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As a life long Rampage fan, I have to confess that I shed a little tear when the 2019 champions trophy was held aloft. To know that a bloke like Fritta has dedicated hours and hours of his lifeblood and soul to the cause had me swelling with pride, especially after watching him win the rock, paper, scissors in the second home game. I have to admit that I got drunk after the game and only woke up now outside a shopfront in Bourke Street, near someone resembling BBO who was reeking of methylated spirits and snoring his head off. I must say I did feel sad for Nev who fate cruelly decreed would be denied from making the Deadly line up due to injury. The roars of the crowd are still ringing through my ears.

To me, what I have seen from the limited match time of Pruess as a MFC player is that he's perhaps a slightly better, more skillful version of Jake Spencer. A bit of a lumberer who has a presence, but not as mobile or sublime wit his ruck tap work as Max - yet. Hopefully his tap work is something which improves further with mentoring from Max/Greg and more time around our onballers to improve their connection. I'm not making the comparison with Jake in a bad way either, as I actually think he was pretty close to being a good second string ruckman for us and loved his hardness and attack on the contest/man. Also shows how good Max is - the guy is a freak ...but he's not superman and I think having big Preuss around to share the load and help Max sustain his output over the whole season and ready to fire at the times we need him most makes Preuss an important asset to our side. I also agree with what Garry Pert was saying during the webcast match comentary that Tommy and Weid are too valuable for us to use in the ruck for the most part, although it might not hurt for either of them to end up there for the odd centre bounce to help throw the opposition backline around a bit at times.

Never hurt west coast they have always played 2 ruckmen plus 2 talls up forward

So does that make Bailey the only ever dual-premiership AFLX player in history? Imagine travelling back just fifteen months in time to Casey Fields and telling the kid that this accolade was on his future cards. And that this distinct glory would be sealed by a super-dooper Gatorade goal worth 20 points. And that such a goal was made at a stadium called Marvel stadium, at a certain end as dictated by someone choosing rock over scissors.

Nailed it. Thats exactly the point some here seem to be missing RBG. Its not so much what Pruess can do as in ability, but the fact that he has now freed up the other talls, Oscar included, to concentrate on their jobs and not have to run around checking if max is ok for the next ruck contest. Josh Mahoney said the same thing. Its a huge plus. Max is the key.

Personally, I just can’t wait to see Hogan and Schultz reunited. It’s been a long time.

Congratulations to the AFL for demonstrating that a sows ear can be made from a silk purse.

Yeah sure, I bet you know the winning tattslotto numbers every saturday night as well

Surely this is good news that our second string inc. Billy JKH Corey W and others on display today are in sync with our game plan and can fit in at half forward, or the pocket or even play a small portion in the midfield. The challenge surly is for one or all of them to elevate their game (and importantly their skills under pressure) to grab the no. 20,21 or 22 spots in the team. Same for our defenders where the skill level IMO is greater where Hore (not yet) Hunty KK and Lewy plus Jonesy can go through defence and potentially star or play on a wing and hold their place but not displace Hibbo or Lord Nev as medium backs. This then elevates our depth with extreme pressure on all players to get in the AFL team. Even more so now with the rucks now that Pruessy has arrived. Mark my words he is no 5 game backup but a much more skilled and rounded contributor with the real side benefits being Maxie still No 1 but able to play in defence ( as per today) or up forward where Brayden did well today. This means that depending upon team balance at any given time Weids will get the 3rd defence tall after Max and Tommy. Yes it will live and die by form but remember all are IMO good marks and not useless in general play ( refer Sam in Finals). Also our crumbers will have to play their part and Spargo (big year and rarely wastes a disposal) ANB AVB Jeffy JKH Billy Corey W hopefully Fritschy (can play small or tall) etc come into their own with 20 plus goals or more for the season. In between is the gem of them all Jake Milkshake skilled Mark and ground player on both feet tough and a great mark for his size plus I hope a developing Sparrow and don't forget Trac who makes most possessions count in heavy traffic and if he gets confidence back his goal kicking to another level ie 35 plus goals this year. The whole team is capable of going to another level by virtue of the skill and different assets of our choices at our disposal. Height Strength body and pressure will tell as well as speed and skill. Our mids providing they balance an in/out game and don't all chase the ball "IN" will take care of their territory. Also our key backs be they May Frosty Oscar (already acknowledged improvement on today's effort and still young Think Tommy's apprenticeship) Jake L will be rock solid if not spectacular at times. All glass half full I reckon no doubt hiccups will occur but try and keep this set of players quiet for a whole game and good luck to you. Lastly (and this prob won't happen) I would like to see some situation where Gary Lyon (forgive him for his coaching choices) is on tap for advice as he has by far the sharpest footy brain in the media box (think Warnie at cricket ) and this 1% would not allow Oscar to play on Hawkins for far too long at the Cattery and we win the game as Frosty or Maysie nullifies him. If we don't get a top4 spot and hopefully home finals I will be surprised and our form and availability will determine our fate in the big games in September. Oh and 40,00 fans on nonblockbuster games plus 80,000 or more in those clashes will no doubt help Make the G a fortress in for the nearly the next decade!

If you're too busy to watch the whole game. Here are the highlights

The members of the AFL executive who thought this would be a good idea should be replaced immediately. I found todays scratch match, MFC v Coll, infinitely more engaging. The attempts of the commentators to make this carp sound interesting is excruciating. Hey, AFL big knobs.... how about a State of Origin contest in some modified form???? Fracken who cares about this tripe??? You belittle the great game you pretend to be the guardians of! Disgusting, vomit inducing, commercial self-indulgent [censored]!!!

May have been mentioned already, but today provided a complete stitch up of Gil’s Absurd AFLX. A fantastic “practice match” match, organised by the clubs - great weather, great footy for February. When will Gil’s clowns realise that trying to recreate an American “game day experience” will slowly extinguish our great game. Give the girls in the AFLW some air and just let the clubs do what they have done for over 100 years build for the real season in March/April. Rant over! Whatever happens, always nice to beat the filth!

Hard to see impact of 6 6 6 rule, though Maxy did get the ball to his mids cleanly a few times. But this game really reinforced my belief that the biggest impact will be the changes to the kick out rules. Having the man of the mark 9 metres from the top of the square and not having to kick the ball in the air almost makes the square redundant. it really opens up the field and will make clear the back 50 much easier. At one point Jetts took the kick in, played on and ran diagonally towards the boundary. Gus (i think) put small block on the man on the mark , Jetts ran his full measure and by the time he kicked it was probably all of 30 metres from the goal line. His kick to the wing was pretty much halfway up the ground. I think we will have big advantage with maxy because it means he won't have to push so far up the ground and will be in position to take a lot of marks on centre wing. With players running pat him we will get a lot of quick inside 50s. I can see Weids and TMac and Preuess all pushing up to centre wing at times to provide options. The other impact - and one i hadn't considered - is that i reckon there will be way more play ons from kick ins, way more. This will create a much faster transition game. Teams will also need to set up their presses across the center of the ground the widest point, so hard to trap the ball. I will be fascinated to see if more scoring chains start from kick ins. I am predicting there will.

Hogan will kick 60 goals if hes switched on and injury free. Absolute gun.

Dead right. Max was exhausted last year and the year before he tore the Hammy off the bone. It’s not rocket science as to why Preuss was targeted. The fact that he was keen is a bonus

Thats exactly how i see it. Pruess will not be a superstar and he doesnt have to be. Its more about looking after Max and freeing up the other talls. Simples.

I really liked his game. Did every kick hit a target ? No, but many did and he was back to his running and aggressive self. If they can get him to exploit his attributes with a little more composure I think he'll play a lot of games.

We'll soon find out, won't we. If Preuss plays ten games in 2019 I'll be shocked - with the caveat being there are no injuries to the three other talls. But if you're right you're right. I don't care what happens as long as it's working. Btw, Richmond didn't and doesn't enter my thinking whatsoever. It must enter yours.

Stretch does go in for the ball and often wins it, clearly. His disposal is suspect and he drops the ball high. Some coaching is needed and once this is ameliorated, he'd be a bona fide gun. He is also often left in the midline without support/protection/screens, and with incoming opponents or a player crush, he must dispose as a last resort, again often. His hands need to be operative with teammates nearby, more often. He would benefit from stitching up a play or two with the likes of Harmes, Oliver, Hunt or Spargo/Jones, for example, to concentrate on nearby feeds at this point.

Brain fade. No wonder I stuffed up the tri last week!

Vanders is going to demolish some people this year. I would call him the skull crusher but I have already reserved that for Stevey May. thought the Preuss/Gawny combo looked good.

My best bet is avilius race 8 at caulfield. Good price too and should be odds on. A class above.

The truth is because of the pressure applied by opponents, the shape of the ball etc, it is a game of mistakes. Otherwise we'd score 40 goals a game - each side.

JKH is an interesting one - his form last year was pretty good and he looked alright yesterday. Apparently his preseason has been good. Maybe he is a late developer like Lord Nev.

Just started watching the replay and saw exactly that. Again about the 7:10 min mark of the second quarter Stretch kicks inside 50 straight to Collingwood, comes back out, Stretch wins a hard ball and feeds it out to a play, to Harmes, then to Hibbo, who has a shot on goal ...and shanks it out on the full. What I liked was Stretch made the mistake, but kept on trying, didn’t drop his head and made up for it. Hibbo is one of the best kicks in the side, but also stuffs it up ocasionally. I'm not sure that Stretch is as good as Clarry or Gus, but he puts in and would probably be welcome at most other AFL clubs. It's also his first serious hitouts since halfway through last season. I liked Dom, Iike Billy and I recon these second string/role players still have an important place in successful teams.

All 4 quarters of the Scratch Match

I other thing I took out of this game was that the Jaguar logo looks superb on the back of the jumper.

It was on the building wing 90% of the day like you I was watching from the grassy knoll. I reckon the buildings mean shelter from the wind. Not that there was much today. Nice ground actually all day I was thinking this should be our home not the bloody pies. No use crying over spilt milk.

Bit of a scrappy match. Best thing: no injuries. My other small takeaways - Brayshaw will take another step forward this year. I thought he was great. Harmes will continue his new found midfield role and do it well. vandenBerg will have his best year. And Sparrow has a very mature physique already. Oh and I thought Oscar looked really good. He's just going to keep getting better. Both teams a bit rusty.

Meanwhile at Arden St.... Nth Melbourne Football Manager

Some good footy. The relentless pressure to get the ball moving our way from a contest or breakdown was the highlight - ethos footy. Standout players for me: Gawn, Brayshaw, Kennedy-Harris, Vandenberg. Good to see back, or new: Hunt, Preuss, Hore, Stretch, T.Smith. No bad performers for a first hit out.

Pressure really good from both sides. Apart from the first 10 minutes our pressure was good and structures seemed sound. Pies were missing their 3 most dangerous forwards in De Goey, Stephenson and WHE, although Elliott makes up for one of those. So the low score from them isn't a huge surprise. That was pretty much 2017 Collingwood we played when they couldn't score. I was a little disappointed we didn't switch the ball more around half back, we seemed comfortable to bomb it out. Backline: Frost and Oscar both started very poorly missing chances to kill contests with intercepts or strong punches. Frosty clean missed a few chances to mark and Oscar looked slow. But they got going as the game spread out a bit more and our pressure came up. Jetta excellent. Hibberd solid. Lewis did enough defensively and apart from his trade mark dumb free kicks he played well. Hunt good. Mids: Gus had it on a string early and his clean hands and tackle pressure was excellent. Tracc then took over. Vanders cracked in. Young Sparrow tagged Treloar in the second half, nice goal and won some ball, probably wasn't as clean with his tackles as I expected. Max dominated, hardly a surprise there. Salem showed his class at times. Forwards: Pressure was really good. Joel Smith a nice addition in that regard and C Wagner worked hard. Tim Smith did ok. Preussy hit some contests very hard but I wasn't impressed by his positioning, did get on the end of it a few times though. One nice grab and a solid but not spectacular game from Weids. Nice goal from Garlett and good pressure but he made some dreadful errors kicking the ball along the ground and making bad decisions, didn't do enough to convince me he was in any way back. Stock up: JKH - really got us going in the first term and was dangerous all game, strong enough at the contest, high work rate Hunt - no huge runs but opened the game up and used it nicely at times Petracca - midfield oomph Stock down: ANB - very scratchy ball use and decision making Stretch - didn't take the game on enough or deliver well

I was watching on and off, but did see Vandenberg lay an absolutely beauty of a tackle on Dayne Beams. You could tell it took the wind out of him.

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.

Best Bets: Rosehill Race 7 Number 5 Cool Passion - Win $6.50 Caulfield Race 6 No 1 Hartnell (Plc) $4.40 Caulfield Race 7 No 11 Athiri (Plc) $2.70 Caulfield Race 9 No 8 Avilius Win $2.10 The 4 picks combined if anyones game is 162/1 approx. Have a great day guys and please post updates how everyone is going.

Opps sorry @binman my apologies. Yes well he said race 8, threw me....Late night last night haha. Cheers Macca....carry on.

Avilius (no.8) is actually in race 9 (Peter Young Stakes) not race 8 anyway Wadda ... you may be thinking of Alizee in race 6. I get both horses mixed up as well sometimes - I'll leave it to you to figure out the combined odds ?

At this time of year, what attitude should one reasonably have about scratch matches. Be thankful that the blokes you put on the field are healthy and they’re getting a good preparation for the season to come. And none of our players did a Mumford. Has he been reported for that? Otherwise, the results of these games are otherwise meaningless.

Must be hiding it well...

Clever subterfuge with the reverse ordering: Raise your standards Petracca or you'll go the way of Lumumba.

I'm not sure my symbol for 'we're getting shafted by umps, keep your heads up' would be appropriate for that age category

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I've got my NBA tip worked out ... either a Sunday AEDT game or a Monday AEDT game. Might wait until you fellas ( @Wadda We Sing @Dee Zephyr ) have posted up your 'bests'. Or @binman if you are interested in chiming in. n.b. the exotic odds for NBA games are often not available until the early evening (AEDT) for games played on the following morning/afternoon (again, AEDT) My 'best' will almost certainly be a 'wire-to-wire' result.

Most of the time i’m in the same situation, but then that one moment comes along when Mitch Hannan runs down the wing and puts the game beyond doubt right in front of you makes level 1 seating pretty spectacular viewing.

It needs to remain for when they change the rule back due to the unforeseen, unintended consequences it creates... Al la hands in the back, ruck, etc ...

Don't care what importance anyone places on the game, but winning and expecting to win every time you step on the ground creates an atmosphere and attitude of success. Reinforces the belief that we are winners not going out to compete.

Mahoney was saying during the last q, that having Pruess would free up players like TMac and Weid from any relieving ruck duties and allow them to further develop as key forwards. He then said, Max also needs to stretch out his season and may be rested forward entire games or rested completely. ....interesting.

I only saw the 2nd half of the 3rd quarter onwards. VDB looks in ripping shape. He was in everything and was the highlight for me. He was in the center bounce a fair bit in the last. He is a sledgehammer. Looked very fit and took it seriously. Lewis played well. I'm hoping a number of players go past him this year but he will be important in the first few rounds while we get other players back up to speed and I'm happy that he is on the list. Sparrow played wing and then moved into the center bounce at times. Physically ready to play and will get game time this year. Looked like a first year player who didn't quite belong yet and didn't seem to position himself that well to get the ball, but when he was in a position to get it he did a lot right. Didn't look clean but he was determined to impact the contest and his second and third efforts were great. Preuss looked good. Clearly not as polished or composed as Gawn. Had the opportunity to kill a bloke in the last 10 minutes and pulled out. I reckon if it was round one he would have smashed the bloke. Will be very interested to see how the two ruck situation will continue over the JLT.