poita

In: May, Tomlinson, Hunt, Rivers, Dunstan, Weideman (ugh), man on man defending Out: Turner, Lever, Bowey, Sparrow, Spargo, M.Brown, zone defence Happy for Petracca to spend time forward to allow Dunstan to play midfield. Hunt also to spend time forward. Brayshaw back on the wing. I'd be tempted to let Weideman do some ruck work early to get him into the game.

Salem and Langdon are clearly underdone and can't run. Gawn has been carrying injuries since before the West Coast game. Petty has been carrying injuries for weeks as well. Petracca has been well down since being sick prior to the Freo game. The young kids are looking tired and beaten up. How much more evidence do we need that we can't keep carrying players who aren't anywhere near full fitness?

It's amazing how quickly things turn to [censored] as soon as Goodwin signs a new contract. First 2019, now 2022. Sure he can't run around and kick the ball for the players, but he has presided over the declining standards over the past two months, played unfit and out of form players, and failed to accept the need to change a game plan that has been worked out by every other team. Failing to rest players through rounds 9 and 10 was a horrible, horrible error of judgement. Did it matter if we beat North by 5 or 8 goals, if we were in a better position through rounds 11 - 13? I'm amazed that so many people are fixated on us are giving up quarter time leads. In recent weeks we have had 1.6, 1.5 and 0.5 kicked against us in the first quarter. If those teams had kicked straight we would have deservedly trailed on each occasion. We've plain and simply been poor for the entirety of the past three weeks. The first player I would drop is Lever. He offers no leadership, can't / won't defend his opponent, and offers nothing with ball in hand. He spends more time lying on the ground than standing next to his man. He is playing like 2019 Lever with the arrogance of someone who thinks he is untouchable because he was good in 2021. Playing Turner was the equivalent of playing Petty in 2018 - you're just hoping to fast track a player who simply isn't ready. I'm sick of players such as Sparrow, Spargo and Salem who hold the ball up for 10-15 seconds looking for the perfect kick, then dink a 15 metre kick sideways. Take responsibility yourself instead of lumping it on your teammate. By the time we are finally ready to go down the line all our forwards have led and are out of position, and the opposition have flooded back. No wonder we end up turning it over. Sparrow, Spargo, Bowey, Jackson all need a rest. Petty and Gawn injured. Langdon and Salem underdone. Harmes, Neal-Bullen, Lever MIA. Forward line abysmal. We're in a world of trouble. At the moment we look more likely to miss the 8 rather than finish top 4. Goodwin and the supposed leaders of the club have ten days to turn around this sinking ship.

I'd say this sounds like a plotline from Dumb and Dumber, but I have the feeling that there is more to play out here and that we'll be crowning someone Dumbest of all the Dumb Dumbs by the end of the week.

Absolutely disgraceful comment by May if true, and on the back of the terrible decision to drink while under concussion protocols. He clearly has issues with alcohol, and if he is serious about getting the most out of the remainder of his football career, should give up drinking during the season. Violence is never the answer, and should be punished as well, but I can certainly understand why Melksham would be upset by the comment. Nevertheless it's an awful example for him to set for his kids.

What an amazing stupid and selfish act by May, a 30 year old who consistently makes decisions befitting a 19 year old. And ditto for any experienced teammates who stood idly by whilst he was breaking team rules. Goodwin needs to take charge of this team before the season falls completely off the rails. There are so many signs that this group isn't prepared to do the right things on or off the field that are necessary to challenge for a premiership this year.

Yep, needed a run at Casey to get back some form and confidence. Now we need to do the same for Bowey, Sparrow, Jackson and others.

I've said this before, people just don't go to the football any more. Covid hasn't helped, as people have become used to watching games from the comfort of their lounge rooms. The AFL are also largely responsible for this with their appalling scheduling of matches and the exorbitant costs of attending. I know a number of very proud Richmond supporters who happily attended for years as a family when they were an average team. Now 90% of their games are at night, all are reserved seating and they can't justify paying a small fortune to attend and having the kids up until midnight, even as the competition's dominant team for several years. This is our future if we keep winning and growing, and it alienates a lot of people. Now people are more likely to buy a three game membership, attend a couple of marquee matches for "the experience", and spend more time queuing for beer than watching the game. But you can be sure that their Instagram followers will know all about it. I enjoy the experience of being at games and will happily attend each week. But I can understand why people aren't going with the costs, the travel, the scheduling of matches, the safety issues, and COVID / flu issues. This is a long term trend and the AFL need to make the game more appealing to families, or they will lose the next generation of supporters coming to games. Maybe they are happy to have teams playing in front of empty stadiums as in the NRL, but I can't imagine the clubs or players will be happy. Are Melbourne fans worse than any others? Probably not really, it's just that Collingwood and Richmond have the benefit of locking in marquee fixtures a couple of times a year. Certainly the lack of crowd noise in recent weeks has been a stark contrast to previous years, and is representative of a crowd that doesn't really care about what's happening on the field. It is very disappointing when a small, but dedicated Freo supporter group is making more noise than the home crowd.

History shows that back to back premiership winning teams never do it with the exact same personnel or game plan. Standing still is going backwards in professional sport, and that is where we are at. Goodwin isn't prepared to change the game plan and he is determined to run with as close to the same 22/23 from last year as possible. I'd argue that every team we have played in the past seven weeks has worked us out, but only in the last two weeks have teams been good enough to do something about it. Unfortunately for us, almost every team we play in the last ten games is at that level, so we're going to need to do something different and quickly. We've got players horribly out of form, players clearly unfit or carrying injuries, and others who just need a rest. I'd almost be tempted to rest 5-6 players this week and give them a proper break before Brisbane in round 15. Reset and start again after the bye.

I wonder how many of the people who have spent the last three years potting Tom McDonald are prepared to put their hand up and admit they got it badly wrong. He is the one player in our forward line who blocks and creates space for his teammates, and leads to different parts of the ground. It doesn't show up in his stats very often, but I can guarantee that B.Brown and Fritsch would notice when he is not there.

My question for the cheer squad is why don't they ever turn the banner around any more so that the people in the Southern Stand can see what is written on the front? All we get is the advertising on the back.

I'm surprised to see so many people want to see Rivers as the sub. He needs to get a full game with Casey, and get some confidence and form back. The last thing he needs, particularly with a bye coming, is to sit on the bench and not get a run. I'm more than happy for Melksham to be sub, as it doesn't hurt us in the long run if he doesn't get a game this week. If he does play, hopefully he pulls his finger out and contributes more than he has in recent times.

I wonder if we have another move coming as we now have more than our required 3 list spaces free.

Sunday June 12 First Elimination Final, Casey Demons (3rd) v Collingwood (6th) Casey Fields, 11:35am AEST https://www.afl.com.au/news/772045/2022-rebel-vflw-finals-week-one-fixture A curtain raiser for the VFL game.

Sounds like a really good signing, in a position of significant need for us.

Phillips to Port had a bit of the Ablett to Gold Coast feel about it in terms of providing a new challenge to a player who as achieved everything, and giving greater opportunities to the next group of players coming through. I can't see why any of their other gun players would want to leave Adelaide unless they could be paid a truck load of money. That club is set up to challenge for premierships for years to come.

Franklin shouldn't get off because the act was exactly the sort of thing that we want to get out of the game, but he will get off because there is a list of precedents a mile long where similar acts were not punished or punished with fines.

https://www.womens.afl/news/94179?_ga=2.178718948.1122198148.1653872951-1661021775.1652416813 Lauren Magee not returning and Maeve Chaplin delisted. The Chaplin delisting seems more about giving us the minimum three draft picks, so wonder if we will pick her back up if nobody else swoops in first. Our first pick would have fallen somewhere beyond 27, so no big loss. If we otherwise keep our list together bar Tarrant, Parry and Petrevski, that's a great result.

We've beaten Sydney twice since 2010, and not convincingly on either occasion. Obviously we're a vastly different side from the early 2010s, but Sydney are well coached and well led, and we're going to need to play very well to beat them. I'm surprised their fans aren't more confident.

Rosman, Laurie, Moniz-Wakefield all below 10 disposals. Disappointing that Laurie & Rosman as second year players aren't starting to string together strong performances in a good side at this level. Buntine doesn't seem to have found his feet either. Plenty of upside for Casey when these guys get going. Good to see Tomlinson setting a high standard for his younger teammates.

I wish they would check tickets more regularly in the Southern Stand and keep the opposition supporters out.

Nothing wrong with an occasional loss, but the manner of this one was very concerning. There was so little fight or willingness to compete after half time, that you hope there was some kind of illness debilitating the entire group. I've been critical of our depth for some time, but I really disappointed with how little fight the replacements showed. Melksham was invisible throughout, Weidman half-hearted and disinterested, Dunstan insignificant and Bedford disappeared after half time. All four should come straight back out this week, and will drop well down the pecking order for replacements. I said before round 1 last year that it needed to be B.Brown or Weideman, and McDonald or M.Brown. You can't play Weideman and B.Brown together because they want to win the ball in the same spots and get in each others way. Plus neither chases. Both were woeful, but I'd back Brown in 100 times before we bring back Weideman. We've been playing russian roulette with medical subs for some time, and it finally blew up in our faces. You simply can't afford to have one dimensional players as subs, and that covers all of Bedford, Chandler and Dunstan. At least Tomlinson can play a few positions, or release others to do so. The decision to play Petracca, whether made by player, coach or doctor, was exceptionally poor. I couldn't believe that we would play Spargo on the wing for the entire game when he had no influence, but to have him paired with Melksham for long stretches left us exposed on both sides of the ground. We should have tried Neal-Bullen or Bedford in the role, who are much better runners. Spargo is clearly the best inside 50 kick in the team, and our connection going forward clearly suffered by him playing our of positoin. Finally why did we front up to centre bounces with the same combination for almost the entire third quarter? Petracca was a witches hat, Jackson didn't get a single tap to advantage in the game, and Viney and Oliver were both horribly out of position. We should have thrown Pickett or Dunstan or Weideman in there for something different. Looking forward to a much improved effort, with or without returning star players, this week.

And what happens if we trade our first round pick to get Charlotte Wilson or others, but don't lose any more players to expansion clubs?

I can't believe this is even being discussed. Darwin's population is about 40% of that of the City of Casey. The entire NT population is about 65% of City of Casey. Why don't we upgrade Casey Fields to AFL standard and have the 20th team play out of there? That is a much bigger, largely untapped market than Darwin. That said, I agree that 18 teams is too many and that ideally we would be consolidating, not expanding, given shrinking junior participation numbers.

https://www.womens.afl/news/94530?_ga=2.146405172.1273122696.1653516399-1661021775.1652416813 "Blues defender Charlotte Wilson is set to add to reigning Grand Finalist Melbourne’s hopes of a maiden AFLW flag. Wilson, a 21-year-old intercept defender who has impressed throughout the early stages of her Carlton career, will then head to Melbourne as the Demons look to strengthen key pillars at either end in their chase for a maiden flag." Key defence is one of our weaknesses, so anything we can do to bolster that part of the field is a good thing.