Lord Travis

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."

Shame to hear about Hulett and that the injury may have been preventable through better assessment and common sense. Hopefully it's not a bad injury that keeps him out a year.

Issue is he hasn't even been in the rehab group, he hasn't been present at training at all. Guessing he stayed over in WA longer with his approved leave or is off in a gym somewhere following a rehab program.

I still think there is work to do on his run up and action. It needs to be more fluid so he can kick through the ball and get better penetration. 100kg key forwards should be able to take set shots from 50 and not struggle for distance. Still makes me scratch me head when he doesn't make the distance from a 50m shot and then minutes later someone 20kgs lighter makes the distance comfortably. That said, it's good to hear he has been dealing with the mental side of things and hopefully it all stems from there. With his added fitness and more positive attitude he is going to be such a deadly weapon all over the ground. Can't wait to see what he can produce in 2017!

This kid is a jet. Would love to see him do short stings up the ground on the wing going forward, but I love what he brings to the defence so don't want him up the ground full time. He just reads the ball so well and cuts across to help out. His speed is obviously a huge asset, but it's great that he uses it both ways to help cover in defence and to break the lines rebounding. Hoping he has a big year next year as he could definitely be a key to our ball movement and ultimately our push for finals. Love the kid!

Yeah seems like he's been written off. Hopefully for his sake he can play a role as he'll likely be gone after his contract ends at this rate.

Not good to hear about those injuries. Tyson has existing knee issues so they might take their time easing him back if he has re-injured it. Not good to hear Salem was concussed again. Feels like this kid will never get a good run at it

Travis Johnstone Schwarz Woewodin Jakovich Todd Viney Wizard Farmer Yze Lyon Neitz Tingay Future potential favorites: Jack Viney Oliver Gawn Hogan Petracca

Can't pick just one! I hope it's Salem. He's got all the tools to be a really damaging player for us, just needs to keep healthy and build consistency. From training reports it seems Hogan and Brayshaw will take another big step up next year. I'm also expecting Petracca to build his tank more and impact games for longer. He could seriously explode that kid!

It was the 2002 Semi Final against Adelaide. He had 29 disposals and 4 goals in a BOG performance. Travis was a big game player and consistently stood up in Finals matches when others wilted under pressure. I was born in the late 80s, so have no memory of Melbourne teams before the 90s. The Daniher years were the most successful years I have witness as an adult so players from that era like Yze, Johnstone and Neitz are stand outs in my mind. Yze underperformed in the late part of his career and still cops far too much flack on here for this. Overall he had a great career and I can still remember him as a goal scoring youngster with fans at the MCG yelling 'Yezee!' as they didn't know how to pronounce his name as he burst onto the scene. He was a very flexible player, having stellar years at HBF, midfield and forward. Johnstone is still the best midfielder I can remember to play for us the past 20 years. He also cops too much flack on here for a guy who consistently stood up in the big games. He played with a tag for 6-7 years straight as coaches knew he was obviously our most dangerous player. He lead the league for kicks and inside 50s for two years running and nearly pinched a Brownlow in 2002. He was the definition of brilliance and we are still waiting for a midfielder with his kicking skills and vision to give us balance in the midfield we need. Hopefully with time a player like Salem, Brayshaw or Petracca can become that player. I don't need to say much about Neitz. He was AA CHB and then AA up forward. He holds the club record for most goals kicked. He's a legend and was a great leader.

Was I mistaken opening this thread expecting to read something about our new coach addressing expectations for the 2017 season?

Farewell sweet Prince

What's your instagram Saty?

Thanks for the update. My heart sank for a minute there! Bring on 2017!

Finals 2017. We have the talent, we have the leaders now, we've got one of the most fleshed out coaching staffs in the league. No excuses. Expect our midfield to step up this year. With the addition of Lewis our midfield gets better. Our future core of Gawn, Viney, Tyson, Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver can all improve further and gel together. I expect them to belt teams this year around the contest and spread better than last year. We should finished between 5th-8th depending on injuries. Missing the 8 would be a disaster.

This is why we need better ruck depth. Hopefully it's nothing serious as we need Max firing again if we are a chance at finals next year!

Spencer is a 27 year old who has managed 36 games in 9 seasons. He is rubbish and is only on our list still because we literally have no one else if Gawn goes down. His last game was at VFL level and he got towered up by an old bloke who's retired! We need more ruck depth and we got it with Filipovic. Hopefully he develops and makes the grade as until he or King does we are stuck with only Spencer as backup and that is not good enough. It's good to hear Maxy has been working with Flipovic already this year and has started building that relationship.

Glad we finally picked up a ruckman. This is the most important pick of our draft/rookie draft period IMO. Hopefully Max can help him develop as we need coverage and a long term options for life after Max. Even though that is some years away, ruckman take a long time to develop, hell it took Maxy 7-8 seasons to come on! We only have him and King developing so we need one of them to come on. Spencil is a write off. He's been on an AFL list for 8 years, is 26 going on 27 and can't even crack a game. Disappointing to see him put up a crap performance in the VFL Grand Final too. You'd think a bloke who's been on an AFL list would at least be able to step up against VFL talent but he was beaten yet again. We need other ruckman to come on ASAP and Filipovic could be an answer. Good luck to the kid!

Any good ruck options? Disappointed we didn't take Darcy Cameron when we had the chance.