Demon Dynasty

Our main extractor is usually Viney Beetle. He's carried that stinger for around 3 weeks now and ever since then his form has started dropping off. IF he's still carrying that and there's a 'managed' rested solution that helps him fully recover and get back to his best, surely you would take it during this 10 day break plus another 7 before the Saints? Even if it meant bringing in Laurie or Kolt to play that role for this week against a bottom 4 club.

How was that sling tackle not dangerous? Yet they ping JVR for a Carlton stager when it was clearly HTB and a resultant goal. Umpire joke fest continues

5 day break

Winning the center. Winning loose ball contested Winning more of the 1 v 1s Holding up across HB The Swans have a number of VG running mid types in size who are strong at the contest, over the ball and able to burst out of congestion Their entries inside are mostly either quick kicks / bombs to the square and/or looking to target a free player near the hot zones after going wide via the flanks. If the ball hits the deck inside 50 they're super competitive here also and quick to pounce if it gets to the outside Gonna be very hard to beat if they hold form and not too many injuries

Clarry's def being targeted by the umpiring fraternity here Ang. While others are left to continue on their merry way. Some, like Cripps, are untouchable as we witnessed during his default brownlow year.

Warner has a super tank. Gets to so many contests. Very strong over the ball and ability to put in multiple bursts out of congestion.

4 goals down against a VG team... almost game over

Ditto ... again this match is ideal for trialling a few alternative options. Start with Woey and tactical sub Billings if required during the match.

Absolutely Billy but why thrash him against a bottom 4 side? Need to play the long game with Max and have him as fresh as possible for when we do play the big dogs and for later in the season when you sometimes have the odd 'must win' or '8 point' match against certain opponents vying for the same spot in the top 4. Playing less time (on ground) also reduces his chance of any sort injury, especially soft tissue injuries.

Yes i see where your coming from Bin. There's def a reluctance by the coaches / FD to utilise the Casey option for middle rung to top end talent and understandably so. The preference is no doubt to bring them to a certain level under training / match sims and hope said player can make up the rest in the next few live matches. Probably works about 95% of the time where a player is only in need of a couple of weeks at AFL level as a 'top up' to all the prior track work. In the case of Petty i believe they got the timing (expecation of how far away he was physically?) horribly wrong. Whether that meant time via Casey or an extra 3 to 5 weeks mini pre-season. He was blowing up after a quarter or two in the early matches. Also some on here would have everyone believe that we rarely (and/or never) utilise Casey for players coming back, which is not always the case.

Neither are capable in the ruck and its a risky proposition for Petty to ruck playing off a lisfranc recovery. T-Mac won't ruck imho so that just leaves Petty up forward with Max taking the bulk of the load in all other facets. Or Max will be required to ruck almost the entire match which seems fanciful given his age. Poor decision to not bring Fullo in to cover off JVR's role, even as a one off, especially against a bottom 4 opponent where there's some leeway for experimenting. Doesn't get any better than this week aside from North and the Tigers. Silly stuff from the SC this week in this regard.

BBB & McAdam have just come in from stints at Casey Bin. Very generous to have Petty in the 'a little underdone' list imo. His first five matches were atrocious and he was a mile away from being anywhere near AFL ready in those first five games. Has since played one decent match against the Cats in Rnd 8. Averaging 0.3 goals a game and 0.3 tackles inside 50. That's 2 goals and 2 tackles inside 50 in seven matches. He's been netting 2 effective disposals (effective disposals less turnovers) per match. Not blaming Petty either. Brought back far too early imho. Hopefully he can ramp things up from here.

That's an insult to our great home grown dimmy Batty. Let's just call this for what it is...

Woey's played a fair chunk on the wing for Casey. Very suited and this week is a great opportunity for us (and him) to see what he can bring between the arcs as well as that last kick inside 50.

They've had a crazy hot summer over there. Last time i heard their forecast (Monday) it basically said 28 every day this week or something along those lines.

Salo's a renowned slow starter when returning from injury. Personally if that is the intention (straight back in as a mid field experiment) i'd prefer to see him put in (at least) two solid hit outs at Casey and produce some pretty solid form as well! He hasn't exactly set the world on fire through the middle imo and i wouldn't see him as being a 'proven' starting mid fielder (yet) either. As a coach, action always speaks louder than words. How bad does he want to play this role? Does he have what's required to make a difference? It's a big ask for any non-midfielder to suddenly run through there on a regular basis, mentally but especially physically. No different for Salo. Of course that won't happen as SG never utilises Casey for this sort of match fitness / form build up for non-fringe regular 22s for some reason. Alternatively if he's just slotting back to his usual HB role there shld be no issues coming in (off the bench?).

All things considered, he's the ideal foil for JVR (at least on paper) and has performed (serviceable without setting the world on fire) over consecutive weeks now at Casey. Not the best in the ruck but he does win a few to advantage while at other times being soundly beaten (mostly against genuine ruck oppo which we are surely not expecting Fullo to become... just require him to compete and commit to the contest). I guess not dissimilar to JVR in this regard. If he doesn't get a call up this week against a bottom 4 opponent then he probably wouldn't for the remainder of the season (once JVR returns anyway) imv. Then you'd have to ask why was he recruited in the first place. Whether he brings something to the table or not, who knows. But surely this is the ideal week to take a look. The other option is we trial Verral as a back up ruck who might offer more in the ruck contests in general but who, imho, isn't as well versed in the forward stakes (from what i've witnessed at Casey) when playing as a resting ruck.

Depends DR. Might not even be on the FD's radar and he could be a long way from being considered. If he does get a gig you just have to hope he can compete and bring something to the table. He's at least got some height that could worry the oppo and/or take a tallish defender away from Petty for a potential mis-match. Especially with McGovern out.

Most cabs tend to do well with a bit of ageing Tarax. There are always exceptions. I've had better mouthwash and probably wouldn't have noticed had i opened it 8 years ago!

I'd be going Fullarton myself. He's the only one that's capable of filling JVR's relief ruck role in the middle. He can also take the forward stuff. Mind you i'm not saying he's great at this part of the game but neither is JVR. He's also played two consecutive serviceable games as a KF at Casey. Will he be able to step that up at AFL level in one match? Probably not. But then neither would BB in his present state. Fullo just needs to compete, get the ball to ground if he aint confident of marking... and, stay outta Petty and Fritta's way. A few down the line outlet or intercept grabs would be handy also which he's been doing reasonably well at for Casey. This is exactly why we recruited him and his window may have opened. No better opportunity to see where he's at than this week against bottom of the table Eagles.

Round 13 (KB for us) looms as an absolute cracker jack. Whoever comes out the other side of that will be sitting fairly pretty. A number of matches are looking as if they'll be 8 point games. Need to bank as many wins as poss prior to that round to keep our noses in front.

Reckon Viney might be playing with limitations. Shoulder keeps bobbing up every week. Is it impeding his ability to hit into contests as hard as he usually does? And that's a real worry for us as Jack's our main first use extractor. You limit his ability to do that to his optimum and we're gonna suffer at the coal face to get first use and clear as often.

Hard to say but possibly a combo of 5 day fatigue and playing a very good opponent DZ? You'd like to think we'd be rotating a few fresh players in to help manage others. Our problem is we've already rolled through as many rookies and other options from Casey as we're likely to see or who are likely to improve our stocks this season. The cupboard downstairs is pretty bare at the moment. Kolt's pushing hard but he still feels a little lost playing through the middle.

Laurie cleaned things up alot in the second half. A few nice exits out the front at CBAs also. One resulted in him goaling from the arc and another i believe he hit BB up who also goaled from 35 odd. Coughed one dodgy HB up at one stage. That's from the memory bank though which is always a tad shady the next day at my age, especially after a few glasses of 2015 Milton Estate cab. Not the greatest drop but beggars can't be choosey. The diff between his first half and second indicated a fair gap between best and worst for mine. Reckon the FD would like to see the consistency and to clean up those early clangers, especially the ones in transition & middle areas. A couple of which directly resulted in turnover goals to the opp. Not alone on the day of course but if we're talking stepping up with the big boys....

Lost in middle All caught napping Kozzy - On the lateshift? Chin - a bad shin? Tracc - Did not crack Nibbla - Looked a middler Clazz - Goodz to Badz Jack - Bachman-Turnover Overdrive (9) Maxy - Not a Patsy Sparrow - Ate his marrow? Duke - Did not puke Billings - Bit more willings May - Earned his Pay Trent - Little bit spent Ed - No talking horse Bowey - Life on Mars? Rick - Not so slick T-Mac - Tiny bit slack Roohey - Little bit poohey Blake - Too much steak? Judd - Little bit crudd Fritta - Too much pitta? Petty - Turned to confetti Woey - Better than Bowey? Disco - Murder on dancefloor