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Rode past Gosch’s this morning. Oliver, Viney, Hibberd and Melksham doing ball movement drills and Salem later on doing some laps. All were moving freely and looked sharp. That’s 5 pretty handy players that would be normally be amongst the first picked. Hopefully all will be available for round one.

We were always going to get outclassed around the stoppage with the players missing. However the ease they walked out of stoppages and our inability to stick a tackle was a disgrace. That and not one outside of our 2020 top 18 stamped a spot for round 1. May and Lever can only stop so much. Very underwhelming regardless of the players missing. Hope May is fine and take that as a win, because not much else was.

It’s only a practice game. Especially if you lose.

Six of last year's top 10 in the Best & Fairest didn't play. I'm guessing they would have made a difference, along with a 60 goal proven forward.

Quarter time and it’s 49-13 Dogs. We had a really good patch in the middle of the quarter where the movement was quick and the forward line looked lively. Unfortunately after Kozzie hit the post which would have brought us within a kick the Dogs slammed 4 quick ones to end the term. Kozzie our best, Farmer very lively up forward and Majak took a couple of strong marks in the end which will do his confidence no harm. Gus looks like he’s doing a lot of strong inside mid work. I was at the forward end but did notice Petty take a nice intercept mark.

98-28 at the final break. Not much else to report, Petty solid all day, Kozzie still buzzing around. If this was the game to choose between Declase or Daw I’d be going Daw for a list spot. Thanks for tuning in, I’m following Goody and Yze out the door.

Majak is getting hands to the ball but struggling to mark, Rosman roved well off the pack and snaps our first, followed quickly by a smart Farmer goal. 23-12

If there was ever a clear sign that Oliver runs our midfield it was today. Take him out and we don't get first use. There were a lot of really ordinary performances. Outside of May and Lever, I'm not sure there was anyone to write home about. That said, Chandler showed some good signs early, ANB tried hard, Jones was relatively clean except for that brain fade off the ground and Fritsch had 6 scoring shots again. Our forwardline hasn't improved at all though, nor has our delivery to it. I know it's difficult because they would have planned for Weideman and Brown, but our forward entries are high, long and hopeful (like 2019-2020). McDonald and Jackson aren't natural forwards and aren't particularly good marks. I'd have Chandler in the forwardline with Kozzie though. I liked that they've given Hunt a licence to run off half back, but I felt Hunt and Langdon delivered the ball inside too many times. Both of them are classic, high up and under kickers. Langdon probably had his worst game for the club too, which didn't help. Oliver, Viney and Brayshaw walk into that team. I wouldn't have Sparrow near by best 22. What is it he offers this group? He doesn't break away from packs, he's not a good kick and he's not a great blanket player either. Jordon has a bit to work on too, if he's going to get a game consistently. It'll be interesting to see how we respond in Round 1. I know it's just one practice game, but I think we're in big trouble here.

if this were a game out at ballarat or casey people wouldn't care. it was a practice match at marvel and people act like our season is over. oliver brayshaw viney hibberd melksham salem pickett brown weids all walk up 22 and all not playing. a decent hit out against a near full strength dogs side. people need to calm the farm.

Not my favourite Demon, but played a great first half and making me eat my words.

Let’s get started. I can see, Gus, Kozzie, Petty, Laurie, Majak, Kobe (the Wiz in attendance), Bradtke, Declase, Rosman warming up. Haven’t noticed M. Brown yet although he and Petty look similar from a distance.

We were always on a hiding to nothing today with 10 first pick players out against a top 4 side. But was seriously unimpressed with Traccs game. If he is to go to the next elite level he should have shown more dominance, he at best, had a few good cameos. But really the story was there was no evidence today of an improvement in our game plan or skill levels, no evidence that we have worked on the so called transition by the mids to our forwards. In short our old problems are still there. With 2 of our big forwards out for weeks not sure what we do to be competitive in the first 5 or 6 weeks.

There are a number of concerns going into round 1 and season as a whole. In my opinion, nothing has changed with the game plan at all. We still look to bomb it into our forward 50 and hope for the best. We were not only beaten around the ball but smashed on the outside once again. What did we do to rectify this in the off season? Nothing.. I watched Tom Phillips on the weekend rack up 30 disposals and provide great run along the wing. After missing our on Isaac Smith the arrogance in our coaching staff thinking that we had the players to cover that other wing position will now bite us in the [censored]. We had no plan B after we missed out on Smith and Tom Phillips was ripe for the taking. Baker will not make it as a wingman and as much as I like Jones game, to see him back playing on the wing was just a perplexing. Our player development and depth is also another concern. Baker, Spargo, Sparrow, Harmes, Vandenberg and Jordon were all simply poor. Sparrow and Harmes especially had the perfect opportunity to really make a statement today and they let themselves down with poor disposal and poor efforts. I actually have no idea what's Sparrows strength are at all. 9 disposals today playing as a midfielder is simply [censored] poor. VandenBerg just 5 disposal and looked as slow as a turtle. We are absolutely screwed if we lose Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw to long term injuries. Jordon showed exactly why I was gobsmacked that he was taken high in his draft year. The game is now built on speed and gut running and when you carry plodders like Tmac, Jetta, Vanders, Tomlinson, Jones all in the one side then you'll get exposed like we did. WB just looked so much fitter and I was getting increasingly frustrated that they continued to out number us around the ball and run with such speed. Neville Jetta is finished. The signs were there last year and he is sadly absolutely cooked. I will be shocked if he plays more then 5 games. Adds 0 offensive skill set to the team and just trails behind his opponent. Be a leader down at Casey and start transitioning him into an off field role. Tom McDonald, he is a shambles. Was expecting a trimmer more agile Tmac but he looks just as worse as last year.. he had a 0 gamer on him who was able to nullify him in thr aerial contests. Our forward line is in trouble. Vanders is cooked and will play majority at Casey. Tomlinson is a very ordinary footballer. Chewing up our salary, and this is already looking a bust. Incredibly soft and always gets beaten one on one. Start getting games into Harrison Petty. I think Luke Jackson will hopefully be a good player for us moving forward. But he really didn't domuch. He's marking is not really a strength of his and I'm not sure if the forward role is going to to work for him. Watching Ben and Max King in their 2nd year of AFL football last year and they just demanded the footy and both are strong contested marks who have enormous work rate. He'll get there and actually like the idea of him rucking and giving Gawn good minutes up forward while BB and Weideman are out. Was jumping over English and thought that I'd love to give him a bit more added responsibility. Think he'll thrive more on this. Lever and May were clearly our two best by a long shot. I liked Chandlers game and thought ANB was also impressive with his midfield/forward role. Honestly was pleased to see him play well. Honestly, there weren't much positives to come out of that game. We had key players out but so did the doggies. They will be a great team team to watch this year.

Without our best contested midfielders, we were dominated in the clearances and contested footy. That's pretty much the tale of the game right there. Alex Neal-Bullen was our leading clearance winner, and he was essentially playing as a defensive half forward. At one point our centre bounce setup was Jackson, AVB, ANB and Sparrow. It's pretty hard to judge how went, TBH, because we were beaten around the ball by so much. Not ideal but not particularly concerning.

Yes I am going today. I need to get out of the house and scream at some umpires in the flesh. I too was at the Roos practice match but I'm not counting that because I didn't get to go through my usual match day rituals of riding public transport, eating stadium food and urinating in a trough right next to other people. Given the above rituals ironically this year there is the added bonus of potentially contracting a deadly disease.

Will not be offered a contract. The clubs preference is for him to go to the Stingrays for the season with no guarantee going forward.Would have been a great story but if his last name wasn’t Farmer he would not have been invited to train. Love that the club gave him the opportunity but if you are not good enough then you are not good enough.

Is any ruckman worth the cudos of being a 'key component' in today's game i wonder CB? Especially at the bounce / ball ups? No doubting Max is one of the best going around but he hasn't 'consistently' connected with our mids or visa versa since 2018. Emphasis on consistently. They have their days of course where we look like we could beat anyone. However, other mids seem to be reading him a bit too easy of late. He also often gets the hit out but hits to no one in particular!? Neutral outcome / no man's land if you like. Alternatively a bit too often into the bread basket of the opp. I realise that's going to happen from time to time as luck, bounce and so many variables come into the game. Not a perfect or easy science by a long way. Personally, while i still believe a good ruckmen is handy, i would swap the best of them for a classy Bont/Pendles type in the middle every day, even if it meant giving up a few more hit outs. Ruck position at bounces a tad over rated by some in today's game style imo. You could almost put any tall in there as long as he can neutralise the contest most of the time. It's more what they do at ground level and around the ground now. Maxy certainly gets much of this aspect right as far as a ruckman goes anyway and not too much wrong in this regard.

Disappointed in the young guys that were given the opportunity, Jordan, Sparrow & Bedford. I thought Bowey showed more intent and skill in his cameo than any of them. Umpiring was pro Bulldog, blind eye to Gawn & May.

It was nice to do something normal, like going to the footy, getting mad at the umpires and watching us lose.

Just no injuries please.

Gus and Pickett starting in middle, Majak and Rosman forward.

All eyes tomorrow at Whitten Oval will be on the small number of Demons and train on would be MFC listers in action against Footscray. That means the following will be taking part:- 10. Angus Brayshaw 19. Fraser Rosman 36. Kysaiah Pickett 38. Mitch Brown 46. Austin Bradtke Majak Daw (train on) Kye Declase (train on) Kobi Farmer (train on) Deakyn Smith (train on) The following players are out this weekend - 3. Christian Salem (rested/managed) 7. Jack Viney (next week at Casey) 13. Clayton Oliver (rested/managed) 14. Michael Hibbert 18. Jake Melksham 21. Marty Hore (long term) 26. Sam Weideman (round 5/6?) 27. Aaron Nietschke (long term) 44. Joel Smith 50. Ben Brown (round 5/6?) And in a bit of a nutshell, that’s where we’re at.

...and by the way. Does anyone else hate G Lyon commenting on our games? I find him insufferable at the best of times but doubly so when it's us.

Classic Dees. Newspaper articles all saying the intention is to go deep into finals. Come out later in the day and get pantsed. Some things never change, absolutely no game plan again.

I just hope May is ok for the Freo game.

May is a superstar

I know we're footy starved, but let's keep things in perspective given it's a preseason game with a ton of our best players out. Not time to panic, yet anyway.

Watching at the ground yoy can really see how much running he does and how much distance he covers. Super important with 30 min qs and 75 rotations

nibbler is by far and away the hardest running player in the side

Well, Lever is certainly playing like the player we hoped he would be!

Thank goodness the typo was in the first word, not either of the next two!

Final change scores 14.14.98 to 4.4.28 Being completely outclassed here, unsurprisingly. Daw and Gus just played a half. Pickett on the bench to start the last may also be done for the day. Good to see the Wizard here to support his boy.

When do the learnings stop and the doings start?

I still think we made a big mistake not going after Phillips...especially as the Pies virtually gave him away.

How about a few warm up games for umps. Atrocious effort today. Absolute rubbish. Hope its gets better than that.

It's only a practice match! It's only a practice match! But ... 1. We looked like fumblers with sh*t disposal who are second to the ball. Good judges of footy tell me that's not an encouraging state of affairs. 2. If Jones, Tommy, AVB, etc, get regular games, whether it's because of injuries of just because the selectors like them, we're in deep trouble. 3. I like Fritsch, but it's a danger sign if he's our most dangerous forward in more than an a few odd games here and there. 4. The Sparrows, Jordans, Bakers, etc, did not really give any glimpse that that they're anything more than the next Gysberts, Mortons, Tapscotts, Bleases, etc.

We got smashed in the middle, but I can handle that as it was a second string midfield all day, against one of the best in the comp. What concerned me more was our complete inability to move the ball with any consistency. Just like previous years, we make it look like bloody hard work with no easy kick/mark/kick/mark or spread from the contest. Our best passages are occasional fast rebounds from defence, which don't look sustainable. Thank god for May and Lever, otherwise that would have comfortably been 10+ goals.

Definitely need to keep perspective. If Melbourne ran a midfield of Petracca, Oliver, Viney and Brayshaw all game and the Bulldogs were running with their equivalents of AVB, Jones and Sparrow (Petracca aside) I’d be concerned with only a 40 point win. To be fair 60 points would’ve better reflected the game. Yes it would’ve been good to see better stopping ability from those second and even third stringers, and Langdon’s butchery was frustrating. But one team was taking that pretty seriously personnel wise and the other seems to be (hopefully by choice) nursing through to round 1.

Waste of practice match. Half the side unavailable No endeavour The kids and fringe players showed nothing. Our forward line remains a shambles. Quarter strength midfield against a great midfield. You notice how important Oliver is to our midfield when he’s not out there. Bont reminded Trac that he’s got a bit to go if he wants to be the number 1 player in the league.

i saw that too harmes really comes across as a terribly arrogant footballer for someone who is fairly ordinary in the grand scheme of things

Great stuff really with about 10 of our best players out

Really loving ANB game. His work rate is first class.

Gus a lot more involved this quarter, accumulating some possessions and delivering forward. Hasn’t moved from the centre corridor. Petty going well, has taken a few intercept marks and read the play well. He’s on Schache and has only got away from Petty once this quarter.

He was in everything the first 5 mins or so and running both ways. Was rested after 6 mins and just came back on and has continued working hard. So far he looks fit to me bda.

To be honest I’m glad we are resting anyone who is not 100%. Imagine if Salem pings a hammy today? Or Oliver? You’d be furious at their poor management. I’m all for minimizing risks at this stage. Let’s just hope both get up for round 1. Oliver seems a non issue. Hope Salem is the same.

This is where we all just need to be more cautious with our approach to comments about everyone, we just don’t know what’s happening behind the facade.

Enlightening first post. Welcome.

Why would we be underwhelmed if they manage to get all the authorities to agree to giving us the land to build our facilities around Goschs and expand it to MCG or Docklands size. That would be a massive win. If this does end up being the result I would say Pert and Bartlett's hands are tied behind their backs in being able to make any announcement as it is Govt land and multiple authorities will be contributing to it. I'd say the lesson has well and truly been learnt from the premature announcement by the Club of Yarra Park.

Year 5 of Goodwin's reign and the talk from the club is still about 'attitudes' and 'selfless''. These are are mandatory in a team sport. It is an indictment on club, coach and players that we have yet to 'walk the talk'. What happened to our 'Esprit de Corps' of 2018!!! Was it just talk. Was it just for show? Two aspects of the article stood out for me: "They will have a different game plan, built around the team’s strengths". Isn't this coaching 101? A game plan to get the most from the cattle you have (ie to "maximise player strengths"), was the fundamental base of a Roos' team. "In 2021, teams will need some of their mid-sized or small forwards – and potentially even defenders – to expand the number of midfielders who take their turn to 10; some teams already do so". When Roos joined he made his priority to rebuild the midfield and he talked about 8 - 12 'on-ballers' who rotate through the midfield. Until late last year we relied on a few to spend most of the on-field time in the midfield. The result was players played out of position and frustrated players who couldn't achieve their best. I'm beginning to wonder whether Goodwin was paying attention to Roos. Here we are 7 years after Goodwin joined and he is now adopting Roos' game fundamentals. I recall Pert saying late last year that we have the list and put the heat on Goodwin to create a game plan that makes the most of player strengths. I really hope Goodwin fully adopts this and not just play lip-service to it.

We can pretty much guarantee all these ovals everyone is listing have been investigated somewhat by the club already. There's not going to be an 'aha' moment for Pert and co while perusing Demonland. It's going to be either a redeveloped/rejigged Gosch's configuration or it will be Casey.