DeeSpencer

Out: Salem, T Mc In: Hibberd, Lever FB: Smith May Hibberd HB: Bowey Tommo Lever C; Langdon Petracca Brayshaw HF: Harmes Brown ANB FF: Pickett Fritsch Spargo Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Hunt, Harmes, Sparrow, Jordon S: Bedford My guess is Lever doesn’t get up, Tom starts forward and Gus back. But if Lever is right to go I just don’t see our forward line being better with an extra tall. We’re better with the extra midfield rotation and using bigger mids and rucks for forward line height

Hunter’s had issues. Baz Smith had issues over summer. Clubs have trimmed back their welfare departments. Not convinced it’s a valid excuse but Bevo does care for his players and AFL players and coaches are struggling. Struggling more than everyday folk - I doubt it. Long bow from Bevo but he might be saying cut Hunter some slack because he’s dropped due to having a less than ideal summer.

Framing Morris is a demons spy is too funny. Playing the mental health card because Hunter is dropped is just sad, even if he is struggling mentally he’s dropped, it’s not a huge issue. Bevo made it worse naming him, dropping him then making him sub.

Shark Fin Inn’s my favourite yum cha in the city if you want to mix it up. Pricier than the cheap ones but less than the high end ones, and the quality to match. The CBD pubs are all a bit ordinary IMO. Y+J’s is a classic but the atmosphere is very hampered by the train tunnel construction. The Duke does a solid job but isn’t anything special. Garden State is cool enough if you’re keen to be trendy. The Imperial is a soccer pub at heart but if the weather holds off the rooftop is nice and might be my pick. Personally I’d be tempted to invest $10 and 10 minutes on a train or uber to Richmond. Have a little crawl from the Swan, public house or Harlow if the roof tops are open for a great CBD view, the Richmond club, the Posty and then most of all the London Tavern before the traditional short walk to the ground. Just don’t look in the windows at the Royal. Alternatively if you want to score some points for being cultured you could take 10 minutes there and back to Fitzroy. The Rose, the Standard, the Builders Arms are decent options and people watching the hipsters beats the CBD crowd.

She’s all ego and bluster. Dishes out little cheap bumps and shoves after contests but won’t stand under a high ball and can’t execute quick handballs under pressure that require her to wear contact. Prefers to chase free kicks by dropping the knees or falling forward. Gets turned around easily when chasing opponents too. Shes excellent at reading the play and positioning but otherwise doesn’t play the right brand of footy for finals. If she wants to be a media personality she needs to show she can play for her team mates first.

Apart from those routinely playing for Casey like Buntine and maybe Conca the guys playing local footy will probably need time at Casey to get acquainted with the game plan and get their fitness up. So it’s certainly smart to list a number of former AFL players but I’d hope the first line of reinforcements comes from actual Casey players. This could be a chance to convince good local talent who have been reluctant to join the VFL to give Casey a chance as well. If we’re down to 28 fit players which is when these guys become eligible either us or us and the entire AFL will be pretty screwed anyway.

Awful composure. The Mithen kick with 2 minutes left was inexcusable. Ball use the entire last quarter was crazy. But coming back from Perth is tough, even if you win by 80. Hopefully the week off fixes Purcell up and Zanker too. The big body mids are just vital for us to be any chance.

McNamara is playing her worst ever game, completely awful

Way too much pace on the ball right now. Need to slow it right down

Mick needs to send the message that when you switch you got to keep going to space. We kill our forwards by double switching

First has never been the priority. Securing second by grinding out a win after a Perth trip is the aim. It’s going to take a huge effort from here in to the wind. Harris has been caught in between deep and up the ground. They need to get her back in position. Would like to see Kate Hore have a run on the ball to get in to the game.

Birch needs her age articles banned until she shows a bit of courage. Sets a poor example for her team mates

May’s never played a full 22 game season (got pretty close last year). He isn’t a dominant intercept marker and also drops the occasional mark going back with the flight. Plus our conservative play from the backline doesn’t maximise his run and kicking which is one his advantages over most key defenders. I’m ok with him being viewed as a rung belong the very best key defenders for this season, with the aim to have him cherry ripe for September.

I have no issues with Max being excluded. Jackson should take time from him, and Darcy is a beast. The biggest problem with King’s team is he’s named 5 defenders, a ruck and 2 forwards and flooded the rest of the side with on ballers. Even Amon isn’t a full time winger anymore. If you wanted to pick the best 14 midfielders just write a list of them. Don’t hide it in a team.

Wasn’t it more that he’s signed to Casey but will play at Bundoora. I don’t think we’ll see him at Casey unless we start getting towards the 30 player limit. I think we’ll see a number of these types of deals as clubs create their back up lists.

I’m not sure any of those causes are getting us to 300 million. But there’s also the chance we can build a standalone section in what is somewhat a shared facility. Doesn’t have to be one or the other. I’m not sure every team will be included either. We’ll vacate the current stadium facilities and open up room for the teams there. It might be pretty much our facility but we share the gym, pool and indoor training space.

Bevo’s a bit of a dreamer, I wouldn’t read much in to it. I think everything had been going the dogs was for 45 minutes. Bounces of the ball, umpiring decisions, kicks for goal. It’s natural that when things switch quickly you get caught flat footed. It took us a large chunk of the 2nd and 3rd quarter to really slow the dogs and then get it our way. Hardly a surprise they couldn’t get it fixed when they were smashed out of the centre in the 3rd. The real indictment might’ve been at the start of the last quarter. If they change the tempo of the game and get 2 of the first 3 goals it’s a 3 goal ballgame with half a quarter left. You’ve got a shot.

There’s no evidence of significant improvement in his tackling and pressure. A little better, sure, but not a lot. Im also rating him belong 3 defenders who have had AA level seasons over the last 2 years. I’m not saying he’s behind Jayden Hunt. He finished 11th in our B+F. So I’m happy to be in the camp with the premiership coaches rather than Robbo and a bunch of other forum members.

Purely a cash grab. A lot of teams really battle to play out 22 games. 23 would be an even greater stretch. We often play our best team in practice games but we do it to prepare their fitness for the real season and we always make a couple of in game changes and get key players some rest. Teams aren’t going to just roll in to round 1 either, they’re going to increase match play and contact earlier in the summer to prepare. The fixture will never be fair. Even if it was play every team once there’d still be inequalities with breaks, suspensions, injuries, teams packing it in for the year etc. If we wanted a fairer comp we’d got to 18 rounds not for playing every team once but to make the season shorter so every game has more riding on it and healthier players. 22 home and away, with the potential for finals teams to play 25/26 is more than enough.

I like when he has a few throws at the stumps. Marshall is fit this year, was completely stuffed with injuries last year. And will get a lot of ruck minutes. It’s not unreasonable to suggest he’ll be the 2nd best ruck in the comp. I love Zak Butters too, but he belongs in the 40’s with Bailey Smith and Zac Bailey, not in the 20’s with McCluggage. That said, if you’re going to gamble on young players on the up then I think going Gawn at 5, Fyfe at 6, Buddy and Hawkins at 11, 12. Mitchell 40 and Grimes 41 is also going with a heap of veterans. I’d shift all of those back a few rungs. Fritsch is also way too high. May, Lever, Salem are all comfortably better players than him.

All it was is this little whisper at the end from Cleary

300 million is a monster bill. Going to need the Storm, Rebels etc to chip in (both cash and for the funding case). I can see why it’s taking so long when it’s gone from far more than just facilities for us.

Sadly it was another thing that seems to be covid impacted. Digging out the file footage and interviewing a select number of former players was easier to do. I love the rewatching the game aspect, but it’s best done with a group or groups of players, rather than individuals. Fritsch and Gawn joking about spoiling that mark. Petracca, Oliver and May recounting their interaction in person. Harmes and Viney taking us through the spillage and kick that turned the tide. Pickett and Spargo on the pressure to create first term goals etc etc. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll ever see that kind of documentary made for this flag.

It’s a fun yearly story but the captains strike rate of 1 from 68 shows it’s either very hard to predict these things and/or they aren’t very good at it.

1. Brisbane. Most talented list in the afl, only a question of whether their best mids can get it done. But I expect McCluggage, Bailey and Rayner start to either take over or at least really bolster Neale and Zorko. 2. Dogs. 3. GWS standout from the pack with incredible midfield depth and enough forward/back talent to form a good side if they get it right 4. Geel, Port and Rich can’t be written off but the list of clubs that could ‘do a Melbourne’ range from: Sydney, St Kilda, Ess, Carlton and maybe even Freo. 5. West Coast, Adelaide, Hawks, North and Gold Coast would surprise me. As always, interstate clubs are much preferred than any other Victorian one!