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

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, turn 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 2 minutes ago2 min by Macca

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