Inner Demon

Can't delist draftees for 2 years. They all get standard 2 year contracts.

Now, where's that clown who boldly declared after losing a preseason game that we would never get to 30K and wouldn't win a game all year???

Emerge and accept your rubbishing.

So the only players who ever tear a hamstring are those who have torn their hamstring before??

How did Aussie tear his hamstring in the first place???

It's been very well publicised that Aussie's injury issue is not the regular scenario where he's potentially doomed to an injury problem from stretching out or kicking. He's working with biomechanists to rectify an issue in tackling technique, once that is solved, he will hopefully be good to go.

For the record, he's only injured his hammies twice. In the pre-seasons of last year and this year. The majority of his time out last year was a meniscus injury.

"Never plays"...

How absurd.

He's missed one season of football with 2 different injuries. Is Liam Jurrah's body 'not up to the rigours of AFL' because he got injured???? Better give up on him too.

I'm also fascinated to learn that Jamie Bennell will definitely not get injured this weekend, and presumably, ever throughout his career. I don't suppose your crystal ball has seen the results of all of this week's Lotto numbers as well as the injury future of individual players.

So 192cm is too short but 193cm is fine???????

Do you realise how big a centimetre is??? Grab a ruler, if you think being 1cm taller is actually giving a player a realistic advantage of some kind throughout the course of a game like Aussie Rules, you're delusional.

Darren Glass 192cm

Dale Morris 190cm

Sam Fisher 192cm

Craig Bolton 190cm

I could go on.

But for what it's worth. James Frawley hits your magical threshold of 193cm which qualifies him to be the 'tall defender' we desperately need to support all these 192cm midgets we have running around.

Michael Newton is also 193cm. What a star that's made him...

It doesn't faze me personally whether we're on FTA or Pay as I have Foxtel and I got to Melbourne games anyway.

However, from a business perspective it is really very significant. The ratings on FTA (particularly a slot like Sat night) are significantly better than on Pay and this has an impact on our sponsorship valuations which can be important in renewing existing sponsorships and attracting new sponsorships.

From this perspective, it is most annoying that we're not getting a run on FTA.

Thanks for that

The main AFL website still has last weeks list with Sylvia noted for a test !! http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/92714/default.aspx

There is a footnote " * Please note that Melbourne's list is from last week. It will be updated when available".

Not a good look - hopefully someone from the club will sort this out

Why is it the Club's problem if AFL's webmaster is slow to update??

It's not a good luck for AFL.com, no reflection on MFC.

he wont push JB out, aussie showed what he can do but that was 2008,JB is the future, its a real shame how its ended up for aussie.

How can a player turning 20 this season so definitively be 'the future' in place of a player aged 21???

Where are Bennell's 3 & 4 goal bags that put him ahead of Aussie in terms of future discussions???

Surely any discussion regarding the future wouldn't be influenced by a current injury?? Where does your argument go if Jamie does his hamstring this weekend???

mate gawns got a knee reco thats why he hasnt played and thats why he went at pick 34. dont worry gawn will be good for this club

Good lord, is that 3 people who've not only failed to read my post with any sense of irony but also not process the other posters point out the others making this ludicrous error??

Just...try a little harder kids...

I would suggest Bails is only talking about the immediate future where we will be a Jurrah & Wona-less forward line.

Hopefully Wona is back at Casey in a week and, as you say, pushing his way in after a month or so. He'll be an interesting one to watch given the somewhat unique circumstances of his injury issue. Good test for the Club's biomechanists to fix the flaw in his tackling and put the hamstring issues behind him.

Fair difference between the hard helmets worn as safety devices and the soft ones in sports.

Obviously you can't go out there wearing a motorcycle helmet, there'd probably be 10 more concussions as a result.

Please don't take this as any form of "Watts bashing" or asking too much too soon, or anything of that nature. But it's a little disappointing to hear the reality of what has been talked up as a 24 touch game for some reason. Sounds like Jack was pretty ineffective last weekend.

From Brad Gotch:

Jack Watts - Kicks 7, Handballs 5, Marks 2

Collingwood rolled a lot of numbers back, which made it hard for Jack to find the space that he needed. To his credit, he worked really hard to push up the ground - to find that space - and he set up some nice attacking phases for us, which we capitalised on the scoreboard with.

Encouraging report on Gys from the weekend:

Jordan Gysberts - Kicks 14, Handballs 7, Marks 4, Tackles 3

Jordan started on the wing, but was moved into the midfield and he became a very important player. His first hand possessions were really good, especially in the third quarter, when we put a gap in there, he was the instigator from the engine room. He had three clearances in that third quarter, and then started to use the ball well. He’ll be better for the outing - he bounced back and ended up having a good game.

When comparing Watts with Riewoldt, which is perfectly reasonable as they are both #1 pick, CHFs with similar body types, I would suggest lining up Nick's 2nd year Rising Star and 3rd year B&F efforts with whatever we see Jack do in his 3rd & 4th years.

Nick wasn't a 17 year old schoolboy in his first year, the comparison should be adjusted by one year for accuracy in measuring progression.

This is what everyone said about Jared Brennan when he started out.

NicNat is very exciting, but he's no superstar yet.

Perhaps let's not get too excited about the 'non formal' interaction with the league boys...

I'm not sure if I think this is a great arrangement. I know it will be unpopular, but I believe Melbourne should move to Casey Fields full time.

Melbourne will be having to share one part time training base with four other tenants, that does not house all the staff, and then spend one day per week travelling an hour to another training facility that is not up to standard with other AFL Clubs. We will then spend the preseason training at the inferior venue.

I understand that the new facilities will be light years better than the Junction Oval, but I'm not sure that I would class this arrangement as highly as others have.

Firstly, many players consider football their job, and if my employer or prospective employer said that I had to travel an additional hour one day per week and for 5 months of the year full time, I'd consider looking for another job. Brock Mclean said this was one of the reasons for his move. There may be other reasons that we can speculate on, but he said this was a reason for moving to Carlton. The travel is also wasted time. Players could make much better use of this time recovering, relaxing, or working.

Secondly, who gets priority at the AAMI park facilities? Are we going to be the poor cousins who have to wait in line to use the recovery/medical/weights etc?

Thirdly, as much as we like to remember a time before most of us were born, the MCG is not ours. We are a tenant along with many others. The suburb of Melbourne does not provide much of our supporter base either.

Fourthly, I don't believe that the people of Casey will embrace a part time team. No evidence, just a feeling. Sort of like Tassie not fully embracing the Hawks.

So why don’t we move to Casey full time and develop a first class facility there? If the Roos can build the upgrade of Arden Street, Dogs can redevelop the Western Oval, surely we could work with the AFL, State and Local Governments to get the funding?

It would allow us to relocate into a growth area, probably with the support of the AFL who would want to grow the game in the developing suburbs. It would also allow us the keep the Melbourne name, as we would still be in the Melbourne Metropolitan area. It would allow the players to have the opportunity to live close to training, and reduce time wasted on travel. All the admin and football department could be located under the one roof, and we could build a supporter base based on our geographic home. It would also give the Scorpions access to first class facilities, so I'm sure they would welcome it. And we would control when we train and that we have access to.

It would be great to continue to be located in the Heart of the city, without ground, but times have changed, and I believe that the Dees should move to Casey.

Any belief that we will be somehow restricted in our use of any of the facilities at AAMI Park is misinformed. I can't imagine where this perception has come from. I had a back and forth with somebody recently about our inability to have "impromptu" sessions. Rest assured, there is no such thing, it's rubbish. AAMI Park ticks every box in terms of providing our players and football department with all the state-of-the-art facilities we need.

As for the suggestion of moving lock, stock and barrell to Casey. You think there's a problem in asking players to drive an extra 30-40 mins once a week but no problem with asking them all to move to Cranbourne or make the drive every single day????? Not a sound idea.

As for the MCG not being our home, we have a rent-free setup for our administration at the MCG and I'm pretty confident that the MFC staff would not appreciate being told they now work in Cranbourne rather than the MCG.

What a ridiculous load of rubbish.

Stupid comment.

Good call. Been really unimpressed with the Gawn kid too. Get a game you hack.

And as for the Brissy game, it'll likely free up some space for some of the kids gagging for a gig at the moment.

Take a look at the 22 that played against the Tigers. I struggle to find 2 names that didn't play well. Come this time next week we'll have a few names ready for a break, and in can come the likes of Strauss, Spencer, Newton, Maric and others who are in line for a recall.

Is that comment tongue-in-cheek or are you actually foreshadowing your own silly kneejerk reaction of unjustly dropping a bunch of players after we lose a game against a vastly superior team in favour of bringing in a clutch of players who haven't really earned their spot???

Can I ask, why you think it is the most important game since 2006 ?

Because it's more fun to make things urgent, immediate and definitive, than to just sit back and enjoy the ride and judge things over a more realistic time frame than 2 hours next Saturday night.

His leading mark in the 4th quarter off Junior's awesome chip from the boundary line was sensational.

He just hits the ball with such aggression. He was motoring at full pace through a very crowded area, if anybody had dropped into the hole in front of them they were going off on a stretcher. Really, really exciting to see.

We will more than likely get flogged, and that shouldn't provoke the usual stream of Sack Bailey and other assorted rubbish threads. (It will of course, can't help pea-brains).

Brisbane is in spectacular form and is a complete, mature & experienced team. Of course I expect us to fight and compete, but am fully prepared to see us get overwhelmed and beaten by 8 goals. It won't be a step backward or an indictment on any player or coach, it will be a Premiership contender beating a young, inexperienced team the way that they ought to.

6. Moloney

5. McDonald

4. Sylvia

3. Scully

2. Jamar

1. McKenzie

Only change would be a forced one if Beamer got rubbed out. Hopefully a moot point.

As for the structure.

Frawley will have to get first crack at Brown as Warnock won't be able to follow JB up the ground enough, Warnock is better suited out of the goalsquare on Fev.

Garland to Brennan. Great matchup.

Come Saturday, all the "he's too slow"s and "he's not big enough"s will be pretty irrelevant, I'd expect to see everyone get a chance on everyone as we look for the best matchups.

As for my mental preparation for the game, I'm expecting us to get flogged. This Brisbane side is sensational and they're in hot form. They just smashed the pre-season flag favourite, could've easily been 10 goals. They will likely make an awful mess of us.

This won't be a 'step backwards' or anything like that, this will be a Premiership contender beating a young, inexperienced side dragging itself off the bottom.