poita

Says the guy who repeatedly said that Cam Pedersen would never play another AFL game.

I didn't mind Smith's game overall, but he is clearly not a direct replacement for Lever as a genuine second tall defender. I gather he has been playing as third or fourth defender at Casey, so why the fork would you expect him to play as second defender at AFL level? I'm more than happy for him to replace Vince or Lewis on a flank, with Frost to slot in at CHB.

I honestly don't understand why the same old sad sacks read this thread when they know what they are going to get each week. For what its worth I think joeboy consistently does an excellent job and I thank him for his contribution.

In: Tyson, Garlett, Frost Out: Hannan, Spargo, Vince

Still not fit enough, still doesn't get enough possessions, still doesn't hurt teams when he does get the ball. He is possibly the most talented player on the list, but on performances he is a borderline selection at the moment. If he wins the ball within 60 metres of goal he should be having a shot, not passing sideways and backwards. Sadly De Goey has gone way past him as a player. De Goey takes the game on and backs himself in to make things happen. He looks super fit and wins the ball in important places. Petracca seems happy flitting about on the periphery.

Clearly a very disappointing performance, but not the end of the world. We were poor against the Bulldogs and got away with it because of the lack of opposition. We were equally poor yesterday and got what we deserved. The timing is pretty good for us to receive a major reality check with 11 days until our next game. There were some bad trends creeping into our play that need to be eradicated and we have time to work on them. Our midfield was really poor. As in all of our bad performances there was a major disconnect between Gawn and his midfielders. I've previously thought it was Gawn at fault, but I'm not so sure about that yesterday. Jones and Viney were miles off the pace and Oliver's disposal was as bad as I've seen from him. We just didn't handle the pressure from Collingwood early and then continued to panic even when the pressure came off later in the game. Why Goodwin didn't give more (any?) centre square time to Salem, Brayshaw and Harmes is beyond me. At least Brayshaw or Harmes could have run with De Goey when he was dominating early. I commented about three minutes into the game that we would concede 20 goals and that sadly was proven correct. The Smith selection was a poor one given the role that he was asked to play, and at no stage did we look to have our match ups right. Why Lewis is allowed to play loose man in defence without plugging the hole in front of the number one forward is beyond me. He just won't put himself in danger of getting hurt. Arguably Smith should have played that role, and Frost should have played Smith's role. I'm convinced that Vince and Lewis can't play in the same side, especially not in the same part of the ground. I'm a Pedersen fan but his presence seemed to unsettle the forward line. Hogan was invisible, and McDonald was wasted on the wing in the first half. Spargo and Hannan are miles off the top level and both need a spell at Casey. Tom McDonald is an absolute star and was the only reason we got within 12 goals of Collingwood. Goodwin had another poor day yesterday. It is one thing to have the team winning when everything is going your way, but I'm yet to see Goodwin dig a plan B out of the back pocket to change the course of a match. His match ups and game plan were sadly inadequate and he never looked like stopping Collingwood's midfield dominance.

Vandenberg is 26 years old with 28 games to his name, the last of which was almost two years ago. His skills are atrocious (particularly by hand) and he averages 15 possessions and 0.6 goals a game. I was amazed that he got a contract to play this season when he wasn't back training at the time. It would be such a backward step to even contemplate giving him a game either this year or next. Our young half forwards (eg Spargo, Fritsch and Hannan) are miles ahead of Vandenberg and are much younger. I can't see him playing another AFL game. Kent showed earlier this season that his best football is good enough, but between his regular injuries and his inability to keep his focus and intensity up for more than two weeks at a time, how could you possibly trust him to perform in a big game? I assume he'll be given a one year contract because we have higher priority delistings, but he would need to perform at Casey on his return.

Surely this is the most straight forward of all our contract negotiations this year. A three year deal on reasonable money should be pretty easy for all parties to agree to. Hopefully it is done before the Port game.

What a load of garbage. The guy was in our 2000 grand final side, plus was a regular in the 2004 side that was on top of the ladder after 18 games. He was a very solid key defender in his best years, and lost a few years out of his prime to injury. That said, I doubt that he is the right person for this job.

That fox squad is a complete w*nk. Webster, Seedsman & Pearce in the backline; three Hawthorn forwards; the entire Collingwood midfield.

Gawn, Hogan & Oliver are certainties for me, although Oliver probably needs a couple of stand out games in the next month to keep himself in the picture given his relative lack of profile. Jetta is coming from a long way back given his first month, but there isn't a lot of competition for his spot either. Tom McDonald would need to play every game from here to make the team. 17 of 22 games would be borderline to make the team, 6 of 11 at present is not even close, regardless of form. Grundy should be in the team as well. I have no issue with two rucks being named, particularly in a year where there haven't been a lot of standout midfielders.

I suspect there is more chance of Jack Watts & Jack Trengove both being at the MFC next year than there is of Ollie Wines coming to the club. Nice to dream about, but there is no way to make it happen.

Other than the inclusion of Viney and a new tall defender, our team this week will be very similar the one from round 23 last year, just a few changes on the edges. Hopefully they have learned some lessons from what was as poor a performance in a big game as I can remember.

Rance is up there with Ablett as the most overrated player in the competition. How often does he play on and beat the best forwards in the competition? There is no great skill in playing off the opposition's 5th or 6th best forward. Plus I'm still dirty on him for his dog hit on Watts a few years ago.

Brilliant, brilliant news. Tom is an absolute gun and four years is the minimum contract length I was hoping for. That will see him right through the prime of his career, and will hopefully ensure he is a Demon for life. Well done to all involved. Now for Oscar and Gus.

Collingwood, Sydney & GWS are the key games. We may have to win two or more of those to challenge for top 4 in a season in which the bottom five clubs are really poor. If we pinch one of the Adelaide, Port, West Coast and Geelong road games we will be doing well. Our percentage is great at the moment, but it can change quickly with one bad game. You would hope we would win (and win well) against Fremantle, St Kilda, Bulldogs and Gold Coast. We need five more wins to guarantee a finals spot, and that should be straight forward if we can keep our best players around. Hopefully the team can keep pushing beyond that and lock in a home elimination final at the very least.

Dom is out of the team because he is not in our top 3-4 midfielders any more, and because he doesn't have a secondary role that he can play (unlike Brayshaw, Salem & Petracca). But as soon as we have an injury in the midfield, there is no question in my mind that he will come straight back in. Longer term I would imagine that the coaches see him as a possible replacement for Lewis or Vince across half back. Clearly he needs to tidy up his decision making a little, but he reads the play well and gets himself to the right spots.

I hope we don't over complicate the issue, or try to be too clever as we did with the forward line earlier in the season. I'm not a massive fan, but Frost surely has to be next in line. Tell him to defend as his first, second and third priorities, and take the first option when he has the ball, and he'll be fine. It is not his job to be taking on five opponents and running 60 metres every time he gets the ball.

I can't see Balic getting a game at AFL level until he shows he can play decent midfield minutes. As Goodwin has shown with Tyson & Garlett, he wants players who can play a variety of roles. Balic won't get a senior game playing as a permanent half forward in the VFL. I have no issue with the decision to recruit Balic, particularly on a one year deal, but he seems a fair way down the queue for senior selection at present.

The biggest difference is the structure. Against Hawthorn we had Hogan playing as the only tall forward, and he spent half the game outside 50. Against Richmond, we had Hogan and Weideman - Hogan was all over the place again, and Weideman barely made it to a contest inside 50 all night. It is hardly surprising that we would win the ball in the middle or across half back and look up and see nobody to kick to. Hence we went backwards and sideways until we were forced into a long kick down the line, or were caught in possession. Now we look up and you are pretty much assured of having at least two of McDonald, Hogan and Smith (or even Gawn) providing a target. The midfielders can play with a lot more confidence and flair because they know what they will get in front of them. Further, the likes of Melksham, Fritsch and Hannan are now getting the 4th, 5th or 6th best defender, which makes a big difference. In the past couple of weeks we have forced players such as Simpson and Laird to be accountable for an opponent, generally one who is bigger and stronger, and that has taken away from their attacking games. The midfield is running much deeper with strong contributions from Brayshaw, Harmes and Salem, and the defence is finally clicking now that players such as Frost and Hunt (who are inconsistent defensively) are out of the team, but it all stems from the forward line for me. I am convinced that we would gone close to beating Hawthorn, and perhaps Richmond as well, if we had picked the right side for those games.

Well done to David Neitz, on a very well deserved honour. For me, Garry Lyon should have been inducted before Neitz. I think Lyon's leadership and his record in big games was superior to Neitz, but obviously his achievements are clouded by the injuries over the last 4-5 years of his career. Prior to that he was as good as any player in the league. I agree with the opening poster that our golden era is severely under-represented in the Hall of Fame, particularly in comparison to Hawthorn's team of the 1980s. Hopefully with the current team on the rise, that oversight is rectified over the next few years.

I'm not surprised that the NRL coverage outrates the AFL equivalent - it is a far better production, notwithstanding the much better atmosphere that most AFL games have. The other advantage that the NRL has is that night games finish before 10pm, whereas Friday night AFL games are often pushing 11pm. The AFL needs to realise that even the biggest AFL team accounts for less than 10% of the total membership, and presumably the same proportion of the viewing audience. Hence a game between any two clubs will never be of direct interest to more than 20% of all viewers. It is far better to appeal to the other 80% (or more) by finding the best games to show each week, rather than being fixated on the more popular teams. I suspect the NRL do this better, and clearly having a floating fixture helps.

Weideman shouldn't be playing AFL at this point based on his performances to date, so I'm happy for Smith to be taking his chance. The big test will come on QB when Smith will need to hold his own in the ruck against Grundy & Cox. Do we have confidence that he can fight out a nil-all draw in these contests?

That emergency list ?. 7 players from that game didn't play last year, including Hogan & Gawn. Surely we win and win well.