FarNorthernD

We do have something in common with them after all. Melbourne have been producing the same standard of football for the last 7 years too

I am a Neeld fan but to the end of 2014 is long enough at this stage

I would like to see Spence play a number of games in a row. Give him some consistency at this level. As HH implied Jake is a competitive unit and can only get better We know what Jamar can offer, he is a known quantity

Spencer, Dunn and Kent are going to be tired boys by Sunday night. They are picked to play both AFL and VFL this weekend. One way to get games into the players I spose

Neeld seemed happy with Col towards the end of last year. If he picks up from where he left off last year and averages the stats above over the course of a season all will be happy. I think he has already shown consistency, just has to repeat. He was on the right path and after an almost injury free pre-season will be better still

Average AFL wage is around $250,000p.a so $375,000 is way unders. On the other hand $1.5m is too much for any player Neither figure makes much sense

No doubt Neeld has his own ideas as to Jacks value. He would highly value his disposal but would be not so enthused by his lack of 'grunt'. But he will only get better as a footballer and it should be a priority together his signature on a long term contract. Apart from anything else we don't need the high profile distraction of drawn out negotiations And yes there will be plenty around here who regard his lack of intense physicality as more of a problem than I do

I quite like how in this mornings paper he has said he wants to build his contract worth through the season acknowledging that it isn't ideal, but that he needs to maximise his earnings. None of this "don't want to be distracted by contract negotiations and concentrating on playing football" that is normally trotted out. No one can begrudge footballers trying to earn as much as they can in the short amount of time they have in the game (inc a certain ex MFC No 31)

Gold Coast forecast for today - 27 degrees, clear skies and light winds. Sounds great, wish I could be there Thanks in advance to any of those who attend and post updates here

Honestly I don't think he has any hope to kick 40 goals. 30 in 2010 was his best at the Pies and even though he will be more of a focal point at Melbourne, he will still be 2nd potato behind Mitch However, if Dawes does kick 40 and Clark plays most games then between them you would be looking at 90+ goals. The only way that will happen is if delivery from our midfield improves exponentially and we pressure the opposition into coughing up the ball causing turnovers, much like teams have been doing to us for so long. Dawes kicking 40 isn't going to happen but if it did we would be talking finals.

Agree with pretty much all the players you mentioned Rangey, and as WYL said if they all stepped up we could become a half decent footy side However, not too sure about how much more bar McKenzie has to raise. What you see is what you get. Perhaps a slight improvement in disposal may see his ceiling reached. Certainly has less upside than others mentioned

After watching David Misson's injury report it sounds like the VFL practice match at Casey the weekend before the start of the season could have an all-star line up. Clark, Trengove, and Dawes should play with possibly Gawn and Blease adding to the MFC numbers. Also Misson's comment about Viney's neck and him feeling a bit 'hazy' makes me wonder if he'll skip the Qld trip for Casey instead. A perfect centre square Gawn tap to the roving Viney could hopefully signal the beginning of a beautiful AFL partnership.

The Club is me, and you, and all the other Members who have supported Melbourne for the past 5, 15 or 50+ years. Since i started to follow the Demons in the early 70s there has been numerous Boards and probably hundreds of players go through the place They will continue to come and go but without supporters there is no reason for the players to play or for the board to exist The Club is us

Remember many of the training reports from earlier in the year mentioned that the players were training with AFL umpires. At the time I had a theory that this may well end up benefitting us enormously and finally getting on the right side of the "frees for' ledger. Apparently not

Not much to hang your hat on but Hardtack is right. In past years we would have lost this by much more. A tiring Melbourne kicking against the breeze in the last could have got very ugly They also had a more full strength side out there so I will hold off on the wrist slashing for now However, if we end up at Kardinia Park next week remind me to pack the razors just in case

It is fantastic but also worrying. 36 inside 50s would normally result in 6-8 goals and that won't win too many games of footy

I'd settle for a champion midfield

If it all pans out like we hope I would love to see a Hurley/Hogan match up in future years. There is the price of admission right there

Scott McMahon is a 26yo defender who has played 106 games. He is also 184cm/88kg giving away 12cm and a similar amount in kilos to Hogan. North either thought McMahon may run off him, liked his chances when the ball hit the ground or didn't pay too much attention to the mismatch. Whatever way you read it he is not a top key defender Will be interesting to see if Port pay him more respect next week

Fitzpatrick? Not suggesting anything but he warmed up and then was a no show on the field. With Spencer off you would have thought he would have been a monty to get a run

Until we have a cohesive, hard working midfield who can dispose of the ball well we will always be playing catchup Couch, Jordie, Magner, Rodan, Sylvia (who was particularly poor tonight) are not players you build a midfield around Our Backs and Forwards will be OK but have to win the clearances Love Capt Obvious

My head is saying the opposition probably weren't paying him too much attention, it is only a practice match and it is very early days and I shouldn't get ahead of myself The Melbourne supporter bit of me is thinking he has great hands, can kick, had enough of an engine to go find his own ball on the wing, is quick, made decent decisions, is 6 foot 51/2, is 100kgs and just turned 18. Oh and he has that don't f...k with me attitude that might excite Mark Neeld amongst others Ok, I got ahead of myself

Best part is he can get the ball and kick.

Must have missed that unless you are talking about the bit where Vickery lost it, gave away a free kick and a 50m penalty. Dunn remained calm, took the free and slotted the goal For what it's worth I thought Dunn was probably in the best 3 for Melbourne across the 2 games

Same crap as past years. Long bomb from Nicho into forward line to a 5 on 1