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Nathan Jones in my mind cemented a place in the hearts of club supporters during the early years of free agency. When other players of his vintage couldn't get out fast enough, the Jones response was a determined "I'm not going anywhere", to sign on for three mid-season. That was true leadership, and for me as a spectator who can only go along for the ride, one of the only signals that there might actually exist people at the club who wouldn't give up on it. There's no doubt in my mind Nathan Jones belongs amongst the all time club greats. The fact that he's had to ply his trade in a team that was awful most of the time only enhances his standing, as he's had to do it with little to no support.

The biggest takeaway for mine from that game was Hunt is still severely lacking in confidence. There's no way he'll be picked on that effort, a game in which he could've racked up huge numbers running from defence giving the gulf in class between the two sides. After a slow start due to a heavy tag Brayshaw was the most influential mid out there after qtr time. His skills at hitting targets with both sides of the body were a standout, the longer the game went on the more pronounced his influence was. A lot of the niggling spotfires that were out there today, and there were quite a few, were as a result of our guys trying to protect Gus from his tagger. Balic played forward pretty much all game playing as has been mentioned the Melksham type role he was pretty impressive first time I've seen him play. Weeds was the standout forward for not only his goals but his relief ruckwork and general ability to work the length of the ground. It was interesting at times seeing him do the ruckwork in the fwd line despite King being in the vicinity standing in the goalsquare. It's clear they've got a plan to gradually bring weed in to play the Pederson role of fwd/pinch hit ruckman. Peso and Smith were both also pretty handy, it was interesting to see our starting fwd line at the first bounce was Weed, Smith, Pedo and King all talls along with Balic. Only a 5 man fwd line with an extra man running from the back of the square same as the demons employ. Of the others Hannan was good, stretch decent and jkh decent. Maynard racked them up in close but wasn't particularly damaging. Baker looked likely but needs to improve his awareness got caught too many times in possession. Special mention to the umpires who had to recall approximately 80 percent of their centre bounces which were skewing every which way but straight up. The ironical cheers were going up by the 3rd qtr with each recalled bounce. The team spirit was very evident in the 1st half, large groups of players getting over to congratulate the goal scorer, it was very much a 'team effort' performance against opposition that are clearly going to be one of the comps easybeats.

Lewis does go to ground too much in contests but I never imagined he would have to do as much as he is currently doing. Last week he had the most intercept possies (Hibberd? Lever? Where are you?) this week he gets 20 (!) uncontested possies (ANB, Melksham, Harmes? 10, 10 and 9...). Lewis is being asked (or just does it like the leader he is) to do more than he should be because our next tier mids-link players are not travelling that well tbh. Our midfield depth is so overrated...

No he didn’t. It wasn’t just the softness of the free kicks but the inconsistency of the umpires to pay them the other way, especially against Brown.

Can’t really add to the reports above in regards to the regulars but I was keen to see some of the new boys and here are some observations. Balic: Doesn’t look like the smoothest of movers but put himself in the right spots most of the time. His mark in the last was a beauty and his game today was basically telling Goody “ Look at me coach, look at me”. Spargo: Not much of him but was involved a lot in general play. Nice user of the ball, showed football smarts and seemed to have a decent tank on him. Baker: Has an instinct of just going as soon as he gets the ball but can develop into a more than useful outside runner. Started to lower his eyes as the game went on. Petty: The pick of the bunch from what I saw today. As stated previously, the defence didn’t need to do a lot but two passages of play stood out. He beat an opponent in an aerial one on one by bringing the ball to ground, followed up and with surprising speed left his opponent for dead and hit a teammate on the chest 40 metres down the field with his left foot. In another marking contest with several players contesting, he spoiled the ball, split the pack and was the only one standing. Picked up the ball and hit JKH on the chest again down the field without breaking stride. There’s just something to like about this kid. Great balance and very composed. A lot of things don’t get noticed on the footy field but I liked what I saw and heard from the Weid. There were little spotfires in the 4th quarter in the centre square and King wanted to wrestle a Coburg player through the turf. Weid yelled out from inside our 50 to King to cut the crap and go contest the ball-up. I enjoyed that.

Free kick Brown

Good news, Keilty passed his fitness test this morning and will play tomorrow.

Reading a truckload of negativity from the usual suspects Make no mistake, this was a bloody good win against a team that plays hard and fast

Hahah becuase my 4.5yo likes to get the footy before and during the game when it’s kicked over the fence behind the goals. That and I thought it would be good for her to experience the game surrounded by a bunch of opposition fans who were going nuts. I’m so proud of her, everytime we kicked a goal she jumped up on her seat and waved her flag with gusto not giving a [censored] about the drunken rabble around us going off at the umps, their own team and of course our boys! At the end of he game she sung the song over and over again sitting on my shoulders surrounded by the sullen hoards! A day I will remember for the rest of my life ❤️

I disagree with a large chunk of this, which I find surprising as I normally agree with you AF. Firstly, the Kent free kick was not there. It was an awful decision, and it left even the commentators speechless when the replay was shown. One of many terrible decisions. Secondly, pressure cannot just be read in tackles. Our ability to lock the ball in, keep it there and set up the wall was a huge reason why we won the game. Our forwards and mids tackled, harassed, shoved, bumped etc. the opposition and it worked. Thirdly, in his first game back, Kent had a ripper. 3 goals, good pressure and some good field kicking contributed massively to the win. He justified his selection big time. Lastly, our leadership is what won us the game. Lewis and Jones, in particular, really stood up for us with goals and smart play in the last term when we needed to slow the game down. Apart from one poor kick, Lewis was excellent with ball in hand while Jones put in a huge shift on the midfield for us. Take away a poor 15 opening minutes and we absolutely smashed them. It bodes well for the season ahead.

Just remember, Balic was rated a top 10 prospect in his draft year if it wasn't for his wrist injury.. A huge talent indeed! Could be a surprise wildcard if given the opportunity..

Balic kicks his fifth after taking a screamer. He is definitely right at home back in Melbourne.

I've been pretty positive this year, however, I left the game a little disappointed. It was a bit of a reality check for me. We need to get a lot better if we're going to be a serious challenger in 2018. We have far too many ordinary players. Our skill level still isn't great and teams still get out the back far too easily, which means our defensive structures still need plenty of work. The only saving grace is that there are no real standout teams. All teams have issues and ordinary players. But we're a fair way off being a really organised unit. There are way too many holes and our ball movement needs a lot of work. That said, I think Viney will make a big difference around the ball when he gets back in. We miss him around the stoppages. I know I'm being a little negative and I expect we'll continue to get better and more familiar with the tweaks in the game-plan. I'm just not sure we've got the personnel to do much this year. I certainly don't see a top 4 side.

12 of Ben Brown's 15.4km were run ups to set shots from sh|t free kicks....

Satyricon not there then.

Weideman making a statement. Ruckwork impressive

Full time and the Casey Demons open their account for 2018 with a 107 point victory. Casey Demons 5.2.32 13.4.82 19.9.123 28.12.180 Coburg Lions 2.0.12 4.3.27 6.5.41 11.7.73 Goals Casey Demons Balic 6 Weideman 5 Hannan 3 Kennedy Harris Scott T Smith Spargo 2 Bradshaw Johnstone Lockhart Maynard Pedersen Stretch Coburg Lions Mellington Svarc 2 Cannolo Fox Goodwin Hunt Kerbatieh Lentini Best Casey Demons Brayshaw Pedersen Hannan Weideman Balic Petty Coburg Lions Exon Dickson Mellington Lowson Guthrie Murphy Disposals Pedersen 26 Hannan 25 Brayshaw Maynard 22

Um, amazing all the negativity, for me this is the best Melbourne side since early 2000 and something. I have been a cynic and skeptic for many years but I believe we are seriously top four material ATM. Only lost 3 quarters, dominate most play around the ground and score heavily despite inefficiency. Other sides seem to be playing reactive football against us. Trying to exploit our weaknesses rather than their strengths. As I said before what we most lack is killer instinct but the mental demons seem to be fading. Goodwin getting caned by arm chair experts is puzzling me. It’s only his second season and we are rising with a bullet. Hard challenges ahead but I believe we at the stage where we can overcome them.

One of the best articles I've read about Melbourne in a long while. Max has a good understanding of MFC and is developing a strong loyalty to the club. Also wants success for the club. We are developing the building blocks to success with good leadership and a bunch of guys wanting to create their own slice of history for MFC. Well done Max

Came here mostly hoping to read that Weid was dominant in a forward/ruck role and wasn't disappointed. This is definitely a missing piece of the puzzle in the seniors side, so fingers crossed he can keep it up and knock the door down.

Jones must be learning from Lewis. In the last quarter lowered his eyes and hit up a couple of dinky passes inside 50 for shots at goals. Normally he blazes away.

Dean Kents 2017 was ruined by multiple injuries, and its easy to forget that in 2016 he played 20 games, and averaged 16 possessions and kicked 25 goals. 20 touches and 3 goals on his return, fantastic stuff.

Anyone else get infuriated by the amount of times Lewis unnecessarily goes to ground ?

I not seen it mentioned. ..but Alex Neale Bullen should be an out this week he pulled out of multiple contests today. Not good enough. I'd take brayshaw

I went to watch Melbourne circa 2012-2015.

It was either Ablett’s hammy or Cousins and Kerr.

Bahahahaha!! That’s marvellous F$&@ i hate Essendrug and shall till my last dying breath...

Speaking of last week's game I wonder if yesterday's results tempered the views of those who were super critical of our inability to smash the Lions. They did ok against Port in Adelaide and were unlucky not to win. There are no easy games this year, any time you can bank the 4 points, take it and run.

Yeah, and lets remember.......NoBODY but NoBODY beats Melbourne 18 times in a row!!

Brayshaw Johnstone Lockhart Maynard Pedersen Stretch kicked single goals.. Guess the Casey Twitter ran out of characters.

Max kicks the goal against Geelong we’re 3-0! We beat Brisbane away, that looks good when you see they ran PA to 5points in Adelaide. Beat our hoodoo team in North by 5 goals 7, Fritsch robbed a goal, they had a 4 goal start, could easily of been 10 goals. Look at improvement in: Gawn Hogan Petracca OMac improved (Brown got 4 but two from frees) Salem yesterday showed signs Oliver not best day still 20 pos & 2 goals Garlett goals & great pressure Fritsch highly skilled can make things happen out of not much Still missing: Viney & T Mac 2of our best 6 Jetta, Hibberd, Lever will all get better and defence will gel overtime Melksham, Harmes, ANB can all play better Tyson solid yesterday Vince and Lewis also solid, especially last qtr for Lewis, but they are under pressure to hold their spots which is great. Jones, can see when he lifts makes a big difference to the team. Borderline Wagner played his best game yesterday, same with Bugg, Kent did well just needs to keep going, Frost made a solid contribution. Out of team, putting pressure on the firsts: Hunt will find form Brayshaw is close Pedersen good back up Yesterday was a team effort, a really good win! Once we win a few in a row and the backline settles, confidence will come and we will lift to another level. We are finals bound!

I really don't know why I read the "changes" thread each week. I mean, people calling for the inclusions of the likes of Spargo, Smith x 2, Baker. Then someone calling for a bloke that kicked 4 goals to be dropped, just because he doesn't like him. Please.

So many more headlines they could run with, honestly! Like, Is Richo under the pump at the Saints? Lever was second for intercepts yesterday behind Hibberd. Yeah, big headache! I’d say a captain of a club ( Easton Wood) without a tackle in the first two rounds requires a couple of Panamax more than we do.

A brave ‘highlight’ mark from a young first year player and one for the AFL highlight reel showcasing our game, completely ruined by an incompetent decision. It didn’t but it could have cost the game. Umpire has to be dropped for sure. Really poor effort.

I don't know how you can conclude that. When you "buy" a player, you aren't paying for his first three games or even his first season, you're paying for the balance of his career. Lever is 22 so he's still 5 years off the finished product. If short term payoff is the only thing that matters, pick 11 and half a mil for Mitch Clark was an absolute bargain.

I was sitting literally 7-8m from that incident in the north cheer squad, not one of the them thought it was a free

It will be interesting to see how we go up against the highly-skilled and well drilled Hawks. If we can sustain the pressure we will be a chance, but I’m prepared to see us get cut up with their excellent field kicking.

Spot on I've watched a number of times. No pull. The bloke falls over

??

How good is Oliver? Even when he has a “quiet” game he still gets 5 clearances, 8 goal involvements and 2 goals. If he was anyone else you’d say he was BOG, but because it’s Oliver we just go “yeah he was fine I guess”. Kid is a damn freak!

Thought Garlett's steal in the pocket qualified as heroics.

How about that? We've won one in a row against North!!!

I loved that intercept goal from Garlett when the ump called advantage for norf after a sus free.

And then not giving trac a free in the last when he was nearly dragged down when going for a mark 20 metres out. infuriating. i was right above the kent free. he fid nothing

I'm glad we got the win and 6 and a bit goals felt like a fair margin. I felt the umpiring was incredibly soft both ways today. However, many of the free kicks were technically there. Someone asked why Fritsch was penalised after marking in the goal square late on. Kent pulled down the North player. Soft, but there. Some general comments from today... We still have a real problem with pressure acts in our offensive 50. Today we laid a lot more tackles inside 50 than the opposition, which was good, but this aspect of our game was noticeably absent in the first quarter yet again. North waltzed out of there far too easily. Fritsch did some lovely things. He's so clean and a beautiful user, but he was one that failed to lay a tackle. Simply not good enough for a half forward in the modern game. Melksham managed 1 tackle. As did Kent. As did Hogan (who rarely ever lays tackles). Petracca managed 2. That's slightly insane. 5 of our 8-10 forwards laid a total of 5 tackles between them. We are going to get crucified against decent opposition if we fail to keep the ball inside our forward 50. North were pretty much scoring with every second inside 50 and they're not the first team to do that against us. It's the one glaring area of our game at the moment and it's an area that Geelong exploited heavily. I expect Hawthorn will try to do the same next week. I'm no fan of Bugg and believe he's close to the level of a VFA player at times, but at least he managed 3 tackles. On that alone, he'll get picked again next week. His goals were a bonus, but like Brown's, came mostly from free kicks. That missed set shot from 15 metres out directly in front was not good enough. Meanwhile, Kent played the sort of game we've seen from him quite often over the journey. He got the ball in dangerous areas quite a bit, but his kicking prevented him from being a really damaging player - he really should have had 4 or 5. However, his biggest weakness is his lack of tackle pressure. This has to change if he's going to keep guys like Hannan out of the team. I almost wonder whether it'd be worth giving him a run on the ball more often, to ensure that he has to be physical. In the ruck, I thought Gawn killed Goldstein, but gee, he plays some dumb footy at times. His tapping to the outside at certain stoppages (where our players weren't and were much slower) was mindboggling and his free kick(s) against were all there IMO. Our ability to generate inside 50s continues to be really positive though. Our ball use lets us down on occasion, but there were signs today that things might be on the improve with forward entries. Basically, we started to kick the ball to the advantage of our forwards. This is a building block. I hope we can build on this next week. Salem's first quarter and a bit was really impressive. He won a bunch of clearances, won a lot of the ball and used it well. This was important early, as Oliver was receiving the tight tag. Salem faded out of the game and I couldn't work out whether it was due to his work rate or whether they paid him more respect (or both). Either way, building blocks for Salo too. Jesse is getting midfield numbers and now looks comfortable playing anywhere. It was an interesting game from him, because playing him through the midfield (at times) meant we were playing a very small and mobile forwardline. Anyway, a really good game from Jesse and pity he couldn't get on the scoreboard a little more. As for our leadership, I still have large question marks over Lewis, Jones and Vince. Jones directly gave away two goals in the second half, but fortunately today, each time he was able to atone for his errors (once in setting up Jeffy and then kicking one of his own). Lewis rarely keeps his feet anymore and this will cost us. And Vince is still too fancy with his dinky little kicks in defensive 50 that threaten to halt or swing momentum at critical moments. This is something that we must monitor and I think Viney's inclusion can't come quickly enough. Finally, the biggest plus for us today was being able to kick 18 goals with a small, mobile set up and without Oliver dominating the game (although his two goals were all class - his second was just as good as any A grade midfield gun in the league could produce when resting forward). And Gawn was the most influential player on the ground and having him near the top of his game makes us very dangerous. So there's still a heap of improvement left in this team, which is exciting. Hawthorn are going to be a massive test and we'll need to play our absolute best footy to take care of them. If we play four quarters for the first time this year, we'll beat them. I couldn't think of anything better as I continue my press to convert my wife from Hawthorn to Melbourne.

I reckon we missed Pedo today. With Hogan up the ground / midfield we, particularly early, didn't know where to kick. Pedo, or even Weid, if he is up to it, would give us a focus and someone for the crumbers to feed off. We cant rely on the likes of Kent, Bugge and Garlett to be major goalkickers every week.

Just a game for Salem? What game were you watching?