DeeSpencer

He could. But he also might lack the fitness and smarts. And GWS might not respect the match up anyway and swap it. Really though if Pedo, Vanders, Brayshaw, Kent and Kennedy are all part of the forward line mix I can't see a spot for Frost.

The other thing to consider is the MCG factor and how that changes things. It's got to be a positive for Lumumba. Our game plan, which resembled the Dogs of last years, held up very well at Etihad, but on a bigger ground the spaces for the zone defending are bigger and the amount of pressure on the forwards probably isn't as consistent. That means we need more speed and endurance across half back to make it work. Plus there will be more one on ones between the arcs. Lumumba might struggle with disposal, deep defending and seemingly his willingness to run. But I still expect he covers the ground as well as anyone we have and can win one on ones.

Whilst I think it's important to pick your best team I think you have to consider the opposition as well. If Shaw (back), Shiel (mid) and Devon Smith (fwd) are the crucial players (and that's simplifying but they are important) then we need to consider that somewhat when picking a team. Who's our best defensive forward to shut down Heath Shaw? Is it's Matt Jones? Or anyone specifically out of Harmes/Kent/Kennedy? Similarly if we have to move Bugg on to the ball to tag Shiel then he can't play half back so much. If that happens then we need an extra half back, which is important as there's probably no point tying Vince and Salem up with minding Stevie J or Smith. Hence where Lumumba might come in. Just food for thought.

Trengove's missed 2 years and more time before that. I wouldn't mind at all if we don't see him for 7 weeks or even 17 weeks if that's what it takes. Presuming he is good enough to get in the team. I'd be a little annoyed if Petracca gets held back that long but who knows how long he'll take. It's not easy getting a kick in the Casey forward line.

They are always used and the doctors have some responsibility to get them right. I don't hate the medical report, I hate how much they count the impact. Anyway, in this case the medical report was obviously all clear so it's worked for us.

We need 7 guys to go through the back 6. Lumumba gets in because so far Wagner and Hunt aren't up to it and he's the next best option. Plus he has speed and endurance to go on to the wing. Along with Vince going from half back on to the ball, and Nath Jones doing a little of the opposite that's our best backline I think. I'm a Harmes fan and I think he can play almost every position on the ground, but so far he's only been trialled as a half forward with stints on the wing and on the ball. Garland's had poor moments but he did a lot of good against the Saints. He'll be picked for round 1 and play on the 3rd tall as usual. They won't be experimenting with Frost down back for round 1. Garland has spent preseason learning the zone aspects and practising his kicking from the backline (with variable results). Taking him out and throwing Frost back is being very hopefully.

I really like the way he got the ball moving in to space and then delivered out in front this week. Took away a lot of the bad errors. I think that's the team and his responsibility. He needs to go get the ball when it's a fast play, but when it's a kick out or slow play he shouldn't be chasing kicks. Let Salem, Vince, Jetta etc work for those kicks, which of course means they have to work hard! The main criticism I'd have this week is he still gave away a goal kicking the ball when he could've handballed (the one to Grimes, which wasn't his fault but he didn't make it easy) and trying a one handed mark instead of punching. But he played really well within the zone defending which is something I was looking for him to do. I hope he brings his A game against Stewart/Lobb/Tomlinson/Patton now that won't be up against Jeremy Cameron.

FB: Jetta Dunn Garland HB: Vince McDonald Salem C: M. Jones Jones Bugg HF: Kent Hogan Vanders FF: Watts Pedersen Garlett Foll: Gawn Tyson Viney Int: Lumumba Kennedy Oliver Brayshaw Presuming Dunn, Lumumba, Brayshaw and Vanders are right to go I think the contentious spots comes down to: A) 2nd wing spot: Harmes v Matt Jones v Grimes. I don't expect Matt Jones to be popular but sometimes the hard choice is the right one. Similarly I don't expect leaving Harmes out to feel right but someone has to be unlucky. Harmes in the post match interview alluded to getting the opportunity to play wing and needing some big training weeks to get in the round 1 team. It might come down to who is using the ball and covering the ground better at training the next two weeks. Not an easy call. B) Frost or Pedo. And I think Pedo has the edge there. Frost or no Frost. Personally I think the marking power of Vanders and defensive pressure of Vanders, Brayshaw and the others who have played so far make leaving him out the right thing to do. Run and speed will be vital to beat the Giants. I don't think we need to be going in too tall and we need positional versatility given the rotation cap.

They are a serious football side. Don't be fooled by a practice game in wet weather. They were ready for round 1 after dismantling Sydney. We'll need our forward pressure up super high to stop their run and carry, in particular someone to mind Heath Shaw. Hopefully Dunn and Lumumba help our ball movement down back, get that wrong and it's game over. Do both of the above and we are in with a shot.

FB: Garland Dunn Jetta HB: Vince McDonald Salem C: Bugg Jones M. Jones HF: Vanders Watts Kennedy FF: Kent Hogan Garlett Foll: Gawn Tyson Viney Int: Oliver Lumumba Frost Brayshaw Unlucky: Harmes, Pedo (?susp). Matt Jones, Lumumba and Frost maybe the luckiest 3. Out: Pedo, Wagner, O Mc, Harmes plus Grimes, Michie In: Vanders, Lumumba, Dunn, Braysgaw

The old man started watching in the 2nd half and thought Wagner was great. It's good to see him bounce back from a bad first half. I think the fumbles and disposal issues will sort themselves out with more opportunities and less nerves. He can kick a footy, just a matter of doing it at AFL level. Defensive ability and speed are my concerns. I think needs one or the other to be valuable. But he can get more game speed by being more confident. No issue with the way he attacked the contest once, especially once he started to win a few. That's a big positive.

I've said the same thing the whole time and if Vanders and Brayshaw are good to go then it might come down to Harmes, Matt Jones or Oliver. Oliver is the obvious choice but Matt Jones has impressed and Harmes does a lot of good as well. Less rotations means it's harder to even out the spread of game time but 70% is reasonable, the question might be for how long can he run out his stints on the ground. 70% is fine as long as he's not tiring whilst he's on. I get the feeling he's still much more suited to being on the ball than forward, yet he'll have to rest forward a fair bit.

Might be hard to fit both he and Frost in anyway and whilst both offered something I doubt either nailed a spot today. Might save the coaches from a tricky decision.

FB: Jetta Garland O McDonald HB: Salem T Mc Vince C: M Jones Viney Grimes HF: Kent Hogan Kennedy FF: Watts Pedersen Garlett Foll: Gawn Tyson Jones Int: Oliver Bugg Frost Harmes Maybe nominal sub in case of injury/after half time: Michie, Wagner I hope we learn from Richmond and have all 24 available so we aren't overtaxing anyone in case of injury. Plus I'd love to see Wagner get a full run but the coaches might go with Oscar Mc. I'd probably make both available really, just a matter of how close to round 1 conditions of 22 only they want to go.

Doesn't matter how he players, It will only be if Geelong get close and he would've been the difference maker. Which I doubt. I think there will still be a huge gap between them and the top teams.

Teams are in:

I don't think Geelong are planning to be at their best this year or even next. They know they need a couple of years for the recruits to settle in and for their kids to come good. Looking 2018-2020 by which time Stevie J, Lonergan, Mackie, Bartel and Enright will all be gone. They plan to have Selwood, Harry Taylor and Hawkins winning flags at 30+ just as the Hawks have done with so many old guys still playing at their peak. So they needed the room to give games to Cockatoo, Lang, Gregson etc instead of having Stevie J on a forward flank.

Might derail the topic a bit but oh well. Backline: Brown's a better pure stopper but Dunn offers more rebound. Frost and McDonald are about equal both can be great or terrible. We need to upgrade Garland. Reid never plays so it's really Marsh, who was good today. The Pies small defenders are an achilles heal I think, they don't kick the ball well enough. They shut down ok but they lack rebound. They'd love Salem. But we need another as well. They have more options with a bit more game experience (Oxley, Ramsey, Sinclair, Langdon) but need one or two of those to emerge, just as we need another running defender. 12 months time and hopefully it's Melksham, Hunt, Wagner, White all showing AFL capabilities. Forward: Hogan over Moore. But Cloke is still way better than Pedo obviously. Watts needs to show he's a legit 3rd tall. Gault's an interesting prospect, but their best 3rd tall is probably Howe once he comes back. Or they do have the option of playing 2 rucks that we don't. If they get Elliott, Fasolo and Varcoe in the same forward line (with Swan playing 50/50) then that's amazing. Petracca and Garlett might be a great start for us, but Kent, Kennedy and Harmes have work to do to prove they are consistent AFL players. Rucks: Would rather Gawn and no back up than the Pies 3 to be honest, but we need the King's to come on fast. Mids: They have us for experienced ball winners. Pendles, Swan, Treloar, Adams, Greenwood, Crisp, De Goey we can counter with Vince, Jones, Viney, Tyson, Vanders, Brayshaw, Oliver but besides the Pendles superstar status it's just slight edges in experience I think. The pies fell away late last season, we fell away after we beat them. We have to find and then sustain that top level with youngsters. Their biggest advantage might be Sidebottom as a top quality outside midfielder, even if he's a bit slower than ideal. I hope Trengove can be that player for us. Aish might be their next best outside runner, which shows it's not their strongest depth spot. They might experiment with Howe on a wing, we are trying Grimes and Matt Jones. Neither team is blessed. In summary I think they have us for: Ruck depth (one good trade or state league find fixes that), midfield experience (time and development should fix), backline options (if not talent) and forward line potency (which Petracca, Kent and Watts could fix if they get it together). Otherwise both sides have similar gaps. If we develop our best kids in to a couple of A graders and can fill the gaps with a few more good draft picks and then a trade or two we can bounce straight by them. When they won in the middle, pressured their backs and rebounded quickly the Dogs tore them apart.

Tomorrow is a big test. Getting blown out by the saints won't end the season but it will almost certainly show we've still got massive gaps. I can't imagine a team winning 10 (or even 8) or more games with: - Slow starts - Periods of complete lack of ball movement from the backline with sub AFL standard turnovers and few attacking kicks - Terrible forward 50 entries - Inability to create forward pressure - Inability to keep up with teams on the spread - Only 2 main avenues to goal. The first half against Port and most of the Dogs game had a lot of that. The second half against Port had none of that. Time to show that against a good pressure team on their home ground that we can stand up against it and push back.

Might only be a practice match but the Hawks still look so superior to any other side. They are so good at getting in the right spots defensively and instantly going from defending to attack. Bulldogs were very good today as well and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt in the second half. Their good footy is as good as any other team but their personnel isn't as good right now. North and the Pies have plenty of talent but don't see to have nearly the same level of defensive smarts or ball movement as the Dogs and Hawks showed. Freo and Geel are a bit like that too. Not as impressed by Richmond, Sydney or Port. All had positives but I get the feeling they aren't as good as others right now. Same for Adelaide. Besides from what happens with us I'm keen to see West Coast and GWS. They should both win easily and show their class tomorrow.

How many former AFL players or experienced top line VFL players do Casey have on their books? Not many by my count. Jack Hutchins might be it from the former AFL camp and not a lot of VFL experience. I'd like to hear that a few more of our players took the game up to them but I'm not surprised Casey lost. They're going to need a decent compliment of AFL players and in particular more experience on the ball and across half forward to be any chance of beating good VFL sides.

Ben Kennedy has a lot of similar traits to Sam Gray, albeit a high draft pick not a guy who had to fight through the system. Pedersen, Grimes and Matt Jones look like 3 guys who are fighting off the canvas to get in to the round 1 team. I'm not sure if they will last that way but we can hope they can all fill spots effectively. I think both Viv Michie and Ben Newton have skills to offer the team, just a matter of them getting the opportunity to show they've done the work over summer. Obviously harder for Newton giving the injury set back. And I'm still super keen to see Max King play some regular footy, impress in the VFL and get a chance. For us to improve we really need someone like him but it sounds like he hasn't made the leap over preseason yet which is unfortunate.

I think it was Goodwin who suggested it to Viney that instead of practising on his right he learns how to move the ball from right to left as a left footer. Salem didn't need any instructions, he nailed the first one. I doubt it's even a technique many forwards use these days but they still should. From deep in a forward pocket and too far out to attempt a checkside snap, you can curve a drop punt the more unnatural way by a combination of changing your ball drop and/or arc of your leg swing, just like a golfer hitting a fade or draw. Of course there are some players (Tom Hawkins these days, David Neitz) who kick best moving it left to right for a right footer. I don't expect Jack Viney or Nathan Jones to have mastered it, but it would be nice as experienced footballers if they at least had heard and understood the concept.

Stopped by at the very end, didn't see anything much that hasn't been reported. As a long time sufferer of MFCSS I found it disappointing that Goodwin and Salem had to instruct Viney, Harmes and a few others how to get a drop punt to move in the air. Still work for our development team to do on organisation to make sure that every little thing is covered in their instructions to players.

The quicker we get out of the Darwin game the better. Just a shame we didn't get in on Hobart faster. Would've worked nicely. Roosy's contract off the books will save plenty of cash. The money is one positive and as much as I'd like to go to all the games I think reducing the number of MCG games acts as a positive by increasing crowds for the other games. Suplly v demand etc. That's been the true master-stroke of the Hawks deal I think, which is a bit of a sad thought.