On 21/11/2025 at 16:15, dazzledavey36 said:

Yeah nah lol.

Durrsma was far more consistent and dominant then White in the VFL.

Was Durrsma that good to be referred to as dominant in those games? That's not how I recall it, but I may well be wrong.

I thought he (WD) was ok without doing a great deal.

This is what Kalani posted when he was 12yo…

🥹🥹🥹

Edited November 22, 2025Nov 22 by Ghostwriter

26 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

This is what Kalani posted when he was 12yo…

🥹🥹🥹

That's my future coach rearranging my Dad's face guys not lieing. *awkward*

On 21/11/2025 at 05:10, Slartibartfast said:

For the oldies, Rono won't be happy!😃

PF = Rono’s love child…

Saw him at the W game yesterday. He is very tall, even when being hugged by Ghosty 😃. also sat behind most of the men’s team who attended and only recognised about half of them 😕. Thanked JT for all he has done for the club as he was sitting behind me.🙂

Lots of his old man there

1 hour ago, adonski said:

What I like from those highlights is the speed of his decisions and ball use.

As we all know AFL is played at blistering speed and that is one of the hardest parts of adjusting to AFL senior footy.

Give him a couple of years to develop and hopefully we get a versatile tall.

I’m more impressed with his tap work while rucking. Once he fills out and gains strength he’ll be another Gawn imo.

You can see the reflection of Jeff White in his son. Super stoked Kalani is onboard. We have to give him time. Gym and protein shakes for the youngster for the next 2 years at least.

Hey Luke Jackson....Kalani White is here...we're all good

17 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

I’m more impressed with his tap work while rucking. Once he fills out and gains strength he’ll be another Gawn imo.

No one will be another Gawn.

He is arguably the best ruckman of this century and probably a bit longer.

45 minutes ago, Redleg said:

No one will be another Gawn.

He is arguably the best ruckman of this century and probably a bit longer.

You never know, I thought Gawn was a bit of a spud in his first year

On 23/11/2025 at 09:45, Neil Crompton said:

I’m more impressed with his tap work while rucking. Once he fills out and gains strength he’ll be another Gawn imo.

That's a very high std you have set. IMO Max is in the top five of ruckman to have played the game. I believe Max is the best ruckman who has played for Melbourne. If you are drafted as a rookie ( his farther was a 1st round pick ) I doubt you will be as good as Max. No interest from other clubs says it all IMO. If he turns into a useful ruckman I will be happy.

34 minutes ago, old dee said:

If you are drafted as a rookie ( his farther was a 1st round pick )

What relevance does that have?

Very good with ground balls too. Clean below his knees. New ruck rule will suit him to a tee. Won’t be many able to match his jump, if any. Future is bright I believe. Confident he will be developed the right way too and not rushed. Max a huge bonus.

Good luck and welcome Kalani.

53 minutes ago, old dee said:

That's a very high std you have set. IMO Max is in the top five of ruckman to have played the game. I believe Max is the best ruckman who has played for Melbourne. If you are drafted as a rookie ( his farther was a 1st round pick ) I doubt you will be as good as Max. No interest from other clubs says it all IMO. If he turns into a useful ruckman I will be happy.

Haha, really? I doubt you’ll every be happy Old Dee.

5 hours ago, Demonstone said:

What relevance does that have?

The farther the father the further the fervour

@old dee I wouldn't get too worked up about him going through to the rookie list. I would say after we used pick 30 every club knew if they tried to pick him we'd use up a late pick for him so there was no point after that pick.

Irrespective of that plenty of great players have come from the rookie list including Judd McVee who we just got pick 24 for.

Here's some Geelong Premiership players from 2022 who came from the rookie list. Blicavs, Atkins, Close, Zac Guthrie, Henry Stengle, Tom Stewart would have if not injured, Jack Henry, Tyson Stengle, Max Rooke in 2011.

I'd take another Blicavs and I can see that potential in him except he's probably a better footballer than Blicavs when he started.

Edited November 25, 2025Nov 25 by Its Time Again

5 hours ago, Big Gun said:

Very good with ground balls too. Clean below his knees. New ruck rule will suit him to a tee. Won’t be many able to match his jump, if any. Future is bright I believe. Confident he will be developed the right way too and not rushed. Max a huge bonus.

Good luck and welcome Kalani.

Fully agree. Shows good footy smarts & positioning. Seems to have much better footy instincts than Farris-White, Bradtke & Verrall had.

I think the reason no-one took him in the draft was that because he was still growing he would be a 2 -3 year prospect and there were many other ready to go prospects in the early picks. By the time the later picks came, other clubs were looking at keeping rookie spots open in the same way we were to help their salary cap. In any event, Melbourne could simply match the bid as a father son.

1 hour ago, Cranky Franky said:

Fully agree. Shows good footy smarts & positioning. Seems to have much better footy instincts than Farris-White, Bradtke & Verrall had.

I know this statement was designed to annoy us But Cranky Franky frankly Kalani White played a better game for Casey as a 17 yo than all three players mentioned above. From memory in track and field he did high jump and pretty sure he cleared 2.0m, which means he could nearly jump over all three of them and you to Cranky.

45 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

I know this statement was designed to annoy us But Cranky Franky frankly Kalani White played a better game for Casey as a 17 yo than all three players mentioned above. From memory in track and field he did high jump and pretty sure he cleared 2.0m, which means he could nearly jump over all three of them and you to Cranky.

Not sure how my statement could annoy anyone. I was simply pointing out our woeful efforts to recruit young rucks.

I could have added a few more.

I hope he spends 2026 locked up inside the weights room only to be let out to eat.

13 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

Not sure how my statement could annoy anyone. I was simply pointing out our woeful efforts to recruit young rucks.

I could have added a few more.

Two category B rookies and one A rookie. Yes they were misses but the cost was negligible. I think you “make an effort” when you invest draft or trade capital in a player.

All three were basically free swings.