deejammin'

I think this graph shows how enthusiastic crowds tend to be in their team’s first year. With the exception of Hawthorn (who have many problems ATM) the top 3/4 are new expansion teams whose audiences are enthusiastic for their first year. You would think their numbers will fall a little next year as we get a realistic idea of their true believers. This makes it a remarkable result for MFC as we continue to have the strongest non-expansion crowds and clearly have the strongest support for AFLW of any club. The teams high profile players, excellent play and strong amount of AFLW content on our platform all contribute. It’s also our super dedicated supporters who have been their since the beginning at MFC. It’s even more remarkable given for a lot of our supporter base Casey is so hard to get to (I drive an hour each way to go)! Hopefully we can get a flag to go with it!

Just another reason to hate Collingwood. Great win girls! Bring on Adelaide!

Yep, it was pretty clear that us, Adelaide and Brisbane had the toughest. This fixture grading also doesn’t seem to take into account where we play, I think if it did ours would be the hardest, Adelaide in Adelaide, Freo in Freo, Gold Coast at Metricon. We’ve travelled a lot. We did lose to Brisbane at home, though that was less about fixture more about the ridiculous Taylor Harris suspension. I love AFLW and have been on board since the exhibition games but until the administration gets serious and has every team play each other once per season it will always be deeply compromised. We’ve been through conferences, lopsided draws and this years insanity where almost half the comp don’t play each other. If the AFL admin cared about integrity (which it shows again and again they don’t) they would’ve held off adding the final four teams and instead had a 13 game season + 3 finals with everyone playing each other once. It would also help all teams get experience and challenge all to raise the standard. Alas the almighty dollar wins again.

Fantastic win, fantastic day! A great even team performance with a lot of room for upside. Paxy BOG, my favourite Heater putting a blanket on Prespakis in the second half while providing dash herself, Bannan electric, Kate classy, Harris killing it in the air and doing the team things, Gillard starring for a first year player, the engine room of Loz, Hanks, West, Purcell and Mithen excellent although perhaps a bit scratchy and overusing it a bit in the first half. A great, if very windy day at Casey fields, the only thing getting smashed as hard as the bombers was the tornado spuds wagon which sold out half way through the third. Next week we will at least know the target before we play, that’s an advantage. Hoping the pies kick 5+ goals and stay close at least. Then we’re a shot. Whatever happens we’ve locked away a home QF, a home GF would be nice though…

That’s a very, very good side. How do we fit Gay, Ivey and Duffy in next week? Let alone how we fit Colvin and McNamara back in next year? Building nicely.

Exciting prospect. List coming together nicely. If we can snag one more ready made ruck as a rookie and draft a KP we’re looking very good.

Thanks for that Poita. Looking forward to this game. The AFLW injury list link you posted has an asterisk next to us that says “current as of October 12”. Given that that is 8 days ago I wouldn’t despair or worry on Lauren Pearce just yet. I think the numbers are just out of date (which makes it weird Gay, Sheriff and Goldrick aren’t on it 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️). It’s also missing McNamara and Colvin 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️. I’m still relying on Mick’s presser, that Loz, Sheriff and Goldy are all a chance, Gay still a week away. EDIT: Injury list just came up on the MFC site. Goldy in, Pearce and Sheriff tests, Gay one more week. AFLW Injury Report | Dees could strengthen for Dons clash… https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1239278

Unfortunately we won’t go in to 34, if Brisbane use 34, 35, 36, 38 (receive a late pick back for this) to match the Ashcroft bid we move up three but also get pushed down one place (the extra place where Ashcroft is taken, for example pick 1 would push GWS’s pick 1 to 2 etc), so that would have us at 35, then if Brisbane match the bid on Fletcher inside 35 with 55, 56 a later pick and some 2022 deficit (this is the only way I see them doing this) we likely get pushed back further to 36, then if Essendon have to match a bid on Davey with their pick 22 we stay at 36, if Davey slips down below 22 they will likely use their picks in the 50s and beyond to match, maybe even go into a small deficit and we will slide right back to 37. Long story short our pick will be 36 at best or 37 not any higher unfortunately.

I’d go for all of those except McGovern, he’s a strong back man but he’s 30 and May is in better form and fitness. They will be retiring around the same time so I don’t see him adding much to our list. I’d add Sonny Walters as the type of player we don’t have many of and could improve our team.

Fox footy’s “experts” had the following for their best 22 following the trade period for us. It’s not bad though I think Brayshaw will play mid, Jordon sub, Bowey to half back. There’s also flexibility with the talls in this setup, TMC can go back, Petty forward, Gawn/Grundy to a more traditional ruck/bench behind the ball setup with just two tall forwards. I hope Jordon, Woey or Howes push Hunter for his wing spot but maybe I am underestimating him/prejudiced against him as he was so annoying for the dogs. We’d also want Chandler to be pushing ANB as while he does the team things and runs hard he just wasn’t damaging enough with the ball last year. MELBOURNE B: Harrison Petty, Steven May, Michael Hibberd HB: Angus Brayshaw, Jake Lever, Christian Salem C: Ed Langdon, Jack Viney, Lachie Hunter HF: Alex Neal-Bullen, Tom McDonald, Kysaiah Pickett F: Jacob Van Rooyen, Max Gawn, Bayley Fritsch FOLL: Brodie Grundy, Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca I/C: James Jordon, Charlie Spargo, Tom Sparrow, Trent Rivers They listed Bowey, Harmes and Chandler as potential ins throughout the year.

People get far too focused on who “won” or “lost” trade period. We were roundly rated a B+ for getting Ben Brown while losing Hannan and Preuss in 2020 but it led to a flag the very next year. Geelong were seen as a loser in the 2021 trade period losing Clarke, Kruger and others and only bringing in Segler and some picks (that led to Stengle), they filled their need with Stengle and won a flag. The fact is that a true challenger is unlikely to set up their flag tilt in the trade period, the bulk of the list needs to be set, we had Trac, Oliver, May, Lever, Gawn, Langdon, Kozzie already set and brought in a key forward who turned out to be all we needed 2020-21. Geelong had their midfield, backline and forwards already set, needed a small forward and some changes to strategy, flag. We went in needing a quality ruckman, tick, a quality wing/outside mid, tick (although I think Hunter will have stiff competition in Jordon, Woey and Howes), KPF, realistically there were none available, especially when we started without any first round picks. Draft best available at 13, a KP or ruck at 37 (if 13 isn’t one), Rookie a developing ruck and/or an established back up ruck and have a look at a lockdown running defender and we’re set. The upside on our list is massive, we came second in the H&A and were ahead in both our finals with Petracca injured and having a shocker in front of goal all year, Max sore down on form, Salem totally out of sorts, Ben Brown barely able to move, TMac out all second half of the season, Langdon down the second half of the year, Lever sore all year, Sparrow a bit off, ANB well off his 2021 form, no Bowey, No JVR, no Jordon, no Chandler, no Disco, Tomlinson struggling. If even half those players get back to their best or break into the team we’re elite. Only Oliver, Viney, May, Petty and Fritsch were consistently at their best in our run home, that’s a huge upside. We’ve added some needs and will add some young talent, who cares if we won trade period, let’s win the whole thing again!

Mick Stinear mentioned in his presser that Loz Pearce and Sinead Goldrick should be right for next week. Gay still a week away. Casey Sheriff also a chance as it was pain management with her wrist. Last week’s AFLW injury update here: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1236418

Perfect win, 5 big outs, slippery humid conditions, travel, no worries. Just keep winning for a home final. With Adelaide playing the cats and Brisbane the pies two good 5 goal plus wins should see us on top! Go you good thing! On to the bombers! (Please, please, please smash them!)

I vaguely remember Hardwick saying that one of the reasons Stack wasn’t getting a game was because they could only have so many ‘unstructured’ players in the team (Bolton, Martin, Rioli etc). I wonder how that would go with our highly structured approach? On paper he seems to fill a hole in our list, talented, hard running quick defender with x-factor. No idea about his personal issues but worth a look? Especially for basically nothing.

I was thinking a similar thing with McEvoy.

Let’s replace him with Joel Selwood. Get our own back!

Sorry if it’s not clear, both the future first and second are tied to where Freo finish.

In: Brodie Grundy, Hunter, Schache, Pick 13, Pick 37, Future First and Second tied to Freo. Out: Jackson, Bedford, Weideman, Hunt, 33 and some picks we wouldn’t use this year and next. All in all it’s pretty bloody good, we got a ruckman (still need one or two for depth but better than none), we got an outside mid/wing, we got key position depth. We lost two players we didn’t want to, but ultimately we’ve made the best of a challenging situation and ended up with two picks we may upgrade that will net us good talent. Tick.

Good luck Sam, you were a loyal clubman and had some great moments 2018 finals will live forever in my memory. Good luck at the bombers, sadly I think you’ll be more than handy for them as they’ll play you in your best role, 3rd forward/ruck. For MFC I don’t understand this. We are now two soft tissue injuries to players over 29 (Gawn + Grundy) from TMac and BBB being our rucks. This year our ruck depth was thin but we had Daw and Weideman, the latter playing 2nd ruck relatively well against Brisbane. Now we have an injured TMac who hasn’t played back up ruck in years, BBB with his degenerative knee and a second year player in JVR who shouldn’t be played in the ruck but had to be in the second half of the season at VFL level due to our lack of depth. We better have a plan to bring in at least one more back up ruck. So much for learning from our mistakes and resting Gawn/Grundy throughout the season to have them cherry ripe for finals. Yikes.

I was comparing him to Spargo because I think they are similar and don’t think we can carry too many of that type of player. Both Spargo and Hunter are short players with good kicking and footy smarts, they are hard working runners that don’t look overly quick but cover a lot of ground, neither have x-factor or contested marking ability (with the exception of Spargos MOTY candidate). Spargo appears better at tackling and pressure than Hunter. The comparison was not favourable, certainly not calling him the messiah, in fact I was saying we should NOT take Hunter because he’s similar to Spargo. If anything that’s negative.

Yeah sorry, I remembered that shortly after posting but the edit option was gone. Doh!

I don’t see the point in a future pick. We’re in the window now and while Sam’s form hasn’t been great we’re light on for rucks and his best footy appears to be as a 2nd ruck/forward. He’s also at his lowest ebb in value, I’d rather back him in for one more year but if we decide to take 37 that’s ok, but definitely not a future pick.

So happy with this 27 for Grundy is a steal, can’t wait to see what he and Gawny do. Brodie seems a genuinely nice guy, classy exit message, excited to have him in the red and blue!!

The two are not mutually exclusive, ruckmen are key part of the midfield! Great midfields, with great ruckmen win premierships. Nankervis was integral to Richmonds premierships, Natanui West Coast’s, Gawn and Jackson ours, Stanley and Blitsavs Geelongs, Big boy MacEvoy and Segler at Hawthorn, Ottens at Geelong, Dean Cox West Coast, the list goes on and on. I think Jackson was ahead of Nank this year but you can argue he’s behind him. My point stands, Jackson is in the top few ruckmen in the league and not easily replaceable, I’m hopeful Grundy will get back to 2018-19 form, as we all are, but Jackson is a top flight ruck. JHF is all potential, he’s not in the top 20 mids in the comp right now, he may become a star, but he also may become an average mid, like many before him. That was my point and you may not agree, but it’s not insane nor full of non-sequiters, I think a lot of educated football people would agree. Time will tell, let’s tag this and wait five years, let’s see if JHF is in the top 10 mids in that time frame.

Ok, name how many AFL ruckmen you would pick before Jackson then name how many AFL mids you would have before JHF. For me, there’s at most five rucks I’d pick before Jackson (Gawn, Witts, Darcy, Hickey, Stanley) there’s a HUGE number of mids I’d pick before JHF (Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Dangerfield, Neale, Bontempelli, Liberatore, Treloar, Boak, Wines, Parker, Warner, Crisp, Miller, Rowell, Anderson, Cripps, Walsh, Cerra, Hewitt, Kennedy, Brayshaw, Serong, Laird, Keays, Taranto, Hopper, Martin, Cunnington, the list goes on.) JHF May become a top mid, he may not, Jackson is a top ruck right now. His games against Brisbane mid season and Gold Coast early were better than anything JHF did all year. Not to mention how he went in the 2021 GF. He’s streets ahead in a position that’s harder to fill.