Dropped in for 90 minutes on my way to tennis. Several players somewhere else including Hogan, Trengove, McKenzie, Dunn, MacDonald, Grimes, Evans, Davey, Gawn, Jamar, Spencer, Taggert, & Matt Jones. For this reason session was not as impressive as last weeks. There were about 24 players in main group, including two invitees, whereas I counted 31 a week ago. Quite a bit of time early on was spent with the tackle expert in setting up a new tackle activity. Jones walked laps, Clark made an appearance for some short kicking whilst Sylvia, Toumpas, Straus, Clisby. And the other rookie worked on short runs and ball handling. Standouts in the match-play activity were Terlich (pace, ball carry & kicking), Frawley, Pederson, Blease, Dawes, Couch, Barry & Howe. Those with kicking issues were Nicho Tom Mac and surprisingly Watts. I will add a bit more later... Have to watch play on court 6 right now!

Forgot to mention how good Shannon Burns was, all poise, pace to burn, balanced goal kicker!

Agree RE Terlich he definitely stood out running out of defense.

One interesting aside from today's session... at one stage Sellar had a go at Barry about the hang time one of the youngter's kicks had when he was trying to hit up an option running out of defense. It was a small incident but highlights the way the players are attempting to pressure each other to perform

Good to see Garland back with main group, was clean by hand and efficient kicking. Magner only jogged a few slow laps. Roden continues to be a live wire and mentor for Viney and the likes. Gillies looked right at home in the backline set-ups. I l;ike the way Sellar is developing into a versatile and reliable tall. He is genuine depth if not first 22.

Howe hasn't missed a beat. Expecting another gear this year.

Good to see Garland back with main group, was clean by hand and efficient kicking.

Thank god. Last year his kicking was atrocious, culminating in what I reckon was one of the worst performances of all time by a Melbourne player against Port Adelaide in Darwin.

Here's how I see our backline options shaping up, roughly seeded...

FRAWLEY

GRIMES (some time in midfield)

McDONALD

GARLAND

WATTS (not permanent)

NICHOLSON

GILLIES

STRAUSS

MacDonald

TERLICH

SELLAR

TYNON

DAVIS

I have Jetta and Tapscott vying for other spots further forward.

Dropped in for 90 minutes on my way to tennis. Several players somewhere else including Hogan, Trengove, McKenzie, Dunn, MacDonald, Grimes, Evans, Davey, Gawn, Jamar, Spencer, Taggert, & Matt Jones. For this reason session was not as impressive as last weeks. There were about 24 players in main group, including two invitees, whereas I counted 31 a week ago. Quite a bit of time early on was spent with the tackle expert in setting up a new tackle activity. Jones walked laps, Clark made an appearance for some short kicking whilst Sylvia, Toumpas, Straus, Clisby. And the other rookie worked on short runs and ball handling. Standouts in the match-play activity were Terlich (pace, ball carry & kicking), Frawley, Pederson, Blease, Dawes, Couch, Barry & Howe. Those with kicking issues were Nicho Tom Mac and surprisingly Watts. I will add a bit more later... Have to watch play on court 6 right now!

Great report.

"Surprisingly Watts "

This is a shock-he has the best footskills at the club since YZe or Flash.

Here's how I see our backline options shaping up, roughly seeded...

FRAWLEY

GRIMES (some time in midfield)

McDONALD

GARLAND

WATTS (not permanent)

NICHOLSON

SELLAR - slips in here.

GILLIES

STRAUSS

MacDonald

TERLICH

SELLAR

TYNON

DAVIS

I have Jetta and Tapscott vying for other spots further forward.

Here's how I see our backline options shaping up, roughly seeded...

FRAWLEY

GRIMES (some time in midfield)

McDONALD

GARLAND

WATTS (not permanent)

NICHOLSON

SELLAR - slips in here.

GILLIES

STRAUSS

MacDonald

TERLICH

SELLAR

TYNON

DAVIS

I have Jetta and Tapscott vying for other spots further forward.

I know nicho has been training with the backs & will most likely play there this year. However I'd like to see Terlich down back in his place & possibly move Nicho into the midfield. He's the strongest running mid we have & I think he could add a bit of pace as well as being able to play a run with role. Also his disposal is currently a liability & its not ideal to have players turning it over in defence. It will be an interesting year with the new additions, plenty of competition for places in the side.

possibly move Nicho into the midfield. He's the strongest running mid we have & I think he could add a bit of pace as well as being able to play a run with role.

Good call i reckon. He has the tank and speed to go with the best midfielders and with Barty retiring we need that sort of player.

Here's how I see our backline options shaping up, roughly seeded...

FRAWLEY

GRIMES (some time in midfield)

McDONALD

GARLAND

WATTS (not permanent)

NICHOLSON

GILLIES

STRAUSS

MacDonald

TERLICH

SELLAR

TYNON

DAVIS

I have Jetta and Tapscott vying for other spots further forward.

Pretty confident Dunn will be a starting back Rnd 1. Reported he's in top nick.

I probably should have included Barry in the potential backs as he is being employed in a defensive running role at training. Playing Nicho as a mid has appeal but you would have to slot him in to the following list...

JONES

TRENGOVE

RODEN

McKENZIE

VINEY

EVANS

TOUMPAS

KENT

TAGGERT

COUCH

MAGNER

GRIMES, HOWE, JETTA, SYLVIA, TAPSCOTT at times

Good call i reckon. He has the tank and speed to go with the best midfielders and with Barty retiring we need that sort of player.

I wonder what that would mean for McKenzie...is he good enough to be a pure mid without a defensive role? Could we have them both in the middle or would we need players with a better hurt factor in there?

You're right there Notorious... I forgot to include him in my final list. Dunn would be in my top 6 or 7. I think the point here is that, barring injuries, we have several good options filling in around Chip, Garland, Grimes and McDonald.

I wonder what that would mean for McKenzie...is he good enough to be a pure mid without a defensive role? Could we have them both in the middle or would we need players with a better hurt factor in there?

Yeah i was thinking about that too. I don't know he is good enough to be a pure mid but i'm also not 100% convinced he has the tank and speed to go with the real elite mids. I'm thinking Ablett, Pendles, Swan etc who seem to just run opponents into submission. Though they could rotate them through a run with role

I wonder what that would mean for McKenzie...is he good enough to be a pure mid without a defensive role? Could we have them both in the middle or would we need players with a better hurt factor in there?

i still see mckenzie supplementing his tagging role with a few more in and under clearances, whereas nicho i think could really hurt opponents with his burst speed.

would love it if mckenzie could become shane tuck like while nicho could do worse than watch some footage of andrew carazzo

You're right there Notorious... I forgot to include him in my final list. Dunn would be in my top 6 or 7. I think the point here is that, barring injuries, we have several good options filling in around Chip, Garland, Grimes and McDonald.

I think with Frawley, McD, Garland, Watts, Sellar, Gillies, Dunn...we have good tall defenders. The small running back pocket defender is waiting for someone to step up. Could be Nicho, Strauss, maybe Terlich? Grimes can play it, but I like him further up the ground.

I don't reckon we will see Grimes down back again. He played mostly in the midfield in 2012 and had his best ever year. Strauss, Jetta and Nicho will be battling for the same spot down back and I can't see all three making the 22. I rate Strauss as number 1, Jetta at 2, Nicho at 3. This may surprise some because Nicho has serious aerobic running capacity and will keep going til he pukes, but his skills and awareness often let him down.

I don't reckon we will see Grimes down back again. He played mostly in the midfield in 2012 and had his best ever year. Strauss, Jetta and Nicho will be battling for the same spot down back and I can't see all three making the 22. I rate Strauss as number 1, Jetta at 2, Nicho at 3. This may surprise some because Nicho has serious aerobic running capacity and will keep going til he pukes, but his skills and awareness often let him down.

There will be injuries Maldonboy so I think all three will probably get a number of games.

I think Nicho is the more versatile of the three

Yes there will be injuries, and all 3 will get games. But I reckon each week Neeld will be looking at the opponents and choosing the best of them to play against a particular opponent. I am not sure Nicho is the most versatile - I would probably give that to Jetta. But Strauss has size, awareness and skill, if he is still not particularly aggressive around packs or tackling.

My mate is an AFL boundary umpire and he mentioned to me that Melbourne are the only club so far to have requested a boundary umpire to attend training sessions. We have apparently got one down 4 times so far, including on a Sunday, which I thought was interesting as it is outside normal field training days. Not 100% sure why we need an actual boundary umpire to throw the balls in for us when practicing throw in stoppages? Ne way thought I would mention it for those who are interested.

Does anyone else think that Grimes could be our version of Luke Hodge?

My mate is an AFL boundary umpire and he mentioned to me that Melbourne are the only club so far to have requested a boundary umpire to attend training sessions. We have apparently got one down 4 times so far, including on a Sunday, which I thought was interesting as it is outside normal field training days. Not 100% sure why we need an actual boundary umpire to throw the balls in for us when practicing throw in stoppages? Ne way thought I would mention it for those who are interested.

Dotting he i's...etc. good move with the new ruck rules. A boundary umpire gets a lot of height and distance and is the real deal, if a ruckman has to work on his timing which will be crucial now that wrestling is out it is best they do it properly and not with one of the support staff throwing it in half a....

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