deelusions from afar

Is that Dunstan on him?

Goody deserves a pay rise - but given the soft cap how does this not affect the rest of the department? Or is it likely to come from the difference between Burgo and Selwyn (I assume they're part of the softcap)?

Hope everyone is ok. Just wondering if there are any reports on how many Melbourne players have got it so far. While you wouldn't want anyone to get it, it seems after a booster most young, healthy people have very minor symptoms - if they're going to get it some time, would be better to get it through the pre-season than have to use top up players in season.

I agree - although I think it was more the way it was handled. Broadcasting to everyone well ahead of the trade period that he wasn't a required player lowered his value because (I assume) everyone thought North knew more than everyone else about his knee and that he was shot. Managed differently they could have got a lot more from us (and maybe others). I think this is what LDVC is eluding to above - re that it started with Shaw and the damage was done by the time Noble took the reigns. But as you say, it's definitely a win for us and North seem to be developing nicely without him (which is often not the case when developing sides lose key experienced structural players). He won't be there when they contend next but maybe the player they got with his pick will be.

That might be right - for what it's worth, I thought Weid made some big strides in 2020 before getting injured / dropping form. He had a patch of 6 or so games in a row where he averaged a bit under 2 goals a game but it was more about his effort - he was using his body and playing aggressively and flying for marks etc. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic but it seemed like the sort of form that you see before a player goes to the next level. His next pre-season he was apparently flying (I know) and then got injured. When he eventually got into the team he had every chance and barely fired a shot - confidence? fitness? Hard to know. I think there's still a role for him if he can find fitness, form and confidence but it seems Brown has already mastered what we need from him - providing an aerial threat that the opposition has to worry about and capable of bringing the ball to ground if unable to mark / attract a free

They look sharp but I guess they take the best looking plays in a package like that! AMW seems to be getting a bit of it as well! It's good to see they've mixed up the first choice team a bit - it's a great motivator for players outside the best 22 to knock the door down. From memory pre-season last year many of the players said Jordon was a standout on the track and in match sim.

Really? I feel like Healy is one of those one eyed dees supporters that if I went for another club I wouldn't be able to stand. Whether its on On the couch or on the radio, he can't help himself talking us up at every opportunity. I remember him talking up Kozzie early in the season saying he is on track to be better than Cyril. Before the Geelong final he basically said Geelong were no chance and we would smash them. In hindsight, he was dead right - but when other commentators were trying to say what an enticing match it was shaping up to be it was comical how he wrote the cats off.

This time last year, I think at best the most astute neutral supporters and experts would have thought we had the potential to become a decent team - but not many (if any?) would have thought of us as a realistic threat in 2021. There are a large number of teams that you could classify in a similar way right now for 2022 and probably most won't ultimately be a threat. Surely one of Syd, GWS, Ess, Carl, Freo will go up a gear and be a serious contender. While I think the tiges are done, they will be fresh and healthy and keen for a final shot with a few of their aging stars. We have earned the right to go in favourites with the way we dominated the competition last year - particularly in finals. But all of the other contenders (except maybe Port?) had critical injuries to key players close to the finals. We were largely blessed with injuries and it's unlikely to be the same this coming season. Will we have the same hunger, will we have the same superior fitness? I think some of our lesser performances against bottom 8 sides shows what happens when we don't have the hunger or willingness to run both ways. Will other teams go to work on our game plan over the summer? Although we were on top spot for much of the year and so were the hunted, this is likely to go up another level this year. We look like we will be fine - but I guess we won't really know for a while. The depth should help drive continued improvement. One area I think we will improve is our forward line. If you think of the other areas, most of the players have played together for a number of years and know instinctively what they're going to do. The forward line due to personnel and injuries has been a bit all over the place. I think the greater level of continuity there will assist us on capitalising on the dominance elsewhere.

Would have thought we've got more depth there to cover injuries than up forward - eg Petty / Thomlinson and then Smith (can play tall or small) and Disco. Having said that I think you're right - often young key forwards start in defence so they don't get smashed by a bigger key defender each week and they can focus on beating their opponent and reading the play. I wonder how long it takes for a young player to come in and learn the structure / game plan.

Tomlinson and Petty are both relatively slow off the mark (though good readers of the play). To fit them in the team with May and Lever you'd almost look at May going on to a small as he has done effectively previously. Having said that, I don't think much of this will matter - we have great depth here - a number of quality players (Hunt, Tomlinson, Smith etc) who only went out of the premiership side due to injury. The real question is whether the forwards and midfielders can keep doing their bit with the team defence. So long as they can keep it up, I think whichever of our top 10 defenders make it on the park will be able to get the job done.

Agree - easily my most hated team so the finish to the season and finals was that much sweeter! Re Cats in Geelong, my sense (might be wrong) is that since Goody has been coaching us, we've played pretty well in at Kardinia Park - potentially have a better record there overall than the MCG against them. I know they smashed us early in 2019 (but who didn't). What's my point? Playing in Kardinia doesn't hold any fears for me (especially after what we did to them this year). Whereas games at Canberra or Tassie often seem to trouble us regardless of how the opposition is travelling.

Apologies if this has already been covered in this thread (thanks so much for everyone's contributions) but I'm keen to have a copy of the full grand final with the different commentaries in the best quality available. Is the only option to purchase the DVD? I'm happy to pay but I don't think DVD is a good long term option as DVD players are already rare (I don't have one anymore). As far as i know there isn't a digital purchase option? I know you an watch through Kayo - but I don't want to have to have a Kayo membership just to watch the GF in future (and I think they wouldn't have the different commentary options?) I'm sure I'm not the only trying to find the best option for this - what has everyone else done?

Models his game on Petracca! Don't seem to have the build or type of game for that that - but why not aim for the stars? He's entering an elite environment now with great development and culture. Like all our new draftees, he's got so much more chance of reaching his potential than many others that have come before him.

I had no idea this is how it worked... so essentially if you win the premiership you have an extra 1/2 mill to play with in your salary cap? Could you rearrange your finances so that all the prizemoney goes to the players (outside the cap) and other areas that received the bonus this year are paid a separate bonus? I guess the amounts are so small in a relative sense (of the total salary cap) that's its really a drop in the ocean?

Next year will be a 'down' year in terms of the ANZAC eve game and Queens birthday blockbuster games both being away. We do play the pies again as a home game but it is late in the season and there is a good chance they might be done by then which might reduce the crowd. This isn't necessarily a terrible thing - we will get a natural bounce due to the premiership win next year and have these up our sleeves in 2023.

I saw photos of a friend with the cup on social media this week. I wasn't able to get one :( She's has gotten on board the dees in a big way this year... but I still remember only a few years ago when she said she wasn't interested in attending the matches etc... when the team wasn't doing so well and I went along with other mates thinking she didn't actually follow football at all. On the one hand I don't care - the more ppl that jump on board the better as that will help drive membership, primetime spots, sponsors, more kids following the dees, long term sustainability etc etc .... but at the same time, when its someone I know well, it grates on me a little bit. (I feel like I'm that guy that says they liked X band before they were popular) I imagine I'm not the only to experience this mixed emotion.

Was surprised by him being ahead of others eg Jordon, Melksham etc towards the end of the year as I thought Jordon especially had shown more reliability and flexibility with positions (not just a see ball get ball type, played the wing etc). I remember Sparrow when drafted was said to have great breakaway speed from clearances but had a bit of work do to on his kicking. But Sparrow became a pivotal player and had key moments in each game. I think others comparing him to Todd Viney have nailed it - he's a very solid unit that is dependable especially at the coal face. He also has shown his ability to cause headaches if left alone when playing half forward which is important for a second string midfielder when the 6th defender is often wanting to zone off. Not directly related to his footy but he's seems fairly intelligent and well spoken off field which is never a bad thing and means he's likely to be a future leader if he keeps developing at the current rate.

Not critical of what Kate Roffey has done in her time as president of the MFC (how would I really know anyway) - she seems to have said and done all the right things by the club. BUT I'm not normally overly political but was surprised to see her take a political stance on ABC News breakfast TV this morning re ICAC and Gladys. Is this just what we should expect when we have a leader of influence who has a media profile? As in it just comes with the territory? It's not as if her role as president is the only thing she does. Not posting to get people's views on ICAC / Gladys etc as that will completely derail the thread - but more what it means to have a leader that will say things that not everyone agrees with. I imagine for most its refreshing to get some honesty rather than straight bat PR speak... until they disagree with what she's saying! Having said that, this pales in comparison to many other presidents publicly saying things that would be out of step of most of their supporter base eg Eddie and Jeff. It's probably a non-issue - just caught me by surprise when seeing it this morning.

If that's the case, why move Lockhart or Hore on? Both shown enough at the highest level imo (although seemingly Lockhart fell out of favour in late 2020 - I thought they wanted more height).

So we can pick a category A rookie AND a category B rookie?

I think JT has done well drafting for needs previously (though I don't remember him ever saying that was our plan) - arguably Bowey / Laurie were needs in terms of best kicks / decision makers last year. The previous draft Jackson was best available but Kozzie was for needs - although some around us were keen on him, the discussion at the time is you don't use a first rounder on a small forward unless it's the next Cyril and aside from his highlights package, people said Kozzie didn't get enough of the ball / didn't play well often enough at the highest level etc. Looking forward to seeing who we get this year.

I agree with what you've said here - I guess it is interesting to see whether we can back up the elite fitness and team first behaviour. Will the desire be there to push ourselves just as hard when we no longer have a point to prove? Can everyone keep going with the team first behaviour when those doing the hard running, the defensive efforts etc are not getting the plaudits etc. They seem to be on top of this... but I guess we won't know for sure until well into next season. Given what we did in the finals, and esp rd 23, it will be interesting to see how much of a psychological edge we have over other teams. For years we've played against great sides - we might play out of skin and be in front late in the third quarter only to be beaten by superior fitness, clutch goals, whole team efforts from sides that barely got out of second gear for most of the game. Will we do that to other sides next year?

These sort of posts can come back to bite us but I think we are unlikely to suffer a premiership hangover (I know everyone would think that after winning). My reasons are: Competition for spots. There are a number of very unlucky players that will be super hungry (Tomlinson, Hunt, Jordon (does the sub count?), Smith, etc as well as others who might be a good chance to be in our best 22 if they can get a decent run at it eg Chandler, Weid, Laurie. Minimal post season surgeries (as far as I know), no retirements from players that were in the 22. Picking up Dunstan can't hurt either. Not playing finals in Melbourne. I think there would be a hunger to win in Melbourne in front of a Melbourne crowd at our home ground. We were the dominant team - we didn't fluke it or get lucky or win before we were ready. We have had many learnings - I feel like our 2018 year was a bit like other teams when they win before they're ready. Obviously we didn't go as far but learning what it takes to get that far and how easy it is to drop behind the pack will be really important for us in 2022. There's room for improvement - many players coming into their prime and others we've only seen a glimpse of their potential (Jackson, Kozzie, Riv, Bowey etc). I'm not saying we'll win it next year as so much has to go right with injuries etc but would be very surprised if we are not thereabouts.

But with change in the path of the sun in Winter v Summer it actually means the towers will block the sun from our training ground in Winter but have minial impact for summer. All for building over the railway to connect Fed square to the MCG precinct but not if it involves these high rise buildings!

I guess my point was that when we are rated THE BEST EVER for defending D50, there's probably other areas that should be higher priority. Goal kicking is prob no1 for mine - but as others have said, it's part of our setup to kick to less dangerous spots (in case there's a turnover) and when it mattered in finals, goal kicking wasn't much of a problem. Arguably the D50 stats are inflated due to the pressure coming from our midfielders and forwards which ensure less quality entries from the opposition, but they're still the best ever. In addition to what Binman has outlined comprehensively, I think the key to us moving forward is continuing to innovate. We are the definitively the hunted rather than the hunters now - so we can't expect it to just happen. E.g. try Jackson as a ruck rover, throw Petty forward, give Kozzie some more midfield minutes, play Tmac on the wing. Not necessarily all of this and certainly not all at once. But we have genuine weapons who if played in the right spots are almost impossible to stop. Next year everyone will be coming hard at us and trying to break down our system. So while its important to back it in (as it will beat almost anyone if we are "on") we have to be ready to mix it up - to counter teams who have done their homework on us and to provide more options should we sustain some injuries to crucial players.