Bring-Back-Powell

In 2017. We beat St Kilda at Marvel and then Carlton at the MCG. A most impressive start under Goodwin. Then lost the next 3. I think St Kilda are made of the right stuff this year and a bit of adversity such as backing up from the wet weather on a 6 day break won't bother them.

Because we're accepting international travelers in a few weeks and the virus will no doubt be imported back into the community given this state's track record.

Oliver's not a free agent so I would be fascinated what Carlton could offer us in return, or any club for that matter. Oliver's a once in a generation midfielder at our club and it would be an absolute disaster to lose him. And Trac will be out the door when he hits free agency at the end of next year if we miss finals once again.

If we start the season 3-1 I reckon we’ll play finals as it would’ve meant we’ve beaten a probable top 4 side in St Kilda and/or Geelong AND we then have a month of footy against last years bottom 8 sides from round 7. (although you could argue it’s the bottom sides and the lack of respect we show them that is the main cause for us missing finals under Goodwin) 13 wins will get us in. 12 with a good percentage.

Enjoy the game mate. Hopefully we put in a better performance than the last 2 disasters at Manuka.

Two weeks in a row Max will be playing on basically nobody. Last week he was playing on a debutante and this week he's playing on a SANFL journeyman with a sprinkling of Shaun McKernan. I'll be disappointed if he goes 0/2 to start the season against far inferior opposition.

Is that the same player that once got a 37 possession 3 goal game playing as an inside mid?

Well done to Lord Nev for his inside word about the Harmes injury. Harmes has been off the boil for a while now and may have been in contention to be dropped for Viney anyway.

He also played in the guts in the last couple of centre bounces and looked very unhindered.

People were excited because we re-signed a capable goal kicker. Hunt kicked 21 goals in 2019 and ended the 2020 season with a 4 goal performance. Any idea why one of our more naturally talented goal kickers and reliable set shot for goal isn't a forward this year?

I guess so. His most recent game before round 1 was round 18 2020...

Two out of his last 3 games he’s had an influence on the result. Against GWS late last year he kicked 2 goals including a massive set shot from 50 in the last qtr to give us a great chance of winning. Then on the weekend he had a hand in a few goals and his passing and pressure was excellent for a small forward. Hopefully his good games start outweighing his bad and we might have a player on our hands.

I'm sure it's been mentioned earlier in this thread but clearly a 3 week suspension would be ideal given we play them in round 4.

Given that the highest crowd to see a St Kilda V Melbourne game at Marvel was 40,000 in round 4 2005 (when we were 3-0) I think there will be GA available. This match up usually attracts the high 20's and hardly any MFC fans bother showing up. I would assume 30,000 of St Kilda's 50,000 members will turn up at most, meaning there would still be 13,000 tickets up for grabs. I would be flabbergasted if 13,000 MFC members turn up to Marvel.

Channel 7 news reported on Saturday night that Viney played the full 4 quarters.

I agree that he misses too many set shots but he did steady the ship in the third quarter with a lovely set shot that went through. Is on track for a 45-50 goal season if he plays all games which would be a very solid result. If however he has continued 5 possession 0 goal games then he should be sent down to Casey.

Clearly at the moment but the older one did snag a 37 possession 3 goal game in 2018. The regression of Angus has been fascinating (a bad fascinating). On topic, i can’t recall having a better full back at the club than Steve May. He was brilliant in 2020 and his 2019 was also pretty good once he got on the park for those 7 or 8 weeks. You can tell he is hungry for finals as much as any other player on the list.

If Oliver wanted out at the end of the year it would be a lot harder to cross to the team of his choice as opposed to being a free agent - would it not? I'm expecting a 2 year extension but that's contingent on us not having a disastrous year and Oliver being happy with the coaching staff and his football in general.

Dangerfield is an esteemed member of the AFL boys club. Can see him getting off the entire charge.

We're up against Butler, Higgins and Lonie and you want to drop our most credentialed small defender?

Agreed. He'd be very border line to be dropped this week. Picking Weideman as a top 10 draft pick could shape Taylor's legacy either way. You should expect top 10 draft picks to be absolute guns and the jury is in the balance with Weid.

I think May takes Max King. Was fantastic on him last year. Tomlinson probably takes Membrey which is a slight concern.

I would say Membrey is the most of our concerns. Was near BOG yesterday with 3 goals and has forever kicked bags of goals against us.

That's a joke right. These people are paid to report on a football match and to not put the two most influential players on the ground is bizzare.

I actually give us more of a chance to beat GWS and Geelong than St Kilda. After 12 months of denial, I’ve come to the realisation that St Kilda are a high quality side that is well coached and has significant depth. I expect to them to finish top 4.