Macca

And after the big game tonight (hopefully a win) we can settle in for the Leige/Bastogne/Leige classic on SBS (and Eurosports) ... lots of steep climbs involved and I believe it's the last of the Ardennes Classics. The Giro d'Italia starts on the 6th of May (SBS & Eurosports are providing coverage)

On the big stage too ... our first free-to-air prime-time game for the year and if the club wants more of these types of games, we need to put on a good show and win (it's just as well the Essendon game wasn't on free-to-air) As well as that the game falls into the blockbuster category which means lots of $$$'s for the club ... again, we need more of these types of games in order to not have to sell off games interstate. 5-6 big games a year in on prime-time free-to-air is quite possible but we need to acquit ourselves well on an ongoing basis in order for that to happen (we passed the first test last week against the Pies in front of a huge TV audience) I understand that most supporters just want to win and I do too ... but, it's equally important that we address the 'off-field' as well. And winning these types of games is the cure (in terms of gate monies, sponsorships, membership and the like) All week it's been about who might play in the team and who might not play but that's all over with now and we just need to win ... make no mistake, tonight is a very important game for the club. The first 5-10 minutes of the game will probably be a tell-all. I hope we're ready. And it all starts out of the middle ... if Gawn can win in the ruck (again) and our midfielders can get in the right spots to shark his taps, we'll win first use of the ball and away we go. Vince replacing the clearance work that Oliver is capable of is a must.

With footy undergoing some real change, Trengove's aerobic capacity will be a major factor once he returns to the senior side ... however, with the growing list of potential "next in line" types growing by the week, Jack might have to bide his time until an opportunity arises. Petracca, ANB, Stretch, vanders*, Oliver & Trengove himself will all be pushing for a spot in the rotating midfield that is a prerequisite of modern footy. And there are others who will push for selection in that midfield too - Michie, Newton, Grimes & Matt Jones included. It's just terrific that Jack is up and running again - many had written him off and a lot of us thought it was going to be a big ask for him to play footy again. This time last year quite a few were living in hope that he would get full mobility in his foot again. If ever a footballer deserves some luck, it's Jack. The bloke is made of stern stuff and I wish him well. He's already getting a lot of the ball which has to be seen as a real positive. A strength that escapes a few is Trengove's ability to run to the right spots ... in doing so he creates time and space for himself - it's one of his best assets. It was hard for Jack to do that with the boundary hugging Neeld teams (and he was almost certainly restricted by his foot issues back then as well) *vandenBerg is at least a month away by all accounts.

The issue with RG3 is that since his knee injury he seems to have lost his mobility, pace and sharpness. So much so that Washington didn't even really want to suit him up ... there might be other issues as well. I hope he comes good because his first year was very impressive and he looked like he was going to have a bright future ... Kaepernick is another who seemed to have the world at his feet but his form fell away alarmingly as well. Being the QB for the Browns is no easy gig, no matter how talented a QB might be ... Goff and/or Wentz may well be breathing a huge sigh of relief in all reality. Being at the helm in LA or Philadelphia is far more enticing.

And the other big story is the Browns passing up the opportunity to draft Goff or Wentz. Not sure Cleveland know when to pull the trigger and when not to, given their recent history. RG3 might come good but he may not. You don't ever want to be 2nd guessing yourself and it looks like the Browns might be doing just that.

Out ... Matt Jones, Pedersen, Hunt In ... Vince, Garlett, Petracca Matt Jones might be injured anyway, Petracca can play Pedersen's role (apart from the rucking) and Hunt just has to make way (unfortunately) Frost can pinch hit in the ruck whilst T-Mac & Hogan can help out for the odd ruck contest (if needed) All 3 outs would be very unlucky but that's footy. I just believe the Match committee will pull the trigger on Petracca and Vince & Garlett are automatic selections. More so Vince but Garlett would have most likely cleaned up last week if he'd played. So 2 inclusions that will make us much stronger and another chance to blood another youngster ... if we're going to get better as a team we need to take calculate risks in order for that to happen. There's no sense being conservative if the need to be conservative isn't there. B ..... Jetta McDonald Dunn HB .. Wagner Lumumba Salem C .... Vince Tyson Oliver HF .. Watts Frost Petracca F ..... Garlett Hogan Brayshaw R .... Gawn N Jones Viney Int .. Bugg Kennedy Kent Harmes The wing position isn't really the position it once was ... it's not like there's loads of space like there was back in the day. In fact, it's where a lot of the congestion has been in the recent past. All sorts of players can be rotated from half back through to half forward in any case ... anyway, the above team has a touch of class splattered through every line and lots of hardnuts.

Couple of highlights packages for both Goff and Wentz, Gorgo ... the pundits are saying that they'll go 1 & 2 in the draft. Cleveland have the 2nd pick and unless something changes, they'll just pick whoever the Rams don't pick.

So is it Goff or Wentz? The Rams have probably already decided much like the Demons went after pick 3 to get Oliver. Anyway, both players look to have game but maybe only one of them becomes a star ... choose well and your team might be set up for 10-15 years. Good decision to go trade for that pick too - gotta take chances in this league.

Round 4 3 - Viney 2 - Watts 1 - Pendlebury

Ha! ... it's just an "old school" (pardon the pun) way of dealing with the selecting of a team ... the player or players who come in as replacements are under no illusion that they're going to make way once the established top player or other top players return. That can be explained to them in advance too - but not always. Unless, of course those replacement players absolutely dominate or in the case of Brayshaw, he was returning to the team rather than being brought in as a replacement. Another way of selecting the team would be to look long term ... Pedersen & Matt Jones may not be seen as the future so both could make way Or, a youngster or 2 could be "rested" (so to speak) for a number of reasons ... sometimes dropping a young player when they don't really deserve to be dropped is a way of improving that player - you know, see what he's made of and all that, toughen them up etc etc. Even Bradman got dropped (after his first game) What starts out as a perceived negative can be turned into a huge positive ... again, it's a nice position to be in EH. The eventual selected team won't be in a comfort zone - and that's a good thing.

When in doubt ... last in, first out is the rule of thumb that the match committee might use as a default method. So, the players who came in as replacements for our game against Collingwood could be the ones under consideration to make way for Vince/Garlett/Petracca (if indeed all 3 do come in) Brayshaw, Pedersen & Hunt came in for the pies game but I've a feeling that 1 or 2 others might miss because of injury. Hard to see them not picking Brayshaw but Hunt & Pedersen might be the unlucky ones to miss out. Regardless, it's a nice position to be in.

All of a sudden the title race has tightened up appreciably ... and all it took was one round of matches. I 'originally' thought that the title was going to be decided on the last day and that may still happen ... Spurs need to keep winning though. Also, Leicester will miss Vardy and he might be out for more than 1 game.

Like any given week, the coaches votes are of real interest. Thought Wagner might feature this week but he missed out - Pendlebury marked a bit low I thought too. Here they are ... 10 Jack Viney (Melb) 7 Jack Watts (Melb) 4 Nathan Jones (Melb) 3 Adam Treloar (Coll) 2 Dean Kent (Melb) 2 Scott Pendlebury (Coll) 1 Tom McDonald (Melb) 1 Steele Sidebottom (Coll) AFLCA Leaderboard 29 Luke Parker (Syd) 28 Tom Lynch (GC) 23 Sam Mitchell (Haw) 22 Jack Viney (Melb) 22 Jack Ziebell (NM) 21 Patrick Dangerfield (Geel) 21 Robbie Gray (PA) 20 Todd Goldstein (NM) 20 Aaron Hall (GC) 18 Matt Priddis (WC)

A 2-2 draw between Leicester and West Ham adds a twist to proceedings. Leicester scoring in the last minute means they're now 8 points ahead of Tottenham ... effectively, if Spurs win at Stoke tomorrow they'll be 5 points behind the Foxes. And they'll need to win at Stoke with only 4 games to go after tomorrow. Spurs need to win out to have a hope of catching Leicester anyway (IMO) Vardy being sent off means he will miss the next game vs Swansea ... and that's probably a bigger blow for Leicester than drawing the game tonight. His 'dive' which brought his 2nd yellow card might have even been given as a penalty ... it continues to confound me why soccer never has a replay facility for incidences within the box. West Ham would be miffed that they didn't win the game but a draw was probably a fair result. I would have preferred a win of course but we weren't at our best tonight (although the Cresswell goal was a beauty)

Just a few notes on the newcomers or relative newcomers* (including players who are playing their 2nd year at the club) Wagner ... was first rate and played like a veteran Harmes ... scraps hard and puts his head over the ball - a real competitor Bugg ... was prolific and played a terrific team game Hunt ... for his first game, I thought he was excellent Frost ... his pace is a real asset and could develop into an X factor type player Brayshaw ... like Harmes, he fights hard whenever the ball in his vicinity ... 2nd & 3rd efforts a feature with this hardnut. Kennedy ... a real surprise, has a bit of class and uses the ball well. Oliver ... continues to impress and is a bull. Is obviously going to be a good footballer. Hogan ... outstanding footballer who played very well when the heat was on (the first half) Technically, it's his 3rd year as a senior player but he didn't play in his first year because of injury. To have all of the above 9 players play a major part in today's victory is quite outstanding ... others who didn't play today who fall into the above category include vandenBerg, Petracca, Stretch, ANB, O-Mac and (next year) Melksham. And that's not including Weideman & Hulett. Even Trengove could be categorised as a 'new' player. And Gawn has only played 43 games - how good is he going to be once he's played a 100 games? - same story for the aforementioned above. And, we're being properly coached with an excellent development team ... the future is bright. The current list bears no real resemblance to the list that Roos took over. *Haven't included Lumumba or Garlett because they are seen as a seasoned veterans.

You bloody beauty!

Nice 'hang time' kick by Hogan late - super intelligent play. Roos is using Hogan well too ... get him in the play to help shift the momentum. Hogan is not just a key forward - he can play anywhere. Kept that 5 goal lead from the first quarter ... and we would have taken that at quarter time. We kick the first couple in the 3rd quarter and it's all over ... need a knockout punch. Wagner, Harmes & Bugg have contributed well ... Frost & Hunt have done a few nice things too.

Nice 'hang time' kick by Hogan late - super intelligent play. Roos is using Hogan well too ... get him in the play to help shift the momentum. Hogan is not just a key forward - he can play anywhere. Kept that 5 goal lead from the first quarter ... and we would have taken that at quarter time. We kick the first couple in the 3rd quarter and it's all over ... need a knockout punch. Wagner, Harmes & Bugg have contributed well ... Frost & Hunt have done a few nice things too.

I'm looking forward to our game of course but tonight could be interesting (West Coast vs Rich*) along with a few other notable encounters ... Adel/Syd Sat night, North/Freo (Sun Twilight) & the early game on Sunday (GWS/Port) The Hawks/Saints match might be a decent game if St Kilda can play as well as they played last week. The free-to-air games on Saturday are a bit dodgy though ... I can see a couple of big wins to the Cats & Doggies. *As DA noted above, the Tigers won the encounter in WA last season but I reckon the Eagles will win this time around.

Hey Maple ... are you doing a thread for round 4 or do we use this one? .

We (along with all the other clubs) might have to start easing the loads on our potential replacement players when any of those in the senior side are out injured or due for a 'rest' ... there will be unintended consequences with more continuous play being in operation and with the rotations being slashed. So, in a nutshell, those playing for Casey who are next in line might only play 3 quarters, a half or even less than half a full game whenever applicable ... Rodney Eade talked about giving players a bye after 6 weeks but if that is to happen, it has to be staggered. The bench players in soccer are often kept fresh for future encounters and footy could head down the same path. More and more, our sport is going to be more about squads rather than best 22 (and that best 22 scenario needs to be timed right) In the end, the coaches are going to be forced into leaving the players in their rightful positions ... asking players to run up and down the ground all day without adequate rest might become a thing of the past quicker than we imagined. Those who are 'Naturals' (aerobically fit) will come to the fore whilst burst players will need to be handled properly ... of course, we've got 100 years of history to tap into so it won't be too hard finding out how to deal with it all. Plus, more soft tissue injuries are a possibility too ... in other words, the coaches need to be mindful of the bigger picture. Fatigue issues are going to be confronting the coaches and the fitness staff sooner rather than later and let's hope they're on top it ... it's one of the reasons why the NAB challenge games are becoming an extra burden if those games aren't used in the right way.

Wagner deserves a go at it and we need to try different players in order to get better ... he shows a bit of go which is always a good sign (Harmes is another who goes at the contest) Some of our former senior players are going to have to shine to get more opportunities ... that's footy.

Still haven't quite given up on a top 4 spot for West Ham but we'd almost certainly have to win our last 6 games and hope that Man City slip up ... big ask for both things to happen but I suppose you just never know (although City seem to have a slightly tougher run home) The Gunners should hang on to 3rd. Anyway, we (the Hammers) have got some nice momentum heading into the new stadium next season (we now just need a rich benefactor to jump on board!) It's Leicester's title to lose now and barring a meltdown, they'll win it. Their last 3 are tricky though, all the same ... @ Man Utd, vs Everton and then @ Chelsea ... hosting West Ham next up and that won't be easy either. Tottenham need to keep winning as well of course. Arsenal are too far back you'd reckon. Here's the table again (this table magically adjusts itself too - I've no idea how that happens)

Round 3 3 - Gawn 2 - Goldstein 1 - Harvey It will be interesting to see the coaches votes. .

Here's the playoff picture .... my tips in dark italics (I'll get at least 3 wrong) Washington vs Philadelphia Florida vs New York Islanders Pittsburgh vs New York Rangers Tampa Bay vs Detroit Dallas vs Minnesota Anaheim vs Nashville Los Angeles vs San Jose St. Louis vs Chicago