Fat Tony

10 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Billings and Woey can play in defence. Then with Rivers, Howes, McVee, Bowey, Hore, Salem and Windsor ( possibly doing a Sheezel ) and the fact that AMW has never played in defence at Casey, I see him as a forward, the position he was recruited for.

AMW is more of an opportunistic goal kicker.

Surely Salem goes back given Bowey is out. They are the most like for like. We need him to be our composed/skilled high half back. Kossie will come into the midfield at times, to go with Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Sparrow. Billings might also get a full game and can go through the midfield.

36 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

The why on earth did we blow a first rounder on him?

Thats a bog ordinary assessment.

It’s only a bog ordinary assessment if he ends up an AFL quality forward. 

I think Jefferson’s best chance to make it is as a defender like Mitch McGovern. He has zero ground game, lacks second efforts/intensity and will never be big enough. 

1 minute ago, Cranky Franky said:

IT WAS BONE DRY, PERFECT FOOTBALL CONDITIONS, WITH A NICE BREEZE BLOWING ACROSS THE GROUND & MUCH COOLER THAN MELBOURNE'S LAST MONTH. I WAS IN THE BRADMAN STAND & PUT ON A JUMPER AT HALF TIME

It was definitely slippery due to the humidity being 89%.

We have not played well in humid, slippery conditions since Roos/Goodwin took over. (We have struggled in Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and Gold Coast.) My theory is that the slippery ball takes away the aerial strength of Max and our intercept defenders. Plus our midfield is not skilful and overuses the ball to exit stoppages.

The team selection was poor last night, with too many midgets. We need to place a greater value on small forwards who can compete in the air. The game has gone past players like Spargo and Laurie, who are hopeless in the marking contests, and not quick. We need Woewodin and Tholstrop to come on.

Oliver looks too heavy and lacked pace.

Schache just isn't urgent enough or strong enough.

Howes looks good and will be a player.

Windsor did some great things and will get better but is still really a 2025+ prospect.

I am often critical of Tomlinson, but he played a good game.

We can still win the flag this year, but we will need everything to go right.

The only Sydney I’m a fan of right now is Sydney Sweeney!

Langdon, Windsor and Billings will be the wingers. 

36 minutes ago, monoccular said:

Tony.  I am sure he has displayed desperation to the level required by the coaching team - would he be selected otherwise?

We will see mono. The gap between AFL and VFL is huge. 

Hopefully Howes can adapt to the pace and intensity of AFL reasonably quickly. He has the skill and athleticism but he will need to be more desperate than he has shown in the VFL. 

My mail is Hunter is struggling. So that’s optimistic. 

6 hours ago, binman said:

Based on info gleaned from Demonland (track watchers, linked articles etc) my best guess is something like

(taking koz and smith out as they are not injuries - by the by, koz is in ripper nick and right to go round 1. So technically doesn't miss a round. For petts i'm assuming no surgery, but if he has surgery unlikely to add mot than a couple of weeks)

PLAYER	INJURY	LENGTH
	Ben Brown	Knee	2-3 weeks
	Lachie Hunter	Calf	1-2 weeks
	Shane McAdam	Calf	2-3 weeks
	Jake Melksham	ACL	Round 16
	Harrison Petty	Toe	2-3 weeks
	Charlie Spargo	Achilles	1 week
	Kysaiah Pickett	Suspension	Fit
	Daniel Turner	Stress Fracture	6-8 Weeks
	J. Smith	Suspension	TBA

We played extremely well and had no injuries. Perfect.

While our delivery inside 50 was better, we were a bit risky going inside the corridor at times and this cost us several turnover goals. I don't think we have to take a lot more risk with our ball movement than we did last year. We need to be a bit more precise with our final delivery inside 50 and kick straight.

Kossie, Fritsch and JVR need to convert better.

I still have doubts about Laurie and Schache but we are low on soldiers early in the season.

Windsor needs to work on his kicking but is clearly a future player.

Tholstrup looked great for 2 possessions.

Salem did well in the midfield and exceeded my expectations. Not sure how he fits when Clarrie comes back though.

Hopefully we get salary cap relief for 2024, as well as later years.

7 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

A mate told me that Cal Twomey said Windsor reminds him of Chris Judd.... no pressure young fella.

There is certainly a bit of Judd in the way he moves, but Judd was 5cm taller and heavier/stronger. Plus Judd was big for a mid when he played but would be only average size today.

Windsor's speed, balance and coordination makes you think we have something special here. He moves like Josh Kelly, Whitfield and Rozee. Hopefully he can get strong enough to play inside the centre square one day.

Disappointing to hear Petty cannot get going again but at least he isn't icing up.

9 minutes ago, Dannyz said:

Why do we have to shift him at all when he's performing well in the role he's in?

Bowey? I would prefer to leave him at high half back.

But with our midfield depth being tested and Brayshaw potentially moving back and Howes possibly coming into defence, we might need to make some adjustments (i.e. ANB might need to be shifted to the midfield).

2 hours ago, binman said:

I like this, as as i noted yesterday if Howes playing in defence he could take Mcvee's spot at HB allowing judd to move onto the ball, or perhaps onto the wing.

But i could also see both playing in defence, with Howes playing the lock down role Judd played last year (he's  tall enough to cover the tricky medium forwards like McCarthy).

This would free up McVee to play a more aggressive, offensive role higher up the ground in the mould of kitty Coleman or Nick Daicos.  

Wherer that would leave Bowser and Salo i'm not too sure - one would have to come out of the back half in that scenario you'd think. 

I know there has been some talk of Salo moving on ball, but personally i cant see it. He is hard at it and strong enough to play an inside mid role, particularly with his fast hands and ability to hit short targets by foot under pressure.

But i agree with Fat Tony that his lack of pace would be an issue as a mid. It wouldn't have been an issue a few years ago but teams with slow midfields can get caught out now, particularly defensively -  the Lions being an example   

I wonder if Bowser could be an on ball option? He also could be an inside mid option as like salo he is hard at it and an excllent kick. But unlike salo he quick of the mark. 

Bowser wasn't a defender as a junior, but i can't recall what his main role/position was. Was he a mid?

 

Bowey is too small to be a mid at AFL level. He does not have the power and agility of someone like Kossie or the strength of Viney. I think Bowey can only play as a high half back or in ANB's role as a high half forward. (His lack of size would be a deficiency on the wing and he is not an absolute elite endurance runner.)

If our midfield depth gets tested, I would be much more interested with experimenting with JVR as a centre square midfielder (Gawn in the ruck), with ANB rolling up to play as a midfielder after the centre bounce. Rivers is the other obvious player to go into the midfield more often but he does not run well enough and is a very flexible defender.

I see the centre bounce as being extremely important and the need to insert our best players in there. Once the bounce is over, our defensive systems are extremely strong an the risk of conceding scores is much lower. Players like Salem and Bowey would increase the risk of losing clearances.

Salem lacks the size and pace to play inside midfield. High half back is ideal for him because it masks his lack of athleticism and allows him to use his excellent skills and reading of the play. He needs to get his acceleration back this season and be able to kick 50m+ otherwise he will be in the VFL.

I like Gus at half back, but we have a lot more options there than in the midfield now. I am also unconvinced the chance of concussion is much different in the midfield than in defence and so I think we will need him back in the engine room.

Rivers to the midfield makes sense given our lack of options, but he might not have the running ability to play four quarters. Pickett and ANB are others who will need to play more midfield minutes this year.

18 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Like Jordon, not favoured by being at Melbourne.  Behind Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Sparrow, Brayshaw and probably Kossie as well in the middle.  That is the only place he has played at Casey, because the fore mentioned don't play there. 

And please don't come up with the ...."he can play half forward" line.  He is too small and too slow, and sits behind a lot of other players currently in the 1sts.

Jordon is a capable AFL player. Laurie has not shown that yet and he has none of the athletic traits to have strong belief he will be good enough. 

I think we missed a trick not playing Disco Turner earlier in the season in 2023. I hope he is given the opportunity to start the year in the AFL in 2024. I think he has all the ingredients to be a very good player.

39 minutes ago, MrFreeze said:

Bit of a sink or swim year I feel for Howes. Everyone can see how he can fit into the team but we've decided to recruit similar players because he hasn't quite stepped up. 

Howes has two years on his contract, so 2024 is probably not make or break.

He looks very classy at times in the VFL but he needs to get stronger and show a bit more desperation in the contest to be ready for AFL (which is probably also related to his lack of strength). I think he will make a good AFL player but he has a lot of competition, albeit B-grade competition on the flanks and wings. 

I just spoke to the club and they are about to send out an email with barcodes for Gather Round.

Another ruckman would make more sense IMO.

I am not sure Hore has the pace and agility required and he kicks the ball without sufficient penetration. That said, our recruiters must see something I don't and they are often correct.

39 minutes ago, Nudge said:

He is closer to 189cm atm apparently, with a lift in his tank, through 2-3 pre-season's worth of work, he could genuinely be ANYTHING! But before then, he will be a pressure fwd that can finish, yes pls!!!

Ran 6.17 for the 2km time trial which was 10th at the Draft Combine. I think he’s actually a decent runner. 

We have seen how important the wing position is in modern footy, particularly on the MCG. He looks to be a very skilful and speedy wingman with a big leap.