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Dees by 10 goals. Hogan loves Etihad and he'll kick 12 on Carlisle and Brown. Viney to have 40 touches and slam Mav Weller into the turf once again. The McDonald brothers to have 20 intercept marks and not miss a target. I'm being conservative here, too.

Encouraging to see Garlett, Jetta, Kennedy and Kent in the main group. Smith,Wagner and Weideman in rehab. Frost there but no running as yet. JKH had a kick, looked Ok but retired early.

I got there late so I missed the rehab group. Watts hurt his shoulder near the end and didn't finish the session. Looked like a stinger but I guess time will tell. The forwards where doing a drill where Chaplin kicked the ball up to 2 players from about 30 out and they both flew for the mark. Hulett came in from one side and shifted Watts in the air with his body and he landed pretty heavily on his shoulder. Too be honest it looked to be a pretty dangerous drill so I wasn't all the surprised when someone went down. Goodwin spent a long time with Oscar McDonald near the end of the session getting him to spoil Max one on one. He actually did pretty well, made some nice left hand spoils, held his ground and put his body in. Then Goodwin and Oscar were practising rapid fire short kicking on both sides of the body. They've often taken Oscar aside for some agility stuff before, so it seems the senior coach is continuing that theme of getting him moving. He has the skills so he just needs the intensity. Petracca, Brayshaw, Tommy Mc, Kennedy and Oliver did a kicking drill together. Kent provided some energy in the match simulation drills (10 v 7 using the corridor only). When it's on his kicking is a weapon. Hannan still a chance for rd 1 IMO, just offers something different to the rest of those in the half forward mix. Garlett training well, mostly with the main group but also did a few laps at good pace.

Jones, Vince, Tyson, Watts, Tom McDonald and potentially Spencer are the only players to saddle up in Roos first game as coach 3 years at the same venue. We had talent such as Terlich, Georgiou, Michie, Bail, Matt Jones and Fitzpatrick gracing the field that day. While I'm not overly confident it's not hard to understand our abysmal record against most teams, let alone the Saints at Etihad, with such poor AFL quality players. We're a totally different unit to teams gone by.

Hibberd looked very good. Sprinted close to full pace. Almost certain to play at Casey this week. Frost's training was ramped up later in the session. Plenty of one one one,sprints and fast lap running. Asked,and was given permission to kick on his left foot which he did with apparent ease. A chance for Sunday but round one unlikely. Looks very focused though.

i am not delusional enough to believe we will win every game. Do I believe if we bring our "A game" for 4 quarters that we can beat any team ? Absolutely.

The answer to the Weideman/Spencer debate is neither. Weideman will eventually be a very good player but isn't there yet. And we shouldn't every play two ruckmen given the influence Gawn has in the ruck. Either pick Pedersen or play small.

I got there for about 40 minutes and at one stage Max, Spencil and Pedo were doing a drill where a coach kicked the ball high for a contested marking situation in pairs, Max vs Spencil then Pedo v Max, Spencil v Pedo with Greg Stafford providing advice on body positioning each time. To me this was working on their contested forward marking skills as the resting ruck, deep in the forward line. Does it mean that Spencil or Pedo are in the mix as back up to Max? Who knows. The rest of the sessions while I was there were several quarter ground keepings off drills 5 attacking vs 4 defending, sometimes kicking, sometimes only handball. It all looked very sharp. One early drill they were using their non preferred foot. Mitch King was in full training even though he was listed as a LTI a few weeks ago I thought. I would have liked to see a bit more full ground simulation to get a feel for the game plan and who might be lining up where but no indication from today's drills. They might occur at one of those closed sessions at Gosch's.

I think we should alert the umpires around the 20 minute mark of the 1st qtr that MCCartin took a heavy knock and should be tested for concussion. I dont think he would pass a concussion test whether he got bumped or not.

I'm not surprised. The few times I've tuned in, there has been an inane conversation/segment, hosted by knuckleheads.

I don't know where most clubs rated him, but the Doggies held a function during the offseason where their head recruiter was on the panel and a mate of mine asked what he thought of Oliver. He said Oliver is the sort of player they would have loved to recruit, but he had him as second round. Of course, they didn't have a first round pick, so this could have just been another way to suggest that they would have taken him with their first pick if he'd been available... Regardless, I'm pretty happy to have him in the side, especially now that he's kicking more. Last year I was a little worried that his kicking could be a weakness, but seeing him wheel around in traffic and belt a low hard pass to the wing/HF was just awesome. The kid's going to be a player.

This is a massive game for Max Gawn, who was towelled up by Hickey twice last season.

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.

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.

Why do posters ask for a thread to end? If you don't like it don't read it. Threads should be allowed to go until they die naturally. If threads are derailed those posts could be removed, why lose the thread. Read the title, "The Bombers Doping Saga - The Fat Lady Sings" Last time I looked the Bombers were a football side in the AFL and 34 players from that side were found guilty of doping offences. Wish as we may that the fat lady starts to sing and then another boil bursts forth more scurrilous information, sorry DMMA long may this thread live, don't like it, move on.

Looked fit and fully involved. Providing a reasonable hit out at Casey I would have him up forward v StKilda. No Weideman or Spencer.

I enjoy it far more than last year's show.

I don't think he should play even if he's 110% fit.

One of the best recruiting decisions for Melbourne was St Kilda taking McCartin. If I was a St Kilda supporter I'd be annoyed they didn't take Wright who looks a far better key forward prospect.

Garland's disposal efficiency was 93% against WC and the highest in our team. I know it can be a misleading stat and he is generally one of our worst users, but this is fake news.

Just reduce the damn turnovers at half forward. If any side knows how to punish us going the other way, it's the Saints at Etihad. They're a good side but they're not the St Kilda Globetrotters that we always seem to make them look like.

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.

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.

I certainly hope the players don't look at it this way, otherwise we'll never break the hoodoo. Classic MFCSS, though, Ralph. Building yourself up for the loss already to soften the blow. Have some faith, man! No doubt the Saints play it Etihad well and their style of play can cut us apart if we're not on our game, but, I'd like to think we have improved further over the summer and we can bridge that gap better than we have in the past. Our pressure around the ball is terrific and I really do feel as though our midfield, as a whole, is better than theirs. If Maxy can get on top of his Hickey and give us first use then it goes along way to winning the game.

That game was a dead rubber with a lot of players out, doesn't really count in my mind. Plus, it also reminds me of the old philosophical question; if the Demons win at Docklands and only 5000 people saw it did it really happen? (Or something along those lines.)

Let's face it, SEN is the AFL channel. With a bit of other sport tossed in. Over summer it was good with Chuck Berry talking lots of cricket, there was tennis, A league, etc. A bit of variety. But the minute Gazza & Tim took over the brekky show it became incredibly self indulgent. It was February, and all they talked about was AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, here's a cricket score, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, AFL footy, ... you get the idea. It still is self indulgent. I will say this for Hamish: he's a bit of a cipher but at least keeps the others on some sort of coherent track, otherwise the brekky show would be indistinguishable from a bunch of guys at the pub crapping on and on. Which might be extremely entertaining for said guys (and is, if you're one of those guys), but for anyone else listening in, it's mostly drivel. Ox & Frank used to have segments like "who's on the struggle bus" ... they were aware they were trying to entertain ... but these guys ... sorry Gaz ... maybe you're not ready for public life yet. Tim: you have a clever wit and I reckon you'd be great company at a BBQ, but have you really been in the media for some 20 odd years? You still come over like it been 20 days. Hamish: not a fan but at least you know what you're trying to do. But in the studio you're "The Guy Who Hasn't Played AFL", ie you're a second class citizen. The show is a daily 3-hour version of "Jesaulenko You Beauty" (*) and should be rebranded "How About That Day Out At Waverley When You Had To Play On Billy Duckworth? You Hardly Got a Touch. Yes, That's Right. I Remember A Great Sledge I Got In At Gary Foulds Though." Self Indulgent. No variety. Not entertaining. Rating drop = no surprise. * = weekly one-hour nostalgia show. Not bad in its own right.

vince - 86% tog @ 62.5% de Vince is one of my favourite players but this is simply not good enough for a player who's often used to distribute the ball off half back. It's time to put him back on the ball, potentially as a tagger from time to time, with instructions to amass possessions and kick goals from the forward 50 if and when possible. He won our B&F and was nearly AA when last used in this role. He regularly sucks when used off half back.

I always thought that Pedo, Watts and Hogan a good synergy last year.

Should've started a poll to see who wanted to get rid of the Jack Watts poll.

Oh yeah i didnt mean you were. Theres a ridiculously big difference between winning every game and being able to win every game you play. We will join a list of about 9 sides that can win any week if they play well this year. None of them will win all of them (well if the Giants are as good as their hype they might come close). All I was saying is going in last year we could accept a lost more than likely garanteed some weeks. This year every game will be like last years Saints/Port games. We can win, and its gonna be frusrating when we dont. Last year it was easy to brush ourselves off after the loses against Sydney, Adelaide, Hawthorn etc. I dont think we will find that so easy this year. Edit: Just take the last JLT loss as an example. We lost to a full strength top 6 side in perth by 25 points and there were still people claiming we were pathetic. Last year we lost by 22 at our home ground against Adelaide and we were saying they played pretty well. Such is the difference in expectations this year.

2016 was the last year where we could accept a loss before the game started. This year there is not a single game on that fixture where we a no chance, which is great, but also a bit of a double edged sword. Round one is the prime example, we can win! but its likely we wont. Every game this year we should be looking to find a way to win. This means unlike the last couple of years its not only going to be a very exciting year but also an extremely frustrating one. While we might have more wins this year, we wont be able to hide behind the "we were never going to win" excuse anymore. Any loss will be a bigger dissapointment than last year. I dont know about you, but im bracing for a hell of a bumpy ride.

Saint Kilda Shmaint Milda, enough talking them up already, we'll smash them.

For some who had never watched the woman's game it took a while to recalibrate to a lower standard game. I think once you accept the the skills aren't the same then you enjoy the game for what it is.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that this group tends to play well in games that are "built up". We've played well the last couple of Queens birthday matches. We've played well the last couple of Anzac Eve games. We've played well the last two Round 1 games. This game has already been built up by the media. By the time the game starts it will probably be close to game of the round. The Saints are playing well, but they are not unbeatable. Also if we manage to get over the line, what a great way to start the year by knocking off two more of those long standing hoodoos. Etihad and the Saints. Two birds with one stone.

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.

Weakest three flags ever, won it in a watered down comp when the lower-mid ranked teams were hurt badly by the plethora of top picks given to GWS and GCS. May their demise last for decades.

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

So go and get the Tinea back Man! It's clearly the reason we've been losing!

We broke the Etihad hoodoo against GWS in 2015...Round 23 though, easy to forget that one!

Would rather smith than Omac from glimpses I saw

Still really concerned about our ball use, turnovers will kill us against teams like the saints who will punish us. we would need a lot to go right to win I think

I actually wouldn't mind having Joel Smith in the side. I know he isn't experienced but I would love for him to rotate with who ever plays on Membrey. He can jump and I feel as though he has the defensive pressure to create him to turn it over. Unless Membrey marks it and has a set shot at goal, I don't feel he is so deadly in their forward line

....weve got one chance....If I decide to put a decent bet on the Aints....were a certainty!

The content is poor. Interviews are shallow and uninformative. Matt Burgan's standard interview question is: how did you find it? After repeating that three times he has nothing. Shocking lack of sub-editing/proofreading. Robbo is an asset but seems to only get PR-type assignments. His 'I was good just ask me' routine is tiresome as well.

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.

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.

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.

As soon as I first saw Oliver, I knew we had an absolute star. The poise, the way he handballs in traffic, dips and side steps and waits for a team mate to be free before releasing the handball is something you don't see every day. Will reach higher achievements than Petracca and most other young stars. Watch this space.