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I'm actually finding it really hard to get over the fact that a 19 year old kid was hit and people are treating him like he's the one who did something wrong. It's just so awful.

Pedo is fine Hannan is fine No Watts, got nothing when I asked Garlett 50/50 Hoges said next week to everybody who asked including me Viney is more than fine White and Wagner trained with AFL side when they split at end of session

Hopefully the Swans even the ledger and rule Tippett in.

Hogan was fine with waiting another week, he was again very upbeat with the supporters Spoke to Jeffy, the hamstring was ok, but they weren't going to risk, like Watts, was going in to discuss, obviously erred on side of caution On JKH, had a chat to him, prerequisite for AFL team is ability to win your own ball, Macca suggested playing him inside to start doing this consistently, last couple of weeks felt he is getting there, says it helps having Corey Maynard banging bodies and blocking. Under no illusions he let himself down early in the season

When you think about it though, we won without all 3 last week. Watts and Hogan didn't play and Garlett did nothing all game due to injury. So an upgrade in Kent or similar might be better. Think positive man! hehe

Just back from training. Salient points: - no Watts for the entire session - Garlett joined Jones for run throughs on the boundary for the whole session. Practiced a few snaps at goal but you'd think unlikely to come up - Jones quipped that his quad was feeling significantly better than the previous session - Hogan participated fully in the whole group session - Kent looked sharp and up and about - TMac doing lots of goal kicking practice - Joel Smith training fully with the main group - Hunt looked a bit flat, Pedersen looked a bit sore

I would suggest that keeping quality players like Tyson is absolutely essential to our progress. While he's not in our top six players, he's accounting for the spread of talent that you need to be a top team in modern football. His stock game is good, his better games are exceptional. There's also been several games this year alone where he's been one of our better players when we're playing poorly; he doesn't drop his head and he keeps plugging away. This was a feature of Nathan Jones in his developing years- when Melbourne lost, he always seemed to be in our best players. When everything was going our way, he didn't seem to be noticed.

From what I am reading everywhere Oliver is a worse bloke for allegedly "staging" than Houli is for deliberately punching a guy unconscious........

Now that we've come good, I quite often here the old 'yeah so you should be with all your draft picks' yet let's look at the 22 we had on the weekend. B: Hibberd (pick 30*) McDonald (pick 53) Jetta (pick 51) HB: Lewis (pick 48*) Frost (pick 23*) Bugg (pick 43*) C: Melksham (pick 31*) Oliver (pick 4) Salem (pick 9) HF: Stretch (pick 42) Pedersen (pick 63*) Petracca (pick 2) F: Hannan (pick 46) McDonald (pick 53) Garrett (pick 61*) Followers: Viney (pick 26) Gawn (pick 34) Vince (pick 23*) Bench : Tyson (pick 2*) Harmes (rookie pick 2) Neale-Bullen (pick 40) Hunt (pick 57) Note * is what we gave up in trade and not their original pick number. I count that as only 4 first rounders that played on the weekend. Make no mistake we are being coached and developed properly to go with some excellent trading.

They did and got Thomas and Pendles.

With a 9 day break coming up makes sense to give the suspect hamstrings a bit of time.

Can't tell you how I know, but this is rubbish at Trump-levels.

Sat next to his tiger supporting uncle a couple of weeks ago at the tigers v swans game. he said that Dom was loving where the club was at and completely invested in Goodwins coaching and game-plan - which includes having "squads" of midfielders on rotations (Dom tends to spend more time in the middle in the second half), as it is too hard and physical for a smaller number of players to play totally in the middle. I think this is a real strength for us. It will be interesting to see how it plays out on Friday - where they probably have more A graders but we have more depth.

I read that the tribunal said it was "rare" to come across someone with Houli's "character". What a load of garbage.

If we win we'll have to start an "Awesome kick-ass records" thread...

Difficult to see how he'd run laps withOUT a hamstring, Brendan! (Preferably one in each leg...!) Boom Boom!

And there you have a lot of the anger on the thread. My favourite and one of DL's favourite young players, is being attacked by a media that knows how everyone should react when elbowed to the face, while the aggressor is given sympathy. Disgusting actually.

Dangerous precedent set by saying one person is better than another and who you know is important. Breaks all the fundamentals of equity and justice. Mother Theresa should have got 4 weeks for that.

If there's anything this whole Clayton Oliver thing has taught me is that no matter what your club does, opposition supporters will start to get scared when the status quo begins to shift and the laughing-stock is no longer quite so funny. Draft picks, AFL "charity", Paul Roos being given to us by the AFL, "tanking", the premiership drought and associated irrelevance of the MFC, low supporter numbers, "staging" (during the halftime break no less).... The list goes on. The only people whose opinion on the MFC we should give a rat's tossbag about are Melbourne supporters. Everyone else is irrelevant.

Hey West Coast,

Can we keep Waleed Aly and his soapbox out of it this time.

Yep. Will post anything significant l see...

It's especially galling when it's Melbourne "supporters" doing it.

Interesting article in the Australian: "A Melbourne victory over Sydney on Friday night at the MCG will equal an AFL record of four ­consecutive wins in 18 days, previously achieved only once in the history of the game." http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-on-track-to-equal-cats/news-story/4a256d3461ab386d3fb82f264e07bde8

The vitriol directed at Oliver has been disgraceful, whether he staged or not. Comment after comment calling him a dog, a weak c##t, [censored] etc etc has completely shocked me. And anyone who defended him was also ripped into, called a dumb c##nt, moron, and every other name under the sun. I didn't grow up with Facebook so can someone tell me is this normal now? Goodness me I couldn't believe it. he is 19 years old for God's sake. The kid is having a second year better than anyone I can remember, including Fyfe and J Selwood. Aside from a few 'experts' having him in their early AA side, he hasn't been given anywhere near the recognition he deserves IMO. But as soon as people think he's staging, the keyboard warriors and armchair experts come out of the wood work to tear shreds off the poor kid, quite often in a very personal manner. He is currently 6th for total possessions, 1st for total handballs, 3rd for total contested possessions, 9th for total tackles, 8th for total clearances, 6th for total centre clearances FOR THE ENTIRE COMPETITION!! IN HIS SECOND YEAR!! Just because it's a Facebook comment and not said in person doesn't mean it isn't bullying and borderline harassment. Some of these people commenting need to have a good hard look at themselves and imagine if some of the things they are saying to him were said to their children, or mother, or father. Tall poppy syndrome if ever I've seen it. I just hope he is mentally strong enough to put this behind him, ignore the haters and continue playing outstanding football. He is one of our most important players, without him we would have certainly lost the Carlton and West Coast games just off the top of my head. Go dees!

According to the HUN, the Tribunal took only 5 minutes to deliberate before coming to the conclusion that Schofield could walk away sott free. Didn't question Clarrie, don't appear to have questioned the reporting umpire, just took the word of Schofield's QC at face value (that is, that Clarrie's tender jaw might just as easily have occurred slightly later in the scuffle when his jaw bumped Schofield's back). Mlnd boggling justice!

I will be there with the mad wheaten terrier known as Fergus....

The MRP F'd up here. They should've offered him one week, downgraded to a fine with an early guilty plea. Would've appeased all parties, the ones who think that any intentional hit to the head shouldn't be allowed and the ones who think it was only a small hit.

Well have negotiated all the commentary on this thread and agree that logic or consistency can hardly be expected of the tribunal when there is conflict among ourselves as supporters. i was impressed with the argument that this decision impacts on all demon players and supporters equally and agree. On that basis we are all divers and whingers. This is not correct. We must now state that we are disappointed that the umpire who made the report was not supported by the tribunal. We regret that the tribunal appears to have ignored the AFL CEO statements that blows to the head are not a part of our game. We also regret that our medical officers opinion was not respected by the tribunal members and no alternative medical opinion was offered. The West coast player indicated intention and his thrusting action revealed on replay supports that. We will advise our players to retain their mouth guards in their mouths until they are in the rooms to decrease any impacts from unexpected intentional or unintentional contact with the jaw. We are concerned that with a player already experiencing multiple concussion that a future incident may have a more significant outcome and seek the AFL support in ensuring that any blow to the head intentional or unintentional is penalised immediately on the field and with reference to an independent medical officer at the next break, after match review of available video evidence by the tribunal with an automatic 1 week suspension increasing on the recommendation of the officiating umpire and medical officer if deemed intentional. Any player intentionally contributing to an exacerbation of an intentional or unintentional blow shall be fined a proportion of match payments and if not supported by medical officers report, or video evidence of contributing or extenuating circumstances may also be suspended automatically for 1 week. This allows for consideration of player ducking into a tackle or falling over in delay due to surprise having reasons analysed by independent medical officer. But given that tha tribunal is supposedly independent and seem to be able to ignore the CEO comments it's probably just a waste of time. We have more legally qualified people than me on this thread and I would definitely concur with their advice. But boy it does give me the shots that we seem to be shafted again. No good can come of the current situation.

Mother Theresa didn't have a Gold Logie winner and an uninformed Prime Minister in her corner. She was only battling crippling endemic poverty and disease, nothing important or as difficult as Houlis rugged path to play afl,battling oppression,swimming through live sharks,saving children from burning buildings and all his other past times.

He made David King cry. Crying that he didn't get suspended for annihilating Hurn. Boohoo Kingy, boohoo.

Exactly. People are looking at the fall not the elbow. That is why Schofield is the angle in this. If you actually look at the hit it was there, it smacked his jaw shut and shock his head. It wasn't big but it was there. The AFL would clearly prefer to tell people elbowing is fine, as long as it isn't too hard!

If Clarrie hadn't gone down, instead took a couple of steps back and held his jaw, Schofield would be out for a couple of weeks. The umpire saw it, as he reported that slimebag straight away, and there would be no talk of Ollie staging it.It was the fall that everyone was looking at.

McGovern

Dom is a very good player, hes too maligned around these parts. Id like him to kick more goals though, as he showed he was capable of that in his first season with us. He should be like Stephen Powell circa 2000, if I recall correctly he averaged something like 25 possies and kicked 30 goals in our Grand FInal season. Like Dom, he wasnt the most polished with his foot skills but he was a lefty who loved a goal and was a weapon for us.

Deserves 6 weeks for trying to worm out of it behind 'character references'. Take your punishment like a man.

They were extremely lucky to win against tigers (30 points down) and bombers (18 points down with minutes to go). Also, they have scored 81, 88, 80 and 86 in their last 4 games. We have only scored under 80 once this whole year and that was when spencer was injured in the first quarter.

I thought they did. Isn't that how they scored Pendles? I thought of another comeback to the moron and then thought "why bother"

With our injuries, against Sydney on the big stage, will be a mighty win if we can get it.

And that's exactly what is wrong not just with the MRP, but the society we live in now. You are 'soft' if you get hit and it hurts you. How dare you complain? what sort of a man are you? Don't be a p***y. Yep, that's exactly the kind of world I want to live in and raise children in. Awesome.

I've deliberately avoided commenting on MRP / tribunal decisions this year, other than those avoid Melbourne players, but the Houli decision is just wrong and an utter disgrace. If the AFL was serious about cleaning up the game they would appeal this decision. Three questions arise from this: 1. If Jed Lamb had knocked Bachar Houli out in a similar cowardly act of thuggery, how many weeks would he have received? Clearly he wouldn't receive the benefit of representing the religion of peace, or having the PM in his corner, so 4 weeks? 6? 2. Will the concession applied to both Schofield & Houli from not looking at their opponent whilst striking them apply for just this week, or for the remainder of the season? If Lewis & Hogan had been facing away from their Carlton opponents, would they have reduced the sentences accordingly? Or is just because Houli is a good bloke with the right background? 3. If a random Melbourne player KOs Lance Franklin in the opening minute on Friday night, who can we call as a character witness to get him a reduced sentence? The Dalai Lama? The ghost of Mother Teresa? Tom Cruise?

I really don't care. He's no fragile flower. He's as hard as nails. And the attention will make him only get harder. I'd care if a Sydney player got off on such dribble, because we play them next. We don't play WC (heh also known as a toilet) next. We played them and got the lollies at their fortress. And it fired him up. Probably cost them the 4 points. This is a very tough side we are breeding. The harder you hit us the harder we hit back. Then we kick goals. Bring it on. Let them hate us.

FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE by the Oracle Apart from the AFL Tribunal side show, all of the talk this week has been about injuries and how the Demons are going to deal with their third successive six day break. The theory is that things might not work out so well in the light of the absence of a significant number of their more valuable players and the weight of fatigue as a consequence of the team's recent heavy workload. But I'm not worried in the slightest. You see, I follow the patterns and rhythms of life and Melbourne's form line is pointing extraordinarily more towards an upswing this week. The Demons had an ordinary game last week by most measures but they disguised it well with that magnificent, withering finish capped off by Tom McDonald's great goal that gave them their last-minute victory. The rare win out west was one for the ages because behind the victory stood the fact that the team lost in many key performance areas and yet, it was still ahead on the scoreboard that mattered at the end of the night. The Demons did not dominate as they did the week before against the Bulldogs. They did they win the possession count but only barely won the clearances (even with the return of Max Gawn) and they had less inside fifties than the Eagles. What they did do is the thing they are now very good at - they imposed great pressure through strong football. We all know that fortune favours the brave and it was thanks to the bravery of the team led by Jack Viney that the team got over the line against the Eagles and I expect them to end the financial year in the same vein on Friday night against the Swans. THE GAME Melbourne v Sydney Swans at the MCG Friday 30 June 2017 at 7.50pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 92 wins Sydney Swans 111 wins 2 drawn At MCG Melbourne 49 wins Sydney Swans 42 wins 2 drawn Last 5 meetings Melbourne 0 wins Sydney Swans 5 wins The Coaches Goodwin 0 wins Longmire 0 wins MEDIA TV - Channel 7 Fox Footy Channel Live at 7.30pm RADIO - SEN THE BETTING Melbourne $2.08 to win Sydney Swans $1.78 to win THE LAST TIME THEY MET Sydney Swans 12.14.86 defeated Melbourne 4.7.31 in Round 13, 2016 at the SCG The stronger-bodied Sydney Swans strangled a young Demon team that couldn't handle the conditions when torrential rain hit the harbour city. The Swans applied an AFL-record 155 tackles, kicked eight goals to two in the second half and Lance Franklin's four goals matched the Demons' entire tally for the game. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Michael Hibberd, Oscar McDonald, Neville Jetta HB: Jordan Lewis, Sam Frost, Jayden Hunt C: James Harmes, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince HF: Billy Stretch, Cameron Pedersen, Christian Petracca F: Clayton Oliver, Tom McDonald, Alex Neal-Bullen FOLL: Max Gawn, Jake Melksham, Jack Viney I/C: Tomas Bugg , Mitch Hannan, Josh Wagner, Mitch White EMG: Dion Johnstone, Jack Trengove, Sam Weideman IN: Josh Wagner, Mitch White OUT: Jeff Garlett (hamstring), Christian Salem (hamstring) SYDNEY B: Nic Newman, Heath Grundy, Nick Smith HB: Zak Jones, Dane Rampe, Jake Lloyd C: Isaac Heeney, Josh P. Kennedy, Callum Mills HF: George Hewett, Lance Franklin, Kieren Jack F: Gary Rohan, Sam Reid, Tom Papley FOLL: Sam Naismith, Dan Hannebery, Luke Parker I/C: Oliver Florent, Jarrad McVeigh, Lewis Melican, Dean Towers EMG: Jordan Foote, Jeremy Laidler, Callum Sinclair IN: Zak Jones, Jarrad McVeigh OUT: Will Hayward (foot), Callum Sinclair (omitted) FRIDAY OFF OUR MINDS Melbourne has been a stranger to Friday night football for far too long, having been completely deprived of the lucrative prime time home fixture for five years - and for the good reason that the team was simply not good enough to showcase its wares in front of national television audiences on the sport's biggest night of the week. The most recent Friday night games have generally turned into disasters for Melbourne like the "bruise-free" match against Carlton or the time the Hawks crushed an embarrassing, lifeless Demon combination into complete submission. That effort was probably the last straw that caused their banishment from the Friday scene by the AFL from 2012 until now. The Friday night wins have been few and far between, the most recent being the time they got their act together against the Bombers in 2011 under Dean Bailey but that was an Essendon home game. You have to go back a lot further to the last Friday night MCG home win which came in round six, 2006 when Melbourne scraped home by a goal in the rain against an inaccurate Geelong. A fortnight later that Demons beat Hawthorn there by 75 points as the "visiting" side. Ironically, the Hawks' list at the time included two youngsters in the early stages of their careers - Buddy Franklin and Jordan Lewis. Both were missing through injury that night and both returned the following week. The rest is history for them and the Hawks but coincidentally they will line up on Friday night in opposing teams. Both sides pinched narrow victories in their last up starts and both have strong midfields (Demons are ranked equal third in the competition for clearances: the Swans are ninth). Franklin is the one true game-breaker among the two sides and he will be extra dangerous for fact that last Friday night he was held goalless. That doesn't happen very often. But Melbourne doesn't rely on any one individual. The strength of the team comes from its evenness and a statistic that does not lie - Demons are the AFL's highest disposal team in 2017, averaging 412.3 per game. They have won the disposal count in 12 of their 13 games while the Swans are ranked 13th in this area. The consequence is that for the long-awaited return to the game's centre stage on Friday night, the world is going to see plenty of the red and blue on the wide expanses of the MCG. With Max Gawn back to start the dominance from stoppages, I'm tipping a Demon win by 10 points.

So the AFL is claiming that their Tribunal in the Houli case got it wrong and that no reasonable tribunal could have come to that decision on the evidence. So they are saying they stuffed up. The same tribunal that found Schofield not guilty of elbowing Oliver to the face, even though Schofield admitted doing it, though with very low impact. Sounds like they should be appealing both cases.

I apologise for being pedantic, but seeing 'sprewking' and 'sprewk' is rather disconcerting as it is so close to another word which means 'vomit' and 'vomiting'. Try using 'spruik' and 'spruiking' from hereon and I'll feel less nauseous.

Don't forget some of those 40,000 plus members are also MCC members who won't dip into the 30k allocation. (Why am I allowing myself to indulge in discussion about Melbourne in a Grand Final? I thought I had screwed the lid down tight. Clearly not tight enough.)

What? As dieter said, FMD! So much for all those weasel words of Gill's a few weeks back about not liking punching in the game. Now you can knock a bloke out cold and get less than Lewis or Trengrove did, or elbow one in the chin at half-time and get off scot-free! It seems they are doing their best to undo a lot of good work over the past couple of decades, which has seen a lot of the behind-the-play thuggery taken out of the game. I guess this also gives everyone suspended by the MRP a licence to appeal, as the Tribunal appears to be as weak as water. What next? Clarry getting cited for chinning Schofield in the elbow? It seems the AFL couldn't find the plot if it bit them on the backside ...

Basically they are saying 1/ the umpire is a liar 2/ Oliver is a liar 3/ the MFC doctor is a liar 4/ Schofield is a victim Geez I hate the AFL HQ, and their front, Gill more than I thought I could ever do.