Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Lucky it isn't such a binary propersition. 22 players in the match day team and they all can play a role of some kind. For so long we were crying out for good ball users and Salem has that attribute in spades - so does Clarry, but as much of a freak that he is, Oliver can't actually be in all positions on the feild at once.

I hear you Macca. 2018 was far more enjoyable as a supporter than any of the previous 12 to 18 years. Getting thrashed every week sucked big time. Winning more often than not and handling out a few thrashings of our own last year was alot of fun. Playing well in finals and making an impact the way we did also provided a level of satisfaction. But I was neither elated or shattered by us making the preliminary final and subsequently losing. The present compeditiveness of the team certainly encourages me, but as a supporter who has seen us make it to and lose numerous preliminary and grand finals, just making a preliminary final doesn't seem a particularly victorious occasion. Love the simmering ruthlessness that Goodwin has bought and the team are embracing. The MFC has unfinished business until we bring home that next premiership and it can truely be a Grand Old Flag once more.

The Bulldogs comparison is pretty tenuous. If you look back to the 90s and early 2000s era, we always had heaps more supporters than them, so should have a much bigger base from which to build.

I agree Chazz, why my was that assessment that we were dominated for only 60% of the game. We played similar games against Hawthorn and Sydney last year where we put in a brilliant first quarter and then let the game go to crap from there. Not saying that will nessasrily be a cronic problem for us again this season based on one JLT performance, but probably a good issue to have highlighted in the preseason and not to be bitten in the season proper. ...for whatever can/can't be read into a practice match. It's interesting to note just how our demeanor as a supporter group has changed in just the space of 12 months, if we had have put in a similar performance at the same stage last year I think a lot more would have been made of our poor performance in the 2nd and 3rd qrts.

So hard to get a good read on where teams are at this time of year. We lost to one of the top teams last week with a very undermanned team on our behalf. We only lost by 12 points or so, but I think that scoreline really flattered us after we were dominanted for probably 60% of the game and they possibly rested some of their guns in the last quarter which let us back in. Brisbane were pretty good last week and I do consider them to be a capable team on the rise. I expect Brisbane to be playing fairly hard for a win this week to build confidence for the season ahead and get their supporter base energized in much the same way as I believe we selected teams and played JLT to win last year. I actually think a good hard hitout for us this JLT win or lose is exactly what the team needs to keep them grounded and hungry for the start of the regular season. I see danger written all over our first three games of Port, Geelong and Essendon if we go in believing the hype. Learning how to best handle the favourites tag and being hunted every week is the next step in our development and I'm hopeful that with Goody's down to earth demeanor and approach that it's something that we take in our stride in a clinical workman like manner.

So after tonight's game, Essendon finish their JLT series without winning a game. Would it be panic stations if the same thing happens to us?

I don't buy this. My take is playing Preuss in the VFL is actually prioritising his preperation for a potential Rd 1 spot, not straight out demoting him. He plays seniors and gets 25% to 50% time at most in the ruck to further hone his skills and any new ruck strategies, where as in the VFL, you would think he will get more like 75% time in the ruck, whilst still letting Max get one good last chance to blow out any cobwebs and perfect that connection with Gus, Clarry and Harmes. Much smarter move in my book.

...and if we loose 2 out of the first 3 games just watch all those so called 'footy experts' do a 180 and start asking "maybe we have all overrated Melbourne on the back of their finish to last year, because the way they are playing right now, forget top 4, they will be lucky to make the finals" ...which will all still just be as Goody and @In Harmes Way suggest 'Fugazi'. Demonland would go into a total melt down of negativity as well. That's the delayed onset MFCSS in me. That all said, I will be so totally stoked if we have a dream start to the season and give ourselves a great platform from which to solidify a top 2 - 4 position over the rest of the season in a manner like West Coast did last year. The has been one or two occations that I recall in my lifetime which the MFC had a good start to the season and we're sitting on top of the ladder after half a dozen games or so - gee that was a nice feeling at the time. Must say I like the approach of this article in predicting ranges where they think teams will end up. So much can happen during the course of the season, that only fools would think they could pick the exact ladder position that most teams could finish. The safest bet would probably have been for GC and Carlton to finish last and second last, but right no, St Kilda look like they might even enter that mix as well.

All the advertising types would say they really care about it being held at night. I agree that our guy Gil 'man of the people' is trying to soften everyone up into sliding a night GF onto the fixture under the cover of darkness.

Keilty could be another good backup option for Weid. Tim Smith was also pretty good in the game against the Pies and plays his role pretty well.

A strong chance next week you would think, but I think they will face an uphill battle for Rd 1. You would think that Petty in particular will push for selection at some stage, but it will be tough for him to break into our elite defense unless we have significant injuries (touch wood). Whilst like you I liked what I saw, I do also wounder if his performance was somewhat inflated by playing on the 3rd or 4th key forward for the Tigers. Too small a sample size for me on Keilty, but did show some promise. Preuss is still ahead of him as No.2 ruck, but good to have another potential option to keep the pressure on Preuss. Also, based on his lack of athleticism Preuss will likely require we play another alternate second ruck in the event that Gawn misses a game through injury, so good to have that up our sleeve.

Not completely dismissing the one fairly good year that he had in his Brownlow yeah, comparing to Woewodin is a pretty low bar. Todd Viney was an absolute bull of a midfeilder over his career and there are plenty of others during that era that make a better benchmark than Woewodin.

Was glad to see Hawthorn fairly comprehensively out scored by Brisbane yesterday.

Many of the same observations. Clarry a gun, Gus is a clearance machine and all round ball magnet. I thought Hore’s disposal was pretty average. Petty really impressed me. I wounder if it was more that he got the 3rd or 4th key forward and that they didn't give Petty the appropriate respect, but I still thought he was excellent in just about every contest that he got to and I don't think you can ask more than that. Yeah ANB was underwhelming, but he has the runs on the board and I'm not panicking about him yet - still pretty much a Rd 1 lock I would have thought. Asides from missing most of our best back six, I thought AVB left a huge hole. The way he bashes and smashes and breaks lines through the middle and forward half of the ground is very valuable to our game plan. Having him and players like Jones and Lewis would have made a big difference to the way we moved the ball out of the backline and through the middle part of the ground. Big Maxy often provides a pretty good option out of defense which was missing yesterday. I was disappointed that asides from Petty, pretty much all of our second string players were pretty average overall, but out of them, I thought that Smith did ok and JKH looked all right in patches. Something which I think also makes it pretty hard to get a read on the respective team and individual player performances in these games is where guys are at in their preperation and how much ground time they are given.

I'd just about bet my house on him playing somewhere in the ballpark of 8 - 16 games. It's not about him being the best ruckman in the league and more about the chop out that he will give Max. Max is an athletic freak for a guy his size, but many of the teams we will play this year will play two against him and he will be shot by Rd 15 if we don't provide some way of giving him a break. Preuss is a very different beast to Max (with beast being an appropriate way to describe him), but he can still add heaps of value to the team. If he can get in there and smash a few bodies around like big Mumford does for GWS, then that would be handy. Conversely he has spent quite a few years on an AFL list to accumulate all those 8 games, with Goldstein who was a pretty capable ruck being there as a mentor. Still rucks do typically take a lot longer to develop and hopefully the change of scenery will do him good.

almost excited to see how we go in our first half serious game of 2019

It's also a great opportunity for some of our fringe players to start building a case for round 1 selection. Expecting those guys in particular to go pretty hard at it.

Yeah, ok. Understand. Will be interesting to see if 360 do stick with Lewis or pass the baton elsewhere as you suggest. Whilst I think there are other Melbourne guys like T Mac as you suggest and Max who would go quite well in this type of role, I think Lewis does it quite well and I'm happier for him to do it and let the others just focus on footy for now. I actually also quite like Lewis on 360, he shoots pretty straight, says something when it's actually worth saying and doesn't come across like an attention seeker like Jack Riewoldt.

So out of a 360 team which includes Robbo, Gerard Wheatly and Jack Riewoldt - you think Lewis is cringeworthy and should be booted off?

As much as it is a contemporary footy cleché, you don't have to be in the official leadership group to be a leader and I think Mc Donald fits this. Having such and mature level head to anchor our forward line up one end and likewise in Steve May, Nev and Hibbo up back is a great thing.

Nth play Freo sometime soon don't they? Assuming Nth knock them off, then wouldn't we still be a sneaky chance if we were to win everything from here? It wouldn't be the MFC way for us to be in the box seat heading into finals.

Well, we are not Richmond supporters, so we don't need one of those cheap plastic microwavable ones. The paper version's will burn much better in the Mt Bulla ski lodge fire places. That all said, perhaps this is a tactical move on behalf of the club. The sacrificial membership card microwaving seemed to be just the tonic to bring on a Tigers premiership, so perhaps someone should organise a mid season bonfire of MFC membership cards?

Re Clary and Gus no sugar thing, I recall that big Maxy has gone on a few preseason health and fitness benders, so if this no sugar thing translates into their form in a similar fashion to Max, then we could have one hell of a midfeild this season. The thought of our mids taking their game up another level this year is a tantalizing and very real possibility. Not only do they already have such a good base of ability, but you can really sense the hunger and desire to keep improving and take no prisoners attitude amongst them as well.

Yeah, maybe, but of so it's the wrong strategy. I want Viney the Gremlin, put him in water and have a whole team of them.

My recollection was that Dyson certainly had some wepons, but would not have been among our best onballers at the time. One of those players that was almost but not quite a gun.