DeeSpencer

Always a lot of talk from Roos and some on here about players 'playing their role'. Well the reality is we needed someone playing the role of gun key forward and a few gun midfielders. But besides those things we desperately needed a crumbing forward and whilst Jeffy has his moments of madness (see the dropped chest mark) he's also played his role and more so far.

I'm not too angry when we torched a finals team for half the game and the margin flattered them late. But I'm not exactly ready to just accept this flu story. It's not an excuse for the first quarter. And whilst you do have poor starts some weeks the deficit blew out all too easily. Our defenders need to stop spoiling each other in the air. Our senior players need to start working out a way to halt momentum by controlling play and we can't make dumb mistakes so often. Dunn playing Ben Brown from behind McDonald and Howe spoiling each other The Watts kick in The ball walzing out from the middle No run to work to create space to get a few cheap uncontested possessions The young players (Hogan, Harmes, Viney) were the ones leading the charge and even Matt Jones and Michie were up and about in the first quarter, yet it took til after the break for rest of the side to follow their way. Plenty of positives for sure but I'm not ready to just accept it as the flu and not focus on rectify some simple mistakes.

Brayshaw rested. Lumumba dropped. Salem and Vanders in if fit. If not then no change is fine as well. Lumumba is a all over the shop at the moment. Doesn't want the ball. Doesn't find the ball. Really offers little. Brayshaw has played nearly ever game coming off a short preseason. His performance is declining despite his effort being great every week. Freshen him up this week and we'll likely get 3 really good weeks from him to finish the year. Michie played a much better game than he has (barring the Richmond effort in the wet) all year. He's slow. He doesn't cover much ground and he can butcher the footy at times. But he also has a crack at contested footy and did a few good things. I'd rather give him one more week and at least then we can say we didn't die wondering.

Best 4 mids: Jones, Vince, Viney, Tyson Next 4 mids: - Brayshaw (tired) - Vanders (injured) - Petracca (injured) - Cross (old and busy tagging Harvey) Want some more? - Kent (injured) - Salem (injured) - ANB (sub) - Harmes (under 5 games) 2nd ruck options: - Jamar (old) - Dawes (not big enough) - Pedersen (inj) - Frost (inj) - King (young) It's not an excuse but sometimes you run out and have bad days where you just can't seem to get your hand on the ball to start the game. The secret is to play smart when you do get it back by using clever options and not making brainless mistakes. The coaches tried a few different things at the centre bounce. They tried a man behind the ball. But at the end of the day it took til quarter time to stem the bleeding. Due to injury we remain short on legitimate options to roll through the middle when things aren't going our way. In an ideal world Vince goes on to a flank or wing if it's not his day. Jones goes to a forward pocket. Gawny moves to full forward and a genuine second option takes it up in the ruck. Vanders showed what he could do in the midfield already this year. Petracca and Brayshaw dominated under 18's as clearance machines.

Terrible batting performance and the start with the ball not much better. We really have been stiff to lose the great Ryan Harris before this series. I don't know what the answers to our batting problems are but I'm pretty confident it's not S Marsh or Voges. We need young players who are committed to test cricket and the technique and mindset required. The hitting that works in limited overs cricket just isn't the same as proper test match batting.

No need for Jamar. If we lose because Gawn gets tired then so be it, it's the best development for him having to guts it out. He took on 2 rucks against the Pies and whilst Goldstein might do more than 2 Pies rucks combined the ability to work head to head against 1 guy might make it easier. Take your pick out of Michie, Newton or Matt Jones for the last bench spot. I'd probably stick with Michie but I'm not sure it's the right call.

The rules should allow for clubs to put their own protections on picks ie. not top 5. But not sure they will. Really though clubs are so conservative, trades for big players so hard to come by and even harder now with free agency and players can't be traded without their permission. All up it's not really going to create too many circumstances where clubs are giving up future picks. Swapping future picks I can see, ie your first for our first, but mainly clubs will need a really good player to swap this year and next years first pick. It doesn't do much to fix the circumstances where a player is out of contract and wishes to be traded though which will now become an even bigger issue. All out of contract players should be restricted free agents or able to be franchised/tendered to avoid this system where a player doesn't have a contract but still has to be traded.

Anyone else want to storm the medallion club seats and see just how many security guards it takes to stop us? Worse thing that can happen is probably getting kicked out and being saved the pain of watching us lose to GWS. By the way if GWS sneak an upset win either of Port or Sydney as well as getting the job done against Carl and Essendon then they'll likely be playing to make the 8. If we do them a massive favour and beat North this week then they could be as high as 7th by the end of this round as well.

I heard Port went after Gawny last year before they targeted Ryder and he had no interest in leaving then. I can't see him leaving now. I'm sure the club has an offer in front of him but at the same time I don't begrudge Max from playing a big 5 weeks so he can then point to a sustained patch of form as a reason for a really good contract.

Maybe it's just because he's young but from watching him at the ground and then on the replay he seemed not unhappy being the sub which is a nice change (even if the rule will go next year). He had a spring in his step and seemed to be giving a bit of positive energy to his team mates when on the bench. He took a nice mark to get that shot on goal and I'm excited to see if he can take a few more good grabs and maybe a big hanger before the end of the year. It's going to take more good drafting and development to say we have anything resembling depth but I'm pumped for the preseason we should be able to have now we have guys like Harmes, ANB, Stretch, Brayshaw and Vanders who will all be keen on improving to get in the best 22. The intensity and skills should go up and with some continuity we are a chance to see guys really working hard knowing nothing will be for granted.

Backline? Tall yes. Mobile yes. But Garland better take about 50 intercept marks because the thought of the other 3 kicking it around the backline is scary. I'm not sure Tommy Mc and Frost will be able to coexist due to lack of footskills, yet alone adding Fitzy in there. Fitzy should be considered this week. But I think Garland will be a decent match up for Brown who gets a lot of his ball on hard leads. If we can push him outside 50 and use Gawn and Howe as aerial support deep then Garlo should do the job. McDonald to Waite and Dunn to Petrie might be the other 2 match ups although as usual the more important thing is McDonald gets to roam at CHB whilst Dunn plays closer to goal.

He's rucking well enough to cover his other stuff ups at the moment. Neither Jamar, Spencer or likely King could do any time at CHF that helps take the pressure off Hogan (and get him deep). Whilst Dawes does stuff all forward it's probably still more than those other 3. This week he'll have to give Gawn a give chop out which is fine when it's against Brown or Petrie, but the short moments he goes up against Goldstein might be ugly.

Watching the replay did Grimes no favours at all. Turnovers, getting run down, bad handballs. Michie was ok. But he just doesn't get enough of it or do enough with it. He needs to play in the guts but hasn't nailed a spot there. The questions are: 1. Do we have anyone better? 2. Do we have the required level of fitness if we add Newton or Salem compared to Grimes who makes mistakes but does cover a lot of ground 3. Do we need to play Michie and/or Grimes to work out where they are at At this stage: In: Salem, Newton Out: Grimes, Michie With Salem, Newton, ANB or even Brayshaw as sub. I think it's smart not alarmist to suggest Brayshaw needs to be sub or the week off at some stage this year.

Unless there's a special event on (and it would have to be a big one) parking is no problem at Casey for VFL games. There's a big car park just next to the grand stand and plenty of other parks around the rest of the adjacent ovals. Not sure on entry. Do you still get a Casey membership with your MFC one. I haven't been this year so not sure. Otherwise someone will know.

He was sensational. Maybe a knock that he didn't beat much, maybe 6 others played really well, but I agree he was great. 6 Vince 5 Dunn 4 Jetta 3 Gawn 2 Vanders 1 Watts Could've had any of the back 6 (Dunn, McDonald,Garland, Howe, Jetta, Cross). Could've had Jones or Viney. Nothing wrong with Hogan's game either.

Might be related to the post above. If that young fella is a CHB then maybe there isn't room and Casey likely have obligations to fulfil with the 23rd player. Plus dropping Oscar back for an easy kill might be good for him. Our youngsters are tiring at AFL. No reason to dismiss that as perfectly logical if a young tall is doing the same at VFL level.

Brisbane were flat out terrible. Gold Coast were poor considering the expectation. But our other 4 wins have been 3 teams in the 8 and one team fighting for it and we've heard how poorly they've played and I don't blame supporters for getting angry about it. I agree with whoever said it should be our pressure. We should take beating a team who played poorly as a compliment not an insult. I'd beat teams who played poorly every week! I bet Tigers fans are enjoying how poorly the Hawks played last night.

Terrible first half sitting and waiting for the ball and costing us goals for it. Much better 2nd half, not just the junk time marks but some better competing and a nice spoil on the far wing. Did well in the ruck considering his limitations. If we had a very good 2nd ruck/forward - Pedersen is better but still not perfect I agree - then I think we could and would try Vanders, Watts, Petracca as medium marking players to go with Hogan. Similar to the way the Hawks just have a 2nd ruck, Roughy and then use Gunston, Breust and even Rioli to win 1 on 1's in the air. Vanders and Watts did well today in taking up the slack and with more speed and skill in the side the reliance on tall targets will diminish further. I'm sure the club know this and King is a potential option worth the gamble as a rookie pick. The focus has probably been on beefing up the tall defenders (O Mc and Frost) and of course on getting midfield talent in. I'm sure we will make an investment on a key forward or 2nd ruck/forward in this draft and it will be very important for the future. But for the present I really hope Dawes takes some confidence from his 2nd half and makes attacking the ball again his priority.

Vanders, Harmes, Neal-Bullen all named in the original Casey team with the 9 man bench. That now becomes a 6 man bench for 5 spots (4 + the one 23rd play spot). Or in other words White is almost certain to play. Thanks for making me open the interestingly titled threat worried we were making some terrible mistake before seeing there's nothing to it.

Some really strong marks today as well as the usual neat disposal. Love it when he uses his speed, only wish we start to see it more and more. Wattsy has been one of the big ticks this year and I still think he's only just scratching the surface of his talent.

Yep I need to see this

Today's games haven't been much chop. GWS were terrible. Richmond v Freo was close but marred by umpiring and poor kicking. Gold Coast were ok but no chance with their best 4 mids out. Tonights aren't anything special. Gold Coast are still scarily high up in the chances of winning a flag. There key forward combination is only rivalled by Hawthorn and West Coast. With Tippett struggling I'd rather Lynch and Dixon. If they get O'Meara, Prestia, Ablett, Swallow and Martin back they'll be back in contention for the 8 next year.

Pretty much is. It gets some TAC players some VFL experience and a chance to test themselves against better competition and audition for AFL or VFL opportunities.

I had a look for a while on Wednesday but never got round to starting a thread so I'd post some observations in here. Hope it doesn't confuse things too much. Didn't see Jamar on track. But everyone else was out there. Frost and Trengove not doing much. Kent running laps at a solid pace. Petracca on the far wing surrounded by 3 support staff working between some cones. Pedersen using his left arm to knock balls to the ground in a drill, running some laps then later doing a lap of the tan whilst I was over there. For what it's worth I think this injury could be the making of him for a couple of good years. If he puts in a super long preseason he could get to the consistent fitness level that allows him to play his best footy. Dawes did some training then was just kicking footies as part of a drill. Vanders and Hogan took an early finish. The team mainly worked divided in 3 or 4 groups for smaller activities focussed on ball movement. 4 on 3 handballing within a 30 by 30 square for mids. 5 on 4 kicking around the defensive 50 for the backs and so on. The backs did another interesting drill where 1 would have to run back with the flight of the ball, 1 circle around for the handball who then hit up the 45 degree kick, followed by the far wing defender linking up and kicking forward. Our games might be slow and stodgy but training was certainly on quick ball movement. There was a drill focussing on clearing a pack out the back but then quickly getting in through the corridor and hitting up targets inside 50 both to the skinny and fat side. I didn't focus too much on the individuals but Jayden Hunt still has a very thin body, his torso is tiny and he doesn't have much size in the hips. I don't think we'll see him this year in any hurry. Billy Stretch on the other hand seems to have added some size in the legs. Probably the thing that made me smile the most out of the session was seeing Salem's quick release and effortless flight on his kicks. He's on another level to the rest of our players by foot.

If Riewoldt pulls out I wonder if the Saints will play Hickey over Membrey to stretch us in the ruck and also make McDonald play back. Could work against them if it's wet. Speaking of the wet I think that's the only chance Michie has to play. Otherwise I'd go with the younger guys. I don't see Stretch or Harmes named for Casey so I presume they will play. Grimes, Michie, ANB and Matt Jones for the remaining 2 spots.I might regret this come Sunday but I'd rather give ANB a full run back at Casey and use Michie or Matt Jones as the sub. So bench: Stretch, Grimes, Harmes with Michie/Matt Jones as sub depending on conditions. I expect Grimes will play on the wing and tag Montagna.