DeeSpencer

Pickett gets the short, switched to Salo, Windsor handball receive, Sharp wing, inside 50 kick touched by May for something a little better

Full ground grey v blue. Kynan Brown no right side, turnover. JVR bite off too ouch, turnover. T Mc kick out flat punt, turnover Harvey in the yellow

Forwards and backs in to a drill where 3 pairs run between a 1v1 at the goal square and 1v1 50 out crumbing, pressuring, scrapping. May keeps ruining the 1v1 50 out by winning ever contest, but there’s good scrapping otherwise. A big group of Mids - including, Pickett, Sharp, Windsor, Langford, Chandler with some contested handball work. Good pressure. Tommy Campbell and Verrall in that too. Big TC moves like the bloke from happy Gilmore but full credit to him he has a crack, Lindsay and Lever did rehab stuff.

Great energy in that drill and even more so on the sprint in to get a drink. XL’s field kicking is as advertised, he has penetration but also the sense of when to use touch. Sestan is such a lovely kick too, and Jeffo for that matter.

Full ground cone to cone drill now but the design is half back handball receiver in the corridor followed by a long diagonal switch to a fat side wing runner.

Roy George does look nice in the 23

Melk and Fullarton are doing short rehab drill movements. Soargo and Taj on long runs. Disco doing straight line sprints at a good clip, doesn’t look too restricted

From that photo, athletic profile and a private school background she sounds like an Eliza Mc clone. The way the Dees play requires elite running, worth a try to snag another one wherever you can find them.

Kind of sad we didn’t take Zippy Fish because it’s the best name of all time, but we wouldn’t be Melbourne if we didn’t draft the super athletic big bodied mid.

Yep poor from Shane. Should be out there doing laps with poo running down his legs leaving a trail behind him. Dont worry about the gps tracker, just follow the flow of brown to see how fast he’s going. Then make sure he touches as many water bottles as possible on his way back to Gosch’s. Thats commitment.

Chiefs, Commanders, Ravens

Top 8 all scored over 2000 points last year. 2100 seems like a reasonable target. 91 points per game, allowing for at least 7 points that’s 14 goals. Probably more like 13.5. There’s no chance we unearth a 70 goal kicker this year. That’s Coleman winning level. One of JVR or Disco probably get in position to kick 40 if they play the full year in a deep role. But I suspect we probably try a number of different combinations and structures during the season. Either of those guys could be the man for the FF role but we probably try both of them taking more time at CHF (as much as it exists these days), as well as Petty at times, as well as AJ and 2 or 3 talls and some Jeffo time too.

Still down back? I wish they’d give him a 3 game contract forward in Pickett’s absence

Waterman’s development was hampered by nasty injuries and a terrible eagles side. Meant he went from nowhere to star at 25. Disco has a chance to cement himself as a genuine afl player at 22, and a key forward at that. But I’d be shocked if he starts looking like a top 5 key forward in the comp like Waterman did overnight. I do think it’s pretty telling that they aren’t even experimenting whilst Lever is out with Disco swapping down back especially as Petty rolls forward at times. They’re giving Disco maximum reps to lock up a spot.

Jeffo with the smarts, long arms and clean hands AJ and JVR with power Disco with the combination of reading the drop and timing on the bump. If you could pick and choose the best parts you’d have 2 stars, just a matter of who plays to their strengths the most.

Last thing I want is Clarry playing hot potato with too many handballs, I want those burst runs back and when they come from stoppages they're a weapon. We can weaponise it in general play too as long as it's not going long and slow down the line to huge packs or waiting intercept defenders. Using the switches and the corridor is so vital because it means the mids then drive the ball to space inside 50. And space should mean one on one match ups. Our ball movement we've trained so far seems to focus on 2 tactics. 1. Fast counter, half backs taking off and using the mids to get through the corridor. And 2. short chips to play some tempo and tease out holes in zones. I'm intrigued how they blend those strategies together.

Having serious concerns that Pickett got stuck in the Monash carpark with the lack of Jefferson updates.

It’s a quiet spot in the afl media circus but they’re giving him the full PR push for a story that is more commendable than overly interesting. Makes me think they expect him to be in the side next year. Yet to see him crash any packs but they haven’t done drills for that really, what I have seen is really good follow up at ground level.

If I was the MRC I’d want one of 3 things with the in field: 1. Leave it as a tip. If somehow the Caulfield Trust can clear their debts and keep meeting their statutory outcomes with the in field in useless condition the lack of gentrification keeps the Race clubs rents low and life nice and simple. 2. Level it and make it open for mass parking on race days again so they can charge $20 a car and make a nice profit on the big days. 3. Refurbish it to a festival, events, concert space so they can host music events run by the MRC like Flemington do. Whilst there’s some public indemnity and secure costs involved that’s nothing new for race clubs and they can provide catering, facilities etc and drastically up their event days. The northern non ovals section is intended for just that but they’d want the whole thing. The real question is WWEMD? What would Eddie McGuire Do? And the answer is he’d pack the Trust and then engineer the result he wants. Hopefully the MFC have done that.

My team if we had to pick a side to play right now: FB: McDonald May McVee HB: Windsor Petty Bowey C; Landgon Tracc Langford HF: Tholstrup JVR Laurie FF: Fritsch Disco Chandler Foll: Gawn Rivers Viney Int: Salem, Oliver, Sharp, Johnson S: Sparrow Susp: Pickett Inj: Lever, Spargo, Lindsay, McAdam In contention: Howes, Hore, AMW, Kynan Brown, Woewodin, Billings, Jefferson, Melksham Petty probably goes forward if Lever is back. And I highly suspect if just one of AMW or Howes can demand the back pocket job that Windsor goes back to the wing. Half forward is a weakness especially if Pickett is out. Need McAdam and Spargo in full training fighting for a spot. Don't feel great about Langford on a wing or Sharp in the best 22 yet. But I just have a hunch Langford will do well swapping between wing and forward and then we need someone to do some forward/wing coverage. Might be Sharp or Billings first up, hopefully Lindsay can push for a spot quickly, even if it's at half back and Windsor moves to the wing again.

I agree, but an old tip in Dingley is the best the Hawks could afford, we won’t be able to afford to outright own anything within metro Melbourne yet alone the heartland. I’m also not sure how many clubs actually own the land their facilities are built on. My concern is less about owning and more about monetising our facility. Richmond are up to about 120million in revenue with 50million or so from their health and fitness projects. They are protected as their football revenue surely drops away over the next few years. If we sink every dollar the club has in to a new facility we should make sure it at least generates some money to pay for itself outside of football revenue. Not sure that’s the case.

Error 1. MRC don’t control the land, Caulfield trust do. We seemingly have a strong relationship with Caulfield trust. Error 2. Scopus bought land we were never intending to buy. Our wedge of land isn’t impacted by this sale in any large way. The main complication here is more competiton to be the developer/controller/anchor tenant of the planned ovals. That comes down to relationships with the Caulfield trust, the local council (who will likely assume responsibility for community access/use) and any local sporting clubs including the large and influential Ajax footy club. Im generally a pessimist and expect the competition for the ovals to be incredibly fierce with Scopus next door. But it was never going to be easy and no one ever expected it was.

What might happen? The only thing that has happened is land MRC had for sale has been sold to a school not property developers. The competition for access to develop and use ovals is and will always be red hot. Perhaps it just got even hotter. Perhaps we just found a mutual beneficiary who will strengthen our case.

I'd like to see a race. Chandler might be coming through like Gout Gout. Even more impressive given the wind resistance his chin must cause.

Where's the heartland for a school with campuses in Brighton, Keysborough, Berwick, West Melbourne, Darwin and Tianjin!