rjay

Not pessimistic, just a hard look at the list. You could find holes in all teams lists, no team is or ever will be complete. I have hopes for Weideman too but he really needs to get a wriggle on, he's not a kid any more... A bit of class around the ball, fix the forward situation and we're back in the running. The set up at centre bounces in the forward half is appalling to my way of thinking. We have 6 players bunched in a line down the centre as a starting position. We've just taken out any advantage we might get from 666 by creating a situation where all 6 defenders are bunched up with 6 forwards. Surely we spread the starting positions and give ourselves an opportunity to create one on ones with our key forwards making it impossible at least for the first 15/30 secs for defenders to double team us... It's a losers position...and we're losing.

Leadership is a problem that we've tried to address without success. Years of consistent failure have left us with no senior players apart from Jones who has battled manfully for a long time with little assistance. We brought in Lewis, he's had some good games but his leadership really has been lacking with silly reports, free kicks, 50 metre penalties etc not setting a great example. Clarko let him go for a reason and he's well and truly cooked now. Viney was made captain too early and at the moment the co captains are starting to sound a lot like Grimes and Trengove in their media appearances...more & more excuses and talk of next week we can turn it around. I think Viney plays too much as an individual to the detriment of himself and team to be captain. I'm concerned with his foot injury. If he has to go on a fad diet to lose weight for his foot to stand up to the demands of the game then that's not a good sign. The midfield...Oliver is a gun, Brayshaw needs to hit targets more consistently backs his dodgy left foot too much, Viney tries to do too much, is not big enough to do it and often gets in Oliver's way. Harmes is ok but again over does it at times, he needs to learn his limitations. We don't have anyone capable of playing wing, that's a big hole in the list. Maybe Harmes, Fritsch (looks class but needs to do a lot more) perhaps but still a long way off. There's no one at Casey that can play it at AFL level. Sorry guys but Baker's not going to make it... In defence we miss May and Lever no doubt. Hibberd may well be on the way out, he will be 30 next season and he hasn't been kind to his body. Jetta is a similar age with injury taking its toll, plus he's not overly quick. Hore looks like he could be a player, his early games were poor but he's settled and can play a bit. May be good depth, maybe more... Salem and Lever will be the generals but we need someone to take Hibberd's and Nev's positions...plus Lever will need to step up and not expect to just be a floater. I don't like what I've seen of Petty, unfortunately looks a bit slow for the modern game...Don't know where Sparrow will play, doesn't get a lot of the ball but could be a lock down small defender...he's got some leg speed, strength and not bad in the air. Omac, nup...Frosty, have been negative on him but his leg speed is an advantage some times. Forward is a real problem...Tommy Mac has had his run and he's not a natural forward, Weid is a worry, we have no small forwards apart from Jeffy who is flaky as hell. I would say Trac is the only legit forward we have and he's a confidence player. Melk will give us some good games.. No one really at Casey either, we're clutching at straws with Chandler and Bedford... The forward set up is all wrong...this is not just a list problem but game plan. It's not working. I'm not seeing the Jennings genius by the way.... Forget Kielty and both the Smith's, again clutching at straws...plus Vanders may well be cooked. Rambling a bit but we need some good ball users off half back and wing/mid..a real target up forward (not sure it will be Weid) , a good small forward, a couple of good defensive forwards with some pace and goal sense plus May and Lever back in the team. We also lack real depth.

Yep, I'm serious about Carlton 'A F'...I think their midfield is only going to get better with Walsh and I really rate Petrevski-Seton...they need to get a quality ruck, that's the only hole they have. Kruz is old and injury prone, can't rely on him. As you say their spine looks pretty good. The future is bright for the Blues... Will give you my thoughts on our list later this eve when I have some time to put into it.

Don't tell anyone 'Macca' but I think that Carlton may have a better balanced list than ours...just between you and me. Once they learn to win and maybe change coach they are well positioned going forward. I'm going to have to lay low, could be strung up for this one.

How are the drugs looking now 'RTG'???

...and I still say the drop off happened last year in the Prelim. Nothing has been done to change the obvious short comings that blind Freddie could see in that game. I must credit Geelong with using their loss against us in the final as a huge wake up call. They reviewed, took no prisoners and worked hard in the off season to change their game plan, positioning and personal and now have a crack at another flag. We on the other hand just excused the performance as not being the real us. Problem is, it was the real us...and now we're repeating the same mistakes. Maybe it was a bad time for a changeover of CEO, with Jackson leaving, Mahoney applying for the job and Pert yet to come on board...the prelim performance fell between the cracks. We dropped the ball... Now we know that CEO's shouldn't meddle too much with the FD but either the head of football, Mahoney or the CEO should have seen that a thorough review was taken after that loss. That is in their job descriptions. Then of course the warning signs were there for all to see in the preseason competition but most couldn't see them. Those who questioned the performances were said to be over reacting, or told don't worry we got this it's just the JLT games. Wrong... Time for a thorough review and a turnover of the FD...

Yep, saw a player in the last Q totally disregard a lead out the back from him. Looked at him and said to himself no cheap kick for you sunshine. Went back and had his kick to position...

Looks like it might be time for a review and clean out of the FD. Not just Chapman... With Misson already moving on it's time for a few more to go.

Looking at Petty yesterday, and in the few times I've seen him he takes a nice intercept mark but is slow. I know he was a later pick but I fear he will be a one game bust...

Looks like they managed his game time (72%) and he also spent some time back. I think his job is done at the club, it's time to put the cue in the rack. Salem is going to have to take the organising/leadership role down back and share it with Lever whenever he gets on the park... As for Spargo, as I said last week his problem is not when he has the ball in hand (apart from a massive clanger this week), it's that he doesn't get it enough and he provides zero defensive pressure. ...the opposition just disregard him when they have the ball, they know he can't do any damage even if he chased and could catch them. They just brush him aside.

2 to go and looking worse...let's see.

The answer was last year 'BBP'...we failed to address the problems of the prelim. Goodwin thought we didn't bring our brand that day...we did and it wasn't up to the standard required. So then we didn't address the real issues over the off season. We thought May was the last piece of the puzzle and we were wrong. We expected a natural progression forward and again we were wrong.

Read this comment from a Hawks supporter on Facebook. A pretty good summation I would think.... "Not a dees supporter (Hawks supporter), but have watched all their games this year. Your team has no connection up forward. Trying to play players in the forward line who are not forwards. Midfield is very good, but appears to have no confidence in the forward line. Another major problem is your defensive structure as they zone off way too far and allowed some real easy goals. Not rubbing it in, just putting my thoughts on it. It is a long way back for this year, but think they will bounce back, but need to play players in their natural positions."

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2019-04-20/postmatch-simon-goodwin Got news for you Simon it's been 7 months now not 4 weeks and you haven't fixed it... Go back and look at the Prelim and understand that we did play our brand and it was found sadly lacking...

What do you think now Pates???? maybe you would like to read a bit further. We haven't addressed the Prelim final and it shows... By the way this is what I said about Tommy after round 1 and nothing has changed since... "Tommy Mac worries me, he's had a good season as a forward but has been very average as of late. History shows he had a really good season and a bit as a defender then dropped off dramatically. Let's hope it's just an aberration and he's up and firing again soon but the trend is remarkably similar. Is Tommy getting ahead of himself or have the opposition worked him? A big call but maybe Tommy could do with some Casey time with his brother." The only thing I would change in that now is it's no longer a big call...he needs to go back. He's doing exactly what he did as a defender. With a forward line of Tommy, Weid and the Big P...we can only take 2 and P is the only one with his hand up at the moment... The forward line is a debacle...the set up is all wrong, the starting positions are all wrong. I know we talk about defence but F...me. No defensive pressure and believe me it's not delivery into the forward half that's at fault. Being at the game, the set up is wrong, the forwards when they deem to move go to the wrong places and non of the keys can catch a cold.

Forget pretending, Tommy Mac must go (at least Jones and Hibbard got near the ball) along with Lewis and Spargo... Where are all those calling for Lewis to come back into the side to add some experience. For Fu.......sake. He is a liability, the pity is we don't have anyone to replace him.

Another loss... pretty much the same as the others...we have enough problems without carrying Jordan (Mike Brierley) Lewis, Tommy MAC & Spargo. Another question. Did the club overrate the list & believe the hype about being in the window.?Some recruiting/trade decisions would point that way... On a positive, The future number one pick looked good today for the Australian U18's

Ours also, be an interesting game if we play them in the wet...

Stretch was easily our best until rested.

You don't need to be a dietician to know his form has been poor/average this season. Let's see how it pans out for him but a previous club captain changed his diet and was delisted a couple of seasons back. Probably no link at all, just coincidence. Hope to see Jack back in form this afternoon...

Not so big in current terms 'norm'. We don't have anyone close to the $1mill mark so I'm sure we have plenty of cap space if we choose to use it.

Yep, and that's ok in a team like Brisbane... We should be well past that stage if we are to be a legitimate flag contender. Are we still developing like Brisbane, GC & Carlton or are we ahead of them? Carlton will move quickly once they learn to win...if Clarkson had that list they would be a finals contender this season. If we are a legitimate flag contender then Lewis' job is done here. I've run another thread where I asked whether "The Writing was/is on the Wall" I'm not sure our list is good enough yet and think we're still in rebuild, the window many not yet be open for us. If you're telling me we still need Lewis then it answers that question.

Experience is also overrated when it's inclusion is built on memories past... If anyone watched Hodge last night & didn't buy into the Bruce...Hodgy BS, you would have seen a great player past his use by date. The Pies ran rings around him & all the experience & guidance in the world doesn't cover that up. He wasn't on his own last night of course but his experience added nothing & had them one man down from the start. Injury then added to that. If we are to be a serious finals contender then someone else needs to take the leadership role down back. We can't afford to carry a tour guide. Lewis like Hodge has gone one or two seasons too many...

He has but for those wondering why McInnerney wasn't picked up. Just check out when Martin took a fairly long break forward in the 3rd (I think it was). The big O couldn't get near it and Grundy took him to the cleaners... Grundy is a very good player but Oscar is a long way off the pace.

It's not when he gets the ball that concerns me, he's good with ball in hand...but he doesn't get it enough... ...more importantly as 'Earl' says above the Saints cut us up from half back last year. Spargo offers zero defensive pressure.