Older demon

The deficiencies are obvious and every centre bounce Verrall is surrounde by White an MFC list player and 2 Casey lads who are small. We are continually murdered at the clearance. As mentioned earlier the big bodied gutys missing hurt but they aren't backup for the seniors. Similarly down back only Hore and Adams are senior listers the rest of the back line are Casey boys who are undersized. Deoth is is the issue and body strength. Not sure where all the depth has gone. This makes it hard for the MFC listed guys to shine when they cannot get their hands on the ball.

Petty hamstring? I thought he hurt his ankle?

I know one of the AFL umpires and feel for them with all the criticism. Their job is to make split-second decisions that are supposed to be perfect and scrutinized by numerous slo-mo replays. Listen to Razor Ray on the radio and how he follows the game and adjudicates A lot of what Dillon says is true when he discusses their training, reviews and development. To this, there are lots of measurables, stats and KPIs on which they judge performance. If Dillon is so sure that the standard is as good as ever I would ask him to produce the data they collect to support this premise. In our game last week there were perhaps 25 frees given for the whole game and it was the obvious ones not paid that fire supporters up. I get the impression that is safer to err in not giving a decision or handing a 50-meter penalty than giving an iffy contentious one.

It would appear that Robbo has teed off in the Sun and demanded a Royal Commission-like review. Does anyone have access? Where does the solution lie? Is it Laura Kane or has this all started with McBurney's appointment? I never thought much of his umpiring back in the day. Whatever happens I find it hard to watch our games let alone any others the umpiring is so inconsistent and unpredictable and influencing results.

Congratulations young man a fine debut and you didn't look out of place. He has a bit of toe!

Even the greatest of players have had off seasons, so spare me. It is too easy to write him off when none of us know the challenges he has had. That fracture dislocation needed surgery and I suspect has hindered his ball handling. Just last week he gave it a tweak at training but still got up to play. And if you want to see how invested he is in the club just look at his joy in WCW's videos at training and his unbounded enthusiasm last week and today when the club announced to debutants. Hi is our player deserving of our support not our scorn

And isn't it great to see the club reward him for his effort and persistence, A great outcome. Gee we had 10 players 22 or under last game yet another junior. Go AMW.

This was in last nights footy record I posted it so you can put a face to the name and her story

Can I bring some perspective. I was lucky enough to be at the Presidents function and the guest speaker almost brought me to tears. Her name is Toni and Steven May is her favourite and he wore her name on his warm-up vest. Look it up and see Toni's story as she met Maisie at Casey this week and there is an Insta photo of her with him post game. Diagnosed triple-negative breast cancer at the age of 31. Despite becoming infertile a surrogate derived her and hubby a family and then it returns and has metastasised to her brain. Somewhere in all this turmoil she wins the Amazing race and has the courage to state that statistically sometime this year she will become another victim of the cancer. She even stated it could be as early as October. I am not sure I could talk as candidly as she did to an audience. I really didn't mind her saying feck a lot and she was so brave, extroverted and I am glad Maysie played a blinder for her. Somehow the narrow win was nice be she left a legacy with me that goes beyond the game. My only complaint for the night (umpires aside) is the miserable crumb that thought they could pocket my MCC/MFC staff and pink beanie I left under my seat when I moved away briefly at the end of the game. Not our best night but we won. I am so proud of this club for its commitment to Pink Lady and MND. The rest well, it is only a game and the sun came up this morning.

6 Viney 5 Rivers 4 May 3 Gawn 2 Langdon 1 ANB

North are finally showing what so many first round draft pick will do to improve your team. We have too many passengers who don't get enough ball. Sorry to the Fritch apologists he is soft, is waiting for the cheap out the back and is no longer able to compete 1 on 1 he hasn't given a peep up forward for a month. Ditto Chandler he doesn't do enough for the role he plays. I c cannot for the life of me work out why Chandler or ANB are station at CHF for centre bounces.. The umpiring was putrid. % frees in a row to N.M resulting in 3 goals and 2 50 metre penalties one of which was wrong. The 4 umpire system as drained the talent pool. Early goals to North gave them some confidence and momentum. Lever controls the backline and organises everything and comes over the top and makes great spoils, The forward setup is a mess and with no Trac we are going to have to come up with a better plan moving forward.

Bevo was originally sounded out to be part of Roos succession plan as was Dew. Bevo wasn't interested in an understudy! He is his own man and was only interested in a senior coaching role just as Dew chose to stay in an assistant role at Sydney. To the credit of Bothe Goodwin & Beveridge both have become premiership coaches. I could only see Goody going to NSW as his fiancé and her family live there and will not be moving to Melbourne.

Irrespective of the errors what got my attention today was the explanation Laura Kane gave. Has she even looked at the footage or is she reading a pre written excuse from McBurney? She states that Scott took the mark paused moved forward and should have been called play on. The replay is everywhere and it shows Scott take a mark and take 4-5 steps back and not go off his line. He backtracked as the 2 Collingwood players encroached. It is a 50 metre penalty every day of the year. Scott looks at the umpire as do the 2 offending players all expecting a penalty. Only then does Scott play on. Under her narrative they could have tackled him and pinged him for holding the ball. It is the most blatant lie and mis interpretation this year. Matt Stevic the most experienced and capped umpire froze. He got it wrong and every journo knows it. On Friday night Windhagar got a 50 metre penalty for an infraction not as obvious as yesterday All credibility gone. The new umpires boss has seen a litany of mistakes on his watch and I cannot see it getting better As for goal review just as May was robbed against Carlton so too were North when the Crisp shot at goal was clearly touched. And god help me I actually agree with Kane Cornes and calling out the free ride Daicos gets. I truly do not like the way the game has evolved this season

The players were mostly back today for the mid season breakfast meeting with their club sponsor. Training was after breakfast and I was told the emphasis was on goal kicking. From what I saw on the news the emphasis was on tackling and pressure (Clarrie came uo saw in a wrestling match with Kolton). I believe McVee wasn't available not sure if he has an injury. I would really like to see him in the midfield for a stint.

I doubt there will be wholesale changes. Hopefully Lever will be back and of course Trac is out. I think Chandler needs a rest and Laurie I just don't think has it and Disco isn't a forward and disappointingly does tackle like a Backman. Sestan and Kolt may be raw but look at their stats they are both tackling machines and are bigger bodies than Chin and Laurie. I would also move Fritta out to a flank where he can creat space and run a bit more.

Confirmed Trac transferred to the Alfred trauma unit Monday night. Grade 5 spleen rupture the worst level, needed a transfusion and has been in ICU, A serious injury with a lengthy recovery. He will be hospitalise for many days.

At the moment the team isn't at its best to put it mildly. I would like to point out that look at the Swans record is a fair benchmark. Having waited 72 years between flags they broke through in 2005 and again in 2012. That is 2 flags in 18 years. As a measure of their success they have rarely missed finals since 1996 and in recent times on missed out in 2019-20. This focus on our once-in-a-lifetime list is flawed. In 2022 & 23 we were cruelled by injury. At the moment I think we are seeing a transition and hope we make finals but atm we aren't a premiership contender. Flags are mighty hard to win and my aims this season wold be to be competitive, not get smashed, bring in the next generation to play the Melbourne way and maybe jag a flag in the near future. Geelong has had sustained success but despite this Scott has only won 2 flags. After a 57 year wait I am enjoying winning more but have lowered my expectations rations a bit.

That I don't know and would be confidential. When fully recovered the size of the scar will give it away

The spleen is a bit of a dumping ground but you can live without one but more care is needed . It stores and filters blood and makes white blood cells that protect you from infection. It removes and clears red cells as they age. Patients are indeed susceptible to certain types of bacteria and simplifying all the protocols basically have to take antibiotics daily for the rest of their life (or have antibiotics in their travel bag at all times) and need to be vaccinated. If my memory serves me I think Mathew Lloyd nearly died the night of the 96 prelim after he ruptured his spleen. He was rushed to hospital suffered severe blood loss and spent days in hospital (Google it). Once removed no other organ replaces it. Hence the lifestyle changes and probably wear a medi-alert bracelet

Kolt & Ollie are being groomed as goal kicking forwards who go to the middle and get clearances. They are both big bodied kids who need to develop a tank. Trac moving forward has taken that away. The loss of Gus is huge and add to that the loss of Trac and the midfield looks a little bare No offence to Chandler & Laurie but they are small, not particularly quick and don't kick goals and rarely get double digit possessions. Maybe AMW should get a go, he has the pace. Look at how Windsor has settled in, he is tall, has pace and gets the ball Turner forward has me baffled as I think he is a Backman who has less experience as a forward than Jefferson who is a natural forward. It has been the club policy not to rush the kids and give them a season at least at Casey. I cannot see them changing that just yet. Personally I would prefer Fritch on the flank and 3 marking targets JVR and 2 others. We have a fortnight to contemplate and Casey have a bye as well.

Reported tonight by Tom Morris. Trac was taken to the theatre in the early morning (no waiting around) at one stage a splenectomy was being considered, that's serious. As previously mentioned, the radiology team manages the splenic bleeding to close the bleeders then surgical repair as the next step if step one doesn't stem the bleeding. Splenectomy (removal) is the absolute last option and is done as a last resort. Removal of the spleen has lifetime consequences which I won't go into. The spleen is the most vascular organ in the body, it has a significant role in the immune function and other blood functions. The fact removal was even considered tells us how serious the situation was and how bad the laceration. I agree with Bruckner that the club did well to send him off to the hospital as soon as they did. I am sure it isn't a 6-week injury, and I hope Trac takes the time to fully recover.

I feel for Trac, the lacerated spleen is a concern and more like a car crash injury and he would have been in some serious pain and I cannot believe he actually went back out to play. I would be surprised if it wasn't season-ending. And before you jump on me, I have years of experience working in a trauma setting. Without knowing the medical notes all I can say is the spleen is tricky and a serious injury. It contains lots of blood and its healing time varies and it is slow to repair. From a reputable medical journal "Avoid strenuous activities that could re-injure your spleen. These include lifting, jogging, aerobic exercise, and contact sports. Get plenty of rest for 2-3 months." Let him rest and fully recover and time to blood some kids.

You make a good point and he may be a better option than Laurie

There are a lot of angry posters here tonight and I get that. I'm bitterly disappointed and angry at the substandard level of turnovers, broken tackles and easy misses. Neale Daniher emphasised being selfless, I saw none of that today. We go short when under pressure yet wont hit up a short lead when it presents up forward and have a shot at goal. Viney burnt Max and his shot didn't even make the distance and that wasn't the only occasion. Collingwood showed us time and time again how to play team football. When players are out in space and it's turned over or smothered (Yes Fritch I am pointing the finger at you) it rebounds straight down the other end. When I look at the centre bounce and see Chandler, Langdon & Laurie as our half-forward line I know we are in strife. There are 2 strapping kids at Casey who have more flair, daring and desire than Laurie & Chandler . How many times will it take to realise players of their diminutive size need a special skill be it pace, kicking or tackling, time to give someone else a go. Stop trying to turn backmen in to forwards, there is another key forward at Casey who was recruited as a forward why not play him?. For those who don't know who I am talking about I mean Tholstrup, Sestan and Jefferson. They only have to get 4 kicks and 3 handballs to be more effective than the incumbents. Thank goodness for the bye so we don't have to put up with this rubbish next week.

Laurie - Replace with Sestan Chandler - replace with Tholstrup It's about time we played some big-bodied clearance beasts instead of two undersized school boys