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You know the footy season is approaching and it’s not just the smell of the linament, the clicking of the turnstiles or the warming of the pie oven. It’s the sullen and gloomy naysayers who have broken down over missing on the four points not on offer because it’s just the first match simulation. It’s only 18 days into February and Round Zero is the same number of days away but to some people, all is lost. Some fifty or more years ago, Melbourne played Carlton on the MCG in the last practice match of the preseason. The Dees were on fire and smashed the Blues all over the ground. Two weeks later they faced each other in Round One and the result was the exact opposite. We were March champions and April fools. I’m not even sure what the objective is of these games but, despite a few odd crunches, it appears that the injury list did not expand beyond its current level so that’s a bonus. I don’t think you can expect to get much out of today. We have no idea what the coaching staff wanted from the day, what their expectations and instructions were to the players. It certainly seemed different to last year when the better players on the ball dominated and had more game time but this time Max and Trac were used sparingly and Clarrie did his shtick in the late, late show with Salo. Jack Viney took up the form he was late in 2023. I was impressed by Caleb Windsor and Jack Billings who will add interest to the battle for a place on a wing. We got a bargain in Kynan Brown but he’s not quite ready for the physical challenges of the game right now but it won’t be long. The Kolt looked strong at the end of the endgame. JvR had his moments early - they all did until the handbrake went on after 20 minutes. Sure, there was a lot of sloppy ball use and you could probably point a finger at the defence more than the forwards (because for a long time, the ball never went into attack). But both sides had plenty of first choice players out of action and, by the time the opening siren blares to announce the start of the season, the look and feel of the teams will differ markedly. The story of the game for me was the heartwarming feeling when Clarrie slotted through the goal of the year from the boundary (pity the car wasn’t on offer) on his left foot. He might not quite be back in town just yet but Cranbourne East is only is 45 km from the CBD and that’s only 2½ km a day.

Well, nothing to take away from that experience. It was a scratch match, and it was in every respect. Neither coach showed their hand, there was no discernible game plan or style from either, but what do you expect in February? For both sides it was the opportunity to see whether players could fit in different roles, who could do something outside their comfort zones and the chance for recent draftees to show their wares. Based on what we saw today, we can certainly expect Caleb Windsor to feature early in the season. The kid is lightening quick, but has football smarts, and with Hunter still injured, and unlikely to reach any fitness level before R1, then Caleb should get the wingers job. The other real standout was Kynan Brown, who has that inate ability to see gaps and just walk through them while others just fall about. We probably won't see him for a while, as he is so slight in build, but if today is anything to go by, then we may have a first class father-son. Pickett spending lots of time in the middle...a positive, but he won't be around in R1. ANB in the middle...no. Schache as ruck backup...no. Tomlinson as 3rd tall defender...no. Viney easily the best on the day, but please don't wear him out at this time of the year. At least we only used Petracca and Max sparingly. So we tried things, some worked, others didn't.

Game day threads haven’t, that’s for sure.

The bin doesn’t lie.

The main issue today was poor kicking and handball. We're clearly trying to play faster and use the corridor, but you get torched on the rebound when you turn it over, as we did today. Last year we lacked some dare, but had a fantastic all ground defence, which is why teams found it hard to move the ball against us. Think of Collingwood only having 39 inside 50s in the final and their struggle to move the ball forward on KB. In general play we dominated Carlton, but didn't close the door. We didn't get our tweaked game-plan right today and lost momentum. Richmond kicked it far better. They'll learn a lot from the hitout. Oliver and Salem the big pluses from the second game. Kynan Brown surprised me. He looks very promising.

I cannot comment at all on the footy (too busy basking in the sun & freebies!), but I can comment on the event itself. My girls and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at Casey. The weather was superb, the crowd seemed in really good spirits and the freebies (coffee, donuts, lip balm, show bags etc.) were a real hit. We left prior to the match ending but were still able to get a few autographs from very obliging players. I am pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t a fan of combining a practice match with a family day, but it was a win for me today.

If you’re not worried about our disposal you’ve achieved the highest level of zen possible.

Well the scoreline is meaningless. I enjoyed a couple of the new faces showing a bit - notably Brown and Windsor. Although I was a bit disturbed when the first kick I saw Windsor ( touted as an elite disposer) take was a dead set turnover - but I got over it ! Does anyone ever tell Viney, "It's only a praccy game Jack"? [censored], he goes like a bull in any situation at any time !!! The big and main positive of course is that Clarrie is back!!

I've gone from thinking we're going to win the premiership to this is just a prac match

As a dedicated Track watcher at Casey, this is my spin on today PRO'S Viney was HUGE! Windsor consolidated his training form and WILL debut round 0 Max was very good Bowser among the Best Brown dog also might debut round zero Kossy Awesome Billings very good Clarry and Salem were a class above in magoos game Verrall did not disappiont CON'S Well why is it that inspite of faultless drills and match sims at Casey do we turn up and TURN OVER the ball time and Time and Time again. We have achieved nothing in this regard. WHY DO WE KEEP BOMBING THE BALL INTO THE FORWARD 50 which has been a HUGE problem for the last 2 years. What the hell is going on Goody? Petracca's high ball drop and exagerated arc STILL Continues to cost us gimme goals. May turns it over and was fumbly today,Fritsch looked totally disinterested, Ditto Langdon who I would drop,Bailey Laurie does a few good things then some shockers. Tomlinson did little to inspire and we might be forced to look elsewhere. Rivers also is a turnover merchant! Did Chandler play??I think even with Clarry, Salem, Spargy Pants and Gus we looked MILES of today with some lazy and skill laden errors. Swans will slaughter us on that effort today!

kynan brown looks like an afl player to me

Reminder to everyone that it's a scratch match. We lost comprehensively to the Bulldogs in the 2021 preseason game. Geelong lost to Gold Coast in 2022. Collingwood barely scraped past Hawthorn in 2023.

Happy to let today slide. It looked as though we were playing a (similarly depleted) team that is rejuvenated and clearly relished playing under a highly promising and anticipated coach after 8+ years of the same voice. I don’t expect Richmond to make the 8 but they have enough talent and premiership veterans to win 9-12 games. However, if we let through an obscene amount of consecutive goals next week and have 70 points kicked on us again by half time, then I think members of this forum are entitled to be concerned. I don’t have the stats to back it up but it looked as though their pressure was miles ahead of ours. We were easy to play against today. Defensive pressure and low scores are the hallmark of a Goodwin coached Melbourne. If we lose that strength, then we’re a bottom 6 side. Lastly, some of the dropped marks and failed 15 metre passes to a target suggested to me that their heads weren’t in it today.

Thanks everyone for the rapid reaction on Oliver. Seems like for a moment I was more winded than he was.

To me it was the sameness to what we were poor at in the past that was disappointing. There was nothing fresh about any of the plays. There were some different combinations in positions. But not better outcomes than the a team. Positive is if they work on creating their own tempo and be less manic the skills should improve.

We went 9-3 in preseason games 2016-2020. Not great years except for 18. We went 1-2 in preseason games 2021-2023. Great years. Richmond went 4-3 in their flag winning years. It's zero indicator of season performance. Relax.

The Dees will play their final practice match before the start of the 2024 seasons against the Blues at Ikon Park. What are you wanting to see in this final hit out before the season proper? Will Clarry & Salo return to the side? 2024 AAMI Community Series | Carlton v Melbourne Date: Wednesday 28 February Time: 6:40pm (AEDT) Location: IKON Park | Wurundjeri

The Dees were outclassed and outmuscled in its first practice hit out for the 2024 season against the Tigers going down by 23 points at Casey Fields.

Went along with Tiger pal from work, so won't pretend I saw it all or know the game style they were using (too busy chatting). Was watching Windsor, to me needs a year of putting on size and where to position himself, looked like a first year body, still did ok, but don't expect the world (ala Daicos). And he shouldn't have to be that player. Give him time, he will learn. Actually thought Kynan Brown looked more comfortable at this level, was composed with ball in hand, kicked a goal. Pickett went in the middle, was his evasive best. Is he a game changer? To me he is too small and belongs in the forward line to crumb, use his speed etc. Up against the animals like Bont, Cripps etc size can be a factor. Use his smarts where we are lacking in the forward line (and no attempts for Mark Of The Year please, just crumb). Didn't notice Chandler, Howes or ANB at all. Generally disposal was quite ordinary, long bombs into 50, seems like both teams were almost just there to get some miles into the legs, and didn't show their hand. I'm hoping that's the case. Gawny played first half, then ran laps at half time, then went to the sheds. Like others have said, hard to gauge, hope that next week we sharpen up. Lots of outs on both teams too.

Proper match. 4 Quarters.

Good grief. Its started already. Season over before R1 has even been played. No skills no new moves inside 50 . Recruits are a bust. I didnt realise you had to peak in February to be a chance for the flag in late Sept or even early October. Maybe I'll play golf instead this season. Only joking i hate golf. lol Relax. I'll wait and see how we go against the Swans. Our last H &A game was the same team and ground. We creamed them.

It's Game Day and it's been 156 days since the Demons were bundled out of the finals in straight sets for the 2nd year in a row. Our redemption starts here. Remember it's only a practice match if we lose. Date: Sunday 18th Feb Location: Casey Fields Gate open: 9.30am Match commences: 10am Watch: Foxtel & Kayo Inclusions: Seven-quarter match simulation Signing opportunities Kids' activities Partner giveaways Demons Squad: 1. Steven May 2. Jacob Van Rooyen 3. Christian Salem 4. Judd McVee 5. Christian Petracca 6. Caleb Windsor 7. Jack Viney 8. Jake Lever 11. Max Gawn 13. Clayton Oliver 14. Jack Billings 15. Ed Langdon 16. Bailey Laurie 17. Jake Bowey 19. Josh Schache 20. Adam Tomlinson 21. Matt Jefferson 22. Blake Howes 24. Trent Rivers 26. Jed Adams 27. Marty Hore 28. Will Verrall 30. Alex Neal-Bullen 31. Bayley Fritsch 32. Tom Sparrow 36. Kysaiah Pickett 37. Kade Chandler 38. Oliver Sestan 39. Koltyn Tholstrup 41. Kynan Brown 43. Kyah Farris-White

I love people putting it's only a prac match spin on what is a continuation of the same problems of the pas two years.

its a practice game

Season over!!

pros: - first 20 minutes was champagne football - Laurie and Billings both had some really good moments, not sold on either but they can both contribute - Windsor was a mess with his kicks but he made position and surely had 15+ touches? - Kynan Brown looked comfortable - Max dominated and then Verrall injected something in the second half - Kossie (sadly just one of him when we need 2 or 3) Cons: - tugboat - run and carry being too condensed and so easy to defend, need width on the runners - still not going out the fat side enough - JVR and Fritsch both stationed too deep, get someone who can draw the ball at half forward - Schache - forward pressure was non existent when Kossie was on ball - midfield pressure poor all game - half backs gave a heap of room and didn’t show a lot of ability to close space and tackle

Sydney will [censored] us!

Hard to read much from a practice match, but some positives so far: Windsor and Brown do not look out of place. Verrall also. Rivers strong improvement continues. McVee plays like he's been at this level for 10 years Kossie in the middle for more than the first bounce of each qtr is great Billings getting a bit of it. Viney is massive for our midfield A few negatives so far: The fumble attempts at marking, particularly by May and Lever Turn overs killing us, poor decision making and handball execution Lack of pressure in defence. Bolton must have the pox, he's that clear Still too many long bombs and poor conversion in front of goal Is Langdon playing? Just ran down an opponent, so just noticed him

Hore or Adams better play well in the seconds because you couldn’t pick Tomlinson for round 1 based on this effort

it’s not even a real pre season game can we relax??

K.Brown with a rundown tackle! Hands off to Petracca who kicks his 2nd!

The full list of Demons missing from today’s scratch match Angus Brayshaw - illness Ben Brown - knee Tom Fullarton - hamstring Lachie Hunter - calf Shane McAdam - calf Tom McDonald - calf Jake Melksham - knee Andy Moniz-Wakefield - thigh Harrison Petty - toe Joel Smith - suspension Charlie Spargo - Achilles Daniel Turner - stress fracture femur Taj Woewodin - concussion

It's hard not to be critical of a loss to Richmond, who are widely tipped to be bottom six this season and were arguably missing more big guns than we were - Martin, Lynch, Taranto, Prestia and Nankervis are big omissions for them. What has worried me for a long time is that we have continually recruited ultra small players and aside from Viney, Petracca and Sparrow, we don't look ultra physical - which is a by-product of being so small. The decision not to get Caddy may yet come back to haunt us, just as the Weideman v Curnow debate was there some time back. Aside from JVR and when he's up there Gawn - we don't have any players who look remotely like taking a mark - once again that's something that comes with going small with a forward line that includes at least five of seven players under six feet each week. And to be honest most of our small players, with the exception of Kossie, aren't explosive speed type players. Even Windsor struggled to get away from opponents, although he was the pick of our youngsters. His kicking was at time abysmal today, but you can tell he will be better for the gallop and even better if he had some quick-moving big targets. My other major worry is that we have spent summer training with little pressure drills. Maybe that's the plan these days - not overdo it early to avoid injury and get stuck into more tackling drills when the season gets closer. I don't have stats, but I'm guessing we were majorly outtackled and I lost count of the number of pressurised kicks and handballs that were intercepted or missed targets. The big disappointments were in my view: McVee - he was so good last year and seemed to be a step behind this time. Surprisingly he wasn't given the job on Bolton, but perhaps that was a deliberate ploy to avoid it before the Anzac Eve clash. Howes played on Bolton quite a bit and enough said. Fritsch - he's been looking sharp at training, but really couldn't influence things - maybe as has been stated he was playing too close to goals and cut off easily. Gawn - gees, how many times did he lose front position at thrown-ins and have to push his opponent Ryan from behind - eventually the umps even spotted it and started paying free kicks against him. Schache and Tomlinson - yep both need to realise their time in the game ends in 2024 unless they lift. Yes it's only a practice game, but boy, we'd better show some signs against Carlton next week or the season will get away from us and Goody will have to utter Neeld's line - "we didn't see that coming".

How do we measure today if we don’t know what our intent was going in? Did we try and shut them down when they kicked ten straight or did we continue to work on our attacking game. When the pressure comes we know how we will Play. We know how Collingwood will play too. Like us. If we can play the way we were at the end of last year with ten percent more efficiency we win a flag. By working on skills and run now and early in the year, hopefully allowing the work we’ve done continuously for a few years on goal kicking and skill work to progress and inject some better ball users into important positions we should do alright. brown jr looked great. Get him in the gym and onto the park asap

Is there even a 2s game for him to play in next week?

positive new additions in billings, pup brown, and windsor negatives in lack of pressure and skills

Tholstrup with his first in red and blue.

Don’t think Richmond would care all that much if they lost. They would just work on things to get better. Statements like premiership window closed and Goodwin will be under real pressure by R5 after watching our first hit out are amusing.

I thought we looked pretty average. There was certainly a more aggressive mindset and our defence suffered. Don’t think I can remember having so many opponents getting free out the back like today. The media are probably right about us, we are intriguing this year. Not sure what we will offer.

Comedy gold some of the reactions. Last year we looked untouchable after smashing Saints and Tigers in preseason games. This is a rather early start to the season, shattering we ain’t peaking in the middle of Feb.

Ripping left foot snap from the boundary for a goal by CLARRY!!!

Imagine if we lost a real game…

A lot of cobwebs dusted off there. No injuries. Young players getting a run. Could have been worse. I wouldn't be writing anyone off on this performance but not many players excelled either. Skills and ball movement will improve... surely

Youthful enthusiasm! Love it!

Thought we were 15 goals down with the comments

Interesting that the goals that seem difficult and the ones he doesn't spend time thinking about are the ones Tracca nails. Brown looks lovely up forward. Max looks as fit as ever. Gee I've missed footy.

Partner giveaways, crikey, didn't know MFC are now hosting swap meets. I'll tell the Mrs to put on some more lippy.

Tigers Squad: 1 Nick Vlastuin 5 Jack Ross 10 Maurice Rioli 11 Judson Clarke 13 Hugo Ralphsmith 15 Jayden Short 17 Daniel Rioli 18 Josh Gibcus 20 Jacob Koschitzke 21 Noah Balta 22 Jacob Hopper 24 Sam Naismith 26 Matthew Coulthard 27 Thomson Dow 28 Kane McAuliffe 29 Shai Bolton 30 Tom Brown 31 Rhyan Mansell 32 Samson Ryan 33 Kamdyn McIntosh 34 Jack Graham 35 Nathan Broad 36 James Trezise 38 Noah Cumberland 39 Oliver Hayes-Brown 40 Tyler Sonsie 41 Sam Banks 44 Seth Campbell 45 Tylar Young 46 Ben Miller 48 Steely Green 49 Kaleb Smith 50 Marlion Pickett 19 Mykelti Lefau (SSP train on) 33 Mitch Schofield (SSP train on) VFL players taking part in the final three intervals: 52 Mohammed Yassine 53 Joel Garner 54 Chad Harris 55 Lachlan Street 56 Harry White 57 Mutaz El Nour 58 Cam Olden 59 Nick Girolami 60 Sam Frangalas 61 Tom Brindley 62 Nick Guiney 66 Luke Teal 67 Liam George 70 Will Bravo 71 Archie May 76 Tom McCarthy *Numbers are subject to change throughout the duration of the match simulation Missing Tigers: Dustin Martin Tom Lynch Toby Nankervis Tim Taranto Dion Prestia Dylan Grimes

Will be 923 years old by then... ...and they reckon Geelong have an ageing list.

I have no problem with the concept of Opening Round. They just should called it Round 1.