Pates

He got one which I think was right. It was clumsy, and it looks bad because he takes his eyes off the ball but I do take it more as young player trying to impact a contest but lacking AFL speed awareness. The fact that Viney's scone is tougher than a brick probably saved him from more weeks, practically any other player is probably getting subbed for HIA.

I'm not against what they're trying to stamp out with that, there are players who have form with this sort of thing, and tunnelling is the other one that they have taken way too long to properly address. For me earlier in the season Fritta should've been rubbed out for a game for tunnelling (can't remember who it was), it's dangerous and like these pushes into a contest the victim is completely at the mercy of gravity and luck.

That is a very fair point, recent form suggests Tom's connections at Melbourne are starting to feed him grade A BS.

Maybe it's because I have so many fond memories of him (namely the goal in the GF) but I still have hope for him remaining at the Dees and getting back to close to his best. He's clearly struggling with his own demons right now and it's good the club is taking the approach to show him care and support, unfortunately because of all the speculation from before the media want to beat the drums as loud as they can to create a story. If he does come back this week please Dees fans if he has a mark, free kick, or anything where he's holding onto the ball give him a massive cheer. Or if he plays off the bench when he comes on give him a massive gee-up. I get the feeling that he's feeling really hard on himself right now, and when you get into a dark place the only thing that gets you out is knowing you have people supporting you.

If someone has twitter can they please send this to that [censored] Schofield and the West Australian, it annoys me that after all of that there is actually no mention of the fact that Ginbey was the one that caused the carnage. His actions directly resulted in Petty and McGovern being subbed out with concussion and will both miss the following week. But nah let's focus on the player who has eyes for the ball and takes the mark.

Fair enough I see where you're coming from. I think it appears his role is nullify first, then try to hit them back when given the chance. I really liked the way the whole team bought into it though, it wasn't so much a team tag but more of a "don't give him any space".

Unfortunately it was on the Fox Footy coverage that came after the coverage ended in Victoria so only got shown in WA. https://www.afl.com.au/video/1313726/wrapping-our-arms-around-him-trac-praises-brave-oliver?videoId=1313726&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1746277676001

We were a top 4 team, but there were players (looking at Spargo and Nibbler) who were performing well below their best and easily could've been dropped to both put selection pressure on them and to reward Casey form for Bedford. Generating a list and keeping it fresh is an art form that we failed at when it comes to retaining depth.

Good on Trac for his post-match comments about Claz and the players sending their love and support to him. I feel like the commentary the McClure is putting out (without much substance or context) is completely unhelpful to him, it's yet another example of the media ignoring the fact they are happy throwing mud around about a guy who has openly said he is struggling with his mental health. I'd be on board with the club doing a media ban on McClure in the same way North did with Cornes. Hell I would love it if the entire playing groups across all teams did a media silence week in protest to the way the AFL Media conduct themselves. Or give one word answers when fulfilling media commitments.

Viney must remain as a tagger for the rest of the season, he goes to each teams gun player to nullify and harass. From the first bounce I knew that Ried was not going to have anything his way.

For me the whole Bedford thing is we shouldn't have been in a situation of it being one or the other. Bedford deserved games, at the time others weren't performing and should've been dropped. We would look better with Bedford in the squad right now. Just a thought that I've had for the last few weeks. Since Gus got taken out of the game with concussion I feel like that's a hole we have struggled to fill. The player that has great endurance and go to either end of the ground at any point in the game to be that extra option. Now Langdon has always been a sheepdog with crazy endurance and ability to get to both ends of the ground, but I just feel like what we're seeing from him resembles a bit more of a Gus-style game. He's taking more marks than he has in his career, more intercept marks, and seems to bob up for a goal or two every couple of games. I'm wondering whether Langford and others taking on the other wing role at times is just freeing him up to be a bit of a Mr Fix-it when we need that senior head.

6 - Gawn the GOAT 5 - Chandler 4 - Trac 3 - Viney 2 - Windsor 1 - Melksham

I think it's a bit of him being a victim of his own success and standards. The fans know he can (and should) be so much better, but that said the delivery to him was doing no favours in the first half. I thought he was ok without being good or bad.

Is there a link to some video of Petty's injury? I never saw it. I feel like this with the tunnelling rule that is relatively new there needs to be a level of intent. For example there was a tunnelling incident that Fitta did earlier this season, and his intent was to contact a guy that was completely at the mercy of gravity, to me that was a semi-intentional act (I say semi in that he didn't aim to tunnel, be he intentionally made dangerous contact). With Melk, they are contesting a marking contest and Melks eyes are firmly on the best way to win the ball.

This is a little side note to this thread but the clubs really need to come together to create a proper second tier competition where they match each week to the calendar. These weeks where Casey has a bye while we play is awful for player development and management. The league has enough money in the coffers, they should be making it a high priority. I think JVR will get the call up for Petty, if Fox Footy succeed in getting Melk suspended (and I just have this nagging feeling it'll happen) I say we bring in Howes to cover Disco who stays forward. If Oliver is available Sharp can play a full Casey game and give the sub vest to either Kolt or Spargo.

It would be so Michael Christian for him to give Melk a one weeks suspension, I have no faith in him making the right call.

May definitely looks to be reaching his cliff, I think it's important that we start to think of the next phase with him and whether that is him taking the number one defender. I like Petty and Disco as swing men, but I actually want them to both be defenders first with the swing there if needed. Ironically Petty seems to play better if he starts as a defender.

It has to be said that making Viney a tagger has completely turned his form around. I feel like it took Goody too long to swing that move but now that he has done it Jack looks so much more like the player he is, it feeds on his competitive spirit and best of all Jack is good enough to hurt the player the other way if given the chance.

I'm obviously biased, but for me he's the GOAT. Cox barely did half the stuff Gawn does around the ground.

I'm not saying this is actually the case but I swear it feels like it's always a Melbourne player that the media try to make an example of for a suspension. Melksham did an act that Riewoldt would've done hundreds of times in his career, he didn't shove him into a contest to hurt him, he tried to out body the guy.

I tipped us with zero confidence. At half time I was so frustrated that we let them back into the game and they even had the lead. I agreed with what you said though, in terms of match play there was maybe a 10-15min patch where they were on top and the rest we had them in most areas. Kicking goals is huge, but missing gettable shots is almost bigger. You can tell the shoulders drop from the players and they start to think, "all that work for nothing". Goals brings confidence, and I honesty feel like confidence is our biggest enemy right now. We are one bad miss away from slumping backwards.

He did an interview with the Deebrief and I thought he was good on there, talked more like a footy fan than a commentator. But his bias was massively showing all game, from trying to get Melk suspended, to shrugging off Allen's punch to Viney's scone, to Waterman dropping his knees and absolutely no mention of it. He was also always making points about cheap shots from Melbourne players but ignoring the ones from West Coast players.

He was frustrating, an almost game is exactly it. Each behind he definitely could've (should've) got, he dropped easy chest marks but takes a good grab on the goal line. I'm on the fence, it's tempting to give him some time at VFL but someone made a good point that his biggest issue isn't getting involved it's getting up to the pace of AFL. Playing at Casey won't help that.

The Fox Footy commentary team were doing everything to get him suspended, meanwhile Viney cops a fist to the face with eyes not on the ball and they shrug it off. The bias from them is honestly sickening at times. The Waterman free kick with May getting stuck into him was textbook him dropping his knees to initiate contact, but no they just say "not sure what he's complaining about it's a clear free". Guarantee if that's Fritta or Kozzie doing it they call out the drop of the knees.

I really hope big lessons have been learned from last years absolute dog's breakfast of a match at optus last season. Namely, show them respect. And tag Reid.