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Imagine the reaction on Demonland if Neeld got us to a prelim...

What a devastating loss to the community .

To those who were saying that BL wasnt the most talented as a footballer- I recall very differently and I think representing the big V 6 times speaks volumes. Slow as a wet cement but he more than compensated by being strong of body and very quick of mind. Rarely got beaten and was very creative.

He spoke his mind. I liked that. He was a loose cannon, but no robot.

My son and daughter are both demons through and through. The trick I used to make them die hard demons was not to follow the team but follow a player. My daughter is six and she said she likes number 10! I had to tell her to pick another number cause number 10 is no good so she chose number 9 and she loves JT.

And yet Freo are out of it, and the Crows play for a spot in a grand final this week? I'm sure he would be saying something else behind closed doors.

Rubbish. Travis should be congratulated for going back to the local leagues. I think its great when ex AFL players move back to local leagues to put something back into local footy. From personal observation with ammo clubs, it does so much good for a club to get back an ex AFL star to provide guidance, encouragement skill and example. i wish there was more of it.

Agree Robbie. I am not sure why all the angst over Royal. Its clearly not informed and i dont know how the rank and file can develop a clear picture on the performance of the assistant coaches. Too many variables that are not obvious to the crowds in the grandstand.

Could this be the 2nd year in a row here we snatch the big forward Freo have their eyes on..?

The players all spoke highly of Royal at the B&F, so perhaps they know something we don't.

Tapscott offers more than stats. Hardness, physical intimidation, good skills, no shortcuts. He busts a gut. One to keep.

The glass is always half full - optimists start your engines. If you belief you cant do ... you have already failed. If you believe you can do it - you have taken the first step. Every journey worth wile starts with the first step. Never focus on the journey - always focus on the destination.

I am about a day away from my first child and have held off renewing the membership until that day arrives. My partner a St Kilda supporter is now a Dees member and refers to "our boys" but the idea of getting married on condition she supports the Dees is a good one. Each year I sign up my 2 brothers, my partner and our dog who also sleeps on the Dee pet mat. Names are picked but whilst under the influence of the drugs I am going to slip the following names through onto the certificate: Hassa Ron Mitch Jimma Ox and if its a girl: Hassa Ron Mitch Jimma Ox

The wheel does turn. This reminds me of the time when a certain Ryan Ferguson turned his nose up at the then lowly Hawthorn after a trade for Brad Sewell was suggested. Karma got Ferguson and it will eventually get Caddy because he ain't all that good himself.

I have said this before but how in the hell is Etihad difficult to get too? i a stones throw from Melbournes biggest station and is 3 minutes from the other 1? easiest thing in the world imo

My son is too young to take to the footy just yet. But my mate took his young boy to the footy for the first time this year, and i think he's got the right idea. Took him to 2 games. Gold Coast and GWS. His son thinks we are awesome!

Oh please grow up! None of these players came into the club with known injuries. Blease and Strauss broke their legs, you probably think the club was negligent in not asking their mums how much milk they drank when they were kids. Gysberts, Cook had no concerns, and I think Tapscott might have had a shoulder injury, but the hip injuries were sustained whilst at the club. If you are going to try and come up with a meaningful post do some bloody research before hand!! My comment was referring to selecting players that had injuries prior to the draft ..,

There is no way in hell, that I trade Tappscott! His apatite for the contest and grunt work of the ball is what this club is crying out for..... If anything I would recruit more like him.... We are about to lose Moloney and people want to trade the only other player on our list with a bit of grunt..... Far out....

I agree re: Strauss. DA's description of him may have seemed accurate following his second season, but it shows a certain degree of ignorance of Strauss' ability and composure now. A valuable contributor and bordering on a permanent fixture in the 22 when fit.

Been done a couple of times before on Demonland. Art Vanderlay was a likely colt although a bit short at 5'4" and he ended up doing time at Port Phillip prison. Then there was Matty McGurk, a natural successor to David Neitz unti he (McGurk) was found wandering in a drunken stupor in a caravan park on the Gold Coast. Apparently. The Eagles are considering them both for this year's rookie draft. As for Dale Roberts, I would take him and give him the vacant # 31 guernsey. I know he's not the sharpest tool going around - he was recently IQ tested at only 54 - but that would make him the smartest bloke to wear that number since Wheats retired. Late second round pick at best though.

I think we should all be thankful for Brett Lovett's contribution at Casey both the the Melbourne Football Club and to the Casey Scorpions. I was sceptical about Casey's finals chances at the beginning of the year but to get the team to the top of the tree at the end of the home and away season was a magificent achievement without any big name VFL recruits and limited numbers of AFL players. This was particularly frustrating when the finals came around but that's the nature of alignments these days. Those suggesting that the MFC goes it alone and ditches the alignment with Casey are entitled to their views but I wonder how the team would have fared a couple of weeks ago with only six players available. Sure, they would have used supplementary players but what's the difference between that and establishing yourself in a fast growing community like the Casey/Cardinia corridor?

I bought my son a membership for his birthday, which coincidentally was on the same day as our win against Essendon. He then spent the next fortnight telling absolutely everyone that the Demons won on his birthday. I reckon this fortunate bit of synchronicity has set the little bloke up for life.

if your kids arent demons you have failed as a father

Just explain to your wife that it's all about teaching your children how to deal with disappointment from an early age. It's about character building and it will make them a better person because of it.

Interesting topic and very relevant for me as I have two boys aged 8 and 6. In the period from March to now, they have gone from no interest to being avid Dees who wear their Demons jumper to school on most days. The low point was attending the Family Day at Luna Park in March. I persuaded the 8 year-old to come purely on the back of going on the rides. He came away furious as the Haunted Railway was closed, perhaps the only ride closed and the only one that he really wanted to go. I introduced him to Jarred Rivers, Cam Schwab and offered to introduce him to other players but that had no appeal at all. What was supposed to be a great father-son bonding turned into a source of tension. Prior to this year, my boys have been members but had very little interest in Melbourne. They occasionally came to games but were usually board and restless by half time and I had to bribe them to stay with chips and ice cream. They occasionally flirted with following other teams: Hawthorn in 2008 because they were a "happy team"; Norf around 2009 because kangaroos are cute; and Collingwood last year because they were top of the ladder. I took the course of giving them no attention at all in the hope that they would move on. I did joke that the only games that they would see of these teams would be the games against Melbourne. Fortunately, none of that flirting amounted to anything. The turnaround in April of this year was the footy cards that went through their school like wildfire. I shudder to think how much they spent on the cards but trading almost became an obsession in their peer group. My boys major goal was to collect all of the Melbourne cards in each of the tiers. It got to the point where my 8 year-old wanted to spend $38 of his birthday-present-from-grandad on the exclusive Jack Watts card on eBay, but we managed to distract him for long enough on this. One appeal of the cards is the star rating, out of three, for each of the players on the cards based on kicking, marking and handball. Poor Issy is the butt of so many jokes as he has zero stars in each category purely on the back of not playing AFL in 2011. My boys are quite adamant that they are better kicks and marks than poor Issy. As I said, my boys now wear their Demons jumpers most days to school where Collingwood supporters dominate. Somehow, they are philosophical about Melbourne's poor performance. Their attitude is that we will only get better while the teams at the top are bound to descend. They also make the most of all of our victories, so the Essendon, GWS and GC games' replays are frequently watched. In summary, I would say that the lure for them has been the pleasure in trading cards and the engagement with their dad. Oops. I forgot to mention another key dynamic in my boys' new-found love for footy and the Demons. They have started to get to know the players and bits of their histories. For example, they are fascinated with Mitch Clark's journey to Melbourne. Another thing is that they love seeing who their mum likes; they will show her 10 cards and ask which one she would marry if she could marry any of them. From this, they have learnt that my wife isn't turned on by tattoos, for instance. This then led them into understanding what attributes counter the off-putting attributes like tattoos (cue Nathan Jones). Jack Watts is an absolute favourite in our house as he has such an approachable, happy face and features in the top tier of footy cards. Ellie McKenzie's "Getting to Know" clips have been a so valuable. It has been a fun journey for all of us.

Gotcha! Good to put a face to the username. And yes, good locale - provided it's an all you can eat affair again.

Maybe if this get together were at Taco Bill Mornington

Port have had quite a few major issues and events that could also see it put in the too hard basket, which many in the media industry (FWIW) have put us in. While not parallel, there are current similarities with Port to MFC of the last 12-18 mths. Low on cash Low membership No coach and assistants on thin ice Struggling to keep star players (but Boak re-signed) Death of someone within the club Low on ladder Add the AFL taking over their licence from the SA State comp. Port have not yet had the type of scrutiny that Neeld received this year, or events out of the blue, such as LJs court case or the Energy Watch debacle. However, my point is that these things add up to destabalise a club significantly and high quality coaches, players and administrators may be very reluctant to join up.

A bit harsh on Strauss. He will be just as good as Tommy Mac....brave, disciplined and has a lovely kick on him. Needs a solid preseason. Btw, did anyone see The Footy Show last night? There was a shot of Dustin Fletcher doing some running THREE DAYS after the end of the season. No wonder he's played at the elite level for 20 years......

Their turn to feel like theyre the great "unloved" Nice its not us for a change

Ah, the old rose coloured rear view mirror ;-) I was under the impression that it was ND who began the whole softening process that Bails admirably took on and perfected, leaving Neeld with the basket case that is the MFC today.

Or just get Brett Ratten back as Mid coach now he has pulled out of the Port Job.

Jesse Hogan (future big fwd star in the making) = MFC pick 3 trade in Mini Draft ... lock it in. Maybe we pinch back GWS 3rd round pick around number 43. ... just to restate. Control tower to AAMI centre MFC HQ. WE MISSED JACK DARLING. DO NOT MISS JESSE HOGAN.

I wasn't sold from highlight reels I had seen, but went on Sunday and saw him in the flesh and liked in fact no loved what I saw, the kid knows how to play, worked hard hit every contest hard and had a nice bit of mongrel & arrogance which was not over the Top

I don't post much however some interesting information regarding Cameron Pederson. I have from a good source that we are heavily into both Chris Knights & Cameron Pederson. The information received for both players is that we have more available salary cap & preparedness to spend which is making the Dees attractive to this level of player. Not saying a deal will be done but I can assure you Melbourne has made enquiries and is trying to get these deals over the line. Note: For those that ask for "the source" there is a link between these players.

Hope we implement and then strictly enforce the Swans' no d1ckhead policy. It works.

Either someone has already got the job and everyone is saving face, or the place is a disaster and they are all running away.

My young blokes 2, I dont see him much, but they decked him out in Norf gear. I nipped that in the bud, they slapped an AVO on me - but at least he is a Demon.

I have a mate who had the little Demon guernsey ready to go when his son was born. Conversely I've heard stories of parents who haven't pushed their kids due to stories of other kids being bullied etc. Personally I think it's our duty to instill it in the next generations any way possible, cause frankly we need all the help we can get. I would imagine that right now it's a hard sell to an 8-12 year old. Perhaps in a few years time, not so much. Just dangle the carrot of better days around the corner. Make them a poor sap like the rest of us.

i have already got a little footy jumper, will get the bear when his born and $50 for a baby membership is pretty good, i have already lost my daughter to the cats so there is no way my son will follow anyone but the DEES, I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED

Lol! My 4y/o has had no choice. She was shouting "Go He-mans!" at age 2 cause she couldn't say demons. Sounds alright to me.

Picking up more second round picks genius idea , someone should start a thread ...

Great. We give up the player we took at 11, who everyone agrees has talent and is still young, for a 25 year old VFL player who can't get into North's side and wasn't even good enough to be drafted as an 18 year old. What do we put as Sellar's value, given he played most of the games this year, is taller and was quite handy for us in a number of positions. To me Pederson is about pick 50, similar to Sellar who went at 54 despite being a top 10 pick as a junior. Gysberts would have to be somewhere between 15 and 30 given he is contracted and has tons of upside.

The guy will be 26 before next season starts, has played 16 career games, and can't get a game in a middle of the road side behind such luminaries as Robbie Tarrant. Why would anyone think this would be a good deal, particularly as compensation for Gysberts or Martin, both of whom should be clearly inside our best 22 next year?

My favourite part was seeing the look on Mitch's face when we had obviously lost, but he didnt even play (ws injured). He was hurting. Rawlings and whoever else was behind the Clark coup should take a bow. The guy can play, but seems to be a natural leader and a passionate club man - i havent seen that type of passion from a 1st year recruit EVER

I always approach the off season / preseason with boundless and often unjustified optimism .....it just gets me through......but this time, just this once, I really beleive it.Great video - I know the naysayers will say it is just words, but they looked as if they meant what they were saying (so different from you-know-who-with-the-shifty-eyes' 'demon for life' pledge presser).

I'm with the players and can't wait until 2013. However, I did say that about this time last year with regards to this season.

Old Dee - I acknowledge that the 'experts' will have seen a few more games than me, but from the many matches I am stupid enough to watch each week, I'd still stand by my strong suspicion that NN's selection was not purely based on form and (on-field) value to his club. Nothing to do with the Watts v NN comparison. For what it's worth. my view on that is: NN is over-hyped and Watts over-scrutinized, That it is hard to determine which of them has been significantly more valuable to their teams which are in such different positions/playing groups, That it is even harder to predict who will look best after 10 years, That NN may well have developed at MFC and then shot through to WA just as he was getting into his stride to our dismay. For all these reasons I think there is no need to despair or even worry about the choice yet.

Jeez that's a poor post, so as Melbourne fans because the team we support didn't win any games that therefor means we aren't allowed to pass judgement on any other teams who are higher on the ladder? Okay then I'll remember that... Supporting a team that hasn't won any games probably puts me in a better position than you, as I can look at teams without bias and determine who is in better form as opposed to my judgement being clouded by personal bias. Well Packers, Cowboys and the Falcons all won the same amount of playoff games last year so not sure how that is relevant. As it is so early in the season and the sample data is so small stats are practically irrelevant but I present you with this little zinger. Last year Rodger's only had 2 games where is QB rating was below 100, this regular season he has yet to go above 100 with an average QB rating of 89.9 compared to Romo's 129.5 and Ryan's 136.6

Anyone know anything about Josh Kennedy's contract at the Swans?? I've heard a whisper he is uncontracted? I doubt he would leave Sydney but he's they type of guy i'd be throwing big coin at