DeeSpencer

The Eastern wing is straighter, the members wing still a big wide expanse. It takes 3 good kicks to get inside 50 going around the boundary at the SCG, same as the MCG. It takes 2 good kicks to get straight up the guts. Probably why Sydney have devised a game plan around Blakey, Warner, McInerney and Heeney charging up the corridor.

The future of football is probably not going back to how teams played in the 1990’s. Teams will likely incorporate certain man on man systems in parts of the ground or on certain opponents. But if you’re not zoning you’re effectively playing with less opponents in your backline and the corridor.

10 pressure acts both of the last 2 weeks for Jeffo. 9 and 3 for Morris. When he commits to chasing he has the smarts and lateral movement to pressure (unlike JVR who I’d be able to step around). Jeffo’s also a really smart handballer and field kick and has kicked some excellent snaps at Casey. He’s got a lot of work to do to get anywhere near Morris, who I believe played some senior footy as a kid and walked straight in to that third tall role at Brisbane and keeps improving. Talent isn’t the issue with Jeffo, it’s purely a question of how much they can turn traits in to results.

Feed them some crumbs and you keep them on side for the big stuff. Lindsay didn’t play at either level, someone’s going to ask questions and Lindsay’s groin was already mentioned on Demonland.

We swapped Howe for Melksham (funnily enough because Howe refused to play back and Goody thought Melksham could do it), far from a great result but not the end of the world. We had to get a 2nd rounder back in to trade up with the GC for Oliver. Whatever we lost in that trade we made up with by a whole lot more swapping Cal Ah Chee for Clarry. We traded Toumpas for Ben Kennedy.

I just don’t think his decision making will ever hold up at afl level, nor his defensive positioning. Forwards who don’t know where to go or use the ball poorly are a worry too but it’s potentially less costly than the other end. And he’d make some opposition defenders earn their kicks

I really think he’s playing at the wrong end. Just let him cause havoc with tackling forward.

Will wait and see how the Casey boys go tomorrow but: Culley (inj). Heath or perhaps Jeffo (just don’t need the extra tall). Xavier Taylor (took a step forward second but he’s super raw). Laurie (just very limited). Are potential outs. T Mc, Cross, Henderson the 3 in the frame to come in assuming Lindsay isn’t right and there’s no miraculous Salem or Rivers recovery. Agree to give Bowser a second Casey game, no need to rush.

We had to put Disco on King because he was the only tall back to have the athleticism to go with him. Lynch does most of his damage these days with body work and clever short leading patterns. If there's a weakness to Disco's game it's that he gets caught ball watching at times, which is hardly a surprise when a natural intercepting defender is getting developed as a lock down guy. Lynch could take advantage in those moments. I'm also not sure Howes can really play tall. I promise I'm not hating. It's just a half against Amiss isn't a big sample size. Plus if you do make him one of the tall defenders you can't put him on the most dangerous small forward, he can't be two places at once. If Howes is playing tall then you're asking CJ, Kolt or Taylor to play as a lockdown defender. There's no perfect answer tho. We either give up a bit in the air but are solid on the ground or go the other way and cover the air but get a bit slow and clunky at ground level.

Right now he’s competing with guys like Laurie, Sharp and Latrelle (wouldn’t shock me if they gave him a rest at some stage) for the high half forward role. Can rotate on to the wing although King seems to prefer big wingers. Could play on ball but more likely to swap on ball post centre bounce. They seem to be using Matthews more on ball and higher up at Casey than I expected. That might be purely for needs or for his development. I suspect he plays a bit closer to goal if he cracks a debut any time soon. The aggressive pressure, crumbing and flying for marks is better suited close to goal.

Played a half in the last VFL practice match. Played more of a game in round 1 of the VFL season. 18 disposals. I believe he just played a half and was carry over Emergency against Hawks in round 3, 14 disposals, received a positive review from the coach. Played in the match sim vs Essendon. Played against Brisbane in the VFL on Sunday and was judged our second best player on the website. Coaches review: Jack Henderson (25 disposals, 6 clearances, 8 tackles) “Jack battled really hard through the midfield. His running patterns and power were strong, and he led the way at the contest. “He’s had an interrupted pre-season, but he’s building nicely and looks close to putting himself in the frame.” I wouldn't expect much from him first up, but he's starting to build back to the player he was before injury at gather round last year which is a guy who's excellent at VFL and a chance to impact as a high half forward if he can handle the step up in grade.

Most likely our psychologist, David Stiff. 205cm former NBL basketballer

Lindsay, CJ and perhaps Hendo (lower) intensity of VFL) and Cross are the available fresh legs. Perhaps Petty, X Taylor and Laurie could come out for CJ, Lindsay and Hendo and we manage Gawn and Mihocek in game.

I suspect the plan is to give Moose the game time they expected to give him last week before that game got too tight to risk it. But if that isn't the case with Lindsay potentially back in either he or Langdon could go on to a wing for at least part of the game and we could have a look at Culley as the back up ruck for some of the game.

He wasn't moving with anything like the same freedom as preseason, wouldn't surprise me at all if they give him a week off to really freshen up. Big AJ seems a mystery injury/illness. Would love to have him back at Casey.

He was good. The question is was he so good that we have to pick him or can we back in CJ or X Taylor (or both) as the third tall. Xavier probably didn’t quite impact enough in the air and CJ (if fit) is a bit hit and miss aerially. In theory they get a little help with height from Howes and Kolt, but there’s probably not a standout aerialist from that group.

He's a good kick and a pretty reliable set shot, but neither of those goals came off the boot perfectly. Not that I'm complaining!

Harvey's kicking is interesting, one thing he does very well is often makes the right decision in traffic to handball or get it on the boot. When he's running at full pace he can be prone to helicopter them. He also made one of the poorer decisions for him when he bombed a kick long in the 3rd when he had Trelly wide open in the pocket. I'd like to see him balance up a bit more generally but he's a guy without a lot of burst pace (but a nice enough top speed) being asked to play on the wing to learn AFL footy until he physically develops and gets a bit sharper with his inside ball winning and defensive pressure. There's times he'll be getting chased down by speedy wingers and won't be able to balance up. I'll worry more about his kicking if it hasn't improved by the time he's 23 and hopefully is an inside mid who can own the corrdor. I've always been a Chandler fan but he's munged both his goals through late, in his own words. He had the footy gods on his side. He also get a bit slingy with his kicking and can sometimes miss targets he could get. But because he has that left footer slingy action and they can out low and fast he's managed to convince Healy he's some kind of perfect kick.

It was shade of big AJ having a ping vs GWS last year. There was a moment to go to Langford just 15m away on the 50 but Harvey was badly winded by a late hit in the play to get it to JVR. That could’ve been great but also could’ve gone badly wrong. And there was a backwards kick to Lever but he hadn’t chewed up much time and then Lever would’ve only had a few seconds to probably just dump it in the pocket. So ultimately it was have the shot or chip to the pocket. Maybe the tall not on Harris could’ve led to the skinny side pocket and effectively tried to get a mark or boundary throw in.

That one was a straight up shank, even some of the best kicks on the best teams will shank one across goals every now and then. Guys like Sicily, Stewart, Zorko do it plenty of times. As long as it’s the right kind of switch and not a wild aggressive kick into the corridor (the list of our players we trust to do that should be very short) we need to keep taking those kicks on.

Watched the first half. The replay has the commentators ahead of the play which makes it a very difficult watch. Hendo: solid midfield game TMc: got better as the half went on and a class above in the air Cross: think he just played a half and a fair bit of midfield, tackled well, did some nice things. Didn’t seem worried by the thumb. Kentfield: moments of quality including a big grab and a clever goal but just isn’t moving the same way he was before injury. Matthews: has a red hot go, probably just needs to back his pace and elusive ability to get out to space that than going for miracle snaps or handballs. White: he does some crazy early jumping at times but when he keeps it simple he looks promising. Better than expected given the long lay off. Mentha: needs work defensively but starting to look more comfortable across half back AMW: willing competitor but ball use was poor. Adams: not the worst but not making a consistent impact on contests

We don’t have the midfield depth to lose anyone yet alone Koz. But aside from that if he gets weeks it’s 2+ not 1.

Bad missed tackle on Charlie in the last playing half back but I actually really like what Windsor gives us at centre bounces and either around the ground stoppages. I think he gives great defensive cover to Steele and Pickett. He’s playing fairly low TOG most week (usually around 70%) so hopefully we aren’t overloading him.

3 talls was a good call especially Andrews, Gallop and Lester aren’t counter attacking players, so attempting to nullify Harris and take advantage of the other 2 was a good call. And Fritsch on the wing early was worth a look to buy some rotations and make sure we can still pressure up forward. I agree the second efforts and tackling aren’t natural to Jeffo but unlike JVR he has the light feet to do it. Mihocek is such a great role model because he does his absolute best to pressure, if Jeffo can give half the effort on the ground of Checkers he’ll make a big impact on the deck.

2 contested marks is the same as Roo, same as Logan Morris, 2 more than Oscar Allen and only 1 less than Harris Andrews (the best mark in the league). The talent is all there, just a matter of finding the belief and intensity. And he’s a gorgeous field kick and good decision maker. Biggest weakness is set shots, he can help fix some of that from going the snap more inside 35 but he’s too good a field kick to not sort it with the right coaching and mental work.