Lucifers Hero

He has had 5 years to get over his fumbles. How many chances does someone get? Bottom 3 player yesterday and most of the year which is why he was dropped some time back. Just not good enough. Very little upside. Depth at best.

That was a bog ordinary Pies vs Bulldogs game. So frustrating that clubs playing poorly are doing enough to rack up the wins: WCE, Pies, Port, Crows, Lions haven't set the world on fire but there they are at the top of the tree. It was really a year for the taking. Will be hard to watch an average team take out the premiership.

By all accounts the top 5 picks are midfielders with two very good ones. We have enough of those so can get the player we want @ pick 5-8. Win.Win.Win. That is what supporters, sponsors and the club want. High draft picks are like fools gold!

Any idea of options on the drawing board?

Interesting discussion by Carey and Roos about the virtues of players kicking on their non-preferred side. Balancing Act Gus leads the league on non-preferred kicks with 43% on the 'wrong' side.. At that rate he won't have a preferred side soon. In front of Betts, D. Smith, Coniglio and Sidebottom. Great asset for a mid-fielder to have. And, I'm very glad he is ours: Smart, brave, talented and still developing. A keeper!

I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread. Just so depressing to be homeless. Back to the drawing board.

@Drunkn167has been singing Jay's praises since he joined Casey. Jade Rawlings probably kept his name front and centre for Taylor.

Ha,ha! They have been waiting a while so it won't be long now! Then we will see the "Told you so". Anyway, I generally ignore the 'OTT positives' and the 'negative nancy's' equally. See their moniker and know exactly what will be said. Rather boring and predictable. I'm much more interested in views of posters with less entrenched and balanced views as nothing is ever as rosy as the 'OTT positives' want to pretend nor as bleak as the 'negative nancy's' proclaim.

Agreed. Kudos to all this year's additons: May, Hore, Smith (relatively new) and Lockhart. Kept us in the game for the first half. Good to see Frosty get a special mention from Goodwin: "His form's been pretty solid and today I thought his game was exceptional. That was a new level for Sam Frost, there's no question about that," Goodwin said. "We call it (that) he turns our ball movement into 'Frost-ball' and no one knows what's happening – but neither does the opposition". I laughed at 'Frost-ball comment!

Morning after the game and it is very refreshing to not see a single new thread or resurrected thread to put angry boots into a player. Of course a win helps but also that all players played their role and some really shone keeps the naysayers at bay. May long it continue!

Loved Gus' tackle on his little bro. Brought him to ground, kept him there and won a free. Gus: 1. Andy: 0

Goodwin and the team weren't too happy with the Jones bump on Walters. Goodwin spoke to Jones at the last break and said "about 20 of his teammates" did as well... "He knows that's not how we play and the importance of those things in a game," the coach said. "He made a mistake but what I did love about Nathan was his ability to respond in the last quarter… "It doesn't matter who you are in your team. You need guys who keep each other accountable – and whether you're the skipper or you're a younger player of the footy club, the expectations are the same." Good to see the team also holding Jones accountable. It was a tough guy effort by Jones but could have cost us the game. Deserved to be called out on it.

Happy for Lever or Hibberd to come in for Wagner. If both available then Petty may miss. Doesn't really deserve to but Lever and Hibberd will give us more. ANB will be lucky to stay in - no one better at the moment unless someone stands up at Casey.

He makes everyone down back stand taller. Natural leader.

Did anyone notice if Macca was on the bench as usual? In the coaches box? Not at all?

Had a poor day. Had easy ball with just 3 of 15 possessions contested. Gave up the chase a few times. 5 tackles but some were 'stacks on the mill' rather than causing turnovers. Can't see him cementing a regular spot in 22. Will be out as soon as Melksham is available. Lockhart has already gone past him. Will be signed up as a depth player.

Every time our player had a set shot, he took his time with his set-up routine. No rushing and the goals/points reflects the calmness. Was rapt for Max to kick his 4th qtr goal. He always sprays it left and I was praying for him to steer it right. He did but at one stage it looked too far right but it managed to squeeze thru. Nearly all our fwds did good things. Great for their collective confidence. Sam's marking was very good as was his shepherding and competitive play and took a superb mark in the last qtr.

We were very controlled coming out of defence. We slowed it down and did the WCE precise kick/mark thing. It worked well a lot of the the time. Yes, I think it is a new direction. The coaches seem to have accepted the stats that the 'slow play on'' teams are at the top of the ladder; the fast at the bottom. The players have been trying to do it for a few weeks but haven't got the balance right until today. Today our ball movement was much more precise, still fast at (the right) times but more deliberate rather than manic go. go, go. And we lowered our eyes! This 'controlled' play shows up in the scoreboard: more goals than points.

I don't dislike Alex at all and not trying to pot him. He has improved in his careeer but that doesn't mean it will continue. He has had one good year in five and in my view has plateaued/reached his peak. Haven't said/implied Alex is responsible for our dysfunctional fwd line nor commented on Kent/AVB/Hogan. If we are going to improve, some players with poor skills/turnover merchants should not be in the best 22. From your list is it Jones, Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw that is left out? We just can't carry them all. L. Nev, we will just have to agree to disagree on Alex.

This. He has one attribute: tackling. Has no particular football skill. In 5 years has not added more strings to his bow. We can't afford such a one dimensional player and we have plenty of his 'vanilla' type. Better to get a fwd who can kick goals then teach him to tackle. Or develop one from recruits of the last two years. He isn't going to improve and will end up keeping another player out of the team (teacher's pet syndrome) or playing at Casey.

AFL And Racing Victoria Monitoring Software While on face value trying to catch 'dodgy' bets in 'real time' is a good thing, the AFL has taken 50% ownership in Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Ltd (SWIM) and a number of its executives are directors. imv this goes a million miles beyond monitoring AFL player and club official bets on AFL games - I would guess <2,000 people. Yet this monitoring program reaches across all aspects of betting in Australia. My read is the AFL is in this to make money ie other sporting codes and racing codes pay to use the system. This would give the AFL access to information about millions of people not just the ~2,000 involved AFL clubs Apparently, the AFL contract with Bet Easy is about to expire and it is negotiating with other companies to determine who its 'wagering partner' will be. My head is racing (excuse the pun) with all the possible conflict of interests that come into play if this monitoring system happens. Not to mention access to private data about citizens the AFL has no right to access. imv such a system should be developed and run by the government regulator without involvement from any sporting body. How is the AFL Commission taking the AFL (supposedly a sport) so far outside its remit? If it ever had a remit it is now a law unto itself! Gill already has serious conflicts of interest with broadcasters, wagering etc. This system would entrench the AFL further into the gambling quagmire. Would prefer to see the AFL invest in developing the game not on 'new revenue streams' that have nothing to do with the great game of Aussie Rules.

"As a coaching group we wanted to look at ways that we could improve as a footy club. We think development is a really big part of our footy club and we are going back to the core of what we think really drives the development of our team". Begs the question: With such a young/inexperienced group why did we stray from 'our core' of what drives development? Virtually no player has improved this year. Someone dropped the ball!

I heard Mahoney say they were 'consulted' but not sure it referred specifically Macca. And 'consulted' could be 'this is the plan guys, any problems'; as distinct from player discontent causing the move. Especially, as there had been no whispers about player discontent but lots of whispers about Macca and a coach(es). I recall Jennings name being mentioned. I guess we just need to wait and see if we get back our finals level of ferocity which doesn't need talent or skill. I can't get behind the pay wall, any chance of sending a PM with the content? Cheers.

That is consistent with @Earl Hoodtraining report on Monday that Macca thought players weren't working hard enough. If players are behind Macca's move (which I doubt) I'm worried. Players called the shots in the Dean Bailey days and we went no-where. Players have lauded Macca for years so I wonder whether moving him was relationships with coaches rather than with players ie move a 'dissenter' or the 'fall guy' syndrome. I would concur with Mooney as imv we are playing 'softly'. We were ferocious in the finals but have seen very little of that this year. While injuries have hurt us, any player on the field, regardless of talent or skill can be ferocious. We need that ferocity back, urgently

I don't mind it if Fritsch actually lines up as selected in the forward line. Great mark and very good kick for goal. Will do a lot for his confidence as he looks a bit lost as a defender. He will be at least one player back in his natural position. Now to put Gus back where he belongs in the middle. With the change of coaches our line ups and positional changes during the game will be interesting to watch as will our ball movement. Hopefully, more control than manic play on. And hopefully if Oliver gets 25-35 possessions they have an impact and gain more than 55mts! We need him to get much more value for his work.