Ouch!

Nice to get an early one from Chandler and Petty! We need to see a 4 quarter effort tonight.

The other thing with this is that I am pretty certain Goody or someone within the coaching group, or Richo has said publicly that they wouldn't play a first gamer as the sub, as it's a special occasion, they look after the family, fly those from interstate etc... PS,... Tholstrup looking lively

nice 80m penalty! Surely Umps can work out a way to measure the distance, that's embarrassing!

... spoke too soon :D

Boys look a bit more switched on. Early days though. Rivers connecting well thru midfield.

Asking the wrong guy :) but he looked ok in the VFL a couple of weeks back, but did very little in the AFL in his first 3 games. Maybe he's been asked to work on some areas of his game in the VFL and will get another crack soon.

Fortunately for you, we have the match committee to do that role, you can take the night off 👍 10 players had 10 or less touches for the game when we played the Pies a couple of weeks ago. The kid isn't going to be a midfielder yet.

Not sure, but suspect it's based on the club seeing AMW as a defender, and therefore has to replace, Bowie, McVee or possibly Salem. Not saying they are in great form, but they aren't our poorest contributors either. Brown seen more as a small forward currently, and as such there is an opening in the team.

Not that it's science either, but every single fox sports tipster has gone Melbourne and none are tipping the roos either.

I too would like to know if anyone spits on our forwards.

unless training is at Casey 😁 otherwise looking forward to WCW's incoming report!

I think I am agreeing with you, my issue is that if what we assume to be the case is correct, Turner and Hooch (sorry Petty) are going to be playing as key forwards, we have essentially have named 5 key defenders against the Roos! JVR is still young, but he seems to have good forward craft, and going missing could be as much to do with our delivery into the forward line than him not being the right player. He needs another key tall in there that does know the craft. We just don't have anyone yet.

Or another idea, lets not play Turner as a defensive forward and give that role to Petty until he builds confidence and form. Not sure both fit in the forward line with Fritsch and JVR anyway. Oh, and perhaps give Petty a few runs in the ruck instead of JVR to allow him to get involved in the contest. JVR does a bloody good job as a chop out ruck, seems to time his taps very well (top of his leap) but always nervous seeing him contesting the ruck contests at his age, and at 194cm he's undersized (but he does compete very well in there!) As good as TMac has been, has that been at the cost of Tomlinson and Turner's development in our seniors as defensive key posts. I'm not complaining, but in a couple of years time TMac will likely be retired. Saw we are mentioned as being interested in Josh Battle recently, so thats potentially another key back if he agrees.

Remember last year, we refused to play Grundy in the seniors, and he was playing exclusively for a stretch in the VFL as a forward. Didn't work then, but perhaps Petty and Turner might 🤔 ... there wasn't a tongue in cheek emoji sorry.

I guess, at least pup plays with effort and gives his all. Surprised me at the start of the year in that praccie match.

Have to think that that Tholstrup likely sub based on who is named on the bench? We don't typically play first gamers as sub. Almost hope Turner is the sub, but only cos I can't quite see how he fits in the team with Petty, TMac and Tomlinson. As the armchair selector, I wonder whether we could have selected another running player or small? Cos lets be honest we have named 5 tall defenders. Woewodin, Laurie, McAdam, Billings or Sestans seem to have allowed for better balance, and Goody would feel comfortable subbing Woewodin or Laurie... 🙄

Or perhaps they are looking for other things that you and I don't see. One thing I did get from the preseason was that effort of Brown was massive, and there was nothing much left in the tank afterwards. I imagine and hope, there will be a few more changes announced tomorrow, and AMW is likely not going to get a shot unless a smaller defender goes down. Sestans can't be too far I wouldn't think.

I also think that we looked better when Brayshaw played as a defensive wing, and we looked to attack through Langdon's wing. we also might have had Hunt on that half back as well, but we looked to run and carry and were a lot more attacking albeit one sided. Don't think we've looked as dominant down the wings when we bought Hunter in on the other wing and balance it up.

It was mentioned that Lever would have minor surgery and that they were targetting him being back for the first game after the bye. Haven't heard anything since, but it's also somewhat consistent with the injury reports. Guess the true test will be watching training and whether he's participating.

yep agree 100%, combined with us as a team that don't have a lot of players who are precise by foot & missing targets, especially whilst under pressure from a fleet footed football team (say that three times after a few beers!) and our backline is never going to cope.

Holding a homegrown legend and hero of our club back from a senior coaching position would have been worse! Only way I could have seen Yze staying would have been the club disclosing a succession plan which would have named up Goodwin's exit. That wasn't going to happen so close to the premiership.

I might have a slightly different perspective here. Other than Trac and Melksham and Lever, we are pretty healthy. Spargo and Hunter are not walk up starts but likely in the 23. Now compare our list health to Carlton, Collingwood, GWS, Essendon, Hawks or Richmond... we can't complain about the list. Whether we have good depth is a good question. But we are not in form, and there is not a lot from those playing at Casey where they are banging down the door. What has changed this year is our gameplan, that is coaching related 100%. I don't think we've been solid for 4 quarters all year, even when we were winning. But things have fallen away badly, and I think the players are either not sold or capable of the game plan, it's been even more exposed without Lever down back. Collingwood convincingly beat us without 7 of their best players, they play a system that feels a lot more robust, in that they can plug and play someone from their list into a role and the system continues to function. We lose a player or two and our system doesn't stand up as well. Our pressure based system last year was more capable than what we have moved toward in 2024, and as a result our backline seems to be under more pressure, and the opposition are scoring more heavily as a result. Note, we are horribly out of form, so of course things look worse, we can turn this around. But the form feels connected to gameplan and confidence to execute.

All for blooding players, trying some players in different positions, but PLEASE coaches sort out this gameplan!!! oh, and lets give Laurie and Woewodin more than half a game to show if they are up to the task!

Nope, but you don't appear to be either with your internet diagnosis. A lacerated spleen <> ruptured spleen! So, before you go all dougie howser on my comment, he's in hospital, they will make the call with our medical staff and bring him back when he's ready. I'm not saying he will play, and I still won't be surprised if he does, but tell me where I said we should risk him or his health? Also I call bollocks on your last comment. Burgo would have NOTHING to do with assessing player injuries in a game. He was high performance manager, and fitness, not the doctor! so pull your head in before attacking other people! EDIT: I also didn't make any reference to whether he should have played on, he obviously shouldn't have.

We've got the bye which will help, but the spleen and lung will likely heal in that time, and the ribs are going to be painful, but not impossible to play with. He might miss the Nth game, but equally wouldn't be surprised to see him named either.