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Just feel like a rant, but I'm really over the Cats just in general. Give them credit with their drought breaking flag in 2007 and follow up flags in 2009 and 2011, but now just over that club. The arrogance of Danger, Selwood and Hawkins drives me nuts plus a whinger of a coach. Sick of the AFL bending over backwards for this club and all there prime time viewing they get, one could argue there Geelong supporter media influence could contribute. i really hope we rise quickly and start bullying them for a long time to come. rant over.

You know what? I bloody love this footy club. And have ever since the age of 5 even though the AFL wasn't a thing and I lived in SA. And I always will ever since watching a group of super heroes dressed in blue and red win on a grainy telly in the adelaide hills mid winter. And super heroes they have been ever since - even through our plentiful losing times when I've cursed them in swearing tantrum moments either in a school yard or at home amongst a group of vocal carlton supporting brothers or at the footy or basically anywhere that people care about aussie rules footy and I've vehmently defended the beloved d's as the oldest and still greatest club in the country. Through all the passion and all the pain I've been there. And always will regardless of what of anyone thinks. Friend of foe. For the red and the blue have always been and always will be the greatest sporting club anyone could have the pleasure of being a part of. Yet despite the fact we don't need any outside validation - our passion and knowledge is more than enough - I have to say it's been so pleasing to see both friend and foe, media and the average footy follower, saying that based on the heroics of last week by modern day heroes like watts and trac and jones and viney and oliver and everyone really (including that young jeffy bloke whose faster than lightening only nearly matched for speed by that very young guy with the headband) who contributed to one of the greatest mid season wins of the past decade. Calls and comments of "passion" "trac was so awesome" "launching pad" "Oliver's a bull" "I'm going the d's" "jack's come of age" "wow" from the media and opposition players and the public over the past 72 hours has made me so smug and so proud. I truly feel something special has happened last weekend with this year and this club; both in the players, supporters and football public alike. It's like everyone loves the way we play and want us to succeed all of a sudden. And I think it's not just deserved - but so bloody exciting. And makes me proud to (as always) be a supporter of this great club. Go the d's. As always: I love this footy club.

For those who are on the facebook pages you would have come across this name Hibby Hibbert. He was a larger then life character who was pretty passionate and vocal character who once admitting to being Yze Magic here on demonland. Don't know how true that was but a real tragic to lose one of our former great supporters. Rip mate.

Crows supporters super confident Lever is going nowhere; just waiting for cba to be settled Those doubting the value of Weed need their heads read; key position talls are pretty rare these days, look at the value and desire for Schache as an example...plus Weed is going nowhere seeing as he recently signed til end of 2019 and will be a huge part of our forward structure in coming years

Absolutely love this kid. Cult hero. Quick, hard competitor, loves his footy. Would absolutely destroy games if he learns to lower his eyes and drill a target in the fwd 50.

This week Nathan Jones will run out for game 235 sitting him equal 10th in MFC's most games played with Brett Lovett. Love your work Chunk.

They were talking about hunt and johanisen on league teams, they were saying how jj pretty much gave up after being targeted by swans and brereton said if it was hunt that was targeted he would probably stop and have a scrap and roosy agreed said he is super competitive and loves the hard stuff

IN 2016 WB was an ok home and away side that had a great finals series. But they haven't done anything of note this year. Comparative performance: (MFC in Itallics) They have beaten one top 8 side - Rich by 5 points. Demons beat 1 top 8 side - Adel by 41pts They have lost to 3 top 8 teams - GWS, WCE and Geelong We lost to 2 top 8 teams - Geelong and Rich Their big wins (>30pts) have been BL and StK Our big wins (>30pts) were Adel, StK, Ess, GC Their % is just 102.5 Our % is 110.9 So for mine our 2017 compares very favourably. We have banked 2 wins at Etihad this year so we can play that ground. We have a better midfield and I don't see a line where they have an absolute advantage. They are not so formidable this year. Don't get me wrong this will be a tough game to win and we can't give them a 5 goal head start. In many respects we are the better side with better recent form. It is a 50/50 game.

Yep, all of the above. I just love the crowd noise when he tucks the ball under his arm and takes off. Exhilarating stuff I tell my boy "that's what I pay to come and see", he tells me "we're members, we got in for free"

Ripping pick up. Howe starts that chain of possession at full back and Bugg is 5 metres away and looks cooked. For him to see Treloar in a paddock, realise if he didn't go no one would, and not only put in the effort but get there and affect the kick was huge. It's stuff like that that keeps Bugg in the side over Kent, for example.

A word of caution fellow Dlanders...the longer one spends on a Collingwood board the more of your grey cells die!! come away

If he had Salem's kick he'd have been a top 20 pick. To get production like that from a late pick, we're all pinching ourselves. I liken him a bit, actually, to Oliver. Different players obviously... But both were better value than where they were taken at the draft. Oliver right now is pick #1 over Weitering, Mills and Hipwood. In Hunt's draft year you have Bont, Kelly, Cripps who are the big three... then you can throw a blanket over Hunt and about 10 other names. But more importantly, I wonder with both of these guys how they'll respond to the inevitable tag. When teams sus out that those two are among our most damaging players, how will they combat that, and how effective will they be? There's players you can tag but only rarely can beat. Judd, Ablett, Dangerfield have had taggers and played through them. I reckon both these guys have the game that is really difficult to stop. Oliver loves the indide stuff. I reckon you stop him, it frees up Jack, Jones, Tyson and others... He could probably be curtailed, but when your hands are that quick inside, how much effect will you have in the end? You can tag Sloane cos he needs his kick, and time to execute it, which opens a window for you to put body on him. Not so much Oliver. Jayden's quick, sure, but it's his breakaway... what the Americans call "quickness" as opposed to "speed." I dunno how anyone can stop you when you've got a mark or free, are back lining up the kick, and you run off. If they get close to him laterally or on the mark, they risk giving away a fifty. With the current rules, he'll be running around guys and kicking long for the rest of his career. What makes him awesome is that he knows his limitations. Short kicks are a 50-50 chance to be turned over. So when you have a system, and players like Hogan and Garlett to kick to... he basically has an instant 70 metre add on. The effect across the ground is absolutely remarkable too. What Jayden does is puts doubt in the opposition minds. They have to get back so much quicker, and run so much harder because they know in a moment, we could go from a fifty-fifty contest, to having the ball inside fifty with 1 on 1s. Subsequently, when the rebound comes, they don't have numbers since they haven't had time to drift forward. Jayden might bomb it long, and ineffectively, but even if the defenders spoil (and that's a big if), the rebound options aren't there as normal. I'll add as well, he's being coached sensationally. Great setup for what we have... coaching to players strengths, rather than making a game plan that players have to play in regardless of their abilities (Neeld).

If you have a look at the replay you will see 2 out of 3 Hunt bombs ended up goals when Watson was bagging him. If we get that return consistently he can bomb away till his hearts content as far as I'm concerned... He kicks to the danger area, front and centre about 10 to 20 out from the square, just where defenders don't like it. Nowhere to hide. They spoil in that zone it's an open invitation to small forwards.

Moment before OMac gets the ball. A tackle would have been too late. The guy is a gun and we're worried about tackles????

The man has won me over – after playing what he admitted later was a shocker, he picked out my 7-year-old daughter over the boundary line fence after the QB game, and handed her his signed footy. People write off ageing champions every day. And yes – in this sport - he is a champ, declining or not. Averaging over 25 touches a game this season, still adjusting to new club, personnel, system of play etc. Not bad thus far is an understatement. One poor game. Watch him respond. P.S. First-time poster, long-time Melbourne supporter (back when we wore the royal blue and red!). Thanks Demonland, discovered this site about a year ago, really enjoy reading this forum, win or lose.

This competition is officially mental. Melbourne's consistency through all this is actually quite impressive. We're still the only team to have been in every game.

Exactly. ie, better than McCartin. lol His first season he was doing great in the VFL. I think leading their goalkicking before he started getting some games with the Dees. That's more than Paddy's done. And yes, since you made the point, that's enough to keep him. We all know how it works for 195cm players. They get a pass for a few years while their bodies develop. You're expecting midfielder returns on a player who's the same height as Jeff White. Check out the Adelaide Lynch's stats for the first few years of his career. Two years at Saints doing less than what Weed's done so far and they made the same mistake you did. Traded him to Crows for peanuts, who gave him 12 months, after which he exploded and is now a key part of the best attack in the game. Getting good took Watts about 5 years, and he's the same height. Gawn took longer. There's really no point in drafting these kids if we only give them 24 months to start winning games off their own boots. They can't all be Hogan.

Hibberd was an unsung hero. He got to so many contests, and sprinted hard to keep so many Coll fwds under pressure at the contest, that he deserved more recognition. He has been a great pickup. I don't know that we have anyone who is quicker over the ground at the rabbit chase, other than maybe Hunt. Watching from the ground you can also see that he is such a 'go to' guy for our defenders when they're under pressure.

Ugh, just had a look Biffen, not even worth it. One [censored] called 'adam' says: "Daniher is obviously on his death bed so enjoy your final win because it was handed to you on a platter" Absolute guttersnipe, feral, vacant-brain verbal diarrhoea from some very poor excuses for human beings.

Still the 2nd best Jetta in the AFL...

It astounds me that you would want to trade Weideman at this stage of his development. The guy is 19, has shown some great glimpses and is currently building strength and a tank. He's not a mid-fielder FFS, give the bloke a chance to develop properly.

Thought Wagner was unlucky to be dropped and then was a clear best on in the VFL. Probably not much room in the backline at the moment but have no doubt he'll find his way back in the team soon.

Jackson Trengove for me. Much cheaper, restricted free agent and can play defence, forward and ruck. Proven.

I must admit Im not sure why we combine the Daniher/MND/Big Freeze with The Queens Birthday match. Much better to move it to our match with the Bombers. Make it a Saturday night clash with all the bells and whistles. The result would be 1). We get another blockbuster/TV exposure and a chance to beat the drug lords with a national exposure 2). Probably a bigger fundraising opportunity as both the Daniher clubs are playing 3). We still keep QB Win. Win. Win

When Hunt gets the ball I say "beep beep" My son is too young to get it.

The fact he has this out of the box acceleration has interesting knock on effects. Firstly, his team mates expect it with greater familiarity, and either set up to take the give-and-go handball, or marshall for the long bomb, mark or crumb. The more they play together, the more this becomes a system that is almost impossible to combat. The bigger benefit is that he creates panic defence in the opposition, much like Petracca and Jeffy are doing, where despite knowing they can't catch him, they'll chase and try to limit his running line, thus coming off their man and allowing the chain of uncontested linking handballs that Hunt is so often a part of. It's an exceptional talent, and we haven't seen the best of it yet methinks. Also, he's as hard as a cat's head.

Thought you said free throwing game there for a min LH

And he replies to my son on Instagram!!

Apologies if it's been mentioned before... My hero of the day, and it's taken me til today to find him. Think back to the game, we're 4 up with about 4 minutes left... Hunt misses the shot on goal, manages to get the ball soon after and runs around Treloar, delivers inside fifty. Miskick to Grundy and the pies clear. On the footage I have, Sidebottom ends up with it, running on the boundary of the wing. Salem is tracking him but can't catch up. Sidey handballs to Treloar on the sponsors logo and he's off with a paddock in front of him. I thought we were a certainty to see Treloar give them the lead then and there. At the time I remember thinking this is it. If we win by stopping them here, it's as important as a goal. Camera pulls out to a long shot. Those of you with a copy take a look. The whole midfield is empty. Treloar can run all the way to fifty and unload. Only Salem is trailing him, and while he tries his hardest, he hasn't got the pace. In the long shot we see Hunt as the only red and blue jumper, and he's behind the centre circle and is jogging having given up. And rightly so. He's fifty metres off the contest. At this point, a smaller player for us identifies that there's noone left who can help Salem and pressure the kicker, and the guy sprints from off camera all the way up to Treloar to get a hand on him as he launches into his delivery. The slightest effect on the kick meant that it didn't have penetration, and was more lofted than Treloar would have liked. We get numbers to the drop, and we clear. The next half a dozen plays are all fifty fifty contests. He wouldn't have gotten a stat as it wasn't a tackle. Noone around me even noticed the distance he ran to get to the contest. I felt like I was the only one who saw, from where I was sitting. And since it wasn't a score or important free kick it probably got lost in the multitude of hard efforts all day from both sides. But for me, that player was as much a hero as Jack. 50 metre sprint to catch one of the zippier players in the AFL, when he was on completely the wrong side of the ground, and it definitely wasn't his job. The name? T. Bugg.

Navicular injury. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-06-13/smith-to-miss-rest-of-season Feel for him - do all that work to get here then have your first season on the rookie destroyed with two major injuries. Ridiculously unlucky, but that's footy I suppose. All the best with the recovery.

Given they said it would be a miracle for him to get up this week, he may not be a certainty next week. We can only hope.

I am tipping....I know this is a big call but.....I am tipping they won't want Vince... Just sayin...

Yep, 186 and the huge belting at the hands of Essendon are games I most want revenge for.

So true AF. For me the Watts goal and celebrations was so symbolic. The rubbishing and criticism of Jack has been harsh and strident, symbolic of the attitude towards the team and the club. His goal spoke for all of us. Take that and stick it up you, particularly significant that it came against the Woods given that dark day when the footy future of a boy was almost sacrificed on the alter of marketing and expendability. Redemption at last for Jack and the new Demons. The roar from the Demon faithful sent a shiver down my spine but warmed my heart, like it hasn't been warmed for many years.

Just watched the replay again. The Pies got an unbelievable run in the 2nd qtr with frees. They shouldn't be squealing as they got goals from the errors. Also, Callum Brown twice threw his head back before he even got tackled. He got one free but it was very poor form from a first gamer. Will end up like Mathieson from Brisbane or Lindsay Thomas

not sure if it was mentioned above (if so sorry I missed it) but he is great at defensive running too. So many players can look quick with ball in hand, or when they think they are a chance to get on the end of a cheap kick for goal, but Jayden has used his speed to close down and effect spoils also. Hard, loves a scrap, flair, blistering speed, cult figure. What's not to love about having him on our team.

The village elders tell us the playing surface (from goal to goal) is 160m. So minimum distance from arc to arc is 60m and that's if you're running straight down the middle. Longer if you're not. Plus the Bugger is about 12/13m inside the arc at the point where a giant cigar shaped object is about to do unspeakable things to him.

Nice fingering Dappa! As others have said a clear reason he is in the 1s ahead of others.

I really hate to harp on about this Bugg thing... But I've just taken another close look. I'm pretty crap at uploading etc... not sure how to do short videos and captures. Here's a picture I took of my finger anyway. That's Bugg I'm pointing at. He's behind Olly, Harmes ANB and Hunt as would-be chasers. When he crosses the paint of fifty he's still just jogging and the ball has been kicked to Sidebottom. I'd love it if someone could tell me the exact distance between the arcs, because in exactly 10 seconds (3:41-3:31 on the clock) he covers a bigger distance than that. No-one anywhere else will single him out because he didn't make the tackle. Only just affected the kick... but bloody hell I hope Goody does.

He knocked himself out because he ran so hard into an opposition ruckman (Jacobs) to tackle him. Says it all really about how he attacks the ball and player.

Certainly was him. We have a lot to thank him for though...his comments in the lead up, his turnovers in the first half, and him being part of the JW theatre chasing him in vain. And then the image of him hunched over on the ground immediately after. What's that about "karma" ??

I was happy but cautious about us getting Hibberd, there was always that unknown after the year off as to how he would go. He would have to be up the pointy end of our B&F count, he hasn't put a foot wrong and again was a calm head down back. As many have said, Watts gets the plaudits (rightfully so it was a clutch goal) but it would never had happened without Hibberds desperate spoil. One of the recruits of the year for any team.

On one hand, he does need to lower the eyes, on the other hand if Hogan was playing on Monday half those long bombs would've turned into shots on goal. Tim Watson, the idiot, praised Frost for doing the exact same kick he'd been bagging Hunt for all game. The difference was Pedo roved and kicked a goal. Also TMac's quarter time goal was from a Hunt long bomb. I like the way he's going, and from what I could tell Collingwood had most options covered on most of Hunt's inside 50's. I think Lyon and Lloyd were talking about the Swans targeting Hunt like they did JJ. I lol'd. Comparing chalk and granite.

Already very special but will get seriously better in a much better side. How many meters gained last game 750 metres. This kid is seriously good, just stay bold, stay fast, stay Fit!

Eddie will try anything to escape Neville Jetta.

Herald Sun are reporting that we are going to make a big play for Jake Lever: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/jake-lever-and-daniel-mcstay-in-sights-of-victorian-clubs-in-this-years-trade-period/news-story/41488cc02f736fd6f6dc42a55b963898 Not surprising and, let's be honest, he would slot in superbly in our backline. Very interested to see how this unfolds in the coming months.

It is also a result because we are playing a lot more team orientated football rather than blazing away. Jeff Garlett has been super impressive in regards to this, he is always looking for someone in a better position which can create these opportunities.

Is he? He kicked two goals and, if you watch the replay, had a hand in a few others as well, especially in the third term when we were at out best. He kicked one, passed another on to Watts who goaled and then crashed a pack which allowed Pedersen to goal as well. That's just what I remember off the top of my head. While I love what Stretch brings to the side, Buggy is ahead of him at the minute for his impact on the game and more than deserves to keep his spot. No one needs to pot you, Steve. You do it to yourself when you drop Tyson for JKH.

I've been disappointed with his foot skills and physical presence, but I acknowledge his leadership and he's a versatile player that can go behind the ball, into a centre square stoppage, or even push forward. Perhaps he's feeling his way with new teammates and a new game style. I reckon he's got some good games left, but he's not someone I'm expecting to be in our top 4 or 5 players. On Monday in the last quarter he directed Oliver to move his positioning at a centre square ball-up. Oliver did and it resulted with a clearance (long kick into the forward-line). So while I've been disappointed and expected more, I'm still glad we have him and doubt he's one of our major issues. Lewis is well down the list of any concerns I might have.

Great post. I still recall a bunch of Richmond supporter mates calling for Rance's demotion in his 5th year on the list and lamenting his inability to hit a target and that he "had no idea what he was doing out there." It's amazing how with some valuable experience things seem to just "click" one day for a lot of players. Oscar has shown enough for me to be excited, he just needs to develop some real power in his core and have that sudden realisation of what he is really capable of.