poita

How has his attitude been great? He started this year by disappearing in the middle of pre season when he should have been in rehab, and it has all been downhill from there. I've never seen a bloke less committed to a club. At least Clark gave us everything he had until he got injured.

Delist: Newton, Terlich, Dawes, Lumumba (or "retire", call it what you like), White (R), King (R), Michie (R). If we need another to go, Matt Jones will suffice. Keep Wagner on the rookie list for another year, as he will be depth at best if they bring Hibberd in. Offer up Kennedy-Harris, Neal-Bullen, and one of Dunn / Garland for peanuts. Look to put JKH on the rookie list if he stays. I will happily keep Grimes, but suspect he will seek opportunities elsewhere. I will happily keep Pedersen as well.

Amazing that the price for Hibberd with his 80 odd so-so games (none for over a year), is about the same as what we paid for Vince (a former B&F winner at Adelaide). All you need is one bad decision (ie overpaying for Melksham last year), and that becomes the new normal.

Cloke will be a much better player once he gets out of Collingwood. Having a boss / coach who doesn't rate you destroys your confidence and your enjoyment of your job. I'm not saying we should go after him, especially for the salary he will want, but I'd be surprised if he doesn't have a markedly better season in 2017 if he can get to a decent team with a decent coach.

Its great that Dawes is showing some coaching ability, but why isn't he playing? Surely if he wants to play on next year, he should be playing for Casey now. I agree that Goodwin needs to be surrounded by experienced assistants.

He needs to be told that he will be playing at Casey if his form and effort drop off, which they did this year. We've moved past having to carry senior players who aren't performing. That said he should be played predominantly in the midfield and given a week off every 4-6 weeks if he needs one.

Congrats to Max, a worthy selection. McDonald and Watts are the only others I would have given some chance to, and Watts' finish to the year was poor. I'm not sure McDonald is as far off the pace of Rance and McGovern as some around here seem to think.

So pleased for Fitzy, as much as I hate Hawthorn and hoped they lost yesterday. I would imagine he will hold his spot for the final even if McEvoy returns, as Pittonet gives little around the ground. I would have kept him on this year as our key position depth is so lean. Thankfully we had a good run with injuries and didn't need him, and the move has obviously worked for him.

Well we started Roos' reign as a laughing stock, and finished it much the same way. Ten wins are certainly a positive, but they also serve to make the semi-regular debacles even more painful. We clearly have a much better and deeper list than three years ago, so it would suggest to me that the improvement has come from greater talent, and certainly not from any increased commitment or mental toughness. At this point, the lack of mental fortitude, and the inability to come to play each week, are the main things holding this group back. The game plan was much more palatable this year, and even in some of our worst losses (ie St Kilda in round 6) there was some decent play. But when the effort dropped away, the lack of a plan B got exposed horribly even by poor teams such as Essendon. Ultimately our performances were largely dictated by the form of Max Gawn. When he played well we generally won. I don't think we came close to winning a game this year when he was beaten on the day as players such as Viney struggled for supply. Whilst most people seem to think that playing finals this year might have given us a false sense of confidence, we may live to regret the past fortnight. We had an extraordinarily good run with injuries to key players this year, and the draw was pretty favourable. Finishing 11th puts us into that middle bracket with teams such as the Bulldogs, North and St Kilda who we have struggled against recently, so our draw will likely be tougher next year. Our ruck and key position depth is still poor, so injuries to any of Gawn, McDonald and Hogan would be huge to overcome. The emergence of Hunt and Oscar McDonald were clear positives, and Oliver is only a pre season away from building the tank he needs to thrive. Brayshaw looked better each week as the season came to a close. Petracca was equal parts promise and frustration, as was Hogan. Weideman looks miles away and his lack of workrate is a real concern. Salem is a real worry for me also. Other youngsters such as Harmes and Wagner look like they are just place holders until better players come along. The disappointment for me has back the lack of development from the middle part of our list. I didn't see any development or improvement from the likes of Kennedy, Bugg, Vandenberg, Neal-Bullen, and M.Jones (to say nothing of lesser names such as Michie and Newton), and all of a sudden we are back to having a large number of players who simply won't make it as regular AFL players. Most of these are contracted for next year, so there will be another cleanout coming. I am on record as a fan of Trengove and Grimes and I hope both get the chances to push for regular selection next year without a coach who marks players card for one poor game. Equally I hope that both Lumumba and Dawes are gone in the next month.

The biggest problem with the nominations is that being in a winning team seems to account for about 80% of the weighting, the balance being the actual performance. I know Rioli got nominated from a losing team, but most of the more dubious nominations come from fringe players in a winning team, rather than a good player in a losing team.

All of Bernie's best football at the club, including this year, has been in the midfield. He is so lazy in the backline, I can't believe the coaching staff can't realise it is not working. Sure, his kicking out is pretty good, but any number of others could achieve the same result. Put him in the midfield, give him a job to do, and everyone is happy.

Why does Chris Dawes not have to front up for Casey like every other player on our list? For the sort of money he is on, he should be washing the coaches' cars if they ask him to, let alone playing in the reserves occasionally. The sooner he disappears, the better.

Big of the selectors to admit they completely stuffed up selection last week by dropping Michie and Neal-Bullen. Pity they didn't make the right decision in the first place, yet again. I have no idea why Weideman is still in the side, as he was decidedly poor last week. I don't expect him to be taking ten marks and kicking five goals, but I do expect him to be getting to contests and making an effort defensively, and there was very little of that. Pedersen is a much better option, and probably will be for much of 2017 as well if we are aiming to play finals.

He has decent skills, but what is he? He is clearly not a defender, and he doesn't win enough football to play in the midfield at this stage (and I'm not sure that his endurance is good enough anyway). I had high hopes for him this year, but he was disappointing in the games he played and others have gone past him. I hope he can have a big pre season and get himself fit enough to play midfield / half forward in the practice matches, because he should be well ahead of guys like Bugg and Vandenberg.

Both Grimes and Trengove should be retained, unless either wants out for more regular opportunities. Even if they are not considered best 22, it is highly unlikely we will have such a good run with injury again next year, so experienced depth is important. Clearly Grimes has done something to [censored] Roos off - hopefully his prospects improve once Roos goes. It would be nice to have a coach picking the team on merit again. Trengove will be better for having a full pre season.

No issues with the decision not to offer new contracts, and it probably should have happened 12 months earlier for Petrie and Dal Santo. Harvey could perhaps go another 12 months, but I can see why they wouldn't want him to just limp to the line after such a great career. The timing of the announcement is poor, and for Harvey in particular it should have been orchestrated that he was calling the shots, even if he doesn't agree with the decision. He has earned that at least. I can't see who the young stars on North's list who are missing out on games. Werribee have been poor this year, and North have hardly had any high draft picks in recent years. You'd think North might fall further next year.

G'day Dawesy, I admire your willingness to come on here and talk yourself up, but your time at the MFC is over. Time to move on gracefully (and take your friend Lumumba with you). Cheers.

A four year deal on good money for a 27 year old with less than 100 games of experience and who hasn't played for twelve months? No thanks, unless he comes for free. What exactly he is going to bring that we can't get from Salem and others? We should save ourselves the hassle of dealing with Essendon and move on. Draft a good kid with the pick.

So you can't think of one thing that we could have done differently to change the course of the game on Saturday? Not a single tactic or move that might have made a difference? Because I sure didn't see anything done from the coaches box to change the course of a game that was out of control from the first minute.

Handballing is fine when it is a handball on to the chest of a player running past with options ahead of him. Handballing at a bloke's feet or over his head or when he is covered or just for the hell of it is the problem. Some players (Vandenberg for one) have not mastered this basic football skill and should not do it under any circumstances. Nathan Jones is a great field kick, whose first option is now seemingly always to handball to a teammate in a worse position instead of a kick to a contest. Handballing in wet conditions with a slippery ball is just asking for trouble. Funny how Buckley scored several goals from outside 50 into an open forward line, whilst we were happy to have twelve useless handballs in the same position. Some times you just have to have a go and see what happens.

Of course we are inexperienced. We play guys like Michie, Neal-Bullen and Vandenberg who aren't AFL standard. These guys are inexperienced because they aren't good enough to play at this level and therefore don't deserve games.

People were asking a week or so ago about how best to pay tribute Paul Roos. Yesterday's debacle was the perfect way to remember Roos, containing as it did all the trademarks of his tenure: Inexplicable team selections that completely ignored form and structure Uninspiring and underwhelming match day coaching (did we do anything at all to change things up?) A complete inability to adjust our playing style to sub-optimal conditions A complete inability to turn a game that is getting away from us The continued absence of a plan B (plan A of course being that Gawn wins the game off his own boot) Leaders who go missing every time the pressure goes up a notch (looking at you, Vince and Jones) The unfailing optimism that C and D grade footballers such as Kent and Vandenberg will suddenly start displaying basic football skills on a regular basis A mediocre playing group that believes all the hype that surrounds it and doesn't think they need to come to play each week A coaching group that never sees these performances coming And above all, the unceasing inability of this club to give its long suffering supporters a glimmer of hope before taking it away in the cruelest way possible.

Really dumb changes. Why mess with a winning side? The forward line works better with Pedersen there. Good luck to Sam, but I don't think he offers as much as Pedo presently. I can't believe that Michie and Neal-Bullen are the next in line given their senior efforts so far this year. Play one maybe, but two is asking for trouble. Would much prefer Salem.

I'm sick of hearing about this bloke. He has been a complete waste of space (and time and money) since he walked through the door. I'd give him a pass mark in about two games; in the rest he has been a complete liability to the team. I don't wish ill of anyone, even if I don't rate them as a player. If he is truly suffering serious health issues (mental or physical), that is terrible for him and I hope he can get over them. He should hang up the boots now and think about a future elsewhere. If there is something else in the mix, and I increasingly believe there is, the sooner the club can sever ties with him the better. Hopefully it is done quietly during the final series and we can all move on.

No change, unless Hogan and Garlett miss. Even then I'd still prefer Hogan sitting on his arse in the goal square if Dawes is the only alternative. Garlett can be replaced by any number of Casey smalls.