pm24

Yeah he got injured yet again at Casey after just recovering from a previous injury. The injury is to his Jaw but i'm not sure if it's fracture or broken or something else. He's expected to be out for another couple of weeks. Hope that helps.

Reading over all these posts wanting Watts to be dropped i'm trying to figure out what some people expect of this team this year. Do we want to develop our young guys in the seniors or do we want to send them back to Casey every time they struggle. I think with Watts its better for his development if he keeps learning in the Seniors rather than at Casey, particularly given we wont be playing finals this year and we need to maintain some height in the forward line. We've loaded up on backmen and midfielders in the last couple drafts so the forward line is probably the only area where players are under less pressure to perform. With injuries to many of our developing young key forwards like jurrah, tapscott, petterd, Watts is the only young developing forward that we actually can blood a bit more this year. Maric is a bit unlikely to not get another game yet, but there's obviously a reason for that. I agree with some that jones and sylvia probably won't get up, and i'd actually prefer if they didn't. Given that i think it's most likely that Johnson, Sylvia and Jones don't play with gysberts to join scully and trengove in the middle in Sylvia's place, with bennell,watts, morton and garland off the bench.

thanks

What station was bailey on? I'd love to listen to a podcast if possible.

Before we rush to too many conclusions and are too hard on the kid, its worth remembering that he was actually the youngest of the players we drafted 3 years ago and is actually the same age as most of those we drafted in the Jack Watts draft. He's the same age (separated by a cpl months) as Strauss, McNamarra, Bennell, and Jetta. Given that he's been getting over injuries and probably been struggling to get his body right i think we give him some time. Hopefully he'll become a good contributor to the team, but as with some of the other guys i've listed, we need to give them some time.

If that was indeed the case then that's fantastic and he probably deserves to return to the seniors. We'll need his tackling and solid frame in the middle against the pies. I'm all for him returning if he's in-form because our team performs better when he's playing well. Dunn deserves a recall this week to. I'd say bennell comes out for dunn. Leave Jettain ahead of Jamie IMO.

OK so why is McKenzie an automatic in everytime one of these threads start. Did he have a good game at casey? Does he actually deserve the promotion to the seniors?? Or is this again just a case of wanting favourite players back in. He is going to be a fantastic player for us, but at the moment, for all those who are suggesting Watts should be dropped because of form, shouldn't McKenzie remain at Casey until his form warrants selection? Just wanting to know if others heard about McDonald doing his hamstring. It was reported that both he and Jones did there hamstrings yesterday. Does anyone know how bad it is? If both he and Jones are out, we may need to bring McKenzie into the middle despite form. I think that it is time for Dunn to come back, and would argue we needed the last two weeks with Bate out. He's another marking target up forward and has the versatility and agro this team needs at the moment. I'm going to wait to see the IL before posting ins and outs.

Good to see Fitzpatrick back in after his shoulder problems. A mate of mine does a fair bit at the club and says they have really high hopes for him. He could be that 2nd tall forward we're hoping for if he can get his body right and manage his Chronic Fatigue. He's one prospect i'm really excited about having on our list.

i don't think mckenzie had a great game for casey and in fact copped a fair knock to the leg.

I think that when looking at the team line-up that has been submitted it is worth keeping in mind that the lineup submitted on the thursday has rarely been the lineup taking the ground at the opening bounce. The players may be the same, but not the positions. Last week Gysberts was listed as starting on the half forward line. He actually started in the middle at the bounce. The week before, Spencer is listed yet Jetta gets the game. The FD seems to like keeping the opposition coach guessing. I think its a fantastic tactic. Therefore i don't think it's unreasonable to expect that Garland will actually start on the ground if Carlton does actually start Kruezer in the forward line.

I'd prefer we pick up another tall-forward prospect in the draft to bring through with Watts. That way we potentially have two 10year high quality tall forwards for the next decade. Looking at the news reports on this years U18 National Championships there appears to be a few good prospects coming through.

pringle you do realise that Brad Miller has played a hell of a lot of games in the back-line don't you..... When we had Neita and Robbo roaming the forward line, Miller was often used in defense against guys like Barry Hall and Jonathon Brown. Miller has also shown a lot more at the AFL level than Newton has. He's shown an ability to make a contest, bring the ball to ground, provide a good leading target, and a decent pair of hands. Though he has a relatively small number of goals compared to games played for a forward, he's usually received the ball outside 50 and outside of his range. Newton on the other hand has average hands and is a very inaccurate kick. He isn't as good as a leading forward as Miller and doesn't seem to know where to lead a lot of the time. I think Newton could still offer something, and hold out hope that he will, but I would say Miller is as bad or worse than him. Miller has skills that are valuable to any team whereas Newton has no stand-out abilities IMO.

bing181 strauss hasn't been one of the best performers at VFL level consistently. Cheney has. I'd love to see Strauss work his way back into the side because we could really use his kicking ability. However he hasn't earnt his place yet, and Cheney would deserve a shot ahead of him. Strauss also needs to work on his defensive skills. I particularly remember two times where he gave his direct opponent in the Collingwood loss far too much space which resulted in two goals i believe. Until that improves, he keeps learning in the 2's

Its worth noting that from the commentary from the Casey game in Bendigo that Jordie came off with a bad corkie, had the area taped up and eventually returned. McKenzie was also not listed amongst the best afield for the game. If this club is going to stick by the mantra that players have to earn their recall, McKenzie does not return this week. If the corky is in fact a decent one, he might also not return to ensure that it heals up. This may seem like a request that is out-of-line and I acknowledge that i'm new to the forum, but from what i've read it would be nice to hear people suggest players that actually deserve a call up to the Seniors based on form or for the benefit of the team structure, not because they happen to be their favourite type of players. Specifically i refer to those calling for Strauss to return despite the fact that yet again he wasn't listed in the best performers at casey. Some could apply for Mckenzie this week. From the reports it would seems that only Maric and Cheney have played consistent high quality footy to warrant a call up from Casey.

People should check out his twitter account. He seems very loyal to the team. His last dozen posts have included multiple references to him being excited to get back down to the club after his time up North. That's one thing that club has gotten right. The culture and atmosphere at the club that the boys seem to really love being apart of it. That is worth just as much as an extra bit of money to sportspeople in my mind. Look at all the Geelong players taking below market value to stay at the club. People should have a bit of fait and stop worrying just because some journo speculates over the possibly of Ricky leaving us to go to the GC.

Just thought it was worth noting that Jack Watts probably has a lot of air time on his ball drop because the kid is 196cm tall. Just got a feeling that might have something to do with it. Other than that, the list seems like a reasonable assessment of our team. I think we really miss what Paul Wheatley brought to the team. That ability to kick over a zone, or just bomb the ball into the centre square when struggling to get the ball out on a kick in. I'll never forget that game against the bulldogs at the Dome where he literally kicked it to the centre circle.

Alright guys, found the quote off Ricky's twitter account that i was referring to. Here it is below: "Not the results i was lookin 4, still a bit hard to swallow.Already lookin forward to putting on the red n blue in 2011! thanks for the msg! " 10.31 May 3rd via web

I feel pretty confident Ricky will re-sign with us. Yes the Gold Coast lingers as an interesting possibility for him, but I find comfort in a statement he made on twitter just after his injury. I'm paraphrasing but it was along the lines of: "Disappointed about the shoulder but look forward to wearing the red and blue again in 2011". I'll try and find the exact quote and post it. Note: Edited to appease Vagg

I don't know why everyone is calling for Wonna to be dropped and questioning his fitness. Did you actually watch the game. The guy was fantastic in providing pressure in the forward line, and layed plenty of tackles. I think the Channel 10 commentators referred to him as a "tackling machine". The guy also kicked one goal and missed one after getting a free after laying a tackle and getting mackie caught for holding the ball. Dropping him just doesn't make sense to me. Bennell doesn't have the tackling presence that Wonna does. Jetta has a bit of it. If we want to maintain our forward line pressure Wonna stays and you bring Bate in for one of the under performing mid-fielders or backs (or bennell). Scully and Trengove obviously come back in but i don't know who for. The possibility is that miller gets dropped but Miller was our only effective tall marking option up forward so he stays in my mind. I think bennell gets dropped on form. If Garland misses than scully comes in for him and then maybe trengove comes in for joel macdonald or rivers. To cover for not having garland and macdonald/rivers in defence grimes moves back to the back line and we go with a line-up of: Ins: Scully, Trengove, Bate Outs: Bennell, Garland (knee), Rivers/Macdonald FB: Bartram, Warnock, MacDonald/Rivers HB: Bruce, Frawley, Grimes C: Davey, Trengove, Scully HF: Sylvia, Bate, Green FF: Watts, Miller, Wonna FOLL: Jamar, Moloney, McDonald INT: Jetta, Gysberts, Jones, Morton In my mind these changes maintain our height and marking targets in the forward line, while keeping Wonna and Jetta give us the forward pressure in our inside 50. Moving Bruce and Grimes back to the backline gives us enough flexibility to cover their forward line while giving us enough guys to rebound the ball out of the back line. This does mean Jamar again plays as the only ruckmen, but i'm less concerned about only having miller as a backup ruckman this week with bate in the lineup. Morton can rotate along the backline with guys like bruce and grimes, jetta, jones and gysberts to rotate through the middle and forward line. Strauss still hasn't done enough to warrant selection. Cheney would be unlikely to miss out and could be a good inclusion in place of Jetta if we need another small defender. Spencer is unlikely after hearing the guys say he was taken off the ground today on a stretcher. McKenzie would probably stay out another week because of gysberts good start.

Guess what, they posted your comments. Though it's the only comment listed so far so I don't know what that says. It should stir up some healthy debate if anyone in Geelong actually cares to read it.

I think the lineup changes are good ones. Warnock was always back in, and this means that Grimes gets another run in the middle. I would expect that Jones and Gysberts wil rotate through the middle as well. The team has a good mixture of youth and experience yet again. I would personally love to see Jetta injected into the midfield to give us that tackling chasing pressure. He and Davey creating through the middle would be great. Our backline looks very strong this week to. All of our tall backmen are back as well as our small(er) backs in Bruce, MacDonald and Bartram (who's the only actual small defender). Our defense should hold up well, our biggest challenge will be winning the ball in the middle and being able to get good entry into our forward 50. Scarlett being out certainly helps. If the boys manage to keep this game within 4 goals I think this would be a great sign for our team.

Interesting that McKenzie has been ommitted. Does anyone know why? I actually predicted he could miss to have a rest in the team changes thread, but didn't actually expect it to happen. Is he injured or are the suggesting he hasn't been performing. Great to see Gysberts get his first crack in the seniors. Also smart move to rest Scully and Trengove, though disappointing that we won't see them go up aginst Ablett and Co.

Thought it was worth noting that on the Injury List that's been posted in another thread there's been no mention of Garland missing time which is great. There is also no listing of Warnock on the IL which you'd think would mean he slots straight back into the team. The list also shows that Bate and Bruce will be subject to tests however i don't think it's likely we'll see both of them back. I'd say Bate would be more likely to return than Bruce given their age difference (which I believe usuall effects the healing process). Either way, whoever comes in at this point, I think we can all be confident that this team is now in the fortunate position of being able to bring players in from Casey without weakening the team (except for guys likes PJ and Juice). With Moloney able to play now, they might only make one change in bringing back Warnock while giving Bate and Bruce an extra week to heal. I don't know if having them back would change the result either. I'd like to believe that we could beat Geelong, but I can't see anyone beating them for the premiership this year.

Just a note on the Watts v NicNat debate....it's good to finally some not so positive media coverge in respect to Natanui. Not good for the guy personally, but good to see some realistic assessments being done of his ability. I think the title of the Article in the Herald Sun says it all: "Nic Naitanui lost in space". Here's one quote which i found very interesting and will probably fuel the Watts v Naitanui debate further, but this time in the positive for Watts: Respected commentator Ken Judge, a former Eagles coach, yesterday described Naitanui as a "major work in progress". Judge said Naitanui was an exciting athlete who needed to learn where to run to attract the ball. "It is not easy to teach. It will probably get better over time, but I'm not sure he's ever going to be fantastic at it," Judge said. I think by the end of this season there'll be more commentators than not (with the exception of idiots like Sheedy) supporting our decision to pick Watts as he proves himself to clearly be the best choice in that draft. I think we've seen enough in his last two games to make us feel pretty confident about that.

so instead of talking about this weeks game in general, how about we keeping talking about how much JACK WATTS has shown in the last two games. How clean he is with his disposal. How he seems to have so much time every time he collects the ball. How he is going to be the CHF we've been needing ever since the OX went down with those knee reco's. This guy is something we can continue to be excited about and it'll absolutely awesome to see how he goes against the best team in the land. Oh, and the best thing....the game will be televised on channel 10 at 3pm this Saturday!! For some reason i thought Ten only showed Saturday evening games, so this is awesome news. By the way - 4 posts until 1000