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Great to see Horse win this weeks rising star nomination, well done young man

I could have been anything but I was cruelled by overeating and lack of talent.

Disagree. Salem is really hard at it and doesn't shirk contests. Good tackler for his size also. Tyson's hands are clean enough - not oliver clean i'll grant you but he goes ok.

Who gives a flying toss if we dont get a mentioned. Id rather just continue to fly under the radar and go in as underdogs every week.

We could try playing Frost in defence.

First post on DL but.... fun fact on Oliver. My younger brother is best mates with Oliver's older brother. On the day Oliver made his debut his older brother had a blinder and kicked 10 goals for La Trobe Uni. None of his family cared to ask him about it....poor bloke!

I was thinking about how this year is soooo different to previous years. I know it has been spoken about before and in other threads, but I just need to reiterate. How bloody good is it having depth? I've looked at our list based on the 22 last week, reeling off names that weren't in the team that could fill a role is amazing: Lumumba, Salem, Brayshaw, Trengove, Grimes, ANB, Dawes, Dunn, Newton, Melksham, JKH, Vandenberg, MJones, Terlich, OMac, Spencer It was easier to list players that we're not sure on/haven't seen play yet: Weed, Mitch King, Hulett Don't get me wrong, some of those players listed, I can confidently say aren't best 22, but I'm confident now that if one player goes down/misses with a niggle, we have such an array of different players that can fill a role that gives our team a flexibility we haven't seen for...a long long bloody time. Just another supporter that is super happy with where we are and where we are going as a club.

Rounds 3-8 2012. Took 6 weeks though.

Could not stand this bloke in his first year at the club. He was everything he isn't now.. Now he's one of my favorite players purely for how hard his worked. He gives 100% each & every week, no'one can question his endeavor. I remember once reading when he went from playing VFL and working full time onto a rookie wage he had to work nightshift at bunnings, just shows the kind of bloke he is. Absolutely wrapt for him to be playing good footy, pitty his twice the value of Dawes but earns half as less! Ended up been a good trade for Gysberts.

Love the sentiments in this thread, but the "Choo Choo" should never ever be referenced again.

He might look like them, but his play is not even close. Talk about premature adulation.

What a complete and utter load of rubbish. Everyone knows we should be bring back Mark Neeld. In addition, replacing Jason Taylor with Barry Prendergast wouldn't go astray either and what's Tom Gilles doing these days?

I said to my son as we watched the game Saturday that we needed a concerted 10 minutes of ruck work from Pederson each quarter too give big Max a chop out and a bit of a breather. He doesnt set the world on fire in the ruck but he won half a dozen taps and always made a contest. What hes doing is helping the team enormously. Well deserved place in the team.

Yeah, he'll be sore for a few days.

Oliver has the ability to turn any contested situation into an attacking play with his creative handpasses, that is an ability that only a handful of players in the league have.

Very strong mark and his forward pressure was actually quite notable at the ground on the weekend with some great second and third efforts. Holds his own in the ruck and is much better in the ruck than his competitors in Frost and Dawes. I have him a fair way ahead of those two for now.

Headgear does very little for concussion, it can prevent scratches and bumps but not concussion.

Yeah they are totally 'gettable', just ask Dawesy

I was blown away by Newton today. I have never been on his bandwagon, and reckon we currently have too many choices in the smallish in-and-under brigade. And he will not depose Viney or Jones or Tyson or Clarrie. But he was in EVERYTHING. At the bottom of the pack. With strength to get up and get the ball out. Cleanly. Sometimes with opponents hanging off him. Saw it with my own eyes. Honestly I didn't think a body of his size and shape could do what I saw today at VFL level. That said, it would be nothing fantastic at AFL and he would be one of many with great skills. I get where you're coming from, but no longer doubt him in a contest - again, the qualifier is 'at VFL level'.

Tonight I watched a great comeback by the Saints to be equal to the Roos within a minute and a bit of the siren. Much as I dislike both teams it is exceedingly frustrating to see a highly questionable umpiring decision in a ruck duel decide a game such as this one. The umpires have been given far too much latitude to make subjective decisions and ruin games. The latest rule changes, particularly the "deliberate" out of bounds rule have been interpreted and misinterpreted badly this year. Free kicks and umpires should not decide games. Good, hard, fair play should decide games. Players should be protected by the rules from deliberate injury. Players who deliberately duck or dive into tackles should be penalized not rewarded. Otherwise what is the point of rules that are designed to protect them? what do you think?

??? Look again.

Many MFC members are in effect making a donation to the club if they have an MCC/ MFC membership, as they dont need admission to the game, going in via the MCC members. The people doing this need to be congratulated for paying the extra which they are happy to do and of course ALL MCC members who barrack for Melbourne should do it. We are 5 MCC members in our family who have the joint membership. All like MCC members should do the same, then we'll get the numbers up

With respect - we are all clueless when it comes to assistants and your view on Rawlings is apparently not shared by the AFL. See below - not everyone gets a gig in this course and it is by CV and interview so obviously Rawlings is rated. THE SENIOR coaching prospects of Peter Sumich and Brett Montgomery have been boosted after the pair was accepted into the AFL's coaching accreditation course for 2016. After a lengthy interview process, the AFL notified successful applicants on Monday, with assistants Justin Longmuir (West Coast) and Jade Rawlings (Melbourne) rounding out the second intake of the level four program. There are now 12 coaches completing the course, which the AFL hopes will eventually become mandatory for those applying for senior positions in the future.

Watts played decoy most of the night. Both he and Hogan were well held/double teamed but both at times lead purely to create space. Was a good game from both for the team but not great for their stats.

Played under 13's for Bentleigh Juniors. But parents didn't want their kids to play against me because they didn't want them to get hurt by my sledging.

Any chance they might give Bugg first crack on Stringer? Would help with some of the other match-ups. By far the most important thing is to get our structures and planning right. For that reason, they'll bring H back in, our run out of defence will be incredibly important and we need as much as we can possibly find. I'll allow H getting out marked 2-3 times by the likes of Redpath, if in return H can manage to run off him 6-8 times and set us up through the corridor. And - as I say before every game that we play against a coach who plans really well, like Bevo did the second time we played them last year - we MUST anticipate that they will succeed in nullifying Gawn by getting the main ruckman to wrestle him & pin his arms (illegally, maybe, but they won't get pinged for it) while a third man comes over the top, or while their mids just wait in numbers for the ball to land at his feet, while our mids are hanging back waiting for him to tap it to advantage, which he won't be allowed to do. And we MUST anticipate that they'll have someone whose entire role for the whole game will be to keep Viney away from the contests, even if it means turning their back on the play and putting their body in the way. If we anticipate these tactics against our two most players this year and plan for it, we can easily turn it against them. If we don't anticipate it and don't plan for it, they'll absolutely carve us up from the stoppages, we'll be chasing tail the whole game. And Roos will give another of those pressers of "we lost it at selection" or "we got our structures all wrong". It goes without saying that if we keep trying to bomb it onto Hogan's head, we'll be playing right into their hands and they'll tear us to shreds attacking from defence. We can win this if we get our planning & structures right. If we don't, we could be in for an absolute demolition.

Have it on pretty good authority that there are no lingering concussion concerns with Viney and they just decided to take a conservative approach and put him on ice for the day, given we were 50 odd points up with about 15 minutes to play i think it was the right call. Salem, Lumumba and maybe another KPD would be on the cards as potential in's but i'm not sure you can make that many changes after a win like that. I think it would send a really good message if someone like Salem had to earn his way back in. send him back to Casey where he will dominate and he'll be back in soon enough anyway.

What a find !! 23 Quality Possesions 4 kicks and astounding 19 handballs all to players in dangerous positions to launch attacks, 15 pressure acts 6 Bone jarring tackles! What a player, as I have mentioned previously he reminds me so much of Greg Williams whose handball was deadly, real carve teams upo stuff and young Clayton is goinf very much the same way. I cannot think of another Melbourne player at all in the past 25 years who was as succesful a player with quick and telling hands. Probably te closest was Andrew Obst! His peripheral vision is atounding, just watch him in traffic, he buys time asseses quickly and evn if pinned seems to power out and still hit targets! Sensational Player and one we haven't seen that plays quite like he does !! Sees ball goes at Ball and can kick a goal! Well done Clarry Choo Choo easily my favourite Demon at present!

He also shows very contagious enthusiasm.

OMG we really do have a great bunch of young guys coming through, together, right now. That is what great teams are made of. Well done.

Keep an eye out for Caleb Marchbank. Know the family and see the old lady walk past work on her daily morning walks and chat to her every now and then. He is homesick atm and he is no rush at all to re sign with the Giants.

Happy Monday. 11 minutes of goals from Saturday night. Enjoy. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2016-05-09/rd-7-all-the-goals

I wouldn't have picked you as someone who would look to exploit a black man

I was watching the replay last night and my wife asked who Oliver was. I said he will be remembered as the greatest player to have ever played the game. My son who always picks me up when I exaggerate was silent. And that is a first. I told her about a fat kid from the bush that last year could not train and didn't think he would get a game in his local side but kept trying. I said remember the name Clayton Oliver Superstar! And I never exaggerate.

$55.87 per gram x 111 kgm = $6.2 million About right?

Sam day?

Free to play this week. Good news!

Your drunk Bluey go home.

I do. Resting him for one week was smart. Resting (not selecting) him for 2 weeks was stupid.

I am going to keep repeating this until it becomes a reality. The Dusty fend off is now an accepted part of folklore - love him or hate him no-one in the league does a fend off with such regularity to such good affect as Dustin Martin. Oliver will make the head high handball his own. It is like a sixth sense - he almost invites contact and a fraction of a second before it comes he lifts his body higher and his arms are already moving up. He gets tackled but the arms are always free above the tackle and he lets go precision handballs from eye level or above. He has a disproportionate handball to kick ratio but if you have a weapon like his handballing is, who gives a rats.

got hounded down by the usual suspects for saying this bloke was as good if not better than Dawes and at half the pay, even though the stats supported my claims. Great to have him on board until the Weed (Weidemen) becomes anything but a weed.

there has been lots of research on the use of headgear in collision sports with respect to concussion injury concussion is caused by sudden movement of the head causing the brain to slosh around in the cranium. headgear doesn't do much to stop this sudden acceleration/decceleration which leads to concussion. headgear is good to prevent bone and other head region impact damage but not the internal damage which is concussion. headgear also has to be such that the headgear itself doesn't cause damage to other players or becomes a weapon (as in gridiron). and as another poster said headgear can give a player an unrealistic sense of protection and could lead to more concussion type injuries

What i love about Pedo is when he goes into the ruck he works so hard to get down back and takes crucial marks. Loving Pedo's work and big pat in the back for working so hard.

GoldCoast 2010 Draft 1. David Swallow 2. Harley Bennell - Traded (Freo) 3. Sam Day (Rumoured to leave end of 2016) 7. Josh Caddy - Traded (Geelong) 9. Dion Prestia (Rumoured to leave end of 2016) 10. Daniel Gorringe - Delisted (Carlton) 11. Thomas Lynch 13. Seb Tape (Likely to be delisted end of 2016) 39. Jeremy Taylor - Delisted 49. Jacob Gillbee - Delisted Preseason 1. Nathan Ablett - Delisted Rookie 9. Joel Tippett - Delisted

I was at the North game at Blundstone and witnessed a similar ludicrous ruck decision paid to Goldstein in the last quarter which influenced the result. Umpires have been displaying incompetency for years and I don't see it changing any time soon. Bunch of prancing nancies.

The deliberate out of bounds rule is what astounds me. How can it be deliberate when you're in a pack and shove the ball on your foot, it floats 30 metres then runs 20 metres along the ground where it changes angles several times before going out. And that umpire who paid 17-1 free kicks in favour of the Bulldogs last last..

Just watched the game again (it was just as enjoyable second time around) and thought the same thing when the commentry names flashed up. No forcing nicknames, no catch-phrases, it was actually a pleasant reminder of what commentary can (should) be like.

That's why we're letting Richmond look at him first.

Oliver makes Melbourne a better team, it's rare that you can say that about any young player in any team.

Carlton fans are still doing their nut that Hogan beat cripps for the rising star n hated the explanation that a good big man is better then a good small man. Imagine the irony if petracca or Oliver beats weitering. I can almost taste the tears