drdrake

We are a real chance, with a young team all we need is a little luck in the first quarter. Instead of kicking points in the first quarter like against Essendon and the Eagles we get a 2-3 goal break then our players start to grow in confidence. The errors that we made through preseason then get less and less players back themselves and don't go into that defensive mind set. Don't believe all the negativity in the media, we aren't as far off as everyone thinks all we need is a little luck early and we are bloody due for some luck. The only luck we have had is Richmond kicking a goal after the siren to give us Scully and Trengove, also getting Jurrah, but apart from that not much on the field has gone our way over the past 3 years.

To be honest I would be hoping for 55-60K at this game. You would expect the MCC to be full, this will be a Hawks Make up match for the 4 they sell to Tassie and we will have Scully, Trengove and more then likely Strauss on debut. Also I really think we can win this game call it false hope but we pushed them last year when they were at full strength, unfortunately for us the guy that starred that day is out with a broken jaw, but they have a few handy types out, we just need Warnock to beat Roughhead.

This is not only an in sight to the MFC business plan but also is an education on business planning in General. I run a business and took on board a few thinks he brought up that can relate to my business planning. The club is starting to push there plan out there we just need the on field performance to catch up.

Just hope a few players get through this week at Casey, I wonder if guys like Bruce, Bate and Davey will play this weekend. Anyway my Round 1 team Macdonald Frawley Warnock Strauss Rivers Bennell Davey Grimes Trengove Green Miller Bate Petterd Martin Maric Jamar Moloney Jones McDonald Bruce Scully Dunn Cheney Bail Bartram

This is more about hope but the big opportunity is to cement the forward and back pocket spots, Maric needs to step up and I think he can for that small forward pocket and then the competition between Cheney, Bennell and Strauss for the back pocket/HBF can only be good for the club. I think Strauss will secure this spot.

This guy has talent we just need to give him time like most of our list. He needs to work on his decision making skills but that will come with more game time, this includes knowing when to attack and defend. Add him to the list of exciting recruits we have a few that have potential to be very good Morton, Grimes, Maric, Watts, Blease, Strauss, Jetta, Scully, Trengove, Gysbert, Tapscott. The only one that we really have seen is Morton.

Don't forget Hawthorn robbed North Melbourne of a couple of first round picks for Thompson and Hay, plus the dockers gave up I think a number 1 pick for Croad then Hawthorn got him back.

Just check the herald sun every Wednesday, you will see most of our list when they update the clubs injury list

I saw some footage after the incident with Colin running away, I don't think he was flattened like some are mentioning, I think he got a hip and should that just got him in the right spot to cause a break. It happens, as for our players helping out or having a crack at Kennedy I don't even think Colin did he just ran of with a sore jaw which unfortunately turned out broken. I'm sure if the players saw this and it was something menacing many of them would of ran if to let kennedy know he did the wrong thing.

If you had played Dunn in our forward line over the past two years he would be on the same rookie list as Newton. I think the best role for Dunn is a roaming HFF same with Bate. I'd rather see Green out of the square. For all those that have watch what stucture Bailey wants in our forward line you will know he wants a resting ruckman to play up there as the tall option with another leading forward deep in the 50m and the rest pushing up high. For round 1 we will line up as Green Miller Bate Martin Petterd Maric and throughout the day you will see Sylvia, Aussie, Trengove, Dunn, Jamar and Davey all rotate through our forward structure. We have options to kick enough goals to win matches, we just need to get the ball inside 50m 55-60 times per match instead of our just 40 like the past 2 seasons to give these guys a chance to kick goals.

I can't wait for the next 5 years when journo's like this that have opinions, which they are entitled to, but also seem to have no understanding of our club. That article was a waste of space and I can't wait be a dominate club in the next 5 years. I hope we smash the hawks round 1, the game two years ago round 1 finished a lot of careers and there build of our list was required, 2010 will show the re build is finished and we are on the improve.

Good to see some big returns, both teams will be fielding the strongest 24 available. Bate, Bruce, Davey, Aussie, Sylvia, Moloney all back shame Grimes is missing I hope it is just resting him for a long season ahead him and Joel Mac are the only fit player that will play round 1 that seems to be missing. The 6 big ins would almost be the top 6 from our B&F last year.

He won't play round 1 and the club won't play him against Collingwood but expect to see him round 3 against the Crows or latest Round 4 against the Tigers, not a bad run for him to play Tigers, Lions, North,Bulldogs, WCE, Port

My theory is you need at least 2 pre season games to be fit for round 1, so we have 2 games to go plus a Casey Game. From the injury list the only players that should be considered are maximum 1 week away from playing. My Round 1 Team Macdonald Frawley Warnock Strauss Rivers Bruce Davey Moloney Sylvia Bate Miller Green Martin Jurrah Maric Jamar Jones Grimes Scully Aussie McDonald Trengove

McKenzie fits in when McDonald retires, perfect replacement for him in 2011.

Moloney had his calf strapped at half time and didn't play the rest of the game. I heard him say that it was just really tight and wouldn't release. Usually you can run a tight spot out but being preseason the club did the smart thing. A bit of Massage this week I wouldn't expect him to play this week but expect him back for the final hit out. Same with Sylvia, it wouldn't supprise me if the club rested him this week. Heard Bailey say Aussie is a chance this week but Bruce and Bate more likely the week after.

There are two ways to look at our best 22, one is short term and the other is what is our best 22 that will take the club forward, IMO that is the team we need to get on the park. With that in mind I would love to see games where we line up like MacDonald Frawley Garland Strauss Rivers Morton Davey Moloney Trengove Green Bate Sylvia Jurrah Watts Aussie Jamar Grimes Jones Scully Martin Bruce McDonald You need to include McDonald he is the captain but to me that team looks well balanced, but you could have any off Maric, Bennell, Cheney, Jetta, Blease, Tapscott, Gysbert, Spencer, Petterd, Miller, Warnock to that team.

I read this thread and wonder how many posters actually attended the game or attended the game and didn't notice that we had a very inexperienced team up against a team that was at full strength. Instead of focusing on the negatives open your eyes and look for the passages of plays where these young guys show their potential. With that in mind a few comments Bail, slow first half but he actually dne some nice things n the second half, worked himself into the game and in the last quarter IMO was our best for that quarter. Maric don't jump of this guy, he sat in a forward pocket for the first half with no supply, the second half he used the ball well and set up two goals and kicked another. Bennell looks better running from defense showed some of the dash and flare that we need from him. Jurrah sorry mate you are going to get the best defender every week and you are not ready for that. He will get better every week and the conditions yesterday not exactly ideal for a high marking forward. Morton had a heap of the footy and used it well Scully is a running machine the more he plays the beter he will get, just needs to adjust to the speed of the AFL level and his team mates need to adjust to the speed of his hands. Miller, in the second half when we started taking the game on he became a target. He will get better as our midfiled gets better. He presents all day and to the right spots but we lack the confidence in our abilty to hit targets and take the safe boundary option then using Miller up th middle. Once we get this confidence he will be a 15 mark per game player. Can he kick goals, needs to imporve but his role willbe that lead up forward creating space behind him. Considering the talent we had out I thought yesterday was OK.

I'm Back

I read with interest that people mention a positve is our backline, so it should be we play 18 players back there.

Besides improving in the lead up to round 1 you what to ensure your list is as healthy as possible. To back players up this quickly increases the risk of injury at this early stage of the year.

Good to see the AFL are doing us favors this preseason, a late Sunday game in Perth followed by a middle of the day Saturday game, great for us to watch but not so great for the players. Don't expect to see many senior players that played yesterday on the park.

I think that we got so touched up in 2008 that everytime we get under pressure our team just clickis into we don't want to lose by 100 point mode. We have enough talent to let them take the game on, lets face it we are losing by over 6 goals most weeks of 2009, I would rather take the game on be exciting and daring then watch the negative garbage we saw last night. We keep hearing that we have a strong back 6 if we have that there is no need to send the other 12 players down to assist. Win the midfield contest, back you defenders run hard forward, at least have 3-4 players in our half at all times.

We keep bringing up our lack of key forwards, you could have Jono Brown sitting at full forward and he will struggle. We don't go inside 50m enough to win games you need to get the footy in there 50-60 times a match, we just get it in over 40 times. Our team is so concerned about the defensive zone that we don't run hard on the attack. We can't keep getting 18 players behind the footy, you don't win games playing like this.

What a contrast today was for 2 struggle Victorian clubs, one CEO tomorrow will be beating his chest in the media after beating the premiers of 2009 pushing membership sales and more then likely will be playing in the semi finals of the NAB cup, whilst the Melbourne CEO may need to adjust his budget. It wasn't that we lost the game it is how we played, we need to find some form and very quickly or we won't pass 30,000 members.