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I don't think they'll let him run...they'll want him to be able to run out the full four quarters of the grand final.

BUMP- can we talk about how good this kid is becoming. I know he gets caught a bit, but in the AFL team of the week again. We talk about our Oliver's, Vineys, Petraccas and Brayshaws but what about this fellar?

There are some great footy pundits on here whose analysis and commentary I love to read, but I really don't understand the obsession some have with being - or seeming to be - dispassionate, calm and analytical in their comments, especially in the heat of a game. I find some of the posts in the game day thread hilarious for their levels of hysteria, but I understand it. As you are fond of reminding us, it's just footy; what's the big deal if you want a player banished to the moon for making a mistake one minute, and then all's forgiven next minute when they do something good. We're passionate supporters on a footy forum discussing sport, not writing about brain surgery in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

No need to edit this one, picket :-)

It's one of the amazing things about having good players around you. Tyson has a lot of class, but lacks the explosiveness to dominate under close attention. That means that he is a solid player in a poor team, but an excellent player in a good team. As a reference, think Jordan Lewis; good player, but excellent when you can't afford to dedicate resources to stop him. He's playing as the number 3 midfielder in our stoppages, behind Viney and Jones. You have to stop Viney, or he'll kill you. If you can, you should stop Jones because he's more dynamic. But by the time you get to Tyson, you're just going to have to hope that your next best midfielder is going to do more damage than him. That's how teams get better, because Tyson is getting better but will probably keep getting pushed further down the pecking order when players like Oliver, Petracca and Brayshaw start kicking on.

I've said this before, probably somewhere on this thread. Tyson is a very important part of the mix because he is like the rugby league front rower. He is our strongest mid, rarely beaten one on one and either holds or dishes out. He's not getting caught out as much now because teammates are working off him. He's also a very smart footballer who can make good position down the ground and of course is a goal kicker.

There's nothing worse than blocking someone on here only for someone to quote them, then you accidentally read that quote and automatically feel dumber for having done so.

I agree that it's a bogus award and matters little in the long run, but it is a nice nod of acknowledgement for young players doing well. I'd have liked to have seen Hunt nominated too. Not too worried about it though, the MFC know what they have on their hand, the rest of the competition will work it out soon enough without the nomination. Congrats Oscar.

Barrett made some interesting comments on FC last night on Hibberd: Was at the game with an EFC official on Sunday Went down to the rooms after the game Family really wants him to stay. The win vs GCS has encouraged EFC that they will keep him etc. TBH I am delighted with our back six and our depth: The stalwarts: Tom, Oscar, Nev, Sam, Jayden. (I laugh at calling them stalwarts given their average age is about 22!!) To come in: Melksham and Salem. Backups: Wagner, Bugg, M. Jones. Floaters: N. Jones, Vince. Even if Hunt and Salem move into the midfield that is a pretty exciting group to choose 6 each week. They are proving they can do the job and there is heaps of improvement to come. Our defence has gone ahead in leaps and bounds since Hibberd was first mooted. I think we have gone past needing him. And, it sounds like Hibberd is still emotionally committed EFC. Don't want a half-hearted player joining our team. I hope he stays at EFC. We can use our chips elsewhere!

If anyone can remember?? Well I have to say, I will never ever forget these days as long as I live! I can remember the senior players making a pact with 8 rounds to go that whatever the cost they would devote extra days to training being together, whatever it took to have a Red hot crack at the finals. The belief in this senior group was unwavering in the opportunities as presented. At that time John Northey was a master people person. Very much an us Vs them mentality which permeated into a feeling that if all players could dream and believe, The dream would become a reality! And so I was privy to some very interesting behind the scenes player awareness and exposure to the way John Northey and Rob Flower created the mindset that ran along the lines of "If It is to be, it is up to me" Can anyone else remember the spinetingling sensation where Ordinary supporters could go down into the rooms and watch the warm ups!? Before master tacticurn John Northey would call a halt to the warm up. Call a player over to the masses of demon faihful and say for example,,, " Supporters this is Warren Dean, he has overcome some injuries and today, Today, he and the players behind him will give you the best efforts and integrity of the Melbourne football club today!! Now, we would appreciate you leaving the room so we can prepare thoroughly for the game ahead!" SPINE TINGLING STUFF! A mighty cheer would go up and you could see players FEEDING of the rabid supporter base that lay in the bowels of the now defunct changerooms almost directly under the Robert Flower wing side! Today! Ah Heady heady times!! Win after win after win the same process would ensue! I remember after the Dogs win going back to Minnootz Restaurent I think it was, where some of the players had gathered! And it went on and on until the Preliminary Final which I refuse to talk about ! This current team is young Raw and whilst not quite as hungry or experienced as the One in 87 IF IF the same set of variables ensue, some 29 years later and we somehow can make it into finals! Then I will again be transported to that Mystical, Magical, transcendent time when The MFC was the most important part of the universe!! Dare I dream??

I always said I wanted a flag for my 30th birthday. It won't happen, but a finals appearance will be pretty magical regardless. #doitforme

Look I love the idea of it all... But I'd be legless about an hour after beating Geelong

Pretty good quality considering TV had only been in Australia for 8 years. Check the commentary at 2.51 agree entirely, Barassi a gun.

I always knew $cully would get us in to the finals............

Something I've noticed over the last couple of weeks is that our handballs in close and to release a player out of congestion have been exceptional. There has been nowhere near as much handballing to stationary targets and the handballs have been quickfire releases from one player to another and another until someone is in space. This seems to have really clicked for us and is a sign of 1) higher workrate and players being constantly on the move around stoppages and 2) more confidence in their teammates to keep control of the footy meaning they shoot handballs off without hesitating.

Can't believe the MRP classified the hit by Harvey on Mitchell as careless. If that wasn't intentional I don't know what is. Smells like corruption to me.

It is only 8.45am hardtack but you have my vote for comment of the day. Winner!

He would be a good fit, but only if he is committed to us and not for a first round pick. We still have Salem to come back, and Melksham to add. Look elsewhere Dees

Yet Clarko seems to think that the Hawks are, from his presser after we caned them ?

Not worth starting a new thread.... How the f.... did Boomer Harvey just get a fine for a deliberate high shot to the head of Mitchell. Comical at best.

This whole placebo thing should have the club nailed for the entire drug cheating program. There is absolutely zero point in placebos unless you are recording the results to identify levels of success. So he's basically admitted now they had kept records. Where are they? What happened to them, and most importantly - why? Guilty [censored] drug cheats!

Can't you just give Pedo credit for his effort and contribution Stu? Pedo is no star, he's very handy depth who tries his guts out. He's leaving Dawes for dead and had more impact than Hogan against Port. What happened to your "the coaches choose Dawes every time over Pedo" line? Not working for you anymore?

Thanks for posting this. What a mud heap! Reminded me of some of the players of the time. Was at the 64, GF as a boy. Hope I get to see another MFC, GF win before I am subbed out.

I uploaded that to Youtube after receiving it in a trade for some other footy tapes. I've got a few other pieces from the 60's too however nothing before this unfortunately so it's all from the post Barassi/Smith glory era.

Just did the ladder predictor. Tried to give us the best case scenario while still being realistic I have us beating Carlton by 30 points this week, and Sydney beating North by the same margin. Among the other round 22 results I've got Hawthorn beating West Coast by 12, Collingwood beating GCS by 12 and St Kilda beating Richmond by 12. This puts us 1 game behind North, with their percentage (106.3) ahead of our percentage (106.2) by 0.01% The following week, I have us somehow edging out the Cats by 1 point at Simmonds. That leaves Saturday nights clash between North Melbourne and GWS. The Giants win a close one by 12 points. Meaning the Cats' consequence for losing earlier in the day is they have coughed up their top 4 spot to GWS. With a 1 point win we scrape past North Melbourne by 0.06% and play Geelong at the MCG in an elimination final

It's also a sign that we know know where our teammates are supposed to (and going to) be. That's really important because it's what separates the experienced and finals-ready teams from the developing ones.

exactly this - we weren't ready in 1987. We weren't ready but we beat the doggies anyway and made the finals and then we weren't ready. We weren't ready in the elimination final but we smacked North by 100 plus points. We seriously weren't ready against the Swans because we only smacked them by 70 plus points. We missed out on a Grand Final berth by 2 points and a kick after the siren. Who thought we were ready to beat the Hawks two weeks ago ? We are young and relatively inexperienced but the first step to winning any game is being "ready" to win. After too many years of poor performances - I am ready for us to win this week and the next week. If we make the finals I am ready to face every game knowing that if we play our best we will win.

Rubbish Great decision Radar

Must be more than 23 years, Radar.....''76 was 37 yrs ago. I remember the Coll. supporters near me at Victoria Park cheering when they knew we couldn't make the finals. I guess it was because we made them win the spoon. I liked that because I hated Weideman(Then!), and he coached them to the spoon. I've finally forgiven the Weed for'58, now his grandson is part of our resurgence.!

Smells like Dee Spirit.

I think the inclusion of Oliver back into the team has lifted the entire midfield, I've said all year that we are a better team with him in it.

Alongside Gawn, Tyson has arguably been our most consistent performer during the second half of the season. He's been absolutely brilliant over our 'three-peat'. Will certainly get a look in the top five of this years Best and Fairest.

Congrats to Oscar for his nomination. And well ell done to the FD in their development of Oscar to date. He is coming on as expected at AFL level and has a few strings to his bow. Oscars speed is not that a bigger issue for me. To me his reading the play and ability to spoil, intercept mark are improving each outing. His strength, endurance and agility are on the rise. Great pickup IMO.

If I was the Gold Coast I would let them keep pick 6 and ask for Deledio and next years pick first round... Odds on it will be in the top 4. And since Richmond think they are going to in finals they will happily do it.

Lyon only joins teams that are already up and running, takes them as far as they can go, then leaves the list in shambles. Ross Lyon only cares about Ross Lyon.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/melbourne-youngster-oscar-mcdonald-earns-round-21-rising-star-nomination/news-story/bd0a5a57457556909a611e69ded76a66 A delightful exchange between Oscar and Roos: As Melbourne coach Paul Roos began Monday’s review of the win against Port Adelaide, a distracted McDonald was sprung chatting with Bernie Vince. R: “...‘Oi, you right there, Oscar?’" O: “I’ve gone, ‘Oh, sorry, sorry, I’ll concentrate’ and he goes": R: ‘By the way, congratulations. You’re the rising star for this week’. O: “So I thought I was going to get in a bit of trouble and then he’s backed up with that.” “I thought that he was joking, and then after about five seconds he continued on with the review, doing all our trademark sort of stuff...“So I’ve thought, ‘Hang on. He’s not actually joking’. It was a surprise but I’ll take it. But what was so important about the Vince chat which simply couldn’t wait? “We were organising a game of golf for (Tuesday),” McDonald said.

Sydney beat Kangas last time down in Hobart. They will be playing for a top 2 home final and are in their best form of the year right now. I think they'll dispense with the Kangas quite easily.

Lids are for jars. Weeks like this are what makes all the crap in the previous years worthwhile ...

Just watched the first half again and was impressed with Bugg's work. A lot of it goes unoticed but his shepherds and blocks are great. Numerous times he sets up at the stoppages to stop Westhoff going 3rd man up and countless times he is a link in a chain of possessions. Knows where to run. I reckon he is very under-rated around here.

If we make it clearly we are.......

This smells like a loss to carlton

Dare ya to turn up with a giant Tom Scully head.

I'd be pleased for Hunt if he gets the nomination but it really doesn't mean shyte, we know how good he is and we know he will be a super player for us. I'm happy with Hunt, Oliver, Trac, Harmes, Oscar and all our young kids, if Caleb Daniel wins the award, good luck to him, it won't make him a better player than our boys. I'll be happy watching Hunt streaming down the middle of the G, at full pace and slamming the ball through the goals, no one is going to worry about the rising star award then.

Robert Shaw and Mark Fine. Shaw coached Hunt at Brighton Grammar along with Salem and Josh Kelly, and was waxing lyrical about his performance in an APS match (maybe a 'young guns' type match from memory?) where he dominated off HBF. Shaw said Hunt didn't play TAC cup because of tennis, but that he regularly dominated games with his aerial attack on the ball and pace, and it would only be a matter of time before it translated to AFL level. To be honest, I was shocked at the time how much they were hyping him up; starting to see why now.

Ban the next person who sooks about the Essendon loss.

Should be sprayed with Baygon.

It was, I think the game at Waverley versus Geelong, that I began to believe the miracle may be possible. I was teaching in Warrnambool at the time and I knew that one more loss would mean the end of the dream, so I made the three hour drive week after week, with the dream building its own momentum with each victory. The greatest days of my football supporting life - ending of course in the tragedy at Waverley (which I also refuse to discuss.) When you went into the rooms before the game in the Swooper era you could always tell if the boys were "up". It was a great insight into how smart Northey was. A little bit later I remember Neil Balme and Allen Jakovich doing reverse bananas around the pylons in the old rooms, probably 20 minutes before game time. A true "match day experience" - certainly not something that the marketing clowns who run the game today would have any clue about.

WTF? Who the fk thinks like that? No, a finals appearance would cap off a great year, regardless of readiness.

Mills

I heard him on SEN this afternoon suggesting the AFL should move our game v Geelong to the G to get a bigger crowd. Nice try Chris.