DeeSpencer

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.

Cleared that up pretty well. Personally I don't mind the idea of him having to wait a bit and work on rounding out his game. If his skills pick up a bit with his tank and natural ability to find the ball he'll be a valuable addition to the team as an inside mid, on the wing, half back or half forward. He'll get 25-40 touches in the VFL no trouble and each one represents a chance to use the ball well, compared to running around a bit out of position at AFL level and struggling to learn.

FB: Wagner Garland Jetta HB: Vince T McDonald Salem C: M Jones Viney Grimes HF: Kent Hogan Kennedy FF: Garlett Pedersen Watts Foll: Gawn Tyson Jones Int (from): Oliver, Harmes, Bugg, Frost, Stretch, Hunt, Michie, Terlich, Oscar So 3 guys will probably start off at Casey and the interchange rotations will be interesting to watch.

Jones and Viney are the only automatic inclusions I think. From the rest of the group: Vince has the experience and talent so if he wants to be a leader you put him in. Tom McDonald is a standout in the way he prepares, how much effort he gives come game day and hopefully can get back to being a standout player. Gawn is a standout character, if the coaches believe he has the game and the work rate to be a leader then I can support that, he's the player others follow. Once you've got those 5 it's a matter of who else goes in and it's probably where we fall away. Dawes and Lumumba have injuries and form issues that limit their respect within the group. Dunn didn't back up his 2014 and probably lacks on field qualities in terms of consistency and focus to be a leader. Grimes just isn't good enough. Garland might not be either but he's a guy who's always given his all on and off field as a Melbourne man. He's a popular team mate and I trust him as a wise and caring club man. If he's the worst performing on field member of the group I can still understand him being a leader.

The Dogs: - Completely changed the way they played - Won a lot of games and beat some good teams - Lost an elimination final I don't think we will change the way we play so drastically. There just hasn't been enough of a talent overhaul nor has their been a radical coaching change. I don't think we will win a lot of games, but who knows if every thing does go right then finals must be a chance. And if we do make finals then who says we can't win one? We'll have a lot of momentum and I think we've got some guys who are built for the big stage.

Hard to get a read on. I was watching the spreading from a contest drill they were doing and he was in space, balanced up and kicked really well, but couldn't quite see him out and running enough to work it out. He looked balanced and skilful today, I find it hard to think that he won't at least be a good VFL player if he doesn't break down. I don't think we'll know about his pace until he's back at AFL level.

Most of the problems with Etihad will be solved when the AFL buys it. The fact that Etihad disrupts the Docklands precinct is really only relevant to the unfortunate people who live or work there. We should keep Etihad for the rest of it's functional life (20-30 years?) and have the roof closed, clubs making good value for crowds and better value seating distribution. Then why not built a repeat without many of issues just further along the rail lines in the West. E gate as it's known or somewhere near North Melbourne station. Works perfectly as a spot for fans of the Dogs, North and Essendon and will eventually be valuable land as it's in a gateway between the city and the growing Western Suburbs. Absolutely crazy to have 2 stadiums next to each other on the same side of town.

Got there just before 11, left around an hour later. Very muggy. No sign of Dunn, Vanders, Brayshaw, Newton, Dawes, Spencer, Terlich, ANB, Weed, Hulett, King, King or White by the time I arrived. Maybe a separate Casey training group this week? Everyone else who was on track was involved fully as far as I could tell. Including Petracca and Trengove. Usual group drills focussing on quick hands, spread and kicking. Then more positional drills. Talls doing marking. A group of backs doing kicking. Midfielders practising quick handballs up with pressure approaching. The forwards had to lead up for a mark with token defensive pressure before doubling back in an arc and leaping for a mark on top of the speccy bag. Petracca had a hell of a ride pretty much sitting on top of the poor coach with the bag which had everyone laughing. High fives all around for the poor coach who was squished. Was the highlight of the session aside from seeing Bernie Vince sail a drop punt goal through from about 60 on his left. 8 or so players finished with session with boxing. Hogan, Lumumba and Wagner went with Rawlings for a drill where they led in to space either side of the 50. Was more to get Lumumba and Hogan some extra work I think. Kent did goal kicking with Brett Allison. Very much a focus on keeping balance and a straight line through the ball. The first few was rusty but after that he seemed to find his confidence. Tyson, Jetta and Ben Ken did a series of 200m sprints. Kennedy led them out early before Tyson took over as the repeat efforts continued but Jetta and Kennedy weren't too far behind. Oscar Mc and then later his brother were doing extra kicking practise. A focus on fast feet getting some agility around cones before steadying and kicking low to a target. Oscar struggled, not sure why he's kicking is down, but then got better. Tom was kicking fine, it's just not the same pressure as game day. Gawn spent most of the session just with Stafford doing ruckwork before Frost and Pedo joined him a bit.

Well we aren't very smart if we don't recruit a player for not only the attributes that will help the team but also how we will improve them. Of course he'll have to earn the games with some form and using his attributes but I'd be very surprised if the coaches don't give him some extra opportunities because it's the best way to fix composure issues. Keep dropping him and then brining him back and he'll never feel comfortable at the level. It might not be start of the season, it might be latter rounds, but I'd be shocked if he wasn't given a consistent run at it.

Happy with Salem and Vince being a bit rusty and turning it over in practice games with ambitious kicks, that's part of finding their groove. Happy for Tom McDonald to do that occasionally as well. But not when he's shanking it consistently. Same goes for Grimes with his indecisive decision making. And Watts when he does lazy things like not get back from the mark and getting the ball smothered. If he has time and space to run and kick to space then I'll live with McDonald turnovers should they come. If he's taking risky options under pressure or spraying the ball off the boot then there's no excuse.

It's a bogus attempt to justify them as promotion instead of league run and to deflect blame for when they [censored] off the clubs (or the league itself). They are paid for by the league and it's such a waste of money. The clubs could do their own promotion much better and the clubs, junior development or just giving it to the players would be a better way to spend the money.

Definitive statement about how he wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Token line about considering the free agency process. And this is the headline they create. Bad enough from an independent media company, but pure drivel from the AFL's own media department.

We brought him across to give him a consistent shot of games. He's making the errors he's known to make at AFL level and doing well in the things he does well in. As I said earlier it might be a case of picking him and living with some bad kicks for a month or so. There's certainly no reason to bounce him between sides and all signs point towards him not really improving at VFL level. I guess he was the guy available but he seems so similar to Kent and Harmes. At least competition for spots should encourage those 3 to go to the next level.

I'd love to see him learn to kick from scratch on his left foot. Teach him from the very basics like international recruits are. There's a controversial idea. Because there's a limit to how proficient he'll ever be on his right due to his technique and lack of feel with the foot. He's rarely balance and too often shins the ball in an attempt to not sky it. Anyway, I was just thinking he was pretty ordinary against Freo, the Dogs and Essendon last year in the NAB challenge. I remember Pav and Daniher getting hold of him and him getting caught with the ball. He then played a great half season before reverting to poor form. So now I'm not sure if he'll suddenly go from poor form to good form when the season starts like last year or if last years first half was just a mirage.

I loved Viney when he started in 2013. Then I loved Tyson in 2014. Couldn't help but enjoy Brayshaw last year. Now already moved on to Oliver. Yet after all that I'm still really keen to see what Petracca can do, but I'm loving the idea of him getting to start as a forward and support Hogan. We need a bit more outside run and skill, but surely young players would be excited getting to play with those names above.

We managed to win a 2nd game in a row and in the process show exactly why we usually don't win 2 in a row. That's a rare achievement. I'd be keen to see 2 really good performances in a row.

Possibly a down fall of zone defending. Or laziness/lack of awareness to get the match up right. If the Dogs were playing Boyd, Redpath, Roughead and 2 rucks they would've had 3 if not 4 talls on the field. With Dunn off that left McDonald, Garland and Wagner as the taller defenders. Maybe at times they were happy for Jetta to take the 3rd tall forward instead of Wagner. That's one thing I'm happy to let slide during a preseason game. It should be an easy fix come the real stuff.

If your argument is that we are young an inexperienced I'll agree with you. My concern is that we are young, inexperienced and not very good. I thought that this year we would have enough experience in the midfield and backline and enough young talent up forward to win at least 8 games. If that is going to be the case then we can't justify barely scraping past the Bulldogs depth players with near on a full side.

Grimes is on his way out as a football, Oliver is just getting started. And about 1 in 3 of Grimes' disposals is either a turnover or a momentum killer. That said, his work off the ball is going to superior to Oliver's and probably to any other option we have for the wing, especially since Stretch has hardly been sighted so far. We have to run with the best sides to beat them, we can't just throw kids in and expect them to keep up to seasoned endurance freaks. So prepare to be a bit disappointed if Grimes is starting on a wing and Oliver isn't. The good news is Oliver looks a very good shot of finding a place in the half forward/midfield rotation.

Some badly missing sarcasm detectors in the last few posts. Well done Wrecker and LDC

We beat the Dogs in near identical preseason circumstances last year. We beat Collingwood at the height of Neeld rubbish. We beat Richmond in Roos' first year. There's a myth that we never won preseason matches. Just as there's a myth that a reasonably decent 7 win team from last season needs to win presesaon games this year to somehow change the culture. Playing good football is the important goal and we failed miserably today. The gulf in the age, experience and allegedly talent between the two teams today should've been a 10 goal win not a 10 point win.

I can't speak for Steve but if we smashed them by 50 I'd be saying that's a pretty good performance and there likely would've been many positives. We beat a reserves team by 2 goals. It's a pretty simple scenario to work out it wasn't a good performance. For some ridiculous reason we have to pretend it was because it could be worse? Come on. But it's not only about the scoreboard. I would've liked to have seen someone from outside the best 22 put their hands up for a game. Or someone show they've gone to another level. We saw Oliver. Watts, Gawn and Viney look in good nick, but we knew that last week. Matt Jones and Grimes are having a crack on the wing and Bugg is a goer. But there really hasn't been anything else of note from young players. Bulldogs fans are sitting back enjoying that without 16 of their best they nearly beat a near full strength side. Trust me, I'd be the first to celebrate the honourable nature of that loss if it was us.

Got a text from a Pies mate today. Said "Are you enjoying Kennedy's kicking". The run in to open goal was a complete stuff up, tried to massage it through instead of kicking it properly, other times he tries to kick the cover off it. Surely better he reconciles that like Matty Stokes he can only kick 40m and his team mates learn that too than him ever trying to launch long bombs. If he can learn to relax and compose himself he might offer something, but it might take 1-2 years and 20 or so games for that moment to come and it's going to be painful watching. By the way I think he was clear open 40m out from goal at one stage in the 2nd quarter when for whatever reason Grimes took an extra sidestep and launched it in to Harmes for the hanger.

Hogan and Petracca makes 2, Brayshaw would be a nice 3rd. Trengove is excluded as Clay Smith from the Dogs is also excluded, we don't know what he'll be when he's back yet. That accounts (and being generous) for Stringer, Bont and Macrae maybe. Still doesn't account for another 12 players including the skill aspects of the Dogs backline, a large chunk of their midfield and a few other solid forwards. Similar young sides to the one the Dogs put out there today - like Carl, Essendon, Richmond and Hawthorn have fielded over the first two rounds - have been absolutely punished by experienced line ups. Today was poor, I'm not sure why everyone is keen to reward the mediocrity.

Only some is more like 15. FB: Morris #### Wood HB: Boyd ##### Murphy C: Macrae Bont Suckling HF: Hunter #### Picken FF: Stringer #### Dickson Ruck: #### Wallis Dahlhaus Int: Stevens Johannisen Most of that lot would absolutely walk it to our side. We took on the bulldogs dodgy spine, Libba and a bunch of kids and it took us 4 quarters to over run them to win the game. Imagine us without 15 of our best players, it would be a blood bath against a near full strength team.