poita

Cool, let's just call it a draw and move on.

Can we sub Brayshaw off for the water boy?

We need to tread very carefully over the next few years, or a list that is absolutely primed to challenge for premierships now, becomes very old, very quickly. We have Viney, Grundy, Hunter, Salem, Harmes, Petracca, Neal-Bullen, Brayshaw, Langdon and Lever - 10 of our best side - aged from 27 yrs 0 mths to 28 yrs 11 mths. The reality is that you can't have all of those guys playing into their thirties, particularly when Gawn and May are already contracted into their mid 30s. I reckon we'll have maximum two more years with this group, then there will need to be big changes to keep us in the window, as we only have a handful of players in the 22 - 25 yrs bracket.

https://www.womens.afl/news/118851?_ga=2.230777691.518500240.1679614491-637235427.1679614491 AFLW website reporting that the following players are listed as possible VFL players for Casey this year, to a maximum of 10 AFLW listed players per round. Perhaps Georgina Fowler will also be added to that list. Alyssa Bannan, Georgia Campbell, Maeve Chaplin, Megan Fitzsimon, Georgia Gall, Tahlia Gillard, Sinead Goldrick, Shelley Heath, Casey Sherriff, Rhi Watt, Eliza West, Charlotte Wilson It would be good to see Campbell, Gall and Wilson playing a number of games, given their lack of AFLW game time this year.

Though not finishing up as a Demon, it would be remiss of us not to mention that Elise O'Dea has retired. (Co) captain of the club in 2019, twice all-Australian and multiple top 3 finishes in the B&F. She was one of the players that really drove this club forward in the first four seasons, but unfortunately the increased pool of talent meant that the game went past her in the end. https://www.womens.afl/news/113200/who-s-hanging-up-the-boots-your-club-s-retiring-players Eliza McNamara was drafted with the pick we received from Carlton for Elise, so we saw the best of her, then made the trade at the perfect time.

My heart bleeds for all the bandwagon fans of the 1980s and 1990s who are now facing the prospect of dealing with miserable, dissenting offspring in the 2020s. If ever a team deserves to be relocated to Tasmania (or Kalgoorlie), it is that one.

I get that in the heat of the action decisions are made in a fraction of a second, but this was an ill considered and highly dangerous act which deserves to be punished. I would hate to see my son cop a hit like that when he is completely open and unprotected. A two week ban is certainly not excessive, and it clearly would have been much more if Smith had copped a serious injury. I'm not thrilled about some of the other verdicts this round, or the entire process, but we can hardly complain about this one.

This is a wonderful story, and Brian seemed genuinely thrilled with the outcome. He was my favourite player growing up, and his number 7 was the first number I had on a MFC jumper in the late 80s. I'm glad there was a positive outcome.

Truly amazing effort by all involved with the club and the players themselves. Clearly this is an incredible group to be a part of and they can sense more premierships in the very near future. PS. The lap of honour last night was pretty disappointing. Surely they could have named the players and put some GF footage on the big screen.

I didn't mind Baker, but he wasn't really banging the door down at Casey last year. That said, neither McVee or Laurie has actually found the door yet, so are very lucky to be playing this week. Good luck to all three.

Thanks for the training reports. Just so I'm clear, we've named a side with 5 specialist small forwards under 183cm tall, and our sub is another specialist forward at 186cm tall. That seems less than optimum.

For a club that supposedly has excellent depth, we are putting out a pretty ordinary round 1 team. I think I'd rather any of the emergencies than McVee, Laurie or Chandler. I have no issue with playing kids if their form warrants it, but Laurie & McVee were invisible against Richmond. How Goodwin thinks you can get away with Spargo and Laurie in the same team is beyond me. Neither can win their own ball, neither will be accountable for an opponent and they'll be lucky to get 12 touches between them. Melksham would have been a much better option to replace Fritsch, even if less than full fitness. May is probably the most important and least replaceable player in the team. Tomlinson is arguably the best replacement, but it is a massive loss for us. If I was the Bulldogs I would be playing through Lever's man all night, because I don't see a good match up for him. I think we start underdogs here, but the Bulldogs are playing Hannan & Baker, so their depth isn't much better.

The club website maintains its high standard of excellence with the latest injury report ... https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/injury-updates ... from 23 November and for the AFLW team only.

First deal done, but still no mention of any Melbourne players wanting out. Lambert is a great get for St Kilda, and Shierlaw fixes one of North's issues, although she is 34. Brisbane still look likely to lose Wardlaw. https://www.womens.afl/news/118784?_ga=2.23157624.313584192.1678310333-53864082.1678310333

Hopefully not jinxing anything, but it feels as though the better players will only move to weaker clubs for lifestyle reasons (eg Molloy & McEvoy to Sydney). Perhaps we need to be more worried when the about our players making moves to other contenders if they can jump a pay grade and stay in the finals hunt. https://www.womens.afl/news/118781/2023-aflw-priority-signing-period-summary

And a similar list from ESPN of the 50 best players in the competition. https://www.espn.com.au/espn/feature/story/_/id/35580701/the-50-best-players-afl-ahead-season-2023 1. C. Petracca 2. P. Cripps 3. C. Oliver 4. L. Neale 5. J. Cameron 6. T. Miller 7. M. Bontempelli 8. S. Bolton 9. T. Lynch 10. C. Curnow --------- 20. S. May 43. B. Fritsch 44. M. Gawn (that one is just hilarious)

Supposedly this is a list of the players that will be the most influential in season 2023. We all know this is a bit of fun and not to be taken too seriously, but it does feel that Robbo is trying to be deliberately controversial / obtuse this year with some of these selections. If anybody has the time to produce the full list, that would be great. 1. C. Curnow 2. C. Petracca 3. M. Bontempelli 4. P. Cripps 5. C. Oliver 6. J. Cameron 7. D. Martin 8. L. Neale 9. P. Dangerfield 10. C. Warner ------------- 22. S. May 27. M. Gawn 45. A. Brayshaw

There were quarterly score updates on the Casey Demons facebook page, but nothing else. Really poor from both clubs when they should be taking every opportunity to promote themselves ahead of a new season. Also, I wonder how much money Casey lost by running out of beer on the weekend.

I find it odd that whilst Melbourne are trumpeting a new wine sponsor, our captain has been out and about promoting the AFL's official wine sponsor.

I find that very interesting and a really good sign. Presumably Hawthorn wouldn't have had Maddie as a Tier 1 player, so maybe her bump was only from Tier 3 to Tier 2 - ie not enough extra money to go from a premiership contender to an also ran. Hopefully that is the case for other players, and someone is going to have to offer a Tier 1 spot to move one of our players.

I'm more concerned that a secondary school teacher with a public profile, employed by a school with a history of poor behaviour towards male students, would allow herself to be photographed in a questionable pose. Her status as a Collingwood footballer is irrelevant to me, but I'm concerned about the message that is being sent to impressionable teenagers..

I'm not a Weideman fan, but he would have contributed significantly more than the 16 disposals, 2 marks, 0 goals and 0 [censored] that Jackson delivered in the 2022 finals series. It may even have been enough for us to win one or both of those games.

Can someone please confirm the ticketing situation for this game. I thought I read free entry but, if so, I assume you would need to get there pretty early before thousands of Richmond fans descend on the ground.

Any indication that Gawn or Grundy will contribute when not rucking, or should we get used to seeing one of them on the bench all day?

This is my biggest gripe as well. I have had reserved seat membership for many years. We got zero value for this through the covid years. But instead of compensating loyal members, the club decided to whack a $200 grand final guarantee charge on top. Now you have no options between a basic membership and reserved seat with GFG. The end result is a reserved seat area that is half full at best most weeks, and filled with opposition supporters on big occasions.