Roger Mellie

Dunkley - Composed, good user, goal kicker. Ahead of most of our depth. Sign him up. JKH - Works incredibly hard, no doubt still rusty and can probably work space better at AFL level. Had a good game but this looks like his gig to me. OK for depth.

MFC Listed Players (that I can think of) Lockhart - Had a great game. With a little more composure his kicking skills will take him further. Should be at the front of the queue as a depth player. Scope to take his game further. Bradtke - Wasn't expecting much impact but I thought he was incredibly clean with the footy for a big guy. Shot off some nice hand passes and kicking was good for a ruckman. There's no need to judge him on his ruck work (IMO) until he puts on some serious kgs. Lewis - Had a very good game but I suspect his on field coaching was the most value. ANB - Did some nice things but looks comfortable at this level Chandler - Has a crack. Goodwin would love what he brings. Coming along quite well. Not a bad kick. Is he quick enough for a small forward? Bedford - Finding his feet still and had a great goal assist bursting out of the centre in the last quarter. Applied good pressure but will need another year or more to have more impact/consistency. Hard at it. Petty - Reliable in defence. Not too many errors. Lack of speed is a concern but not much got past him. Preuss - Would be happy with his game but he reminds me a little of Gawn in his early years in that he hasn't worked out how to maximise his height and size advantage. Was competitive but has no tank whatsoever. Jordon - Didn't notice him that much. He had a little stint on ball and found a bit of it. Reserving judgement on the young fella. You can see he can kick in spite of a few turnovers. KK - Made a few errors (rusty) but is obviously the go to man for delivering the footy. Found a bit of it in a very outside way. IMO, might need another game or two to pick up the pace and get a bit more contested. Kielty - Smooth mover for a big guy. I'd love to see where his game went if he could impact the game more (more possessions and involvement). Wagner - Another solid game. Looks like this is his level.

Agree. The support base is for SA and WA in Darwin and Alice. If the AFL want to show their wares in the NT and the the 4 SA/WA clubs wont partake (sacrifice a home game), then they shouldn't benefit from it. We should play eastern state sides.

6. Gawn 5. Oliver 4. Brayshaw 3. Fritsch 2. Viney 1. Harmes

I recall Viney as having a very wooden action and ordinary ball drop, so I'm not sure he and Petracca should be allowed near each other with a footy. Yes he improved later in his career, but as far as kicking coaches go - prefer others (just about any)

Not really newsflash worthy but as @TRIGON said, he definitely went to Melb Grammar

Weideman on a wing? Good grief

Not only will we have to win games, but we need to win big to get our percentage out of the toilet

It would be very helpful to him and the club if his media work was better. Unfortunately it stinks, but I don't think that hasmuch bearing on his captaincy credentials around the club and on field. I think that's why he's doing the podcast thing - to improve it and try and be more media savvy.

Plenty of crud posts on this thread.

Clearly you haven't heard Freo's song! Or Port's

Also weren't we saddled with a couple of years of Watts' contract (a chunk of it, that is)? That should finish this year too.

Our forward line already sucks. You want to go with those two as our key forwards (assuming TMac stays back)?

I didn't see Bedford in your list. Any thoughts?

The TMac injury is IMO common knowledge and don't know why it was missed. If you're less lazy than me you can trawl back through preseason training reports for the other two where they both spent a chunk of time in the rehab group. ANB's was brief but I recall Hibberd being longer and before Christmas. Neither had surgery AFAIK.

After the first quarter, I thought - we're back! The intensity was up and we looked like we meant business. 2nd quarter - yep, we can still do it. Players are up for this...lots of mistakes, stupid frees...toigs seem to be at the ready for every spill. If Vlastuin played for us we might have won - we seemed to pick him out every time. Last quarter we threw in the towel Kent Kingsley award to Ellis. Opp players I'd like to punch award - Costanza In spite of all the wrist slashing I foresee, we would have won more games than we lost at this point in the season if we played with this intensity from round 1. But yeah - we're slow. Much as I love him, Jones gave the Toigs a lot of opportunities with his turnovers.

The MFC website. And when they say 4, they might've meant 6 or 8

ANB - knee Hore - ankle surgery TMac - Ankle surgery, both ankles Hibberd - He missed a chunk but cant remember - quad or calf maybe? I think the latter two, particularly TMac have been affected. On top of a shortened preseason, I expect it would be quite telling. For Hore, he missed a bit pre-Christmas but was also learning our system / game plan (such that it is) as well as getting back to fitness.

Just on a technical note, I've crossed out those that didn't have a full preseason and or had surgery. (* ANB Minor setback IIRC)

Wing is his spot IMO

In - Stretch, Lockhart, Garlett - runners, some even with speed. I haven't been overly enamoured with Kielty but he cant be worse than TMac, or for that matter, Weideman - equally horrible and cant mark the footy to save himself at the moment. Don't really care who goes out - we stink

FMD what a come down on last year. We're not functioning as a team and the coaching staff is putting blind faith into half fit players, retirees and plodders. While other teams were loading up on speed in the draft (and last year's) we're loading the team with slow inside mids. It's all well and good to start at the contest and work your way out, but the said 'out' are vfl standard, plodders and/or retirees. We've been well and truly found out and it's time to stop trotting out the same set-up. Hibberd was just horrible for the fifth week in a row but we're not blessed with too many options. It's not fair to single him out but FFS, get him out of the team or try him somewhere else. Lewis.... good grief. What little buy-in we had is likely gone after that showing. I have absolutely no answers (with the options available) but I can see clearly that we rely heavily on last year's game plan and the unflinching belief that strength at the contest will conquer all. It's not and we cant keep hoping it will. We have no out from the contest at this time.

AFL were falling all over themselves to reward Essendon in this year's fixture for finishing 11th last year.

No James McDonald? I went to a house viewing a few years ago and he was there. He seemed to have a few rug rats. A good turnout nonetheless.

Change ya manager Sam!