Older demon

WE did ! we made a bid on him at pick 3 and it was matched by GWS as was their right to an academy player. You cannot do more than that.

So it was Harley with 5 goals!!

6 Oliver, 5 Viney, 4 Brayshaw, 3 Harmes, 2 Gawn, 1 Tomlinson,

That was an awful game to watch with Geelongs game plan to hold onto the ball and playing keepings off. It worked and not sure our brain trust worked it out. Scott happy to murder the game to slow the game down and stop our run Oh to have a leading marking forward like Hawkins. Fritch is wasted in a key post and too slight. It is frustrating that for all the effort and ball winning ability we just don't capitalise on the good work. I love watching Picket he will be the drawcard that puts bums on seats. Frustrating to lose but we are still sorting out our structure and best 22. Rivers and Pickett game 2. Lockhart a few more. Landon and Tomlinson still the gel and VDB & Smith still a bit rusty after no footy in the last 12 months. I see improvement and it is still early on. The next 3 weeks will see where we are at.

You missed my point. I was using the Pies as the model for a successful team structure and how Goody and the club appear to be copying it. They have 1 key marking forward who takes contested marks, Mihocheck plus a ruckman the rest are contested ball winners who run and lead. You don't need high marking key position players to be successful

No change for me. The inclusion of VDB and Hannan makes a better team balance. The Pies structure does not rely key forwards. Mihochek s CHF and a ruckman Cox/Cameron with a swarm of Elliott, deGoey who are good overhead. Phillips, Brown and Caicos at ground level. Then there is their elite midfield lead by Pendlebury & Sidebottom complemented by Adams and Treloar and so lesser lights who play their role in Hoskin-Elliot, Thomas, Brown and Mayne. The point is we have the elite ruckman, a gun midfield 4, the addition of 2 wingmen we need the flanker and other mids to play a role and kick more goals. I look to milk, Fritta, Ghanan and AVB to give us the grunt and lift we need.

It doesn't matter what we think the official line is The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee said in a statement that it "strongly discourages" travel to and from Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin for non-essential reasons until the Victorian government can suppress the spread of community transmission in those municipalities. They haven't said you cannot but strongly discouraged all non essential reasons which while open to interpretation suggests the club may have to reconsider its training base unless they hub there. In light of Connor McKenna all players are told to limit their social interaction and keep away from people. I noticed one lesser know MFC player hanging out in the food court at Southland last week and he certainly wasn't social distancing from his companions. I think all AFL clubs will be overly sensitive and over cautious in light of this weekend.

I cringed at one blue goal when May supposedly the best kick in the team kicked it straight to the man on the mark who politely handball over Mays head for an easy goal. Only MFC can do that

An earlier post said in jest what if a GF team test positive in the week before the Granny? Well it could happen and based on todays rules as long as a club has 22 players and emergencies they play. Essendon stand to lose their entire back 6 as it stands. MFC were training in groups as well the 7 mids, 7 backs as are other clubs. The GF would be a real drawcard with half a team out.

The test is complex. The swab is put in a machine that grows the virus to a level and then detects it. In the early stages of infection the virus load can be low and barely detectable.That is why the repeat this morning and it tested positive indicating an increase in his viral load. Suggests he got it recently. It is standard if you get an unexpected result you repeat it to see if the results are reproducible. Also note he is in the incubation period and asymptomatic. He trained Friday and vision on the news show him, tackling, contact drills and even having a spit and they may not have had the results back till AFTER he trained. He was at the club this am for repeat test and looks like they sped up the test turn around time and got a pos result. Then the fun began

After reading the scratch match report I realise how much the recruitment of Jackson, Picket and Rivers has had on the team. I suspect that it will take the next month to determine who is in the best 22 and barring injuries how the team will develop. With a record low number of injuries there were 17 players in the scratch match. Of the 17 only Bradke & Jordan haven't played a game and I am unsure who the club sees as long term best 22 players. Weid, Hannan, AVB, Hibberd,Spargo and OMac all played in the finals of 2018. Picket, Sparrow, Chandler, Baker and Jordan are all promising young guns. Then there are the Wagners (Corey was carry over emergency Saturday) Bedford and Dunkley. As for selection our forward line got smashed last week and I note Weitering and Docherty got coaches votes as the Crlton half back line after the 1st quarter was like a wall and kept rebounding the ball out. I think the club will keep changes to the minimum as they try to determine who is in the best 22 and then some hard decisions need to be made. Kozie and Weid in for Jones and Smith.

Getting on the scoreboard and kicking goals is one way to focus attention and step up to the next level. Increasing his kick to handball ratio as well will get more notice but if he is performing to the team instructions and game plan then I am content that he is doing his job.

This is a fair comment of what was happening but I think another factor was our totally ineffective half forward line. Give credit to Weitering, Docherty and Petrevski-Seton even Simpson every time we went forward we hit a brick wall and it rebounded. Be it turn over or contested mark they won convincingly. The small forward line didn't work and they showed the extra marking tall is essential. Hunt was the only effective forward. We need a lot more out of ANB, Melksham, McDonald and Fritch and Jones when up forward. You cannot expect Jackson to dominate or Picket to light things up in his second game. I sincerely hope Bennel stays on the park and Hannaan or AVB comes up because they add something extra

Don't get me wrong I wasn't knocking him. I would like them to have another key forward maybe Weid and ease Jackson into the team in a pocket of the bench. I thought it was a big ask to play the role they wanted from him today and I acknowledge he has enormous upside. We have a history of burning youngsters

I liked the Rivers interview post match and want to give a shout out to the draft team. The gun half back we were gunna take debuted for Freo today but we took Jackson and then snatched Rivers out of the clutches of the Eagles. The selection makes sense as Rivers pointed out they are best mates, share accomodation now and have been playing footy together since they were 14.Rivers showed he has some special skill, runs hard and kicks well and having the two together is great in the future if the go home factor ever rears its ugly head.

I was amazed how well the first quarter went and then Carlton came to play and made it a contest. I don't like our structure and it showed today that we don't have a leadings tall forward and Fritsch is not a key position player. The Carlton talls started to dominate as the game progressed cos they don't get shorter. Seriously at one stage Nev was minding McKay. At the other end we continually got out marked in the contest by Weitering and co and then the run off half back to a leading tall forward made us look ordinary. There were a lot of skill errors and Smith has to learn NOT to fly for everything down back. Rivers was a revelation and I love his run and balance. We cannot expect Jackson to be a marking target up forward and T Mac os the only tall key forward looked out of sorts and chasing tail. At one stage Hunt was playing full forward. The positives are Max was dominant and in a good contest with Pittonet. Trac was everything we had hope he would be, strong clean and polished. Rivers was impressive, Bennel showed poise and class on limited minutes, Clarry is still a ball magnet and the wingmen in Langdon and Tomlinson show what was desperately missing from last years midfield. A very ugly, heart attack inducing win

6 votes Gawn 5 Petracca 4 Oliver 3 Salem 2 Langdon 1 Rivers

Well said Rjay as a member of a closed bowls club with pokies I can tell you they are a liability. The machines aren't turned off because of difficulties and cost starting them up. So they are still chewing up electricity. Then when clubs open how do you keep the buttons clean and social distancing. getting rid of the pokies is the best thing we have done.

Go easy! He is separated and his ex and child live in East Brighton, published in newspapers. Jack was in Melbourne returning his daughter home to East Brighton with his new girlfriend, again written in papers. Don't believe half of what you hear or assumptions

Someone mentioned memorabilia and I can attest to the fact that MFC has one of the finest collections you can imagine. It like Richmond, Fitzoy and Collingwood is a history lesson on the wedge that extends out from the G through this suburbs. Most is in storage and it is crying out for somewhere to house and display permanently. IN Manchester they have a magnificent museum at Old Trafford but there is an equally impressive museum in the heart of Manchester dedicated to football An inner city location is a must as visitors to the city would be attracted, then your coffee shop could pay its way.

Viney has a moustache the likes of which I haven't seen since a certain mR Carrol wore long ago. Now all Jack needs is the eccentric haircut and we have Deja Vu. Salem's hair is ...different. Jackson leaping over the pack is sensational and a special mention for the video of Harley Bennel honestly he looked so balanced and poised and if he gets going watch out world.

The video was just one instance but he made time stand still. His balance and poise were amazing I hope for his career and our football enjoyment he can play and thrill us all.

My kids are split and don't all barrack for Melbourne

I have seen and spoken to Paul as he still attends MFC games and at the golf club for grand final week pennant he is in melbourne colours.

What a huge disappointment and so frustrating that nothing much has changed from last year. The turnovers were appalling, I cannot believe the game plan is to bomb it to the best intercept marking backline in the league but every time we kicked a point ( 1goal 5 behinds from set shots) the ball would slingshot down the ground to the Eagles forward line. Precision kicking, short kicks to advantage and end to end without our guys getting a touch. What are we teaching them? I also think we practised social distancing from our opponents because no-one went near Gaff (30 touches) no one wanted to tackle and no-one would go near Liam Ryan. Shocker start to the season and thank god we don't play GWS next week. Don't care if the footy does come back after that error riddled waste of 2 hours.