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Trac was fine at training this morning, train on Saturday to see if he can handball, mark etc, assume he will wear a guard Hogan can train tomorrow and then Saturday, the fact he completed the game was a good sign, again though wait to see him run out on Sunday Confirm what Goodwin said about Viney, oustanding today, some pics tonight Highlight today one on one battle between ANB and Nev Jetta, got a bit willing Lot of emphasis today on contested work

Is it wrong to be slightly ...aroused?

If anyone is looking for a definition of "a very Melbourne thing to do" I think we have a contender.

Melbourne FC‏Verified account @melbournefc 26m26 minutes ago More Goodwin: Jack Viney will be available to play next week. The high performance team has prepared him for AFL footy.

Plenty of talk, calls and encouragement at training. The players seemed 'keyed up'. Jake Lever a little less animated than when he first started training with the dees a few months ago. He is more focused on his own skills, fitting in and acting in a leadership role. The simulated game drill was very physical. The tackling and pressure was game like when in open play. The aerial contest more constrained. Joel Smith and Oscar Baker moving and kicking well. They were getting plenty of ball and showing good defensive skills. Cam Pederson displaying his usual reliability, marking well, kicking goals and bringing the high ball to ground, Tim Smith there abouts. Harrison Petty working hard and learning. Billy Stretch running well and working hard. Sam Frost is in the mix, showing his speed and the reading of the play. Talking of reading the play, Michael Hibberd is killing it. Jay Kennedy-Harris getting plenty of ball and working hard. Tom Bugg looks to be putting in that extra effort, professional approach, similarly is Jeff Garlett. Josh Wagner doing some good defensive plays. Lachlan Filipovic getting to the aerial contests. I thought some stand outs at training included Nathan Jones, Jordan Lewis, Jake Viney, Charlie Spargo and Oscar McDonald. The rehab group included Dion Johnstone, Mitch King, Harley Balic. Christian Petracca mainly running but also did a little ball play, kicking goals and some soft ball handling. Dean kent, some walking and very slow jogging. Pat Mckenna his usual jogging.

Thanks for the reminder. As you know, since those days, I have lost my way. I found there are very few reasons to continue living. The thought of a warm bed, a loving woman and a bottle of liquor no longer interest me. The beast has been tamed. Living in near isolation, the lack of companionship has meant that my writings on this site tend to ramble. In fact I forget what I have written within 5 minutes. If I do reread my comments, it is mostly with embarrassment. My comments on this site are just a way of passing time. However, I am attracted to the passion, the obsession and sheer craziness of the characters that inhabit this place. They remind me of some of the characters that I have met and written about.

You always seem to be!!! You must be a real trooper around the office or work site when something goes t it’s up.

Yeah Demonland is grouse, ay?!

What a waste of time reading that rant was. The bloke is 25 games into his coaching career. Keep your Goodwin bashing to its own topic and it will save me having to read your dribble.

The Tigers home game has skewed the results but we're one of the big 4. Give us Friday nights. ? http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/st-kilda/st-kilda-is-confident-earlyseason-low-home-crowd-turnouts-wont-impact-its-bottom-line/news-story/887a2d1c360d8afb05c8f93ef070dfcc

THE LAST FOUR MINUTES by Whispering Jack I watched the replay of Melbourne’s game against Essendon and, with the countdown clock ticking past four minutes, the Demons were coasting home with a lead of 49 points. A big percentage boosting win beckoned against a team that only had four clear days to recover from their Anzac Day blockbuster against Collingwood. However, in those last four minutes, they relaxed their grip on the Bombers and conceded three goals before Bayley Fritsch's late goal gave them a still comprehensive winning margin of 36 points. Across town and two and a half hours later, Richmond led Collingwood by 20 points with with four minutes left on the clock at the MCG. As they had done a few nights earlier on Anzac Day eve against the Demons, the Tigers turned on the turbo chargers and wasted the Magpies with a four goal burst to storm home to a 43 point victory. The difference between Richmond's final burst full of fist pumping energy and Melbourne's late game slowdown to a comfortable win is a reflection of why the Tigers are the reigning premiers and why they are currently favourites to repeat the dose in September and why the Demons are languishing in the bottom half of the table. The question for Simon Goodwin as his charges near the mark where a third of the season has elapsed is whether he can build them into a team capable of playing a ruthless, unrelenting brand of football for four quarters and still finish off their games showing no mercy to a beaten opponent. This is precisely what one would expect from a top four contender which is how many of the pundits viewed Melbourne six weeks ago. At first brush, Sunday's game against St Kilda presents an opportunity against a team that appears to be vulnerable but it would be a mistake to take the Saints lightly. After all, it was only two weeks ago that they held the highly rated GWS Giants to a pulsating draw at this venue after looking beaten midway through the final term. They dominated possession in those final four minutes and missed the chance to win the game when an attempt by Jake Carlisle (who had been sent forward late in the game) to mark close to goal with seconds to go was spoiled by Phil Davis. I'm not suggesting that the result of this match will necessarily be determined in the final 5% of game time, but if the attitude of the team is positive at the start and the effort is maintained to the very finish, then its hopes for the remainder of the season will be restored. THE GAME St Kilda v Melbourne at Etihad Stadium Sunday 6 May 2018 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall St Kilda 91 wins Melbourne 120 wins 1 drawn At Etihad Stadium St Kilda 8 wins Melbourne 4 wins Past five meetings St Kilda 3 wins Melbourne 2 wins The Coaches Richardson 0 wins Goodwin 2 wins MEDIA TV - Channel 7 Fox Sports3 live at 3.00pm RADIO - Triple M 3AW ABC ABC Grandstand THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 14.12.96 defeated St Kilda 10.12.72 at the MCG, Round 21, 2017 Melbourne dominated St Kilda for most of the match but has as happened so often with the team in recent times it led by as much as 40 points at one stage and almost allowed the lead slip out of its hands before a late rally saw it home. One of the highlights of the game was the return of Angus Brayshaw after a long absence with concussion issues and the dramatic moment when he clashed heads with an opponent and stood up undeterred by the incident. THE TEAMS ST KILDA B: Jarryn Geary, Nathan Brown, Shane Savage HB: Sam Gilbert, Jake Carlisle, Jimmy Webster ? Jack Newnes, Jack Steele, Maverick Weller HF: Luke Dunsta n, Paddy McCartin, Jack Billings F: Jade Gresham, Tim Membrey, Ben Long Foll: Tom Hickey, Sebastian Ross, Jack Steven I/C: David Armitage, Hunter Clark, Nick Coffield, Rowan Marshall Emg: Josh Battle, Ben Paton, Jack Sinclair, Brandon White In: David Armitage, H unter Clark, Rowan Marshall Out: Blake Acres (managed), Jack Sinclair (omitted), Brandon White (omitted) MELBOURNE B: Michael Hibberd, Oscar McDonald, Neville Jetta HB: Angus Brayshaw, Jake Lever, Jayden Hunt ? Jordan Lewis, Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson HF: Mitch Hannan, Jesse Hogan, Jake Melksham F: Sam Weideman, Tom McDonald, Christian Petracca Foll: Max Gawn, Bernie Vince, Clayton Oliver I/C: Bayley Fritsch, James Harmes, Alex Neal-Bullen, Charlie Spargo Emg: Jeff Garlett, Camero n Pedersen, Tim Smith, Josh Wagner In: Christian Petracca Out: Christian Salem (thumb) MARCHING IN The two sides doing battle this week at Etihad Stadium are the lost souls of our game. They last tasted premiership glory more than half a century ago and in St Kilda’s case, it was the only taste. In recent years, they have been tracking each other in what have until now, been vain attempts to make the finals in order to enable an attack on their long and painful premiership droughts. This year looks as another disappointment for both of them as inconsistency and poor form have marred their starts to the season. In assessing the two sides, Melbourne appears to be stronger on paper. I say it every week but the presence of Max Gawn in the ruck should, by itself, give its emerging and varied midfield an edge. Jesse Hogan once kicked seven goals in a losing team against St Kilda. Two years later, there is no reason not to expect another bag except for the fact that he isn’t always played near the goal front and also ... he, along with Christian Petracca, are still under injury clouds at the end of the week. I was going to give St Kilda some brownie points over that recent drawn game with the GWS Giants at Etihad Stadium because I have hitherto rated highly the AFL’s artificial creation but later events have caused a change in my thinking. The Giants aren’t as good as I thought and th e Saints certainly aren’t much good. If they beat the Demons in Round 7 then it would be a fatal blow for the aspirations of Simon Goodwin and his team. They should be guided by the years of punishment they suffered at the hands of St Kilda over recent years with a couple of reversals at this very ground coming to mind. Like Round 11, 2015 when Leigh Montagna ran into an open goal in the dying seconds to rob them of victory. It won’t happen this time. I’m tipping Melbourne to come marching in by 37 points at the end.

God I hate that word when describing a player.

Yes. If you're only 'slightly' aroused after watching that you've got a problem!

I asked JV direct, he said another week of full training without a hiccup and he is ready to be selected

i'm just suspicious in cases like this of "contamination" and asking for clarification police are highly trained in forensic sampling procedures, especially in pre-organised raids nothing personal re thompson re the mdma. just a desire for proper procedure. after that "let the chips fall where they may"

Could not disagree more. Expecting continued improvement this week.

Also have heard the AFL have settled a harrassment case on behalf of Petraccas dogs who accuse a Club official of indecent acts. A confidentiality clause has been activated after the payment of several kilos of eye fillet.

Dropped by at training briefly today. I noticed Fritsch working with the mids with Gawn and Filpovic rucking against each other in boundary throw in simulations with 4 blues against 4 yellows trying to take the tap outs. The usual suspects, Clarrie, Jones, Viney, Lewis, Tyson, Harmes on the inside but Fritsch was playing an outside receiver role in the sims so maybe he will spend some time up on the wing? This group then moved to the centre to do simulated centre hit outs. For some reason a bloke carried a large step ladder and set it up near the centre bounces. What for I could not fathom. Anyway on about the third simulated bounce and tap down Clarrie ran into the ladder receiving a handball in traffic. The ladder was duly removed from the field??

Very, very good point 'rjay'. Even now, it scares me the number of 'Home' games Essendon (4) and Carlton (5) have at the G and they want more! Carlton seems to get favoured status by the AFL on just about every criteria despite their small membership base and woeful performance. And, with 70,000 members I can see Ess demanding the MCG as its Home ground. Yuk. Yuk. I'm convinced - looking at the big picture let's not set up our facility anywhere near Docklands!!

The fat lady certainly knows how to sustain a long note.

They had a gentle dig at ours on their banner last week. Maybe next time ours should say... ”jokes about skiing, you may continue to bleat. But you’ll always be known as scumbag drug cheats”

Give Jeffy a chance on a dry, fast deck against a relatively slow defence and then judge him. i reckon he’ll carve them up.

Probably should temper expectations a bit... He started last season in poor-average form after having surgery and not having a full preseason. He can't be expected to come in and be a superstar after being out injured so long. He'll probably take a few weeks to start playing decent footy again. The positive will be in having another leader out there on field, as that is our biggest weakness as a club by a mile.

Saints bigfooty gone into meltdown over acres being “managed”

Garlett for ANB also please.

Maybe the ladder is there for inspiration! For eg: climb the bastard! Or perhaps, win the next 5 and see how many rungs we climb up the ladder! Or we need a percentage boost to climb the ladder..... lol

The great man is confirmed back for round 8 vs Gold Coast. Looking forward to more opposition tears courtesy of our maniacal skipper.

Apparently, Clarrie told the coaches that his team mates were soft tacklers and that only a man of steel could stop him. The coaches looked around the group, shrugged their shoulders and decided that the only way to test Clarriés boast was to bring out the steel ladder.

"Melbourne will name Christian Petracca and Jesse Hogan and are confident the important duo will be fit to take on St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Sunday". ? https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/demons-optimistic-petracca-and-hogan-will-take-on-saints-20180503-p4zd4e.html "The Demons are also planning on a return to AFL football for gun midfielder Jack Viney next week". Not sure if the AFL fo JV is poetic license by the journo or was said by Goodwin. Either way, looking good!

I'll wait for the final teams to be released tomorrow arvo before making a call on our chances. No Hogan and Petracca will be a substantial blow to our arsenal. Let's hope they pull up and can contribute to another win.

I certainly hope not 'Lucifer'... Our home is the MCG, if we move a training facility to docklands it wouldn't take much imagination to see our home ground moving there also. Tennis Australia have big plans for the precinct around Laver, maybe we have a part to play.

He started terribly, but he has improved every game. He was outstanding against Essendon (call it a MFC breakout game) and very good against Richmond. He is a class player, was sensational last season and Adelaide's best in their GF lass. If he stays injury free he will finish top 5 in the B&F. We have not paid overs.

The pools will be biggest in the oaks and the Hollindale. And i reckon sprints can sometimes throw up a bolter because bad luck can scupper a favorites chances where at longer distances horses can better recover from a bad start, tricky barrier, check or get out of a pocket (sometimes). Also i like the big field in both races as sometimes in such races (particularly in Autumn i reckon) you can draw a line through many of the horses and there are usually on a handful of legitimate chances of winning. Not a bad race the Hollindale, but i would be leaning to the Oaks, mainly because the Morphetville track races predictably, is usually good and gives all runners their chance. Always wary of regional tracks like Gold Coast. If we go the Oasks i'll jump early and take Savacool. A terrific win last start and i just love horses that have that will to win as you always get a good sight. Six starts for 3 win and 3 seconds is testament to that spirit.

Ah, memories ...

INXS makes me cringe nowadays. Those bogans over in Port Adelaide haven’t helped my disposition on it either. If we adopted an INXS song I’d be most displeased.

I have mentioned this before but i see one game looks, especially in Smith's case where he is likely on his last chance, as a horrible option. Players coming from the lessor standards and scrappy ovals with the 'generally' less manic / pressured style of VFL, should be given at least 3 weeks to find their feet if they haven't spent much time in the AFL in recent times prior to the call up IMO. The frenetic pace and increased pressure (less time/space) is supposedly a big step up for most who aren't used to it if you listen to some of the seasoned players talk about the differences. Obviously if they have two shockers in a row it's going to be a hard ask for the FD to extend their stay beyond 2 weeks but i think you get my drift.

My son was coached by Brendan McCarthy and I was disappointed that my son had had a few goals kicked on him. He said forwards will kick goals that's what they do, if not one another will pop up, it is the nature of the game. He was not worried that the forward had kicked a few goals at all, provided that they did not come from repeated silly mistakes. I think Oscar ticks all the boxes, I think he plays as asked and does his best. Sometimes he makes a mistake, who doesn't? Gawn makes mistakes, Hogan makes mistakes, Dangerfield makes heaps of them, they just look worse in front of the opposition goals. I think Oscar is on the way to becoming an AA defender.

Hells Bells obviously...

Im easy about it. I would tend to lean towards Morphetville, then we can have JJs picks to help us as well. may identify some place getters.

I'm lazy, so can't be bothered looking at stats, but eyeballing Clarry's games, he's clearly and understandably had a lot more attention paid to him... thus I feel he has plateaued with his influence. So, what I am wondering (hoping) is that when Viney comes back it will free him up a bit more...is this an accurate assessment. It reminds me of Judd, who was surrounded by Cousins and Kerr - top midfielders who also allowed him to get off the leash.

What an impressive fellow - great interview guys, well done

This second round has been incredible so far, playoff hockey is just brilliant! Jets v Preds you just don’t know how many goals they will score. Caps v Pens is hard edged, really hope the Caps can get over the top this time around.

So frustrating to watch. The amount of times it's just so apparent that a handball is on and he ignores it to try and find a better one and in doing so is caught holding the ball is staggering. JUST GIVE IT. He's a good player, who is clean and has good positioning around the field, but has clear limitations with the one I mentioned above, shaky kicking and severe lack of pace. He needs to play inside mid or at Casey.

Already do , AF.

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What about the Cristina Ramos version?

Still one of the most dangerous and most dirty acts i have seen on the field in recent times. Should have been 6 weeks, elbowing a bloke in the back of the head while he lies on the ground in a disgrace and a dog act.