drdrake

Interesting in the Article in the Herald Sun, Pert said due to covid we will be at Casey for 2021 because of the share arrangement at AAMI Park. Interesting though our AFLW side is training at Goschs paddock, maybe the training times for AFLW doesn't see the Storm or Victory at AAMI park.

This is not just a Casey issue, the AFL has head in the sand about the drop in participation rates of Boys between 12-18 years old. Auskick and the massive growth in female participation have boasted numbers. You think the quality of AFL is bad now wait a few more years the talent pool is shrinking. Cricket is growing rapidly due to the large number of migrants from the Sub Continent calling Victoria home, you will see in particular in the outer rim many local footy clubs struggle and ovals being allocated 12 months a year to Cricket. AFL clubs have zero interest in developing players in these areas all they are concerned about is selling memberships.

At least we will be ready for the wind at Casey the following week, 4.10 at Fremantle oval the Freo Doctor will be well and truly in

We talk about the lifestyle Geelong offers to potential players, 1 hour from city a number of Surf beaches 30 min away, the coastal life. Casey although not the same would open up to players living on the Mornington peninsula, Philip Island and one of my favourite places Inverloch. You have 2 u18 sides out that way with good programs. Hawthorn are moving to Dingley to me that is worse than Casey

And you have seen them play how many times or you just looking at their Bio's and limited footage that the club/AFL has put up. Why don't we wait and see how these guys go after a pre-season and we get to see them play either at AFL or VFL level before we make any judgements. The best thing about AFL is there is 18 positions on the ground that are filled by players of varying height and body sizes. We had a 177cm Brownlow medallist this year, that isn't overly quick but he can find the Footy, work through traffic and hit targets.

Weiderman is no lock for the CHF role, most of us, me included have him there more hoping he can continue to improve and lock away his spot in the side. We also expected that to happen after his finals performance in 2018. I reckon TMac will back himself to take Weidermans spot.

Will be interesting to see who is on the permission to train list for all clubs.

If Tom McDonald plays down back I reckon there is a very high chance Steve May will punch him. Tom was out the door as a defender, cooked, finished, done if he wasn't re-invented as a forward he wouldn't be on our list. Tomlinson, Petty and Hore are ahead of him as our tall defender with May/Lever

Yep, the beat us in the middle as they are better at contested footy than we are in the midfield, it is their model that we have based our midfield around. Cairns, we all knew we would lose those games we have a pretty long history of losing games that we need to win. If we don't have good dry conditions with little wind we struggle, this comes down to 2 things game plan in trying conditions we don't adjust we continue to over possess the ball and skills to play in tuff conditions you need top line skills, we struggle in good conditions to control the footy add in Rain/Wind/Humidity we have no chance.

Most sides we only have beaten a couple of times since 2006, didn't Ben Brown state North are 7 wins 1 loss in the games he played against us. Don't forget our midfield was drafted to be in the mould of Sydney, big body contested Mids. There is nothing that has be post in this thread that this site haven't been banging on about for many many years. The underlying issue we haven't been able to address for a long time is being able to sustain our best Football for entire games and from week to week we have no idea if side will turn up to play. We always have massive flat patches with in games and throw in regular absolute stinker games. Didn't need a review to know this just ready this site for the last 20 years. Positive words by all last night, nothing we haven't heard before though and the performance in 2021 needs to back these words up, we haven't been able to do that in the past

Good point, forgot him, always forget one. He replaces Hibberd off HBF, Hibberd to the bench, Jetta out. Hard to include kids that haven't played for 12 months and we have no idea what they will add. If they are getting games ahead of Melksham, Brayshaw, Hunt and Harmes, they will either have an eye catching pre-season our these four are massively out of form

Are we playing a side with no quick small forwards. If we see TMac/Hore/Lever/May in the same backline we are having massive injury issues My best 22 Lockhart May Lever Rivers Tomlinson Hibberd Langdon Oliver Sparrow Fritsch Weiderman Melksham Pickett B Brown Jackson Gawn Viney Petracca Brayshaw, Hunt, Harmes, Jetta To me our back 6 looked more settled in the back half of the year as Tomlinson playing more of true defensive tall allowing Lever to be third man up. I bring Jetta in hoping he was injured last year and he can still hold down the small lockdown defender. I can't see any of our recently drafted players debuting Rd 1.

Add the Mullets and porno Moustache that a number of players had, I thought we were back in the 80's.

Like the Dogs this year, the massive advantage of having a NGA/FS that is top end talent. When you know you will most likely lose your R1 and 2 pick next due to having priority access to a player you may as well move those picks on to get something. Funny that Eddie was the most outspoken on the Academies and they have benefited the last 2 drafts plus you add in the F/S they have added as well.

I think we take our 1 pick today, hopefully a Tall Forward that we can put some time into and develop.

I agree, looks like we have taken natural footballers with the skill set and agility we need with our first 2 picks and then the raw Athlete with our third pick. Watching the draft, what a long boring watch it was. Clubs should have 2 minutes, get through the round then do a summary of players. Top 5 have the profile and interview after that get this moving faster.

You are correct a gym is a gym as long as you have the space and equipment. The big advantage is the recovery and planning facilities. The players are at training bases now for basically 6-8 hours a day. A lot of that is recovery and planning add in rest times. It has gone past a ice bath and lap pool plus a couple of rooms for social space and computer/planning work. Clubs have bed rooms for players to rest in between session, varying different areas to keep the players entertained whilst at the club. You will find it isn't a big item that we are missing just little things that will add up

Could we offer Collingwood 28 and future second round for future first. Gives them points to cover the bid this year and some points for next year.

No he isn't, Oliver gets the Footy but doesn't really hurt sides. I would take a 15 touch game from Petracca over a 30+ touch game from Oliver any day of the week. Melksham is rated highly on his talent, he is an extremely talented and damaging player we just don't see it consistently enough, if he can delivery it on a regular basis we are winning more games, that is why he is rated as important.

Are we talking the most important players playing at top form for us to get deep into finals or just best players. To me we need the below players at their absolute best for us to be a contender in 2021 Petracca Gawn May Brown Tmac/Weiderman Lever Oliver Brayshaw Salem Fritsch Hibberd Viney Melksham Langdon If these group of players can bring their best football on a consistent basis we can go deep into September. The others that will make up the 22 will lift if these guys play well. TMac/Weiderman I combined as I see that second tall forward roll an extremely Vital role, one of these guys need to step up. I expect Jackson to be more a mobile forward second ruck rather that a key forward. My list is based on players we need at their best to contend. Vital that our 2 key defenders and key forwards take control, if we cant step up in these key roles we will struggle

To me thinking outside the box, look at Royal park team up with Netball Victoria, VIS and Melbourne Vixens, have a facility that will also cater for the high performance Netball. Netball will use the indoor courts at State Netball Centre for training there are many ovals near their we can make into our base and have a building that caters for the clubs indoor training needs and admins. Keeps us on the out skirts of the City, even add in something to do with the Hospitals in that vicinity maybe a physical rehab centre or something like that.

I drove past Goschs Paddock yesterday, the ground had cyclone fencing all round. I'm assuming this will be a covid thing for preseason training. The members forum is the ideal opportunity to raise the question, basically every Victorian club has received State or Federal funding for facility upgrades this year. Money will dry up as governments try to eat into deficits in the years to come. When you will look what the other AFL teams will have at their facilities, the MFC is as far behind other clubs as we where when training at the Junction Oval, our facilities have improved dramatically but are now a way off other clubs

I reckon Omac will be at North next season

If you look at our list the biggest need is for versatile Mids. What I read in most Mock Drafts there seem to be a number of these that will be available in the Top 35 of the draft. All I know is the players we draft will have similar profiles speed, good Kick can play inside/outside Mid, also can push forward or back of Half Back(one or the other). I can't see us taking any talls

Agree, I see a heading like that and no mater what content is in the article all I read is Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah. I know we need content on our website and we will see many over the next 4 months, hopefully come March April we can see something to be really excited about