Chook

A full rebuild lasts as long as it takes for the best first year player at a club to play his last game at that club. Where that gets you depends on everything that has happened between that player's first game and his last. So for us (Nathan Jones), our full rebuild started in Round 17 of 2006 and will probably last until the Preliminary Final of 2020.

Nick Riewoldt has been very good this year, and I suspect his rankings have been badly hampered by a concussion in one round and a knee injury in another. I'd take a fully fit Riewoldt over any of those other players even now, at his age.

Most notably it was Lord Travis on the Post Match Discussion thread, quoting "a friend who works at the club and can pass on that the coaching staff singled out a few players in the review."

I don't want to get into a nitpick debate either, but I'd rank them: 1 Riewoldt 2 Vince 3 Jones 4 Montagna

I only hope that recent comments on his "uncoachability" have been overstated.

Tired players would open the game up, leading to more scoring, leading to more interchanges.

Cause getting games into youngsters has never gone wrong for us before.

I think the rule should be that no player can take possession of the ball from a boundary throw-in. This stops dreadful throw-ins from resulting in clean possessions.

Brisbane's Daniel Bradshaw. It felt like he always kicked at least six goals against us.

Frawley.

Lumumba is barely serviceable when we're good.

That would have totally fixed everything! 52 years and it's been the supporters' fault all this time!

Yeah...

I can't tell you all how much I want Melbourne to win this game.

Wheel out the fat lady.

Pathetic.

Who's sticking it to a first gamer? People are giving their opinion on a player most people have probably never seen live before. It's only natural.

Calling Petracca a rich man's Toumpas is not like calling him Cale Morton. Toumpas is still getting games. I'm comparing the two based on their playing style. Remember Jack Viney's first game? He looked amazing. Petracca simply looks promising. A bit of history on me. I was a Toumpas defender right up until his trade. I still think he'll make a good footballer. Petracca's better than Toumpas already. Demonland never change indeed!

I waited a whole half of footy! That's longer than most Melbourne supporters wait for.

This is a massive test for us. 5 day break, ground we don't like against an opponent who knows they can beat us. Will our players respond? Everything I know about this club says they won't. Is this "New Melbourne" real, or just a mirage.

People aren't going to like this, but Petracca reminds me a lot of Jimmy Toumpas. A rich man's Toumpas. Slow but with good disposal.

Someone needs to get a runner out to McDonald and say: "Forget about everything else. Just stick to Riewoldt like glue."

Hogan keeping us in this almost single-handed. Give him a blank cheque.

I would.

Those indigenous boys are magic...such pace.