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I get on a plane to Sydney tomorrow then on a cruise liner on Monday for 11 days around New Caledonia and Vanuatu. First family holiday for me ever - I'm 32, never went on one as a kid and am 10 years in to parenthood without having been on one. Excited would be an understatement! Got my tickets to MFC vs Norf at Bellerive, and wife's study schedule permitting will nip over to Melbourne at least once again this year, hopefully for QB weekend. All I need is for the MFC to win a few this year and the year will be sweet as, starting with this long weekend. Wait, what's this topic about again?

Willi were bigger and stronger. Our skills were shocking. lumumba was very good and showed good skills . Caught sometimes but did not give away free kicks. Terlich was my second best player. Made some mistakes like everyone else but of course he is criticised for it . Hunt ran all day and skills were good. I really like him and will become a regular sometime in future. Weidermen was unlucky in than the ball was kicked over hid head most of day. Thought he ran to wrong spot a lot. spoke to Trengove and he told me he will play in two weeks and is very excited about it. Disappointed in bullen and stretch as they constantly fumbled. They were in middle with mitchie and we were slaughtered there.

I was at the game today and from a team performance point of view it was disappointing. After quarter time, Williamstown wanted the ball more and were able to get it easily and that was the story of the game. They won at the stoppages, they had a purposel, shared the football around and were cleaner. Casey played like a team that doesn't train together, didn't really have a plan to go about winning the game. Casey's other issue was that so many players were having their first hit out - a few of them from injury. Lumumba would be happy with his high possession game but his disposal and decision making needs improvement, otherwise he will be a liability at the higher level. Terlich is less talented and I don't think can adapt. He got a bit of the footy but turned it over too often and, apart from that early piece of play where he bounced three times and goaled, he didn't do near enough. It's not likely we'll see him anywhere other than at Casey. Max King and Mitch King alternated the ruck work and were ample, particularly the former but neither imposed themselves on the game. Sam Weideman had a few flashes of play and with the heavily built Liam Hulett will spend some time at this level finding their feet. Mitch White worked hard in defence but was often outrun. The shining light was Jayden Hunt who has great pace, is a good kick, is clean and has composure around the ball. It was a promising display in defence. I asked in a thread earlier this year whether he could make it and I now think he will. The Glenelg pair Billy Stretch and ANB worked hard but found the going hard against some tough bodied opposition. Viv Michie didn't do enough if he wants to be elevated from rookie status.

Is that Shane Warne crossed with Sam Newman?

And that's that - 14.10.94 to 4.4.28 Best for Casey (in order) Hunt

Goal to Casey in first minute

Maybe it's me but strangely I'm a little underwhelmed as such. If he comes and fit. Good. If not..we move on. We've got a bit of talent to work with now. Don't need 'silver bullet' players any more. Really not that fussed.

Sam Gray will be hoping he can be our Aaron vandenBerg.

Half a million...mmm if the club said to us we will play these games at the G if we the members, come up with a $20 play at home levy, we would all gladly pay it. No? 30,000 times $20 ........

Yep. That's outrageously unveiled. It actually sounds like it was a pretty awkward conversation. It doesn't sound like he knows quite how to deal with it. Just put that Melbourne jumper on already, Dion.

I did some some maths. If we improve 10% on our best offensive and defensive NAB results in our fixture v. St. Kilda we will finish top of the Nab-ladder. I left school at 14 though: math may be inaccurate.

Well said Mr Trump.

first half they were really good. hawks are just a steamrolling machine. easter monday should be a ripper with dangerfield in the sort of form he's in currently.

If not for some untimely injuries to the Ox, Jako, Sean Charles, Gary Lyon, Steven Tingay, Glen Lovett and add Martin Pike's drinking problems we might be talking about Neil Balme as well!

They're taking the píss with Essendon.

i just want to see him out on the park first and foremost. It's interesting that they might be thinking of him more as a deep-lying forward as opposed to one who pushes up the ground, or even as part of the midfield rotations. hopefully that will come, as i definitely don't want him to solely be a forward - we need him to a bursting away from the packs mid as he was in his last underage year.

I was there on the outer side, close to Goodwin, McCartney, Mathews and, after quarter time, Rawlings. I go to Casey a fair bit and Goodwin is always in the same spot. Some interesting conversation between Goodwin and McCartney early on. McCartney commented that Mitch King is a better natural ruck than Max King and that Max has a lot to learn about ruck work. The better games I have seen from Max have always been as a key forward but they persisted with him in the ruck all day. Mitch is very raw but there is nothing not to like. Later, McCartney queried Rawlings as to whether it was true that Lumumba had run 10K in training yesterday, apparently it was. Also, even though he has changed his name, they still call him Harry O in the heat of battle. He played out the full game and will be better for the run. ANB, Stretch and Michie tried but were well beaten. Terlich was Terlich, forever trying things beyond his capabilities. Weed and Hulet were unsighted but that was not unexpected. I watched Hunt at Casey a few times last year and he flashed in and out of the game. When he was good he was very good but went missing for long periods. The move to half-back seems to have been the making of him. He has a primary responsibility to mind his man first and break off to attack as a secondary action. He was, to my mind, Casey's best player although that doesn't mean much. He is seriously quick, at one stage a Willy player was going to collect a simple chest mark near the boundary just in front of us, Hunt came from some metres back and got a fist in to knock the ball out of bounds. The response from the Willy player was well worthy of Dean Kent.

Pretty much agree with demonwithin and Miracle's summeries. So I cant add anything worthwile as there wasnt many positives from todays game. Willy were just too good all over the ground. Players spotted in attendence, Gawn , Trenners. Dunn, Harmes and Oliver who has a compression bandage on his left? leg. Has a minor calf strain. Todd Viney and Brett Lovett were seen having a long discussion.

Terlich kicks the second after a four bounce effort from half back. Add stretch and Michie to list of MFC players. 2 goals to nil 7 mins in

Got there about half an hour into the session. Whilst i'm no seasoned track watcher you could tell it was a fairly light session. Missing or at least I never spotted them were, Roos, Vandenberg, Lumumba,Spencer, Stretch, Hulett, either King, Dunn, Weiderman, Hunt, Terlich ,White and Matt Jones. I won't go into specific drills because I'm crap at describing them and I'm sure others will do it a lot better than I. Goodwin took the session with Brett Allison also running some of the drills. Despite it being a lite session at times the intensity was first rate. Worth noting is that Jade Rawlings has it in his head that O'Mac needs toughening up. In one drill he pitted himself directly against Oscar three times and didn't hold anything back, at one stage decking Oscar with an errant elbow,much to the amusement of every one watching. Oscar took it as well as could be expected. In all three instances Rawlings beat O'Mac. Finally big brother stepped in and went one on one against Rawling and beat him comprehensively. The other thing of note was the vertical leap on both Petracca and Harmes, both these guys can jump. Not to be outdone old man Trengove got in the act and got some air and seemed mighty happy with his efforts. The boys finished the session practicing goal kicking. They seemed to be trying to bend it left to right from the left hand side pocket. Salem seemed to be the most proficient and was instructing the others on the technique, i.e. the point of the ball facing away from the goal for a right hander at the point of contact and the facing the opposite way for a left hander. The skipper thought he could nail from the outside of the ground, alas with no success. I took some happy snaps which you can access via the link. If you have never used Imgur before just click on the photo in the gallery and you will get an enlarged image, click again too return to the gallery.http://imgur.com/a/b2Etr

I hope McDonald goes to Riewoldt regardless of where the Saints play him. He's always done quite well on Nick.

This thread.

Pick 18 won't cut it..

Another week another muso gone. This time it is Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake & Palmer aged 71 years. Tarsus was one of my first vinyl albums when I was just a new teen. I played it to death, probably because we didn't have any other non classical albums in the house. I loved Fanfare for the common man, (especially the video shot in the Olympic stadium in Montreal) when it was released as well and was one of the few people it seems who liked their Works Album, well parts of it at least. When the London Olympics were on and as part of the entertainment they were trotting out all our old English rock favourites I was waiting for ELP to appear in the Olympic Stadium with Keith on the Organ banging out Fanfare but it didn't happen. A major oversight in my opinion by the British OC!

I agree. PJ at the season launch did say that besides AHG, all other sponsorships are up for renewal at the end of the year. He'll have many an idea. As for the NT deal, i would honestly prefer that it end. Sure their sponsorship is up around the 500k/year mark, but it is 2 home games that are 'away', plus the residual effect the following week is influential. Should we not renew with NT, we get 2 home games back and we don't have the lagging effects of playing up north the following weeks. It gives us such a better chance of obtaining the 2 x 4 points after those games, which is vital. Plus, i'm sure PJ&Co will be able to find suitable replacements, sponsorship-wise. Tongue in cheek by PJ i know, but it would be more than handy if AHG decided to sign on for the additional 5 years @ $3m/year!!!

If we thought this deal was going to grow into the Tasmania/Hawk partnership we were kidding our selves. Watching those games live was a joke with only a couple of people standing around the ground, it looked more like an EFL game then an AFL game. I'm sure PJ is working on getting another sponsor to replace the NT money so we can be done with this train reck and move on from the past.

Mark Neeld

I was at the game today and from a team performance point of view it was disappointing. After quarter time, Williamstown wanted the ball more and were able to get it easily and that was the story of the game. They won at the stoppages, they had a purposel, shared the football around and were cleaner. Casey played like a team that doesn't train together, didn't really have a plan to go about winning the game. Casey's other issue was that so many players were having their first hit out - a few of them from injury. Lumumba would be happy with his high possession game but his disposal and decision making needs improvement, otherwise he will be a liability at the higher level. Terlich is less talented and I don't think can adapt. He got a bit of the footy but turned it over too often and, apart from that early piece of play where he bounced three times and goaled, he didn't do near enough. It's not likely we'll see him anywhere other than at Casey. Max King and Mitch King alternated the ruck work and were ample, particularly the former but neither imposed themselves on the game. Sam Weideman had a few flashes of play and with the heavily built Liam Hulett will spend some time at this level finding their feet. Mitch White worked hard in defence but was often outrun. The shining light was Jayden Hunt who has great pace, is a good kick, is clean and has composure around the ball. It was a promising display in defence. I asked in a thread earlier this year whether he could make it and I now think he will. The Glenelg pair Billy Stretch and ANB worked hard but found the going hard against some tough bodied opposition. Viv Michie didn't do enough if he wants to be elevated from rookie status.

Bit disappointing regarding Oliver.. was looking forward to seeing him play tomorrow.

What we have to do wih the Darwin deal is lobby for the game before the bye. That would make a big difference.

Can't complain that the Twitter writer isn't positive. Not sure glimpse is the right word!! Very poor - kicked first goal inside a minute and kicked three for the rest of the game. They were far too strong around the ball big heavy set players smashed their opponents. The forward line played four talls for 80% of the game and it just didn't work. Could not hold the ball down there and they waltz out when they felt like it. Terlich and Lumumba got plenty of it but got caught it turned it over especially Terlich. The only positive I thought was Mitch King who looked OK in the ruck and got better the longer the game went. Max King struggled unfortunately. Weideman I think I am right had one kick one mark for the day late in the last Qtr. They way they kicked it to him was putrid. Count on one hand how many kicks hit targets. Quite disappointing the day to be honest.

We should be playing all home games in Melbourne, end of story. Its the AFL that should be covering any loses we get at the gate in Victoria. Isnt that the whole idea of equalization? Absolute joke we have to travel to the NT (or anywhere else) to make $$$ and we lose home games in the process.

Good question I only have $123.50 left in my Super Fund to spend before the old age pension kicks in and need to know how to invest wisely?

AVB...

Thats good enough.. Welcome to the dees Dion!

He's not the Messiah old dee, he's just a very naughty boy!

He has been a very strong role model to Dustin. It's just the wrong role.

Stuff Darwin. Just play 2 games in Alice, no sapping heat or humidity for the players in the middle of the year. Can't wait to take my son to his first game when they play here this year.

Any MCC/MFC Premium member who may not have a junior to take up their free junior membership should advise the Club as they in the past have donated these memberships to those juniors who may not have the means to follow their Club. The free membership is added to the total membership tally so it is a good thing to have this junior membership taken up.

The NT Government has fired back:- NT Government clarifies Melbourne Demons relationship When was the last time I believed something I read in a newspaper?

Yes, it revealed that he sat up and was awake for a "couple of hours". Encouraging.

Now that I come to think of it, I can't recall that the NT was mentioned at the season launch. Please make it happen that we get some other form of sponsorship, that the AFL gives us a better run of Friday night home games and that we never have to sell our home games interstate again.

I'm looking for is a strong start. Started poorly in the first two games and been caught napping defensively. That and a reinstalment of faith in Tom McDonald.

I watched training this morning. Petracca, JKH, Trenners and Joel Smith trained with the NAB Challenge squad for Sunday. The lads playing at Casey tomorrow were unsighted. Gus did multiple run throughs and looked good, albeit with a heavily bandaged knee. Dawes rode laps on Trenner's scooter. Benny Newton did a lot of hard work with Crossy. Jayden Hunt trained away from the main group on the back oval. So many times Christian was on the end of full ground ball movement drills. It looks like the club will be using him as a deep forward meaning fitness won't be such an issue. Hopefully we see him sooner rather than later.

Another trick is a full plastic water bottle frozen rolled under your arch with pressure or a golf ball hurts but eventually stretches the tendon. Frozen water bottle numbs the pain Do it when sitting watching the dees on TV

Very

When it comes to deportation it is a shame the Australian government doesn't have a father/son policy

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-03-11/gun-sun-dion-prestia-in-no-rush-to-open-contract-negotiations "Gun Sun in no rush to open contract negotiations"