bjDee

All AFL list players were quiet that quarter. Of them, the best in terms of touches was probably Clisby. Georgiou continued his tough battle down back and it became spiteful at times. Alex copped a jab to the face off the ball behind the umpires backs but got his own back by putting Andre the Giant on his arrse with a solid shirtfront bump. Port just playing free running play on footy, hand balling to overlapping players across half back and out of the middle, then shooting at goal on the run or out of packs at every chance. Most of them came off. Casey seem far less asventurous by comparison even when we had the wind. Might be time to move closer to the bar.

3 quick goals to Port !!

Gary Ayres has a shocking hair tint!

Magner has butchered a couple for Port too.

Rucks are Davis and Fitzy. Doing ok - port are not tall in the ruck. Salem Clisby Harmes Nicho Fitzy all getting good ball time. Terlo has butchered a couple. Giorgiou is on a monster of a bloke put playing tough and smart. Strauss has made some nice deliveries off half back and from kick ins.

I can just hear this in my head in the voice of the dwarf from Lord of the Rings.

Guess he's not bruise free after that.....

RP, not going to waste pages on arguing. You are trying to put words in my mouth that I never said. Watts is not our only issue by far, but he is a sentinel one in my opinion. We obviously disagree, and on this subject I can live with that.

Yes - I should have emphasised THE as you have here.

Of course trading Watts is not the answer to our woes. I just said I would be happy if that's the only thing we do because it would signal that we no longer tolerate underperformance. To NOT trade Watts IMO says we are happy to keep accepting the status quo, with both Watts' performance and the club culture. And I'm not happy to accept that. Taking action on Watts alone doesn't get us out of the shite, but its a start to swallowing a cup of concrete and hardening the F up.

I would be happy if we just traded out 1 player: Jack Watts. I know there are lots of Watts supporters here, but I have finally given up on him this year. He is the epitome of a lot that is wrong with our culture. Might not be his fault but there it is. Too soft, doesn't tackle, rarely chases, doesnt earn his own ball, can't keep to his feet, given too much of a free ride, something of a sacred cow because of some draft number label applied to him in the dim dark past. Fair dinkum, he plays more like a Jill or a Jacqueline than a Jack. It would send a huge message to the players, the club, supporters and the competition if we just grew some balls and called it quits with Watts. Enough is enough.

It's funny but Alex doesn't seem to me to be as competitive or combative in defence when playing at Casey vs his games earlier at AFL level. He is going ok and gets reasonable game reviews so I can't put my finger on it. I haven't studied his game closely, and at Casey you lack the elevated view available at AFL games or via TV broadcasts so a lot of the above is probably my warped perception rather than reality. Happy to be corrected by better judges of the Casey games than me.

Hey Col B F, Just a bit of fun. Sometimes I think I should have (should of?) been an English teacher too (to? two?). Cheers, bj.

Seems to me that Tappy is growing in confidence with more games under his belt. But Blease remains too overconfident for mine. I like his dash but wish he would be more of a team player sometimes.

So far I'm glad Kent was not the sub.

Great. Lions looking into the sun next qtr and we get some cloud cover!

Bail's GPS would run out of energy before he does. Covers a huge amount of ground.

Answering a few questions above: I suspect Nicho will always be Nicho. Does well at VFL level but maybe just an also-ran when under the pressure of AFL footy. Clisby looks surprisingly slighter than many other players up close. Hasn't built up physically at all, and doesn't have unique speed or skills to make him stand out so far. In contrast from the same intake, Kent has some dash, some chutzpah to take on an opportunity, and a good left boot. I don't know whether he will come on and I find it hard to see a place for him in the future. Note that I am not a scout nor even a good judge of footy talent. Michie - I didn't pay attention to his defensive game. Maybe others who were at the game can comment or it might be picked up in the player evaluations report. Evans had a quiet game today in my view but I've seen him be much more involved in other games recently. A bit like Nicho - on his day he can dominate and affect the tide of the game, but not today. Davis - I reckon he has improved. Looks more settled and mature as a footballer. I think he could be a match for a Terlich type role (with probably better disposal) if he ever gets his way back into AFL contention. Edit: added Evans and Davis.

The "ENYAW TFARD DRAOB" ???

Some others as they come to mind: Evans had a pretty quiet game - from what I could see. Salem looks like a half a class at least above VFL level. His goal was a set shot from around 30-40 m out straight in front. Connected beautifully. He will never be nervous in front of goal after the Essendon match winner. He also takes on and takles players much bigger than himself but is quite effective despite the size disadvantage. He came off early into the last qtr I think. Walked right past me - no signs of any discomfort. Matt Jones gives the same as in AFL games. Running hard all the time. Did well again today. I'm sure he is out of the seniors just to give some others a chance to show whether they can make it. Clisby - nothing of significance today. Got into a few passages of play but not a standout. Fitzy didn't do much ruck work today - that was mostly left to Max. He was a forward target but the delivery wasn't always to his advantage. Still managed to kick a few. Missed some shots as well. Barry got involved sporadically. He went hard when it was his turn to go. Sometimes let himself down with decision making and disposal. Troy 'Truck' Davis - only a Scorps player now as we know, has become one if the key Scorps leaders in defence. His size and skills are better than average and its good to see him playing a valuable role, which is also valued by his team mates. Edit: re-looking at the stats perhaps I've under-rated Clisby?

Bumped into a bloke at qtr time who I hadn't seen for a couple of decades. He talked a lot when I knew him a long time ago, and that hasn't changed. We watched the rest of the game together but I couldn't give any updates or keep a close eye on the players because that would have been impolite. Don't some people realise there are more important things in life than friendships??? Anyway, I thought there was a more even contribution from the team today and found it harder to find standout players. Big Max had another very good game playing mostly in the ruck. He was up against Warnock and had the better of him most of the time. Took some more good marks and kicked 3 goals. I was pleased to see an improvement in Viv Michie's form. He got a lot more of the ball than I had seen in the past few games at Casey, playing inside mid. Some good passages where he drove the ball forward out of the middle on a few occasions, one of which led to a goal as I recall. Harmes continues to impress me with his energy and attacks on the ball, and mostly clean ball handling. Nicho was again in a fair bit of the play but didn't dominate as much as a couple of weeks ago. Didn't see him really butcher a ball at all, but there was plenty of play that I couldn't see well across on the far wing. Strauss had a just ok game. Had a couple of good passes but didn't cut up through the middle as much this week.

Nicho to Harmes to Clisby to Max at full forward and a set shot goal. All nice passes by foot. 4,1.25 to 2.2.14.

I was rather hoping others would pick up the story as an improv and take it further.

In a Leyland P76....

Not planning to stalk the SME's hotel are you Jaded?