Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Could well be true. I get the feeling that the club are intentionally playing down and keeping pretty quite on Harley generally to manage expectations and keep some of the media attention and pressure away from him as far as reasonably possible.

I recall that win we had against WC in Perrh back in 2017 when we were serverly undermanned with our on ball brigade and a gut busting effort from Jack Viney won us so much ball at the stoppages and around the ground through shear grunt work that kept us in the game until Pederson and T Mac's last quarter, last minute heroics finally got us over the line over there. I don't mind that kind of one dimensionalisim - just keep forging on forward. When he is fit, Jack is an absolute bull and particularly if we have a midfield of other fit bulls like Trac, Oliver, Brayshaw, AVB, Jones, Harems etc, there will be no stopping them.

He is just auditioning for an Oral B commercial - doing a real life 'flip top head' impression.

I actually didn't mind Jordan Lewis on 360. Thought he was good value for talking pretty authentically and with some pretty good insight. Not sure that Gawn will offer quite the same level of insight, but I am sure that he will be pretty authentic just as long as he doesn't overdo the comedy which I'm surprised to hear myself say, but I think he over does the funny stuff a bit lately and it comes across that he's trying a bit too hard in that regard.

I see where this move is coming from and guess it's worth a try to see how it goes. But ... 1. If it's not working, I hope it doesn't take us near a full season to move Harmes somewhere else like it did Freitch; 2. I didn't notice the normal level of output from Harmes against the Crows, so I have some reservations, conversely noting that it's a small sample size, the first practice match of the year and I think the play was generally more scrappy than a normal home and away game, perhaps partly due to extra Casey wind conditions. I do like Harmes ability to break lines through the guts and he has a good ability to impact up forward as well, so hopefully he can push up the ground at the right times as well.

Looking at his stats, he consistently played 17-19 games a season, so to me that supports his general robustness. Also need to consider that a few of the missed games were probably through suspension.

I'm not that disappointed I can't get through the pay wall by the sounds of it.

I think there are plenty with a decent man crush on AVB the way he plays.

Divide your chances of success by a factor of 4 - how very Melbourne ? ?

I only watched the last quarter of the game last night - can anyone give a good rundown on how they saw Nev Jetta's game? From what I did see in the last quarter, it looked like he had a job on Dusty forward and did a decent job on him whilst also picking up some useful possessions of his own.

He kicked a pretty good long goal under pressure to get us over the line in one of our few wins last year (against Carlton if I recall correctly). In general, I thought he was decient as a forward at times last season and could be difficult to stop once he got on a role. I'm hoping he can re-find some form and or somethings click into place for him, because I think he has something to offer.

Play on, no free in that.

My view is that this is a great problem to have. If one player starts to dominate and gets a hard tag, another should stand up in their place. Having multiple options that could go into the midfield and dominate was one of the best trates of the tripple premiership Brisbane side - you might be able to shut one of them down, but not all of them. Asides from those mentioned, Jones and Harmes can also impact in the guts when required. Would also be good if we could rest Clarry in the forward line at times, where I think he has already shown he can play. Melksham is too valuable to us across half forward to throw onto the ball unless we are really struggling in that area.

I think he's doing ok defensively, but is that enough? He does cop quite a bit of criticism, but I do have a soft spot for Oscar. He's been given a lot of responsibility and has had expectation thrust on him from quite early in his career. He does have some assets, his good kicking would be one of them and has reasonable athleticism. Really hoping it clicks for him again soon.

Confidence still isn't really there at the moment. He dropped a bit of a sitter last week as well. Hopefully he can find some confidence again, because when he's on, I think he can make a useful contribution.

One of the aspects of his game that he does really well is roving the ruck hitouts. Will be very pleased to see that back in action with Gawn. Would have added another 4 or so goal to our win over the Crows the other week I recon.

Before we get too far into the game analysis, great live stream. Good picture quality, glitchless internet streaming and good commentary. Many thanks to those involved.

Thought Spargo looked ok last week, just didn't finish that well - is his finishing better today?

He also provided good cover and a good example to follow that allowed the development of our current batch of mids like Viney, Brayshaw, Harmes, Oliver etc not to be thrown totally to the wolves too early and importantly, he helped to build a winning culture. Loved some of those games he played on Dangerfield where he got under his skin and took him out of the game. Just a pitty that his body didn't hold out a bit longer such that he could have played a role in our 2018 finals campaign.

It was one of the Crouch brothers they picked up with the pick we gave them for Bernie. I'd still maintain we got what we needed out of the deal.

AARON VANDENBERG (Melbourne) The injury-plagued Demon has only managed seven appearances in the past three years due to a persistent foot injury, but he looks to have finally turned the corner. The 27-year-old returned at Casey Fields against Adelaide on Saturday, collecting 19 disposals and laying five tackles. He hasn’t played an AFL game since Melbourne’s preliminary final loss to West Coast in 2018, but could return against the Eagles on the same ground in Round 1. https://www.google.com/amp/s/coupler.foxsports.com.au/api/v1/article/amp/afl/round-1-bolters-after-impressive-weekend-performances-in-the-marsh-community-series-and-practice-matches/news-story/88f9e54ada0a83af35fa829caeb3ab32 Pretty decent first game back after missimg around a year.

But Steven May's incident was obviously more severe: 1. He is Steven May; and 2. He had a MFC jumper on.

I hear talk this morning that the Toyko Olympics are under threat of being cancelled due to corona virus - hopefully that doesn't put our season at peril.

Listening to the interview, I can see why Goodwin would have such a good relationship with his players. He speaks with real simplicity and straight down the line, but also in a very supportive and respectful manner about his players that they would feel like he has their backs. Would have been a great captain to play under himself I recon. The whole two man, captain/vice captain leadership group his Goodwins personality stamped all over it I feel too.

I think this is a great show of faith by Trac in the club, the rest of his teammates, that he is really invested in the club and taking it forward. You get the impression of Trac that he has significant ambitions and that after our 2019 it would be understandable for him to be looking around at better options. Putting off contract talks and if he subsequently left, it could have had a really destabilizing impact on the team at a critical time. Instead, he hasn't stuffed anyone around and has committed to the club before the season commences. Like chalk and cheese to that previous No.$1 draft pick we had.