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It was a short run for the squad, 30 to 40 minutes. No emergencies out there. Rehab had Steven May doing laps with some ball work, Joel Smith walking with a tracker on and Aaron Nietschke laps. The drills begun with paired kicking at which we looked a bit off. Next was short runs with sharp direction changes. A full squad ball movement of run, kicking and loud calls. Looked very good, barely a clanger. Then two groups of mids moving the ball around two defenders and delivering into a leading forward. Lastly, they used Jordan Lewis and a coach delivering into two crowded areas, defenders intercepting well and an occasional success. They split into line squads. Christian Pettraca, Corey and Josh Wagner in with the mids, as was Oscar Baker but with less participation. They spent time talking about the set-ups at the ruck. Jordan Lewis and Bayley Fritsch with the forwards. They did some high marking off a bag and developing quick reactions by using blind turns and starts with lying face down on the ground. The backs had 7 players in it including Nathan Jones. Emphasis was closing space and using angles to open up and maintain possession. They finished with goal kicking, generally positive except for Harrison Petty who was struggling to kick straight. Ball fading either left or right. Brendan McCartney working with him and Jayden Hunt (mainly snaps).

I don't get the hysteria. May is out. We want a KPD to replace him, hence OMac. Lockahrt is out. We want a runner to replace him, hence Baker. Preuss is out. We want a KPF to replace him, hence T Smith. The article says Weideman and Hore are named as emergencies but returning via the VFL for match fitness. I suppose the only point to that is to have them available as genuine "emergencies" if needed, but otherwise the message on both of them is they need a game through the VFL. I'm not really a fan of OMac or of T Smith and would rather not have either of them in the side but in the context of the above, I completely understand why they've been picked.

We can send thanks to the Saints, Carlton & Norf as those coaches had targets on there back coming into the year. As finals are around the corner this will allow us to slip off with very little scrutiny but Goodwin will have a massive target on his back come round 1. if we are 0-2 it will spell then enough of Simon "Talking points" Goodwin

Gutsy calls by Pyke to drop Eddie and Hinkley to drop Dixon. Also a gutsy call a few weeks for Teague to drop McGovern for being unfit, not to return until he is. Big call for a coach wanting to win every game. Good on him for setting standards early. Good examples of difficult calls to maintain the integrity of selection decisions and set behavioural standards; Walk-the-Talk. The ever classy Betts: “Yes a bit disappointed on being dropped,” Betts said. “But at the same time super excited that this kid gets another run at AFL level, turn it on little brother.”

Is Buckley the Right Guy?

I was asked this the other day, I think the heat is slowly being turned up with some of the recent comments from commentators etc.

I am not sure that is a priority any more. Admin and training facilities, including whiz bang gym, pool, medical and recovery facilities in the same building or area is the aim.

Legend! Really appreciated @kev martin! Geez I'm hoping we get in an actual goal kicking coach when we start the coaching reshuffle.

Kent to be a last minute inclusion and kick 6

Dees by 5 goals. Membrey to kick no more than 2 goals. He'll be lucky to get that. Fritta to run them a merry dance inside 50 and kick another 4. Gawny to tear Marshall a new one. Gus to have 25 touches. Demonland to still complain.

If we lose this the pressure gauge will go up a notch. We have them beat almost across the ground. A repeat of round 5 is unfathomable. And I swear to God, if those spuds Bruce and Membrey kick bags on us....I'll probably just vent on Demonland.

Keep pick 2 or 3. Not negotiable.

He sent players back out onto the pitch when they were injured, brought others back too soon, and continually gave vague "4-6 weeks" answers to how long players would be out.

Apparently we beat out a number of overseas clubs, two AFL clubs and an A-League club for his signature. This bloke clearly knows his stuff. Great coup for the club.

Just because you come back from the injury list doesn't mean you return in a good way because of lost fitness/touch etc. Classic example Mitch Hannan. So don't expect players like Melkshem to be back to normal this year after missing so much time.

This is not a dig at you personally SMJ, but when Paul Roos referred to supporters and a ‘veil of negativity’ he was wrong. Very wrong. It’s a ‘metal yashmak of misery’.

Quite a few "Champions" of the game became a little suspect in on-ground behaviour late in their careers.... Think Plugger, Ablett snr and Lethal. I don't remember booing for them lasting beyond the specific game where they transgressed! There's the obvious division between Goodes the player and Goodes the eloquent spokesperson for his people. By the way, Plugger, Ablett and Lethal were never called upon to become spokesmen for their people... Goodes, throughout this period portrayed in the documentary, was by far the most considered, level-headed and eloquent voice on the issue that he chose to highlight. He made it painfully clear that he was a victim of racist behaviour from other Australians well before the booing hysteria developed. He stood head and shoulders above journalists, commentators and politicians in voicing, with great sensitivity and compassion, the issue of racism in our society. We can learn a lot from listening to and respecting that voice!

Every time i look at the Saints i look at how they always seem to be so much quicker than us, it does not always translate to wins, but the little guys are the ones that always worry me. Gresham, Billings, Sinclair, Lonie, Newnes and on and on. Also Nev is in pretty awful touch and looks slow and uncertain ( this is not a knock on him but its just how he is at the moment) at the moment.. hope he finds a bit of form.

As an Arsenal supporter, I sure as hell hope it wasn't a straight swap Misson for Burgess.

Gotta love Demonland. Articles mention we beat out other clubs/leagues to get him and the pessimists start asking whether we've overpaid. I look forward to those posters blaming Burgess as soon as our first injury under his watch strikes. FWIW, I have no idea how good Burgess is, nor how good Misson was supposed to be before we hired him, nor do I know how Misson in particular might have contributed to our bad run of injuries and struggles with running out games this year. If Misson played a role in either of those things then I'm just interested to see what difference, if any, comes next year.

Summed it up perfectly, the meltdown on here has been great though!

As I and others have been at pains to point out this is plain wrong and to be honest is a really unhelpful narrative to be pushing as a dees fan. Why? Because it is wrong. You made that assertion a fee weeks ago and I posted the link of the article from may with the games missed by best 22 through injury ladder. I'm not sure if you read it but it showed we were hit hardest at that stage by a big, big margin. And things have got much worse since then. If that ladder was done now we would be so far ahead of second it is not funny. And as noted by wrecker45 the injury issue has to be seen in context of our shocking preseason and resulting lack of a strong fitness base (by the by the tigers had a great preseason, as did not coincendally all the teams in the top 5. Saints didn't and have struggled all season. Go figure). Caro should stick to footy politics if she doesn't understand that. Sure, debate the actuall impact of a poor preseason and injury. But please don't misrepresent how bad both have been for the dees. As I say it is an unhelpful narrative and just feeds all those lazy footy media people who love to reinforce such myths.

St Louis Blues in the NHL did it this season, last in the league. Coach sacked inn November, win the whole damn thing!!

I disagree completely, Preuss was utterly terrible last week and very ordinary the week before, are you saying they should reward him by keeping him in the team just because they let TMac find form? TMac has produced a 50+ goal season the one before. I agree that he might have been left in too long way out of form, but he found it again before he got injured. Preuss has now played 5 games for us and a total of 13 for his career, so has nothing to compel selectors into giving him another chance for now. He needs to perform in a secondary role not just the ruck and hasn't been able to show he can do that yet, and Gawn is clearly dominate without him anyway. They should be playing him as a forward at Casey (and relief ruck), so he gets the chance to work on his forward craft.

Melksham in is pleasing!

I can't remember seeing him on the paddock this morning.

Sounds like a great appointment. But we have had a lot of "great appointments" - PJ, Glen Bartlett, Roos, Goodwin, Viney as captain, Lever, May ... the list continues. And yet, here we are, sitting 17th on the ladder. This year's pre-season was the big killer for me. Totally stuffed up our season. I know lots of players needed surgery, but to have 17 players not ready by the time the NAB cup (or whatever it was called this year) came around was a shipwreck. If this new fitness fella can be part of renewed matrix, whereby our fitness, medical, sport science, allied health and coaching staff can unite on a pre-season plan that prepares us well for season 2020 - then I might applaud.

I can always tell when a politician is lying! Their lips move.

Big signing. His presence has already got a few that had season next to their name now available

Ratten is the wild card. He has his own approach which we don't know much about. Also, reckon he will use some Hawthorn 'tricks' he knows work well against us. Its a situation which makes him and the Saints quite unpredictable making it difficult for our coaches to develop tactics - something they did very well, from the get-go, last week.

Membrey destroyed us last time because we had one key back in that day and that was Frost. Throughout that game at various stages Membrey was manned by Jetta ( before going off injured), Hibbo, Hore and even Fritta. We were all over the shop defensively that day. A lot of us lamented only going in with the one key back that day. May is a big loss, O Mac coming in might enable Lever to play his usual intercept role, something he started doing well again late last week. The R5 loss to the Saints was embarrassing, they ran riot inside our defensive 50. I believe we can win this one, but more importantly I hope the coaches have worked out how they smashed us last time and respond accordingly.

Demonland haiku

Wait. I demand a recount! I'm the only one on here who predicted a complete balls-up - which has an extra degree of credibility because I'm not Old Dee. I also effectively nailed the 2019 fates of Spargo - will collapse into an on-field coma - and ANB - to be dropped before Easter - with five weeks still to go in which Clarry may well yet become - one of the first humans on Earth to be officially recognised as a victim of global warming - especially after his grievous UV assault in Alice last week. I also came tantalisingly close with this in Round 15 vs. Brisbane: As a senior leader of the club, and otherwise unavailable for the next 18 weeks due to an on-field incident which effectively ends Sam Frost’s career . . . misidentifying the protagonist as Lewis rather than May and falling just one king-hit short of complete prophetic dominance. Definitely closest to the pin.

I hope he can teach the forwards to kick goals. No other [censored] can.

Paying out early on this one. Congrats DD, you are the 2019 champ. I advise everyone else to not read back through the thread ?

Get ready for a rare win 'landers. We will get up this week. Lock it in.

I like it a lot. A big positive in what's been a shockingly negative year.

There won't be any injuries under Burgess.

The hyperbole here is next-level ridiculous. Save the bemoaning our loss until after the match. Dees by 20.

Yay. Another game, another loss. I will say right up until game time that I won't watch but I will. Just like a rubberneck at a car crash. I know I shouldn't look but I can't stop that morbid curiosity that we as MFC fans succumb to at our own peril.

I have never believed that people booed Goodes for staging. Rather, I have always believed that people claimed they booed Goodes for staging to avoid having to admit that the booing they participated in was racist. (You will note I have deliberately phrased the above to say that the individuals themselves may not have realised that what they did was racist.)

Aaron Davey

Skills coach next.

I have no expertise to comment but given his background, in the EPL and AFL, and the fact Fox says we beat others to the punch it's welcome news. Moreso because it is setting us up for a proper preseason framework already in place. People here bag Misson but at the time of his appointment he was welcomed as a well-credentialled operator and he certainly lifted us in his early days. This year though, some heads had to go as our preparation was clearly below par.

Is it too early to start the 'It's all burgoes fault and we need to sack him ASAP' thread?

Terrific and the first step to becoming a true professional club. This is the exact appointment i want to hear of, going hard and getting their man, a very well renowned operator and beating other clubs and sports to the punch. Now lets adopt that attitude to players and better assistant coaching group. Show the supporters the club has a single minded approach to righting the wrongs of this season.

Last year the club made an operating profit of $506,276 and the NT games bring in a minimum $1,000,000. We are big time on the teat of this deal and are lucky the conditions aren't there for any more games or we'd end up like North and Hawthorn and selling 3/4 games a year up there to make quick cash. It's in a small part paying for increased footy department spend, increased salary cap, for us to take over Casey, dumping the pokies at the Bentleigh Club, fielding a women's team, losing annual Queen's Birthday hosting and probably sack a coach in 12 months. I don't want to play there but the reality is we're a consistently poor club that has relied on charity three times in 20 years to avoid falling into total financial disrepair. I don't think another Victorian club will jump in on this because all the other minnows are selling games somewhere else, and now that Channel 7 has their hooks into the Alice Springs games they're going to want a Victorian club hosting, but if the NT/AFL/whoever did the dirty on us and we lost this revenue stream it would be a disaster.

Sorry LF you were wrong. 7No other club is in the same predicament injury wise as us. Not even close. We have by far the worse run. Top 22 players. Top 10 Top 5. Total number. Timing. Whatever metric you want to use we have had by far the worse run with injury.

Funny how the loudest voices belong to the fattest whitest most privileged men. A sad reflection of our society and its tendency to stick its head in the sand when it comes to looking in the mirror and acknowledging your wrongness. Imagine if this was happening to Jetta. What an utter disgrace this period was, and how heartbreaking that Goodes retired under this cloud of racism instead of with the grand celebration his career deserved.