DeeSpencer

FB: Howes Petty Lever HB: Lindsay Turner Salem C: Langdon Steele Langford HF: Chandler Mihocek K. Pickett FF: L. Pickett JVR Fritsch Foll: Gawn Rivers Windsor Int: CJ, Sparrow, ????, ????, ???? From: Culley, Laurie, Sharp, Kolt, Melksham, ?Matthews Still not sure what the right mix of the bench players will be. Would like to see Culley play a half in a Casey scratch match next week. Logic says pick our fittest and hardest runners so go 2 of Kolt, Laurie and Sharp. But they aren’t inspiring choices.

I wouldn’t expect Heath to be picked. King comes from the Geelong school of one or even no specialist rucks. And usually no more than 2 tall forwards. Hawkins/Cameron or Neale/Cameron The game plan involves multiple talls behind the ball but a super open forward line with as much speed and space as possible. Based on that I suspect it will be Mihocek, JVR and Fritsch. Perhaps Melk if there’s no one better for the 5th bench spot but that depends on how well Melk is covering the ground. If Jeffo was healthy he’d be the 3rd tall because he’s so mobile he doesn’t clog the forward line. Luker was a chance too but he had to win his spot with a strong performance against the Tigers. Heath as a pure ruck is a completely different scenario.

Good news is no more potential for injury, bad news is we miss out on a bit of conditioning and practice and don’t get to see X Taylor or Matthews. Positives from what we did see: Game style was consistent and stacked up JVR and Windsor were excellent after quiet weeks last week More strong performances from the likes of Rivers, Lindsay, Salem, Howes, Fritsch, Sparrow Room for improvements: Still want to see more impact both with the ball and with defensive pressure out of small forwards in Trell, Sharp, Laurie, Kolt and Chandler. Jiath had a bit of a shocker! Both Petty and Lever had poor moments. But it’s a new system playing wide open footy but trying to keep one spare torwards the back. History says it takes most of a season to fix that kind of stuff. Petty had one howler turnover and got beat up a couple of times by Lynch, which happens to most key backs. But his mobility at ground level helped clean things up a few times too. The question will be how quickly can he stiffen defensively, he can do it and lock down the full back spot, but it’s up to him.

Wind always finds out the bad kicks. Not that he’s ever good but he’s particularly bad in the wind.

Small thing but Langford needs to show way more urgency on the mark

The most significant feature of the game even when it hasn’t worked is our desire to dispose of the ball to where someone will be not where they are. The off ball movement and communication to make it happen is good stuff. Hopefully it can work against better sides

Ball movement and forward line looks excellent without any big lumps taking up space. We might need to pick a 3rd tall to go with Mihocek and JvR in round 1 to protect against injury. But equally we might not.

We got to do whatever we can to not have Lever as our deepest defender.

Luker subbed off for T Mc effectively. Wonder if he plays forward. X Taylor and Matthews the remaining subs in the warm up clothes. Hopefully see them in the second half.

I disagee. The game and rules have changed now and players have to take responsibility for their spoiling attempts. We’ve seen Maynard banned for a round house spoil. This wasn’t that bad but it was very agricultural and missed the ball by a fair way. He also chose the right arm where the left would’ve given him a chance of spoiling taking the head. There also a role for our players in preventing our own injuries. Langford has to stay out or our body between his opponent and Luker. It’s something we’ve been really bad at for a long time.

Why take away history of this man and a a classic Melbourne street for Ron? The redevelopment of the Southern Stand is sure to provide ample opportunities to name things especially if they expand over the train line and renovate Richmond station.

Of course he won’t be back at his best, at least not right away. But there’s so much time for him to build his running, do a simulated preseason, have a couple of Casey hit outs and play 10-12 games.

Crowds haven’t been great but that’s common across aflw. Only the club would know the impact on membership and developing a fan base out there. It’s not the optimal ground, but I don’t think anywhere else is better.

He has the agility too, you can see it with his tackling. He isn’t up with the pace of the game a ball winner or user. But with good coaching that can be taught, especially after learning AFL speed at half back.

Tom Stewart had a Lisfranc in mid August 2021, recovered in 3 months , did a full preseason and played every game he wasn’t suspended for in 2022 and was All Australian. There’s no reason Bowser with an early December lisfranc can’t be back training in April, ready to go in May if not June and play half the season. Good for half the season. Thats not optimism, thats a realistic injury time line.

Where else would you like them to play? They shift a home game each year to Princes Park and generally have a number of away games at traditional grounds around inner city Melbourne so there’s a chance for traditional heartland fans to see them. Short of moving full time to Princes Park which is an awful solution our best option is continuing to grow Casey

We could get a little funky purely for preseason and go a little bit of Petty, a little Disco and a little T Mc rotating all through the forward line. I would’ve had Petty down back, coming on at 3/4 time then playing in the Casey practice game (assuming they have one) and aiming to dislodge Lever or T Mc. But with this particular 26 there’s just a big imbalance between key backs and forwards.

FB: Lever T Mc CJ HB: Salem Turner Lindsay C: Langford Steele Langdon HF: Chandler Petty L. Pickett FF: Fritsch JVR Kentfield Foll: Gawn Pickett Rivers Int: Kolt, Howes, Sparrow, Windsor, Sharp Subs: X Taylor, Laurie, Matthews Petty kind of has to play forward as part of that 26, unless he does a bit of half half. Perhaps an injury or illness for Jeffo? I’d be surprised if he’s dropped from one quiet performance. Not so surprised by Heath. Gawn needs a full run and Heath is also better served by a full game in the seconds too. Doesn’t entirely rule out 2 rucks but I never thought it would he plan A. I’d expect it’s just a taste for Matthews but it’s a good sign.

Everyone is talking about the potential for PCL's like they've removed the centre circle rule that came in in the 2000's. That's not the case. They've simply banned crossing the line to block an opponents jump which started with Grundy v Gawn in Opening round of 2024. The rucks don't have to jump directly in to each other. They can still choose to go body on body or come in from the side. I think most of them will effectively form a truce and cut down the amount of jumping to protect each other, possibly until big moments in games or finals.

Totally agree. There’s no systemic advantage why we’d be particularly good at AFLW. We aren’t the big club in a strong women’s footy state like Brisbane and Adelaide. We haven’t taken over a VFLW program like North that provides enduring benefits. We don’t even have a home ground that gives a crowd advantage like Sydney. It was the initial investment and securing top shelf people in Stinear and Daisy then passing that along to the likes of Hore and Hanks that has set us up. I really hope we don’t squander it.

This is just a theory because we don’t get a lot of inside information. Clare Pettyfor was Melbourne media manager in 2021 who decided to give footy operations a go and was booted out of Collingwood’s footy department in 18 months. Maybe she’s also not exactly set the world on fire as head of the women’s program given her limited football experience. Sloane with coaching, recruiting and playing experience and respect of the group seems like a good fit to head the program. And hopefully carry over the values and practices as of the Stinear era. They might have an easier time appointing a coach with Sloane in charge.

Did you lock the gate when you wheeled the BBQ out Ghosty?

It’s not a good contract, but the AFL player movement system is so broken it makes clubs choose between a bunch of bad outcomes when they have high profile free agents. If Walsh was to leave they’d get a compo pick which would likely fall after pick 10 once you factor in father sons and academies. One of which is Andrew Walker’s kid who Carlton have picks to match already, so they’d be trading that pick in to future years ie. the Tassie compromised draft. Or if they matched the deal and traded him it’s probably to Geelong for a platter of late firsts that aren’t better than the compo pick. Not to mention Carlton wont be in a strong position to bring in experienced talent. There’s only so much available in each trade period and good players won’t be lining up to join Carlton without Walsh. So they pay the market rate. And stretch the deal for 8 years to get a discount on the per year basis so they can afford more talent if they can attract it. Of course I don’t expect Cornes to outlay any of this nuance when he’s doing his usual shtick.

Kolt's down back because Bowser is out, CJ and Salem are both ticking time bombs with soft tissue injuries and AMW is still making his way back. And X Taylor has to build his tank and settle in to playing against men. We needed a fit body back there just to get through the intraclub. It will be great if Matthews can debut, yet alone more than that. He had a serious knee injury and was restricted to lap running in the rehab group until only a few weeks ago. The coaches won't be expecting him to get AFL games until they see consistent performance at Casey.

I’m far from a Sharp fan and I might rejig the team to have Kolt or X Taylor in and play Rivers on ball more. There’s also a likelihood Laurie or Sharp are filling a spot for Culley to be right for round 1. I am a little skeptical that we can play taller with Melk or another ruck/forward too for that 5th bench spot. Worth a try at some stage but probably not round 1. There’s also the reality that unless Onley, Matthews or Mentha take a big step up we’re going to see guys like Sharp and Laurie a fair bit. We don’t have anyone else!