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I'm excited about JKH's selection in the team so did some digging on his VFL stats (which have been eye-popping at times). In 8 VFL games this season he's averaged 27.1 touches and 5.8 tackles. I don't go to the games themselves and didn't catch Casey on TV a couple of weeks back but I believe he's playing as an inside mid. He's going at 62.6% which isn't great but inside mids tend to spray it more than backs or wings. He hasn't been very consistent (3 games under 18 possessions) and he wouldn't be the first player who failed to impact in the seniors after big VFL showings but I'm keen to get another look at him in the seniors. In his three AFL games this season (rounds 5-7) he averaged 11.6 touches and generally failed to get amongst it playing as a forward. He'll probably still primarily play forward but there's a good chance he gets some run through the midfield with Jones and Viney out of action. One of the things I've liked most about this year has been Neal-Bullen's ability to transfer his VFL form of last year to senior level this year. Would be nice if JKH could make a similar leap at some point. Don't expect it to be this season, in fact he'll probably disappoint this weekend, but I'll be watching him closely.

This seems like as good a place as any to post this. A glorious victory and a very neat passage of play.

Yeah and that was my point. I'm happy to see the young guys getting games because they're our future. I'm all for getting games into our young players.

I'm referring to Grimes (27), Garland (28), Dunn (29), Lumumba (29).

I'm happy to see OMac get games. If the coaching staff believe in him then the senior experience will help his development. Our backline is old and we need young talent. To an extent I prefer that young guys get games than to persist with players on the decline. It might not give us the best chance to win each week but we shouldn't be in win-now mode with the young list we have. Having said that an element of preservation has to come in to play. There's not much of Oscar and he's only 20. I'd like to see him rotated in and out of the team a little more so he can recover and avoid a long-term injury. Same applies to Harmes.

Hard to get an exact definition but it seems clangers include frees against so they're more of a catch all negative stat than a reliable measure of effectiveness. There's a big difference between a high tackle or in the back and kicking to an opposition, out on the full or conceding 50 meters. All of those = 1 clanger though. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clanger_(Australian_rules_football)

Thanks all for the updates. Casey Twitter was off the mark today. It's great to see Wiedeman and Hulett getting amongst the goals but with Dawes and Pedersonhealthy it's hard to see them getting a gig. Agree that Harmes is the most logical choice to come out for Kennedy. He's only 20 and looks like he could use a break from the 1s. Not sure why he's exempt form the resting policy. He's great at the contest and has quick feet but his decision making needs work. Great overhead mark too. Can't see us dropping Garlett. He was really off the pace yesterday. I thought he would thrive in the wet but let's not overreact. He's still our best small forward.

As someone who called for ANB in for Harmes on Thursday night I want to acknowledge that I was wrong and also that I couldn't be happier. Need guys like him to step up so it's great to see. I really like Clayton Oliver. He is ridiculously clean out of congestion.

To me Harmes is the obvious choice to come out for ANB. He hasn't been terrible or anything but give him a rest, he's only 20. Would be part of healthy selection rotation.

I've just had a quick look back through Gold Coast's season so far: Round 1: beat Essendon 121 - 60 at home. Round 2: beat Fremantle 126 - 100 over there. Round 3: beat Carlton 95 - 41 at home. Round 4: lost to Brisbane at the Gabba 94 - 107. Round 5: lost to North Melbourne at home 81 - 119. Round 6: lost to Geelong at Cardinia 48 - 168. A couple of easy wins early. Not sure what to make of them beating Freo. Then a loss to a mediocre Brisbane team, a fair beating by North and thrashed by Geelong. Very cruisy home schedule. I was fairly sure we'd struggle against St Kilda because I couldn't see us sustaining the required intensity for four straight weeks. It sucks but we're still a young team and it's important to maintain perspective. We're pointing in the right direction and our young guys look like building blocks. Consider this: Age of Demons vs St Kilda: 23: Bugg, McDonald 22: Viney, Kent, Tyson, Kennedy, Frost 21: Hogan, Wagner, Hunt 20: Petracca, Harmes, Salem That's not including Brayshaw (20), Oliver (18), Stretch (19), Vanders (24), Oscar (20), ANB (20) and Michie (24). I'm feeling optimistic about this weekend. This is a very gettable game and our guys should be fired up after a lacklustre performance last week. This will be a momentum shifting game if we lose it. Drop a couple on the trot and we might fall back into old bad habits. Looking forward to seeing more of future Melbourne Demon Dion Prestia.

My Mrs made the switch from St Kilda to MFC as well. Good move. Cheers for the pics also. Great to see the lads in action.

12 point win in the end for Sydney. They came back from down 41 and kicked 7 goals in the final term. With Melksham matching up against them, Hannebery had 26 touches and Lewis had 34.

I've just re-watched Melksham's efforts in round 1 and 2 this year and was impressed with his efforts. Against Sydney he went head-to-head with Hannebery at stoppages and had 20 disposals (10 contested) at 60% effectiveness and laid 9 tackles. Against Hawthorn he went head-to-head with Jordan Lewis at stoppages and had 26 disposals (4 contested) at 57% effectiveness. He also had 12 inside 50s including the key centre clearance that led to the match winning goal. I chose to watch these games because they were against quality opposition and came before WADA re-opened the investigation. In both matches he was playing more of an outside midfield role and generally only got involved if the ball spilled out or a teammate found him by hand. His accuracy is one of the biggest knocks against him but when he had space he managed to find a target effectively most of the time. When under pressure he blazed away by foot though not necessarily in a bad way - as his inside 50 count against Hawthorn suggests. By hands he was good at finding a teammate and it was encouraging to see him provide a shepherd after he'd offloaded it. He showed a lot of toughness and went very hard at the contest. A couple of times he was roughed and he didn't back down (even from bigger players like Tippett). He tackled hard and was quick to get back to his feet in order to stay in the play. I got the feeling he wasn't applying a hard tag to either Hannebery or Lewis and it was more of a head to head match up. As it was, particularly with Hannebery, Melksham often trailed behind him and probably lacked the pace to stick with him (as do most players). I think he'll fit in nicely in our midfleld and having watched these games I'm more confident that he'll be in our best 22. I recommend checking these games out. I used my AFL live pass. I'd love to track down some footage of this 3 vote, 29 disposal effort from 2011 in a win against Geelong but I can only watch games back to 2012 with my pass.

Sounds like a great pick up. Can't have too many players who are passionate about the club. Wonder how long before he moves from VFL dev league to VFL proper? A decent chance to do so next year. If things go well he could leapfrog Max King.

Love the trade period and am pleased we are (presumably) making a play for Parish at 3. Hope we can get who we want at 7. I'm nervous about next year's first round pick. I like that the football department is backing the team to improve their ladder position but if it all goes pear shaped bottom 4 is a sad place to be without the subsequent top 4 pick. That's obviously what Gold Coast are gambling on. If it ends up being 10, they've come up short, but if we regress from last year they have won the trade. We still have a ton of young players so even though we're seeing improvement, with young legs a drop-off is never far away. This year Collingwood had a stacked list but their young guys couldn't hold the team together. By the same token, the Bulldogs young guns could hold it together. We shall see. I think we'll improve next year but everyone (media and DL) is singing the praises of the Gold Coast trade without acknowledging what we've potentially given up. It will take years to play out but the storyline will always be "That's the player Gold Coast took with the Melbourne pick." If said player turns out to be a star, this doesn't look so good. Of course, if Darcy Parish is a superstar and we get a gun at 7 it will be Gold Coast who lose out. I'm not trying to be negative, I've just seen a ton of NBA teams mortgage their future by trading future picks for short term gain. The LA Clippers traded a future first rounder to Cleveland to offload Baron Davis' contract and the pick it turned out to be the number one pick with which Cleveland drafted Kyrie Irving. Brooklyn traded a first rounder to Portland for Gerald Wallace and that pick turned out to be number six pick with which Damian Lillard was taken. The NBA has a lottery so the outcomes are more random but the outcome has the potential to be similar. The NBA actually have rules in place to prevent teams from trading their own future picks in consecutive years, so you can only trade your 2014, 2016, 2018, etc. This is because teams went stupid with it back in the 80s. They also restrict contract lengths, restrict salary amounts for rookies. There are no Buddy Franklin deals, and not since Chris Webber have their been Tom Boyd style contracts for NBA players. The AFL are following in the footsteps of the US sports but they're failing to learn from their mistakes. [/end of NBA tangent]