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2 year extension signed!

Oscar

You mean, who's going to grab the ball, run flat out for 50m, kick at full tilt to no one in particular and then watch it sail over his head for a goal? Or whose going to chase down an opponent then kick it out on the full? Or whose going to break team zoning rules, only to be told off by senior players? Tough call, but I'd rather a disciplined Oscar than Frosty.

Weid really enjoyed it, I asked, 19 touches and all over the ground, could be the making of him

???? courtesy of our new captain.

Doesn't this guy know how to play AFL football? The way it's done is, you say you're leaving contract negotiations til the end of the season, then get seen touring GWS or Brisbane facilities. Amateur.

I love the fact that Petrac signed before the season because of the hype that he will have on him when tearing sides to shreds. He had a semi breakout season in the second half of the season in 2019 and this year he will crank it up. We locked him in which is fantastic and for now l can sleep easy.

One of these things?

No leadership group means plenty of responsibility. How a ‘disappointed’ Jack Viney responded to losing Melbourne captaincy role Melbourne coach Goodwin said Viney had responded positively to his new role. “My conversations with him have been really simple; he is all in,” Goodwin said. “He wants this club to be the best club it can be, he wants to support Max in the best way that he can. “There will be people out there that will say, ‘Is he all in?’ Well, if you ask that question you don’t know Jack Viney. He’s never been more passionate about this footy club.”

Great move by the club and by Trac. In this day and age, you can't blame either party for going for the 2 year deal. It allows Trac to hit free agency, while also giving the club flexibility. If we want him to sign on again then we need to continue to play finals footy and push for that ever elusive flag. I always love these signings though - nothing better than seeing one of your best players sign on and show massive faith in the club as a whole. With Gawn being installed as captain, it's been a positive few days for the club.

He will be worth much more as a dual premiership player by then

Was it ever in question? The man has bled red and blue his whole life.

On second thoughts, the original snap is resplendent with inherent religious iconography. I call this new piece, 'The father, the son, and the holy GOAT': Or, 'Gawn's creation of Luke'.

The club are very close on a deal, watch this space. It was only included in the "plan" because of our close this deal is to being announced. It will be a great community facility/hub similar to those of other clubs as its the only way we are getting it over the line.

Sounds like this is actually designed as yet another bag Oscar thread. Getting boring.

Who?

I think this is a great show of faith by Trac in the club, the rest of his teammates, that he is really invested in the club and taking it forward. You get the impression of Trac that he has significant ambitions and that after our 2019 it would be understandable for him to be looking around at better options. Putting off contract talks and if he subsequently left, it could have had a really destabilizing impact on the team at a critical time. Instead, he hasn't stuffed anyone around and has committed to the club before the season commences. Like chalk and cheese to that previous No.$1 draft pick we had.

Frost? The over concussed defender who was bog average for the hawks last week? surplus to needs. We got May, Petty, Oscar, Smith and Hore as clear choices for taller defenders. Lockhart as distributor looks far better than Frost. i think this is the wrong way to look at it.

I reckon he'd be running on empty.

Weidemans confidence will skyrocket when he starts to clunk those high balls.

I watched a fair bit of Brown at Essendon. As much as their forward line was pretty depleted much of last year he played some great football. As WB noted he is an opportunist forward. He's usually the third option. He's got great aerobic capacity, runs hard and finds space. If he can kick some 'ugly dribblers' that go through the sticks as well this season I'll be happy. As others have noted he was recruited for forward depth. When you consider him a backup he's one of the more consistent backups in the league. If we can stay healthy our marking options are looking better this year: Tmac, Fritsch, Weid, Brown, Melk, Trac, Jackson, Tomlinson, Gawn and AVB.

This is why Cyril was such an exciting player. He would only win the ball 10-15 times during the game, but it's his frenetic and chaos tackling pressure that would put the fear into opposition players. Pickett is exactly that player. This could be another bargain Clayton Oliver like pick from Taylor.

Why are people still banging on about possibilities in Port Melbourne when the club has clearly stated its intentions to establish the base close to the MCG?

Takes a bit of pressure of the young fella imv and, barring injury, should see him return to (or very near) his best. If it was me i would be very flattered and honored to know my team mates and coaches voted me into this important role.

The Kangaroos match will be live streamed.

This is how its done. Sign now and get on with becoming the player you are destined to be.

Petty when fit is an option, but still some work to do. Lockhart’s calmness in the backline on the weekend was a bit of a revelation too. Might be a good lock down option when teams have multiple small forwards or backup for Nev. Frostball was fun, but too many turnovers if we want to be serious.

Agree. I reckon he is a pretty good ruck. I thought that when he did a bit of ruck work (having done a fair bit at Casey iirc) when he came back into the side in 2018. Didn't do any last year which surprised me until I read about his issues with his hips. I reckon weed and jackson represent fantastic back up options and create real versatility. For example max can drop back or roll forward and weed or jackson can take ruck duties in general play for a few minutes.

Good to hear. It's not as though he's been dumped by the club though - he remains one of only 2 official leaders, and is the club's Vice Captain. It feels that the club is getting things right at the moment i.e. it seems to be actively addressing all of the issues which arose last season. I suspect Viney may very well be a better Vice Captain than a Captain - it just seems to be more his role.

I thought Weid's work rate on Saturday was excellent and he will only benefit from his (enforced) role he played in that game.

Shannon Byrnes works in player welfare along with Matty Whelan @Sir Why You Little produced in house, if it was commercially produced we would have a sham marriage, whilst renovating a kitchen, then cooking a meal on an island, I asked, Gary Pert very proud of it Johnny is giving the boys 'battle' training, he gets them to do [censored] I did 40 odd years ago He has one drill wherr the players have to forward or backward roll 4 times, then jump up and tackle a player I suggested he tries what we did which was rolls and then hit a post, in sand, wrapped around with sandbags, you had to make the post move, or you had to do it again He was all for it, but the spoilsport Ben Mathews said no ???

This news plus the team performance/fitness base prompted me to stump up the FY20 membership for be and the boy. There’s so much the club is doing well now.

That was quick, only 3 pages in...

We might miss out on Kobe, but there are other F/S possibilities coming up. From MFC article May 2018 (so add a couple of years to the ages quoted to see where they are now) "Watch list: Jeff White's son Kalani, 11, is another the club is keeping an eye on while he plays his footy for Surfers Paradise in Queensland. White also has twin sons named Kai and Tahj, still only seven years old. Adem Yze's son Noah, 12, Aaron Davey's son Marley, 8, David Schwartz' son Cooper, 14 and Shane Woewodin's son Taj, 15, are others on the Demons' radar, although admittedly they are all very young. Defender Nathan Brown also has three sons – Kynan, 13, Jake, 11, a talented soccer player, and Ryder, 9."

to PaulRB Agree. The best captains can swing the momentum of a game. I recall how Garry would move on to the ball when we were lagging and lift the team by his own effort and leadership. None of our captains since have had this ability. I hope Maxie has.

The players seem to love him. Every one that was interviewed on Saturday gave him a big wrap.

He's a super quiet and shy kid, so hopefully as he matures he comes out of his shell a bit. Reminds me of young Aaron Davey, who was very quiet but came out of his shell and became a leader towards the end of his career. I agree if he'd kicked the second one, I think we would've seen his confidence grow and he probably would've got on the end of a few more.

Well the club hasn't sat on its hands after the disastrous 2018 - new captain, new senior assistant coach, new fitness manager, 3 new senior recruits (Langdon, Tomlinson, Brown), taken an uncharacteristic but welcome risk with Bennell, traded up to have 2 early first round picks. Mahoney and Goodwin are the main constants from last year and I appreciate that some here would have had them first out the door. I don't believe in changing everything at once, you need some continuity and I'm a big believer in Mahoney and Goodwin. It will be interesting to see how we go - their reputations and jobs are on the line.

another great example of the culture we are building. Jack will never give less than his all Handled well and now he can focus on getting his game going Good all round

I saw a great piece of opportunism and a player making the right decision when he only had a second to do so. That's footy smarts, and that's why he jagged that goal off the ground. I guess we see it in a way that suits our argument, though.

Grimes was clearly affected by both the captaincy and Neeld, he was an extremely promising player who regularly contributed positively under Bailey. Under Neeld and as captain he looked lost and unsure of himself. Never regained his confidence after Neeld’s departure. Trenners was also on a positive trajectory and under Bailey was attacking, creative, and young leader. He got the captaincy and Neeld as a coach and all that went away, he was absolutely asked to shoulder too much at a young age. Was a bafflingly bad decision to make him captain. He then got his debilitating foot injury and the rest is history, the club gave him time to recover, which was the right thing to do, but it he lost too much in that time. I agree with you that they weren’t up to it at the time to be captains, the way they were coached and used by the club contributed to their ruined careers.

Whether you like it or not, being the "media darling" and "pr front man for the club" is what captains have to be today. It's that part of the job description that I didn't think Jones or Viney liked or did particularly well. And for those people worrying about how Jack Viney might take the demotion (a concern I share), I hope someone sets him up to have a conversation with Sam Mitchell. Mitchell didn't appear to lose his ability, drive or support for the club after the same thing happened to him. To me, that showed real leadership and class.

Had a big impact in his first ever game despite only having 6 possession. Such is the importance of forward pressure. Scary to think how good he will be in a few years. You can see he has the drive and passion. Hes hard as nails too. And nevermind his freakish skills. How many goal and mark of the year contenders will this kid have over his career? I say many.

In 2019 Shannon was in charge of the new player welfare but I am not sure of what his exact title was in 2019. HB was even more emotional when he got off the phone after his invitation to train. He is entirely invested in doing the very best for his family and the Club. I loved the support he is getting from Stephen May. Obviously the way the players got around Kossie was the other high point. It reminds me of how Richmond players are said to have that bond. How would Kossie have felt knowing that they were there urging him on and getting down on the sand with him so that he could be the very best that he could be. For a first year player that surely is something that will remain with him and hopefully become an integral part of his journey with the Club.

That is simply one of the best bits of non match day, Demon vision, I have ever seen. The bit where Kossie is helped by his team mates to finish a tough drill is just magnificent. How can you not get excited about our future?

Steven May just laughs, at what he got, for less last year.

He's going to be in there as a 2nd ruck, the game plan will be for Max to win the tap to Jackson who then will tap it to Tomlinson running in from the wing, who then taps it to Weid at CHF who will finally tap it to one of the waiting forwards to run in unopposed to goal. We want to play a volleyball style game, using 1 possession (a kick) per goal, ensuring our disposal efficiency is the highest it can be - 1 disposal 1 goal.

If I were in charge I'd pick the following team: Injured: Gawn, May, Jones, Fritsch, Petty + Long term guys Rested: Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Vanders, McDonald, Melksham, Langdon, Hibberd, Salem + Jetta (all stars) Possibles: Brayshaw, Chandler, J Smith FB: Hore Oscar J Wagner HB: Harmes Lever Lockhart C : Tomlinson Sparrow Baker HF: ANB Brown Hunt FF: Pickett Weideman Bedford Foll: Jackson Jordon Spargo Int: Bradtke, Rivers + Casey players

What a cracker. When Harley got the call and when Kozzie was helped through the crab walk - goosebumps. Brilliant episode. Well done.

Demonland: I hope we don't have too many players selected for the State of Origin match. Demonland: I'm outraged that Clayton Oliver wasn't selected for the State of Origin match.