DeeSpencer

So less than 5 years as a footy GM at a club with a proven coach, proven list management team, proven culture before he got there, no other footy administration experience, no other business executive experience aside from a year in a job they created for him when he’s bailed back to Melbourne. Hired out of a law career by his good mate Tom Harley. I’d like to know a lot more about what he’s actually done at Sydney than being impressed purely because it’s on his resume. Unless he’s totally brilliant he can go be the Pies head of footy.

Texans, Rams, Bucs

I dream of footballers not wingers. Langdon is a really good winger. Caleb could do that and more. Go Caleb? Go Dees?

If he has a full summer I expect him to be around the mark but there’s a lot of unknowns and options. I think he has to bring defensive pressure and/or the ability to find the footy leading up to the wings to really establish himself as a lock. Could easily happen. But the sample size is still low. I saw enough to be positive but I’m not quite convinced yet.

Jeffo 3rd in the B+F in an ordinary Casey team. AJ 7th in a premiership team where the top 4 probably all would’ve won Casey’s B+F. Jeffo less consistent because of his role and age. I’d say both are probably around a similar mark going in to preseason. Jeffo has the advantage of more time in the system, the potential quicker development of youth but is still a few years away from his physical prime. AJ has the advantage of becoming professional for the first time and a mature body. Probably hard to split it but I favour the guy who will have the mature body and might be set for a defined role.

The MCC is about the cushiest gig in the world. Grand final locked in for 50 years. Waiting list for decades. State government providing support for mega concerts in the offseason. And if you’re happy to jack fees, jack prices, tolerate a decline in behaviour and standards across the actual club you’re rolling. No way you’d leave that to take on the MFC unless you don’t have the appetite for the Shane Warne stand rebuild. In which case I’d ask why do you have the appetite for Caulfield and grinding away as a club CEO.

We’re doing ourselves a disservice if Caleb is limited to the wing. For instance if a team has tight defensive wingers and sags a half back off he should be straight to half forward and fed the ball. Disco was a fun story in the back half of 2024 but I think there’s a bit of overrating if people expect him to be a walk up start. Jeffo’s probably still a ‘26 candidate after a handful of games in ‘25 but he could surprise. I don’t think they drafted AJ purely for depth, his mid year vfl form would’ve had him in the team! Heck, they picked Disco off a quarter of Casey v Frankston. We’ll see how that plays out. I suspect Lindsay starts back but it McVee, Salem and Bowey have those spots locked they might look to use him elsewhere. Petty is training back, although there’s a question of what happens if Lever, May and McDonald actually out play him!

Get ready to see Riv playing on ball because some of his footy down back last year was gross where as his midfield stuff was really good, he needs the challenge as is ready for it. Any evidence Pickett is good in the middle? Averaged 1 centre clearance a game. He’ll keep getting chances in there but I expect he’ll rotate forward after the clearance as usual. Langford’s strengths should be overhead marking, clever running and footy smarts. He’ll help in transition running but hurt in pressure. He’s a competitor so should contribute but a 190cm+ teenage who tests slow just isn’t going to be a good pressure player.

Nibbler played a lot of midfield in 2024 and Chandler and Kolt took over more of the high half forward duties. I’d have those 2 and Viney spending more time forward as the main defensive two way running guys. And hopefully Spargo in contention too. I still think Lindsay starts at half back competing for a game but if they are confident he can play wing from the get go that opens up opportunities to use Windsor as a half forward with spurts on ball. Or forward/wing with Langdon rotating forward. C; Langdon Rivers Lindsay HF: Viney JVR Windsor FF: Pickett AJ/Disco/Jeffo Fritsch Foll: Gawn Tracc Oliver Int: Langford Chandler Kolt That’s a team that can create damage if they get the ball moved in quickly to space. Midfield rotations and depth to run and power a more spread out attacking game with more switching and dare off half back is the crucial factor tho. We packed in the more attacking plan last year because it was clear our midfield didn’t have the legs for it.

I love Caruso. He can be our list manager, JT can stay as our recruiting boss, Lamby we'll use elsewhere. They sure loved Hannaford and they clearly saw Angove as a need, chasing that speedy wingman.

Vikings, Lions, Chiefs

Talked about finishing up some work for his boss. Heads back to Werribee for the family day. Does seem a ripping bloke.

I believe JT when he said best available was the plan this year and I think if Tauru was available at 11 or Langford gone at 6 we would’ve taken him. May and Gawn nearing the end and high quality talls don’t come along all that often. When they line up with your picks you take them. That said, we certainly weren’t ever going to take 2 talls with our first two picks. The only other viable option was to trade 11 back with Freo, take Reid or Hynes and then secure a tall in the second round like half the league did. But we decided to take our best available and roll the dice on a 24 year old rather than an 18 year old tall and it’s not crazy.

6 guys, 3 spots. JVR, Disco, Jeffo, AJ, Fullarton, Kentfield. Or really 4 guys, 3 spots given Kentfield is super raw and Fullarton seemingly not a huge part of plans right now. JVR plays permanent forward. AJ adapts to afl training and takes the forward/ruck job. Jeffo and Disco have a proper battle for the full forward role. Of course that assumes Melk doesn’t get involved somehow or they go with 2 tall forwards and use Langford as another bigger body.

These are the highlights of probably his best 3 vfl games. He does a good job or presenting and jumping at the footy.

Was he saying he did a couple of preseason sessions at Casey or Shaun Mannagh did? I think he was saying he did and then decided to finish his apprenticeship. Certainly one for the JT files if they nearly had him at Casey a few years ago. Edit: JT draft wrap confirms they had him in line to come down to Casey a few years ago.

no pick. Either AMW is a Cat A or we are holding a spot for train on/mid season. My guess is reports were right and AMW is an A.

Do you think it’s going to work tho? I’m coming around to the pick as I reckon AJ has some sneaky athleticism and reads it better than most vfl players too but… Who was the last key forward to actually make a living bashing and crashing? Frampton did a defensive job in the grand final. Townsend 2017. Mihocek has some of that but he’s really good hitting up on the lead too. You might be able to get a Lever or Harris Andrews on an off day, but overwhelmingly footy smarts, mobility and leap at the footy is the way to impact a game. The Schach had a hardness probably but he also had no speed and no leap. Feels like we are chasing a type of key forward that rarely exists when we won a flag with BBB, Jackson and the last of T Mc’s mobility.

No live rookie pick for us. AMW might be a cat A after all. Get an Irish Cat B please!!!

I like Henderson but it could be that the reason he might be seen as better than Laurie or Billings (who both tear up vfl) is we haven’t seen him struggle at afl yet! We have an oversupply of talls but Melk, May and T Mc don’t have a lot left, Lever’s injury prone, Jeffo and Disco aren’t finished products and Fullarton seems out of the picture. Disco can’t go back if he’s the starting key forward! So Hore has a role as covering Lever as well as a back pocket option if Howes and AMW aren’t up to it and Juddy is used up the ground. It’s a list in flux. The priority was top end picks and mature talent to fill critical holes. If we cop injuries to the mids and flankers we will be in trouble again but the priority will be playing the 4 first round picks from the last 2 years in those spots anyway.

Got there late at about 11 and could only handle the heat for about 40 minutes. Rehabbers have mostly been covered I think but XL (no strapping, walking fine) and Spargs were just chilling with Choco by the time I was there. Salem looking more comfortable than last year to my eye. Sestan and Howes ran together and there body shapes are coming together too! Not seen: Gawn, May, Viney (by me), Lever, McAdam, Billings, Langdon, Chandler, Sparrow, Pickett, McVee Langford is a big boy, but no extra weight on him, he has huge feet (not sure what that means - big shoes!). Johnson clearly isn’t built like a full time pro just yet but he seems to have fit legs and athletic look to him, I reckon a good preseason and he’ll look the part. No strapping on the knee and completing gentle run throughs with Harvey with ease. Probably only about 16 in full training so doubt drills were all that insightful but first one I saw was the mids simulating a contest on the half forward flank then going inside 50 to a 3 on 3. Initially with a spare defender then without. Focus on getting to the corridor and kicking out to the fat side. Mids: Verrall, Tracc, Oliver, Rivers, Laurie, Bowie, Woey, Windsor. 5 on 3 so not a lot of pressure Tracc bursting from congestion. Clarry had a couple of trademark zips through. Windsor getting handballs inside 60 = a shot inside 40 in no time. Forwards: JVR, Disco, Jeffo, Kentfield A big focus on spade and separation. Kentfield took a nice mark on the lead and hit up Jeffo. He’s a large unit. Jeffo’s stronger, still need to iron out that spine. He came up on leads and forced contests a couple of times, he has a closing speed on leads and swooped on a crumb and dished handballs in a flash of an eye. Not fully willing to say it’s magician time just yet but it could be close. Backs: Petty, T Mc, fake Petty, Hore, AMW as the key backs out there Tommy had a good spoil and forced the ball over the line and was met with Clarry saying ‘gets better every year’ Next drill was 8 on 8 condensed in to a 60 x 30 rectangle on the wing just trying to get short kicks through the zone. If this is our game plan with these current players we might be in trouble! Turnover central! But it was 30+ degrees and over 90 minutes in. Bassett preaching the need to be up on opponents, clear with handovers and to take away the 45 on the mark. Not sure he knows about the stand rule tho so that will be interesting. Windsor about the only one to find space but a couple of sneaky Jeffo leads. Overall takeaway was I hope the rehab group trims down before Christmas but seemingly a good core out there. Interested to see what Chappy can do with these young key forwards.

Yeah I'm starting to come around. Still think he's more the kind of talent you get down for a training block but sometimes you just have to pull the trigger and get him in the full time environment. 7th in the Werribee B+F is impressive given they've got 2 star mids, Bice who was drafted 30 picks earlier and a lot of other proven performers. I'm still not sure this helps Casey. They have no shortage of forward talent and a big reason they struggled was because they didn't have quality runners. The best think to help Casey would've been to take a mature midfielder. I think the hope is it helps Petty play CHB and helps JVR stay out of the ruck! I guess my frustrations are we really are heavily reliant on our first rounders coming in and filling gaps because we only added Harry Sharp as a mature runner. And at the same time we haven't restocked the cupboard with the next wave of developmental kids, we are really backing in Howes, AMW, Sestan, Woey, Kynan Brown - we're going to need a few of them to play this year if we have anything like last years injury run

Didn’t miss with the elbow on the way down!

As perplexing as a I find it I do like former fat blokes, bald guys, and Bull Smith and Vanders were two of my favourites and we’ve missed having a hard country lad who isn’t afraid to crack a few private school heads. Maybe we can sort out the log jam on the list after this year and get some value from this pick.

Casey has a list for Casey players. I noticed this guy watching Werribee finals, he’s a heck of a vfl player given he had only played one game before this year. He has a red hot go in the ruck but he won’t be able to do that at afl level. We overload our list with tall forwards because they all get injured because we force them to play murder ball because we don’t have enough skill and run to play any other way. It might be Jefferson, Melk, Fullarton, Kentfield, Johnson all at Casey with no midfield to kick it to them!