DeeSpencer

The thing that makes Dunn and for that matter Petterd so valuable is they have natural forward instincts and can take marks. They are dangerous options so when they play as defensive forwards they are invaluable compared to other guys in the league who have held similar positions. Dunn is particularly impressive because what is he 192cm? He doesn't exactly play like the tallest 190+ guy around but still if you have him in a marking contest against a 185cm guy he has a massive advantage. I'm getting worried about Bate because watching Geelong, Coll and StKilda the only medium forward who doesn't have strong defensive pressure out of those 3 teams is Stevie J. They fill the rest of the forward line with midfielders or speedy smalls. The medium forward is out of vogue at the moment. Petterd, Dunn and Jurrah will survive due to their ability to put on forward pressure, and Green because he is damn good and can play in the middle. Bate either has to really step it up, or increase his forward pressure.

We have to keep the run and speed in the side!!! If Miller comes in it has to be for one of Watts, Jurrah or PJ. I wouldn't think we'd be dropping Watts or Jurrah so maybe PJ comes out or Miller doesn't come in. Warnock for Rivers? The question has to be asked but I think the answer is probably not. Cheney in? I wouldn't think so. If Moloney comes I'd like to drop an inside player to keep our speed. Unfortunately Jones is in good form and its hard to drop the skipper, McKenzie or Trengove. Maybe Bail goes down back again and Bennell comes out. Then Sylvia plays more up forward. A difficult week ahead at selection.

Good idea to put him away for the year. Battling away in Casey 2's can't be good for anyone. I think the rookie list similar to Newton and Meesen this year wouldn't be the worst place for him next year. But I'm not ready to give up on him yet regardless of whether we think he deserves to be contracted or not.

Moloney is one of only 2 players I think who have got off at the tribunal (although he still got a reprimand). PJ was suspended in the VFL.

I'd be open to Kerr. For all his off field antics and injury problems he's a gun. Head says no but heart says 'just do it anyway'! Can't see the club sharing my enthusiasm. Cox is too old and I think this year has shown that he's better as a number 1 ruck in the game all the time than used forward/bench and sparingly in the ruck. Sure he's a solid back up but Jamar should be in better form than Cox for the rest of Cox's career and I think we should be looking to develop a second ruck with complementary attributes rather than paying top dollar for an ageing and slowing star.

What is this one dimension crap. Aaron Davey doesn't have a right foot either but you don't want to throw him out. If we trade Bate it must be because we got a very good offer (pick 20 or higher). He's not key position but he can turn games of footy. He has deficiencies in his game which is why he's currently at Casey.And how is Martin better than Warnock. Warnock is an extremely honest full back who has shown he can compete and not be destroyed by the best forwards in the game. At AFL level he is a role player, at VFL level he is dominant. If we are trading him we better pick a young key defender as cover. Martin seems to be without a position, soft and struggling in the VFL 2's. If he's contracted for next year then I'd be rookie-ing him like Newton and Meesen were. He is behind 4 in line and slipping for a ruck spot and not viable in any other position on the ground.

Your post has me thinking - In 50 years from now will we regard not having clash jumpers as much as an unfortunate relic as jumpers covered in mud. Maybe we will and the AFL is progressive and we are all too caught up in traditions.Also on a separate note - Who was Thorold Merritt, and was Thorold a popular name back in the day? Right now I'm happy that we've won twice in the white jumper this year. If we are going to wear it we may as well win in it.

I don't think you can drop PJ and Jurrah. We're short on forward targets how it is and Richmond have 2 big ruckman. Browne would monster Dunn when he back up rucks, which at the same time would take him away from the forward line. I'd also like to give Jamar some forward time against the tigers. I doubt they could stop him from marking it.It's hard to say the ins without the VFL report, but I think one of Jurrah or Bennell should be dropped for Trengove and if Moloney is fit then a midfielder should come out. Jones has been the one battling but played a good game. The skipped is undropable, so it might have to either Morton or a 'rest' for Scully. Sending him back to the VFL for kicking practice couldn't be the worst idea.

I've got that funny feeling that Richmond will beat us. They have speed and are good at contested ball winning. Their goes 2 of the advantages we've had in recent weeks. Whoever brings the pressure and consistently hits the targets will win the game, and I'm thinking its about time we won't.

If that is the case I feel that Moloney will win a vote above Green.

Jurrah - Not back yet Watts - racked them up + should have more confidence in kicking goals, but unselfishness isn't a bad problem to have. Bennell - electric then erratic

It was. Both team had men back (in particular the ruckmen) and were clearing their backline only to turn it over. Was pretty poor footy but Brisbane were happy as they were closing the margin and I feel Bailey was confident if we kept our heads up we could get over the line. Good games for the players to get some experience in closing out a tight one away.

Garland on Fev was a brilliant match up. Beat him on the lead about 5 times and made Fev lose his cool. No doubt Fev would have kicked a few if his injury didn't play up, but I had confidence Garland would have kept him under control. Frawley continued his good work with a solid job on Brown.

4 games left until 250 games. 5 games left for the year. Play his 250th and 251st and retire knowing he did a damn fine job almost single handedly carrying a midfield from 2005-2010 and leading us back from hell. He is still in the best 22 but the difference between him and Moloney/Sylvia/Trengove/McKenzie as inside mids is narrowing. Leadership without him is starting to improve. We've also seen that one minor hamstring has the ability to keep him out for what about 8 weeks?

I definitely don't want to lose Warnock, because if either of Rivers or Frawley went down he'd be in the team in an instance. Really I still think he is a touch unlucky to be out of it. Until we develop another big defender (which means until we draft one) Warnock is good depth. McNamara is cover for a third tall, but wouldn't be much use if he had to take on a real tall.

Looking at the 12/10 rule I think we would be be best served by having those who have played the most Casey games playing the finals (not those like Watts who we would all like to see out there). Guys like Bell, Cheney, Maric, McNamara, Spencer, Newton, Strauss, Miller, Hughes (would be cruel if he didn't get to play finals) have been core players for Casey this year. Barring any injury I think these 9 deserve the spots. The last 3 spots might just be there for whoever is playing Casey seniors at the right time: Jetta, Wona, Tapscott, Blease, Fitzpatrick, PJ, Healey. Its certainly not worth rushing Gysberts as his back injury seems to be significant. I'm sure Casey would love Warnock to keep playing for them for the rest of the year, but I think its unlikely. I really hope for our sake and Casey's sake that we field 12 fit and decent VFL players to give them the best chance of competing in the finals. Last year was pretty sad what happened but it seems this year we have a greater core of guys who hopefully feel some responsibility with Casey and the club allows them to have a crack at some tough finals football.

Why? I'm upset for him but he'll get more goes if he keeps working hard. Disgusted is a strong word.The only person you could recommend to be dropped ahead of Maric is Jones. And he did a good job defensively and kicked 2 goals so its not like he had a shocker. Brisbane have woken up to us and brought in a very strong running side.

Geelong won 2 with Mooney and N. Ablett or Hawkins. Watts has shown his class at ground level, the next step for him is to beef up his marking ability. If he can be a strong target at CHF like Mooney is for the cats then I think we can get by with a combination of Jurrah, Green and Petterd in behind. Obviously we would love to have another Watts developing so we could play one at CHF and the other at FF - like Buddy and Roughy, or Riewoldt and Kosi. I think the best idea now is to have a serious (within reason) play for someone like Walker or Cornelius. But if it fails then wait a while until we really are a serious threat (which hopefully happens, and hopefully happens soon) to go after a stop gap.

Bail isn't an athlete playing football, he has clean skills and doesn't mind the hard stuff (and I have a funny feeling he doesn't mind dishing a bit out as well). He may not be a standout but he is shaping as a very promising footballer. If he was 20 years old and a high draft pick people would be saying he's like Jack Grimes. Games are rarely one by individual performances so I'm not concerned about his ability to bust open games.McKenzie deserves a nomination and I think is now at the head of the que based on accumulated form. All he needs now is a great game or another good game without a standout from anyone else. On Jetta - sure he's exciting but there are plenty of lively quick small forwards going around, most of which actually kick goals. On his attempted goal you say cruel, I say justice for Goodes trying to hand him a goal.

Our percentage of 94 indicates where I think we should be. If you look at that I think it would be fair to say we deserve to be 8-9 not 6.5-10. You have to remember we beat Port by a point, so that counters one of the close losses. The 2 games against the Pies they presented to us by them being pretty poor in round 2 (and we were damn good) and their kicking for goal and moving the ball poorly on QB'day. Winning those 2 would have us 8-9 and really where I think we should be. We were always going to drop a few easy ones (not sure it had to be WC in Melbourne though!). It's also nice to have Collingwood and Hawthorn as the only top 8 sides we play twice (although add in Adelaide to that and it makes 3 of 7 which is fair to the bottom side). People probably didn't predict Port and Brisbane dropping so low either.

Surely you don't propose Bate or Bartram are anywhere near delistings this year?I'm not sure Bartram has much development left but I'm not sure he needs to either. Yes he has to tidy up his kicking but in terms of stopping an opponent there's not much more he can do. Bate and Dunn are interesting cases. Bate has obviously played more consistent and quality football. The number of times he has been in our best in games is quiet substantial. His problem is his best and worst are too spread. Just like he has good attributes (long kick, racks up touches, kicks goals) and some shockers (lack of chase and pressure, dodgy in close etc). But Dunn seems to be cleaner. He is certainly a better chaser, and he has the ability to go into the middle. If Bate gets his chasing effort up and can even add the ability to go onto a wing then he will certainly bounce back quickly to be the class act we know him as.

His defensive skills are amazing. He's the small version of Frawley defensively. A couple of things really impressed me today. McGlynn got the ball and ran straight at a stationary Bartram and tried to crunch through him and where most on our list would be brushed away Clint just took the tackle and got him. Also when Kirk got the ball from a handball over the top for what looked a certain goal and then bang out of nowhere Barts runs him down. Sensational With his kicking - when he gets the ball he can spot up a short target 30m away and hit him pretty well. The other players just need to be aware of it. He also isn't a bad long kick to space. Obviously its the kick under pressure that needs to be precise that is his weekness. Where does everyone think he will finish in our B&F. After playing every game besides round 1 so far I think he'd be around the bottom of the top 10.

Where and when was he well and truly beaten? Sure in the last quarter playing full back with little to no pressure on their midfielders Morton got carved up by Goodes.But in the first 3 quarters especially when Goodes was in the middle it was an even battle. Both had similar possessions and Cale got forward for a goal and a goal assist as opposed to a couple of Goodes goals.

The way he picks the ball up and gets handballs out of stoppages isn't just head over the ball hard stuff, its actually amazing skill. He has total disregard for his body and is always shepherding, tackling and all the other the team things. Today he was up against guys like Bolton and Kirk who have been doing what he's been doing for over a decade and he's smashed them. The 2008 draft was the one our future had to be build on. Watts, Jetta and Bennell are tracking well. We've barely seen our second and third choices (mainly due to injury) but our late pick ups in Bail, Jurrah and McKenzie are killing it. Everyone knows about Jurrah but Bail and McKenzie are gems.

16 touches. One lace out 50m pass to Green (that Green dropped). 1 behind. Looked like he was adjusting to the increase in pace and work rate of the AFL as he was pretty stuffed by the end of the game (when his turnover off half back was pretty disappointing. But he did lead hard and chase reasonably well. I'd like to keep him in and get him some more experience at the top level but with Trengove, Moloney and McDonald back soon I don't think we will be able to stick with Maric as well as Bennell and Wona.