Lucifers Hero

My concern with Melksham in is that his recent past shows no fwd pressure which in turn puts our mids and defenders under pressure when opps quickly move the ball out of our fwd 50. In the last 3 weeks our fwd pressure has been excellent and not sure we want to disrupt that. If he comes in I would a swap for Jones but that is unlikely given he is so close to his 300. Edit Reason for suggesting a swap for Jones is that I don't want to upset the fwd pressure we currently have by putting Melksham there. He will be more value kicking into the fwd 50. But as I said it is unlikely. Someone else will probably make way. I do like that he has been kept waiting.If Melksham does come in I hope he knows what the non-negotables are.

Hawks vs Cats today. Would be happy to see Hawks win just to watch Scott fume as the go 1W -2L and their season start to wobble. But then they will come out with all guns blazing next week to make amends. I reckon we can match their fury next week so will be barracking for Hawks.

I've believed all preseason, od: Posted that we could be top 4 at end of H & A. Still believe that. Amidst the preseason doom and gloom on here and injuries as early excuses for a poor 2021, I predicted we would be 3 - 0. Agree with you re a tall fwd but looking at the next 3 weeks none of Cats, Hawks or Tigers have a strong back 6 right now so lack of that tall shouldn't hurt us as much as if we were playing Eagles ,Pies or Power in the next 3 weeks. Next 3 weeks are a great opportunity to bank a few more wins before we meet the in-form sides. By which time I hope we have either/both Weideman/B 'Brown availalble. So 6 -0 or 5 - 1 is definitely achievable.

While we are talking 'great pick-ups': The pick 2 (Josh Kelly) for Salem, Tyson and Hunt trade is looking pretty good right now. Even tho we lost Tyson for Preuss who was traded to GWS, their pick for him helped us get B.Brown and either Bowey or Laurie. (iirc, GWS pick 33 for Preuss went to North in the Brown deal and we got pick 28 back which we used for Bowey or Laurie). Kelly is a great player but I would say we have done very well from the trade. Desperately hoping Salem stays. And while doing a postmortem on recruiting - how many people wanted us to pick Cody Weightman instead of Kozzie? Weightman may yet become a very good player but Kozzie is a rare talent. Imagine if we took Weightman and Bulldogs got Kozzie.

A week ago I posted the only thing to beat us vs GWS was ourselves and what was happening 'between the ears. Answer: Plenty good is happening - We came to play; we came to win. We didn't take our foot off the pedal. We played 120 mins of committed football We didn't let their early run of goals daunt us or to drop our heads. We fought back. We fought back in the last quarter again when they had a bit of a run. We know how to steady the ship. We are less likely to panic Three weeks of consistency and resilience. Great foundations on which to build the rest of the season. I'm guessing the belief by the players would be growing by the week; no matter what the opps throw at us we can deal with it and get over the line. That is the new Melbourne. Next step: Ruthless defeat of the opps! Yes, we have tougher opps over the next three weeks but there is untold benefit in the growth 'between the ears' of the last 3 weeks. We can easily be 6 - 0 or 5 - 1.

Anyone know if there was/is an intra-club match this weekend? Difficult for this weeks non AFL selected players to make a case for selection, especially those that are regular/semi-regular AFL players: Melksham, Hibberd, Smith, Petty etc.

Hopefully, it lulls Ess into a false sense of security and a belief that they have a great game plan. They have no defence and strong defence is what will define games this season. They are still a bottom six side.. The next three games should bring them back down to earth: Swans, Lions, Pies. With a bit of luck they will be 1W:5L

This is like when 6-6-6 was introduced - the teams that adapted and practiced their game plan changes for the new rules (man on the mark, fewer interchanges and kick-in marker set further back) will reap the rewards with very good early wins. It will take time for teams that haven't adapted game plans, to catch up by which time their season may be lost. Most of last year's finalists look to be in the slow to adapt category. Bulldgos, Swans, Adelaide Eagles and Demons seem to have adapted well. Good opportunity for us to bank a few more early wins before competitors catch up.

Something about counting chickens...comes to mind ?

I hope not.

I share your concern jr. Bonds are a niche market. More so the Corporate Bond (not Government Bonds) which ABE deals in. ABE started in 2015. After a bit of googling I haven't found anything substantial about their performance. Their 2020 report reads like a marketing spiel. AGMFY20.pdf. What they get out of the exposure: my reading of their website is that they are targeting retail investors, in particular those near or at retirement age. I suspect there would be lots of those in the mfc member ranks. Hopefully, folks do their due diligence before investing in any new product with ABE or anyone else.

There might be lots of reasons why staff can't respond to all emails/phone calls. fwiw, may I suggest this isn't the thread to air grievances. If it is Clare, give her time to settle in and assess where things are at.

Fox 'Man on the Mark' segment is reporting we have a replacement for Ryan Larkin, to be announced after Easter. "...Hawthorn’s Clare Pettyfor has won the race for the coveted position ahead of a string of highly credentialed candidates. She will leave the Hawks after six years". A little bit of 'googling' shows her sister Kathleen is a physio at MFC and is married to Alex Sakadjian who spent a number of years in our Sports Science team. So there is a strong mfc connection for Clare. If Clare's appointment is correct, then welcome aboard the Demons train! Well done MFC.

2021 is Jones' second 1 year contract. A lot of players at both ends of their careers play for minimum wages plus match payments. Not saying that applies to Jones. But we shouldn't be looking at older players nor younger players/rookies to free up much sal cap, if any at all; unless we want a list of approx 36-37 players instead of 42.

Why would we want Kelly c 2021? A shadow of his former self. And, we would need to part with some very good players to free up enough cap space for him. Instead use the money to keep Oliver, Salem, Petracca, Kozzie, Jackson etc.

Reid accepts his two week suspension reid-accepts-suspension An interesting bit of info: “Once the incident was classified as a bump rather than a brace, our advice was that there were limited options for us to challenge the suspension successfully". As long as the MRP is consistent (yeah, I know, it is unlikely) clubs know the rules and less likely to challenge suspensions which result in concussion.

Reid has accepted his two week suspension so is an out for our game this week.

Not to mention the fixture impact of covid related border issues already affecting the AFL. Not the ideal time to go from VFL/NEAFL leagues to an Eastern League. We may end up changing the fixture and Vic teams play Vic teams for a few months as they did with the early rounds of AFLW.

It will be interesting to see if either Hibberd or Melksham come back this week, especially as there is no Casey practice match for them to improve match fitness. If they don't, it gives a very strong message that regardless of experience or past performance they need to force their way into the side rather than be automatic starts. Having said that I would be surprised if Melksham doesn't play vs GWS - not so sure about Hibberd.

salary-cap-score Salary cap space after 2021 HAVES (with room): Essendon, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Adelaide, Port Adelaide. HAVE-NOTS: Richmond, West Coast, Collingwood, Melbourne, Fremantle, Geelong, Gold Coast, Greater Western Sydney. SOME WRIGGLE ROOM: Carlton, Western Bulldogs, Brisbane Lions. UNCLEAR: St Kilda, Sydney Player payments, including ASAs, are $13,165,950 in 2021, a cut of 9 per cent due to the pandemic. Player payments for 2022 are slated to be $14,769,322 if there are no cuts. All subject to the current contracts and without factoring in recruiting at season’s end or re-negotiations. We have some expensive traded-in players with 2-4 years to go on their contracts. Add the sal cap reductions and the AFL advice to clubs to transfer the reductions from the near term to later years ie back end the contracts. Not a fan of too many back-ended contracts as it is easy to get into strife - see Collingwood circa 2020. These factors will make our sal cap tight for a few years yet. Not sure our 'lesser-lights' and older players, whose contracts expire this year would be on big coin so I don't see much wriggle room there. So I can see why negotiations with Oliver will take time (ditto with Salem).

No whispers yet from Geelong re appealing Rohan's 2 week suspension. Gone to ground after last week's 4-day pro Danger media campaign failed spectacularly. They should read the writing on the wall and know that any head high contact that results in concussion will be shown no mercy. See Sam Reid's 2 match suspension for bump on Fye. Edit: Fox are reporting that Geelong have accepted Rohan's 2 week suspension. Wise.

Coaches votes: 9 Christian Salem (MELB) 9 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 5 Max Gawn (MELB) 3 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB) 2 Christian Petracca (MELB) 1Jack Steele (STK) 1 Adam Tomlinson (MELB) Split: 4/5 for Salem and Oliver 2/3 for Gawn 3 for Kozzie 2 Petracca 1 Steele 1 Tomlinson Coaches saw the Salem, Oliver and Gawn performances similarly. The other 4 were quite diverse. Good to see Salem get recognition for a great game. Not easy to get votes as a defender. LEADERBOARD 19 Dustin Martin RICH 18 Taylor Walker ADEL 16 Darcy Moore COLL 16 Clayton Oliver MELB 12 Dan Houston PORT

I'm beginning to wonder if there is room for Petty. Think he was an emergency but haven't heard much about him for a while. I wouldn't bring him for the sake of it - our back 6 is functioning very well with really good understanding. If we were to change it, he isn't who I would bring in as lacking AFL experience and working with a settled back 4-6. His time will come but don't think this is the time.

The only thing stopping us beating GWS is ourselves. Two good wins (albeit vs wounded prey) and a game vs GWS, another wounded team. While we've had injuries they are far less significant. It is the type of game where our players get ahead of themselves and become cocky thinking a win will just happen. We need to turn up and play 120 minutes of committed football. No 'drinking of bathwater', please. It will be a test of what is going on between the ears.

The cola was a few years ago now and they paid a high price and imv an unfair price, for 'stealing' Buddy from under the Giant's noses. The Swans are one of the best managed clubs in the AFL. They are well coached and seem to be excellent at player development - a lot of rookies become success stories at the Swans. I don't begrudge them.