Nasher

Oliver won't come out unless he's definitively injured, surely. Can't see him being "rested" again in the front half of the season, that just seems overkill. You'd think Jetta and Tyson are locks, and I doubt we want to ruck Watts again (though I wouldn't hate it), so you'd think Pedersen takes his spot back. Alternatives are Spencer and Dawes, but that seems unlikely to me. The outs will come from OMac, ANB, Newton, Michie and Hunt. Another tough week at the table. Three walkup starts returning, and that's ignoring Grimes, Salem and Trengove who are keeping Casey at the top of the ladder, and Vanders who will be at full fitness soon. The pressure on our MFC bottom six is immense.

Viney. Gawn, Vince, Jones, Watts up there. I like Kennedy, but he doesn't belong in the same group as the others you mentioned.

I harp on about this a bit I know, but those "if only they'd kicked straight" arguments are pointless anyway. If the first of those behinds goes through for a goal then the ball goals back to the middle, and we're on an entirely different path of existence. There's nothing to say we couldn't have won by even more if they'd nailed a goal or two more.

That's a ripping photo - you can see clearly that Watts has him by the jumper too.

You might be right OD, but it does diminish the importance of Pedersen to the side. I changes the role mix a bit - I don't think Pedersen is that far ahead of Dawes if competing on forward merit only. I think it throws an interesting spanner in the works, though like DA I require some convincing that it's a good idea long term.

Thoughts on Watts in the ruck? I only saw the second half, but I think we were at least no worse off than when are when Pedersen is in there, and he definitely makes a better on baller than Pedersen. If Watts is able to do this regularly, it makes it much easier to find a place for a genuine forward like Dawes, Hulett or Weideman when they are ready.

How does he go in the VFL though? If he's demonstrating skill and confidence at the lower level, then you could mount an argument that it's just settling time in the seniors he needs.

For a supposedly even competition, there are some seriously pants teams in it, and Brisbane without doubt, are one of them. Very pleasing to have demolished them as we should, though we didn't necessarily play our best footy on the day.

What sarcasm? It's truly the impression I get sometimes. I missed the first half and was hoping for some insight, but all I saw was grumbling.

So all I know is the score, and the Demonland commentary. I gather we're terrible, no hope of making the finals ever again, and this will go down as the worst 10 goal victory of all time. Does that about sum it up?

If we can get it done by over 100 points, we will finish the round in the 8. Not getting ahead of myself though of course

We used up our one "we didn't come to play" (I miss Danners) for the year on Essendon. The boys bring that up all the time in their interviews - hopefully it still stings and we come out breathing fire. We'll smash them if we do.

Honestly though, the Pies are seeing exactly what we saw at the MFC. He'll go through a really lean stretch as a forward, go back to defence, look really strong and settled in the back line, go through a really lean patch, get moved forward, look strong and settled for a while, cycle restarts. I reckon Buckley hopelessly misjudged him, thinking he was a much better player than he is. Laughing all the way to the bank with Kennedy IMO.

"They have a defined role for me up forward." NEK MINNIT

Agreed WJ. Given that he's physically got work to do by the sounds of it, it's no big deal if he doesn't get a run in the seniors at all this year, but it's only positive if his form demands it eventually. So nice to have the luxury of being patient.

Freo are totally and utterly pants. I just can't see how a quality side can just dissolve so quickly. Gotta be the least number of people I've seen at Subiaco too, or so it seems on TV. Can see them finishing last, cleaning up in the draft and then miraculously bouncing back next year though. Hopefully they linger down there for a bit.

Watching Freo vs Richmond Rog? Saw Dawson iron out Morris with a late spoil - you must have felt so conflicted.

What, don't you do that?

Ah, fair enough then.

You guys need to experience the awkward meeting someone off the internet for the first time. "Oh hey! I'm... err.. Nasher... um, don't call me that though please..."

Do you regular Casey goers ever make an effort to meet up and say g'day? bjDee, KC, Angry, DemonDave, hells bells etc. Or do you ever see other fellas eyeball deep in smart phones, wondering if they're the other Demonlanders?

The purpose of this trade was to bring in a midfielder further in to his development. Just like the deal that saw us giving away this year's first round pick for Oliver (or was it Weideman?), the purpose was to fast track our midfield development. I don't think Tyson has to be as good as the player taken at two (Kelly) or any of the other players we took between there and Salem at 9 for it to have been a success. Tyson immediately made our midfield better, which was the goal; we didn't have to wait years for the trade to bear fruit. Certainly it would have been possible to draft a player who immediately made us better (Bont), but history shows you have to be very lucky to get that kind of result. It's trading an unknown for a solid known: forget Kelly or Bont; we could just have easily have drafted Scharenberg. Imagine the sliding doors topic then. I wholly disagree with rjay's assertion that Salem is not a pick 20 worthy player. History shows that as many players in the 10-20 range completely flop as they do forge a career, and you get very few gun players in that range. Salem has the tools to become a decent player, and I'm pretty confident he will. That would be a better than average result for a pick 20, which was essentially the price.

Am I right that vanders will be making his Casey debut?

*tears hair out*