Lord Travis

Coniglio is a serious jet. IMO was unlucky not to be named All Australian last year. One of the best rounded goal kicking midfielders in the game. I'd love to land him, but I suspect it's either GWS or a return home to WA. We should just focus on keeping our own going forward. Keep Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca, Lever etc together and the success will come.

I attended the match out at Casey yesterday and I gotta say the standard was a big step up from previous years. The girls really put in, worked hard, had great intensity, and we were the better team and dominated the play...but our gameplan let us down. We repeatedly kicked the ball out wide to the back flank and wing, which slowed our movement and turned it over due to AFLW rules of last kick before out of bounds being a free against. Late in the third quarter we were smashing them, had the ball at CHB with free players in the middle. Inexplicably we elected to kick to contests on the wing and ruined our own momentum. Yes the umpiring was not in our favour, but if we played more direct footy we would've won by 3-4 goals comfortably yesterday. Was one of the most frustrating game I've watched live in a few years, as we were clearly better and lost due to gameplan and nothing else. It was like watching our mens team from 3-4 years ago dominate without scoring (similar to when we lost to West Coast a few years back despite having twice as many inside 50s). Over all though, the standard has improved and if this was a glimpse at the quality we can expect in future, the AFL would be wise to invest more heavily into AFLW as opposed to AFLX.

Fritta got through uninjured which is all that matters. He’s still a stick figure though, was hoping he’d put on some size over summer! I tuned in and out, but it was pretty uninspiring and low intensity stuff. Was better last year when we won it...

Helmet looks good, and we'll be seeing more of it. Gus had the ball on a string today and looks set for another big season!

The changes to kick ins will be by far the biggest change. The man on the mark being pushed right back combined with the ability to play on and not have to kick the ball to yourself means that the player kicking out makes it halfway up the defensive 50 metre arc before they are even confronted. The first kick is hitting the wing or centre square. Teams will start flooding hard if they score a behind, as they are now little to no chance at regaining possession of the ball in their forward half. It's going to create some very ugly matches with lots of flooding IMO. The changes to the rules, as they are every year, are poor and reactionary. The AFL just want free-wheeling shoot-outs at the expense of key fundamentals of the game. The addition of the 6-6-6 rule is going to mean teams who don't have the talent on their list e.g. Gold Coast are going to get belted by bigger margins. We're going to see far less competitive and close games. It's going to be boring and ugly. While I love watching us win, beating up on teams like Gold Coast is going to feel pretty hollow when coaches don't have the ability to change tactics to combat what's happening.

I agree. I think both the Smiths are depth. All Tim Smith did today was lead to the completely wrong areas and get in Weids space. Calling him depth is the most polite thing I can do. I don't want to see him in red and blue at AFL level again. Joel Smith I see as valuable depth. He's definitely behind all those names you've listed, but he's not the worst option out there due to his ability to compete in the air and versatility. He's behind TMac, Weid, Gawn, Preuss, Petracca, Melksham, Fritsch, Spargo, Harmes, and Garlett as a forward option IMO. I don't believe he'll make any meaningful contribution this season. With TMac, Melksham and Fritsch to return, and T Smith and J Smith gone, I think our forward line would function very well. TMac and Weid paired well late last year, so I'm excited to see them build more synergy and not lead into each others space.

Horrible luck for the kid. It would be really tough going through that before you’ve even played a game and gotten into everything properly. Here’s wishing him a speedy and solid long term recovery.

Keep them separate. This board’s convoluted enough as it is.

Oliver

Jetta Oliver

Jetta Harmes Oliver Gawn

Hunt Oliver Gawn Brayshaw

Jetta Melksham Viney McDonald

Oscar Fritsch Brayshaw

Viney Spargo Harmes Salem

I'm thankful he chose to come to us when we were still a pretty average club. He was a key player and bringing a bit of arrogance and confident to the place. I loved him silencing the Richmond crowd that time after kicking a goal! He was a good 22nd player. Obviously no superstar, but could competently play a role tagging, up forward or down back. He's better than most on here give him credit for. He's a really friendly guy too. I've bumped into him multiple times at the supermarket and he's always up for a chat. All the best to him with his media marketing business. It's already a multimillion dollar business he's established with his model girlfriend and some of her friends. Done quite well for himself has Buggy!

McDonald Garlett Hunt

Melksham Lewis Hibberd

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.

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!

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.

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.