Lil_red_fire_engine

No. Back the McVee in. Does not look like the type of kid that will be phased.

Said to my dad last night. For someone who is allegedly an elite distributor he seems to distribute to us alot.

I am pretty certain it will just be you.

Lets assume at this time that Koz gets off and as per presser all of May, Fritter, Salem, Viney are available for selection. I would still only select Fritter and give May and Viney another training block ready for round 3. Salem I think needs to find touch in the VFL first. He is great when cherry ripe and in touch but Bowey, Rivers and McVee all deserve to maintain spots until he can show that. Assuming the above Fritsch in for Laurie only change. Melksham as sub again. I think if Koz out more likelihood we make two changes and try and replace his midfield minutes and hardness with Viney straight up.

6. Pickett 5. Gawn 4. Lever 3. Petracca 2. Brown 1. Oliver

Baker clearly had the better VFL year last year as you would expect from a 24 year old vs a 19 year old first year player and a 20 year old small requiring development. That a 24 year old wingman was not getting an AFL game for s probably says where we thought his AFL skill set was at and explains why he was delisted and to young kids were given more time to develop. Based on their inclusion in our round 1 side they clearly have over the preseason. Best of luck to all three tonight.

McVee has been excellent but Bowey and Rivers are round 1 locks and I think we need Hibberds mature body and ability to play on a tall to combat the Dogs forward line. I doubt it will happen but with Gawn and Grundy showing good forward 50 work and a clear want on our inside 50 defensive work for close down the ball carrier if Fritsch is fit it should be for Brown out not Chandler or a mid. Either way I suggest this will be a typical Dees v Dogs game where it will be won or lost in the middle.

Alot more forward handballs. Oh and 25 kicks between Bowey and Hunter makes a massive difference as well.

Great to see a strong win against good oppo. The Tap Brothers dominant. Our midfield and half back spread excellent and our speed of ball movement and execution frightening for this time of year. The only concerns for me were Brown (who should come out for Fritsch) and Harmes constant ability to turn the ball over after doing all the hard work to win it. Great to see McVee get the chance to take Dusty and Taj get a look in in the last (and look up to the pace). And of course the most important thing no injuries. Could not have asked for much more from the hit out.

Clearly fears facing the Dees even in a practice match.

Chaplain interview on MFC site sounds like it will be Trac and Koz Mid/Forward > Forward/Mid and they will send Koz in for a couple of bursts. I reckon Koz time will be something like 60:25:15 FWD/MID/INT.

B: Lever, May, Bowey HB: Hibberd, Petty, McVee C: Langdon, Oliver, Hunter HF: Spargo, McDonald, Neal-Bullen F: Fritsch, Brown, Pickett FOLL: Gawn, Viney, Petracca IC: Rivers, Brayshaw, Chandler, Grundy SUB: Harmes (or Sparrow) Based on preseason feedback and that performance, McVee will be close to impossible to keep out of the round 1 side. With Bowey and McVee this can allow for Brayshaw to rotate mid (ahead of Harmes and Sparrow who were limited) and Rivers in spurts to change it up. With Pickett playing some mid minutes and Spargo/ANB playing the high half forward we need to give Chandler a good run at it. Has the tools to bring what we need to the forward line and should be given a good run at it early in the season. Im not convinced in having all Brown, TMac and Gawn/Grundy all forward but suggest we will go that way early to give it every opportunity of working particularly on dry tracks early in the year.

I have have seen enough to ink Hunter for round 1 and pencil McVee for round 1 as well. Whilst they have both had their moments I really dont like a forwardline with both TMac and Brown and we do still scream for a crumber at the spill when Koz not there. Our clear want to move forward with short quick kicks and also our spinning of more players through the midfield are positives. Granted neither Harmes or Sparrow have really made the most of the time.

Hunter, McVee and the inside 50 kicks the big positives for Q1 of 8

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1272877/live-streaming-confirmed-for-pre-season-matches

https://help.kayosports.com.au/s/whats-on-kayo#AFLPre-Season-6

I have it confirmed via people at Fox Sports that it will be on.

yep

Friday 4-7pm AEST Channel 504.

Fox will be showing it.

I love this categorisation. I dont think Hunter is a lock. Melksham is contending. Howes I think is more could elevate than contending. .

I am assuming a Hibberd misspell.

Clearly something went wrong after half time in the second half of the year. My query though is these fade outs did not exist in the first half of the season. So what went wrong mid season was it the loading, the accumulation of injury not allowing us to finish out games or a combo of mental fragility and teams knowing you could put us to the sword after the half? I would suggest its a bit of each. Some of that is on Griffiths but not all necessarily. Burgess was clearly a massive loss as he was the best in the business but Griffiths did work under him and now has a season on his own to tune his approach.

I am saying that if we are half way through the year at 6-6 the pressure will be on. Ignore where we finished last year and consider we won 6 of our last 14 games. For arguments sake though how long will you accept this list having a 50:50 win loss ratio before pressure on the coach should be considered? To be clear I rate Goodwin and therefore doubt we will be in this position.

The pressure will be on Goodwin in the first 6-8 weeks to have us looking like the late 2021/early 2022 model with some tweaks. If we look like the mid to late 2022 model the pressure will rise pretty quickly. Our list is too good for the 6 win 8 loss way we finished the season and I suggest there will be little patience to waste the premiership window we have.