Melbourne Discussion

[Purple 77]

No word on Jamar from the club, and he wasn't named this week

What do we think he will do?

Did I hear a while ago that Roos said he was still a required player?

Maybe we will keep him for another year?

Gawn and Spencer both seem to be ahead of him, so I figured the best option would be to let him retire and then pick up a ruck with a late pick/rookie draft pick

I get the impression that Jamar doesn't want to retire though

I'm fairly confident he won't be a demon next year.

I give him a chance to get picked up by another club though.

[Big Mac]

Not sure if you guys are watching the VFL, but Maxy King has been very good today

Don't think he has a goal yet, but has been playing high up the ground and doing it very well

[Big Mac]

Great way to finish off the year

So many positives to take out of today

[Purple 77]

Great way to finish off the year

So many positives to take out of today

[Barra13]

SCORPS BOMB OUT by KC from Casey

The Casey Scorpions' 2015 season came to an abrupt end today with a 21 point first elimination final loss against Essendon VFL at North Port Oval after a poor start kicking against the wind in the first term.

The first five minutes of the game produced some scrambly football that resulted in a single point for each team. Casey had its opportunities early but gave away the ascendency with two goals that were directly as a result of turnovers which lifted the confidence of their opponents and quickly allowed four more to give them a 37 point break before a fantastic kick for goal from James Munro, his first for the season, gave the Scorpions some hope.

When Casey's turn came with the wind, their fortunes turned quickly with Jayden Hunt playing on after a mark and when Jack Fitzpatrick, who was moved from defence, gathered and kicked Casey's third in a row, they were back in the game. The Scorps were applying great pressure and winning at the stoppages thanks to Mark Jamar's strong work in the ruck and big Max King was marking everything but they struggled to take advantage of the quarter's early momentum until they drew to within two goals in the shadows of half time thanks to a bouncing goal from Shannon Byrnes.

The third quarter saw the wind blowing more across the ground in favour of the Bombers but the Scorpions were not to be denied. Unfortunately, they failed to capitalise on some early opportunities missing two early shots. Casey tried hard to gain the initiative as they game opened up and went goal for goal with goals from Essendon answered successively by Fitzpatrick, King and Tim Smith who was at last proving a focal point up forward. However, a late goal gave the Bombers a 15 point lead at the final break.

The swirling wind now made things difficult for scoring at either end and the Bombers closed the game down. Try as they might, the Scorpions simply could not break through for a goal to bring them within distance and late in the term, it was the Bombers who scored the telling goal and the only one for the quarter to run out 21 point winners and advance to the semi finals.

Midfielders Aidan Riley (30 touches) and Rohan Bail (26) were Casey's best but an honourable mention must go to speedster Dean Kent (22 disposals) who has only recently come back from a serious hamstring injury which kept him out for most of the season. Jordie McKenzie was tireless and Dean Terlich was steady and dogged while Jamar won the ruck duels clearly with a mammoth 64 hit outs but in the end it did not help the cause to have only 9 AFL senior listed players available for such a vital game.

Mark Hutchins and Tim Smith were the best of the VFL listed players but again the Scorpions badly missed injured skipper Evan Panozza.

Despite the disappointment of yet another finals exit without victory, Justin Plapp's debut season as coach was a marked improvement on last year and the club unearthed more talent which should hold it in good stead in the future.

2015 Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 1.1.7 4.3.27 7.6.48 7.8.50

Essendon VFL 6.2.38 6.4.40 9.9.63 10.11.71

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fitzpatrick 2 Byrnes Hunt King Munro Smith

Essendon VFL Hardingham 3 Thompson Willis 2 Ashby Coghlan Polkinghorne

Best

Casey Scorpions Bail Jamar Hutchins Riley Byrnes Kent

Essendon VFL Coghlan Polkinghorne Tagliabue Hardingham Marigliani Ashby

Statistics

Rohan Bail 26 disposals 10 kicks 16 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 88 dream team points
Jack Fitzpatrick 2 goals 11 disposals 5 kicks 6 handballs 4 marks 4 tackles 4 hit outs 71 dream team points
Jayden Hunt 1 goal 7 disposals 4 kicks 3 handballs 1 mark 3 tackles 40 dream team points
Mark Jamar 9 disposals 7 kicks 2 handballs 3 marks 3 tackles 64 hit outs 105 dream team points
Matt Jones 27 disposals 10 kicks 17 handballs 5 tackles 78 dream team points
Dean Kent 1 behind 22 disposals 15 kicks 7 handballs 3 marks 7 tackles 99 dream team points
Max King 1 goal 15 disposals 7 kicks 8 handballs 9 marks 2 tackles 7 hit outs 85 dream team points
Jordie McKenzie 32 disposals 9 kicks 23 handballs 2 marks 5 tackles 90 dream team points
Aidan Riley 2 behinds 30 disposals 11 kicks 19 handballs 1 mark 12 tackles 1 hit out 121 dream team points
Dean Terlich 19 disposals 11 kicks 8 handballs 2 marks 4 tackles 1 hit out 73 dream team points

The Development League team struggled throughout the year when it met Coburg Lions and today was no different with the team going down by 43 points in their elimination final.

2015 AFL Development League

Casey Scorpions 3.0.18 4.5.29 8.7.55 10.8.68

Coburg Lions 3.1.19 9.5.59 11.7.73 17.9.111

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fisscher Moncrieff 2 Hannon Lang Rennie Welsh K Wilson Wyatt

Coburg Lions Cooper 4 Hemala Miles 2 Clarke Hunt Johns Kalanj Posar Robinson Sturgess Symes Totino

Best

Casey Scorpions Johnson Waters Keilty Godfrey Rosier Lang

Coburg Lions Robinson Johns Symes Cooper Posar Sturgess

[Purple 77]

Great to see Kent put in a good game


Bye bye Bail, Terlich & Riley! *fingers crossed*

[powersuperkents]

Successful season from the Dees. Roos has set all the foundations and Goodwin can now build upon them. If Roos had never agreed to this rescue mission, thinking about where the Demons would be at now would scare me.

As I read on AFL.com, the Saints have been hyped up for much of this season, nothing against the Saints (they are a respectable team) but the Dees have finished higher on the ladder after the win against GWS so comparatively, we can see that the Dees have shown strong signs of improvement (as St Kilda will be the barometer of which all rebuilding clubs will be measured against - and this is for full rebuilds, not Nathan Buckley trying to save his coaching career pseudo-rebuilds).

I think this was a successful season. If Roos wanted I think he could have approached it differently, and we would have seen the Dees finish between 8-11th this season. But that would have meant building an unsustainable side. He has built what has the potential to be a strong list in the long-term and when you compare the Demon's midfield from 2013 to 2015, there is significant improvement in list strength and depth (before Roos, the midfield was easily the worst in the competition - now I'm looking forward to see what will happen in the long-term). Furthermore, Roos has attracted the right coaching staff to the club and Hogan is a bona fide key forward (I'm pretty sure no first year player, in the modern game, scored as many goals as he did this season). McDonald emerging down the back is promising as well (key defender, key forward, and a solid midfield group is the bare necessities that Melbourne struggled to land over the last 8 years). Gawn's emergence will only strengthen the midfield group as well.

[Barra13]

Well if you turn those close losses this year into wins it definitely looks like a win this year to me. I'm happy with how the club is tracking and to have young guns like Viney, Salem, vandenBerg, Stretch, ANB, Harmes, Petracca and Brayshaw. That is starting to look like a midfield for the future.

[T Dog]

Apparently Frost didn't end up playing VFL  :(

What is happening with Frosty? Staying on the list?

[Barra13]

He will stay, just wrapped in cotton wool for the rest of the season is all. Same reason why Kent wasn't brought back and only played VFL. Just get everyone right for the pre season.

[Barra13]

CAPTAIN Nathan Jones will undergo surgery on his neck after carrying the injury for most of the 2015 season.

Jones, who remarkably played every match this year, will be sidelined for two to three months, as he recovers from the setback.

Manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said Jones would have surgery on Monday.

“Nathan’s been struggling with a neck injury for the majority of the year. At times during the year, it affected his strength and ability to compete around stoppages,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“There were a couple of options for us, in terms of improving this, but we’ve decided that the best course of action is for Nathan to have an operation on a disc in his neck and this operation will happen next Monday.

“As you can imagine, an operation involving the neck and disc will require a lot of rehabilitation. Nathan will have a period of rest before gradually building up towards non-contact training pre-Christmas.

“All timelines at this stage suggest that Nathan will not be affected by his ability to play during the NAB Challenge series or the regular season.” 

Incredibly, Jones has missed just five games since he made his AFL debut in round 17, 2006.

He missed four matches from 2007-09 and has been sidelined just once from 2010-15, when he was a late withdrawal against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in round 14, 2012, due to a calf injury.

Jones, who has won the past three Melbourne best and fairest awards, is a chance to win his fourth when the club holds its Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott Memorial Trophy count at Crown Palladium on Friday night.

The much-admired Demon notched up his 200th AFL match in Melbourne’s second last round of the season against Fremantle at Domain Stadium, but didn’t play out the match due to an ankle injury.

Despite being substituted out of the match and flying back home on crutches, Jones managed to finish the year on a high with a win and a season-best 36 disposals against Greater Western Sydney at Etihad Stadium.

[Barra13]

It is crazy to think how many players that are 23 or under that are really showing that we have a really good core coming through. Some players play well above their age that we actually forget how old they are.

Angus Brayshaw
Sam Frost
Max Gawn
James Harmes
Jesse Hogan
Jay Kennedy-Harris
Dean Kent
Oscar McDonald
Tom McDonald
Viv Michie
Alex Neal-Bullen
Ben Newton
Christian salem
Billy Stretch
Aaron vandenBerg
Jack Viney

[Purple 77]

Omg about Jones...

HE IS UNSTOPPABLE!

What a gun!

[My Chumps]

It is crazy to think how many players that are 23 or under that are really showing that we have a really good core coming through. Some players play well above their age that we actually forget how old they are.

Angus Brayshaw
Sam Frost
Max Gawn
James Harmes
Jesse Hogan
Jay Kennedy-Harris
Dean Kent
Oscar McDonald
Tom McDonald
Viv Michie
Alex Neal-Bullen
Ben Newton
Christian salem
Billy Stretch
Aaron vandenBerg
Jack Viney

Don't forget Tyson, still only 22!

I forgot that Gawn was that young, feels like he's been around for ages.

Jones, who has won the past three Melbourne best and fairest awards, is a chance to win his fourth when the club holds its Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott Memorial Trophy count at Crown Palladium on Friday night.

Would've thought Bernie Vince is a bit of a lock?

[Purple 77]

It is crazy to think how many players that are 23 or under that are really showing that we have a really good core coming through. Some players play well above their age that we actually forget how old they are.

Angus Brayshaw
Sam Frost
Max Gawn
James Harmes
Jesse Hogan
Jay Kennedy-Harris
Dean Kent
Oscar McDonald
Tom McDonald
Viv Michie
Alex Neal-Bullen
Ben Newton
Christian salem
Billy Stretch
Aaron vandenBerg
Jack Viney

Don't forget Tyson, still only 22!

I forgot that Gawn was that young, feels like he's been around for ages.

Jones, who has won the past three Melbourne best and fairest awards, is a chance to win his fourth when the club holds its Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott Memorial Trophy count at Crown Palladium on Friday night.

Would've thought Bernie Vince is a bit of a lock?

He'd be the favourite. But his last 5 weeks weren't great.

I actually kinda think Hulk might win it  :-X