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Can’t wait to see him on a wing. If Hunt can return to form and claim the other wing we could go from no/average wings to seriously dangerous wings. Hunt for elite pace, KK for elite kicking. Here’s hoping one or both of them can stay injury free and build consistency!

I had previously read the "ongoing problems were neck related not concussion related" but this article adds a bit more insight. Apparently he kept failing concussion tests until they identified that the neck muscles ere giving him comparable symptoms. From his debut he played 67 of 75 games before the concussion issues. Missed the back half of 2017. Came back for the first 4 rounds of 2018, had lingering issues, thought it was concussion and took a couple of months to identity the issue. Commenced the neck exercises, and came back for 4 games towards the end (playing out of position as a KPD) when he was injured again. Has really only missed 1.5 seasons with the injury, and it was clear he was ready to leave during this season given the rumors etc. Lot's of upside for us.

Cheers Macca......I would have picked Alizee anyway ! Good luck.

Best Bet Randwick Race 8 Number 4 Deprive $2.50

Best Bet Randwick Race 6 No.1 Alizee $2.40

Wadda ya saying WWS ?... you sayin', Hi HO Gus ? ... maybe has has a case of Gustro ?

^ If all that happens, we play in a GF.

Yeah, fair enough Wadda and welcome back. I am like that with footy most years ... I switch off almost immediately after the GF and then tune back in for the 1st game of the season proper. I take a mild interest in the draft and the practice games but only if there are any standout stories. Hogan leaving kept me interested but as soon as the trade was done, that was it. I am the same with the NFL, Rugby League and a few other sports. I need a break from those sports. By contrast, the Horses, cricket, soccer and a few other sports can get my interest at any time of the year ... the Horses is almost every Saturday but the only races I really want to watch are the Group races from here in Oz or from overseas. And sometimes that might only be 1 or 2 feature races. But the interest remains. For instance: The summer carnival of racing from Queensland culminates with the Magic Millions meeting on the 12th of January ... and 2 weeks after that we get the Blue Diamond prelude's at Caulfield. So there's no escape for me! ?

Hey guys, im back. I think i will have a bit of a rest from DaTR for a few weeks. Looking forward to the Autumn racing though, which will start to get serious soon. Hope everyone is having a nice relaxing Xmas.

1. Full season from Viney 2. Trac has a breakout 3. Lever's full recovery 4. Weid build's on Geelong EF and signs early 5. Hunt and Kola get back to previous promise. 6. The Gawn/Preuss double delivers 7. TMac outscores the bloke that went west 8. May proves he is the gorilla tamer we have desperately needed

Troy Broadbridge, Melbourne Footballer (40 games, 2 goals between 2001 and 2004) married Trisha Silvers on 18 December 2004. Eight days later, while spending their honeymoon in the Phi Phi Islands, Thailand, Troy drowned after being swept out to sea by the tsunami that followed the Indian Ocean earthquake and killed an estimated 227,898 people. We will never forget him.

Forever rest in peace you big red fire engine.

It’s become very interesting Macca, a few questions are starting to be asked about City’s defence. Without watching the full games it’s hard to say where they are going wrong but from a few of the mini match replays I’ve been watching they have been on the end of some cracking goals against them. Townsend against Palace, Pereira against Leicester, world class goals. There’s hope for Spurs fans, red hot at the moment and as you point out, Liverpool needs to drop some points. Games against the ‘ Top’ clubs could go either way but Spurs fans would hope the likes of Wolves and Leicester which have proven stiff opposition of late can take some points off The Reds. Draws against the lowly clubs have probably cost Spurs in the last couple of seasons and they seem to have fixed that issue this season. Must admit I’m not the biggest Liverpool fan but credit where it’s due, seems they got some signings spot on and that defence as you point out seems impenetrable.

The Asian Cup kicks off in just over a week and here's the schedule (below) for Australia. The Socceroos play on Sunday 6th Jan (10.00pm), Friday 11th Jan (10.00pm) & Wednesday 16th Jan (12.30am) at the Group stage and we should be able to advance out of Group B without too much trouble. There are 6 Groups but a total of 16 teams advance from the Group stage to the round of 16 matches. The UAE will host the tournament and upon checking the average temperature for the coming week, I was pleasantly surprised to see the maximum temperature being about 26° on most days. 'VAR' is to be used at the tournament as well. Here's the Wiki link to the tournament n.b. The times listed below are local times. Add 7 hours for AEDT.

When in doubt, 426

Christmas seems to be a more extended event these days. The usual excesses no longer able to satisfy an insatiable desire to embrace demon success. And so I return to Demonland where dreams are manufactured and destroyed in every thread. Thanks for contributing to The enjoyment. May we all have the pleasures of our illusions converted into a more tangible result. May we have more training reports, accurate and inaccurate projections and just plain silliness to keep us appropriately diverted and allow us to enjoy the results. If the team is to take us on that successful journey we as supporters must also raise or standards. Coming from a low base I've already completed a PB

8 Christmas Wishes. Feel free to critique or add your own. 1. Teach Clayton Oliver forward craft: Clarry was 3rd in the league with 166 total tackles last year and first in the league with 405 contested possessions. When you add those together plus preseason games and training you start to work out why he had both shoulders operated on in the offseason. He's only 21, we have to protect him if he's going to play well in the 30's. So that means improving his leading patterns, his marking and his crumbing as a forward so he can impact games from there. We should have plenty of options to role through the midfield especially if we are lucky to be leading games with big margins. So it's time to take the load from Clarry's shoulders (and back, hips, knees etc). 2. Make Gus Brayshaw's kicking up to scratch Gus got his head and body right and turned in to the elite ball winner we all hoped he could be last year but now it's time to get him hitting targets at a much higher rate. In a lot of ways the pressure is on to show he is a dangerous midfielder worthy of a 3rd place Brownlow finish. I hope he continues to embrace his kicking on both sides and works hard to really be decisive with his decision making and flatten out his kicks. 3. The club needs to get Jayden Hunt to play tennis I was up to the boring bit of my occasional West Wing rewatch when the great Leo McGarry had this to say It made me think about players who aren't performing as they could and what might be done about it. One thing that stuck out with me with Hunt at his best compared with Hunt this year is the quick little steps he'd take to get down to a ground ball then break free to space went missing. Obviously, he had some ankle issues that wouldn't have helped but I wonder if the best way to bring that movement back is to get him playing the sport he grew up playing. One that relies on quick feet. We have a couple of tennis coaches available to the club - Todd Viney and Nicole Bradtke, one of them should get Jayden playing some tennis! The AFL is full of junior basketball players lauded for their vision and movement but in the case of Hunt tennis might well have taught him how to move. 4. Fix Tracc's goalkicking I don't know what the plan should be but after excellent accuracy in 2017 Petracca's goal kicking went down the drain last season. Fix it. Fix the other 10 things wrong with his game as well but fix the goal kicking and he’ll play with confidence to do the rest. 5. Get Melksham and Tommy Mc tackling Both guys move like they have fused ankles when it comes to laying a tackle. Melksham 1.9 per game is not good enough for a half forward. T Mc 2.3 is better but for such a mobile key forward he should do more. I don't know if it's training drills or an unusual training method to get them more agile and reactive but something needs to change. Maybe they can play squash and get used to quick in tight movements and getting down low. Hopefully offseason surgery helps Melk out but even with healthy ankles he’s got improvement in him. 6. Oscar has to wrestle a bear Oscar has the skills, size and discipline to make it as a good key defender and we saw that at times in 2018, but as his confidence waned as the year went on he became indecisive. He was attempting to watch his man instead of backing himself to go to the ball and he was tentative in crashing packs. To keep his spot in the side with May coming in and to thrive as a player he has to get more physical. You can't be a good key defender unless you're tough and aggressive. As a child UFC fighter Khabib wrestled a bear. Sadly I doubt the club wants to risk the complaints of the RSPCA by bringing in an actual Russian baby bear. That said, we've got something simialr available. At North Braydon Preuss nearly snapped Andrew Swallow in half one day and he put recent GWS draftee Jye Caldwell out of the game in a North VFL v AFL academy match. He's a big angry man who doesn't take a backward step. There's no one better on our list for Oscar to make a statement against to show he's ready to take on big forwards. The coaches need to design a drill that has them go one on one, word both players up and then let the magic happen. 7. The Nibble needs to add some bite to his nibbling ANB is clearly our best forward pressure player and a great runner. His ability to go contest to contest and not give up a chase makes him a certain starter every week even when he’s doing very little good (or a lot of bad) with the ball. That said, chasing is good, laying the tackles really ups the turnovers and is what makes you great as a pressure player. ANB probably isn’t going to suddenly develop Rioli like instincts and movement or get any quicker, he’s just not that type of athlete, but he still catches plenty of defenders and can increase the damage he does once he catches them by mastering some sneaky tackling tips. The Cyril Rioli special was grabbing an arm and then turning a guy to spill the ball loose. Ain't no thing but a chicken wing. 8. Run Bayley Run When Fritsch was moved on to the wing for the 2nd half against the Bombers I thought the team took a huge leap forward. We finally had a guy with lovely skills, the ability to get out in to space and overhead ability to bail out a bad kick. A lot of our best ball movement came through Fritsch. Clearly he tired as the year went on and he wasn’t as natural when forced to play half back. So to take his game (and the team) to the next level he needs to run like a gun wingman. Every indication from training so far is he’s running really well so I hope it continues.

Not training with the main group, not listed as injured, must be a player rift, GONE! But in all seriousness, I'd much prefer the Club say nothing. He may have a long term injury that other teams may target next year or a personal issue he doesn't want made public.

Salem and Kelly are best mates. I'm sure we'll be doing everything in our power to bring them together a la Lachie Neale and Lincoln McCarthy at Brisbane.

At least the league is well and truly alive and there is plenty of football to go. Next couple of weeks will be very telling. Tottenham are in incredible form with firepower everywhere. While the rearguard has been excellent for Liverpool this season, the Gomez injury could catch up, Lovren isn’t the long term guy.

make sure you organise a trip to the romsey hellfire club. uncle bitters is master of ceremonies

What on Earth has happened to Man City? 3 PL losses out of their last 4 with Liverpool scooting clear and City have been passed by Spurs as well. Liverpool don't look like losing points and have still only conceded 7 goals for the entire season. The Title is now the Reds to lose. Just had a quick look at Liverpool's fixture and their next 6 PL games are vs Gunners, @ Man City, @ Wolves, @ Brighton, vs Palace, vs Leicester. Obviously the next 2 are all important but if they can beat Arsenal and then get a point at City they'll be well on their way to securing the Title.

MELBOURNE As it stands: 30,891 2018 haul: 44,275 (record) If you weren’t already excited by what Melbourne achieved in 2018, then their work during the trade period should have provided another boost. They added star defender Steven May to a backline that will include Jake Lever at some point next year, along with 2013 Pick 5 Kade Kolodjashnij and ruck security in Braydon Preuss. And then they have one of, if not the best engine rooms in the AFL.

It's a real problem when the Mrs' "little gussy" goes into hiding.

Lot of people jumped mate. We can get some of them back. Hopefully most. Make ‘em feel guilty!

Where would Perty find all of those ex members. I suspect he would be doing the rounds of aged care facilities followed by cemetery’s for most of them ?

I’m really looking forward to the likes of Hunt and Kolodjashnij forcing Lewis out of the 22. They are the future.

No love for Melksham? I think we need to enjoy the Milkshake for a few more years also. Sign him up.

We obviously wont be in the market next year for a high priced free agent as we have too many young players of quality who need to be re-signed (on bigger contracts) before they get poached. IMO the only club to have been a success in luring top line talent for unders is The Hawks. This is who we need to emulate. Their list management has been excellent for a long time. If we want to be a long term success, with 60k members, fleeting one-off success wont get us there. It needs to be sustained for a long period or we end up back where we started 5 years ago in no time. While the bath water is currently tasting like Krug, it can turn to vinegar quickly. The same people who write these articles now, will be belting us from pillar to post if we dont produce what they themselves have predicted. Nice to read if you support the Dees, but it doesnt mean much.

Bit of a nothing article. I was hoping it was Gary Pert’s Template to resigning the 27,000 elapsed members from over the past 10 years. 27,000 Demons were Members and dropped off. Get them back and we are into the 70,000s. 5 years 100,000 is attainable IF the team consistently perform as a Top 4 Club and can pull of the Premiership(s). Tall Order. But that is what the game is about. Winning Cups and Honouring the players and Coaches who make it happen.

Died whilst saving his new wife Troy is a hero we should all look up to

I got a SMS on Monday 17th saying it was with Aust post. Still nothing on 26th. Not the slightest problem to me I don't need it till March. However it does show the stupidity of promising delivery before Christmas.

Well to put it simply O'Dea is much better looking. She is also one of the best players in the womens side. No problem at all with it.

Greetings to all Demonlanders from rainy Nanjing. I'll be back in time for the JLT fiasco and looking forward to a big year ahead. Let's all lift our games to new heights this year! Go Dees!

14 years ago. I heard a news report late Christmas day that something bad had happened to parts of Asia. I had been to Patong Beach 7 years earlier. That was all gone. I had to look up the word “Tsunami” had not heard it before. It was then i realized what had really happened. The movie that was made, i cannot watch it. I have been to too many Asian Beaches to eat, swim and party out under a full moon RIP Troy. Never Forgotten MFC

AD for MVP!

I’ve always been curious as to what type of human one has to be when on sight of someone who’s had one too many, the first instinct is to snap a photo and circulate it on the internet.

Weid and Petracca could well hold a big part of our hopes next year, we are still yet to see Trac reach his potential and if he does it means the same difference as to what Martin did for Richmond. While Weid is going to have quite a bit more pressure on him next year to back up his last couple of H&A games plus his BOG performance vs Geelong. If he does though it gives us another marking presence to take the pressure off TMac. The big thing that impressed me about his return to the team was his 2nd and 3rd efforts, I think it was in the Geelong game that he made a mistake but absolutely smashed the Geelong player with a crunching tackle afterwards. As for the media pumping us up, I must admit I don't like it. But it's time to accept where we are, we are a contender and that comes with added pressure.

Perhaps he doesn't want his personal medical history made public. It amazes me that people just assume we should be informed of the players' situations all the time. Having said that I'd love to know. Viney, Hannan, Brayshaw etc etc. Pity there wasn't a Dave Misson injury update before Christmas.

I’ve heard on the Monday after the preliminary he took too many Brownlow votes.

Like them all. I'd only add that it would be great to see Lever play most of the season with no further knee problems.

No one was home when the postie came yesterday but I was left a card to pick up at the post office. Fortunately they are open til midday on a Saturday. Unfortunately only one of our 5 memberships were shipped. I've got 2 very unhappy kids. Poor form really. They would have saved on postage sending them all together at the very least.

We will win the next 10 flags.

Collingwood-speak for "We don't know how many members we have because we can't count"

No longer...

I wish all our games were Friday night and we win and I can enjoy the weekend. Other than that my preference is Saturday day, Saturday night, Sunday 1pm. Hated the Sunday 4:40pm slots. I have no opinion of Thursday night but have no problem with them as long as we have a sufficient break prior to it.

I have no problem with Sunday games. Would rather those than Thursday and Saturday nights.

Good to see him impressing first session with his new teammates. He's a good runner clearly and I'm hoping he can make the wing position his own. By all reports he was also a stand out with the skills at training. He was an elite kick as a junior and before concussion issues at Gold Coast. If he can realise his potential, he will become a running kicking weapon for us. Great pickup for steak knives in the May deal!

From the Dees website. “MELBOURNE recruit Kade Kolodjashnij has wasted little time trying to impress his new teammates with a strong performance to finish third in the Demons' 2km time trial on Monday. The time trial was won by perennial pacesetter Alex Neal-Bullen, who ran an unofficial time of 6min 22secs in hot conditions at Gosch's Paddock. Defender Joel Smith ran over the top of Kolodjashnij in the last 70m to pinch second place after the former Sun took the lead early in the race. Neal-Bullen is renowned as one of Melbourne's best endurance runners and motored home in the last lap to claim victory in his pet event. Kolodjashnij set the tempo early as he looked to take it to the field in couple of laps and looked comfortable out in front in his new colours.”