Whispering_Jack

Happening soon. We would normally have opened it by this time in past years but this year, we remained in the race for the finals a little longer and felt the interest in trades and drafting wasn't as strong. Give us a few days to think of an appropriate name for the board.

Can we fit them all in. Hogan = Jono Brown, Hulett = Pav and Weed =Tom Lynch. I believe that Pav won his first AA as a full back in 2002 so perhaps Hulett could play there?

Leaving aside, Jesse's knee, the only injuries we have at the moment are the mystery injuries of the week and we don't know about them yet.

There have been so many occasions in the past when we have lost games such as this one but for once we won "ugly". It's a concern but this is a young team that's showing signs of tiring as the year draws to a close. I would like to see some of them rested a couple at a time over the coming few weeks and others brought in to give them an opportunity to show if they have what it takes. It would seem that the die is cast for some but for others like Sam Weideman and Clayton Oliver their time is coming.

There's a six day break before next week's game, we have a lot of tired players in need of a rest and a good few put their hands up at Casey yesterday. Surely, there will be changes this week?

The pair have hardly been able to audition for anyone over the past two seasons because they've been out injured most of the time. All that considered they come with very high price tags. Is taking one of them worth the risk?

It's true that we have "stuff all" injured players ATM. They are H Lumumba (IMO unlikely to be at the club next year), Mitch King (ACL & no games yet) and M White (rested). You can add J Melksham (suspended). However, of the remaining players not in today's side is a wealth of age and experience that has limited tenure remaining at the club and a nice little group of players with enormous promise for the future. This is a reflection of what appears to be a deliberate plan to put more games into the legs of some of our younger players with the objective of giving Simon Goodwin the best possible chance of driving his team into finals calculations when he takes over the reins next year. We have IMO sacrificed the possibility of winning games this year by not selecting those older heads (especially in recent games) but please, let's not hear any jokes about it because that could land us in hot water.

You can view the replay here.

On current form, this could well be our last chance for a win this season so here's hoping that we make the most of it.

Interesting that the top three possession getters didn't make the best players. I know Oliver's still very much an inside player and the club wants him to become a more well rounded footballer but surely he's done enough to earn a recall for next week when Melbourne comes off yet another six day break?

I assume Mitch White is either being rested or is the mystery injury of the week?

Problem was that one of them always seemed to be out with an injury which meant that we didn't get to see them all that often as a forward combination. Added to that was the fact that we weren't strong in the rucks and roving divisions so our delivery into the forward line was generally poor. These guys could otherwise have been sensations had we had more depth around the ground on those days.

The initial invitation list of players for this year's AFL Draft Combine has been issued. This is the list of 80 players who will be going through the hoops at Etihad Stadium a week after the Grand Final:- NSW/ACT (11): Isaac Cumming Benjamin Davis Sam Fisher Ryan Garthwaite Max Lynch Harrison Macreadie Todd Marshall Kobe Mutch Harry Perryman Will Setterfield Zachary Sproule Northern Territory (3): Ben Long Tony Olango Brandan Parfitt Queensland (6): Jacob Allison Jack Bowes Elliot Himmelberg Brad Scheer Declan Watson Josh Williams South Australia (10): Brennan Cox Jack Graham Will Hayward Mitchell Hinge Ben Jarman Kym Lebois Jonty Scharenberg Tyson Stengle Alex Villis Sam Walker Vic Country (18): Ben Ainsworth Joseph Atley Josh Battle Jarrod Berry Will Brodie Cedric Cox Sean Darcy Willem Drew Jack Henry Bailey Morrish Harry Morrison Hugh McCluggage Mitchell McCarthy Myles Poholke Esava Ratugolea Jy Simpkin Tom Williamson Alex Witherden VFL (1): Luke Ryan Vic Metro (19): Joshua Begley Hamish Brayshaw Callum Brown Dylan Clarke Joshua Daicos Taylin Duman Judah Dundon Oliver Florent Jordan Gallucci Oscar Junker Patrick Kerr Patrick Lipinski Andrew McGrath Jack Maibaum Sam McLarty Jordan Ridley Jack Scrimshaw Tim Taranto Daniel Venables Western Australia (12): Liam Baker Shai Bolton Timothy English Zac Fisher Matt Guelfi Griffin Logue Quinton Narkle Sam Petrevski-Seton Sam Powell-Pepper Joshua Rotham Jake Waterman Cameron Zurhaar

I've said it before but I don't think Clayton Oliver should ever be out of Mdlbourne's team unless injured.

Hang around then. A few Dees are playing in the Development League game afterwards.

Goal to Grimes - Casey back in front.

In 12 months time we win games like that by 5 goals.

Breaking news that Stephen Dank has been shot at home. Apparently just grazed his head. Police ruling out terrorism. ABC Grandstand #BREAKING: Stephen Dank has been wounded in a shooting incident in Melbourne. Several shots fired in Ascot Vale at 2:30am. #AFL

So we've reached that part of the season when nothing much hangs on the result for us and we're playing interstate against a team that we haven't beaten at their ground since just after the turn of the century. We could still show some character and grit and go for the big upset ... couldn't we?

I don't quite see the logic in naming Joel Smith in the starting 18 of both sides.

VDB - mystery injury of the week

The conventional view is that there is no single standout for # 1 in this year's draft crop. Here are the nine most likely.

I suppose it's a really good idea that we have at least one training run at the place - From MFC Twitter OPEN TRAINING: There will be a short open training session on Friday 22 July at Domain Stadium, 12.00pm local time. Enter via Gate 8.

Here's Terry Wallace's first top 20 from AFL Future Stars:- 1. Hugh McCLUGGAGE 2. Will BRODIE 3. Sam PETREVSKI-SETON 4. Jack BOWES 5. Ben AINSWORTH 6. Daniel VENABLES 7. Andrew McGRATH 8. Jack SCRIMSHAW 9. Tim ENGLISH 10. Tim TARANTO 11. Todd MARSHALL 12. Will SETTERFIELD 13. Harry PERRYMAN 14. Josh ROTHAM 15. Dylan CLARKE 16. Brad SCHEER 17. Jordan GALLUCCI 18. Josh BATTLE 19. Jarrod BERRY 20. Jy SIMPKIN

Here are the match stats:- Tomas Bugg 1 goals 15 disposals 3 kicks 12 handballs 11 tackles 77 dream team points Lynden Dunn 26 disposals 17 kicks 9 handballs 5 marks 2 tackles 93 dream team points Colin Garland 26 disposals 15 kicks 11 handballs 7 marks 6 tackles 109 dream team points Liam Hulett 11 disposals 10 kicks 1 handballs 3 marks 2 tackles 49 dream team points Viv Michie 1 goal 23 disposals 13 kicks 10 handballs 3 marks 3 tackles 1 hit out 82 dream team points Alex Neal-Bullen 1 goal 1 behind 37 disposals 19 kicks 18 handballs 2 marks 4 tackles 124 dream team points Ben Newton 2 goals 1 behind 20 disposals 10 kicks 10 handballs 5 marks 7 tackles 103 dream team points Clayton Oliver 24 disposals 12 kicks 12 handballs 3 marks 7 tackles 2 hit outs 90 dream team points Cam Pedersen 1 goal 12 disposals 6 kicks 6 handballs 4 marks 5 tackles 17 hit outs 80 dream team points Jake Spencer 1 goal 20 disposals 8 kicks 12 handballs 3 marks 7 tackles 44 hit outs 139 dream team points Dean Terlich 1 goal 5 disposals 4 kicks 1 handballs 1 marks 4 tackles 37 dream team points Jack Trengove 1 goal 22 disposals 13 kicks 9 handballs 3 marks 8 tackles 2 hit outs 104 dream team points Sam Weideman 12 disposals 5 kicks 7 handballs 4 marks 3 tackles 50 dream team points