12 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Thanks Dr. Gonzo what a brilliant hard fought win over Hawks 15.21 vs 13.12 nearly kicked ourselves out of it until Williams chipped in 3 in the last. What a team of champions we were up against.

22 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Thanks Dr. Gonzo we were very poor against Saints in poor conditions but our play on at all costs style came unstuck and we looked a bit off in our round 9 encounter. Plus saints starting to build some real star power in their team.

This one is a great game very entertaining footy and we belted the Pies too, can't ask for more than that. Brian Wilson had a very good game from memory (I watched it a couple of years back).

18 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

This one is a great game very entertaining footy and we belted the Pies too, can't ask for more than that. Brian Wilson had a very good game from memory (I watched it a couple of years back).

Thanks Dr. Gonzo round 15 vs Swans we looked flat footed and woeful, Round 16 vs Collingwood we were world beaters full of run, funny game footy.

58 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

Thanks Dr. Gonzo round 15 vs Swans we looked flat footed and woeful, Round 16 vs Collingwood we were world beaters full of run, funny game footy.

And the week before that Swans game we beat the Cats in Geelong, when we were on we were on but our form was always fluctuating during those Northey years.

36 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

And the week before that Swans game we beat the Cats in Geelong, when we were on we were on but our form was always fluctuating during those Northey years.

I always thought we were 4 or 5 top players short in that era

So, outside of our best players, the rest were sometimes very good, sometimes ok and sometimes not that good

But thanks for all the uploads, Gonzo. Kudos

39 minutes ago, Macca said:

I always thought we were 4 or 5 top players short in that era

So, outside of our best players, the rest were sometimes very good, sometimes ok and sometimes not that good

But thanks for all the uploads, Gonzo. Kudos

Yeah the lack of a key forward killed us in 87/88, we got Bennett in 89 but we still lacked those 2 or 3 elite players. We needed another 2 Garry Lyons, one forward, one mid, one back.

23 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah the lack of a key forward killed us in 87/88, we got Bennett in 89 but we still lacked those 2 or 3 elite players. We needed another 2 Garry Lyons, one forward, one mid, one back.

Yep, if you look at the line-ups of all the other GF teams in that Northey era, we were a fair way short

However, that's no knock as we recruited well but couldn't get hold of enough interstate talent (Money?)

In many ways we punched above our weight and I look back at the era as the club becoming relevant again

Having a positive W/L record year after year, beats the hell out of 17-20 loss seasons (for the better part of 2 decades)

22 years in the wilderness then 5 straight years of finals. We picked up a lot of new supporters during that time ... beforehand, it was about trying to hang on to what limited numbers we had

Unfortunately that great win in round 16 against the Pies was followed up with two big losses, a taste of things to come in the GF against the Hawks and perhaps showing we were lucky not to play the Elimination Final in Perth against the Eagles.

22 hours ago, Macca said:

I always thought we were 4 or 5 top players short in that era

So, outside of our best players, the rest were sometimes very good, sometimes ok and sometimes not that good

But thanks for all the uploads, Gonzo. Kudos

Agree totally Macca we had to work so hard for our goals thank goodness for Gazza and Brian Wilson, we missed Robbie, a tall marking fwd and two more speedy midfielders. That told in the end.

We really got trounced in Round 17 & 18 Hawks so much talent and a lot of Eagles who became A graders in their side as well, both sides had height class and pace to burn.

Edited February 9Feb 9 by Dr. Gonzo

58 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Finally Dr. Gonzo a good hard fought win vs Blues.👍

We've all seen the finals plenty of times I presume but will leave here for prosperity 😁

I've also uploaded the non-Melbourbe finals games if anyone is interested, can check my YouTube channel.

If you've watched the uploads you will have seen how good Strawbs O'Dwyer was for us during the 1988 season. He won the B&F and was extremely deserving, had an outstanding season. He was a big loss for us in the GF, obviously he wouldn't have been the difference between winning and losing but may have helped keep the margin a bit more respectable. Thank god for Port and 119.

O'Dwyer out led to Northey swinging the magnets, Danny Hughes was starting ruck and Steven Stretch put on Dunstall. Not sure why Stynes didn't start ruck maybe Northey was trying to catch the Hawks on the back foot. It didn't work.

For those who are suckers for punishment, here you go. For the rest of you, look away now.

53 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

If you've watched the uploads you will have seen how good Strawbs O'Dwyer was for us during the 1988 season. He won the B&F and was extremely deserving, had an outstanding season. He was a big loss for us in the GF, obviously he wouldn't have been the difference between winning and losing but may have helped keep the margin a bit more respectable. Thank god for Port and 119.

O'Dwyer out led to Northey swinging the magnets, Danny Hughes was starting ruck and Steven Stretch put on Dunstall. Not sure why Stynes didn't start ruck maybe Northey was trying to catch the Hawks on the back foot. It didn't work.

For those who are suckers for punishment, here you go. For the rest of you, look away now.

Thanks Dr. Gonzo I was always a bit surprised and Angry when Strawbs O’Dwyer was traded to Tiges, made no sense at the time when we lacked a lot of class.

6 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

We've all seen the finals plenty of times I presume but will leave here for prosperity 😁

I've also uploaded the non-Melbourbe finals games if anyone is interested, can check my YouTube channel.

Thanks for these, Doc!

First up: Collingwood, straight sets from second. Nice.

Then, for those who checked in on my recent 'They wore three numbers' quiz, I see I missed Jim Stynes, who qualified by wearing Jay Viney's #26 in the EF (presumably for the long sleeves) before returning to his #11 in the 1st SF. Jay wore #26 for 3 games in '88, his debut year, and for his subsequent 3 years on the list, after Joe Rugolo finished with it in '87. Maybe Jim's EF jumper was Joe's 'ruck-sized' one from the back of Jay's locker?

So Jim wore 11, 37 and 26 across his career, the latter missed in both of my valuable quiz resources: the 150th anniversary MFC history and @Whispering_Jack's comprehensive numbers list of 5 years ago on here.

Here endeth the trivia.

6 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Edited February 11Feb 11 by Timothy Reddan-A'Blew

Exactly 70 years ago today, the club issued an invitation to attend the club’s preseason to a young prospect named Ron Matthews. This was long before the days of the draft. The preseason didn't start until late February which was about six weeks before the actual season began. And if you needed an incentive, there was no big money contract on offer but you did get the incredible opportunity to watch a film of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Those were the days!

On 11/02/2026 at 05:39, Dr. Gonzo said:

If you've watched the uploads you will have seen how good Strawbs O'Dwyer was for us during the 1988 season. He won the B&F and was extremely deserving, had an outstanding season. He was a big loss for us in the GF, obviously he wouldn't have been the difference between winning and losing but may have helped keep the margin a bit more respectable. Thank god for Port and 119.

O'Dwyer out led to Northey swinging the magnets, Danny Hughes was starting ruck and Steven Stretch put on Dunstall. Not sure why Stynes didn't start ruck maybe Northey was trying to catch the Hawks on the back foot. It didn't work.

For those who are suckers for punishment, here you go. For the rest of you, look away now.

Dr Gonzo are you providing scratch and smell poos and wees tees so viewers can have the full immersion aversion experience?

On 11/02/2026 at 06:39, DeeZone said:

Thanks Dr. Gonzo I was always a bit surprised and Angry when Strawbs O’Dwyer was traded to Tiges, made no sense at the time when we lacked a lot of class.

Strawbs was a spent force by then DZ, with suspension and injury taking their toll. Jimmy was absolutely ascendant in the ruck too.

Edited February 15Feb 15 by Tarax Club

7 hours ago, Tarax Club said:

Dr Gonzo are you providing scratch and smell poos and wees tees so viewers can have the full immersion aversion experience?

Sorry those are BYO Tarax 😂

I'm planning to continue with 1989 season uploads starting with the Panasonic cup games but need to convert them from DVD first so may take a few days.

I have the round 1 game vs the Roy Boys (with Stingers winning goal on debut) both the channel 7 replay version and the full game but the full game has no audio unfortunately. I think it was taken from a master tape or something, will upload both versions anyway and take it from there.

On 08/02/2026 at 19:15, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah the lack of a key forward killed us in 87/88, we got Bennett in 89 but we still lacked those 2 or 3 elite players. We needed another 2 Garry Lyons, one forward, one mid, one back.

I would have loved two Garry Lyons throughout his whole career. One to play as the mobile HFF swingman of those times and the leading full forward of the 90s he became.

Thanks for the uploads Gonzo I'll be checking your channel out!