Older demon

Forget about Houston go for Lukosius. Port would let Houston go for a high draft pick in order to get Lukosius. Spare the middleman and go directly for Lukosius. He is a beautiful kick, plays at both ends and is much younger than Houston. He is a much better footballer than Jack Watts.

From the presser today it appears Tomlinson will come in for May. Petty will stay up forward. No players will be rested or others gifted games while there is a mathematical chance we can still make the 8. I cannot see many changes this week. On a different note and not an excuse, last week we had 5 players who have never played a game at marvel stadium. Small wonder they looked lost.

Good positive post and I agree he has many great traits that we overlook. Flags are mighty hard to win and you have to have everyone fit and going at the right time of the year. I agree that tactically he isn't a Longmire or Scott but the is a great man manager. Look at Sydney now shades of us in 2022 win the first ten then a few injuries and the bottom falls out of the club. We have been consistently rewarded with success and wins for the last 5 years. The only downside is he has raised our expectations and we expect a lot. How many have Geelong and Sydney won in all their years of sustained success?

The model we should be the Port Adelaide midfield with pace and run. Rosee, Butters, Horne- Francis and Drew as the stopper. Midfielders , midfield and more midfield who can run and gun

Well I will be there supporting my club no matter what. I like it that Max has said the club need to show some pride in the jumper. With so many of our class players injured and shallow depth, I just want to see us contest the ball. Cut TMac some slack he has been fantastic all year. The umps got in his head Friday and he wasn't the only blackman swamped with the number of entries into our backline. Woewodin and AMW on the back flanks is probaly the most undersized inexperienced backline we have fielded. For those watching Casey consider that both Laurie and K. Brown lack penetration with their kicks and turn it over. The stats are misleading. I do however wish our forwards tackled like Laurie and Pup and then maybe the ball wouldn't rebound out the foirward line so much. Given the poor delivery at Casey Jefferson has done a mighty job. He is a strong overhead mark but rarely gets the ball on the lead because of poor disposal upfield. 3 games to go it is his time. The challenge will be who replaces May? Is Tomlison like for like? If he comes in and don't see Jefferson come in. If Petty goes back then Jeffo comes in.

I agree with all that you have said. Last game as a sub against the Pies comes on and does a Carl Ditterich and send Maynard into the same oblivion he sent Gus to. That would make some headlines for the last game.

I watched a lot of the game and Jed is still light on to play key defence but looks to have a bit of pace and run. Unsure where his best position would be. Tall loping half back maybe. I cannot believe the listed best players "Laurie Fullarton Jefferson K Brown White Tomlinson" stats wise Laurie, K Brown and Fullarton get the stats but they don't tell the story. Laurie and Pup make lots of tackles because they don't hunt the ball and win it but get to the contest to tackle ie 2nd to the ball. Both would have to improve their kicking 50% because they kick 40 meters and miss targets. Pup is in his first year and can develop Laurie has been there long enough and tried. White is not on the list and Tomlinson gets kicks but has never been the same since his knee injury. Fullarton is not a tap ruckman and never will be but he is athletic enough to mark and get ground balls but the stats belie his overall worth. I was surprised that he got 25 taps. He is best at doing a Max, taking possession, trying to handball, and kicking rather than a tap out. IMO of that group only Jefferson is worthy of promotion. He has some serious talent, can take a mark, applies forward pressure and gets the ball. I would like to see Sestan stay on and develop a tank. He doesn't get it enough but is better balanced, delivers the ball as well as anyone in the team, and gets clearances, just not enough. Yesterday, the high-possession guys like Saunders & MacRae showed what you want from your fringe players trying to get a senior game. We have none at Casey.

Footscray have hit peak form at the right time of year. Sadly we are busted up and as someone said the Casey cupboard is bare. For those critical the backline after half time included Woewodin, Moniz-Wakefield, Howes and Turner. 2 first year players and 2 with a handfull of games against one of the best marking forward lines in the comp. Rivers in the midfield has been great but it robs the backline of any strength or run. Clarry was tagged for 3 quarters by Libba and in the first half the coaching staff chose not to run with Bont, a big mistake. Outclassed I was happy that we eventually cleaned up the clearance differential and had a go. The backline is faltering because for the third week in a row we leaked goals out the back to an unmarked player. With Gus, Trac, Spargo, Salem and Windsor missing, Clarry underdone and Max on one leg to then lose May to suspected rib injury is a bridge too far. You can see we don't have the depth and it isn't going to improve. Anyone who watched the livestream today can see that. I would rather we give some new faces a game ie Jeffo and Sestan as McAdam, Billings, Laurie, Hunter and Tomlinson are not going to take us forward. Not sure about Adams or Kynan but can see a role for Hore

6 - Max Gawn 5 - Trent Rivers 4 - Ed Langdon 3 - Tom Sparrow 2 - Judd McVee 1 - Alex Neal-Bullen

In fairness the Casey backline is undersized, slow and under siege. Only Marty Hore could lay a claim playing in the firsts. No one in the midfield putting their hand up.

Hard to watch. The Casey based players are a long way of VFL standard which makes it really difficult for the AFL based Casey players. MacRae and Saunders are class midfielders who are sick of racking up kicks. Our mids are not in this class. Laurie, Pup Brown and a Casey defender have all not been able to hit a target 15meters away and turned it over. Pups kicking would need to improve immensley in both accuracy and depth. There is no doubting his endeavour and ferocity but we need players who can finish of their work.

Buyer beware taking someone who is overpriced just because they are available. Football clubs plan their list builds with the juniors from 14 years of age on. Some develop others don't and occasionally a surprise contracted player comes up and wants to go home. Don't stray from the plan just because a surprise comes up that doesn't fit your needs and get into a bidding war. I can see that attraction for Geelong as Hawkins must be in his last year, and Cameron isn't getting any, younger. He will be 32 at the start of next season. IMO you have you club elite, the class and skill or A graders. Mid range and the role players. We have a lot of role players and maybe too many of them. Windsor is class and has looked that way since pre season as is McVee and Rivers is now staring to show what he has got. But we need more class and elite decision makers down back and in the midfield including the ruck. You can never have too many silky mids.

I suspect Kolt is still in concussion protocols as the two 6 day breaks mean he hasn't had time to get back into training. To the supporter Bowie and Billings appear out of form but without knowing what roles or KPI's the club wants from them we aren't in a position to say if they go or stay. I like the fact that Sparrow responded to his demotion and I watched the VFL and he certainly deserved a recall. K Brown is a real goer, tackling machine but his footy skills let him down and his disposal needs to improve moving forward. It is only his first season. Goody nailed it when he said our best is good, very good but our worst is bad and it can all happen in the space of a half. I see consistency and cohesion in both freo and GWS. This because they been able to minimise changes in the lineup and have played together quite a bit. This helps. On Saturday night that was the first time all season that Petty, JVR, Fritch and Melk were in the same team. Our backline thrives on having the same group together. We have had to replace 2 of our finest mids in Gus and Trac so no surprise the midfield is down. Goody has stated he is trying to keep the same forward line together to improve cohesion.

But! Jones made the decision to return to Melbourne to be with his wife for the birth of the twins. He barely got back in time and wasn't in Perth for the final. His decision to put family first speaks volumes for the man.

Disappointing buit if you kick 6. 15 you cannot expect to win. Awful conditions to play in and in the end a few bigger bodies at GWS turned it around. Callum Brown had a monster last quarter. The old adage pick it up and kick it. No BBB must surely mean his knee has the better of him, sad to say. Not sure why McAdam was out. Even more surprising was playing all the emergencies. The good was glimpses of what Jefferson is capable of. Verral and Fullarton are ok as ruck rovers but have a long way to go as tap ruckman, another day of outdone in the ruck. Yze is a big lad who is well-balanced and strong in the contest. I like some of Sestans work with clearance and hitting targets he just needs to get it more often. Sparrow was good in the first half and was in the best, just the response the selection team needed to see I didn't like how GWS got the ball out the back just like Freo did to the seniors last week. I hope the coaches took note and adjust our defensive zone because once it gets out the back we get slaughtered.

Great goal Jeff. Yze to Sestan, superb pass from OIliie to Jeffo who centers the ball to the square misses the pack and goers through for a goal. Great play

The word resilience came up and my ears pricked up. If you want to know about resilience then got to the podcasts the "The Imperfects" Hugh which Van Cuylenberg and a mad Demon tragic supporter Ryan Shelton produce. It is episode 22, and they ineterview Max Gawn. Ryan is starstruck in the presence of Gawn but gee it is a great listen. One theme relates to some Vandenberg bought up and that is how they speak to each team mate which in his opinion wasn't always professional. Team building, respect and togetherness under duress is resilience. Would you abuse your trade, solicitor, doctor or accountant or write bad reviews and post them online. No you would get sued. Read the book "The Red Fox" and see how Norm Smith got the best out of his group. He would belittle them, deride them just as Barassi did as a coach. That style of coaching is dead. Clubs and coaches are much better people managers these days. I can say no more...

Well done WCW thanks for braving the elements and getting back to us. I know some of the players who are all away of Demonland but the club recommends they don't due to the unsolicited vitriol.

With 5 weeks and potentially finals still in the mix I am astounded at the narrative around this. It is all pure speculation come back in 2 months with some fact based parameters and then see what is going on. "If the 2 parties cannot get a deal done" I read as, if Port cannot get adequate compensation then he will stay

For what it is worth Cornes went off his rocker in his playing days when someone laid the heat on him and his family. Or the time he made the big song and dance about retiring to become a fireman and bailed out it must have been too tough. He has no journalistic skill and relies on being controversial and peddling innuendo and suggestion . The trouble is the masses lap it up.

I see K White was not ranked highly Def 1 39.0 points where the best rankings are in the 80 -90 range.

Thanks WCW now can someone reach out to MacClure and let him know and remind him what we think og him as a journalist.

Is this the same Sam Maclure who started the Clarrie going to Carlton story years ago?? If so ask him why he is always targeting Clayton with his big IF rumours. Is it a coincidence that all the articles about players leaving have started bobbing up as the regular season draws to a close? IMO too many journos are writing "what if" pieces. They survive on creating clickbait and sensationalism hoping to out scoop each other. If there is any truth to these stories? With a little patience, all will be revealed. Note Petty signing on has shut down all the Adelaide talk maybe they want to create some chaos at Melbourne. Has anyone fact-checked Maclure, Morris or any of the scoop breakers to see their hit rate and how many predictions they get right and for that matter who cares!

What I think is lost in all of this is that in recent times the trade scenario has been a meat market. Players traded disrespected and shown no loyalty. I like it it that Melbourne have identified our generational players shown the commitment and signed them up for life. Surprise, sometimes players have bad years but rather than ditch them at the first sign of trouble we work with them and embrace them. Tom Mac ois a great example as this year he has been sensational coming off 2 injury riddled years that hobbled him. Big fat contracts don't ensure you are challenging for the Brownlow every year. Likewise I don't think some of the 2nd tier players we bought in have necessarily set the world on fire but they left because they no longer wanted to be at their club and came to us. Despite al the stuff written about our culture our players stay and only move if they cannot get a game (Jackson excepted but gee he is playing on a monster contract).

Listen to Goody's presser. Salem has hamstring tightness so maybe he was playing injured. Yes we don't have a tao ruckman on the list besides Max. Fullarton is a forward who can do some ruck work like Van Rooyen does. So time to find a different style of ruck than Max more like a Briggs at GWS. Max is a generational player who is irreplaceable. Who can come on I don't know but look at how Lloyd Meek has developed at Hawthorn, he is a seriously big unit.