13 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Do we know whats up with Luker Kentfield?

Concussion protocols Dazzle, non contact.

I don't get much mail, but my understanding is that Viney is out for the year.

Won't be much to recognise at centre bounces in 2026!

6 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

It is 12 months since he was been close to being on the field. He is still just jogging laps, if he is seen at all.

Re my cut to the chase, if not LTI, Pay him out, done I reckon!

44 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I don't get much mail, but my understanding is that Viney is out for the year.

Won't be much to recognise at centre bounces in 2026!

Yeah same, Done for 2026

Midfield is going to cop some serious spankings this year

8 minutes ago, Greg Schneider said:

Midfield is going to cop some serious spankings this year

Not too sure about that Greg. JV, Trac and Clarry were not that good in the guts last year and this season we have Steele and KIDS who will show a bit of run and dare. Plus, we have Rivers, more of Kozzie and others to run through the middle.

Bring it on I say. One door shuts and plenty opens. Be exciting.

5 minutes ago, Greg Schneider said:

Midfield is going to cop some serious spankings this year

Don't disagree with you but the midfield was way below par last year and copped a number of pastings

Oliver, Petracca & Viney did very little with the ball apart from turn it over with their scrub kicks or long bombs. Petracca was far more useful up forward

Two are gone anyway and to be honest, we won't miss Viney apart from his attack on the ball and ball winning skills (which of course, can be a real asset)

But a fit Jack Viney would need to dramatically improve his disposal. He's in the starting 18 but we need to feed off his disposals and Jack needs to feed it out quickly by hand or by foot (once he recovers from his Achilles complaint

Here's how I view how a modern, functioning midfield should operate (for general consumption)

Quick handballs and quick kicks to position using all the angles are the new order-of-the-day for midfielders. Diagonal kicks for the highly skilled

So wasteful midfielders are a thing of the past and the only way to fix the issue is to bring in mids that use the ball well. Those who can only bomb it long are surplus to needs

2-way running and defensive skills are essential as well, of course

But it's getting to the point where teams will hang on to ball outside of the 50m arc until they find an opening. Pass, pass-pass, pass-pass, pass-pass, like soccer ... the alternative is kick it long, risk turning it over with the opposition scoring on the rebound/sling-shot

Kicking long for a stoppage is the old way (the Melbourne way) and it's outdated

Pardon the pun but we need to play the long game with a remodelled midfield (patience/time)

Rivers, Kozzie, Steele, Windsor, Langford, Lindsay, Langdon, Kolt, Culley & Sparrow can all play but can any combination of 3 or 4 of them function as a unit? Time will tell

2021 Midfield - A Grade Elite (which suited the order of the day)

2025 Midfield - B- or perhaps C+ (well below modern midfield standards)

So the 2026 Midfield doesn't have to be that good to more than match the 2025 midfield

Internal discussions on improving the midfield (and how it functions) might have happened as early as 2023. Just a guess

Edited yesterday at 14:201 day by Macca

any news on kalani? seems he didn’t train this week?

Jack Viney

A week before Jack became 'motionless' at training he was running multiple full laps of Gosch's at a very strong pace. It gave me hope that he wasn't far off. It may have been a 'do or die' test of his achilles! As we know, the 'test' or, at least, his progress toward full training came to a crashing halt in the days that followed. Two things... either his achilles is stuffed and he will miss the year OR his back problem flared and he will gradually recover in the coming months. The optimist in me favours the latter!

20 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

A week before Jack became 'motionless' at training he was running multiple full laps of Gosch's at a very strong pace. It gave me hope that he wasn't far off. It may have been a 'do or die' test of his achilles! As we know, the 'test' or, at least, his progress toward full training came to a crashing halt in the days that followed. Two things... either his achilles is stuffed and he will miss the year OR his back problem flared and he will gradually recover in the coming months. The optimist in me favours the latter!

If Viney has acute Achilles tendernitus then he either needs a lot of rest or an operation. Either way, he's going to miss a lot of games by the looks of it

Speaking from experience it's a nasty injury and quite debilitating ... one minute you're feeling fine and next minute, there's the burning pain again

To overcome the injury I took 18 months off sport (enforced) and only ever wore flat soled runners (Dunlop volleys)

*Not a Doctor

Viney, Is almost certainly done for 2026, and McAdam is not that far behind is my mail.

29 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Viney, Is almost certainly done for 2026, and McAdam is not that far behind is my mail.

McAdam is now just a depth player anyway. And like every other club, there's plenty of depth players that occupy a team's list (there's 100's of them)

Many started out as potential top players but it hasn't worked out. Even in premiership years, up to (or more than) 10 NQR's are occupying a list at every club (180+ in total)

It's not worth breaking a sweat about it. Recruiting is an inexact science and there's hits and misses

My way of looking at it, is that a club needs about 16-20 top players (out of the 45 odd) in order to contend

So how many top players have we got? Potentially, 15 - 18

Absolutes? Right now, 5 or 6 (and that includes Steele)

What’s Melky status? Clearly missed it. Managed or injured?

They say there’s a strong correlation between a healthy and strong pre season and a high performing season.

If that’s the case, we’re in for an atrocious season.

Fox Footy reported we had 16 players on the sidelines last week. You’re not setting yourselves up for success with those numbers heading into the practice matches.

We are in dire trouble this year.

20 minutes ago, Edward Langdon said:

They say there’s a strong correlation between a healthy and strong pre season and a high performing season.

If that’s the case, we’re in for an atrocious season.

Fox Footy reported we had 16 players on the sidelines last week. You’re not setting yourselves up for success with those numbers heading into the practice matches.

We are in dire trouble this year.

Since Burgess left our fitness & conditioning has gone backwards!

1 hour ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

What’s Melky status? Clearly missed it. Managed or injured?

34 and been playing hard contact sport for 20 years. He should be as sore as hell. At the start of training he was running like an old man (So was gawn and May). Not now, looks much better running the line. To me, managed.

Just now, Fritta and Turner said:

34 and been playing hard contact sport for 20 years. He should be as sore as hell. At the start of training he was running like an old man (So was gawn and May). Not now, looks much better running the line. To me, managed.

Thanks, that’s great! Hope he has a great year.

Those old boys certainly would be sore. Puts it in perspective when you see Pendles still going. What a mad man.

On 07/02/2026 at 20:12, Earl Hood said:

As it stands we are going into the season with up to 4 players who may not be available for selection for the majority of the season. That’s just not acceptable to the coaching department surely? Bowey, Viney, McAdam and May. Club needs to make some tough LTI decisions pronto!

u didnt even mention campbell too. seems we are wasting a fair few list spots this year, on top of really shallow depth i'm getting more and more nervous

1 hour ago, Edward Langdon said:

They say there’s a strong correlation between a healthy and strong pre season and a high performing season.

If that’s the case, we’re in for an atrocious season.

Fox Footy reported we had 16 players on the sidelines last week. You’re not setting yourselves up for success with those numbers heading into the practice matches.

We are in dire trouble this year.

Unfortunately this is my take on it too

Hopefully set to be proved wrong

By my most recent count, we will have 32 of the list ready for round 1. Current rehabers on that list will be

Jiath

Salem

Mihocek

Sharp

Petty

Johnson

Kentfield

… also possibly

Melksham

Laurie

White

I think the doom and gloom over our injury list is way out of proportion. Barring further injuries occurring to key players, I think the only players missing from my best 26, come round 1, would be Viney, Bowey, Culley and May

6 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

I think the doom and gloom over our injury list is way out of proportion. Barring further injuries occurring to key players, I think the only players missing from my best 26, come round 1, would be Viney, Bowey, Culley and May

agreed. comparatively there are a lot worse. we have to suck it up

47 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

I think the doom and gloom over our injury list is way out of proportion. Barring further injuries occurring to key players, I think the only players missing from my best 26, come round 1, would be Viney, Bowey, Culley and May

Of those 4, Jai is considered to be likely to play Round 1.

8 hours ago, Demonsone said:

Since Burgess left our fitness & conditioning has gone backwards!

How do other clubs manage without him?