Freddy Fuschia

I don't think we can underestimate the loss of Salem on top of Bowey and Brayshaw. Howes and McVee have been playing well this year but they we under siege and we really need some experience to quell the influence of McCluggage, Bailey and Cameron.

8 hours ago, CHF said:

PREVIEW - why not??? I have the time at the moment.

Melbourne Vs Brisbane

Thursday 11^th April. 11.30am (my time)

Been a while since I have had a stab at a preview, but why not have a crack?

Brisbane fluffed their chance in the grand final against the Pies last year and it appears that both of the teams have a bit of a hangover in the early stages of season ’24. Here we are staring down the barrel of Round 5 and the Lions have just one win on the board against lowly North while we, after dropping the first game in the round that has no number, have won the last 4 on the trot against some reasonable opposition and having travelled to Adelaide for two games in 5 days against home sides and come away with 2 wins.

That sort of from indicates the punters have it right installing the Dees as favorites.

We have an extra day of rest and one less flight than the Lions with them having to fly back home and then down to Melbourne for the game.

However….. there is always a However. However, Footy’s a funny game as they say and I hope that the team prepares and realises that this is going to be a tough game. The Lions have a good mix of talent in all areas of the ground, and we will need to have a few ideas up our sleeves to ensure we are ready to react if and when required.

I do believe that the coaching panel have been good at working out and reacting to what is happening around the ground so far this season.

DEFENCE:

This section of our team is recognised as our great strength and as the best in the league. May, Lever, Tmac, Mcvee, Rivers, Howe and Salem can mix and match with the best of them and against the Brisbane forward pack they will need to be at their best. The Brisbane forward setup has good individual players but so far this season they have not clicked together. Against North last round their forwards kicked 15 of their 16 goals while against the Pies the week before at the Gabba the forwards only kicked 5 of the total of 10. Very inconsistent. It will be interesting to see how and who we match up on in the defence.

I think we have them covered at this end of the ground.

MIDFIELD:

As they say… “This is where the game is won.” I think that will be the case in this match. Gawn and Petracca are our leading lights so far this season with good support from Viney and, in the last game, Sparrow. Oliver with his hand injury is down on his usual standards and statistics but I feel he can only get better and will take a few steps forward in this game.

We will need to respect the Brisbane midfield with Neale, Mcluggage and Dunkley looking to be the main drivers out of stoppages with their clearance rate. Against Adelaide Petracca, Oliver and Sparrow dominated the clearances and gave us some good drive.

Gawn against The Big O will be interesting. Not because I think McInerney will dominate or even challenge Max but because it will be interesting to see what tactics they adopt to try and control Max’s influence around the ground. It is a tough job for any team.

Langdon the Windsor winging their way around the G will also be good to watch. Brisbane named Fletcher and Berry on the wings for the North game and, according to the stats, both had reasonable games. Berry looked to be used more in the middle and managed 5 clearances along with 24 possessions. Fletcher might run on the wing with Langdon and Windsor to have a few rotating opponents.

FORWARDS:

This is where it gets interesting.

So far this season we have managed to have a good even spread of goal kickers in the games. Fritsch has been a standout. He is second in the Coleman behind Hogan at the moment. We will present a few problems for the Lions at the pointy end. Brown and Petty will need to be covered because of their potential to cause problems with JVR and Fritsch also needing to be contained. We have a lot of flexibility with our talls at the moment and I can imagine a bit of a chess game with moves and counter moves in our forward 50. I hope that Kossie gets to play as he is such a livewire. If he is not there, we have Chandler and ANB and a rotating mid to cover there.

The Brisbane defence,  as with their forwards do not seem to have clicked as yet this season. Last outing against North they looked to have an easy time of it and will find the going tougher on Thursday evening.

Our small forwards look a bit thin on the ground if Kossie spends a week on the sidelines. Chandler must be in some doubt so if either or both of these miss it will open the door for a couple of others to get a run.

Tough opening quarter but I expect that we will get better as the game goes on and run out winners by a fair bit. Say 5 goals.

And then on to a week off.

Paris? Rome? 

11:30am is a great time to follow a game of footy.

Great preview!
 

Final Score: SANFL 10.5.65 defeated VFL 7.9.51.

Best player medals - Fos Williams Medal for SANFL best Jez McLennan & Frank Johnson Medal for VFL best Callum Brown

So good to see Melbourne on top of the ladder even if it’s due to extra games played.

On top of that Melbourne Storm are currently on top as well!

Strange that players from Southport etc are in the Victorian Football League team.

As an alternative, wouldn’t it be better if we could identify and target an Adelaide player who might suit us in a trade?

Not related to this particular game but Mykelti Lefau who played his second AFL game for Richmond today is still a Casey story.

Lefau was a development player for Melbourne Storm before switching from NRL to play Australian rules football. He played for St Kilda City and famously kicked 25 goals in an under-19s match. He then moved to the Casey Demons where he showed some promise and played a few games in each of the 2017 and 2018 seasons but never progressed and moved on. He was quiet today but took his opportunities and kicked a couple of goals for Richmond. Great persistence from the 25 year old and a lesson for those who are quick to write off players too early.

Really happy with the game so far. The young MFC Demons have all stepped up to the plate and have given the club an outstanding base for the future. Some of the new VFL affiliated players going well also - now we just have to improve our kicking at goals.

According to Sportsbet, Brisbane are strongly favoured to win at home against the Magpies. 

Rain is stopping and fine weather is predicted.

I watched the Casey game last week and there was a glaring problem with the rucks where frankly, our current crop of ruckmen aren’t yet physically equipped to take on the really big men in some of the stronger VFL sides. 

A couple of years ago the Casey Demons brought back ruckman Jake Spencer out of State league retirement for a surprise appearance to cover for a shortage of big men as a result of injuries. I think that they need to find someone like him if they want to be competitive.

22 hours ago, Demonland said:

Updated injury list from information at Goody's presser.

	PLAYER	INJURY	LENGTH
	Kysaiah Pickett	Suspension	1 Week
	Shane McAdam	Calf	2 Weeks
	Harrison Petty	Toe	2 Weeks
	Lachie Hunter	Calf	3-4 Weeks
	Ben Brown	Knee	TBC
	Jake Melksham	ACL	TBC
	Charlie Spargo	Achilles	TBC
	Daniel Turner	Stress Fracture	6-8 Weeks

If you list Kozzy as being out suspended then you should list Joel Smith as well. He hasn’t been delisted, after all.

7 hours ago, Demonland said:

 

If the AFL still believes that the head is sacrosanct (and after the Maynard hit on Angus Brayshaw, I have my doubts) then they should go for a 4 week suspension in this case. The precedent must be set once and for all that you don’t hit the head. 

10 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Mac Andrew was playing senior AFL footy last year mate and had a fairly strong VFL year.

Really?

If had you read my post properly you might have noticed that I wrote that he played senior AFL footy. The Suns of both last year and this year were a different proposition to Melbourne because they were off the pace and could afford to give the kids a game.

His selection was a surprise to many of their fans including a mate of mine who lives on the Coast and disagrees with your statement that he “had a fairly strong VFL year.” In fact, he struggled to get his hands on the footy in many games as I wrote above.

In my view, having a strong year entails being named in the best more than once in about 15 games.

But don’t believe me, the Suns fans on bigfooty  were less than impressed by him for most of the journey. Here’s an example.

2 hours ago, dees189227 said:

When did hibbo get concussion?

In Casey’s last game in the week before the Wildcard game. 

Yeah - he’s had a couple of disappointing games at the end of a long hard year for a young bloke but it’s worth reflecting that there were times last year when Mac Andrew was really struggling for a kick in the Gold Coast Ressies and he was a number 5 pick. The Suns were out of the running for the finals so they gifted him some ALF games late last season. He hasn’t set the world on fire this year but did enough for a rising star nomination.

I’ll be interested to see how Jefferson goes with a full preseason under his belt.

They’re making the news in Ireland too!

AFLW round-up: Donegal's Kennedy makes history while McLaughlin makes debut and Mackin features in Demons demolition job

6. Jack Viney 
5. Bayley Fritsch 
4. Christian Petracca  
3. Steven May 
2. Angus Brayshaw
1. Alex Neal-Bullen

24 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Laurie and Tomlinson are both in Sydney according to some previous posts.

I would imagine McDonald will get a full run at Casey. Not sure if woewy is up there or playing at Casey.

 

That being the case I think Laurie will be the tactical sub and Tomlinson the travelling emergency in case a tall becomes unavailable before the game.

How gratifying it was to see Demon Sam Weideman top scoring for the Bombers with two of their three goals. Imagine what it would have looked like without his contribution 

Just now, Watson11 said:

And Geelong are currently sitting at draft pick 8. Win this week and it is guaranteed pick 10. Lose and could be pick 6.  But nothing to see with half the team booked in for early surgeries or injured including Hawkins and Cameron.

 

Precisely. At the time that Melbourne was being attacked for tanking, the fact that it sent some players in for surgery before the end of the season was Exhibit A in claims that the club was committing the major criminal activity of tanking. Today, it’s okay.

On 3/17/2023 at 2:02 AM, Supreme_Demon said:

Let's hope they implement a much fairer system for the Clubs that develop these young recruits, otherwise, the NGA for Victorian AFL Clubs is almost pointless.

No, the AFL won’t make the system fairer. It will most likely use the system to engineer outcomes such as to enable North Melbourne to get access to one of the best prospects in the country Ryley Sanders who wasn’t even on any Academy list earlier this year when the AFL put out their academy lists - 

Red-hot WA duo among this year's NGA prospects

Great to see Disco rewarded with a place on the extended bench for his great first up effort at Casey after missing several weeks with injury. 

However, I’m not that sure that he will get a run against the Swans on Sunday because I believe he’s not AFL ready just yet. He’s listed at 194cm 88kg but with a big preseason and some extra kilos on him, I expect that 2024 will be his breakout year.

First delisting. Essendon has told James Stewart that he will be delisted.

Kynan Brown picked to go to the State Combine only. 

Is that a good thing?

4 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

You missed the obvious one and that is the AFL’s engineering of outcomes by changing their rules, often in midstream.

 I would be very interested to see what the AFL does with North Melbourne’s ploy to have Tasmanian top 10 draft prospect Ryley Sanders registered as a Next Generation Academy player and then be pre-listed or eligible for drafting by North in contradiction to the NGA rules that apply to the non Northern States.

The AFL has yet to agree to the idea but if it had integrity, consistency and fairness as heart then it should have already come out and ruled out this farcical sham as yet another unnecessary compromising of its own rules. 

Any organization with an ounce of decency would laugh such an idea out of court.

The problem is that nobody in the organization is responsible for running football. That’s where everything is falling down.