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CAPTAINS LOG STARTDATE 422022 We have found ourselves stuck in timewarp and are seeing visions of something not yet identified. Captain Kirk. "Spock it seems we are trapped in a time warp from which we may never return"! Spock . "A time warp from which we may never return? Why Captain, I can't believe my ears"! Captain Kirk " Neither can we Spock", Neither can we"! Uhura "Captain I’m getting a voice message from somewhere called Casey Fields. From someone or something called Picket Fence"! Captain Kirk "Picket Fence sounds like a Romulan! Put it on speaker!” Training notes almost a three three and a half hour training session, a few casualties crackle crackle BANG CRACKLE STATIC Uhura "I'm losing him … “ Captain Kirk “A three and a half hour training session? Bones what do you make of it"? Bones McCoy" Sounds brutal some sort of games are played requiring levels of conditioning which go far beyond human endurance. Must be super fit!" Spock “Captain I’ve run a scan and it seems this Picket Fence is a native of planet Earth and attends training conducted by Melbourne Football Club, as a sort of Scribe" Kirk "Fascinating. Keep communique channels open Uhura Spock, Bones, Lets Beam down and find out more, Scotty get ready to beam us down.” Scotty "Aye aye Captain but I'm not sure the Dilithium Crystals can take too much more'"! Mr. Sulu " Captain there is a strange figure crew cut with a beard starting to materialize holding something in his hand" WTF IS IT? STAND BY Uhura "Captain, I’ve downloaded this Picket Fence summary, I'll put it through computer and relay, NOW” Arrived at training at 9.15 for what turned out to be a marathon training session lasting over 3 hours probably closer to 3 and a half and was it a brutal and punishing session. No beg pardons about training loads and INTENSITY. In fact I can't ever recall a longer or tougher session There were several notable injuries throughout which I will get to. A brisk wind was blowing down the ground towards the south end and although fine this contributed marginally to some skill errors by foot. REHAB Mitch Brown who ran a lot and hit the bike INJURIES Spargy went down after a hit to the head and was escorted of not to be seen again. Mild concussion a possibility. T Mac went down and limped of the ground with what could be an ankle injury. Both these occured in Simulated Match Practice. Then just near the end of training Trac was being attended to by a trainer/Doctor by what could have been a lower leg possibly ankle injury. He too walked gingerly of the ground but was not escorted by training staff. Hopefully all are minor. SKILLS , DRILLS AND MANOUVERS Drill 1 Possesion kick and weave In formation Drill 2 Full match simulations RED VS BLUE 4 QUARTERS of about 20 mins each Drill 3 a Tackling practice 3 b One on one grappling push of and then kick to leading player 3 reps by each pitted one on one player 3 c short kick handball and corridor football type style drill in small space 3 d Running running and more running. MATCH SIMULATIONS AND PLAYER WATCH CLARRY CYBORG Just cannot be stopped hence name Cyborg not being disrepectful, he is just like an indestructible man, again he just takes on the tackler and is impossible to stop, runs all day tank just got bigger and disposals are elite KADE CHANDLER Will clearly press for a place this year his skills and pace are major weapons and he knows where the goals are JACOB VAN ROOYEN Blink and he's gone, he is very elusive and not dissimilar to Bailey Fritta. He also took a magnificent contested mark from 20 out and duly converted. MAJAK DAW was respectable in the ruck vs Max and his work around the ground and in stoppages was very good. Also took a strong contested mark about 30 out and converted. JAKE BOWEY Has found another gear and continues to use the ball well and in my view is already better than Caleb Daniel which say plenty! FRASER ROSMAN Was pitted against Ed Langdon and got plenty of quality ball. is noticeably fitter this year. MICHAEL HIBBERD as hard as a cat’s head. Just does not know when to quit was prominent in match sims TOBY BEDFORD Was eye catching with some of his moves dazzling with pace and flamboyance - might be a wild card this year. DEAKIN SMITH Very steady in back half, never flustered and has telescopic arms. DAN TURNER ditto! STEVEN MAY and JAKE LEVER are rarely beaten and know each other’s games so well, it appears a telepathy exists among them BBB Watch out if he stays fit we might have a 70-80 goal Key Forward. Clunked marks, Kicked goals and roams far and wide. BLAKE HOWES, JUDD MC VIE, BAILEY LAURIE, All flashed into the play with deft hands and very precise disposal. MAX, JACK V, CHRISTIAN S all were their usual excellent selves. LUKE DUNSTAN The more I see of him the more I think he plays very similarly to Stephen Powell. Gets in good positions and his disposal is very good. SAM WEIDEMAN Took one great contested grab in the square and converted and did several useful things JAMES JORDAN AND TOM SPARROW Both had there fair share of the ball and used intelligently and tellingly. ADAM TOMLINSON Making some big strides one or two errors but a very solid game I thought. FINAL THOUGHTS As iterated this was as hard a session that I have seen and it proves one thing to me … that the defence of the Premiership is foremost in the minds of the players and coaches who clearly want mo more. There are just no passengers in this team and the healthy competition being created builds a strong unified culture of excellence. No beg pardons, No shortcuts, just hard relentless footy played at breakneck intensity. Welcome back we are hear to ROCK AND ROLL P.F Meanwhile back on the Enterprise Mr Sulu. ''That figure is materialising, I've seen his face before its ITS MAX GAWN and what's he holding""?? Captain Kirk " It looks like a cup a trophy of some sort and whats that number on it Spock. "2022!!! FASCINATING"!! Captain Kirk "WE MUST LEARN MORE"!

Terrible News, i sent a letter to Laurie many years ago, he was my dads favourite player along with Bob Johnson. He sent me back a letter with these signed cards included, i have never forgotten it. A kind and generous man, it's a shame he hasn't been inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame, he should be .

Jesus reading that has me salivating for round 1 and the defense of the premiership!! Bring it on Great work @picket fence

I know it’s not always appropriate to make comparisons between eras but if you think Ron Barassi (6 premierships) as Christian Petracca and Laurie Mithen (5 premierships) as Clayton Oliver then you might understand the importance of Laurie Mithen to the golden era we experienced during his career with the club. The other coincidence is the influence of players coming from Ormond to Melbourne and getting the # 11 guernsey. That’s 6 flags that I’m aware of to date. Laurie Mithen was one of our truly greatest ever players.

I haven't been a huge wrap for our depth heading in to this year. Almost all of our top picks from recent years are were in the Premiership team and we only bought in Dunstan. Apart from Bailey Laurie and the first year kids we haven't got many top picks in reserve. Then I remembered I wasn't a huge wrap for Sparrow or JJ, and Petty had missed an entire year and had barely played. Seeing and reading the intensity with which the boys is training is starting to make me think we might have a few surprise packet players ready to come in and impress if needed.

All will be fine @picket fence and earth people. Petracca, Spargo and TMac are all in the sick bay under the watchful eye of Dr. Leonard McCoy. Based on his medical skills, they should be back on the track tomorrow!

From all accounts Laurie was a bit Clarryesque. Played in the centre and generated a lot of play. He was tough and was a target for the opposition. Not overly fast but read the play well. An instinctive player good on both sides of his body but had his fair share of injuries as his career continued. I was unaware of his post Melbourne days at Port Melbourne and in WA. At 87 he had a good innings. I hope he got to watch the Granny and celebrate the win. One of the greats. Like others of that era , he was loyal, self-effacing and modest.

I think the cling-ons were the supporters watching. 😁

Some of the intense MFC training action from Earth at Casey Fields this morning.

Fantastic to hear that it was a ‘fair dinkum’ match sim. A few knocks and bruises which, on the face of it, seem little more than than you would expect on game day. Seems that competition for spots is intense, and will keep everyone honest. Obviously everyone wants to be part of our next Flag! Thanks Fence, for another captivating summary.

This is the current standard political apology coming from governments. If you say "I apologise if you are offended" with the implication that no reasonable person would be offended, you can appear to be apologising and can't be proved to be not apoogising. I'd reject any apology with this qualification was insincere.

Most entertaining training report I have read. At the MFC there are obviously no passengers or klingons...

Thanks PF. youve taken training reports to another dimension. were you viewings from an elevated position? What security measures were in place. i do love the fact that there is training with intensity, that seems to me the realisation of requirements of premiers.

Is the AFL Integrity Unit an oxymoron?

I love watching it when Bont kicks that goal. His celebration isn’t a “I just kicked a good goal.” It’s so overdone it’s a “I just won the premiership for us.” Never get too excited until the siren goes. The funniest thing was Trelor kicked the next goal and his lack of celebration afterwards. Bont must have felt so stupid after the game, what his that premature celebration captured all over the screen.

The first 9 rounds can be found here: MFC 2022 Fixture for the first 9 Rounds

You make an excellent point about Jackson, his post hit out work and his scope for his improvement. I hadn't really considered that in likelihood he is going to get better! I watched the Port game the other night and one of goals came from a center clearance, where Jackson was in the ruck. The ruck contest was halved but Jackson managed to tap the ball forward with an open palm to Trac, who was on the move, took a few steps and launched in deep inside 50. So clever from Jackson. I love the way Jackson and Gawn coordinate ruck duties - it look really organic and fluid. And it means Gawn can be really flexible in terms of dropping back into defence or pushing forward. As you suggest Jackson will only improve his ruck craft and will get fitter and stronger. A scary thought. And to your question about changes to clearances, this improvement may well bring some changes. For one, Jackson will be better and with his leap might win more center clearances. Two, as he gets stronger he will become even more a weapon at around the ground stoppages. So he is likely to be more effective and win more clearances around the ground. And he might take more of them. And lastly he may end up doing more minutes in the ruck which might mean for instance gawn takes more throw in up forward. As for Gus, no i can't see them moving him from the wing. Watching the games again has really reinforced how important he was to our system and structure last year. Goody loves consistency and i think he will refrain frorm too many changes. The other thing is we a have a surfeit of contested ball winners, so he is not really needed on that front. Makes it pretty hard for Rosman and Baker to get into the team. You're right about Thommo. I can't see him taking Petty's role. So where does he play? I wondered the same thing about Hunt. Watching the games again i was reminded that he was really unlucky to get injured as Bowey made it impossible to drop him and its hard to see how they both play. I really liked what he brought tot he side last year and i'd love to see him back in the team. And Jordon is in the same boat. He was fantastic for us last year. But he he has to force his way back into the side all over again.

So much discussion about Hunt, Smith, Weid, Tomlinson, Dunstan et al and whom they would/could replace. It's unrealistic to think that the Club could have another dream run with injuries and, of course, covid in 2022, so these players will get their chances this season.

A nice article about retired Casey skipper Jack Hutchins 100 and out: Why a century of VFL games was enough for Casey star

Training pics show Blue 8.10 to Red 3.7. Make them train another 3.5 hours as punishment for inaccuracy. Round 1 will be here before we know it, it’s getting real now.

Talking of round 1, afl/state govt hoping for full house. Imagine 70-80,000 at the mcg. Can’t wait.

Jack the Fifth? Didn't know we had a member of a Royal Household as part of the team. Great work as always, Picket. Many thanks.

the comments were made in 2018 and the apology given in 2022 .it is reasonable to postulate that the apology formed part of settlement terms of a defamation action brought by members of the Crows hierarchy and/or Collective Minds .

Thanks Picket...another top report. Hopefully those injuries are nothing to worry about. The boys are sounding fit, enthusiastic and VERY committed. Go Dees!!

I also think that with so many more people having had Covid, the fear relating to catching it has somewhat been replaced by inevitability. Not to mention that unlike last season, everyone attending will be vaccinated. At some point everyone has to make the personal choice to either get on with life, or keep isolating.

The apology says in part, "If the publications were taken to suggest otherwise, Nine withdraws that suggestion. Nine apologises and expresses regret if the publications caused hurt and offence to Mr Woulfe, Mr Leddie and Collective Mind." There is also similar wording replacing "Nine" with "The Age" (which Nine, the company) owns. I'm surprised the injured parties accepted that wording. It's not really an apology at all. Why have Nine and The Age been allowed to get away with including the phrase "if the publications caused hurt"? Of course they did - that's why the apology was sought in the first place. If a footballer had said that after breaking someone else's jaw behind play, journos would be the first to criticise the player for qualifying it with that mealy-mouthed expression.

Whole heartedly agree, most interesting discussion, going over it all makes me think I understand football. Never did when I played, Thanks to all of the posts, and great name Its Time for Back to Back !

He morphed into someone else. 😉

Distant relative. Laurie was Lily's grandfather's cousin.

And rightly so. It is their Grand Final, after all.

I'm old enough to have seen Laurie play and to be taught history by him at Melbourne High. A good bloke, popular teacher and sadly missed.

Hello everyone! I hope it’s alright by the mods that I use a thread to promote my new Melbourne Football Club Podcast. In the spirit of the many ‘TV re-watch podcasts’, my friends and I have started re-watching all the 2021 Melbourne matches and reviewing them in the context of the season as a whole. We’ve just released Episode 1: Melbourne v Fremantle at the MCG, where we reminisce about the lead-up to 2021, the match itself, review the votes and debate our favorite Demons to wear the Number 1 guernsey. Listeners are welcome to watch the whole match, highlights or simply rely on their memory of each of our games this year. Hopefully a little bit informative… Hopefully a little bit funny… Please follow us on Instagram @ deewatch_podcast Thanks!

Dw, a twin of me is probably too much for the world bear! (Cue Demonstone, I didn't know which spelling of bare was the correct one in this instance)

Great analysis but surely the strategy is hide Viney all year and unleash him for finals.....

First of all, thanks again. As I've posted before this is my favourite Board on Demonland and the insights from you and others are fantastic. Funnily enough I have also been watching every game in order. I'm half way through the Suns game. The only game I couldn't bring myself to watch again was the QB loss. I have three takeaways. First is how much the backline structure stood out right from round 1 and how it saved us in a few of the early games. Secondly how disfunctional the forward line was for most of the season and how much that improved right at the end of the season when we got continuity once BBB was settled in the lineup. Thirdly how much the clearance work improved especially late in the season. Interesting what you're saying about different clearances for different purposes. One thing I feel very confident about is that no other team is going to have a ruckman like Jackson with the same post hitout impact. Gawny says he's working on it I suspect we are going to see more work with them creating corridors for the midfielders to clear the ball out. Jackson's work in Bang Bang Bang mostly was no more than doing that other than the beautiful clearance for Clarry. Out of interest do you see anyone possibly taking Gus's wing some of the time to free him up to perhaps do some clearance rotations. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Tommo now Petty is doing so well in his position in defence.

Not directly related but was in a store the other day with my melbourne premiers mask on. Some guy came up to me and started talking to me. Had my earphones in initially so couldn't hear him. When I took them out it felt like I still I wasn't hearing him correctly. "you should give someone else a go." "Huh?" "Yeah someone else... like the dogs or the tigers" "ummm...??" By this time I realised he was not 100% with it - he wasn't even having a laugh. It just hit me that for some people, our domination of the competition had already lasted a very long time! Hopefully that's what it feels like for all the youngsters (or anyone else) that are still deciding which team they will follow. All the same, I couldn't help but say "we have waited 57 years"

I think this is the point that the Mongrel Punt are trying to make. If Oliver gets 10+ clearances then we are extremely likely to win. Meaning his clearances are more damaging than most. Certainly from the look of games in 2021 the same is true for Petracca.

Thanks for the stats IT - they make for interesting reading. I had planned to watch last season in order - one a week culminating in the GF just before the 2022 season starts. My thought was to post some short comments about each game - i even started a thread for it! But it took a while for me to get keen to watch them again and once i did have just watched them at random times (ie not weekly). And i didn't feel like over analyzing them and have just been enjoying them for enjoyment sake. So haven't bothered with a running commentary on them. That said, some interesting themes on the tactical front have emerged for me, things I missed or didn't fully appreciate during the season. I'll post some of those thoughts in this thread once i finish watching the season. But a reflection on clearances. Coincidentally, i watched the Dogs round 19 game last night (after a slow start i'm ahead of schedule). It really reinforced my thoughts at the time that Goody was playing ducks and drakes in that game - keeping his tactical powder dry so to speak. One example was our clearances. Goody replicated the round 11 set up in terms of Harmes running with Libba (i'd describe it as a soft tag), not locking down Macrae at all (barely put any defensive work into him) and allowing Daniel to be free behind the stoppage (defensive side) and play his customary sweeper/distributor role. Macrae had a whopping 38 possessions, and with 9, their equal most clearances. Critically, he also had 8 inside 50s and 9 score involvements (and 532 metres gained). Daniel had 34 possessions, 5 clearances, 2 inside 50s and six score involvements (and 415 metres gained). But come Grand Final Goody changed this set up. He didn't run even a soft tag on Libba - just allowed Viney (and sparrow when giving jack a chop out) to go head too head with the him. Libba's numbers were almost the same in round 19 and the GF. I predicted before the GF that Goody would not allow Daniel so much space. But whilst he tightened up on Daniel in the second half, he largely replicated the round 19 approach. And i think he did so because Daniels' influence is over rated. I focused a bit on Daniel when watching the round 19 replay last night and as was the case in the GF, so many of his possessions are just fluff - lateral short kicks that don't facilitate a switch or create scoring opportunities. And they give us time to set up our defensive structure ahead of the ball. In the GF, Daniel had, on paper, arguably a better game than round 19. He had 37 possessions (22 of which were uncontested), 631 meters gained and 5 inside 50s. But critically, he could only manage 2 clearances and a paltry (for a player getting so many possessions) 2 score involvements. Salem's numbers in the GF make for an interesting comparison given they play a similar role. Despite having 10 fewer possessions, Salem had 8 more meters gained (639), 2 more inside 50s and of most significance, SIX more score involvements. Daniel, despite his high numbers, didn't really hurt us in any of the four (inc. the preseason match) games we played against them in 2021. But McRae did. So in the biggest game of all, for the first time, Goody, put a lot of defensive work into Macrea (something i did correctly predict). And it a had huge impact on how effective the dogs were when winning a clearance and indeed their overall fortunes. The numbers tell the tale - 11 less possessions than round 19, 5 less clearances and 144 less metres gained. Reflecting Goody's tactical shift to deny Macrae time and space and limit his impact at stoppages, he had 6 less uncontested possessions - important because of how damaging he is with any time and space. But the key numbers are inside 50 and score involvements. In the GF, compared to round 19, Macrae had 5 less inside 50s and an incredible 5 fewer score involvements. I know there are stats about scores from clearances, but frustratingly i think Champion data lock them up as i can't find any. Really the critical stat is how often a team score directly from a clearance. Macrea is most damaging when the Dogs win a clearance and feed it out to him. We basically took that strength away and as a result really limited his impact. Conversely, compared to round 19 (and indeed all previous 2021 games), we were incredibly effective in terms of scoring from center clearances in the GF. For mine that is in large part a function of Goody keeping his tactical powder dry. He refused to show his hand with clearances and clearly they were working on different set ups and set plays for use in the finals. The employed some of these to devastating effect right through the finals. We were brilliant all season at absorbing pressure and not allowing teams to really hurt us when on top (save a handful of examples) - and responding finally with a goal of our own. What i found interesting when watching the replays in terms of clearances is that often we followed up that goal with another quick one from a center clearance to wrest back momentum completely. There was good example in the third q of the round 17 Port game. I wonder if that is a specific tactic, one that involves going to a particular center square set up that is infrequently used (but practiced throughout the season at training) that is maybe a more high risk, high reward (eg an aggressive set up ahead of the ball) set up/set play. In terms of next season, i agree they will tinker with things in terms of clearances. But there's no value in showing all your cards in the home and away season as opposition coaches will just go to town on them. So i think by in large they will keep the same set up and systems they used in the 2021 and work on their surprise set ups to use as required in home and away matches and dial them up comes finals.

Membership $ is what counts most - all clubs have quirks that can inflate numbers. The Saints were handing out free memberships to all kids who joined a certain junior league and sold a heap of $1 membership one year, I think the Pies and Tigers have a large pet membership number. The key is the membership $ return, which from memory - I can't find but haven't looked very hard! - we had a much higher $ return from every member than most other clubs. So 40,000 members for us is significantly better than 40,000 for other clubs.

I rewatched all the finals and the preceding games since our last defeat and it is obvious to me the inclusion of Bowey and Ben Brown were the last pieces of the puzzle required that made us a premiership side. Bowey’s clean disposal and clever decision making over Hunts spectacular but often error ridden play made our defence “no weakness” and Browns contesting and ever present danger freed up our forwards and midfield to score heavily which we couldn’t do previously.