poita

That's what happens when you ignore the draft for multiple years. 2016 - 2018 in our case. And too many fringe players given long term deals, eg Spargo and Chandler, presumably to push salary cap issues down the road.

The lack of depth in key areas (midfield, ruck & key positions) is a real concern. Similarly our most important players (May & Gawn) have only 1-2 years remaining, and could well be done sooner if they cop a significant injury. We already have one of the oldest lists in the competition, and we haven't done enough to add quality kids in the past three drafts. The likes of Salem, Hunter and Langdon need to be transitioned out of the team in the next 1-2 years, in addition to the impending retirements of May and Gawn. I really dislike the balance of our group at the moment, with no mids developing in the VFL and too many flanker / utility types clogging up the list. Our best players are good enough to keep the team competitive, assuming they are all fully fit and in form, but we desperately need to find 4-5 best 22 players this off season. It's difficult, but not impossible.

All year the talk has been that Jordon will look elsewhere for more midfield opportunities. We gave him midfield time late in the season, particularly against Adelaide & Richmond, and he was so ordinary. His semi final performance was especially woeful. He's not quick, he's not a great kick, and it takes him so long to make a decision every time he gets the ball. You only have to look at how Saad led him to the ball on multiple occasions at the start of the third quarter to see that he doesn't do anything instinctively on the football field. Ultimately he is one of many players who has regressed over the past two seasons, and I have no issue with moving him on, rather than him resigning on a 3-4 year deal on decent money. Unfortunately we won't be well compensated, but we are not improving the team by retaining these sort of players.

Luke definitely could have and probably should have played many more games for the club than he did, but he never stopped working his backside off at Casey. He deserved much better than finishing his career with a serious knee injury in the VFL. Thanks Luke, and all the best for the future. Our midfield depth is non existent if we lose Dunstan, Harmes and Jordon. Hopefully there is a plan to fix this glaring issue over the next couple of months, rather than wasting draft picks on more midget forwards.

There's a big difference between playing tough, hard, contested football and the brain farts listed by the opening poster. There is nothing wrong with the style of football played by the majority of our list the majority of the time, but there is definitely a degree of maturity and composure lacking in how the likes of Van Rooyen, Sparrow and Pickett conducted themselves in these moments. Time and experience should aid Van Rooyen, but Pickett's lack of discipline in key moments is increasingly a concern.

Conversely, players can significantly improve over time if they are prepared to put the work in and they receive the right coaching. Russell Robertson was a player who clearly improved his goal kicking over the course of his career, and went from being a below 50% kick to a very reliable set shot. In his case I believe it was just sheer hard work and repetition that did the job. Todd Viney was an ordinary field kick for much of his career but was much improved in his last couple of years, deservedly becoming All Australian in 1998. I'm yet to see any indication that our current group are willing to do this sort of work.

Hardly surprising - he's had plenty of time to have an impact across three years on the list. 44 VFL games averaging 13.7 possessions and 2.6 tackles is nothing special, and he certainly hasn't stepped up this year. Unfortunately I think we do need a lock down small defender to release Bowey from the role, but he's clearly not the one. It is something we do need to target in the rookie draft.

The sooner we can move on from this debacle, the better. Nobody has won out of this (except possibly Collingwood), and nobody comes out smelling of roses. Grundy is ultimately most at fault because he has tethered himself to a contract under which he hasn't come close to fulfilling his end of the bargain at two clubs now. I never liked the idea of tying so much of the salary cap in two aging ruckmen, but the signs from the pre season games were good. Grundy generally performed well in Gawn's absence in the early rounds, but his form and impact declined massively through the middle of the year. I called for him to be dropped weeks before it actually happened, and was not surprised that both Gawn and the forward structure performed better in Grundy's absence. However, circumstances changed and he clearly should have been selected for both finals, ideally starting but as sub at the very least. To think that either Laurie (QF) or Schache (SF) were ever going to contribute more than Grundy is just laughable. I hope a fair deal can be struck on the opening day of the trade period to get Grundy to Sydney, and we can then focus on finding Max a backup / succession plan. There are plenty of options out there, but it needs to be someone willing to bide their time and learn from Gawn for 1 - 2 years.

That's all well and good, but why was Salem playing every week? It's not as though there was no one available to fill his role. As for suggestions he can play midfield, that's not going to happen. He has lost any speed he once had, and has spent two years avoiding heavy contact.

Can't wait to see De Koning jumping a foot higher than whichever lamb is sacrificed for him to slaughter. I'd suggest Tomlinson might be the least worst option if we think he can still jump. Either way our midfield is going to have to be seriously switched on tonight.

The concern with Salem is the massive gap between his best and worst football. We know how good he can be on his day, and how important he is to the team, but his worst is putrid. At present he is in self-preservation mode - safe 20 metre kicks that hurt the team by slowing down the play; half hearted tackles; hospital handpasses to teammates to avoid being hit. He really needs to lift.

Underwhelming changes, but the cupboard looks pretty bare. Anyone who thinks our depth is up to standard only needs to be refer back to selection for this week to see otherwise. Surely Grundy has to be sub to give Max a spell from mid way through the third quarter, otherwise he will be cooked for the last term. Spargo, Chandler, Langdon, Jordon, Salem - we have so many players who simply have to find a way to contribute this week. Hopefully our senior players make a big statement in the first ten minutes and set to the tone for the rest of the game.

Just to clarify what I read in the last minute regarding Tomlinson & Hibberd: We had a team that was winning and playing well with Tomlinson alongside Lever & May. We dumped Tomlinson after Richmond, brought him back against Hawthorn, then dumped him again for no reason to play Turner against Sydney. Turner wasn't great, but the team still won. We then dumped Turner to play Hibberd against Collingwood. After a slow start Hibberd was okay, but the team lost. We are now bringing back Tomlinson to play against Carlton without McKay, even though he didn't play when McKay did play in round 22. The question is why, oh why, would you keep stuffing around with the competition's best defence at this stage of the season?

If Schache did any one of those three things at a decent standard, he would have played far more than 1 and a bit games this year. Unfortunately he doesn't, which is why he's languishing in the VFL at his third club.

I feel like we're comfortably a 5 goal better side than the Bulldogs, plus an extra 2-3 goal advantage at Casey Fields, so your margin of 45 points sounds about right. Hopefully Geelong can put a few goals past North to take a chunk out of North's percentage as well.

I understand and sympathise with your situation, but the issue may be what some people decide to do with their chairs. At a ground like Casey Fields with limited quality viewing areas, you only need a few groups to bring half a dozen chairs and spread them around a couple of picnic rugs, and suddenly what would be standing room for a hundred people is taken up by 15 seated. Maybe that's not a huge issue if Melbourne are playing Gold Coast, but it would be against one of the big Victorian clubs. I don't know why they would view chairs as being potential weapons - you could say that about bins, eskies, paraphernalia used by the cheer squads, footballs, etc.

Any young, developing ruck with good management should look at 2 years learning under Gawn, then being the main man from 2026 onwards, as being the golden ticket for ruckmen. At the very least you can do what Preuss did and use the apprenticeship as leverage elsewhere.

Those seven metres gained were incredibly handy.

We don't need 47 Curnows, just needed to select the one that was available to us at pick 9 a few years ago.

Cool, I look forward to seeing how the 7 untried players we fed to the wolves against Footscray last week play this time. Any chance we might see some experienced players as well?

Surprised not to see a thread on this, but clearly AFL finals have taken precedence this week. Hopefully the AFLW side can have a big win against a pretty underwhelming GWS side to keep us comfortably inside the top 4. Greater Western Sydney v Melbourne at Manuka Oval, Sunday September 10, 5.05pm AEST MELBOURNE Backs L.Birch 9 T.Gillard 17 Half Backs S.Goldrick 23 M.Gay 3 S.Heath 30 Centreline S.Lampard 8 T.Hanks 5 E.McNamara 22 Half Forwards T.Harris 7 L.Mithen 14 A.Bannan 16 Forwards E.Zanker 29 K.Hore - C 10 Followers L.Pearce 15 E.West 11 P.Paxman 4 Interchange M.Chaplin 13 G.Campbell 1 O.Purcell 2 B.Mackin 31 G.Colvin 32 C.Wilson 20 R.Watt 26 In: - M.Chaplin, G.Colvin, C.Wilson, R.WattOut: - M.Fitzsimon GIANTS Backs J.Hicks 29 P.Randall 21 Half Backs C.Dalton 11 G.Hill 19 T.Evans 18 Centreline J.Doyle 5 N.Barr 8 M.Brazendale 23 Half Forwards Z.Goldsworthy 7 H.Zreika 24 A.Parker 3 Forwards G.Garnett 17 B.Mowbray 31 Followers F.Davies 20 A.Lister 14 A.Eva - C 2 Interchange C.McCormick 25 K.Smith 4 A.Dallaway 30 C.Miller 9 J.Grierson 10 T.Germech 15 T.Cattle 40 In: - C.Miller, J.Grierson, T.Cattle Out: - None

The game felt like 40 minutes of timid, half hearted efforts that allowed Collingwood to build a match winning lead, followed by 80 minutes of complete domination for no reward due to collective panic attacks every time we entered forward 50. It is a shocking waste of a gold plated, diamond encrusted opportunity to host an interstate side in a preliminary final. Unfortunately we were always going to be in trouble when we were forced into rejigging the forward line so late in the year and, equally crucially, made the bone headed decision to tinker with a winning defence. After a terrible start Hibberd played pretty well, but May and Lever weren't running around like headless chooks, losing their men and spoiling each other when they were playing alongside Tomlinson. Our forward entries were generally poor, but what chance do they have when the forwards simply refuse to lead or even play in front? Even then we were able to create enough decent scoring chances to win the game, but lacked the smarts and the composure to capitalise. I don't know where we go from here, but having Van Rooyen, Chandler and Laurie contribute nothing in the same forward line cannot happen again. As a side we are going nowhere next year if Salem, Langdon and Hunter are automatic selections every week. Their collective lack of hardness, lack of composure and lack of kicking penetration make them liabilities. Hopefully Howes and Woewodin can put in McVee level pre seasons and push hard for these positions. Hopefully the club also reflects on the wisdom of extending coaching contracts in the middle of a sequence of demoralising finals losses. If Goodwin can't get this team up to win next week's game, this could become a mountain that is too big for this group to climb with an ageing, declining list.

Do we really need more competition for half forwards, or more 28 year olds on the list? I can't see how this possibly improves the mix of our list.

I really love this award. There are so many players doing great things in the community without seeking recognition. It would have been nice if the other nominees were mentioned in the article as well, given that they are all surely worthy.