DeeSpencer

He had a hammy in preseason, he had another hammy in the first minute against Brisbane. That to me means he needs a run at the lower intensity of Casey to build some confidence in his body and also for some touch. He’s looked slow when he’s been underdone the last two years.

I guess it’s probably BBB if not Fullarton for JVR and in combination with McAdam for Disco means Tracc is back on ball. Can Tommy Sparrow ruck 5 minutes a quarter against Bailey or Jack Williams?

I think a fit and healthy Salem is (especially if he can play midfield) but an unfit, out of form Salem isn’t and it’s no longer time to just pretend the former and latter are the same things. So, on the back of a second decent soft tissue injury for the year it would be madness to roll him out without at least one VFL hit out. He needs the same return to playing AFL time frame as McAdam who also had 2+ soft tissues to start this year.

I don't think the 5 minutes a quarter that Max is on the bench is enough of a reason to pick someone, it's a matter of who is the most value forward. Fullarton's the logical choice if he's healthy because he's basically a big forward flanker and we can hopefully leave the actual forward line play to Petty, Fritsch and Tracc.

He can barely play back. Casey stats have been hiding some ordinary form where he’s consistently beat at the contest. None of his attributes make sense as a forward, although he’d be potentially ok as a ruck around the ground

Really tricky selection this week with 2 confirmed outs, no obvious 2nd ruck and no one really pushing at Casey. I wouldn’t risk Salem in Perth. The ground is rock hard and a nightmare on soft tissues. Plus Bowser just got back. At most a half to 3/4s at Casey would be wise for Salo. Verrall’s too far off it I think, aside from fitness/size/strength concerns his ball use is poor. I wouldn’t bring in both Brown and Fullarton, that’s 2 fresh talls who don’t do a lot defensively. One or the other makes sense. Fullarton would be my choice if his ankle that saw him twice down in pain at Casey gets the all clear. But be prepared for some ordinary ruck and aerial contests. As for the other spot - Woey in to the 22 and Rivers midfield or Laurie/Kolt in to the 22 and playing some mid/forward rotating with ANB and Petracca post centre bounce. Whoever isn’t picked is the sub and the likely change up if an early tactical switch is needed.

At this stage I'd be betting he plays 300 and calls it a day and rides off in to the sunset rather than plays on for 1 more year at the Suns or anywhere else. If he was clear that he lost his appetite for success at Richmond and was set to have a huge preseason then I'd be keen to at least talk to him but to me he's just had enough.

Still think it’s time for Rivers on ball, Woey in to the 22 and happy to go small up forward. Disco can have a run around as the second ruck.

Mitch's body broke down every year he was on the AFL list. He's been killing it in the VFL for years, if he wanted another crack and the club were interested they probably would've done it by now. He has the footy smarts and skills in any position of the ground but even when he was 20 the sense was he was red lining his body to get to AFL level. No idea what he does outside of footy but I assume he's quite content with doing that and being a great Casey captain.

He’s goaled more weeks than not but with 3 talls, Fritsch, Pickett and Tracc last night he’s not often in position to score.

Liked McAdam’s game, 6 tackles more than outweighs the quiet attacking game. If it brings that pressure and has a day out he’ll soon be in contention. BBB not next week but at least he’s back moving better. Solid Kolt game Kynan Brown messier than usual but I like the way he always fronts up. Jeffo probably the highlight, stats don’t tell the full story, he was attacking the contest in the air with purpose.

He fell on it, cheated to draw a high contact and the ump bailed him out. That’s holding the ball at afl level. The only things he did well were some smart plays at times but he has to do them because he has no actual ability left to run/mark/kick/break tackles

Alarming that he’s the best option! (He made 3 good efforts, the reverse jinx worked)

Alarming

Sure he’s accumulated outside touches but otherwise he’s been awful, almost everything he does is soft and slow. And his non efforts going back with the flight are embarrassing as his tackling around the waist, inability to open his body to ever go to the right or anything else that requires possibly getting contact

He had it in his hands and just had to hold it for a fraction longer, promising effort but just frustratingly didn’t get it done

Probably just pay Hunter out on Monday and be done with him. Fair dinkum

Stupid contest from Kolt, stupid kick from Hunter calling for the ball in to the corridor then bombing it to a bad spot

Multiple glimpses (commentator called him Fullarton, I think)

Don’t adjust your TVs but do I see glimpses of presence in the contest from El Jefe

Any chance these guys could just call the game rather than pontificate about the Dees forward line in a bad way? And meanwhile Kolt lands one from outside 50 (man on the mark was about 2m forward too)

But we put Rivers and Bowey in some silly hole where they couldn’t do anything in attack and could only defend one certain play (hacked kick wide, not a difficult kick to defend to begin with). All it did was get Rivers crushed around the head when a long kick sat on him. With the ball bouncing around stoppages in wet weather why be one short at the contest? Carlton don’t have speed in the middle either, Walsh has a bit of toe but generally doesn’t hurt you too much. Going one short allowed them to move it around by hands and get a clean kick. In the last 10 minutes the defenders all pushed up and helped win it from stoppage.

He’d be no chance to impact this year but it would be a free hit rather than giving him a full year next year. Logically the most likely result is he’s not in any draft and he could come train over summer for a proper look if he plays a few more VFL games. I’m just not sure there’s anyone out there who would impact right away and I don’t think we’re close enough to really sweat it. There might be a depth ruck or midfielder who has something to offer us this year but more than likely anyone we take is a project.

I thought Disco did play his role, just his role was to play 65% TOG with a whole heap of it in the fat side forward flank role away from play. If Tracc is forward we don’t need the third tall as much. Even if Tracc isn’t we might need to find a specific role that gets Disco more involved. I reckon he actually has the tank and mobility to do short stints on the wing like another converted tall defender in Kamdyn McIntosh. He also has clean hands and creativity on the deck so he could be trusted as the high half forward at stoppages sent in just to bang bodies.

13 disposals, 8 tackles, 26 pressure acts I’d love to know who you think we’ve got ready to come in who can provide that same defensive effort and win a good share of the footy. McAdam’s going to have to be really good and Chandler not recover at all before I’d make that swap.