Pates

Biggest issue is his tank, he just doesn’t seem to have the run to go in the midfield. That said if we had a group of three outside players that we could rotate in the that would be ideal. Rivers, as you said, is definitely another that could go. We need good users on the outside. Salems had a good year though, will be interesting to see his B&F finish.

Still only 7 possessions (4 goals a great effort though), but his biggest issue is that when he goes missing he may as well be in another state. He needs to find the ball more, maybe that comes from be switched up a lot but whatever it is he doesn’t get enough of it.

Almost don’t want Freo to win watching that, you could easily picture an 80+ drubbing against the Weagles. Still got the job done.

Good to see people back in the old Melbourne mentality of wanting to lose. Say hello to cuddles while you’re back in 2009.

That very uninteresting Open Mic with Trenners did seem to indicate that, I believe he said he was on the path to recovery and then when he did his medical with Richmond revealed the complications that had happened. That guy had such rotten luck. Fingers crossed this injury with Gus isn’t as serious as Mitch Clark’s (I have no idea whether there can be severity with such an usual part of the body). The good news is we have Burgess not Misson looking after him.

Yes and no. I definitely agree that the likes of the Pies, Essendon, Blues, Hawks, and Tigers have been well looked after for a while by being given a more commercially helpful draw. The Blues in particular were inexplicably given a free ride for a long time even when they were a pile of crap. It’s why I get defensive towards fans of those clubs when they complain about us getting handouts when they get handouts in a different way (ie a better commercial draw). But at the same time the Hawks are actually a good example of a club that was literally in the same position as us but through intelligent moves managed to become a powerhouse club. I think it is fair that we expect things to be shared more equally as does feel like the powerful clubs have been getting more powerful.

Totally agree, he’s a really smooth user and while the winning goal may have not been exactly what he wanted his fist goal looked beautiful off the boot.

Yep, we had it in front of us. 3 wins from the last 5 got us in and we bottled it against two teams with little to play for other than pride.

Looks like another nail is going into the coffin of our season tonight.

Boy the umps really do seem to be giving the Saints a dream run. That wasn't a mark yet the umpire further down the field paid it....

Agree, GWS don't seem to have anything more than a gritty victory in their bag right now. Saints are keeping the pressure on them whenever it looks like GWS are starting to get a run on.

No match fixing, they're just really bad at their jobs.

Greene may be a little f-wit but he can do some bloody good things. Knew exactly what he was doing as soon as that ball was floating towards him.

JC is not the saviour, he is a naughty (inaccurate) boy.

GWS should have at least 2-3 more goals, their finishing has been atrocious.

Plus side GWS always start slow and are only a kick and a bit behind. Negative they have missed some very gettable chances.

Did he just fake an injury so Hill could take the kick? He looked fine walking off! And GWS, kick straight you muppets!

GWS missing some really good chances early, not great signs. ?

The lisfranc injury sounds familiar, I thought that was the one that Mitch Clark had with us (hopefully if ti is it's a significantly lower severity).

Will he still be eligible? I forget what the maximum amount of games you can play is.

I've chosen the obvious choices, Saints really should be beating GWS and as for the Dogs, I can picture Jesse Hogan having a shot from directly in front to win the game after the siren and missing. We have to do our job, and just beat Essendon. I think they may come out with a bit of fight, they seem to love nothing more than turning things on for us even when they play pure $h!t against everyone else.

I hate to say it for Jonesy but I think his time is up at the club. That said, I would like the club to put it in Nathan's hands. We've given a few the push over the years and it stank up our culture, one thing there is little doubt in my mind is that Jones is well loved by his teammates. Pushing someone who has given his heart and sole for the club out the door could fracture relationships. Tell him the ball is in his court, lay it out honestly that in all likelihood he is not in the best 22 next year and if he wishes to continue then perhaps we make him a sort of playing coach (along the lines of Cross). He would probably show enough to make up the necessary games to get to his 300, and he could act as a mentor for the younger players at Casey.

Well done to the club off-field this year, for all the doom and gloom that happened early (and I was extremely worried) it has appeared we have actually managed things very well.

Well should Nev retire at the end of this year then the enduring image of him could be him putting his body on the line in a tight do or die match which we won. I really like what we've seen of Lockhart this year so I hope him not getting a game is due to a desired match up, I would have him ahead of Smith otherwise (although admittedly Smith has looked less like a headless chook lately). Hibbo back to face his old team, he was poor early in the year but he's come back into the form we know he capable of from about round 7 onwards. Get it done Dees!

I get what you mean by saying it's co-operative and I wouldn't be against that model going forward as I feel like that it was create a stronger, more stable competition across the board (every second year there's talk of a team being being "one their knees") which you would hope would bridge the gap between the rich and poor clubs. As I said though clubs that have managed their finances and clubs well would obviously feel as though they are "propping up" the lowly clubs and would have cause to feel it's unfairly diminishing their earnings.