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He almost dies, yet comes back to pre-season in the best shape out of any player on our list. ummmmmm……..hand me some brand Petracca!

Dreaming. He will have a massive season and take us close to a flag! But neither Pies nor Blues even have a 2025 first pick and their 2026 and 2027 will be mid to high teens in compromised drafts so will drift out. Chances of the club trading Petracca to them are close to zero. So he stays. 🙌

Oliver. 2 Brownlow votes in his first game and arguably BOG to half time.

Howes being he is out of contract. Oliver to give us the greatest impact. Sparrow if he wants to remain in the best 22. Jefferson to prove the doubters wrong.

I have no idea what you’re talking about, Lucifer’s Hero. You must be thinking of someone else, someone slightly deranged perhaps. 😜

Oliver shape shifted the club. Rd 1: After 2 minutes it was obvious he was our best centre bounce clearance player in the club After 5 minutes: He was the teams best tackle breaker in the club At 1/4 time he was the clubs best midfielder At half time he was our best first performed draftee in memory At the end of the game he was the best on ground for us After Rd 6 he was the clubs best player After 50 games he was hea dand shoulders above any 50 game MFC player in memory Then he won 4 x BF, multiple AA and a Premiership superstar to boot with a spine tingling 3rd quarter goal with a point to all of us in lockdown. This guy is a freaking living legend. And some people talk about him as though is dispensable. Not in my books. Stoke whatever fire is needed to float his boat.

McAdam’s never had “form”, so he can’t exactly recapture it. And given his age (30 in May next season), a “breakout year” is highly unlikely. Obviously agree with Oliver and I think Sparrow needs to take the next step (and have a proper breakout season).

New Demon numbers: Daniel Turner - 10 Koltyn Tholstrup - 12 Harvey Langford - 19 Xavier Lindsey - 20 Tom Campbell - 29 Harry Sharp - 30 Ricky Mentha Jnr - 39 Aidan Johnson - 42

I think everyone should lay off Trac and when he gets that first touch round 1 I hope everyone gets up and claps him. Make him remember just how much he is loved at the Dees. It’s a supporters job to support.

She’s not after you @Lucifers Hero, she’s come back from the dead to haunt DL. im going to change my name to @Ghostbuster.

Indeed. In fact in the vison I've seen his contested marking is a real strength. I'll find the vid and link here (the youtube channel is called Footy Stuff), but I watched his full season highlights a week or so ago. About 15 minutes long. Great video - broken up into sections: movement, score involvements, clearances, something else - and marking Terrific way to structure it. Boy, oh boy, kid can play. Beautiful kick. Uses the natural advantage left footers have - opponents instinctively covering the right side - to wheel and kick off one step after a mark. But what really stood out was his marking technique - text book. Times his jump super well, marks out in front if his eyes with bent arms, great one on one and a one grabber. And in that vid took some absolute pack mark screamers. He looks a completely natural forward. He actually reminded me a lot of Jeremy Cameron, even more than say a big bodied mid forward like Tracc. Tracc is brutally effective as a forward, but to my eye has never been a particularly natural forward. Just very hard to beat one on one. But Langford moves and leads like a true forward. And moves a lot like Cameron, is probably almost as tall and of course is also a left footer.

Plenty but Harrison Petty is the key one for me. The foot was clearly an issue early on but if he gets a good pre season in I'm confident he can provide value whether forward or back. Tom Sparrow another one who really needs to cement his place. The coaches could do him a favour too by dropping this HFF experiment. Oliver for obvious reasons and for god's sake Christian Salem if you can just recapture half of that 2021 form then we'll be in good stead. McAdam will be playing for his career at this point so a big year from him is necessary, give us 10 possessions and 1-2 goals a game and you'll be in. Kade Chandler ditto, needs to get more of it and do better with what he does get. I'm surprised that Jake Lever hasn't been mentioned, needs to stay healthy. To be honest you could name half the list.

I’ll admit to not having watched any of the kids this year so the following is based on YouTube highlights only. When we drafted Rivers, the thing that stuck out to me as one of his strengths was his willingness to hit the contest with speed. I see similarities with Lindsay. It’s not always successful but when it is it breaks the contest wide open. Combined with his skills and evasiveness, he seems like a very very good prospect. The rest is up to him and his application which I also believe to be top notch.

My vote is for Turner to have a Waterman like year and get the AFL world talking. Would give our fortunes a real boost.

Agree. I was joking, though not particularly well if I was a betting man I'd give very short odds that barrimg injury he'll make his AFL debut round one next season. I can't think of a dees draftee more ready for AFL footy than Langford . Viney perhaps, And not just because he's physically ready (boy, he's a big fella) - just seems to have the right mindset and competitiveness. He'll probably be a mid from the get go too.

At the risk of a voodoo doll coming my way I thought I would 'out' our hitherto esteemed training reporter now operating under the pseudonym @Ghostwriter Of course it took 2 seconds to work who it really is.🙃

Wonder who they’re saving #34 for?

Langford eyeing a few numbers down the order in 2026 I reckon 😂 Also, number 34 kept open for another year. #Kalaniwatch

There are different types of ‘big years’ needed, and some overlap: big career year, big comeback year, big year for Dees to succeed, big developmental leap year, etc. Big years for their career Howes - with Petty (presumably) coming back, it makes it even harder for Blake to cement a spot but I hope we can keep him around as I think he has a bit to him. Petty - injuries have ruined him lately but needs to return to form quickly for the sake of his mind not just his body. Comeback Oliver - what is he for the rest of his career? He might never recapture his manic ability to win the footy and distribute and power out of stoppage but can he get back to some sort of form. Developmental Year JVR - has the opportunity to make a leap being the focal point. Still won’t have protection from the number 1 defender but maybe our gameplan can make it easier for him to succeed. Chandler - I hope he can take the leap to being one of the first picked in the forward line in the absence of ANB. He has the talent and the desire, does he have the discipline and the confidence? Sparrow - now or never Tom. Trent made the leap past you in the middle. Perhaps the door is shut with the influx of midfielders into the frame for 2025… Big for the Dees Oliver | Petty | JVR - already mentioned. Petracca - our best player needs to get back to his best for us to get a sniff to be top 4 again Gawn - he is the eternal flame, god help us when it gets dark. May - Petty back will take some pressure off but he is needed to have another great year. Rivers - is he a better mid than Oliver? If he is then he will be massively important to our fortunes. Pickett - can he continue a banner year with another? And stay on the park? Lever - can he help us modernise our gameplan? And get us going? Its no surprise that these are the best players, but it does get one excited about the possibilities.

Petty, Oliver, Fritsch and Sparrow all need good years and if they do and our regular players stay on the park we will go well. Jefferson and the new boys just need a bit of exposure and opportunity to develop under the more experienced players

You're watching the wrong highlights if that's the case

His strengths/weaknesses were well documented in the lead-up to the draft. I saw most of them on display at training yesterday. He is tall. Almost the same height as JVR. Almost 2" taller than Tracc. Although not super quick, he was able to run 40-50m to receive a handball from a player who had just marked and kick it 30m to another leading player. He has a good level of fitness. He loves a contest. He has a penetrating left foot that can hit targets 40-50m out. Some missed as the session wore on. Lovely one-grab mark, although I did not see him take a contested mark. His quiet demeanour gives him an air of self-confidence and a knowing that he belongs. If by chance we sadly lose Christian, Harvey will be well qualified to take over that role. Throw in 2 first-round picks, and I feel that we will be OK.

The day is young, Luci. 😁 like I said, the day is young. @Lucifers Hero 😉

Welcome back @Ghostwriter👏 And what an interesting profile you have. 😉

Biggest thing is across the board buy in on team first It was evident in 2021 needs to get back to that fine balance between me/we - do your job for the team

Big wrap for Dan Turner to get 10. They must be pretty certain he is that 3rd tall.

What the hell is going on here? People are talking about brands. Who cares? I'm only interested in football. I don't care about what he can sell. He is professional enough to do that. I suspect he has had a reality check and will get down to business. Remember, everyone has disagreements with their employer, friends, or family. This is the same.

Nihilist: what’s the point of drinking anything

For me, I think it's Sparrow and Petty that really need it. By some stats I've seen, Sparrow seems fit enough and to be working hard enough, perhaps he just needs to be give a role and granted a bit more freedom to show off his attacking flair and be more damaging to reach his potential. Petty playing backline would help. Spargo probably also needs one to get a spot in the 22 and maintain relevance. Salem is another. Not that they reall 'need' it exactly, but I'd love JVR and Disco to go to that next level and become regularly damaging and dangerous key forwards. An uninterrupted preseason would help several of these guys. If we can maintain a fit list, then I think we could be in a position of having great depth again. I'd really like to see us manage that situation by sufficiently resting players throughout the season to hit finals fit and fresh, as opposed to tired and banged up like in 2022 and 23.

I wish you wouldn’t.

Oliver - he is just as important to us contending for the flag as Petracca.

These bloody glasses can be looked at in three ways. optimist: the glass is half fulL. pessimist: the glass is half empty. realist: I need a refill.

What I saw at training yesterday: this kid has it all. He beat Tracc in a one-on-one contest to the loud applause of his teammates. I will go as far as to say he is much further advanced than what Tracc was when he was drafted.

Disco Turner 40 goal year, take it to the bank

Love it! Go for it! 👏 If I was a redhead I could change mine to 'Deranged'!

Ah, but you know I have a very good 'spidey sense' and Sherlock Holmes type detection traits ... Nope I am not mistaken! LOL! It was the 'Interests' on your profile that confirmed my suspicion 🙃 At least you didn't post a voodoo doll with 'Luci' photo shopped onto it.🙃

There is a Family Day to be held at Gosch’s before Xmas. The event staff have yet to advise of a time/date.

He's a good player agent

I remember in his first praccy match (vs Bulldogs at a country venue I can’t remember), he almost took a speccy, ran to the bench soon after and threw up. Immediate thought was that this kid will go until his body, not his mind, just blows up. In a good way.

2025 Melbourne numbers — 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 9. Charlie Spargo 10. Daniel Turner 11. Max Gawn 12. Koltyn Tholstrup 13. Clayton Oliver 14. Jack Billings 15. Ed Langdon 16. Bailey Laurie 17. Jake Bowey 18. Jake Melksham 19. Harvey Langford 20. Xavier Lindsey 21. Matt Jefferson 22. Blake Howes 23. Shane McAdam 24. Trent Rivers 25. Tom McDonald 26. Jed Adams 27. Marty Hore 28. Will Verrall 29. Tom Campbell 30. Harry Sharp 31. Bayley Fritsch 32. Tom Sparrow 33. Tom Fullarton 35. Harry Petty 36. Kysaiah Pickett 37. Kade Chandler 38. Oliver Sestan 39. Ricky Mentha Jnr 40. Taj Woewodin 41. Kynan Brown 42. Aidan Johnson 44. Luker Kentfield 45. Andy Moniz-Wakefield

Disco #10 how good

Agree with your observations Binman. I watched these highlights last night, it's a terrific video. Although the knock on him is his pace he still seems to have a quick few steps out of stoppage and has a mean side step.

Trac is just stage managing his first #godees picture tugging at his jumper kicking a goal round one .

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/teams/training-times AFL Gosch's Paddock Monday, December 2 Gosch's Paddock 10am - 12pm Wednesday, December 4 Gosch's Paddock 10am - 12pm Friday, December 6 Gosch's Paddock 10am - 12pm

Agree they are rare but it can change the way an opposition team sets up around the contest/ who they play on you if you’re known to be strong in the air. A bit like a keeper coming up to the stumps to a quick bowler - the stumping isn’t their priority, they’re trying to keep the batsman back in the crease to aid the bowler’s length. Keeps the batsman honest.

A 60-goal year from Roo is in my letter to Santa

BAILEY FRITSCH - Recapture his spark and kick 60 goals HARRY PETTY - Full preseason and injury free will straighten us up JED ADAMS - Break into the side and show us what he can do CLAYTON OLIVER - If he regains his 2021 form, I will be crying without shame at the G

There’s probably only a handful of players who broke even on their 2023 form or bettered it. So in my opinion, heaps of them.

I'm with @dazzledavey36. My arms are red from pinching myself. Can't wait to see Harvey in the red and blue, in the big time. Kid is gonna be a gun.

Straight to half back when Salem pings his first calf of 2025