Tough Kent

My thoughts on our playing list for 2020. Senior core: May Salem Harmes Petracca Viney Lever Brayshaw Gawn Oliver Hibberd Langdon Melksham Tomlinson Tom McDonald Weideman Fritsch Jetta J Smith Probables: Jones Spargo Kolodjashnij Hannan Preuss vandenBerg (if fitness continues, certainty) Oscar McDonald Hunt Neal-Bullen Hore Brown Lockhart Depth: C Wagner J Wagner Baker Young players who will feature in 2020: Jackson Pickett Rivers Sparrow Jordan Petty Chandler Dunkley Young players still developing in 2020: Bradtke Nietschke Bedford Bennell potentially added to the list. The depth has definitely improved in what was a successful offseason trade and draft period.

Do you think we still lack the top shelf class of the top 4 - 6 teams???

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Why Melbourne will improve in 2020: -Maysie is one of the top 5 key defenders in the comp. Fully fit, watch him prove it next year. -Trac is training with a rare intensity and will take his game to a new level. -Viney is doing his first full preseason in 3 years. The bull is hungry. -Gus will play as an inside mid and show an improved desire to run both ways. -Hibbo is as fit as he has ever been. He realizes his spot is on the line and is desperate to keep it. -Langdon and Tomlinson are the two gut running wingmen we’ve been crying out for and will run both ways all day on those MCG wings. -Jackson is a rare talent. Expect him to play early and have an impact with his athleticism and desire. Watch the big fella hunt the footy when it hits the ground. -Rivers will add class to the half back line. Hard, and a beautiful kick. He’ll play early too. -vanders doing his first full preseason in 3 years will add that toughness that we lack. He’s our barometer in many ways when he’s up and going. -Expect a fully fit T-Mac to work his way up and back and become the player that he was in 2018. Watch Weideman or Brown play the stay at home forward role and allow Tom to thrive as the second banana. -Fritsch is the player I’m most excited about. I expect him to kick 40 plus and finish top ten in the Coleman. He is a star. -I think Harry Petty has the ability to become one of the gun young key forwards in the comp. Competition for spots in the forward line will be at a premium with T-Mac, Weid, Brown, Jackson, Petty and Preuss all looking to cement roles in there. -Joel Smith adds versatility and athleticism to our backline. He is hungry. -Lockhart and Dunkley are doing their first AFL preseasons. I can’t wait to see how good they can become. -Kossi won’t get many touches and I don’t expect him to hit the scoreboard in a huge way in 2020. But watch the manic pressure he will bring to a forward line that allowed teams to waltz the ball out of its forward 50 in 2019. -The team will be hungry. -They will be super fit. -They will have a slightly softer draw. -They will have more than a one dimensional game plan that relies on them winning contested ball. How far up the ladder these improvements take us?

A Sam Landsberger piece on Tuesday suggested we were one of 3 clubs still in the hunt for Murray. (GWS and Richmond the other two) I’m not sure how this would work given we only have the two list spots available?

Lucky he is only 5 years and 85 games into his career, so he still has time to get better.

Jackson kicked 8 goals from 7 games across the year for East Perth colts. He also won heaps of the footy in those last 5 games. I'd love to know the breakdown of time spent in the ruck/up forward for the kid in those games. https://www.wafl.com.au/player/luke-jackson

When I haven’t seen a lot of a player I look to the reactions of his current club’s supporters about his delisting, and the majority of Essendon supporters are disappointed to have lost him, or at least surprised at his delisting.

I remember running into Misso in an empty Darwin gym prior to a game up there. I had my Demon singlet on and thought I’d say g’day next time our paths crossed. He fresh aired me.

They have a plethora of players capable of playing the small running defender role. Quaynor, Murphy, Noble all ahead of him now. We do not.

Let’s make it happen. Although his kicking may be questionable at times, this bloke is a good one on one defender, he has pace to burn and he would give us run out of defensive 50 that we sadly lack. He costs us nothing, is super fit and desperate to prove people wrong.

Harley’s manager has stated that he will start running next week. I’m not sure how, even in any worst case scenario he is not playing till mid next year. Seven months of being able to run before he returns to the game?

He didn't say much more than that mate. It was more about what he was hearing on Jackson than what he actually thought. Cal said that Luke is a special talent, but that he wouldn't take a ruck with a top ten pick. Twomey has him at 14 in his phantom draft.

He also went on to say to say that Jackson could play forward straight away, and potentially have a bigger impact than Weideman immediately.

Saints v North in Round 1 confirmed.

I'd much prefer Josh Walker if we were going to take an experienced back up tall key.

I’m not sure Ricky Nixon is a reputable source but he claims that we are doing plenty behind the scenes with Martin. Several times he’s tweeted that.

Thanks brother. I appreciate it.

Bloody pay walls.

And we need to make the stand that Carlton took. Stevens went on to become a much loved and great player at the Blues.

Outside of Luke Ball, when was the last time a player went into a draft saying "I only want to play for Club A"???? Martin doesn't have that right now. What Melbourne and GC do here could have a significant impact on drafting moving forward. If we pass on Martin, players nominating clubs in drafts could become far more prevalent. I hope we utilise the next month to change Martin's mind, but if his wage demands fit in with our list management strategy going forward, I'd be drafting him anyway without question.

Josh Wagner = C PLUS James Harmes = C Yep, he knows our players intimately.

He kicked 3 against Carlton once. Does that count? That was a great grab though.

When did Juice Newton achieve anything at senior level like this? -Josh Jenkins averaged two goals per game this year and booted at least 40 goals each season between 2014-2018.

The club wouldn't have let him trounce around Europe with Trac and Salo if there was even a hint of a serious shoulder injury.