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I made it down to training for a little bit this morning, managed to get in a selfie which was pretty good. I spoke to Lewis (he's hotter in person) who said Melbourne is way better than Hawthorn. I left my satchel on the plane, does anyone know if there is a Louis Vuitton store in Marrochydore? I asked Salem about his Thyroid, he said they were good, we had a laugh together. The players did a few drills and kicked the ball around, looked pretty good to me.

In quite a few games last season, Bull played better then most if not all of the Melbourne listed forwards in the VFL. If he gets a go in the JLT games, or even plays well enough in the Casey pre season games, expect to see him getting his debut early in the season. For those that haven't met him, he is a super nice and respectful kinda guy, has worked his arse off to get where he is, and I think is more appreciative because of the hard work he has had to put into getting this opportunity. If any of the new recruits deserve senior games this season, it's definitely Bull (Even more then Keilty, who I am absolutely dieing for, hoping he gets a shot) He might not become a superstar, but he is definitely the most entertaining player outside the AFL I have ever watched. His ability to take marks that shouldn't be possible and his attack on the ball as well as anyone with the ball is great to watch. If he gets a go and stays in good form, he will become a favourite of the Melbourne supporters, gaurenteed.

Jack is going to be a very good player, already is. Oliver is going to be on another level if he reaches his potential. He just has more tricks than Jack and that's not knocking Jack...

I was invited to a GWS coterie function a while ago and got on the cans with Kevin Sheedy. We discussed Josh Kelly (more below). I used to dislike Sheedy until I met him. He's a legend. I've met him a number of times since. My view has not changed. He should've been appointed coach of the MFC in 2008 IMO - all would've been different, but I now don't care because I reckon the club is perfectly positioned for the future and has finally got its act together. Conversation re Josh Kelly went like this: Me: 'What do you think of Kelly for Tyson and pick 9?' Sheedy: 'Stupid deal. Trust me, the Kelly kid is one out of the box - he will be an absolute superstar - we killed this trade.' Me: 'You said that about Scully too.' Sheedy: '@&$% you, ya %*+#head!' Me: 'We're super happy with Tyson and Salem and we need mids desperately, so two for the price of one suits our needs.' Sheedy: 'Tyson ain't that great and Kelly will be a superstar - glad you're pleased with your club about this because Kelly is out of the box and your club could've had him.' Me: 'Like we could've had you Sheeeeeds! ?' Sheeds: 'Yep, exactly. Hate the Melbourne Football Club. Didn't even get invited to the final interview stage. Hopeless $@&%s. They've overlooked me twice now, both as a player and a coach. No wonder they're a freaken basket case!' We then drank more beer.

Article on the MFC website: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-01-29/hard-work-pays-off-for-smith I love this kind of story. For all the kids out there who get plucked from school straight in to the AFL system, there's heaps of players kicking around who probably are good enough play, that have to go the longer and far more difficult road to get there. If nothing else, you know he comes in knowing what hard work is, and that he won't take it for granted. Additionally, the fact that he and Keilty have been selected from Casey in to Melbourne is a fantastic endorsement for the alliance, and a fantastic advertisement for Casey as a club. It says to players at VFL level who want to pursue an AFL career: "come play for us; if you're good enough and work hard enough, we can give you a path in". That has to attractive to good players. As far as how he'll go, I'll keep my expectations moderate. I see him as competing with Pedersen in the short term for the 'second' tall forward role, and taking the pressure off Weideman to develop in the medium term. He's apparently tough and takes a good mark. I see it as a very low risk selection - it has a low ceiling (I wouldn't expect much more than 'decent' player - he won't be the next Hogan), but no downside whatsoever, if it doesn't work out then we haven't sold the farm and we know he'll contribute at Casey level.

That's a big call from a bloke who felt Mark Neeld would make a good senior coach.

Fyfe over Kelly every day of the week. I wonder if the Kelly link to Melbourne is nothing more than journos being so used to mentioning them both in the same sentence due to all the Tyson/Salem/Kelly trade analysis.

He's a runner.

In this Clayton's training thread, I'll hijack the thread to thank all the track watchers who have contributed some terrific reports over the pre-season, with loads of detail. Thanks everyone! I pass through the general area of Gosch's on a fairly regular basis in my day to day tasks, and have seen quite a few snippets of training; on 2 occasions I was there for a reasonable amount of time. Fwiw, I've seen enough to make the following general observations about the following who have caught my eye as likely to add significantly to what was on offer last season. Probably nothing that hasn't been noted here already, but here goes, in broadly number order: Hogan - just looks like he's going to go to another level this year if he stays injury free; fit, strong and skilful. Lewis - the kicking: it draws your eye when watching him in the group. Brayshaw - looks stronger and fitter, and a real presence in drills and match sims. Gawn - see Hogan entry. Could be scarily good this year - please stay fit, Max! Billy Stretch - looks to have progressed strongly in his physical development, and should step up to be a consistent and skilful player. Oscar - should be a more imposing presence on the ground with a body that's filling out. Jayden - there looks to be more of everything with him; seems to have taken the Olympic motto to heart ("Citius, altius, fortius"); also looks more confident in his work on the track - his break-out season has no doubt added to that. Exciting! Joel Smith - a bit like the J Hunt entry, with a lot of skill on show together with significant apparent physical development. In addition, Weideman looks bigger, but whether this is the year where he makes significant impact, time will tell. Oliver is interesting. Doesn't seem like a natural running machine like some other mids, but you'd like to think that his output would be improved from last year with the work that he's had to do over the summer. Petracca probably in a similar category. Both works in progress from point of view of fitness, but would expect both to be in a better to position to have more impact on the ground. As an overall observation, the intensity of work in terms of running and physical contact in drills and match sims is significantly higher than what I can recall seeing in previous pre-seasons. Which is all well and good, but who knows whether or not the increase in intensity is just keeping up with, or catching up to, the work of the leading clubs.

Would like to add Stretch to that list

2017 2018 2019 2020 S.Frost (24) (40) A.Brayshaw (22) (31) J.Garlett (30) (146) J.Viney (26) (70) B.Vince (31) (193) T.Bugg (25) (83) N.Jones (31) (223) M.Hibberd (30) (84) L.Hulett (20) (0) C.Garland (30) (141) J.Melksham (28) (114) B.Kennedy (23) (40) M.Gawn (27) (61) C.Oliver (22) (13) J.Kennedy-Harris (22) (22) J.Harmes (23) (27) J.Watts (28) (137) Mitch King (20) (0) J.Hunt (23) (19) D.Tyson (26) (71) A.Neal-Bullen (21) (15) N.Jetta (28) (94) J.Hogan (24) (41) C.Salem (22) (30) D.Kent (24) (52) J.Lewis (33) (267) B.Stretch (21) (27) O.Macdonald (22) (17) S.Weiderman (22) (3) J.Trengove (26) (84) T.Macdonald (26) (104) C.Pedersen (30) (61) C.Petrecca (22) (17) A.Vandenberg (25) (28) J.Wagner (24) (14) P.McKenna (22) (0) M.Hannan (24) (0) Rookie D.Johnstone (20) (0) L.Filipovic (19) (0) T.Smith (26) (0) D.Kelity (21) (0) M.White (21) (3) B Rookie C.Maynard (25) (0) J.Smith (21) (0) UFA J.Spencer (28) (36) Blue Number is players age @ end of final contracted year Red Number is games played EOS 2016

or his leg...

Did Saty not fly up with the team?

Are you sure? What gave it away?

Yeah they've done a good job. Also just FYI if anyone is a Telstra customer, if you update the AFL app you automatically get the AFL Live Pass for free again this season.

There! all colourful and pretty (tedious doing them one by one but the only way it would let me do it)

He went by scooter

This photo is definitely from this year - Roos is listed as a visitor.

Nice couple of photos.

In the words of Justin Trudeau

I hear this a lot, what exactly does it mean? Like, how many and which immigrants are acceptable for you to be comfortable this Australia is 'your country'? Apparently the Muslim population is only 2.2%. I am curious as to what percentage of the population you would be happy with? 1%? 0%? Then after you settle on a number, what sort of numbers would you like for other ethnicities? How do you separate race and religion? If you advocate for deportation (and I don't know if you do or not), do you deport Australian born Muslim converts as well? Conversely, do you deport a Christian or an Atheist who originally came from Iran? I am genuinely curious as to how many immigrants we need to kick out to 'get our country back'.

Now we know what the problem is. Salem has more than one thyroid gland.

gosh, a person who looks like their avatar.

Nice to see Roos is still remember as well Ethan.

a 6th person has died. Standing around doing nothing was a disgrace. WHAT WERE THEY WAITING FOR???

I thought we delisted Grimes? ^

Last night I watched 1990 Round 22 and 1990 Elimination vs the Hawks. Rhode and Campbell doing jobs on Brereton and Dunstall two weeks in a row. Bennett a dominant target up forward. Fast, furious, hard at the ball football and we matched and beat the hawks at their own game. It almost brought a tear to ones eye to see a Demon side take it up to one of the greatest teams of all time.

Bernies got arms like Daisy??? Perhaps it's more pc to say Daisy's got arms like Bernie!

That was me Moonshadow, I just drove from Melbourne to Townsville for work last week so unfortunately won't be able to see them this time around.

He is working at the hawks so at the moment he is the enemy, so that's why he said it,

I sleep in my cape, it never comes off.

David stayed and worked at Melbourne he was the face of Melbourne 's business network, then he left to be a part time forward coach at the hawks, he was the face of the business for a few years, u don't work for the club after u retire if u were angry at the club.

You're off your effing rocker. But I'm with you.

I'll call it..Melbourne has as much chance of a Flag before the Giants. Yep I'm mad.....or am I ? We;ll be up and running this year. We can beat the Giants..we actually know how... bizarre at that is..cant beat other teams we ought to but somehow we have'm worked out. Point being.. No team is a monty for the Granny. They havent the miles on the board yet...one day...they will ...not yet. Players will start coming to us...just you watch.......oh wait ...

I thought they were the Three Musketeers Tim

Nope - they'd want Salem and Tyson. Ohh hold on ...

Best of lucky Smithy. This part really stood out to me from the link above... "Smith said the fact that he and fellow rookie Declan Keilty was drafted from Melbourne’s VFL aligned side was a great example of how the ‘one club’ mentality had prospered. And he was proud to become somewhat of a poster boy for fellow draft prospects eager to make the transfer from Casey to Melbourne. “I’m absolutely rapt for Decs and myself,” he said. “It’s unbelievable and it couldn’t have been a better outcome for both of us and Casey. The alignment this year was super strong and probably the strongest it’s ever been in my time at the club. “I think for guys coming into Casey – it’s going to be a real focal point. There is a chance [that you can get drafted and play for Melbourne]. There is light at the end of the tunnel for guys that dig in and potentially be given an opportunity at AFL level.”

Best 1st year player I have ever seen. And im nudging 40. Quickest hands I can remember since diesel williams. Let's hope his commitment matches the talent because I think we have a potential superstar

Wow. That list could really blossom this year. Roosy got games into them all he did a mighty job

With all due respect Ron, of course Sheeds would say that about Kelly, especially given he dislikes the MFC. If he's not big enough to let go of a grudge over what happen under a past administration, then IMO it might be us who dodged a bullet. Might be a top fella, but as you say, we are in a good place now. Will be interesting to see if we have a genuine creak at Kelly this time or in a couple of years.

This is photoshopped.

Footywire have identified the need for such a thread and have a new section for contracts for all clubs. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/out_of_contract_players Quite handy.

Yeah mate! Has put on at least 8kgs of muscle since then, if not more. I know I'm biased but everyone should be keeping a close eye on him.

Get your priorities right!

You mean like Hogan? Not many potential superstars will sign longer than 2 years unless they get an offer they can't refuse. Would be stupid to - imagine settling for $600k/year and knowing you could have got double that in years 3 & 4 if you signed for 2 instead of 4 years.

Trengove looks a lot like the player we knew in his first few seasons - pre-injury. That is a very handy mid/forward waiting in the wings. He is assured with the ball, has always been good inside, and he is a goal-kicker when inside the arc. He may come into calculations early if there is any delay in getting Tyson back.

I think you mean this mark, unless he took a similar one against the Hawks. Callan Ward is renowned as one of the hardest players in the game and Clarry, on debut, made him look second rate.

so good.