george_on_the_outer

Gaff is already too old for our profile. 2 years ago he may have fitted, but regardless the Eagles will throw plenty enough to keep him. The big money for Sloane will come from Sydney, with $900k spare from Tippets retirement. North already had enough to offer Dusty and Kelly bucket loads (but who would want to go there?). Collingwood are all wind....Pendelbury is already the highest paid AFL player, and Treloar will be earning a motzza by now. They won’t have enough left for a player like Lynch.

.......Perhaps we should be chasing big companies like....Jeep, Bingle, Dare chocolate drink, Mission foods, iinet, Jeldwen, Hostplus, Border express......some of them have sponsored the past 5 premiers!

...To play our "bottom 22" players, so that our "top 22" play 3 games less during the year, and win matches toward the end, instead of hitting the wall again when it counts.....

If the Oija board thinks North is going to finish ahead of Collingwood or Freo, then it is connecting with the wrong spirits.

Billy must correct his running style if he is to make it. He takes his first 3 steps sideways, before he accelerates forward. You don't get that much time in AFL level football. As he is taking those first 3 steps he moves the ball in hand from side to side, and as a result cannot get a kick off. It's only when he has "stabilised" that he is able to deliver the ball.

When I was at training not long after the new recruits arrived, I watched Spargo and Petty doing kick to kick. They are different players for different roles, but what stood out for me was the ability of Spargo to hit Petty time and time again on the chest. But not just that, he was doing it both left and right foot. If he is to play mid-field, then the ability to deliver accurately by foot is essential, and it gives the player options on how he does it when they are fluent on either foot ( ala Sam Mitchell). At pick 29 a genuine footballer who can kick is a very viable option. We now have to see how he develops.

Link to SEN with report attached: https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/01/15/gawn-lifts-lid-on-cancelled-preseason-camp/ actual recording is on this page: https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/01/15/how-petracca-stitched-up-teammates-on-night-out-with-nba-royalty/ Report from the Age: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/max-gawn-says-simon-goodwin-probably-felt-like-victim-of-mutiny-after-camp-cancellation-20180115-h0iusn.html

Saw most of the session this morning. And while everyone looks good in pre-season, because there is no pressure and it's all about getting to maximum fitness levels for the season ahead, I made the following observations: * Jones not at the session, although was sighted running strongly before the main group came out. * Viney running laps very strongly, before he went inside. * Brayshaw carrying heavy strapping on hamstring, and was hindered when running, although he competed in all the session and the running drills. * Petty and Balic running laps. * Smith, Spargo, Petty, Kent, Weideman, all in the rehab group with Cross running the drills. None of them can be too far away from joining the main group. Vandenberg not sighted by me, but didn't see this group working for long. * ANB, Bugg and Tom Mc by far the leaders in the running drills, with all 3 trying to get over the line first. Tom Mc eventually grinding them down after half a dozen 400m runs, but ANB held on through the lot. Buggy hitting the wall in the last one, but led the early sorties. * King and Filopovic will be more than adequate back-up for Max. Both can kick the ball ( unlike Spencer) and were in the middle of the pack in the running drills, so are building their endurance to the necessary level. Interestingly, Max is certainly in the top 1/3rd in the running drills. The sprinters like Garlett and Frost struggle with the longer distances, not surprisingly, but would beat most over 100m easily. The surprise is Hunt who is out in the leading pack for distance, and we all know he can turn on the jets as well. Saty, 666, Hardtack and little tacker should have some ripper photos, which we should see later. They would have more if they hadn't gas-bagged on about the merits of various photographic equipment, but hey, who am I to criticise?

....but they did....

BrisbaneDemonFan....... the following article gives the times: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-14/club-cancels-prechristmas-camp " Melbourne will travel to Maroochydore for its usual pre-season camp between January 29 and February 5."

Just bring them in to the area. The staff at the gate won't question you about kids, especially if they are in your arms. If they do then tell them you are heading to the social club area to get a guest pass....

5 years after the event an academic can tell me that Richmond picked better players at the draft than Melbourne....wow!

Pity is that we have to play them in Round 1. By half way through the season Ablett won't be there with some sort of excuse, and Selwood played the latter half of last season like he had lead boots.

Mornings with Michael Christian podcast here: https://www.sen.com.au/programs/mornings-with-michael-christian/ scroll down to item 10 : Glen Bartlett on SEN mornings - Wed December 20

Feb 24 in Alice Springs at 5.40! Does the AFL know what the temperature is like there at that time of year? And on top of a 6 day break coming back from Fremantle, then another 6 day break after the Alice Springs game.

....so the boot camp didn't work last year!

Need a confirmation from anyone at training this morning. A friend who was there texted saying Jones did a calf or achilles in last 30 min.

Boot camps are useful for SAS type training. They are designed for physical toughness, an attribute football players already have. They are designed not to get the right people, but to eliminate those who aren't physically able to in the situations that the SAS are required to perform. The mental aspect is a bonus....if it ever occurs! There is no correlation between that scenario and a football side. We want ALL players to get through the preparation of pre-season, uninjured and un-broken. Denying sleep and proper eating habits goes against everything that the conditioning and dietary staff are trying to achieve. There are other ways to improve mental toughness.

Would be better If you are that good a kick, it would be easier to have a shot at the goal in the first place.

Sooner it is applied to the Mens competition the better. Will stop the ridiculous "interpretations" of deliberate that we currently enjoy and will genuinely force players to keep the ball in play.

Went down to have a look for a couple of hours, so here are some of the observations: * Col Garland running the session with the rehab group consisting of Viney, Smith, Vandenberg and Weidemann. All were kicking the ball between each other including Viney, mainly short stabbing passes. * Vandenberg is MILES off playing. His legs have lost heaps of muscle and he almost looks strange with this huge upper body and a pair of sticks below. Hope he can build up to get some game time during the year, as he is out of contract at the end. * Spargo and Petty doing some minor drills on their own away from the main group. Spargo is like a fly in a bottle and can kick. Petty hardly had to move in the kick to kick session as the ball from Spargo was drilled to his chest every time, both left and right foot. Petty not as clean. * Garlett, Hibberd, Baker & Hannan running laps. Hunt and Tyson not sighted at all. Didn't notice Bugg either, but not sure. The main session for the rest of the troops followed. A testing drill involved running 100m, drop, push-up, 100m back then kick for goal from 40m. Easy the first couple of times, but when they were on number 10, the pain was showing. Pleasingly the ones still leading the pack at the end were Petracca, Jones and Pedersen. Even big Max and Filopovic and King were staying up with the pack. Balic starting to fall to the rear, needs to build a tank. Then followed a quick transition drill from the half back line with 2 teams, aiming to switch to options out wide and then drive quickly forward. Fritsch finished on the end of the drive on a number of occasions with good positioning and hands. Petracca and Jones running rampant whichever side they were playing for and at one stage Petracca kept stuffing the opposition side by intercepting again and again. For those who are worried about the ruck situation in the coming season, I am now less concerned. Filipovic is building nicely and both he and King are looking like AFL players. ( whether they are or not is another matter), but their bodies are building and filling out nicely.

Now ahead of last years figure....... 28,354

Total now 27,914......strangely.... exactly the same number as at 9 December last year.

The Lewis to defence line confuses people because they don't recognize how defence is played these days. The old traditional 6 man line up isn't played. Melbourne set up with a 4 man diamond and have done so since the Gold Coast game in 2016. Then there is a line of players "in defence" across the old half back area. That number varies upon the game plan, sometimes 1 sometimes 4 or 5. Lewis will play in this "defensive line". Sometimes it is to run forward, sometimes to hold back. The message is that he will not be used in the mid-field any more. Vince was probably played in defence last year because he broke his toe early on and couldn't kick more than 40m after that. Normally he is a 60m kick. Truth is he is a horrible defender, so I would think he will be moved to his natural position further up the field this year. Salem is the best kick in the side, and if selected he should be the designated kick in player.

I also agree with Little Goffy in his post when he says averages are pretty meaningless. Make it the average of your top 25 players and FND's analysis goes some way to showing that we still would have one of the youngest list that gets on the park each week. To back up Tiers assessment, the actual stats are included here: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-12-01/senior-citizens-who-will-be-the-oldest-in-2018 If you look at the club list for 100+ game players, you will see that only Carlton and Gold Coast with 7, have fewer "experienced" players on their list than we do with only 8. Another out take from that list is which teams made finals. Except for Essendon, the top 8 sides tended to have the highest number of those 100+ game players. Hawthorn stands as an outlier, but the injuries to Rioli, Stratton, Frawley, Hodge, Gunston, Birchall and Gibson during the season with Vickery a no show, would drop their number considerably and explains why they didn't make it.