spirit of norm smith

He’s a classy mover but as a 18yo lean lad, conditions were not in his favour. In and under contested footy is not him. Missed 13 weeks due to his injury so getting him back on the park was a bonus. A full pre season ahead with extra gym work.

Objective - Win the premiership ✅ delivered - Have experienced players ready to step up if required ✅ Delivered … Dunstan. Chandler. Bedford. Tomlinson. Melksham. Baker etc Develop players for MFC ✅ Delivered… Turner. JVR. Laurie. Woey jnr. ANW. Howes. Mcvee. 3/3

Southport Sooks. It’s the VFL and they’re lucky to be even included.

Great win. Great season Congratulations to everyone at Casey Demons 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 Tough conditions but the team had warriors all over the park. Chandler and Dunstan were in and under the packs all day. Melksham 4 goals was a match winning effort. JVR good in tough conditions for a key forward. Weid in the ruck was ok against a bigger bodied opponent (break even probably). Oskar Baker (in probably his last game at the Dees) was also in the best, with his kicking and running all day. White (BOG) and Munro are absolutely hard nuts. Munro 17 tackles and a goal. Wow the emotion. A special mention for Daniel Turner’s two smothers in the dying minutes (with the game already won) were excellent. His determination and aggression will be good for MFC next year. Casey - a great year. Reward for the stalwarts and development of the youngsters. Job done.

Quick query though. Of all the “free agent” signings, how many FREE players have the Dees acquired from this rule? I can’t remember any. It was supposed to help bottom clubs but actually think it ended up as a rule to keep top clubs strong.

Agree. But the pies will likely bring in a few players like Hill and Mcstay and get back Taylor Adams who is a very very good player. I agree they won many on a knifes edge due to luck and accuracy. Yes the draw will mean they get tougher run next year. But unlike the Dees, they won’t get to play Cats at Geelong!!!

Agree DD

Why are Collingwood willing to trade Grundy? - injury will persist and restrict his future (?) - need some salary cap space (to recruit Mcstay) and Grundys $800,000 a year wage is too large given Cox and Cameron combo preferred (?) Why does Melbourne want Grundy? - need some relief for Gawn to share the ruck load - if Pies pay 1/2 salary, then he represents a reasonable risk/reward I’m sure Pert will be across this decision and have some insights from his time with Collingwood and connections.

Yes likely as a rookie. He has good foot skills which would improve our team and transition. I agree he’s in need of 2-3 years in the gym.

Agree. His pace and goalkicking is a weapon. Goody just loved putting him as a sub. Even when our small forwards were out of form, Goody refused to bring in Chandler or Bedford.

Gotta get the kid a pen. He’s got the talent we still need. Pace and goalkicking. Just get his confidence up. Dodoro and bombers … “fire-truck” off!!

Guess what SWANS V MAGPIES NEITHER TEAM IS KICKING THEIR FORWARD ENTRIES TO DEEP FORWARD POCKET NEITHER TEAM IS KICKING HIGH CLOUD-BUSTING KICKS TO THEIR KEY FORWARDS WHY DID WE DECIDE TO PERSIST WITH SUCH CRAP FORWARD ENTRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Add in Ben Kennedy ❌

Ashcroft is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Will play round 1 2023- a huge boost for Lions alongside Jaspa Fletcher Sheezel and Mckenzie top 10 for sure. Both would be great in red and blue. Agree Oli Hotton is a quality youngster, would be a good pickup for the Dees if we stay with pick 14-15 from the LJ trade. Charlie Clarke is that fast small forward with footy smarts. His pace alone brings him attention. Jaxon Binns again showed his Rory Sloane like quality. He runs and runs and links up and if we’d like another midfield running machine at the Dees, he’d have to be considered. Finn Emile-Brennan could end up our academy pick either as a late pick or a rookie which would be a win. His ball use is excellent.

I’m still nervous. Why help the Pies with their issue. It might work out but I’m cautious, anxious you know why! Dawes Lamumba our wins from trades with the pies seem to be to help their problems not necessarily our solutions.

If Corbett was available and interested, Dees would have a conversation. He’d be reasonably cheap and with our number of inside50s (and better delivery) he is a good mark and could be a good pickup.

Hibbo and Melksham arrived because they were pisssed off with the bombers and had a good rapport with Goody. Lever switched with a big offer from the Dees and he “returned home”. May decided to move after seeing the Suns go nowhere and wanted success (he made the right decision) Langdon switched with an excellent offer from the Dees and he “returned home”. Tomlinson returned home and got a good offer from the Dees. Wanted more game time. BBB was out of favour at North and Larkey was preferred. Injury prone. Took up a great opportunity. Dunstan got delisted by the Saints. Dees grabbed him as insurance for the midfield. Thankfully our key Mids played nearly every game. Players simply take up opportunities to switch clubs to “go home/be with family” or “get better higher $$$ on longer contracts” or “take up opportunities to get more games or game time” or “to get success/a premiership”. Or sometimes albeit rarely, it’s a personality clash with the coach. Cerra was keen on the Dees but we didn’t have the salary cap room or the picks. That was unfortunate as he is exactly the type of player that’d fit beautifully into our mid rotation. He saw us as successful and wanted to be part of it and to “come home”. He didn’t set the world on fire at the blues but he’s a very good player. This year we may not have the salary cap room or the picks to offer to land another good player. I’m still amazed we are part of the Grundy conversation. But we have a very strong player list, most in their prime and quality youngsters (AMW, JVR, Turner, Howes) still coming through. We should get good trade picks for LJ. I’m ok with others shuffling deck chairs and you never know who might be available in the coming weeks (Gunston?)

No. I think he played 17 in the MFC and 5-6 at Casey. Losing Tmcd and Bowey makes it a tight contest v Southport. Bowey was outstanding last week and with a good preseason should be in MFC round 1 2023.

We would have given the Cats a much better match. Simply … We threw it away this year.

Hipwood tonight

Yes I know a few Cats fans and they’re very happy it’s Cats v Lions and not Cats v Dees. We’d given them a real match. Ffs. I’m still angry about last week. In fact angry and disappointed and hurt with our two finals losses.

Tmcd out. Huge blow 😭😭

CATS ARE PLAYING ON AND PUTTING DEFENDERS UPON PRESSURE

Hawkins 🤮🤮

CATS V LIONS NEITHER TEAM IS KICKING THEIR FORWARD ENTRIES TO DEEP FORWARD POCKET NEITHER TEAM IS KICKING HIGH CLOUD-BUSTING KICKS TO THEIR KEY FORWARDS