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Since our ranking on the number of games missed from the Best 22 showed us looking dire earlier this year I decided to do an end of year ladder for games played by the nominal Best 22 for each club. I admit there is a certain phoniness about this since a team's nominal Best 22 at round one will often be different by round 22. Also, since I don't have much of an idea about other clubs I had to standardise the exercise by adopting the only comprehensive list of Best 22s I could find, which was Fox's. And any Best 22 is arbitrary and subjective. Note Spargo is included in ours, and I would not have him in my best, for example. In any case here goes, keeping in mind the potential number of games from any Best 22 over 22 rounds is 484, here is the actual number played by the Best 22 according to Fox: BRISBANE 402 (83%) WEST COAST 394; HAWTHORN 381; CARLTON 380; NORTH MELBOURNE 366; BULLDOGS 363; ESSENDON 362; PORT 361; GEELONG 360; COLLINGWOOD 352; ADELAIDE 341; RICHMOND 336; SYDNEY 335; FREO 323; GIANTS 312; ST KILDA 307; MELBOURNE 305 (63%); GOLD COAST 294. I guess the first thing to notice is that the Lions have had plenty of injury luck, but that's not news, and we are much worse off, and that's not news. St Kilda have done relatively well with almost as many games missed as us, while Carlton, Hawthorn and North might be flattered by their relatively good injury runs. And what was that about an "injury crisis" at Essendon and Collingwood? They are both right in the middle of the field. Except of course that all are not equal in the Best 22. Games missed by TMac for example are more important than games missed by ANB. This is only one factor in our unacceptable season. For what it's worth these were the biggest "missing game numbers" from Fox's Best 22 for us: VandenBerg (22), Hannan (16) Jetta (15), May (14), Spargo (14), Lever (14), Weideman (11), OMac (10).

I'll let everyone else argue the point, but I'm already heading in to next year with a modicum of optimism. I won't convince those on the opposite side to think otherwise, but to those who do, then I'm with you all the way. Even if there is only one other person in that group. Bring on the review, bring on the tough decisions and bring on finals in 2020. Book it.

Fair dinkum some people struggle. I have Olisik on ignore, for obvious reason. Sorry kids you go on ignore. Normally I only put people on ignore because of troll like behaviour or repeated offensive posts (and never because i disagree with their opinions). But you are going on ignore because i fear if i read any more of your posts my IQ will plummet. So it is self preservation. The last straw? Critising Mahoney for doing his job and appointing a respected, sought after assistant coach before completing a review. Two obvious points. Firstly, they had a review mid season. You know the one that saw Jennings and Macca get the Tijuana brass, with the latter opening up a spot for a senior assistant with extensive AFL experience (you know, like Richardson). Secondly Richardson most certainly would have been picked up by another AFL club as an assistant. Having already established and created the need for an a senior assistant with extensive AFL experience (you know , like Richardson) and made a clear decision Richardson was the man you wanted it would be ridiculous to risk not getting him by phaffing around. That's now how such a cut throat industry works. There is a small window to lock in key appointments in and that window is now. Mahoney has now inked two key appointments (both highly respected and in demand in their respective fields), critical in terms of creating some certainty at the club, which at a time when dees players (and players considering coming to the dees) are considering their playing options and/or how they will attack preseason is super important. These appointments also help give fans, players and sponsors something positive to focus on which in some small way mitigates against the impact of such a woeful season. Imagine if we were still out in the market place trying to get a senior assistant on board and an elite fitness pro (neither of whom grow on trees)? After the season we have just had we hardly scream destination club. Yet Mahoney nailed two key appointments. But Sorry Kids you don't rate him. Please. Anyway its been fun. Bye.

For those who are Petracca fans the good news is that I haven’t heard any whispers of him requesting a trade, and if he had, I would know. #ETthetradewhisperer #Hehearseverything.

Agree. My understanding is Jones is a “me first” kind of guy at the heart of it. So he isn’t the sort of leader you need. Great service over many years, very solid player at his peak and the team’s best for a period in some of its darkest times. He could win the ball, get it moving forward, tackle, and developed his kicking from poor to passable in a similar way to Todd Viney many years before. But once he was displaced as a first choice on-baller he simply never had the tricks (read skills) to see out his time on a flank or wing. This has been painfully obvious from mid last year (when he got moved out of the first choice midfield) and all of this year. Maybe it’s confirmation bias, but it felt like for every smart “veteran” thing he did in a game, there were two or three “wow, I’d be disappointed if a first year player did that” moments. At least Lewis, who I wasn’t a massive fan of, had that ratio the other way around. The right thing to do is offer him a deal on the club’s terms as a show of loyalty. Nothing more. If Jones is unwilling to accept the 270k as rumoured and back himself in for performance bonuses - given the “overs” he took for many years compared to what he would have received had he jumped to another club where he would have been in the 5 to 15 best on the list range instead of top dog at Melbourne - then that would just reinforce his “me first” mentality. The Junior McDonald error was pushing him into “retirement” for the sake of one list position and minimal salary. Junior was cooked, Jones is cooked and will only get worse. It sounds like Melbourne are making a respectful but also sensible offer this time around that balances Jones’ past contributions but also reflects his likely future trajectory.

Sweet Jesus.....

We need changes, make them quickly! *Club makes changes* I don't like those changes, they're rubbish and I know better. Classic Olisik. Love his suggestions for a director of football role at the club. Clarkson? Simpson? Malthouse? This guy either has a screw loose or he's a top level troll. I can't decide which.

Trac’s manager: “Hi Goody, a number of teams have enquired into Christian, he’s happy at Melbourne but he wants more time in the midfield, these teams are offering Christian the chance to play as a pure mid. What can Melbourne do?” Goody: (staring blankly at the clock on the wall behind the manager’s head for a minute and a half) Ummmmmmm, I’d like to say I have an answer but I don’t. Look, just tell him it’s about the ‘journey’ and ‘the four walls’ but really stress the journey part.”

Still more reliable than Stuie’s Facebook page.

Surprised pretty boy Rance wasn't selected.... ?

They need incentives to keep the players they already have, they don’t need more 18 year olds who don’t want to be there.

Interesting word counts for "What Went Wrong" Hawthorn - 66 words Port Adelaide - 159 words Adelaide - 106 words North Melbourne - 133 words Fremantle - 208 words St Kilda - 105 words Sydney - 95 words Carlton - 86 words Melbourne - 420 words Gold Coast - 83 words

Stuie’s Facebook page..! Bahahaha. Can we have a rule that rumours from Facebook can’t be forwarded to Demonland? Let’s not lower ourselves to the standards of Facebookers. I don’t have or read Facebook or Twitter for the reason of them being absolute rubbish.

Very accurate on all counts. Interesting they have us at 9 o'clock to 'bounce back'. I assume in context of the title that means to make finals which most would agree with. Last year we had 14 H&A wins, two finals wins and end up 4th. People are claiming that was an aberration and our club is being overhauled as a result of 2019. To put to bed the '2018 was an aberration' claim we must make finals with 12/13 wins and win one final. If we don't, the review, coaching and other staff changes will be spoken of as a failure. We can't underestimate the repercussions of not getting back near our 2018 achievements for sponsors, memberships, FTA exposure, prime time slots and stand-alone facilities. Everyone is prepared to wait to see how 2020 pans out but fall too far short of 2018 then the fall out will be severe. I remember the joy and excitement of last September of getting finals tickets. The excitement at the G. The trip home after beating Geelong and Hawks. I want that again for me, for us and for our club.

Personally speaking I take heart from this. After one horror game in 2013, a journo in the Herald Sun described us as ' A soulless rabble, nothing more , nothing less. This season after another meek capitulation we were described simply as 'A rabble ' Surely that's an improvement isn't it ???

You don't keep blokes on for what they have produced in the past. You keep them on for what they can produce in the future. He's already had 2yrs grace. Geelong had to tell Bartell he was finished. 2 flags, a Brownlow and Norm Smith medallist. These blokes get addicted to the coin.

Ash - Strong half back/ midfielder who's biggest strength is his high speed and power to break the lines. Started the season and under 18 championships as a running half back flanker whos intercept marking is also highlight. After the championships ended, there were question on whether Ash could push up into the midfield. Proved that theory correct by averaging around the 24 disposal mark since playing as an on baller. Ripper bloke who is co-captain of the bushiesand a really driven individual. 187cm 84kg. Young - Half back player who like Ash was questioned whether he could make the transition from back to the midfield and again proving that he's adding more strings to the bow by pushing up to a wing and winning big numbers around the midfield. Shows absolute class and silk with his dead eye right foot kick. His ability to kick low flat 50m kicks to a target is seriously a sight to behold. 188cm tall who is also a strong intercept mark and someone who would make an immediate impact for an AFL club next year as a half back flanker/wingman. Lachie Whitfield type for me.

I coached against this young fellow when he played juniors at Somerville. Also know him from representative cricket. He's a cracking young man and a real winner. Skills are outstanding, pace is good and he's a hard worker. His brother is at the Bulldogs. I'd be pretty happy if he became a Demon. I'd liken more to Whitfield than Salem to be honest. He's quicker and a better mark than Salem.

For the first half Salem was one of our best three players. Then he had a concussion event (has had a few of those in the last few years). iirc he also had an ankle or leg injury around the middle of the year. For either or both of those injuries he missed two games. Looked to me like he was no where near his best physically in the second half, which affected his kicking accuracy/distance, decision making and running. But he still put in every week. Least of our problems and one of our real assets.

Supporter gets angry because Mahoney doesn’t convince Hall of Fame coach to break contract, retire from coaching to take up lesser role on less money at different club. There’s a lot of ‘old man yells at cloud’ about this.

For us to make finals we need the following: - Majority of our whole list to have injury free pre seasons. - The Tom McDonald form of 2018 - Jake Lever and Steven May to play 22 games. - Petracca to play big midfield minutes - McDonald, Weideman, Melksham and Fritsch to all finally play together in the forward line. - Oliver, Brayshaw, Harmes to take their game to another level. They're the key to our midfield. - Pick 2 to make a Jesse Hogan/Jayden Stephenson first year impact. It absolutely can happen. But we need a lot of things to get right.

A poor man’s Charlie Spargo is...Charlie Spargo...

Whatever. Q) What do Fyfe, T Kelly, Dangerfield, P Cripps, Bontempelli, Grundy, Gawn, Neale and Dusty Martin have in common? A) Blokes that are dominating 2019 and are at the absolute top of their game, and none of them were top 2 picks. The eventual best player of this draft won’t be picks 1 or 2.

HaydenYoung and Lachie Ash are 2 absolute gem footballers. I am bias because of my work that I did with Ash in the past but Young is quite similar to Lachie Whitfield.

Ablett in the squad is a joke He had been ok had some decent moments and games but nowhere near best 40 performing players in the league

It has been shown many times over that players who don't have a full pre season often have a poor year. Jones and Viney both had minimal pre seasons and played their first half a game for Casey a week out from the season opener. I am not saying they will be better next year but it comes as no surprise that they got off to bad starts and had ordinary seasons It is common for a player over 30 to be offered year to year contracts with incentives. Boomer Harvey did it for many years quite successfully Viney is problematic with his foot but still has a role to play in the team but I don't think he should be captain. I like what the club has done with the Jones contract offer if what he hear is true. He may not like it but I hope he will back himself to have a great pre season and play games next year and thereafter. I suspect he will only be offered annual contracts by MFC for the remaining duration of his time with us. If GC have offered the security of 3 years up north then it is up to Jones to make a pragmatic decision on what is best for him. He should, in my opinion, step down from the captaincy and expect that he may (if he stays) spend time at Casey just as Bernie did last year without a complaint

This was some rubbish rumor posted by some Nuff named Stu on his Melbourne News page. It's complete BS!

De-list Frost? No way.

With Lewis gone, we have how many players over 30? Oh that's right, only one. He of course won 3 B & F's in a row and stayed loyal while we were sh-t. He is not in our worst 8 players and therefore on a number of grounds deserves another year. Would hurt the club massively through the AFL if we dumped him this year.Would speak volumes of our culture. Hardly soft I would have thought. PS. Don't bring up Hodge, Lewis and Roughhead, as the Hawks have half their list over 30.

Mission statements are just another example of corporate wankery invading sport... They dont do a damn thing to improve performance, and the vast majority of employees couldnt tell you what their organizations Mission Statement was. We dont need one. Actions speak louder than words so the saying goes.

[censored] hell. Mahoney simply cannot win with some of you lot. You blokes kick and squeal for changes to be made and yet Mahoney and co go and snag Burgess and Alan Richardson and its still not enough. [censored] unbelievable some of you blokes

Firstly we need to stop using numbers instead of letters to spell words and then can have an adult conversation.

Agree. I'd add one more. We need to bring in 2 or 3 very good to elite kicks. No small order i know, but critical. Our first pick should be one you'd assume. Maybe our pick 20? And a player we trade in?

You've got too much time on your hands. But yes, the drug cheats and the scum get smashed in finals this year. You didn't hear that from me though...

If you we're a fish you would be flounder

It seems a bit of a stretch. Salem re-signs in March, then without any rumour at all, seeks a trade in Day 1 of the off-season. https://www.triplem.com.au/story/christian-salem-signs-two-year-contract-extension-with-melbourne-130712 . Salem said he couldn't see himself not re-signing with Melbourne. “It got done pretty quickly,” he told Melbourne Media. “I probably wasn’t too fussed about it, as I knew it was going to happen eventually – it was just a matter of when. I can't recall a big trade coming without months of rumour leading into it...

It's hard to know until we form our new coaching group. New ideas and coaching goes a long way. We certainly should be making finals next year.

Perhaps if the club apply a bit of George Constanza logic and do the absolute opposite of everything they did in 2019 , every instinct that comes to mind , then do the opposite ... for example , when they get the urge in November to use pick 3 to draft a promising inside mid .... then don’t just draft some outside mid with speed , Another example , when Goody thinks it’s a good idea to continue with the current leadership group and keep plugging away at getting better with that connection thingy to make ourselves more accountable .... no , no , back up.... let’s change things up a little , let’s make Gawn sole captain and spend most of the summer doing kicking drills , and let’s see how that turns out So if we do the opposite, we make finals, and I suppose it’s an even year too , which helps ! Simples !

This might be obvious, but every other team will be looking to improve in 2020. To make the finals, at least one of this year's top 8 would have to drop out and we'd have to improve more than 8 other clubs. Big job.

We played terribly for most of the season but still lost 7 games by 19 points or less. We could bounce back quickly but a lot needs to go right, starting tomorrow with the exit interviews.

If Trac is unhappy he hasn’t shown it in games. Very good season and can hold his head high in my view. I’d hate to lose him.

I will be peeed off if this club loses Petracca. We cannot afford to lose talent like this. Screw Geelong and Hawthorn! They keep on getting players at the expense of lesser clubs. Might as well be the EPL!

Thank God it’s not up to you!