wisedog

I suppose we prepare ourselves for players leaving: we know once they’re over 31-32, each season could be their last. We also know, some will have no hesitation jumping ship if there’s a better offer from a rival Club. The coach, it would seem, is required to make a much more profound commitment, and remain at their post until the bitter end - and it is usually bitter. I was in favour of keeping Goodwin right until the Saints debacle, but hearing him talk about how close we are to success, well, he just about won me over again! I am sad to see him go and hope to be able to shake his hand and say thanks one day. Go Dees

Not sure if it has been posted (I saw it on Instagram) but Gawn’s interview on Triple M was quite revealing. He confirmed he was personally made aware of our first 6-6-6 warning in the 2nd Quarter Claimed responsibility for the 2nd violation, but said he had only a few seconds to determine where the players were and wasn’t able to Said the Club has “forgotten how to win”and cited his own kick across goal, which led to the spat with May, as an example The last point is something we have probably suspected but interesting it was admitted publicly. The issue of course is, if the captain isn’t able to show the team how to win, I’m not sure who is? Most of our senior players have failed in similar moments over the years: I recall Lever giving away free kicks in the finals, May dropping chest marks and getting stuck into teammates, Viney and Oliver blazing away, and of course most of our forwards missing important goals. I think one of the only cool heads on the list is Melksham. It’s a shame he’s not a few years younger, and very unfortunate he was missing in the final minutes.

Some of the skill errors and lack of awareness were astonishingly bad. In fact, for many players, that looked to be their floor in terms of performance. Rivers and JVR looked like a first-gamers at times. Oliver and Petracca are suffering from a lack of cohesion and rhythm. I like the idea of a player like Kynan Brown in there, who is fast and a fierce tackler, just to prevent such easy takeaways out of the centre. In fact, we don’t currently seem to have that little pest on our list who can lock down the opposition danger man. Was Harmes the last to do it effectively? This is really only to say, yes, Petracca and Oliver are down on form, but are we doing enough to mitigate the damage going the other way? The biggest positive for me is that we know there are four best-22 players to come into this side who are all dynamic and skilful: McVee, Pickett, Windsor and Lindsay (well, hopefully) will make a significant difference. If Tholstrup, Brown surpass expectations this year, and Langford continues to improve, we may not be in quite as bad shape as it seems. The presence of Langford, in particular, cushions us slightly against diminishing returns from Viney, Petracca and Oliver. As for next week, I feel JVR needs to return to Casey - if only to be heavily involved in the play and regain some form. Turner demanded selection yesterday.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m bitterly disappointed, and that performance reminded me somewhat of the first round of 2008 when we were annihilated by a resurgent Hawthorn. But I’m keeping in mind that we were actually in a winnable position at 3 quarter time. When North kicked the first couple of the last quarter, we definitely lowered our pressure (this is probably a great concern in itself), and we had probably underestimated the opponent going into the game. On the other hand, North, having been down for so many years, were finally in a position where they had their boot on the neck of another Victorian club - they weren’t going to let up. Sometimes, you’re caught off guard by the waves of momentum and emotion, and this was probably a hugely cathartic victory. So, last week was creditable, this week was diabolical. The rounds have been topsy turvy across the competition so far, we just need to wait and see our response against Gold Coast. OUT: Woewodin, Jefferson IN: Langford, Fullerton

The only major discrepancy worth noting is the hitouts. Despite that, Schache seemed to be suggested as a ruck/forward option far more regularly than Weideman. As I wrote in my initial post, it would have been interesting to see him in the ruck/forward role after Jackson. This would have obviously been a significant downgrade on ruck talent but I think it may have been beneficial to Weideman to have been forced into the contest. I think that’s the only grounds for him being considered. I agree there’s no point him being considered as a KPF alone. But with Tomlinson, KFW, and Schache off the list I think there is a small case to be made for Weideman. Whether Weideman would even want to be on a rookie contract is another issue.

I’m not suggesting we should, and I think it’s virtually no chance of happening. I’m only saying based on Gawn’s previous comments, the only role he could plausibly fill would be as a ruck/fwd. The Club clearly doesn’t see Fullerton as being able to play this role, Tom Campbell is a ‘break glass’ option, Verrel is still too raw, and most of us would like to see JVR played solely as a key forward. On those grounds, if he was a rookie listed player, the only risk of him returning would be impeding the development of younger players at Casey, but I also think he could be a serviceable key back if necessary.

I remember Gawn saying Weideman’s best position was as a ruck/fwd. It did kind of seem like a bit of a backhanded compliment - as though he would never be good enough as a key forward alone. Still, Gawn must have been at least somewhat impressed by his ruck potential. In hindsight, we really wouldn’t have been any worse off had we instead given Weideman the opportunity to play that role instead of recruiting Grundy, but he probably wouldn’t have offered much more than Van Rooyen has and certainly less forward. I wouldn’t be against his recruitment, but on the condition he didn’t impede Jefferson’s development in the forward line.

This is all pure speculation but given how hard he is driving for this outcome, despite his almost impossible situation, I imagine the Petracca family are 100% in support of what he is doing. I feel all it would take would be one person he respected or admired to say, "Are you sure you're doing the right thing, Christian?" and he would relent. But any moral argument to honour his contract would be countered by something along the lines of, "They almost killed you, Christian!" I'm sure the Club has reached out to the family, but if the Petraccas are still too aggrieved, then perhaps someone outside the Club like Garry Lyon could be convinced to play a peacemaker role. (Again, pure speculation - I'm not trying to blame the family. Don't yell at me, admins.)

There was a free kick paid in the final quarter of Carlton and Port Adelaide where a Carlton defender leapt up to spoil and collided with the Port player at the 50 metre arc. Unlike Maynard, when that the defender realised he would collide with the Port player, he then actually puts out his hands to push off him. He was still penalised which seemed like the wrong decision because there didn't appear to be any head high contact. I know we all need to move on from this but one of this things that angered me so much about the Collingwood tribunal defence was the discussion around 'reaction times' and it being somehow impossible for Maynard to have taken any protective measures to reduce the possibility of injury - they even had some kind of neurologist to support the claim. Anyone who has played any kind of fast-moving sport knows that it was complete nonsense. Anyway, I haven't found the clip anywhere but if you can be bothered it's 1:39.20 mark here. https://www.afl.com.au/video/1180655/match-replay-carlton-v-port-adelaide?videoId=1180655&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1722040200001

That's very fair. Goodwin is not an autocrat and certainly appears open to advice and counsel from other parties. So yes, we should absolutely look at the support around him.

The mid-season break has come at the best possible time. It at least gives us an opportunity to arrest whatever rot has set in here. We will then hopefully work back into some kind of form against a lowly opponent. We are truly at the crossroads here and I look forward to seeing who steps up to respond. The concern for me is that this faltering gameplan demonstrates that Goodwin is simply a poor strategist. He is not a dynamic thinker and doesn't appear able to adapt to changing trends or recognise our vulnerabilities - he seems to prefer a 'set and forget' model of success. We've seen large, clumsy, broad strokes to arrest our downfall; such as the recruitment of Grundy, or this latest gameplan, but then then there is the recruitment of middling, ageing performers whose presence give us no indication of how the list will be revitalised or how we will be playing differently. They appear to have been recruited simply as depth. Goodwin deserves enormous credit and gratitude for the list, culture, and strategy which led to 2021. But at this point in time, I have grave doubts over his ability to resurrect the 'era'. We'll see.

A bit deflated. Feels like there are few options to improve the team - almost as if we're 3 or 4 players short. Look forward to seeing who we can add in the mid season draft. I was hugely optimistic about Petty forward last season. But, unfortunately, it just hasn't worked so far. I can't help but feel he was rushed into the team before he was ready and has lost some confidence - this is also evident in his kicking for goal: 2 goals, 8 behinds! It may have been lost in the discussion over his lack of goals, but he actually had 13 hitouts last week and 5 tackles. The most Van Rooyen has had this year is 7. Petty also looked far more tenacious in the centre, and I do sense he is desperate to contribute. I would be happy to keep Petty forward and pinch hit for Gawn and allow Van Rooyen to remain forward permanently. It's possible that if Petty feels he just needs to pop up and kick a few goals here and there, rather than being the 'main man', he may play a bit more naturally. Tomlinson plays to cover Lever. INS: Tomlinson, Langdon, Van Rooyen OUT: Lever, Billings, Brown

I am disappointed we lost, but I'm also relieved at the way we played out the game. On multiple occasions we toiled and toiled for a goal, and Carlton responded almost immediately - to keep coming, against a very good side, in poor conditions was really significant. If Carlton ran out to a 50+ point win, the media narrative would have been relentless. But we were able to flip the script and probably also do a bit of damage to Carlton. Also, Petracca is probably the most damaging forward on our list (despite his accuracy issues). I remember Garry Lyon saying last year he was the best mark. If only we had two of him.

Misguided endeavour with Grundy and bad luck with injuries to Brown, McDonald, and Smith. I wonder if we’ve done enough to search the state leagues? Someone to do what Podsiadly did for Geelong in their era of success. I think we look the most balanced and potent with Petty and JVR forward. Seems to bring Chandler more into the game too. Incredibly unfortunate to lose Petty and Melksham late last year. Smith was commendable in the finals and so it’s a great shame that’s he’s probably played his last game for us.

But it was also obvious that Gawn and Jackson were never a ruck/forward powerhouse. I think they kicked only 6 goals collectively in the latter half of 2022. I just don’t understand why we thought Grundy could be an improvement on that or why we were hellbent on replicating that dynamic. As we all know, we were actually crying out for a competent key forward. But they don’t grow on trees, and who knows, if we had got one, we may not have had the opportunity to see what Petty was capable of.