DeeSpencer

Hibberd for Hunt McDonald for Melksham JJ stays in Vanders back to sub Would have to think about if Salem needs a rest but they didn't do it this week and it's now getting really close to worrying about continuity and game time if he plays once in 3 weeks.

Call me a negative nelly all you like but we're top of the table, we should at least act like we know how to close out games and are disappointed with mental errors and poor preparation. Petracca could've iced it straight after the restart. Spargo should've. Jackson too. But out real issues were defensively were we still can't work out that 1 short kick takes 10 seconds, which can then be followed by the long bomb down the line that hopefully takes 30+ off the clock. We could even do 3 or 4 short kicks, then the long bomb! Imagine that. And the senior players who came out flat as a tack in the restart isn't acceptable. I'm looking at one Jake Lever. Seriously, get your head in the game mate and get some balance on those legs. Nice enough first quarter and a good 3rd term. But the Eagles are absolutely making up the numbers this year and we gave them a genuine sniff whilst also letting the rest of the league know we're still not a mature outfit.

Hawthorn tanked for a flag Collingwood tanked for a flag West coast tanked for a flag Carlton tanked to push us down the draft order and outside the priority zone, got Chris Judd. Then Melbourne tanked and it helped tear the club to pieces. But as much as I feel we got a raw deal I mostly feel for the players who's careers we really hurt and for us fans, so now is absolutely not the time to care about what the teams currently down the bottom are doing. Let them all tank forever. I will say this - North have mixed in a huge period of sheer ineptitude with the ability to draft some really good young players. They now are right on track to be a very good team within 3 years. There's every chance they bounce right passed a whole bunch of the big clubs.

We botched that hearing. But after all the nonsense the league has let go this year they were looking for a scalp. Players wrestle all the time at training. Except at Hawthorn where they stuffed up by boxing.

Collins flipped Viney off him and got up as soon as he wanted. He was attempting to get Jack to do something (more) stupid.

Think the whistle had gone for Buddy being over the boundary before he threw his arm back, that's a mystifying tribunal decision. Or would've been if it wasn't Sydney. It's hard to defend Viney but as much as anything because it's the worst of the lot it just looks worse than it is and that goes a long way with tribunal decisions sadly. There's always an incident or two each year were the 'looks bad' factor multiplies because it's the worst of the lot. I'd say a minimum of 30 players a week dig an elbow, forearm or shoulder in after a tackle. 1 or 2 get picked up on tv. 1 or 2 every month get some tribunal time. Viney just made sure his was right at the pointy end. Silly.

You've forgot the most important part - the offence. It's not striking. It could be deemed rough conduct but that's there catch all they usually use for bumps. Incidents like this are usually deemed misconduct and given fines, but they've deemed this too serious for misconduct. Hence sent to the tribunal.

If anyone needs a laugh.

Only if his trachea is in the side of his neck. Nothing more than a bit of free chiropractic work. Collins could’ve moved at any stage

Silly from Jack but there’s nothing much in this. Players do this at training all the time Collins doesn’t breathe from his ear hole.

That's a failure of the AFL/State Governments/FIFA/Football Aus to negotiate better outcomes, particularly with nonsense around stadium shutdowns/signage etc. Those kind of decisions should be re-evaluated now it's Covid times and everyone has had to cooperate better. I guess it could be handy for the occasional big final or concert but it's also going to hurt the atmosphere at home and away storm/victory/other games played there too. The stadium is a success because it's so appropriate for the teams. Anyway, hopefully it works for us and I guess it won't be the dodgiest economic stimulus going around.

Seems a horrendous waste of money to upgrade AAMI for a couple of games on women's soccer that easily could be played at Marvel or the MCG, but if we get a cut of it then sounds ok. My main concern would be making sure our facilities are (somewhat) standalone and controlled by the club. And potentially finding a way to run side businesses out of them to generate revenue. Bigger oval is nice. MCG size would've been optimal, maybe someone can sneak down and add a few metres when they stake it out.

The weird thing is Viney’s kicking when he’s balanced up in space has been better in the last few weeks than it has in years. He’s laced out targets! All because he’s not rushing and just bombing it. At other times he’s evading too many and getting caught. So first option in tight. Keep going with not rushing and finding targets when in time and space. As bad as he’s been there’s been some signs of growth in recent weeks.

No, we just played Gold Coast and limited them to about 20 inside 50’s for the game.

It is their role if Hibbo‘a not in the side. That’s the point. We aren’t putting Bowey or Salem in dangerous forwards.

Woeful up forward particularly in the 3rd quarter and last, cost us 5 goals.. 2 bad set shots in the second I think. But we’ve seen all year he’s not a forward but is a pretty handy midfielder even if he makes mistakes. The question with dropping him is who is better? I love JJ’s clean hands and team style but he can’t really kick nor is he a strong contested ball winner. He doesn’t compliment Viney and Sparrow any better than Harmes does. Vanders - meh, he’s pretty much the same as Harmes with worse movement. Melksham - no. Jones - no, for now. Chandler - no. Kye Declase - one to watch, but I doubt it.

Hibberd’s also shut down Dusty, put the brakes on Stringer, held Papley quiet, held Toby Greene to very few touches and not a huge impact. He’s still our best shut down medium defender and until I see more I don’t trust Rivers or Hunt on dangerous forwards. It’s up to Salem, May, Rivers and Hunt to handle the bulk of the distribution. And more Petty involvement ideally too.

Salem with ice on the groins. Bowey’s promising debut could give them the incentive to rest Salem for a week now rather than keeping on managing him.

Likely no changes, unless we’ve got injuries or the Eagles go so tall we decide we need another bigger defender - but I’m guessing we trust Rivers and Hunt to be the 4th talls. I still think Hibberd and JJ get their way back in to the side over Bowey and Sparrow come finals but for now we go with the same group.

Yep. We’ve gone back to ignoring Langdon as an option, and his kicking is woeful. Salem probably needs a week off to reset, no point waiting for the bye. If he is healthy let’s put him on ball here for the second half and try something different

Going tall in the wet. Not leaving May on Naughton. Refusing to effectively share the ball with hands And after all that Fritsch has probably fumbled away 3 goals and BBB has missed 2 easy ones.

I don't mind that, he's been taken high, may as well let the umps see it. It's the engineering of the high contact which is his problem. Same with when guys have been genuinely pushed in the back, I don't mind them making sure the umps see it, because it's hard to know how much they are even accentuating the contact because been pushed in the back is really a nasty feeling at times.

He wasn’t good but I thought he wasn’t bad in those areas before the lay off. Now he looks slower to make decisions and seems to be taking ages to steady up to kick, which hurts when the results don’t come anyway. It’s not like he’s balancing up to hit a target. There’s also the issue of Harmes and Viney in the same side and role. Viney tagging means freelancing Harmes which is a worry. But Melksham, Sparrow, Vanders and Jones underwhelm so the hope is Viney finds a bit of touch.

Spargo is often down over the ball and then turns his shoulder, raises his arm to lower the shoulder further and stays low to draw contact. It’s not great but to some extent it is part of the game, especially for a little guy who’s going to get and stay low. Im not sure I’ve seen him blatantly duck once he’s won the ball and come back up. If I were coaching Spargo my advice would be don’t over do it and save it for when it’s really needed!

Bedford has yet to demand a starting spot in the VFL midfield, yet alone the AFL one. Its nice to see him taking some rotations on ball at Casey. That’s the role he played in the TAC cup - burst speed at centre bounces then went forward. It’s a role that could add something to our AFL team. But overall I don’t think he has the skills or smarts to be anything at AFL other than depth at this stage, yet alone a starting midfielder. You can tell smart players by the way they find the ball, the way they attack contests with a plan on how to win it and the poise and class with the ball. I’d like to see Bedford given a good go at full time midfield minutes at Casey. Remember guys like ANB and even JKH had 30 or even 40 touches at Casey on ball. That’s a lot of chances to learn how to win and use the ball. Bedford probably won’t get that many touches especially if the Casey midfield is loaded with AFL mids but he has to get up to 20 touches at least.