poita

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.

Everyone seems to be under the misconception that the MCG is in the centre of Melbourne. It's not - the population centre of Melbourne is somewhere around Glen Iris, so the MCG is already to the north or west for more than half of Melbourne's population. I live in the city of Kingston, which is pretty close to what you would consider Melbourne's traditional heartland area. I can guarantee you that I could get to Casey in less time than I could get to the MCG, particularly in peak hour, and the drive would be much more relaxing going against the traffic. My point is that for players who are living in the bayside or south east suburbs, which is likely to be a significant percentage, the trip to Casey is no more than the trip to the MCG and possibly less. If Casey is to be the future of the club as a training hub, so be it. I can't see that it is the deterrent that some people are making it out to be.

With only 13 players on the move, and a fair bit of talk around Collingwood's list being heavily targeted, hopefully the impact on our list is minor. As others have said, surely very few players are going to be leaving a strong club for a weaker alternative for the sake of a few $$. Those such as Chloe Molloy who are moving for lifestyle reasons are an obvious exception, but I certainly wouldn't be leaving Melbourne for Hawthorn or Essendon to pick up an extra $8K (pre-tax). Hawthorn apparently do have both their tier 1 spots available, so maybe they throw the house at someone like Zanker or West. Interesting that West still played as a rookie last season, so we are definitely going to need to look after her this year.

Typical AFL - they mismanage the expansion of the AFLW and, instead of finding ways to improve the depth of the talent pool so that the weaker teams can improve, they decide to make the stronger teams weaker. Teams like Melbourne and Brisbane generally play attractive, attacking football that people want to watch. Make these teams weaker and the entire competition reverts to what we had six years ago with the ball being hacked from one rolling maul to the next. Hopefully our playing group recognise that this club is head and shoulders above what they will get anywhere else in Victoria in terms of professionalism, culture and success, and that a few extra dollars is insignificant in comparison.

They play AFLW games there at night, but I agree that the lighting must be at the lower end of what is acceptable.

Doesn't have the tools to make it at AFL level - too small, not quick enough and doesn't find enough of the football. That he managed to get himself suspended in less than 10 minutes of game time in his last appearance doesn't say much for him either. I think we can do much better.

I see it is now an "investment" to attend one of these events, rather than an "expense" or "cost".

Not sure about that. The ones I know think that the club is on a full on tank to get Harley Reid at year end.

Three of them within an 8 week period at the back end of the year - good luck trying to keep players fit on the fringes of the team.

Fingers crossed the Casey Demons get to play on Fankhauser Reserve this season.