DeeSpencer

The NT Government aren't taking that risk without some guaranteed return, particularly with the Crows having links to the NT with their AFLW side I expect we'll see the Crows in one of the games most years.

Darwin - Adel, Freo, Adel, Freo, WCE, Freo Alice - ( WCE ), Adel, GC, Port, Port, Port Port might've cleverly extricated themselves from the NT games due to the China game. I don't particularly care who we play and where as long as it's not the same team at the same ground every year. I can deal with it being the Crows up there every 2nd year. We go there every year and can adapt to the conditions more often. It won't be a huge home ground advantage one way or another.

In: May, Hore, Salem and maybe Lockhart out: take your pick of Wagner, Stretch, JKH, Spargo, Garlett, Hannan (not ready). No Lewis please and no Lever with less than a full game. Who plays on the wing is one of the biggest challenges this week. Baker will not have the fitness to play big minutes on Phillips or Sidebottom, he needs to rotate through the wings in spurts.

20k to a home game on a nice weathers day against GWS. Yes we are struggling this year but the reality is we have to get bigger crowds at our current 9 home games to demand 11 at the MCG. We'd probably only ever get 10 at the MCG and 1 at Marvel anyway, which we do play quite well these days but we wouldn't attend all that well. Hawthorn have shown the brilliance of the Tassie deal was it worked in 3 ways: 1. Home ground advantage 2. Cash 3. Made their members hungrier for remaining home games. We don't have the home ground advantage - although you'd think we are better adjusted than several other sides - but we get benefits 2 and 3 and there's no reason to stop that.

Spot on. I hate the 2 men on the mark that then leads to open men in the pockets ------> open men on the flanks -------> open men in the corridor to goal. That said, if Garlett could actually chase a defender kicking in and force them to dispose that would be wonderful. Right now he waits until they are passed him to start chasing so he can get a run down tackle rather than getting up in their face and risking body contact.

Historically he's done a decent job on Jenkins, which tells you he's even worse this year than previously. No physicality in the contest No intercepting or strong play Zero creativity or drive with the ball Like so many Melbourne players he did a few nice things in the VFL and was then promoted to a locked in spot in the senior side. At least now he should get the chance to show he can dominate at Casey. Maybe if he can he could have a future at AFL level.

Pretty sure Tom McDonald had the ankles done a couple of years ago and did a solid preseason this year up until developing some knee tendinitis late in preseason. It sounds like McDonald as well as May and Joel Smith have actually been victim of training too hard. Oliver, Hunt and Harmes all had shoulder surgeries and were ready to go. As were Jetta and Vanders who's injuries weren't related to their shoulder ops or rehab time as far as I can tell. Petracca recovered well enough from a knee procedure, as did Marty Hore from an ankle. Viney and Jones probably shouldn't have played round 1. More faith should've been shown in fringe guys like Stretch who were ready to go. They decided an underdone Viney was more valuable than a fit Stretch. Given Viney got through without injury I can't argue it was the wrong fitness decision, just a bad football one.

Need more tempo build up from the backline with switching. Clearly they midfield work rate and defensive skills aren't there to encourage that style. Getting guys back from injury and hopefully some good recruits could fix a lot of that. The Cats are playing a very controlled style from the backline but their midfield work rate has been exceptional to allow the options to continually be created and the ball to keep moving. Otherwise I wonder if it's because we're having too many short angle changing kicks rather than one short kick, some handballs and then a longer kick inside 50. In general though I'd rather we play like we did against the Eagles than how we did against the Giants. Taking the game on has to be encouraged.

If I can recall correctly he started the preseason healthy, then lost a few weeks in rehab before getting back in to the main group ahead of many others. The injury wouldn't have helped but he did more than enough sessions to be ready to go. And he was in terms of ball winning but clearly hadn't improved at using the ball nor his defensive running. I'd try him back in the middle as a ball winner but if it clearly isn't working then tagging would be the next step. Depending on availability of other players I'd probably try to use Jones forward/wing and on ball. I don't think at this stage of his career he was moved to play better. Jones is in the side to do what he can to help the team win, I doubt they are concerned about making him look good by putting him on ball. I think he was moved purely to provide some defensive run and has done a pretty decent job of it.

The real concern to me is Gus did most of the preseason, probably more than Harmes and certainly more than Oliver and Viney. He should've been ready to go to another level with defensive work rate and ball use. Wing is definitely not the long term answer and the diminishing results the last few weeks make me think Gus absolutely knows that. I'd think about using him as a tagger, although the question then becomes does Harmes have the smarts to be a ball winner or do we use him elsewhere.

Wait he didn’t retire and get replaced yesterday like several other over the hill players?

It’s a tragedy on a tragedy. Might be best done privately to a large extent but MFC need to step up big time. Unfortunately our next proper home game isn’t for a month but maybe then or later in the year it would be wonderful to gather a lot of Daniher/Bailey era players for something for Brad and the family.

I'm one of the first to say we need more pace and outside run/skill and wanted us to use multiple picks taking some gambles, but it's also true that after Oliver, Viney, Harmes and hopefully a rejuvenated Brayshaw our inside ball winners do drop away pretty quickly. Jones is close to the end, Petracca hasn't shown he can step up and be a midfielder, Vanders' foot is stuffed, Maynard's gone backwards. After that it's Sparrow and that's about it. Same thing goes for ANB, Spargo, JKH etc as that half forward who rolls up to the midfield. If he can tackle, get contest to contest and hit the scoreboard then he has a chance in that kind of roll as well. Keen to see him play for Casey.

The is my opinion only not mail but I'm very confident in it: Brayshaw's on the wing because he's too slow and lazy in transition running and butchered the ball in the midfield. He lost the trust of the coaches to be around the footy. It helps if your wingers are quick but it's not vital these days as long as they run hard and keep in position. Slower, unaccountable inside mids get torched and Gus wasn't keeping up with the play. He'd get 30 but they'd do nothing and his many would get 35. Decision making and transition running are easier on the wing. Pacey wingers would be nice but Baker doesn't have the tank for it. Lockhart lacks the tank a little and the ball winning. Stretch knows how to play the position but is just going. Corey Wagner is meh. There's really not a lot of other options. With Salem and Hibberd back this week Fritsch should go back on the wing and give us one decent outside runner but we're still short other options. The preseason plans for Vanders and KK have fallen through. Gus should go back on the ball at some stage but if he doesn't show defensive transition and better ball use I won't feel like the coaches are to blame.

Agree. He could’ve taken a few intercept marks along with some spoils and had a pretty decent first half yesterday. Instead he went for some safe spoils. Then he cops a knock and looks limpy and slow. He slow and lacks a physical presence at the contest but there’s still signs of talent with reading the play, quick hands and a nice kick. Needs to go back to Casey and show 6 weeks of consistent form rather than a couple of good weeks then a couple of quiet games.

Clearly I don’t know of the salary cap implications, nor do I know of the cultural implications of retiring or making inactive a bunch of senior players. I just think teams are being super conservative with a new rule whilst usually teams find advantages by being creative or bold. We’ve seen it with academy pick trading, future pick trading, the Tigers taking Sydney Stack etc etc My plan is probably more of the Mark Neeld style moneyball but if these picks are all 10-20% chance of being a good player I’d rather multiple swings.

Why don’t we: - Retire Lewis and Garlett - Inactive list Vanders and maybe even Jetta Take 4 or even 5 picks. It’s 50k a pick, plus 20k if they’re delisted at the end of the year. We know Lewis and Garlett are done so why not look at replacements now? We’ve also got Stretch, J Wagner, JKH, Maynard, Jones and other options to come off the list at the end of the year. There’s usually plenty of 19 year olds or state league types taken in the 2nd-4th round of the draft. Some work, some don’t. Why not take a huge roll of the dice?

Hore looks like an AFL player. Needs to keep working on his disposal and lack of size/pace means he's not the ideal match up for a lot of opponents but he judges the ball in the air, gets to the right spots and his decision making with the ball is solid. The only concern that could see Hore not playing a lot of games is if Lever takes his role and 2 intercept marking defenders can't play in the same side but I doubt that's the case. At this stage I want to see a backline of May, Lever, Hore, Jetta, Salem, Hibberd. Until we get that group on the field together it's hard to know exactly who the best 7th player is to go with them. Frost is still Frost but I think he's also looking like an AFL player right now with a decent amount of spoils, running out of trouble more than in to it and kicking better than he has before. The question is more does he look good because we've got some pretty slow and average defenders next to him or is he really turning a corner.

In: Salem, Hibberd, Weideman, JKH, ANB Out: Petty, C. Wagner, Spargo, Stretch, Garlett FB: Hibberd Oscar Hore HB: Salem Frost Fritsch C: Brayshaw Oliver JKH HF: Baker T Mc Petracca FF: Smith Weideman Hunt Foll: Gawn Viney Harmes Int: J. Wagner, Jones, Lockhart ANB

Kicked one too many goals and moved from pick 2 to pick 3 for no reason. Hope it doesn't cost us the player we wanted. Reminds me of trade week when we love giving away extra draft picks in trades for no reason.

When half your side isn't up to AFL standard it's always going to be a slog. Without any skill from half back or run in the middle it was always going to be a lot of bombing down the line, reset, hope to create chances. Our backline was so slow and undermanned we couldn't open the game up. Just wasn't going to happen until the Giants pressure dropped off. The mental weakness in the first half to give away dumb free kicks and not just hang in and create a few goals was really poor, but physically there wasn't much to be done. The game opened up in the 3rd quarter and the Giants walked in goals whilst we battled away to add a few. Then in the last they dropped off and the game was at the standard (below average AFL) where many of our players are at.

Gives it his best and knows how to play the wing in terms of where to run but there's just nothing AFL about him. Small, not quick, can't change direction, has a 40m pop kick. In a good side you might be able to use him as wing depth but in a side like this he's just another ordinary player.

Meh. Point 1 is a fact, injured players are more likely to sustain future injuries. Point 2 feel free to argue but I’m willing to bet there will be concern about May and Lever struggling when they come back. They won’t be anywhere near their full potential. Same with Hannan and anyone else who’s missed a long stint. I remember when Gawn came back after his hamstring and everyone thought he was awful. Point 3 is debatable to the impact but it’s certianly going to take time to settle the side. My post was a response to some comments that players back will see the team improve over the next month or so. I’m not saying we won’t improve but I think at least until guys have had 4 weeks or so in the team it will be mostly on the back of the 22 who played on the weekend.

The problems with so many returning are: 1. Guys who have missed a significant amount of time are more likely to get injured again 2. Those guys will often perform below expectations, particularly May and Lever with high expectations 3. The other players will be disrupted as their won't be cohesion in the best 22 and many will be looking over their shoulders worried about their spot in the side. I can see it already, a fringe player has a bad week (ie. Josh Wagner) and gets dropped for a returning player (ie. Lewis) who then performs worse than the fringe player would've. We really need a month without further injuries, the bye week to allow for some rest and main group training and some of the current side to really lock in their places to really get any benefit from returning players.

Tom McDonald - either nails is straight through or sprays it. We all know about his kicking. More confidence in his game and he'll nail them again. Petracca - yeah he's cooked. Probably going to take a full summer to fix. Garlett - mentally checked out of AFL Footy ages ago. Hunt - pretty similar to T Mc. The technique isn't pretty but mentally he gives it a go Melksham is meant to be our sharp shooter. And whatever choice of Smith/Weid/Preuss should be able to steer them through. Fix Tom's general play, fix Tracc, get a good small forward and it should improve.