DeeSpencer

I take everything Mark Williams says with a grain of salt but it’s promising for Taj. And if they think he’s ready to step straight in to the Casey engine room as well that’s good news. Hoping he has a strong debut this weekend.

I’m not suddenly going to claim I was a fan but Oscar could play a bit too, he looks set to do well at Carlton. He was a victim of being Tom’s brother and probably needed a fresh start and a kick in the backside. After a run of failures we’ve largely gone away from speculative talls late or on the rookie list. I’m not sure I fully agree with that tactic but one benefit might be we can focus development coaching on guys who are a chance to play rather than risky projects.

The injuries helped but I thought it was a reasonably high pressure game in tricky conditions and Brisbane rallied and turned it around. It was far from perfect footy but a comeback win against a prelim team is a solid effort. Daniher and Adams impressed at either end. In fairness to Port they probably deserve as much credit even with losing.

Carlton, Geel, Sydney and Brisbane the impressive sides of round 1. And it will be a question of whether they can back it up and keep it up but Collingwood looked a far better side too. Fast aggressive footy with good scoring.

He actually rushed a few set shots on the short run up, possibly impacted by the boundary line. Take the full 30 and the big run up Benny!

Salem is a backman but really he’s a midfielder who plays at half back. His ability to cover ground, receive and distribute the ball under pressure by hand as much as foot is a midfielders job as much as a defenders. Gus has the inside track on that role for a while I’d suggest. Possibly as the backline settles with Lever and others back we could use Bowey especially with more skilled users like Hibbo or Rivers. But to dumb it right down we need someone in Salem’s role who will get 20+ touches. It won’t be primarily stopping defenders who don’t find the ball.

They desperately need to play him on a half back flank and teach him how to defend and contest. He’ll never learn the game on the wing or half forward.

Happy to be proven wrong but there’s no indication the former afl players we’ve added to our top up list will actually play for Casey. They’re all making more money with less work playing local footy. We can’t afford Zaharakis, Lonie, Reid, Moore! Buntine will play and Conca we might be able to talk in to some Casey footy given he’s around the group, most likely he plays local footy or has a rest. Not the others. They’re only signed in case we start having injuries and covid cases and get down towards the bare minimum.

7 guys who played in the flag. Tommo, Hunt, Smith. Brayshaw as a flanker/intercepting. Tom as swing man. After that it’s Turner, Deak Smith and Judd McVee as the developmental prospects. But if we’re getting down to the raw kids then I’d think we’d also consider Majak at CHB if needed and Mitch Brown as a 3rd tall/interceptor. JVR and Howes could get a run too but I’d imagine we’d swing any of those guys back at Casey to prepare to cover first.

Yeah that was after the reserves game at Carlton. But it’s hard to know if Riley watched the game carefully and confirmed with coaches or if he just saw a couple of nice passages of play and chucked it in his story. Need some more VFL games to see what our depth guys are up to.

Unless Dunstan suddenly finds a whole lot of pace to be able to play wing and half forward I don't think Harmes should be too worried. As bad as he was the cupboard is very empty in terms of flexible midfield options. I'm keen to see if the report on Taj playing well in the first VFL praccy game has more merit. Year 1 is likely too soon and he's not a tall mid but he has the pace and determination to be a role player through the flank, wing and on ball in spurts.

Bowey - fantastic 9 touches We're used to small forwards having low disposals and playing well, see Pickett in the grand final, or even last night. But I don't think many half back flankers play as well as Bowey did with just 9 touches last night. I thought his defensive positioning and contests were really strong. Along with Hunt, Smith, Tomlinson I thought he allowed McDonald and particularly Brayshaw to get in intercepting positions to provide what we usually get from Lever. I was shocked to see he had only 9 touches.

I disagree, even if we had other talls there’s times they get caught up the ground and the deep forward has to compete 3 on 1. Brown did that very well, but that’s a huge part of his job. We generally have at least one of Harmes, Sparrow and Petracca forward too to provide a touch more height. And forward pressure is everything. Unless we play champagne footy we’re better scrapping and forcing turnovers than playing a kick mark game. The last thing we need is Weid blocking it up in attack and not contributing the other way. Tom probably goes back forward. But ideally I’d replace Tom with a 187-192 forward who can compete in the air and be happy with Fritsch, Brown and the resting ruck. Then some good mid sized mids to complement the smalls. Unfortunately the only option on the list is Melksham so that won’t be happening any time soon.

Liked his work rate to get out in space to be an option. Made a crucial late spoil in the 3rd quarter rolling up from half forward. Fumbles are definitely a concern but he has the pace to keep running to get out of trouble. I like the way he burst through the middle in the last then re-evaluated and went sideways. His pressure numbers were good for 55% game time, but a bit of an advantage coming on at 1/4 time. All in all he looked more comfortable since we last saw him. Does he have the weapons, smarts and composure to excel long term in the trickiest spot on the ground - I’m not sure. But he did the team role and has earned more of a look. I hope if he does drop back to Casey he gets more midfield time to keep winning contested ball under pressure.

He has quick hands and is super reliable to crash in, win a ground ball and give it out. But… his kicking and decision making when kicking are still a huge work in progress. He doesn’t back himself to take quick kicks and then his long down the line execution is iffy too. I can see why some on here probably noticed some patchy kicks and have thought that was reflective of his overall game. Overall I thought he played Gus’ wing role comfortably as well as Gus did most games last year. Can’t see him coming under pressure unless Gus gets moved back to the wing, and even then I think we’d like 3 wingers so Harmes can rotate forward and on ball rather than fill wing minutes.

Bevo mentioned that Morris had previously reported Gardner being dropped for the grand final. I'm sure there might be more, but if the biggest 2 things you're willing to name publicly have been selection stories, both of which were correct then that's not nearly close to good reason to blow your stack.

I’m no fan of Morris or most of the industry. But the story was a player not named in a team leaking on Tuesday, one day before the team was named. Surely a storm in a tea cup compared with serious allegations like the Goodwin stuff.

Yes, but reporting on Hunter does generate news, hence why it was a story to begin with. Kade Chandler not getting a gig for the Dees for instance isn’t news. Hunter was reported as ‘dropped’ and became a topic of debate. Not helped by Bevo bristling at it in his pre match. Bevo’s certainly blown this up himself when they should’ve just copped that his team was named 1 day early. But I can see the link between creating news stories to fill a void, the scrutiny that brings and player welfare.

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.