Adam The God

Does he put on enough pressure though? I'd have questions over his work rate, but the FD would know better than I.

Players develop at individual rates. Fancy that.

True. Kelly may have gone past him, but Shiel has been doing it for years now. I'm very intrigued by the Shiel comment though. @Brayshaw Self, is he on the table or is he seeking a trade? Bizarre, if they've put him on the table.

Hang on. What? Shiel is their best mid by quite a stretch. Gun. He has that pace from stoppages that we need too. This confuses me. Mumford is retiring and therefore Shiel is available?

Surely, they'd laugh at us. Kent won't make it and I've said as much for years.

We were 3 and a bit goals up at 3 quarter time, but I guess that's not really your point. I gotta say, looking at that back 6 on paper, that looks so much more solid than it did at the start of 2017. I can trust Jetta, Hunt, Hibberd and Lever. They wouldn't lose too many contests. The more football Omac plays, the more I'll be able to trust him. Frost is the one that I hope can also build that trust. But 4 from 6 guys that are brilliant one-on-one/third-man-up gets you close in another tight season I reckon. It's that forwardline that doesn't do a lot for me and the midfield is still a little shallow. But if Hogan gets a better run of it and TMac kicks as straight as he did this season, then the forwardline is less of a problem. While the natural improvement of Oliver, Viney, Petracca, Salem, Brayshaw, Maynard and Tyson could make our midfield good enough. Adding to the run of Hunt, Frost and Hibberd would also give us more outlets to improve the speed of our ball movement with their line-breaking ability and support run-and-carry.

I think it's situational. With Garland, I'd keep him on the list as depth (give his contract).

Keep Ox away, but wouldn't say no to Neita.

Lol. We need more mids, we don't need to be giving the mids we already have away. Particularly, the ball magnets. Tyson's disposal (by foot) was horrible in 2017, but he continues to get the ball. It's about correcting the decision making and getting that knee sorted, not trading him. An idiotic suggestion really, but each to their own. Our midfield is Oliver, Viney, Petracca and Salem, then the old guys like Jones, Lewis and Vince (the butcher) might go through there too. Add our half backs/forwards like Melksham and Hunt into the mix as well. But don't mention the likes of AVB, Trenners or JKH. Now that is not a very deep midfield and it was exposed in the back end of 2017 with even the simple omission of Viney. We desperately need guys that get the ball a lot from the stoppages, because it means the opposition aren't getting it from the stoppages. Tyson is one of these guys. Say what you like about his disposal, but he's near the elite category in terms of getting the ball. Lever will get done if he wants to come here. It'll be pick 10 and an exchange of picks or a trade that potentially involves another club. I'll trust the club to make the right decision.

It's too early to say too much on Weideman at this stage, but the major thing I've noticed in the last two years is that he tends to lead himself under the ball, which obviously leaves him out of position to mark the thing. That'd be a major focus I'd be looking at over the pre season. I agree on the building of the tank as well, although I think he'll need another 2 pre seasons before he can really smash that.

Jay Kennedy-Harris is still a terrible player. Trenners is finished. Kennedy played one good quarter. Maynard is an absolute bull. Give him a big pre season and he could be anything at AFL level.

This makes no sense to me, mate. Why not leave him on the list for another year if we want to play him at Casey? Paying out his contract means we only free up a list spot, but not cap space. We re-signed him, we stick with him for the moment. Besides, there are others I'd delist before him.

Keep. Can't be more constructive than that. Will have a very good 2018.

"Linear Improvement" isn't just measured by wins and loses, but in game style development, the implementation of the 18 man defensive zone, individual player development, increased individual flexibility within the squad, team cohesion and increased ability to hit KPIs and key stats. We've improved on all levels if we're analysing the team that played under Goody and were in every game up until Round 15 before tiring. Particularly, if you compare it with the team that was coached by Roosy in 2016. Clear improvement outside of merely winning two more games. We dominated most opposition for long passages of play unlike we had, not since the mid 2000s under Daniher. Upon reflection we had a really exciting season. I thought we'd make finals and in most years, 12 wins and a percentage of over 105 will get you there. Not to be this year though. But I predicted 10 wins in 2016 and 12-13 wins in 2017. Next year I think we'll be capable of 14 or so. Iron out some of those consistencies, strengthen the squad, diversify the game plan and game style, and we're not far off. We have to keep evolving though as a coaching group and ensure our game style remains ahead of the curve. Given the incremental improvement over the last 4 years, it seems we have the right group to continue our evolution.

Bet Richardson didn't praise Petracca too much though.

Was terrible in the back half of the year. No other word to describe it, but started the year well and had made good strides. Hopefully he can recapture his early season form next year. A good re-signing though.

I think if you look at a number of goals conceded against the scum in Round 23, you'll find they were off the back of stoppages. Our midfield was terrible that day. And I think our KPDs improved as the year went on at minimising mistakes, learning when to go up or stay down, who would cover out the back and knowing when to kill the ball. I think they were developing good synergy back there until the back end of the year, when Frost had a horror month and couldn’t stop consistently making heinous mistakes. Either Frost rediscovers his touch or Lever and Omac are the ones. I think (despite your criticism) Omac got better and better as the year went on and will be better for having another 20 games under his belt. He's a much better field kick than his brother and that makes him a much more reliable defender. Meanwhile, Tommy has found his niche up forward and had he gone back and nailed that goal late in the Collingwood match (as he had done the entire second half of the year), we'd be playing finals on percentage. Anyway, we'll agree to disagree here, Steve.

McGrath is unfortunately exactly the type of player we need. Even that blonde muppet Parish would compliment Oliver, Viney et al nicely. The bloody drug cheats are building a brilliant midfield to compliment Daniher, who I still think will be one of the great forwards in the game. He's Franklin-like and will only get better.

He's a terrible kick though. Constantly bites off more than he can chew or just generally kicks it poorly. If he was a better decision maker and kick, he'd be a star.

Yeah, well, bb, it's not really up to our defenders to block the corridor and ensure mids can't run through it at will or opposition forwards can't lead into open space. As we all know (but I feel we sometimes forget), modern footy utilises 18 man team defence, not a 6 man defence. If the half forwards or deeper forwards don't lay tackles and the mids fail to set up adequately to block or slow the play through the middle, the defence has ot incredibly tough. It's a really shallow analysis to blame our goals on our defence. We can blame specific players if they fail to win critical one-on-ones or make poor decisions, or turn the ball over, but the majority of the time, it is our poor team defence that enables the opposition to score.

I worry that Gawn is a one-hit-wonder, much like Jamar was. I hope I'm wrong.

Column A and B, bb. Another thought occurred to me. When Lever was first spoken of around draft time, some people (was Roos included? I doubt it) were talking Lever up as a player who could eventually roll into the midfield. I can't see it personally, but could we have an eye on him for our midfield, as well as our defensive unit?

The Drunk One is hedging his bets. If it doesn't eventuate, he can claim it was only verbal and fell over.

Our glaring weakness is still our midfield, I'm afraid. If we're not winning the ball and are off even a little bit, the opposition mauls us on the rebound, leaving our defence wide open. I've been saying this for a while, but we're still missing 2 further A graders to compliment Oliver, Viney, Tyson, Jones, Petracca, Salem, Brayshaw, Lewis and if I'm being very kind, Bernie Vince. With Vince and Lewis on their last legs (particularly the former), we're really going to need to address this soon. Oscar, Frost, Jetta, Hibberd, Hunt with Lever and TMac as swingman is fine for the moment. The midfield still struggled against weak opposition but reasonable midfields. This says it all for me. When Petracca, Salem and Brayshaw can play longer minutes in the midfield, we'll appear deeper, but we need reinforcements now.

Miller and particularly Hall are turnover merchants. The rest I agree with though. Jack Martin would be a dream.