Skuit

The Optimus Prime thing is starting to make more sense. Check this thread if you're in need of an Optimus primer:

#pedomyths

We have to all promise to act surprised when they announce the deal in January.

Hoping Misson can have him up and ready for Round 1 to keep those Cats ferals at bay.

Curious as to why car manufacturers are such common sponsors of AFL clubs? Anyone with some marketing insight care to postulate?

Hey Deemania. The majority of our losses last year could really be put down to in-game lapses where we allowed the opposition to get a run-on over a short period of time. Due to the nature of our defensive systems, it doesn't make all that great a difference whether our 'defenders' are elite or not - as in opposition goals frequently come from defensive or offensive errors up field. This, as supporters, I'm pretty certain we will have to continue to like or lump in 2018. Probably more so. Also, most of our 'elite' back-line was already in place last year - though we have added one truly elite defender to our unit which bumps everyone down a spot and should make a notable difference. Defending against players like Dangerfield and Ablett near goals however takes a special sort of player and approach - which we don't especially have. Of our current crop, Jetta is an elite medium/small close-checking shut-down defender - but Hibberd was deemed AA due to a different skill-set. Our other mediums are offensive half-backs/mids. Geelong are wily operators. If the chips are down, Dangerfield or Ablett will be sent forward with the express intention of isolating our weaker/unsuited defenders. I do like Frost. But Danger will like him even more if he can manufacturer a one-on-one against. Omac in this scenario gives me the willies and it's still pre-season in December. Last year vs Geelong, we went into 3/4 time with a narrow lead and gave up three goals in the first five minutes of the final quarter (to add to the two we leaked in the last two minutes of the third). Game over. And after smothering them for the majority of the day.

My concern is that even if we can run with all of them in the middle at once, both Danger and Gablett have the capacity to break open a game up forward in no time. We don't have that. Yet. Though I believe we will at some stage with Petracca and Clarry.

The AFL.com report said the players will instead complete their training for the year with a football-specific focus. It also said the players were concerned about injuries and the associated loss of conditioning. The players gave their honest feedback in open communication with the club and it responded in sensible manner. All of these points should be considered good things. Further, it has been reported that members of the leadership group themselves raised concerns. I assume that if the co-captains were for the camp then they would have had a bigger sway in convincing the entire group, so I'm going to take it that both Viney and Jones believed the team at large would be better served by pursuing a course of ongoing football-related training. Or should they be considered soft and non-committed to the MFC as well?

I have a generally pretty poor memory of past players. And I often watch Robbo's highlights and look at his comparative stats and wonder why I don't hold him in higher regard. I assume it's because I'm not easily seduced.

On the best-performing selection debate: how can this possibly be determined week to week? JKH for example may be in super-form in the seconds, come in to replace someone not in form in the firsts, and not perform in his promoted role while the demoted player does so in the seconds. Do they swap again? And again and again and again? Goody, at the start of last year at least, demonstrated that he was willing to give blocks of time to players in the senior team when they weren't at their best. This will inevitably lead to players getting games ahead of others while they are under-performing. Some of it may be more naturally talented players returning from injury and building form, but another form of it is generally termed 'development', and it's a fairly common and important facet of running a semi-successful club. I'm glad the players have a supposedly clean-slate. The rest of it is lip-service.

Wow. Does that mean we get to keep Hogan for a while longer?

I actually had to carefully reword my post to ensure Balic's exclusion - but I do think there was a point in that, which relates back to your original response. Based on nothing more than my own personal inner-perceptions, I suspect that many of us may tend to periodically forget that Balic has actual exposed top-level form, which, statistically at least, was fairly impressive for a young player starting out - certainly in comparison to some of our own. Concerns over mental fortitude and a slip if fitness are most certainly valid - and shared by our own footy department (if the offered contract can be considered a gauge) - but the kid can play, and has already proven it in the top-flight - essentially by forcing his way into an established Freo line-up and notably doing so after a long period rehabbing from injury. Harley is currently a wildcard, but objectively, if he can get himself back up to speed and show some early form, he should be right there in the mix competing against some our more established younger players for a surprise spot at the beginning of 2018.

Hey Old Dee. Balic already has a few game under his belt for Freo - including the game against us where he showed quite a bit. I agree Jackson5 - but just to be clear, I've pieced together most of my assessments from those who do attend VFL games and MFC training and provide us with updates, as well as reading between the lines of Plapp's reports.

I think usually at this time of the year most us are looking forward to and speculating on who might make an early AFL debut or feature at some stage for the MFC in the year ahead. (Not so long ago we would have already slotted half of them in our starting 22 by now). But a function of being an actual decent team with some genuine depth and competition for spots is that the number of 2018 debutantes in the red and blue will likely be diminished, and that we should actually be less hopeful to see them happen. As a bit of a present round-up: King: I seriously had to double-check if his name was Max or Mitch. Seems as if they’re ramping up his training this year and he looks in good shape. But is he Gawn’s direct replacement in the event of an injury now, or, despite Watts’s departure, will we continue to attempt to plug the gap like last year in overlooking Spencer? I think the preference atm would be seeing Pedo go number one in the middle and a rejig up forward toward a smaller make-up. Are we already in some trouble if King enters the frame? McKenna: The forgotten man on the list. Arrived with little fanfare and has barely been heard from since. I’m not even certain what position he in fact plays, but from memory it’s somewhere around half-back, where he’d be an especially long way behind in the push for a spot. I doubt that few of us hold even a vague hope that he’ll bolt out of nowhere and be pushing for a place anytime soon. Johnstone: Assumed to be the direct understudy for Garlett as a mercurial pocket type, but by most Casey reports has been largely underwhelming to date in terms of development, with little impact across the year and not much on display in terms of rare, untapped talent. Looks fit in the training photos, but if Garlett were to go down, I imagine there’s plenty of mediums who would be selected for the small pocket role before him. What has to go wrong before he becomes a realistic chance for debut? Keilty: Seems to have been to have been a consistent improver over the back-half of last year in the seconds, yet, despite I assume a number of us here rooting for him a little extra due to his relative’s (brother's?) personal insights on this forum, when you take an objective step back it’s difficult to see where he might force his way in. Has been shuffled around a bit at Casey, I guess as part of his development, but appears to have settled into a back role - to ultimately end up against some stiff senior competition if not currently offering a stand-out trait. The signs are on the positive side, but again, would we have to be in a fair deal of trouble before he was being considered for debut? Filopovich: I really don’t know much about what’s going on here. A raw project still, and a long long way back I would presume? Then there’s our quartet of draftees: I’m not sure if it’s a remnant of a past MFC-conditioned supporter mentality, as well as the usual hope and hype around draft-time, but all of Spargo, Fritsch, and Baker (and to a slightly lesser extent Petty) feel as if in some way closer to a debut than most of those mentioned above – be it needs-based in the case of some extra dash with Baker, or, in reference to Spargo and Fritsch, that our small-medium brigade up front isn’t as quite as settled and proven as our other lines? Obviously, most of this assessment is based on subjective perception and a very limited range of second-hand sources, so I am curious to hear what others may think? In your opinions, who is likely or at least a chance to make their AFL debuts this year with Melbourne and why?

Hey track-watchers - how is Garlett looking this pre-season? No-one ever talks about Garlett. And Tyson? Both had interrupted starts to last year from memory.* *Discussion point partially a hopeful realignment of thread and track.

That would be an amazong coup. But negotiating in this market may be tricky. It's a jungle out there.

Goody: We want to play with a high press, but our defense is getting out-muscled on transition. Macca: Right, give em' to me.

The thing for me is, that while the three named in the forward line looks ugly on paper, I get the sense that they won't all be present together there at a given time, with at least one always pushing up - helping to improve our desperately needed tall/contested marking presence on the wings as well as dragging an athletic defender away from our opposition zone set-ups to better open up our forward line for our poaching medium forwards.

I suggested that this may turn out to be the case before the beginning of last season. A late starter with plenty of time off for injuries who has been improving year on year in the red and blue. It's worth also noting that he didn't face any injury concerns last year after surgery in the off-season (and a heavy senior work-load), and it seems (according to the training reports and photos) that he's reaching peak physical condition for the first time in his career - whether that's due to greater commitment, a longer, sustained period out of rehab, or, the re-modelling of his body shape (though probably a combination of each). On that last point, I find it highly intriguing that all of Hogan, Gawn and Pedders (our three primary talls beyond the defence - although it should be remembered that Pedo is only 193cm) have returned in a similar shape, slimmed-down but ultra-toned and fit - to me, a clear club directive and an obvious effort to increase their mobility and agility. The recruitment of Mark Bradtke only adds to the intrigue, and I get the sense that all three are being transformed into uber-utilities according to some new master-plan. Posters are rightly questioning the top-heavy nature of a forward-line containing all of Hogan, Tmac - who is perhaps already a model for the new body shapes of above (but could do with some extra agility - specifically in relation to his turning circle and reaction times) - and Pedo, with the latter slipping out of projected contention due to I think historical prejudice and the real-life fact that he doesn't kick enough goals as a permanent forward. Yet, he really did impact last year, and I can't see us throwing that potential away. But with Watts's departure, it clears the way for a bit of a rethink, and I've argued previously that we have an odd mix of small-to- mediums who play a bit taller, and talls who in effect lean toward the medium side. Pedo at the moment is the only one who I think can play tall tall up front (outside of Max when he shifts forward), as in can take a genuine pack-park and really out-muscle opponents, as well as also being the best of Hogan, Tomald and himself as regards to agility and applying forward pressure. It makes for an interesting mix. Right now I foresee Gawn and Pedo interchanging ruck and FF duties, Hogan and Pedo mixing it up in CHF/roaming wing roles, and Tmac in a leading-marking Jack Gunston role as a medium-forward (hopefully maintaining his goal-kicking accuracy from last season), taking on Watt's role somewhat as the third mobile tall (with the mids and HHF's inc. Salem to take up the slack and more responsibility in terms of delivery). But then how do you fit in the rest of our mediums and mid-forwards in the forward-line minus Garlett's slot as the only true pocket?

Closest thing we currently have to a wing. Provides a valuable link-up role when running through the middle. I'm super-fond of the kid but he will need to establish himself across the middle or will get usurped by our surplus of developing small-medium forwards as to the HHF role. I have confidence however that he will find his place.

The Salem video: there are several shots of seagulls featured in the first half dozen frames. When the heightened 'snow' comes it strikes as if Christian has trampled all over them in some horrific aftermath. I wouldn't let my kids watch this.

Billy looks like a bubble-wrapped baseball bat.

In Giro's respect, what goes around comes around. Apologies.

Joel MacDonald was with us at the end of 2009. Oops - missed Dees in Oct post above.