poita

Surely the wild card game is part of the finals series, so (at the very least) anyone who played that game will be eligible to play the remainder of the finals series? It was always my understanding that normal restrictions re finals eligibility didn't apply whilst the AFL team was still playing. Perhaps the Bulldogs will send a few players in for some off season surgery to help us out.

I would have brought McDonald in anyway, but the Melksham injury should make it a certainty. Tomlinson in for Turner. Turner is a young kid in his third game who lost track of his man on a regular basis yesterday. He would get destroyed against a top side. It was a nice reward for some decent Casey form, but Tomlinson has to come in for Cox (May for Mihocek, Lever for McStay). I hate to say it but Grundy has to come in to support Gawn this week. Van Rooyen can't be expected to compete against Cox, and we're completely stuffed if Cox takes Gawn out with a knee to the ribs in the opening minutes. Smith to sub where he's just as likely to get his 7 touches in one quarter, than spread our across a full game. I'm still deeply concerned about the form of Bowey and Chandler, but expect both to remain.

I think naming Turner, Laurie & Woewodin on the extended bench is more about ensuring that Jordon, Grundy, Spargo and others get a full game at Casey and can therefore be called into the senior team over the next week or so if required. If we are picking a sub and a non-playing emergency for a (relatively) inconsequential game at this stage of the season, we want these to be players who are not next in line for a senior call up. As much as I want both Fritsch and McDonald in the senior team for finals, I'd be surprised if they both play this week. That said, Smith averaging 6 touches a game over the last three weeks is not doing him any favours. The sub role still looks the best fit for him in the finals.

I'm no fan of Grundy, but a D rating seems particularly harsh for a guy who stepped up pretty well in Gawn's absence earlier in the year.

Not a Melbourne record, but in response to the last post, North are getting perilously close to the top ten of all time consecutive losses. One more loss sees them equal the longest losing streak of the past 30 years (held by the rotting carcase of Fitzroy and the expansion clubs in their early days). Any other club and the scrutiny and criticism would be out of this world.

That would be incredibly short sighted. 13 of Sunday's starting 22 will be 28 or over by the start of next season. We have a deeply unbalanced and rapidly aging list, and desperately need to add quality young talent.

Are we really helping Kyah Farris-White's development by giving him very limited game time against fully grown men? Surely he would be better served playing against kids his own age and size, and so he can get his hands on the footy a bit. It's great that he can train with the club and learn from Gawn & Grundy, but there is absolutely no need for him to play with Casey.

He needs to spend less time and energy flying for ridiculous marks, and more time & energy front & centre of marking contests. Otherwise he is going okay.

Mcdonald for Laurie Hibberd for Bowey Fritsch can have a run at Casey so we can manage his minutes

Average team score last 4 games with Brodie Grundy 60.75 (last 8 = 64.75) Average team score last 4 games without Brodie Grundy 108.75 I'm not saying we are 8 goal worse team with Grundy playing, and he was handy when Gawn was injured, but clearly his presence is preventing some of his teammates from playing their best football, Gawn in particular.

Busy day Demonstone?

Spargo, Laurie and Schache - how bad is our depth if they are next in line? Hopefully Tomlinson plays, and Harmes and McDonald can find some form for Casey.

The better team on the night won, but I'm not convinced that Petracca's kick was touched. So many of our players just cruise along at about 70% - Salem, Hunter, Langdon and Grundy to name four. Salem was especially poor. I'm not convinced Hibberd was a good sub choice. We need impact in the middle, not a defender getting two nothing touches. I'm also worried about Bowey - he is clearly the weakest link in our defence. Ultimately we lost because we gave up soft goals at the start of the third and fourth quarters. We can't afford to do that in the finals.

Any chance we can play some height in the forward line if we're going to bomb it in?

Definitely appears to be the case.

Really? My son's junior football is on Sunday, and the older teams are playing after lunch. I'd much rather Saturday afternoon games, especially when you don't get home until after 7pm on a Sunday night after a 3:20 game.

https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/page/Subway2023Brownlow/afl-2023-ultimate-brownlow-medal-predictor-tracker-leaderboard-odds-every-team-every-player-every-vote Petracca is within two votes of Daicos on the ESPN tracker, for what it's worth. Bontempelli currently second.

You need to commit to buying a 2024 membership to get access to the $1 memberships. I've seen plenty of worse ploys from other clubs.

Signing a 7 year contract on huge money comes with a significant amount of expectation and pressure. It would be fair to say that Grundy hasn't come close to performing at the level that that contract requires over the past three years. If he signed for five years at $700K, I reckon he may well still be at Collingwood, but he and his manager pushed for maximum value. Ultimately the next move is his. He can stay at Melbourne on his current deal and fight for a spot in the senior side, or he can agree to terminate his contract and look for another club. I'm sure plenty of clubs would be interested, but he might have to price himself at $600K for three years. What's worth more to him - the security and money of his current deal, or being a number one ruckman again?

As far as I can tell Jordon has played predominantly as a central midfielder over the past two weeks, for 11 possessions on each occasion. For all the talk about the lack of opportunities that James received earlier in the season, he has been given a massive opportunity here and he has been very disappointing. He simply doesn't impact centre bounces in any way, and he was clearly opposed to Martin for a number of Richmond's clean centre breaks early in the game. He is clearly not an instinctive player, and you can see the wheels turning every time he receives a handpass or a short kick and is required to make a split second decision. Given his lack of improvement over the past three years, I see Jordon as handy depth but not someone I'd be rushing out to resign if he gets offers elsewhere. I think we can replace him through the draft pretty easily if required.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/north-melbourne-kangaroos/afl-draft-2021-trade-news-north-melbourne-rejects-offer-for-pick-1-adelaide-offers-three-firstround-picks-jason-hornefrancis/news-story/c04e020fec2fe228597559746741b62c They were stupid enough to draft a player who made it pretty clear he didn't want to go there. They only have themselves to blame.

A couple of practice matches locked in: Saturday 12 August - Carlton v Melbourne at IKON Park, 12pm Saturday 19 August - Melbourne v Hawthorn at Casey Fields, 2:05pm https://www.womens.afl/news/121126?_ga=2.225260698.1412232811.1690420280-113156352.1690420280

Our forward line finally starts scoring with some consistency and we drop Brown. 🙄 If we're judging purely on goals and marks, then clearly he is struggling. If we're judging on how the forward line has been functioning as a unit in the past fortnight, then the decision is just plain dumb. Petty at least is a reasonably straight swap, although his form and fitness are a major concern. Smith for Brown would represent yet another structural change, which is getting ridiculous at this time of year. I too would have liked to see Dunstan get a run, even more so now that Sparrow is out. We can't keep asking Viney to carry this midfield each week, and Dunstan can at least share the load. Our midfield looks very light on now, even if Harmes does come in. I called for Hibberd to replace McVee earlier in the week, and hope that change happens. I can't see any reason to bring in either Grundy or Spargo, either now or prior to the end of the season.

Congratulations to Kate & Tyla, some big shoes to fill, but I'm sure both will be excellent in these roles.

There is some speculation that Tayla may have a facial fracture as a result of this fight. I'm all for players having interests outside of football, but not one that can potentially cause serious injury a month out from the start of the season.