bing181

Er ... Most of that list is "Test", so presumably playing. It also includes Lewis, even though he played last week. Apart from the two young long-termers, list is Jetta, Melksham, Smith and VDB. Plus Maynard who has a week or so with concussion.

Yes lord forbid we get injuries in a contact sport. We'd be better off just not playing anyone.

As above, reported as OP. Thus the length of the time out, though as reported, seems to have turned the corner on the way back to playing/fitness.

Ridiculous. Lewis has been a phenomenal get, and was a key driver in our success in the finals last year - and in helping install the hardness we needed to get there.

... the fact that he's been injured and/or carrying an injury and/or coming back from an injury.

If you follow best practise it's not a mistake - regardless of outcomes.

Who said they weren't smart? They followed a cause of treatment/recovery that has worked in plenty of cases. But not all. Didn't work for Jo. Nothing to do with mismanagement, everything to do with the uniqueness of each person's physical makeup.

Or best available? You can only take what's there, not sure how many speed/overlap players that might realistically have played AFL were up for the draft.

In his two AFL matches this year, Preuss has taken a total of 4 marks. Tim Smith: 3 matches for 10 marks. Sam Weideman, even down on form: 6 matches for 22 marks. If you want to consolidate marking capability you pick those guys ahead of Preuss.

Injuries = lack of time on the training track = lack of time training/working together = lack of time to consolidate structures, build connection. Add to this the constant merry-go-round of players in the forward line (injuries + form), plus changes in forward personnel/structure (e.g. Hunt). Which then feeds through further up the ground: a not-quite-functioning forward line leads to indecision and hesitation and exacerbates skill shortcomings. (confidence). One great example yesterday was that second Baker goal: Petracca did well to get the ball in the clear and then had Baker open 20m or so in front of him - but couldn't hit him on the chest, the ball landed a few metres short and Baker had to go and get it. Had Petracca *known* who was likely to be where when he turned to kick, it would have been a different story, i.e., if he'd only had to focus on execution rather than decision + execution. The difference between what was going on up the other end on Sunday couldn't be more stark, especially the complicity between Cameron and Himmelberg. Himmelberg has only been playing for 3 season, but ALL his games have been played alongside Cameron - they know exactly what the other is going to do (as do players further up the ground). That ball from Cameron into Himmelberg who was running towards goal, but where Cameron placed it behind him knowing he would turn and run back onto it ... a thing of beauty and illustrative of all that we're not doing at the moment. Injuries. Consequences.

For god's sake, he's a mediocre, one-trick player - even at Casey he's mediocre. The bandwagoning on Demonland has to be seen to be believed.

What's going on has nothing to do with the coaches, and everything to do with a decimated pre-season + injuries, and the flow on from that.

Fritsch won't go out, nor should he. He was one of the reasons we started to get back into it later in the game. Some of these players aren't as far off the pace as many here seem to think.

I'll take that as a zero.

Probably too soon for Hannan, though given what we've currently got on the park ...

How many goals did Preuss get at Casey today - or Marks inside 50? I'll wait.

Parody account?

Who was, by the few reports available, mostly pretty average at Casey today. (They lost BTW).

Would pick, or would *not* pick? The two sentences seem contradictory?

Misson's fault.

16 possessions, 5 marks and 2 goals from a kid playing his second game is phenomenal, whether you rate it or not.

Which is pretty well what we are. Sure, only half the team, but when half the players are VFL standard, then it drags the whole team down: you can't keep possession, systems fall apart and structures break down, there's no real synchronicity between the players and finally, there's no real consistency across team selection/player position etc. We're not even going to start to be competitive until we get at least a few players back (imagine even just Salem, Hibberd and Melksham into that team), but more importantly, we start to get some consistency over a long period in the team we put on the park.

Demonland outdoing itself today.

Yes, realised. That kind of day.

Deleted (wrong thread!)