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Many will have seen that Australian golfer Jarrod Lyle has made the heartbreaking decision to go into palliative care after a third battle with cancer. Jarrod is a Melbourne supporter so I just wanted to send love to a fellow Demon supporter and his family during what must be the most harrowing of experiences.

I honestly cannot wait to finally get some fixture reward next year. It will have so many benefits from membership all the way through to getting more experience playing games on the big stage. The club has worked incredibly hard on all levels to get us to this point and I couldn't be happier we are starting to see the fruits of this labor. Well done MFC - exciting times indeed!

Criticism of Jones is ridiculous. He's having the exact impact we need from him. He's a good decision maker who wins the majority of contests he attends. Perhaps not as creative as say, Clarry, but then again, who is? There are plenty of areas of improvement to discuss without worrying about a high-performing club great!

A hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer, and the best cold beer is VANDEN. VANDENBERG

Maybe I’m a romantic - is Bugg still relevant in the FD’s eyes? I personally rate him, and also personally don’t think his reportable offence was anywhere near deliberate as people make out (this isn’t the point to debate)- I can even excuse his goal kicking yips because he was getting himself in to position. AND nor do I think he is a ‘pest’. All that preface for one question - will he get a game again for the dees?

My day is done after hearing that, so bloody sad. Here we are crapping on about the little things in footy, then you have a true blue gentle aussie about to leave his kids behind. Have met him once, lovely bloke. Catch yas tomorrow.

from someone who has seen what this terrible disease does on both sides. I wish him and his family all the best , I hope he spends what time he has with family and makes memories for them. Its so very hard going forward as a widowed partner with young children

He played out the game so it can't be that serious. The cynical part of me thinks that that we are coming up with an excuse for resting him without appearing to be complacent against a weak side.

As fantastic as Grundy has been for Collingwood this season, surely this stat gives Maxy the edge in the battle for AA? Mind boggling numbers.

This. The AFL are beholden to all sorts of influences and have taken around 6 different stances on Friday night games and who deserves them. I don't believe anything they say.

Believe it when I see it DL

The AFL should consider cutting off the toes of some NEAFL players so we can test if this would be effective.

They have their agenda, and fairness and equity have absolutely nothing to do with it, whatever they say. Lying, and making up rules on the run are part of their DNA. I suspect that when Vlad resigned, and the search was on for his replacement, these were the top rated KPIs, and Gill met the criteria better than any.

He has gone through an unbelievable battle with amazing grace and dignity. I wish his he and his family all the best at this ridiculously difficult time.

I'm Batman.

My dearest football wish is for the MFC to win a flag.

Chris Dawes must be kicking himself, that tactic would’ve suited him perfectly as the ball used to bounce off his hands repeatedly

I've joked about posting such comments without any indication of the source (even vague ones) that give readers some capacity to make an assessment of the reliability of the information is against the DL code of conduct. But perhaps those jokes were a little passive aggressive So i'm going to change tack. If you are going to post comments as serious in implication as this include a [censored] source!!!!!

We're the highest scoring team in the league by quite a large margin - I'm not sure we need to change up too much in that particular area...

Gastro should have made him free flowing.

I don't even know what I said. But I'm sure it was right.

ONE GAME AT A TIME by Whispering Jack The perceived wisdom for fans of our code of football is that when you approach the pointy end of the season, it's not proper to discuss anything other than your team’s next game. The unwritten rule is that you must take things one game at a time. I really would have liked to engage in speculation about what might happen beyond next Sunday and even dared to dream, as was suggested in a newspaper article earlier this week, of a rollicking finish to the season involving action deep into the month of September after a single important win that would engender the necessary self-belief into Melbourne’s team just as one such win did with Richmond last year. The possibilities of such thoughts and dreams are endless but it can’t be done – you must take things one game at a time. And rightly so when the Demons are part of the conversation. One of their more recent defeats came at the hands of St Kilda, a team with a disappointing record of 4½ wins and a percentage of 75.7 this season. But it was last year that they turned losing games when hot favourite to win into an art form, going down to the lowly Dockers, Hawks, Kangaroos (twice) and Collingwood at the death in the final round of 2017. All that in a season where they missed a finals berth by the narrowest margin in the history of the competition. And so ... despite the fact that highest and lowest-scoring sides are pitted against each other, one being sixth-placed and the other second from bottom of the ladder, it is with trepidation that I take on the task of previewing Sunday’s game at the MCG between Melbourne, fresh from a strong victory in Adelaide and the Gold Coast Suns who are coming off a shattering defeat at the hands of likely wooden spooners in Carlton. THE GAME Melbourne v Gold Coast Suns at The MCG Sunday 5 August, 2018 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall - Melbourne 8 wins Gold Coast Suns 3 wins At The MCG - Melbourne 4 wins Gold Coast Suns 2 wins Past five matches - Melbourne 5 wins Gold Coast Suns 0 wins The Coaches - Goodwin 1 win Dew 0 wins MEDIA TV - Channel 7 Fox Sports 3 - Live at 3.00pm RADIO - Triple M (Regional) 3AW ABC ABC Grandstand THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 21.20.146 defeated Gold Coast Suns 11.11.77 at The Gabba Round 8, 2018 Melbourne started slowly but the foot went on the accelerator during the third term and finished up winning by 69 points, kicking 13 second-half goals to six. Tom McDonald booted five goals in his third game back after an injury lay-off. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Bernie Vince, Sam Frost, Neville Jetta HB: Christian Salem, Oscar McDonald, Jordan Lewis ? Dom Tyson, Clayton Oliver, James Harmes HF: Aaron vandenBerg, Jesse Hogan, Bayley Fritsch F: Jeff Garlett, Tom McDonald, Jay Kennedy Harris Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Angus Brayshaw I/C: Alex Neal-Bullen, Christian Petracca, Charlie Spargo, Joel Smith Emg: Jayden Hunt, Dean Kent, Cameron Pedersen, Tim Smith In: Aaron vandenBerg Out: Jake Melksham (hamstring) GOLD COAST SUNS B: Callum Ah Chee, Max Spencer, Jarrod Harbrow HB: Pearce Hanley, Jack Leslie, Kade Kolodjashnij ? Lachie Weller, Jesse Lonergan, Jack Bowes HF: Nick Holman, Peter Wright, Alex Sexton F: Wil Powell, Aaron Young, Sean Lemmens Foll: Jarrod Witts, Will Brodie, Touk Miller I/C (from): Jacob Dawson, Brayden Fiorini, Jacob Heron, Michael Rischitelli Emg: Ben Ainsworth, Michael Barlow, Jesse Joyce, Jarryd Lyons In: Callum Ah Chee, Jacob Dawson, Pearce Hanley, Jack Leslie, Max Spencer Out: Jesse Joyce (omitted) Jarryd Lyons (omitted) Steven May (suspension), David Swallow (concussion) Rory Thompson (hamstring) After two weeks of high pressure games in hostile territory, the Demons return home and while, the Gold Coast Suns might not be considered capable of applying the sort of pressure experienced against opposition teams at GMHBA or at the Adelaide Oval, they can’t be taken lightly. The AFL is a competition that throws up at least one upset result in almost every round and the Demons can ill-afford another outcome such as the one they experienced early last month against the Saints. I also harboured some concerns that the Gold Coast Suns players might react aggressively to the revelations about Tom Lynch not being at the club next season and the decision to strip him of the captaincy but upon looking at their “outs” and their injury list, I wonder if any of those left in the team even know their deposed skipper at all. The Suns are one of the strongest tackling sides in the competition, a feature that came to the fore when they defeated the Swans recently on the SCG. That’s exactly why Melbourne should be going into the game with a mindset intent on winning first and then worrying about the opportunity for as percentage booster. The Demons have dominated Gold Coast in their last five outings at various venues around the country and their style of play should give them the edge again this week. They are the competition’s strongest side in midfield contests, in high scoring and going inside 50. They have experienced few problems getting the ball into scoring range but their efficiency near goal has left something to be desired. There have been a few occasions this year when they dominated the inside 50s and lost games. This is the area where they should be improving their game if they want to play finals. With the likes of Jesse Hogan and Tom McDonald and a bevy of small to medium players capable of scoring goals, they should be taking advantage of the midfield dominance of the competition’s leading tap ruckman and the young midfield led by Clarrie Oliver, Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw. Gold Coast is also struggling for leadership and without co-captains Tom Lynch and Steven May and their most talented player in Jack Martin who starred earlier in the season with four goals in a losing team, I can’t see them kicking anything near to a winning score. Melbourne by 50 points.

Not serious. I guess.

Coniglio is a free agent and would be a big upgrade on Tyson. I could see him being a good fit for Goodwin's style. Jack Martin is contracted until the end of next year, but I'd love us to make a play for him. He'd be a great fit swinging between wing and HF. Has pace, marks well above his head and can win contested ball when he needs to. I also wouldn't mind us sounding out Daniel Rich. He's a good solid player with an exceptional boot and we are desperate for good footskills.

i worry about the fact that so many supporters write off our players so easily, most are still young and developing and will over time get better. Bugg seems to be a reasonably good option going forward or even as a tagger, he is hard at it. yes he has missed some goals in the past but he has also kicked a few. We need to best team out on the field for the next few weeks to get us through to the finals and hopefully get some Viney and co back. To disregard his form and take others who are not doing as well in the VFL is foolish. during the year there has been a lot of people putting down frost, he has come out and done the job better than some of the newer recruits. We need to give these guys time to improve and not write them off so quickly. supporting a club also means supporting the players.

Perhaps it is code for ‘rest’....

would prefer Kent over AVB at this point. Perhaps Bugg? As I keep lamenting... for a winning VFL side there is not really great depth

We'll be rewarded with two Fri games, one coming off a 5 day break, against GCS at the Gabba. The other against WB at Ballarat in an icy gale in front of 2000 people. Carlton will be punished by only getting 5 Fri games, and only 4 of them against top drawing clubs. Collingwood will experience the full warmth of the AFL's merit based Fri night selection. For their crowd pleasing style & ladder climbing prowess they will earn 8 Fri nite games.

I don't really care when / where the game is, I know Friday nights mean more money however as long as we win I don't give a rat's where it is or at any time. If we won 22 games they can play them in Darwin at 9pm sunday.

Time to get ruthless!

Agree. I think the thing in our favor is that we are high scoring and the value of a game to a tv network is a function of ratings plus advertising time (ads after each goal). If Friday ratings are not traditionally correlated to how well a club is supported, but rather how important the game is, or how tight a contest is expected, we might actually fit the criteria for once.

To further back up his AA credentials Max leads the Coaches votes on 80 while Grundy is 11th on 56. Coaches know a thing or two about this game so if Grundy gets the AA nod ahead of Max it is only as the AFL selectors like to play up to the 'Power' clubs.

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That would be great Binman. Although we made the thread mainly about horseys, i always like to post any other bet that i like across a wide range of sports. So feel free. I will certainly be having a look at your best.

I would just like to wish all horseys a Happy Birthday on August 1st behalf of everyone here at Day at the Races punters club. 4 weeks till spring!

Photos from the interview.

I like the confidence on here about the prospect of a large percentage booster, but I hope the players don't take that attitude into the game. Just stick fat to our game plan and structures, and the margin will take care of itself.

Can the banner this week have a message for him or the duck symbol

I’m surprised so many are writing Sydney off, we all know what they’re like.

While we wait for this weeks game, thought Id put together a Melbourne Under 23 team. I knew we had impressive young talent, but I had no idea how many were still in that age bracket. The cutoff was all players must still be 23 at the end of 2018. B: Hunt - O.McDonald - J.Smith HB: Baker - Lever - Salem C : Harmes - Petracca - ANB HF: Fritsch - Hogan - Stretch F : JKH - Weideman - Spargo R: King - Oliver - Brayshaw Bench : Keilty - Petty - Balic - Johnstone This team would beat Gold Coast, Carlton, Freo, Doggies and more.

He wouldn't be able to walk for a while. Might need a toe truck. #dad

We were tremendous again for the second week in a row - under-manned, away at a hostile environment against nearly full-strength decent opposition. Of course for the "wins are all that matter" crowd it must be: vs Geelong = bad while vs Adelaide = good. And the "mentally weak" crowd desperately searching for faults against Adelaide to maintain their slippery critical grip.

Completely agree VP. I was a bit worried going to this game, especially standing on the hill and it being a Sat night game. But the crows fans were great, I was more annoyed by some Dees fans that were trying to egg on the home fans into a confrontation for some reason. Was out and about after the game with my scarf on and had many chats with crows fans with no dramas. quite refreshing!

old dee, cast your mind back to the Melksham trade. He got rubbed out for the season a few short weeks after the trade was done. The outrage and frustration at trading a valuable second rounder for a player who couldn’t play was palpable. Now nobody gives a toss, because he’s playing good footy again. When you recruit a player with a huge amount of footy ahead, the value plays out over their entire career, not just year 1. Lever will more than repay the cost. He had already started before the injury. If short term success was the measure of success for a trade, Mitch Clark was the greatest trade in history.

Paul Hasleby was on SEN a short time ago and stated a story was breaking over in the West about J Kennedy possibly missing the next 3-4 weeks for the Eagles.

I am hoping my 10$ on Gawny to win the brownlow at $81 gets up!