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A fit Jesse Hogan A fit and running Jimmy Toumpas Second efforts from Jack Watts Injury free year for Tyson and Jones (again) 40 goals from Jeff Gartlett No one leaving as a free agent Wins to excite my kids A few Jeremy Howe screamers 8 wins ...as a minimum A win over Collingwood on Queens Birthday Jack Viney winning the Brownlow

Compliments of the silly season. Just flicking through the last 600 pages here and wondering if the silly season ever had an end or a beginning. Jazza ,if you are going fishing, try having a shower as fish can smell the Bullsh!t from miles away. I am off to start some bush fires in Beech Forest with some CFA volunteer mates. We are going to be heroes if we can put it out. Nothing of any cultural significance there anyway. The land needs clearing. Col b- we missed that beer at the Bristol- she is all over as of last week. BBO. You have brought this Xmas solitude on yourself.Hope you enjoy reading the religious teaching of the Marquis. It is a tome written for the captive,solitary reader . Ethan - you are my fave gen y poster- keep up the [censored] taking. Red,WJ,OD. All the best gents and hope you are enjoying the festivities with your progeny. DC.Please give your urges a well earned rest today.It is a family time after all. The only stuffing should be in the Turkey. Frog. A picture paints a thousand words but if you could learn to write it would be a gift to us all. Hemlock. Your attempts to help the lost souls on here are admirable ,but ultimately futile.Carry on regardless. BJDEE.May you receive one today. Red and Bluebeard.Lay off the sauce mate. Earl. Stay safe and keep away from the Velvet Undergrads in Smith st today.There is a bad batch in town. Moonie - I hope you are over the trauma BBO has caused us all. Anyone else I forgot, see you at the Gat for a party tonigh.Top floor,up the back.

For mine, this is one of the greatest xmas songs ever written...

Tomorrow is the day we remember the passing of hundreds of thousands of people in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. Melbourne footballer Troy Broadbridge was one of them. Whispering Jack wrote the following tribute on the day in 2005, exactly one year after. It still fits the memory of our red haired defender ... ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Whispering Jack Three hundred and sixty-five days ago the earth moved, the seas split and a wave was sent across the ocean leaving a trail of devastation that took with it a quarter of a million lives across two continents. We were touched by the tragedy; we felt its sadness and then life went on. Soon after, we could have been forgiven for thinking that despite the enormity of the event, the world remained unchanged. Seemingly, nothing did change our world in 2005. People still died whether by natural causes, by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods and hurricanes, by epidemics such as AIDS or by mans own hand everywhere on the planet but most notably in the deserts of Darfur, in the streets of Baghdad and even in the London Underground. "Nothing's gonna change my world" These are the words of the late John Lennon. Perhaps a single individual in a vast universe may feel that there is nothing he or she can do to change our world. But we are not totally helpless - we can make a difference. Trish Broadbridge, the Melbourne Football Club and friends proved this at Phi Phi Island - at the very place where their fallen husband and comrade Troy perished in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. Their persistence and endeavour enabled the building of a school for the children of the devastated island - the finishing touches were applied with their own bare hands. That generations of young Thai children to come will benefit from their labour bears testament to the fact that all of us can make a difference. We can change the world. Please post your respectful tributes here.

Trenners to have an amazing recuperation and play the last 4 games, getting us into the finals and being chaired off the ground (by the players, not medicos) at the end of round 22.

all the best bj - hope all is upwards from here.Tough time of year for you.

I hope all on this site enjoy a happy and safe Christmas surrounded by family and those who count most in our lives! Spare a special thought for the Family of Rob Flower as they deal with unchartered waters of his loss at this time. Cheers all !! Picket Fence!

Very disappointing to read in an article the other day, that Troy's parents and Tricia are estranged. They said that it had to do with the book Tricia wrote the next year after his death. They said their hearts were still open to Tricia. Hopefully they can all get over their issues and reunite.

He's proven at Collingwood that he can't. It's one of the reasons they traded him out.

Col Sylvia to finally have a full pre season. Cale Morton adding some muscle and become our Adam Goodes. Jack Watts to monster fullbacks and kick 50 plus this year. Scully and Trengove to absolutely tear midfield opposition to shreds. Gysberts to be our new Pendlebury. Addam Maric to smile.

I'd like to see us absolutely destroy a team in 2015, ideally the Blues or Bombers Beat them twice and spend the last quarter singing the song with no fear...

here are some selections........safewayis still open if you hurry......i presume even romsey has one Tuberous root Amorphophallus galbra (Yellow lily yam) Conopodium majus (pignut or earthnut) Dioscorea opposita (nagaimo, Chinese yam, Korean yam) Hornstedtia scottiana (Native ginger) Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato) Ipomoea costata (desert yam) Manihot esculenta (cassava or yuca or manioc) Mirabilis extensa (mauka or chago) Psoralea esculenta (breadroot, tipsin, or prairie turnip) Smallanthus sonchifolius (yacón)

Just on the Spencer topic the one thing I absolutely love about him and a fair few of his teamates should seriously take a big leaf out of his book, is that he is always in the thick of the action sticking up for his teammates when they go down. He goes in and bats for his mates and doesn't take a backward step. Remember he lost his [censored] against the cats Nab Cup when Toumpas when down and the week before he did it against Dustin Martin who was trying to rough up Daniel Cross, threw a few good ones at Warnock from the blues too.. He just loves a good scrap. That game against Brisbane when Pedersen got dropped and no one ran in to stick up for him was one of the most disgraceful act I have seen the club dished up this year. Hopefully that will be the last we see of that.

Troys parents are wonderful people and despite living interstate are thoroughly supportive of the Club. They attend the B&F every year which must be a difficult event as it would bring back memories of a very cherished son and the circumstances of his passing.

R.I.P. TB

Could we ever forget? Two very close family members of mine were lucky to get away with their lives at Khao Lak which was wiped out in that terrible event. Troy was such a decent young guy who was making a footy name for himself and had the makings of an elite footballer. Another in a long list of quality players who for various reasons have been lost to the club during the past few decades. RIP Troy.

Thanks Biff, hope you have a great day. PS you never know that the new year will bring.

The word 'portent' comes to mind . Concise Oxford Dictionary definition : " Omen , significant sign ; prodigy , marvellous thing ."

And to you too Biffo... hope you're enjoying a christmas nip... err, I mean tipple.

Bah humbug to your boss Ethan. Enjoy it as best u can. Merry Christmas.

Happy Birthday to Christian Petracca who was born on this day.

Parole would be nice. An ankle without the heavy bracelet would be good too. Maybe next year.

Joyeux noël mon Amis ( nutbean spending christmas in Paris)

had to laugh at all the positive essendrug articles on afl.com ately So transparent

i watched some jurrah youtube clips for auld lang's sake today, earl boy, did he have some highlights........if only......we can but dream of an alternate universe

Furthermore to that, is it a shock horror that the coaches said something positive about a player in preseason. They're not going to be telling the Demonland scribe any plans they have. No offence to TDI, but he's like the media to them, they have their weekly interview where they roll out the company line and say lots of words that have very little substance. I take the player conversations with far more credence. We bought in a stay at home forward called Jeff and the other small forward will be some mix of JKH, Kent and potentially one other. I'd imagine they'll rotate through wing, hf and fp.

More chance of Norms wish being granted.

A christmas root?

A bloody winning season for a change

I wouldn't be so sure about this. Their crimes if found guilty in my view would be very unlikely to be covered by insurance. It is early days, but after a guilty verdict by WADA etc they will be left with no friends and most insurance claims will be null and void. Then there are the law suits: if they are guilty there is no insurance cover which I am aware of which covers criminal activity, and this will be criminal activity . Even a wealthy club like ESSENDON will go broke confronted by this.

He might like the idea but I doubt he'd do it regardless of personnel. There are no other clear and obvious candidates and if they are playing second fiddle anyway just make them vice. Jones has earned the right to be sole captain.

Like this?

JETTA FROST DUNN H MCDONALD SALEM VINCE JONES WATTS KENT PEDO HOWE GARLETT HOGAN PETRACCA JAMAR TYSON CROSS VINEY MICHIE TOUMPAS NEWTON I would like to see Salem/Toumpas start off a back flank as some elite disposal coming out the back half. Apparently being the captain affects your ability to kick a footy.

Now 'DI', I understand you backing up the players, and I'm with you when others bag players and call them names like spuds etc. However, one of the good parts of this forum is to discuss players, what we perceive to be their strengths and weaknesses, where they should play. It's a bit like chat or good old argument with mates over a drink or whatever. Now no matter what they have told you I think that Kent will not play as a permanent forward this year and will rotate through the midfield. If I was a betting man I would have money on it. I don't think Kent has enough tricks to be a permanent forward, think of players like Motlop, Rioli, Stevie J (when he plays there). I think some of his strengths such as running and long kicking could be used to better advantage further up the ground. Petracca when ready is a better forward prospect, he is a goal kicker, Garlett will rotate up the ground but will be the number one crumbing forward so places will be tight. What do you think Kent brings to the table as a permanent forward? I really don't care what a couple of coaches say, a lot depends on the question and timing of it. I'm more interested in your view.

He's only had two years and in that time has shown some very good glimpses of talent, toughness and x-factor. Not bad for a bloke taken in the 50's. Petracca hasn't even played yet although you reckon he'll have Kent covered..

Let us hope that it is 2015. it couldn't come soon enough for mine!

Imagine if we start playing finals regularly again... we might crack 50,000 one day!

Bernie Vince just tweeted: "Nearly 25000 members for @melbournefc already. A pre Christmas record! Good to see everyone is as excited as I am about 2015!!"

If you are seriously suggesting Spencil doesn't have mongrel then you don't know what you are talking about,. Keep in mind a 6'6" bloke shepherding against a midget is likely to end up at the tribunal for head high contact.

24,097

Flinched? Looked to me that he was about to hit him and either realised that doing it when he was low down was stupid, or he remembered that Roos wouldn't congratulate him if he did whack him. Anyway, who cares, the real issue is can he improve his skills.

No its just you.

And in the modern game get a few weeks for it, and lose your place in the team, that is why we don't see it these days, I know for a fact a couple of players have been warned to cut out the stupid suspensions, Roos is not a fan of the biff, he is teaching them to tackle legitimately to hurt

So not one of the original families then.

I have a friend who lives there. His phone number is 7.

The AFL don't give the MFC one cent of handouts. They give as compensation for the poor financial draw we get every year. We have not had a home game against Carlton Richmond and Essendon in three years, we should be getting at least 50% as home games not 0%.