poita

Northey and Daniher are both miles ahead of Roos, and even Balme in 1994 had a super team before injuries destroyed the team over the next three seasons. Roos can't be considered in the same company because his match day coaching is so average.

Salem, Lumumba, Grimes, Garland, Wagner, White, Jetta, Hunt, Melksham, and anyone else I have forgotten. How many small / medium sized defenders do we possibly need? Yes, Hibberd might be an upgrade on some (most?) of those, but it is hardly a weak spot on our list. Why are we wasting time and effort going after a player that we don't really need? And then to go through the hassle of dealing with Essendon, by far the worst club in the competition to trade with. We need top shelf midfielders and key position players, anything else is a distraction from the real issues. More than happy for the club to chase Hurley, but no thanks to Hibberd .

Aside from his possessions, Jack was basically the only player still running in the fourth quarter when the rest of the team had fallen in a heap. He made a bad error early in the game, but picked himself up and was very solid thereafter. I'm not sure what more he could do in one game, but some people have it in their mind that he is no good, and nothing will ever change that. He deserves a solid run of games without feeling that he is one error away from being dropped, as clearly was the case last year. Congratulations on your 100th this week Jack, and hopefully there are many more to come.

Tom will be shortly, if he isn't already, a top 5 defender in the competition. We just have to find a way to sign him on a long term deal, minimum four years. If we have to delist Dawes and Lumumba and give Tom their salaries, we should just make it happen.

If Oscar can't play, I would certainly prefer Garland over Dunn, but we definitely need another defender. Not sure why Wagner should come in after missing three weeks, and not doing that much prior. Would prefer to see White get another go. Kennedy needs to spend several weeks at Casey, not just one. His efforts have been poor recently and he is clearly out of form. I would bring in another midfielder, probably Trengove. Petracca and Stretch are on the cusp as well, but both seem suited to Shocklands.

If that is true, it would be a sad indictment on Roos as a person, let alone a coach. Roos' selection policies do leave him open to those thoughts though.

It was the right decision at the time and it remains the right decision. Any player who is not part of our next finals side is on borrowed time, irrespective of their qualities as a player and person.

I hope the MFC have protested loudly about the VFL fixture this year - this makes three byes in seven weeks for the Scorpions. How on earth can you maintain player form and fitness in those circumstances?

Don't disagree with any of those changes, but would question whether two changes is enough. Vandenberg in particular is very lucky. Hopefully Grimes gets at least the three weeks that Michie got earlier in the season to show his stuff. Ditto for White. Bugg should only be in the side if there is a hard tag, as against Collingwood. Otherwise he is a liability. Dawes should be made to kick at least six goals in the VFL before he comes back in to the senior team. The club has said that one of the McDonalds will play forward this week, so we can cover Watts going in to the ruck.

An elite midfield covers all manner of shortcomings in other parts of the ground. If we think Prestia has the potential to be an elite midfielder, then we should be prepared to pay him whatever he wants. The defensive side of our backline is okay, we just need to lessen the amount of entries we concede into defensive 50. The best way to do that is to win more clearances, particularly centre clearances. I want elite midfielders before anything else.

How many more average half forward flankers do we need? Massive pass.

How do you get kids interested in the game when there are no TV games during waking hours week after week? Even attending games is hard when they finish at 6pm. Some long term thinking would be worthwhile, rather than short term TV ratings.

We're such an elite team we simply can't find room for Grimes. Which of these stars would you drop to bring him in: Dawes, Kent, Frost, O.McDonald, Bugg, Kennedy, Vandenberg, Harmes, and M.Jones? Not to mention the games that we have gifted to Lumumba, Dunn, Newton, Garland, Michie, Neal-Bullen and Wagner at various stages. Simply pathetic.

Should be: In: Grimes, Brayshaw, Spencer, Trengove Out: Vandenberg, Dawes, Kent, Petracca Will be: No change, unless Roos finds a way to sneak his best mate Lumumba into the team.

The biggest problem with Dawes is not that he under performs relative to his salary, but that he is not held accountable for his poor performances. We know he is one of Roos' favourites, so he will never be dropped under any circumstances (see also Lumumba). We should send him to Casey until he possesses the minimum skill set for his position. If he can't do that he can find a new job at the end of this year. But it will never happen because he is a protected species.

Full credit to the team for their excellent fight back in the second quarter, after a poor first term. That said, we were really poor for three quarters (15 goals to 7) and the margin flattered us. The start of the third quarter was just abysmal, and our inability to score a goal in the first 20+ minutes of the last quarter, with a gale behind us, was damning. That was the third time in four games that we have just stopped completely at three quarter time. Ultimately though, what can you expect when the coach / selectors keep picking blokes who don't perform on a regular basis. Vandenberg, Kent, Kennedy, Harmes - these guys just don't turn up ready to play each week. One decent game in four is not reason enough to keep playing them. M.Jones and Bugg are just depth players. Petracca needs a rest. Frost needs a brain. As for Chris Dawes, he is just an utter liability. After 3.5 years of complete mediocrity, nobody expects him to be taking pack marks and kicking bags of goals, but is there any chance he might provide a decent contest occasionally? His modus operandi appears to be: (1) run to the wrong spot, (2) get in the way of a teammate, (3) fall over at the critical moment, (4) repeat. It is damning when his teammates would prefer a risky kick across ground, rather than a 50 metre kick down the line to Dawes. Any of Spencer, Pedersen, Weideman and Hulett would be far better value. Clearly we have improved on last year, but there is every chance we will finish with around 8 wins this year, so maybe one more than last year. The progress is positively glacial, whilst other teams seem able to rejuvenate their list in a year. We are still probably 6-8 players off being able to seriously challenge. Hopefully 3-4 of those are running around at Casey, but that is still a bunch more we that need to find in the draft (good luck doing that without a first round pick). And that assumes we don't lose any players at year end, which is doubtful given previous years.

Dumb selections all round. Why don't we just play 22 inconsistent small forwards and forget about the rest of our playing list? Laird and Smith will get 100 possessions between them playing on Kent, Garlett and co. All year Roos bangs on about form, until it suits him to bring in players who are horribly out of form. What are the odds on Lumumba returning next week irrespective of his performance this week? As for Grimes, I suppose he'll be 23rd man again this week, then Roos will come up with some lame excuse about lack of match fitness for not bringing him next week.

Two real problems with this side at present: 1. The inconsistency of Kent / Harmes / Kennedy / Vandenberg. We can keep shuffling the deck chairs, but they can't all play in the same side because none of them perform properly more than once a month. 2. The inability of Dawes, Watts & Hogan to play together. Pedersen and Hogan complement each other much better, and Watts isn't forced into the ruck when Pedersen plays. Grimes deserves his chance, and I would have played him ahead of Wagner anyway. Garlett would be lucky to play on form, but we need him in the side. Surely Jones is next in line for a chance after Grimes, but perhaps not this week. Hopefully we never see Michie again at this level.

Bitterly disappointed that it has come to this. Roos' insistence on playing his favourites each week, irrespective of form and effort, costs us on a weekly basis. We can agree to disagree as to Grimes's ability, but he has never let us down with his effort. It makes me sick that guys like Dawes, Lumumba, Kent, Wagner and Harmes (until recently) are guaranteed a game each week irrespective of performance and workrate, but others such as Grimes are not given the same opportunities with far superior performances at VFL level. It is insulting that players such as Newton and Michie who have never threatened to become decent AFL players keep getting opprtunities, whilst Grimes is repeatedly overlooked. I have 32 consecutive years of membership of this club, but I will seriously consider not renewing for next year if Grimes does not get to 100 games for the club.

I've been critical of selection this year, but we lost on Sunday (a) because the Swans outplayed us in every respect and (b) we played dumb football given the conditions. Probably the number one reason we lost was Jarrod McVeigh, and the inability of Kent and Kennedy to curtail McVeigh or do anything remotely useful themselves. If we make him accountable, suddenly more ball gets through to Hogan and Watts, and he has less impact the other way.

Lumumba averages 15 possessions, Salem 16, Brayshaw 12 and Neal-Bullen 10 over the past two years, and Trengove gets potted for averaging 20 in 3 games?

Vandenberg did nothing to get back in the side, and has done nothing since he came back. He is first on my demotion list, closely followed by Wagner. I'm really tired of guys like Kent and Kennedy playing one good game a month, and then phoning it in for the next three. Both were woeful yesterday, particularly given conditions which should have suited them. Stretch's returns have diminished weekly over the past month, and Oliver's inability to run out games is increasingly a problem. Hunt needs to learn some new tricks, but at least he takes the game on. Clearly we won't make 5 plus changes, but I'd be disappointed not to see at least three.

I'd rather Hibberd than Melksham. A trade?

Harmes needs to go back to Casey and earn his spot back, just like Kennedy did and like Garlett has been asked to do. Michie had his chance and showed nothing, but is a good choice for traveling emergency. Grimes is the only one of the three who should be considered this week. Oliver will be suited to the conditions so I am loathe to drop him, even though he needs to work on his endurance further. Trengove and Kennedy should both play, which leaves Hunt (or a late withdrawal). I wouldn't have a problem with Hunt having a rest, or having a run at Casey. Having said that, Wagner is the one who should go back to Casey until his decision making improves.

Given that he disappeared for a chunk of pre season on a personal matter, when he should have been doing rehab, is anyone really surprised that Lumumba has gone missing again? I'm in no way trying to downplay any personal issues he may have, but to me he has never fully committed to the club and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he decides to move on to something else. I would be devastated if a guy like Jack Grimes is sacrificed at year end so we can manage the issues of someone who (in my opinion) doesn't want to be here.