Melbourne held its first intraclub practice match this year on 19 February and, as it has on more than one occasion in recent years, had to rely on top up players from the Casey Scorpions (10 this time around) to make up the numbers. Games such as these are hardly a good indicator of what's to come because the pressure level is generally low - they've often been described as akin to dancing with your sister.

But you need to start somewhere.

In the distant past, all pre-season practice matches were of the intraclub variety. Clubs would reassemble in February and play these games from mid-March. The exciting part was that there were many new faces in pre draft times and you would hope that someone would be plucked out of obscurity and become a champion. More often than not a player would put in a stand out performance in an early game and then fade back into obscurity or disappear altogether once the more seasoned players regained their fitness and took their rightful places at the forefront of the team.

Things are different these days and you get very few surprises when the team has its first competitive run for the year. Melbourne's opening run at Casey Fields gave us a good sight of its signings from other clubs - Lumumba, Garlett, Frost and Newton all showed that they can play. We saw good form from some of the more experienced lot, a bit more promise from Tyson, Viney, Toumpas, Salem and one or two of the others in the younger brigade (Hogan anyone?) and you might add that the one real surprise packet was Billy Stretch although he does have a year's football at senior SANFL level under his belt.

So what was it (if anything) that we saw from this week's intra club practice that gave you an insight into how the team will fare in 2015? Was it a particular player or group of players or a change in playing style that convinced you that things might be different to the way they've been for the better part of the last decade?

Or do we simply take nothing away from intraclub practice games?

You can't take too much from them in my opinion. I do believe it's a valuable opportunity for players to 'blow out the cobwebs' and/or get a reasonably competitive run in an advanced/new position. Eg Hogan wasn't tested (by anyone but himself) but got a good run at doing what he needs to do.

Mostly an opportunity for the coaches to further drill the game plan into the players through match simm. But also great for us to see the new guys and new roles for current players, eg, Salem in backline. Buoys our enthusiasm for the season ahead.

It's like pre season testing in F1 Racing teams.

Very little can be taken as solid indicators because each team is running a different fuel load.

Intra club matches blow out the cobwebs but little more.

Intra-club and practice (NAB) matches mean nothing to me.

In this day and age, they are an anachronistic left-over of what footballers did 10,20,50 years ago, but football hasn't caught up.

Training is where footballers gain fitness, endurance and exposure to the drills the coach is trying to implement. The idea that you need "match practice" today doesn't sit with full-time athletes, especially in AFL where the risk of contact injury is high.

Having said all that, it is great for the fans because they get to see new players in action, and hopefully determine whether they are any good.

So the observations made by many at the intra-club would seem to show the following:

Lamumba, Garlett & Frost will be great additions to the side. Their presence WILL mean we can perform better than we did last year.

Hogan should also make a positive difference, but we probably already know that.

There are plenty of others who might show something more than they did last year ( but then every fan at every club thinks the same)

At a minimum, putting 4 more very capable players into last years side will see us win games that last year we lost. The improvement in others from last year is conjecture, and we

won't know that until the real games start, but it will be an additional bonus....i.e you won't work that out from intra-club matches

We seem to have several players - Watts, Vince, and Howe - with significant injury clouds over them.

It's clear that the regular track watchers have vastly different opinions in terms of performances from the fringe players we all expect more from as well.

We won't know anything until we start playing against other teams.

Intra-club and practice (NAB) matches mean nothing to me.

In this day and age, they are an anachronistic left-over of what footballers did 10,20,50 years ago, but football hasn't caught up.

Training is where footballers gain fitness, endurance and exposure to the drills the coach is trying to implement. The idea that you need "match practice" today doesn't sit with full-time athletes, especially in AFL where the risk of contact injury is high.

Having said all that, it is great for the fans because they get to see new players in action, and hopefully determine whether they are any good.

So the observations made by many at the intra-club would seem to show the following:

Lamumba, Garlett & Frost will be great additions to the side. Their presence WILL mean we can perform better than we did last year.

Hogan should also make a positive difference, but we probably already know that.

There are plenty of others who might show something more than they did last year ( but then every fan at every club thinks the same)

At a minimum, putting 4 more very capable players into last years side will see us win games that last year we lost. The improvement in others from last year is conjecture, and we

won't know that until the real games start, but it will be an additional bonus....i.e you won't work that out from intra-club matches

Intra-club and practice (NAB) matches mean nothing to me.

In this day and age, they are an anachronistic left-over of what footballers did 10,20,50 years ago, but football hasn't caught up.

Training is where footballers gain fitness, endurance and exposure to the drills the coach is trying to implement. The idea that you need "match practice" today doesn't sit with full-time athletes, especially in AFL where the risk of contact injury is high.

Having said all that, it is great for the fans because they get to see new players in action, and hopefully determine whether they are any good.

So the observations made by many at the intra-club would seem to show the following:

Lamumba, Garlett & Frost will be great additions to the side. Their presence WILL mean we can perform better than we did last year.

Hogan should also make a positive difference, but we probably already know that.

There are plenty of others who might show something more than they did last year ( but then every fan at every club thinks the same)

At a minimum, putting 4 more very capable players into last years side will see us win games that last year we lost. The improvement in others from last year is conjecture, and we

won't know that until the real games start, but it will be an additional bonus....i.e you won't work that out from intra-club matches

There's training fit and there's match fit. IMO Interclub matches dust out cobwebs, iron potential creases in gameplan, but most importantly start building a match fitness base to take on the NAB Cup and season proper.

Intra-club and practice (NAB) matches mean nothing to me.

In this day and age, they are an anachronistic left-over of what footballers did 10,20,50 years ago, but football hasn't caught up.

Training is where footballers gain fitness, endurance and exposure to the drills the coach is trying to implement. The idea that you need "match practice" today doesn't sit with full-time athletes, especially in AFL where the risk of contact injury is high.

Having said all that, it is great for the fans because they get to see new players in action, and hopefully determine whether they are any good.

So the observations made by many at the intra-club would seem to show the following:

Lamumba, Garlett & Frost will be great additions to the side. Their presence WILL mean we can perform better than we did last year.

Hogan should also make a positive difference, but we probably already know that.

There are plenty of others who might show something more than they did last year ( but then every fan at every club thinks the same)

At a minimum, putting 4 more very capable players into last years side will see us win games that last year we lost. The improvement in others from last year is conjecture, and we

won't know that until the real games start, but it will be an additional bonus....i.e you won't work that out from intra-club matches

I was going to write something George but you have covered everything I was going to say, the only other thing I would add was because Salem took most of the pundits, Billy Stretch stepped into it with ease, was pleasantly surprised by what I saw

Pre season is pleasant, a feel good time of optimism and hope.

We are on the same footing as everybody else.

I agree that these intraclub matches mean very little these days. In fact, what we saw last Thursday wasn't even a practice match in the traditional sense. Three x 20 minute quarters with 10 fill ins from Casey ensured it didn't have the same structure as the ones they used to play years ago. Main thing is no one gets injured and the coaches and players get out of them what they're after.

Pre season is pleasant, a feel good time of optimism and hope.

We are on the same footing as everybody else.

We have not lost a game yet bluey how good is that?

We have not lost a game yet bluey how good is that?

Savour it like it is a fine meal OD... for in a little over a month we are back on the baked beans and toast and cup 'o noodles.