Leaderboard

Didn't we do a Richmond last year by finishing ninth in the most cruel and agonising way possible?

Give it a rest. Brayshaw had a fantastic debut season where he only missed one game, followed by injury interrupted (knee and concussions) in 2016/17. Give him some time to build some confidence before you make him the new whipping boy.

His rate of improvement is phenomenal. The other player that has looked twice the player is Harmes. He could be a revelation as a rotating mid. Plus, of course, Melksham, who really is a class footballer and a difficult matchup. In fact, many players are elevating their game.

People writing off Brayshaw? Crazy. Only about to commence his 4th season and his short career to date has been massively hampered by injury. He'll play midfield/wing rotating through the flanks like about a dozen other players. And he'll be a key part of our team moving forward. He's still about 2-3 years off hitting his peak.

Brayshaw's kicking to position is A1 ... once he gets complete confidence watch him gun it. Not many possess the skill to see the game ahead of them but Gus has got that skill. He's had a terrible time of it with all the concussions and just needs a good go at it ... it's best to judge the bloke on his footy and not get annoyed at his unavailability. He is still very young (22)

completely disagree you could just as easily counter every point you've made as to why he'd just as easily make a good forward; i think the thing with t mac is his versatility and that he can play both positions equally well: He covers that area and rebounds leads up the ground better than most He steers others to cover opponents providing great leadership anywhere on the ground he does apply terrific pressure and mobility to rebound attacks that start in the backline stop oppo defenders having easy exits He makes our whole backline forward set-up look elite So often, he pulls down the contested mark OR brings or punches the ball to ground to the advantage of his team-mates or run-on clearances scoring opportunities We have forwards to burn this year a surplus of defenders and Tom, whilst capable in a forward defensive role, better serves the team in defence the forward line i completely back in the coaching decision to deploy him forward i can also understand why some other demon tragics still like him as a defender he's really important to sign up for future years ahead as i think he's integral to our side no matter the role he plays

He needs to win the Brownlow first then he can go around chicken winging, elbowing and eye gouging people without repercussions

You know what, I'd rather he play - will get another 15,000 bums on seats and I'd rather beat their full strength side. Better test for us and who doesn't want to see Viney, Oliver, Petracca v Danger, Selwood, Ablett?!

Love this bloke. I said a few days ago that he has been our most improved player over the last 18 months, and he is a prime example of the type of players we now have on our list - hard working, willing to learn and they always give 100% out on the field.

@Fat Tony on Friday. "The Age reporting Ablett has hamstring tightness upon hearing the news Jack will be right for Round 1." It wasn't really a joke, was it?

Not a bad year for recruiting. Petracca, Brayshaw, ANB, Stretch and O McDonald in the draft and Garlett as a trade. (Also picked up Lumumba, and lost Frawley and Clark)

I have us down for the next 3 flags. Relax, we've got this

You could also add MELB to the left cheek, and URNE to the right. Would create a nice balance...

I don't like these type of pre-season hype articles. They weren't there for Doggies or Richmond before the start of their premiership-winning seasons. I just hope we don't get sucked in. I'd rather prove the doubters wrong. Go Dees!

Agreed. Nobody here would know the difficulty of going out on a footy field knowing that you're perhaps one concussion away from retirement. He has had an awful run with injuries and is still finding his feet. Hasn't even played 50 games yet! Everyone is so quick to point out and write players off. To me Brayshaw will be the perfect Jones replacement when Jones retires. On a different note, Salem showed on Saturday that he doesn't need massive numbers to make some serious damage. I hope he and Hunt spend significant time on the wing this year. Hunt and Oliver will get some serious tags this year, and I hope both learn to cope with them.

It was a rhetorical question. I disagree with a lot of what you’ve said. Defenders that read the play as well as him make life hard for the best forwards, so that goes without saying. He snapped a winning goal on his left last year, fair trick that. He just plays better on instinct, when he has time to butcher a kick in play, he does. His dish off handball to Fritsch and similar things he did last year also show he’s more than capable when it hits the ground. And his set shots are sublime, I don’t know how He’s just far more valuable as a forward. No doubt he’ll have to go back at times, but that’s just a valuable asset to have.

I think his best feature is that he can stop on a dime, swivel and kick accurately off a step. He also gets to where the ball is, very very well.

ANB reminds me of a young Lenny Hayes. The difference between ANB and Stretch is one is playing on instinct and with confidence the other appears to be overthinking every move and worried to make an error so takes safe options. He comes across as very robotic at present and may just need to relax and take some chances. Hopefully it al comes together for him soon.

I think the 3 you've mentioned here are huge surprises (to me, anyway). They're more than just 'role-players'; their footy smarts and unique skill-sets are very damaging. ANB's vision and awareness, Melksham's zone breaking left-hoof and Harmes' attack on the ball and man, open up many options in and leading into attack. You need this kind of left-field improvement to be a successful side. I thought, with a bit of luck, ANB could develop into a handy inside mid. He is now a genuinely dangerous half-forward who reads the play, find space and creates for those around him. Full credit to him and the coaching staff!

Not sure there are any teams out there who can dominate a year (18, 19 wins) so a top 4 finish probably means that a team just needs to get to 15 or 16 wins. Probably. Given a reasonable run with injuries we can win about 11 - 16 games ... anything less than that means we've either had a wretched run with injuries or we're in strife. The area we need to get a lot better - pace and quick movement away from the packs & stoppages. However, we are sometimes very good in that area when the opposition allows us to be very good. Other times we're ok or reasonable. In round 23 last year we got exposed in that very area. Fix that and maintain improvement in other aspects and we'll win games that we should win. But lets face it, Rome wasn't built in a day and we've come a long way in 3 or 4 years (from a very ordinary base) We've building a decent list of players so the coaches will have something to work with. If a lot of things go our way we can contend. Our list isn't that good (yet) where we could be described as a dominant team. What is in our favour is that the league is more of an even competition these days.

If there's one thing I think we can take from the game it's the field kicking. On a day when conditions weren't conducive to good kicking we really put on a clinic. Who thought we could ever say this a few years back. I know that we didn't have a lot of pressure from North but in the Neeld and early Roos days we would have been lucky to hit the side of a barn on a still day doing circle work at Gosch's... The addition of Hibberd along with Petracca, Oliver, Vince, Salem, Lewis etc not only gives us grunt but it's starting to show in how we use the ball...we looked like a real football side.

It is our kryptonite.

I was wrong on this bloke, I hated his disposal. He has improved with hard work to be a regular.

The backlash when we traded for Melksham was ridiculous at the time. Melksham is proof that patience is required with any deal. It took him half a season to settle, but he's looking better and better with every game. He is looming as a very shrewd piece of business.

A stark contrast to practice games in years gone by where we’ve seen our side underperform/lose the game by some margin, with posters usually defending the performances without really being able to see warning signs either good or bad. (Usually bad up until last year). Regardless of the fact that these games are not worth points, if a team is fielding a near full-strength side, then these games should be taken seriously from many angles. Individual development, synergy between positional lines, observable gameplan, arousal levels/urgency at contests. All of those things were on show yesterday which is an enormous positive imo and the warning signs are positive in this case.. I don’t care that North will most likely finish in the bottom five this season. They similarly fielded a strong side and the end score-line flattered them tbh. There’s now an obvious and real blueprint in the way we are both playing and talking about ourselves as a club. Whether it’s Jennings in his post AFLX interview last week or Bernie in his interview during yesterday’s match, the line “playing the Melbourne way” is becoming thematic. We’re back it up in the way we’re carrying ourselves on-field. Whilst I don’t wish to bring it up as a discussion point, it’s easy to see why Watts was pushed out. A player who simply doesn’t display the traits that Goody and co hold every player accountable to. If you want to create and breed a culture that will stick at a club, everyone needs to display those traits. I don’t care that it was a JLT game. To me these changes are real and what we’re building is very real as opposed to years previous. The list, personalities, coaches and board are all clearly hell bent on re-branding this club. And I love it. Of course I know there’ll be plenty of downs this along the way and this season especially. But for the first time in many many years, I genuinely love watching us play, the “Melbourne” way. Go Dees.

the norf player who pushed him into the pack was more dangerous medical report? spare me ump wasn't even concerned needs to appeal fine

What, an open handed tap to the chest that had no reaction! . It wasn't even a push!! What sort of medical report did they get? No wonder the MRP didn't describe the 'incident' - there wasn't one! I call BS!

you're kidding, right?

Where did he go?

Thing about ANB is he doesn't have anything stamped on him to say what kind of player he is. No neon light like there is on Trac, "beast with X factor", or Oliver "extractor par excellence", or Hunt "dasher". He looks pretty nondescript as a player. But there he is ... just getting in the right spot again and again, doing handy things and kicking goals. He just keeps doing it. West Coast had an entire team of ANBs in the 90's. (and one Jakovich) You think "what is his best position?" Doesn't really matter ... the kid can play football. Just get him out on the park. Compare with "athlete" types like Majak Daw or Mason Cox who do the occasional good thing but mostly just look lost.

I like that this view is so diametrically opposed to the view of Robbo last week. I think I'm sitting cautiously somewhere in the middle. I believe we can be a top 4 side but Round 23 still haunts me and I have severe trust issues as a result. We need to win the Freo, North, Hawthorn & Rd 23 games that we dropped last year to be a serious contender for anything.

Its wishful thinking for Ablett to not play round 1 which is still a month away - plenty of time to recover from a hamstring strain. They were never going to take him to Townsville vs GCS for JLT 1. JLT 2 is just up the road in Colac in two weeks. He could easily play a quarter or two in that game and/or play a VFL practice match before round 1. He has had a better preseason than Viney who we hope will play. There will be much talk of Ablett/Viney playing round 1. If they play, the play. I think we can beat Geelong on our merits regardless of who lines up for either team. If for no other reason that Geelong do not play the G well - Time to reclaim the G as our fortress!

Well if it's not Gus it will be someone else (ugh) I've never understood it - seems a bit caveman(ish) I go right back - Graeme Osborne and then way later on, Tony Campbell. Parke used to cop it (kicking) And of course Tilbrook went from being the saviour to the cause of all our issues. Then there's Watts. It never ends ET

For those calling for Oscar to be dropped.. He kept Brown to 1 mark for the game. He out marked Brown twice, and hit a target with nearly every kick. He got pinged twice for holding but was not conclusive on the telecast. He looks stronger and more composed. Like the coaching staff, I’m going to back him in. Yet to turn 22, he must be in the top few KPD under that age.

So I got this tattoo done last year and was interested to see if anyone else has a demon tattoo, show us yours?

Oliver accepted a $1500 penalty for something that happened with Jacobs. I didn't see it - anyone know? ps - should have been given a bonus of $1500....

I just get my girlfriends to pay for everything #Bitchcoin

Irony, thy name is Saty.

afl must have a revenue problem

I fully agree but don't let anyone else on DL know about this because they write nasty posts in return.

Awesome, we always respond well when the media pumps us up.

Just look at the trend of the last three years up, up and up we would have played finals last year other than for a extraordinary bad run of injuries. Since then we have added more talent to the list and the kids have another year and pre season under their belts. Up again in 2018 and we will start the season with a win.

I also like the way he presents off-field. I'm not sure if that wins games but I like it anyway.

If we had beaten North and had done the job against Collingwood in round 23 we would have been equal on points with GWS who finished 4th last year. In that sense a top 4 finish is no pipe dream. Winning the big one requires luck ... something we haven't had lots of for around 50 years. I live in hope !!

His kicking has always been sublime.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Frosty should start training as a backup ruckman in case Max goes down. I reckon he'd be good at it. He can give himself a run up at each ball up and those stand and jump type guys will try to block him and there should be free after free for it.... at least until the AFL change the rules to stop it...

Underwhelming this pre season? 1 glorified training drill and a half paced JLT game. You are a hard judge. id rather rate him on his 26 disposals against the saints last year after a 4 month break

Sometimes fatherhood also settles a player, accelerating responsibility and maturity. Goodwin made mention of him becoming a parent in the after game presser. I always thought Milkshake was a bit lost and lacking focus, even when at Essendrug. Simplistic to say, but perhaps he is now happy with where his life is at. Was certainly a talented junior.

Had this beauty done last year after we beat Port at the G. Go Dees.

I sometimes wonder what people watch. I've been critical of Oscar at times, but he showed his development today. He spoiled well, he's a far better kick than his Brother and hits targets, and he outbodied Brown to win a 1v1 marking contest. He looks stronger and more composed. And he's 3-4 years from his best footy. McDonald takes Brown. Brown is beaten and has a stinker. McDonald is criticised.