CHF

Loving this.... problem is it is so good I am forgetting to drink.....

Good team play. We are asking the questions of Richmond and they are not finding any answers. Will be interesting to see how each team resets in the second half....

Richmond asked us a few big questions in that quarter and we had the answers. We will get to ask a few questions of our own before this game is done.....

Game starts at 11.25 am my time and I will be watching.... Too early for a drink or 7?

It is a great game to get. a real feature of our fixture calendar. I cannot help but smile at this season's ANZAC day 'blockbuster' with 14th Vs. 16th on the ladder and little hope of either making the finals.

The game this weekend will not make or break our season. We will either be 6-0 or 5-1 with more than 2/3 of the season to come. Make no mistake, I want us to win and believe we have the players and game to do so. However, win or lose, I will be most interested in our team/players reaction to the result. After the game is done and dusted, I want the players and coaches to do what they appear to have been doing all season so far. Turn our attention immediately to the fixture next week and prepare fully and properly. No matter who we have coming up. So far this season we have met every challenge by ensuring we are ready when the ball is bounced. I want the same thing each week.

True that.

There has been a lot of talk over many years about our lack of ability to develop our young players. However, I found it interesting that at the first bounce on Sunday we had Petracca, Oliver and Kossie at Max's feet while Hawthorn had Mitchell, O'Meara and Wingard in the center square. Our three have all been developed in house via the draft and the Hawk's three were all imported as mostly finished articles from other clubs. It has to be recognised that we have had access to a lot more early draft picks than Hawks. having said that, out talent spotting has been very good in the drafts. Kossie and Oliver were considered as 'brave' picks. Petracca fell into our laps because of the Saints preference for a forward. In defence it is different. We have an imported defence with Hibberd, Lever, Tomlinson and May. !7 of last week's team of 23 came to us through the draft and been developed in-house. Given the way we are travelling, our development of mids is very good but it seems we need to import key defenders. In all other areas of the ground except for the wings we have developed our players very well over the last 5 years or so. Maybe with Yze and Williams joining Goodwin they have all added some polish to the almost finished goods.

Would love to be a fly on the wall during the selection meeting this week. First name confirmed will be Jones, and deservedly so. Has been great for the club in difficult times and I think the role he has played in mentoring a number of young players has been tremendous. His influence on this list will be felt for many seasons. May in for Petty if he is 100%. don't risk him and leave Petty in place if there is any doubt. I don't think Fritsch will be ready for this week. Wiedeman in for M Brown and B Brown to have another run at Casey to get him in trim to face the Roos. The only other change that I can see might happen is that we may rest Jordon if it is required. Swap Sparrow in and have Jordon as Sub.

Thought I would bump this as we are travelling a bit better than expected at 5-0 with the next 4 fixtures confirmed. ROUND 6 - Richmond at the MCG. NM our R7 opponents play Freo in WA on the same day. Tough game, Big game. - Winnable ROUND 7 - NM in Tassie with them coming back from WA and then travelling to Tassie. R8 opponent play Geelong in Sydney - Very winnable, disappointed if we lose. ROUND 8 - Sydney at the MCG. travelling to Melbourne. Our R9 opponent, Carlton have a tough game against Bulldogs on the same day we play. - We should account for them. ROUND 9 - Carlton at the MCG. Love to win all 4.

5-0. Looks good to me. 5 rounds in…. 5 wins…. 20 premiership points. Second spot on the ladder. That is as good as it gets at this stage of any season. At my stage of life, I have a hell of a lot more long winding road behind me than open road in front of me. On the well worn, dusty path that has been my journey thus far I have done a myriad of different things, lived, worked and travelled to a bunch of different places on our earth however it seems that always as a constant has been my support of the Dees. As it is for me, it is for the Melbourne Football Club; there is a long and winding road behind and an open road in front. Never has the phrase “one game at a time” been more pertinent for this list. They look to be ticking off each game and then settling in for the next challenge no matter what the past results may have been. How good is it – Last week a win over the cats, this week a win over the hawks and next week the possibility of a trifecta with a win over the tigers. Makes me smile to think about it the possibility. The Musketeers did the job on Hawthorn. Hawthorn asked a few questions of us for the first half, and we had the answers. Second half, we asked the questions, and they had no answers. Great game from Max and I was interested to hear Goodwin say in his presser that it is Max that calls the shots on the ground as to when Jackson rucks and when he does. It is working well. 4th quarter was Musketeer Time. The whole team swashed a few buckles. Loved it And so, to the Round 6 encounter with the Tigers at the G on Saturday evening in the match of the round. Richmond have been very good for a long time and have a mature, well drilled team with a few players that are exceptional. However, it is hard to know what to make of their form so far this season. They won against Carlton, Hawthorn and St. Kilda as you would expect but dropped a game at the G against Sydney and a close one against Port interstate. Not exactly encouraging for Tiger fans. I want these 4 points to ensure that we put another game into the gap between the two sides and to preserve the winning run. The facts: We are coming off a win at the G against the Hawks- Advantage us. We were not up to standard for the first half – Advantage them They had a big win over the Saints at Marvel - Advantage them They have a few extra days rest. – Advantage them Problem areas of the game for us (yep, we have a few problem areas to address after the game on Sunday): I love the confidence in the team. They are confident in their teammates, confident in the structures that are in place and confident in their ability to run out games. This was evident in the game on Sunday. They worked the way they needed to, made adjustments that were required on the run and ran over the top in the last. Our defensive structure passed the test with Petty slotting into May’s spot and, once he picked up the pace of the game and settled, he was effective. He will be better for the run and if May is not 100% will be an adequate tall defender with Tomlinson and Lever around him. I was mildly surprised to see Jetta dropped in favour of Hibberd, but one that I supported. It was a good call with Hibberd producing an excellent game. A big test for our defenders this week with one of the best performed forward structures of recent times up against them. Riewoldt, Lynch and Martin in the forward area says it all. I think we can contain them if we break even in the middle. They have a very good midfield that is consistent across the board. Graham, Edwards and Castagna all give excellent drive out of the center and all are dangerous when given a sniff at a goal. For us, Oliver, Viney and Landon can, in my opinion, match and beat that lot. Dusty for them and Trac for us are the X factor in the midfield mix. Both are explosive players that can play through the middle and can move forward to kick goals. Which of these will have the most influence? Hard to predict. Max and Luke sharing the ruck duties last week and both had a lot more hitouts that McEvoy. Up against Nankervis this week will be a test, but I leave it to Max to call the shots during the game and use his smarts. Now for the forwards……. The good; we kicked a winning score last week. Different players bobbed up at different times and it all came together in the last. The bad; Our forward pressure, or lack thereof in the first half. The ugly; connection issues between mids and forwards in the first 2 quarters It is going to be a three cheese platter night at the selection table this week with the main focus on the forward structure and who to play there. I do not think Fritsch will be fit this week, but we have a couple of fit, in form tall forwards that it would be nice to find space for but not at the expense of our present forward structure. I would bring in one of Wiedeman or B Brown for M Brown. Mitch was good but the other two provide more of a threat to Richmond. Which ever way we go, I think we have the firepower and flexibility up front to cause a few problems for the defenders. Prediction? With confidence I predict a Demons win. Margin? 5 goals. The bandwagon has hit the road….. the open road, not the long and winding one. Purring along and gathering speed. Plenty of seating for all…. Hop on board.

Watching the start of the Richmond/Saints game makes me think we need to have the height of Petty in the game this week to settle him into the structure for next week.

Fritsch out for a couple of weeks at the same time as May for this week's match means that we will be testing the structures at both ends of the ground. I can see Petty coming in for May but that might just depend on how the coaches see the Hawks presenting in their forward 50. We might just see Hibberd as better for this game. It will be an interesting selection that will tell us a bit about our approach to the game. With the unavailability of Fritsch, the selection meeting might need to munch through a second cheese board as they discus the best replacement.. A lot of questions to ask themselves. Goodwin has stated that BBB and Weid will play VLF this weekend and one question will be around the match fitness of these two. Is Mitch Brown in the frame? Do we shuffle Melksham forward and go with mids rotating forward? For me I would like a look at Jordon to replace Fritsch And leave the rest of the forward structure as it is for this round. Maybe bring in Chandler to replace Fritsch and rotate both Kossie and Spargo for short stints in the middle. Kossie for his quickness and imagination and Spargo for his tackling and hardness.... yes I said hardness.... Over the last couple of pre-seasons Spargo has built his body very well and now presents as a good, creative tough player. Still backing the win and, on the basis of our good structures and attitude, Still going for a 5 goal margin.

Yeah RtG, I can fully understand your trepidation. I also agree with you vision of Mitchell and the influence he can have but so far this season we have not been deterred from playing the game the way we want to. We have to a great extent imposed ourselves on the games we have played and done so as a team. It will take a team effort across the ground from all players to beat us and I do not see the Hawks having that depth of commitment so far this season.

4-0 4-zero 4- nil 4-zip 4 – nada I do like the look of that. The 4 is so important as is the figure 16 for the points we have thus far. I also like the number 8 which is the points break we have over a number of the pre-season ‘contenders’. And there is 2 which is our position on the ladder. 4 rounds, 4 wins and 16 premiership points in the bank. I watched it live via streaming and a few times I found myself thinking back to my childhood. As a young lad I just loved to go to the Saturday matinee that was on at the local cinema with my mates during the summer holidays. There was always a really good B grade adventure movie on. A western, a pirate saga or a good war story. All good, but my favourite was always the Musketeers. Damn they were good. Always having fun, Always getting into problem places only to be helped out by one of their other three mates. The backyard games after a Musketeers movie would find us with our sword sticks in hand giving a battle cry of “ALL FOR ONE – ONE FOR ALL!!” followed by a charge into Mum’s flowerbed to decapitate the hydrangeas. God, I got into trouble for that. The Melbourne Musketeers out played the Geelong Flowerbeds in Round 4. We had a musketeer troop in each area of the ground. They supported each other, exerted the pressure needed, were well lead and looked good doing it. It was another 4 points, but I find these points the sweetest of the season so far. And so, to the Round 5 encounter with the Hawks at the G on Sunday afternoon. What to say about the Hawks? Well, they have not been great so far this season. In all truth, I have to admit that I have not followed them all that closely. Saw a little of their game yesterday and while they have a couple of handy performers, they also have a lot of ordinary performers. Clarkson did a great job as a rookie senior coach when he first went there but personally, I think he has run his course. I look at them and see a very ordinary list playing to expectations. The facts: We are coming off a win at the G against the Flowerbeds - Advantage us. We still do not look to be playing to our potential – Advantage them They had a loss over in WA and have the flights to contend with. - Advantage us Howe injured for them and Lewis rubbed out, May out for us. - No advantage either way (maybe a bit for them with our loss of May) Problem areas of the game for us (not sure that this is the right terminology given the wins we have had): After four matches this season we are seeing a very different team performing in the red and blue than was running around last year. My observations are that the players seem to be very clear on their primary roles, playing them confidently and executing well. They also look to be responding to the on-field situation with more awareness. Well done to the coaching staff if this is the case as they look to have made the message simple and straightforward. A bit like the way we are playing at the moment. Defence, I was a bit worried about in the first quarter when Lever dropped a couple of simple marks that he would normally snaffle. However, once May went off early in the second, Lever rose to the occasion and did not just cut out errors from his game but took the leadership role in that area of the ground and did a great job with his troop of Musketeers. Next week will test our structure down back with the introduction of a new tall defender into the system. Looks as if it will be Petty and I do not mind that. I know I am down on Jetta a bit but I think Clarkson is just the sort of opposition coach that will come up with a plan to exploit Jetta’s limitations. Loved the way that they adjusted to May’s absence. Hunt is in great form. Hawks have a few good players in the middle but they will have a problem or three covering all of Oliver, Petracca and Viney and getting their own drive from the center. O’meara and Mitchell are the main threats in the middle and they will need to work hard to dictate terms. If we get the ascendancy there and put them on the back foot so they are reactive rather than proactive then that is the game right there. These three along with the support players are doing the job very well. Langdon is a great pickup for us and, as someone on this board observed, he and Hunt seem to feed off each other and I love the sight of the two of them running the wing. Max and Luke sharing the ruck duties is working well. The fixtures could not have been better for us with the teams we have met so far having not a lot of ruck talent to go against us. This has allowed Max to move around the ground as required covering defence as required and also moving forward to give an extra dimension to the forward structure. It has also allowed Luke to get some good experience and time in the ruck. If the mids keep to the Musketeer’s philosophy and play well and support each other, then we should dominate this area. Now for the forwards……. We have to include discussion of them you know….. The good; we kicked a winning score last week. Fristch with 4 (there is that number again… Fristch to get 5 this week?) The bad; This is a tough one…… The bad (for Geelong and I hope for Hawks) our forward pressure across the forward 50. The ugly; Fristch’s hair Good to be in the situation where our two missing key forwards are back playing and we are in no rush to get them back in the team. What a luxury it is to be able to nurture them to full fitness via Casey. I will be interested to see who the poor man’s Jayden hunt is sent to cover. Frost on TMac, Fristch? I just see our troop of forward Musketeer’s having too much flexibility for the Hawks defence. We have pressure forwards to tackle and harass, we have a lot of flexibility to rotate players through there to get the matchup we want to try and exploit and we are getting more accurate. Last week I predicted a 3 goal win and later revised it upwards to 5 goals and we won by 4. This week I do not want to get ahead of myself so I am going conservative and predicting a win to the Dees by 5 goals. The bandwagon is parked in the driveway, the red and blue livery polished to perfection and the bathwater steamer bubbling away. There are plenty of vacant seats on board at the moment but I am sure with 5-0 against our name the seats will fill fast. “All for one and one for all!”

No problems with the selection. I would have gone differently and I may have has Jetta in the firing line. The selectors, I will give the benefit of the doubt to as I am sure they know a bit more than me. With the way the results have gone this is a big game for us. A win will give us a two game break over a few of the fancied teams including WC, Tiges and cats.

A bit of an update on my preview and prediction – There is talk over at the Kardy park site that OÇonnor with a hard tag on Oliver will cause Oliver to lose it and lash out and give away frees. I believe that he will learn from last week and more play the ball – really revert to ‘see ball – get ball’ and let the tag take care of itself. Early in last week’s game he got a few frees for holding and although he did not get a lot of possessions, he still had 3 center clearances by halftime. I will back him to come back from his first half last week. If I was a Cats supporter I would be more concerned about Selwood’s reaction to a possible Viney tag/run with. I still smile to myself recalling Hawkins with the ball in front of goal having to give it up for a free on the wing because Selwood lost it on his way to the bench. I am sure our players will remind him of that incident at the proper time. Midfield match ups will be interesting. Interesting to see what they are at the first bounce and how they evolve during the game. If Kossie is at the first bounce, who will the cats put on him? I think our midfield will win out and expose Geelong on the open space of the G. Revising upward my initial winning margin of 3 goals to 5 goals.

I think that the cats will look to tag Clarry with OÇonnor'. OÇonnor has done a couple of very good tagging jobs on critical opposition mids in the last couple of weeks and as an advantage, is a strong defender if Clarry were to move forward to try and negate the tag. I could see a matchup of Petracca and Gurthrey. Not as a tag but with a run with player. I am sure Goodwin would back Petracca to win that encounter. Whichever one is on top in the encounter would force the other to try and break the matchup. if Guthrey gets off the leash I would look at either Viney or Sparrow to move on to him and apply a stronger tag. The midfield matchups and battle will be an interesting highlight to the game. We need to play that area of the game on our terms.

I was looking through our player stats for the first 3 rounds on the AFL site and found some interesting bits and pieces. The top 6 for disposal efficiency on the team are all defenders. Of the recognised defenders only Hunt is not there at #12. For total effective kick numbers 5 of the top 6 are defenders with Hunt at 9 and Jetta at 20 Kick effectiveness has 6 of the top 7 places for defenders. In all a good picture being put together by the defenders. A couple of other things caught my eye. pressure acts - Jordon #3, Sparrow #4 and NB #5 in the team to date with Kossie and Spargo #7&8 Tackle numbers - Jordon #1 - Sparrow #4 - Jetta #22.

Smokey, I have done these previews the last few weeks and will try to continue to knock them out each week. I do them because I am a Demon tragic and I enjoy it. I find that it also makes me think a bit more about the game. All good really.

I looked at the Accuweather forecast and it did not look to be too bad. A bit breezy in the morning with a 25% chance of rain.

I do not expect too many changes to the team this week. After all, it is a winning team. I would like to see Jetta replaced in defence. 66% game time for 9 possessions and zero tackles is not what I want to see from him. I might be tempted to bring in Bowey. Give him a taste and see how he goes. There has also been talk about possibly Melksham for Sparrow. Not for me. Sparrow made more tackles and defensive efforts last week than Melky did the whole of last season.

Thank you.....

WOW! 3 rounds, 3 wins and 12 premiership points in the bank. It is so long since we have experienced such a high position on the ladder this early in the season it is giving me nose bleeds. As a matter of fact, I have experienced some Demon seasons where we have not realised 12 points for the whole 22 rounds. We played GWS last round and, it has to be said that they suffered three critical game ending injuries to leading players. This, of course, made it very difficult for them. So what? It happens. I will take the points and celebrate the win and I do not see anywhere an asterix besides the 4 points that explains the situation. Sing the song, celebrate the win, and move on the next round. And so, to the Round 4 encounter with the [censored] ( I had no idea that 'Puss ies" was censored) at the G on Sunday afternoon. Don’t be surprised if Geelong do not turn up on Sunday. I mean that literally, not metaphorically. Since records were first kept, when the [censored] supporters saw the Dees fixture on the season list they just assumed it was a home game at Kardy Park. Do not be surprised if, an hour before the game, a bunch of their supporters turn up at the ground from the pub only to realise that the game is being played elsewhere. A few of the dimmer players might also turn up there. The facts: We are coming off a win in Canberra and are full of confidence. Advantage us. We did not make the most of our good play last week. Advantage them. They had a hard-fought win against the hawks and have one less day to recover. Advantage us They have no Dangerfield and that other bloke that is the worst sort of sniper/king hitter I have seen for some time. Advantage us Problem areas of the game for us: Strange to think that we are 3-0 with a patched up forward structure and have not really put it all together in a game yet. Does that say more about us, or the teams we have played? Defence was a bit patchy on Sunday. It held together but did not look as confident as it has in the recent past. There were a few dropped marks that should have been taken and I was very nervous each time Jetta was called upon to step up. He started on Toby and was left standing and watching a few times before May moved to him. Nev had jut 67% game time for 9 disposals and zero tackles. Not what you want from a defender. On the plus side in defence Hunt had a blinder. In the past I have subscribed to the old maxim that it is all about the midfield but I might have to say that in this game it will be the defence that needs to perform against a mature, well structured attack. May has a big job to do on Hawkins. We had problems in the midfield against GWS. Oliver copped a heavy tag as was not able to work it out. The coaches moved him forward where he managed to get his hands on the ball but butchered the three set shots. Petracca had a reasonable game but I wondered after the game if the heavy tag on Oliver also affected Petracca’s game. I have noticed that the seems to feed off each other in games. Will be interesting to see how that situation develops. I like the way that we are developing the games of Sparrow and Jordon. Both had only 66% game time last week with Jordon really delivering. This week they will come up against a good midfield team but I believe we will come out on top of them. Smith against Langdon as a match up? Gutherie and Selwwood will need to be contained. Ah yes, now for the forwards……. The good; we kicked a winning score last week. Kossie with 4 The bad; that midfielder’s set shots for goal The ugly; TMac’s disappearance for a lot of the game Well, I have to say that Kossie is a great pickup. 4 goals taken with excitement and flare. And….. he is ours….. Fristch found his kicking boots and looked like he was having fun out there and giving the opposition players a bit as well. It is not the forward structure we thought we would be running with in the pre-season but we still manage to find avenues to goal each week. I hope we do the same this week. I predicted a 6 goal win last week and missed by a couple of points. This week I think it will be tighter than last week with the older more experienced [censored] pushing the whole way. 3 quarters of an arm wrestle with us winning out in the last by 3 goals. If we go to 4-0 I can imagine that there will be a few more heads turning our way in the media and the other teams. OK. I’ve dusted off the bandwagon, polished the fading paintwork, given it a tune up and topped up the fuel tank with premium bathwater. Another win and it will trundle out into public for the first time since the beginning of 2019 season.

Well, I am off to bed. The game starts at 10.10 tomorrow morning my time. So at halftime I put on the leg of lamb and it will be good timing to have lunch and a glass or seven of a Tuscan red to celebrate the win. 6 goal win.