Vipercrunch

That's not correct. Looking at his heat maps for all 6 games, he played back for rounds 1 and 2 (WB and Lions), and returned back for round 5 (Ess) because Lever was out. He was forward against Sydney and West Coast, then again for Richmond. We've won every time his played as a forward, not that anyone should read much into that.

Nibbler is in the overall team leadership group so good chance he takes significant on-field leadership of the forwards. And as is any successful player who's isn't dripping with raw talent, but rather has to work extremely hard to make it, he definitely has a future in coaching if he wants it. He would very quickly get caught out if he wasn't following Goody's instructions.

While I don't necessarily agree with it, I get the sense from Goodwin's press conferences recently that the Petty/JVR/Fritta/resting ruckman combination is going to be persisted with a little while longer, so I can't see BBB or TMac returning this week, or Petty returning to the backline. The only possible change I see to that forward mix is Schache coming in if Grundy needs a freshen up. Schache looked destined to play seniors before his concussion and was clearly on the cusp this week if we needed a late change and got shafted by the VFL game being on Sunday and didn't play at all. The coaches may want to keep the Gawn/Grundy chemistry building though if they are both managing well. Harmes I think is next in line for a call up as he is far more dynamic than Dunstan, who clearly has his admirers, but I'm just not one of them. If one of Viney/Trac/Clarry can't play, I think we resuffle players like Sparrow, Gus and JJ to cover their middle time and bring in a player like Laurie. IMO, Dunstan would only come in if two of our inside midfielders were out. Dunstan played in the North game last year, and perhaps I was being harsh, but I left that game thinking he was absolutely last resort.

Good chance this would be true for 80% or more AFL fans. He really isn't that likeable, but choosing St Kilda over nearly every club except your own is quite easy.

Today is why I hate Monday night games. They take so to come around and right now it feels like I've been stewing on the insipid performance against Essendon for an eternity. All we want to know is will our hope pendulum swing back to "we're still a serious contender" or will it slip further into "we're making up the numbers and there's something seriously wrong". 7:25 can't come soon enough.

Very poor all round. I hope all the seniors play well with no injuries because so far no one is putting their hand up for promotion.

Bright start but the second part of that quarter was quite poor actually. Not super high pressure, but they just looked to be cruising and going through the motions.

All VFL and VFLW games are streamed on the AFL website and app. Should be link on homepage if the game is live, if not find the VFL in the menu.

Nice ball movement by foot this time leading to a goal by Valentine.

Woey definitely willing to take on tackles. Got done HTB once, but then later got the assist for the first goal.

First goal to Casey by Edwards after aggressive movement by hands from the wing including BBB, TMac and Woey.

Any other of the emergencies? Laurie, Schache or Disco Turner?

LJ played in our first premiership for 57 years, and many think he played a very important part in securing it during that third quarter. That’s a very significant difference between LJ and Hogan. For some the “I’ll never boo a premiership player” will be enough. I’ve always thought how well we did in the trade would be very decisive for some potential boo-ers . Looking ok right now, but in the end you’re probably right. All clubs have nuffies that will boo, some for the pantomime, some because they’re jerks.

I thought Baker was only boo’d sarcastically because the Dogs supporters had already boo’d Hunter several times, and at least where I was sitting, there was as much laughter at the pantomime as there was booing. Time will tell re: Jackson and boos.

That is nonsense. A 20 year old player and his manager aren’t responsible for the decisions of a multi million dollar, “professional” sporting organisation.

Did you expect him to cross out the $900k they put on the contract and put in $450k? He took what they offered him. No one forced them to do it.

All of that is Freo’s fault, not his. They enticed him home by making the offer and managed their list horribly. All he did is sign the contract they put in front of him.

I’ve just started watching. Are the cheers for LJ when he gets it genuine support or Bronx cheers?

Are you sure you no longer want to call him McVeigh?

The umpire shouldn’t have let Draper nominate for the ruck when he was so far away. By the time he had reached the contest, he was at full pace and TMac was a sitting duck. Very ordinary moment.

I think the recent delay of May's return hinted there was much more to it than just the player declaring they are fit. He wanted to play (basically declareing himself fit to play) but because he hadn't reached certain measurable levels or strength and speed, he was ruled out. I expect with Gawn, his return will depend on him proving certain levels of strength, flexibility and stability in his knee joint, as well as possibly having it rescanned and then after that completing a certain amount of full training sessions. As for as Hibberd, Lever and Brown, weren't they all injured during those games you mentioned and then all missed following games?

Great question. When discussing possible sanctions for Merrett in the media, delayed onset concussion was mentioned , but it wasn't made clear if that was true or just speculation.

The club, with all the information they were privvy to, made judgement calls that the sore and struggling players they selected were better options late in the season than the possibly fully fit players from Casey. It takes extraordinary arrogance to conclude those judgement calls were 100% incorrect.

Playing someone who is sore is very different to playing someone early who is at significant risk of doing further damage to an already existing injury, which is what this discussion re Gawn is about.

I don’t read everything that comes out of the club, so I obviously missed where the club admitted that. Or are you confusing an actual fact with a Demonland “fact”.