Jaded No More

A gorgeous sunny day. Perfect for sitting inside a freezing dark aluminum box and watching my soul slowly die Bring it on

Hawks 🤝 Umpires Hawks winning tho? No chance Also that [censored] that calls himself the Wizard needs to be sued on copyright infringement. He’s not good enough to even tie Jeff’s shoelaces. What a troll

$2 chips! Well then this game might actually be worth attending now.

Celebrating the best thing they’ve done in 80 years. Poor things.

I'll be there with dad. Two sad sacks who need their heads examined.

I have no doubt that Viney got the all clear to play without risk of further damage, but I am not sure that’s the point. This is a perfect opportunity to give Viney a week off and play someone like Laurie who has worked so hard for so long at Casey. What is his motivation to keep fronting up, when in a dead rubber against a rubbish opponent we choose to play a guy carrying an injury over him? I’m not one to stick the boot in, but it’s a fair question to ask of a club that keeps talking about change and progress and not wasting opportunities.

In the video of Culley's debut announcement yesterday, it was great to hear the young players praise Melky and Tmac for their coaching and training standards. Both are high quality individuals who have a lot to teach and coach our young players on. Both deserve an extra year, but that decision will come down to them. At the end of the day both have young families that have had to share their time with the football club, and both have physical challenges. It wouldn't shock me if they retire, given their chances of another flag are slim. But there are half a dozen players I am getting rid of ahead of them.

A total joke GWS refuse his trade last year, only to not give him a single senior game this year, and given he could have moved closer to family and made more money to feed his kids! I hope we give them a pack of stale peanuts now. Even more annoying considering we traded Bedford to them for well unders. A-holes!

Sharp is not out of contract, he got a 3 year deal when he came over last year. He is with us until 2027 at least.

But when Trac and Clarry signed their contracts they were performing at the level of their pay. My point was not that they aren't underperforming, my point was that people cry in hindsight about their contracts, like we had a crystal ball about the future. The money they are on now, was very much reflective of their output at the time of their re-signing. And the reality is that if we trade them out, we aren't going to replace them with midfielders who are on $500k a year. I mean we can, but we won't get any better doing that. And by the way, it's ridiculous to have expected a 25 year old Clarry and a 26 year old Trac to take 'unders' for the team to set the culture, when they were the hottest property in football. If there's one senior leader who should look at themselves it's Viney and the way he carried on his negotiations last year. Once you sign a contract, I don't expect a player to say 'ok fine I'll take less'.

If I could take only one player from another club, it would be Sam Darcy hands down.

Yep, everyone cries about what we pay Trac and Clarry, when the reality is that $600k is now a starting wage for most mid level footballers, even injury prone ones. Most B grade midfielders are on $800k a year now.

This proves my point last week that Spargo is a terrible sub choice. His role and the way he plays isn’t dynamic enough to make an impact playing one quarter. It’s setting him up to fail. Spargo’s best asset is his smarts. He’s good at drawing his opponent and clearing space and using the ball inside 50. But he’s a low accumulator and has no damaging traits in terms of speed or versatility. He’s just never going to set the world on fire as sub. Feel bad for him that he got dropped when he played one quarter, where the ball was going everywhere but near him.

Really really disappointed that the gutsiest move they could come up with was dropping Spargo and a first year player who has run out of juice

Who do you think has shown consistent performance at Casey to earn a debut until now? I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I’m also not sure who has delivered consistently at Casey to the point where they were slamming the door down. Laurie aside, but he’s not a debutant.

Hey @Ghostwriter do you reckon the hold up with Judd is related to whether his partner is offered a new deal with our AFLW team?

Sparrow doesn't play midfield anymore. My guess is Lindsay might be given a break. He had 0 touches in the last quarter last week. He seems to be running out of steam, which is no knock on him. First year player who missed a lot of pre-season with a knee injury.

Truly you can't believe this?! Dan Houston backed out because he listened to his manager, not some hack journalist. What's next? Player buys real estate after consulting Tom Morris?

We've debuted Henderson, AJ, Jefferson, Langford, Lindsay and now Culley. Fullarton also made his debut for the club, as has Sharp. I think Sestan would have debuted if not for his injuries later in the season. He has traits that we are missing. IMO Adams needs to debut before the end of the year, but we have 3 very difficult games to end off the year so it seems doubtful. May will be back versus the Hawks, and who knows if Lever will play again this year (he shouldn't IMO). Kentfield is coming from a long way back with his fitness. I reckon he needs a good pre-season under his belt, and he is odds on to debut early in 2026.

Adams is in front IMO. Luker is coming from a long way back with his fitness. I think his progress at Casey is very encouraging and he deserves a full pre season before he's thrown into the AFL mix. He has plenty of time. Adams has been on the list as long as Jefferson, and with May and Lever out, and West Coast having a very ordinary forwardline, this would be the week to debut him. But obviously not happening.

Well knock me down with a feather, we are doing something new

Good sauce or gut feel?

He will be the first player out injured to beat a side. He might be good, but he's not that good.

The only real gain we can make from winning this weekend, is doing it with a new mix of players / meaningful positional changes. As you say West Coast are terrible, they are as close to a 'free hit' as you will ever get in AFL, and they have no incentive to win having asked for draft assistance. If we don't take this golden opportunity to try something new, and actually give some younger players opportunities, then I am afraid that all this talk about change and progress is a load of BS. And no I am not suggesting we drop all the senior players, but for the love of god can we see one of Windsor, Langford, Lindsay and Rivers at every single stoppage or centre clearance? Can we give Viney a full game as a defensive small forward? Can we put Petty back to play his natural role and give Jefferson more game time? Can Laurie finally crack a game? At this point in time we keep hearing that the club is going to make significant changes at the end of the season, and of course that means to the playing list (as well as the FD), but how can meaningful list decisions, hard decision, be made with so many players on our list having so little exposed form in different roles or even at AFL level? I will take no joy winning by 10 goals with the same old players playing the same old way.