poita

Lewis has had a very poor month in a side that had been playing good footy until Friday. If he steps up and leads the team to a win on Sunday, all will be forgiven. If not, it is increasingly difficult to see how he can be considered to be a best 22 player. My first request is that he puts his head down and picks up the footy at first attempt occasionally, rather than constantly fumbling because he is worried about what is happening around him. Second request is to follow an opponent rather than just standing in space pointing.

A few months ago people were pleading the case for Lumumba being misunderstood and a great bloke who deserved our support, presumably just because he happened to wear our jumper for five minutes. They were wrong. Now they are saying the same thing about Bugg. I support the club, and will always stand up for players who do the right thing by the club. Those who sh!t all over the club can go and get stuffed, preferably somewhere else. Hence I hope Bugg never pulls on the jumper again, and am totally ambivalent about seeing any of Kennedy-Harris, Kent, Spencer or Kennedy again. For this week, Wagner & White both need to be dropped. Melksham, Neal-Bullen & Lewis survive because there is nothing at Casey. Trengove & Smith to come in, hopefully with some or all of Hogan, Watts & Garlett.

There's a few guys at Casey who owe us big time for the third and fourth chances they seem to be getting. Kennedy, Kent, JKH, Spencer, etc. Trengove is not necessarily in that group, but should be the first cab off the rank. Otherwise why have him on the list? He is the perfect replacement for Jones & Viney. Melksham, Lewis & Vince have been consistent under performers this year. All three need to step up over the next month. We had a lot of passengers on Friday, we can't afford to carry non-contributors through the next month.

Bugg will get 6 weeks minimum, because as a club we are not one of the chosen ones. That said, he deserves every one of those weeks, and then some. Absolutely gutless and pathetic. I'd perhaps have more sympathy if he'd actually performed after the incident, but he was basically a garden gnome for the remainder of the game. As to his future, who knows? He's not best 22, that much is clear. I don't want us to be known as a club that condones these types of acts, and if it results in Bugg losing his spot on the list, so be it.

None of these guys are best 22, all are highly expendable. I would revoke JKH's contract extension immediately, and give all four the next 8 weeks, to show that they deserve a spot on the list for next year. I would be happy to see the back of all four to be honest, and find some players who want to be here and who want to put in the hard yards. Good on the club for acting against them, but we clearly have serious issues with both on and off field discipline at present.

Notwithstanding our injury list and the effects of consecutive short turnarounds, that was a dreadful effort. So many players just can't handle the pressure of the big occasion against quality opposition. I thought our coaches had a poor game as well. We've had a very good month given some trying circumstances. We have to bounce back with a win against Carlton, otherwise we risk going on a lengthy losing streak. Hopefully we get a few players back and a few guys putting their hands up at Casey today. White - haven't seen a player so far out of his depth since Isaac Weetra. A career killing performance. Wagner - typical Wagner game, horrid decision making, terrible disposal and half hearted defensive efforts. Not AFL standard. Lewis - lazy and complete lacking in leadership. Stays only because there is no depth at Casey Melksham - aside from one fantastic goal, soft and fumbly. Will always be a liability in big games. Bugg - there is nothing worse than talking the talk, and failing so pitifully to walk the walk. Enjoy your holiday, hopefully without pay. Harmes - thought the game would suit, but he was basically invisible. Should have been put in the middle at some point. Neal-Bullen - he's had his chance, and just not up to it. Time to try someone else. Stretch - worst game I've seen him play. No appetite for the contest. Oliver - looked tired and had no effect when the game was in the balance. Has had a great year, so is excused. Hunt - see Oliver. Gawn - Sydney were in his head from early on. Soldiered on but had no effect. Should he have played given the short turnaround? Tyson - indecisive and ineffective. Vince - continued his steady decline. Pedersen - no impact. Should have been sent back once he struggled up forward. Otherwise Viney was our best player, despite only playing half a game. Tom McDonald battled hard. Hannan at least put his body on the line. Petracca's three notable contributions were three more than most of his teammates. Oscar & Frost kept trying despite no midfield support. Hibberd got plenty of football, but didn't use it well. Jetta made some bad errors that almost overshadowed his ample good work.

If that's the case then (a) we have some of the stupidest players imaginable, as all would have been in contention for selection this week, and (b) it is even more ridiculous that JKH was handed a new contract this week. I don't see the need for both Wagner & White but, as others have suggested, presumably Hunt plays forward. If we are in the game at quarter time, we are every chance, but I can't see us clawing back a deficit this week off the back of multiple short weeks.

Ouch on all those outs. I was desperately hoping Watts would play this week, and Garlett is a massive loss in his current form.

Correct decision to appeal, and well done to the AFL for doing so. The penalty should be at least doubled. The tribunal members who made the decision should be dismissed immediately.

I don't see the point to mid season contract renewals for anyone who is not best 22. Keep him hungry to get back into the senior team so he can earn a new contract, don't just gift him one because he has had a couple of good VFL games. I would much prefer to hold off on these decisions until trade week - see what is on the market and how many list positions we need to make available.

I've deliberately avoided commenting on MRP / tribunal decisions this year, other than those avoid Melbourne players, but the Houli decision is just wrong and an utter disgrace. If the AFL was serious about cleaning up the game they would appeal this decision. Three questions arise from this: 1. If Jed Lamb had knocked Bachar Houli out in a similar cowardly act of thuggery, how many weeks would he have received? Clearly he wouldn't receive the benefit of representing the religion of peace, or having the PM in his corner, so 4 weeks? 6? 2. Will the concession applied to both Schofield & Houli from not looking at their opponent whilst striking them apply for just this week, or for the remainder of the season? If Lewis & Hogan had been facing away from their Carlton opponents, would they have reduced the sentences accordingly? Or is just because Houli is a good bloke with the right background? 3. If a random Melbourne player KOs Lance Franklin in the opening minute on Friday night, who can we call as a character witness to get him a reduced sentence? The Dalai Lama? The ghost of Mother Teresa? Tom Cruise?

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The problem being what exactly? Surely Carlton's obligation is do the right thing by their players, not help out Houli after his thug act. Hogan & Lewis both deserved to be suspended, and Houli deserves a long holiday.

It is what it is. We've got as much chance of beating Adelaide in Darwin as we do at the MCG. I have faith in the club to get the players right for Port a week later. Every team has challenging aspects to its draw, this is one part of ours. Let's be realistic though, we have four genuine away games this year (Adelaide, West Coast, GWS & North). You can guarantee we would get at least two more if we didn't have the NT games, most likely a trip to Queensland & a second trip to Adelaide. In an ideal world, yes we would have 11 home games at the G, and draw crowds that would make each of them profitable. But it's not an ideal world. I'd much rather pocket the cash from the NT games, and try to make the NT venues work for us, rather than lose a fortune drawing 15,000 to a MCG game, 10,000 to an Etihad game and travelling interstate twice more. Having said that, free to air TV coverage should be guaranteed for at least one of those games as part of the deal.

Gotta love the AFL community. One player elbows another in the face, after the siren, and all the talk is about how the victim reacted. Just wondering where the line is here. Should Jed Lamb have stayed upright after Houli's cowardly act? How hard do you have to be hit before it is okay to lose your feet? Schofield can have two weeks off, Houli can have six, and maybe the AFL will start to get serious about cleaning up the game.

The issue was not so much what Hibberd was worth, it was more what we we could get Essendon to accept for him. He's been a very good acquisition, Melksham not so much at this point in time.

We've got the best possible ins from the list of available players, but gee those outs hurt. I'm very pleased we are picking the best available, rather than looking at a certain type of player (eg Weideman to replace Watts). We can win if we play with the same attitude and intensity that we showed against the Dogs, but not if we drop off for a period as we did against Collingwood. Hopefully the umpires don't influence the result of the game, as has clearly been the case in previous trips west.

Congratulations to Simon, but the HOF is becoming more farcical every year. Got to have a SA player to keep them happy, got to have a WA player to keep them happy, got to to have a player from the northern states to keep them happy. The 10 Victorian teams get to share the remaining 3 players from 120 years of AFL / VFL football. I'd be interested to see a comparison of how many players have been selected from each of the great teams / eras, eg Melbourne 50s/60s, vs the Adelaide, Brisbane, West Coast & Sydney teams from the past 20 years. I'd imagine we are seriously underrepresented on that basis. Barry Hall is probably the least deserving person ever to be in the HOF, and presumably Anthony Stevens gets in because he is seen as a good bloke. I'd have both Neitz and Lyon well ahead of both, and I don't rate Neitz as highly as most around here.

I don't see a massive shortcoming anywhere, but we do need greater depth across the board. There is very little at Casey to get excited about, at least in the short term. Another couple of quality midfielders would be top of my list. Then another tall forward and a ready made ruckman.

Stretch, Brayshaw, ???, ??? Definitely need another key position player pushing for selection.

Gawn clearly comes in, although I rather he'd have played against the Dogs than the Eagles. Watts and Jones are clearly question marks. If both play, then Vince or Neal-Bullen to drop out. Stretch is the only player at Casey who should be considered for senior selection, and his form seems to have been moderate at best. The rest have all been tried and failed on multiple occasions.

Brilliant performance from start to finish. Even when we lost our way a little in the second quarter, we didn't allow the Dogs to pile on multiple goals. It was really important to back up Monday's win with a good showing as well. This is precisely why I have been so frustrated with this group - they are so very capable, but until yesterday we hadn't seen them play properly for four quarters. Now that they have, and against decent opposition, hopefully they will have the belief and the desire to do it again and again. Special mention to both McDonalds who were brilliant throughout. Tom seems to be loving the freedom of playing up the ground, and his versatility will be important as the season goes on. Oscar played his best game and continued his good form from last week. Hopefully Jones & Watts will be okay for Saturday. With Gawn back, it would be great not to lose any players, particularly not some of our best.

Very underwhelming inclusions, so I expect to keep the same 22. Weideman is not ready, Kennedy is C-grade and Spencer's lack of athleticism would be exposed by the Bulldogs. Having seen him at training last week, I would have preferred Max to play this week, have next week off if necessary, and play against Sydney the following week. This will be a tough game, but I will be bitterly disappointed if we give up yet another big lead in the first half. I'm pretty sure we have been well behind in six consecutive games - that is not sustainable.

I've been saying it all year, 90% of what Oscar does is excellent, 10% is atrocious. There is so much positive stuff in his game, he just needs to eliminate the bad stuff, and that will come with experience and confidence. Yesterday he didn't go hard enough at marking contests a couple of times early. Thereafter he was excellent. I fully expect him to play each week, irrespective of match ups. If anything, Frost or Tom can play on the smaller forwards, eg Dickson this week.

Our bottom tier were very poor for the most part today, so any one of 6-8 could go out if the selectors want to make changes. That said, I can't see compelling reasons to bring in anyone other than Gawn. I'd rather stick with the more mobile ruckmen, rather than bring in Spencer who is a liability when the ball hits the ground. If Wagner is the best we have at Casey, I'll stick what we have,