JOIN THE DEES PARTY >>> Become a 2026 member\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\nThe senior of the pair was comfortably best afield, kicking five goals in four quarters as he rotated through the midfield and up forward, and combining perfectly with his younger cousin for a goal in the third.<\/p>\n
Latrelle later took a five-bounce run through the middle before stopping and propping and hitting up Jacob van Rooyen in attack with a perfect chip pass.<\/p>\n
In Melbourne’s first official hitout under new coach Steven King, the Dees showed off plenty of pace and an urgency to move the footy.<\/p>\n
Recruit\u00a0Changkuoth\u00a0Jiath\u00a0livened up the Dees’ ball use off half-back with immediate effect \u2013 a different player to the departed\u00a0Judd McVee, his speed broke the game open on a number of occasions.<\/p>\n
He was subbed out at half-time, replaced by\u00a0Christian Salem\u00a0in the same role.<\/p>\n
Ruck recruit\u00a0Max Heath\u00a0more than held his own against\u00a0Tristan Xerri, and moved well around the field, putting his body on the line in more than a few marking contests.<\/p>\n
Jack Steele\u00a0was often found at the bottom of packs, clearly the Dees’ preferred first-possession player, while 2024 mid-season recruit\u00a0Luker Kentfield\u00a0\u2013 a 194cm target who supported Heath in the ruck \u2013 kicked three while wearing a “Batman” mask.<\/p>\n
It was grimmer viewing for North Melbourne fans. While it was just a match simulation, there was far too much open space for Melbourne to exploit, both through the midfield and in attack.<\/p>\n
Finn O’Sullivan\u00a0showed some lovely signs through the midfield, while\u00a0Zane Duursma\u00a0had a few good patches with very limited supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fellow forward\u00a0Callum Coleman-Jones\u00a0took some strong marks, but struggled in front of goal, while\u00a0Nick Larkey moved as well as ever.<\/p>\n
Jy Simpkin\u00a0used the ball really nicely into attack when he had the opportunity, but the Dees’ contested-ball dominance meant those chances were few and far between.<\/p>\n
George Wardlaw\u00a0was due to play limited minutes during the VFL match following the seniors, with an update on whether he got through unscathed to come.<\/p>\n
The two sides played four 25-minute quarters, with time on only applied after goals. The end of the second and fourth terms saw two minutes of game scenario work, the first with Melbourne ahead by two points (Dees won) and the second with the Roos up by two (Dees won again, Harry Sharp with the sealer, kicked over his head within the first 40 seconds).<\/p>\n
Young guns
Draftee\u00a0Latrelle Pickett\u00a0showed some very promising signs for Melbourne, playing off half-forward, gliding across the field with ease and using the footy well.\u00a0Harvey Langford\u00a0looks ready to improve on his already impressive first season, controlling the wing with ease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Switching positions
Cooper Harvey\u00a0was busy off half-back. While the ball was in his zone more often than he would have liked, he worked hard throughout the game.\u00a0Caleb Windsor\u00a0spent a fair chunk of time as an inside midfielder, while\u00a0Xavier\u00a0Lindsay\u00a0rotated between the inside and outside.\u00a0Trent Rivers\u00a0also spent far more time inside than he has in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Injury watch
Young Kangaroo\u00a0Riley Hardeman’s day was done late in the second term, injuring his left ankle while leaping for a mark. Given the Roos had only fielded a squad of 24, SSP hopeful\u00a0Tom Blamires\u00a0got a run in the second half in Hardeman’s stead.\u00a0Brody Mihocek\u00a0was ruled out with a concussion suffered in the first quarter, having been involved in a dumping tackle by\u00a0Charlie Comben, who may come under MRO scrutiny.<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a06.3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a09.8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a013.11\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a019.15 (129)
NORTH MELBOURNE\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2.4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4.6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6.6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a07.7 (49)<\/p>\n
GOALS
Melbourne:\u00a0K.Pickett 5, Kentfield 3, Mihocek 2, Chandler 2, Steele 2, Laurie, Fritsch, Tholstrup, Langford, van Rooyen
North Melbourne:\u00a0Larkey 2, Darling 2, Duursma, Zurhaar, Powell<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE<\/p>\n
2. Jacob Van Rooyen, 3. Christian Salem, 4. Harvey Langford, 5. Xavier Lindsay, 6. Caleb Windsor, 8. Jake Lever, 9. Jack Steele, 10. Daniel Turner, 12. Koltyn Tholstrup, 14. Changkuoth Jiath, 15. Ed Langdon, 16. Bailey Laurie, 19. Xavier Taylor, 21. Matthew Jefferson, 22. Blake Howes, 24. Trent Rivers, 25. Tom McDonald, 26. Jed Adams, 27. Max Heath, 28. Brody Mihocek, 30. Harry Sharp, 31. Bayley Fritsch, 32. Tom Sparrow, 33. Latrelle Pickett, 36. Kysaiah Pickett, 37. Kade Chandler, 39. Ricky Mentha Jnr, 44. Luker Kentfield<\/p>\n
Absent:\u00a0Max Gawn*, Steven May, Jack Viney, Jai Culley, Jake Bowey, Jake Melksham, Thomas Matthews, Shane McAdam, Tom Campbell, Kalani White, Harrison Petty, Oscar Berry, Riley Onley, Aidan Johnson, Jack Henderson, Any Moniz-Wakefield<\/p>\n
*\u00a0Played in AAMI AFL Origin on Saturday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WHY HAVE one Pickett, when you can have two? Kozzy\u00a0and new face\u00a0Latrelle Pickett\u00a0were a step faster than everyone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85,83],"class_list":["post-493097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}