Adam The God

He's no good.

Midfields win flags. We strengthened our midfield. Win. I'll trust our FD.

Apologies if this has already been covered, but does anyone who has seen a bit of our draftees play, have any idea whether any of these kids will be able to step straight into the big time? Or are we looking at a group of kids who will need a few seasons at VFL level before they can step up?

You can't help but think Goodwin has a bit of influence on all these SA guys coming into the club. Retention-wise, I'd say having an SA legend as senior coach, would help, as will playing in finals consistently.

Going very early on this, Jack, but I reckon we'd be very happy we can pick him up later on and stock up in the midfield with earlier picks.

Haha, indeed. It's general excellence these days. The APS doesn't allow sports scholarships. Didn't Trenners captain PAC?

Judd, Shiel, Ziebell, Goddard, T Phillips. Good pedigree. But yeah. I'm biased.

Just spoke to my mate who coaches at CGS and Oakleigh. Asked him about Jordan. Said he's a ripper kid, clean ball use, more contested than outside. Reckons he'll get better over the next few years as a late developer. Not much new info, but good to hear we've got a clean user who is more contested than outside too.

He seems to have a little bit of a Dayne Swan-like gait to his run from the very little footage I've seen. I like that we've gone for two guys that can roll through the midfield. Need to keep building and replenishing that midfield.

And Jordan is a Grammarian.

And a good Caulfield Grammarian. ?

I've said that though. That Lewis is more likely to find himself outside of the 22 sooner, but at least his calmness and kicking is more of an asset than Jones' toughness on the outside. Unless of course we get some significant midfield injuries.

His journey is only relevant in how we handle his retirement over the next 2 years. His commitment, his loyalty and his club history is wonderful and he will be commended, but we're in the business of winning flags. So let's ensure he is treated with respect and dignity in the next two years, but unless he develops another string, he certainly won't be there past 2020.

Good to hear Salo out on the track early too. A sign of intent. ?

I don't think we can play Jones and Lewis together. We will for a time I'm sure (due mainly to their experience), but if we can remain relatively injury-free, Jones will be tried on a wing and potentially at half back or half forward, with stints through the midfield as you say. Lewis will play half back and that's it. He's probably first of the two to get pushed out and that could be as early as the first half of the season. I think with Fritsch, VDB and KK spending more time on the wings, they will soon push Jones out too. I think Jones will probably go around again in 2020, but it'd be without the captaincy and he'll find himself playing at Casey unless there are significant injuries or he reinvents himself.

Everyone else's opinion is wrong. Yours is right. Well played. Pretending to be a supporter. I go to 17-19 games a year and I'm a paid up member. Have been for 30 years. Get your hand off it. Spot on. @Fifty-5 love your work mate, but let's put aside the sentimentality and then I think we'll be closer to agreeing. Jones, like Brayshaw, is a starting midfielder. If he's not in there, he's lost. I don't think he has a position in 2019. Will he play? Of course he'll play, but he shouldn't be captain IMO, because we might require a more balanced lineup as the season progresses.

I'm not particularly interested in BnF finishes. They might betray FD thinking but they also belie what steadily grew worse as the season went on. His form and to many that watched with me, some of his play dropped to embarrassing levels for someone who holds the captaincy of our club. If I had enough time, I'd compile a string of moments where he shat himself under pressure. I suspect I wouldn't even need to go past the last three games in order to put together a reel. Some supporters love sentimentality. I admire his loyalty and professionalism, but he's only ever been an honest tryer. I never saw Robbie play, but I suspect the comparisons to a player of his standard are completely unfair and are almost entirely due to sentimentality.

Completely agree with @It's Time on Jones. His decision making is a real worry. Under the pump in 2018 he coughed it up a lot. And his inside 50s have always been ordinary - they're very Brent Moloney. Long and hopeful. But as you say, there is a romanticism about Jones holding up the cup, which I can understand, but it's clouding people's judgement on where he's at and his value to the team. I reckon Jones needs to play the forward pressure role ANB has and hope he can make a mark there, because if KK comes in and makes a mark, Jones won't have a wing position. I'd play Fritsch, KK and Harmes there.

Tom Bugg is playing football and he can't kick a football. Carlton are terrible, but I doubt he'd be in their top 10-15 players.

This speculation and potential interest from Carlton was a shoo-in.

I'm a fan of the young and the old working together. Do it all the time in my projects and I advocate for both. The old MFC website seemed very simple and lacked decent video content. I hope to see more of it.

I'm impressed with our new digital content crew. It seems like actual content makers younger than 40 are producing the content on the website now. So much slicker already.

A year is a long time in football and if we're serious about a flag in 2019, we won't want to be playing players if their form dips, just because they're a leader. We've come further than that. I concur with Jay Clark (dangerous, I know) in that this needs to be handled delicately.

Is that what we should pop your alarmist politics down to as well? Old age? Left of Stalin. What rubbish. The Age lost its way a while ago, but mostly because of who sat on its board and made the decisions. As for the topic, Gaff hit Brayshaw and should cop the penalty. If we're talking politically left, I'd say the sentiments around the Gaff hit were that violent actions on the field should perhaps be dealt with in a similar manner to violent acts off the field. I can see the thinking, but I'm not for it as it's a contact [censored] sport.

Gawn/Viney as co-captains for mine. We want to be able to play our best 22 all year. Nathan will still be voted vice-captain and deservedly so.