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Tomorrow, December 26, 2015 is the 11th anniversary of the tsunami which hit the shores abutting the Indian Ocean and took the lives of a quarter of a million people. One of its victims was Melbourne defender Troy Broadbridge, a much loved figure at the club, who perished while on his honeymoon in Thailand. Tomorrow, we celebrate his life and his memory ...

A camp that's rough, tough, gruesome involving sleep deprivation and a harsh regimen that only the strong can survive. They want to teach the players what it's been like to be a supporter of the club for the past ten years!

we may have;;; they're talking about the players, to be able to reach the depths of deespair, & pick themselves up & get going again. ..... our boys, over the decades have ducked for cover when things got heavy, ending up with a quiet nonchalant, 'who cares, wheres the party', defensive self-protectionist attitude.... time and again this has taken grasp of our club. .

Essendrug have got off lightly so far. I am hoping for a knockout punch as i have always thought they knowingly pushed the boundries to the point of cheating. Hand back the Brownlow Jab...

Flower was a genuine superstar of the game and it's only those that either weren't born or were primary school kids when he retired that would even question his status. It was a different era with no AFL and 12 Victorian teams. At times in his career Flower was considered the best player in the league, which is why he captained his state. He was invariably named best aground or in the "best" in winning teams for the Big V. Imo, Flower should have been named on the wing in the team of the 20th century, but the fact that he was considered in the 4 for that position (along with Peter Matera) is testament to his standing. Consider that again for one moment - Flower was considered in the best 4 wingman in 100 years of footy when footy was all about positional play. Flower was inarguably the greatest goal kicking wingman of all time (40 goals from a wing one year) and in my view should have made that team. If you're not overly familiar with Flower it's probably best that you don't posit an opinion.

Far be it from me to comment on other lawyers, but for what he has said and the fact that he keeps commenting on the matter, he comes across as a real d-ckhead.

Not bad with a little Chianti

There would be sadness for Troys family at this time every year. WJs reminder is a wonderful gesture that ensures the MFC community will never forget Troy. I hope our support gives comfort to those closest to him and helps with their healing so they can fully celebrate the festive season. Warmest wishes to all.

Thread heading into unchartered territory.

The venue must have been like a minefield after an entire footy team took a dump with a shovel.

That's why they held it in a venue not suitable for scooters.

Fantastic stuff Pro! Flower would have stood rightfully on the stage with any player to play in the modern era. As well as his brilliance he was versatile. Perhaps it was in a game against WA above but in the last quarter and with the game in the balance Victoria had no key position forwards and Flower was moved to CHF where he was opposed to Ross Glendinning. He won the match for the Vics taking Glendinning apart. He was a superstar and anyone who doesn't think it didn't see his career. I saw much of it. I started going to the footy every week where possible from about 1970 onward and reckon I saw him play on 200 or more occasions. He is clearly the best player I've seen in red and blue and the only players who come anywhere near having his level of skill and match day influence were a pre knee David Schwarz and the fruit cake who was Allen Jakovich. As good as players like Neitz, Lyon and Stynes were they didn't hold a candle to Flower.

Bobby Skilton was a superstar.....Played 1 finals game Robbie Flower was a superstar.....Played three finals games There are so many superstars who for what ever reason, their team was not good enough to make finals.

Disagree on Fyfe.. hands down the guy is a superstar. I understand that he hasn't obviously won the holy glory but he has won alot of games of his own boot and he has a big physical presence on field that the likes of Voss and Carey had back in their days. I dont buy into your theory that they need to win a flag to be in the superstar category. Gary Ablett senior was a superstar in the 90s and he never won a flag.

I won't be having a hand in it.

I do like Dank's last statement about the club knowing what was injected into the players. Poses a few questions, is Dank delusional in what he thinks are records? Did the club destroy the records and go down the 'we don't know line'? We did the club just plead guilty to essentially poor record keeping if they have these great records? None of these are new questions but it just reinforces them in my head and no matter how I answer them it doesn't look good.

Fair enough. The hun has made him look like the bad guy who did all this on his own when it was clearly a group leader by the messiah, uh I mean hirdy.

What a great post. As an aside, I think one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen by a Demon - and for two quarters, it was superstar-esque, was Travis Johnstone in the second and third quarters in the semi final against the Crows in 2002. His performance in that game was genuinely ridiculous. Come to think of it, Goodwin would've played in that game.

Thanks for displaying the player's names 666! It certainly makes the picture tell a more complete story as I couldn't otherwise pick King or Hulett.

Even if it only brings players closer together it's been worthwhile.

Agree with all of this. The player I've seen that is most like Flower is James Hird (sad that I have to compare Robbie to the narcissist). Murphy is a good comparison for "grace" but he's in a much different (lower) league to Robbie. On Buckley. I hated him initially. Arrogant, self-centred, flashy and soft. At least that's what I thought. Then I went to a corporate box one night when Collingwood were playing and I was discussing Buckley with a Pie supporter. He had a different view. In the end he said "I'll tell you what. Lets sit together and we'll count the number of times Buckley wins his own ball". Easy meat I thought. Half way through the second quarter we stopped counting and I conceded and I've admired Buckley since. I particularly like him as a coach. He calls it like it is, he's the most interesting of a mostly generic group and he's shown Roos up on 360 time and time again which is no mean effort because Roos is good. I thought he was the best special comments man on TV and when he and Matthews discussed footy I thought they gave an insight you don't get now. I know it's the done thing to hate Collingwood and it's almost unacceptable to like a Collingwood identity. But I think Buckley will be an outstanding coach and is a highly intelligent person who is willing to share his insights. I'm a big fan.

Yeah I read about that ..The Colonel is huge on Xmas day. Just having a "Banff" coffee....Kahlua coffee with whiskey infused cream. Just thawing out before we tuck into our Christmas feast.. Kanuck style

This is why we don't drink and post on demonland.

Domo Arigato. Sayonara.

yeah I saw Rance is the new "superstar" obviously not playing the Melb v Richmond game from this year ?

Melly Clistmas Flaubert-San.

Take 4 : Christmas with the kids ==> http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-GPKdqr

I would like to thank Santa who has left me a membership under the Christmas tree.It feels a little eclectic being a Buddhist receiving a gift on a Christian holiday to go see Demons.

Well as you look to tuck into your Xmas dinners today its still Xmas eve here in Canada. Wife and I bout to head into town (Banff.....its hard....I know ) for brunch. Think I have to fly the flag. Stackofcakes with banana and Maple syrup (the REAL stuff eh ) Merry Christmas to all my good friends .....and even the others!! Tis the seaon

They were really big on the Kokoda Track though 'Bombay & Earl'...

From the balmy island of Cozimel in Mexico, can I echo others and just say Feliz Navidad y un feliz año nuevo a todos en la tierra del diablo! May 2016 bring us all numerous victories and the ultimate destruction of the dark force, well I really mean Hawthorn here.

I don't think they do, do they? Do the Hawks ever do altitude training? I like the idea of mixing it up but I get the feeling while this is great for first year players this is more directed at a handful of senior players who still don't get it. We as a team are still mentally weak and don't understand the need to come mentally switched on to play every week. The games against Carlton and Essendon said it all.

For the first time in many years, im absolutely pumped about the upcoming season. Baby steps are over i reckon. By the end of next year the entire football world should have a new found respect for MFC. Thx for the shots 666.

"We want you to feel bad, we want you to feel negative and then we want you to embrace that negativity."

t the final training session the players when mingling spoke of the camp. 11 hours of training woken up at 2 am 4 am etc all to challenge their mental and physical capabilities. Then on last friday the day after they get back they have a hard high intensity training session in the heat

"We want you to feel bad,we want you to feel negative and then we want you to embrace that negativity." Brett Stephens. I think we have already mastered that one over the last 10 years.

Nothing has really changed since day 1. The lawyers got involved and started bending the truth, or blaming someone else. It happens in all cases where you have a prosecutor and defence lawyer. When the truth finally raises its head, the arguments change to procedural problems. All this has now diminished and we now have to rely on the Truth and Fact. How Novel. By the way Merry Xmas & HNY to all D'Landers.

It's not really, it's just offseason filler. Except every club runs preseason camps like this and it has actually been planned by the coaching dept and leadership/high performance consultants rather than a poorly conceived series of boxing sessions by a poorly qualified meathead with subpar leadership skills?

From the Hun (apologies tried but for some reason could not get past the pay wall, so no link): JAMES Hird’s lawyer says the AFL is “reaping what it sowed” after the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday announced the Essendon drugs saga would spill in to a fourth year A couple of things come to mind. Firstly if anyone is reaping anything it is the essenden players - they're the ones who have to wait. And secondly it shows terrific chutzpa to blame the AFL for delays when Hird launched two appeals that stopped things in their tracks. Twice. Not to mention a better argument would be efc is reaping what it sowed given it decided not to take the cop in the way Cronullla did and instead elect to fight and drag things out.

I've had leadership training like this before with ex-SAS soldiers where sleep deprivation and both physical and mental limits were explored. It was tough, felt rewarding and worthwhile. On the last day, you get hammered and when you think it's not going to end it does. We got a few cold beers and big fat T bone steak at the end and they promptly shoved a survey (about how we thought the training was) under our nose. Yeah, of course we filled it out positively. Looking back on it now, it was a waste of time and money and that's the general consensus from the cohort I was on. I hope the MFC and players get more from this type of thing than I did. Just a blip on the pre season training radar and will most likely mean SFA come game time.

if only we could all meet your lofty standard of just going around and bashing every post that is made. Troll.

A 'secret' camp - so secret that no-one knows about it except for 3AW..

I'd actually love it if they didn't. Don't talk it up, keep it between "the boys" and don't water it down by making it a PR exercise.

Hmm, Pro Dee's post a few above this one pretty much nails it. Flower was on a different level to the other players during a normal VFL (AFL) match. When you stuck him in State of Origin format he was still on a different level. As PD mentioned when the best played the best he was invariably BOG or close to it. Flower was a superstar

But but but... He can jump... ffs, he isn't even the best ruck in comp. idiots.

There are more "superstars" than "stars" now.

Bloody hell SWYL. You post some crap sometimes. I wonder why you are a member these days given how unhappy you are with the state of things. I know......It was all Cam's fault

It has nothing to do with reaching his full potential nor what draft pick he went at. I just don't get the hate on here.

Wife. "So there's an email from Demonland thanking you for our $100 contribution. What was that for? Me. "Err, um, well it was sort of for a lifetime membership, good value really" Wife. "But you did that a few years ago." Me. "I decided to join again" Wife. "So you've got two Demonland lifetime memberships? What one for now and one for the afterlife? Well I hope your team is better on the other side than this one"