9 hours ago, dee-tox said:

Yeah I'm not too sure. Think we need one 193cm defender but two?

We have May, Lever, Bowey, Rivers, McVee. Will Salo be a full time mid if Clarry comes back?

Tomlinson has now had 6 goals kicked on him in the last two practice games. He does not instill confidence in me after that! Howes took a good mark but did little else. I'm not sure I would play either next week!

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

 

- come next year’s trade period, we are going to need to sign a new full back, whatever it takes  

 

Because you're worried about may?

He carved up the Coleman medallist and to my eye looked in much better nick than this time last year in terms of mobility (he struggled all last season with glutes and lower back issues)

Agree we need to plan for his retirement, but that's a couple of years away at least.

And defensively we are in pretty good shape for key defenders going forward.

Although Turner is more an intercepting lever type, he'll fill out and i think will be a gun.

Adams is bigger and has a future as a lock down key defender. 

And if petty stays, he can go back.

Edited February 28, 20241 yr by binman

10 hours ago, binman said:

Weitering and Walsh are two big outs - two of  their best four players.

But it is a mark of just how good our midfield is that we could be missing one of best 3 players, and one of the best 3 mids in the AFL, and not miss him

Our outs Clarry and Petty more than Trump Carltanks outs🤪

2 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

So many show ponies with many faux pas assists from the umps that kept bringing them back from a smashing.

Nice hit out. 

Out of the younger fellas i particularly liked the games of Sparrow & Bullet (Windsor).

Viney & Max immense.  Best shape ive seen Max in coming into a season aside from 2021.

Kozzy in everything.  Loved the hit on Saad towards the end.

Just needs to work on set shots, avoid any urge for the speckie & keep his feet for the ground ball contests.  Which he appeared to do in this match to great effect.  His mid minutes also pretty effective.

Chin went ok but still think he's fringe and will need to be performing at a pretty high level (consistently) to justify his place once Spargo & McAdam are ready to go and with Billings chipping away.  Billings went ok but looked a little off the pace at times as well.

Having said that, many players might still be a bit off the pace as they return from injuries or cranking up their loads etc coming into the early phase of the season so probably best to wait until rounds 6 to 8 before making any genuine asssessments.

The dual between Acres & Lingers was interesting.  Thought Acres had the better of him in patches during the first half with Lingers getting more involved & effective as the match wore on.

Reasonable hit out for Verral but appears to be a fair way off the pace.  Early days of course and only a rookie. 

Laurie could alao be counted as a maturing rookie.  Showed glimpses of upside but for mine he remains a big work in progress with more time needed at Casey.  Clarry in for him seems like the most likely change for next week.

Scache's best game in the red & blues so far.  And while i'd need more convincing and plenty of room for improvement, it was the type of game you would want to see from the big fella more often.  Looks like he's put a few kilos on as well.  ANB & Fritta also.

Thought Fritta went ok apart from the kicking, which he'll no doubt get to work on on the track.

A different game (away) at another level next week will give us a somewhat better read on form / game style effectiveness etc 

I'd play Verall straight away!

So who will be hosting the premiership party on September 28th?

Plenty to discuss but Windsor can find another gear and kick straight. Kicking straight at that acceleration is rare.

28 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Tomlinson has now had 6 goals kicked on him in the last two practice games. He does not instill confidence in me after that! Howes took a good mark but did little else. I'm not sure I would play either next week!

so who would you play Picket?

12 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

So who will be hosting the premiership party on September 28th?

Gus & Gawny

11 hours ago, seventyfour said:

Blues laid 39 tackles for the night, very little pressure. Still only a practice game.

Hope it eases last week's doomsayers though.

This.

I don't think the blues were going at 100%.

But was happy to see what is possible.

Some good signs, hopefully we can build some form. 

2 minutes ago, Cheap Seats said:

This.

I don't think the blues were going at 100%.

But was happy to see what is possible.

Some good signs, hopefully we can build some form. 

It was 47 tackles to 60 in our favour.

So definitely both below their best but not a huge difference in intensity.

48 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Howes took a good mark but did little else. I'm not sure I would play either next week!

If you'll remember back to last year, McVee had very low stats as a small back, but basically everything he touched was an intercept possession. That was Howes' game yesterday. 6 disposals, 4 of them intercepts, two of them intercept marks and 1 score involvement. That's about what we got out of McVee all last year. (And I love Judd, so this is not a criticism, just a realistic expectation for a young small back making his way)

You have to let him build a bit. And playing him allows McVee more offensive space and Salem midfield minutes. It's a win win if he plays like he did yesterday.

Edited February 28, 20241 yr by Binmans PA

If the narrative of us of being finished is true, you would not want to be a Blues fan.

9 hours ago, hardtack said:

What I find jaw droppingly confundicating is that in the Match Day thread, the only mentions that ANB got were critical of his play early on, after which there was no mention of him at all??!!! Then, to make matters worse, in the Post Game thread where posters were giving us highly detailed lists of players that impressed them and why, again not one single mention of ANB!!

The guy had 83% game time, was equal second in possessions with 23, and his tackling figures were in the top five. He worked his [censored] off for the entirety of the game, and was one of our most effective players.

He was without a doubt one of the best on ground and certainly deserving of much more credit than the Demonlanders give him.

*Scratches head*

ANB is a champion player & human. Steadily improved himself, worked on his deficiencies, and did his time in the VFL no complaints until he absolutely smashed the door down & couldn't be left out of the side. 

Not the perfect player but gives the most consistent effort of anyone in our team, without being an emotionally charged yo-yo like some others. Level-headed, self-aware, leadership in spades & consistent effort/attitude - you really cant ask for more. 

One of those guys who probably won't be fully recognised until he hangs them up.

Edited February 28, 20241 yr by fr_ap

7 hours ago, Binmans PA said:

Dunstall's commentary was appalling. He has absolutely no idea about Melbourne or its players. Deadset numbnuts.

That's all from me.

It is bleedingly obvious he doesn’t watch Melbourne games. Just made some nonsense up as he went 

A couple of summary notes after watching the game on delay last night:

1. Clear desire to make the 45 degree kick to the top corners of the centre square, win the contest, and then (even blind sometimes) play the lateral handball back into the corridor.  On numerous occassions the player at the back of the contest would then run that outside (inside) lane on the corridor and pick up the loose ball.  Was a very nice pattern - but was a little alarmed we showed it so many times tbh. 

2. Inside50 marks - aside from the obvious darting low kicks which were commented on ad nauseam by King et co, there was a clear ability (and willingness) to find the shallow inside 50 marks - which worked well against Carlton who were very set up for Melbourne offence from 2021, 22, 23 (ie deep and to the pockets).  Given the ability of our small HFs to kick over 40m quite easily (sans Spargo) this could be quite an effective tactic.  

3. Now some personal perspectives on strong games:

- Bailey Laurie - wow, I didn't know he had that sort of game on the inside, but his competitiveness and cleanness in the phonebox particularly his ability to get inside and just provide the short handball to Salem was on show repeatedly. Very impressed. 

- Pickett looks ready to absolutely explode this year

- Neal-Bullen consistent again and so good as a barometer for our overall effort both ways.  Very impressed. 

- Van Rooyen is ridiculously good for his age - we are so lucky to have him. 

4. Final one - it was interesting how Christian Petracca looked in that midfield set up (Jack Viney too) - it seemed more cohesive to me - sometimes I feel like Christian is in everything a bit much and the group isn't that damaging, whereas it felt like the midfield GROUP was very very damaging and Spaz and Salem got the chocolates.  I think the outside/inside balance might finally be getting there after god knows how many years lol. 

Great thing having Salem in the mids

what he lacks in pace he makes up for with delivery by hand and foot 

essentially we move one of our best kicks closer to where he can deliver to fwds

his tackling and capability below his knees has always been good

13 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

ANB is a champion player & human. Steadily improved himself, worked on his deficiencies, and did his time in the VFL no complaints until he absolutely smashed the door down & couldn't be left out of the side. 

Not the perfect player but gives the most consistent effort of anyone in our team, without being an emotionally charged yo-yo like some others. Level-headed, self-aware, leadership in spades & consistent effort/attitude - you really cant ask for more. 

One of those guys who probably won't be fully recognised until he hangs them up.

I’ve recently praised ANB for the way he has improved his skills and, as a result, the great season he had last year.
When ANB is pressuring a player, he is great, however, when ANB is under pressure, too often he fumbles or gives a poor disposal and the forward flow is haltered or we turnover the ball as a result. This happens too often to just be an occasional occurrence, and as such, until he can consistently improve this area of his play he will continue to not receive the recognition he should by the demon faithful. 

If Salem players the whole year in the middle, he’ll go close to winning the Brownlow! 

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

I'd play Verall straight away!

He has very clean hands. Doesn’t seem to fumble or grab the ball awkwardly. He knows how to grab the ball to let him immediately dish off the handball. 

34 minutes ago, Altona-demon said:

- Van Rooyen is ridiculously good for his age - we are so lucky to have him.

He will be an absolute star of the comp in a few years, let's hope we can hang onto him 🤞

12 hours ago, Dee-monic said:

Some wasteful kicking but plenty of positives:

1. Sparrow immense. Looks ready to go to a new level.

2. Salem smart and effective in midfield.

3. Max dominant as usual.

4. Speed merchant Windsor looks AFL-ready.

5. Delivery into forward line much improved.

6. Oliver relaxed and cheerful in the stands. Return must be close now.

I know the Blues were undermanned, but even so the overall signs were promising.

UM, weren't we undermanned as well??????

Have only watched the first half but my takeaways are:

1. Our midfield is up and firing and the inclusion of Salem and Windsor should improve our ball movement. Also good to see Sparrow go up a level and ANB moving the ball well/so quickly between the Arcs. We've done well to cover the loss of Brayshaw and to think we still have Oliver to come back into the side.

2. Our forward line looks potent. Ball movement in our forward half much improved, Pickett and Fritch busy, JVR clunking everything and Shache obviously working well with JVR and Fritch.

3. Backline held up well and looks like we haven't lost much from a defense perspective despite our quicker ball movement.

In the context of being in the top 4 every round in the past 3 years bar 2 games yesterdays match reinforces that we are a quality outfit that will be aiming for a top for finish and home final and having our best team fit and ready to challenge in September.

i think the clubs approach of not doing too much media and letting our actions speak for themselves will silence the critics.

12 hours ago, dee-tox said:

Yeah I'm not too sure. Think we need one 193cm defender but two?

We have May, Lever, Bowey, Rivers, McVee. Will Salo be a full time mid if Clarry comes back?

I think you need 8 altogether.   Those 6 plus 2 others   Salem and Rivers will go through the midfield and spend some time down back, but not enough to be the reliever of the bench.  So maybe Howes who did well and adds a little height we lost with Hibberd retiring.  Then the other key spot is between TMac and Thomlinson who seems to have the nod.

Wowee. Much better return yesterday. Can never read too much into a preseason game, but so much to like.

Howes did some really good things down back. Great delivery by foot. Love Salem in the midfield. Windsor looks a real talent, very exciting. And it just feels like we finally have enough quality ball users now: Billings, Laurie, Bowey, Salem amongst others.

Plenty of personnel to come back too. Good stuff.

14 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

He will be an absolute star of the comp in a few years, let's hope we can hang onto him 🤞

He really is a talent. I think it's gone under the radar a little bit, but I think there'll be more talk about him once the season starts.