Young Blood

Also jesus christ how about Kozzy's ability to cover ground with pace! I cannot wait to eventually watch him sprinting around the MCG. The kid is going to be something special.

I'll start by saying while Max's postgame interview was nothing special but I just thought it was so refreshing to have a captain who articulates himself well, shows maturity, honesty and some genuineness. You can see how much he cares and how much it all means to him. He really backs everyone at the club and his level of support and understanding is obvious. My takes from the game: - WC were very very clean and efficient with their ball use. Their game plan and structure were sound and so hard to combat. - We were fumbly with the ball and second guessed often. I thought we did a better job in the second half with composure at times. - I felt the effort and general play wasn't the main factor. Structurally we were not put in a position to win this game. - Definitely some positives with solid performances from Viney, Langdon, Pickett, Lockhart and May. - Was really disappointing with Brown. His lack of intensity was evident. I would have much preferred Weid.

I remember the first night game we had against WC last year over there. From memory we were really undermanned and went over with a smaller side. I remember thinking we looked unrecognizable for three quarters, we took the game on literally every time running the ball through the corridor with link handball (also forward handball from contests) and we really had them for three quarters. But we tired and their experience wore us down late. Will be interesting to see if we take some things from that game into this one with the small lineup. Fitter and quicker then last year.

Just to clarify for people who are just looking at the team sheet and aren't up to date. - Bedford and Kozzy are in as announced - Jackson was not announced to debut so will be an emergency - Two bench players will be picked from Weid, Brown, Hore, Lockhart and Sparrow. So it will be one of the two tall forwards and one of those backs I would imagine. Sparrow being emergency mid. I'd say Lockhart and Weid will round out the team. Weid being the backup ruck.

Yeah sorry I did realise this. Just getting a bit tired of the guessing. Within minutes of hearing injury news its been either 'well thats his career done' or 'well thats him out for a month'. I guess its the MFC way to go straight to doom scenario.

Where did you read he was out for month? As of yesterday he was listed as 'test' so I'd imagine he will be in line for next week.

I reckon Hore will come in for Salem

It's hard to imagine us picking Spargo, Bedford and Kozzy all in the same team. Along with Viney they're all under 180cm (Spargo ninth shortest and Kozzy third shortest in the league). Would mean we'd go in very small. That being said stranger things have happened.

I'd imagine the biggest impact this will have especially from a coaching perspective is the rotations. Also agree with others that this doesn't bode too well for us. Definitely gives us less opportunity to grind out games by out running and contesting late in longer games. Will benefit the cleaner sides for sure of which we haven't been the best of late.

Haha easy mistake. Rivers is another one who will be interesting to watch develop, could be called upon if we find ourselves with injuries down back.

Did you mean Sparrow?

Same 5 as I would have had on the mfc site. Maybe add Brayshaw who I'm predicting to quietly get back on the upward trajectory to be one of the best mids in the comp. The other one being Weid. Last year the pressure was off a bit being thrown into the fire as the second key forward, then injuries finished his season. This year he needs to really put the foot down and try to find consistency with Jackson and Brown there for his spot. I think with Bayley being our second marking option now it might give Weid more freedom to play as a true CHF getting touches further up the ground to bring him into games more.

afl.com's predictions Note: They've gone with Jackson over Weideman and Brown. I honestly can't really split them. We haven't seen enough from them in pre season games in terms of an obvious stand out so it will be whoever has trained/worked their way in or based on matchups of course. Biggest concern would be playing the third and ninth shortest players in the league in Kozzy and Spargo. I really doubt we go with that but who knows.

Yeah I agree we don't currently have a superstar but we're developing them hopefully as you said. So yeah maybe I take it back we need one but maybe not from another club. It's interesting I feel that its around 24-25 yrs you really get an idea of what a players ceiling looks like. Guys like Petracca, Brayshaw and Viney are in that category so I think this is a defining season for them. Maybe Viney we know but the other two I think will be the difference to how far we go into finals the next few years. At just 22 yrs old Clayton is the obvious next superstar of this club. His game style is different to many of the ones you mentioned from other clubs but he's so effective and impacts games already. I think he'll go up another notch this year. His kicking has increased each year and hopefully he finds that balance, some more composure, marking and starts to hit the score board. He's well on the way.

I don't think we're missing a superstar. I think we just need to see what happens when this team finds health and consistency. If we build a consistent game style and effort each week with continuity of our best 22 playing each week I think we could be anything. In short... We're missing that moment when things click (ala Richmond a few years back)

yeah I'm also one of the few on here that just finds this a funny light burn. Also kind of true.... I can see why others are taking offense and agree with all the sentiments directed to Jeremy. But he's also kind of right I've been to every Melbourne MCG game for the past 15 years and there's definitely been some empty stands during those years we shall not speak of.

Christ. This is like when gus had that last head knock and everyone jumped in with comments like 'he's cooked' 'thats it for Gus' etc. without giving him a diagnosis or time to actually hear how he was! Things we know: - AVB has had a lingering foot issue due to initially getting a stress fracture - He has built his way up but is currently only training with the main group once a week and off legs the other days to manage the foot. It's something he has admitted he will have to manage most likely for the rest of his career - Played a good second half of football against Adelaide and was average against Hawks (maybe due to sore foot) - Post game the only reports we've heard is that he's got a bruised foot

Haha exactly Ruxin. Why is everyone so offended by this?

True but I'd imagine they would be capable of testing all players and staff who are/will be entering the ground.

As we've seen with these sorts of injuries it takes a lot of time and there are ALWAYS setbacks. Good examples being Viney who only just now seems like he's got his foot right (touch wood) and AVB who just had another set back on Friday night. The guy is 27. Its a set back not a tear. Give the lad time (even if the media wont)

In terms of preseason we've put ourselves in as good of a position to really challenge them as possible. I'm glad we've got this game round 1 in some respects. It's probably the most unpredictable round with teams still sorting game plans and personel. Plus the fatigue factor late in the game which we look to be in decent stead for. It will be hot and both teams will fatigue late so I think if one team has a 3-4 goal lead in the fourth qtr. it will be theirs to win you would think. I'm predicting a close one! (because why not?)

Boy that was uncomfortable watching the captain announcements. The disappointment and discomfort of Jack really put a dampner on Max's news (and as @chook fowler stated the video in general to a degree). Interesting that the club really bared all with that one. I hope at some point for peace of mind (not that he owes us that) but that Jack makes a statement solidifying Goodwins comments of being 'all in' etc. Obviously he is, exemplified by his preseason performance on Friday. I'm sure much like Jones it will take some time for the bitterness to drop off and the good thing is he's three years younger then Max so I believe he'll captain again as you can see how much he enjoyed it and relished the role. At 24 he's still got some growing to do as a leader. I'm fairly certain he will.

@58er to @Skuit

I watched a fair bit of Brown at Essendon. As much as their forward line was pretty depleted much of last year he played some great football. As WB noted he is an opportunist forward. He's usually the third option. He's got great aerobic capacity, runs hard and finds space. If he can kick some 'ugly dribblers' that go through the sticks as well this season I'll be happy. As others have noted he was recruited for forward depth. When you consider him a backup he's one of the more consistent backups in the league. If we can stay healthy our marking options are looking better this year: Tmac, Fritsch, Weid, Brown, Melk, Trac, Jackson, Tomlinson, Gawn and AVB.

I'm also keen to hear others thoughts on Kayo. I use foxtel and chromecast it but its pretty average quality a lot of the time. Wondering if Kayo might be better? I remember borring a mates and it worked a lot smoother potentially.