poita

Fitness tests this week for Gay, Duffy & Ivey. It would be great to get a game into Maddy Gay before the finals. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1241545/aflw-injury-update-demons-to-face-tests The team will know exactly what is required when they take the field on Saturday afternoon. With a 50 point differential going into the final round, I'm assuming we'll need to win by close to 15 goals to get top spot. Difficult, but not completely impossible if we take our chances and get some favourable conditions.

Nothing wrong with a 4 man bench (or 3 man bench for that matter). It's a tough game - injuries happen - bad luck. Less players on the bench means that players need to be more versatile and coaches more innovative, which is a good thing in my eyes. The alternative is that we go to the extremes of the NFL and dress a player and his direct replacement every game.

The fundamental problem with Spargo is that he doesn't win his own football. If he's not taking a mark in acres of space, or getting a handball receive, he doesn't get his hands on the football. Averaged 0.4 goals a game and 0.6 goal assists a game this season per Footywire. That's just woeful for a permanent forward who barely tackles and is rarely accountable for an opponent. If he is anything other than depth next season, we are going nowhere.

Unfortunately the lack of efficiency against St Kilda and North Melbourne has really hurt us, particularly the St Kilda game. I'd back us in to make up a 5 goal difference against West Coast, but almost 10 goals will be a tough ask. Collingwood have been found lacking against quality teams, and I'd be surprised if they get within 5 goals of Brisbane. That means we need to win by 80 plus points. I think I'd rather get Adelaide in the QF and an easier preliminary final, than vice versa. Then hope that Adelaide can surprise Brisbane on the other side.

I know Liam's uncle fairly well and the family have been pretty excited about his development for a few years now. I haven't seen him play. Interestingly he has rucked alongside Austin Bradtke at Frankston - not sure if he has gone past Bradtke yet, but he would need to have done so to be in the frame for a spot on an AFL list.

Welcome Kyah and good luck. That said, I don't really like category B rookies for this type of player. Yes, it's great that they are part of an AFL club, have access to top level coaching and support, and are able to learn from the best players in the game. The problem is when you get to match day, when they should be competing against kids their own age and size to build skills and confidence. Here our only option is to play in the VFL where they are forced to compete against players who are much bigger, stronger and more experienced. The VFL coach is there to win games of football, so he's going to play his experienced ruck at every opportunity. That means the Kyahs (and Austin Bradtkes) of the world are playing limited minutes off the bench or are playing out of position. It's terrible for their development. We need a system where you can farm these players out to a local club to play for the first year (or more), and start playing VFL when they are more developed.

Trant Ghomas?

Given his father was lured back west from Hawthorn (even as a premiership player, B&F winner and All Australian), it would be a massive call to draft Ed. I certainly wouldn't do it with pick 13 - you'd maybe take the risk in the 20s.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1238994/aflw-round-9-game-day-guide https://www.womens.afl/news/110439/injury-list-how-healthy-is-your-team-after-r8- A bit concerning that Lauren Pearce is still on the injury list per the AFL website. No mention of Gay, Goldrick or Sherriff though, so hopefully they are all okay. Essendon have some good players through the midfield, but not a lot depth (a bit like the Bulldogs), so hopefully we can get a similar result to round 7.

I've got no issue with Cripps being rated ahead of Oliver this year, because I think Oliver was below his best in the weeks after being maimed by Selwood. Nobody in their right mind could possibly rank Oliver below Neale though.

I can't wait to experience (endure?) the excitement of somebody trading pick 43 and 27 for pick 21 over the coming weeks. I really hope we just take our two picks this year and preserve our strong hand for next year.

Bassat sounds like a tool of the highest order. Ditto Lethlean. “I also want to address the issue of the extension of the contract. “We gave Brett assurance at the start of 2022 that we would give him clarity mid-year. “At the time, the team was winning games and in contention, and we wanted to give Brett all the support he needed to give him the best chance of success and to show that he could be our long-term coach. “If we as a Club have regrets about that in hindsight, we cannot let those regrets get in the way of making the right decision for the future. “The Football Review has affirmed that while we have made improvements, there is still a big gap between where we are and where we want to be, and that we have a lot more work to do right across the Club to create a culture that drives sustainable success. “We do not yet have the winning culture or ruthless commitment to football excellence that we need. “Our Club is hungry for success, and we believe a different type of leader and a new voice is needed to take us on the next stage of the journey.

Pearce is a massive out. She and Harris are the two players we can't replace. Perhaps Zanker can do some more rucking, and what she lacks in hit outs will hopefully be offset by her work at ground level. Hopefully we can take enough chances to keep the game reasonably stress free in the second half. Ultimately we just need to keep winning to lock in a couple of finals at Casey Fields.

Totally agree with this. We need to make the best of our two picks this year, without trying to be clever, and then go super hard in next year's draft. Our list will be starting to look pretty old by next year, so it is the perfect time to freshen up with a bunch of high draft picks.

To be honest I'd rather have kept Mitch Brown on a fraction of the salary.

O'Meara has been overpaid and has underperformed for his entire career. If Hawthorn want to free up some salary cap room, he is the perfect place to start. I'd be more worried about them offloading Tom Mitchell, who has at least met his end of the bargain in his time at Hawthorn.

Poor decision to keep persisting with him as a permanent forward once Brown came to the club. Should have been tried in defence through 2021/2022 and / or in place of Jackson as a ruck / forward in the back end of 2022. Ultimately that's 3 depth players we have lost for nothing in this period - we desperately need to add some ready made players before round 1.

That Bowes deal is an absolute disgrace. So, why weren't we involved?

I honestly can't see us losing a game next year with Schache in the team.

I'm not sure we never draft from WA again, but it has to be a factor, particularly at the top end of the draft. Jackson wasn't comparable to any other player in the draft, but why would you take a WA midfielder over a Vic midfielder if they are otherwise pretty similar.

I can't believe we played Jackson through the second half of the season when it was clear to Blind Freddy and his dog that he was leaving. He couldn't have been looked less interested in being a Melbourne player through that period, and certainly did nothing to enhance his trade value. I wish him a meaningless career at Fremantle finishing 15th in the B&F each year in a side that goes nowhere.

So in essence we could have traded Bedford for a tenth round pick in the first minute of the trade period and been no worse off? Laughable waste of time and effort.

I'll say it again, I thought the point of entering into trades was to improve our list. The Hunt deal didn't improve our list, the draft pick swap didn't improve our list, any potential deal for Tomlinson won't improve our list and this deal won't improve our list. Why are we trading out handy depth players for crappy draft picks that are being sent to other clubs? Time for Tim Lamb to put on his big boy pants and get some results.

Van Rooyen looks a beauty, but we'll need to be patient. (As an aside, I can't see Petty playing forward when he'll be needed to replace May in the next year or so. I'm not as sold on Turner as others around here. Not big and not quick for the role we want him to play. Doesn't really impose himself in the VFL to date. Laurie and Howes look a long way off to me given their output in the VFL final series. Laurie needs to work harder to get more involved in the game, whilst Howes probably just needs time in the gym and miles in the legs. Hopefully they can both have a big pre season. Chandler has been on the list four years and has shown nothing much to date. You can argue about opportunities, but does he really demand them? He had the chance to come in and impress late against a tiring West Coast and managed to get himself suspended in a 5 minute cameo - that's just plain dumb. Woewodin meets every challenge he is faced with and I think he will push for games next year. Moniz-Wakefield is a very long shot of ever playing AFL, ditto McVee.

I thought Jayden's form for most of the year was pretty solid, and I certainly would have more confidence in him playing a role next year than either Hibberd or Smith. Ultimately I don't really see the point to letting best 22 players walk for the proverbial packet of chips, particularly for the sake of $100K or so. Good luck Jayden, and thanks for your efforts over the past 9 years.