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It was just announced that Justin Plapp, the Casey coach, will be coaching the Victorian interstate side this year. Huge upside for Plappy, he has done a great job so far with the club and don't be surprised to see him as an AFL Senior coach sometime in the future. I will be going to the practice match vs Port Melbourne on Sunday and will be planning to write a report on the match, highlighting both MFC players and any outstanding Casey listed players.

Is it just me or has Melbourne's website, social media and all round communication been in the bin lately? A classic example is the player's page on the website which still has some images up from 2015, while new players have just been clipped out of other images. We seem to be getting less and less injury information whereby we rely on news reports to find out what is happening instead of the the club just coming out and saying. Yes, the season hasn't stared yet but I just feel like the club has gone backwards in this regard and it's extremely frustrating.

Finally the real stuff is almost with us and anyone who watched the Saints take on Sydney last night would know that our Rd 1 mission is going to be major. Richardson is a defensive master, a bit like Malthouse before his ego took over, and you just had to admire how he has developed a defence that scrags (the treatment on Buddy by Carlisle was amazing, mainly because they kept getting away with it) and a hard midfield that hunts in packs and a bunch of forwards that know how to tackle. You can tell their style by the fact that Acres can't get a game - they don't care about skills if you aren't tough as well. It won't be easy and it isn't a game where we can pick a side on hope - hence I am in the Spencer, not Weideman camp. The reason for that is twofold. 1) So far Weids has laid about as many tackles up forward as Jack Watts - it rarely happens because he still lacks the agility and the strength. Weids day will come, but he ain't ready and certainly not for this one. 2) Only one ruckman beat/matched Gawn twice last year - Hickey. He jumps early to counter Maxy and works hard on the ground. If there is one game you want Maxy to finish off strongly it is against the Saints and if he's got no support (Watts gave him a chop out when he rucked against Bruce last year), he will tire. If Spencer plays we have cover, should one of Hickey's early jumps give Maxy a corkie and we also have a winning back-up against Bruce when Gawny has a rest. St Kilda may counter by playing longer, but I doubt it because they already have four tall forwards (if you include Riewoldt on the wing). And whilst Spencer will lack mobility up forward, he is more likely to lay a tackle than Weids at this stage. he also has a bit more mongrel - which is what we will need against the Saints - they aren't Carlton! This week at Casey, hopefully four of our keys play well after injury - Kent, Garlett, Hibberd and Jetta - as all are in our best 22 when fit. The two crucial issues for the selectors to discuss after last week are: How do we get the tackling intensity/pressure back up to a high level again after we were so poor in that area against West Coast without VDB, JKH and Jeffy? That's why at least one of Kent or Garlett will come in barring injury concerns and IMO, in a selection shock Hannan will be considered if he dominates at VFL level this weekend. How are we going to counter/stop wingman Roo on the lead up and from kick-ins? We can't afford for T-Mac to play on him again and with Frost out we don't have enough talls to mark him anyway. So my go would be to treat him as a midfielder and play a good spoiler. Riewoldt is still not a natural when the ball hits the ground, so he can be exploited. Vince has been suggested and he's a good negater but he has been doing the kick-in duties. So maybe Lewis or Brayshaw? I'm going with Vince though and would rather if Col or Oscar kicked in for a change. Here's my Rd 1 team: B: Jetta or Hibberd (Billings or Gresham) Oscar (Bruce) Garland (Membrey) HB: Hunt (Webster or Wright) T-Mac (McCartin) Lewis (Weller) C: Vince (Riewoldt) Viney (Steven) Salem (Gresham or Billings) HF: Brayshaw Hogan Melksham F: Kent or Garlett Watts Petracca Ru: Gawn Oliver N.Jones Int: Spencer, Tyson, Stretch, Bugg Emerg: Harmes, Weid, Neal Bullen or Hannan

Yeah good. Has put on a fair bit of muscle, up to 96 or 97 kgs now. He hurt his ankle last week but it was nothing serious and he should be right for this weeks practice match. Now that he has done a full pre season, he thinks he needs at least another one to really hit his stride. Even though he is the fittest he's ever been, he's natural tank has never been that great and he says he really needs to work on it to be able to be really competitive when playing with the seniors. He's able to fight hard and compete well for the first 75-80% of the match sims etc. but slows down at the end because he loses stamina. I don't know if he'll get a gig this season, but if he manages to be in great form this year, you never know.

Agreed - if this is the way we stress about the Saints, imagine when we play GWS, Sydney, etc. That's not to say they're not a good team, they certainly look up and about, but the way they're being discuss on DL you'd think they'd be flag favorites. StKilda will have a lot of eyes on them this year, the classic hunter becoming the hunted - no one will take them lightly and that brings with it a new pressure of expectation that that young team has not had in recent years. A lot of this comes from the fact that we haven't beaten them in so long but much of it is from the way they seems to consistently lift when playing against us and we completely drop our bundle. In both matches last year we played terribly against them and, in the second match in particular, we had every chance of still pinching. Petracca missed a couple of sitters, Hogan's goal reversed when touched on the line, Brayshaw having some terrible turn-overs in the corridor. At our best, we can beat anyone... just a matter of which Melbourne and which StKilda turns up. From an MFC point of view, the VFL practice match this weekend is very, very important for us to hopefully get some players up.

In todays paper, is anyone else "Staggered" that Rob Flower isn't in any columnists best? I am... even Doug Hawkins figures and Corey Enright !! Doug Hawkings,and Corey Enright , better than Rob Flower ??LOL Obviously these blokes never saw his influence and influenece over 274 games of footy, not to mention his "Megastar" status in State games! An absolute disgrace he was overloked IMV.

I think that just about every match discussion about the womens' game carries with it some comment about the standard of the matches being well below those of the men. To that, I say - "well, what do you really expect? The men's AFL competition has been going for 120 years (much of it as the VFL) and before that, it was developing for about 40 years. Womens' footy has been around for a fraction of that and in many instances it was shunned by the general community that even today still regards playing the game as "unladylike". For years, boys have from a young age been encouraged and taught at home, at school and via junior clubs to play football but not so girls. It wasn't much more than a decade ago that three young girls had to engage a senior counsel in VCAT to win the right to play in a boy's competition in Melbourne's southern suburbs. The boys have had the benefit of elite pathways in the sport through the TAC Cup system and the AIS academies since the early 1990s. The TAC Cup system is only now being opened up for girls so it will take time for playing and fitness standards to rise. When that happens, there's no doubt that we will see a marked improvement in skills and an even better spectacle at AFLW level. Let's also remember the physical differences between the genders play a role and our expectations should not be measured by direct comparisons. The Gippsland Power TAC Cup squads had fitness testing yesterday and one report indicated that in the beep test, Travis Bindley had the best test out of the boys with a 15.6 while Holly Whitford scored the best of the girls with 10.1. That's a big gap and it's understandable but it will narrow in time. Unlike in other areas of life where women do outshine men, it's a big ask at present to expect complete equality in the physical area. Of course, we don't know what will happen in the future but we should, at least for the time being, cut the womens' games some slack and allow for the fact that the skills in the infancy of the game at the top level will not be the same as in the AFL and that direct comparisons are therefore not valid. I recall not long ago watching a grainy monochrome film of an early 1900s VFL match between Carlton and South Melbourne and some of the skills displayed there were quite laughable by today's standards. So who knows what the AFLW will look like in 100 year's time when the sport has had that much time to develop? In the meantime, let's enjoy the efforts of our pioneers - the Pearces, Paxmans, O'Ddeas ... and of course, the famous Melbourne names of the Cordners and Mithens as they battle away next week for the right to become part of womens' football history.

FMD!! Why would you want to be on Stu's supporter page?

I can only assume that you're posting from an asylum. Or one of the great posts.

Been saying for a long time that its one of the worst in the AFL. I brought up the issue about the player profiles still being there from 2015 and got howled down by Saty who said it was a none issue and will be back to normal.. oh and apparently i should 'get over myself' over such a small issue. Another issue was the lack of advertising and promotion for the Casey v NT redtails game that the footy club organised. For a club that is trying to build through the NT we failed once again to promote the game and get supporters down to watch. Barely anyone at the game.

But you did notice... just now... when you posted about it. (There's also not a whole lot of emotion in wanting to observe the form of a broad range of players on our list before the season starts.)

I'm not confident but I'm with you skinny. We haven't beaten this mob since I was free of tinea. If we are to demonstrate the improvement that has been touted so widely, then this is one of the teams we must knock over. I also imagine a win in this one would blast the [censored] out of our membership numbers.

My biggest concern is if we go into this game without Kent & Garlett. ANB really is not in the same class as these two as a small forward and lacks their pace. I really hope both can play in the Casey practice match and get enough match fitness to play Round 1. I'd also like to see Dion Johnstone get a full run in that Casey game as well as I've heard good things about him.

He's been disappointing. Has he kicked a goal in the 3 games ? Might have kicked one. I was looking on a Saints forum today and a few posters agreed he's not presently in their best team, but they know he'll be selected. His physique still looks like that of a bush full-forward.

Melbourne supporters are better than most at talking up other teams. Riewoldt plays on a wing these days. Membrey and Bruce are hot and cold. McCartin has not played a quality game of AFL that I have seen yet but will be good. Jack Stevens is probably the most under rated player on a list but him aside they are an ok list held together by some elite players who are passed their best. We pressure well and execute well forward of centre and we win and win well.

Last night Reiwoldt 7 marks, Bruce 6, McCartin 4, Membrey 1. Contested marks Bruce 4, McCartin 1 Reiwoldt and Membrey 0. They aren't all that good. Reiwoldt plays off the bench and wing. Can't run like he used to. All we have to do is stop turnovers.

In the past few years, the Hun has lost a lot of older footy journos - Sheahan, Trevor Grant (who just passed away last week), Daryl Timms, Geoff Poulter and Bruce Matthews - who had a much longer perspective of the game and its champions than most of their current crop of journos. It's a huge loss of institutional memory, and things like this suffer as a result. Of the 9 panellists, only Jon Anderson and Malthouse are old enough to have seen the full careers of the champions of yesteryear, like Flower and Wilson.

One thing is certain, should we beat the Saints in R1 you'd better hold onto your hat. It'll be a wild and exciting ride in season 2017.

Hang on. You want us to be in with a chance don't you?

Also as Clint has pointed out injury updates have completely dried up. Joel Smith didn't play in both the WC game and Casey intra club match. And as you say, simple updates to know whats going on with certain players. If we are forking cash for memberships etc then we have every right to lnow whats going on within the club.

My biggest concern is still the midfield. which might sound surprising. Potentially it's terrific, but unless some key components can take the next step then we won't be finals bound in 2017. On the weekend the 3 highest rating players for West Coast were their mids in Gaff (145), Masten (125) and Mitchell (123). Priddis and Shuey round out a very solid top 5 group of mids. Melbourne's highest ranking mids were Oliver (123), Lewis (93) and Bugg (85). Viney and Tyson need to take their games to a higher level and I'm not convinced they will in 2017. Lewis and Jones can't afford to drop off (I don't think they will). Salem needs to start stamping himself as a quality week-in week-out mid. Stretch needs to elevate his game and Brayshaw needs to have more midfield minutes and not just be a 10-15 possession high half-forward. Vince seems destined for a back-line role, which further robs the midfield; Bugg is little more than a run of the mill role player, and Petracca plays forward. I'm as excited by our future prospects as the next supporter, but I have these nagging doubts whether 2017 will be the year all of these unknowns come together they way we'd like. Oliver will become a genuine superstar and start making some serious inroads, but my concern is we're still short on the genuine midfield class necessary to play consistent finals-bound footy. If the midfield pops it makes life so much easier for the back-line and forward-line. A dominant midfeild will help cover the cracks we have down back.

Goodwin: Jack, we've named you as the emergency for the first two of our preseason matches so far and we're going to do it again this Thursday. The fact that you've been the emergency three times says that you're close to selection, but not close enough to be given any game time at all - the JLT cup is just too important to us. While you've had a good preseason it is essential that we get plenty of game time into Vince, Jones and Lewis; these fellas need to learn what it is to be a senior footballer. While there have been many people questioning your pace against AFL standard players... we've decided not to test this. While there have been some who question your best position... we've also decided not to test this. We have a plan A and will deal with plan B if the need should ever arise. By the way, you're suiting up for the Casey intra-club as soon as you step off the red-eye from Perth. Good chat.

Goodwin: "Jack your just outside the best team this week and you'll play if we get any fresh injury. We are going to take an extra player to cover us but they won't get a run if there are no injuries. You're the man but if you don't want to go over there on that basis we'll take someone else" Trengove: "Go stuff yourself Goodwin. I was captain of this club long before you came and you're not respecting me as a player. Take someone else, I don't want the chance if it comes up". Not.

Don't worry about it 'picket', especially when one considers who the selectors were: Mick Malthouse, Dermott Brereton, David King, Mark Robinson, Jon Anderson, Jon Ralph, Glenn McFarlane, Scott Gullan and Sam Edmund. Hardly a footy brain among them! Only 3 of the 9 have ever played AFL and only one has coached. Nah, no footy credibility on that panel. They probably never saw Robbie play and being a quiet fellow he isn't front of mind. Let's face it research isn't exactly a HS forte. Its a click bait article.

Last night was a JLT cup game at an unusual shaped and sized oval against a side used to playing there and who are a legitimate top 4 and premiership contender. Our zone, press and diamond defence need to work first and foremost at the MCG. Last night was not a good indicator of its effectiveness by any measure. It is incredibly frustrating to watch when the opposition get goals over the back from pressing up to high or when they dissect us with precision when we are standing in a diamond and the opposition have loose players. But it doesn't matter how frustrating it is visually, if it is an effective game plan where the rewards outweigh the risks it is well worth it. Time will tell but I have a feeling we are in for a roller coaster ride.

Hodgey is a legend so he's allowed to drink drive and that.

Wait. Back up. There's a Microsoft 6? Get me to Dick Smith. There's still Dick Smith stores right?

I supported someone with this query on Feb. Our friend Stu A objected and banned me from his supporter page. I still think we miss the boat with merchandise and supporter information

Garland ... surely you jest. I understand watching a game on the telly can be missleading but watching him live last week he was a liabiity and not in my best 32 never mind starting 18 for round 1.

Yep, you're probably right, they probably put no thought into how they'd structure their last hit out before the season proper, just fly by the seat of their pants and hope for the best. Alternatively they thought it would be funny to play a joke on Jack, tell him he was playing and then say "just tricking" at the last moment. Or perhaps they just wanted to pizz him right off and get him and all his mates offside. What a wicked bunch they are. Honestly sometimes I despair but I'll just move on.

This is the end, beautiful friend This is the end, my once captain, the end Of our elaborate plans, the end Of everything that stands, the end No safety or surprise, the end I'll never look at your "9", again Can you picture what will be, way out at Casey Desperately in need, of high disposal tally On the MCG ... The coach awoke before dawn, he got his clipboard out He took a New Balance training jacket from the ancient cupboard And he walked on down the hall And he came to a door, and he looked inside Jack? yes coach? I want to drop you Trenners ... I want to ... delist you ... This is the end, my once captain, the end It hurts to set you free But you'll never get on the 'G This is the end

Sydney midfield provides consistent pressure to the ball carrier, not allowing them time and space for precision delivery. This is something we did in weeks 1 and 2 of the JLT, but failed to do against WCE. Tall forward-lines like StKilda's need good delivery; good defense starts in the midfield.

Some may underestimate the benefit of trialling a ( knocking on door ) fit player under real game conditions at the top level

I think you underestimate the benefit of players playing together. It's about knowing what your teammates do, where they run and how they play. It's no surprise that good teams are stable teams. Our first few games are critical to our season and we need to maximise those chances. Giving a game to someone who is probably between 25 and 30 on our list (the FD opinion not mine) when players such as Kent, Garlett, Hibbert, Frost and perhaps Smith are close is of no benefit to MFC. I like Jack but we need to stop thinking of him as a good bloke who we want to give a go to and look at what's best for MFC.

On level 4 of the Cricket Club enclosure at the MCG you will find rhe Robert Flower terrace. At the same venue there is no Doug Hawkins terrace! The Robert Flower terrace will remain as long as the enclosure stands, while the pages of the Herald Sun contribute to Land fill.

I think Im just burned still by Neeld. He made it his aim to "get tough" with all the players ...and, lets face it, was cheered on by many on this site to do so. We all know how that ended. Roos got so much out of the players using a very different method. So when Goody "gets tough" with Watts or makes a hard call with JT its hard not t be reminded of the darkest years this footy club has ever known. I think Goody generally is a big players man...and from what Ive read has excellent relationships with them and the coaches. His moves with JW and JT have def made me nervous but he's gotta find out who HE is as a coach. The last thing we want is someone too scared to make tough calls.

One thing that stood out was the game of young Jasmine Grierson as you mentioned. Her effort in the second half and composure at the contest were a real highlight for me. I honestly think she has a huge future in this competition and could possibly become one of the AFLW guns in a few years. She moves with purpose and seems to always have enough time to make the right decision when in traffic. I really hope we get over Fremantle on Saturday at Casey because on current form, I think Collingwood could very well beat Adelaide. The big test for both us and the Crows is the recovery after such a gruelling contest up in Darwin. Would be a remarkable comeback if we managed to jag the open spot in the GF after our slow start to the season.

Leigh Matthews should have spent time in Pentridge why is he so revered????

The Hun, meh... Surprised they can count to 50

The thing is Dazzle, a team can only have 1 dedicated tagger. So between Viney,Choo Choo, Gus, Tyson and Jones it really does mean that whoever isn't tagged, should be able to exert maximum influence on a game. A very nice postion to be in and one which we havent been in for years!

Some of you people are far too precious! Jesus - we should re-draft Morton for the way we treated him over his career.. I'm sorry, but you guys are nuts if you think JT had no idea that was going to happen.. And I am very certain he would be happy enough to be close to making the best 22!! From where he has come from that is an achievement in itself! The coaches and selection staff don't have to answer to us for the reasons they do things and for those who think it is a massive lack of respect, think about what industry we are in! Most other clubs wouldn't even have JT on their list this year. AFL life is cutthroat, and the people complaining will be the first to call for his delisting when he inevitably plays a game this year...

Didn't think this one thru, PD. Thanks for the chuckle.

Whilst I suspect the Goodwin has a good relationship with most players (judging from listening to a glowing endorsement from Tommy Mac the other day), I agree fully with Dante above! Jack has given a lot to the MFC since he was recruited as No. 2 in the draft, and certainly deserved to be given a chance to demonstrate his contribution post recovery. It was not just Goodwin's insensitivity in the humiliating way he named him and then flicked him, but the perception that this has created within the MFC family and the wider Football Community!

What a load of absolute drivel

Imagine Viney not getting a tag though, because he can't break one, whereas Clarry will be able to. It improves our midfield and gives players like Viney and Tyson a few extra moments to get rid of it.

No disrespect to others but Clarry's impact with ball in hand already makes him our best midfielder. Its now all about game and quarter consistency and when a tag shifts to him (which it will very quickly) how he goes. The addition of his outside work we are starting to see shows how quickly he is developing. Lock to be in the pivot round 1 first bounce against saints I reckon.

Strange that Pederson has been left out of the mix. He can play ruck, forward and chop out down back and is more mobile than Pencil. Would be handy against the Saints

Maybe Jack loves Perth for its rich culture Ethan.Or perhaps he can get puzzles done on the plane.

G'day, Happy. I can't recall seeing the team breakdown as listing emergencies. Trengove was in his playing kit, sitting on the pine all game - a practice game. I can't imagine it would be an enjoyable experience for any professional and driven athlete - particularly for a bloke with a history of battling through adversity like JT has. I and many others feel for him. Maybe if you put yourself in his shoes you would too.