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Had a busy day and only now had the opportunity to go through this thread fully. It's clear that many posters here are fed up with the petty sniping going on in these training threads. Next time, bans will apply. Thanks.

Yeah I can understand the comments like he wouldn't have been a major factor for us this year, it's better doing it now than at 25, this year was more a development year for him, he will be fresh to go next pre-season, etc. I'm sorry but this doesn't make me feel any better. Let's face it, we've been a pathetic side for 8 years. At times it has been so painful to watch us play week in week out and seeing how poorly a team of professionals can perform. We've seen massive thumpings, games over by quarter time, seasons over by Round 1. So when you do follow a struggling team, the one thing that keeps you going is seeing exciting talent - particularly young talent. Watching them develop, seeing the highlights and the signs for the future. This is one of the few things we can actually enjoy about the footy. Yet obviously that small thing is too much to ask for - Hawthorn fans get to see premiership after premiership while we can't even enjoy the most fundamental thing like seeing exciting talent come through. And the sad thing is it's by no means the first time it has happened. I'm 32 and have supported the Dees my whole life. Here is a list of players with a few things in common: 1) Allen Jakovich - probably the most exciting player to watch and on his day was unstoppable. Fastest first 50 goals in the history of football. Back injury in 1994 - never returns. 2) Sean Charles - cannot forget his QF performance against the Blues in 1994. Exciting, magical half forward. Serious wrist injury soon after - never the same. 3) Stephen Tingay - a brilliant, tough, courageous and skilful player. Had some great games but recurrent injuries brought an end to his time at the club. 4) Jeff Farmer - close to Jakovich as the most exciting player. His season in 2000 was one of the best by a small forward in recent times. Hamstring injuries strike in 2001 and he heads off to Freo. At least we did see a lot of his good years. 5) Paul Prymke - showed signs of being a dominant 10-year centre half back. Struck down by serious (groin?) injury and never returns. 6) Garry Lyon - back injury meant he missed a truckload of games in the latter few years of his career. 7) David Schwarz - one of my favourite Demons of all time. Carey-like season in 1994. Three knee recos later and while he was still a very good player, never allowed to hit the heights he could and would have. 8) Scott Thompson - shows signs of being the dominant midfielder we have needed for years. Goes home to Adelaide at a young age and becomes their star midfielder for a decade. 9) Liam Jurrah - most naturally talented footballing athlete I've seen. Unplayable when on. We all know what happened next. 10) Tom Scully - Chris Judd like first year at the club. Pisses off to GWS on the back of an unprecedented once-in-a-lifetime offer. At least he hasn't kicked on yet. 11) Jesse Hogan - you just know he has it. I was so excited to see him in 2014 and then a back injury ends his year in the pre-season. 12) Christian Petracca - touted as the best and most exciting youngster in the country. Knee injury ends his season. Now I know the last two are still young and have plenty of time, but I've put them there to illustrate the exciting talent we have been prevented from watching over the years. It's just incredible that a team can cop so much bad luck over a long period of time in relation to its most exciting players and for fans of a struggling club who have little to enjoy at the footy it's just a real kick in the guts. So while in no way is it the end of the world, excuse me for feeling gutted that once again an AFL season comes around and we are again deprived of seeing an exciting young player develop over the year.

They are desperate to unlock the secret as to how we kept beating them when we were at our worst and they were fully juiced.

There is no greater incidence of hamstring injuries post ACL reconstruction where the hamstring is used as the graft. The hamstring 'group' (3 muscles) compensate as a collective to take over the progressive loads imposed during rehab. The surgery is a very elegant and efficient process. The graft length is computer calibrated to be anatomically correct, and anchored to the bones top and bottom of the knee (femur and tibia). That graft is initially dead tissue, but over the period of 5 to 6 months, the blood supply re-establishes through the bony attachments, such that it becomes fully vascular, and therefore a self regenerating tissue. It is 'living' and able to absorb the stresses applied. Fully competitive, full speed multidirectional sport is allowed at 9 months. At the elite level, there are seldom variations to this timeline, and the outcome is as if the ACL had never been damaged.

Ironically, I now lay here in my bed after having knee surgery yesterday. I feel sorry for Christian but I know he has the determination and desire to totally recover. I ruptured my ACL in my right knee playing AFL Super League in the middle of last year. After being on the public waiting list I finally had my operation yesterday. My knee is very swollen and sore. I cannot drive my car for 2 weeks and have no idea when I will be back at work again. I am also currently on 3 types of painkillers until I can get some sleep and the swelling goes down. Christian has the support of his strongly close knit Italian family, his friends and an entire AFL Club. Not only that, but he has his operation booked in for next Tuesday. He will also be having one of the finest surgeons in Australia operate on his knee. As much as it is a blow for him individually I'm sure he will recover. Just as I will eventually. He is fortune enough to be an AFL player though, whereas I am not even close! Plus I am alot older at 34 years of age. Nevertheless, this bit of bad luck will be a mere tiny obstacle in Christian's AFL career at the Demons. In the long run the bigger picture which Paul Roos and Simon Goodwin are trying to paint must be remembered. One individual player will not change this entire club. It is all about team culture and team leadership. I am disappointed about what has happened to Christian. I am sure he is very frustrated at the moment. However, I'm certain he will overcome this hiccup in his career and life though. We as Demons supporters will just have to wait until 2015 to see Christian play though. A real Demon never gives in! I wish him all the best with his surgery and his rehab. I may even come along to Demons training myself and support him while he is doing rehab too. I won't be doing much for a few weeks anyways. I can always catch the train and hobble over to watch Demons training at Gosch's Paddock while on my crutches perhaps? Overall, the only way to get out of this mentality of self-pity is by being determined and having single-mindedness to succeed. Under Paul Roos I am more confident of a fundamental culture change than I have ever before. Christian will be part of a successful Demons Premiership side in the future. We just need to be patient and stay the course. Go Demons in 2015 and beyond!☺

Found it a bit ironic this bloke came out publicly kicking and screaming at Neeld and Craig for not giving him much of a go and now they have gone ahead and given him a second chance. Interesting selection Just waiting for Brent Moloney to get named soon.

Well he did build Eastlink by himself.

I still firmly believe that when he was on the ground last year Melbourne looked to be a far more dangerous team.

Have receieved a response from the club about this and am happy enough that the rumour is rubbish. An unfortunate product of our past that we're so quick to reach for the pitchforks against Bartlett.

I'm just waiting for this site to self combust if we lose this match.

Those of you trying to take a "holier than thou" attitude and putting down those who are disappointed, upset, [censored] off or depressed about this news are pathetic. If you prefer to look on this as a "glass half full" situation good on you, that's your prerogative - but denigrating others upset that yet another of our "young guns" has a season ending injury before his careers begun and putting them down as whingers and losers is disgraceful. If we can't find sympathy and wallow in our despair on a MFC forum amongst fellow die hards then I don't know what the point is (and yes I get the whole it's only football/get some perspective - I'm not distraught over it but it's [censored] annoying!)

No one has ever expected him to be a hard big bodied midfielder so I don't know where your pulling that from. What we do expect is that when its his turn to go he must go! He hangs back too oftern half guessing himself whether to go at the contest or not. So in other words he needs to grow a set.

How are Hogan and Toumpas living proof that they have come back strongly?One is yet to debut and the other is still borderline best 22

Hogan re-signed until the end of 2017 so let's lose our minds over something else...

Honestly Andy Maher would not know a tram was up him till the conny rang the bell.

Errr ... not their own sisters DC! Although it does remind me of the old joke about what basic expectations Tassie parents have for their kids. Things like food, clothing and a roof over their mouth.

that is an old tasmanian custom and gary was born in tassie

Kia http://www.kia.com.au/about-kia/contact-kia Fujitsu https://www.fujitsugeneral.com.au/help-centre/contactus TrueValue Solar http://www.truevaluesolar.com.au/contact-us/ leave message Adidas http://www.adidas-group.com/en/service/contact/ HostPlus [email protected] Red Energy https://www.redenergy.com.au/contactus/webForm If anyone is interested in maintaining the rage against Essendon, here is a list of their sponsors that I have sent a message of complaint to. Some are easy some a little more difficult, but I feel much better for having done it. I didn't bother sending one to Toll. Edit this is roughly what I sent.. .I am disappointed that your company supports the Essendon Football Club. I would hope the ethics of your company are not the same as the Essendon Football Club. I tell all my friends to boycott companies that support the Essendon Football Club.

Makes me feel way too old. I have a picture taken at Echuca of Todd Viney with my two girls when they were 12 and 10 taken many moons ago. As i took the photo I had a very young Jack Viney standing next to me. Even at the tender age of 7 he looked like he could steam roll me.

People saying its no big deal cos he is 'young' and has 'time on his side' and 'we had to wait for Hogan for a year cos of injury, we can wait for Petracca too' really are clueless . This kid was going to have an Ollie Wines like debut season. Hes by far the most ready made rookie. A massive impact from round 1 was on the cards. He is an X factor player who would have been worth 1-3 more wins for us this season. What ridiculous logic it is to say that cos Hogan lost a whole season we shouldn't care that Petracca will too as we are used to it and now we are excited to finally see Hogan debut, and we will feel that way in 12 months for Petracca. Yeah well guess what, I and others were bloody excited to see Hogan debut at the start of 2014, and it sucked seeing him sidelined all season when he was by far the most talented and exciting player on the list. And we were bloody excited to see Petracca debut in a few weeks from now. And now he will sadly begin the same way as Jesse, missing an entire season and we will be robbed of the joy of watching him turn games on their head at age 19. This is horrible news and puts a real dampener on the season.

Just read this. Really, really good news. Despite Petracca's devastating injury, this club is without doubt now on the right track. I feel positive about everything - just annoyed that I don't get to see Christian in action in 2015. JKH, Kent and Gartlett will be exciting in the forward line this year.

Light, on a grimish day: MELBOURNE has re-signed exciting young forward Jay Kennedy-Harris, tying him to the Demons for a further two seasons. The 19-year-old, who had one year to run on his existing contract, has extended his stay at the club until the end of the 2017 season. Demons football manager Josh Mahoney told AFL.com.au Kennedy-Harris was a key part of Melbourne's future plans. "We're happy that Jay has signed on for another two years," Mahoney said. "He showed some good signs in his first year and has developed further this pre-season and we look forward to what he can produce in the coming years." The 173cm small forward played 14 games in his first season in the AFL and started as the substitute on six of those occasions. But he was quick to make an impact in his time on the ground. His tenacious tackling pressure was important for the Demons, while he also displayed a nous for goal that Melbourne had lacked in recent years. Kennedy-Harris kicked nine goals and averaged 10 disposals per game in his debut year. However the inclusion of former Blue Jeff Garlett this season is sure to help Kennedy-Harris, with the pair set to form a damaging small forward combination. "We see Jay playing a role in our forward line," Mahoney said. "We're really looking for him to continue to improve on some of the signs that he showed last year." The 19-year-old spent more time in the midfield when playing for the Casey Scorpions in the VFL and averaged 22 disposals per game at that level last season. Kennedy-Harris was drafted by Melbourne with selection No.40 in the 2013 NAB AFL Draft, joining Christian Salem (pick No.9) in playing football at AFL level in 2014. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-02-16/kennedyharris-signs-new-contract

There was some luck in getting PJ as it appeared the AFL delivered him on a silver platter. I wouldn't put Roos down to luck - rather great work by PJ in attracting him. And while we may have got PJ in fortunate circumstances I don't think we can say the same about Roos, otherwise every decision PJ makes would come down to the 'luck' in originally getting him (rather than good management on his behalf). We are also paying Roos a handsome wage - there's no luck in that. Viney lucky at pick 26? What beacause GWS and GC didn't nominate picks 1 and 2 in the draft for him? Do you reckon you'd give up pick 1 or 2 if you were GWS or GC. He was always touted as a first rounder, never a top 2 pick. He only slid to 26 because that's just the application of the father son rule which applies equally to all clubs. 2 compo picks for Scully is lucky? Again, it was the application of the rule. To prize him away from us GWS had to pay him a fortune. We were then compensated for this under pre-established rules. I don't call that luck. Vince for Sylvia? Luck? You cannot be serious - that's just clever recruiting in using the Sylvia pick to bring Bernie across. I think you are confusing 'good things' we have done with 'lucky things'. I'm not saying there hasn't been good news - of course there has. But, in terms of pure 'pot luck' which you have no control over, we've had a really bad run.

I would be surprised if another club has had as much bad luck as us in recent times - and I'm not just confining that to players getting serious injuries or leaving the club. On and off the field we have really had a bad run - no doubt we've contributed to many of the problems that have existed at the club but we have also had an extraordinary run of bad luck. You like to make out that it's just Melbourne supporters having a whinge and playing the victim card. Well, if that's the case, why then are people I know who support other clubs and hate Melbourne saying to me that MFC cannot catch a break and that they actually feel sorry for Melbourne supporters because of the unbelievable run of bad luck. Fancy getting told off when discussing our bad luck on a Melbourne fans forum with other passionate Melbourne supporters.

ban this person for life please

Neeld and moloney reunited haha god I hope so

Scoop - you could probably add G. Lovett to that list. Just when he had turned himself into a damaging player his effectiveness was severely cut back with recurring injuries.

There is still plenty look forward to, just sad for Christian and disappointed we have to put him on the shelf for a whole year just as I was warming to the idea that he would be the one to find early success. Bad timing and unfortunate luck, our lot. Tis football!

Wow, that's a dark hole your in. Just watch Dean Kent,JKH,Toumpas,Hogan,Brayshaw,Viney and Salem this year and you will get enough youthful excitement to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Not to mention big Maximus taking the league by the scruff of the neck and throwing his hand up for all australian selection

Just to split hairs, Norm was dismissed on Friday the 23rd of July, 1965 (round 13). That would mean, if it's a 50 year curse, she'd lift after round 16.

Freo might give them col haha

I hope he makes it. Just so we can have two Christians and a Lyon in the one team. And while we're talking about players not picking up the game until they're 16 or so, don't forget Jim Stynes, Mike Pyke and all the other successful imports. At least Josh Lyon has grown up around football and will understand the game unlike those who grow up overseas.

I like the arrogance he shows on the field. Whilst not being a smartarse, but has definitely got a bit of strut about him. Great to have kids learning ropes full of confidence.

With all due respect Sir WYL, perhaps the funeral may offer a little perspective on this issue?I was spewing about this yesterday, but now that the dust has settled I'm just left with trace disappointment. I can't quite bring myself to take the silver lining view that others have, but I've come to terms with the fact that I have to wait another year to be amazed. It isn't a long time in the context of a career and it's not going to impact our flag chances this year (lol). It's just a bummer for those of us that love a bit of instant gratification.

As much as it is devastating for Christian, we need to get out of this "woe is me" attitude. Every other club has injuries (Johnson at the swans has had 3 knee reco's, Kreuzer is injured again, Morabito etc.). We are not the only club who has injury problems and at the end of the day he is one player on our list. As a club we need to be able to play well no matter what happens.

I am pragmatic about injuries - they are very disappointing but they happen. However I said it earlier - I don't agree with your thinking. We need as much talent coming through our talent depleted club as possible and whilst you are correct in him probably not being a vital cog this season, coaches these days don't talk about players taking to 22-23 to mature - they talk about 50-60 games being important . Petracca has now lost a year of essential development. Yeah he can start again next year but his experience next year will be like a first year player and he is 12 months further away from getting those necessary games into him.

Good news for the club. JKH had a solid debut season. With more fitness he has the skills and smarts to move through the midfield for stints as Roos stated numerous times. I think JKH is gonna be a good player for us. Here's hoping he has another good development year and add more strings to his bow. One of my favorite youngsters at present.

And I don't like your snipping of TDI who actually adds great value to training reports. You have a go at him because you don't agree with his opinions. You prance around like everyone else's training reports are above his. I don't come hear to read any of your reports. I respect and read the likes of TDI because he's a great big fanboy who has 1000's of posts on a Demons forum. There a little irony at play here. Your usually a lot better than this DD.

Intra Club after today? Call it off that would be far too dangerous at this stage. And I am not sure on the NAB either, that could be dangerous as well. And as for round 1 forget it I say too much can go wrong.

Ha Ha I certainly did spurs. Also wondered how much they paid some marketing/advertising type guru to come up with that shite

Well i believe he is going to try train for the Xavier College 1sts, if not Oekleigh Chargers. He is a natural athlete, with amazing power and strength and can run like the wind. All i can say i think he will be a very promising player and I will make sure to go watch him play every week and keep you updated.

Viney, Stretch, Lovett, Davey, Lyon... maybe even a Stynes! To quote the Blues Brothers...."we're getting the band back together"

Brendon Goddard did his ACL in 2007, came back in round 3 of the 2008 season, then went All Australian in 2009 and 2010, starring in the 2010 drawn grand final. Lenny Hayes did his ACL in 2011, then came back in 2012 and won St Kilda's best and fairest. Joel Selwood had four knee operations in the space of two years before even playing a game for Geelong (not sure he ever did his ACL though). 4 x All Australian, 3 x Premiership player. Alan Didak partially tore his ACL in 2005, then came back and won Collingwood's best and fairest in 2006. Christian Petracca tore his ACL in the 2015 pre-season before going on to win 2016's rising star medal and playing a key role in Melbourne's first final appearance in 10 years.

These stats include finals. If you take away finals games so it's just for the season, Jones was 5th or 6th ranked player in the comp. He had a super year and again is underrated by people still!

"Kicking and screaming"? Really? TDI said: "See my report on the injury in the training thread, mods can we close this thread can be covered inn the training thread, and it was his left knee not the right which he has supported with strapping" TDI then joined in the discussion and the suggestion to close the thread was never raised again. Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you started that particular thread would it? I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't have started a separate thread (in fact, I'm glad it is separate), but really... how many millions of times have you been told not to exaggerate.

Pearce Hanley is out for 3 months, he their VC and finished 4th in the BnF last year, much bigger loss than what we suffered today and there will be plenty of others league wide Enough with the WAWAWAWA we're cursed rubbish

yes, i'm sure his three sons are feeling the "pressure" i'm putting on them on Demonland. They might not be able to complete their fingerpainting, they are so stressed.

i salivate over this prospect too, 3 Davey boys:

Utter nonsense. ACL reconstruction is as common as muck, and it is still very unusual for players not to make a full recovery. I rehabilitate dozens per year, and it's a streamlined process now.

seriously .. Terlich is such a liability