Demanding Success

Sorry to say it for him but he is too small. 167cm. He won't be able to put on enough weight too not get pushed off the ball. He can play though. I don't think he will get drafted but you never know. I wouldn't write off durdin. He has broken his thumbs at the wrong time as far as the carnival is concerned. Played 1 game before the carnival. He would have done no football work or weights in the lead up which would have affected has grab on the ball. He played mostly forward today and I think he is a better back. I would like petracca but I wouldn't be unhappy with Brayshaw. I think petracca might be gone before we get a pick, but both won't be. I didn't think there was much consistency from most players even in the one game. Stretch will be robbed if he doesn't get A/A.

He played a very good game. His skills to pick up the ball are great. Received a poor pass in the middle and picked it up no problem with a good handball to a player running past when SA were under real pressure. Good 4 quarter effort. Runs up and down the ground to help out at both ends. Took a nice mark standing under it. Stats for this game not high for any of the Name players. I'll be happy if he slips to the 3rd round.

Billy has had an ok first half. A couple of brilliant pick ups, at pace in the middle of packs was great to see. Defensively has been good. His man not getting away from him. Almost took a pack mark of 5 or 6. Kicked a point from a set shot from about 45m. It is a bit windy. Scores are level and he is showing some talent. Has pace to burn. Kicked a bullet 25m pass to a teammate on the lead. It was brought back by the umpire to go over his mark then kicked it long to the top of the goal square from about 60m from the boundary.

I don't want to be mean to the Casey listed players but there are obvious issues there. I have seen quite a few of their games this year. They are young and small. They have lost too much experience over the last couple of years and went young this year. Due to this the whole side lacks any structure. Fitz was really the only tall guy to kick it to in the forward line and gawn was the only tall guy around the ground. This is pretty easy for the opposition to counter. Especially when they have an abundance of talls themselves. With Clark retiring, hogan injured, spence out for the year and all the injuries to tall players in the preseason and early season Casey has hardly any tall players. The opposition have much better experienced VFL listed players. Caseys have had a very ordinary year. They don't seem to be able to get their hands on the footy and turn it over very easily when they do. A lot of the time the turnovers have really hurt the team as everyone has been caught out of position. I don't really mind whether they win or not. I just want to see the players learn their roles. I have no doubt that is what our coaches are after. Of yesterday's game some players had good patches and some put in for most of the game. Some are really struggling. I think blease played his best game this year. He still made a few mistakes but it was a 4 quarter effort. Gawn tried hard the whole game. Dropped a few marks he will take in the future with more footy under him. Has missed heaps of footy with injury and hasn't done a full preseason. Was competing with big bodies the whole game rotating on him and was knackered at the end. I think he will be a better player in the future playing under these pressures. Jkh needs a week off imo. Been a long season for him. Would be close to having already played more games than last year. Michie also played his best game imo. Strauss is a friend of a friend and a good bloke but i don't think he is going to make it. He really lacks confidence ATM. Georgiou played a terrific game. His opposition was a lot taller and he was rarely beaten 1v1. He made a few mistakes but tell me a player t our club that hasn't. Would be nice if he was 10 odd cm taller. Fitz is playing on his own in the forward half, most outnumbered with some poor delivery coming in. Another big forward would change our perceptions on him. Evans is struggling imo. Fades in and out of the game too much. I thought toumpas played ok. Was much more aggressive in his tackling and at the ball. Nicholson had a shocker. I don't know what to make of Barry. He was tagging again and it will be interesting to hear what Brett says about his game

It always amazes me that people who have no idea how it works have so much to say. If you have no clue how f/s works stop talking like you have an idea.I hope he keeps improving but keeps it a little quiet. 3rd would be gold but at this rate 2nd is looking likely.

Yes

Billie had 24 possessions today in SA dominant win over Vic Country.

Just got home. Casey is severely lacking in talls. Fitzy was pretty good. He was moved to the ruck and dominated. But there was no one to kick it to as far as tall forwards go. The one thing I really took from the game was how much better melbourne players are in close with their hands. I thought michie and Evans were our best. Mckenzie played well but just lacks any penetration. Kent got a bit of footy but he turned it over sooooo many times today. I'm a big Kent fan but was frustrated with him today. Tappscott had some turnovers as well. Blease started really well but tried a bit too much later in the game. Think of the Richmond game in the preseason. With no one really to kick long to we tried to make kicks that just weren't there. I saw the 2nd half of the magoos just to see westrupp. He would have had 10 or so possessions as a back who plays tall. He took a good mark down back and almost a huge pack mark near the wing. He didn't turn it over once and created a good amount of run. It's the first time I've seen him in a game and I thought he went ok. Needs to back himself a bit more. Not sure if he can go further but you never know.

I've spoken to Neville a few times at various club functions. He is really a terrific fella. Very honest in his assessment of himself. I like the way he plays but he hasn't been able to grab a position with both hands. He is versatile to his own detriment because he moves around so much. I hope he can come of age if he gets a chance. I agree with the assessment that he could be a roos favourite if he can stop his man as a back. He will get a chance at some stage with the way he is having a crack.

We couldn't have traded 3 and 13 for hogan and Kelly. Both were 17 and there were only 2 picks for 17 year olds. Not 3. Gws started out with 4 x 17 year olds they could trade. The first 2 were went to GCS and Adelaide the year before. GCS took Martin with the third and we got hogan with the last. Therefor Kelly was not eligible. We could have picked him instead of hogan. There is no point comparing Dunstan to Vince. Dunstan was gone before the pick we gave up for Vince or the pick we gave to gws. Dunstan went in the teens.

Dunstan went before the position our second pick would have been. You can't just pluck 2 players out before our second pick and say 'I wish we had him.' I don't see the point. We could have taken Kelly and anyone after pick 22. Please keep the conversation relevant. And we couldn't have traded pick 3 and 13 for hogan and Kelly as the first pick was already gone for pick 2. I'm a pretty positive person but all this we should have done this or that is making all the threads pretty boring. We have the players we have, let's just hope roosy can make something of them. I'll be happy if we can turn it around and win around 8 games or so. We are coming from a long way back. I can see us being like the doggies last year and play some decent footy near the end of the season. This will set us up for next year. I'm still confident we can win r1. It is not as easy as people were saying last week. But our mids have all had strong preseasons and that's a good start.

Today reinforced to me that playing games in the NT is going to hurt us the week after every time we play there. We have been mauled the week after every game up there. I'm looking forward to ending that alliance. We got slaughtered out of the middle, looked tired and our kicking was aweful even though it was a little windy. Didn't seem to bother the hawks though. They were kicking them from everywhere from the second quarter on. We had the first 3 shots at goal really for 1 point. They kicked it well the whole game. Any Melbourne player caught a metre behind could not make it up because their kicking was so good. We on the other hand could hardly hit a guy 5 metres in front. We also must have kicked it out on the full about 10 times. Hawks seemed just to tall in the forward line. They seemed to mark every high ball in their f50. Love to see how many marks they took in the f50. I was a bit disappointed we didn't have a third man coming over the top. It didn't seem to happen at all. I think we will play better with this game style at docklands. No wind. We have some work to do to play the really good teams. Having said all of the above I still think we are a good chance r1. I hope they can pick themselves up this year after ordinary performances because its obvious we will still have them. On a bright note I watched the first 1/4 of the casey game and I was really impressed with Barry. He seemed to be everywhere and his skills were terrific. Viney was working himself into it and Kent was working hard. It was only one quarter.

I'm happy that we are playing 3teams that finished in the top 5 last year and will all in my opinion be up there again and so far, we have held our own. It's a long season and we appear to have depth in all 3 sections of the ground. I'm really looking forward to this season for the first time in a long time.

We went to the first game up there. We have afl membership and didn't buy tickets. Afl membership got us a ticket in the grandstand and there were plenty of empty seats there. We hired a car at the airport and stayed for 4 days. We stayed in a hotel in the city which stynesy was also staying at. He was president then. It's easy driving around up there. The ground didn't take long to drive to and heaps of parking. Saw quite a few players both before and after the game in cafes in the city area.

Sorry wj, your ladder is incorrect and the interstate teams at the bottom move up. You get 4 points for a win. Pies, saints, bombers haven't won a game yet.

I'm with brfe here. I'm a georgiou fan but I don't think he will play r1 unless there is another injury. Frawley, McDonald, grimes, terlich, Dunn and I believe it will be Strauss. To mention michie in the back line is ridiculous. He hasn't trained anywhere near there the whole preseason. The other thing is stkilda won't have a tall forward line so medium backs will be the go. If roosy wants another backup back then georgiou would be a chance but I think toumpas would help out back there. As already mentioned Hogan did a lot of work off the ball with a good work rate. He lead and took defensive numbers with him a few times early which allowed gawn to be one out. Gawn took 3 early marks 1v1 close to goal because of hogans work rate. Hogan was also in the weaker team imo so had to work harder. He will play r1 in a pocket. Fitz will start ff with Dawes chf imo. Pederson may also get a go to help out at both ends. Most the team is picked imo for r1 barring injury. Mids jones, Vince, cross, michie, watts, trenners, Tyson, toumpas will all play. Imo viney and m jones will play as well

He did it in the sanfl. If he can block their run he could do it. No way a smaller guy will out mark him. He will be a good one to watch for his progress. Maybe he might get garlands job until he comes back. He may even make Dunn think a lot more which is what he needs to being a better player. All I can say is its good to have options.

I wouldn't write off georgiou either. He goes hard at everything. Gets plenty of ball too. I didn't see him waste a kick.

Salem played as a small forward. He won't go near the midfield at senior level. He will get time at Casey. Imo he will be at casey in r1. It was good to see some big forwards on the ground. We were able to kick it a bit more direct to 1 v1s. Fitz is huge and marked nearly everything that came his way. Dawes was very very good until he went off. Gawn took quite a few marks in the f50. Spencer was good in the ruck and did a lot of work around the ground. King looks a great get, when he has a body he will be one of the best bigs in our team. Coordinated, marks really well, is the best kick of the big guys already. We won't see him anywhere but Casey for a while though. He still has a lot of ruck work to do but being bigger will help that. Watts and Tyson were everywhere in the blue team. Michie in everything for the white. Viney is all grunt and was pretty good. He took the ball from a throwin, ran away and delivered to Dawes who got a free from McDonald. Viney tackles hard every time. No one gets away from him. Hunt was ok but had one really impressive run along the centre square with a couple of bounces and dangerous kick to about 20out. It's interesting watching 2 teams with the same game plan and watching players trying to stop it even when they know what is happening. The kicking by everyone was pretty good following on from Fridays game. Roosy was in the middle the whole time and once pulled watts, Tyson and viney together for some quick instruction. Guys like terlich, clisby, georgiou were all pretty solid. McDonald is so competitive. The umpire paid a 2 touch mark to Dawes which he thought he got first hands to and remonstrated fiercely with the umpire. His kicking was pretty good when he had it as well.

Trenners is doing everything pretty well. He is having probably his best pre-season from the 10 odd sessions I've been to. I just want to see a game now. My mates and I were wondering if there will be an intraclub at some stage.

I'll start by saying I'm a massive JKH fan and have been for a couple of years. He is a great trainer and I believe his work ethic will turn him into a very good player. He trained well today but I'm still of the opinion that he will struggle to make the round 1 team under Roos. He is a chance but Roos likes to give his first year players a good grounding and we as a club need this more than any other team. We put all our hopes into young kids which is a bit unfair. No Garland today. In slippery conditions I was really impressed with Hunt. He marked everything coming his way using his hands. Some from hard kicks going over his head. He won't play for Melbourne this year but he looks very talented and he can really run. We are going to have lots of competition for the mids this year. Vince, Tyson, Cross and Michie will all play Round 1 IMO from today's training. Someone said earlier Watts was fumbly. My friends and I disagree. In the congested work he was eye catching with his pace and agility. He looked like he is ready to break the lines and if he does, his kicking is second to none. Salem did most of the work and looks good. If he can get 5 to 10 games it will be a bonus. It was nice to see Spencer, Jamar and Gawn joining in. They all look massive. Pedersen has lost a bit of weight around his hips and trained very well. He looked a little quicker and made lots of tackles. Grimes and Jones both train well. I'd like to see co-captains. Frawley looks awesome. I said this a couple of weeks ago. We had Grimes, Terlich, Clisby, Nicholson, Strauss, Hunt all Jetta all training as small backs. I thought Blease trained really well in the conditions and used his pace and agility in the congested work. There were at times some ordinary kicks in the full field drill but it was good to see them running in numbers the whole field. Kent did the whole session and he looks all class. I'd like to see him go another step this year. Roosy was in the middle directing everything. I'd like to see 7+ wins this year and believe we will.

I saw jay Clark there. Found it hard not to abuse him. He can't even get our names right. I will post later when I get home.

I watched blease for most of the session. He did seem to glide through the 300's but I watched him closely in the 40 to 60metre sprints straight after. He was very good at the shorter distances and was able to run away from his group in most of them. This is obviously more his thing. It will be interesting to see how roosy uses him, if at all. In my opinion today was just about a bit of kicking, marking and hand balling but mostly about running after new year. They were punished in those runs. Most seemed to go pretty well. Spencer runs very well. He impressed me in the running at the end. Poor maxy king vomited whilst running the last 300 and then had to stop on hands and knees for a bit more. Got up and finished and got lots of support. Kent is running much better than what I saw before Xmas. Hunt looks quick over all the distances they did. Michie ran with frawley the whole time. Frawley looks great. Dunn was in the last group and ran last with king which I found interesting. For the running at the end viney and Byrnes ran their own thing and from what I heard viney was saying what they were doing. He is a leader that kid. Dawes and jamar looked pretty good to me. Spencer, Strauss and McDonald did a contested marking drill, shepparding and tackling drill after the running. Obviously working up tommy's and Strauss' shoulders. Cross, Mckenzie, Tyson and I think it was bail did some extra handball work after it all finished.

Roos not there today. I was told he went to Sydney. Not training- Clark Frawley, Gawn and Viney and I think that was it. Riley and Kent were doing a fair bit of work on the side. Running and boxing, enjoying the sun I think. Also in rehab: Byrnes, Clisby, Dawes, Jetta and King. Trenners left early. They trained for about an hour with the balls and then they did the tan and runs up Anderson Street hill. During training they split up into groups of about 7 or 8. The groups went to different stations. One was a shepparding type drill, one a snap shot at goal drill, a keeping off drill and kicking to a leading player drill. People can see what they went from this if you know what I mean. Watts' skills are awesome, he looks to me to have lifted his intensity. I found it really funny watching Spencer left foot snap for goal. Although his kicking in the leading drill was pretty good. McDonald did a bit of softer tackling drill with spencer at one stage. McDonald must be close to full body drills. Cross, Jones, Toumpas and Vince all train very well. Strauss and Michie were in the group with the younger guys. Both looked good. JKH is very quick and a hard trainer, if he gets games in the preseason and goes well he could play round 1. I think there will be lots of competition for spots though so it will be tough for him. On the whole training was pretty good but it's not a game. Rawlings took training today.

I would pick spencer. Every time I see him play he reminds me of jake Carlisle. He is a very good 1v 1 and very competitive. Can also move forward on occasion like Harry Taylor. Takes a good contested mark. We need another key back and he is a better prospect than sully imo. I'm surprised he is not mentioned more. Played chb and fb for vicmetro.