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Hey guys Just read the HS article about Macca down at the Dees. A little bit of a puff piece but none the less a good read for us long suffering I know Macca has been discussed and praised on the site but quotes like these really excite me for 2017 and the future. “In the really good teams that I have been associated with, the midfield training is often more intense than a game. “And when you have to start yelling at them to stop absolutely pounding each other, seriously, that is when you know you are on your way. “We have to stop training and say, ‘Hey boys, that’s enough, the intensity is there, save it for the weekend’.” Oliver, McCartney admits, is a favourite. “It is rare to find, but some players get faster the closer they get to the ball, and I love that about ‘Clarry’,” he said. I still think 2017 is going to be a bumpy ride, but it's going to be a good ride, starting Rd 1. What the Administration of this club has been able to achieve in 4 - 5 years after Neelds departure is downright amazing. Just spot on recruitment in all areas of the club which has changed the club on and off field for the better. Jackson, Roos, Macca, Mahoney, T VIney, Goody, Taylor etc etc just to name the obvious ones. It also can't be ignored that some of these appointments were from the so called failed administrations and while we all get frustrated it's a good time to reflect and acknowledge the hard work done by all for our club. Sorry I got a little distracted, but this article reaffirms for me that the club is going places. Trust the Process. I am really excited to hear some inside goss on Clarry and our Mids. Thanks again Macca and bring on 2017. Go you bloody Dees

Please don't tell people to settle down. Following a footy team should be fun - at least some of the time. Given the 10 years of utter garbage we've witnessed I think we're allowed to get a little carried away when our young talented core give us a little hope.

Have a read of the article. His take on it is that when he was senior coach, he lost sight of the things that made him a good coach - the empathetic, personal side of coaching. Being the senior coach at AFL level is the pinnacle - not everyone is going to be cut out for it and in my view there's no shame in failing, and it doesn't diminish your value at the lower levels of coaching. It sounds to me as if Macca has been able to rediscover the traits that made him a sought-after assistant coach in the first place, which is fantastic for us and him.

Ahhh dazzle, you have NO IDEA what you missed. A 100%, Rolled gold, unadulterated superstar. The turnstiles whirred like a Gatling gun every time he played early days..... Could out mark a guy 15kgs heavier, and 15cm taller Knew instinctively when to put himself, to be at the drop of a ball. Knew his range, regardless of weather. Was not out muscled by anyone. Brilliant kick, whether a set shot, or a snap over his shoulder. God damn this guy was a sensation. 1 of my all time Demon highlights. Would light up today's game also, provided you didn't care about defensive pressure. Honestly, he probably would have been carried, even if he didnt chase in today's game . Look him up on youtube. worth every second. (to be fair, not many players in the games history would have weighed 15kg more than Jacko)

He has been one our best and most consistent players for three years. Truth be told, I am completely baffled by his omission. I haven't worried about a small forward cutting us up for years.

Found out this afternoon that we're having a girl. Due date is the first week of finals but will sign her up by Monday!

I choose not to settle down. I plan to be excited. Not childish woo-woo we're gonna win everything excited, but piece by piece excited about the possibilities, the good players and good play building up to something. You wont catch me pulling my hair out every time there's a missed kick or a slipped tackle, and wailing about how it's 'all the same as 2013, nothing has improved'.

I can't believe I am saying this but, ATM Spencer offers more than Weed, even at Etihad, where he is probably not best suited. He is not slow, is very aggressive at the ball and man, allows Max to go forward, can take a mark and kick a goal , can compete in the ruck and just ATM has a few more pros than Weed. That said, soon it won't be a discussion, as Weed matures physically.

If the report is correct and the changes are adopted it will finally be a case of sanity prevailing. Blind Freddie could tell you that a region that produced the likes of the Danihers, Wayne Carey, Paul Kelly and Shane Crawford to name a few isn't really a development zone and that the Giants were never deserving of the free access to players from this region under the northern states academy concept. This year's national draft would have been a farce with three top 10 players available to one club (and possibly one more if they were able to trade into an early pick as they did last year).

one of the first picked every week for mine. really hoping he kick starts 2017 with a ripper game against the saints.

'ProDee', it's time to bring Raquel back. Trumps face is doing my head in... ...now before I get accused of derailing the thread, Smith is a big chance for round 1.

Dazzle, I think Biffen probably summed it up best. He did burn brightest and, for mine, the one who was closest in terms of natural talent was Liam Jurrah . Both flawed individuals but ,of course, you went to see them as they could be electric.

lol the [censored] has that got to do with Brendan McCartney?

I do that at parties all the time.

Maybe the club should give out tissues instead of scarves with our memberships.... Casey is fine, if you don't like it then stay home and listen to the radio and spare everyone the ongoing sooking.

Like you Unleash, I agree that the article is a good read, in fact I'd rate it as a very good read, and a cut above the what the HS usually serves up. The quoted text only adds to my excitement for 2017, and beyond.

Here is a compilation of previous years membership tallies for comparison, courtesy of great work by It's Time. The table will be updated as the data becomes available. 2017 Progressive total in Red Actual dates in Blue Membership Year Approx Date 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 Oct week 3 19,026 21 19,026 22 19,026 26 17,625 25 Nov week 3 26,064 18 21,794 26 20,509 26 20,223 25 - 16,287 11,922 Dec week 1 27,914 9 24,402 4 22,433 3 22,105 11 21,616 20,100 19,656 Dec week 4 29,426 23 26,217 22 24,097 23 23,542 25 20,623 20,166 Jan week 3 30,200 20 27,027 19 25,112 23 24,558 21 21,873 22,402 22,396 Feb week 1 31,141 3 28,013 3 25,647 1 25,416 4 22,962 8 23,422 23,457 Feb week 2 31,537 10 - 26,290 12 26,039 12 23,650 12 21,448 12 Feb week 3 32,137 17 28,759 17 26,639 18 26,641 17 23,650 18 24,195 16 25,253 17 Feb week 4 32,679 24 29,450 26 27,066 26 27,736 26 - 25,277 Mar week 1 33,520 3 30,524 7 27,619 4 28,582 4 24,801 5 26,023 27,806 Mar week 2 35,080 16 32,623 16 29,510 16 30,421 15 26,751 14 26,791 14 28,068 Mar week 3 35,756 21 - - - - Mar week 4 37,025 28 35,117 26 31,035 26 32,324 28 - 29,588 31,087 Apr week 1 38,554 7 35,535 1 32,001 1 - - 32,235 33,359 Apr week 2 39,005 14 36,157 8 33,301 9 33,175 14 - - 33,753 10 Apr week 3 39,281 21 36,731 20 34,548 20 Apr week 4 39,634 28 37,597 30 May week 1 40,083 7 37,766 6 34,223 1 35,205 5 - 34,489 35,205 May week 2 40,380 14 38,102 13 - - - 34,961 May week 3 40,549 21 38,479 31 June week 1 40,934 7 Jun Week 2 41,022 14 38,653 14 - - 35,403 Final July 31 42,102 39,211 35,953 35,911 33,177 35,435 36,937

Have a feeling neither Pedersen or Weid will play Round 1. Hogan, Watts and a resting Gawn/Spencer is more than enough.

In regards to his value to the team, his ability to play against both small and tall forwards makes him extremely versatile. He's a solid decision maker as well rarely makes terrible errors. I find the prospect of him being left out of the team incredibly hard to believe. Saying that, I'm sure Goodwin knows what he's doing. Coincidently enough, our win against Adelaide back in 2014 happened to pop up in my YouTube subscriptions the other day. Nev was nearly best on ground for us that day after keeping Betts goalless. It could be considered as his 'break out' game. Overall, it's still one of the best Melbourne performances of the last decade.

It seems that the AFL will (at last)! GWS Giants lose Murray region as AFL re-shapes northern academy system Not only will Albury be stripped from the zone (Spargo and Brander will be released into the pool), but the already mentioned restrictions on players ranked inside the top 20 (subject to ladder positioning) will also come into effect immediately. Excellent.

I kind of disagree with the outnumbering bit. We did that a lot last year and got hurt by it. Their one player would dive into the middle of our four and just belt the ball into space rather than try to take possession. Then they have three extra outside players to run away with it.

I feel like Smith would be an ideal matchup for Membrey. He is a great tackler who can play tall and small

If Spencer spends more time in the ruck than Gawn, that would mean we have moved our AA ruckman to the forward line to accommodate our C+ pure ruck. This may sound a bit MFCSS but that is so Melbourne...

Garlett is a lock if fit, adds a lot to our potency up forward both directly and indirectly. Very undervalued by some on here.

I went for about 2 hours. It was a very windy session. Hibberd and AVB not present. Frost in and out of main session. Hogan had a tiny niggle on his hip at one stage, but joined back in shortly after and moved nicely. Didn't notice Trengove (other than copping a nice tackle from Smith). Garland won't play round 1 if they watch the film of this session (Smith also caught him in a good tackle). Brayshaw and Petracca are very hit and miss with their kicking. In goal kicking practice Bradshaw did two of the worst shots I've ever seen (including local junior football). Most players trained like they play apart from both the McDonalds who didn't make any massive errors in the match sim drills and Oscar was doing quite well with a few intercepts. Kent and Garlett will both play round 1, both trained well while they were out there. Hullet played as a backman in the match sim. Pederson was forward and took the only notable mark of the session.

I'm fully Melbourne now mate. As a youngster I was Collingwood because of my Dad, then at about 10 or 11 I turned to Geelong when I started to really learn footy and also my Mum was a Cats supporter, but never really learnt a lot about them, but now I am all about the Dee's. When Dec was playing really good footy last year it reinvigorated my love for the game (I had lost it in the previous 4-5 years due to personal issues), and because I had watched so many Casey games and had been watching the young Melbourne players develop (Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw etc.) I started watching more MFC games and became fairly invested in them. But when he was picked up, it pushed me over the line. I now know more about this club, its players, its history, its coaches, then I ever knew about anyone else. I can now name every player, their Number, where the majority of them came from, I have been slowly learning the history of this great club, and watch and read every thing I can. Melbourne is my club and I believe will be for now onwards, even if Dec ends up playing for a different team.

Individual defending: A- Team defending: B- Individual attacking: C+ Team attacking: C- Here's what I mean by that. One on one he's very good but not great, players can kick goals on him. But when it comes to the team defending his limited athleticism and size means he can't switch and rotate with other defenders and he doesn't cover the ground up and back in the zone. He also flies for too many marks/spoils when he should stay down but that's a team wide thing. When he has the ball he doesn't turn it over and has a great little side step and short kick to get in to the corridor. But he only gets 15 or so touches so as an individual he's only a C+ grade rebound defender. He doesn't take up the load as a rebounder to take pressure off his team mates nor does he run to receive or break lines (or kick goals) so in terms of being part of the team attack he doesn't contribute a lot there. Melksham might be his direct competitor for a spot and Melksham isn't a great one on one defender, but he has the height and fitness to be a great part of the zone that moves all over the field at pace. Individually the guy is a bit of a liability in that he has terrible brain fades but he's also shown a willingness to get 20+ possessions and run the ball and take on challenging kicks. The question is whether Nev has the tank and two way intensity to warrant a spot or whether the team will function better with a less stable and calm defender who can bring far more run. Personally I think the thing the McDonald's and other young defenders need is a mature head who plays within his limits but I can see why the coaches want to try guys who offer more athletically.

Last i heard he was working fishing boats somewhere up northern WA But that was a few years ago now...

If Adelaide only beat the Pies by a couple of points, their percentage will go down a lot, especially if the scores are near the recent scores for each team you've given above. The more the Pies kick, the better, even if the Crows win. For example, if Crows win 44 points to 42, their percentage will come down to about 159%. Which puts it much more within range than 160%. If Pies kick 32 points again, Crows would have to kick about 52 to maintain their current percentage. Freo have conceded an average of 38 points a game. If we can go about 2 goals better than that, and hold them to under 2 goals, we're in with a chance. On the other hand, we could have a problem with the 2 or 3 goals that we seem to concede every game to appalling umpiring decisions. To give ourselves a chance to get over Adelaide even if they win, we'll still need to kick our biggest score of the season while we hold Freo to a very low score. That just means that they'll have to be firing from the first bounce and keep it up until the final siren. We're quite capable of kicking 2 or 3 goals in a quarter, we just don't seem to be able to sustain that over 4 quarters.

If he hasn't been injured, it's fair to say he is no chance for round one.

Whether people think it looks good or not, it is a revenue stream 16 other clubs have that we don't. Each week that passes loses value as the sponsor sees less and less 'airtime' so this can't be seen as anything but a disappointment to be March with no sponsor. PJ has enough runs on the board that I'll allow this and back his judgement- however, if Cam Schwab had us in this position people would be wanting blood not saying how classy the jumper looks....

We didn't lose last year twice because of Hickey nullifying Gawn. We lost because their game-plan was far better, we were outnumbered at contests, and they used the boundary to move the footy as they carved holes in our zone defence.

Keilty will only be playing the last 3 quarters so here is my starting lineup; FB: Jetta Hutchins Garland HB: J Smith Watts McKenna C: Kent Gent Kennedy HF: Hulett Pederson T Smith FF: Garlett Hannan Johnstone Foll: Filipovic Trengrove Tyson Int: Keilty White Maynard + Casey

Smith will play round 1, imo.

Jetta - O.Mac - Smith Hunt - T.Mac - Vince

No Hibberd, Frost or Wagner so in my mind it comes down to Garland or Smith. If Smith's training well and Garland isn't then may as well go with him in round 1. He might struggle and it's a tough baptism but I'd rather play a guy who has his down moments than a guy who just doesn't have it any more.

I'm currently on leave but I'm looking forward to reports from Sunday's game. I think one of the problems facing AFL clubs with teams in the VFL is the fact that the starts to the seasons for the competitions are so far apart. Casey is having its first hit out against another VFL team this weekend and yet Melbourne finished its pre season games more than a week ago, This has left quite a few players in a bit of a limbo without much game time, especially since Simon Goodwin basically stuck with almost the same squad throughout the three JTL games.

Little bit of selection news, Keilty will be playing in the forward line and relieving in the ruck as there will only be one ruck playing, I'm not sure who but I'd guess it'll be Filipovic as Spencer has already played 3 preseason games. 18 MFC players will be playing for Casey this weekend.

I always felt Gawn played alot better when he was rucking full time and Pedersen/Watts doing the chop out in bursts. Spencer is still a big worry for me.

Joel Smith's tackle on Garland was something to behold. Garland has been a favourite of mine but it it was a very symbolic changing of the guard. Pretty much saying i've got you, as he ragdolled him over the line and was awarded a free for holding the ball.

100% agree on all 3 counts. Yes he can drift out of games at times (as seems par for the course for specialist small forwards) but he is a very important player in our set up. One, he has the ability to hit forward targets and can do so with bullet passes, across the face of goal kicks and well weighted kicks into space. Two he has great vision and sees and hits targets others don't. Three he has pace, something we seriously lack. Four, he reads the play beautifully, a skill that in some senses can't be taught and is a natural small forward. And five, our game plan (which of course is very similar to that of the Hawks, Crows and perhaps even more so the doggies) is all about run and gun and getting the ball into our forward half before the opposition can flood back. This, combined with the number of poor kicks we have, means the ball is pumped in quickly and often comes to ground. With this game plan quality small forwards are critical, not just in terms of scoring but stopping the ball slingshot back out our offensive area. The hawks have Rioli, the Crows Betts and the dogs about 3 who play this role. We have Garlett.

Correct Cards. I have not seen us push the envelope in this game in the entire time i've watched and frustrated that so many others do so and do it well. One can only hope we've finally woken up.

When you're winning it's called a "knock on tactic". When you're losing, it's called a fumble. I know what to call what I've been watching for the last decade.

Garlett was moving freely so was Kent. One or both will play round 1.

The old "Hawthorn nudge", love it, about time. Can really put a player into space with some of these taps, knock ons.

Just dropping by for 20 mins. Intensity and enthusiasm excellent, however my attention has been drawn to the rehab group consisting of Wagner, White, Maynard, and Jayden Hunt. I spoke to him and asked if he had a niggle but he said he got a head knock and reckons he will be fine! Hogan training in main group looks like no concerns. Lewis hands are just as lethal as his left boot. Boys are up n about, great voice and they look ready to go!

Casey. To understand it just think of one word - CRANBOURNE. Makes Broadmeadows and Niddrie look like Harvard Law School. Great surface. Developing suburb so good for long term. Average coffee at the ground, improving food. Both were horrid for most of the past few years. Great long term membership investment.The AFL shop in Fountain Gate shopping centre has sold MFC gear even when the club was a crock. At Auskick, more and more Dees jumpers emerging year by year. Nightmare for access. The long term plan for two car entrances, bus and rail access etc... is excellent, but the current situation shows the civil engineers in charge are dim-witted at best. Nightmare for prevailing wind. Organisers desperately need to plant some trees and build a large grandstand. The unrelenting wind ruins many good games of footy. If we can hold on for another decade, with our (hopefully some time soon) success, this move will be an absolute treasure. I can understand why so many inner south east Dees fans won't go there, but toughen up princesses.

Neither can I, they are around the same mark as us and if we are still frightened to play at Etihad then we should just give it away. We have improvement in us and players like Jones, Vince and Lewis will be much better when there are four points on the line. Dyson will improve on the JLT3 game and with another run will be ready to go. Milkshake was good early in JLT3 but faded a bit, he will be better next time up. We were ordinary in JLT3 but nearly stole it in the last and could have if Hogan had kicked straight. We coasted against Carlton and had the doggies covered all day in the previous JLT games. It seems as if a majority are happy to concede this game and hope for the return bout win, that's not an option, we have to stop this run of losses against them and now is the time to do it. Our backs will have to perform better, that's a given but if we can win the centre clearances and get the ball to our forwards quicker that will put pressure on their backs, we also have to keep it in there and not allow a quick rebound. I'm not prepared to concede this match and I think we will win by a small margin.

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.

Check this out for a 7 week haul from the great man in 1991: Round 15 - Sydney SCG - 8.8 (just his 4th game of AFL) Round 16 - WCE MCG - 6.2 Round 17 - Fitzroy MCG - 6.7 Round 18 - St Kilda Moorabin - 8.5 Round 19 - Carlton PP - 7.4 Round 20 - North MCG - 11.8 Round 21 - Collingwood MCG 5.4 Then check how wayward he was to start 1994 Round 1 - Geelong MCG - 8.8 Round 2 - Hawthorn Waverley - 4.10 Round 3 - BYE Round 4 - Essendon MCG - 5.0 Round 5 - Brisbane MCG - 6.4 23.22 in just 4 matches. He could've had 35 goals in 4 matches!!! THE GUY WAS A FREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!