Jaded No More

The problem in NSW is that their lockdown is only a half lockdown. Retail is open. You can go wherever you want. It's not a lockdown that is effective. And so it won't work, or it will take months to work. As someone who is married to a small business owner who nearly lost their company of 10 years to Covid restrictions, I understand where NSW is coming from. I applaud them for caring about the economy and people's businesses as much as the health of the community. But when things are so clearly out of hand, and yet the consistent message coming out of the government is so relaxed, than of course the situation is going to get worse before it gets better. Going early and going hard is the way to do it. You'd think they would learn from Victoria. The lockdown capital of Australia.

People expecting loads of changes are kidding themselves. We are still 12-3. We are still second. You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. We made a big structural change with Brown. That’s enough.

I would say we’d play GC on Saturday the following week so our game against the Dogs can get the Friday night prime time slot.

I just can’t get over how every time a team welcomes back a gun player from long term injury it’s against us. Every. Single. Time.

No.

How are the inclusions for Port. FML.

Confirmed. In: Brown Out: Sparrow

Saturday 4:35 confirmed.

I would say usual time but tonight instead of tomorrow. Some big inclusions for Port because of course ?

Isn't Brad Scott going to the AFL? But you're right, plenty of tried coaches out there who I think would be an easy sell for the members at both clubs. Can't see them going for a new guy. Too risky.

Probably right. Especially coming off a 5 day break, and especially considering all these non-playing emergencies will still be able to play for Casey. I would suggest that Sparrow and Vanders go out. Brown in. Melksham sub.

1000% Petty is better. He is better one on one and he is a better reader of the ball. He is also a better size to take on a big forward. Besides, Joel won't replace Petty. If anything he would come in to cover Lever or Salem. And if that happens we are at least 99.5% worse off!

I have no idea why Carlton or Collingwood would go for an untired coach. The pressure is on both clubs to deliver and appease the members. Yze is not going to do that. You have Clarkson and Lyon available for the taking. Surely they are your targets. I suspect Choco will be primed as 'past his use by date' for a senior role.

God help us. I hope that's not because Lever or Salem are in doubt.

Viney seems to have lost his burst of speed. He’s never been quick but he was ok over the first few steps. Having had yet another foot injury and limited pre season, he seems to be missing that yard of pace that helped him. Without this he’s a liability in both defense and attack. I am sure he will get better when he regains fitness and he’s still someone I want in the team come finals. He’s a beast and a competitor and he will put his body on the line every week. He’s a perfect finals player. Just don’t agree with bringing him into the side to gain fitness when we have 18 fit guys in the VFL busting a gut. Not to mention we don’t exactly lack inside mid options.

Yep you're as insufferable as he is, with literally 0 grand slams.

If Majak is the answer, the question is “should we play for draft picks”

Finishing 1st or 4th makes no difference if both positions on the ladder mean you play finals on your home ground. But finishing top 4 is absolutely critical. Anything outside of that and you’re basically no chance to win a flag, but for a real anomaly or incredibly good fortune, or Covid.

Vanders doesn’t bring anything into the side we don’t already have. We don’t need more defensive mids. We need attacking players with flair and forwards.

Don’t get me wrong. We can win a flag this year and we should do absolutely everything in our power to make that happen. I’m not excusing our age or inexperience. We are not in good form at the moment, and yes these opportunities don’t come around often and they may never come again. We may never get such a good injury run again. My point still remains that we are not pretenders, and we have a good enough foundation of defense, and a good enough list both in terms of personnel and age profile that if we don’t win a flag this year it doesn’t mean we can’t win one in the next few years. It’s July. Flags are not won in July. We have glaring issues that need to be fixed, but they are not issues that take pre seasons to fix. They are issues we can resolve in the next few weeks and I’m confident we will.

I wouldn’t read too much into the number of guys who had managed minutes at Casey last night. We have a 5 day turnaround. We have to keep at least 3 guys fresh to allow for mid week injuries, structural changes as well as the sub.

We had the third youngest team out on the field this week. We are at the very start of our window, and literally not one single supporter thought we would finish top 2 this year, let alone win a flag. We are not where we need to be to win premierships, but we have a very strong foundation to build on. Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.

Better to be in a form slump in July than September. No point peaking now. But we need to sort out our issues ASAP so we don’t completely ruin our chances of finishing top 4.

We won’t make 3 unforced changes. At 12-3 you can’t throw the baby out with the bath water. We are playing one defensive mid too many. I would bring in Brown and drop one of Viney, Harmes or Sparrow. Harmes is the most versatile as he can play attacking, or play a shut down role which we may need versus Port. So I suspect it’ll be Sparrow while we continue to wait for Viney to gain fitness and form (which I disagree with but think Goodwin won’t drop the VC).

So I take it Brown is playing Thursday?