Jaded No More

2022 we were just physically cooked. We had a short pre season coming off a flag. We started like a house on fire winning the first 10, only to head into finals with Trac carrying a broken leg amongst other injuries. There is a reason why back to back is so impossibly difficult to win.

It’s less about the number of games lost to injury, and more about the fact that all our injuries came in one part of the ground. If we lost Melksham but had a fit Petty and Fritsch, it wouldn’t matter as much. We lost Clarry for 10 games last year, but the rest of the midfield was fit and firing so it didn’t impact us as much. But this year losing Gus and then Trac and having both Clarry and Viney struggling for fitness or with injury, has made a massive impact to our midfield. What depth at Casey did we have that would have helped fill the gap up forward?

Gawn has done more than his fair share and deserves to enjoy the twilight of his career without the burden of captaincy. Regardless of what we think tho, our leadership group has always been voted for by the playing group. So ultimately it is their decision to make who leads the club next year.

I feel like being his wife means that he should just do whatever I say, but annoyingly it’s not always the case. So rude 😂

I’m still working on it… it’s not a no so far 😂

Every year 17 clubs don’t win the flag. Is every one of those clubs soft? A failure? We did what most other recent flag winners haven’t done, which is finish top 4 not once but twice. Where were Geelong and Collingwood after they won a flag? Both in 2022 and 2023 we had horrible luck with injuries and it cost us. It takes a LOT of luck to win a flag. Geelong managing to avoid serious injuries heading into September with their geriatric list in 2022 was lucky. Pies getting an armchair ride from the AFL in 2023 was lucky. You reckon if Maynard is rightfully suspended they beat GWS by the narrowest of margins in the prelim? Maybe maybe not. One of our most loved players lost his career last year in our first final. If us fans were horribly rattled by that (well most of us fans with heart and compassion 🙄), then of course Gus’ teammates would have been far more rattled. We came out and were totally undisciplined against Carlton. Kosi turned a Smith goal into a free as one example. It wasn’t great, but that lack of discipline came from a deep anger and frustration over the Gus incident. Not to mention losing Melksham on the eve of finals, losing Petty and carrying an injured Fritsch, then losing JVR to suspension. Entire forwardline gone. Last year was the one that got away. It’s incredibly frustrating, but we didn’t lose the flag because we didn’t try or weren’t good enough. A lot went against us and it was too much to overcome in the end.

He is one of my most hated players, in fact he’s the only ex Melbourne player I despise beside Scully. Both were/are disrespectful [censored]. But at least Scully was a number one pick who was offered insane money. We plucked Howe from his electrician apprenticeship and total obscurity, only for him to sook it up because he didn’t wanna be a defender. Have a [censored] rest of your career Howe. [censored].

I’ll be there!

I don’t disagree that Howes is more talented and versatile. I’m a big fan and think he will make it, but he’s been dropped a few times this year and my best guess is that the FD don’t rate his defensive efforts much at the moment. It’s also why I think AMW has been dropped. IMO Howes will end up a half back flanker or winger. He isn’t much of a one on one defender, but he’s a beautiful user and reader of the footy. I hope now that he’s finally had a taste after so many injury setbacks, that he goes off and has the pre season of his life and does a Judd McVee in 2025.

Is that not his bestie George Gawn, aka the traitor who sings opposition team songs? 😂

Yes you do. He was called fat and lazy and a front runner on Demonland. He always had the talent but in the early days his application wasn’t always the best and many on Demonland said he was not going to make it. He also got bashed for doing his knee playing basketball.

Hore plays tall. Howes has never played as a tall he’s always been an interceptor and ground ball player. Has he ever lined up on a key forward? If so my memory has gone to [censored], which is possible as I’m old

He should be banned now. This guy has had more cases against him previously and North themselves admitted that they’ve tried and failed to rehabilitate him. He doesn’t belong in this league. We can’t be rewarding someone who is a repeated offender in this space with a fat paycheck just because he can kick a footy.

Roo is mature beyond his years and has future captain written all over him. I love this kid, and he is criminally underrated IMO. Need to move heaven and earth to make sure he never leaves us!

The AFL allowing this guy to come back into the fold is a disgrace. This game has a massive female following, and as one of those followers, we deserve better than to allow players to get away with the sort of despicable behaviour that Thomas has displayed repeatedly. If he stepped foot at our club I would never buy a membership again.

I reckon being back in the club environment is just as important for him. We know that he will regain his physical form, but it's the mental side of things that will be hardest to overcome. I hope now that he's back in Melbourne and back at the club, that he is given a match day role for the remainder of the year. Would be good for him to feel involved again.

Tomlinson is actually a good matchup for Dixon, and if you watch Port you know they're quite tall up forward so clearly the height of Hore will be needed over Howes. As for AMW, he hasn't had great defensive games in the last two weeks, but he's made his debut and shown enough to retain a spot on the list. I am sure he is very happy and very understanding of where he is at. Both he and Howes finally made their long awaited debuts and now have a pre-season to work as hard as possible to build on what they know they lack to be a top AFL player. It is really rare for players to play full season in their debut years. McVee and Windsor were absolute anomalies, and frankly prior to injury you could see Windsor physically struggling. That is completely ok, and I think most young players now are very realistic about the path to becoming regular senior players. We've seen loads of even first round picks come in and out of sides regularly, hell even Reid hasn't played every game and his team suuuuucks!

Just here to remind the Demonland list managers who wrote off, amongst others, Judd McVee and oh yeah Christian Norm Smith Petracca off in their first year. Just FFS give someone more than 8 weeks to prove their worth? How were you performing 8 weeks into your first grown up job? I bet not great. Mind blowing stupidity on this site sometimes I swear.

We are clearly still trying to win as many games as possible to make finals. Goodwin said as much. I’m not sure why anyone is surprised by the selections after he said we will do everything we can to make the 8. If we lose this week, which we likely will, I suggest we will see a number of players managed. I would have thought that regardless, Salem shouldn’t be rushed in after multiple soft tissue injuries this season. Oh well.

What exactly are his family annoyed about? Because it took 3 doctors and 6 hours in a hospital setting for him to be properly diagnosed and treated. Did they expect a doctor on the field with no imaging to pick up the injury? Are they mad that we let him back on the ground? Are they upset about his handling post injury? Is it just general parental concern for their kid and needing to take that concern out on someone, or is there any real reason for his family to be annoyed at the club?

The AFL trying to come up with new ways to ruin the game

Let’s just make the season 12 months long. We need games daily, we need more special rounds, I want a clown round where everyone has to play in clown shoes. What could go wrong? It’s not like we have the highest number of injuries on record or anything… 🙄

Hopefully they bomb out of finals and he reconsiders his level of happiness 😁

I can't see a scenario where we trade out our first round pick and not get back into the first round of this draft. We know we need mids, this draft is stacked with them, and JT is the master of picking mids. This may well be the best draft hand we will have in a long while, especially if we rise up the ladder next season and then Tassie comes in. I would be quite shocked if we gave away our first rounder for a 28 year old half back, as much as I highly rate Houston and can completely understand where he fits into our side.

If Freo go after Bolton, I would certainly go sniffing around A Brayshaw. He can come finish what his brother started...