Pates

I gotta go with Watts, I really thinks going to be one of our best players by the end of the year. Don't get too excited, I think he'll still frustrate us sometimes, but not as often.

Cheers for the summary.

He was on the morning glory today, did anyone hear it? Anything of interest?

Is he just about a certain starter? I must admit I don't know enough about some of the new boys.

21,000 Hoping to get a few extra for round one, but Easter Sunday could hurt us.

It's a nice idea but I just can't see it happening. I don't believe Neeld would have him back after everything that went down. Guilty or not he put himself in that position. If he does get back to AFL level (and I genuinely hope he does) I hope Demon fans won't hold a grudge and give him a hard time.

Was there much said about anniversary of Jimmy passing away? Obviously last year he got presented with a blazer at this dinner so it seems fitting for them to pay tribute to him at this function. It's amazing to think the difference in situation the club is in compared to 12 months ago.

Great reports guys, thanks. Sounds like a good night to get along to.

Couldn't give a stuff about the blazers, they may be a bit campy and old fashioned but it is a throw back to our heritage. It also reminds me of the blazers the cricketers wear. For one night they have to wear them, it's not the end of the world.

Well I hope that he is able to move on from this and learn from it. He has an opportunity to have a life now, I hope he doesn't waste it.

Stuff quarter time, I want to feel hope at full time.

I agreed with you up until big footy. Stoked to hear Mitch is getting out on the park. But take it slow big man!

I would be looking to sign him right now to 3 years. Certainly before the season fully gets under way as I really think he's in for a big one.

Ok so Sellar kicked a further 3 goals today, from the sounds (and looks of it) he's been one of the form players of the pre-season for us. But where can he fit in? The good thing about his form is it hopefully makes it easier on the coaching staff to give Mitch more time to recover as he's shown he can fill the void. Is he ahead of Pederson on selection pecking order as a ruck/forward?

Doggies have beaten the HawksPort has beaten WC I'm not saying I like our pre-season form but wait until towards the end of the proper season before you make silly comments like that.

They haven't played together yet so it might take a little time for them to gel, but the good news is that Dawes played in a side that had Cloke playing a similar role to Clark. I am very excited to see how they go this year. Lloyd said on FC that anything less than 40 goals from Dawes will be a fail. He must be on crack looking at what Melbourne has produced in recent years. If we get 50-60+ from Mitch and 30+ from Dawes then we'll be doing very well as a team.

I really like what Neeld brings to the club. What I find interesting is that one of his key factors to change isn't just the playing culture but the behind the scenes culture. I'm sure he has roles in mind for Byrnes and Rodan but he also spoke about the feeling they bring to the club. He's also very smart not putting solid expectations on himself and the list. All he expects is for us to improve and win more games than last year.

I'll Bite: LEAGUE PREMIERS: HAWTHORN RUNNERS UP: WEST COAST TOP 8 AT ROUND 22: Hawthorn, Sydney, West Coast, Collingwood, Carlton, Fremantle, Geelong, Adelaide BIG IMPROVER: Carlton (their fans will be insufferable this year) BIG SLIDER: St. Kilda BROWNLOW: Trent Cotchin NORM SMITH: Luke Hodge COLEMAN: Lance Franklin IN THE NEWS: All AFL players enact a 2 week boycott of speaking to Caroline Wilson after she writes an article naming players at Essendon who allegedly took performance enhancing drugs, and is proven 100% wrong MFC WIN/DRAW/LOSS: 8 wins - 12 losses - 1 draw to Richmond LADDER FINISH: 13th BLUEY (Melb B&F): Mitch Clark 2nd in BLUEY: Nathan Jones 3rd in BLUEY: Jack Watts LEADING GOALKICKER: Mitch Clark MOST IMPROVED: Jack Watts BEST 1ST YEAR PLAYER: Jimmy Toumpas SURPRISE PACKET: David Rodan BEST WIN OF THE SEASON: Round 18 v North at Etihad BIGGEST ON-FIELD ISSUE: Our reliance on young players to drive the midfield burns us out against more experienced opposition BIGGEST OFF-FIELD ISSUE: Following the round 17 away GC match several players get on the [censored] and get in a fight at a club. One senior player gets suspended for the rest of the year and traded. Lucky for us the issue gets over ridden by the results of Essendon's ASADA investigation.

God I am so sick of every year towards the end of the season we have almost nothing left but players "playing for the future". We've had that since 2007. I think their assessment's about right, 7-8 wins is certainly what I am aiming for. Anything higher and I'll be absolutely stoked, anything less and it's not a good year. What I am REALLY hoping for is just one year where we are not in the media for off-field issues. It's plagued us almost every year since Neale Daniher was in the firing line to get sacked, 2010 is the only year where we've been stable and positive off-field. Let our football do the talking. I expect that Dawes will start out slow, if he kicks 5-6 goals in the first 3 rounds of footy I'll be happy and I hope from there he'll get some momentum and then less pressure when Mitch comes back. I agree with Rohan, I think we've recruited pretty well but at this stage we are not in a position to challenge for finals and that's just simply where we are at and where the rest of the competition is at.

Was never going to be choice between those two. Wines or Toumpas is the only relevant question, and given we had Viney in the bag there was no need to get Oli.

Who was it that got crunched after taking the mark in the backline in the final quarter, and who did it? Also I wasn't happy that no one saw fit to fly the flag for their teammate, it was a cheap shot and they should've done something about it.

I'm a big Frawley fan, but I will say this there is no doubt he hasn't been the same since that pectoral tear he did pre-season of 2011 (i think). I still think he's one of the top defenders in the comp, the fact that he towels up Jack Riewoldt every time is a good indication of his one on one abilities, but I will agree that he has become a bit indecisive in recent time. Sadly of our defenders he is still one of the better uses, that's probably more of a fail on the others than an achievement. Look at who's down there with him, Jmac, Tmac, Nicho, Sellar, Gillies and Watts. Of that group I'd rate Watts as the only one with better disposal.

Sorry WJ I only got there as they were getting onto the ground. Perhaps someone from the club got the boys running out.

Just to follow up my pictures I've got some other thoughts from the game. Firstly It was great seeing a game out there, I think there is a definite future with us connected to Casey and I hope further down the track a H&A game could be held there, with a lot of planning with traffic management. But as you can see from the photos the turn out was encouraging. On the game, it was kind of difficult for me personally to get a read on how players performed, mostly because I don't recognise half the squad. But Nate Jones was as usual in amongst the action a lot, Jimmy Toumpas showed good signs, and Hogan continues to excite me (he didn't do lots, but his work rate and efforts were excellent and he took two very good contested marks in the final quarter). The second quarter was disappointing mainly because they really couldn't find a way to stop the rot. Panic started to set in and decision making fell to pieces. Was happy that we held our own after that and didn't let the margin blow out. If we'd taken our opportunities we could've made a game of it in the last. The only other thing I wanted to mention was I was disappointed with the attitude of some in the cheersquad and a few hanging around. I understand the desire to get stuck into Milne, he sh!ts me as well, but some of the slurs that we being yelled at him were disgusting. And honestly serves no purpose but to upset and offend fans around that included young children. At the G those comments get lost in the wind and the stirring of the crowd, at Casey fields you could hear it all and frankly it's not good enough. It's a NAB practice game FFS! That was the only downside to pleasant, albeit very hot day.

Some pics from today: