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Mitch has won the Round 10 Mark of the Year nomination! Joel Selwood 35% Votes Mitch Hannan 38% Votes Eric Hipwood 27% Votes

Generically the type perhaps Individually , not the pick.

Tippett is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most over-rated player in the AFL presently. A complete and utter spud.

We've definitely improved even though we haven't had the rub of the green. If Gawn doesn't go down before half-time against Geelong we win and we lost two players before half-time against Richmond, including our number one ruckman that day. We win those two and we're comfortably in the top 4 with 7 wins. We're number 2 in the competition for disposals, 2 for contested possessions, and we're the number 1 pressure side in the AFL. We've also won the 4th most quarters without our two most important players. It's not an insignificant stat. Check previous years and you'll note that the best teams win the most quarters. Get Gawn and Hogan back, and in time good form, and if Petracca can really start stepping up then I have no doubt that on our day we'll be capable of beating anybody.

When your wife is shocked at your deplorable actions on field, you know you messed up. Tom Hawkins plays for Geelong though so he’ll be fine.

I can't stand that free kick. Selwood leaned into it and raised the arm to make the tackle slip up. I would have taken his head off to teach him a lesson....

This^^^ Cam Pedersen gives his heart and soul to the MFC weekly The only thing Kurt Tippet has given the Swans is his Tax File Number

Who exactly are the gigantic american basketball defender equivalents that combatted these players and delivered premierships for the Dogs and Hawks over the past few years? I don't recall Franklin, Reid, Tippet, Patton, Lobbe having much influence in last years games against the Dogs? Boyd won the Dogs their premiership playing the Gawn ruck role, not as a forward with long arms. All games are won in the midfield, Getting pro-active would be looking at bringing in a 200+cm forward to add to the dynamic, not throwing a Mason Cox in defence. Max Gawn can drop back in defence as a ruckmen, anything else would sacrifice our speed and agility. I don't see any gigantic defenders running around for Adelaide, GWS, Geelong or the Dogs right now. They do have 196cm defenders though. Maybe we'll have to wait and see how good Joel Smiths leap is in defence and whether we can use him to advantage if we do not land Lever or another.

I took my kids to the club family night at Malvern last night with all players in attendance apart from Jesse. The club excels at providing events like this to engage with its younger members, families and in their search for new members. All players were approachable and fun to talk to despite putting up with the monotonous task of posing for hundreds of photos and signing of guernseys. This wasn't an event with scheduled activities it was like a walk in the park and meet your idol. I did get a few minutes to talk to Jetta and despite the contrast in opinion on demonland , the club is happy with the season so far. He stated to me the obvious inconsistencies come down to pressure. When the opposition "Brings it" we are a little unsure of how to counter it. I said to Nev when all of us at the game leave after those close losses we feel just as tired as the players cause we see the effort they put in and to fall short pains us just as much. He responded by saying that the effort all year has been there no doubt and I agreed. Also talked about the Richmond loss and he said the boys were basically treading water in the last cause they worked so hard with limited rotations. If Spencer has stayed fit we win that game he said. He praised the work of the midfield and forward line in the Suns game as they made the job of the backline easy when the game turned in the 3rd. I quoted Lewis to him in regards to the ground size of the ground in Alice and he told me it's longer than Domain and wider than MCG. Im bringing this point up because when we were watching on TV the camera was low and the angles or distances between players was misleading so when we saw a suns player dance on a 20 cent piece around Tyson and Lewis in the middle of the ground it wasn't as bad as it looked. This is not much of an insight but thought I'd post it for a bit of reading since it's a quiet weekend for us. Once again well done to the MFC for events such as these, my kids couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces all afternoon.

Constantly amazed and impressed by the analysis of many posters on this site. I am not talking about the on-going criticism or opinions of certain players but the comments particularly the post match comments. The comments take different angles but are normally much more informative and interesting than any media stuff.

ump 2 metres away - no free - pathetic

The barracking from the entire commentary team is disgusting. The deranged, gutteral mutterings of Bruce is disturbing, to say the least. Just commentate the [censored] match you halfwits!

Vickery gets way more of the ball than Tippet does (Ty doesn't get a lot, which shows how little Tippet gets). Tippet went from being one of the leading forwards in the game at Adelaide, to one of the worst at Sydney. I'd take Pedersen every day of the week over Tippet. At least Pedo plays with heart, intensity and has an influence on the game. Tippet has no influence on a game (neither good nor bad), that in itself is pretty damning.

Aden Yze goal off the ground in the 2000 qualifying final to put us in front after a great last quarter come back that took us through to the 2000 GF, via North in the Prelim...

Id just keep looking

Simon Goodwin’s post-match interview after Saturday’s game in Alice suggests that he may have been watching a different game to almost everyone else. It got me thinking about the post-match routine I have established to capture other’s thoughts and exactly how much credibility I give to different sources. In this post, I’ve summed up some of the differences between Goodie’s post-match sentiment and the sentiment in George from the Outer’s report. I’ve touched on the framework I tend to use when analysing games (contests and transitions) and then listed my go-to sources for post-match reviews. For the Alice match against the Suns, Simon used expressions such as: “I’m very proud of the victory “We were really happy with the way we were playing in the first half in a lot of ways (and I know that that sounds a bit strange).” “At no stage did we feel like we were out of the contest.” “We made a lot of blues in the first half… we couldn’t connect with our ball use” “It was really just doing the simple things well.” Compare this to “What the Dickens” - another well researched, considered and entertaining read from “George in the Outer”. “Once again, Melbourne got off to a shocker of a start in the game.” “Sadly, forwards played behind their men, dinky kicks were persisted with, instead of long telling kicks, handballs went sideways” “they (Jones and Hibberd) simply dragged the Demons out of the foolishness that they had offered in the first two quarters” Maybe I’m quite unusual, but I love analysing games and try to understand why one team outscores the other. The way I look at a game, it’s a series of contests joined by transitions. Which team wins a specific contest depends on the number of players each team has at the contest, the athleticism and skill of each of those players, the system adopted (like where the players position themselves, which players are tagged, etc) and always an element of random luck. Usually, the luck evens itself out over a match. Transition is the phase when one team has won possession from a contest and starts to move the ball towards their goal. They can either be free-flowing, such as plays when Jayden is running with the ball freely off the half-back line, or under pressure, such as plays when you see a desperate chain of handpasses trying to find a loose, outside player. When planning a game, I imagine that the coaching panel establishes assumptions about the strengths and weaknesses of their own team and the opposition team in contests and transitions, and develops tactics for accentuating the positives and eliminating the negatives. This is how I understand the term “role” that players refer to, where players are told to refine their normal style of play in both contests and transitions to accentuate the positives for the team. After the match is a time to review and analyse the accuracy of those assumptions (i.e. player performance compared to expectations) and consider how to update those assumptions. This is the analysis that I’m particularly interested in. So, where should a “tragic demon” such a myself go to conduct one’s own analysis and reflection on games? Personally, I seek out the following reports every week, rightly or wrongly. Simon’s Post-Match Interview This is my most valued source of information as it is closest to the game plan’s architects and their underlying assumptions, as well as the beginnings of post-match analysis and review. I’m aware that the coaches sit down a day or two after a match, watch the videos and “code” the match, which I assume is the codification of every contest and transition. Perhaps it’s only after this review and analysis that the underlying assumptions can be truly assessed, which really underscores the premature nature of the post-match interviews. I’m also aware that the post-match interviews usually are tinted with a certain “spin” as honesty will create all sorts of headaches that the team doesn’t need. Demonland’s Featured Articles Let me say this to the administrators: these articles are gold, extremely well written and readable and significantly more insightful than all newspapers’ match reports - thank you! The feature of these articles compared to newspaper articles is that the Demonland authors have a far deeper understanding of our team and our players, and write their reports with analysis of what the team did right or wrong. The downside of the Demonland articles, I presume, is that the writers don’t have the insights to the coaches’ game plans and underlying assumptions, and what roles are assigned to different players. Like the rest of us, they can only presume what the coaches were thinking. Jordan Lewis on AFL 360 I love how well Lewie articulates the team insights and appreciate the respectful conversation with Jack Riewoldt. On the downside, there may be only 5 minutes of Melbourne discussion and what they discuss is haphazard and influenced by Mark Robinson, who I and many others don’t rate as a football intellectual. At least these interviews occur after the match review. Lewie was a bit of a tease a couple of weeks back when he referred to some of the team’s KPIs, where the team was scoring well in most of them (such as contested possession) but underperforming in others which he wasn’t prepared to share. Joeboy’s 3-Word Analysis These are bad enough to be good, and thank Joeboy, I enjoy reading them and look forward to them. I’m intrigued by the challenge of summing up each player’s 100 minutes of effort in 3 words with no insights into roles and game plans and no post-match analysis. What I like about it is that it reviews every player and provides perspectives that I haven’t necessarily seen. The AFL Coaches Association Votes I enjoy reading these as I respect the coaches’ football knowledge and their brief insights into which players performed particularly challenging roles. I’m presuming that they downgrade the “bling” such as an outside player who receives easy goals, but then again, Jack Riewoldt scored 10 for the ANZAC Eve match for kicking 6:2 from 12 disposals with a few of those on the rebound with loose marking from Melbourne defenders. Demonland Player of the Year Votes I have to admit to skimming just the first page or 2 of these votes. I really like that different supporters see different qualities in the players and maybe have different assumptions about player roles. The comments are particularly interesting, though I tend to only skim the votes with numbers only. So this is my list of where I go for post-match analyses. Where do others go for their reviews?

All of the Melbourne Open Mikes

Shut up Ling.

Well what goes around, comes around Jimmy Bartel. Hogan got two withy no priors. Hawkins has priors, cant help himself ,so you've got to give him three Jimmy IMO

Darren Bennett kicked a massive goal into the wind at windy hill around 1990 when we chased down a 30-40 point deficit.

To a couple of those posters who are discussing field positions and ins and outs, Fritsch played in the WAFL v VFL state game last week so I assume he'll be rested this week having missed out on the bye. Also the field positions are never accurate, Weideman, Keilty and Bull in the backline? Yeah don't think so.

Yeah. God forbid we have to go over and play at Adelaide Oval. How will we ever cope with that?

Needle exchange programs are only that in name.. I work at a hospital and can tell you that we have not had a single needle exchanged in 2 years. Filthy users drop them where they use them and just come back for fresh supplies. Great for their health, but stuff the innocents who come across the used ones hey?

Bruce was certainly pumping up Toumpas, and mentioned his name time and time again. However, in fairness he was often part of the Port link chain. I can't think of Toumpas without thinking of Ollie Wines and what might have and should have been. Wines and Viney on the rampage. Sorry, must not do this.

Poor bastards cant take a trick. I seriously feel for the average copper who has to confront the sh1tbags of society on a day to day basis, only to have complaints filed against them for offending some poor druggie. Seriously, who would wanna be one nowdays when the force had gone from upholding the law to upholding the peace. Command seems FAR more concerned with using wet lettuce leaves when the bloke actually confronting society's dirt would love to pull out his/her batton and smash some of these crims around the head. Remember the pics of rows of coppers standing still while having water and (probably) urine thrown over them during the G-something-or-other meeting in Victoria a while back? I would have lost my shyt at management for allowing that to happen. What a great way to destroy your employees morale and confidence in the bosses. Lets also remember how the front line guys at the Lindt seige fully expected to be blown to bits when they stormed the place but still went in without hesitation when upper management FINALLY got the message that softly-softly wasnt working. Leadership (including the wigs) need a clean out, and a serious rethink of how the law is enforced. Until i know what rules the guys were shackled with, i woulnt be criticising anyone involved in this incident. End rant.

Has a touch of the Ty Vickery's about him, but better paid

I can't remember the full set of circumstances but Travis Johnstone kicked an absolute beauty against Adelaide in the 2002 finals. Aaron Davey selling some candy twice to Freo and nailing it from outside 50 in our massive come from behind win at the G is another.

13.20 Port could've really done a number on them. I've said this a lot but if we miss finals it will be the Freo and Hawks games are look back on shaking our heads. Freo got done by 100pts last week and Hawks we kept goalless in the first half against Port. We have to stop losing to these teams.

After watching the Four Corners investigation of the Lindt siege, I totally agree Command is the biggest problem. Like the people on this plane, the Lindt hostages thought the police would come in quickly and rescue them. What a total disaster. This could have been the same. I totally respect the police but our Command need a shake up and some experienced personnel from overseas need to be bought in pronto.

Defensively speaking, yeh, champion data will show that he is clearly in the top 5. He is a wonderful defender. The criticism comes from his kicking and decision making with ball in hand. And it's warranted. I don't need champion data to tell me that. The fact that improvement in this part of his game can barely be seen is the reason supporters get upset. It's totally understandable.

Oh Shite! it's probably pretty black by now.

Might see a much bigger, not being pushed off the ball, O'mac down forward next year, "laterally thinking"

Good on him.Im glad he can see how highly the current crop are thought of. Whether it's Vic Pol or the AFP there seems to be an obsession with image and branding. Thats because the image is awful. So the action goes out the window as they struggle to deal with maters promptly. "How will people think about us if we do this" is not the way to do anything.

They host Gold Coast at the G next Saturday arvo. I don't think there will be 20,000 people there. Their supporters are more bandwagon than any other club's. They might have 70,000 members or however many, but a solid 50% of them are only there because of the premierships and are less invested in the club than the stereotypical Melbourne supporter people routinely make fun of.

Was definitely against the Hawks on a bogheap at Princes Park, Queens Bday 1989. I was at that game sitting up the top of the stands with my dad and I've got the game on DVD.

i wouldn't bother with him based on the cost and his output.

Agree with everything you say but if he nominates Melbourne (or any other club for that matter) history suggests the trade will be done in the end regardless but possibly not independent of other trades. Ed: will the fact we were wanting to draft him with the Trengove to RFC pick hold any sentiment for him to choose us? Can only hope.

We're gonna need to offer more than $500k per year to get him out of Adelaide. With the new CBA and salary cap increase, he'd be looking at $700k+ a year.

David Neitz was a rarity in footy - a champion defender at CHB and a champion forward at FF. He had already established himself at CHB until Balme sent him forward when Balme realised in the mid 90s, in the years when we were struck with significant injuries, that scoring goals was more important than saving goals. Balme's best move as a coach. Saw David once after a family day at Luna Park walking his dog - a tiny little ball of fluff. If it is true that owners end up resembling their dogs, then it says a lot about what David is in person - a gentle, genial and gracious guy. Any awards are well deserved. As for the best forward line, the 1994 combination of a pre injury Lyon (Footscray game), a pre injury Schwar (Carlton game), and an under control Pike was a good as it gets. The rules for elevation to Legend status should be checked - it is inconceivable that either Jimmy or Robbie would not be elevated as soon as they were eligible.

Pretty sure they said similar things about Tommy Mac last year. I take what these 2 say with a grain of salt...

what ever there was to know would have been learnt in 10 minutes conversations with the plane, before the plane even landed

'Fellow big man Jake Spencer is closer to a return than Gawn, with the back-up ruckman completing the majority of the drills with the main training group. Spencer did not join in the contact-based match simulation transition drills, but moved well early in training as the Dees had a focus on skills and moving the footy in tight spaces.' 11 days out from the game and by the sounds of it did almost the whole session. Plenty of time for introducing contact drills.

And it means that McAveney isn't growling "Poppy "Roughy" "Hodgy" in his usual demented & sycophantic manner.

For what it's worth Glenn Luff (champion data) and David King gave Lever a huge rap on SEN this afternoon. Mentioned that his numbers as a defender were already elite and that he was tracking along a similar path as Rance in his youth. Love to see him in the red and blue.

True love if ever I've seen it.

I know that feeling, not from a depression point of view but from a chronic illness point of view, I have Menieres disease, an illness that leaves me exhausted most of the time and at constant risk of an attack, which are completely debilitating and while going are said to lower your quality of life to that of someone close to death from cancer (luckily for me my attacks generally last multiple hours and not days like some unlucky people get), that's not to mention the brain fog that comes and goes but can make simple things very confusing and difficult to do, and the constant ringing in my ears that is sometimes so loud it keeps me awake at night. Depression and anxiety are common among Menieres sufferers but is something I have dodged to date, thankfully. Best of luck to you getting through.

i've often thought afl players should be measured with one arm up. i.e. from the ground to the tip of the finger on the raised arm. the shoulder to top of head is irrelevant

Follow Chook Fowler - I'll learn ya.

Yea sorry if it's confusing my wife is in Labour getting ready to push out a new baby dee, so I'm a bit bored thought I would post a new topic with zero sleep so if it's confusing I have a good reason

I'd take Lever. Gawn in the ruck, bookends in Hogan and Lever, plus Oliver in the guts and you've got a brilliant nucleus. You'll save coin and turn your attention to a lesser version of Kelly. Maybe a Whitfield type.