deespicable me

Should be a good game. They will test us with run and spread and their forward line looks dangerous with Dixon, Westoff, Wingard and Young. I would be keeping Michie, ANB and Newton in as we had great rotations through the middle with Viney not needing to be as dominant. In the heat you need fit runners and plenty of them. I agree Max and the coaches need a plan B. Watts was terrific today and they will be happy to have a plan C but he shouldn't be plan B. We also need an extra tall down back, so a resting ruck going back into the hole at CHB may help. Frost, Pedo or Spencer? or stick with plan A? Don't drop any runners! IN; Lumumba, Tyson, Jetta OUT; Oliver (inj), OMac, and anyone sore enough to need the rest.

Putting a list together and keeping it together, paying them the right amount to keep them happy and in balance with one another so players don't get their noses out of joint, then adding the right player at the right time is not an easy science. History is littered with many sides who thought they were "in the premiership window" got in a high priced recruit to take them to premiership glory, then failed miserably, suffered for years and then had to rebuild again. Having said that Buddy may still work at the Swans, Scully has come good for the talent laden Giants and as you say Boyd hasn't yet ruined the Bulldogs prospects. It has been argued the Tigers have "sat on their hands too long" during trade week and haven't added talent to their list at a time when they needed to. Dal Santo, Higgins and especially Waite have been fantastic for North to the point where they could pinch a premiership they could never have achieved without those additions. But they have an amazing number of 30 plus players in their squad and it's a fine line between a list master genius at North and a bloke looking for a new job. I think our guys are doing a good job, so I trust them and pray they get it right coz I reckon' you need a lot of luck and there's a fine line between genius and dud. And for those of us who reckon we have to get this player or that player and spend this amount on them, with respect I think they might just think it's easier than it actually is.

We can't pay Hurley what he would like and expect to keep our team together. I almost think it's too late for any big name players to join us on big coin. O'Meara, Prestia, even Brown from Collingwood would probably be too expensive. There will be too many demands by our players as they start to get highly rated within the comp already. Gawn and Viney will become top 50 players this year and in two years time we will probably have 6 - 8 in there. We need to find a player like Hombsh or a young Ted Richards. Cheap and under the radar when they come across but have always been good value to their clubs.

Look at Frawley at Hawthorn. He was similar to Tom in that he was prone to turning the ball over and many supporters were keen for him to go and get in the brand new Brayshaw. Frawley took a while to learn how to fit into the Hawthorn backline but his last two finals in 2015 and his early 2016 form is very good. He doesn't turn it over and takes safer options when he has the ball. We have a guy in Brayshaw who we all hope will be a gun in a year or two but isn't yet. I think its time Melbourne stopped being a kindergarten for the big clubs. We need Tom as part of a mature backline that grows together, not another potential kid champion that we all slobber over then cut down in their third year because they haven't performed miracles. Adam your post annoys me. When are you going to start up the "Brayshaw is too slow" thread and start cutting another down. Try being a "SUPPORTER" for a while.

I think Richmond got a smaller crowd at the "G" hosting a loss to Port (funny). I think we would have got about 35,000 at the "G" hosting St Kilda so I would be upset if the AFL themselves didn't regard the situation as a mistake. A mistake that was hard to see at the start of the season. So, what we do hope to see is more opportunities to make money next year and the year after. Better opportunities than Richmond if they stay in the bottom four. Also with these "event" matches everyone is carrying on about I'm more [censored] off with us losing the "pink" game (probably our greatest marketing success) as a fixed game against the dogs at the "G". Or is that because we had the girls game as a curtain raiser. I'm not sure. I probably should get my facts right before being [censored] off. Who do we play in the Pink game? Is there an exhibition girls game again this year? These are great opportunities for us. Incidentally I think the home game against Richmond was a good crowd and I'm pretty sure we had bigger numbers than the Toiges, so if we can drag ourselves out off our ten year journey down the S bend maybe we will get a better fixture. Lets make sure we finish above Richmond, Carlton, Collingwood, St Kilda and Essendon and give Action Jackson some ammunition to go to the AFL.

Pederson had one of his best quarters for the club ever in the last when the game was up for grabs. Was terrific. Frost came good in the second half when he started running the length of the field. His opponent was left for dead. The coaching staff are doing a fantastic job and we are developing to be a very good 4 quarter side. I think we have been very good at understanding what limited rotations means and how best to understand and get an edge in games by exploiting the new rule. I thought after the Essendon game and we were discussing at half time when Pedo and Frost had limited impact that Dawes might be a better option, and for some games he may, but the second half showed what they are trying to achieve with Frost and I would now like to see him remain in the team and develop his main weapon, which is his endurance running.

Not many are rated elite until we get into the top four and then all of a sudden the Denham's of the world reckon they're all elite. I agree we've got a fantastic list developing nicely, but there's a lot can go wrong. We are yet to do it. Goodwin is a young coach being protected by our godfather Roos. I hope we don't miss him too much, Roosy. He's looking borderline genius if it all rolls out like he has planned it.

Wow, that is quite a talent you have there. And not just for the tipping. I love the language, does anyone over there understand you? Boos SOOL = Blues still out of luck? (not that it matters) You should get together with Titus O'Reilly, you are both worth ten times half the bozzo's that are over-exposed in Footy shows and previews. Do you have an outlet like Titus with his podcast or are we the only lucky ones? Cheers, well done

Have to give up something very good to get something good. I'm enjoying the players we have. I am happy for us to sign up our own for what they are worth and get on with it. Bringing in players on "overs" can create inflationary pressure on a club.

I agree. That bald umpire was horrendous. He gave the two fifties from frees that were'nt there and the one to Goldstein in the second qtr was just non-existent. The way the commentators are "coached" to never diss the umpires just means nothing is done. There is no accountability. I find it very hard to watch. I don't blame the umpires for the loss because it was there for us to win and we couldn't do it and "good teams overcome bad umpiring" but that bald bloke is a shocking umpire and I won't watch again if he's umpiring. It's just not a pure sport. The umpiring had almost as much effect on the match as the wind and at least you knew you were going to get 2 quarters with the wind.

Dawes as a footballer is not always a great option but what I was suggesting is that if Hogan and or Watts become better footballers with Dawes out there then that is a win for Melbourne. I don't think Frost or Pederson have as yet created a "finished" six forward line. Clearly on Saturday we were two talls down, one in the forward line and one in the backline. I don't think Pederson was any worse or better particularly than Watts or Hogan but clearly the "mix" didn't work. For some reason Kent was down as well. Dawes for all his failings might help make us a better forward line. Especially considering we missed leadership down there on Saturday, with the press carrying on about Hogan getting frustrated etc. I'm sure with clear planning Dawes can add something there.

I went to training on Wednesday for a couple of hours. Just a couple of observations. Dawes was back training with the main group and was a welcome return. There was a distinct lift in comraderie. He is a natural leader and was very happy helping Weidemann, Oscar, Hulett and King with their positioning etc. Hogan was very happy to have him part of training. You could see that Hogan is just a kid and having a big senior player there was good for him. I think Dawes may be important in the next 12 to 18 months for the development of our forward line. If we replace Frost with Dawes in the forward line doing a lot of leading up the ground it will take away a bit of pressure from Hogan and Watts can become the third tall again. Watts and Hoges were bordering on non-functional on the weekend and Dawes may help restore the balance. Hulett was marking everything. He held his own against some of the senior players in man on man wrestling and out-marked the young King everytime. He continues to develop well. Trengove was looking good. He did a drill where you had to do a series of quick steps, then push off to one of three cones placed left, right and centre. He showed no effects of his injury and was quick and strong. He is another natural leader who likes to help with positioning and general teaching in drills. He and Dawes come across as pretty intelligent people. They aren't ever involved in joking or mucking around and Trengove really appears focused and determined.The addition of Dawes and Trengove to the team will add much needed senior leadership when they get back. Tyson was impressive. He was better on the weekend and continues to improve on the track. He is another who you can see wants to improve and develop his game and hopefully now he is fully fit he will build into the year.

Tyson has a different personality to the other mid-fielders. He is a bit stand-offish. They still need time to gel as any good team does. All good teams can second guess where their mates are moving to, where they want the ball directed etc. This is Dom's biggest weakness, he is not a natural team player. Probably a star junior who did it all himself. Hopefully he matures into a team player, I don't think dropping him to the seconds will do anything positive for his development, in fact given his struggle to be team oriented it would probably be a negative and only serve to isolate him more. They need time to grow as a team.

I was down there for an hour or so. Salem is still protecting his finger and not training at 100%, someone would have to be on stand-by, it must have been a fairly serious injury for him to carry it into a second week, and he will need to pass a fitness test later this week. Also Oliver had a minor twinge in his lower calf by the end of the session. I would suggest it is very minor but given he is still a kid they may choose to rest him, not sure. They may choose to ease him off and re-hab him for a week, but if he doesn't play for the firsts I doubt if he'll play at Casey.

I saw JKH at training for the first time in a while and he looked fine. There were no major contact drills to see if he would sit out, he wasn't taped and he kicked a goal from the 50m line so I think he'll play pretty soon at Casey. I would suspect he has his work cut out to get a go back in the main game. He looks like he feels like he doesn't belong. Head down, bum up and work his arse off and he may get a chance mid season.

Gee some of you "Frost lovers" go back and have a look at your great full back hope in the first quarter when Minson (Frosts man) took a mark and kicked a goal. Frost although he was right with Minson lost body contact and was nowhere near spoiling Minson. In fact TMac who left his man got across and was the closest to spoiling him. How some of you guys put Frost in the same realm as TMac is unbelievable, he's not a chance to do anywhere near as good as TMac. You'd weaken the backline way too much. Frost is a fringe player at the moment competing with Pederson and Dawes for a spot in the team and probably third in line at that. And his disposal is probably worse than TMac.

1. Fremantle 2. West Coast (apart from the derby a record every game played at Subiaco or wherever they play now to be a victory to the home team. A double up fortress and a joy for all WA footy fans. Second Derby to be a bloodbath with a Freo player ending up with a handfull of Priddis's hair) 3. GWS. (big improvers) 4. Richmond 5. North 6. Pies 7. Hawks (maybe I'm just hopefull but I think they'll slip) 8. Swans Brownlow Fyfe Coleman Kennedy Rising Star Petracca

Some harsh words here, remember our scores against have been 75 last week and only 60 this week. He is a very important part of a defense that has been O.k. All defenses turn the ball over occasionally when pressured hard enough, especially when the opposition man up the outlet players. Tom is very aggressive and a good strong physical player. He can work over an opponent and beat them consistently by the end of the game. He is a bloke you can build a defense around. As to his deficiencies we need to work as a team to limit them because in my eyes his strengths are very, very good. Maybe Rawlings needs to be held more to account.

I hope Reimers sues McVeigh to within an inch of his existence for his slanderous comments at the start of the investigation. He deserves "##### all" does McVeigh. Just another bozo I have to switch off when he comes on the tele.

If the dogs play close to their best side I think we need to as well. I can't see that Carlton achieved too much on the weekend, except a very unhappy bunch of supporters who will think twice before going again. I think Melbourne needs to practice winning and beating the bullies will be a tough task and any message to the playing group that we're going in soft will result in a "pantsing" by the dogs and back to square one. Saints are no easy beats either and if we lose both our remaining NAB games the win over Port will be a distant memory for everyone. Some posters here are getting waaaay ahead of themselves, hopefully not the players. We need genuine momentum going into the season, not some false bravado that we can turn it on when we like.

It's easy to see who are the weak squibs of the media world are when they pick on the smaller clubs for news items. They only ever have good news stories about Collingwood and Hawthorn. If a bloke hasn't signed at Melbourne he's "far from certain" to do so. If a bloke hasn't signed at Collingwood then "he really wants to stay" and "it's just a matter of dotting a few i's and crossing a few t;s". Weak and pathetic dogs. It makes our marketing peoples job so much harder to do. Especially leading into the season when you are trying to sign members. Jackson or Barrett should be calling out and confronting the weak ***ick.

I was there for about an hour and a half from 10.30ish and the match sim was under way. Just some observations and a spoiler alert, I can get pretty excited at this time of year, so maybe the hard-boiled cynics should look away. For me, lifes too short to be pessimistic. The coaches seem to want the players to take it on and use the corridor more, I think we may see the team play some really exciting footy at times. There were some ugly turn-overs at times but there didn't seem to be any chastising for mistakes and we were much more effective near goal. Max Gawn was clearly B.O.G for mine. He completely dominated Spencer and before anyone says "so what" Spenser is a big, competitive unit but Max was just too strong and his use of the ball at tap-outs was superb. Just to emphasise the point, last year Max wasn't quite as fit and was not our first choice ruckman, definitely behind Jamar and probably equal with Spense. This year he is the man, he knows he's the man and he looks like he's capable of delivering. His taps and the way he combines with Viney especially will give us first use of the ball in over half our games, a big advantage. We can't help but have a better midfield as a result. I think he's potentially our most important player and if he stays on the park I predict All Australian. Viney was great. He looks super fit, is totally committed and should definitely improve on last year. He can still butcher it by foot and is much better by hand, I would prefer he handballs as much as he kicks, maybe even more. Frost looked good down forward. Kent took a mark on the 50 near the boundary and spotted Frost way over the far side and nailed the pass to Frost who took the ball very high. Later he roved a ball in the pocket and kicked it to a player which ended in a goal. At one stage he cordoned off Jones (chunk) who was trying to get it down the line but rather than just keep Jones honest Frost hunted in on him, caught him and won the free. He looks hard to match up on, he ran and ran and although raw and a bit dodgy by foot he is probably the second tall in the forward line, with Watts third. Our forward line looks O.k. with Hoges, Garlett, Kent, Frost, Watts probably first five in and big Max coming down at times as well. Lastly I was impressed by Wagner. He is tall and a natural defender, he got a bit of it and tackled and punched well at times. He is someone to watch at Casey for the first half of the year and will probably be a chance of a game in the back half of the season.

I would like to have a go. Haven't played for a long while so my team name can be "Olivers Twist"

I'm of the belief the Essendon players won't sue because the AFL will pay them full salaries for the year. The AFL seem so keen to protect and nurture Essendon through this whole episode, and the sycophantic press and that idjit Paul Marsh continue to cast doubt on WADA and say how unfair it is on the poor players. The "poor" players will be kicking it up on fully expenses paid year long trips overseas "ala" James Hird. It stinks.

I like this idea, rather than having two byes in a year , (they are really boring weeks when there's only 5 games on) make bigger lists and make players have rostered days off.