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Was a good night. Hosted by Robbo, who struggled to get laughs, but all the other speakers did a good job, Bartlett mainly thanking all the various stakeholders and sponsors, PJ focussing on footy only and saying he was pleased that the club was now in a position to be able to do that (focus on footy) and that good times are ahead. Gus did a late-night-talk-show thing with the two skippers, with Jack repeating old stories he's told before, such as falling off the roof while pretending to be Batman, and how he moved out with his girlfriend into a place just a few hundred metres away from his folks, which he loved at first (mum doing his washing and cooking) but now regrets (Todd's always there playing with his dog when he wakes up). Gus asked both for their breakout player of the year; Jack nominated Clarry, Jones said he was going for a smokey in Dion Johnstone. For those who doubted (or still doubt) whether Clarry was in the naughty corner at the start of pre-season, Jack confirmed it, saying he "got a lot of feedback", and had taken it all on board and trained really well after that point. Goody said he's confident about our prospects and repeated his mantra about fearless team football. For what it's worth, Viney confidently told me he expects Weideman to play round 1. He doesn't know me from a bar of soap, and even if he did, I'd hardly expect to get the skinny on selection news when we're 3 weeks out, but he was far more circumspect when I asked him whether we'd be playing 2 rucks. Random part of the night was a performance by an Indigenous hip-hop group to kickstart proceedings, highlight for me was, as always, seeing the great RDB, who turned 81 last week but doesn't look a day over 65. Bluey Adams, Noel McMahen, and Hassa Mann were some of the other legends in the room. No word on the back of jumper sponsor.

Good little article on Gussy by Roosy. Really excited and intrigued on how Brayshaw will go this year. Another solid inside midfielder who has class and toughness to add to our side. http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/angus-brayshaw-an-unknown-yet-exciting-talent-for-melbourne-says-paul-roos/news-story/d4d64a1ddbac46b6385ebeb5e5aa400c

There is one significant difference, though. It seems that Australian sportspeople caught doping are presumed by most Australians to be innocent until proven guilty whereas non-Australian sportspeople caught doping are presumed by most Australians to be guilty until they can prove their innocence.

Peter Jackson is incredibly impressive when he talks. Can't underestimate his impact on the Melbourne Football Club.

Your and my take are polar opposites, Dave. My take is that they haven't kept it a secret from him. Do you think Goody and other coaches just speak in meetings behind his back and then suddenly let him know on the eve of the JLT that his intensity is below what's required ? Or more likely he's received regular communication for months, but disappointingly hasn't elevated his performances ? I know what I find (far) more likely. I find the alternative absurd.

I don't write on here much, as I genuinely enjoy reading some of the opinions on here, most often to laugh or possibly cry at the stuff some people write. But, need to tell you all, from a reliable source inside the club, watts IS being punished for his training standard and how he returned not as fit as he could have been, not his off field stuff like some people are guessing. The main reason though is how he has been training. for those who go to training sessions, you know they film all the sessions and drills and also monitor all players with their gps systems, and unfortunately for jack, he wasn't doing what they expect of all players, all the time. once he shows consistent effort for the entire session, he will be back in. Even if not picked for the WCE game, have been told it is highly unlikely he won't play round 1 for us!

If it happens, I'll be close to the action because Joel Smith assume that's the Smith you're thinking about) and Max Gawn are on my table. Er ... actually I'm on their table.

I've always thought he could be the best of them. I try not to post when everyone carries on about clarry and how he has the biggest upside since everyone should be able to wax lyrical about their current favorite but Gussy could easily be the next pendlebury. He has incredible football smarts and is always where he needs to be. The only mistakes he makes are typical young player ones, the occasionally poor disposal. I won't carry on, but that boy is going to be something special. He isn't a showboat so i think it will sneak up on people but even at this early stage he is able to motor around and just be in the right place at the right time. He can go inside or out with equal skill. He can kick in the left or right with equal skill. He is the full package. Okay maybe i did carry on a little

tiers, do you really think that FD's of any club tell the whole truth to the media? Your conclusion that it is bad treatment entirely to do with the failure to come clean on the story, comes from a fantasy land where the media reports accurately and tells the entire story, where no one lies and everyone knows everything about everyone. I have news for you, such a place does not exist. If you choose to take snippets of information and come to conclusions I say you are speculating. To claim that bad treatment is a fact is ludicrous. For all we know the club could be protecting Jack from a situation far worse than discussed here. So get off the high horse, none of us really know what is going on and probably never will.

Great that this bloke is being sheltered from external expectation by Trac and others. at another time we would have been relying on Gus to be the future I really rate him, he is a lot more than an inside midfeilder, he is truely an all rounder. even in JLT I remember he took possession, saw a player coming, dropped the shoulder and ran around hime so easily. he is a natural talent, great fella and fierce competitor 3 weeks til round 1! bring it Gus

Man it's nice to have other people agree with you

Very funny... You couldn't name another player who has been smashed more on here than Jack Watts. And yeah, looking forward to football - if Jack wants to be a part of it, he would be a huge asset, and if this is the beginning of the end then so be it. Bit numb to the theatrics, also just want the laundry to win, hard to care about who is in the laundry.

It is possible off field 'issues' and training standards are linked and so both have been problematical (and therefore the posters who seems to contradict each other are, in fact both correct). If he has been partying a bit hard it would clearly have an impact on his capacity to push himself super hard in training - unless you are Ben Cousins. In my view off field activities are no ones business - until such time as it affects training or playing or standards (or of course it brings the club in to disrepute eg Dustin Martin or involves something like family violence etc). Whatever the cause or reason the bottom line is he has not been training at the required intensity. Which as i have said before is simply not good enough, particularly for a senior players and perhaps the most talented player on the list. How embarrassing for him to have a young whipper snapper like trac have to say something in an interview like "jack knows what he has to do, he is STILL an important player for us''. Lucifer i see your point about the fact this has been going on for months but i am assuming they have addressed it with him. An until the last 2-3 weeks he has failed to fully address the issue. Yes this is a guess but to my mind if true his makes it Jack's behavior worse, I put Jack in my top 10 all time favorite player list so i can barely be a bigger fan but i fully support the approach taken by Goodwin and the club. And i'm really annoyed and frustrated with jack to be honest. i hope he is selected in Round 1 because that will indicate he has fully addressed the issue of training at the required intensity. But i hope they don't pick him if he has not done the work. there can only be one rule.

It seems the EFC apologists cannot win anywhere: McDevitt cleared of lying allegations by the Senate Estimates Committee. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/senate-estimates-committee-clears-ben-mcdevitt-over-false-evidence-claim-20170301-guom9v.html Importantly, he states the requested Senate Inquiry won't change anything: "One plain fact I would make is the obvious point that a Senate inquiry cannot have the effect of setting aside the rulings of either the finding of lawfulness of ASADA's actions by the full bench of the Federal Court, nor of the findings of doping violations against Essendon players by the Court of Arbitration for Sport," he said. "A second plain fact I make is that so far as anti-doping matters can be litigated, either on merit or process, the Essendon matters have been finalised." It is good and important that those facts are on the record in the Senate, which is where the requested Senate Inquiry will be considered. McDevitt is a clever man.

My bad, brain fade.

Great report. With regards to your two questions... It makes sense Weideman will play, because he's been preferred in a "best 24", hasn't been a liability, and will only improve with further exposure at the highest level. It doesn't make sense to pick him throughout the preseason and then mothball him for round one. It doesn't make sense to play both Gawn and Spencer, because Spencer isn't a ruck/forward or forward/ruck. He's a ruck only. We'll be as good as a man down on a fast deck at Etihad by playing Spencer. Gawn can ruck 80-85% and I'd rather improvise the other 15-20% than play Spencer. I expect Watts to play and in turn take the odd ruck contest.

Here's my best 22 for round 1 and summary for each player. Enjoy! B: Jetta TMac Hibberd HB: Hunt OMac MelkshamC: Stretch Tyson LewisHF: Petracca Hogan Bugg F: Garlett Weideman WattsR: Gawn Jones Viney I: Oliver, Brayshaw, Vince, Salem Jetta: Small defender who can do a lock down job on the best small forwards in the game but is average offensively. Luckily we now have lots more options down back so he can concentrate on what he does best. May get squeezed out over time due to new gameplay and team structure. TMac: A lock for key defender, defends well but is hit and miss offensively. A rung below the A grade key defenders such as Rance or McGovern, but still a very good key defender. As long as he doesn't make too many stuff ups offensively that cost us turn over goals then he has potential to push for All Australian selection. Hibberd: Intercepts well and has a big kick on him. Will take a bit of time to find form but will likely become our most consistent backman as the year progresses. Hunt: Lock for a rebounding defender spot. Provides great dash, just needs to get back and defend well like he did last year and make sure he uses the options around him sometimes too instead of running himself into trouble. OMac: Lock for other key defender spot alongside his brother. He was very raw last year but he got better as time went on. He needs to improve his intensity with defending as he is sometimes weak in the contest, but offensively he is more reliable than his brother. Melksham: Lock for halfback role. The coaches love him. He reads it well, has decent pace, decent skills and is a well rounded footballer. Gets a bad wrap from people who don't have great football knowledge. Last match he was one of our best players behind Petracca setting up multiple rebounds that lead to scoring chains and beating his man time and time again. He'll be an asset for years to come due to versatility of being able to play back, mid and forward. Stretch: Had a really good developing year last year. He gets to good spots, stays calm under pressure, uses his good agility to get out of tight situations. While he is an outside player, he has built up his body more over preseason and isn't afraid to go when he needs to. Think he will be great for us long term and said so on here when he was drafted. Exciting prospect. Tyson: Hopefully he is fit for Round 1. He's still really underrated as a midfielder and is super on the inside. He has played some top shelf games the past few years, and when he hasn't been battling fitness and form due to knee concerns he has been great. His second half last season was really solid. He is great around contests and likes a sneaky goal too. Would be a lock if it weren't for injury question mark. Lewis: Lock. He can play anywhere we need him. We've seen dominate in the midfield and then also fall back into defence and save the day. He's an elite footballer with great football knowledge and leadership. We are so lucky we got him for peanuts. Super exciting to add him to the team this year and he'll help us further up the ladder. Petracca: Lock for half forward. He's ready to explode. Great offensively, getting better defensively, if his set shots are fixed up, which they appear to be so far this preseason, he'll have a huge year and have an impact up forward and rotating through the midfield. Still not sure what his ceiling is! Jet! Hogan: Lock at CHF. Looks lean and mean. Hopefully he has a better year infant of goals and helps guide young Weideman. He'll push up the ground and have an impact at stages too as we saw on the weekend. I really like him playing at CHF as he is super fit and can beat defenders in so many different ways. Could this be the year he explodes and finishes near the top of the Coleman? Hopefully! Bugg: I love Buggy. Ideally Kent would be playing half forward, but I doubt he will be ready for Round 1 due to injury. Buggy is the perfect role player. He will be in and out of the team but he is versatile, can play lock down, can win ball, can kick a few goals. He's our best depth IMO ahead of guys like Vandenberg, Harmes, JKH, ANB. Garlett: Our best small forward at present. He will hopefully kick his 40 goals again this year which is a good return. He will have more completion from below than in the past though. Weideman: A bit like Oscar last year, he's a bit raw and probably isn't the best option if Pedo is fit, but they will pump games into him as he has the talent and attributes to be great for us long term. Like Oscar he just needs to attack the contest with more intensity as he is inconsistent with this at present. Got a great leap and good skills. Watts: Should be a lock up forward. Kicked roughly 40 goals last year, setup countless others, he was superb. Suffering the storm in a teacup media bullish*t at the moment so hopefully lines up in Round 1. We are worse off without him. Only Petracca rivals him for scoring assist at present. Jack just has beautiful vision and kicking skills. Hoping he has a year as good or better than 2016. If he does he may push for All Australian. Gawn: Lock for ruck obviously. Hopefully he is as good or better than 2016 and the new rule change helps him. He's probably our most important player in our push for finals this year IMO. Jones: Lock. With more talent around him I think we'll see him running round free a bit more and doing less grunt work. That's fine by me as he's developed into a really damaging kick both around the ground and for goals. Excited for him to finally taste some success after battling manfully through years of rubbish. Viney: Lock and hoping he keeps improving and pushes for All Australian standard. He was nearly there last year. He still needs to work on his kicking, but other than that he is great around stoppages, great offensively, great defensively, and a surprisingly strong mark for someone his size. Oliver: Lock. My favourite player looks set for a big year through the midfield. He's such and exciting prospect. He's elite around stoppages, has insanely good vision and hands. he is a really good kick too so if he starts finding more space and not handballing every time he gets the ball he will become even more damaging. Love his intensity. He'll become our best player and win a Brownlow in a few years I hope! Brayshaw: Has had a good preseason and looks to have put the injury concerns of last year behind him. I don't think his ceiling is as high as Petracca or Oliver, but people may have forgotten how damaging he can be. I really like him when he is streaming forward from behind the ball setting up scoring opportunities. He's a really strong tackler as well. Vince: Can play anywhere. I prefer him midfield but he may be squeezed out over time. Looks to be helping down back but I'd love to see him up forward more. He can launch a long goal or hit passes to leading forwards. Salem: Hopefully he is past his injury and health issues. Moving to the midfield will be great for him. He's average as a defender, though obviously a decent rebounder due to great kicking skills. If he plays midfield and forward he has a great balance of inside and outside and the ability to his the scoreboard. Top 5 BnF potential this year if he stays fit.

You haven't offered a solution to "bring the speculation to an end and come clean" though. What if the details are more damaging than the KPIs generalisation and speculation? You're offering nothing. "How to play the flute - blow in one end and move your fingers up and down on the other" Yeah thanks.

cue saty telling us how incompetent/corrupt/politically-influenced ukad/wada are

I'm a big fan of Tom McDonald but not when his name is used in the same sentence as "fearless football " It may be an over complicated message but perhaps Tom's brand should be "first option football" and then whoever he gives it to can be fearless

One of my best mates who for way of background is Asian and an Essendon supporter. He would have gone to 2 games in the last 10 years both of them Melb v Essendon with me. He called me today and said his 5 year old niece has asked him if he would take her to the womens footy this weekend. Make no mistake this women's footy is taking off and we are the founders.

I get a generic cut + paste response everytime I email the club, so this seems a more likely place to get a decent answer.

Nonsense. It shows the club is fair dinkum and not a bunch of hand-wringers wondering how to handle the golden child.

With so much of the early emphasis at last night's MFC season launch on respect for our country and indigenous heritage, I was a little surprised at the lack of mention of Saturday's game between the Casey Demons and the Central Australian Redtails. The Redtails have embraced the Right Tracks Program which seems to me to be a truly worthwhile initiative to help young people in communities in the region to progress through life with a focus on helping them find work and also advance through playing sport. I suppose we might never know whether that concept might have helped Liam Jurrah before his life and footy career went awry. Possibly not but perhaps young people in the area will have better opportunities in the future as a result. There's been very little publicity given to the game which is unfortunate. Firstly, because of the worthwhile aspects described above and secondly, because this game will be the club's first under the Casey Demons banner, a fact which seems to be escaping almost unnoticed.

Doesn't hurt watts to get a kick up the arse in the preseason. I am sure some or most of us have had it in our work places at some stage. It will be how he reacts to it that's important.

I love the way his hands just seem to emerge from the pack or tackle in slow motion and then extend out Inspector Gadget style and hit a target like a bullet. There's something about it that's different to the usual 'slick' hands... it's quick but more deliberate looking and somehow really easy to spot despite the speed. Great to watch.

He plays for Brisbane now?

Hunt will definitely be picked. Now to go off topic a little, but ProDee, I'm just wondering where you got that shot of Jabba the Hut from, that you're using for your profile pic

Yes, so very familiar. ...and the doctor's records went missing doctor was the only one that knew what was in the bag but knows it was not the illegal stuff no records of purchasing the legal stuff but had bought more than what was needed of the illegal stuff that Wiggins had medical exemptions for in some cases. No explanation as to where the extra illegal stuff went. UKAD had met with 'a degree of resistance' in their investigation no audit trail the doctor works for the team and the governing body It is chapter and verse the EFC story! They learnt the art of obfuscation very well. Can only hope that UKAD has the fortitude of USAD (Lance Armstrong) and ASADA (Essendon) to relentlessly pursue Wiggins and Team Sky.

What I love is how most posters seemingly want to make out that it's entirely Goodwin and the FD's fault and none of it lies at the feet of Watts, as if he hasn't done a thing wrong and they've just decided to treat him poorly for the sake of it. Madness.

Whatever happens, Garland will always have the 2012 game against Essendon, where he switched forward, took a bunch of grabs, kicked two goals in the last quarter and broke the cheat's season. Colin Garland has vanquished evil!

What Neeld said was fine, but he had no idea how to implement it.

It's all well and good. We have played a good brand of footy in the pre-season but as we know when the real stuff starts and we lose some games the pressure comes on. That's when you can tell whether the team will go back to bad old habits or whether the team has genuinely turned the corner in terms of attitude. For years I have been writing about and lamenting our ability to run and spread. This takes confidence and belief in your teamates that they will honour your lead move the ball quickly and follow up with options. We have started that way before and fallen into a heap. I genuinely see this team as different now but will wait til the real stuff starts before believing it has finally changed.

No, but many would be surprised if it doesn't happen by Round 1.

A few years back I missed out on a Neil Finn show under the same scenario. After 10 minutes tickets were on sale on ticketmaster resell at 5 times face value. I sent a blister of an email to them - it is scalping - nothing more, nothing less. If they provided a service of reselling tickets people couldn't use at face value plus take a service fee I wouldn't have a problem but they are aiding and abetting scalping. I got no response. I called the ACCC and they sympathised but said that scalping legislation is limited to sport events like the Grand Final. It did have a happy ending. I was so angry I contacted Neil Finns management. They were unaware at that stage of ticketmaster resell. They were disgusted but said both agencies - ticketek and ticketmaster were hopeless. They found tickets to the show for me !!

it's no good me reporting after the fact (but I will) that I have heard JW was pushing himself at the end of drills last pre-season. It wasn't unusual for him to run over others at the end and really push it out. This pre-season he hasn't. It's been noticed by observers but not only observations the GPS doesn't lie and I'm guessing it confirms what I have been told.

Even discussing it feels like flogging a dead horse.

I guess this comes up for me when trying to get tickets for the upcoming Midnight Oil shows. A big fail...pre sale seats not available within a minute of going on sale, general public tickets worse. ...and then Ticketmaster have resale tickets immediately available on their site for hugely inflated prices. I smell a rat. I'm going off info on Facebook but they tell me apart from GF day in Melbourne scalping isn't illegal. I don't know what the Government gets from this but surely there is no reason for scalping to be made illegal and the dodgy practices of major ticket agencies legislated against. Seems to be a big conflict of interest for the ticket people here who profess to be against scalping then set up systems to encourage it.

So the poor people that can't make it and likely bought naximum tickets sell back for a higher price? And ticket whatever there name is, on sell the ticket at an inflated price? Taking a commission or charging a fee on top of the original admin fee?

Does that surprise you? Peter Garrett's political radar is woeful. I am not a fan of left wing politics but when you are one of the greatest Australian musicians ever on the back of an agenda, if you foolishly enter politics at least stick up for the principals that gave you that platform. I have no time for the Greens but would have much more respect for Garrett if he went down that path.

JLT round one - 5 kicks, 16 handballs JLT round two - 7 kicks, 12 handballs Would rather that at 1:1, but his hands are so good so just under 1:1 wouldn't be terrible.

At the start of the 2016 season nobody had Hunt in the best 22. Most probably didn't even have him in Casey's best 22. Now there is not a single best 22 on Demonland without him starting on the ground. We're 20 pages in to this thread and not one has a side without Hunt. Amazingly he is being picked ahead of Jetta. We have serious depth and that is partly because we now have the right structures in place to develop talent properly.

Thanks for that. Watched Goodwin's interview today in AFL tonight and he mentioned that his lack of intensity was also self admitted by Jack. In years gone by they probably would have let it slide, but with so many training the house down, and a hard line approach, it wasn't acceptable this time.

Didn't get the email? I received it a while ago.

Garland's best was 2011 to 2013 and that was very, very good. He read the play well, attacked at the right times and had the Dustin Fletcher style 'go-go-gadget arms.' Unlike most on our list, his peak years were under Bailey and Neeld. We do tend to forget that he has also had some pretty serious foot and ankle injuries to overcome in his career, which may have inhibited his development. His best football easily gets him a spot in our back six, but alas, we haven't seen that for a few years now. Strangely enough, he hasn't thrived under Roos like others have and at this stage I don't see a place for him unless there is a big turn around in form. I hope he does; I have a very soft spot for Garland along with Trengove as they were players who stood up through the tough years and now look like they won't be able to be part of the good ones. Like Grimes, none of Garland's issues on field stem from lack of effort or passion.

Trivia Question: How many coaches (including stand-ins after sackings) has Colin Garland played at least one AFL game under? Answer: 8 That's roughly one coach for every 17.5 AFL games he has played. Or, one new coach per 4.25 wins he has played in. I just really hope that, by whatever quirk of list management or sudden burst of form, he gets a run of games at some point this season and gets to play and win a final or four. Some excerpts from the 'footywire.com' bio: Wednesday, 7 October 2015 Colin Garland rejects free agency and commits to Melbourne until the end of the 2018 season. "I told my manager I didn't want to speak to any other club, but it's funny after seeing one of my great mates [James Frawley] win a premiership on the weekend, because you have to be envious of success," Garland said. "I was watching the game and people said, 'Wouldn't you love success?' and I said, 'It wouldn't mean anything to me unless it was with Melbourne'. Wednesday, 10 June 2015 Colin Garland will spend some time on the sidelines after undergoing surgery for a broken hand. Garland showed extraordinary courage to play out the Queen Birthday's game against Collingwood despite sustaining the injury in the first quarter. "[He] knew that we were struggling a little bit and one man down, so he played the whole game with a broken hand," Melbourne fitness coach Dave Misson said. Friday, 6 September 2013 Nathan Jones has taken out his second successive best and fairest award for the Demons, winning the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Memorial Trophy. Jones won with 365 votes in a remarkably close count, just shading consistent defender Colin Garland who finished on 360 votes.

I hate Choo Chho. His name should be Clearance Oliver.