bing181

Shame that this couldn't have been sorted earlier, we might have been able to land Derkson. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing ...

There was never a concrete offer from Geelong of any sort, much less one that covered his full wage. (If you think there was, go right ahead and provide details ...) You really live in fairyland.

Shame we couldn’t find a way to fit him in. Kudos to Taylor for recognizing his potential. Will play Round 1.

Got a few ahead of him in the queue though ...

Too early to say. In any case, the club has an obligation to leave no stone unturned in trying to maximise their return and make an AFL player out of him. Blake Howes had decent raps on him as a draftee, but it's only now in his 5th season that he seems to be about to cement a place. Some players take time.

If this is the only thing we improve this year it will go a long way to getting us a higher ladder finish.

Also Jordan Lewis.

"And for the first time in a while, Melbourne doesn’t look like a side trying not to lose ..." Oh so true, and has been true since the moment the final siren sounded in the 2021 GF. Winning the flag and the weight of expectations that came with it became a millstone around our necks. Right through the club.

This. Worth noting also that 2 of the newer players have been brought in as much anything because of their leadership. Both Steele and Mihocek not only bring leadership in spades, they show what leadership is. Much as we love Gawn and Viney, they're both lead-by-example leaders, not so much troop-marshalers. Bit of a paradox here as well in that our collapse against St Kilda was the beginning of the end (or the end of the end) for Goodwin and probably the couple of usual suspects as well. Yet here we are with St Kilda's captain from that day, someone who was at the frontline of making sure his team did what needed to be done. Funny old world, though IMHO the wheels really came off when we lost Gus.

Yes: leadership.

No. It was a thread covering predictions for the year, where there were lots of "it's not about wins and losses" posts where people were being up-beat about accepting losses. I was making the point that it's easy to speak of accepting losses in the off-season, but let's see how sanguine people are if those losses mount, e.g. if we were 0 6. I have no idea how we'll do this year, there are too many unknowns. But there will be losses.

I never predicted 0 and 6.

And slightly off-topic, but not great for anyone that after all this time North still look poor. Sure, players out, yadda yadda, but it's much the same for every team. Sacking Clarkson would be a shock to the system, but there are already murmurings. But who would touch them in 2027 if that happened? Too early perhaps for Goodwin, too hard for Bucks. Coax an old-boy like Adam Simpson out of retirement?

Probably one for another thread, but something that really stood out to me today wasn’t just the younger/newer players coming into view — it was what they bring and how well we’ve managed to set ourselves up for the future. It’s not as if we’ve got just one future star mid or a single key player to build a team around. It genuinely feels like we’ve got every position covered with emerging talent ready to take us forward for the next 10 years. People talk about rebuilds - it looks like we had one without even noticing.

In spite of the opposition, or lack thereof, great result for the players after a pre-season of hard work. Wouldn't hurt their confidence in the new direction. Remains to be seen where this gets us once we're up against serious opposition, but you couldn't have asked for more. Echoing others' comments re some of the newer players. Heath and Kentfield in particular stood out for me. Moose is already a better ruck than anyone we've had coming through since I don't know when, and you'd think that the succession plan is assured. Then Kentfield just really looks like a player. Not sure of his role or even whose spot he takes, but surely we see him sooner rather than later. JVR would be looking over his shoulder.

Plus Bowey and Petty who would be walk-up starters. That makes 5 of our best 22, 6 if you count Culley.

Good for him, perhaps shows that moving him on was the best for all concerned. (He says through gritted teeth.)

Source? On the other hand .... "The only thing I can go by is the conversations with Christian and (partner) Bella, and the fact that we've spent a lot of time with Christian and Bella and they're incredibly thankful with the support the club's given. From players, coaches, management and our welfare team who's not only been dealing with Christian but also his family." Goodwin also slammed suggestions the club's doctors had acted against Petracca's best interests by clearing him to return to the field. "I trust our medical team like never before - they're unbelievable at what they do and they're independent to the game," Goodwin said. "They did all the assessments possible and we're really comfortable where that stood." https://au.sports.yahoo.com/simon-goodwin-admission-about-christian-petracca-and-partner-amid-ugly-family-furore-212401368.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Ah, but they do have Charlie Spargo. (Who's still unavailable/injured I believe.)

Article does confirm that he wasn't in a particularly good head space for a while there, presumably since The Injury. Understandable, and great that he's in a better place. Shame he had to leave for an interstate club to get there. That said — as has been hinted at here previously — it does seem to confirm the move wasn’t just about footy or the $$$.

Very hard to take too much from this, given the makeup of the teams (VFL/top up players) and the shorter game time, but apart from the usual suspects was impressed by Kentfield. Just looks like he knows how to go about it. A real shame he spent last season playing catch-up after missing the pre-season, but worth persevering with I would have thought. To a lesser extent, Thostrup. Not a lot of exposure here, but for the first time it looked like he was playing a role that aligned with the kind of player he is. Whether going forward that makes him a defender remains to be seen, but promising. Will be interesting to see where he lines up in the upcoming practice matches.

We should have a better idea of all of this after the practice match against North.

Seeing the 3 present MFC'ers plus 3 ex (Jackson, Hogan, Bedford) ... that would have been a team!

Somewhat unfortunate as it's a trio that badly needed a full pre-season without injury interruptions. Not sure re CJ, but when did Salem and Petty last do a full pre-season?

`Clarrie had his papers well and truly marked before King arrived. The moment Goodwin was given the shove it was only a matter of time before Oliver and Trac followed, one way or another. May should have been part of that trio as well, but no-one wanted to touch him, just as no-one wanted to touch Oliver. Clean broom and all that.