Earl Hood

Sorry I haven’t checked every post. Was Kentfield involved today?

I sat in level 3 of the Ponsford Stand for our game against Richmond, round 20 2023 and marvelled at Petty’s performance, 6 goals straight! I walked away convinced we had found the solution to our forward problems that day. He was taking marks at will, leading to the right spots, often surprising Tiger backs who didn’t see him coming. And the Tigers were still very competitive. A week later against North he had 2 early before that gorilla McKay tackled and dropped all of his 100 plus kilograms on Petty’s ankles and that was it for our Premiership hopes I thought. Melk going down in the last round put the nail in our coffin. In the following 2 finals we totally dominated the I50’s but could not convert to loose the unloosable twice! But it’s OK I will get over it eventually with professional help. I still believe Petty has potential up forward when the ball is delivered quickly to his advantage.

And he is going OK at training too. He is an interesting one to watch at the few training sessions I have been to. He doesn’t miss much, his kicks hit targets, he collects loose ground balls cleanly every time and he is a one grab mark. He has reasonable pace and agility for 193 cm. No idea how he goes in heavy traffic or if he can take a contested pack mark but I suspect he might have a very good year at Casey in 2026. At present I don’t see any stand out weapons that would have in the firsts ahead of Howes, Adams etc. But one I will be keeping a watch on.

One drill involved key defenders and key forwards with a coach lobbing high balls to a 2 on 1, two defenders against one forward with Matthew Scarlett instructing how the defenders should work in tandem to deny the forward. It was JVR, Jeffo, Kentfield up against combos of TMAC, Lever, May, Adams, Berry and Turner. Kalani had a go at both roles. It highlighted how difficult it is for a forward to take on 2 defenders when the defenders have time to set up for a long ball. In the drill Jeffo managed to halve a number of contests, getting the ball to ground and following up.

Another interstate match, I probably won’t make it. Arden St would have been very convenient.

I did notice on Wednesdays short match sim the exit from full backline often involved Ric Lever and he invariably kicked to the right, the AAMI side (west side) which was crowded, ignoring the fat side loose players where I was watching from. I would have thought that was the option where you can move the ball quickly and open up the defence. The few times I have watched our sims this preseason I have noted our reluctance to do the big switch, it’s more working just one half of the ground from boundary line and into the middle corridor and still a lot of long kicking forward to contests. It will be interesting to see how this goes in the first practice match.

The regular track watchers might be able to correct me but the few match sims I have seen this preseason have Windsor in the middle, not on the wing and he has been dynamic in the quick ball movement out of the centre or restarts from the backline that they do in the sims. From memory players like Culley, Onley, Kolt and Langdon have been on the wings but it’s a small sample size I have observed.

Fingers crossed that these guys stay fit and play their best footy in the seniors Culley AMW L Pickett X Taylor Kentfield A real bonus would be if Kolt finally found a position and made it his own.

Salem is looking a bit too in form at training to leave out at the moment.

I thought JVR was a mixed bag today in the sim. Two strong marks on the lead against TMac, two failed attempts at mark of the year jumping on top of Tommy, one set shot at goal after a strong mark from 40m that went off the side of his boot and one pass that went straight through his hands when on a fast lead. He looks great at times, but still seems to have the odd unexpected skill lapse. Yep Culley’s running goal in traffic was a standout, his kicking just looks so smooth and natural. I can’t see what is going to stop this guy being a big surprise packet for opposition teams next season. Berry is interesting to watch, he doesn’t look dangerous but I haven’t seen him make an error yet, picks bouncing ground balls up on the run cleanly and delivers correctly by foot or hand. Taylor is another who I haven’t seen make a mistake, seems to have plenty of awareness of what’s going on around him, gets the ball takes the opposition on, has a bounce and looks for targets. I am on board with this bloke after watching him in a sim last week, take a pass in the pocket, have a bounce with Kossi coming at him, he just side stepped, fended off Kossi’s lunging arm and proceeded down the field, leaving Kossie sprawled on the ground and that’s no mean feat. Very composed for a newbie. The other player I have been following is Tholstrup, in the few sessions I have attended his skill levels are good in the drills, he’s enthusiastic and involved. His only bad habit is trying to out muscle tacklers and often getting caught. Watching him today he was playing wing on Onley or drifting to half forward but had little direct involvement in the play. I was hoping he would get some time in the middle just to see how he goes getting the ball with the jets, Kossie and Windsor. I still don’t know what roll he can play best for us. He has football skills, his draft combine results say he has elite agility and endurance with more than adequate speed but what are the extra ingredients you need to make AFL level when you are 186 cm tall? Going into next season I am, for some reason, very much glass half full on what I have seen so far.

Are there some invitees from Casey here? There are 3 players I don’t recognise.

Viney may not even be first choice in the starting 23, even if he gets fully fit. He always was with Goodwin’s defensive mindset but King may be full on offence, preferring midfielders with endurance, foot speed and kicking skills. If Oliver was going to struggle to fit into the new game plan, surely Viney will too.

I hope we are not looking at Cameron Schwab V2 with our new CEO here. I mean it’s not like security firms aren’t by nature a little dodgy (often involve males and high levels of testosterone, bikies, retired boxers etc) so you would be demanding a high level of “due diligence”. I have already convinced myself that Guerra was the driving force behind the move to dump Tracc and Oliver on the market at the same time. The Tracc move made sense but not Oliver, not at the same time, ensuring we got zilch return for Oliver, as well as seriously weakening the midfield. Officially it was about the new coach and his game plan not suiting Oliver but I don’t buy it that it was King’s call. I see a new CEO coming in, determined to make a statement early. And now we have new jumper sponsor issues evolving with each edition of the Age/SMH. I suspect Brian Cook might have his work cut out with this guy.

I hope Taylor demands a spot on HB allowing Turner to go forward.

No real help here, but I walked past him sitting outside his house, in Fitzroy, on the veranda with his partner and their dog this afternoon at about 4.00. He didn’t look hampered at all.

If we have the backline covered I do like Turner up forward, he’s very mobile, leads and marks well and can kick straight.

Langford (191) and Culley (194) aren’t that much smaller. Midfield bulls everywhere.

OK!

Loosing Petty then Melksham leading up to the finals didn’t help the forward set up. I think we had 35 more i50 entries but still lost the game! After that final series, I never understood why Goodwin tolerated for the next 2 seasons, Viney, Oliver & Tracc bombing balls long to nobody in the forward fifty

I would have thought that horse has bolted, any thoughts of fair compo went out the door when we let it be known we would pay up to half his wage. Clubs know when a fire sale is on.

I think Hird mentioned this saga is a strong message for a team out at Tullamarine. Hird is correct, this is a train wreck, losing 2 decorated, experienced players who in theory should be playing close to their best football, for massive unders. As I have posted before moving on one or the other for a fair price makes sense, moving on both in what the other AFL clubs know is a fire sale is crazy stuff. As Hird & Co point out there was a first round pick on offer last year for Oliver but we said no. After a year in which he showed signs of getting back to his old form and importantly had no off field issues, he suddenly is not required, as the game has passed him by, we have said as much and let it be known we will pay half his wage to boot! Fingers crossed we get a fair return for Tracc.

What we get back for Oliver is starting to like three fifth of FA and we get to pay half his salary to boot! I am reading a book at the moment by Mick Herron of Slow Horses fame, called “Clown Town”! Very apt I think.

I would normally expect a new coach to believe he could deal with that in his first year. If it doesn’t work during the season then you act by dropping recalcitrants to the VFL and then out the door if lessons aren’t learnt. I accept that is old school management.

Must say I am struggling with the idea that King is driving this purge or is it more that the new coach has provided the opportunity for Guerra & Richardson to act? After all King does not know the history but he would have observed the strengths and weaknesses of both Oliver and Tracc and surely if you are a new coach you would back yourself to change behaviours & integrate both into your game plan. I suspect the “non football” corporate manager Guerra is driving a culture change program that will prove to be detrimental to the new coach, at least in the short term. I can understand moving on one of Tracc or Oliver but both in what is basically a fire sale is madness in my opinion.

Does that include voluntarily removing your 2 bishops before your first move?