It's always interesting to get others views on the game.  I thought Joel Smith was disappointing and misjudged the ball a lot in the air giving his opponent an easy and unpressured out.  Also thought Salem and Hibberd were quiet.

I thought Oscar was really solid and good with excellent vision and disposal.  Looks to have gone up a notch on last year.  JKH will push if he continues to play that way.  The competition for spots will be significant.  Hunt also a nice bonus and resembled the 2017 version.

7 minutes ago, loges said:

Any comments on the effect of the new rules?

Seemingly little.

Although the small ground and congested play made fast breaks tricky, watch and see with the kick outs.

Push in the backs and grabs out of the ruck might be iffy. Hard for umps.

6-6-6 does nothing good or bad.

If they want to trial last touch and 16 a side I'd be all for it. They are some real rules.
 

In case I haven't mentioned this enough on the podcast Max Gawn's marking in defence is [censored] top shelf. 

37 minutes ago, DemonLad5 said:

So Preuss Rd 1?

I think Port will be play Lycett and Ryder.  if so, we should play Pruess

fyi - Dixon looking dicey for round one

1 minute ago, Baghdad Bob said:

It's always interesting to get others views on the game.  I thought Joel Smith was disappointing and misjudged the ball a lot in the air giving his opponent an easy and unpressured out.  Also thought Salem and Hibberd were quiet.

I thought Oscar was really solid and good with excellent vision and disposal.  Looks to have gone up a notch on last year.  JKH will push if he continues to play that way.  The competition for spots will be significant.  Hunt also a nice bonus and resembled the 2017 version.

Joel Smith's positives where his work rate to space up the ground and his defensive work. Inside 50 he did nothing.

26 minutes ago, 640MD said:

Lovely walk in the park !

 

I did really love the tackle by OMac and then a short time later by Vanders in the last quarter.

Really hurt their opponents   but legally    OMacs took a few minutes to get away from the trainers  right in front of me   great to see..    Hell there were a lot of collingwood supporters there    GO DEES   on a roll !!

It's where they belong.

Some good footy. The relentless pressure to get the ball moving our way from a contest or breakdown was the highlight - ethos footy. 

Standout players for me:

Gawn, Brayshaw, Kennedy-Harris, Vandenberg. 

Good to see back, or new:

Hunt, Preuss, Hore, Stretch, T.Smith. 

No bad performers for a first hit out. 

 

Meanwhile at Arden St....

Nth Melbourne Football Manager

 

 

A good first up hitout for the boys & with who is to come in we are going to be very strong, the media department post game meeting would be interesting, they definitely needed the run. 

3 minutes ago, loges said:

Any comments on the effect of the new rules?

Hard to see impact of 6 6 6 rule, though Maxy did get the ball to his mids cleanly a few times. 

But this game really reinforced my belief that the biggest impact will be the changes to the kick out rules.

Having the man of the mark 9 metres from the top of the square and not having to kick the ball in the air almost makes the square redundant.

it really opens up the field and will make clear the back 50 much easier. At one point Jetts took the kick in, played on and ran diagonally towards the boundary. Gus (i think) put small block on the man on the mark , Jetts ran his full measure and by the time he kicked it was probably all of 30 metres from the goal line. His kick to the wing was pretty much halfway up the ground.

I think we will have big advantage with maxy because it means he won't have to push so far up the ground and will be in position to take a lot of marks on centre wing. With players running pat him we will get a lot of quick inside 50s. I can see Weids and TMac and Preuess all pushing up to centre wing at times to provide options.  

The other impact - and one i hadn't considered - is that i reckon there will be way more play ons from kick ins, way more. This will create  a much faster transition game. Teams will also need to set up their presses across the center of the ground the widest point, so hard to trap the ball. I will be fascinated to see if more scoring chains start from kick ins. I am predicting there will. 

It might come down to this: 

If Preuss plays round 1 then the Weid doesn’t. As much as I liked the impact big Preuss gave hitting contests hard as a forward and spelling Maxy I still don’t think a Weid/T Mc/Preuss forward line is defensively sound.

28 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Wouldn't hate if he didn't keep making the same mistakes. 

He wasn't alone, Harmes didn't start well and Vanders was pretty fumbly at times, but I thought Corey Wagner and JKH probably used it better than ANB today.

It was the first hit out of the season, a practice match.  They are more focused on keeping to structures, introducing some of the new ideas that they have been working on.  Scoreboard is irrelevant, and often, skill execution is the same.

This game was a great example of two teams that are expecting to go deep in to September, blowing out some cobwebs, generally going at around 80%, and taking the first competitive step of a new, long season.

The players and areas you have criticised are close to embarrassing.

5 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

It might come down to this: 

If Preuss plays round 1 then the Weid doesn’t. As much as I liked the impact big Preuss gave hitting contests hard as a forward and spelling Maxy I still don’t think a Weid/T Mc/Preuss forward line is defensively sound.

Haha what 

no chance Weid is playing 2s for round 1 

I was unable to view the game. Haven't seen any comments re Jeffy.

Did he play?

If so how did he look?

1 hour ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Is there to be a repeat screening, we missed it due to commitments - and I am sure that others will have missed the game, as well?

Full replay will be on the Melbourne website and App.

 

6 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

I was unable to view the game. Haven't seen any comments re Jeffy.

Did he play?

If so how did he look?

He might have to report to Romsey for some conditioning work Bitters. He was pretty average, but did 1 beautiful crumb and kicked truly.

I was really impressed with Hunt's game back to his best. Spargo poor I would drop him for Hunt and Hore showed enough to also be in the 22.

ROLLING 22

B: JETTA, O.MCDONALD, HORE

HB: HIBBERD, MAY, SALEM

C : BRAYSHAW, HARMES, FRITSCH

HF: PETRACCA, T.MCDONALD, NEAL-BULLEN

F: MELKSHAM, WEIDEMAN, PREUSS

FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY

IC: JONES, LEWIS, VANDENBERG, HUNT

45 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

? I can’t see them playing 2 rucks to be honest.   I think J Smith definitely adds something forward that we don’t have. 

Mahoney was saying during the last q, that having Pruess would free up players like TMac and Weid from any relieving ruck duties and allow them to further develop as key forwards. He then said, Max also needs to stretch out his season and may be rested forward entire games or rested completely.

....interesting.

Edited February 22, 20196 yr by Wadda We Sing

So, what's the difference between this "scratch match" and the JLT games, other than the fact that the JLT games have the name JLT?

(Dear AFL, I've referenced JLT a number of times in this post because I assume that accepting money from JLT for the exposure they get is the sole reason why the JLT games are called JLT games)

23 minutes ago, binman said:

Hard to see impact of 6 6 6 rule, though Maxy did get the ball to his mids cleanly a few times. 

But this game really reinforced my belief that the biggest impact will be the changes to the kick out rules.

Having the man of the mark 9 metres from the top of the square and not having to kick the ball in the air almost makes the square redundant.

it really opens up the field and will make clear the back 50 much easier. At one point Jetts took the kick in, played on and ran diagonally towards the boundary. Gus (i think) put small block on the man on the mark , Jetts ran his full measure and by the time he kicked it was probably all of 30 metres from the goal line. His kick to the wing was pretty much halfway up the ground.

I think we will have big advantage with maxy because it means he won't have to push so far up the ground and will be in position to take a lot of marks on centre wing. With players running pat him we will get a lot of quick inside 50s. I can see Weids and TMac and Preuess all pushing up to centre wing at times to provide options.  

The other impact - and one i hadn't considered - is that i reckon there will be way more play ons from kick ins, way more. This will create  a much faster transition game. Teams will also need to set up their presses across the center of the ground the widest point, so hard to trap the ball. I will be fascinated to see if more scoring chains start from kick ins. I am predicting there will. 

Standing behind the goals it appeared melb had outriders in the pockets to prevent full back playing on out of the square to the boundary. May be wrong on this but spargo seemed to have this role.

Don't care what importance anyone places on the game, but winning and expecting to win every time you step on the ground creates an atmosphere and attitude of success. Reinforces the belief that we are winners not going out to compete. 

Working today so I tried to catch up via streaming but it kept stopping in mid play. 

Hopefully, the technology will improve.

Preuss looks a definite factor for opposition defenders to deal with.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-02-22/report-melbourne-take-trial-match-win

Edited February 22, 20196 yr by Demonland
Please do not reproduce entire articles. A link will suffice.

45 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

I don't think so - I see Joel Smith as depth.  With Preuss, Weids and TMac down there, you add in Melksham, Spargo, Fritsch, Trac and so forth, there isn't room for him unless there is an injury.  Like others, he is terrific depth.

I agree. I think both the Smiths are depth. 

All Tim Smith did today was lead to the completely wrong areas and get in Weids space. Calling him depth is the most polite thing I can do. I don't want to see him in red and blue at AFL level again.

Joel Smith I see as valuable depth. He's definitely behind all those names you've listed, but he's not the worst option out there due to his ability to compete in the air and versatility. He's behind TMac, Weid, Gawn, Preuss, Petracca, Melksham, Fritsch, Spargo, Harmes, and Garlett as a forward option IMO. I don't believe he'll make any meaningful contribution this season.

With TMac, Melksham and Fritsch to return, and T Smith and J Smith gone, I think our forward line would function very well. TMac and Weid paired well late last year, so I'm excited to see them build more synergy and not lead into each others space.

43 minutes ago, DubDee said:

I think Port will be play Lycett and Ryder.  if so, we should play Pruess

fyi - Dixon looking dicey for round one

We should play Preuss regardless.

We can't afford to run Gawn into the ground again.

Edited February 22, 20196 yr by Clint Bizkit