Demon Dynasty

Neocleous, Windsor, LaPlanche* & Moodie named yet no Roy in sight!?? *emerg I realise some of those are not vying with Roy and visa versa for his spot/role but crikey. The guy kicked three goals in a losing team, was involved in a few other scoring chains (instigating at least one of those with a superb bit of play / handball on the wing at one point) and showed more talent on his right toe than all four of them. Perplexing decision unless injured or he was a one-off ring in/top up? Bell played last week then back to emerg this week. Can only assume he came in for the Shack last week and has now been replaced with BBB. Why is he even coming back unless we intended to continue on? Why not persist with a mid / HF type (like Roy / other?) vs Bell, which is an area where we are severly depleted and getting smacked up in most weeks? Surely you'd want to stengthen this area of our game as much as possible to attempt to win more often and improve the morale / development of the entire squad (inc. mfc players) in general? Where the hec is BBB at? Did he train (light duties?) during the week at any point? Are we aiming to get him back to senior level or is he just a floater from here and possibly stiffling a potential fast tracking of Jeffo's development somewhat? Or at least seeing where he's at trying to hold down a KP role for a few weeks before bringing a BBB or Shack back. Personally if you're going to constantly shuffle the likes of BBB in and out i'd use that to have Jeffo on some sort of rotating roster where he's hitting the gym / track for heavy loading for two weeks or so (when a BBB and / or.Shack comes back) then a game or two back in. Rinse repeat. The guy needs to seriously build up a VFL and then AFL worthy bod first in order to compete. That's assuming we are looking to develop him into a KP player at some point? And at this stage he's a fair way off the former and a lomg way off the latter. Try and fast track him in this area and work on the positional role play and forward craft at Casey in between those physical blocks. Have to say there's some head scratching stuff happening with selections and some players so far this season...

It's a coaches prerogative to over ride P.A. Yes you may upset the apple cart in a team sense but every coach in the AFL would know the odds of winning a game from 3, 4 and 5 goals (to zip) down in the first half. 6 is basically kiss the game goodbye territory against anyone accept the worst rated clubs. Even after three goals, you simply have to close the gate and try and shut the game down in then hope that you can wrestle it back on your terms. Max needed to hang in there until we wrestled back some composure and clearances through the middle. The odds of comming back and winning from about 4 down (early in a match) are very slim at AFL level, something like 10% - 15%. From 5 & 6 goals down you're pretty much toast unless playing someone like the Eagles (at their worst), North or the Tigers (when they were at the peak of being decimated by injuries as per when we played them). To take your best and only genuine ruckman off after going three goals down early is tantamount to handing them the game on a platter. And that's what we did. Also where was the review with Max (at any stage up to and including the half time break), to show him that hitting the ball directly forward at CBs was mostly ending up in the hands of thier defensive sweeper? Not as often but also happened around ground on occasions. The sweeper then either ran around and kicked quickly into their 50 or got a quick handball over to Walsh or Cripps over the top who did same. We also allowed Cripps to run out the front of stoppages far too often, which is a well known trait of his. The old footy adage ... "Don't get beaten by what you know" applies here. The Pies did a great job of stiffling Cripps in this area last week. What happened to us? Did we not learn and practice or set up for this during the week?

Super after quarter time tonight L ... Have seen Clarry do it a at his best without so many scores of course. Viney also but not to the level / consistency of the former two.

They aren't ordinary at CBs. They've beaten us in this phase the last few times we've played them. You have to ask why Goodwin played ANB in the middle for most of the 2nd half? Think he might've had one clearance towards the end and a few involvements but that's about it. And instead left Kozzy to rot at HF when the opposite was surely more plausible. The decision to leave Max off for at least 10 minutes after going three quick goals down was astonishing. JVR was smacked up and outta sorts during his stint during this period which allowed the Blues to continue on their merry way out of the middle. The fact that neither of our KFs fired speaks volumes for me. And i'm not including Disco here. He's more like a third tall behind Petty & JVR and a junior in terms of experience in our forward line. Game on the line and neither of them were able to stick their hand up and settle us down on the scoreboard early. Took Max to put a few serious leads in in the second half and then managed to kick a big bomb from 50.

No one hitting uo the leading lane there for Billings on the wing. Max finally clicked but way too late and ended up short of the contest and lost the battle. Horrid forward craft. Sorry but you aint making a PF doing that let alone a GF

Again..... No idea how to play in the wet. Lead by the Captain

Why is Goodwin playing ANB through the middle instead of Kozzy? It would also help to shake the Cincotta tag

They probs felt McKay marked

Bowsa might’ve been the wromg option on a wet night. Plays the short game too often which is not what's needed in the wet. And the decision to kick to the smallest guy in the forward line coming in under little pressure. Probably needed a run at Casey first and kept playing Woey on a dewey night who plays a longer game. Chin trying hard but doesn't impact often enough when he gets his opportunities for mine. And aside from a few moments in this quarter his F50 pressure in general hasn't been at the level you'd expect from a small pressure forward.

- 16 contested Yes, why did we take Tracc off. Just a complete brain fade of where the game was at and instead going with pre programmed rotations like robots. Same with Max in the first. Left off at the wrong time of the match for too long. Petty down back on DeKoning to free up Lever as the spare. Leave Tracc up forward. Kozzy into the middle.

Max no point punching it forward out of the ruck comtests as the Blues have a defensive (spare) sweeper sitting right in the hole waiting for that. If you're punching it away at least target someone like Windsor out wide who can burst out and find a target inside

Yes... Fritsch who had Kozzy for a handball and instead chose to just bang it on the boot as he was being slung around

Could someone please send a trainer out and tell all of them to play wet weather footy. Assuming we know what that is and how to adjust

Woeful through the middle. Smashed in all clearance battles including around ground stoppages. And why would you rest Max for so long and allow the oppo to dominate further after giving up the first three goals early. Terrible coaching decision Can't play in wet / greasy conditions. In wet weather you need to move the +1 in defence into the middle or even add an extra winger in as well to even or outnumber around stoppage and start winning the contested battles. Leave it as is and it'll be the Blues how far.

Agreed. Targeting a mid has to be high on the agenda to cover or provide depth for the three amigos surely. It's a very long season and we could potentially be exposed here at any time but especially as we get deep into the second half.

Haven't seen enough of him to commit but his second half against Casey on Sunday was very good.

Thanks for the effort to get there again WC. Entertaining stuff and a great read, even the DL hoopla 😄 Kudos on the Bowey scoop. Hoping to make the next one. If you're going feel free to PM me with any coffee preferences beforehand!

Smacca's feelin crappa?

So you're saying he was in fine form Chook... very generous of you

Roy George 179cm 87kg (Bunbury Bulldogs JFC) Is he a chance of being picked up in the MSD? Or is he more likely to be looked at in the PSD later on? Would be very interested to hear from the likes of Dazzle, George, Norm and others. Bit of a nomad it seems, initially starting with Peel in 2021. Spent some time with Bacchus Marsh in the BFNL in 2023. Some more detail on how he arrived from the Cobras to Casey? Only one match but certainly looked likely against the Seagulls on Sunday. We are very much in need of a serious mid fielder but could he add something in this area, along with a HF role of course, with a full pre-season? Some of his highlights from his time in the WAFL below...

The Tiges are constantly on the bottom. What's with that? Three premierships in four years was enough for HQ?

Doubt we'll change a team that just beat top of the table and a flag favourite. Maybe bowza for joey but joey's been ok and they may want to get some match practice into bowza via Casey?

Something for Bin who i believe was asking about 'post clearance' contested possessions? Apparently after 8 rounds guess who leads it, and by a long way... The Hawks 🤔 Sitting on top with +95 The next best sitting a fair way back at +35

Thanks gents that,was a great listen. Great to hear some thoughts from the other side! T-Mac's a very humble straight shooter. Love his insight into recovery and where Petty was coming from with his recovery. Young Leb is a beauty also. Two contrasting views from the respective ends of the career journey. The Neitz academy sounds like it's really gelling with the young rookies. Kudos to Choco (again!).