Fat Tony

I thought he was training with the massage table.

Smith would’ve been an option had he been fit. We will just need to limit supply and make sure we get a second player up in contests.

I think Pig makes more sense than McVee given the size of the Dogs forwards.

Probably not because he’s contracted to 2025 and the soft cap hit would be so big.

I would theorise that Langdon always played the non interchange wing because he very rarely went off and it meant that the slow (Jordon) wing was able to be used to facilitate interchanges more easily. On kick outs, I would guess that the kick left strategy was because our kick in players were all lefties (May, Salem, Pig) and they could take territory more safely to left side. It also made it more easy to know what which side Gawn was going. That said, it certainly is a contradiction to my overall thesis. I would hope we see Langdon and Hunter swap this year with their preferred foot on the boundary this year. This will help us kick out on the full less often and should help us move the ball quicker. One drawback I see of changing our game plan is that we don't have like for like replacements for Langdon or Hunter if they get injured. Consequently, I could see us going back to last years game plan temporarily if we lose a winger.

It appears from the preseason games that there has been a pretty big shift in the game plan. Last year (and in 2021) the game plan centred around a fast wing (Langdon) and slow/defensive wing (Jordon/Brayshaw). On the slow/defensive wing side, we kicked long to packs with multiple talls, with crumbers like Petracca ready in position for a soft drop crumb. The plan was focused on not giving away scores on the counterattack and maximising our contested marking advantages due to Gawn. We saw some changes to the game plan in Round 23 last year and in the finals when we looked to switch a bit more, but this was implemented too late in the season to be engrained and we suffered from bad turnovers in the Finals (Sydney game in particular). This year, it appears we are going to be more willing to spread the ground coming out of defence rather than just going to one side. You can see this from our kickout strategies. This will open us up a bit more to counterattack, but it should gives us much better quality entries when we break through and are able to go coast to coast. We are also being a bit more central and targeting one on one contests with penetrating 45m kicks when going inside 50. I put the changes in philosophy down to 1) adapting due to not winning the flag last year (i.e. last year was the recession we had to have) and 2) the addition of Hunter on the wing. It looks like Hunter is a key inclusion and has given Goodwin the confidence to be a bit bolder with our ball movement.

That’s true. But my thinking is that Laurie needs to dominate VFL football first. He hasn’t shown enough to warrant the promotion. Jordon looks to have been squeezed out by Hunter’s arrival and the want to push Kossie through the middle.

Taking Petty out of defence would certainly make it worse but it would still be excellent with May and Lever, with Gawn or Grundy dropping back. Our strong midfield and zoning means that our defence will always get an easy run as well. Our defence was excellent before Petty came into the team.

The other thing I will add was how baffling a decision it was to play Laurie ahead of Jordon. Laurie looks a mile off the pace and will need to get Jack Viney strong to make it.

Gawn or Grundy will be forward 50-70% of game time. It looked fine yesterday because Gawn and Grundy dominated the air, but there will be times that we will not be so dominant and we will look too slow and lack defensive pressure. van Rooyen is a better ground level player may complement the Tap Brothers better. I’m just not convinced he’s got the game to be the 50 goal forward that we need in 2023. Our ball movement is going to be a lot more attacking this year because we have two true wingers, so whoever plays forward is going to get great supply. Petty is the only one I’m confident would kick 50+ goals and not be a defensive liability. I would also add that key forwards often take a long time to become accretive players. Even some of the top liners like Hawkins and Kennedy took years to develop. Others like Neitz, TMac and Lynch, who started in defence, were much more productive early in their careers.

We looked fantastic today. That said, I still think our best side has Petty forward paired with TMac and one of Turner, van Rooyen, Smith or Tomlinson in the back half.

Is anyone able to provide a report on who played well for Casey today?

Rivers is named back pocket.

No injuries and van Rooyen kick 10. Thanks. Bye.

I watched the first four quarters but St Kilda were woeful and I thought we were pretty average.

Did Jordon play in the second game?

Not sure if already mentioned, but the Bulldogs don't have a game this weekend because the Giants didn't want to travel. Instead they are playing an intraclub match. Hopefully this leaves them a touch underdone for Round 1.

He could but remember that Melksham was playing TMac's role when he was injured.

It is really 4 talls with Gawn & Grundy though. And if Fritsch is fit, we are already playing 3.5 talls.

Just tell May to kick in long and to the left side and they won't learn anything.

I wouldn't mind to see a full streamed match simulation.

He was on the wing because Jordon was injured/dropped.

I agree, Petty is a good, solid kick but he is not as natural, compact or fluent as players like Bowey, Salem, May, Tomlinson or Spargo. Petty is an excellent decision maker and typically takes a safe option, which is also very important to retaining possession.

Kye Turner looks athletic enough and will put on muscle to become a good AFL body. From the highlights package, he doesn't appear to be a great kick at a higher level but that doesn't mean he can't improve. Lever and Petty are not naturally elite kickers and have improved.

Great summary Slartibartfast. I think TMac is reasonable on the deck, but I think you are a bit harsh and I wouldn't say he lacks intensity there. Fritsch plays like a seagull on the ground (swooping in and out). And Brown and Gawn are major liabilities on the deck inside 50. I watched about 75% of the VFL games last year and JVR reminds me a bit of Neitz, albeit not as long a kick. While Brown has reportedly done very well in the preseason, I wonder if he will be able to co-exist alongside Gawn inside 50, because if they don't mark it, we will be chasing tail the other way.