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Well, North have done everything they can to hold onto Tarryn Thomas so either Hester must be really wild or the Kangaroos just might have some very subtle cultural issues. Just reflecting some more on Brown's contribution to the MFC, because I don't like that a few people are playing it down; After returning froma long injury layoff, Brown kicked 20 goals from round 18 through to the Grand Final in 2021. In that period Fritsch also added an entire goal per game to his tally compared to the rest of the season. Pickett also overcame a mid-season slump in exact coincidence with Brown coming back. Fact is, Ben Brown provided a crucial piece of structure that completed our forward line and he played a vital part in the premiership run.

He did captain England so he wasn't a complete bust.

LISTEN: Sam Edmund provides an update on Clayton Oliver's training program.

No one was foretelling that both Brown & T-Mac would end up with chronic ailments that would mean that both would miss heaps of games Certainly not when we signed Brown nor when we extended T-Mac's contract It simply did not happen After the fact, yes. But not beforehand As previously stated, no one can use hindsight to justify a stance. It's like the draft revisionists. The shouda, couda, wouda people But if you or anyone else can point to where there was strong opposition to signing Brown & extending T-Mac's contract, I'd like to see it Besides which, even if you do happen to find such a person the chances are that they've got a 100 things wrong as well. Even a broken clock is right twice a day Certainly, the majority thinking here was happy with both decisions with Brown & T-Mac What it is really all about is that many here love to moan. So give these types any opportunity to have a whinge and they'll be all over it. It's their speciality (whinging)

It's truly amazing where some people's minds go. I would never have linked Kate Bush with Schache!!!

I think we could have reasonably foretold that injury hampered last few years of the contracts of BBB and T Mac were reasonablely likely, given their recent history of injuries and age prior to them signing the contracts they did with us. Still I think they have both been good value for the club for many of the reasons already discussed. Even just having both of BBB, T Mac and Melksham around to play 6 - 10 games per year over the past couple of seasons has ment we've had some big bodies support for JVR etc, so we can develop them and play them when they're ready, not throw them against men too early.

RETURN FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES 6 REBOOTED Picket Fence. Thanks very much the gates are open again and about 70 or so Dees fans in attendance. There are scribes with I. Pads, people with note pads scribbling away, interestingly Ive never used notes or anything else whilst compiling my reports, so there ya go. Oh wait hold the phone, this report just keeps on getting wackier and more way out, like a drug induced stupor.. There in fron of my eyes is Charleton Heston ( AKA Taylor) from the original "Planet of The Apes"What is he doing here?? Hello Taylor whats going on man why are you here and how are you here? Taylor" And who might you be?? You like like a B grade extra in a Z Grade cheap flick" P.F '' Yeah thanks for that, I'm here doing a footy training report my name is Picket Fence" Taylor " A gumshoe eh"? Well Fence I'll tell you what Im doing here, the producers are casting for some Ape's for the next installment and sent me back from the future ( Sound familiar ?ED) to get some from a place called LuliePie" P.F LULIEPIE ????? sounds terrible, I think I'll just stick to the old Fourntweenties thanks" Taylor. These Luliepies are totally life like and are exactly what the producers need coz they dont need any makeup and walk exactly like the apes on the set. They look like this P.F "Ok, I know the script I'll take you there on one condition!" Taylor" And whats that???? P.F "Talk to the producers and get me a big Acting Gig in the big apple" Taylor " Done" TRAINING REPORT MONDAY Conditions very hot but plenty of shade, No slitheras but did see some Bigfoot prints adjacent the Moat NO SHOWS OLIVER, BBB, SMITH, FULLARTON, MELKSHAM MODIFIED DUTIES HUNTER , PETTY Both on the bikes, and later JEFFERSON running and VERRAL same NOTE SALEM, MONIZ-WAKEFIELD all back in FULL TRAINING! TRAINING DRILLS MANY AND VARIED 1 One on one full stoppage simulations and hemming opponenent in at boundary 2 Random player ground ball gets and then precision passing to leading forward option 3 Rotating forward entries from centre transitions to forwards leading with one on one defenders as checkers spoilers 4 Whole ground manoeuvers from back to forward PLAYER WATCH SHACHE Standout player today for mine took several strong contested grabs againast quality defence May and Thommo and perhaps the penny has dropped about being more hungry and agresive at the ball Mc ADAMS Um sorry I don't buy this fitness lacking thing , he is an excitment machine who figured in goals and knows where to run and go WOEWODIN Continues to improve and looks confident and strong JED ADAMS Looked pretty composed by hand and foot and could surprise BILL LAURIE Trained very well and generally disposes well, but I'm not sure he has the X factor needed KOOYONG KOLT We have a goodun in this guy,punches well above his weight and at one stage provided 3 pressure acts in a row and resulted in a turnover. A lot to like MARTY HORE For some reason he just looks like he's ready to go, works well into a contest and disposal is very sound ANDY MONIZ -WAKEFIELD Some serious X Factor, involved and very skilled in linking up. As you would expect MAX, LEVER, MAY, THOMMO,RIVERS, KOZZY NIBBLER, et al all trained as seasoned pro's HIGHLIGHT..... A drone was hovering over Bowsers head and he thought swatting it was a good idea, got close but no cigar.. Funny to see though. Drills are a lot more corridor based and feature the ability to a) Select the best option in traffic b) Execute skills to best advantage. Its coming together and the intensity is definately obvious Cheers P.F

Yeah if only we'd traded 26 & 33 for Jayden Stephenson and Atu Bosuvenagi like North did, or taken them to the draft and got Corey Durdin and Fraser Rosman a pick earlier.

Yeah. It could have been much worse. They could have said he was out for 4 to 6 weeks!

That’s relatively good news on Tom Fullarton dodged a bullet there.😁

6 to 8 Weeks 8 Weeks from now takes us to Round 2 (our 3rd match)

I find myself not really bothered by the whole discussion regarding our ruck and forward structures. As far as the forward structures are concerned, I really do not see us performing a badly as last season. We had a raft of injuries to a number of key forwards that kept them out of the side and the players we had there for a majority of the season were relatively inexperienced. Add to that sub-standard delivery into our forward 50 and poor conversion rate when the forwards did actually get the ball. We traded in a couple of options and we have a bit of flexibility and variety to plug and play into the forward mix to see what is the best setup. I am one of those that do not write off any players stepping up and performing at some stage during the season. Any improvement on the performance last season is a bonus as far as I am concerned. With the ruck situation, again, I will look at how they set up and how the perform in the season. This is where the coaches show their value and work out the setup and game plan for stoppages. At the center bounces we have Max as a tap ruck that, in the past, has not consistently found a man. This has lead to our mids being a very good reactionary team. Hunt down the ball, nail the player with the ball and turn it over. Where max is of great value is around the ground as a critical link. So often he is hit up as a target, he marks and feeds off via hand or foot to initiate attacks. So I am not so much concerned about the actual ruck work. We need to find someone to do the running to position as Max does. Not an easy thing to find. It is a very different list to last year and I think we will se a different team, setup and style of play.

I attended my first preseason training this morning in hot and breezeless conditions. I’m not a big fan of training techniques so I’ll concentrate on some observations on individual players, and let others comment on set plays. My initial observations were very pleasing: TMac has certainly changed his body shape (and hairdo) looking much lighter and running comfortably; Tomlinson is generally not noted for his agility but a dedicated summer of training sees him looking lighter and quite fast too. Tholstrup looks and trains like a man on a mission and his repeated efforts certainly don’t go unnoticed. Bowie has muscled up and his kicking was a weapon Rivers looks supremely fit and continues to give the impression he’ll play more midfield time this year . Not overly impressed by the fitness of McAdam who seems to be coming from a fair distance behind the others in fitness Petty likewise to McAdam seems a fair way off match fitness, understandably.

Maybe but the point I'm making (again) was that there was zero outcry at the time. Of course, we've now got new information but that info was not visible 4 years ago. Brown & T-Mac were running on top of the ground in 2021 so there were no alarm bells The chronic injuries came later But every part of recruiting is a risk, some high, some low For instance, swapping draft picks for known talent (at the highest level) carries with it a risk that those players can maybe not come up to expectations. Or they can shine In the last 10 years we've swapped draft picks for Lewis, Brown, May, Lever, Hunter, Langdon, Vince, Melksham, Billings, McAdam, Tomlinson, Hibberd etc etc and most have paid off. Not all, but most We've also drafted a stack of youngsters in the last 15 years ... Scully, Petracca, Trengove, Oliver, Morton, Hogan, Brayshaw, Watts, Salem, Kozzie, Gysberts, Weideman, Toumpas* & Jackson were all top 5 or top 12 picks And the results are all over the place So the focus on Brown & T-Mac is a small-picture argument. If we broaden the argument, there are hit and miss stories left, right & centre You're not going to get everything right as we don't live in a perfect world. Nor are we going to get everything wrong But overriding all that is that our Head of recruiting, Jason Taylor, is one of the best in the business and he would have had a big say in the recruiting of Brown. And given his strike rate, we may have thought that Weideman and/or Hogan* would be power forwards for us right now but alas, you can't win them all From an overall perspective, there's been a lot more hits than misses in the last 10 years so we're punching above our weight. The 5 or 6 years prior to that 10 year stretch was abysmal and was the stuff of nightmares *Jason Taylor wasn't 'officially' with us for the 2012 draft but I'd be astonished if a few phone calls weren't made for his opinion on the worth of Hogan & Toumpas And of course, Jason Taylor is with us on the back of the Mark Neeld recommendation. What a sliding doors moment that was

Not strictly footy related but whilst we're discussing BBB here's a link to the quirky house reno he had completed recently that popped up on the Green Magazine insta feed. Not sure if the polished concrete floors would be good for that dodgy knee of his. https://www.kuzman.com/kiddy-kitty-court-house

Just to be clear Macca, I'm not moaning or saying that there were pleanty that foretold this scenario at the time, just saying that at their age with recent injury history at the time, it wouldn't be unreasonable or unrealistic to anticipate that they would become more injury prone in the twilight of their respective careers. It was a risk I think the club took with a realistic view of the potential outcomes. We might have ended up with something on the worst end of those outcomes for both players to have had injury struggles the last few years, but that how it goes. Both were significant onfield contributors to our 2021 flag, with the roles they played that season IMHO and likewise in the subsequent seasons through lesser onfield roles and probably greater off field roles as mentors, team values etc. I personally view us as winners to date through the contracts we signed them to and the story isn't finished yet either.

Fullerton 6-8 no surgery. Good outcome based on what was initially reported. May not miss to much footy during the season.

Agree Dante, Schache 2024 is the same as Schache 2023. He's a very good trainer and able to do really good things in the training environment but in a truly contested situation he doesn't seem to be able to do it. Treat training form with care, Andrew Strauss was one of the best trainers I've seen over the years.

We can't expect Max to keep carrying such a huge load on and off the field forever. The guy turns 33 this year and has a young family to think about. I desperately want to see him lift the premiership cup on the MCG this year but, whether or not that happens, this has to be his last year as captain. I'm happy to be the contrary voice on Lever. I think there are significant issues with the way he plays that will see his career come to an end quicker than most expect. He may be a good captain for a year or two, but I don't see him as a sensible choice in the longer term. Clearly Brayshaw has some issues that make him a risky choice as well. Petracca seems to be the clear next in line, presumably with Viney staying on as vice captain.

Changing leaders would have likely brought even more external scrutiny imho. Stability is the message here and agree with view one captain is on field focused and the other captain is off field focused.

I can’t see Schache making it, I went to 3 training sessions last week and kept an eye on him, he’s not much different to what he was last year. He’s capable of doing good things, but I don’t think he’s got the mongrel in him to play at the top level.

It's me, it's Schache, I've come home now.

Yeah totally. Certainly has the aspirations and I think it's a valid discussion. Not saying I would have absolutely made a complete change over but I can @DeeSpencer. DeeSpencer saying what people don't want to hear at times. Don't understand the need to jump down someone's throat because his opinion is different to others.

Fairly sure we gave Brown a 4 year deal to acquire the player which included his first year (2021) and T-Mac might have has his contract extended after the 2021 season But it should be remembered that T-Mac played 23 of 25 games in 2021 and there was no outcry when we did extend his contract. None that I recall anyway So you make decisions and you live with the decisions. There's no shouda, couda, wouda aided by hindsight

Well said, Macca. I just want to add one extra point. How the club treats its players at the end of their careers will be noticed by other players (and their managers) when contemplating changing clubs. It would be much harder to attract quality players to join us if we didn't show we cared about them in their declining years.

Word of the day!! 👏

Max is one of the best captains in the game - a genuine leader on and off the field. For a footballer, he is off the charts for social skills and emotional intelligence - which is increasingly important as a mentor for young players - helping them simultaneously figure out 'who they are' while working in a job that attracts a potent mix of relentless public scrutiny, idol worship, quick money and media vultures (hi Kane). Jack on the other hand is the quiet guy off the field who becomes a giant on the field, lifting everyone around him with acts of insane bravery and a monomaniacal desire to crush the opposition. This is one of the best mixes of leadership Melbourne have ever had and it is the right decision - for 2024. My sense for the future is that Petracca needs to reach his personal footballing ambitions before becoming captain - more flags, a brownlow, a B&F. He has set himself to be a legend of the game. Being a captain takes time and effort - I'm not sure he is yet in a place to let go of the all conquering desire to be the best player and team mate. Depending on what happens this year, he might be ready to to focus fully on the rewards of captaincy. He will be fantastic when he is ready. If you wanted a more conservative path, Lever is a ready made captain. If you wanted to be more strategic and long term? Rivers to me is starting to look like a man who can inspire those around him. My wife is getting suspicious about how long I've been 'checking my emails' - back to making hot cocoa :) Cheers

Schache………..as the saying goes, If Schache is the answer you’re asking the wrong question

Joeboy; reported house down.