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He's a ripper. My favourite player, as you may be able to tell from my avatar. The best forward Melbourne has had since Neitz, and one of the best in the comp. Any club who played their best defender on Jesse Hogan last year when they had a chance to put him on McDonald had no idea. It's going to be a challenge this year when every club sends their best to Tommy right from the outset; but one of the best things about him is his running ability. He gets up and down the ground so much that very few defenders can handle both aspects of his game. Goes alright kicking for goal too.

Jetta, May, Oscar McDonald, Salem, Lever, Hibberd Gawn, Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Kolodjashnij, Harmes Petracca, Weideman, Neal-Bullen, Melksham, Tom McDonald, Spargo Jones, vandenBerg, Fritsch, Lewis, Hannan That's our best 23 players. Good to reasonable depth: Frost, Hunt, Garlett, Stretch, J. Smith, Kennedy-Harris, J. Wagner That's 30, not 24, imo. Petty will be a player, while I'm not as bullish on Tim Smith and Maynard who have also donned the red & blue. For me, it's as much depth as most clubs. And I reckon Hore might just be a player.

Ronny Lerner's best 22 plus 4 emergencies totals 26, any one of whom could competently fill a spot in the 22 and the team would lose little. In addition there is Stretch, Kennedy-Harris, Hunt and J Wagner who have shown that they can perform well at senior level. Plus there is hope for Preuss in a new team and game plan. All together a total of 30 who have performed at senior level. And that excludes any draftees and rookies who could develop. To say that the list thins out after the 24th player is itself a bit thin. Barring a catastrophic run of injuries to our key players, a team comprised of any combination of the 30 players would be competitive. We have competition and multiple options for most positions and no apparent serious deficiencies in any position. The perfect basis for major development. 2020 Go dees.

You lost me as soon as you said it was on preseason form then included Hore for round 1 who is a recruit who has not even trained with the main group. How does this logic stand up?

Perhaps we need to invest in a couple of these.

The man himself, Ronald Barassi is in attendance.

I just watched the video ‘inside the top 4 picks’ posted by the AFL. On AFL.com.au if you can stand it. Some points: Carlton delayed making their first selection for several minutes for no reason. Gold Coast were about as interested as someone inspecting someone else’s tinea. They all think they are comedians. Saint reckon drafting King was worth 10000 members! Shows what a complete and utter toss-fest the event was. Poorly delivered viewing experience, and stage managed by idiots. THis should have been footage that should never have been allowed out. Awful stuff.

*Facepalm

Things don't work that way, it's not quite so simple. Take Hogan out & you get a different spread of goal kickers. We were still getting the ball forward & as some say, we worked as a more cohesive unit without Hogan. The argument could be made that we would kick more goals. As for Weideman, our season is not totally dependant on his success or failure. Of course it would be better if he has a good season.

To rjay. That they haven't locked down a senior spot says more about our depth than their individual abilities. At times they have each shown serious potential. To FlashInThePan. I have been signing off many of my posts with '2020' for some time now. The derivation has three parts: 1. Brendan MaCartney once told me that it takes 5 years to train and develop a league footballer. 2020 will the year when many of our developing core players reach the 5 year milestone more or less ie Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca, Harmes, Salem, Weideman, OMac, Nibbler, AVB 2. The late Dean Bailey used to say that it takes about 70 games played together as a group to develop the sense and instinctive understanding required to be a cohesive group. 2020 will also be the year when many of our players reach the 70 gamer milestone playing together as a group ie to the list above add Gawn, TMac,Jetta, Jones, 3. Our last flag was in 1964. 1+9+6+4 = 20. Could 2020 be an omen prediction. 2020 Go dees.

'tiers' none of them has locked down a senior spot & with the exception of Hunt there have only been fleeting glimpses at senior level. I think Ronnie is not far off the mark with his comments on exposed form...lets hope with another season under the belt some of the above really make a statement and push up along with 1 or 2 of the new draftees. ...by the way, I think most teams would fall away after 24 - 26. You don't get to keep serious depth, if they're not getting a game they move on.

Surely Natalie Portman is in the conversation if we’re talking about pre season form

Tommy Mac now has that inbuilt confidence in his abilities to speak to the gallery for 9+ minutes and displays some pleasing leadership insights and knowledge of the team around him and his importance in the forward line structure. Really pleasing to see him step up to be the player that we all hoped that he would be. Well done TMac.................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!☺️

This is a [censored] Joke! He is way too over conditioned! And look at that puppy fat! Trade at years end.

yes. he came back from the break badly overweight with poor skinfolds. a major time trial looms and will certainly test him in 10 days time

Not that long ago our list was thin in the Bluey placings, we've come a long way.

The powers that be have completely misread the situation. The AFL is a competition of 18 tribal clubs and the fans will either follow them or a state based competition in the pre-season. I’m highly skeptical about them going for this concept and predict it will end in complete failure. Compare this with what they had earlier this year - a basically simple format of the game in a short form. They should have worked on its weaknesses and come up with a better game but within the club concept. The clubs, in turn, would have presented teams that showcased some established players and some recruits who supporters are eager to see at this time of year. Remember Bayley Fritsch kicking three goals in one of the games? This simply will not generate any interest and, in turn, that will signal the end of AFLX.

Goody looks like a kid that got a new bike for Xmas in that photo. love it.

I thinks it's more a reaction to the success of BBL cricket and the AFL trying to cash in on that concept. I think that the AFL has failed to see the bigger picture as to why BBL is a success amongst the demographic that it is geared towards and that is the other forms of cricket aren't as appealing to that audience where as there is very little wrong with our game. Long form of cricket as a televised spectacle for todays audiences was broken. Our game is not. If it aint broke don't fix it.

One more thing after a lead either Weid or Tommy doubled around and May stood them up with a big body check. Just a glimpse in to his physicality. He also tunneled through Preuss to set up the play that led to the Kolo goal against play. I would say it was a free kick but it’s still nice too see some grunt and pace defending a lead.

Lever jogging laps. Jack Viney on the footies for some snaps at goal. Big rehab group of Nev, Vanders, Baker, Oscar, Tracc, Oliver, Hunt, Stretch, Harmes, Bull kicking and marking. All moving well. Harmes did repeat sprints with the runner who Brendan Mc at least has dubbed ‘rabbit’. Hore welcomed in to the main group with plenty of applause for a drill before returning to rehab. In to some 2/3rd of the ground up and back match simulation. I call this one the 3 team tango with 3 little mini teams. Spargo a nice stand up tackle an early highlight. Sparrow got the ball on the wing and tried to take on the Prooster and probably regretted it, got dumped on his shoulder. My guess is Preuss injures someone at some stage this year, I hope it’s not a bad result! They split in to a couple of groups. The one at the punt road end with a ground ball in the pocket, hands hands to 45 out, then a short hit up kick quick handball and a shot on goal from 20m out 45 angle. Quite frankly this was the worst drill I’ve seen in years. Jeff and Preuss were about the only ones who could kick a simple goal. Weid dropped 3 sitters on the hit up kick. The hit up kicks were often awful. Bedford has no momentum in his kicking action so his snaps and hit ups were awful, smoothing out his kicking action has to be a priority. It was just a bad drill. Not sure why it wasn’t stopped. Anyway about that time Rdb rolled in on a golf cart in a dark suit. Looked like the Pope (redacted redacted). The players were doing a tackling/grappling drill. Not sure who the coach taking it was but he wasn’t suffering fools. It was down for push ups repeatedly. Jones giving them a rev up. Lewis’ push-ups were ridiculous. Pretty much like this: Kade Koko took running shots at goal in this time. Looking smooth. Rejoined the group later. The kids went off for some development work. The main group in to some match sim. Spargo a highlight with clean use. Steve May looked buggered after a rep, nice to see they made him work. Fritsch and Kolo clean on the outside. Kade Kolo the won a contest and ran in to goal for the defensive team which had them up and about. May very vocal and supportive. Anyway, that was about enough for me.

Some tackling drills at the moment. Massive cheer from the boys as the skinny armed Fritsch brings TMac to ground with a ripping tackle. Kudos to the new boy, Toby Bedford for attempting to bring down big Maxy. Kid has some guts! A well deserved cheer from the crowd follows.

Worth hearing the whole thing. TMac speaks knowledgeably and seems a good fellow. ..better player than Hogan ever was.

I believe that "the Guests of Her Majesty" would be their largest membership category. They also have a innovative method of membership payment " Someone else's credit card"

Yep ... when in doubt form-wise at this time of the year, trust the ratings. Aloisia falls into that category along with 'Most Important' in the 'Lough Neagh Stakes' at Doomben However, Most Important is racing well and has a very good rating ... it's probably the only true WFA horse in the race and at 10-1, is over the odds you'd reckon DZ.

think your on the money here

Not a bad race at all for this time of the year Macca, didn’t look at the fields until late in the week. The gentleman was more hopeful with Aloisia than extremely confident although the horse seems ready to fire. As you stated it hasn’t been that far away recently. I noticed 3 of our previous bests are up against each other in the last at Doomben. I’m A Rippa/Niccanova/Prioritise Can’t see Prioritise troubling the other 2 after last week’s effort but it’s a decent price and maybe one for the wider exotics.

Good to know that at this time of year Santa is training the house down. He’s got a hard gig coming up in the near future.

Tbh Macca, I thought that KC were good, but it was more some amaz8ng plays from Mahomes than good offensive drives. With both teams down to their 3rd string RB it added a different element to the game. But the team I saw vs the Rams isn’t what I’ve seen the last two weeks. Watch for teams to start clamping more on Kelce again, Hill isn’t as effective without Hunt.

Agree 100%. He was criminally underrated last year and look how many goals he kicked after a late start to the year. He will be regarded as one of the best key forwards in the comp if he finds that next level next year.

Thanks mate. Not sure how much of a holiday I’ll have, a fourth little Dee arrived in the household a few days ago. Good times ahead nonetheless. Don’t worry, it’ll be August before you know it, hopefully we have sewn up a finals spot by then and you can relax.

Enjoy the holidays. I haven’t had any in just over a year and am counting down to mine in Aug!

Same here Gorg....aaarrrghh. This was my first of six weeks off and I’m enjoying the live games again. Some crazy finishes the last few days.

Chargers win on last play. No Allen for most of the game and. rivers got hammered all game long. Ballsy call going for 2 instead of tying but it paid off. I was very tempted to tip them but chickened out.

I'd agree with this. We have flawed / aging / injury-riddled players in depth spots, which is granted, what usually happens, but when you do a list of consistent role players or stars, it thins out at 26 or so. May, Jones, Salem, Harmes, Petracca, Lewis, Viney, Lever, Spargo, Brayshaw, Gawn, Preuss, Oliver, KK, Hibberd, Frost, Melksham, Hannan, Vandenberg, TMac, Weideman, OMac, Hunt, ANB, Fritsch, Jetta. Of course, our new recruits could change the face of this in the short term, although I doubt many of them will be able to have an impact in 2019. Hore and Sparrow potentially, but outside run is still a concern if KK, Hunt, Baker and Hore don't come on as expected. The article also rightly points out that we're placing a lot of faith in Weideman next year too. He's still a young player and I think we'll find consistency in 2019 is still an issue. I'll be interested to see if Bedford gets a chance at some stage in 2019 or whether he has to wait until 2020 and beyond for an opportunity, because we desperately lack pace at ground level in our forwardline. On the whole, our list is beautifully balanced, but there is quite a bit of assumption in that statement that is fairly questioned in this article.

Or get Saty to stand the mark

That’s a mighty big IF...

I believe details were sent to 'mailing house' this week so should be received next week, if aussie post has its act together. As an aside, based on the chat in this thread and the release of new Trident and Redleg memberships, lots of members have upgraded or added features (eg reserved seat, GFG). That is great news: not only have no. of members increased the average spend per membership is increasing. So a nice 'extra' impact on club revenues.

A day on the paddock from six Enjoy ==> https://www.smugmug.com/frame/slideshow?key=tSGMjx&autoStart=1&captions=0&navigation=0&playButton=0&randomize=0&speed=2.5&transition=fade&transitionSpeed=2&clickable=1

That is a neat time for anyone. Interestingly, about 7 year olds: One of the US' top Sports Science universities in the '80s came up with a novel way to train their athletes - but moreso, to test a selection of their male Olympic decathletes and heptathlons prior to selection. Within a large, indoor training facility all 'kitted out' and padded for the untrained 7 year old kids to run wild, each athlete had to team up with one of them and then, mirror and perform each movement and activity that their 'little one' partner performed. It exhausted the athletes in very short time. The best athlete's time recording was to endure 23 minutes of continuous activity at the level performed by his 7 year old partner who was by no means the most energetic of the kids. All of the kids were stopped from this almost riotous, continuous exercise free-wheeling at the 30-minute mark. None were physically spent, at all. All of the kids had so much fun that they attempted to 'carry on' like madmen as they would in their own backyards. No sheet!

Maxy carrying two mini Maxys.

Living in Adelaide these forums are great for finding out what’s happening around the club so happy to have been able to give a little something back

True, his development last year was very significant. His challenge is now to sustain that and keep improving. I was personally a bit worried when he took JW's number that things may not have gone the way they did - don't ask me why it was just a feeling - anyway very pleased it played out well for him. I know it is easy in hindsight but I always felt James Harmes would be a good player perhaps not quite to the level he showed late last year. I have also had the same feeling about Jayden Hunt so I'm hoping that he can replicate Harmes' 2018 form rise in 2019

I had a Redlegs wait listed seating request which couldn't be accommodated but was offered seats in new membership categories. Those with existing wait list seating requests get first option on these and then they go on sale to the public. New releases: Trident Open Air – Bay P12 - Premium Reserved Seating on Level 2A of the Great Southern Stand on the wing. Redlegs Open Air - Bay P9 - Premium Reserved Seating on Level 2A of the Great Southern Stand in the pocket. You might try contacting the club and ask if you can still upgrade to one of these new categories . As an aside, Membership now 30,891

Yeah LDC, it's all a bit confusing for the filth. Mum and dad buy a family membership but they don't really know how many sprogs they have. Then son and daughter who happen to be married ( usually to each other) buy another one. Then someone gets locked up for doing burgs to pay for the memberships. Very confusing. Do the filth have a special prisoner category membership - limited games but you still get a beanie with a face mask?

Collingwood-speak for "We don't know how many members we have because we can't count"

And nothing says "common" more than a Richmond or Collingwood membership.

Yarra Park is still the dream. Otherwise I remain convinced a partnership with one of the leading Private schools is worth exploring. High quality ovals - tick Inner/middle suburban or even ‘heartland’ location - tick Either existing or a desire for gym/pool/indoor facilities This press release from Xavier shows you how serious they are about strengthening and promoting their footy program. It’s obviously very important to the schools PR efforts. Surely one of the schools out there would welcome a partnership with an AFL club, giving them credibility and access to the elite environment. Id be calling Melbourne Grammar immediately and asking if they want to build a facility with us at their Port Melbourne training fields. Leverage Steve May and Toby Bedford for an Indigenous angle, that will get the AFL and Goverments involved. Tie it in with Fisherman’s Bend residential development. Easy!