poita

Fully agree with this, and it has been an issue for Goodwin for more than 12 months now. Couple that with his unwillingness to pick a side that in any way combats opposition strengths (namely St Kilda's outside run, and selecting a suitable opponent for Membrey this week), and he is playing a very dangerous game indeed.

Richmond are building a strong list so presumably they'll end up in Conference A, and they'll dump Gold Coast and St Kilda in Conference B so that the AFL favourites (Carlton & Collingwood) can get a few more easy wins.

There was an email sent just before the start of the season with a link to print through the Ticketmaster website. That said, it wasn't that long ago that we received four printed publications a year. Now we get one online, wafer thin season guide and no end of year report. 11 game and above members should have the option to receive hard copies, whilst 3 game members can receive soft copies or go without. I also didn't receive my fixture magnet this year - all small things but they add up when the membership price keeps soaring each year. I wonder where the money goes when gate prices for walk ups have barely moved in years.

I've had reason to call them several times in the past six months and, whilst I feel the people taking the call are doing their best, there is something seriously wrong with the process at present. I signed my son up for the first time this year (well before the start of the season) and they really had no idea where his membership pack was, whether it had been sent or whose responsibility it was. Eventually they gave him a free pass for the first game when his membership didn't arrive in time, but nobody is taking responsibility for these problems. Outsourcing the production and distribution to companies who provide sub-standard products and poor communication with no accountability reflects badly on the club. Hopefully they bring some of this back in-house next year.

I don't mind Bruce, but he needs the right partner. Cometti worked with Bruce because Dennis would banter with him when appropriate, or otherwise tell him to shut up. People like Ling, Richardson and Taylor who struggle to string three coherent words together are not the right fit.

Of the fringe players Hore was good and Stretch okay. Spargo's 7 touches were very good, but 7 touches and 1 tackle is not nearly enough of a contribution. C.Wagner was quiet and his brother is still ordinary. Depending on who is available I'd be replacing Spargo first, followed by J.Wagner and C.Wagner in that order. Having said that I'm not sure I'd be playing either Jetta or Lewis against St Kilda. If the current side can't beat St Kilda they should give up. Save those guys for Richmond, rather than expecting them to back up 4 days later.

Very good last night. Trac just needs to play hard, instinctive football and he will be fine. He comes undone when he second guesses himself and goes over the top trying to do the team thing. That first goal was a thing of beauty.

As I was saying ... ?

Changes are as good as could have been hoped given the lack of options at Casey. Kolodjashnij & May - the trade that just keeps on giving. All we need now is for Hogan to win the Western Derby off his own boot. I expect Preuss to be fairly useless in terms of disposals, but I'll be disappointed if he doesn't plough through a couple of Sydney defenders. Set up Rampe or Lloyd under a high ball early and let Preuss knock him into next week.

Draft picks only sign 1 year deals? Downie would be good to keep and presumably they have hopes for Brancatisano. The rest are probably all expendable. And yes, a decision should have been made on the coach by now.

I'd be interested to see Max's hitout stats compared to last year, particularly in respect of hitouts to advantage. A number of his taps on Friday hit Shiel and Heppell on the chest. It is difficult for Oliver and Brayshaw, who I agree have been clearly our best players, to expect to receive a tap in one place and then have to change tack and defend when it ends up somewhere else.

So who is the player from Friday not on the plane? Neal-Bullen? Hore and Spargo should be nowhere near the AFL side. At least playing Preuss would give Sydney something different to think about.

Irrespective of who is available we have to hit the draft hard this year. You can't go four years without adding quality youngsters to your list without causing a major issue in the future (see Melbourne 2007-2014 as a result of list management issues in the early 2000s).

Not this first time I've said this, but until someone at Casey steps up and demands Jones' position he will stay in the team. Same for Lewis (when fit). Jones is playing poorly and has been doing so since first moved out of the midfield midway through last year. But when the possible replacements include Maynard and Stretch, who are even less capable in the role Jones is currently occupying, there is no chance of him being replaced. And the reason he is still (co) captain is because Viney is no sure thing to play each week. Until Viney gets through a full season I expect the captaincy to remain shared.

How many of the people saying we are certainties this week tipped against us the past three weeks?

Hogan doesn't need to kick goals to influence games. His workrate between the 50s and his ability to find the ball means that he can contribute without hitting the scoreboard. In fact he can be more important up the ground because he draws players to him and creates space for those around him. Hence why our forward line was the best in the competition in the 20 games he played last season. Weideman in particular, and McDonald to some extent, need to kick goals to have an impact because they don't provide much else to the team particularly in terms of physical presence. The poor performances of these two are significant factors in the dysfunction of the forward line and the struggles of our smaller forwards. Luckily for the club they can argue that the trade was done for non-football reasons, as the football reasons are hard to justify at present.

Now that we've finally added McDonald to the injury list, when most people could tell he was struggling in round 1, when are we going to be honest about Jetta? The guy can barely move at the movement.

Michael Hibberd was unfit when he came to the club and, missed the first month of 2017, but got himself sorted and was excellent for the remainder of the season. He looked out of sorts from the moment Lever came into the side in 2018 as he was shuffled into a more defensive role that stifled his ability to win the ball and setup attacks from half back. His form improved slightly when Lever was injured, then he missed a month of footy, and never really got going again. This year his form has been putrid. He has never been quick, but looks like he is running in wet cement at present. His kicking is a 50/50 proposition at best. He is one of the worst culprits at being fourth or fifth up in a contest, leaving his man unattended at the base of the pack. He is being isolated by opposition teams and exploited on an all too regular basis. Most significantly he has lost all ability to defend in a one-v-one situation. His positioning and timing are non-existent. He is easily nudged out of the way, even by smaller opponents, and far too often loses touch with his man. With only 126 AFL games to his name, his body should be in reasonable nick but he is 30 before the start of next season. Was 2017 an aberration and he is just a serviceable player quickly coming to the end, or is there something that we can fix to return him to his best football? If I was coach I'd be tempted to throw Hibberd forward this week and try to reset him with a different role. Petracca can play midfield or defence and try to find some more football.

As much as I understand why we wanted to trade Hogan and why we wanted to bring in May, the whole deal had an off feeling from the start. May never showed great enthusiasm to come here in the first place, rather we were his last pathway out of GC17 when Collingwood and others went cold (I wonder why that was). Reports of his initial lack of fitness and conditioning, coupled with his lack of discipline and lack of interest on field, make you wonder whether he is here to simply cash pay cheques or is actually committed to helping the club. Hibberd was able to turn things around in 2017 from a bad start, hopefully May can do the same.

If we come out of this game with a percentage of over 60 and no serious injuries, that would be a reasonable result. Worst case scenario is that the ground is in as bad a condition as it looks and we add a few more to the long term injury list, plus get absolutely flogged. Come on Simon, do something different this week, I dare you.

Our recruiting and list management has been absolutely abysmal for three years, and I have been saying as much for that entire time. Exclude Oliver and the problem is actually four years old. We carry blokes on the list year after year such as JKH, Maynard, Smith x2 who are not AFL standard. We need to make an early call and turn the list over. Other clubs can do it, why can't we? West Coast won a premiership last year and still had 4 picks in the top 40 (plus 5 the previous year). We trade out high draft picks for experienced players of questionable value. I get the May deal, although his durability has always been an issue, but the Lever deal was atrocious on all levels. If Kolodjashnij played more on the outside he'd be sitting in the stands. We waste mid range draft picks on guys like Spargo who are fundamentally flawed footballers. Neither Sparrow or Jordon excite me. We have zero ruck depth behind Gawn (I see Keilty and Smith rucked for Casey again today). We have zero key forward depth behind McDonald (Weideman is not an AFL footballer). We have zero midfield depth behind our only four AFL standard midfielders. There is barely a single brain cell between our entire defence. We had about six blokes carry the side into the finals last year. A few of those have been found out this year and the rest are not capable of filling the void. Couple that with a coach who won't admit that his game plan is stuffed, and you can see why the ladder looks the way it does.

Yet we take Spargo with a top 30 pick, a slow midget with no tricks. Not saying Miers is the answer to all our problems, but there have been some bizarre selections over the past couple of drafts.

Early days, but Preuss is looking like a bust. Not fit enough to play for a team that is crying out for size and physical presence. Meanwhile Tyson is playing regularly at North whilst our depth is so non-existent that we are playing Lockhart and two Wagners this week. Goodwin will have to play Preuss at some point this point to avoid Gawn being battered and bruised to the point he gets injured. Sadly that will mean Simon admitting he is wrong with his initial selections and tactics, so I can't see that happening any time soon.

I thought our round 1 side was bad, this is probably worse. Corey Wagner is a goer, but little else. Josh Wagner doesn't even have that. We have half a dozen not at AFL standard, another six or so woefully out of form or unfit. I hope that the few guys carrying the team each week have broad shoulders. I've suffered through enough dismal performances against Essendon over the past 30+ years to fear the worst tonight.

That's fine if you are prepared to kill off all of the local clubs (Darebin, St Albans, etc) that have been the backbone of womens football for its entire history. It's bad enough that AFLW clubs are allowed to run teams in the VFLW, but running the seasons concurrently would destroy the VFLW also. That said, congratulations to Adelaide who were light years ahead of the competition and fully deserved to win the premiership. Melbourne only have themselves to blame for not playing finals, and Carlton were as good as any of the rest in the second half of the season.