Harvey Wallbanger

Don't think so - but he did not come out with the "early group" but I think that was mainly because that group was doing some serious running, given they are not playing tomorrow. Based on what we saw today I expect the Casey game will not have any AFL listed players, and as reported earlier it may be that Roy George has a run in the main game (even though not on the list?).

Given the nature of Kolt's injury he just turns up to training but he is not doing any running or drills. Today he spent quite a bit of time with his friend Kentfield - gentle stretches etc, hand-balling, etc. They will both be a couple of months away based on official and unofficial reports.

Did some running with the main group - a big step forward from last week. Don't expect him to play tomorrow though.

Absent: McAdam Rehabbing: Melksham and McVee lots of running. Moniz-Wahefield. Tholstrup and Kentfield not doing much. Not playing tomorrow: May, Salem, Petracca, Viney, Spargo, Gawn, Langdon, Fritsch, Henderson, Windsor Train-on: Roy George (Culley not present). Leaves the other 28 available to have a run tomorrow: 2 van Rooyen 8 Lever 13 Oliver 14 Billings 16 Laurie 17 Bowey 19 Langford 20 Lindsay 21 Jefferson 22 Howes 24 Rivers 25 TMac 26 Adams 27 Hore 28 Verrall 29 Campbell 30 Sharp 32 Sparrow 33 Fullarton 35 Petty 36 Pickett 37 Chandler 38 Sestan 39 Mentha 40 Woewodin 41 Brown 42 Johnson ? George

Chandler's fine. He'll play.

According to George's sheet on Page 1 of this thread, the first number noted last year, early in the year, was the second week of March at 48,880. 2nd week of Feb in 2023 was 44,552. Same time in 2022 was 41,562.

Neither club performing well at the coalface. With North, i was give an option to press 3 and go to Reception and that just rang and rang - I know their song now though- so I called again and pressed "1" for membership, got told I was No.3 in the queue, and waited over 20 minutes. Old piece of advice, the first thing a CEO should do every day is ring their customer/member hotline - tells you everything about your organisation.

Providing further unpaid service to Demonlanders, I wasted 30 minutes of my life and called Saturday's host - North Melbourne. A clearly "under the pump" membership officer said start time was 11 am - "they haven't been told anything different" - After a tiny bit of pressure she consulted the "higher-ups" and indeed confirmed that the start has been adjusted to 10.00 am, followed immediately by the VFL match (around 1 pm). I chanced my arm and, after being told folding chairs are not normally allowed for the women's games, she advised that they probably will be allowed because it is not a ticketed match... You're welcome.

I suspect that there is quite a bit of the dreaded AFL "paperwork" to complete regarding McAdam's injury and sign-off by the AFL General Counsel to make it clear that there is that spot to be filled. That probably delays an official announcement.

I like the idea. I reckon they'll rest May (maybe also Pickett?) for Saturday. I note that you have left out TMac and Viney - I agree. I heard that it may be a younger squad that is turned out, so some of the other experienced guys might also not play.

Good question. We were discussing it as we watched today. He has "footy nous" and uses the ball well in that position and was solid last Friday. Given that it may be difficult for him to secure a role as a goal-kicking "small forward" this is an interesting move - a little like the AMW move last year. Let's see how he goes at Casey - assuming they persist with him in that role....

Just Culley and Noah Yze today - no Roy George. I think Jai Culley would be in the box seat to fill a spot if the Club places McAdam on the LTI list.

No.

If you mean "announcements" No, but hard to see the Club not taking the long-term injury option with McAdam and filling that list spot by Thursday.

Yes, but not much "contact" going on. A good session for him to re-join....

Gentle flush session at Gosch's this morning. Absent: May, Pickett (All Stars) McVee, McAdam. Rehabbing: Great to see Kentfield back (much slimmer) - see GW's comments, walking with Tholstrup, TMac (suspect just a management thing), Viney (still being cautious with that rib cartilage?), Melksham (in and out of drills with lots of straight-line running), Fritsch also in and out of drills, but that is not unusual for him. Windsor definitely has a limp, and you can see the photos. Train-ons: Culley and Yze. Culley looks good - as he has all pre-season. Great to see Trac and Spargo back into full training, will be interesting to see if Charles has a run on Saturday? AMW copped a corky (from Gawny) but was running it out and in good spirits.

As mentioned in another thread - this is our selection dilemma. It is unlikely that May, Lever, Petty and TMac can play in the same backline - unless we are against a very tall (and hopefully slow) forward line. The only good thing about this dilemma is that we have a ready-made "tall back three" should any one of them be injured. Left field option, given TMac's solid pre-season and good match sim form, maybe they think of Petty as a genuine swing player (second ruck), i.e. you pick all four above but only three of them are playing back at any one time? Bowey, Howes and Salem are your three "small backs", with Windsor in his new role off half-back.

“As part of the review recommendations, Melbourne players are spending less time at the club, and are given more flexibility to complete their recovery in their own time this year.” The above was from the Goody/Clark interview - might explain a Friday afternoon rather than a weekend?

Hadn't forgotten those matches. But I would be surprised if the 20 who started in blue yesterday, now 19 (McAdam was one) didn't figure in Round 1 - we still have to add 4 - hopefully they are Trac, Viney, Windsor and May. Melksham, if fit, might nudge one of the others out and into the sub's vest.

Based on what was signalled today I agree with this team, except for Jefferson. With McAdam's injury, I think either Woewodin or Laurie comes in for Jefferson, and takes the sub vest. Sparrow would start forward, as he did today. From Round 4 Pickett provides his sparkle. I am convinced that Lindsay will make the Round 1 team, notwithstanding his later start - he looks very good. The Langdon experiment is worth a crack, with so many wing options. Fingers crossed that Windsor is not far away. This team however means JVR does the second ruck (gulp). Also a quick note, I thought TMac was better than Petty today, and will be stiff not to play Round 1. AMW, Brown, Sestan, Johnson and Woewodin are the depth.

Wholesale changes between teams only took place in the fourth quarter. Up until then the interchanging was minimal - in my view because the coaches were trying to build cohesion amongst the "probables". Jeffo was white/gray for the first three quarters.

Absent: May, Pickett (All Stars), McVee, Windor, Kentfield, Mentha Present but not playing: Petracca, Viney, Spargo, Tholstrup, Melksham Starting Blue 18 (+ just 2 interchange): B: Petty, TMac, Lever, Howes, Bowey Salem M: Gawn, Oliver, Langdon, Rivers Wings: Lindsay, Billings F: Sparrow, Fritsch, JVR, Chandler, Turner, Langford Inter: Sharp and McAdam (just these two rotating into the Blue team for the first half. Seems a signal that these twenty are in the mix re Round 1 considering the number absent and injured. McAdam's injury looks serious (2nd stanza) - either knee or ankle, no weight at all as he went straight into the rooms. Both Laurie and AMW were treated for minor knocks but re-entered the game. For three of the stanzas all of the following stayed in white/gray, so I would expect to start with Casey this year: Adams, Hore, Laurie, Verrall, Brown, Johnson, AMW, Sestan, Fullarton, Campbell, Jefferson Woewodin rotated with Lindsay between teams. Other observations later.

According to George's sheet on Page 1 of this thread, the first number noted last year, early in the year, was the second week of March at 48,880. 2nd week of Feb in 2023 was 44,552. Same time in 2022 was 41,562.

41,530.

On Wednesday, at Gosch's training, a large group of players joined the AFL group before training, for a large photo-op. I wasn't close, but I assume they were Casey-listed (or nominated) players. There were certainly enough of them to field a full side for a practice match. Whether AFL listed players play in these VFL matches might be a function of the AFL games' formats - do they allow 28 (or more) players to rotate? - in which case only those that don't get a run might play VFL (might not be many in our case given the high absentee list recently). I would expect the Casey coach also wants to get a look at his own full squad in action to know who his core group will be.