Lord Travis

He was swung forward against the Hawks a few years back and turned the match for us there, so it’s not the worst idea. Personally I’d like to see him settle on the wing. Ideally him and KK own the wings, so we have good running power, elite pace in Hunt and elite kicking in KK.

Harmes is no slouch either! Hopefully Hunt can stay fit and build on his early career form. He looks to have put on some muscle in the upper body over summer. He could become a serious weapon for us, and is probably the player I'm most excited to see in 2019.

Fritsch had a great first year. He's already got the skills and smarts. Track watchers, has he put any size onto that small frame over summer? Good to hear KK's foot skills are standing out already. He's going to be a surprise packet to most and the wingman we've been crying out for.

Understandable that Pies midfield is ranked first. They got to a grand final on the back of a strong midfield and have added Beams to that group over the off-season. I do think it will drop off, as Pendles is slowing up and Beams has to start dropping off soon too. Tigers rely on Martin. Cotchin is a good player, but doesn't get heaps of ball compared to most other mids. Edwards is average, Lambert is decent, Prestia is decent. Hardly anything to write home about and we are comfortably better IMO. GWS is still strong despite losing an insane amount of talent. Imagine if they had Shiel, Treloar, Adams, D Smith etc still in there! As it stands, Ward, Kelly, Coniglio are all guns, but their depth has been eroded now. We've showed we can beat them late in the year. Our midfield is right up there. Best of all, our 1st choice mids are young and have years ahead of them. Gawn, Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw. That starting 4 is one of the best going round and will build together for years to come. We'll never struggle to win our share of the ball if we can keep Viney, Oliver and Brayshaw on the park. Add in guys like Harmes, Jones, Petracca etc and it's a great midfield. It would be good to get another quality pacy mid though, hoping that Sparrow could become that player. While we lack key forward depth, the midfield is still the most important part of the team and we need to continue to add elite talent there.

Can’t wait to see him on a wing. If Hunt can return to form and claim the other wing we could go from no/average wings to seriously dangerous wings. Hunt for elite pace, KK for elite kicking. Here’s hoping one or both of them can stay injury free and build consistency!

See the other thread opened recently about the same topic.

He must have some injury or issue they are trying to manage, such as back issue or osteitis pubis. He's been training on his own running laps for nearly a month now after he initially missed training due to being "sick". My concern is that the club hasn't said anything, not even a 'had a minor back complaint so managing his load pre-christmas'. Hopefully it's nothing too serious and doesn't impact his 2019 campaign. His 2018 showed how damaging he can be and how important he is to our midfield going forward.

What do these photos show? Is it just the one of him laying on the ground that was posted earlier in this thread, or is there more? Hes not our problem anymore regardless, and I wish him well. He’s been through a lot for someone his age and I dare say most of us wouldn’t have handled it so well if we were in his position.

14-16 wins for H&A season depending on injuries. Come finals time I think we'll bow out in Prelims to the eventual premier again. 2020 is the year we will peak and win 17-18 in H&A and land that elusive flag.

I may have missed it, but word on why Brayshaw was running laps by himself and had a camera crew harassing him?

Apologies for posting my opinion based on the way similar recent injuries have been handled by the club. Isn’t the purpose of this site for supporters to have discussion?

I'm a tad worried. Similar things were said about Viney, TMac, Vandenburg etc and they all turned into far longer lay offs than originally stated/planned. Doubt we'll see Lever until the second half of the year. Hopefully he is fit and firing come finals time. Could be integral to our premiership chances!

Thanks for the reports and photos track watchers!

Melbourne finishes 6th at the end of the H&A season. Slow start to the year and we scrape into the 8 in the later stages of the season. We suffer another Prelim final loss to the eventual flag winners and finish the year 3rd. Lever struggles with ongoing knee issues. Tom McDonald gets injured and our lack of tall forwards is exposed. May is in AA form, but is sent forward to cover him, which then unsettles the backline. May is average up forward, but we have no other options. We struggle and spend a large part of the season outside the 8. TMac returns from injury in the late part of season and our structure is fixed, resulting in us pushing back into the 8 and playing finals. Petracca to continue at his current standard, showing glimpses of brilliance and power without really impacting many games. He rightfully comes under pressure from all for not pushing himself like some of his similarly aged teammates. Viney continues to struggle with foot injuries. Lewis' body struggles to keep up and he retires before the season is over. Nathan Jones starts to hit the wall, and is sent back to the HBF to cover the retired Lewis as his form in the midfield drops off. Oliver continues his dominance around the ball, and starts doing real damage when resting up forward. He is recognised as one of the best players in the league in the Martin+Dangerfield midfield/forward mould. Earns another AA selection and BnF win. Finishes 3rd in the Brownlow. Brayshaw finishes top 5 in our BnF and pushes for AA selection. Polls far lower in the Brownlow despite having a much better season. There is yet another rise in concussions over the course of the season, and he becomes the AFL poster boy for concussion recovery. His media career keeps expanding, moving from AFL podcast to a number of footy and radio shows. Vanders has a clean run with injury and is the big improver. He finishes top 10 in our BnF after dominating in the midfield. He is our MVP in finals series. Weid is still inconsistent, but has some dominant matches where he kicks bags of 4+ goals. Finishes the season around the 35 goal mark. Gawn is AA ruck again. Pruess is in and out of the team, coaches try to fit him into structure but his form isn't good enough to warrant a game. Hunt returns to form and is one of the most damaging wingmen in the game. Struggles in finals when he is tagged due to being our most dangerous player through our late season purple patch. Sparrow is the only draftee to play senior footy.

As mentioned already, Sparrow looks to have a good build on him already. If he can adjust to higher paced games then I could see him getting games at AFL level next year.

Jeff had a poor season. He had personal issues tied to deaths in the family which obviously impacted him mentally both on and off field. Fact is he's the highest goal scorer on our entire list. Hopefully with time to heal, get himself mentally prepared and work his way into form, he can contribute up forward again. As a goal scoring option, he is one of if not the best on our list, so a spot is there for him if he steps up again. Hopefully we can see some magic from him again and he doesn't just disappear.

Not good news that Lever left the track early with knee issues. Were any track watchers there? Any further info on Lever?

Key word there being “many”, not any. For tall forwards we have none. Would’ve been a smart move to hold onto Pedo for another year as backup even if his form wasn’t as good. Some backup is better than no backup.

We still have our 2019 pick and need to use it I believe based on that 4 year cycle rule. It will be good to get some elite young talent in again next year. Taylor and co landed Clarry and Weid last time they had first round picks!

Disagree. Watch the highlights clip below from his first year when he was fit and confident. All his best moments came bursting from the wing or through the middle. Some great pieces of play there where he outmarks Mitch McGovern, takes off immediately around a few opposition and then lowers the eyes to hit Jones. Love the stoppage play on the wing against the Hawks too where he gets the handball out of the pack, bursts forward, steadies outsides 50 and goals. He's got all the attributes to a great wingman. He runs hard both ways, has great pace, good agility, good overhead, and can kick it a mile. If he learns to control the rush of blood to the head and vary his kicks more, he could be seriously damaging in the Issac Smith wingman mould. He's one of the most exciting prospects on our list IMO.

I agree that we play our best football when we have multiple players kicking goals and a variety of options. However, our list is unbalanced at present with T McDonald and Weiderman our only tall forwards. We've just lost Hogan and Pedo. Some people have suggested T Smith, but at 192cm, 28 years of age, and yet to play a competent game as a forward at AFL level, I don't think he's a realistic option. He has played well up around the ball as a big bodied midfielder however. Weiderman is yet to prove he can consistently stand up at AFL (though I rate him and defended him on here in the past when others sank the boot in). If TMac suffered another long term injury like the foot injury he suffered, we'd miss finals. We need tall forward depth. Games are won in the midfield, but you will always need a tall target to kick too come finals time. Imagine having Fritsch or Hannan or Petracca as our marking option when play gets locked down come finals time. Though they're more than competent, they'd all get eaten alive if they had to wrestle a Talia, McGovern, Tarrant, Andrews type. Compare that to tall defenders where we have May, Lever, McDonald, Frost, Petty, Keilty. That's a good amount of depth to cover injury and form. It's a shame we missed out on Bailey Williams, but our recruiters didn't rate him so I'm comfortable with that as the current group have a good track record. It's a shame there weren't many decent tall forward options at all outside the top 10 this year. Hopefully we can bring another quality one in next season, as while our list is in brilliant shape, it's definitely lacking tall forwards.

And other than Darling, none of them have had consistent impact as a tall forward. McGovern jnr is very overrated and was fourth in line at the Crows. Membrey is a cast off and legitimate spud getting a game as a tall forward because the only competition he has is P Mccartin and Bruce. Wood and T Mccartin might still make it, but have only shown flashes thus far. If we wind up having to play Smith as a tall forward option next year then it means we’re not playing finals.

Smith is 192cm. Not tall enough for AFL tall forward and has produced nothing of worth as a forward there. He’s played well up the ground on ball using his frame there, but at 28 years old and not getting taller he’s a medium tall or another position/delist material.

Yeah we’ve only got two tall forwards on the whole list now. They must not have rated the options available as it’s a clear need, so we’ll have to back Taylor and co with their good record so far!

Stack and Tom Mckenzie both undrafted after both were thought to be certainties to be drafted. Stack had attitude issues but can play. No idea why Mcknezie wasn't drafted. Perhaps we will rookie one? I thought I read we were keen on Mckenzie at some point...