John Dee

6. Blease 5. Jones 4, Spencer 3, Jetta 2. Grimes 1, Rivers

Nicholson must be upgraded. Magner does not have to be; the club can, if it wants. Evans is an interstate rookie, and can therefore get a third rookie year, I think, need confirnation of that. Lawrence, I have no idea but would be surprised if he was with un next year.

6 Jones 5 Howe 4 McDonald 3 Green 2 Grimes 1 Trengove

Out - Dunn, he is not a defender Sellar, he is not a footballer Jetta, if suspended, else Strauss or MacDonald In - Watts, please Davis, FFS give him a game Gysberts, enough already, give him a game

Thompson was not let go. We desparately wanted him to stay but he had to get back to Adelaide for family reasons.

Whilst we had a few teething problems with Casey things are going very well at the moment. The addition of the extra development caoches at Melbourne have had a lot to do with that. Brett Lovett is not a full-time coach, which is why he was given the flick fron Sandy. His impact on Casey has been immense. If you bothered to go and watch Casey play, you would see a game plan that is exactly the same as the one Melbourne is trying to play. All of the Melbourne listed players are being played in the positions that they would most probably play in should they get a call up to Melbourne. As the development coaches spend a lot of time at Casey, it is their input that accounts for much of that. We should not just slavishly follow what the other clubs are doing. We should look into the reasons why they are making their decisions and examine our own situation accordingly. If these reasons do not apply in our situation, note them and move on. In short, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

There is a precedent of sorts with Adam Ramanauskas; Essendon were allowed to move him from the main list back to the rookie list. The two situations are radically different but, if it has been done before, it can be done again. That being said, I can't see any way that Liam is going to be convicted of any charge other that the one of carrying a weapon. There is simply too much conflicting evidence and serious doubt about anybody's involvement in the whole mess for any jury to convict him on any of the assault charges. As to the weapons charge, just put your hand up and say to the judge and jury that if they were walking around Yuendumu at night, they'd be carrying one too.

Nothing that has happened today should cause any concern. Basil Jurrah had slight, albeit serious, injury to his scalp that required six stiches. Evidence so far presented affirms that he was struck repeatedly with a machete by Liam whilst his accomplice was pounding him with an axe.The defence will have a field day with that witness. I will be much more interested in the doctor's report.There seems to be doubt as to whether the injury was actually caused by a machete. As Liam was found carrying a machete, I am aslo very interested in the forensic report on that machete, and whether or not it was used in the assault.

We have played up there three years in a row. I expect that the coaches and the players would have weighed up the options and gone with what they thought was best.

Strauss' kicking is elite. During the first three quarters he hit targets with precision. During the last quarter, the targets were not there to hit.

Love Howie! He will stay, 2 or 3 years would be my guess. He is a great snap for goal but his set shot kicking is abysmal. He needs to really wotk on a getting a set shot routine that works over the off season.

Paul Roos on On the Couch some time ago said that, when he was at Syney they had a hard and fast policy of NEVER spending an early pick on ruckmen or tall players generally. He said that it was just too fraught with danger and that you had to wait until they were about 22-24 before you could really judge them.

It will be fascinating to see where Viney ends up. We will pick him with whatever pick that we have to. He is worth pick 3 but may slip to 24. There are too many intangibles, father legend at the club, brother Max, Billy Stretch etc for us to pass on him. The thing that really irks me is that this whole situation is of the AFL's making. They put us into a situation whereby we had to commit to Jack twelve months before we would normally have to stop GWS from claiming him as a 17 year old. When we floated the idea of doing a deal with GWS or GC not to bid on him, Calamity Adrian publically warned us about draft tampering. Is he going to say anything about GWS of GC bidding on Viney because it is a free hit? Of course he won't but that will be a far greater case of draft tampering.

I really like the way the club is operating here, and do not have any concern at all. Publicly floating the idea about trading draft picks is very different from actually doing so but it does flag to all that we will be interested in any offers; that does not mean that we will necessarily accept them. The Travis Cloke 'offer' is fine too, if we are sure that he is going to stay with the filth. It was stated last night that a revised 'final' offer was was to Cloke. If we can increase the pressure on another club's salary cap by public posturing, then do so. I am not privy to the inner thinking at the club and I do not really want to be. I am confident that they know exactly what they are doing and will play Hardball. The trades over the last few years, mentioned earler in this thread, give me that confidence. The phoney war is about to begin. There will be many smokescreens, don't let them confuse you; trust the club..

I was on the outer side amongst a few Port supporters. They were impressed with Cook, mainly with his lead up play and disposal. They also were showing a great deal of angst over the ruck work of Fitzpatrick, particularly as the match wore on. Green was annoying them as well. Fitzy was clearly BOG, Green excellent, but Fitzy's work in the middle and around the ground was more valuable.

I thought Davis played pretty well. He was at full-back all the match when he has been playing centre-half-back for most of the year. The Port full-forward, Galea?, was always on the lead and the Port were kicking to him every chance they had. Allied with this, he did not seem to be able to miss with his kicks at goal. Davis stuck to his task all day, particularly in the last quarter. Yes he was beaten on the day but there was no one else who was going to do any better.

On Marngrook last night he said that he was close this week, definately back next week.

If you are not convinced that Davis will make it, fine. I have seen him play at Casey and think that he will. We both need to see him at AFL level to see which of us is correct. This is his chance.

Rookies can now be played without the need to promote them.

I'm not overly concerned about any of the snaps, the ones I am concerned about are the set shots that are not converted. Howie is the major culprit here, I would rather see him on an acute angle with little chance than directly in front 30 out. Trengove not being able to make the distance from 40 is also a big worry; if he hasn't got some form of OP, I'll be very surprised.

Troy Davis

6, Jones 5. Watts 4. Grimes 3. T Mac 2. Rivers 1. Clark

Yeah, it was at one time, not sure about the moment. When I go to Casey, I take the freeway all the way to C407, and come in the back way. It is quite amazing to see all of the new housing estates going in on both sides of the road where, previously, there were cow paddocks.Even after you turn right onto the road where Casey Fields is, the new housing going in on both sides of that road is impressive as well.

A small nuggety defender is our great shortfall at the moment. The two players at Casey who are coming on are Davis and Sheehan. Of the two, Davis is the standout, at the moment. They are both tall defenders; Davis plays CHB and Sheehan FB. We have to turn someone into a small defender, maybe Tynan?

There is nothing wrong at all with our alignment with Casey at the moment. Bringing up the past to support an argument about the future is all well and good when it is appropriate but it is not so with Casey prior to this year. If you have been to Casey games, you will see Casey playing the same game plan that MFC are trying to play. The new development coaches that MFC have added to the staff this year are, effectively, assistant coaches at Casey. Both Casey and MFC are on the same page. Brett Lovett was obviously given this brief, and is doing it very well. Then there is the bigger picture. Casey is the fastest growing municipality in the country. Casey Council and MFC have spent a lot of money upgrading Casey Fields. Casey is a big part of our future. I realise that things change but I am not about advocating the club shits in its own nest by mindlessly following what it perceives to be the current trend.