Bring-Back-Powell

Top 6 and one finals win should be their pass mark both internally and externally. Given the talent they've draft and traded in over the last few years, it's time they grew up and played finals.

Given Howes was an emergency as early as round 4 last year, he may be the first to debut, even before JVR (if they opt for only T Mac and BBB in the early rounds).

Outside of JVR and Jefferson, surely Laurie has the biggest upside out of the lot considering he's a first round draft pick in his third year in the system (albeit 2021 was injury riddled). He should be aiming for at least 5 games this year.

Anyone know what the good news is regarding Treloar? Assume he's tracking well for our round 1 game after an interrupted pre season. As for a goal kicking coach, something needed to be done. The second Collingwood loss and the Brisbane final was lost in the accuracy department. One side took their opportunities while the other didn't.

If it's line ball between Burgoyne and Turner, then just go with Burgoyne, if only to keep Kozzie happy. Every 1 percenter counts in regards to Kozzie's decision. (although it sounds like our track watchers aren't impressed with Burgoyne so it's probably not happening)

For those contemplating heading over for Gather Round: Our game against Essendon is now sold out as well as the night cap game between Port and Dogs at the same venue and day. https://www.afl.com.au/news/874724/saturday-double-header-sold-out-in-gather-round/amp

Good end to the week for the club. I don't think we can win a flag this year unless it includes Steven May in the side.

Sounds like his chips are all in for a mid season AFL draft selection.

And hopefully streamed on the MFC website.

Re the Dees V St Kilda game of 6 periods: Guessing the first three to four periods will be an MFC V St Kilda hit out, and the last two to three will be a mostly Casey V Sandy game? Can’t imagine Oliver, Gawn, Trac and co going around for six x 25 minute terms.

Channel 7 news tonight. Before ad break: “Exciting young star small forward taken off the market as he re-signs with his club. During break: *BBP excited* After break: “Dylan Moore from Hawthorn has just re-signed for 3 years” Thanks for getting my hopes up channel 7 😞

I wonder if he needs surgery and they're delaying their decision as late as they can before round 1?

He missed 14 games in 2016. I assume that was due to the thyroid issue?

If you kick 50+ goals in a season and/or make the All Australian 40 squad, you automatically attain A grade status for the following two seasons in my eyes. Fritta achieved both last year (not to mention the 59 or so goals he kicked in 2021!) Who would've thought we would've gotten such a productive forward resulting from the speculative draft pick (mid 30's) we got in exchange for Jack Watts. It's a great story.

Echo that as well. Two clubs we've just had awful problems with under Goodwin (since we've become a highly competitive team) I regret not enjoying the win over Sydney in 2021 more than I did. Our only win in against them in Victoria since 2010.

Trac kicked 26.6 in 2017, his second year. I think that's the season you're thinking of. He also kicked 29.19 in our premiership year which was his second best season in terms of conversion. 19.29 in season 2022 from 24 games was obviously disappointing for a player of his talent, which included a 4 week span of 2.9 from rounds 8-11, and 0.2 in the finals. Hopefully he can get back into the high 20's or even low 30's next year in terms of goal kicking.

Interesting comment below from the SEN article posted. “The concern for all Melbourne supporters is it gets into Luke Jackson territory and becomes a repeat of that which became quite distracting. “I don’t think Kozzie Pickett will get to that point because he’s just a different character to Luke Jackson.

Very brutal way of doing business by the club, if your above assumption is correct. Having said that, nobody will remember the events of today once the season has well and truly fired up by round 5.

Gotta be happy with a game at Casey on a Saturday arvo against a potential contender (especially you live in the outer South East!)

A prelim appearance and one finals win. Two finals wins if we disappointingly miss top 4 after the H&A. Have to question where we are heading under the current regime if we fail to win a final this year and we have a decent run with injuries.

Have we enough money in the till to afford Kozzy?

He most certainly did. One of the most dominant match winning performances I've seen from an MFC player. Was the clear difference in a win or a loss.

Should be in direct competition with Sparrow for that half forward/mid spot if the club decides to implement an integrity of selection policy this season.

Chandler looked promising in a 2021 pre season game against Richmond at Casey kicking 3 goals as a genuine small forward including a clever goal on the boundary. I know it was only a practice match but you don't accidently play well against a mostly full strength side featuring Dustin Martin. He just hasn't been afforded the opportunity at AFL level, and the rare chances he's had, he's only played a 20 minute game coming on as a sub over the last couple of years (although he did have that 4 possession "full" game against Carlton in 2021 which wasn't great). Hopefully for his sake, he gets at least 11 games this year for someone that's been on the list for 5 seasons.

Since the VFL became the AFL in 1990, I’d argue we’ve had the second most dominant finals series to date behind Essendon of 2000. Essendon had an aggregate margin of 230 points and never looked in any doubt at any point of that finals series, while we had an aggregate margin of 190 points with just a slight scare in the middle 2 quarters of the GF before dominating. Whilst Geelong’s 2007 side had an aggregate margin of 230 like Essendon (2000), they had an almighty scare against Collingwood in that years prelim and fell over the line by 5 points. My top 5 dominant finals series since 1990: Essendon (2000) Melbourne (2021) Geelong (2007) Richmond (2019) Hawthorn (2008)