dazzledavey36

Dont think we will be seeing Steven May for a while now.

12 hours ago, Red and Blue Flame said:

Don't disagree with this, but he is nowhere near fit enough to execute a role at AFL level. Jury out until we see some athletic traits.

I dont get to training at all, but based on reports and if you go off his numbers from draft camp with the 2km run, he was rated elite with a time of 6:17.

The reason he looked heavily underdone last year was because people forget he missed a chunk of the pre season with a hip injury and was rushed straight back into the senior team off tje back of zero match fitness by our so called brain thrust of a coaching committee.

His first two years in the AFL system are very similar to ANB first two years before he had a break out year in his 3rd.

Lets hope its the same for KT.

35 minutes ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

Yep. Am I missing something?

Well considering the last podcast these two ever did was 2023 and Gus has now been retired for 2 years now while also going completely off the grid with football in general... I think you can put two and two together here.

On 28/01/2026 at 21:11, GawnOfTheDead said:

Sorry, this isn’t purely linked but is in a round about way.

Anyone know when Demonland, DeeBrief are starting back up?

I also wasn’t sure. Are Gawn and Gus still doing podcasts?

Lol serious question?

All reasonable and fair points @Its Time Again

1 hour ago, stinga said:

In the second half of the year Langford kicked 10 of his 14 goals and Petracca kicked less with 6. Petracca was more dynamic but Langford had the better results. Even in the games Culley played Culley kicked 3 goals and Petracca 4 Even Harry sharp kicked 6 in the second half of the year.

Yet Petracca was still averaging more disposals, number one for goal assist s and score involvements for our team.

We can nitpick all we want, but the reality is Petracca will be a huge loss for us.

Him leaving had to happen unfortunately and it was best for both parties especially as we now start our mini rebuild under the King era.

1 hour ago, BigBadBustling said:

I'm not one to go big on young players, but happy to throw my chips in on Langford. Exceptional talent and game sense, he will be an absolute star. Of course there's 2nd season blues a possibility, but he's just so professional. The whole issue with Trac was his want to be more midfield than forward, we wanted the opposite. Langford, in 2026, will be more the blend we wanted from Trac, and for that reason I think he'll at least match Trac's 2025. So if that means I'm saying runner up in the 2026 BnF then so be it, happy to revisit halfway through the year on his progress (with or without egg on my face)

For what it's worth, I don't think he'll match Trac's 2026, unfortunately. 2027 and beyond will be a different story.

I see his 2nd year trajectory similar to how Finn Callaghan was for instance.

Another solid year of just building and developing.with the big spike coming around the 3rd or 4th year.

29 minutes ago, Deestar9 said:

So of our main senior players on the sidelines (& best 23) ..I’ll give you Viney & Melksham both well over 30 & I’d still say that Melksham is more likely to come in at some stage possibly not Viney. Other senior players e.g. Gawn & Miochek (who is now in full training) will def be in the team early rounds..Gawn is super fit & again at 34 he will have no problems once his finger is manageable. All players miss a week or 2 over preseason so I think

we’re relatively healthy. The bonus is the preseason form of some of our senior players e.g. Lever & Salem. There may be plenty of reasons we may not do well (I’m a bit more positive) but I can’t see Viney & Melksham being one of the reasons.

Mihocek has been sidelined for majority of the pre season and even whilst he was joining in match simulation yesterday, he was still managed.

We're weeks away from games. He will be still well behind the eight ball with match fitness and relying to fit into a new game structure.

15 minutes ago, BigBadBustling said:

If you're looking at 2025 alone, Steele is an upgrade on Clarrie - as disappointing as that is to hear. Also, with Trac's 'mood' I can see Langford slotting straight into his role and performing better. CJ replaces that guy that went to Freo, and if anything is an upgrade defensively - which is the role we wanted him to play. That covers the outs and is a positive for mine.

That means we have to cover Langford's star quality all over the ground, and I don't know who steps up into that, perhaps Culley. Then there's Bowey which is a big loss for at least half the year. Maybe that's Taylor's first shot, and see when AMW is ready for his turn. Viney, who knows. Mihocek is a massive improvement in the forward line, but does he get on the park???? Petty into the backline would be an upgrade on 2025 Steven May, if he can keep his head out of trouble.

That leads us to the up and coming group of kids and the new gameplan and attacking footy. Most of the under 23 brigade seem to be putting in a full preseason which is massive. The preseason itself has also been massive by the sounds of it, so they should all be fitter than ever. Lindsay goes from very little preseason last year to a full job this time, his improvement could really amaze. Trelly in means we get a Pickett in the guts and still one at small fwd. Windsor in the middle sounds like he's going next level, but also means we need to replace him in the backline. Lindsay gets that role initially I'd say, all class. So there could well be improvement across the board from the younger brigade - think Hawks.

I'm quite bullish about 2026. We'll move up the ladder, but whether or not we make finals I don't know. Regardless, we will play finals in 2027.

Langford performing better then Petraccas 2025 form??

Sheesh.. I know some still have the [censored] over Petracca but let's still acknowledged that he actually still performed exceptionally well even though his output wasn't to the same standard as it previously been.

A reminder of Petracca of 2025:

582 disposals, 18 goals, 16 Brownlow votes, runner up in the BnF, number one for goals assist for Melbourne. He is a huge loss.

I like Harvey, I think he will be a fantastic player, but I think we're placing far too much expectations here on his shoulders. I think he will continue to alternate between wing and inside mid which for a second year player i expect some dip in form at times.

Can see a career spike in form at around the 60-80 game mark where he'll be the general of our midfield.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Yeah Liam Pickering on SEN last night was also extremely down on the Dees for 2026.

He rattled off an exercise where he would list every club’s A and B graders and tally the total up.

I think he had Brisbane up top with 14 or 15 A and B graders. Then right at the bottom he had Melbourne, North and West Coast at a stinking low 6 A and B Graders combined. Even Richmond had more.

I can’t remember exactly who the 6 were but Gawn and Kozzie were A graders and Viney, Melksham were B. Mihocek may have been another?

Maybe these media blokes are correct. Maybe we’ll be bottom two with 3 or 4 wins.

I have tipped us to finish bottom 3.

In fact i see us significantly dropping similar to how West Coast did whdn they had those aging stars still flopping around. Though i dont think we will be at the point of being barely VFL standard snd completely uncompetitive like they were.

We have had too many of our main senior players sitting in the sidelines all pre season which if anyone on here have played footy previously at a fairly strong standard, will know that not having a good base under your belt will completely hinder your preparation all year. You cannot simply make up for lost time. Sports science will say the same thing.

Development year with some pain along the way this year. All about getting as much games into the kids as we can.

1 hour ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

On the contrary. It demonstrates how close knit they all were then. Gus was well loved and the camaraderie between players was at an all time high in 2021 and 22.

I know a few Melbourne player family members and they all say Gus was one of the most liked players in the club. Quite possibly the Mfcs cohesion imploding was no coincidence since losing Gus.

Of course the players were shell shocked. They saw their mate absolutely flattened and not moving for several minutes.

A mate they all knew had a history of concussion events and deep down they all were probably worried he could have some permanent damage.

I don't think that can be referred to as the team having " psychological errors" or whatever else your professional opinion would deem them to have.

No..... it shows to me a high spirit de corps that played it's part in finally breaking such a long voodoo.

Fair shake of the old sauce bottle Dd

Fair shake of the bottle of excuses you're trotting out.

Have a good Christmas.

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

May now jogging faster laps.

I am guessing this is more to do with fitness issue..?

Do we put any substance into the reason why we have brought Brian Cook in to help mentor Guerra..?

Hopefully they will upload the King video pretty soon.

25 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

He was simply bs-ing us

Honestly, I havent watched the videos yet so I'll get around to it, but if there has been a speed bump along the way then just tell us...

My opinion is, let's just get to Waverley for now until we can actually get a home. At least we will be all under the same roof for once.

Caufield is just a pipe dream it seems.

This is from a Paul Guerra article in the HS in October..

Melbourne’s move to finally confirm a headquarters at the Caulfield racecourse continues apace with more positive meetings in the last fortnight.

“All I would say is by the time the AGM comes around we will be in a position to give a really positive alignment.”

So.. what happend??

Just now, picket fence said:

Dazz, given this is Jeffo's last year in contract, how do you see it panning out?

Hes got big competition Pickett.

Whilst I like him, we're hearing more that Kentfield and Johnson are tearing up the track and would be ahead of him based on whats observed at training on form.

That's on top of still having JVR and Mihocek already ahead of him.

I have my doubts, but its only December.

Great signing!

43 minutes ago, old55 said:

You're picking up the slack.

It's funny, because I use to actually get you both confused with one another.

Both of you were as simple as a dead lettuce leaf.

I suppose every club has one...

27 minutes ago, Redleg said:

I am not buying into the flags argument, but I think you will agree that injuries early in a game, are different to injured unavailable players for the game.

You can at least plan for it and select another fit player.

Losing a very good player and on field leader early in the 2023 Q F affected us badly, especially when the result was a 7 point loss.

Gus went off very early in the first quarter, after having one kick and one handball and was replaced by Laurie who had one kick for the remaining 3.5 quarters. He was basically ineffective from when he came on.

I think Gus was on around 25-30 possessions a game at that time.

We lost him and fresh legs at the end of the game, where it might have made a difference.

The team was shell shocked and the Pies then jumped us ,until we settled down later in the game.

Yes we kicked badly and that didn’t help, but I strongly believe we would have won that game if Gus wasn’t knocked out.

I always thought the winner of that game would win the flag and that was how it turned out.

No guarantee we win the flag, but our chance to was severely affected by the Gus knockout.

Is that argument valid with Brisbane losing their number 1 ruckman in Oscar Mcinerney early on the 2nd quarter in last year's preliminary final and yet Brisbane still found a way as underdog to beat Geelong?

Or does that lense only suit when we have our red and blue glasses firmly tight.

Morale of the story is good teams still find ways to overcome adversity and win crucial moments.

You say the players were shellshocked? Well that to me sums us up the psychological issue of the players if they couldn't put that aside for two hours and focus on the game on hand.

You know what lost us the game against Collingwood 'Red'? It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact Brayshaw was out.

it was this 👇

We completely outscored them in the 2nd half.

The point is, is that we had ample of opportunities to win the game on hand well past the fact that Gus was out of the game.

Yet for some reason this is hard for @Previously known as LITD. to comprehend.

34 minutes ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

We came close by finishing top four.

Closer than.most clubs.

Yes as mentioned we fluffed the finals through the things I mentioned.

But you have to acknowledge the many wins we had to make those finals.

Big picture aside from the finals we had good seasons.

Settle down Dd. Quite a few of the players in 22 and 23 played their hearts out. Your bitterness and whinging can't take that way from them.

As if you could ever dream of playing as well as the ones who let's us down.

Plus as mentioned we wouldn't have beaten the pies if Gus wasn't knocked out. And more than likely one the gfs instead of a mediocre Cwood team.

If you can't see that we were incredibly close that year, then I suggest you follow a sport you can understand.

Delusional.

Finishing 4th is completely different to saying we were close to a 3 peat mate. You have

Once you finish top 4, finals is a completely different season and the staked go higher then a normal season.

I have zero care factor on the players played their little hearts out. This game is based off results.

No one ever remembers players from a losing finals teams. So realistically, its completely irrelevant.

48 minutes ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

Pies were lucky to win that Gf.

If Gus wasn't ko by Maynard that would have been ours.

Also Milkshake went down when in career best form.

Huge factors despite BBB and Tmac no show in their respective finals.

Gus and Jake were big factors.

Weak excuses.

What were Brisbanes excuse this year and last when they were hit with lengthy injuries to some of their quality players.

19 minutes ago, Somereset said:

Was referencing an old poster called Deeluded whose name was apt and who made PF look like a calm, wise sage

I miss him...

37 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

To be fair we lost 4 close finals, any one of which we might have won. Yes we lost them ALL and I get it… that’s all that counts. But I do think we were close in 22 and 23.

2022 we were cooked. We weren't even close. Goody [censored] that year big time by not managing players throughout the year when they were clearly sore and gassed and it bit us in the [censored] come finals.

2023 we couldn't even get the basics right and kick straight.

You can pretend we were close but reality is we weren't. We played like a team that got caught up in the moment once the heat was applied to us.

25 minutes ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

Well to be fair we came incredibly close to winning three on a row but injuries ( Milkshake) and BBB and Tmac having nightmare finals seasons and then Gus been almost killed.....we cold have made it imho.

The midfield really only started to implode i 24 and last year. Maybe in late 23 there were a few signs but nothing drastic.

Oliver from his last two years efforts won't be missed although in another environment he may reinvent himself as he's still young.

Tracca will do better in another club as I feel he has an attitude rightly or wrongly towards the MFC. So he will be missed.

Anb has moved on as well so it will be interesting to see how our MF goes.

But let's be honest, this last season it was in significant trouble.

Came incredibly close to winning 3 in a row!?

Haha what planet were you on at the time mate? we were not even close, at all. Couldn't even win another final let alone winning 2 finals in a row just to get to another grand final.

Talk about massive overreaction.