Hellish Inferno

With Dunn and Lumumba due to come back in, that is 379 games worth of experience to replace O'Mac and Wagner with 2 games Whilst they may not be 'really really good defenders', they are definitely quality players that with the combination of T'Mac, Jetta, Salem and Garland should be able to cover most forward lines to keep us in the game

It was a bit bizarre watching a game with such low intensity

The umpires are so inconsistent when a ball is knocked free when tackling vs. incorrect disposal and paying holding the ball or ball up.

Blowing the cobwebs off. Just need to stick a couple of those handballs and we would be away Doesn't help that this ground is enormous and any turnovers get punished with a goal over the top

Forgot that Adelaide timezone is 30 minutes behind Melbourne

From the MelbFC twitter " Christian Salem has been good to watch today - reading the play well and kicking beautifully. " It seems with Salem playing our movement is likely to be much better. He's so important There's also been a few mentions of Watts and his accurate long kicks

Again from Striker475 on bigfooty. Best so far BLUE:Jetta - has been everywhereHarmes - linking up well with Hogan up forwardGawn - huge in the literal senseKennedy - getting a fair bit of itWHITE: Dunn - kept Hogan quietOliver - doing well from the contest#6 Casey - keeps popping upANB - doing well out wide#Grimeswingwatch - has torn his jumper. Was moved back to defence in Q2. I call it a resounding moment of dumb that we should never see again.

Got this from bigfooty courtesy of Striker475 BLUE SalemBrayshawVandersTysonGrimesJettaGarlettGarlandM JonesFrostGawnHuntOMacTMacViney#19 CaseyKennedyHarmesHogan#9 CaseyWHITE #46 CaseyJKHOliverDunnPedoStretch#6 CaseySpencilANBVince?Michie#8 (it isnt H)WeidermanWhiteBuggWattsMitch King

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Also forgot to mention that Hunt can really roost a big kick too, similar to Dunny. He kicked out following a behind from the goalsquare to about 70m

I think it was actually Hulett in this drill tasman, but I can understand the confusion because he's a man child and almost as big as Pedersen already. It's worth noting that Hulett's competitiveness shone through. He doesn't like to get beaten

Just got back from training too, got there from about 2.15pm when the warm up drills were finishing. The first part of training consisted of standard drills and not much to report, but a few things caught the eye. I noticed that a few of the younger key position talls (Wiedeman, King, Hulett etc) were doing some contest work and it was mostly about body positioning and jostling, but that the actual mark was pretty much left uncontested. I thought this was strange as surely it would be useful to practice marking with more pressure on the mark itself. But Tom McDonald came over and showed how it was done and later on Hogan also got involved in this drill. His spinning moves and jostling really are great to watch, he tries everything to get space on his opponent. Also noticed a handball drill where players would handball sideways 3-4 times either towards the boundary or into the centre square. It seemed the emphasis was on switching the play but not necessarily handballing backwards. There was still an offensive feel to it. I also thought that handballing was used quite a bit over the top to break a press, which worked half the time, but relied on good long handpasses and also would fall apart if an opponent pressed up onto the next contest from the other direction. Hunt really does catch the eye with his athletism and his run down on Harmes was great to see, which was a follow up from a spilled mark, so it was good to see him make amends. He also broke the pack nicely in a match simulation later, although I feel that sometimes he kicks in hope rather than finding and drilling to a target. Plenty of others were giving him encouragement and challenging him and I can see why, because if he becomes a proper 'footballer' rather than just a great athlete and an OK footballer, then he could be anything. The match simulation with two umpires later on in the session was pretty good. Plenty of stoppages held up play, but also some good breakaways too. Viney seemed to be in everything and Stretch is great to watch when he gets some space. Brayshaw just seems to know where to go and Gawn gets to so many contests and was doing well in some of the close in work by getting his hands free and the handball away. He really is hard to tackle to the ground. I though there was an overall attacking intent and plenty of mistakes were made, but the ball was generally moving forward and everyone was working hard to follow up on any mistakes. I think this will improve in actual games with our best 22 on the park, because keep in mind that the whole list was out there and most of the mistakes came from the inexperienced players. N Jones was a no show (should have taken the chance to ask Misson why) and Terlich seemed to hurt his ankle halfway through (Vanders tackle?), then got some treatment and left the track. He seemed to be walking ok so maybe just a rolled ankle. Some ladies nearby asked Petracca what the 'problem' was with him, but he laughed that off and said nothing, just need to put a few more weeks on the leg again after the moon boot came off. No issue with the knee or toe. He joked and said he'd be back by Round 22, but then said he'll be fine for Round 1 or at least that was the aim. Go Dees

Are all cases of violence against women the result of a custody battle over children where the father is not favoured? No. In fact I would say that it may be just one of many reasons of violence against women, but perhaps most of all because some men have a poor attitude towards women, have anger problems and lash out against those that are physically weaker. Although in saying that a violent person doesn't have to be physically stronger than the victim in order to attack, I would say it's mostly down to attitude and their nature

I'm backing stuie on this one. It's a major issue and attitudes need to change. Too often incidents like this are derailed by those who dilute the problem by claiming violence again men should also be considered and that so many cases go unreported etc. Well yes of course violence in general against all victims is a problem, but how many cases of violence against women do you think go unreported? Also need to think about physical and mental intimidation, which can have a significant and lasting effect as well.

If 10 is a premiership then 4 is about right. 6 or 7 would be making finals. Hopefully next year will be one of those seasons for the Dees where a team makes a fundamental gain because they had been so close to significant improvement but had been waiting to turn over the last few NQR players, trade well and find consistency

"Very impressive reading of the play, and hard gut running such as we haven't seen in any player or any ability or seniority at MFC for a hell of a long time." Bit harsh on Bail monoccular, as he is the epitome of gut running and has often been the player on the end of a long chain to score in the goal square. Come to think of it, I think ANB is the replacement/upgrade for Bail. Can run all day with the difference that he is actually skilled

Is it possible for AFL players to put a team performance clause in their long term contract I.e. after 4 years must be playing finals etc? I know it can be done on other sports such as F1. Although could be seen as the player holding the club to ransom and might not be popular with the other players...

I noticed that he slid into the goal post knee first quite hard when attempting to smother a shot on goal, which may have aggravated what he already had. Just a guess though...

I noticed that Tyson slid his knee in to the goal post when trying to smother and maybe that was the reason for him being moved to the forward 50 in the last quarter.

Same here haha

AFL match centre suggests Garland came off injured at the end. nothing to worry about?

So good! Can't wait to watch the replay! What was the crowd attendance?

Yesssssssss!!!!! listening to the game in italy Attendance today?

Yep exactly. Although training should be at a high intensity to prepare them for the season, I would expect them to take it up a couple of notches on game day. In saying that, in the past I think our poor training habits carried over into games so it's good to keep a high standard (guys like N Jones and Cross)I always struggle with training but the occasion of the contest always gets me up on game day. Similar to Jeffy Garlett I think