you suggest?

BTW the bullies deal is $4.5 not $4.1 and our second co-sponsorship is unlikely to get us $2.1 over 3 years. We end up much worse off than them.

There's a single rail line that runs from Cranbourne Station right past the ground. It seems to me that this line should be duplicated and a station placed at Casey Fields. A project like this and the extension of the ground is exactly what the federal and state governments should be promoting in tough economic times. Go to it MFC - put together a proposal. The Bullies and the Toiges have done it and reaped big money for Whitten and Punt Road Ovals respectively.

Disappointed that all of the post match publicity centred on Hawthorn and almost nothing about us. After all, we were one free kick away from winning the game.

To JJJ, Just a question on your player numbers. You listed Jake Spencer at #38 but I'm sure he was allocated #42 last year. Does this mean the official 2009 numbers are out? BTW thanks for such a comprehensive report. It's much appreciated.

I believe this has already been done and the club is working very hard to ensure the transition from the outback to the city is made as comfortable as possible in the circumstances.

Hey, I'm not suggesting for a moment that we made a blunder. You can only make your decisions based on the best evidence available and TJ was, at the time, one of the two outstaanding players in the draft. Ottens took years to develop and was never much at Richmond and he only really came good at his second club. On the other hand players like Simon Black, Adam Goodes, Luke Power and Nick Stevens were not as highly regarded at the time. Goodes came of age as a junior in the 1997 TAC Cup Grand Final but who was to say whether that was a one off performance or a sign of a future star?