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AFL website nominates players to watch in 2019. Sam Weideman is rightly the one to have to stand up. He will be given the role and has to grab the opportunity. I think he will. Others noted are Joel Smith and Jayden Hunt both of whom need a good run free of injury. Oskar Baker and Harrison Petty are the youngsters named. I think others really are - Billy Stretch. Showed his ability to provide run and delivery but toe injury killed the 2nd half of 2018. He has a wing position there to take. - Christian Petracca. Yes the Trac can still get better and better. He must impact for longer and assert himself. Looking for A grade in 2019. - Jeff Garlett. Jeffy can be the one to make a difference and take us to the top. There will be the chances if he has the renewed will and desire. Talent is unquestionable. - James Harmes. Proved himself in the 2nd half of the season. A full year at that standard would be sensational. From the injury front, Viney and Vandenburg should be hopefully ready to have full seasons. Of course, we should Jake Lever back, if not for Round 1 then by rounds 3-4 onwards. Gawn, Oliver, Brayshaw, Tmcd, Jetta, Melksham all had great years and hope they keep fit and maintain the standard. There is still plenty of upside in many others. #1 in 2019.

The Herald-Sun reported yesterday that Pruess was one of six North Melbourne players that attended a high altitude training camp in Utah. Four current Kangaroos along with two former teammates paid their own way to head to the United States for two weeks where they got a head start on training in the mountains of Utah. Paul Ahern, Cameron Zurhaar, Declan Watson and Sam Durdin joined recently-delisted Alex Morgan and new Melbourne ruckman Braydon Preuss for high-altitude training in a bid to hit the ground running in 2019. Good to see he is committed and knows what it is going to take to become a permanent inclusion to the team.

Tyson wasnt a reject. That is being quite unkind to a bloke who agreed to come to us when we were a laughing stock, and played some very good football for us. Agreed he would not to fit into our best side now and his shortcomings are obvious to most, but to include him in your list is extremely unfair to him. He is well above every other name in that list.

Maybe it's just me but I think Petracca's 2018 season was very underrated by DL posters. I'd rate his season as good as he averaged 20 possessions a game playing predominately half forward. He had over 40 shots at goal but was inaccurate compared to his previous year but all his major stats were up. He came with a lot of expectation and I understand some are disappointed he isn't yet a superstar but it's only his fourth season in the AFL with his first ruined by injury. What I find more disappointing is people questioning his attitude when the reality is I doubt many know and are just guessing. Questioning someone's attitude by guessing is poor form. As for Lyon's view - I couldn't care less.

Yeah "once in a generation" key forward is pick 2. How good must Walsh be?

Harmes really is the success story of 2018. Others who are in the 2nd to 3rd tier group of players at the club must be looking at him and thinking ‘if that bloke can do it there’s no reason I can’t’. Harmes and Brayshaw stepping up big time and made such a huge difference to the side. My two picks to step up in ‘19 are OMac. Will go into the season as a 23 year old with 60+ games under his belt who should have grown into his 198cm body. Depending on match ups and with Lever and May coming into the backline Oscar may find himself on the likes of Brown, Daniher, Cox and Hipwood or even forward on occasions where he often played as a junior. He has improved every year he has been with us and reckon he can go to another level Stretch. It probably is bit of a make or break year for Billy whose star has fallen as best mate’s ANB has risen. Stretch was playing the best footy of his short career before getting injured. Hopefully something had clicked and he will pick up that form again next year. You get the feeling he won’t die wondering and will prove his worth

Missing the finals is a failure now but even then there could be injury reasons for that. So making finals is a pass. Winning finals is a reasonable expectation, top 4 a good result - last year was really ahead of expectations. Flag is definitely possible and that's a great position to be in.

I know it is not the first time this sentiment has been expressed but the Club had decided before the end of the season that both parties would be better off if Jesse was to head back West. This is coming from an ex 20+ year employee and a life member of the MFC

I'm not sure where you were at the end of this season maybe in a coma? Sam Weideman came in when Hogan went out and kicked 8 goals in 5 games, and goals in every game - all against high quality opposition, 3 of them finals matches. That translates to 35 goals across 22 games. There's a reasonable expectation that with another pre-season Weed will be even better next year.

Not as much as stepping up but I feel Salem can go to another level. Has managed to play 40 games in the last two seasons and has been very good and why not get better, just look at Harmes. Salem is around the 70 game mark now. Classy and tough is a good mix, most of us feel very confident when the ball is in his hands. I’d be interested to see if he eventually moves out of half back but with Lewis nearing the end I think he stays there as the ‘general’ in the years to come.

Roughly about one season 'Fifty'... Previous once in a generation players to name a few have been Lynch, Danniher, Hogan, Boyd, Moore etc.... The way once in a generation is going I'm pretty sure we can get it down to a week.

The BS spouted in these reviews goes on: Lukosius: "The key forward is a ‘once in a generation’ prospect and is one of the best player we’ve seen in the Under 18 system for a long time." How long is a generation? Has this guy ever seen Buddy Franklin or Nick Riewoldt? i'm dubious about "super draft" prognostication, I've seen it all before.

People could be sleeping on the Steelers a bit, they have some very good weapons on offense and solid line players. Everyone's expecting a Pat's/KC AFCCG but I wouldn't say it's a foregone conclusion. Anyone but the Pats please.

Pick 53

Speaking about his goal kicking I think Trac seemed to lose confidence in front of goal. He seemed to always look to give it off when in range.

Great Muhammad Ali like win there from Jaameh, well spotted DZ.....talk about off the canvas.

Nice one DZ ... I was on it for a handy collect. Jaameh fought on really well for a gutsy win - David Hayes just mentioned that the horse has probably now qualified for next year's Melbourne Cup. Looks a real stayer.

Free agents are locked in to the cap due to the compensation and other factors. I raised that because you raised Buddy. Buddy's contract is locked in to the salary cap for the full length of the deal. See here: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/hawthorn/ty-vickery-salary-to-be-included-in-hawthorns-2018-cap-despite-retirement/news-story/56fc77cb474a66e7723c01df151ae8b8 The veterans list is completely outdated. Forget about that. Tippett had a dodgy ankle, didn't want to do the rehab, reached an agreement with the Swans to retire for a settled pay out instead of staying on the list in 18/19/20 and cashing his payment without ever playing. That's all fair and above board. The only saving for the Swans is the 80k that they would've spent on another rookie but now save by keeping Tippett on the rookie list using a spot. Mutually agreeing with a player for them to retire and then paying them out with a rookie spot is no advantage at all. Sydney and Hawthorn have done it because they have tight salary caps not as a form of getting around the cap. The Crows have done it as well. Other teams with more cap room have put retirement payments in to earlier years and saved a list spot.

All a bit late .No point asking these questions unless you need to somehow internally justify an unjustifiable trade .Perhaps there was some to date unreported attempts at lateral negotiations involving Brayshaw and others but as best as I can see we just took what Freo offered which was not nearly enough.

Keep the selections coming fellas. Will try my luck with another quaddie. I’ll probably take 5 runners in each leg and would be glorious to be alive in the last leg with El saluting. Good luck all, should be another good day’s racing.

It can win! Much like a number of others can win in this sprint race as well Wadda I found this Sprint race the hardest to decipher in quite some time ... and there is a possible small fortune to be made with the correct Trifecta or First4 combination saluting. I'm surprised the race hasn't been talked up a lot more in terms of the quality but I suspect that is because the punters & experts can't make heads or tails of the race. There are a any number of top-line gun horses that will finish outside of the top 4. By contrast, the McKinnon has attracted a weakish field with only 4 realistic chances including your choice, Extra Brut.

Brave Smash runs a place i reckon. $3.70. Won the Manikato last start.

Steelers get it done. I’ll say it again, this Pittsburgh D has pass rush in them, a lot of questions going in but they nailed it today with 5 sacks.

Agreed. He might not be starring now, but Tyson played some quality football for us and has played over 100 games. In 2014 he finished second in the BnF to Jones in his first year with us at age 20-21. He was a bees [censored] away from winning it off Jones, and would have been a worthy winner after a stellar season. Knee injury 2015. Finished fourth in our BnF in 2016 against some quality players in a team playing well for patches and just missing the 8. 2017 he was limited by a knee injury. 2018 he struggled. The way he's been spoken about and criticised on here this year has been unwarranted IMO. I wish him well at North, as he's a good bloke who played some good footy for us and chose to come when we were basket case. Here's a bit of a discussion point; Tyson was better than Petracca at the same age! Regarding DFAs, doesn't seem like we'll pick anyone up. I'm a bit surprised we moved so many players, as our list appears like it will come short? Perhaps we will re-rookie some like Bugg?

It's funny how it works out. Messed up our attempt at a key forward with pick 12 then got an absolute gun key forward at pick 53.

I have an alternate view. Instead of being satisfied if he "can take a few games by the scruff of the neck" my preference is for him to become a consistent, solid option. Someone who gets picked every week, takes contested marks and kicks goals regularly without necessarily dominating individual games.

Flag

Complacency is our biggest opponent this year; I would hate to think our guys thought they had achieved anything last season. Lewis will earn his pay this off season I reckon

My pass mark will be no greater than one or two 20-30+ point losses max. So playing to win every single quarter. Obviously a tonne of close losses will be a fail if they're against weaker teams, but if we win all of the games we should and have a health balance of close wins/losses against good opponents then we'll be in good stead for the finals, we'll be good enough to really push deep into the finals and potentially win a prelim. Close prelim game is the finals pass mark I suppose. I don't want any of that Hawthorn & Collingwood nonsense repeated next year. If we have an off day, we better back it up with a fierce response. Should put us on track to win about 15/16 games.

I think it had more to do with Max turning things around from being lazy/making poor choices, whereas Jones, ANB and Stretch have always trained hard from the start. Gaz just making a point that CP can turn it around like Max if he wants to.

I watch Garry Lyon train in the old days and he never pushed himself either so he knows what a waste of talent is when you think you can just turn up and perform. One of the great athletes of all time Carl Lewis used to have a saying 'when you are number 1 you have to train like number 2' also Jesse Owens had a saying 'that people say I am lucky but the harder I train the luckier I get' the saying's are basically true but lazy sportsmen blame other things for their failure to get to the top of the heap.

If this photo doesn't cut at Trac, then we might as well trade him. And to go even further, if Maxy's arms were a bit longer, then next in line for the group hug would be Harmes. That, too, should be motivation enough for Trac to have a cracking preseason.

The bit where Garry Lyon says that he might train hard and hard, but doesn't realise he can go up a level if he really wanted to is absolutely spot on. I believe Garry Ablett Jnr and Bernie Vince are on record to say that they thought they were training hard until their leaders sat them down and told them training hard just wasn't enough. I would be surprised if Jordan Lewis and Nathan Jones haven't had this conversation already with Petracca.

I think a pass mark is top four finish in the regular season and then to make a prelim. B Making the Grand Final. A Winning the Grand Final. A+

Well, until he is a Demon anyway 100% we should do this. Personally I am filthy for Freo about the way they acted with Jessy. I understand there will always be some pull for players to return to their home state and family, but to me Freo were so focused and persistent in white anting out Jessy from the start. I also understand that with the compeditive nature of the league, clubs will always have an interest in getting good players from other teams, but to me, there is a line between trying to attract outside tallent and underhanded poaching. Time to bring Andrew Brayshaw home - I want revenge.

MELBOURNE champion Garry Lyon has implored Christian Petracca to return to training early, urging the hybrid Demons forward to replicate Max Gawn’s off-season example in order to get the best out of himself.

So the panthers forgot to show up after the first drive. Steelers nailed everything and their D made the panthers Oline look non existent.

Knightmare was the mock recruiter for Collingwood. He didn't match the bid.

Matt Balmer of Fox Sports has put out his AFL Draft 2018: Full first-round phantom draft a fortnight out from AFL draft

Take a look at his 2017 goals... Compare them to many of his goals from this year, where he was often looking to dish off, or played on to kick around his body. Also, in 2017 he kicked 26 goals, 6 behinds. In 2018 he kicked 19 goals, 23 behinds. It's confidence.

Great idea. Come back early after knee surgery, what could go wrong? Nice one Gary ...

Booing a guy who wanted to go home after he survived cancer and had his dad pass away from the same disease with within a few months? Cool.

The amount of work Trac put in leading up to and during his draft year was huge. It wasn't a case of I'll get by on my natural talent. He reinvented himself, but now just finding out there are some who are just endurance freaks playing at the highest level

Exactly. And if Garry wants to be true to the 'be like Gawn' comparison - he had two knee reco's and took a good half a dozen seasons to reach his full potential. ...don't really wish that on Trac. I'm not so sure that this was as much about loosing confidence as it was about playing to team rules/system. Whilst he certainly didn't kick many/any big bags, I think Trac certainly used the ball well inside 50 to give it off to team mates in better positions. This is typical of the play of many of our other top forwards like ANB, Melksham and even guys like Tommy regularly give off to the higher percentage option than go for the kickable but lower percentage goal themselves. A lot of perceptions around this call Garry has made and others hint at, so I'll add some of my own. He's certainly an extraverted, confident character Trac, but I also sence a ultra compeditiveness that wouldn't be satisfied with being an average player in a good side, so I don't have too many concerns that he wouldn't be seeking advice from all his relevant peers, coaches and fitness staff and pushing himself to become the champion he believes he can be in his own mind. The other thought that comes into my mind is a quote from Paul Roos or someone that after players are drafted, the number they are picked at becomes irrelevant. Whilst we all want Trac to become an absolute champion of the game that would somehow justify that pick 2 selection, I'd be quite happy for the rookie Harms to become the champion player like Sam Mitchell was for the Hawks, whilst Trac is just plays a solid team role in the next MFC premiership team.

The past is often imagined to be better. Looked at objectively the players were far less athletic the skills generally poor the facilities were rubbish and the behaviour of spectators and players crude and often loutish. There were no tactics and little structure apart from "get on your man". Coaching was something else. The torpedo has disappeared apparently but frost hunt and dunne disagree and on the evidence it has a place. Drop kicks are gone but drop punts are much more reliable. New forms of goal kicking have evolved in the banana round the corner and the dribbler. We of a certain age hark back to the 60s and 70's more generally we live better longer and safer. I miss seeing league teams and the replay after the game but i couldnt record the game see highlights on youtube or see interviews with favourite players and so much more Sorry to rain on the nostalgia parade!

Are they voting retrospectively? ?

Tracc has to become more accurate in front of goal. I thought his 2018 was pretty good, but for his goalkicking

Trac was low on confidence this year, X factor players like him need to be oozing confidence. Hard training and a sole focus on his footy will bring results which will give him back that confidence! I believe he'll get there, and if he does, it will give us every chance at a premiership.

And on Harmes, I'm hoping he doesn't take his foot off the pedal either and re-doubles his efforts to improve even further. If he gets to A grade, with a fit Viney, we'll have the best midfield in the competition (if we don't already).

Off the ball scuffles or the odd tackle don't demonstrate much. Put vandenBerg, Viney, or Oliver 2 metres from a loose ball, equal distance apart and win that footy. That tells me if you're tough. You usually don't go pick 2 unless you can play, so I'm more than happy to reunite them if he's good enough.