Caligula's cohort

- A top four finish and a Premiership. - Wins over Geelong, Richmond (Anzac Eve), Sydney, Collingwood (Kings B'day) A MUST!!! - More rotation of players through the year so there's a healthy competition for senior spots. - Kozzy contract extension. - News on our MFC facility finally chosen/ preparation underway. - Increased revenue for the club from it's investments. - Sign a big sponsor. - Oliver to win his Brownlow. - May to spear tackle Jackson and bust a few ribs without being suspended. - Oliver and Brown to shave their heads for a much cleaner look. Langdon to grow his back lol. - A healthy 60,000 supporter membership tally after a disappointing 2022 exit.

I messaged the MFC via a social media platform to note my displeasure and many others. I don't think i'm asking much of them in providing the correct information as detailed on their website. The keen Demonlanders here who know me are aware of the quality training reports I write and were in for a belter today. I had arrived at 8.30 to give everyone the most detailed information I could but alas I was confronted with Melbourne Rebels rehab group on Gosch's paddock.

Rivers is Jackson's best mate and that didn't stop him from leaving. So this notion of bringing Henry to make Kozzi stay is fugazi. If i was him I would be weighing up playing finals consistently over the next 5 years and becoming a star player ala "Cyril" that could possibly play in several more Premierships or go to lesser club in West Coast or Adelaide who are years away from contending for a Premiership. Freo and Port simply don't have the picks to get Kozzi unless they throw in a Young/Serong or a Dursmaa/Georgiades which they simply won't do.

Very disappointed today with the MFC. It's my first training session i've been able to get to in two years as I live in Wodonga. Only to find out that it had been moved to Casey. There was a lovely elderly lady sitting next to me who had never been to a Melbourne training session before with a broken leg and on crutches. The club need to realise the effort most supporters go to just to see a glimpse of the players and training up close. A social media post at 8.30am is easy enough to do so we can change our schedule. Lift your game MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB!

Interested to hear about Laurie, Woewodin and McVee today from our track watchers thanks.

Agreed. Jordon does have good upside and I feel is still developing nicely. Finishing third in the time trial is a good indication to his improvement and shows he has good two way running needed for the wing position. I just find him a bit 'Vanilla' like Sparrow which is why I have Harmes ahead of them who is a similar player but has way more flair and aggression with good overhead marking capabilities, although often bites off more than he can chew trying to be 'Dusty' with his stiff-arm fend-offs. Chandler offers a point of difference to me. He is strong, quick, loves a tackle with good skills and has an elite tank much like our other smalls so he could probably do Sparrows role better IMO. Sparrow, Jordon and Dunstan are our second tier mids so if they want the top job they need to show it and not by playing bit roles in the forward line or at half back.

I find Sparrow never does enough for the side. Sure he bobs up and gets his 12-16 disposals most games with a few nice highlights here and there similar to Jordon but never dominates a game, he is just toast and no spread if you catch my drift. That's why I left him as sub in my side. Rivers sure has "potential" but if you watch him in most games he is a turnover merchant and makes a lot of mistakes in the games. He is a weak link in our side which is why Hibberd is a better player. But I do see Rivers becoming a very good player in the near future once he cleans up his errors. Interesting thoughts on Howes. I haven't been able to get down to training to see him in the flesh yet. Is he better than Jordon? if so presumably Hunter and Howes would be ahead of him now. Looks like Jordon is in for a tough year! maybe trade bait come end of the year.

B: Hibberd, May, Lever HB: Brayshaw, Petty, Salem C: Hunter, Oliver, Langdon HF: Spargo, TMac, Chandler F: Pickett, Brown, Fritsch R: Gawn, Petracca, Viney Int: ANB, Grundy, Harmes, Tomlinson Sub: Sparrow EMG: JVR, Jordon, Dunstan, Rivers I'm picking atleast four changes this year to our starting 23 line up being Grundy, Hunter, Chandler and Tomlinson. 1. Grundy being the highest profile player to come to our club so he will be an obvious starter. 2. With Brayshaw showing his prowess in the backline verging on AA he simply must play there again this year. and Jordon being a neat player but lacking a little flair will open the door for Hunter to take the opposite side to Langdon on the wing. Being a former BnF for the Dogs and AA with great foot skills it's his spot to lose. 3. I put Chandler in the team this year as it's his fifth year on the list now and simply has to show something otherwise he'll be gone. He was best afield in Casey's premiership and I feel he will break into the side this year. 4. I rate Hibberd higher than Rivers and Bowey currently who didn't have great years last year, but I fully expect them to pushing Hibberd out by mid way through the season. As for Tomlinson, he is having a great pre season, winning the time trail and having slimmed down, I think he is extremely motivated to be in the 23 this year and he could take a 3rd tall position allowing Lever to intercept all day or May can cover the most dangerous small forward as he often does in the side. Anyway food for thought... 5. JVR, Tmac, Brown and Schache will all rotate throughout the year as forwards so I wouldn't get too caught up on who's starting in the side for now. They're all in good form this year so it just comes down to the match selectors decisions. Lastly, the key to Melbourne success is pressure in the forward line, which then sets up our layered defence as the opposition crumble under the pressure of the smalls in our forward line causing turnover or long/high kicks out of their defence. That means having Tmac, Brown, Grundy, Gawn, Fritsch or JVR on the field at any one time will reduce that pressure we need to contain that ball in our forward line. It is therefore essential to have three of our smaller harassing players on the field to contain the ball being Spargo, Pickett and Chandler with ANB on the bench available also. It was evident last year we lost our forward pressure last year in the second half of games causing us to lose many games even when we were 5 goals up. So hopefully this year with the addition with Chandler it will rectify some forward pressure issues.

I have a feeling Carlton will be top 4 next year. Much like we finished ninth in 2020, they will rise sharply up the ladder in 2023 and most likely going deep in finals. They have a very good list and are getting better with experience and starting to hit that sweet spot in age profile for their best players Cripps, Walsh, Weitering, Curnow, McKay, Cerra, Saad and Williams all between 22-28.

I kind of get Matthew Richardson vibes with his great marking abilities and goal sense.

I'm surprised they didn't bid on Davey Jnr while they were at it.

There isn't anymore for me to add that hasn't already been said. So i'll just say well done girls! you'll forever be in the history books of the MFC as the inaugural winners of our first flag for our great club and i'm so glad Daisy and Pax got their Premiership.

Nothing wrong with Jefferson. I wouldn't mind taking him, though he would be about 3 years away from getting a game. He's put on some weight this year apparently so he'll need to put on another 10 - 15kgs if he wants to play with the big boys. But if we held our current picks we could take Jefferson at 13, but would miss out on the 4 really good players I had mentioned to you earlier in (George, Barnett, Cowan and Gruzewski). Pick 37 we might go for a half back like Luke Teal or Jakob Ryan as Hunt was traded and Hibbo will be in his last year so we need to stock up with a selection there. Adam D'aloia would be a really good pick up also if we wanted a mid. He is ready to go at 186cm's and 86kgs.

That's who he has been compared to by many experts. He was originally a top 10 selection prior to doing his ACL.

Gruzewski could possibly be there... he is predicted to go in the late 20's/early 30's. But if you had read my earlier comment I mentioned Gruzewski would be more of a possibility with a pick swap with West Coast which would land us picks 20 and 26 in exchange for 13 and 37, in which case we could take the aforementioned player and land a quality player in George, Cowan or Barnett with our first selection all of which are needs based selections and IMO is our better choice. Take George and Barnett. George and Cowan or George and Gruzewksi and I reckon Melbourne would of nailed the draft. When recruiters talk George up to be a Petracca like player! it's a no brainer for me. You don't pass on quality like that. Just imagine two Petraccas running around in our side! Boom... mic drop... out!

I'm pretty sure Oliver is a Manchester City fan and is likely influenced by their marquee player Erling Haaland who is sporting the blonde pony tail look.

That's why I put Max Gruzewski as that target with our second pick. Plays forward and back, strong hands and a good size albeit on the lower height of a KF at 193cm's. I see a bit of Steven May about him. I'm sure Jefferson will be a decent KF who has been touted as the second best KF, but I rate Gruzewski higher, simply because he's ready to go, has that mongrel about him and can play both ends and he's fallen down the draft order as he was injured mid year so is a bit of an unknown.

I think Hewitt is our best option at our first pick even though he is a WA boy. There is something about him that looks to be a star in the making and compliments our midfield so well. However I imagine West Coast will probably take him and Busslinger... as Gold Coast are by all reports favoured to take Ginbey. If all that happens, I would look to trade out our pick 13 + 37 and grab West Coasts 20 + 26 so we can take Brayden George and one of Lachie Cowan, Harry Barnett or Max Gruzewski.

1sts FB: - M.HIBBERD (186cm), - S.MAY (193cm), - J.LEVER (195cm) HB: - C.SALEM (183cm), - H.PETTY (197cm), - A.BRAYSHAW (187cm) C: - E.LANGDON (182cm), - C.OLIVER (187cm), - L.HUNTER (182cm) HF: - A.NEAL-BULLEN (182cm), - M.GAWN (208cm), - C.SPARGO (173cm) FF: - B.FRITSCH (188cm), - T.McDONALD (194cm), - K.PICKETT (170cm) RR: - B.GRUNDY (203cm), - C.PETRACCA (186cm), - J.VINEY (178cm) INT: - B.BROWN (200cm), - J.MELKSHAM (186cm) , - J.HARMES (185cm), - T.RIVERS (188cm) SUB: - T.SPARROW (182cm) EMG: - J.VAN ROOYEN (194cm), - J.JORDON (186cm), - A.TOMLINSON (194cm), J.BOWEY (176cm) 2nds FB: - J.McVEE (182cm), - A.TOMLINSON (194cm) , D.TURNER (192cm) HB: - J.BOWEY (176cm), - J.SMITH (191cm), - D.SMITH (179cm) C: - T.WOEWODIN (183cm), - L.DUNSTAN (184cm), - B.HOWES (190cm) HF: - B.LAURIE (178cm), - J.SCHACHE (201cm), - (Draft pick) FF: - A.MONIZ-WAKEFIELD (180cm), - J.VAN ROOYEN (194cm), - K.CHANDLER(174cm) RR: - K. FARRIS-WHITE (206cm), - J.JORDON (186cm), - T.SPARROW (182cm) INT: - (Draft picks or Delisted Free Agent x 4)

Grundy for me. He will shake off his injuries of this year and will have something to prove against Collingwood and show what they are missing when they showed him the door. My guess, he will be an All Australian twice out of the next three years!

If we couldn't get Phillipou or Hollands at pick 13 I wouldn't mind going after Brayden George. Many recruiters had him in top 10 calculations prior to doing his ACL recently, so he'll be out for most of next year. They say he's like Petracca in size, power and skill so I think he'll be worth the wait and can learn in his first year what it takes to be a professional footballer and be ready to have an immediate impact in 2024.

Schache definitely isn't the answer to our forward woes, he's just a stopgap solution while we chase a gun forward in the draft or as GNF mentioned we are hunting Mitch Georgiades. But i agree with you on Jefferson, if he has all the tricks to be a gun forward then sure we should go after him but if we have doubts about him then I think we should get best available mid at 13 which looks to be Hollands.

Brisbane will use up it picks 34,35 and 36 to land F/S Ashcroft so our Pick 37 will become a pick in the low 30's presumably.

I'd like to get Oliver Hollands with our first pick. He won the draft combine time trial with a 2km run in 5 minutes 54 seconds and who knows in a few years time we might be able to lure his brother Elijah back to Victoria to play with his bro. With our second, if any are still available I'd try to get Keeler (ruck/forward), Barnett (ruck) or Verral (ruck/forward). Now that we have Schache and JVR developing nicely, we don't have an immediate need to get a KPF this year and I just don't trust Jefferson at this stage, he may be a good player in time but I find skinny tall forwards are just serviceable ala Mitch Brown and Watts who were both first round draft picks... but who knows maybe he could be a Gunston.

Grundy takes #6, Pick 13 takes #12, Hunter grabs #19, Schache takes #28 (Omac's old number) and Pick 37 takes #38. Jones #2 takes one more year of absence and we give it to one of our 2 first round selections the following year in what is touted to be a super draft!