Leaderboard

Delighted as one of Max's sponsors that he's shown great loyalty and extended for three years. I'm happy to reciprocate by extending my sponsorship for the same period.

Just re-signed!!!! Great news Gawn commits until the end of 2018

I was at training so I can give an eyewitness account.During a match simulation the ball was kicked wide towards the boundary and Hogan and McDonald were both going for the mark.They both went to ground with McDonald underneath Hogan.McDonald didn't get up and called for assistance.His boot came off and was looked at then he walked off the track with just a slight limp.After about ten minutes he came back on and did a bit of light jogging and agility exercises and continued with the rest of the team.From what I could see it didn't look too bad.I was at training last week and vandenberg looked a lot worse.

He was nowhere at the start of this season, or even 9 rounds into this - his 6th season. Now he is setup to play good footy from his 7th onwards. I expected it to take this long - so don't complain about how long this has taken - this is about the time it takes for a 208cm ruckman to get going. #don'tdraftteenageruckmen And, well done, look forward to the next 5 years with an excellent tap ruckman who can mark and kick a goal.

Two points 1. He's almost certainly carrying a bit of extra weight due lack of hard running while recovering but he is a solid lad. 2. What sort of a sicko pervs on their Mother in law?

Melbourne has made enquiry into Adam Tomlinson and the possibility of him crossing over and potentionaly taking Howes spot if Howe looks to move on talks went well with management,2nd rounder on the table Heard it here first

Retaining Martin, as I understand it, was not an option in 2012. I'm not that fussed anyway. Gawn is a much better player, and it would be the second time Martin has chucked the toys out of the cot and walked from a club.

http://afl.to/1TynRFf

I agree on the timeframe, but I have to confess I was surprised at the "flick of a switch" manner in which his improvement occurred. I remember a comment from one of the coaches (Plapp, perhaps?) that they were pretty worried about his early season form. He was immense against Geelong and hasn't looked back. It's been great to see.

Big big news from the big big man Well done Max. We look forward to some poor little bugger on a stepladder trying to reach up to hang a premiership medallion around your neck.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-08-14/gawn-commits-until-the-end-of-2018 "A lot of the guys are in the same boat – we’ve been through a lot together and we don’t want to miss out on hopefully what’s at the other end. “We’ve got some good young players coming through – we’ve seen Angus Brayshaw this year and James Harmes and Alex Neal-Bullen and players like that – who are playing good footy and there’s Christian Petracca still to come, which is exciting.” Shown his loyalty and faith. Fabulous news! Go Dees!

Buy him a car??? Hells teeth, don't mess around. Charter Bronnie's chopper.

My proposal

hh came up with it and insisted it would catch on. He may actually turn out to be right, which is cause for some despair.

'tis a thing of beauty

Average footballer that personifies the Melbourne of 2008-2013: 1 great game in every 10, and always injured. IMO we're better placed with Gawn and Spencer.

Crap post. He was so smooth down back.

I'd play him back for the rest of the season. We lack a classy kick coming off half back.

Great news. He is only 23. He feels like he has been around for a very long time. But its great to see him play good footy at the moment. I must admit I didnt think he was that good at contested marks like he has been the past few weeks. He has been amazing. Gawn: I've seen some dark times here but I can see an upwards trend... There's a long way to go but I can definitely see an upwards trend. Its nice to see some loyalty and a player can see a good future ahead. Its also nice to see the number 11 worn again and with pride this time.

Would love to see someone get sandwich tackled by Petracca and Vanders at the opening bounce of game 1 next year. They'd be out for weeks.

With all due respect, this is classic MFCSS. The link between Dermie rating him and Hawthorn making a play is tenuous at best. I always thought Gawn would re-sign, purely because there was no reason why he wouldn't.

Extroadinarily ignorant post in all respects. When Jamar was injured and we played him in the 1st ruck he was outstanding for 12 games from memory. Problem was that we tried to play him as a fwd , as a back, as a resting ruckman and he wasn't good. Brisbane tried the same thing until Leuenberger went down and then played Stef in the 1st ruck. Has been outstanding and with Todd Goldstein the 2 best rucks in the comp.

Shockingly expected, but good news nonetheless. Carry on.

^^^ Thanks mate. I needed a laugh.

It's been a long 13 weeks, but the Garry Lyon mini-me is back. Would love to know how he feels about the Arsenal's opening round loss at home to West Ham. Alas, we remain in the dark on that front. Hopefully he takes out any residual anger on the Dogs this weekend. Welcome back Christian.

Well that is a bottoms. Probably played one of his best games for the year last week.

Current position for me is not much different to rpfc's: Delisted: Jamar, McKenzie, Fitzpatrick, Bail, Riley, Michie Signed: Garland, Howe, Toumpas, Pedersen, Cross, Hunt Promoted: Harmes Retained: King (third year rookie), White (second year rookie). Would consider keeping Riley or Michie depending on trade outcomes, final draft position etc. 5 players is enough to turn over IMO, and may be more if Howe or Garland walk/are pushed. I reckon Hunt has done just enough in recent weeks to move from "not shown enough" to "gets benefit of the doubt".

I hope you are referring to the player being tackled

seriously that nickname is a bit daft, what is he an indie rock band?

Not true. Plugger is well known for throwing his crutches at Eddie McGuire.

Gawn and Stef both need first ruck. Won't work.

I believe he has the potential to be the greatest ruckman of all time. Dempsey, Madden and Cox are probably the three historical standouts but this kid is going to be something very special. When I first saw him live I thought they were b'sing about his height. He looks way too balanced, athletic and agile for his height. Sandilands is the closest in height and never had the mobility around the ground. His height is already showing a massive advantage where he can easily outreach "normal" sized 200-203cm ruckmen but is also more athletic than them around the ground. Biggest weakness is his tank. If you look at this stats most possessions are in the first half. Once he has the km's up and gets the tank he is going to be special. Don't know what was wrong with him in the first qtr last week but in the 2nd & 3rd he more than matched Goldstein in the centre taps and the whole game changed.

Sublime palming combined with intellectual comedy....

Would love him. Perfect age bracket and another pillar to build the team around. Hogan and Tomlinson at FF and CHF. Would be healthy competition for Dawes too.

I know what you mean, crazy isn't it? I mean forgetting... Jolly, Brown, Ball, Krakouer, Lynch, Adams, White, Young, Hudson, Greenwood, Varcoe, Armstrong, Karnezis and Crisp...

Great news. Well done Max and the Club.

I love Jack Watts. Very happy he's at the club. And I reckon Roos (and the entire player group) is too. Few changers on the weekend - but I always feel the most relaxed when the ball is in his hands.

We're due for a win. Our last 5 weeks: L W L W L

In: Jamar Out: Hogan (severe lacerations to face from boken glass)

All anyone should need to know is that Roos picks him every single week because he understands football and the importance of this player for our club at this point in time But some people feel the need to come on here and bleat for him to be dropped every week, as if Roos is some clueless mug and it is they who should be coaching instead It's annoying. Back the coach.

I don't think whether Dawes is paid $50,000/year or $5mil/year is going to make a lick of difference to the team performance. To me it's just tedious administrative detail.

Spoke to a guy from work whose old man is close friends with Steph Martin and does a lot for the club. The personal reason to come back to VIC is because he doesn't like playing for Brisbane plain and simple. There's about 4 clubs interested in his services with the Doggies being the front runners. Mentioned to him about coming back to the Red & Blue but unfortunately Steph doesn't see it happening.

They had a picnic and were great buddies. They discussed camera lenses for hours on end. The end.

Just listened to Slobbo with Ox. Holy crap he was absolutely destroyed. Especially when he started saying crap like "what made Melbourne's records any more believable than Essendon's?" ESSENDON HAD NO RECORDS! He has literally gone beneath the gutter in journalistic stakes. There's bias, then there's Robbo; he makes Bolt look sane. Some of the things you hear around the industry... well, we certainly aren't alone in our opinion of the moron. And as for the outright laughable final comment regarding Goddard's comments about the cowards who are leaking this evidence? "Well, if it came from the Bombers, he would have... every right to be angry... I don't know where it came from."

Gil is finding new ways to lose my respect every week. Holy [censored], actually instructing Essendon's next 4 opponents not to sledge their players over drugs would have to be the most embarrassing thing I've seen out of AFL House in years. And that's no easy feat.

Here's some free advice to the geniuses at Brisbane's list management: if you want to steal Collingwood's best young midfielder, maybe wait until he's out of contract next time, rather than sell your whole [censored] farm then turn around a year later bitching you have no young players.

I'm strangely keen for this game. Rationally of course it is possible to point to round 8 and say 'of course it is possible'. But what I'm having fun thinking is "this is a great chance to win two in a row". By winning the 'second' of two in a row before the 'first', we can break the cycle. Similarly, this won't be the first time we win at Etihad, but the temporally reversed last of our run of Etihad wins which are yet to come. I was out in the sun a bit today.

LOL , the AFL asking other clubs to stop calling Essendon drug cheats after they were sledged by GWS on the weekend. Welcome to the nanny state. Was good to hear Barry Hall on AFL 360 tonight saying that the Dons player are fair game and they should be allowed to be called drug chats and he would do it if he were playing!

Is it possible danger doesnt realise free agents are allowed to go to teams other than geelong and hawthorn? Haha