Pates

Him and Brayshaw could be our unknown factors that see us improve this year. Both very highly rated draft picks, both had very interrupted careers, and both guys that I think if they get a clean run at it they can be very very good players for us.

If Danger ends up being out I think that basically levels up us losing Viney (in terms of team importance). In fact I actually think Geelong rely on Danger a lot more than we rely on Jack, though Ablett could be the X factor on their side. Its building to be a huge game.

I don’t wish any ill will towards him, I hope he does well at port, as long as he’s cr@p when he plays us!

Oh and quick question: does Hogan have a back? Clearly he doesn't because the amount of times he gets shoved out of contests is ridiculous.

I'm hoping I'll be able to see the first quarter at some stage because we really seemed to do a number on them, second quarter was even but I felt like we weren't lowering the eyes enough going forward, third quarter we couldn't get out of 2nd gear and the Saints started to pick their game up. The positive is that when the final quarter came we switched on again and showed the maturity to see out the game. I liked the look of: Fritch Lever Petracca Oliver Hibberd Brayshaw Gawn Hogan I wouldn't say either of these necessarily dominated (though Oliver first two quarters sounded pretty big) but they all had good periods where I thought if they can put it together in the proper season they could be important. Bring on the cats!

I know it’s only a pre-season match but I feel like getting a win is important to our confidence. After have such a dominant first quarter, losing will leave us with a bad taste going into the real stuff.

So I couldn’t watch the first quarter but typical when I’m able to watch it we turn to poo.

Damn I want to watch but my internet is so crap right now! Scoreboard looks impressive though!

The North Melbourne one simply must end this year. We cannot keep losing to that rabble.

From my memories that was the biggest issue with it. The few times we went driving there and back were a nightmare, I also recall the terrible video screen/scoreboard. If you're going to have a large venue like that you need at least one decent screen. I think it could've been a good ground with the right infrastructure but it failed on too many levels to be able to attract a decent enough attendance on a regular basis.

I'm really looking forward to seeing our forward set up. Clearly TMac is going to be played predominantly as a forward, him partnering with Hogan could actually cause some headaches.

Not the most unfair reason to be honest and it's the reason why so many of us refuse to get too excited. A big part of me still doesn't trust the club and players to stand up when it counts. Where I think things are different this year as opposed to last year is that we are slowly eroding the players that were a part of the "mentally scarred" culture of Bailey and (more so) Neeld. We have genuine fighters and players that have a little bit of FIGJAM about them. Robbo reckons the players are too selfish I definitely disagree with that, even in the AFLX i think we could see that the players are together and play for each other. The instagram/twitter stuff might've been a little OTT but it still had an air of arrogance about them that I didn't mind. That said arrogance needs to be backed up so I'd much prefer they get the job done when they're bloody well should (cough cough, North Melbourne & Fremantle). This needs to be the year we win when we're meant to win. Missing finals would be a massive let down, we need it. We have the quality to match it with anyone and when we hit our straps I really rate us. Robbo didn't offer many tangible reasons, just more a feeling.

I'll admit I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would but I thought it was still bastardising our great game. I noticed at times the players were a lot more "hungry" when in the forward 40 arc, they'd go for goals themselves rather than look for good options, I felt this was more prominent towards the end of the night. My only thoughts would be that maybe the "Zooper goals" be extended to a 50 metre arc, and after they are kicked it goes back to a centre tap out. That said, if the AFL said they were dumping it I would actually be quite happy with that. From what I saw Tracca and TMac are gearing themselves up for big years. I'm actually quietly hopeful that TMac being a permanent forward with Hogan around him, could make for quite a tough combination.

Holy crap I just saw Newman’s goal. I’d like to see any of the guys try that goal, that is as good as you’re going to see from anybody! As an aside I think it would actually be awesome if the MFC social media department set up a video this week of getting the likes of Petracca, Garlett, Oliver etc to try to emulate that goal at training and post the video on the club website. For one thing it would be a great way to tie the teams together, and I think it’d be hilarious to see the reactions. Even better if she’s there watching it!

100% the worst thing the AFL could've done for AFLW is expand it too quickly. The talent drops off very quickly as it is, with new teams it's only going to get worse. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a fantastic initiative and what --coach-- has said is what it's all about. His daughter now has female Demon heroes she can look up to and aspire to be, but it will take time before the standard improves to a high level across the board. Instead the AFL has bowed to pressure from other clubs to install more teams and will in fact set the games quality back. Take a look at womens cricket, it's still only now starting to get to decent level and even then the drop off in abilities is quite sharp. Great win by the Demon women, keep it up!

Agree with this, if he's given a clean run at it he'll show why he went so high.

So I think in typical Demonland style people are jumping to the worst conclusions. Coach has lost the players, divide between FD and players, players showing weak attributes. I think we need to take a breath, doing this camp and the players resenting the FD could cause more of a rift than anything going on now. It’s been sorted, they can move on. Only thing I’m disappointed about is that the players felt they needed to go to the PA about it. I would prefer they feel comfortable enough collectively voice their opinions to the leadership group and they confront the FD united. The fact they’ve gone to the PA looks bad for the club and looks bad for them (gives the impression of them whinging to their union). What I want to come from this is for the coach and FD to speak to the players and let them know in the future they can actually come and speak directly with them. Lets turn this into a positive learning experience for everyone rather than pointing fingers.

Like the look of him, seems to have really good balance and likes to take the game on (fits our style). Also appears to be a competitor, with some of those tackles in the video, but best of all his body will be ready for the rigours of AFL life already. Welcome Oskar! (Side note, the pic of Chewbacca next to him made me laugh so much. I'd love for his nickname to be Chewy shortened from Chewbaker!)

Not to nitpick and reopen old wounds but we only won 2 games in 2013. But 100% we are having an incrementally better W/L ratio, and I also agree that we have made improvements to the list. If our young brigade continue to improve then that SHOULD continue. You take nothing for granted with Melbourne though and 6 consecutive years of improving W/L would actually be quite an achievement.

I don't necessarily have a huge issue with there being a white strip but there's two things I don't like: Firstly our current white strip is without a doubt one of the laziest designs ever, it's like they woke up one morning, looked through their agenda and realised New Balance needed the print that day to create the merchandise and just decided to slap the logo on a white background. For crying out loud Melbourne, get creative and make it a design competition on the website where it's voted by the fans. Secondly it's the hypocrisy of allowing other clubs to get away with no white clash strip. I can cop the Pies because they are already black and white, and the Eagles don't really clash with anyone else massively with Gold and Royal Blue. But someone like Essendon, tell me how we are different to them? If they have a reverse colour scheme as their clash strip than so should we. There's also the fact that we wear it when we really shouldn't need to. It should ALWAYS be the Red and Blue unless there is a direct clash. It's bad enough we have the stupid thing, but we shouldn't have to wear it unless it's really needed. Anyway, every year it comes up and every year the same frustrations are aired. And every year the result is the same.

I don't think he'll necessarily make us pay directly (though it does seem to happen a fair bit with our former players), but I think he could do fairly well at Port. Ironically with Port they turned to water against any formidable opponent whilst smashing lesser teams, whereas we seemed to player well against the better teams but failed to get the job done against teams we should beat. Both teams have mental fragilities, just at different spectrums. Will be interesting to see how he does and how the port fans take to him.

I'm not sure where you get the "we need a David Nietz" idea. We have a plethora of physical talls, having traded away Watts (probably the least physical of what we had at the end of the season) we have traded in Lever which allows TMac to be a strong forward. We also have Weids developing and Pederson who admittedly is getting the end of his career but is strangely improving. As for being complacent, I think we've tried to address most of the on-field deficiencies in our team (defence being a big one). The biggest thing we have to find a way of addressing is the mental side, and that's not really something trading/drafting can do much for apart from maybe trading in experience (like Lewis).

When PJ took over we had serious issues with uniting the club from the top down. It felt fractured between the corporate side and the footy side, and while Jimmy did an amazing job of rallying people to the cause it didn't solve the long term issues that the club simply wasn't professional enough. I think this above all else is what PJ has managed to achieve (helped by Roos dealing with the footy side), we now look and act like a professional sporting organisation. We have clear direction on and off the field, and I really do feel we are on the right path. Sporting clubs are an interesting beast though, if the on field side isn't successful it's very hard to succeed off field without very solid foundations. The truest test of how far we've come is when our on field takes a dip and we don't have as many fans attending (hopefully this will be a long way off!). One of out major goals must be getting profitable without having to sell home games. I'm pragmatic enough to know that we still need them financially, but at what point do we let that cost us a potential place in the 8, or a top 4 spot? Well done to all involved!

Pumping up their own tyres, got to make it look good on paper. And to be fair both teams fans turn out for it. Obviously this point is....well pointless for most, but personally Sunday Arvo’s are the worst time slot for me living in the UK. Was really hoping for some more night games so I could watch the Dees at a better time. Lets make the finals next year and demand more coverage. Carlton getting 4 Friday nights is a bonafide joke.

So I haven’t had a fully in depth look at the draw but from what I can see it’s a bit better than last year for the fact that we don’t have that insane back to back to back 6 day break plus travel from Perth. One thing that does annoy me is the exposure we will be missing out on again. Now I’ll aknowlege we’ve got our Tuesday ANZAC eve match which will be a good one for our coffers and our usual QB Monday match, but yet again the AFL refuse to place us in the coveted Friday/Saturday night fixtures. Our only Friday night game being away to Port, while we get 4 Saturday games of which only one is home and it’s in Darwin. I realise it’s not an easy thing for them to do making the fixture but I’m sick of us constantly getting shafted on the commercial side. It’ll take us wining back to back premierships before they give us a good commercial draw.