poita

Just to clarify, having screwed Viney's foot by bringing him back too early, we now propose to take the same risk with Hogan's shoulder? I'd rather see Watts play, and give Hogan at least one more week. On the bold assumption that Hogan is actually fit to play, hopefully we see: IN: Hogan, Stretch, Maynard OUT: Weideman, Wagner, Viney

Only if we could trade him for McKenna & Kennedy, and even then I would be uncertain. How many underachieving small forwards does one team need?

Brisbane's starting midfield is as good as any in the competition and we can't afford to let them waltz out of the middle without applying pressure. Even the most ordinary forward line will kick goals when the ball is delivered well. We will know within the first 15 minutes whether the players are switched on or not. Hopefully they are and we can pick up some percentage as well as the win. Hopefully we pick our best 22 this week instead of gifting games to the likes of Weideman.

My thoughts exactly. He has probably dropped $100K and a year off his contract in the past month. I would move on Kennedy, Hulett, White, and Vandenberg, plus Spencer if we can find a decent replacement. The head says Trengove is gone, but the heart won't let go. I find it interesting that Tim Smith has received a contract for next year, but neither Maynard nor Keilty has. I would take both of those before Smith, irrespective of injury.

Totally agree with this. Most of the posters in this thread remind me of five year old kids complaining that their sister got three jelly beans with their ice cream but they only got two. I'm not an umpire, nor do I know any. But it is an incredibly difficult job, they are human and they make mistakes from time to time (as well all do). Anybody who thinks it is easy should put their hand up and do it themselves. As an aside, the average player makes more mistakes than the average umpire each week - do we claim a AFL conspiracy every time Jeff Garlett or Dean Kent misses from 20 metres out directly in front?

I said after the Giants game that, in hindsight, we should have given him that week off to freshen him up for the last three games. He's a young player, with a physical game style, who has played 37 consecutive games after none in 2015. He hasn't been horrible by any means, but he doesn't seem to be 100% right and that is causing him to go away from his natural game a little (eg handpassing so much).

In: Watts, Stretch/Salem Out: Weideman, Wagner Putting anything other than our absolute best available side out against Brisbane would be a massive mistake. Weideman is not ready and Wagner is not AFL standard. I was waiting for Bugg's name to come up. If he plays again this year, it would be a sure sign that things have gone badly wrong for us. You don't get welcomed back with open arms after copping a six week holiday. He needs to put his head down and show some leadership at Casey over the next month.

We almost lost that game at selection with the appalling decision to play Weideman & Wagner, but thankfully we had enough contributors to overcome the passengers. Both McDonalds were fantastic, Pedersen was great, Lewis was (mostly) solid, and there were some massive cameos up forward. Brayshaw's return was immense, now we need to get Stretch back playing some decent football. With so much improvement possible in Viney, Petracca & Garlett, we still look very capable of doing some damage in September. That said, we have to come with the right attitude next week because Brisbane have the capacity to cause an underperforming midfield some real problems.

Not sure you would even contemplate resigning Vandenberg until after the trade period. Aside from being a permanent fixture in the medical rooms, he is hardly a core player. Fringe players should be offered contracts only when everyone else is taken care of. PS Hopefully the time off his feet has given him a chance to learn to handball on the chest of a teammate.

This is the second time in recent weeks that Max has just dropped his bundle, the other time being against Sydney. The umpire is right to play a free kick for blocking when Max doesn't jump at the centre bounce, although he was certainly stiff on other occasions. Max is the best ruckman in the competition, so he needs to expect some attention. Some days you get decisions go your way, others you don't. It's not good enough as a senior player and leader to just stop playing. Hopefully Goodwin has a quiet word in his ear this week.

On the glimpses we saw of Sam in 2016, I was hopeful we would see him become an AFL regular in mid-2018. On what we saw today, he is still two years away. He made one great tackle and kicked one point. That is the total of his contribution. As a young developing player, if he doesn't take marks, and kick goals, so be it. But he just doesn't get in the right position, doesn't attack the contest and doesn't impact the game. His instructions in the second half should have been to play a defensive role on Carlisle, but the coach had so little faith that he spent most of the half on the bench. It was a horrible decision to play him, and he needs to go back to Casey and play a big role in their finals campaign to get his confidence back up.

It's a dumb tactic, because the likes of Neal-Bullen and Kent, who have been used in that role, are not smart enough to read the play and get themselves in the right spot. More often than not, the ball disappears back over their heads.. Secondly, it is a waste of effort having players who aren't impacting the play then having to run 100 metres to find their position and / or opponent. Thirdly, even if it does work, you are kicking into a forward line that is outnumbered 6 to 4. And it is blatantly obvious that our forwards are either out of form or not working hard enough. Opposition coaches would laugh themselves silly if we pulled this rubbish in a final.

It's a dumb tactic, because the likes of Neal-Bullen and Kent, who have been used in that role, are not smart enough to read the play and get themselves in the right spot. More often than not, the ball disappears back over their heads.. Secondly, it is a waste of effort having players who aren't impacting the play then having to run 100 metres to find their position and / or opponent. Thirdly, even if it does work, you are kicking into a forward line that is outnumbered 6 to 4. Opposition coaches would laugh themselves silly if we pulled this rubbish in a final.

I can't believe what I am reading here. We need to win the next three games to play finals, and people would rather have Weideman in the side than Watts? Have any of you seen Weideman play, or are just looking at his draft number? The guy is an irregular contributor at VFL level, and is probably two years off being able to have an impact at AFL level. He doesn't chase, doesn't tackle, doesn't contest on the ground. His one trick is marking, and the chance of him receiving decent delivery, based on the past two weeks, is negligible. Watts, on the other hand, is the best kick at the club, and has the best football brain at the club. He is about the only player in that forward line I have any confidence in with ball in hand. Frost & Salem have both been bitterly disappointing in the past month, and it is hard to argue with their demotion. That said, we haven't replaced Frost which leads to yet another highly unbalanced team. Goodwin's selection and coaching has gotten worse as the season has progressed, and is probably our biggest issue at the moment. I hope Brayshaw plays, because at least you know he can kick properly. Not sure why Wagner is anywhere near this team - he is not AFL standard. Maynard probably gets a second game, but I don't see the point of difference that he offers in a midfield full of plodders who would rather handball than kick.

It was inevitably going to happen, but the timing is interesting. It says more about the playing group than the coach, in my opinion. Clearly there are some players at GC17 who are sensitive little cupcakes and only want on play on their terms, former captain included.

As with all of these issues, the question is whether you want kids throwing other kids (who are half their size) into the ground and causing serious injuries. I'm more than happy for the AFL to take a strong stance on this and put the onus back on the tackler. No different to the NRL suspending players for tackles that put their opponents on their heads and necks.

After round 21 last year we were in 9th position with 10 wins and a percentage of 104.78%. Lose to St Kilda this week, and we'll have the same number of wins, and be 11th on the ladder with a percentage of just over 100. We all know how last season ended, and there is a fair chance it will happen again if the players don't find a way out of the malaise that they are currently in. The positive from last year was that we had four rising star nominations and there should have been a fifth. Even though we didn't play finals, it felt as though we had taken a significant step forward in improving the quality of the list. This year we have picked up Hannan who looks okay, given debuts to 2 x Smith & Maynard, none of whom look to be more than fringe players, and have had no improvement from the likes of Weideman, Hulett & White. Lewis will not be part of our next premiership side, and I still question whether Melksham is capable of performing in big games, whilst Hibberd has proved to be a good acquisition. I can accept not improving our ladder position and win / loss ratio if we are taking steps to improve the side long term. However, when you're not winning enough games AND not markedly improving your list, then all you are doing is treading water, or worse. Clearly Richmond has gone past us, and there is a fair argument that Essendon has as well. From being well inside the top 8 for most of the year, having a favourable run home, and (finally) having close to our best team available, it would be a major disappointment not to play finals this year. Even the most forgiving of supporters would have to agree that it is a missed opportunity at the very least.

I made it through a half of Saturday's game, before finding better things to do. Incidentally, that is longer than most of the players lasted, as they seemed to think the job was done 10 minutes in. The two really concerning aspects of our performances over the past six weeks are (1) the lack of effort and intensity and (2) the lack of game sense our players and coaches exhibit. On point 1, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, we should have looked at resting Hunt & Petracca for the GWS game. Both are well down on form and impact, and a long season has clearly got to them. A week off, with three winnable games to come may have been a better option. Other players have certainly gotten ahead of themselves, and need a sharp kick up the backside. On point 2, I'm not sure how we got our game plan so badly wrong on Saturday after failing in similar conditions a week ago. Slow the game down into wind, and move the ball quickly with the wind. It's not that difficult. Goodwin's insistence on keeping Watts & McDonald in the forward line as the game slips away is doing my head in. There is no excuse for missing finals this year. This group just doesn't want it badly enough.

Nobody puts a gun to anybody's head and makes them put money into the pokies. People need to take responsibility for their actions, not blame the owners / operators of the machines. I'd be all for MFC buying more if it allows us to put more money into the football department, or allows us to ditch the NT games, or reduces the price of memberships.

No team has a perfect fixture, and there has been very little wrong with ours this year. We had a run of 6 day breaks because we ask to play on QB each year. Without that game, I'm sure there would have been at least one 7 day break leading into our Friday night game. One trip to Perth, one to Adelaide, none to Sydney, none to Brisbane - I'm not sure what more people want. Tasmania and Canberra are hardly the worst places in the world to play, and they are closer to being neutral venues. Marquee home games against the big Victorian clubs will come when our performances demand it. That said, other than the TV exposure, I couldn't care less about playing on Friday or Saturday nights. I'd much rather be able to take the family at 2pm on a Saturday, then go by myself at night and get home at midnight.

I don't think he can be selected at senior level until he fixes this part of his game. Clearly he's not going to get 21 possessions and 8 marks at AFL level, so he needs to show that he can contribute in other ways. Ben Kennedy 8 possessions? I'd be paying out his contract at year end.

We still don't get enough goals from our midfield, and most of our midfielders are pretty ordinary kicks from set shots. Compared to our 2000 side, which got around 90 goals from Yze, Powell and Woewodin, this is the missing link between us being an average side and a top side. And yes, we need to learn to function better with Hogan in the side.

I think Lewis's form has generally been trending upwards over the past month (from a fairly low base), but his biggest shortcoming in his refusal to take the hit occasionally. Instead he'll fire out a hospital handball or short pass and let one of his teammates get clobbered (Hogan being just one of many examples). I shudder to think what he and Vince could concoct together over the next month.

Tackling is all about attitude, and our attitude on Saturday stunk. A week earlier our tackling was excellent. We are a team that relies on everybody doing their bit, and there were far too many passengers this week.

Clearly Hogan comes out, and there are several more in the firing line. Sad to say, Trengove may have played his last game. I think Hannan has more upside than Neal-Bullen & Kennedy-Harris, but he has to come out if there any doubts over his fitness. Melksham stays for now, but he'd better not spend next week going for the ball one handed all game again. Jones clearly comes in. I would have preferred Vince to come back via Casey, but clearly he has to play now. Pedersen is surely next in line for a role up forward, regardless of Weideman's effort yesterday. Brayshaw perhaps needs another week or two, but it's good to know he is going well. Stretch should be a fixture in this side, but can't put it together. That leaves Maynard if we need another change, but I think he might be more suited to St Kilda. In: Jones, Vince, Pedersen Out: Hogan (inj), Trengove, Neal-Bullen/Hannan