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What amazes me about these types of rankings is that Fritsh never gets a mention. FMD! Do they think he flukes 50 goals a year.

We all know that Oliver is the best player in the game...Robbo still hasn't figured it out.

Yes good info thanks. Richmond were forced to play 2 rucks which they would prefer not to do so we get an advantage everywhere else on the field. It's also not all about ruck contests - marking around the ground and goals are just as important. FWIW I am a fan of Gawn and Grundy together.

Trac is a 'sexy' player. The way he moves, the way he can score goals, he just is more eye catching. You have to really understand the game to appreciate how good Oliver is. 90% of what he does is at such speed you miss it if you blink. He is genius with ball in hand, and if he puts a bit more scores on the board this year he will easily be recognised as number one across the competition. It's what I also believe will help him to win a Brownlow one day. If he gets even just 20 goals in a season he will win it. Having said all that, Trac makes Oliver better, just as Oliver makes Trac better. They have a phenomenal sense of awareness of one another and watching them play together is beautiful. We really need to appreciate how lucky we are to have both on our team.

Check out Demonland's interview with Brodie Grundy on the eve of his debut for the Demons. They discussed his move to the Demons from the Magpies, his relationship with Rucking partner Max Gawn, his new role for the season & much more.

I've been listening to Gerard Healy every night on the way home from work since 2012 and can absolutely confirm that he has been extremely positive about the Dees for many years and had identified our potential as a genuine premiership contender since the late Roos/early Goodwin days. He definitely does not come across as a bitter former Melbourne player, and his close friendship with Nathan Jones has probably had the opposite effect, in that he was quietly hoping we'd eventually taste the ultimate success.

Dusty is finished.

Robbo should stop this stupid attempt at identifying the most influential players in the game because he simply has NFI. Who would you rather in your team? Chad Warner or Max Gawn? What a gormless imbecile.

These are the Hit Outs to Advantage numbers which confirms my impressions of the ruck battle. The stats people may have given lots of ineffectual taps to Richmond, but we were 13-8 when it came to clean hitouts which led to many clean and deep clearances, Sparrow in particular was able to sink his sizeable legs into some which ended up 30m out from our goal.

How Martin finishes in the top 10 is beyond my comprehension. Curnow as the best player is also over the top.

High - 2 points Intentional - 2 point Medium impact - 1 point Practice match - minus 1 point "He wouldn't have meant that" - minus 1 point "He's a champion of the game" - minus 1 point '"The fans want to see the best players playing" - minus 1 point So that's 1 point. Fine seems about right. Princeps Innocentus. Family felidae, genus thug, species sniper. Small predator, most often attacking when its prey is at a disadvantage. Coating of slime protects from capture or retribution.

Err goals Grundy 3 Gawn 3 Soldo 0 Nankervis 0 Just sayin

I know it's predictive, but from a Melbourne perspective May is underrated. He's the best defender in the league and lost the least percentage 1v1s in 2022. He's not behind Darcy Moore or Stewart. And the ESPN list has him also behind Sicily. He's behind no-one. He didn't include Fritsch because he criticised his perceived selfish behaviour last year. Only one player in the league has scored more goals than Fritsch the last 2 years (Hawkins). He's definitely a top 50 player, as evidenced by his AA40. Interestingly, this morning on SEN Nathan Buckley listed his 5 most impactful players in the game and he had Gawn at 1 and May at 2. Oliver was also in the top 5 along with Darcy Moore and Neale. Even Moore's biased ex-coach had him behind May. There's no way Oliver is behind Cripps as a footballer, but I admit I don't rate Cripps nearly as highly as many. Anyway, it's all just opinion and I recognise my bias.

That's right and one of the bare minimums we'll be hoping for is opposition has to plan accordingly for it. Richmond never usually go into a game that tall. It's going to be about making ourselves harder to play against rather than how to combat other teams.

Taj only played the last quarter but looked liked he belonged. After playing most of 2022 at Casey across half back, he played out of the middle when he came on in the 5th period against the Saints last weekend and was one of our best. Was played out of the middle again in the Q4 against Richmond. He has developed really fast, and if he continues on this trajectory looks like he could contribute at AFL level if required by mid-year. Laurie had one great moment when he cleverly tapped the ball on to a team mate which set up a fast chain, but on the whole looked some way off. A clumsy tackle that gave away a free early on was a real poor moment for him.

Good to see Gus in there - deserves some recognition. Gawn looks good for a big year on preseason form - should rise up the rankings a lot.

We're getting a lot more love from the fans than Robbo. As part of the same article, the HS readers have Oliver at 1, Gawn at 3, Trac at 7, May at 17, and Gus at 20.

Which MFC players did he (and as an extension Collingwood's coaching panel) rate really highly? And which MFC players are actually much better and more important now that he understands their different roles and skills.

Given that, it makes the fact we won the stoppage clearances by 6 even more impressive. Winning around the ground stoppages are key for us because they allow us to control territory, which of course so do center clearances. However, unlike at centre bounces, we often have one less player at stoppages because some other teams (eg blues and swans - but not the tigers) bring an extra to the stoppages. When we are confident of winning stoppage clearances, we can afford to risk having players like Hunter take up up aggressive positions, for example forward of the contest, which creates good scoring opportunities when we win the clearance. And when we don't win the clearance, our spare is back, and we often win back the ball. As we saw against the tigers, this scenario can also become an offensive threat when we transition forward - particularly if we are as aggressive and sharp with our kicking as we were against the tigers (i thought i was in alternate reality when the stat came up late in the first q that our DE was 80%. Theirs was actually pretty good too - 72%) The stat i'd really like to see from this game is scores from clearances because it gives a better sense of the effectiveness of clearances than the raw clearance number. The other key clearance related stat is post clearance contested ball wins. Hardwick has said it is the most important stat for them, and Goody has also noted its importance to our game plan. I suspect we smashed them on that stat in this game.

Welcome back fellas. Great to have the podcast back in weekly rotation. I'd like to sing the praises of Jake Bowey for a moment. Clearly he fell out of favour late last year and I think it was @binman last week who mentioned that it would probably more from a development perspective than anything else. But boy oh boy has he come back with a vengeance and stamped his card for Round 1. 19 possies and his disposal is just elite. 100% Disposal Efficiency. Chef's Kiss.

Just sayin' ... Hitouts: Richmond 37 Melbourne 24 Nankervis 24, Soldo 13, Gawn 12, Grundy 11, TMac 1. Clearances: Richmond 33 Melbourne 32 Centre Clearances: Richmond 18 Melbourne 11 Stoppage Clearances: Richmond 15 Melbourne 21

Cotchin has been getting away with this dirty stuff his whole career. Would be nice if people got suspended for deliberate malicious acts rather than incidental collisions and tackles.

I can't quite understand what's being debated here. We are the Melbourne Football Club, also known as the Demons and the Dees, just like Collingwood are the Magpies and the Pies, Essendon are the Bombers and the Dons and St Kilda are irrelevant.

Not much action today: Carlton's former #2 pick McEvoy to Sydney. I'd be so annoyed if I was a Carlton fan. Yes, they've lost ridiculous numbers of players over the years due to (in my view) poor investment, a part-time coach and the vicious circle of players leaving begetting more players leaving. But it's just wrong for them to have a top player poached by a team who finished a few rungs below them in the name of equalisation. That helps nothing. Probably next year, having realised this, the AFL will make a similar scheme only applicable to the top 4 or some such. Although something I don't really see discussed is the potential comparative worth of those 2024 compensation draft picks. How does a high 2024 draft pick compare, for example, to a high 2019 draft pick (i.e., McEvoy). Taking the resources spent on the poached player out of the equation, what's the quality gap? It's not like the men's where the draft quality from year to year is fairly stable ('strong' and 'weak' draft classes notwithstanding). The development, standard of coaching, sheer numbers of minutes played as juniors, especially as we get away from the covid impacts, will surely mean there's an upward trajectory for high picks some time. Which makes the TBA nature of it all from the AFL's perspective...interesting. If they're even paying attention, which is questionable. Anyway, 46 hours to go 🤞

Bloody hell. Huge getting Grundy. Great job. Can’t wait to listen

Anyone who actually watches melbourne games knows Oliver is #1.

I am worried now that they have added Lobb to their forward line.

Granted its pre-season and there is always a 'predictive' component as a retrospective top 50 is boring. I think Petracca is going to have a history making year. His form in pre-season looks so good - I don't recall ever seeing him play this well in pre-season. Max also has a point to proove, given the way we exited finals.

Being a Melbourne partner certainly does influence my choices. I've painted most of the rooms in the house using Haymes paint, travelling an extra 30kms to shop at their store. I always use Hertz for car rental. The only beer I drink is Furphies Crisp ale. That said, red wine is my drink of choice, but unfortunately Bleasdale never appealed to me. I appreciate that is just personal taste. Penfolds, on the other hand, will be more strongly supported. I visited NT a couple of years back. Buy Country Road, New Balance and Maccas occasionally. And with apologies to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, if my multi gets up, I'm buying a Jag!

After what the team has shown in the two competitive hit outs they have had so far I am looking forward to the season and this first round match up in particular. The first round always is exciting for me. Footy is back for the next six months and there is always a touch of the unknown about how the Demons will perform and what the opposition will bring to the table. The Demons look fit, well drilled, stong and mature in the way they have delivered in the competitive games so far. The game against the Tigers without 3 of our starting 22 (or should that now read 23) in Viney, Frisch and Salem showed great depth and a strong playing structure. A strong defence even without Salem with a couple of very handy players ready to step up when required. Same in midfield without Viney. A number of rotation options inside with a couple of top class runners on the wings. As it was last season, the forwards could be a problem. Against Richmond we kicked a good score in the heat without Frisch, our best goal kicker over the last two seasons, there will be some head scratching in selection over how to set that area up and how to make sure we have match day flexibility in that area. as for the Dogs….. well I think they will struggle a bit this year. Lost a few over the off season and gained a few. There will need to be a bit of them having to work out how to play to the different strengths of the different players. Plus they have had one competitive hit out against North who, as we know, are like the Demons of the past, struggling and undermanned. I will be interested to see how they hold up when the pressure of 4 points is on. Looking at their team now against their 21 grand final team, I think they are a step or two weaker. Whereas I believe we are a bit better than what we where in the last match of 21. Plus the Doggies still have the porn star as coach and I just do not rate him. we have them covered in defence and the midfield and I think we will generate enough scoring opportunities to run out winners by 5 goals. go Dees!

How about an analysis of woewodin’s work Compared to other younger players 5 touches 2 marks 1 tackle only a short time on the ground. Impressive? Hope I can listen

Superstitions are funny things.

Well from someone who does listen to him; he backed us to win all the way through 2021 when other were waiting for us to ‘Melbourne’ or completely ‘Melbourne up the place’ or simply just ‘Melbourne at the wrong time.’ He’s fine.

Very happy to have these back again for 2023. Love your work.

Contrary to what many on here think, he’s a good footballer with smarts, skill and good vision

I'd trade him for Petracca. 😄

Then for god's sake stay home this year! Only joking, Seriously start going I guarantee they will win whether you are there or not.

A Buddhist monk once said "Relax, nothing is in control"

In hindsight yes. The Club made some mistakes last year, but they have come clean on that and have done a lot of work to rectify them.

I think it's hair envy. Bald guys like Robbo would love a bufont like Frittas.

First of all thank you for covering these pre-season games. It really is great to have you back talking about the Dees. I cannot wait for the season to start and I hope we can make up for last season's disappointing end. My question for the panel: Is the River's in the midfield experiment over? In the match SIM game last week River's attended a number of centre bounces but this week he only attended one. It didn't appear that he was involved in many of the around the ground stoppages as a true mid either and seem to be back playing his usual half back rebounding role. I get that these preseason games are a chance to throw the magnets around the board a little bit and that is why we got to see him play some midfield minutes in the match sim after being teased about this new role by our trackwatchers. I also get that this weeks practice match was probably more a true reflection of how we are going to play come the real stuff in a fortnight. Having said that I would still have liked to see Rivers in the middle a bit more especially because we still did have a variety of players attend centre bounces this week with Clarry 20, Harmes 20, Trac 15, Kozzy 13, Sparrow 12, Nibbler 7.

Correlation does not equal causation! Get along to the games Azzkika and layzie it's safe for you to record them now 🤣

Again, like I said with Jackson, this is no time to be chasing a big money contract at 21 where he really hasn't scratched the surface on his potential. The wise thing to do would be to take a 2 year deal, gain more experience, play your butt off and affirm your status as one of the best small forwards in the comp. The next contract can be about your ego or go-home factor. You can say that Jackson got it anyway but I'm not convinced getting that deal will be the best thing for a 50 game player still developing. Time will tell though.

Let me ask you this, were you at either of the Sydney or Brisbane finals? If not, then I can confirm you are not the reason

Told you it would sound dumb

Up until now I just thought people were spelling Gawny in a really stupid way.

Saw Melky at my office the other day, calf still giving him grief and was still "a few away"

Im still of the opinion and sorry to the Springvale faithful out there, that the AFL need to reinvest in the old Reserves comp. Get rid of anyone not aligned to an AFL Club and this will also put paid to the PATHETIC VFL Match fixturing.