RalphiusMaximus

First game I went to was Melbourne vs the Hawks at the MCG. I don't remember the year, but we lost.

Bail, Jones, Morton, Watts, Gawn, Martin. Guys who will benefit from a definite role to play and a harder fitness regime.

I would have said David Rodan was the best thing to come out of Tigerland. I never understood why they dropped their one legitimate match-winning player.

Yeah, Gawn is looking like a legitimate Man Mountain this season. Very good to see. Jamar looked tiny next to him. I also thought that Morton didn't look overly skinny, although he was running next to a guy who is about to start his second season, so that could account for it. Even so, this last year or so he has built his body up quite a bit and at least looks solid if not muscular. I have the sense that we'll be seeing a whole lot of running before the Christmas break, so we'd better get used to it.

Hard to argue the logic.

Just as long as I see Tapscott flatten Scully next year I'll be happy.

Asked CS on twitter who the guy in the red top was. Got this back

Honestly, I don't have a problem with the handling. DB had to know he was in trouble after that loss, and the club had to be seen to be doing something. It was the obvious move to show the world that we wouldn't be accepting that kind of performance. I thought at the time that DB should have left at 3/4 time and taped a note to the changeroom door saying "gone to look for a new job" because it was blindingly obvious that he wouldn't be coaching the next game.

Still, he is showing potential. I'd love to see him play a season in the VFL.

The guy in the red looks young to be a trainer. Could he be someone who's come in to train with us early? Could he be Jack Viney? He looks to be just short of Jones' height, which puts him a little under 180cm, so the height would be about right. Not sure what he looks like though. If he is JV, then it's a hell of an effort keeping up with the top few runners.

Anyone know the times they set? MN said he wanted the mids to be doing low 10's or 9's. How close did they get?

Are you using firefox? I've found that it generally blocks the add-ons you need to play these things. Try using ie instead.

I was thinking he might get a few games late next season, but he seems to be progressing far more quickly than we could have anticipated. I doubt we'll se ehim for round 1 or the NAB cup, but he could get half a season in at this rate.

Sounds like the first session was mainly about getting an idea of how fit the players are. No doubt the coaches will take a lot of this data and use it to tailor their programs for the rest of the preseason. From the sound of things the players are going to be doing a hell of a lot of running in the next few months.

This is my question as well. Last I heard MN said that they were waiting to see if and how Aussie turned up to training. It may be that he simply didn't show and as such was cut. It may be that he told the club he couldn't commit. It may be that he came in overweight. Or it may be that he came in and was told to pack his things and head off. I'm very curious to know which actually occurred.

The thing to remember is that this kid hasn't really played at a high level. A couple of games at Claremont doesn't really cut it if we want to see how he goes against decent opposition. All we really know from what we have so far is that he's too good for where he's playing now. He needs to play against some good opponents and produce similar results. Sadly, for that to happen he'll need to be drafted and put int a decent training program, so the whole point becomes a bit meaningless. I think he's more likely to go as a rookie than in the National draft though, simply because nobody has seen him produce against high level opposition regularly.

That is of course the other option. I just think that we tend to be a bit top heavy all over the park. We already get torn apart by teams with good small forwards and lack anything resembling a small forward ourselves. I like to think that in the future we'll play less talls and cover the weaknesses.

OK, so we know who the leadership group were this year. We can break it down from there. Green, Moloney, Davey, Rivers, Grimes and Jones. Since he specifically mentions the leadership group as being the bullies, it has to be down to these. He has also said that while the initial post implies Jones is involved, this is not in fact the case. Grimes is unlikely to be the culprit as he is one of the younger players himself. Now we have four. If we're talking about muscling up and fitness, then Davey is out of the equation also, but this is more speculative. I'm wondering if Moloney is not the target here. He leads a yearly boxing trip for the young players, so there is definitely an element of "beating up" to him. He is a hulk-like individual, hence the muscling up angle. There was an incident early in the year in which he got stuck into Davis for am infraction on the training track during a drill, although I don't think anyone knows the details of exactly what happened or what was said. Am I getting close WWS?

Honestly, on the few occasions I've seen him, I've been thinking that he's going to knock Garland out of the side in a couple of years. This isn't a knock on Col, but I can see this kid playing the same role and doing it better. He's going to be stronger and possibly faster, and while I'd have to see more of him playing to be sure, I suspect he may wind up being a better kick as well. The real question for me is how he dropped so far in the draft. It's clearly a long way to go before we see if he works out, but the potential is there to be a very very good player.

I have to say, while it was good to see him standing up for his team, it would have been better to see him being involved in the game. He picked up an easy goal from a turnover directly in front and otherwise did diddly. Sadly similar to his form for most of the year. I really hope he puts 2011 ina box somewhere and plays the way we know he can next year.

You're not saying I've oversimplified the role are you? Not at all like the people having a shot at the HBF?

I'd have to say that forward pocket is easier. All you need to do is float around, pick up other people's spills and take potshots at the goal. You don't have to create play and other people usually do all the physical work for you.

They couldn't control the ball or read it in the air. That's pretty much it. I put that down to lack of preparation. If they'd had more time to get used to the ball it would have been a much closer game.

I've become a huge fan in a very short time. I was critical of his first game against the Dogs, where he made some very poor decisions that reflected pretty poorly on him, but he mroe than made up for it in his later games. His electrifying pace brought me to my feet on multiple occasions, especially seeing him running through CHB with two opponents looking certain to flatten him, and he just accelerated between them and left them for dead. He's gone from a possible attitude problem to a 200+ game star of the club in my mind. I really hope he's put his injuries behind him and is going to have a long an prosperous career with the Dees. Edit: I'm happy for him to have NO. 17 right now thanks MFC management.

I have mixed feelings on this draw. There are some very friendly aspects, such as the predicted two games against GWS and the lack of top four opponents. However, there are a number of games that look very questionable. Looking through it, I can see 8 that I would call clear wins. If we perform the way we did this year, that is all we will walk away with, and that would be a disaster for the club. On the other hand, there are five or six that we could win if we were to harden up and show some real improvement, much as we were hoping to see this season. If we want to make the finals with this draw we need to play much harder and more accountable football, and to produce significantly better form than we have shown in the past. We'll need to win the dodgy games against teams like Essendon and North Melbourne, probably jag an away win against Freo, finally get over the dogs (who are looking very much like a spent force at the moment) and possibly even get over one of the stronger sides like Sydney or the Saints. That's a lot of ifs to me, and a lot of opportunities to fall over, so realistically I can't see us playing finals next year. If we did make it, I would count it a huge success and a massive bonus for the club.