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Gus's dad (Mark) was interviewed on SEN this morning. His comments: Gus' recovery took longer than he (Mark) thought it would Gus's mum is thrilled he is wearing a helmet. Cheekily added that Gus says (paraphrasing): he is wearing it just to please his mum. Gus is in the frame to pay sooner rather than later. Garry then said Dees' fans would lover to see him play on Sunday. Mark did not give much away. Its good to hear his mum is happy about the helmet as earlier in the year Mark said she was quite distressed about the head knocks. If a helmet helps Gus's frame of mind, be it confidence or not worrying his mum, then great. Don't be surprised if he is selected tonight! It will be great to see Gus on the G again. It may take a few games to get into the swing of it but its great to know he would be ready for finals, if we get there...

Dont worry Beau Wilkes/Maister will come out of retirement and kick another bag of 5 against us

With fans like you.......

I'm suspicious of your motives as poster 64. Six negative posts to start you time on Demonland. Comments sure to raise hackles. We've been to this rodeo before on DL. Do you barrack for the demons?

I'm SO GOD DAM SICK of hearing how our "young side" is starting to show signs of exhaustion after a long, hard, challenging season. While our soft supporters keep making these pathetic excuses.. Other "young" teams like Saints are beating the Eagles.. Blues are pushing possible finals bound sides in Essendon, Brisbane arguably the youngest side are pushing the Dogs to the very end.. and these sides mind you, have absolutely nothing to play for! As far as i'm concerned, Melbourne are ahead of the saints, blues, brisbane & all the other teams below us.. in all facets. Time to harden the F**K UP and just win .. NO MORE EXCUSES!

No he didn't. He posted video from a band playing a concert in a pub like venue. He's not partying or anything, just watching a band play. This is the reason he gets slammed by everyone for his commitment or lack there of. Misinformation. If Jack is dropped then we've obviously given up and don't want to play finals. We haven't kicked a decent score in nearly 2 months, and we'd be dropping our second highest scorer of the past two years.

I don't understand this logic. The majority of his head knocks came in the VFL. If he is ready to go and in form he plays AFL, simple as that.

Hird's "good bloke" genes must be something powerful to overcome landing the AFL in its biggest scandal in its history. game in disrepute bees d*ck from an entire team being suspended swathe of sackings and resignations fines galore possibility of future health issues ... stacked up against: good bloke

As if i give a Flying F what you think Robinson. You really are the dumbest thickest turd of a man. After what you said about Alex Fosolo?? what an absolute Hypercrite you are F off yourself and look at the long term issue. Checked on Nathan Lovett-Murray's daughter and her health issues lately?? Hird will be booed until paperwork is shown, either Essendrug, Dank or both still have access to records i am sure.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/08/10/you-re-a-coward-if-you-boo-james-hird-robbo The only coward I see is the head footy writer at the Herald Sun who protected Hird during the drug saga and was a cheerleader for the disgraced Essendon Football Club. If only the term 'fake news' was around during that time, Robbo would have been crowned the king.

You may be loyal but you remind me of the 'supporter' sitting in front of me at a certain match. Every time Watts went near the ball he'd start making negative remarks, bemonaing the worst #1 pick of all time. Didn't even notice when Watts did something very skilful which led to a goal. He seemed to get more joy out of bagging Watts than anything else. I wondered why he followed the footy at all.

Spare me numbnuts you really are disturbed.lm not wasting my time justifying my loyalty.

MODS - THERE ARE ONCE AGAIN TWO THREADS RUNNING IN PARALLEL. PLEASE MERGE. Preferably in the future, leave the speculative one running up until the official team list is announced, and lock the other one until the same time. Only then can we seperate the speculation from the facts.

rest of the world sporting community will be puzzled if not outraged the afl never wanted wada/asada oversight and only accepted it under political and financial gov pressure they are still (unofficially) unaccepting and behaving like a petulant child

Would be nice to have what used to be called a "regulation win" once in a while instead of all these season defining games

Angus bray to play according to my unimpeachable source Apologies if already reported

His ears must be burning, no matter the time of day, Watts gets a whack. If he is lacking effort the selectors will drop him, full stop. There are many more players to pick on than Watts. Lewis is allowed to kick the ball longer than 30 metres but I rarely see it and don't get me started on the kick that broke Jesses collarbone. Bernie has brain fades every second week. Frost runs like the wind but his decision making the last two weeks has been horrid. Salem's influence since coming back is on par with Watts. The last few weeks don't resemble the team we were in the first half of the season and to single out one bloke is unfair.

James brayshaw just hinted his nephew could be playing this weekend.

Of course the first rule of finals ? Make bloody damn sure you're in them before getting too cute !!

Were you in a coma in 2015?

Feeling like his wife cheated on him?!! Please! Typical star footballer that has never had someone say 'no' to him until it's too late and it all turns to sh!t. Then still cant understand why. Carey, Ablett snr, Jobe, Hird.... different situations but all oblivious to the consequences of their actions. IT WAS YOU WHO DID THE CHEATING JOBE!!!

While he may deserve to, this is not a game to be making a statement. If he goes then we have pedo and weideman as the talls up forward... that.. is terrifying.

Watts was definitely improved in the 2H last week, in fact I thought he was better than pedo all game. Dropping him this week would be a big mistake in my mind. Hes played some big roles in big games over the last couple of years, I would absolutely back him in to do it again.

SEN were all over the today - saying that they hope that Hird won't get booed when he gets up to present the meal, as it would deflate the day. They also said that he maybe should be welcomed back into the footy media FCS!! I guess Carey is there, and which is worse.....acceding to your whole team being drug guinea pigs in an uncontrolled, unregulated clinical trial, or glassing women? Well, I WILL boo him then cheer the winner of the award. He remains totally and unashamedly unrepentant.

Be great to see Gus play again. Good luck hope all goes well?

Jesse is loved by one and all at the club and has more ties in Melbourne off field than most know about and a strong support group. Too many journos writing too much rubbish and innuendo at this time of year.

For me, the most frustrating thing about Wattsy is that we get glimpses of what he's capable of and know what he can do. Then when he goes quiet and doesn't deliver those goods regularly, it's definitely bloody annoying for me, let alone everyone else. Wasted talent is more frustrating than just pure lack of effort. To use one of the favourite words around here: his effort since the injury comeback has been PUTRID!

Yes I agree very much! This weekly comment that we are a young team tiring is just garbage. We have the same level of fitness and fatigue as all sides. These are pathetic excuses and frankly sick of hearing it. We are in the mix and need to make a stand. Don't give me young side and tired rubbish...give me what is expected and that is a finals appearance after 10 years of putrid football.

I wouldn't be against him being selected but for me I think given everything he's been through it would still be prudent for him to continue at Casey. His position isn't something we're in dire need of at the minute and I think he still needs time to feel confident in his body again. Much as I would love to see him out on the G again.

I actually wouldn't mind Bulldogs beating GWS tomorrow night and then winning their remaining games. If they did and we snuck into 8th, the final 8 could look like this: Adelaide Richmond GWS Bulldogs Geelong Port Adel Sydney Melbourne Week 1 - Geelong V Melbourne, MCG (It won't be at Simmonds IMO) Week 2 - Bulldogs V Melbourne, MCG Week 3 - Richmond V Melbourn, MCG Week 4 - Adelaide V Melbourne, MCG Sounds good, right?

Are the crows still Interested in Jordie McKenzie?

Who the heck would taper and put themselves in the position where they have to win 3 out of their last 3 games to just make the finals? Odd.

Only a dumb club would trade Weid when he is a 2nd year key fwd with potential. He's worth more to us going ahead than his value now on the open market. I'd much rather Kelly or Devon Smith or Kennedy or Hopper from GWS than Patten or Lobbe. We are still badly short of quality mid depth, particularly outside quality. Dont get me wrong, Lever would be a good get, but I'd wet my pants if we got Kelly.

His beliefs ? His lies, his bullshlt. He's taken his penalty, as if he had a choice. Where's his admissions ? Guy's a drugcheat and a fraud. #wherescharlie

I was immediately struck by the hypocrisy reading today that Tim Watson was all over protecting players' health in the debate over concussions: where was he in the debate about players' health throughout the EssenDrug saga?

I actually think we are loosing our center dominance as a result of having max in the ruck. We have played our best games when we have a clear knowledge of what will happen in the ruck duel. When max was out we knew we would loose the ruck contest, so we planned for that by simply assuming it would be hit straight to one of the opposition players and manning up hard on those players looking to shark it off them. At the moment max is not in his best form, but we are setting up as if we will win the ruck contest, but since that is not happening we are winning little of the center clearance. i say we go back to playing pedo or watts or similar in ruck, assume we will loose the contest, and go back to what was working for us, sharking it off the opposition ruck. Play max forward around 35m out from goal to create a target for the long bomb we so dearly love, and play our crumbing forwards around or behind him for when it hits the deck or for the quit handball over the back.

This thought occurred to me this week after a couple of really flat performances. A few years ago it was common for top teams to go off the boil for a few weeks in the lead up to the finals. This was often put down to the players being put through a heavy load of training so that they would be primed for action in September. I seem to recall both Adelaide teams that won flags went through a flat spot close to the end of the season. Noting that Goodwin was very much involved in the success I wonder if it might be a reason for the apparent lack of energy displayed, particularly in the last 2.5 weeks. In addition, Goodwin keeps repeating that it only matters where you finish after R23, maybe the coaches expected a drop off. Although its noted that if they did they have cut it very fine ?. Anyway, it was just a thought. Have any regular trackwatchers noted any heavier than usual loads?

Steak and blowjob night every night also sounds good to me, but like this post, it's just a fantasy.

I hope if/when Gus comes back supporters are patient if he takes a few games to work his way back. Cause we were all saying similar things about Hogan a few weeks back, and look how long that lasted. Some want him to be traded FFS!

Oliver, Petracca and Kelly in the midfield. Talk about the perfect blend. Three young superstars all with their own rare and incredible skillsets. Ok Ill stop dreaming now....

Gee we are all so sanctimonious about a person who stuck to his beliefs and wore the penalty to his detriment. Leave him be and reflect on his football. He has been a bigger credit to the game than many of his harshest critics.

Maybe so, but for JC to come back in 3 days after his injury report - fair effort

Didn't work in Round 1. Maxy has worked it out. Nervous as all hell about this one. Lose it and we will be super, super lucky to sneak into the 8. Win it and we're back on track. Please win it.

If we can sneak into the 8 and walk away with the Cup from where we're at then I'll consider it a better come back than Jesus Christ.

As good as he has been in patches this year, there has been zero intensity in the last 2 games of footy and for such an important cog - its not good enough. The jogging, the limp wristed tackles and most importantly the body language. He just looks like its all too much. There is a hell of a lot to play for this Sunday. I just hope we get the Watts that WANTS to play is there.

Your a glass-half-full kind of guy?

Absolutely, next three weeks are almost like finals for us now. All our players should be absolutely desperate for success by now and leave the ground each week with nothing in the tank. We do have some depth to rotate players like Brashaw, Hannan, Wagner, Stretch, JKH, Bugg and Hogan back into the side if needed.

Where were all you Watts critics when Jack ran and ran to make position at the G then ran his heart out to kick that amazing goal under huge pressure to win the QB game for us. Still a spine tingling moment. He was playing injured long before he was ousted by a hamstring injury. Remember the back spasms, remember the ankle injury. He probably is still playing injured. Many of our players are down, particularly forwards: look at Garland, Petracca, Tom Mc since the bye. I'm over the Watts bashing. Go pick on some else!

Some of the pessimism on this forum is palpable at the moment, typified by @Danelska's thread Lack of Finals = Failed Season?. Seasons not over yet, @Nasher, please shut down the aforementioned topic. We are presently in the best position to make finals thay we have been in over a decade. Win three very winnable games and we are almost assured of playing finals. If we loose to any of those teams, we don't deserve to play finals anyway. Yes our form has dipped over the last month in the absence of our A grade midfield, but few clubs in the AFL could have maintained their best form in the face of the injuries we had over that period. It happens otherwise sometimes, but again most players take a week or two to hit their straps upon return (i.e. Jones, Watts). Our best footy this year is capable of beating any side in the comp, we just need to find that in the next few weeks. Melbourne supporters need to turn out on mass to all of our three remaining games at the MCG, get behind the boys and hopefully some where else the week after that when we will be again playing in September. CARN THE MIGHTY DEMONS!

The Hawks doctor was on the radio last week and went into quite a lot of details around concussion - he is the league's expert and was just about to head off to a world conference. Anyway, he was asked about helmets and basically said they could help prevent the impact type concussions (punches, ball hits etc) as they can help to soften the blows, the concussions caused by "shaking" where as you said the brain floats around and causes the injury the helmet would have no effect. The issue of repeat concussions was also brought up, and surprisingly he said that there not really connected as the brain has different areas which have different functions. So while there is a need to be careful, one concussion doesn't really lead to another or is connected with a previous one, good news for Gus I'd hope. Might explain why he's wearing the helmet, one of the concussions was from the ball hitting him on a wet day at Casey and another was from a hit behind play, so the helmet may have helped to lessen the blow in those instances.