Pates

I'm joining a bit of a chorus here that I think Harmes should be placed into a run with role on Cripps, he is a really damaging player and if left unchecked could really hurt us.

I think he was a different person then, it's almost like he needed to go to Freo and fail before he was ready to start fresh as a new person. I suspect we would've got closer to a Mitch Clark back then. I'm tempering my expectations on his for his first game, I'd like him to get his first goal out of the way and be involved in a number of good passages of play. If he can get say 12-15 damaging possessions and a goal or two that would be a great result. What was interesting was hearing the presser and how he mentioned Goodwin, he said that Goody knows he can play footy, it's more about the mentoring of Harley on a personal level that he's thrived on.

This is the good news story of the year, he was a risk and the club took him on under conditions that they set out for him which he has knocked out of the park. It’s a shame he won’t be able to make his Dees debut in front of a roaring crowd but I can wait to see him in the red and blue.

I’d expect to see Hibberd out instead of OMac. Very similar types of players. Really excited for the footy now, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep the Friday night! I’m a little surprised at Jackson’s debut, there’s been little talk of him and I still don’t know what role they’ve settled for him at this stage. Still Carlton is probably a good team for him to get this first game against with no clear top line ruckman. You’d imagine he’ll replace Brown, what does that mean for Weiderman if so? Another option is we sacrifice a taller body down back in OMac (which appears to be what a lot of people want) and we go with Weids and TMac as our two key forwards and Jackson moves into a more midfield/floater/ruckman role.

100% one match at a time. We just need to get our season going, get that first win to get some confidence.

I know a lot of the talk has (fairly) been on Bennell, but Weiderman is someone that I hope the club is lighting a rocket under. He is getting to an age where potential has to be turned into results or we look at options to replace him moving forward. I would like to see a forward structure that utilises TMac as the focal point but Weiderman tries to create the second option that almost demands the ball more. Now has to be the time for him to deliver. Really hoping that Jackson is showing some dangerous forward work, competition for spots can always help in these cases.

Agreed, no doubt the plan would’ve been title the game time slow at VFL to get his pace for the game back up to scratch. I’d be inclined to ply him predominantly as a forward for much of his early time. Add another exciting element to our forward line with Kozzie, while it will give him a chance to get a feel for the pace of the game.

There’ll definitely a few having to eat some humble pie should he get a decent amount of games into him. Coronavirus could end up being the best thing to happen for him, it’s allowed him to continue his rehab work with zero pressure to get on the field. Over to you Burgess!

Agreed, it would be extremely risky bringing both in when they’ve been on the long term injury list for so long. You’d have to imagine both will be on limited game time when they do return.

Ultimately the jury is out, we won’t know until the end of the year. If we have less injuries then the midfield is stacked with his style, although I think for certain matches we could see him moved back into a run with role. It was something we did with Vince so don’t be surprised if Harmes does it as well.

I keep forgetting Betts is back at Carlton, Martin also killed it for the Blues against Richmond so Jetta might get a run on him should he play forward at times. I think Hibberd (with runs on the board) is more likely to get a run in round 2 but as you said he’s on thin ice.

At his best he is an absolute class player, albeit flawed with his set shot (boy that sounds familiar). His body really seems to be wrecked but perhaps with the (hopeful) success of Harley Bennell our fitness staff may be able to work their magic on him. The questions I have would be centered around his commitment, and also the asking price.

I can't see both Jetta and Hibberd being dropped, maybe one of them. Hibberd for me had the worse game of the two, though Jetta was well off as well. I admit I can't remember that far back but I don't remember OMac being particularly awful, I mean I know in general his bar is set kinda low for a lot of people. I can see Rivers coming in for Hibberd, I've been hearing a lot of positive things about the kid, and he looked good in the scratch match vs North. This is what I think, make of it what you will. I'd love to say HB gets a gig but I think they're going to play a longer game with him and make him tick more boxes before they bring him in. B: JETTA , MAY, LEVER HB: SALEM, OMAC, HARMES C : LANGDON, PETRACCA, TOMLINSON HF: PICKETT, WEIDEMAN , JONES F: MELKSHAM, T.MCDONALD, FRITSCH FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY IC: BRAYSHAW, HANNAN, RIVERS, AVB (if fit) or JACKSON (or BENNELL a smokey) EMRG: HIBBERD, LOCKHART, SMITH, JACKSON

Then again how many times have we been done in red time for 20min quarters?

They sure did look flat in the first quarter against Geelong of the elimination final too.

I remember reading all the comments of opposition fans saying he won’t last the pre-season and that he’ll be back on the turps (or worse) in no time. The fact that he has knuckled down and done the hard work with his body (as well as I’m sure his mind) is a credit to him and the club. I’m cautious to get too excited about him because I know we’ve had history of things taking drastic turns but all you can hope is he keeps putting in the hours and we will all see reward on the field.

This is an interesting point, with no crowds the venue will be getting very little revenue with them then having to pay for more staff at the games (security in particular). I think food and drink is still a possibility, like you have said with the toilets if you have someone at the entrance counting the number of people and possibly having someone outside ensuring the line is distanced. I also wonder whether they may leave entire bays empty to make it so that you are sectioned in a specific area and reduce the potential numbers of people. I agree that end of the game could be a difficult prospect as you can have staggered entrances but everyone will want to leave at the same time. It might have to be as simple as asking people politely to be patient and wait, or perhaps suggest to people they leave a little early if the result is clear.

It’s pretty grim, sign of where we still sit. We’re a little unlucky in that COVID has followed a year in which our two blockbuster games were away games (still feel as though we should’ve pushed to have them flip every year) as well as a horrid time on the field really hurting the bottom line. I think they’ll do a donation drive at some point but they should make sure to let everything breathe for a bit while people count the cost of what they’ve lost. Just on the doggies and why they are one of the self-sustainable clubs, do they own Whitten Oval? They’ve had a very good membership ever since their premiership year and I feel like they rode a wave of good fortune and good management since then. Their crowd figures are still pretty mediocre so it’s not from there they get their money.

It would be quite something if we get him out on the park and we have both him and Kozzie in the forward line, after last year being so sapped of excitement up front. They could really be a lethal combo. Still I ain’t counting any chickens yet, this week was his first contact run in years so let’s see how he pulls up.

Much as I don't like it I think our strip allows for that possibility of a large front of jumper sponsor underneath the V. But I can't see how certain other teams could do it. For the extra cash, it might be a necessary evil.

Do our players have the jitters in front of goal in general? I mean the chances we created in the first quarter really should've yielded at least two goals from the quarter but I just don't have any confidence in anyone right now (very negative attitude I know). While I'm confident with this game against the blues, I think we need to make sure they don't get their tails up early. As you pointed out in your post @WERRIDEE we didn't capitalise with scoreboard pressure and cost us dearly.

Did they? They scored 78 points and we held one of the premier FF to 0 goals, 0 behinds and 2 kicks and 2 handballs. We mainly got scored on rebounds and turnovers (unfortunately reminiscent of 2019). The forward line (and the lack of cohesion with the midfield) was the big worry for me, as that was a major issue last year and we made the same mistakes.

Less games to make an impact so I hope he jumps right out of the blocks vs Carlton. I cautiously optimistic about him, hopefully it'll click for him, he seems to have the right attitude so it's about putting all the pieces of the Petracca puzzle together.

I'm not entirely up for the idea of 6 on the bench but if it were to happen this year I'd throw Bennell in for the first game with small bursts. I really hope they don't maintain the shorter quarters for the future, and it definitely shouldn't be more people on the bench going forward. I can understand it for this year as things are just completely out of whack and it gives more players a chance to perform, though I hope they'd maintain a similar (if not lower) amount of interchanges encouraging them to have the players out there for longer periods.

He keeps ticking boxes and that’s all we can ask of him. If he ends up debuting against the Blues it could be one of the most anticipated debuts from a Melbourne player in a long time. And it’ll be in front of no one!