MadAsHell

For me 1998 is still the year that got away. Had the perfect balance of youth and experience. Were on an absolute role heading into the Prelim having beaten the previous years Grand Finalists in the first two weeks of the finals by 40+ points. Yet we get drawn to play the equally hot North Melbourne while Adelaide who we thumped in the first week get the 2nd ranked Bulldogs! We also let ourselves down in the Prelim. Had all the play for the first 10-15min to register 1.3 early I think it was and then let North outmuscle us. Your commentary about 1990 does bring back some childhood memories though. Thanks for the trip! Edit: Spelling

If Adam Goodes wants to run up to an opposition player after he kicks a goal and do his war cry or do it to the whole oppposition team before the game or at one of the breaks, all the power to him. But i don't agree with doing it to opposition supporters. That's called in siting the crowd, which i thought players got fined for? You don't see the All Blacks doing it to the opposition supporters, just the players. So i have no issue with what Goodes did, just think it should be re-directed.

IN: Dawes, Newton, Riley, Tyson OUT: Bail, Howe, M. Jones, Watts FB: Fitzpatrick, Dunn, Jetta HB: Garland, T. McDonald, Lumumba C: Toumpas, Vince, Tyson HF: Vandenberg, Hogan, Brayshaw FF: Pedersen, Dawes, Garlett FOLL: Spencer, Cross, N. Jones INT: Grimes, Newton, Viney SUB: Riley EMERG: Gawn, Harmes, Michie Team there does lack a little run, but if we can turn the game into an arm wrestle we may be ok.

Going by Roos comments on Roos views I suspect we may pass. Sounds like he thinks it's all getting a bit to hard to secure Father Sons. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2015-05-27/roos-views-round-9

With Fitzy and Pedo finding form and Riley having an impact in his first game, it may take a little longer to figure out some of the likely delistings.

At least means at the end of 2016 we'll have a heap of cap space when we need it!

That just makes me have visions of James Sellar.... Dawes will play CHF at Casey until he finds form. Will be good cover if one of Hogan or Pedersen goes down at least.

[quote name="The Song Formerly Known As" post="1097482" Potentially plays his 200th this year (13 games away).THAT WILL BE HUGE!!! I expect a big crowd for him.

They better just stay away from McCartney as someone to develop a young list from 2016 onwards. He's ours!!!

Confirmation?

No way, we need every penny we can save in order to offer Hogan something like a 7 year 8 million dollar contract that he'll likely demand. But I do love Jonesy. Although that turnover of his in the 3rd term that gave Stringer his 2nd goal was probably the worst thing he's ever done!

Yep, full credit to Spencer on sunday, he played very well after the first 10-15min. Lets hope for his and all our sakes that he can maintain that form.

Another huge Cross fan. If he manages to play every game this year he'll be on 39 club games and 249 AFL games. Would be nice to see him through to 250 AFL and 50 club games. He's been huge since he arrived. Never appreciated the player he was at the Bulldogs.

IN: (Subject to fitness) Jetta, Tyson, Viney OUT: M. Jones (conc), Bail, Newton (unlucky) FB: Fitzpatrick, Dunn, Jetta HB: Garland, T. McDonald, Lumumba C: Watts, Vince, Tyson HF: Vandenberg, Hogan, Toumpas FF: Howe, Pedersen, Garlett FOLL: Spencer, Cross, N. Jones INT: Brayshaw, Grimes, Viney SUB: Riley EMERG: Bail, Gawn, Newton

Harsh on Trengove when we need mids.Also reckon Cross has one more year in him.

Yeah maybe not Jamar, would be a bad way to go out.Spencer wouldn't be out of place though.

Don't recall saying you can lock them in for a delisting, just that they'll need to show something to ensure they remain on the list before the years out. They'd hardly be the first players delisted after 2 years. And that's not just us, look at all the clubs and you'll see a similar list turn over.

Pretty sure Matt Jones and Terlich are contracted? At this stage i'd probably add Jamar and Riley to the list though. Also Max King and Jayden Hunt will both need to show something at VFL level before the season is out. As for Trengove, i can't see any takers given his injury history. I'll back him in to make a full recovery and become a vital cog in our midfield rotation.

Bingo.

You said it rjay. I can see why they've tried to get him to play this role. Sure it'd be great if we can have a 208cm ruckman who's also capable of playing forward. And given Spencer & Jamar aren't much use forward, it works for Casey better if Max is up there. But given Gawn's the one with the most upside & natural ability, we really should be trying to fast track his ruck work as quickly as possible. And the best way to do that is you guessed it..... In the ruck. In all honesty, I hope for the rest of the year we see Gawn playing ruck at Melbourne with one of Jamar or Spence rucking for Casey. Get King to play the forward/ruck role with Casey and the one of Jamar/Spencer that misses out with the Scorps can play development league.

Went along tonight and boy was it cold! Very enjoyable though, a good win for the Scorps considering they only had nine Melbourne players out there in very greasy conditions. Crowd was a bit better then their last few games also, maybe they should try and play a few more night matches? Anyway, here's my brief overview: Max Gawn: Best game I've seen him play for awhile. Had to play mainly ruck after Jamar went off early in the second term, and I think that actually helped Gawn as he's a ruckman who can rest forward, not a forward who can ruck. Took several strong marks in conditions that didn't suit and kicked three goals when drifting forward to create an option. His tap work was pretty good also, putting the ball down Neal-Bullen, Michie & Harmes throats and he had the better of Hampson. Assuming Spencer has a similar game tomorrow to his last two, then Gawn surely has to come in. Jordie McKenzie: Always tries hard and gives it his all, but he did a couple of classic McKenzie turnovers that resulted in goals or shots on goal for Richmond. Gets plenty of the ball at VFL level, but he's not damaging at all. Said it before, but I would be suprised to see him at AFL level again. Viv Michie: Was busy and got plenty of the ball and ran all night. Another poster mentioned earlier that he doesn't hurt the opposition, and that's probably a fair comment. Would like to see him kick more goals from the midfield seeing as his defensive side isn't top notch, you at least want him to be able to score the other way. Haven't given up hope on him, as he can find the footy. Just needs to work out how to bring his game to the next level. Oscar McDonald: Did well tonight I thought Oscar, was tight defensively and he used the ball reasonably well on the few occasions he got it. Is still getting used to the pace of VFL footy, got caught late in the game trying to take an opponent on, but he defended well I thought and also took a few nice marks in the defensive 50. Won't be ready for AFL this year, but there's enought there to work with. Alex Neal-Bullen: Very good first half where he got plenty of it and he covers the ground better then I realised he does. Second half didn't get it as much, but he still linked up well and he can get the ball on the inside and the out. Think he'll play this year. Just a matter of when. Mark Jamar: Injured early in the second term. From where I was it looked like he copped a knock to the head in a tackle, got up very groggy and went off not long after that. He and Gawn were tag teaming from deep forward to ruck, and Russian was struggling to have much of an impact up to that point. Mitch White: Really like the look of this kid. Beautiful left foot, strong over head and runs well also. We could have something on our hands. Not saying he's going to be a gun, but could turn into a very handy half back/wing in the Josh Hunt type mould. He's one to keep an eye on. Got plenty of the ball and kicked what I think was his first goal in VFL footy tonight. James Harmes: This is a kid that excites me. I'd like to see him get the ball a bit more, but he's one of those players that whenever he does get it, something seems to happen. He was very good in the final term, especially early in that term after Richmonf got to within 10 points. Won the ball a few times on the outer wing and was able to get the ball inside 50 showing some real pace. Also nearly took an absolute screamer late in the game on the same wing. He probably only had it 15-20 times, but he's got something about him. Dean Terlich: Started really badly and was caught out defensively a few times, but from about half way through the third term, I thought he lifted. Took a few important intercept marks and didn't have any clangers that I remember from that point onwards which is probably part of the reason why the Scorps were able to run away with it as comfortably as they did. So yes, all things considereed, it was a very good win by Casey and a good night for footy out in Casey and good to see a few more people at the ground. Also good to see so many people from the club there. McCartney, Rawlings, Mahoney & Tom McDonald just to name a few that weren't there as part of the Casey coaching panel, more so just to observe. Anyway hope tonight is a sign of things to come tomorrow.

Can't see another club taking up his contract, even with only 1 year to go. I expect he'll be a depth player next year, come in if Hogan misses. That is if we can land someone like Gorringe who can play forward and then chop out in the ruck.

Sam Frost was 4-6 weeks, 4-6 weeks ago. Is this because he needs time out shooting the Bachelorette?

Given the news both Jetta & Viney are a week away and Dawes calf seems to be getting worse (although I would have dropped him anyway). IN: Gawn, Harmes, Hogan, Watts OUT: M. Jones (omit), Spencer (omit), Dawes (inj), Salem (inj) FB: Garland, Dunn, Stretch HB: Lumumba, T. McDonald, Grimes C: Watts, Vince, Tyson HF: Vandenberg, Hogan, Bail FF: Howe, Pedersen, Garlett FOLL: Gawn, Cross, N. Jones INT: Brayshaw, Michie, Toumpas SUB: Harmes EMERG: Jamar, M. Jones, Riley Was tempted to drop Howe, however we need some options forward. St Kilda beat the Bulldogs by playing Riewoldt on a wing in the 2nd half and having a strong overhead mark that the defenders could kick it out to. I'd try and get Howe & Watts to share this role, with one playing on the wing and the other deep forward. Get them to alternate in order to keep them fresh. Also keen to give both Gawn & Harmes a go, as we may as well. Spencer's shown he's not up to it, so Bulldogs are a good team with Cordy in the ruck to give Gawn an opportunity against. When we come up against teams with 2 genuine ruckmen, then Jamar can come back in. But for now, we may as well see what Gawn can do when given the responsability. Also love to see Harmes play. Has pace, is good over head and can play both inside & out. So sub may be a good role for him. Still has aspects of his defensive game to work on, but has been tracking well. Will also give Stretch another game in defence this time. Get him to sit on Dalhaus. You know he'll at least stick to his task young Billy. And on an end note, given Watts, Howe, Grimes & Toumpas are likely our main trade bait at seasons end, I reckon it's impotant that when the opportunity is there that we play them to help increase their value. if they're stuck at Casey then there's not much value, in the 22 then there's a bit more. So again this helped shape part of my thinking process when recalling Watts and not dropping Howe or Toumpas.

So does that mean that if a players future is in doubt due to injury, but is still on our list and working towards a recovery mean he's not in our best 22? So in the mid 90's the Ox was never in our best team? Hogan wasn't last year as who knows how his back was going to respond? He's on our list, hasn't retired, he's in our best 22. Neither Brayshaw or Hogan had played a game at the start of the season, yet were both in our 22. Think you may find Petracca falls into the same category as those two. I agree Jamar & Watts were dropped for form. That doesn't mean that they aren't in our 22 when in form which is what my post refered to. I said they weren't in the 22 for reasons other then injury. And Jamar making an AA team also shows at least at some point he has demonstrated some consistency at AFL level. And yes we have seen performances like this before over the last 8 years. I'm confident things will improve due to less dead wood on the list then other years and you'll see even less dead wood again next year. We have some quality coaches, a CEO and stable board finally in place. At the moment we're still struggling on the park, but I believe things will turn. After 22 years of missing finals they turned once before and will do it again. Saturday's performance was shocking. I can see the reasons for the shocking performance. It's not a good enough excuse, and they should have fought it out harder. They didn't. All part of the transition that's in effect.