waynewussell

Just a reminder to the football world; at present we have 15 Premiership players fit and in good early season form. That's not counting Oliver or Petty, who will join soon. We also have a gun recruit ready to go on one wing, an x factor mid-forward from Adelaide, as well as Billings. We have a maturing young group; JVR, McVee, Bowey and Woewodin. This doesn't ensure four points every game, but it does mean we have a list that can beat any other AFL team when in form.

Fantastic effort by many devoted MFC club and family members over an extended period. Casey Fields continues to improve as a playing & training venue. The whole complex offers a wonderful facility for a variety of sportspeople, local and beyond.

I didn't ask Fullarton (or Spargo) when he would be back, I simply said, "looking forward to seeing you out there", to which both replied, "I'll be back next week". Time will tell, however, I think the injury to Fullarton was not as severe as was reported.

Fullarton could be ready as early as next game v Carlton. He told me so.

Fullarton and Spargo indicated that they would be available for Carlton (next game).

No sugar coating… this was a disappointing start against mid-ladder opposition. Poor disposal got us into strife time and time again. positives; Viney excellent Max excellent Kossie excellent Oliver back and with major impact Salem very good Windsor very good debut Brown very good debut Verall good signs Billings very good signs May, Lever, Sparrow, Bowey all maintaining standards negatives; Petracca a great, but too many silly mistakes for his high standards Fritsch missed opportunities Van Royen needs to impact more often and also missed opportunities Chandler low impact Howes low impact neutrals; did compete, with some good effect, but also sloppy at times Rivers, Laurie, McVee, Langdon, Tomlinson, ANB,

One other thing I noticed today, we systematically refused to kick it short to the pocket after behinds were scored by opposition. On a number of occasions this would have been a safer option than the one taken. I have just watched McVee ignore May and Tomlinson when taking a kick out that landed almost on the wing but resulted in an immediate opposition surge back into their forward line (19 mins into P2)

Hello to Oliver, Brayshaw & Salem

Hello to Oliver, Brayshaw & Salem

Difficult to draw conclusions after that hit out. The 10 unanswered goals was an embarrassment, but the 5 goal opening burst and hanging in for a 4 goal loss (when main list was on the field minus Max & May after 2nd Qtr) was just OK. I would think you can add Salem, Oliver, Brayshaw, Spargo, Fullarton & Woewodin for Carlton match.

Will Verrall doing his running routine with a trainer now, obviously that’s it for Will. promising competitor in the ruck on the day

Both Spargo and Fullarton indicated that they would be ready to play next week

By the way, Salem is bog in this game at this stage

Ollie back on which is good

Can only see six listed players on the ground at this stage of 6th qtr

Jefferson down, could be bad

Max running laps at 1/2 time. Must be off for second half

Marley probably reads this site. Go easy with the humour... he may think it is representative of MFC supporters.

Nicholson

Brodie will play well for 4 or five rounds. The Media will hail his recruitment, and the Sydney brains trust, as a master stroke while they ridicule us for getting it wrong. Then things will turn sour as Brodie's weaknesses are exposed (just like they were for us). By the end of the season fans in general will be questioning how he is still getting a game.

Schache just needs to get a sustained run at it. To date, it's been a game here and half a game there. Invest in the Schache and he won't look back!

Having said what I said about round 0 forward line, I still think McAdam will get up! I also add Bill to the potential bench lineup

I think we have reached the point where MFC supporters will count their lucky stars that we have the likes of Schache and Tomlinson on our list! Our midfield is still amongst the best, most feared in the comp. Our backline is blessed for wealth and depth. Our forward line round zero, given injury concerns, should read as follows, HF: Spargo, JVR, Billings F: Fritsch, Schache, Tholstrup with ANB and Chandler off the bench

Step right up Matt Jefferson Step right up Daniel Turner Your time is here!

Got down there for 90mins. Clarrie was looking good and giving off good vibes. He said hello, I told him it was good to see him. He did some photos with a young bloke near me, who was stoked. He had affectionate interactions with BBB and Billings, then soft tackled AMW to the ground and held him down (in good humour). I'm reporting a future injury... whoever tackled Viney, tore his shorts half off and gave him a corky! Many impressions from the session have already been posted, so I only have a few observations to share. Fritta looks very fit and is in everything, more physical in the contest than I remember. Tom McDonald is very strong in the clinches and I now have him on a par with Tomlinson, with Disco very close behind them. Adams looks good on the burst, but doesn't yet have the strength of the other three. Adam's kicking is also a bit iffy target-wise. I watched Stafford's ruck group closely. Max is dominant, as you would expect, but he provides elite competition for the up-and-comers. On todays form, Schache is the closest to providing Max with any competition, followed by Verall, who seems quite a bit shorter (even though listed as 199) and Farris-White, who is clearly improving. I need to report a few well known negatives from today's end-to-end stuff. Lever still stuffs up the occasional short pass and Trac still murders a few passes and gets very grumpy with himself. Petty was on the sidelines for this activity, but he and Tomlinson were yelling a lot of advice to the youngsters about positioning. They were particularly vocal toward Kynan Brown, who seemed only moderately interested in what they were calling out. It's true, Caleb Winston is a talent. Quick, evasive and sure by foot. Glides around like a famous wingman who owned the members' wing!