Caligula's cohort

Charlie Spargo - 4 games for 4 wins. What a great start to a footy career!

DJ has good speed and aggression but doesn't have any noticeable impact on the footy. He regularly has disposals in single figures and often goes goalless. He may be flagged for delisting, but you might as well try players in all parts of the ground before writing them off. I even remember calling for Jetta to be delisted in his early days playing as a forward.

I'd like Dion Johnstone to be trialled as a small lock down defender similar to Jetta's role. I haven't heard anything about him this year as a small forward.

I see that now after re-reading your post. Gold Coast should be at least a 30 point win today and we should have a 60 point win over Carlton next week which will be big percentage boosters for us. I reckon we'll be nearing top 4 after round 9.

You mean 5/3 with 14 rounds to go ProDee?

Joel Smith would be my pick. He has good speed and agility, decent tank, good aerial abilities and a good user by hand and foot. He ticks all the boxes... otherwise there's always Bugg.

With Macca back down on the bench, he can let the players know that bombing the ball inside forward 50 doesn't actually work. Especially when you only have one key forward who is up the ground most of the time. I'm still astounded that we didn't change our forward entries for the entire game against the Hawks. So much for the secret training in Port Melbourne the other week...

Ahh... Watts pulling the old sore hammy card, so he can play his 150th at the MCG the following week... Rest up Champ you've earned it. I'll be there cheering you on!

Any news on Kent's performance?

I would love to see the Dees dominate the Cats for the next decade. I'll never forget that 186 point defeat down at the Cattery. It's our time to shine!

He's MCC member... even without an MFC card, he can go to any game he wants. But fair to say players and coach got the message... Did any of you tip Melbourne to win? didn't think so...

The writer of the letter is actually a 40+ year MFC/MCC member. The so called bronze membership that you're harping on about is because he didn't buy a membership a year or two ago. If you read the side note addressed to Schwarz, he mentions that the bronze membership card is an "insult". I agree with him on that.

I'm with him on this one. How can we as supporters tolerate these kind of insipid performances week in, week out. We supposedly have a team of young guns, but when the going gets tough we crumble under the pressure. Hawthorn were on their knees and we still couldn't get over the line on the day. I will expect a response this week even against a top of the table Adelaide. We need to be ruthless! not the pretenders that everyone thinks we are. I'd say JKH days are done, not required.

Viv was really vocal today and seemed to be focused on all the drills. He did the little things well (Roos must be happy) his disposal was good, he didn't give his opponent any breathing space and would pounce if they got possession of the ball. He was just more switched on than the rest i'd say. Same goes to Riley and Terlich. As for Kent, he has class... his reading of the play, his disposals, speed and kick along the wing is fantastic to watch but more importantly he's a competitor and likes to win. I have high hopes for Kent and everything about him says he'll be quality forward for the MFC.

I attended training this morning from about 9.30am to 11.15am with about 15-20 other fellow onlookers including Mark Stevens, but no sign of TDI with his scooter and iPad... The conditions were good but fairly warm and glary. On light duties today I noticed Watts, White, Howe and Vince all running laps with Fitzy doing so later on. Kent, Garlett and Garland were in and out of the main group with a few niggles. Dunn had his calf strapped and was taking it fairly easy but later joined the main group along with Petracca and Terlich. Vandenberg seemed to be in full training. After all the warm ups and stretches the group really didn't get underway until 10am where they split into three groups playing keepings off. It was mainly talls on talls, mids on mids and small forwards on small backs etc. Hogan's aggression for the ball was of note and Riley, Viv and Jetta were impressive with their quick hands and at closing down players quickly, causing turnovers. Later on, the players had a drill where they kicked the ball from the BP to other side of the HBF where the awaiting player took a running mark and pushed off with speed hitting up an awaiting player near the corridor and then handing that ball off to a player near the centre circle where that player would hit up a player inside the 50 for a goal. The boys were really vocal in this and mostly hit their targets but I must say Pedo and Fitzy dropped a few easy marks and their kicks weren't that great either. The second drill was a bit more contested with the High Vis (green/white) tops being used. In this drill a coach would kick a ball near the HBF and a player would have to win ball and then kick to the other side HBF where that player would mark the ball and continue to kick down the line to a player near the wing. From there the players would look for options inside the 50 and utilise short passes to score a goal. I found the movement to be really good in this drill and all were hitting up targets under pressure. The players later split into three groups again where I watched the group closest to me which were the rucks/KPF's and KPB's doing 1 on 1 marking/spoiling contests. Hogan, Jamar, T-Mac and Frost were the standouts for me at winning the contests. Their bodywork and aerial skills were sensational, I'd say Frost and Hogan impressed the most, but O-Mac was also giving Gawn, Spencer and Pedo a run for their money which I liked. Around 11am they moved into match sim where they were focusing on getting the ball from the back line to the forward line and using run and carry and short passes whilst maintaining possession. The movement was very quick which was good to see and the boys were all talking to each other to help look out for their man. They would often rotate the backs and forwards with miss matches, I think i saw Jetta on Gawn a few times... but the back line were really holding it together and switching opponents so no one got loose. Grimes really impressed with his voice and direction to the players and the same goes to T-Mac. I noticed Gawn looked very damaging down forward marking everything that came his way and kicking straight through the goals every time (he's definitely in my SuperCoach). All in all it was a moderate training session, I didn't see any players gasping for breath. I think Roos just really wants to cement that quick ball movement into the players whilst also giving the kicker some options. Players who impressed me today were Frost, Gawn, Kent, Stretch, Viv and Grimes. P.s this is my first post so go easy on me fellow Demonlanders... Cheers.