Pates

As Sue touched on, yes I feel it's possible for a team to overachieve. Things clicked at the right time to make our overall year look a little better than what I had us at and certain players gain confidence at the right times to play above their normal output. I had our gradual progression having us finish at about 5th-6th that year, not making the prelim. Riding a wave of confidence and a bit of luck in the final vs Hawthorn (I still think on the balance of the game we were better), we made it to a prelim where we can into a brick wall rather painfully. The bulldogs winning the premiership is probably an example I would have of a team overachieving (in the biggest way possible) getting so many elements clicking just perfectly at the right time. Were they the best team that year? Probably not. But they still have the premiership in the cabinet.

Very good write up, I think it sums up where things are at, what needs to change, and asked important questions. Main question comes at the end though, what was the abberation? 2018 or 2019? My thoughts (simply) are that we overachieved in 2018 and quite clearly underachieved in 2019. We need things to click for us, and if we get an injury run like what the Tigers got in 2017 I think we can do some serious damage.

Definitely keen to know what the go with Brayshaw’s arm is.

Honestly I fully expected him to have setbacks during his time with us so this is no surprise. I still say we give him a rookie spot, what is it really giving up? Most rookie listed players end up doing little anyway, it's a gamble and when we took him on I never thought we'd see him before mid-late season at the earliest.

Every year I feel like there's a player that comes from almost nowhere to become a regular best 22 player that maybe not be pretty or a star but an important role player. Last year I guess I would've said it was Frost (others may argue for another player), he was far and away our best defender, although given the year that might not be the biggest praise ever. I'd be interested to know who people think may get their way into the 22 and stay there for most of the year after being considered depth or just not that good. My pick might not be going hugely out on a limb but I think ANB is going to resume his form from 2018. I would say that I wasn't alone in expecting/hoping he was going to be shown the door at the end of 2019 but it sounds like he's putting in some good signs at training and he has a very good fitness base. His best quality in 2018 was that he solidly contributed almost a couple of goals a game while putting in lots of km's through the match including 1% plays. The way we've recruited and so far the fitness of the group means he is going to have to keep putting in good performances to maintain his spot. I feel that he (like a few others) lost their confidence and drive to be at their best during a difficult 2019. My other pick is (fitness permitting) Petty but think he's going to have a lot of competition for his spot and his form will fluctuate.

I feel like Weid has had an interrupted career so far, which has impacted his opportunity for consistency, that said his start to last year was disappointing to say the very least. His first step in the right direction has to be to positively impact the play even if he's not getting a lot of the ball (sounds like I'm talking about a certain other high drafted forward!), impact aerial contests to bring the ball to ground and stay involved as long as possible. He's shown bits and pieces of positive play (particularly at the end of 2018), now his challenge has to be regular output. I still believe in him, and with a bit more bulk to his body he should be better in the contested marking situations. Like many 2020 is a big year for him.

Thanks for that DS, totally agree that Richmond have the right mix of tempo footy. They know when the time to go is and they do it well, what I also really like about them is they have this ability to adapt and improvise to situations such as clever tap ons or just keeping the ball moving forward. I'm not sure if/how they train for it but there have been occasions where I would've loved to see our players do similar things such as if a forward is going up for a marking contest against two defenders and knows marking it is tough prospect, thumping it on to Melbourne player to the open goal. I feel like Trac has tried this a few times, sometimes it works (and looks breathtaking) and sometimes it fails and looks messy. Also just on KK, I was hoping for a Brayshaw like miracle (and perhaps that's what the club was hoping for when they got him) but if he is struggling with affects now (when was his last knock?), surely for his longterm health it's time to pull the pin. Maybe for his recovery (for life not footy) the best thing is being around the club, and there's no one crying out to be upgraded right now, but it's sad for the bloke that it just doesn't seem to be coming right for him.

Question for the track watchers, is there any signs towards a different game style that we might be employing next year? While I feel like we don't have a the patience and poise for the "keep away" footy that the Hawks were so good at for ages I do think our style (even in 2018) was too chaotic. It was high risk, high reward but last year showed that it leaves us very exposed so I'm hoping that we will be showing a little more patience and intelligence with the way we use the ball.

The game against Adelaide at Casey is the only footy I'm going to be able to see live some definitely counting down to going to it. The pre-season reports have been mostly positive and quite a few of the key players seen to be putting in good time, but that's where we will get to see if it amounts to anything.

We've been in hell for a very long time, waiting for the "and back".

Loving hearing AvB training really well, was hoping Hannan would be the same but fingers crossed the fitness team can get him out on the park. Also happy to hear some positive reports about Weid. If he gets a clean run at it then this has to be the year things start to click, our forward line was so impotent last year so we need TMac and Weid to find the form from the end of 2018 that contributed to us being so high scoring. Also just a quick one, any reason why Melksham was a no show? For me he is one of our most important players.

Maybe it's my rose coloured glasses but if that midfield is able to stay mostly fit then that looks pretty damn good to me. My only knock is disposal efficiency, for many of our games we didn't have any trouble getting it into the forward line, it was just constantly coming straight back out because of more decision making and bad kicking. We need to start making our entries count for something, hopefully that's something that can additionally be rectified by TMac having a better year and Fritta playing as a forward.

I know it's a fluff piece but it's still really good to hear. He spoke to the club at the end of the year citing he would like more midfield time, he could become an absolute animal in the and a real X-factor. He's doing things right in the pre-season, it can only mean good things for the real thing.

Apart from the obvious? See Trac become a powerhouse player and get AA honours.

Reading the little tidbits on Bennell and him doing shots on goal barely missing makes me feel if we can harness just a portion of his potential timed right it could mean the difference between us winning the premiership. You need X-factors to win premierships can he definitely has it, I think if we can get 50 games out of him then we'll be doing very well but those 50 games could be pure magic. Thanks to everyone for the training reports, being on the other side of the world it's easy to feel disconnected but this at least makes me feel like I'm in the know with the club's activities.

I agree, go out to the towns and help them clean up/run a footy clinic/play a scratch match or something. That said I'm not against the idea of a one of SOO game to help donate to worthy causes. At the end of the day though we'd like to know that what we are contributing to might help to prevent things getting as bad as they have, but that's in the hands of the state and federal governments. Can't help but feel they've been left flat footed on this.

I had high hopes for The Prince, but I think he's a bit like Rance in that he's a very different cat and footy isn't something that gave him fulfilment so he didn't reach the hights he was capable of. He was very outspoken and frankly at times a bit of a distraction so I don't think there were too many tears shed when he quit. Still like any former Dees player that when out there in the Red and Blue I hope he's happy in his post-footy life.

The AFL have tipped in some good coin on top of organising this match. My biggest frustration is that I have a wedding the night it's happening otherwise I would've been there in a heartbeat. It's a little sad to see how lowly we are rated that only May and Gawn will be getting a run in it. Would've thought Clarry would be in there as well.

Crazy as this sounds if they were to go ahead with a match I think this is one rare instance I would support them going the path of AFLX. Only because it appears to be less impact on the body, less players and I think you could make it into a carnival style atmosphere. A state of origin round robin AFLX would (I feel) minimise the risk of injuries to players and could be billed as a bit of fun. Personally though I would prefer them going down the path of doing a telethon with them pledging to match dollar for dollar.

I'm cautiously optomistic about our 2020 prospects, feeling kinda similar to how I felt heading into 2018. I think the elements for success are there, it's a matter of making them click (again). The players (and coaching staff) need to do all they can to draw on the confidence we had in 2018 and remembering that they have it in them. All good points in the article, the Harley Bennell call is honestly a case of, "whatever happenes, happens".

I'll never forget reading the scrolling headline during the coverage for the first time that Troy Broadbridge was one of the many missing people. I hoped so much to hear the news that he'd been found alive. I've never been prouder of the club than I was after the tribute game to him vs Essendon. RIP Troy

Melbourne related Melbourne to finish 6th and get to Prelim (13 H&A wins) Petracca to get first B&F and top Melbourne's Brownlow count May, Petracca, Oliver AA TMac tops our goal kicking cracking 50 again Queens Birthday sees Kozzie kick 3 goals including GOTY nomination, also earning him a rising star nomination Non Melbourne WC Premiers Tigers Runner Up Lions to have a similar hangover to us last year finishes outside the 8 Bombers finish bottom two Cats (finally) finish outside the 8 (and we beat them at the cattery)

If fit Tomlinson is best 22 without a doubt, he was brought in fir a specific purpose (like Langdon). If we get a blessed run of injuries like what the Lions got last year and the Tigers in their 2017 premiership year, we will be seriously competitive. Luck is an intangible quality that can't be underestimated.

One of his biggest issues over the years is that lack of pre-season fitness, this will go a LONG way to him being available in the season proper. He's an easily forgotten man because he hasn't played much, I'd just love to see him get a full crack at it.

Us missing Melksham for much of the season can't be underestimated. Don't forget a lot of the games we lost we either had more or just about the same amount of inside 50s. One of the biggest issues we had was a terrible disconnect between the midfield and forward line. Melksham is one of the major ingredients in making this work, his and direct pass into the forward line set us up for lots of shots on goal in 2018. We had so many balls go into the forward 50 that bounced straight back out and we were so easy to score against on the rebound. I also think that we need to look at developing Weids in this area, he had an injury riddled 2019 but 2020 has to be a big one for him. He's got the talent, we saw it in the first final v Geelong! I really think we have one of the largest scopes for improvement in the league but it's all potential.