Gator

Today’s MFC main session: Rehab: Lever and Spargo running laps. Lever was running short distances at a fast click as well as having kick to kick with a trainer. He seems unimpeded. Petracca, Chandler, McAdam and Fullarton doing non-contact kicking and handball drills on the adjacent oval. All moving freely at pace. I didn’t notice Windsor, Melksham, Verrall, Tholstrup or Kentfield, but it could have just been an oversight by me. Today’s main session comprised of 3 x 20 minute quarters of contested match simulation under the guidance of two AFL umpires (no boundary umpires). And it was very much a probables vs possibles for round one, which is why Pickett was with the possibles. So when you’re trying to drift off to sleep at night while picking your best team from the backline to the forwards keep the following in mind. Probables – Blue: May, Petty, Howes, Salem, Bowey, and McVee in defence; Gawn, Oliver, Rivers, Viney, Langford, Ed Langdon, Sharp, Billings, Sparrow, and Lindsay rotating in the mids, and van Rooyen, Turner, Jefferson, Fritsch as the main forwards. Ed Langdon, Lindsay and Billings all spent time on the wing. Langdon and Billings also occasionally rotated through a half-forward flank, while I noted Langdon attended a lot of CBAs. Lindsay was predominantly just wing. Along with Ed Langdon, Oliver, Viney, Rivers and Langford had the bulk of the CBAs. It was quite noticeable that Blue had a heap of left footers: Viney, Langford, Lindsay, Billings, Salem, May, Fritsch. Just need to get Chandler and Brown into the team. • I’m saying Ed Langdon, because a lot of posters are saying Langdon when they mean Langford Possibles – White: McDonald, Pickett, Brown, Adams, Laurie, Woewodin, Mentha, Campbell, Hore, Moniz-Wakefield, Johnson, Sestan, George, Yze, Culley, plus a few other Casey players White got off to a flyer with the first 3 goals. George kicked 2 (one lead and mark and the other a good crumbing goal) and Mentha one on the run from about 40 metres. Gradually Blue wrestled control and ran out 38 point winners (10 11 71 to 5 3 33). I don’t believe there were any injuries, although Viney copped a high one, which set him back in his tracks. I think he was fine. Lots of switching with short and long kicks before trying to spot up forward leads if possible, or long kicks when necessary. The game was a bit scrappy with some skill errors, including dropped chest marks (my pet hate), intermingled with some quality ball movement. Gawn and Campbell nullified each other. Gawn wasn’t able to take his trademark contested marks, but I never expect ruckmen to be marking at their best in early February. Ed Langdon was prolific. He was constantly an option and seemed to be relishing a bit more freedom through the midfield. I was surprised by how many centre bounces he attended. Lindsay didn’t get a lot of it and made a couple of errors but generally used it well. Langford was busy and contested as you’d expect. Took a nice mark and kicked a goal from a left foot snap 35 metres out. Billings was one of the busiest. He’s finding the footy with ease and was used a lot. Salem is also finding plenty of it. Bowey also got a heap of it. May was his intercepting self and uses Salem and Bowey as the outlet kick. McVee was also busy. Howes was good. He links up well with his fellow defenders. He seems to be having a very good preseason. Petty did what he had to do, which wasn’t much. Rivers and Oliver were the best mids for Blue. It’s great to see Oliver looking like he’s back to his best and Rivers looks a natural mid to me. Sharp was neat. Did a great spoli which became a mark deep in defence and 30 seconds later was hitting van Rooyen lace out in the forward pocket. The tall forwards were pretty quiet. Jefferson took a double grabber 35 metres out and converted. He also kicked one off the ground in the last. I thought he competed well. Van Rooyen kicked a nice goal from a difficult angle, and he also went up against Johnson in the ruck for a while. Turner was quiet. Fritsch was the most lively of Blue’s forwards. He also got on the scoreboard. I liked the look of Culley. A very tall mid, but looked good. Kicked a goal for White. Lastly, a special mention to the brothers. Pickett was fantastic despite getting caught by Langford. He played 90% in the midfield and was just so clean, quick and creative. His delivery was very good. He teamed up well with Mentha and George, who both looked likely. He’s got a touch of class Mentha and the more nuggety George also looks like he could belong at AFL level. They were up against it with a strong Blue backline and White had no key talls to crumb off, but both looked dangerous and had multiple shots at goal.

Why would you think I'm referring to Nick Riewoldt when I specifically referenced Jack Riewoldt (pick 13) ? The skinny King twins haven't lived up to their reputations due to their lack of physicality and contested ability. You do realise that's exactly the point I'm making ? Even then Ben played games in his first year and Max would have except for an ACL. If 2025 isn't important to you for Jefferson what year is ? There are mature aged key forwards who entered the system and succeeded, i.e. Podsiadly, Mihocek, Ben Brown, but how many were drafted at 18 and didn't play a game in their first two years and went on to be successful ?

May wasn't the same after two of his ribs were fractured early in the season. It's been reported he's in better shape this preseason than he has been for some time. I'm expecting a good year from May.

If he was good enough he could have played year one. Like a skinny Riewoldt did and like a skinny Amiss did. Jefferson is 21 before the start of the season. Jack Riewoldt kicked 78 goals as a 21 year old and Franklin kicked 108. Now I'm obviously not comparing him to those two players. My point is that some supporters spend their lives making excuses for players. Jefferson has no more excuses and he never really has. The skinny kid argument has always been BS.

This has been an excuse for this bloke for years, but in my opinion it's completely overblown. He's been physically capable of competing for most of his time at Melbourne. I don't buy into the ''skinny kid'' stuff. Jye Amiss was just as ''skinny'', if not more so, but was able to perform well as a teenager on his way to 41 goals in a season. What he does need is a mindset of yearning for the contest. You'll never make it as a key forward in the AFL unless you embrace the physicality of the contest. Caddy does and so does van Rooyen. Neither have more talent than Jefferson, especially Caddy, but they have the requisite desire to compete, to hurt, and to commit. Jefferson has the talent to make it and I'm sure we all hope he does. It's a big year for him to show that he's made inroads. Needless to say, I'm dubious.

You're off the mark here. Robertson kicked over 40 goals in a season six times. He also kicked 73 goals in a season. He won a best & fairest. He kicked 7 goals in a Queen's Birthday match and 7 goals on Matthew Scarlett in a stunning win at Kardinia Park.

Schwarz shouldn't be in the side. 59 games and 61 goals in the 2000s doesn't cut it. Rivers hasn't done enough. Howe ? Defintely no. He failed as a forward and was OK down back, but not enough to be in the best defence in the last 25 years. It's harder to say who should replace them, but unquestionably James McDonald makes the team.

I take a more hardline approach. He's going nowhere at the end of 2025 unless the club is satisfied in a trade, which is highly unlikely. It could well be different at the end of 2026 with only 12 months to go on his contract. The club may be more pragmatic then, but not at the end of this year.

That's all well and good, but when you sign a contract extension 21 months ago until the end of 2027 the decision where you play is really out of your hands. And he can't have been thinking about a move for very long considering he extended not all that long ago.

Supporters seem to expect that match simulation will be the same quality as two AFL best 22 teams going head to head when in fact it's between some AFL calibre players and at least half the list who are depth, not quite good enough, or junior players learning what AFL footy is all about. They're also judging 30 minutes to an hour, or so, of match sim condensed into 6 minutes of video. It beggars belief the conclusions they're capable of drawing. Btw, what teams aren't making mistakes at this time of year ?

I wouldn't take any notice of the above report. Firstly, we don't get to see other clubs train and secondly, it's all completely subjective. Btw, the person signs off mentioning the ''Melbourne Demons''. I've never heard a supporter refer to the club as the ''Melbourne Demons''. It's a very odd thing to say about the club you follow.

When it comes to speculating on ''mental health'', which was the post Pickett was responding to, I agree with him. No need.

It might be how you rate them, but you're clearly wrong. With regards to Hill, Pickett has him covered for disposals, goals, clearances, inside 50s, tackles, tackles inside 50, metres gained, score involvements and just about every other relevant statistic.

You're usually pretty circumspect when it comes to the Dees, Tony. This prediction surprises me.

When have I questioned our last 8 years ?

Choosing the beginning of the AFL era is about as nonanomalous as it gets.

Which year suits you best ?

Their recruiting since Taylor joined has been very good, not perfect, but pretty exceptional. As CEO Peter Jackson got the club back on track. But in the AFL era we'd have to be close to the AFL's biggest basket case. We really have been a joke. The following win/loss percentage sums up how deplorable we've been. Thank goodness for Gold Coast. Since the beginning of the AFL era in 1990. Geelong 63.51% Collingwood 54.80% Hawthorn 54.48% Port Adelaide 54.34% West Coast 54.33% Sydney 53.55% Essendon 51.75% Adelaide 51.22% Western Bulldogs 50.06% North Melbourne 48.69% St Kilda 48.05% Brisbane 47.33% Greater Western Sydney 46.51% Richmond 46.00% Fremantle 45.33% Carlton 44.96% Melbourne 44.14% Gold Coast 29.51%

How on earth is the paper at fault when Pickett is continually ''liking'' posts that link him to another club ? Are there more delusional supporters on the planet than Melbourne's ? Some blame everyone but the club or players when things go awry. It's a really strange dynamic. I get supporting the club, but I don't get completely being blind to common sense. Then there are others who don't think the club can do anything right. Are there any normal Melbourne supporters out there ???

Because I corrected a post that asserted he averaged 25 disposals and was poor for ''his standards''. Both assertions were wrong. It's not hard to work out if you read the post.

Firstly, you're stating the bleeding obvious as to why he performed the way he did. Secondly, I didn't criticise Oliver. I simply stated facts. He was fat and horrible and he'd agree. Yes, I didn't provide any explanation, because one wasn't required. We all know why he was bordering on awful. The fractured thumb was the biggest reason of all.

I suppose I should expand, because a couple of posters don't appear to understand my reply. My comment was sans excuses. Firstly, I corrected the notion that Oliver averaged 25 disposals, he didn't, he averaged 23. Maybe facts don't count. And secondly, it wasn't a year that required lauding in any way. Oliver was fat, couldn't tackle, and just threw the ball on his boot at every opportunity. All round, it was a horrible year by his, or any gun's standards. Now, if you want me to come up with excuses for such a year I'm sure could oblige equally as well as you. But that wasn't the purpose of my post. Excuses for Oliver have been done to death and I didn't see the need to add to the pile.

Non sequitur.

It's totally irrational for Melbourne supporters being concerned by Hird giving advice with regards to the search for a CEO. People seem to lose their mind when it comes to football clubs.

He averaged 23. And it was a poor year by any gun mids standards, not just his.