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Excited about the start of the season. Optimistically, I see us around top 6, hopefully make the 4. We matched the Tigers out at Casey. We couldn't get the ball against the Dogs (Gawn won't let that happen again). Their form was difficult for me to judge from that game and the dogs wanted it. The media has us placed in the lower part of the ladder, so we should have something to prove. They know they are underachievers and their egos are bruised. There are new coaches to help Goody. Hopefully, ensuring plans B, C, D etcetera, giving support to our lesser players, plus putting some extra shine on our stars. We have new inside facilities with a kicking range to help us with target practice, our disposal should be better. The windy conditions out at Casey will cause us to concentrate on passing the ball with conviction and precision. Sounds like the team is gelling, from the MFC media output. Our forward line has been redesigned, hopefully giving us more potency and defensive ability. Burgess has alot more of his own data on the players. If he is any good he should be able to maximise their running potential. Our back-line is tuff to score against, and we can sling the ball back into attack from the half-back,. We are looking stronger, faster and hopefully smarter than previous seasons. We should worry most teams, as we are more than just competitive now. The opposition can't take the foot of the pedal, we will hurt them on turnovers, we can dominate for longer periods of play and are a high intensity team. All those "learning" possibilities are going to pay off this season. Jealous of you lot going to the G. I'm stuck overseas, waiting for flights to be available at a reasonable price with reliability, for quarantine regulations to be annulled, and for this whole Covid stuff-up to be finished with. Enjoy the live game and atmosphere.

We will be speaking with Melbourne Football Club CEO Gary Pert in the next day or 2 in the lead up to Round 1. I've pretty much put together the questions I want to ask but thought I would put it out there to the Demonland faithful in case I have missed anything. Yes I will be asking about our search for a home base. ? I will post links here to the interview once it is done.

He’s been excellent. Good for him. Wish him nothing but the best.

Respectfully disagree 58er. its fanciful and unfair to both Bowey and Jetta to think an 18 year old new recruit with minimal footy last year could come in and out perform a 10+ year veteran who's craft is sublime even as his physical prime passes. I'd suggest at least 4-22 weeks learning, building skills and body in the VFL would be what Bowey needs in order to eclipse Jetta. can you imagine Bowey one-on-one versus say Green (GWS) or Cameron (Lions) ..? He'd get murdered. Jetta can hold his own, even if they'd take him on the burst. The kids will come in when they force it based on accumulated form in the VFL, not because they're new and shiny, and like all new things offer the promise of future glory. Jetta has a well earnt reputation as a solid and experienced backman, and while his time will come, it should only come when others exceed him in realty, not imaginations.

I had a bit of a look at this and realised a few interesting things. All in all, we have a pretty easy ride that way things are. ROUND 1 - We play Freo here at the MCG so they have to travel. Our round 2 and 3 opponents clash in the first round With GWS Hosting the Saints. ( this will be a good scouting game for us to watch) ROUND 2 - Saints at Marvel with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from GWS. GWS, our R3 opponent play Freo in WA. ROUND 3 - GWS in the ACT with them having 1 less day recovery and coming back from WA. Cats, our R4 opponent, play Hawks the following day at the MCG ROUND 4 - Cats at the MCG with them having 1 less day recovery. Hawks, our R5 opponent, play Freo in WA on the same day. ROUND 5 - Hawthorn At the MCG with them coming back from WA. Tigers, our R6 opponent, Play the Saints on the Thursday night before our Sunday game. ROUND 6 - Richmond at the MCG. NM our R7 opponents play Freo in WA on the same day. ROUND 7 - NM in Tassie with them coming back from WA and then travelling to Tassie. So in the first 7 rounds we have a WA team at the G, pay Saints after their trip to Sydney for GWS, GWS, Hawks and North the week after their trips to Freo, the Cats at the MCG after we have traveled to the ACT and the Tigers at the MG with them having a few extra days rest. 4 games at the MCG, 1 at Marvel and one each In the ACT and Tassie. Not a bad run I would have thought. Would like to see us 5-2 at the worst looking at R8. It is doable given the travelling our opposition are doing in the round before they play us.

To all the Oscar haters

An update: Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has confirmed they will be without three key players for their opening match against Fremantle. Hibberd was pushing for a round one return after being sidelined with an ankle injury during “We want to pick a fairly fit side,” Goodwin said on 3AW. “Hibberd played his first game for Casey and Melksham’s playing his first game this week. “Viney’s also playing his first game for Casey (this week) so those guys won’t be available. There was good news, however, for Steve May, who suffered a concussion during the AAMI Community Series “So far he’s passed everything. It’s 12 days of really strict protocols,” Goodwin said. “He did his contested work today and did full training. “Now he’s just got to wake up and not feel too bad and he’ll get the all clear to play.” Forwards Ben Brown and Sam Weideman will also both miss. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-round-1-team-whispers-exiled-cat-brought-in-from-the-cold-demons-massive-triple-blow/news-story/e6c1cabc19f1b937e49156b325e84961 Not fussed about Hibberd and Melksham missing - they need match practice. VFL for them this week. Great to hear that May will play. His call by the sound of it. Can't see him missing if he doesn't have to. Excellent news and a very pleasant surprise to see Viney is playing VFL this week. Earlier than expected.

You are related to Binman?

Think of him as a James McDonald type more then anything. Coaches love him, will do a discipline job when asked, and will go out and give 110%. Has worked incredibly hard to get to AFL level due to a few rejections at TAC cup level. Knowing his parents well in Daryl and Prue Jordon, they will be extremely proud this Saturday. On ya Jimmy.

Seriously. F&ck I hope he proves you wrong. I assume your opinion is based on a detailed view of the growth in his game over the last 3 years and not based on him playing second mid against the dogs first string midfield last week. Allegedly works his butt off. Allegedly team first. Allegedly plays his role. For every Martin and Cotchin you need your Broads, Caddy’s and McIntosh. Does not need to get a heap of ball just work hard and do the job set for him. Best of luck Jimmy J. Do what got you a game, work hard and play your role and hopefully its the start of a long career.

The club will let you know after the game, better to check out the bull ants site.

Jordon doesn’t need to be a gun. We have plenty of top end talent as it is We need foot soldiers who will play the team role, defend, block, tackle, run both ways. If he does that he’ll be an asset for us.

I've got a few wraps for him. Yes when we had a seconds midfield against the dogs we got smashed and he was number 2 or 3 in that. But it is what you would expect. If he becomes number 4,5 or even 6 it is a huge difference where his opposition is not so good. I watched the bulldogs from level one at Marvel and he was sometimes out of position at the centre bounce where the bulldogs took the ball from their defensive side to get the clearance. Then I went home and watched the first 2 quarters and last quarter (we were thrashed in the 3rd) where generally we were on par with the bulldogs. I noticed that jordan was instrumental in the chain leading to 3 goals, so he has smarts. We know our midfield and defence is pretty ok but struggle to kick enough goals to win games. If he can do that each week he will contribute

Cockburn will never stop being funny

No offence Melbourne fans reading this, this all the hallmarks of a mid-season coach firing. If May doesn't get up we should win it easily IMO. Looking at both forward lines it could end up the lowest score in AFL history. The Cairn's catastrophe was where we took Melbourne's last glimmer of finals hope last season and flushed it down the toilet. Max Gawn likely to do battle with the inexperienced Lloyd Meek. If Meek can just not get absolutely smashed by Gawn then we are in with a good chance. Gawn best on. Tabs will be double teamed by May and Lever all day. Lever seems to be made of the same brittle substance as Sturt. Unfortunately, I think Melbourne win this by 2-4 goals. Too many injuries and no forward line for us. I'll be very surprised if we kick 65 points. They also have no forward line at the moment only Mcdonald who looks very ordinary now days and Fritsch. The hype-train has us playing finals. If that's going to be the case, this game is a 'must win'. The biggest error the club made in the last 5 years was trading for Hogan instead of picking Ben King at the draft. It is highly likely this weekend's AFLW game between the same two clubs will have a bigger scoreline than Melb v Freo in Rd 1. I don't think that either team is going to do much damage in 2021 .... except to their supporters. Melbourne are trash! I hate to say it but If we lose to them we are in the back alley right alongside them! I think we should be good enough to beat Melbourne. Their pre-season has been awful and I don’t see any growth coming in that list from last year. We should win.

So they brought in an interchange cap to make the players more tired, but then brought in a sub to reduce the impact of having less players.... Rightio.

He’s been excellent, would have kept him over Daw.

I’ve increased my winning margin to 41 points. We’re too good, too strong, too skilled and simply won’t lose this

Backing Steven May over Tabs every day of the week, the real question is going to be if Tommy can clunk a few for us, that'll get their key back, in the backline very quickly. you'd imagine Gawn is going to run the dockers rucks off their feet and drift forward, they'll need all the height that they can get while he's down there

Bowery may take Jets place in the team in a year or two, when’s learnt half of what Jetta has forgotten about defending. Jetta may have lost some pace, but his contested defensive work, poise and experience still make him the best option for deep back, and Hunt can be the last back when we’re stretched forward...

[censored] me lads and ladies... a lot of apathy/unfounded angst towards a bloke that hasn't played a game yet. ...and you call yourselves supporters ?

Watching Carlton lose is never bad

“Casbolt was mounted!!”

Saad is a really good player

We got almost 40k vs GWS r23 2018 and almost 40k vs Port R1 2019. We usually get about 27k vs Freo but with it being the first game many can go to for 18 months and being a sunny 27 degrees I would be disappointed if we didn't get around 35k at least. And stuff Docklands, MCG is our home that's where we play. The Bombers have a problem that's their bad luck for signing up with Docklands 20 years ago.

Oscar becoming a gun forward would be the most Melbourne thing ever.

I give it till the end of this game before half of the anti-Oscar brigade start saying we should have kept him and lamenting the club for another bad decision...

The big O is in! Medical sub activated! Show em what you got Oscar!

Tigers player manning the mark inside 50 walks off, no fifty. carlton player manning the mark runs backward to defend. It’s a 50!?! What the actual [censored]

How about the non-call after the 2 bounces from McIntosh It was somewhere between HTB or a trip and the ump just called play-on because he couldn't decide Absolutely laughable

We’ve trained at Casey all summer for the G. Plus there’d be a riot if we messed with our MCC members. If they wanted a bigger crowd for Ess-haw they could’ve flipped it to Sunday at the G. That’s what the AFL would’ve done if they respected their fans

Carlton are definitely on the up, they may miss out on finals but they are going to be battling the likes of us for a spot in the eight that’s for sure.

Players moving on the mark quite a few times, no free. I bet one of ours will scratch their [censored] and a free will get called.

Because of that statement, BDA, you may have now sentenced us to lose against Freo. How could you have been so thoughtless?

Ergo: Angus Brayshaw (foot) — Available Michael Hibberd (ankle) — Available Steven May (concussion) — Available Jake Melksham (hamstring) — Available Clayton Oliver (soreness) — Available Christian Salem (hamstring) — Available Jack Viney (foot) — Available Mitch Brown (calf) — 1 to 2 Weeks Joel Smith (finger) — 2 Weeks Jay Lockhart (testicles) — 2 to 3 Weeks Sam Weideman (leg) — 4 to 6 Weeks Ben Brown (knee) — 5 to 7 Weeks Marty Hore (knee) — Season Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season

Ask him what the base line expectations are this year in terms of ladder position and consequences for our head coach should expectations not be met.

I'm not disappointed he is not on our list but good luck to him.

The color stuff has improved (eg interviews with players, puff pieces) and have their place but but i'm more interested in the communication about football related stuff like: reliable info about injury (eg accurate window of return date), training updates (particulalry in the context of fans not being able to attend training), analysis of upcoming games and opponents (eg Carlton do a weekly bit on the game and the opponent ) accurate info about game times etc, selection information tactical stuff (where possible of course)

Being too good on paper as never stopped us losing in the past

Must have missed those posts. Perhaps you can provide some examples.

Looking at these photos no one can question whether Pickett trained in his time away. Looks really trimmed and fit. AFL 2021 Training Melbourne

As you'd probably assume, my post demonstrated the extent of my expertise. I certainly didn't anticipate that my knowledge of early 20th century psychoanalysis would be tested beyond knowing how to spell Rorschach! ?

They're the ink blot tests that a psychiatrist may show you and ask you what you see. Link: Rorschach test - Wikipedia In reality they're just blots of ink on a page with no meaning. Despite this, the patients will often see meaning in them, revealling more about the issues in the patient's head. In other words, I find that comments about body language only really reveal the poster's issues, not the subject's.

Yep Missed finals last year losing to two bottom sides Missed finals in 2019 because errr pre-season surgeries Missed finals in 2017 because we couldn't beat 13th placed Collingwood in final round (not laying a tackle in hte first 20 mins they were so pumped up) missed finals in 2016 losing to bottom placed Essendon and bottom 5 Carlton He is an inspirational motivator. No doubt.

If it stops being funny, contact your doctor

We have two members of the Board who played at the highest level, one who also worked as an assistant coach. We have two ex AFL coaches, one of whom won a premiership and both of whom also have extensive experience as assistants. We have one of the highest-ranked assistant coaches, not to mention other members of the FD who played AFL or who have been working in the AFL for years. Yet at the centre of all this, our head coach is a "fraud"? Do you even think about what you write?

Too many wannabe body language experts on this site.

Best wishes for a long and successful career in the red & blue JJ. If you are half as good as a previous #23 (Junior Mac), you will serve our Club well. ps. from the very limited bits I've seen of JJ, I can see a few similarities with Junior.