DeeSpencer

The rehab group: Viney, Lever, Vanders, Tracc, Hannan, Hore, Baker, Melk, Harmes, Bull, Stretch, Hunt, Jetta, Oscar, Brayshaw, Clarry

The highly regarded Melbourne midfield group of games started tomorrow: Gawn, Preuss, Jones, Maynard, Swallow, Fritsch, KK, Bradtke

Consult your updated MFC players list and you’ll be fine

New assistant coach B Vince?!

44 and 45 training with the forwards. As is 40 16, 32 with the mids. And 31 23 and 27 starting life down back. 3 is with the backs. As is Guy Walker

C wags is in the 40 one of the academy kids is running laps with Hannan. I’d be lucky to find the other 2 yet alone know who is who

Denver, LaRams, Chiefs

Yarra Park is still the dream. Otherwise I remain convinced a partnership with one of the leading Private schools is worth exploring. High quality ovals - tick Inner/middle suburban or even ‘heartland’ location - tick Either existing or a desire for gym/pool/indoor facilities This press release from Xavier shows you how serious they are about strengthening and promoting their footy program. It’s obviously very important to the schools PR efforts. Surely one of the schools out there would welcome a partnership with an AFL club, giving them credibility and access to the elite environment. Id be calling Melbourne Grammar immediately and asking if they want to build a facility with us at their Port Melbourne training fields. Leverage Steve May and Toby Bedford for an Indigenous angle, that will get the AFL and Goverments involved. Tie it in with Fisherman’s Bend residential development. Easy!

Obviously depends on what and where but ownership is surely the best result. The club needs assets to secure its future. According to the annual report we had 49 million revenue last year. Sold the Leighoak for 7 million to give us cash assets of 10 million and non current assets of 12 million. Reads to me like we need to get that 20+ million (hopefully more with government grants and fundraising) invested in to making money for us. A facility that saves the money we currently spend leasing AAMI Park and mcg office space and makes money leasing the associated spaces has to be the plan.

Certainly adjusted for height

22: 48 drops to his knees to win a ground ball handball, then follows up and bangs the ball forward in traffic 24: 58 - quick centre clearance handball to a free team mate 26:05 - bangs a torp up the line 33:15 - fumbles, then dishes a quick handball, gets around the back to get the handball back and gets his kick smothered, regathers to rush another kick 30m or so forward 33: 58 - reads the play well and quickly gets on to a wayward kick, gathers cleanly and fires a nice handball back to a team mate 34:50 - no possessions here but makes good position to receive a handball and also quickly covers back on a turnover 35:28 - handball gets smothered on the boundary line 35:50 gets beat easily for the clearance by his opponent, no body contact 36:35 - again positions on the back of the play to receive a handball, spears a kick 20m to hit an open forward The last play was his best for the quarter. Looked to me like a guy who probably was still adjusting to the pace of the game and given Dandy were a fierce pressure side and it was a Grand Final that probably makes sense. Clearly not as physically developed as most kids, you can see he doesn't have the upper body definition or run in the legs. But there's some speed and he reads the play to receive the ball. If his last kick of the quarter was deliberate and indicative of what he can do instead of just more of a fluke then I can see why we liked that.

Scharenberg, Langdon and Howe are a pretty good mid sized marking trio. It might’ve been they were preferred to Hore. Pies might also have been keen this year but waiting for a later pick or rookie pick. I wonder what his plans were if not drafted by this year. Continuing on with the Pies VFL for another year would’ve been a strong show of loyalty

Not blaming you! It appears to be an atypical surname that’s going to cause confusion. TrengRove like

Jordon on the club site, on his social media and on various draft profiles. Jordan on the AFL site. Confusing. Expect it’s -on

I like his overhead ability, grabs a few big marks for a medium or even smaller sized player (whatever 184cm is these days). Looks to kick on both feet and releases team mates in to space with his hands. Might not have the tricks to be a star but doesn't seem to be much wrong with his game either.

Going to be a struggle for some to spell his name correctly! I love a country kid with a pure kick. From Jason Taylor's comments I'm not sure he's really targeted for any particular position, maybe more of a gamble on some skills and athleticism. 20th December, would have to be closest to youngest player in the draft.

Really like him, whenever I've seen Pies VFL he's been solid as a rock. For all the talk of 'how will he get a game in our backline' the reality is we had Fritsch, Lewis and a raw Joel Smith play half back in the finals. Not to mention the number of games Wagner and Vince played during the year! Now we don't have to rush Lever back in round 1, Fritsch can go to a half forward or wing spot that really suits his game. Joel Smith can be pushed for a spot. Lewis can get in the bin.

Jags, Pats, Steelers Great to wake up to the Bears stealing a win with a back up QB on a short break. Usually that's the Bears throwing a game away like that.

That whole intersection is being altered with a series of new lanes and p turns to create continuous traffic flow up Punt road. The limited amount of space there is probably all being used up. Not going to happen.

East Melbourne residents are truly a special brand of entitled. They live 10 minutes walk from the CBD yet expect to live without traffic, without development, surrounded by parks and gardens like they live on the urban fringe. I guess that's what happens when your property values increase something like 100 fold over the course of your life time. Things can change after elections so we shouldn't completely write it off but it does make it harder. I wonder if it's possible to build the facility and still train at Gosch's? I understand why people don't want to change the character of Yarra Park, but the argument against building over the train line and making use of underutilised space isn't as good. Maybe get the funding for the facility and get a proper stand alone base at the MCG and then work on reclaiming part of the park for an oval at a later stage.

I think if you can bump Favre for Rodgers you can probably move McCarthy on! The man is surely set for life financially and in time should be honoured as a SB winning coach. 13 years is a long stretch, it's not like he's been replaced in a hurry. Today was an unusual game for the Bears. The defense absolutely dominated for a large part and get out to an early 2 TD lead, somewhat similar to the Bears v Packers in round 1. Trubisky made 2 head scratching intercepted throws which he hasn't been doing lately. Then Cohen has a really bad fumble. Just when you think the Vikings should get back in to it they give up some soft penalties. Bears kick a field goal to all but seal it but then let the Vikings drive on them just to keep it interesting. The Bears biggest issue right now is they have a thunder back - Howard and a lightening back - Cohen but the thunder back can't catch it and the lightening back can't make those down hill yards up the middle. O line isn't helping either, they're good in pass pro but can't get the running game going. If they could run the ball far more efficiently then they could ride out games getting the bare minimum from Trubisky. Right now they can't so they put him in some tricky spots. With Nagy's play calling he'll torch bad defenses but the good ones can adapt. The Vikings defense looked confused for a half today before looking in total control. Not overly impressed by the point differential, that is overhyped by blowing out Tampa, NY Jets and Buffalo - 3 teams that crapped the bed when faced with our defense. Beat Seattle when their defense was a mess with injuries. Scraped passed the Cardinals. Narrow loss to the NE Pats. Blew a game in Miami. 2-1 in the Division now. A final record of 3 and 3 in the Division wouldn't shock me, a tough back up for the Lions on Thanksgiving won't be easy and then Packers/Vikings down the stretch might depend on where those teams are at. .500 in the division is more of what the Bears are I think. Defense that starts absolutely great but can fade late if the pass rush is worn down or made obsolete by good play calls. Offense that looks great with trickery but where the QB struggles under pressure. That might be enough to win the NFC North this year due to the Packers malaise and the Viking's O line but it's a long way from the class of the NFC.

Roll the dice and fire him Macca. What's the point in investing 30 million + a year in Rodgers and saddling him with a play caller he doesn't get on with? I've been critical of Rodgers for a long time being amazing at big plays and the scramble drill but lacking the consistent marching drives with high percentage throws. Yeah the TE and WR spots aren't good but there's enough to create some sort of scheme to get guys open. I'm a big believer in Mike Pettine coaching the D. Mike Daniels is a star. Blake Martinez is a really solid middle line backer. Jaire Alexander is a star. This is a defense that can be sustainable. Not world beaters but good enough. They made Brady look very shaky before the momentum changed with the fumble a few weeks ago. Held the Rams as well. Plus aside from that small stretch of slimmer Eddie Lacy the Pack finally have a running back - one that looks adept at getting yards on the ground and in the passing game. The easy choice on who to hire - John DeFillipo the Vikings OC. Worked wonders in Philly and doing well with a bad O line at the Vikings. You'd weaken a main division rival and get a very modern offense in. Lincoln Riley would be a bold choice that could work wonders. The Packers have the right veterans and organisational culture to make a change and not lose out. Hire an offensive guy and the offense surely can improve. Hire any other quality head coach and the game management can't be worse than some of the things McCarthy has done recently - punting, not throwing a challenge etc.

Pittsburgh, Houston, Carolina

I wouldn't tip the Chiefs because come crunch time the Rams have the smarter head coach. That said, I think right now the Chiefs offense is more explosive which gives them a better chance in a straight out shootout.The counter to that is the Rams can use Gurley to kill the clock and ice it that way.Will be interesting to see if the Rams are impacted by the fires and all the disruption, I wouldn't blame them.

Fair enough to say his form the last couple of years has been uninspiring and he's battled a lot of injuries but it's pretty clear what we think he has to offer isn't it? He has a lovely penetrating left foot kick, is a natural outside runner and has good size. We traded Tyson, Lewis is just about done and so is Jones. Adding a running player with a lovely kick to play wing or half back was a pretty obvious move.