Maldonboy38

At the beginning of preseason 2016, I had him outside the Dees best 25 and didn't care if he got a name or not. Very happily eating large portions of humble pie. His hard work and gut running gets him to many more contests, and his kicking is sublime. Well done Jack.

You do realise we support the same team and have never met, right? How you know about my general knowledge is amazing!! I am certain Jonesy did not finish runner up that year and I stand by my opinion of him in his first two years, a principle that applies very often to AFL players. Nev Jetta, Harmes, etc... The point of this is that the club clearly want Omac to learn while playing, primarily atAFL level. And I am ok with that, as long as Casey remains an option for form or learning certain traits.

It is called an opinion. My glasses are new and very clear. Maybe you need to stop looking at everything through the eyes of Eeyore. And as for Nathan Jones,, we all love him, but his first two seasons did nothing to show what he would become.

OMac has played 6 games. Do we remember Frawley at 6 games? Slow, fumbly, couldn't pick up a ball on the ground. How limited was Nathan Jones in his first season? Unless he ran in a straight line he couldn't kick, handpass or lay a tackle. The club saw what they would become and persevered bu playing them in the AFL, not in the reserves. Omac may not be a Weitering, but maybe Weitering is already close to his full potential and Omac will develop past him. Just like Viney and Ollie Wines. Omac is young, but the force is strong in this one!

I reckon this mix is close to our changes for this week. Dawes, Frost, Oliver, Grimes and Trenners in contentioin for selection.

Grimes yes, but not in defence. Move Vince back, being in Trenners also, and allow Grimes to play on the wing.

Selection remains the key issue, directly followed by list mangement. Our defence struggles when our midfield does not respond qiuckly enough and switch into defensive structures and patterns. And having a bunch of really inexperienced, body-light players like Omac, Petracca, Stretch, ANB, Wagner, Hunt etc... filling our defence means they can't cope without the midfield defending well. We need to use our mature but limited players in association with putting games into the young blokes. Dawes, Grimes, Dunn, Garland and maybe Trenners etc.. need to be in the team for the remainder of 2016, just not all in the same games. I am match day disappointed, but not as much as I usually am because the Dees look like being something special when Petracca, Hunt, Wagner, Oliver, Brayshaw Weideman get 50 games into their careers. I am more disappointed and frustrated with ongoing selection stuff ups.

The game is in the middle of a huge transition. We had the stoppage games of the mid 2000's which transitioned into the high skills era of Geelong and Hawthorn. Now, we have 18 players running up and down the ground in a mind-boggling sytem of patterns, where most goals are scored over the back by people running free into the forward 50. There is no clear dominant team, with all of us caught up in a roller coaster of wins and losses in which any team can win on any day. I thought the Dees would be a bit better established by now, and I do reckon the selectors need a re-think of basic strategy and personnel. The teams that are winning have a stable group of 6-8 senior players and we are playing too many debutnats or players with less than 20 games. Players such as Dunn, Garland and Grimes have clear limitations but this is not the year to drop them off the radar completely. Next year probably but not yet. In 2017 we begin the Goodwin era and I am hoping that all the plans of PJ, Bartlett, Roos and Mahoney come together and we can take our place among the leaders of the new look footy, whatever it ends up looking like. Having said that I have to admire Sydney, Hawthorn and Geelong whose entire clubs run so well from top to bottom, although Hawthorn and Geelong are about to enter a period of decline.

Collingwood on QB weekend. I would the Deez to be the beginning of the end of the Eddy-Buckley era. And a close second is Essendon. Whenever we next meet them I want a huge win and Heppel to meet with a monster tackle from Dawes that smashes him up.

Those boots are brilliant, well done Jeffy. Bitter, I hear and agree about some of the dot-art produced by indigenous artists but some of it produced by genuine artists is simply breath-taking.

Unfortunately we can't just pick our best available 22, there are too many other factors to consider. Six day turnaround, coach saying 3-4 will definitely be rested, irrepressible form of many of our Casey players, Port Adelaide's style of running play but with no efective ruckman, and even the ongoing discussions about the shape and personnel of our backline. The more I think about it I keep changing my mind, and am now swinging toward playing both Spencer and Gawn, splitting their ruck duties 50/50 and playing Gawn as a resting tall forward.

OUT: OMac (omitted), Hunt (rested), Newton (omitted), Oliver (corkie) IN: Jetta,Tyson, Pederson, Grimes. If this game was in Melbourne Dawes would be a shoe-in but no way will he play his first game away up there.

Maybe we forget recent history too quickly. For approx 5 years we only had N Jones as a hard working and effective midfielder and no-one else. We needed an in and under midfielder who could actually body-in and get the ball, and not a fresh newbie kid. We targeted Tyson and got him. Has he been a best and fairest, browlow winning gun? No, but I would take him any day over what went before him. As for Salem, Roos' mantra is development and earn a game, but he placed too much confidence in Salem too early. He needs about 6-8 weeks at Casey (or maybe even longer) to develop like they have done with others. I still believe Salem will be a 200game player but he needs to get himself into the play more. Always seems that 1 metre away from being involved and effective. And Barrett? He knows little about footy and lots about conttacts, club politics and rumour hunting. I am not one who hates this commentator or that player but there is something about Barrett's delight in mud-raking that gets right under my skin.

Do you just hate really good footballers who don't wear red and blue?

I love watching this kid play, and I agree that I have rarely seen a first year player with such vision, physicality and clean hands. But I want to see him in a pressure game where the pressure he exerts on others is also what he is receiving. I can't remember if he played against the Roos but it appears to me that he has excelled in games of little pressure. This week aganist the Doggies will be a great test for him and I reckon he will pass this test. As for comparing him to Petracca I see it like this: Oliver = presence, Petracca = class.

In those preseason Best 22 threads, I had Hunt in by mid season, did not rate Harmes at all, and Wagner was way off. Things change quickly. Also, if McCartney was here 5 years ago, Blease and Gysberts would have made it. They may have been lazy, but our development was tragically poor and I reckon we stuffed up a few careers.

Tom is not tradable, yet. With Omac in the wings, and maybe even Hulett or Joel Smith and some raiding of GWS, he might become so. I reckon he is a absolute gun but he should be advised to handball as 1st option and only kick down the line as a last option. His kicking decision making is the worst I have seen and this includes Simon Godfrey and Ben Holland.

Not our strongest looking team. I am very surprised that Wagner held his spot, but Roos rarely drops someone after 1 poor game. Our defence looks short but reading the VFL player ratings from last week, there was a big rap on Omac so he could be a late inclusion. Thinking about ANB, Dunn, Garland... it is clear that the normal publicly available stats are not what puts a player up for consideration. There are other internal measures being used by the coaching staff. I just wish I knew what these meaures are. I love the midfield with Oliver back in it.

Midfield - learn defensive spread. Defensive coach Rawlings - poor defensive instructions Half back line - annihilated by pace. Harmes - an absolute shocker Hunt - fumbly and weak Wagner - flaws on display Lamumba - just so poor

Wagner, Hunt, Lamumba and Harmes - stop fumbling. Please put a player on Reiwoldt. Petracca, Vince, Tyson - handball at first option. Please put a player on Reiwoldt. Watts and Pedo - you are allowed to mark when the ball hits your hands. Please put a player on Reiwoldt. You dont have to stand still at a ball up, you are allowed to move. PLEASE PUT A PLAYER ON REIWOLDT.

Great run through the middle of the ground, forwards a little bit fumbly at times. Getting killed at half back. Our midfielders are not understanding the Saints forward spread and not getting back quick enough to help out. Also, about 4 times, player with the ball did not take 1st option and got tackled for a turnover. Vince has been caught twice doing this. We are on top and theses issues are fairly easy to fix.

I love it how all the Dees supporters get half off our seats every time Garlett gets it inside 50. You just KNOW something is going to happen. Considering he wasn't getting into Carlton's 22, he has skill and class, and we got him for tne cost of a pair of jocks and a singlet - brilliant. And to think Carlton and Malthiuse were the idiots who let him go only makes me feel even better.

If Dawes can reproduce something close to his best footy over a 4 - 6 week period at Casey, he must be a consideration for our 22. Roos has been very strong about consistent FORM, not history or expectation. So Dawes must earn his spot and at the moment I can't see Frost or Pederson getting weaker any day soon. I am a fan of Pedo and put him in the Lynden Dunn category. Because he is not flashy or spectacuar, we often miss some of the great work he does, especially getting to contests in a defensive capacity. Dawes will need to show something special to knock Pedo out of the 22. Further, individuals keep surprising us this year. Matt Jones is very unlicky to be out of the side, as is VDB, yet I cannotsee how they will getback in with Brayshaw, Trengove and Oliver sitting at Casey. Something tells me that Dawes might surprise us when fully fit (yes, I know, if he ever gets fully fit!) In the last half of this year, our forward 50 will probably have Hogan, Watts as our main tall options, with Dawes being overtaken by Weideman. Pedo as our utility/second ruck.

I would expand the thanks to include our president, Glen Bartlett. I know he is low profile and his public speaking can be boring, but his quietness, behind the scenes ground work and business acumen have done a lot of unsung work for MFC. The fact that he lets Roos and PJ do all the public stuff, and he is happy in the background shows a wisdom and dedication to teamwork that shames oth3r clubs like Collingwood etc... These three men - Roos, PJ and Bartlett - have done moer for us in 3+ years than all the falsse dawns of Barassi, Stynes etc...

The only 3 teams that outclass us across the board so far in 2016 are Hawthorn, Sydney and Adelaide. We have shown we can match it with North and GWS so I expect similar close games against Bulldogs, Geelong, and Gold Coast. We are beating the teams around us - Collingwood, Richmond, We should be too good for Carlton, Brisbane etc... (but we thought that about Essendon) Considering we will probably win some games unexpectedly against good opposition, and lose again once or twice to the cellar dwellers, I have this horrible sinking feeling we might be fighting Geelong in the final round for a spot in the top 8.