DeeSpencer

My sources tell me the Demons will be at a different local Melbourne park beginning with the letter F on Wednesday night for a social t20 game. I wonder if anyone from demonland will stumble upon it.

I tipped the Chiefs because I didn’t ever want to go against Mahomes at home and he’s just amazing, clearly not nearly 100% and getting it done. And because I thought the Chiefs could get pass rush on the Bengals and they sure did. Still, an amazing job by the Chiefs young secondary and Mahomes did just enough with a receiving corps running out of healthy bodies and talent. I think the reality is Mahomes is going to have to be miraculously healthier and have some receivers outside Kelce or MVS to win the super bowl. With 2 weeks until the game - maybe they can do it

I have some sympathy for defensive players with late hits because they offensive player often flirts with the boundary and then skips out and draws a soft penalty. They love calling them for certain qb’s and not for others and positional players too. But yeah, that one was terrible. They’d both run out and he had to do whatever he could to avoid contact with Mahomes. Would’ve been <7 seconds left and either a 60 yard or so FG or a Hail Mary. Ie. Overtime with the Bengals looking the more promising team in the second half

Niners 20 - Eagles 24 Bengals 30 - Chiefs 31

Preseason is hard but it pays a lot more than being an apprentice chippy? Hunter has moved him down the midfield pecking order by one spot given the spare winger in Harmes/Gus or JJ can compete for an on ball role. Otherwise we haven’t added any other ready to play mids. Maybe Howes but I get the feeling he’s still a year away. He’ll know the game plan and hopefully be given more license to kick the ball if he can do that better. But driving more success at Casey still seems the most likely outcome

Nah not Sestan, think we’ve established it’s Cooper Simpson. Sestan had tape on a knee but didn’t seem too restricted. Got a nice bake from Choc at one stage for getting too easily pushed aside by Grundy in a handball drill. Had a nice passage of play where he marked at half forward, held it up, took the man on the mark on and kicked long right to a leading forward. There’s some class to what he does but he doesn’t get up and back like most of our players. He clearly hasn’t had training in that elite style of football. I don’t think we’ll know until the VFL games start if he’s getting 5 touches a game or 12+ and making an impact. And we won’t know if he can make a two way impact maybe until next year!

Bit of a mixed bag out there today. I think the heat and grind of summer took a bit out of them and they were down a few numbers. Match sim was 14 on 14 with not too many on the benches. Viney was probably best on, just consistently helping out down back and then chaining up again on the way forward. JvR does look ready for a crack at it but he’s also consistently battling and often beaten with Hibbo who is having an incredible summer down back. JvR will find it easier against most afl key defenders IMO. Petty was about the cleanest out there in a small tight handball drill. Looked good in match sim too. I really want to see him embrace his attacking game this year. May seemed to be playing higher up and had a heap of the ball. Sometimes should take the easy one faster, which is true of a lot our players, but his aggressive kicks looked good too. K Turner is an interesting prospect, he was often the full back for May’s white team and probably got caught between opponents at times. But his athleticism when coming at the ball stands out. Got a fist on a few balls too although one went straight to the corridor. Not the most fluent kick but his right foot does have potential. Had a good battle with Jefferson. Jefferson: obviously a lot of work to do and doesn’t hold too many marks but there’s times where he hits the contest nicely. Has a touch of time and class to the way he moves through traffic. Got on the end of 2 early goals in a row in one of the match sims. Grundy was a mixed bag. At times his tackling, kicking and ground ball work is excellent. Other times his marking isn’t great and he’ll take on more than he can chew trying to evade smalls. Seems to be building though, so hard to know how much is rust. Rivers and Bowey were good. Salem was excellent, always looks completely spent when he comes off though, but it was a hot one out there. Hunter had his moments but probably spent a fair bit of time chasing Eddie. KEV MARTIN'S TRAINING REPORT NUDGE'S TRAINING REPORT

Just looked through the academy list and matched it up with faces and I’m 99% certain it’s him. Has a serious build on him. Think they do a 2 week block and usually as a pair for Vic kids so that would make sense. Duursma was in the training clip they sent out last week too. This is actually a bit similar to what he did at one stage today. Good combination of balance and skills to go with what looks a physical frame

Zane was in 44 and moved well and used the ball nicely at times. Moves a bit like Fritsch but no doubt bigger build for the same age and will be high on draft boards particularly if he’s able to display midfield versatility. 46 is a mystery to me. Built like a veteran Casey player but took down Tracc in a tackle an at one stage burst through a pack and drilled a kick inside 50 with a lot of quality

If 46 is an academy kid he’s got to be a 25 year old in a 18 year olds body. Just took down Tracc with ease

Waiting for Zane Duursma to do the 🏹. Yet to see one so far

The Anchorman just played on at half forward, stepped around a few, took a bounce and handballed to no one. It was bad but highly promising Kid has Fitzmagic tunnelball potential

Oliver looking very displeased to be handed the flouro hat of shame, but his hand isn’t right

Looks like a couple of Phil Inns in 44 and 46. 46 looks like a mature body

Jeffo does the body work but spills the mark. K Turner recovers from losing the contest, handball to Harmes, long switch to Rivers, short hit to a rolling Fritsch at half forward who hits JVR on the lead. Ie. That’s what we want to see

Disco putting in some quick laps, not the biggest yet but looking quite the athlete. Spargo sitting out a drill for running now too. Verrell in some training drills. Adams with the yellow hat. So they’re both progressing

There’s a lot of variables that will impact the round 1 team based on moving players around. For instance: If Lever is fully fit the I can’t have Brayshaw in the same backline, it’s another drop off intercept player with poor kicking and lack of rebounding run. Rivers, Bowey and even McVee fight for 2 spots there. If Lever happened to be out then Gus makes more sense intercepting, with Tomlinson or Turner rather than one if the smalls. If Gus isn’t down back then he probably has the lead for the 3rd wing (Hunter really firming for the 2nd wing) and 4/5th on baller spot, with JJ and Harmes behind. Can Pickett really be the 4/5th on baller too? Or is he still primarily a forward with short stints as the 6th on baller. If Koz is predominantly an on baller then Melksham and Chandler come in to contention as forward line replacements for some goal scoring/forward craft. If Pickett isn’t really a mid then Sparrow and Harmes have the edge as mid/forward types. The only player I can see taking ANB’s role directly is Sparrow given he has the tank, the speed and the selfless running. But maybe we can patch that role with Viney, Harmes, Sparrow all doing stints as the defensive forward. Although my guess is if Pickett is going to the midfield they won’t mess with ANB early in the season. Last year it was pretty clear that the aim was to recreate the 2021 team. This year there’s a few more moving parts and we don’t know how much the coaches will tinker with personnel in order to change the game plan.

If you’re giving up hopes based on a practice match then either your team is stuffed or you’re way too reactive. I think they’re important for conditioning. Even if it just minimises those classic round 1 cramps. But I do wonder if they shouldn’t be televised. Or only streamed through the clubs websites. There is something nice about the year starting with that sense of the unknown.

AFL Training Sessions Date: Wednesday 25 January Time: 9:30am Location: Gosch's Paddock Casey Fields Training Sessions All Casey Field training sessions are currently closed to the public. Still expected to be Wednesday. I don’t think the tennis is a real encumbrance. But they have issues a little warning to our intrepid Casey watchers. I wonder if they’ll start locking the gate

I think we’ll see T Mc back as a pretty classic lead up CHF. With Schache purely for depth, he doesn’t have the speed or smarts to be Cameron. But with the resting ruck and likely one of JVR/BBB also up forward I’d be looking at Fritsch maturing and diversifying his game and moving from his stay at home role to mixing in a lot more high half forward. He’s the closest thing we’ve got to Cameron and someone who should have 15-20 touches a game far more often.

Any signs of Lever or Howes?

That was an awful 7 minutes between posts!

KC 1-6 Eagles 1-6 Bills 7-12 Cowboys 1-6

Any idea who Grundy fumbles in front of in red? Is it Howes? Looks like it could be a young player from the afl academy. They do a nice job getting pressure on.

Yes, they were training at the time. Ben Brown is the exception. Some of them were obviously away at that time of year, but how many of our players made the effort to go to the prelim? Because I can only remember seeing Viney who was sitting with his dad (no issue with that) in the opposition stand section. If our male and female players had a strong connection we’d see a lot more of it. On social media, at finals, across the club media. If they can’t even get the basics right - show up for a farewell of the captain and a legend - then there’s clearly not the level of unity the club should be trying to foster. It might be two very well run programs but they’ll miss out if it’s not one unified club.