DeeSpencer

He's still contracted for this year and next year as well I believe. So he'll have to be traded. I hope that after a month or so off in WA he gets back to playing for GWS (via their reserves I imagine), finishes the year and then it will be up to the WA clubs to see what his trade value is. If he retires or GWS sack him for failure to fulfil his contract then it's going to be like the Mitch Clark situation.

Because Jon O'Rourke and Lachie Plowman are going so much better? GWS didn't draft South Australian's as a rule, they didn't risk Wingard going home and that looks a bad decision. They've made many. The best way to stop stuffing up high draft picks is to stop having high draft picks.

The 45 minutes in a car each way probably doesn't make them happy but I'm sure the players enjoy training on an oval with close proximity to a toilet. Were Tyson, Brayshaw and Frost back in full training? Any Petracca sightings? He wasn't wearing his moon boot in his instagram pic yesterday. It's getting close to the 4 weeks off legs.

Had been avoiding this thread. Was hoping it wasn't as bad as it turned out to be. I just want our young players to be the best they can be and I'm sick of comparing our draft picks. Can't wait to see Clarry pull on the red and blue jumper.

No thanks. The biggest problem with relegation (and there are many) is that it means only a select handful of teams can win the league as they are the powerful teams who don't ever have to think about relegation. The majority of teams will either be battling relegation or in mid table mediocrity. There are other issues as well but the 2nd biggest might be that there isn't enough money or interest for a proper 2nd tier league in Australia. Making games between bottom teams meaningful is a dumb idea to cater for neutral supporters. It's mainly journo's or league administrators who call for things like this. It's only something that's become popular since every game has been shown on TV (and live at that) and the simple solution to avoid "meaningless games" between bottom teams is to change the channel! They are usually on at non peak times anyway. Every Melbourne game is interesting to me and same for true fans of both teams competing in dead rubber games. And games of bottom teams v top teams should be interesting for the upset scuttling the plans of the top team. Unfortunately upsets have been rare over the last 5-10 years of terrible inequality between top and bottom teams. Back in the 90's and early 2000's there were a lot more upsets.

12 in finals - terrible Nab cup in finals - laughable Bottom 6 playing off for 5 weeks - shithouse 11th and 12th missing out in finals for those 2 above - also bad This is Eddie's plan to guarantee 2 or 3 home games in the final 5 rounds against big drawing in contention for finals opponents. Once he schedules his home games against Carl, Ess, Richmond, Hawthorn in the first 17 rounds he's guaranteed most of his 11 home games will be big crowds. The teams who end up stuck in the bottom 6 (and it won't be Collingwood any time soon) for any more than 1 or 2 years will be completely stuffed as they won't play good opponents or draw crowds, becoming reliant on the AFL and therefore by comparison Eddie increases his power.

Not that I've seen, but they'll plate it, put a cast over it, jab it and he'll play, but whether he can be effective I guess we will find out. He'll be ok in pass coverage and if he can 'hit' as they say, where they just spear in and make a tackle that way, not sure he'll be able to tackle if he has to use his arm/hands to hold a tackle.

Do you we keep changing? Not really. The skill level and pace should improve and see us play more high level footy, and we should hold our nerve against the best teams. But overall I still expect us to be a defensive first team and not overexpose our backline by trying to play Port Adelaide style footy. I'm fine with that. What I'd like to see is more forward pressure and up the ground zoning instead of sagging back to defend. Petracca? He'll play. What I expect from Petracca will be times he has to get dropped and go back to the VFL to regather his confidence and work on his defensive skills and efficiency with the ball, not any issue about getting him in early. Like Nakia Cockatoo from Geelong. Hogan? I expect a slight dip in goal tally and a few more matches where expectation outweighs performance, that's the reality of 2nd year syndrome. I'm also a bit worried about this plan to bulk him up, it makes no sense to me. I'd rather see him back up the front of our running groups and getting up and down the ground with freedom. If he's outmuscled then it's in a failure of delivery or failure of his leading patterns. But hey, I'm not in charge. I still expect some very strong performances.

Stretch and ANB playing 11 games is exactly why Hunt is a chance to play! I hope it's tougher this year, but last year it didn't exactly take a heap to get a game. Certainly Hunt has a lot to prove, but he's a lot closer now than last year I think due to his body shape and having completed much more training. Sadly on the back of a few good games he was Casey's top goal scorer, hopefully he can step us his game and still keep kicking goals. Some players were victims of the sub rule, I actually think Hunt is less likely to play because of it's removal. He would've made a handy sub I think and it would've been good for his development, where as the likes of Harmes and ANB need to be playing full games.

My thoughts are summarised as: Carolina offense 8.5/10 v Denver Defense 10/10 - Carolina score approx 20 points Denver offense 6/10 v Carolina defense 8.5/10 - Denver score approx 15 points But there's always the wildcards of: 1. special teams 2. Unexpected turnovers 3. missed FG's and missed PAT 4. Injuries - and on that point Davis is already under a big injury cloud

Newton was amazing, but I feel like some of the other members of Carolina's offense need to get some credit as well. Their O line is really good. Olsen is making a case for the 2nd best TE in the league. Stewart always runs hard and the WR keep making big plays. I don't care if they have drops and bad moments, they keep getting open when they need to be. I feel like the success of the panthers is that their good players are really good and the role players around them just keep stepping up when the time is right.

Irrelevant. You sign a contract you live with it. That's how it works in sports with guaranteed money. No one complains that Angus Brayshaw was underpaid last year based on the set draftee deal. For what it's worth Pedersen came from North on a 3 year deal and apparently for good money as Collingwood were keen on him as well. That deal has since expired and he'll likely now be on a 1 year deal that recognises his value as an ok mature back up player. Dawes has a year left of his 4 year contract and at the end of the year he'll probably be offered (or not offered) some kind of deal that reflects his value in the game as well. The AFL salary cap is 10million per year with 44 players, that's 227,000 per player, given a lot of that are rookies and kids who just make basic wage the average wage for a senior player is well over 300k. If Dawes is on 500k he hasn't exaclty bled us dry.

Wow. That Denver defense is something. I need to watch the replay as only saw the last quarter but to make the stand and stop Brady on the 2pt conversion was something. Brady is amazing and Gronk is even better, just a freak of nature. Peyton looked bad in the 4th quarter, might have to watch more to see if the Broncos will get something going in the superbowl. As for Carolina, they are fantastic. They know who they are on both sides of the ball, aggressive and capable of big plays. Most will tip Carolina for the superbowl and I might too, but I'll be keen to see what Denver come up with on offense because their D will at least give them a chance I think.

Pats 24 - Denver 13 Arizona 27 - Carolina 30

Think you nailed it. Brady gets the ball out so quick a pass rush is irrelevant. I think you have to put 2 on Gronk and maybe even 2 on Edelman at times, then disrupt Brady's throwing lanes and not be afraid to give up a big play every now and then. The issue for Denver is without a great passing game they don't want to sell out and take some risks to force Brady in to a mistake or to get a punt and instead I imagine Denver will die a slow death in this game as NE gradually pull away by sustaining drives.

http://demonwiki.org/Round+22+1987

He's a big improver body wise which hopefully means they've fixed his back and should translate in to both improved performances and consistency at Casey. I'm not convinced he'll be the dashing half back flanker we recruited him for as so far he hasn't been a natural high possession winner which good back flankers are, nor has he used the ball particularly well. But the goals he kicked at Casey and the x factor displayed on the back of an interrupted season points towards him being a very handy half forward type who could easily come in to the AFL side. Early days though, he's really only catching up to where most first year players are in terms of his body and skills,

I was thinking that as well, but also thinking it's not a bad thing. There are many players ahead of him for an inside midfield spot, what we need from him is to become a good rotation player with nice skills on the outside. For that to happen he had to get a lot fitter and if that means he's trimmed right down to achieve that then I'm not disappointed at all.

Melbourne's first game in on the 26th of March and we don't have a NAB challenge match on the weekend of the 19th of March so that match is the last chance for any injured or otherwise guys needing to prove their case for round 1 selection. Good to see Casey playing 3 really strong teams in the lead up to the VFL season.

Overall I agree, there's a gap between them but I don't think a lot of those achievements really indicate the gap, some of those are just popularity awards above and beyond the stats and eye test that tell you Selwood is better. Also this year Selwood's team missed the 8 for the first time in his career and was sat on by heavy tags and often his output suffered and he lost his cool. There were lots of games he didn't do anything significant to help his team win. At one stage I think it was Healy who suggested he take a sabbatical and come back when the team was healthy and more talented. The opposite to that is this year was probably the first time in his peak form that Jones had a class ruckman and 2 other quality inside mids to work with and on several occasions he hit the scoreboard and gathered the big possession totals that seem to draw interest from the media. He was also carrying a significant injury and our 3rd best midfielder for most of the year. My point is, Selwood is ahead of Jones, but there's value in considering just how much better his team has been. I don't think Jones will ever get the reputation Selwood has, but you can see the value improved team performance has had on Matt Priddis who I think is an inferior talent to Jones (better clearance winner but far less skilled) and is now regard as an elite midfielder.

Tyson, Vanders, Jetta, Kent the big difference makers, maybe Petracca as well. Howe and Cross come out from that day though. The scary thing is how many GWS had out, with Mumford the biggest impact player but also several other class players. The last time we had a big conversation about depth was after our round 1 win last year when Dawes came back in for JKH. The depth was somewhat of an illusion. Yet we managed to beat Geelong in Geelong without several of our best and with the likes of Bail, M Jones and Spencer playing. I think our list is at the stage where we should always have options in terms of guys coming in and playing a role, what we need to have to progress is enough of a spread of quality players so that on any game day we have at least a few players making an impact and a spread of reliable players who get the job done most weeks. We always focus on who will fill the bottom 5 spots each week when the reality is we've been let down by not having quality in the top 5 and certainly not having enough depth in the top 15.

Viney's ready. Roos and co have trained him to play a role and developed his game, with another preseason under his belt he should be comfortable at AFL level and ready to consistently impact. He would've won the B+F in a canter if he didn't miss games last year. Trenners is definitely a great leader, but it's just not fair to have any extra pressure on him.

Ok after the comments made by Roos (about waiting to see the games) and by Vince about stepping up, I'd say. Jones, Viney, McDonald for sure. Keep Dunny, but get him to remain focussed on his own game as well this year. Give Bernie the chance if he wants it and has worked for it. That would be 5, probably only need 1 or 2 more, if Garland or Grimes play well in the Nab challenge they are great clubmen and have to be considered. On the other hand i don't think Dawes or Lumumba will be fit to play well and should focus on their own games. If there needs to be another candidate I'd consider Nev Jetta. Then from way out in left field, but screw the haters (which I'm one of), if Jack Watts can finally fix the fatal flaws that limit his game then put him in. There's no one more Melbourne than him, for good and for bad. Very left field and unlikely and he has to earn it with toughness, maybe not this year but it could happen.

Given this was built up as the biggest session so far this preseason and likely the biggest session until the intraclub matches I can live with this result. They wouldn't have McDonald run laps if they were seriously concerned and his shoulder is usually strapped anyway.

Long term I see Frost as a backman as well but I understand why they want a 2nd ruck who has the physical gifts to compete (ie. height and a leap) that Dawes and Pedersen just don't have. Obviously positions aren't fixed these days and there's a lot of moving around but the other factor in Pedo v Dawes is how they combine with Hogan. Dawes is better using his tank playing more in the CHF role, which in turn leaves Hogan close to goal where he can hit the scoreboard - presuming the ball gets to him. Pedo is more likely to take a grab one on one inside 50 than Dawes, but will blow up if up the ground, which means Hogan has to do more of the up the ground work, which suits his game but also takes him away from goal. Late in the season when Hogan was tiring I wanted him close to goal, but early in the season last year he was playing great games getting up and down the ground and having Pedersen meant we still had a chance for the inside 50 kick.