MadAsHell

I meant right for VFL selection.

Ok so i should kick this off by saying that this is a hard match to comment on because of how one sided it was. I felt really sorry for Frankston as by the last quarter they were just uncompetitive giving up 12 goals to 1. At times it looked like a training drill in the 2nd half after the Dolphins were at least competative in the first half where they trailed by 35. Frankston seemed to come out with an intention to be as physical as possible. Trengove was knocked out with his head over the ball in the first 3 min, King did his knee with a Frankston player sliding into him when he was bending down and both Michie & Pedersen were dumped after disposing of the ball in the first half. Didn't see any of that in the 2nd half however. Still, you can only perform against the opposition in front of you. So here's my take on how the players went; Christian Petracca: Kicked 2 goals and did a few very exciting things. There's no doubt he's going to be something special, but i hope they don't rush him. Wouldn't play him next week myself as there's others who were better tonight and after last week i think making sure someone is fully match fit is even more important now. At least another week in the VFL for me. Jack Trengove: Got a couple of early touches before being knocked out with his head over the ball by a Frankston player who should find himself with a fortnight holiday. Tried to get up straight away but was very unsteady. Will likely miss next week, but should be back in a fortnight. Three solid weeks from there could have him in the frame for seniors by Round 8. He was around at the 3/4 time huddle which was encouraging. Angus Brayshaw: Solid game in the midfield and he'll be much better for the run. Kicked 2, possibly 3? And looked dangerous when drifting forward. A loss tomorrow and he'll be in contention for a recall. Colin Garland: Didn't do anything wrong, however didn't have a lot to do. My one criticism would be he could be a bit more damaging going the other way. Nothing wrong with his game, but he didn't dominate. Cameron Pedersen: Thought he was very good. Split his time between CHF and ruck where he was needed after King's injury where he and Casey's Keilty competed very well against the much bigger Sikora. Kicked 2 goals, but could have easily had 4 or 5. Viv Michie: In my top half dozen. Dominated around the stoppages, used the ball well and kicked 2 goals. I found the fact he kicked 2 important as in the past he hasn't hit the score board which is a conncern for such a good VFL level player. Next step is to learn how to get more easy outside ball. Kennedy-Harris: Did his hammy in the 2nd term, so will miss a few weeks. Must admit i'm a little concerned. Didn't have much of an impact and seems to have stagnated. Sam Weideman: Kicked 4 and looked good. Strong hands, a beautiful kick, moves well and gets to contests and competes. Is he ready for a debut next week? Look if we were to bring a key forward in for next week you'd probably go with Pedersen first, and that's probably best for Sam's development. He's ticking the boxes though! Liam Hulett: Not the best game, made a couple of errors, but he competes. Would like to see him again before forming judgement, but my initial thoughts are he's a defender playing forward. Oscar McDonald: Best game i've seen him play. At half time i'd of had him as BOG, however the ball barely came his way in the 2nd half. Regularly outmanouvred and out marked his opponent, ran off them and used the ball well. Based on tonight i'd recall Oscar before Col. Jayden Hunt: Great game and first 4 quarter game i've seen him play. Seemed to play wing/half back. Used his speed to burn off opponents regularly and link up play with overlapping hanballs. After tonight he should be an automatic selection for any matches at the fast track of Etihad. Horses for courses! Alex Neal-Bullen: Would probably give him my 3 votes for BOG. Was in everything. Got the ball inside & outside, ran all night, had great hands in close and generally used it well by foot also. Now i'm not saying he'll even be half as good, but for me, there's a lot of Rob Harvey in the way Nibbler goes about things. He's a true midfielder, and this is where he'll play his best football. Mitch King: Was competing well in the ruck against the much stronger and more experienced Sikora, until a Frankston player slid into his bent knee right infront of me and i heard his ACL pop! Was horrible! Really feel for the kid and hope he comes back from it. He seems to have a good leap, so hopefully this wont effect that. Mitch White: Reports were he'd been struggling this pre-season. Maybe he just likes the season proper as i thought he was very good. Mitch, Oscar & Hunt dominated the first half with their rebound from the half back line and Mitch used it very well also, just like he did last year. He dropped two marks you'd of liked him to take, but touch wood Mitch is back on track to improve further this year. Joel Smith: Showed some signs. Took a very strong pack mark in the first half and showed some dash from the back line in the 2nd half. Watching his development will be interesting. Dean Terlich: Sorry to say, but a typical Terls game. Turned over several kicks in the first half that were cringe worthy. Kicked a nice goal in the 3rd term, but i think we all know what's happening here at the end of the season. Special mention to Casey players Tim Smith with 5 goals & several strong marks, Declan Kelity who went into the ruck for King, giving up 10cm & 20kg but competed exceptionally well and whoever nnumbet 30 was (not in the record) who was very energetic and in everything. Will be nice to see Casey on top of the ladder at the end of the round!

Will post my run down a bit later on once home.

35 point lead at half time. For me Oscar, Hunt & White have been our best controlling half back, although White has dropped a couple of marks. Michie & Nibbler have been in everything in the middle and Pedersen has given a target. Petracca done a few exciting things and getting busier the longer the game goes. Costly night so far though, although Trenners might be good for next week.

JKH Hamsting!

It's definitely Mitch, Max is the man not playing. No other fit rucks on the list now apart from Gawn. No sign of Trenners at 1/4 time huddle.

Yep

Heard the pop.

Mitch King ACL right in front of me.

50 year celebration of the 66' premiership. So playing the filth at the same venue.

Have the mother now coming over to help the wife put the kids to bed, so will be able to catch the whole match after all. Trenners, CP5, The Weed, Gus, Nibbler. Not sure who i'm looking forward to watching most?

And cheer up about the Essendon match. In 1954 we lost to St Kila who were god awful and won the spoon, yet we still played in the Grand Final that year in our first of 11 years of dominance!

Hawthorn after joining the competition in 1925 (I think) didn't play finals until the late 50's. Richmond runners up in 82' didn't make finals again until 95'. Then there's us 64' - 87' of course. So yeah there have been worse. Doesn't make it much easier though.

Unless they just get Frost to follow Brown around the whole time and follow him into the ruck when Goldstein has a spell? Just means Gawn goes head2head with Goldstein the whole match except when they're both on the bench.

Probably both. The saturday night game last year v Richmond was probably their best attended game for the year.

Can't get there by public transport as of yet. Best bet would be train to Cranbourne & taxi/uber from there. Will set you back $10-$15. Not the greatest viewing ground, but they have the best bacon & egg rolls you'll ever have the pleasure of enjoying! Melbourne membership will get you in. I'd suggest you rug up as it gets very cold at night out there. And if your wanting to go out for a drink afterwards I'd recommend a taxi to the Berwick Inn and train it home from there. None of the actual pubs in Cranbourne are open after 9pm, only pokies and that's it.

I suspect Frost, Grimes and Stretch will be the ones to miss out, but we'll see as they'll likely take two of the emergencies with them. Will obviously have a good idea on saturday night when i see who lines up for Casey.

Mystery injury of the week, or has he been named in the D-League?

Think 2014 could end up being that game changer draft for us. I have high hope for all of CP5, Gus, Nibbler, Billy, Oscar, Vandenberg & White. Only issue i have with the OP is you've listed Boyd going to the Dogs at the end of 2013 when it was the end of 2014.

I think the old Lake Side Oval is now an athletics track that replaced the old Olympic Park.

Yep, North had the week off while we played St Kilda in very heavy conditions the week before with Jeff White getting injued late. We were the form team at the time and along with 1990 it's probably our biggest opportunity missed. If we had the current top 8 system we would have likely played North on the saturday afternoon at Waverley week 1 where i reckon we would of had their measure. Then i think we would have had St Kilda or Footscray on a saturday afternoon prelim followed by the Grand Final against either North again or Sydney. Dammit!

Planning on heading along Saturday night, but will likely only catch the 2nd half as i'll be required to help the wife put our two boys (both under 4) to bed. Looking forward to catching Petracca & Trengove and will be sure to provide comments.

Toorak Park is certainly in our hearland and would probably cost less to develop then Brunswick st would, i'll give you that. There's just something a little more nostalgic though about bringing a former VFL ground back to life and the location (being Brunswick st) would also help with appealing to younger members and help shake some traditional stereo types. Either result would be good for the club though i feel. In the meantime i'm happy with Casey being a shortwalk from my house.

I'm not going myself, but if your looking for somewhere good to eat i'd highly recommend the Brunswick Hotel which i believe is on Liverpool st from memory. Good beers & best parma in Tassie.

It would certainly cost a lot of money, but the end result could be something fantastic! Kick the Fitzroy Reds onto the oval out the back with a contribution towards change rooms for them and have the tennis club move to some of the vacant land behind them with State Government funding for new Plexicushion Courts. Can then use the disused tennis courts for player/staff car park. Build a social club on Brunswick Street in the forward pocket that backs onto the bowls club leaving the rest of Brunswick Street with it's tree line while refurbishing/restoring the Grand Stand with new coaches boxes next to the original stand with the player change rooms in the stand interior. Possibly re-naming it the Neitz-Murray Stand named after two Melbourne & Fitzroy 300 game greats. Along Freeman Street (opposite side of ground to the Grand Stand) you could have the admin offices along with a small broadcast center for VFL matches with a scoreboard and possibly a community hub of sorts as well, similar to what Collingwood did with Vic Park to help get the local counsel backing. On the opposite side of the ground to Brunswick Street (Edinbrough Gradens side) in the opposite forward pocket you could build the player Gym and pool (could probably only fit a 25m one) leaving tree line behind the goals at Edinbrough end while in the other forward pocket at the Edinbrough end you could build the coaches offices/common areas/player meeting area. Terrace around the rest of the ground for the spectators, I'd hate to think how much it would all cost, but gee what a presence we'd then have there. Pipe dream maybe, but with a location like that, I reckon it would be a gamble well worth looking at in the very least.