spirit of norm smith

Out. JVR (omitted) Melksham (managed) Tmcd (managed) Salem (injured) Ins. Heath. Kentfield. Moniz-Wakefield. Rivers. ANW Petty Lever Howes Turner Rivers Langdon Steele Windsor Sharp Kentfield Chandler Latrelle Mihocek Fritsch Gawn Sparrow Kozzzzy Int. Langford Kolt Heath Culley Lindsay Emerg. Henderson Jefferson X.Taylor

6- Steele - battled all day with ZERO help - 6 clearances- 6 score involvement- 28 disposals 5- Howes - another good game - 14 touches at 92%DE- tackles and spoils were effective 4- Kozzzy … for his 2 goals , and for trying … but his turnovers and missed crucial tackles 3- Gawn … for his heart … but his hitouts and knocks to no one was disappointing 2- Petty… for contested marks only … goalkicking is not near AFL standards 1- Sharp for first half Lots of poor to very poor performances. Lots of players looking down and without any fight or smart play. Too many to name. Honestly the other 17 players were the ones to watch their moments and be very disappointed. Anyone giving votes to Chin, Langford, Kolt didn’t watch the game.

6- Steele - battled all day with ZERO help - 6 clearances- 6 score involvement- 28 disposals 5- Howes - another good game - 14 touches at 92%DE- tackles and spoils were effective 4- Kozzzy … for his 2 goals and for trying … but his turnovers and missed 3- Gawn … for his heart … but his hitouts and knocks to no one was disappointing 2- Petty… for contested marks only 1- Sharp for first half Lots of poor to very poor performances. Lots of players looking down and without any fight or smart play. Too many to name. Honestly the other 17 players were the ones to watch their moments and be very disappointed. Anyone giving votes to Chin, Langford, Kolt didn’t watch the game.

@joeboy - far too kind @joeboy

@binman King mistake 1 5 tall forwards. Fritsch. Milkshake. Petty. JVR. Mihocek. No crumbers. No pressure. No pace. No tackles in fwd50 King mistake 2. Archie Roberts. Quarterback. 35 possessions each week. We refused to shut him form. Poor planning.

@picket fence @binman @george_on_the_outer @picket fence 3rd quarter CLEARANCE DONS 11 DEES 1 Stoppage clearance 1/2 time Dees 12-9 Stoppage clearance 1/2 time Dons 20-13

Former Essendon champion Gary Lyon is really ANNOYING in commentary- willing the bombers to win !! Oh, former Melbourne champion ?!?!?! Really 🤬

Half time 50 to 44 👍🏻goalkicking, 22 inside50s - 8 goals 👍🏻Steele a standout again 👍🏻Howes Gawn Kozzzy Lever Sharp Passengers - a few here unfortunately. -JVR. Langford. Culley. Petty. Milkshake -Tmcd looking slow again !!! @Demonland -Windsor was poor , only 5 disposals- looking like a lost sheep in that half X missed tackles through midfield x ONLY two tackles in forward 50 in 1st half @binman X poor pressure rating. Barely 190 If we play like this v top teams Cats, Hawks , Freo, Lions or Swans, we’d be 50 points down by now

Turner 👏👏👏 Chin 👏👏👏

MATCH PRESSURE RATING 164 Average standard is 175. We are asleep !!

Skills. Missed targets. Turner needs a rocket Pressure. Missing tackles. A few guilty of this Tall forwards absent without a leave pass. Where did JVR go !!! McKay owning him Bombers building confidence. Their best team in the paddock all year.

Essendon hatred index - out of 10 Definitely a 9/10. (Collingwood is 10/10) Remember the 2000 Grand Final. They mocked us. Laughed. Then remember 2013. A 148 point massacre. I’m not feeling for that [censored] Brad Scott. Arrogant piece of 💩 Must win. Must win today. No complacency. We must win. Win for Melksham 250 ❤️💙

Agree - strengthened by Caddy and Ridley back in a big way. Makes them stronger in defence & more potent forward. Dees need to lift to the challenge. I know Gawny will want to avenge last years loss. So should many others !!

@demon36 Agree - I am really wanting to win this. Brad Scott is a person who is so arrogant for a bloke who’s coached a team into the ground. Dees are in the media spotlight but often we’ve had a “drink our own bath water” and lost the next week. Ruthless? We need to keep the standard. Lose this and we get to be laughing stock again. Win this and we march back to the MCG to take on the reigning premiers on the match of the round. Dees must win this ❤️💙

Let’s win this and celebrate Melksham’s 250th in style

MFCSSS. Dees beat up ladder leading Suns. Then … we play the winless Bombers. These are the games that the Dees drop their guard and let all the media hype inflate them. King will need to keep the team focussed. Bombers will get Ridley and Caddy back. Two of their best 6 players. They will not want to be that team that loses 18 straight and sets a club losing record. Scott might be sacked if we win well. Expect May and Guelfi to drop out. Tsatas might also replace Day-Wicks. They’ll be desperate. They’ll tag kozzzy likely with Caldwell.

Flynn Perez debuted for the Hawks today v Cats. Looks very comfortable back in the AFL. Had 2 excellent years in the SANFL & the Hawks picked him up in the preseason.

19. Xavier Taylor Developing 20. Thomas Matthews Developing 21. Matt Jefferson Ready to go 26. Jed Adams Struggling 27. Max Heath Absolutely bursting , so ready to play AFL 38. Oscar Berry A lot of development ahead 39. Ricky Mentha Jnr Developing 40. Riley Onley Developing 42. Aidan Johnson Ready to play 43 Jack Henderson Not quite ready 44. Luker Kentfield Ready to play 45. Andy Moniz-Wakefield Ready to play

@Whispering_Jack thanks. A good write up once again

Dees will definitely have Jett on the list of future ones to watch already.

Bailey Laurie did 2-3 nice things. I think he is a “nearly” type of player. Unfortunately destined for more VFL time.

BEST CASEY DEMONS Heath Johnson Bonner Kentfield D'Angelo SInnema plus I would add Ethan Stanley. He was very good at the contest and I like his run and spread.

@SPC Xavier Taylor was ok v hawks. Showed glimpses but is still developing and would be unlikely to debut in the first half of the year. Showed good composure with the footy. He’s a good mark and had a good intercept late in the game. With Lever, Turner & Howes ahead of him for the role, I’d say let’s see XT develop at Casey. Luker Kentfield is a key forward. I like his aggressive style and has good marking. Simple goalkicking style. Likely to debut this year if he stays fit and healthy. Although Mihocek and JVR are ahead of him. Key defender. With May retiring, we have the need for another big key defender. Adams struggled again and hadn’t physically developed. He needed a summer in the gym but doesn’t look like he’d bulked up. I’m not sure he will make it.

In. Rivers if he’s 100% fit. Fritsch if he’s 100% fit. Out. Laurie and … I seriously cannot think of anyone else to omit

A good call … I was disappointed last year that we didn’t give Sinnema a rookie position. He has excellent run, skills and hits targets inside 50. Watch him at Casey as he develops into a very good player. Still must be on JTs list.