poita

Surely if player and club are both keen to join up, they find a way to make it happen. 5 year contract for $3M? Smooth the $1.6M over a few extra years.

We have way too many NQR small forwards on our list and if one (or two) of them lands us a decent draft pick, we should definitely make the move. You can't have four small forwards but only one midfielder developing at Casey.

All of these clubs and leagues rely heavily on volunteers who receive very little support. It is not much fun begging local businesses or councils for support, or even for basic facilities and resources. Many volunteers haven't come back after Covid for various reasons. The administration of clubs and leagues has suffered as a result, and this has a trickle down effect to the coaches and players. If the players and coaches don't have a good environment to work in, they'll either go elsewhere or leave the game entirely. My son's junior team is a good example of some of the issues. His team had 25 players registered last year. They were graded poorly and ended up losing most games by big margins. They lost 7 of those players in the offseason because it wasn't fun being flogged each week - most will never come back. They had 19 players this year, but played with 14 - 16 most weeks. Combined losses in the first 3 weeks were over 300 points, but the league wouldn't re-grade the team until we begged and pleaded for help. The club simply doesn't have the resources to support all it's teams, and in our case it is the younger kids who are suffering. Ultimately there are a small number of very large clubs in the league that dominate with multiple teams in all age groups and wield all the power. The other clubs are just there to make up the numbers in a lot of respects, but many will go under without support.

Sure, we've got no genuine midfield depth, no key forward depth, and no ruck depth, so let's get rid of our key defender depth as well. You can't fairly judge players first year back from a knee reconstruction, especially when they don't get the benefit of a full pre season. I'd be disappointed if this move was made, unless there is something seriously good coming back the other way.

I see that the AFL has now changed the voting system for the Gary Ayres Award for 2022. Petracca would have won the 2021 award under the new system - time for Macrae to hand his medal back. "The AFL Coaches Association has announced a change to the vote weighting for the Gary Ayres Award for this season, with any Grand Final votes issued to receive a 1.5 times loading." https://www.afl.com.au/news/846941/gary-ayres-award-cats-superstar-s-perfect-10-swans-duo-in-hunt

Dunkley is worth pick 15 plus additional picks / players, which takes out more than half of the Ashcroft points. Plus Brisbane need points for Fletcher. They will have to lose multiple best 22 players to make all this happen.

Brilliant performance by the Casey Demons yesterday and across the entire season, and they are much deserved premiers for 2022. So happy for Mitch White & Jimmy Munro in particular, these are the types of people that great football clubs are built around. It was great to see the likes of Dunstan, Chandler, Brown, Tomlinson and Weideman continuing to put their heart and soul into their performances at Casey, despite the lack of senior opportunities provided this year. Rewarding strong performers at VFL level is something that has to improve in 2023. Melksham's effort upon returning to the side was first rate. Van Rooyen, Turner and Woewodin look really good prospects for 2023 and beyond, and hopefully they get plenty of opportunities to step up. I'm less enthused about Laurie, Rosman, Howes, McVie and Moniz-Wakefield. These guys still look a long way off being able to impact at VFL level, let alone step up to AFL level. Hopefully we draft some midfielders this year, because the depth below Dunstan is non-existent, and he clearly isn't in Goodwin's plans.

Cripps has more Brownlow medals than he has played finals matches - read into that what you will. Nevertheless he shouldn't have been eligible to win and he shouldn't have been playing in round 23 to get the winning 3 votes. Still a better result than Neale winning would have been.

Ben Brown would benefit from kicks coming in low and fast and being able to compete 1 out against his opponent. I'm not sure anyone would thrive with the ball being dumped on their head and six defenders hanging off them. Age aside, is Josh Corbett really an upgrade on Mitch Brown?

I don't see the upside in McVee, Rosman or D.Smith. I'm not sure why we should persist with any of these (and yes, I know some are contracted for next year). Daw has gone, and unfortunately M.Brown will follow, although hopefully we can keep him at Casey. Moniz-Wakefield and Howes will be given more time. Laurie would want to improve significantly in his third year. I'm hopeful on Woewodin and Van Rooyen could be anything. Baker will go. I'd be happy to see J.Smith moved on as well given his lack of durability. Weideman probably stays as emergency ruck backup given that the club is averse to recruiting in this area. At least one of Bedford / Chandler will hopefully be traded. Unfortunately Spargo won't go with them. If Hibberd and Melksham get new contracts, it should only be after the pre season draft. I'm happy to keep Hunt. Clearly the key is to turn Jackson into a couple of players who can help improve us for next season and to boost our key forward and ruck stocks.

I don't think Goldrick is expected to play, but hopefully we get Gay back. We look light on for a contest up forward without Harris - perhaps L.Pearce spends more time forward. We really need Bannan to get more involved and Hore to take her chances. Our last three quarters against St Kilda were pretty ordinary, so hopefully we will bounce back in a big way. A huge wind at Casey Fields would help no end.

Sad day, I really hope we can cover the 2 marks and 0 goals that Jackson contributed in this year's final series.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/842454/back-to-back-three-years-apart-gribble-wins-second-j-j-liston-trophy Not much love for Demons players in the JJ Liston Trophy either.

And still waiting.

You'd think $435 would buy you much better entertainment than Mike Brady & G-Flip (whoever that is). Where has the saving on fireworks been allocated?

I understand that entry to the preliminary final is free. I assume no need to book tickets, just rock up at the ground?

My son received this email through his junior league this morning. I was absolutely ropable when I saw it as I had purchased category 3 tickets on Monday. Once again the league screws over loyal fans to benefit once a year attendees.

It is seriously dumb list management to not be turning over a minimum of 5-6 players each year. What is the point of retaining guys like Baker and Chandler when they are clearly not in the coach's plans? Let alone having a guy like Smith spending more time in rehab than on the field each year. Our depth is nowhere near as good as it is made out to be by some, and we need to keep looking for new talent, particularly in the forward line. With so many of our players currently in the 26 - 27 age bracket, we become a very old team very quickly otherwise.

I don't believe these restrictions apply whilst the AFL team is still playing. If the AFL side loses this week, Bowey wouldn't be eligible to play in the VFL Grand Final.

Our slow ball movement is killing us. The delivery inside 50 doesn't have to be perfect, in fact sometimes the rougher the better, but it does need to be quick enough to allow our forwards to compete 1v1. By the time we stuff around on the wing with 6 useless handballs and 3 slow, sideways kicks, the opposition has 16 defenders inside our forward 50. Ideally we should be looking to release Hunt or Hibberd from half back, they run the ball from defensive 50 and kick long inside forward 50. Gawn will take 20 marks one day if we allow him to compete like that. Pickett can sit at his feet and clean up the crumbs.

Three Queensland teams in the preliminary final - can someone remind what the V in VFL stands for again? The biggest threat to Casey winning is Goodwin having a change of heart at the selection table and putting Dunstan and a couple of other Casey guns in the Melbourne side.

Absolutely zero chance of any unforced changes this week. Goodwin has hitched his wagon to this group, and will work them into the ground before changing his mind. I'm also expecting us to err (yet again) on the side of taking unnecessary risks with injured players, rather than taking 22 fit players into this week's game. I'd be happy to see Spargo miss, Melksham take his role across half forward and another tall forward come in (McDonald preferably if fit). I'd also like to see Brayshaw back to the wing and Dunstan into the midfield, particularly if Petracca doesn't play. I don't think Harmes' positioning is good enough to play what is such a specialised role in our setup. Sparrow to miss if Petracca is fit. I could make a very strong case for both Jackson and Salem to be dropped, but the chances of either happening are so miniscule that I won't bother.

30 plus minutes, this is a frigging joke. There won't even be 60K at the game, and I have to spend half my work day waiting to get in.

I got the impression that half of the crowd on Friday night were once a year football attendees. People around us were away from their seats for half the game, going to buy beer every five minutes. When they were sitting they were playing on their phones or talking to their mates. They really had no interest in the game, and made no noise whatsoever. This week's crowd will be smaller, but hopefully more committed.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1208431/vfl-stars-cleared-for-qualifying-final https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1208391/four-demons-in-vfl-team-of-the-year-squad