It's a quiet Saturday night (🥺), the single malt(s) kicked in, and @Demonstone's most recent is but a distant (well, 48-hour) memory. Time to fill that personal and community void.

Puzzles can be quite educational about our Club; for example, directing puzzlers to snippets of its history. My last effort brought to your attention its quirky triple-plus-numbered cohort. Here now is one that will bring your attention to an aspect of relative gravitas; one that spans the decades from the first of the last century to the here-and-now.

Of our current list, only the following players have something that connects them with that aspect of history. What, of that history, do they share?

• Jake Bowey

• Max Gawn

• Steven May

• Shane McAdam

• Jake Melksham

• Brodie Mihocek

• Harrison Petty

• Jacob Van Rooyen

• Jack Viney

<Insert standard 'PMs only' message>

The attempts are starting to come in. Get in quick, folks!

Just to remind you, though: only the named players share the 'something'. No other players on our list have it.

@demon-4-life took up the cudgels moments after the OP, was onto something early, but kept kicking behinds.

But he has goaled at last! To him, the honoured top of the podium. Well done, sir!

Plenty of room left on that podium (I have timber and tools standing by for extensions as required). So come on; jump on up!

Edited February 1Feb 1 by Timothy Reddan-A'Blew
p.s. It doesn't have anything to do with goals and behinds. That one's just been nailed by @demonstone!

Well, you can lead a horse to water, but...

It seems I have to nag(*), then.

So, although I'm not entitled to expect anything, won't anyone else join our role model, @demon-4-life, and subject themselves to the delights and quirks of MFC's VFL/AFL history?

To give you a very small kick(*) along: unless you want to for interest's sake, you don't need to look at the 1890s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s or any other decade then until our current one.

(* These are not a share-relevant puns!)

Now they're coming...👍

📣 Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!📣

I'm a little despondent. Two players and one other evident reader.

Roll on the football...

Anyway, I'm going to be out off the board for a few days, so one last bump before this drops of the bottom of the Home page, and I'll give you 'all' the answer on return.

Meanwhile,

• '...entitled...'

• '...subject...'

and

• '...lead...'

• '...role model...'

and

• 1900s, 1910s, 1950s and 2020s (and 2010s - my mistake there)

I’m struggling, too! ( no need for a PM !)

On 04/02/2026 at 08:26, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

I'm a little despondent. Two players and one other evident reader.

Don't worry about it. Take a tip from me quizzes are passe' - very 1970's & out of fashion.

Hopefully even Demonstone will stop trying to [censored] a dead horse.

On 05/02/2026 at 22:05, Cranky Franky said:

Don't worry about it. Take a tip from me quizzes are passe' - very 1970's & out of fashion.

Hopefully even Demonstone will stop trying to [censored] a dead horse.

(Thanks for your reaction, @The Panglossian 😄)

But Franky; the 1970s was the only time I was ever remotely in fashion (and most would not agree even to that!)

Perhaps you're right, though - being more 'frank' than 'crank'? A straw poll of a selection of participants over the last year might shed some light: so what do you reckon, @beelzebub, @deelusions from afar, @demon-4-life, @Demonology, @Demonstone, @Ethan Tremblay, @Fritta and Turner, @Ghostwriter, @Go Ds, @hardtack, @Harvey Wallbanger, @Jjrogan, @John Crow Batty, @kurtneverdied, @La Dee-vina Comedia, @layzie, @Little Goffy, @Neil Crompton, @Previously known as LITD., @Roger Mellie, @710 Ashbury St, @thirty-one, @tilly18, @Tim and @Witches Hat?

Meanwhile, to the answer, that only @demon-4-life managed - the consolation prizes will go begging until a glorious rennaissance of puzzling, whenever it may come:

You need only to have seen through the thread Title/Subject (and then that it was about the history of MFC players who lead, and provide a role model); that is, our...

Crikey! Another puzzle, Tim?...As if!...No; seriously?

Each of the named players on our current list, and only those players, share initials with a Melbourne Football Club Captain of the VFL/AFL era:

• Jake Bowey - John Beckwith, 1958-1959

• Max Gawn - Max Gawn, 2020-?

• Steven May - Shane McGrath, 1950

• Shane McAdam - Shane McGrath, 1950

• Jake Melksham - Jack McKenzie, 1915 (Captain/Coach)

• Brodie Mihocek - Bill McClelland, 1902-1904 (the 'no-coach' era)

• Harrison Petty - Hugh Purse, 1908

• Jacob Van Rooyen - Jack Viney, 2017-2019 (co-captain)

• Jack Viney - Jack Viney, 2017-2019 (co-captain)

Sayonara

For now...

Jeebus! No wonder only one person got it. Too good for the rest of us, @Timothy Reddan-A'Blew .

I'm tempted to put together a side consisting solely of people whose first name is Frank/Frankie/Franky. I have my reasons.

11 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Jeebus! No wonder only one person got it. Too good for the rest of us, @Timothy Reddan-A'Blew .

I'm tempted to put together a side consisting solely of people whose first name is Frank/Frankie/Franky. I have my reasons.

I thought you'd twig to that strangely constructed heading, Il Padrone?!

I admit, my memory doesn't stretch back to much. The only reason I have any knowledge of The Golden Era is because I'd read my mother's scrap books religiously. Anything before then or from 1965 to about 1980 didn't exist. Most of the 2010s don't either cos I was in the States.

Aka I don't do quizzes much.

30 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Jeebus! No wonder only one person got it. Too good for the rest of us, @Timothy Reddan-A'Blew .

I'm tempted to put together a side consisting solely of people whose first name is Frank/Frankie/Franky. I have my reasons.

3 hours ago, Demonstone said:

Jeebus! No wonder only one person got it. Too good for the rest of us, @Timothy Reddan-A'Blew .

I'm tempted to put together a side consisting solely of people whose first name is Frank/Frankie/Franky. I have my reasons.

Frank Davis, Frank Bluey Adams, Frankie Goes to Holywood, Anne Frank, Frank Sinatra etc etc

Do you reckon you could come up with a full team, @Cranky Franky ? I'm happy for you to be captain if you like.