poita

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.

https://www.womens.afl/news/94410 New story on the AFLW website regarding likely player movements, with as many as 60 movements expected in the coming weeks. As we know, Tarrant to Sydney, Parry likely to Geelong and Petrevski to West Coast. Tahlia Fellowes from Casey VFLW has been signed by Hawthorn. Not sure if we've missed one there. The article also says "Jordan Ivey is expected to land at Melbourne". I don't know much about her, other than that the Geelong website says she is 29 and was vice captain this year. Key Dates AFL expansion signing period 24 May 2022 Sign and trade period 31 May 2022 NAB AFLW draft 29 June 2022.

I just realised that's a full month of football with no home game in Melbourne, and three games outside Melbourne in a row - how does that happen? Thursday night football is the absolute pits. It would be nice to get some 1pm Saturday or Sunday games to allow kids to go, and to deter the derelicts who spend the whole game drinking.

The lack of support for umpires is evident at every level of the game, from club juniors through to the AFL. The Caroline Wilson article makes it clear that the AFL's attitude towards umpires is the worst of all. At least junior comps can blame lack of money and resources, the AFL has no excuse. How do they possibly expect to attract and retain the best umpires if they won't support them?

Having a 10 game season is just ridiculous. It would be like ending the AFL season after this week and thinking that is a fair fixture. I'm guessing the rationale is that the AFL want to limit the number of opportunities for weaker expansion sides to be thrashed by the stronger established sides. Expect to see Adelaide/Melbourne/Brisbane/Fremantle all playing against each other, and with the bare minimum of games against expansion sides. I struggle to see how the AFL will promote this AFLW season with the early rounds running against AFL finals. You'll be lucky to see more than one game a week on Channel 7, and heading out to venues like Casey for twilight or night fixtures in September is not an attractive proposition. Good to see some more money available to players. Hopefully it allows the stronger teams more scope to keep their lists together.

Hard to blame any of these players for seeking regular game time, particularly when they have come from interstate and uprooted their lives for a wage that is hardly life changing. Hopefully our list management team have some aces up their sleeves in terms of replacements. I'm amazed that none of the expansion clubs have come after our second tier players (Zanker, Mithen, Gay, etc). Or maybe they have and they've been knocked back.

The number one issue the AFL has at the moment is that they are devoting all their energies to a group of people who are only worried about the "experience", and this is coming at the expense of traditional fans, including local and junior football clubs. Yes, you'll get a big TV audience and a few extra hangers on by having a night grand final and providing fireworks and music and gimmicks, but few of these people will ever become members or put money into the game. The people who actually care, who volunteer at grass roots level, who encourage their kids interest in the game, who become members and buy merchandise, actually get turned off by all this crap. We sit in M15 and we are surrounded by people who spend their time playing on their phones and getting up to buy drinks. They come to games a couple of times a year and watch about 10 minutes of football each time. I really don't know what they (or the club) get from the effort, other than a few pictures on their Insta pages.

The next step in the evolution of this competition is to allow for longer term contracts. The stronger teams are extremely exposed having most of their lists come off contract each year. It's not right that you can put years of development into players and expansion clubs can come in and grab them for nothing. At the very least you should be able to offer 3-4 year deals to a small number of players (say 5) Parry has been linked to Geelong I believe.

Steven May has been brilliant over the past three years and deserves every bit of praise he gets. That said, Naughton and Wright both kicked multiple goals against him this year. What is the definition of a defensive 1v1?

Effectively gives Goody three years of security, which is about right. He absolutely deserves a new contract, but you also don't want a situation like West Coast has with Simpson where a premiership coach from four years ago is now fighting for survival. If Goody makes it through 2023 in good shape, I'm sure another contract will be a formality if he is still keen.

Tom has been a super player for this club for a long term and absolutely deserves to play game 200 this week (and many more beyond that). People just don't get how much of his work is done off the ball and behind the scenes. It's no coincidence that Ben Brown has averaged 3 goals a game when Tom has played this year, and only kicked 1 in the other game. Ideally Tom shepherds the Harmes goal through, but most of the blame should fall on Weideman who stood in the goal square and watched the whole thing happen. Weideman has been poor for a month since the Essendon game, although I don't mind him having a run in the ruck to get his hands on the ball as he did on Saturday. If Jackson comes back, Sam should be the one to drop out.

If our man Daniel said it, it must be true.

I can't see how that's correct. Even the most popular team in the competition only accounts for 10% or less of the viewing public. Assume Richmond and West Coast supporters represent 20% of all viewers between them, that leaves the other 80% who would presumably much prefer to watch a cracking game between two top 4 teams wherever they come from

No doubt Shane was badly advised after his Brownlow victory. His management turned the screws on the club that had given him a chance when 15 other teams weren't interested. I agree that he would have had a long and successful career at the MFC if he had accepted a fair and reasonable wage at that time. That said, the decision to trade Shane and how it was played out, caused significant damage at the time to the club, the player group and the supporter base. That is 100% on the club given they accepted and signed the contract. I'm very glad that these issues have now been addressed and resolved.

Saturday twilight time slot, rain predicted, Hawthorn's fickle supporter base = 35K tops, probably closer to 30K. St Kilda on Mothers Day will be 30K at best. Note that St Kilda and Hawthorn only drew 30,926 in round 4 for a Hawthorn home game. St Kilda's crowds have been abysmal this year, even with home games against Collingwood and Richmond.

With so many hangers on at football clubs these days it baffles me that one of them can't give a decent review of Casey games and how our players fared. If we didn't have Demonland, there would be almost no feedback whatsoever.

I can't believe people still think Brown and Weideman will play in the same team. The selectors have ample opportunities to try this combination if they think it will work (including when McDonald was injured in late 2021), and we've seen it a grand total of once since Brown came to the club. Even then McDonald still played and it only happened because Jackson missed. Brown and Weideman are basically the same type of player, playing a very similar role. However one is an elite, proven performer and the other is a highly inconsistent and large unproven player. McDonald is a very different player who plays a role that is highly complementary to Brown (or Weideman), and that is why he keeps getting selected even if he is not kicking a lot of goals. The Brown / McDonald combination is clearly our most effective and I expect to see them reunited as soon as Brown as seen as fit enough to play.