binman

Love that we've added another leftie.

It's been stolen?

The way I see it, we only use on or two key tall defender in the old school sense of a key tall who locks down an oppo tall forward. May is the number one such player. Lever plays an intercepting role and tmac was more a tall roamimg flanker than a traditional tall defender. When we needed a second lock down defender last year we had to rely on Lever and/or Tmac, or sometimes Tomlinson. The problem with using Lever or Tmac in that role is both are very average one on one. Petty is a much better option as he is great one on one but can also zone off and intercept.

It's fascinating isn't it. Petty has been training with the backs all preseason, but has been talked about as a swing man. I reckon Jefferson is the wild card in terms of where Petty plays. If Jefferson becomes a best 23 lock that would mean three key talls - jeffo, jvr and Turner. And possibly 4 if AJ plays as a forward ruck. AJ is another fascinating piece of the puzzle. I don't have a strong sense of whether he is AFL ready, but I really hope he is because I'd love jvr to be able to just focus on marauding inside 50 for at least the first half off the season rather than having to run himself into the grounf giving maxy a chop out (though long term I see him playing that role - I really rate his ruck ability).

We're not adapting our game plan. As goody noted we were trying to implement a fast transition game for much of last year. And yet, despite that we went tall down back in the first third of last season. But you make a good point about Windsor going back changing the mix, though you could argue he is replacing Rivers, who didn't start playing midfield 'till the last third of the season. Leaving the mix of talls and mediums aside, I just can't see tmac not playing down back round one. One of best defenders last year, is having one of his best preseasons ever - and the first in years where he has no foot issues. Can run all day, and whilst I agree with DS that he has turning circle of a boat, he looks in ripping nick and is as thin and athletic as ive ever seen him. I'd add that he is one of our most reliable field kicks, which is absolutely critical to being able to implement a transition method. Turnovers from defence kill teams these days. May and Lever ate both very hit and miss with those short 20 to 30 kicks out of defence that are so important. Tmac on the other hand is rock solid.

Yes. Gator makes a good point about GWS' forward line having small pressure forwards, so perhaps not round one. But it's best to think of the defence as a back seven, not six. And it's worth noting that in OR last season we ran with Tomlinson, Howes, Lever and May. And round one, albeit against a tall dogs forward line, we ran with Hore, Lever, May, Howes and Tmac.

Because whilst yes, tmac is tall he doesn't play as a KPD - he plays as a tall half back flanker Howes and tmac are playing for much the same position I reckon. And tmac has first dibs - he's had a great preseason and he was arguably our best defender last year.

I've always rated derwanye's an...... Sorry, can't do it, not even as a joke.

That's better cranky. Good to have you back. I've always rated your posts.

I've always rated Hodgey's analysis not to mention his mellifluous speaking voice and command of the English language.

Yep, of course. But in 2025 99% of organizations that want you to know where they are, or want to promote an event, embed the address and google maps INTO the relevant page on their website. Why do they do that? So the customer doesn't have to navigate to another web page or site. If the customer does have to do so there is a risk they won't bother - not to mention making the org look like total amateurs. By the by, the Arden Street ground is ALSO on McCauley Road.

Yes, as i noted, i found it and posted a screenshot. But 'all the details' is a bit of a stretch jnr. This is the entirety of what 'Melbourne media' wrote on 7 Feb: MELBOURNE's first cross-club encounter of the season has been locked in at Arden St on Saturday, February 22. The Demons will take on the Kangaroos in match simulation play, starting from 11am AEDT and broadcast live on Foxtel and Kayo. The match sim will consist of four 25-minute quarters, plus game-specific simulations at the end of the second and fourth quarters. A final pre-season encounter with Fremantle in the club's official pre-season match is slated for Sunday, March 2 at Rushton Park in Mandurah. Match simulation Sat, Feb 22 North Melbourne v Melbourne at Arden Street Oval, 11am AEDT Too bad if you want to get there by public transport and would like some useful info on how to best do so Too bad if you want to drive and would like some useful info on parking options. Hell, they don't even provide the address!

And streamed it live.

I saw that info about the intra club match on the roos website - it helpfully included who was playing on each team (white and blue teams) and their numbers. Plus a bunch of other useful info. By the by, it really highlighted how helpful a proper home training base is. They had a practice match followed by the family day at Arden Street, which unlike us means all the infrastructure is there (eg kitchen, fridges to store bbq stuff etc etc) and things can be stored and accessed properly (eg merch, equipment, give away etc). Plus fans get to feel the club vibe - the roos admin is all there and when you walk in their pteniershop cups are in the public entry area.

Well, I hope that's right GW or else I'll well and truly have egg on my face and 58er will have justified cause to lampoon me! Note: I just checked the AFL site and it's still listed as an 11am start.

Update - I found it (note to dees fans - the starting time is wrong. Because of the predicted heat the game is starting at 10am. I know that because i read Demonland. Also note, there is nothing about the Casey practice match):

Indeed. Particularly because the MFC website is useless as an information source. I just went to the MFC website app looking for info on the practice match, thinking the info would likely not include public transport info. Well, after looking for 5 minutes for info about the game I couldn't find ANYTHING. Nada, bubkis, nil. No doubt it's there somewhere, but I couldn't see it. And wasn't going to waste any more time looking. I wonder how many fans will miss the first half of the game given it's starting at 10am to 11am. @58er given you're so hot on only using the MFC website as the source of information about all thing MFC how about you find the info on the app, post a screen shot of it - and let us know how long it took you to find it.

Good lord, the quality of trolling on this site has fallen off a cliff.

Cranky, old mate, take the L and move on. You're losing all your hard earned cranky cred.

One mistake a year - assuming you count the examples given as 'mistakes'. But as you suggest, the implication was the examples given were indisputably mistakes, which is just complete nonsense. It never ceases to amaze me how people make definitive statements about medical stuff when, one they almost never have any relevant qualifications and two, don't have access to the players medical history, rehabilitation plans or any of the relevant data. I mean, it's not unreasonable to have as a starting point that highly paid professional medical and high-performance teams with access to all the relevant info and data are likely to be making informed decisions about the management of players with injuries. Take Spargo - it seems to be accepted as fact that playing him in round one did more damage and was a factor in him being out for the season. Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn't. The point is we are making guesses either way. Correlation doesn’t imply causation and all that. What we can say with certainty is the medical and high-performance team, based on the information and data available to them at the time (info not available to us) made what they thought was the right decision for Spargs at the time. An interesting parallel to the decision to play Spargs was the almost identical decision to play Tmac in round one just two weeks after ankle surgery. Played, and i don't think missed a game for the whole season?

Sure. I'll give you some terrific games where he has kicked mutiple goals with few possessions. And, sure I'll give you that remarkable thing about his work as a forward is this preseason is only third AFL preseason (by way of contrast jvr has 4 under his belt) - and nly his FIRST where he has trained as a forward all preseason. But Wayne, what did Turner ever do for us?

11am start. Casey practice match at 2pm - which will be worth watching I reckon as there will be plenty of AFL listed players running around for casey who will want to impress, and push their case to be considered for senior selection.

Arden Street. Yes, open.

I've heard the prices to attend their games are going way up.