What

Sounds like Watts and Hibberd will both play according to Goody on SEN. Josh Kennedy a certain out. Gawny a certain starter. I feel a lot more confident than I did last night.

Only if Jordan Lewis is a late out.

This is the first game of the season where I haven't felt confident at all. The factors of Jones out, Watts maybe out, key players sore, trip to Perth, Gawn likely underdone. Expecting a loss, but wont be surprised at all if they take care of business.

Non MFC related injury, but Jaeger O'Mearas knee seems utterly stuffed. Might be shut down for the season. Hawks really screwed up, doubt his knee will ever come good. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-20/new-knee-drama-for-hawk-jaegers-season-in-peril

Wow didn't realize he was 191 cms and almost 26 years old. GET HIM IN.

Hes racking up touches for Casey and from all reports he is hard as nails. You may be on to something, HB.

Gawn back means we have more options up forward as Watts and Pedders can play forward the whole game, assuming we use T Mac as ruck with Gawny. So Tracca can move to the midfield to cover the loss of Jonesy. This is one of many options at Goodys disposal - the upside of having a very versatile team.

Skipper Jones out 4-6 weeks, The man that never misses a game. This is uncharted territory for the Dees. Demon leader Nathan Jones hit for six by quad injury Thank god Gawny is back to give first use to our mids, they will need it with NJ out.

Answering my own question http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-fixture-2017-release-the-winners-and-losers-from-the-draw/news-story/89f589adea09af357ed108fa70c313f6 We have the equal most six day breaks - 8. Equal with Geelong, GWS, Hawthorn and Doggies. Not sure if any of them have three in a row, though I guess they would at some point.

Anyone know if any other teams have three straight 6 day breaks with a big interstate trip in the middle? We have been shafted by the AFL schedulers, I am surprised PJ let them get away with it.

Only the dying breed of idiots that believe what the mainstream media feeds them. The vast majority of people know that Russia had zero to do with the US election, and that the leaks came from inside the democratic party. The Russia narrative is embarrassing, and was never remotely close to believable and a year later not a shred of evidence exists for any of the claims. Blaming Putin was a convenient and lazy excuse for a failed presidential campaign that flushed 1 billion dollars down the drain. Enjoy the game

Possibly no Hogan, Jones, Watts, Hibberd + Gawnys first game back after a very long layoff. A lot of sore boys and a long trip to WA. A win this week would top even yesterdays win. Time to dig deep again.

No, we have good depth now. Shuffling deckchairs is a thing of the past for the MFC thank christ.

Damn, Jonesy to miss the Swans game too. Big blow. Gawny back just in the nick of time, with his ruck dominance we may not miss Jonesy as much as we may think. I nominate JKH to get a crack in the midfield after dominant VFL form there. He is not a forward.

What year was Jason Taylors first draft with the MFC? Was it 2015? Looking at our drafting history and trying to work out when he took over

Sam Frost is turning into a total gun. He might be as fast as Hunt, which is crazy considering how tall he is.

After 12 games hes averaging 30.3 disposals. This is the highest average in the history of the MFC, in fact we have never had a player average 30+ in a season.

Dom Tyson leads the team in clangers but only a fool would want him dropped. Hes 5th in disposals, 4th in clearances, 5th in contested possession, 2nd for inside 50's, 8th in tackles, He makes a few silly errors each game, but more than makes up for it in other ways.

Out list is the best outside of GWS. Not my words, the words of almost every neutral supporter I have spoken to, Have to agree with them now. We sit 7-5 (could easily be 12-0), have been in every game, have a nice %, and have barely had Hogan and Gawn on the park. And a potential star in Brayshaw waiting in the wings, as well as the 19 year old promising KF Weideman. Stretch and Wagner will be very good players at AFL level. Add in the very exciting Joel Smith whos about ready to return, an out list is really one to envy. If we lose to West Coast, that will not change a thing either. We are coming like a freight train. Goody is a proactive coach who the players seem to love, McCartney is a development genius and Jason Taylor will continue to add to our list with his midas touch on draft day. So if the question is 'what do we need?', I argue we have everything we need and continued development of these players is the key (and for the first time in a long time we should be very confident they will all reach their potential under our development staff).

Round 12, 2006 (5th) was the last time we were this high on the ladder at this point in the season. We were even higher at round 12 in 2005 (2nd) and Round 12 2004 (3rd). Neale Daniher was such a fantastic coach, we really should have won a flag or two in his reign.

Our midfield has been one of the top few in the league and will soon challenge GWS for outright best. And this has been with no ruckman, with the best one in the country to return this week. How good will our rising midfield be with Gawn giving them silver service?

Melksham played a selfless game, did very well shutting down JJ and got 15 touches himself and kicked a goal. Thats off the back of his strong tagging job on Pendlebury in the first half last week, and 32 possession the week before in the win over Gold Coast. The odds of a 19 year old kid @ pick 25 giving us more than Melksham is right now are very low, so Im gonna go ahead and say thanks Essendope for that trade, we needed a seasoned body more than another kid now that we are pushing for finals.

A few injury concerns and Goody said in his presser he wont risk anyone off the 6 day break to Perth In - Gawn, JKH Out - Watts (hammy), Jones (quad)

The dream team! http://www.melbournefc.com.au/Team/coaches

Who is our midfield coach, Ben Mathews? When Spencil went down and we had to play a makeshift ruckman, we were praying for the coaches to come up with a genius plan to win the clearances, knowing full well we would be smashed in the hitouts. They have delivered, and then some.