Pates

Hawks dropping Roughy is a big call given his stature at the club, would give me so much pleasure to see them topple down the ladder this year.

I'm not blaming Neeld for all of the club's woes and certainly not the currently predicament. The captaincy and the stresses put on such a young body must've played their part. Trengove and others have admitted that despite there being concerns he continued to be played and pushed way too hard. The mental weight is a completely different story, I actually don't necessarily blame the club for going to down that direction. It was a gamble and Jones was no more ready than either Grimes or Trenners, fact was at that time we were actually void of any true leaders. But the club (and as the coach of the time Neeld) played a part in Jack's mismanagement, to ignore this is to not learn form your mistakes. Unfortunately I don't think we did because we pushed Viney back too soon in 2017 for a last ditch push at the finals, ultimately it was a mistake and it cost us in 2018 with limited matches. Like Neeld, Goodwin should shoulder a portion of that blame as well.

Trenner's story is definitely not a happy one, started so bloody well and looked like he was going to be a 200+ game player for our club and a gun to boot. Then that foot problem (with a little help from the club and Neeld) ruined him. Another one for the the "what could've been" book.

There's been lots of talk recently about our medical staff and the choices they'd made. I really hope they are 100% sure about Jack's shoulder, Jack himself has admitted that he hasn't been the greatest judge of his own body in the past. As for Nibbler out for him, I'd say it's pretty stiff as well, but clearly they have match ups in mind. Still giving up leg speed for grunt in the middle.

Garlett - Hamstring - Available Tim Smith - Back - Available Preuss - Shoulder - Test Viney - Shoulder - 1 week May - Groin - 3-4 weeks Lever - Knee - 1 week Hannan - Knee - 2 weeks JKH - Knee - 2 weeks Maynard - Hip - 1 week AVB - Foot - 6-8 weeks Joel Smith - Groin - 6-8 weeks KK - Concussion - TBA Good to see Lever is almost set for a return, there’s no point in rushing him so I would be giving him half a game at the VFL reserves then up his game time in VFLseniors and assess if match fitness wise when he’s ready. Pruess is a chance, but I’m not sure if the Suns are a team we would bring him in for.

Right now we are a one week at a time prospect, we have only showed our best in small bits with zero consistency. In our two wins I would say at best we’ve done half match efforts. Until we put in a 4 quarter (or at least a dominant 3 quarter) effort we have no right to be thinking about finals. I’m actually glad that GC showed some scrap against WC because the coaches should be highlighting it to the players that both teams are very different in ‘19. We've at least got our contested confidence back, next we need to get our ball use and inside 50 efficiency much better.

It’s difficult to drop him at this stage only because our defence appears more organised with him back, but boy he is looking slow and unskilled. Those dinky kicks that used to be his bread and butter that would get us out of trouble are now becoming a liability. I think he’s got one last chance with no one able to directly come in for him at this stage.

He should be talking to Daniel Cross about recovery techniques to get him back as quickly as possible, I highly doubt sinking mutiple pints on a Sunday arvo would be a part of it. I’m not necessarily saying footy players shouldn’t be allowed to drink a beer every now and then but when you’ve had an inauspicious start to your career at a new club and already had your professionalism called into question I’d imagine you’d want to do everything in your power to put your best foot forward. If he really wants to buy into the club he should be at Casey supporting his teammates. I’m hoping that will be one of the first directives that his teammates say to him, if he’s not going to be home recovering he should be supporting his teammates at Casey. And he should be ditching the booze for the foreseeable future. Get some bloody professionalism Steve.

Sounds like this guy is a serial pest, I have read elsewhere that he was belligerent towards two female saints fans the other week. That said the Melbourne guy needs to know when to walk away or simply point to the scoreboard. I seriously doubt the Hawks fan is innocent in this whole scenario and he should be put on notice as well but the Dees fan has embarrassed himself and unfortunately the club as well. Minimum year long ban from the footy and cancelling his membership (if he has one) would be the way I’d go.

That doesn’t explain why his general skills have become so poor, or maybe it’s tied into the same deal with his confidence in his own abilities. But that attempt at goal that ended up being a dribble kick was under 12 level and amazingly I don’t think he meant it to be a dribbler which almost makes it worse!

No doubt Lockhart should’ve gobbled that one up, I can only imagine he got a bit scared by inevitable contact. It was an excellent kick from Trac.

I’ve watched but more and it’s given context to a lot of things that have been said in here. Firstly on Garlett, he got himself in good positions which is at least an improvement and he was dangerous and creative enough to cause the hawks defence headaches. BUT what the hell has happened to his kicking and skills? Is it purely confidence? I don’t know what it is but they’ve gone from elite to horrific in the space of two years. Worse that Tom Bugg! I’m hoping as he gets more time out there his confidence will grow and his skills will improve. On Lewis, I saw the last quarter and he did some important things (although he played a part in a key turnover) but early on he did some terrible shanks that directly resulted in Hawks opportunities. He can’t keep going with those poor disposals, how long will the selection committee allow him to get away with it? Finally I have to pose question, what the hell is with Petracca’s shots for goal? Such a brilliant mark deserved a better finish, I’ve seen better shots for goal from Bugg, Godfrey, and Holland. This can’t continue, can they please hire someone to sort out his kicking (and get Hunt as well for that matter) because it’s costing us goals.

Was a very poor kick from Melksham, wasn’t aiming at anybody and frankly putting it in a super dangerous spot. Would’ve preferred him to either go for goal or at least put it deep where it could be smashed out for a throw in.

I only woke up to see the last 10min, my dreams were very bizarre before I did wake. It included us being up by 100+ vs Carlton and only just winning, losing to hawks by 100+, and our players turning up to the ground to find out we were playing all the best players in the league. Always funny when I’m asleep and I know footy is on! Anyway what I saw was madness but I also saw a lot more of our 2018 selves than I have for the first 6 rounds. High pressure, quick hands, and hardness at stoppages. Skills definitely still letting us down, and forward line didn’t appear to be clicking with the midfield but there’s hope. Looking forward to watching the replay, looks like the third quarter was our time to shine. Oh and I really like Hunt forward.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but I'm not unhappy that OMac comes in to return to defence while Tom goes forward again. I didn't think Tom looked bad against the tigers in defence and I'm holding out a little bit of hope that the little break from being "the man" up forward might just bring him back into form. Dec coming in is a great reward for effort and I wish him all the best of luck. I'm not daring for a win though, I just want to see us get back to some confidence and play the brand we played last year.

Bloody hell thats sorry reading, we really are up the creek without a paddle.

I've avoided demonland as much as I can lately because this season has fallen off the rails so quickly it's shocked me. I'm starting to wonder at what point do we write the season off and decide to put key players in for surgeries that could get them cherry ripe for 2020, while also pumping game time into players that we know will be a part of next season. In theory we could recover this year if we are able to stop the rot right now but every player has gone backwards or is injured which makes hope for that very slim in my books. The most concerning part of the ground that we are struggling in is the front half, Weids and TMac are woefully out of form and for Sam it's embarrassing that he is looking for a new healthy contract at the end of the year and he is playing like he wants to be dropped. The defence is undermanned at the moment, but we need to find a way to recapture what made us such an exciting team from last year, our attacking abilities.

I missed the first quarter but yay managed to catch our goalless second quarter. Defence is better but we also seem to be in survival mode, preventing being scored heavily against rather than thinking about how to win. Big stand out differences is our lack of contested marking, Weids if you wanna ask for the big bucks then the step the F up and take a grab. Also lack of pressure coming out of the forward line, it’s why you’re in there Jeffy so give us something. General cleanliness with the ball is also a big problem, so many fumbles and missed handballs. Finally I gotta highlight one of the worst efforts I’ve seen for a long time. Brayshaw 100% gave up on the kicker before Dusty’s goal on the line. He is so much better than that so I hope one of the coaches grabs him by the helmet and gives him a spray. We are mercifully in it but it’s time we tried to win.

Agreed!

Salem would be leading our B&F in my books, he was the only one to put in solid performances in the first 3 rounds and yet again he was just silky and solid. Given the troubles he's had in the past it's great to see him playing such great footy.

Frustrating that May and Vandenberg appear to have had set backs, AvB could really make in impact if given the opportunity.

So I was finally able to watch the replay yesterday, very interesting game to look at and while I’m absolutely stoked (and still a little shocked!) by the win there will be plenty for the coaching staff to analyse with the players. Firstly in terms of positives I personally was really happy with Preuss’s game, yes he fade but he still had a presence even when not necessarily “winning”. I think it’s worth persisting because it seems to make TMac and Weiderman appear for released. Also it means that Gawn doesn’t have to run his guts off to get to the forward line, instead he can sit in the hole outside the 50 for the oppositions “get out of trouble” kick. Secondly I thought Hore did some really important things, we have sorely lacked someone taking a defensive mark rather than a fist in defence. He showed great confidence in running of his man to help out teammates. I also thought Hunt looked at home in the forward line, he chased, he tackled, he affected contests and kicked a couple of snags. If he can get his efficiency with shots on goal a little better he definitely becomes an asset. Finally gotta say I was so happy to see Jones make a strong impact on the game. Both captains kicked big goals when we needed them and there is zero doubt it makes the rest of the team walk taller. Lots more work to be done but this win will do our confidence the world of good.

3 games into what was meant to be a really promising season and it seriously feels like we’ve gone back in time. We’re back to looking at the fixture with dread to see who we’ve got next, and look at our available list thinking, “wow we’re in for a tough time.” This week needs to be focusing on controlling what we have within our control, injuries are a part of professional sport so we have to get over who is not available. What we have to start with is getting our defensive set ups right and prevent easy transitions that almost always lead to a genuine shot on goal. When we do have opportunities going forward, lower the eyes and look for passes rather than blazing away and kicking to a two on one. Go back to basics to start and build from there. Hopefully Pruess can make his presence felt.

I remember similar things seemed to happen to former Melbourne players going to other clubs and turning up thinking, “wow so this is how fit you’re meant to be”. It doesn’t excuse him from coming to the club in poor condition, as a big name recruit he should be taking it upon himself to be touch with the fitness staff and/or senior players to ensure he doesn’t miss a beat. He admits he’s made mistakes and now it’s on him to try to make up for it.

I did say for years, that was pretty much what I was picturing. ?