Lord Travis

It's poor management of him either way by the club. Past history shows he does not respond well to the hard approach but rather a supportive one. To take the approach that does not work with him, and then let the media run wild laying into him, is poor management by the club. If Jack isn't doing what they asked, then that's disappointing by him. But it's also disappointing the way the club has handled this situation.

Must be injured. No way Dion Johnstone is ahead of him on form or training form. Poor by the club not to make a firm statement to the media to squash the speculation that surrounds him. It's only preseason, but given his history of copping it bad in the media it's poor manager by the club.

The moment with Watts standing up with two hanging off him, gets the kick away to Tyson, who snaps and goals!.... favourite moment of the 2016 season. Utter brilliance and deelight.

Watts will be a key part of our rise up the ladder both short and long term. He was our best forward last year IMO Had more impact than Hogan, set up heaps of goals, helped in the ruck and nearly topped the goal kicking for the club. If he continues on from last year he'll be near All Australian quality. Weiderman has the potential to play an important role long term also as a key forward paired with Hogan. He's still building up his body and learning the game at senior level. Vandenburg is delist material in a year or two. He's done great for someone off the rookie list, but he's a depth player and won't be part of our serious tilt, in a similar way to the Matt Jones and Dean Terlichs of the past. Watts has nothing to worry about if they're his competition for a spot. If I was him and the coach gave those guys games ahead of me when I was fit and ready to perform I'd ask for a trade.

Guys Sam Mitchell and Bontempelli didn't play either on the weekend... Where are the media stories about them not being starters despite not being injured?? Absolute joke this is seeing light of day. Poor handling by the club and Goodwin to not get on the front foot to squash the heresy being bandied about in the media too. Really disappointing from the club actually considering the medias history with Watts. Jack will be fine come next week or Round 1. In fact, he'll be better than fine. He'll be one of our best players as always.

Has anyone in AFL history been given such a negative ride by the media and public as Jack Watts? He misses a JLT preseason game wth his hand in a brace and now there's news articles questioning his attitude and this site's ripping into him too. It's absolutely mental! Alex Rance didn't even get this much publicity for punching him in the back of the head like a f*cking coward! Feel so sorry for the poor guy. If he is over the minor injury which had his hand in a brace on the weekend then he will play in the upcoming matches. Simple.

I thought Watts had two injuries? A hand injury and a niggling hamstring that he's been getting worried on a bit at training recently. Family Day today confirmed the hand injury as his hand/finger was in a brace.

He's the same as O Mac last year. Not physciallly ready and perhaps not the best option, but the clear long term prospect they want to pump games into to speed up develop. I expect similar development this year from him. He might look like he's not up to it or not ready at stages, but will get better as the year wears on and show he'll be a good player long term. The talent and attitude are there, just need to body to catch up and be ready.

Agreed. He's one of my favorite players but he wasn't poor today. I find it odd that people are laying into Melksham, who was playing his first game in 500 days or so and said nothing about Hunt. Melksham wasn't great, but he showed enough in his first hit out to show why we chased him and that with more game time getting back up to speed he is a lock for the 22 and an important cog to our drive. Hunt needs to learn not to try to do too much and remember that's he's a defender also. He cost us a few goals today running too far forward and completely misreading the play. Hopefully he learns from it and doesn't become too much of a front runner. His defensive efforts were outstanding last year and he needs to keep that up.

He does need to become more selfish. If you take a mark 40 meters out on a 45 degree angle you should have a shot unless there's someone on their own in tells goal square, not pass to a 50/50. When he doesn't have time to think he's really good, when he stops and has time to think he makes poor decisions.

Milkshake literally pinpointed Hogan while under pressure in the first half and setup a goal. Where are people getting these views of him from?

He's been better than Hunt. He's definitely in the 22 and Goodwin will definitely play him. Everyone on her needs to get used to it and stop hating. He's a decent player and is better than some others running round out there tonight.

Disappointed not to see Trenners given a go to prove himself. Still excited for any footy though so Go Dees!

Tried out the alternate method and it works. I think it's a lower resolution stream this year though. Thanks for the heads up!

They have disabled the airplay feature so you now can't stream from iPhone/iPad to Apple TV! Tried on both devices, mirrored my whole screen, but when you click the play button on video in the AFL Live app it says it is not available until you turn off airplay. Really annoying as it's the only way I can watch a lot of Melbourne games due to work and not having money to burn to pay ludicrous amounts for foxtel!

Cripps is not far behind. Bont gets the nod as he stood up and lead when the heat was on in finals and was a key part of a premiership. I hope Oliver becomes our big match winner and helps us win a premiership. Or Petracca. Or Brayshaw. Or Viney. Or Hogan. Or Hunt. Or Salem. The talent is there, just need it to develop and click at the right time!

Based on 2000 form both Bruce and Green came into the side and were instrumental in winning finals and getting us into a Grand Final. As talented as he may be, Petracca has achieved nothing yet and isn't a patch on any of the players listed.

Our current team have achieved nothing yet. Haven't made finals, haven't even had a positive win loss ratio. It's utterly disrespectful to even compare them to a team that made a grand final and provided some of the best wins we've had in decades, as well as some brilliant individual performances (e.g. Woe winning a Brownlow, Farmer kicking 76 goals and tearing games apart). That 2000 team was great. Our current team have a ways to go before even being considered anything more than average.

Good to hear Bradshaw performing well. He's a super talent who was restricted a lot last year due to knee injury then concussions. If he gets a good run at it he will definitely help us move up the ladder. He's a natural footballer and is versatile as well. I think he'd give good drive if required to play half back, he's obviously good through the midfield and decent up forward as well. He's one of the most exciting reasons to watch us this year.

It's already been on the website for a few hours. Captains: Jones and Viney Leadership group: Lewis, T McDonald, Gawn and Vince. Don't like them pushing Viney into the role so soon. Seems a bit of a slap in the face to Jones. Would've preferred Jones stay sole captain for another 2 years with Viney as Vice and then taking over. Congrats to Viney anyway, he's a legend.

The hype for them is real. They missed Finals in 2016 only by %. They came within a few points of beating numerous top 4 teams and were unlucky not to have won some of those games due to poor umpiring. They have good young talent, aren't too reliant on older players anymore, and have a really strong forward line in the making. I think they'll be top 8 this year, possibly around 6th. I'm guessing/hoping we can squeeze into the bottom of the 8 this year and make the leap to top 4 next year. Until we can beat them, and consistently beat other teams below us (eg. Essendon, Carlton this year) then they deserve more expectation and hype than us. I think we'll surpass them in a year or two and have a better shot at a flag, but they're a better team than us based on form at the moment.

On output Bontempelli is the best of the 3. He's probably got the highest ceiling too due to his size and versatility. Cripps is already the number 1 clearance player in the league, and ranked 2nd in the AFL for contested possessions. He is unarguably better than Kelly on output thus far. On potential Kelly has the skills to surpass him, but he's still not a proven game changer. Cripps is. Hoping Oliver can become as dominant as Cripps is around the stoppages.

I thought he was 196cms. He'd probably weigh just over 90kgs now, no way is he heavier than Watts and 1-2 kgs off Hogan. His bro weighs around 100kgs too and he is definitely not as heavy as him. Maybe in 2 years or so he will get to 97kgs, which would be an ideal playing weight for him, but he's still got a few years in the gym yet to get there.

Was this a closed session? Was anyone able to get along to provide a report of some kind?

How good is this write up for Viney! Love the kid and his intensity and passion for the club! "Jack Viney Jack had a slow start to the pre-season, due to injury. But the first day he got back, you could hear the whack in the contest. The contest area had a real intensity about it when Jack was back in there, so he’s been managed a bit. He’s a high talent and has a high love of the club. The way he spoke about the club – and the people in it – after winning last year’s best and fairest sums up Jack the person. Through the family connection, there is no player more invested and committed to driving Melbourne up the ladder than Jack."