Jaded No More

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.

I don't mind his positivity. Being negative helps nobody. But I don't like that he says we are a different core, because fundamentally we are not. We refuse to play a different midfield mix from 2021. The only difference is now Kosi plays there, and that's only because he is so good he's forced our hand. We lost on Sunday with a very similar set up, and we all know that if Lever and May were available, they would have played and we would be largely unchanged in key roles since 2021. In the first three quarters we played Windsor in the midfield and did well, only to sub him out and lose the last quarter with Gawn, Viney, Trac and Clarry playing midfield. Even when the game was there to lose, Kosi was rotting on the bench FFS! Until Goody lets go of the nostalgia of the team that won him a flag, we won't move forward.

I really want them to bring Jefferson back in. Dry fast deck, against a terribly weak defense, this is a perfect game to get some exposure and confidence into him. Petty needs to go back to defense, and perhaps release Howes to play a bit higher up and use his skills more. If that means Salem has to come out the backline then so be it. Try him at half forward to help our woeful entries. Or better yet free up Rivers to play midfield. Just try anything different FFS.

If the AFL gives West Coast a single hand out I’m done. Richest club in the AFL with a flag in the last decade. They made their bed. What a total joke.

This week would be a good time to announce he’s re-signed. We could all use mildly positive news after the debacle on Sunday.

It depends on the club I think people over play the salary card given the cap grows each year. Many clubs would have the money to pay them. The same clubs chasing all the other gettable stars out there. I reckon if I’m Adelaide and I know I need more contested ball winners I’m happy to trade a first round pick for Oliver, having finished top 4 but maybe failed in the heat of finals. If I’m Hawthorn and I need more quality up forward I’m happily trading a first round pick for Fritsch If I’m Essendon and I’m trash and I have to get out of this finals slump, and I have 3 first round picks I’m happily trading one of them for Trac. Likewise if I’m the Pies and I reckon I can go again and I need an upgrade on the ever injured De Goey, I give up my first round pick or a future first for Trac. But if I’m Richmond I’m going back to the draft because I know these guys won’t be around for the next flag. Of course you have to also convince the contracted player to come across. I can’t see Clarry moving to SA or Trac going to the hot mess that is Essendon. We “overpaid” to get May who was not baggage free by any means because we felt he was a critical missing piece. We were right on.

Nor are they giving us them for Oliver or Trac.

Sure, but trading players not in demand is a silly way to improve your list. You want to trade players who are surplus to your needs, but who also have good market value. Trading someone like Fritsch for example, who is on a moderate salary, and a player who would improve good teams significantly makes more sense from a list improvement point of view, than trading our two best midfielders (still) for draft picks that may or may not land us equivalent, let alone better replacements. I am all for trading Clarry or Trac if it helps us land a good proven player, or if we get a bunch of good quality draft picks we can continue to build the list around.

Being ruthless is about improving our list, not about trading for well unders. A second round pick for Oliver is extremely unlikely to improve our list. Nor one first round pick for Trac in a poor draft. Pies had to move Grundy on for salary cap reasons. We don't have this problem. Everyone says be ruthless, sell sell sell, until we trade a good quality player for absolute peanuts and then they have a meltdown. Fair to say we lost on the ANB trade, which we made on compassionate grounds, but I would rather ANB over a second round pick, wouldn't you?

OH please what a load of [censored] There is interest in Clarry, there is just no interest to pay our asking price.

Has his contract stopped us getting another player or signing our own stars like Kosi? Where did supporters get the idea that we have salary cap issues? Was it the Houston chase? the fact we are talking to Reid's manager? that we tried luring McKay out of Carlton for 2 years?

Yes well if we all had the benefit of hindsight we end up with Curnow over Weideman and we probably have 3 flags in the last 5 years.

A future first in this year's middling draft would be just as bad, especially given Geelong were never missing finals this season. The reality is that the draft is a gamble. The chances of ending up with someone as good as Oliver even in his current form, is very low, unless it's a great draft and you have a strong hand. To throw away good players, even if they are not as good as they once were, for a gamble at the draft, is not the solution to climbing back up the ladder. Put it another way, if Trac or Clarry played for another club, and we could get them for a second round or a late first round pick, we would jump at the opportunity right?

Goody had just won us a flag, and while we did go out of finals the next two years, we finished top 4 and lost by a kick in finals after some pretty unfortunate injuries. We were never going to talk about a transition plan, and Yze was rightly never turning down a senior gig he has worked so hard for. It's unfortunate that Yze got a senior role offered to him then, a year later and things may have been different.