Leaderboard

Jetta added to leadership group Congratulations to Nev. A much deserved promotion for a perennially underrated player. 2019 Leadership group Nathan Jones (co-captain) Jack Viney (co-captain) Max Gawn Neville Jetta Jetta replaces Lewis who will work with coaches and leaders.

On the 11th of January this year my Dad died unexpectadly of a heart attack. He was a fit and healthy man only 65 years old with everything to look forward to. His mum is still alive at 100 years of age and his dad died at 90. As he lived up the country with Mum, my last three great memories of time spent with my Dad were the Melbourne v Geelong game, the Melbourne v Hawthorn Game and Christmas. Needless to say that video smacked me in the guts hard and had me weeping like a baby. Im really scared about this year, not because I think we will be bad, but because there is every possibility we could be very, very good and if our wildest dream comes true, I will be completly inconsolable for so many reasons. If you see a 6 foot tall, skinny bloke with shaved head balling his eyes out on that one day in September, please throw your arm around him and remind him to enjoy the moment, because his a dad waited 54 years for that moment and will have fallen 8 months short.

Goosebumps

He kicked that right in front of us and it still give me chills every time I watch it. And can you believe there were Melbourne supporters behind us telling us us to "Sit down in front." As you see in the clip, the crowd was up as soon as the geelong bloke fell over. If ya gonna biatch about people standing up when we've just nailed the coffin shut in a long awaited final, stay home and watch it on TV. Near lost my sheet I tells ya.

I popped by for about half an hour. I was standing pint road side of the oval so only really had a good view of the rehabbers. Rehab consisted of Jones, Tmac, Lever and Hannan. Jones looks like he’s not far off from going the main group. Doing a lot of ground work, running, running shot on goal etc. only thing he wasn’t doing was contact work. Tmac, not sure what’s up with him. He’s pulled out of AFLX. Fritsch his replacement. Wasn’t in the main group and was doing some marking drills with Stafford as I got there. Then game over to the rehab side of the oval and wasn’t doing a great deal of anything. He and Hannan left the track early. Hannan was going some goal kicking practice. Nice guy. Had a quick chat to him and asked him how far he is away from the main group. Said he had a minor knee op to clear out some floating bone that was irritating him from his previous op. Said he’s really happy now and will start running next week, do a good 6 week block of running and training and aim for a round 2 or 3 return. Lever was doing a lot of marking and kicking drills with Jones and Crossy, then did some laps of the oval fartlek style. Was building up some solid pace. If the club wasn’t taking the extra causious approach with him, he could’ve looked at possible return in the early rounds. He’s building nicely. Melksham was in the main group. I apologize I didn’t get to see much of the drills but at one stage down my end there was one drill where the were a chain of handballs where it was start at about 20m from goal, a chain of handballs going back towards the 50m arc and the final player coming through at full speed running towards the goal and having shots on goal. The chain of and handballs were fast and slick and the shots on goal were very accurate. Who whole drill was very clean. No dropped balls, players weren’t breaking stride and no shanked kicks. I must say big Pruessy kicking for goal was impressive. Harmsey and Trac had a tendency to hook the odd kick but overall it was pretty good. Hope this is ok. I’m just going from memory as I didn’t write down any notes. if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Never been as proud of this club in my 50 odd years as I am now. Good people making consistently good decisions. Might only be small things, but adding Nev to the leadership Group and Goody going to SA for the indigenous summit etc are examples of this. Just need to win the bloody thing for validation of all the hard work done by many good people in the last few years!

Still not convinced Goody is the right guy.. his coaching record in Prelims is hopeless, as that video showed.

That's the best looking leadership group in years in terms of numbers and personnel. Jetta's inclusion makes me very happy.

That will only be a worry when we play the Bombers

Reading through some of our most heartbreaking losses really got me down with reliving the memories. So stuff that, let's hear some of our greatest wins. For me there are a number of memorable wins. 2000 QF against the Blues, 2000 PF smashing the Roos and knowing we're heading into a granny, 2006 EF, obviously the Weagles win and then subsequent GWS demolition where we could celebrate making the finals for the first time in 12 years among fellow Demon tragics, last years EF & SF. But the one that takes the cake for me has to be our first win in 2008 after being down by 50+ points at half time and 30+ points at 3/4 time against the Dockers. There were few supporters there that day, but wow we made some noise (when James McDonald kicked a long kick forward out of the centre to bronx cheers was memorable that day too).

Nev’s story is up there as one of the best we’ve had in my time following the Club. Cudos to you my Lord.

I’m ready to run through a brick wall!!

The overhead shot of Hannan taking that ball was awesome, never seen it before. Must watch those 2 games again...

Welcome Nev to the leadership group in a premiership year. Makes up for all the AA teams you were rudely ignored in.

2018 final v geelong, was like the dam wall breaking after so many years of disappointment. exciting and emotional. otherwise I go back to the 87 finals excluding the prelim.

Beautiful post, coach. Hope we do it for your old man's sake.

All time (for a bloke born 1970): 87 Rd22 Defeating Footscray 94 QF Schwarz+others Beating Carlton 00 QF smashing Carlton Special mention the come back against the Dockers. When you could believe in a future: Melbourne winning in Geelong in 2015 Melbourne winning against Hawks in 2016. When you knew we had arrived: Melbourne EF in 2018. Looked like the scariest side in the comp. we are a finals winning side, built to smash teams, this year we will be devastating to others.

He ran a long way with 90,000 people on his shoulders. He did a mighty job to stay cool and slot it

My mail is there will be 6 x 20 min quarters. subject to change at either clubs discretion throughout the match.

I've been there for a lot of good games but in recent times: Round 20 in 2016 - we finally beat Hawthorn. I think I watched that replay more than a dozen times. It was the first time that I could see what we were building was actually going to work. Gawn was great that day as was Viney.

Absolutely happy for Nev and the club. Great decision. In presser noted that Lewis will work with coaches and assist the leadership team. Transition time for Jordan but his experience has been and will be invaluable going forward.

Reminds me of a former MFC forward approach to goal kicking

Dunno what’s going on here, but if it’s patellar tendinopathy, any surgery would be to debride (remove and freshen up) the affected bit via arthroscopy. Don’t know why they’re talking about cortisone, it’s not used in tendons now. I suspect it’s something completely other than what’s been confusingly reported, but if they say JLT’s on for him, I believe them. ???

I like that we've added a match reviewer with apparent Irish-German heritage. Matches the continuing Germanification of the club now that we have two Wagners, a Weideman, Fritsch, Neitshcke and Preuss.

Who would have thought you could write a match preview of a scratch match but here it is. SCRATCH by Paddy Gosch The Demons are set to take on the old enemy Collingwood in a good old fashioned Scratch Match on Friday Morning. It is unknown what form the match will take, how many quarters there will be, their length, the amount of rotations or even whether they'll keep score. One thing we do know for sure is that both coaching staffs will be keeping their cards close to their chests to ensure neither will glean too much from their competition. The Dees will likely be without some of their stars as Tom McDonald and Nathan Jones trained in the rehab group on Wednesday, the former pulling out of the AFLX 2.0 as he will be going under the knife for a "very minor procedure" to ensure he plays in the JLT and is "no chance to miss Round 1". Other players in the rehab group at the latest training sessions included Jake Lever (knee) and Mitch Hannan (knee). Steven May (hamstring) was attending the AFL's Indigenous Conference will not play as he aims to be fit for Round 1. Neville Jetta, who was also at the Conference is unlikely to play as he too has been in the rehab group for the past few weeks. Both Jack Viney (foot) and new recruit Kade Kolodashnij (adductor) were not at Wednesday's skills work session and have already been ruled out of any preseason practice matches. Viney is eyeing a Round 1 return whereas Kolodashnij will return early in the season. New recruit Aaron Nietschke tore his ACL during last Friday's match simulation at Casey Field's and will miss the whole of the 2019 season. Bayley Fritsch who replaces Tom McDonald as Melbourne's only representative at the AFLX will also likely miss. Of the rest of the playing group most will be available but I would assume that some of the players who had off-seasons surgeries might have shorter game times. Clayton Oliver and James Harmes both had shoulder surgeries and have only recently returned to the main training group and despite having resumed contact and keeping up their match fitness in rehab might be restricted in their game time if they play at all. Christian Petracca who had a procedure to clean up his knee in the offseason has had a stint in the rehab but has returned the main group as has Angus Brayshaw (back). I would expect Jake Melksham and Oskar Baker to sit this scratch match out as both have only just returned to the main group. It will be interesting to see if the Dees will trial their new two ruckman game plan with the inclusion of Braydon Preuss to the list. Both he and Max Gawn have done full preseasons but with Brodie Grundy unlikely to line up due to only just returning to Collingwood's main training group following a toe complaint the Dees might decide to rest Max and let Preuss go solo. Other Magpies players who will miss the game are Jordan De Goey, who injured his ankle in a match simulation last week, Will Hoskin-Elliot (leg), Jeremy Howe (corked thigh) and Lynden Dunn (knee). The match which will be played at the Olympic Park Oval on Friday 22nd February @ 10:00am. The game will be LIVE streamed by the club on their website and on the club's app. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-02-20/practice-match-info Match details Collingwood v Melbourne Date: Friday, February 22 Match start time: 10.00am (AEDT) Live stream begins: 9.45am (AEDT) Venue: Olympic Park Oval Entry: Free Live stream Thanks to Zurich, the match will be streamed live across the Melbourne website and app, with pre-match coverage beginnning at 9.45am AEDT. If you can't watch live, the full match will be available via the website and app post-game. Getting to Olympic Park Oval Olympic Park Oval is located on the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Batman Avenue. Public transport Olympic Park Oval is located a short walk from Richmond train station. Jolimont station is also located a 10 minute walk away. Tram route 70 also stops near the ground at AAMI Park (stop 7D). Tram route 48 and 75 are also located in the vicinity near Jolimont Station. Bus 246 (Latrobe Uni - Elsternwick Station) travels down Punt Road, stopping at the corner of Olympic Blvd. From here patrons can walk to Olympic Park. Read more about public transport here. Parking info Non-event car parking is available opposite AAMI Park at the National Tennis Centre. See more info here. Limited parking may also be available across the river on Alexandra Avenue. Around the ground Membership and merchandise tent Melbourne will have a marquee set up for Membership queries and merchandise purchases on Olympic Boulevard. Food and beverage The Glasshouse at the Holden Centre will be open for food and drink purchases.

Just heard on radio Nat Fyfe explaining that "AFLX is just in its intimacy". Name change to AFL-XXX must be imminent.

One of the better days racing on the calendar Wadda Any number of short-priced favourites though ... same deal for the first half of the card at Rosehill. A total of 10 favourites at prohibitive odds or not much better. My strategy will be to include the shorties into exactas but hope that that the better value horses can pip the shorties. They won't all win and in fact maybe 5 of the 10 won't salute. Which ones? Anyone's guess!

There is no way Trac was that slim at the start of preseason when I was at training.

I don't believe so. You may be able to start the stream and pause it and then unpause when ready to watch. Hopefully the MFC site can handle the traffic especially if the filth get their mits on the stream.

Way too much being made of stills.

I'm totally ready to get excited over a young kid getting a few touches and writing others off based on a meaningless scratch match. That's what February is for, isn't it?

Photos from training here: If you're on Facebook give Eleanor a LIKE.

You mean.... this one!?!?!?!?!?!

I have actually talked to him about it, he knew Stewart was closing, said the roar from the crowd was like a wave crashing into him Was in two minds after second bounce, but decided just to concentrate on kicking the goal Knew about his knee issues a couple of weeks ago, but asked me to keep it to myself until after second op, disappointed but hopes the issue is now behind him

He can watch his EF sealer against the Cats on eternal loop while he is waiting. I can still hear and feel the roar of the crowd. One of my favourite moments of my year. Can only imagine what it feels like to be the player in that moment

Mostly split in to 3 diffferent groups and doing light craft work. I tried to watch a bit of Corey Wagner but nothing stood out. Sparrow’s size and acceleration stand out, no idea what it means in game terms yet but he’s an athlete. In a drill where Rawlings kicked a high ball then Chaplin whacked defenders with pads it was clear Hore picks up the flight and marks well overhead. I like Chandlers energy. Salem was in with the mids when they did a little bit of center clearance work near the end. Hunt has a few random barrels that made it to half way from the goal square.

Dang. I didn’t even see May. Not to say he wasn’t there. I didn’t notice many of the defenders as they were at the other end. Didn’t see Sparrow. It i saw Jordan and he looks lively. Laser left foot and quick. Bedford might be a surprise this year. That kid has a go. I saw he nailed big Maxy in a tackle a few sessions back and that was no fluke. Looks as though he loves the contest. I tell ya who looks fit. And that is Vanders. The guy just looks in ripping shape and ready to go. Expect him to go into beastmode this season.

It was the normal Wednesday craft session Lots of ball movement, marking and tackling drills It is probably Tommy Mac and his toe again Nice drill at the end with marking using the bag, Mick Stinnear voluteered to be under the bag, think Gawny went out of his way to flatten him one time, much to everyone's amusement Dec Keilty was the standout in this drill, had Goodwin and another coach belting them with smaller bags as they launched onto big one, Keilty did not drop one whereas the others did