JJJ

I agree that Rivers has struggled at times this year and has me worried. The only thing that keeps me going is what difference it would make to his ability to read the play if we applied more pressure through the midfield and didn't get smashed at centre bounces.

Oh but he is competing with the older players. By virtue of the fact that we can only delist so many in any given season. I would think the coaching panel would try to mold a player like Buckley into something more useful than giving an older player another 'go round'. He does possess many qualities that you look for in modern day player. I would rather see Bartram, Johnson, Bell, Newton, Wheatley and Whelan go before him. Comparing his exploits with those you mentioned is just flat out insulting to Buckley. He has played some pretty good footy for us where as Bode and Weetra gave us nothing. I am working on the assumption that his injury is OP as he has told numerous people. It is an injury that can be managed and allow him to play at a high level. His ability to break lines when healthy shouldnt be ignored in a team of plodders.

Bucks would be unlucky to get delisted this year. We have many older players who are nearing the end who may be pushed. His injury can be managed and handled and there should be no reason he can't be up and about next year. Also in his favour is that he brings something to our game that few other listed players do. Up by 10 goals or down by 10 he wants to take the game on and try to create. His kicking is OK, decision making needs improvement but I believe with better players around him he will prosper. Plus, he wouldnt cost us much. Keep him.

I think this may help the Tiges this week. They have dropped some absolute rubbish and brought in some run. What we really need is for Brown and Richo to announce their retirements before the end of the season so their teammates fire up to get them a win.

I have experienced a broken fibula down near the ankle joint. The main problem is the extent of the damage to the ligaments. It took hundreds of hours of rehab and 12 - 18 months before I felt like my mobility was nearing something like it was. To say that he will return to 100% health is an uninformed view in my mind. Its not to say that he won't but Sam, the club and his physios won't know how well he will recover for a long time.

I can't take any positives out of this situation. He will miss out on valuable match experience, training and most importantly he may have damaged one of the keys to his game, his pace. As far as I am concerned he is a write off until further notice.

I dont think anyone can dispute the troubles McLean has had with injury. He has had 2 major injuries that could have an impact on his movement and definitely would have impacted on his 2009 campaign. Round 1 2007 he fractured his foot, an injury that has reduced the movement of many pro athletes around the world. He followed that up with a broken ankle and severe ligament damage last year. Speaking from personal experience, this is an injury that takes significant time to recover from fully. It is the reason I have essentially decided to not judge Blease on his movement until 2011 at the earliest. When you add to that the fact that he was hardly swift at the best of times and I think it is safe to say he may have slowed. The other problem is his interrupted preseason. His game is built on toughness and winning contested ball but I believe his inability to do the required work preseason has seen him get to less contests and impact a game the way he used to. Getting caught with the football is also a product of not having enough quality in the midfield to dish the ball to a teammate in an attacking position. In fact, we are terrible at getting a release man in space with the ball. As you suggest, surrounding him with pace and class should remedy this in part. If we land Scully, the hope is he is good enough to wear a tag and allow McLean more freedom to be the player we all enjoyed watching in 2006 Elimination FInal.

I can't see the problem here. We are in the process of bottoming out and haven't yet rid ourselves of the older generation of players who aren't apart of our future plans. At the end of the year certain older players will be forced out of the door as we load up on high picks again which will drastically lower our average age (a useless stat). So what if our team was older on the weekend? Our core players for the next 10 years are coming through but we don't have the depth to field a whole team of kids so we send out the old guard with them. At seasons end, players like Wheatley, McDonald, Robertson and Whelan will be under serious review. Add to that some middle agedish players like Bartram, Johnson, Dunn, Bell and Newton and we are left with only Green, Miller, Bruce, Moloney, Rivers, Davey, Jamar and Warnock over 25. Of our younger players we have Jones, Watts, McLean, Bate, Frawley, Morton, Sylvia, Grimes, Maric, Garland, Cheney, Wona, Martin, Spencer, Bennell, Mackenzie, Buckley, Blease, Strauss and Jurrah as a start. Add to that potentially Picks 1 &2 and another in the top 20 and we are starting to look better. By the end of this season we will be half way through our rebuild. People shouldnt compare us to a club like Collingwood (who will never win a flag with that list). They are pushing for finals etc. Compare us to North, Richmond and West Coast who are in similar phases. It makes for pleasant reading.

Bartram - 3 His failings are still the same as previous seasons and hasn't built on his strengths Bate - 6 Above average without playing up to his ability. Playing KF is a shocking gig at the Dees. Bell - 2 See Bartram Bennell - 6 Expectations for this guy were low early on but he is legit. Has class. Bruce - 6 More of the same from Bruce Cheney - 6 Shows promise but like most of our list has much to learn. Davey - 7 leading the b&f as off round 11 Dunn - 3 Not a key forward, not a tagger, not a mid and no room in defence. Frawley - 7 Most improved defender and a chance to be something special Garland - NA Green - 5.5 Good pre injury. Unsighted since Grimes - 7 Shows plenty and is in the 1st 6-8 picked in my books. Jamar - 5 Rucks well and competes. A nice change. Jetta - 2 No pace, no tricks and can't find the footy. Johnson - 2 Ughhh......... Jones - 5 Has tried to rectify his disposal. He is a work in progress. Maric - 4 Got skills but needs to find more ball and contribute. Martin - 5 Started well but needs to make a position his own. McDonald - 3 Performance well below par. Gets a 3 for calling Colin. McLean - 4 Was always going to struggle after a very serious injury. Expect him to improve soon. Meesen - 3.5 Showed he could play. a little bit Miller - 4 Not enough from Miller. Not the answer up forward. Moloney - 6 Consistent but loose. Morton - 7 Our most prolific, shown how to be accountable down back. Still has star written all over him and I think should be played with Grimes as mids later in the year. Newton - 1 Every time he gets a chance he wastes it. I dont GET this guy. Petterd - 3 No room down back and not a forward. Petterd needs to force his way as a mid. We could use his better than average pace. Rivers - 4 Not enough out of Rivers. When he was very good he lead the comp in marks from opposition kicks. He should improve as the season goes on, like McLean. Robertson - 1 Happy with his form after an awful injury but lacking in so many other intangible aspects of the game that he gets down graded heavily. Spencer - 4 Contests but has a LOOONNNNGGGG way to go. 18months more development is required but he has the aggression that all of our other rucks lack. Sylvia - 7 Solid up until a month ago and now our best player on current form by a fair margin. Needs to keep going. Still could be an A Grader Valenti - 1 Bags packed. He is out with Jordie having better size and pace for Casey and McLean, Moloney and Jones already in the seniors. Warnock - 7 Solid. I was hoping that Martin would beat him out for fullback but Warnock is very consistent. Watts - NA Whelan - 2 Love him but he is gawn! We never saw the best of him due to injury. He could have been all-Australian many times. SUMMARY DUX - Sylvia and Davey would be clubhouse leaders in an awful year. High Distinction - None Distinction - None Credit - Davey, Sylvia, Frawley, Morton, Warnock, Bennell, Grimes Good - Moloney, Jones, Green, Bruce Supp Exam - Bartram, Johnson, Miller, Dunn, Bell, McDonald, Robertson, Newton, Wheatley, Valenti and Whelan.

Dealing with the players won't be a problem. Collingwood are an average side with players like Daisy, Dingleberry, Medders, Josh "Please don't hurt me" Fraser, Wellingham, "Hold on" O'Brien, Wood and the Metre Maid (Cloke) running around, Watts should feel at ease. The Collingwood fans on the other hand are a different story. They should have to go through metal detectors before entering the ground.

was there anything of interest to report?

100% correct. It was so obvious that Martin was in the gun re selection. Looking at the balance of the side, we could hardly afford to carry a 195cm+ player who wasn't required down back, is ineffective in the ruck and lacks the ability to play as a key forward. He is direct competition with Warnock for a place in the senior side and needs to continue to develop at Casey and hope for Warnock to have a drop off in form.

Not sure why they dont come clean with Buckley. He was struggling preseason with groin related issues and is now missing again with a problem in the same area. It is shocking news for Wona and his development curve, his season is almost shot.

Does Jack Grimes' kick in turnover count to his disposal efficiency? Unless the defender plays on he doesn't receive a kick in his stat count when kicking out after a behind. For a 2nd gamer Grimes was very good under a lot of heavy fire. The West Coast forward line had much better service than ours.

Correct, but Jaded isn't alone. Defending Sylvia has become a hobby for me, just for the sake of balance. So many people here and at games talk absolute rubbish about Sylvia then go on to turn a blind eye to substandard performances of their favourites. For the record, Jack Watts is my favourite. Mainly because he is yet to play and I haven't identified his strengths and weaknesses and he represents the light at the end of the tunnel. Fan: Bate is hard to evaluate. I believe he was played out of form as a deep leading forward for the sake of team balance. Now that Robertson is back I hope he will play further up the ground where his running ability will help the team.

It's awful. The white version is OK. The red strip makes it difficult to see numbers etc.

His development curve is.

I wouldn't let Daniher coach the Malvern U/8 squad.

I thought they could try Bate down back to start the game. Running out of the back line and linking up with our midfield may give him the boost he needs to get back to the form he showed pre-Bailey.

I would be OK with that. Its not that Dunn has performed poorly, it is just that his role could be filled by someone younger and with more upside to his game. I often watch him and wonder how he is going to help us long term. Bail could be a smokey to debut against the Dogs.

Can anyone explain to me how Davey featured in any votes yesterday? Defensive pressure was down, run and carry was down as was his overall impact. I thought Nicoski did a very good job on him. Strange. For what it is worth: 6 Moloney - Since learning to stay healthy and lower his eyes has improved significantly. 5 Jones - Great game. He, Morton and Bruce would have covered some serioues KMs. 4 Morton - Ran to space forward of the ball early then played impressively across half back. 3 Bruce - His weight of numbers and creative run outweighs the lack of accuracy at times. 2 Johnson - Surprised me. Drops the ball like a monkey falling out of a tree which leads to some absolute howlers. Same with Bruce. 1 Bennell - Impressed me at the Intra-Club and just continues to improve. Showed more dash and positive play than previous weeks. Honourable mention goes to Miller, Grimes, Maric and Bartram who all showed some positive signs.

Sylvia had far more influence than McLean. Your posts regarding Sylvia have become tiresome.

1. Frawley, Bennell, Cheney and Martin. Promising defence. Add Grimes, Strauss and Buckley later in the season. 2. Players successfully returning from injury. (Ricky, Robbo, McLean, Rivers etc al) 3. Harder running midfield. Morton is a master of this. 4. Davey. Back from the brink. 5. Sponsorship and membership. 6. The form of Chris Johnson. Negatives: 1. Injuries...... Was looking forward to seeing Blease at least play for Casey. Buckley, Green, Grimes, Garland, Wheatley are Wona required players. 2. Crowd numbers. 3. General lack of respect from the football public 4. The form of Bate, Johnson and to a lesser extent Bruce. I was hoping that Bruce would show more leadership this season.

Maric has better skills, awareness and pace than Jetta and will become a mid who can play forward and kick goals. Not sure if you have seen him this season but he is much bigger than last year and will be able to cope with physical intimidation from Geelong. In any case: I actually hope we go on the attack this weekend and play some more skilled smarter players. Out: Johnson, Newton, Jetta and a negative/defensive type player. I havent decided who yet. In: Pencil, Robbo, Maric, Grimes

Those rose coloured glasses must be comfy. I expect all players to chase and run, he wasn't alone last night. We worked hard but lacked the class and skills to cut up the Adelaide zone. Added to this he had 1 tackle and his shot at goal was around 35-40m out, look at the tape. Top marks for trying but he isnt producing many attempts at goal for himself or others. I am interested that you mention his heritage. It is irrelevant. The role he plays at the moment is a role he isn't suited to. He isn't a crumbing small forward with great skills and clean hands. nor is he a great forward line pressure player and he looks lost further up the ground but it is an area that may be his only chance to be a useful player. He should work on this at Casey as he can't do it with the Dees yet. On Wona, we weren't spoilt. He is a far smarter player than Jetta as he can't "run like the wind" or "turn on a sixpence" either. He relies on his ability to be in the right place at the right time and his clean skills. Bartram is a player in a similar vein to Godfrey. If his decision making and skills don't improve he has to be dropped.