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82 Years Young. Let's get him another premiership.

Nevs not injured, he did both the International Series and AFLX so they rested him because he has already done enough work load this preseason

One of the best parts of this game was not having to watch Jack Watts. I've always wanted him to succeed and loved his skills . I also hope he does well at Port Adelaide. But on the weekend I could just watch the game see all the players playing to their abilities and not have to worry and hope that Jack played a good one. Win or lose it’s going to make this year a little more relaxing

Didn't we do a Richmond last year by finishing ninth in the most cruel and agonising way possible?

I would happily pay a small fee, on par with what the AFL app charges, to be able to watch Melbourne games live on my TV. But TV rights are apparently different to streaming rights, even though in my home there is no difference between an internet streaming device and my TV. My TV is an internet enabled device and should be treated as such by the relevant stakeholders. I do not watch free to air and will not pay extortionate 'package' rates to foxtel for content I will not watch to view 2 hours a week of content I do watch (1 Melbourne game per week). They're forcing an out-dated business model down the public's throat and frankly it makes me angry. I am a 32 year old male white collar worker with a family. I sit in a highly valued demographic for advertisers because of my disposable income and age. Their advertisers can't reach me because they're using this idiotic agreement that says internet streaming should be restricted to a 7 inch diagonal screen. In my house all screens are streaming devices. I am literally sitting here saying I am willing to pay for the AFL's content. Real dollars. Right now. But I want to watch it in HD on my TV screen, not on my piddly little tablet/phone. Let's have a little perspective here AFL. I pay $18 per month for a Netlix subscription, which provides 4 family members with countless hours of entertainment every week. Lets say, conservatively, 1 hour per day per person. 28 hours of TV per week for $18 a month. All I'm asking is 2 hours a week, for 1 person (1 MFC game per week). I'd even pay the same rate as I pay Netflix - $18 per month. The only way I can get this content is to pay Foxtel $50 a month. For one screen. For 2 hours a week, for content 1 person in the family will watch and a whole lot of crud mixed in. Or I can pay Telstra $100 ($12.50 per month for an 8 month season) to watch it on my goddamn phone. These are not options. These are carefully curated business practices designed to make me pay more (Foxtel) for less (2 hours a week).

I don't like being compared to Richmond on anything.

Where did he go?

Awesome, we always respond well when the media pumps us up.

Yes Happy Birthday RDB, who with the sad passing of Tulip, is now the sole most famous living legend of the club.

Is Sam Edmund a Collingwood supporter? Who the hell is Jaydn Stephenson. And how can a drink driver be marketable?

other I found it hard to pick a complete standout. It was probably the best team effort I have seen for many a year 12 individual goal kickers says a lot. I haven't seen the stats, but it must have been the closest bunch of numbers for a melb. team.

If Im remembering it right we got in 2 late picks as steak knives when we traded pick 25 (?) to GWS for Frost. Those steak knives got us O mac and ANB. So, Frost, ANB and O mac for pick 25 looks pretty frikn good to me.

Of the 3 selections, I went with ANB. Gawny looks in terrific nick and Fritsch jagged 3 goals in a really good first up performance, but the continual improvement from ANB has been great to watch. I was also impressed with Melksham's game and what he brings to the side at the moment.

His rate of improvement is phenomenal. The other player that has looked twice the player is Harmes. He could be a revelation as a rotating mid. Plus, of course, Melksham, who really is a class footballer and a difficult matchup. In fact, many players are elevating their game.

I don't like these type of pre-season hype articles. They weren't there for Doggies or Richmond before the start of their premiership-winning seasons. I just hope we don't get sucked in. I'd rather prove the doubters wrong. Go Dees!

The hell dude, why tag me in something to give me a back handed slap?

Nibbler and Harmes showed clear signs they can go to a new level this year. But for a first outing, it’s impossible to go past Fritsch. We have found ourselves a gem.

Hard runners who while not quick have smart lateral movement which gets them into space. Both pokey right footers who look naturally untidy by foot but are surprisingly effective. Hard at it inside with good hands into space.

I found that I can cast replays to my TV, just not live streams. So it may suffice for the OP.

You missed the strong mark man on man against brown and neat kick from our gun defender that set that goal up. ?

I think his best feature is that he can stop on a dime, swivel and kick accurately off a step. He also gets to where the ball is, very very well.

ANB reminds me of a young Lenny Hayes. The difference between ANB and Stretch is one is playing on instinct and with confidence the other appears to be overthinking every move and worried to make an error so takes safe options. He comes across as very robotic at present and may just need to relax and take some chances. Hopefully it al comes together for him soon.

Not a bad year for recruiting. Petracca, Brayshaw, ANB, Stretch and O McDonald in the draft and Garlett as a trade. (Also picked up Lumumba, and lost Frawley and Clark)

Not sure there are any teams out there who can dominate a year (18, 19 wins) so a top 4 finish probably means that a team just needs to get to 15 or 16 wins. Probably. Given a reasonable run with injuries we can win about 11 - 16 games ... anything less than that means we've either had a wretched run with injuries or we're in strife. The area we need to get a lot better - pace and quick movement away from the packs & stoppages. However, we are sometimes very good in that area when the opposition allows us to be very good. Other times we're ok or reasonable. In round 23 last year we got exposed in that very area. Fix that and maintain improvement in other aspects and we'll win games that we should win. But lets face it, Rome wasn't built in a day and we've come a long way in 3 or 4 years (from a very ordinary base) We've building a decent list of players so the coaches will have something to work with. If a lot of things go our way we can contend. Our list isn't that good (yet) where we could be described as a dominant team. What is in our favour is that the league is more of an even competition these days.

I have us down for the next 3 flags. Relax, we've got this

I'm not over the moon about our depth and I think depth in general is a little overrated. Most teams have similar players in the 25-32 range who aren't regulars for a reason. Injuries to top players are very hard to cover, injuries to middle tier players are best covered by the top guys still playing well! One thing that impacts how depth players are viewed is more mature depth players are often given little patience by the fans. I know I do that. The inherent bias is they are no good so you're waiting for them to stuff up. Where as younger players are often viewed positively when they come in. For example Dean Kent and Dion Johnstone could both come in and play the same game on a forward flank and Kent would be labelled a failure and DJ a success. Similarly the young guy might get a few weeks to prove himself whilst the older guy gets 1 or 2 games. Our list isn't really full of young kids so I think we'll at least have a variety of options if they stay healthy and there's about 6 or so who played on the weekend who might miss round 1 and have something to offer - Wagner, Brayshaw/Vince, Maynard, Stretch, Pedersen, and one of the small forwards. I'm also very keen to see Spargo, Baker, Joel Smith, DJ and Balic start playing some footy at Casey.

MAR18 0 Tom McDonald's younger brother's Birthday 18 March 2018

Has to be Gawn. Loved by not only all of us, but most of the fans from all teams.

I noticed this bit of play too. He’s clearly overthinking the game at the moment, hopefully that changes with time. I actually think he hasn’t been poorly coached by Goodwin and co. In his first year under Roos he excelled as a runner and outside option. When Goodwin took over, his coaching panel may have taken the “contested team” thing a bit too far. They specifically played Billy in the VFL to work on his inside game. He was played as an inside midfielder. He’s not an inside midfielder, and he never should be. It’s a waste of one of the few decent outside runners we have. I understand needing to develop multiple aspects to your game, but it has done nothing positive for Stretch. He’s not strong enough or quick enough mentally to play inside, and his lack of confidence in an assigned role he can perform has now caused his outside game to deteriorate. Hopefully the coaches recognize the mistake they made and let Billy get back to doing what he does best without having to overthink everything. We need quality outside run and Billy is one of the few on the list who can provide it. Nibbler just keeps on improving though. He’s developing nicely and is very versatile. Definite best 22 moving forward and a real barometer for our team IMO.

From :-http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=597 Timeline of VFL/AFL Broadcast Rights 1960 – the VFL rejects an offer of 14,000 pounds to broadcast the last quarter and replays 1971 – Ch2 and Ch7 pay $200,000 a year for 5 years ($1 million) to 1975 (replays) 1976 – Ch2 and Ch7 pay $600,000 a year for 5 years (3 million) to 1980 (replays) 1977 – Ch7 pays $200,000 to broadcast the night series 1977 – First live grand final broadcast, Ch7 pays $100,000 for that and again for the following grand final 1982 – Vic government bans the playing of VFL on Sunday 1985 – Ch7 pay 3.5 million for 1986 tv rights 1986 – Ch7 offer 2.7 million for 1987 season, offer rejected by the VFL 1986 – Broadcoms offer is accepted after exceeding the 1985 amount, rights onsold to ABC for 1.5 million 1986 – Ch7 rating plummet, offers broadcom 9 million to win rights back 1987 – Ch7 pays $6 million a year ($30 million) for 5 years from 1988 – 1992 1992 – Ch7 pays $17 million a year for 1993 – 1998 (100 million) 1998 – Ch7 Pays $40 million a year for rights to 2001 2001 – Fox, Ch9 and Ch10 pays $500 million for rights for 5 years from 2002-2006, Radio nets the AFl 2 million 2006 – Ch7, Ch10 and Foxtel bid $750 million for 5 years from 2007-2011, Radio nets the AFl 8 million 2011 – Ch7, Foxtel and Telstra bid 1.25 billion for 5 years to 2017. Radio 23.2 million -$250 million per year ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The current deal is $2.508 billion for 6 years - $418 million per year. This is a business and the AFL play this game well, the supporter is becoming less important as time goes on.

Target ? Practise i really hate Jeelong

"My favourite ruckman tackling my least favourite team mate" was gold Would love him commentating if he wasn't playing for us. A lot more genuine flavour and humour than the forced, boisterous, ego-inflated, obnoxious faux banter that's forced down our throats on a regular basis. *Cough* BT *cough*

Having looked at the video about 50 times I can't believe that this is the actual incident he was fined for. If this sets the precedent for the season then this will be ole Gil at seasons end.

it's gawn he's brilliant in the media and every broadcast wants a piece of him trac might be a good one for the future, but gawn's sense of humour and charisma makes him stand apart

Other Harmes has 'surprised' me the most this off-season, closely followed by Melksham, who's also gone to a new level.

I see us as a top 6 side this year. A good run with injuries and with some much needed momentum, and we’re even better than that. The ANZAC Day eve game against Richmond this year is going to be a belter. It’s not inconceivable to think we might get a crowd of 90,000 plus.

Meh. It’s footy. Anything can happen and predictions are useless. Forget what has happened in the past or what other teams have done/are doing. Just support our blokes, keep fingers crossed that we stay relatively injury free and with our progressive natural improvement we will be there in September. 2018 Premiers? Probably unlikely but the next 5 years or so will be great fun for Dee supporters regardless.

Yep... and if we just miss out on finals due to %, it will all come back to this I'll fated decision.

I remember this. At the time I was celebrating the goal and was shocked it was called a behind. The angle the TV had showed it going through the big sticks.

Sorry ifor this has been pointed out before, but I recon Tommy Mac might have been robbed of a great goal on Saturday. That one he wheels around from the boundary and snaps. Comentators said he missed and goal umpire flags a behind (Fox didn't show the hand signals that preceeded), but I thought at the time and have confirmed via freeze frame on the replay tonight that the ball clearly goes the right side of the post for a goal. The only possibly was that it might have skimed the post, but there isn't any obvious deflection. Mighty good shot at goal regardless and big Tommy is certainly showing some good forward line skills. Bring it on (again) in the season proper I say.

well said and nailed it. We also may be underestimating Nibblers natural ability. Stretch was better early on playing on instinct and maybe is 'too' professional. i think he will stick at it like Harmes and find a way soon enough.

I went Melksham In for a big year

Masterful trolling by KevB.

I look forward to this interpretation being consistently and impartially applied throughout the year. *laughs uncontrollably*

I think the problem was that everyone thought the Bulldogs flag was such a fluke, that there was no way it'd happen again. Then bugger me, Richmond came out and fluke a flag the very next year. All of a sudden it's a possibility that any time that finished 5-18th the year before could come in and get their fluke too. The media now know this and run with it to fill papers, so that they can then fill more papers later in the year when that team fails.

I was wrong on this bloke, I hated his disposal. He has improved with hard work to be a regular.

I also like the way he presents off-field. I'm not sure if that wins games but I like it anyway.

Scientists have discovered that the galaxy contains not just one giant black hole ,but a whole series of black holes ,much like those to be found in Robbos liver and brain. When Robbo saw his career counsellor after failing year 9 English ,she advised him that he would never make it as a forklift driver, which involves remaining sober for part of the day ,so he fell into a career as a Sports writer at The Herald Sun. From there he learnt to mangle the English language into his own creation ,using neither nouns nor verbs, but instead nicknames, as a substitute for context and meaning in sentences.The very mention of a popular or successful players' moniker gives the reader/listener both the subject matter and a hint at Robbos intimate knowledge of the game/player itself. After 5 failed marriages, Robbo has decided to give up searching for love on Filipino Brides.com and dedicate himself solely to AFL coverage and beer.When Robbo is not pursuing his only two passions, he sleeps in the janitors closet so as to be awoken at 9am ,fresh for work, by his trusty friend and ally Rajesh ,who sometimes lets Robbo borrow his Glen 20 as a deodorant substitute and will reluctantly lend him a jacket for TV appearances. Despite failing mental health and declining personal hygiene Robbo has built a fan base of 16 dedicated bar flies who have steadfastly attempted to listen to his rambling oratory and miscellaneous observations on beer nuts,bosoms and what great bloke James Hird is.Closing time is cited as Robbos deepest regret in life,one that constantly comes back to haunt him as he regales his followers with story after story after story after story.....Usually the same one repeated. Robbo has enjoyed all the fruits of a life in the media and has invested wisely over the years to prepare for his inevitable forced early retirement.He is rumoured to have shares in a Nigerian Oil syndicate backed by a large conglomeration of African Royalty ,which are expected to pay off handsomely after maturation.He is also alleged to have invested in Chemical production facilities that stretch along the Eastern seaboard from Lara to the Gold Coast with his "mate" Bomber. With his business acumen and his bloodhound -like ability to both smell a good story and smell like a bloodhound ,Robbo has excelled at making numerous friends across the country ,friends who are so busy and successful they never have time to answer their phones nor reply to his misspelt messages but that is the rarified oxygen he steals. He is truly a one-off.And an off-one at that.

In regards to the commentary I was pleasantly surprise by and enjoyed Gary Lyons comments. Huddo needs to learn our players names and Jono needs to stop hating Melbourne

We have more talent than GWS, or any other list. Yeah I said it. Debate me.