spirit of norm smith

Marcus Prasad. Dromana. Demons NGA.

Agree that we cannot underestimate the contribution of Todd Viney and Mahoney ( who brought in Lever, Melksham , Hibberd, May, Langdon, Tomlinson, Brown).

Tim Lamb is front and centre to all trade talk discussion around the MFC posts, media etc and the AFL posts, media etc. Definitely responsible and accountable for trades (as well as Goody). https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1453491/list-boss-excited-by-fullarton-potential https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/1232733/2022-trade-period-media-conference-tim-lamb?videoId=1232733&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1664775876001 https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/1454073/trade-period-tim-lamb?videoId=1454073&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1697688629001 https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1023592/lamb Agree role also involves signing up players contracts which included long term deals for Trac, Clarry and Gus.

Outs. Kolt and Salem (inj), Sparrow (omitted) ins. Gawn if fit, K-Brown, Howes

@1964nowMORE agreed. I think Retschko could be the steal of the draft in the 40s. I hope he would be highlighted on JTs list.

Add in - Zane Cochrane - Oakleigh Chargers and Carey Grammar. Will be a huge chance to get drafted but likely in the 50-60 range. Had an excellent game again on the weekend for Carey (v Wesley). Clearly was best on ground and has improved this year with his running to become an excellent mid who can kick goals as well. I believe on the grapevine that Brighton v Haileybury was a cracker of a game too

2025 midfield recruit … just give him a pencil. 🤣🤣🤣

Yes interesting to see Langford at 18, Travaglia at 21 and Moraes at 27 … all would be welcome to be in red and blue for 2025.

Great news. He’s shown great pace and talent. Dees need to get busy in this years draft and find more young talent. There are more skilled pacy players to add to our squad.

Agreed. Salem has had a good career but it appears injuries are slowing him down. It was spoken about that he could step into the midfield this year. Certainly not the case.

And of course … not sure why BBB pushed on this year. I know he had a contract but he can’t play two games back to back and can hardly run. A sad finish !!! Ben Brown was absent from both AFL and VFL matches due to some knee soreness. “Ben had some knee soreness last week following the game, we gave him every opportunity to be able to play the game, but unfortunately just wasn't able to,” Griffith said. “So, we'll reassess that this week, with our main priority to make sure Ben is able to function to be at AFL level for the back end of the season.”

Koltyn Tholstrup was the second casualty from the Sunday game, with delayed concussion symptoms pushing him into required protocols. “Koltyn had a head knock in the game,” Griffith said. “He passed the initial SCAT (sport concussion assessment tool) and was cleared of anything there. “Following us returning to Melbourne, he had some delayed symptoms with headaches and altered vision and has now entered the concussion protocol. So, he'll progress through that as symptoms settle.”

I remember there were questions when Grundy was recruited. Everyone was puzzled but we kept the faith and hoped Goodys decision might be strangely a good one. It wasn’t? He ultimately called it and bears the accountability for the failed experiment, but the question is, was it the right or smart move in the first place?

We’ve had two years to replace Jackson. Sure we had Grundy as an experiment. It was unlikely to be the answer but Goody chickened out very quickly. Grundy is making a few MFC decision makers very embarrassed right now. The admission that new recruit Tom Fullarton would have had zero impact in the ruck is a total admission of a failed list manager strategy. We already had multiple tall forwards. Why is he now seen as only a tall forward? Bizarre by coach and list manager. We had the chance to recruit Meek at end of ‘22. We had the chance to get Liam Reddy. We indeed could have grabbed Harry Boyd from the SANFL. Instead MFC decided “apparently” to go with Gawn as the only ruckman. Wow. Poor planning or poor list management. Both. I like Verrall and think he has a future. He can be developed but agree at 20yo that he has more physical development needed. Another 12 months will see him get bigger and stronger imv. Max is 32. He has 3-5 years left definitely. Ruckman develop later but can play longer. Goldstein is still going at 36. But Max needs support and cover as he is only human. We know he’s super human but to go without a Plan B for the ruck in 2024 was an obvious fail. We prayer that Max returns from injury this week.

You get assessed on actions and outcomes. Lamb is tracking for a F grade outcome. Fail. Unsure how he would keep his role going forward. Fyi Josh Mahoney delivered excellent trades and success.

AFL.com.au's predicted final ladder* 1. Sydney 2. Carlton 3. Brisbane 4. Geelong 5. Fremantle 6. Western Bulldogs 7. Greater Western Sydney 8. Essendon 9. Hawthorn 10. Port Adelaide 11. Gold Coast 12. Melbourne 13. Collingwood 14. St Kilda 15. Adelaide 16. North Melbourne 17. West Coast 18. Richmond

Clarry is not going anywhere. With the right support and a solid pre season, he will get back to being a premier midfielder. I’d also have a chat about the stupid little 2 metre handballs. “Run and spread and kick” needs to get back into his game.

Clarry is not going anywhere. With the right support and a solid pre season, he will get back to being a premier midfielder. I’d also have a chat about the stupid little 2 metre handballs. “Run and spread and kick” needs to get back into his game.

memo to Goody and JT Dees need 3 young midfielders in this draft Other teams mids have been restocked and regenerated ( but not ours ) Windsor has been excellent. We need more !! unavailable * Levi Ashcroft - Bris. Father son * Leonardo Lombard - Suns Academy * Ben Camporeale - Glenelg SA Father son * Sam Marshall -Brisbane academy * Luke Camporeale - Glenelg SA Father son Best available midfielders ranked A graders: (likely drafted in 1st round) Finn O'Sullivan - Oakleigh Josh Smillie - Eastern Jagga Smith - Oakleigh Sid Draper - Sth Christian Moraes - Eastern Sam Lalor - GWV Murphy Reid - Sandringham Taj Hotton - Sandringham Toby Travaglia - Bendigo Tom Gross - Oakleigh Xavier Lindsay - Gippsland Harvey Langford - Dandenong Bo Allan -WA likely 2nd rounders Cooper Hynes - Dandenong Zak Johnson - Northern Nash King - Calder Hamish Davis - WA Nathaniel Sulzberger - Sandringham/Tas Damon Hollow - Calder Kade Herbert - SA eagles Patrick Retschko - Oakleigh Later bargains Lucas McInerney - Northern Oliver Depaoli-Kubank - Tassie Cody Anderson - Eastern Lucca Grego - Western Jaxon Artemis - WA Xavier Ivisic - Geelong Luke Urquhart - WA Dees might look to sell the 2025 first round pick to get a look at another 2024 1st round pick and get two quality young midfielders in

Ditto ditto ditto. Goody admits that they have no second ruckman behind Gawn. FFS. How could you prepare for a year without a plan B ruckman. FFS. Had Jackson. Lost Jackson. Got Grundy. Got chicken and traded Grundy. Season 2024. No backup or second ruck. Coach ? What were you thinking ?

Vs. Freo. Round 12 With Gawn hitouts Dees 35-32 🆗 Clearances Freo 48-23💩💩 Centre clearance Freo 22-10💩💩 stoppages Freo 26-13 💩💩

Frees. Freo 22 Dees 14 (half time 12-4) 😡🤮😡🤮 Inside 50s. Freo 60. Dees 47 Efficiency in Fwd50. Freo 58%. Dees 38%. 💩💩💩 Hitouts 47-9💩💩💩 Clrarances. 47-16💩💩💩 Stoppages 30-8💩💩💩 Centre clearance 17-8💩💩💩 Score. Freo. 116. Dees. 66. 💩💩💩

Dees rookie Will Verrall got amongst it, amassing 45 hitouts, 18 disposals and seven clearances. 👏👏👏

So we went into the year without a 2nd ruck at all … wow. And didn’t even think at the half year to cover it. Instead it’s Gawn or nothing. Kentfield is a development player who like Jefferson will take time. We needed a backup Ruck and got caught with our pants down. Coach… list manager… ?!?!?!

Can’t possibly see Sparrow staying in next week. I’ve been a supporter but he has lost something this year. This week he had too many missed tackles. He was easily too often outmuscled in the contest. Lost so many stoppages and clearances. One clearance from 10 centre square and about 15 stoppages. Not alone but was clearly not interested or lost any sense for the contest. His miss in the 3rd quarter… 30 metre out, clear by 10 metre from any opposition. Could have run in and kicked any easy goal. Instead he “chipped” in to the behinds and hardly made the distance. Compelling that he was lacking any confidence or interest.