DeeSpencer

Crows are a state side, whilst we have to split Vic talent between 8 teams. They have so many tall powerful players in their prime years. We really fought it out against the odds and just couldn’t get that 3rd goal to get within a kick. If that happened I really think the Crows could’ve got nervous and we could’ve pinched it. Great coaching effort to get the game back in our style with run and carry. And the players run, commitment to the contest and pressure lifted to levels I didn’t think they had in them.

I’ve talked all year about Birch’s reckless behaviour and lack of leadership and there it is. Trade her away this winter

Far different to Weid, in that he is good. A very solid role player. But I said over summer and got hammered for it that those expecting his finals form to result in a breakout will likely be disappointed. He has plenty of potential improvement but the work on his disposal, contested ball and uncontested possessions is all going to take time. Plus he’ll keep being asked and doing a lot of dirty work and defensive running, he’s not going to be put in positions to dominate.

The May, Tomlinson, Lever trio seems to work better than going smaller with Smith, but I just feel Tomlinson is a long way off his best and Smith has a chance right now to finally string games. We need depth in case Hunt or Rivers go down or if Gus has to go to the midfield. Assuming he’s healthy and gets through some trainings I’d get Smith back in

I wanted to reach through the tv and slap the big Neanderthal for once again throwing his team mates under the bus in public. By far his worst trait as captain.

Gus kicked 3 goals for the year last year.

Consecutive 6 day breaks. Hard to put the foot down on that. Weid is Weid. Will always struggle to make position and create space against good opponents. That said, the times he was wide open the kick went nowhere near him. Mids couldn’t chain handballs to get free of pressure and hit him up. Handball, handball, handball, run in to pressure, bang it on the boot. Tom is also Tom. He bought a lot of balls to the ground tonight. Not pretty but hardly the worst. Did his job and secured his spot.

Burn the tapes of that one. Backline very good. Midfield patchy, credit the fringe guys who cleaned up after the big names consistently. Forward line very messy.

As with the senior side Casey seem to be playing a faster ball movement and less possession game than a few years ago. It was also swirly breeze but dry from what I saw of the game. That lends itself to low possessions. As the season progress especially if it’s wet the ball will stick around stoppages for long, I’d still imagine Dunstan will average 25 plus. And hopefully the young guys who get on ball minutes will start to push consistently above 20.

I agree, but we might have to lower both Weid and Brown's usual game time, possibly even throw Weid in to the ruck for a brief stint in order to use Jackson at CHF if we need mobility.

Our forwards rarely share the ball that well, it’s a bug bear of mine. Fritsch a repeat offender, who doesn’t like to give goals away with the extra handball. Tom’s similar too. I’d like to see more sharing on the run it in to goal kind of scenarios. That said, messing around with set shots often ends in disaster as well. The wind was so swirly on Friday a 15m chip kick was rarely a sure thing. Especially if it’s to a stationary midfielder and sometimes wider too. Plenty of teams will mark 40 out and chip it wider 30 out and have only achieved passing the buck.

No change in personnel. But maybe some role shifts. I reckon Zanker could do a quick 2-3 minute job on ball at the start of quarters just to hit some bodies and be physical. Before a break then her ruck minutes. The Crows have big bodies and we might need to just match fire with fire especially early. Maddy Gay might be needed down back earlier in the match too, Zanks on ball could free her up just for a short rotation maybe to settle the backline early. If she takes some backline minutes they could throw Sherriff forward to provide another speedy runner, allowing Banno to sit deeper and hopefully snag a few out the back. And they just aren’t getting enough from a talented player in Hore who could have a go on ball if they take a risk. That’s a lot of moves. But I think it’s paramount that we’re flexible and organised for a really strong crows start. We played the Brisbane game just about perfectly by keeping it tight early until our running game got a chance. Adelaide are stronger and at home, we have to be even better to keep it tight.

I like the short, medium, long, If we are to get reporting it should be on the training players are doing. - Full training - modified full training - rehab - off legs if you get that info you can generally gather when a player will return.

They’ll never make it enforceable because the bookies get more knowledge than the punters. And if you’re a punter, deal with it

At a minimum the Walla fan club.

Just watched a patch and he seems to have good smarts and a nice bit of dash. Any idea how old he is?

Lever’s only had the 1 preseason game weeks ago. Are we sure he shouldn’t have a run at Casey for touch? We need the good Lever back. Not sure we need a rusty version that drops marks and isn’t in good touch at ground level Especially when the structure gets a little thrown out as the rest of the backline isn’t set in roles as much as last year

Real pity it’s not played in spring in clear air but that’s hopefully getting fixed soon. Also we have to wonder if the Casey crowd won’t go to the G and the G crowd never get to Casey so we don’t build a following. But again, that’s another more complex issue It was disappointing no matter the excuses

Colvin was exception. Heath unreal. Goldy just got stronger as the game went on. Paxy found space, Bannan found the paddock and off she went. Loved Zanker’s work as a back up ruck. Daisy was involved in everything good. Just so strong at the fundamentals. And Megan Fitzsimon was really important too. There’s some simple stuff they can do with Kate Hore and especially Tayla to get them going I think. If those two can find their best form we can go to another level.

It was the right option but she took way too long then had a half back flanker run by and get in her way. Absolutely burn the tapes of the last 5 minutes. It was a disaster. Everything that could go wrong trying to ice the clock did. But they played incredible footy in the 3rd and start of the 4th to get that buffer

Had a couple of good patches, but they also only had about 30 inside 50’s and he snagged 5 of them. When May stuck to him he beat him almost every time, as did our rucks chopping out. The issue was May was either injured or mentally off with the fairies and worried about covering space. Im hoping it’s the latter and the coaches can get it right. The message is simple, when your man is within scoring range and you’ve haven’t handed over the job to up field defenders to mind him make sure you stick on him. May tries to cover the entire back 50 and there’s time he has to back team mates in to do their job and stick with his.

If his partner or kids have it he's either got it by now or going to be one of those mysterious people who come in to contact with it but avoid contracting it. An extra day of isolation is probably preferable than dodging the inevitable and leaving his partner and kids alone unless they prefer that option.

I would've put May on to the deepest forward considering he sat so deep and seemed to constantly be worried about what was behind him rather than his opponent, put Tomlinson forward/bench (or sub) which is where Tom played a lot of the last quarter anyway, and had Tom closely checking Wright. May on Wright was a disaster. Otherwise May played ok but no one could've done any worse than May did on Wright because he let him run around and do whatever he wanted.

The issue isn't so much that May was beaten but that he completely lost track of Wright and didn't even try to chase him for 3 of his goals. He was out marked in a couple of contests which happens, but many of Wright's marks were with 10+m of separation. May often lets his opponent go outside 50 and sits back deep, that's the game plan, but there were times last night where Wright's leads were only ever going to take him 30-40 out and there was no reason to cover the back 20 where Hunt or Smith had pretty good match ups. I don't know if it was physical or mental or both but something went really haywire with May last night. Baffling baffling performance at crucial moments.

I'd put most of Petracca's game down to being tagged, sore and playing a lot of the second half forward. But I did notice when it got back to 2 goals the difference he immediately went back on ball and made sure they weren't losing it. Bowey's just playing that high defender role more to my eyes. But he does like the corridor as good players do and his clean hands through the middle are a weapon. Gus was probably best on ground but he had only 8 intercept possessions and 1 contested mark. Most of his 20 marks were from uncontested play, filling in clever little gaps in the bombers zone and providing easy options for his team mates. That's good footy, but he was more on clean up duty than the wall. There were some Lever like moments but it was more of a Salem game with composure which was impressive from Gus. I thought Smith, Bowey and even Hunt all did great jobs winning the ball back across half back along with Gus.