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I was holding off starting this thread but Round 1 is a go ... Round 1 • West Coast Eagles v Melbourne Sunday 22 March 2020 • 6:20 PM (AEDT) BEST IN SHOW by Whispering Jack I am writing this knowing that the AFL has deemed that the opening round of competition will proceed but fully believing that it should not. The world is going through cataclysmic change as a result of the overwhelming spread of the Covid-19 virus and I agree that a distraction like sport would be good for the public. However, while the physical threat to the population is bad enough, there are other issues to be addressed including the mental health of the community and the effects on the economy, business and leisure which are profound. Then there is the effect on the sport itself. While many activities are being postponed and cancelled to permit the isolation of participants and thereby minimise the possibility of contracting or passing on illness to the vulnerable in the community, the AFL has forged onwards with a business as usual approach, albeit without the crowds that often give the game what we describe as “atmosphere”. But can we really claim that the show must go on when the health and well being of our elite sporting persons - the players - is at stake? Compare us with the American National Basketball Association which cancelled its season last week when the first player tested positive. Yesterday, it was revealed that one of the game’s superstars Kevin Durant is among four Brooklyn Nets players to have tested positive for the coronavirus. Will we only follow suit when inevitably one of ours is found to be infected? And what then will be the effect on our national game? The AFL has deemed that the show must go on and so it seems it will. Over in Perth where it’s always a difficult place for visiting sides to win, I expect Melbourne to make a good fist of things. I’m expecting the team to be much fitter than this time last year. We should see a great midfield battle with the team at close to full strength there, a stronger defence than the one the club could muster last year, but perhaps still not enough up forward to beat the Eagles on their home turf. And despite the fact that the affirmation of that home crowd in favour of West Coast will be missing, they remain one of the competition’s frontrunners and, by the end of the day, they’ll be the best in show. West Coast by 13 points. TEAMS WEST COAST EAGLES B Jetta McGovern Duggan HB Gaff Yeo Brander C Sheppard Barrass Hurn HF Redden Darling Sheed F Ryan Kennedy Cripps FOLL Naitanui Kelly Shuey I/C Ah Chee Hickey Nelson Petruccelle EMG Hutchings Schofield Waterman Williams MELBOURNE B N Jetta S May J Lever HB O McDonald J Harmes M Hibberd C E Langdon C Oliver A Tomlinson HF A Neal-Bullen B Fritsch J Viney F C Spargo T McDonald A Brayshaw FOLL M Gawn C Petracca J Melksham I/C T Bedford M Brown J Lockhart K Pickett EMG M Hore L Jackson T Sparrow S Weideman Melbourne Football Club: Injury List: Round 1 Kyle Dunkley (heel) — available Sam Weideman (ankle) — available Nathan Jones (Achilles) — test Braydon Preuss (knee) — test Joel Smith (quad) — test Mitch Hannan (groin) — 6 weeks Harry Petty (groin) — 6 weeks Aaron vandenBerg (foot) — 3 months Kade Chandler (finger) — TBC Harley Bennell (calf) — indefinite Kade Kolodjashnij (head) — indefinite Aaron Nietschke (knee) — season

Once we hit 100 posts will need to shut this down

Slightly off topic but I just wanted to say that I live in Lucca in Italy and that, from our experience, the most important thing to do is to stop the spread of the virus....by whatever means necessary. We have been in significant lockdown for almost two weeks and the rate of infection will continue for at least a couple more weeks. There are no sports events taking place, we are permitted to leave our house for three reasons only; shopping, to go to work, or for health-related reasons. No shops other than supermarkets, food shops or pharmacies are permitted to open. No bars or restaurants...and you know how Italians love their coffee! Walking outside is only permitted for one of the above three reasons e.g. to go shopping. All shops restrict entry to enforce a minimum one meter distance between shoppers - maybe 50 people in the supermarket at a time. The reason for these measures is because this virus is a beast and spreads amazingly quickly. If the spread not slowed hospitals and doctors will be overwhelmed because it often impacts on the lungs and the demand for intensive care exceeds the ability to provide it. Inevitably, it will hit Australia similarly so I urge you to start the 'social distancing' required. Italians are not known for their rules-following behaviour but I can tell you that they are certainly taking this seriously. Good luck!

The most basic level of fundraising is to not bother the club for a membership refund.

Pull them out from the roots Bing, at the moment all you’ve got is time.

But on the flip side it also undermines all the work we’ve done this off season on our fitness and over running teams which we demonstrated in the Marsh series...

I know its totally selfish, but geez i hope they play. Its not just me is it?

The AFL have 120M dollar future fund and own Etihad stadium. They also have a broadcast deal that pays them 450M a year when the seasons get back to normal. Players share in about 12M for 40 people. My point is the AFL can guarantee the short to medium term survival of clubs. Lets have a debt demolishion campaign at the end of all this when we can survey the damage and the interest payments kick in. In the mean time spend your money on family, friends and support local businesses.

Far better..if people are so inclined....is to donate directly to the club through the Red & Blue Foundation: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/support-the-club no third party involved ...and it is tax deductible as well

If we dont win it someone else will.. and that someone could be Essendon, Collingwood etc etc. You think them or their supporters will give a [censored] about an 'asterisk'? Hell yes I want to win it.

My interest in this game is much more than the 4 points How will the umpires officiate in Perf without the crowds baying for blood every 5 seconds? Will the T.V nerds use canned sound to improve the experience? How much chat from the players will we hear, including the endless swearing that goes on during contact sport? Will we get a better feel for who the in-game leaders are? Will it actually feel like a real game of footy when it's played in near silence?

Two reasons. 1. I'm not sure if posting just the tweets/facebook posts keeps a searchable record for search engines linking back to Demonland. If at some future time those social media platforms disappear or the way they link old tweets/posts changes then that information is lost and any future generations reading Demonland won't be able to have a reference for or context to what is being talked about. I could just post the information in the tweets/FB posts without the original but I like to have the original Tweet/post available as the proof/source/credit for the information. 2. Some people use Adblockers. These Adblockers block the tweets/FB posts from appearing and hence if I just posted the Tweets/FB posts without copying the information then they would just see a blank post. Whilst I shouldn't assist people that choose to block our source of funding that helps pay for server & software costs I am being a nice guy. People who use adblockers can whitelist (allow) ads from Demonland.com to still appear.

Social distancing is not the same thing as workplace distancing. That's not a flippant comment. There are still plenty of people who are working in close contact with others. (And a big shout-out to all the healthcare and aged care workers still doing their jobs. And to anyone else who has to work in close confinement with others.)

I could think about this for 1,000 years and still not come up with a reason to "not want" to win the flag. Can't even believe someone asked the question. The only thing that would kill the enjoyment is if no crowd was there to cheer them on.

No crowd of Feral Bogan Perthites is a good start. Has to be worth a dozen frees and a few goals.

How the hell do you guys listen to SEN? It's making my ears bleed.

I think it might be a bit early to call on this. There may be many family members & close friends in need of assistance as this all plays out. In that case the footy club won't be a priority.

Boris got Brexit done. Nothing else matters once the globalist tentacles from Brussels are removed from the cradle of western civilisation.

It’s been scientifically proven the virus can not be transmitted after the 25 minute mark or each quarter.

Sending a massive thank you to @Demonlandfor keeping this thread updated the past few days with every morsel of news. Info has been appearing on here within minutes of being published elsewhere, and it’s been a huge time-saver to have it all contained in the one spot. Bravo ??????

Agreed. I feel like the MFC has had a really strong pre-season and then this bloody virus has put so much uncertainty into the picture that it has taken a bit of the shine off the excitement that I was feeling towards Rd 1. Really keen to see how we stack up against some good sides in real games and would love for us to prove all the doubters wrong this season. I'm feeling confident in our mids being fit, stong and ready to tear some opposition apart again. I think our backline will hold up well and that we are well placed in the mid sized forward area with Freitch and Melksham. Really just need T Mac and Weid to start pulling down some big marks and we could be pretty balanced all over the ground. Carn the mighty DEMONS. Smash the Eagles like a COVID from hell!

SMASH THE EAGLES

Good to see Preuss in full training

I say this without meaning to sound flippant but that goal by Mitch did a lot for my mental health. I have watched it probably 30 times since and I always feel happy. I think that’s why I have always been a passionate supporter. Watching football is such a wonderful distraction from some of the seriousness of life

It seems this is perfect timing for the AFL to implement Dangerball - shorter quarters, less games but Patrick still gets paid the same $$$$$$$.

I'm thinking of donating 10 memberships on behalf of Demonland. I have an idea that I have floated to the club of something via social media. Just waiting to hear back from the club on a viable way to do this.

Outdoor gathering limit is still at 500. Guess there will be a game tomorrow. Indoor is now 100.

I don't think the players and the AFLPA realised that this narrative was never going to be in their favour. When they were negotiating a few years ago, the AFL were painted as the bad guys, but in this instance it's going to be the players that will be painted in a bad light. They have dramatically miss-read the mood of this situation. For a lot of people at the moment, AFL footy is far from their minds. These same people are now seeing the players hold out on a potential pay cut while they struggle to keep their jobs. The AFL CEO has also agreed to take a pay cut, making the players look worse. Many staff at clubs are going to lose their jobs, and maybe when the players realise there are far fewer people at clubland in the coming weeks and months, their eyes may be opened, but if they hold out for pay now, there will be a lot of people disgruntled with them. PS. Don't buy into the wanting to play 22 games for the good of the game; it's a smoke-screen for their real agenda, this is all about maintaining their wage and not having to take a pay cut. If the season doesn't go ahead, they could lose a hell of a lot more than 20%, I wonder if the players realise this?

For once i agree with Jeff Kennett the players seem to not get how bad this is! If they don't take a pay cut there might not be any money for them to get paid at all, also the admin staff are about to get reduced dramatically so the players earning in excess of $150-180K really need to be putting there hand up together with the CEOS/Footy managers and coaches basically to save clubs/league in the medium term.

MEMBERS of the Melbourne Football Club have rallied around the Club in the wake of the news that crowds won’t be allowed into games for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19. In an impressive display of unity and loyalty, over 100 people purchased Melbourne memberships on Monday, generating over $10,000 of revenue for the Demons.

"When my thoughts were going a million miles an hour, things I had previously enjoyed became more difficult." Melbourne Football Club's Mitch Hannan details his experiences with his own mental health challenges and why he co-founded clothing brand Mendl to support men's mental health. Hannan's Mendl Movement

Jennings should be held in higher esteem around here. He did guide us to our maiden AFL X premiership.

Its so when down the track multiple games have to be played within the one week shorter games are what is planned. Its being applied now to make it consistent across the season.

Fortunately your opinion seems to be counter to those that run AFL. Can’t wait for Sunday... Go Dees!

As much as i love the Club, I feel there are far more worthy causes for crowd funding.

Come on Gil. Get the season going and I will take back every bad thing Ive ever said about you. Be a hero.

can cancel existing subscription any month for no penalty

Open the Roof?

There is a big misconception regarding how this will play out. Choices are pretty basic 1) Let the pandemic play out- overload hospital systems. Mortality rate of at least 2.5 percent (Vs 1 percent with healthcare) this will take 3 to 4 months 2) contain eradicate until there is a vaccine. Basically massive lockdown that might get rid of it (China style) or more likely extensive Italy style lockdown for months and months and months. I reckon 18 months till vaccine. Either way football is gone for this season even if teams don't realise it

In fact, remarkably clean. No tourists (hence no 'lucre') and very little dog-walking. A group of fellow expat Australians & English have been going to watch the local soccer team (La Lucchese 1905) but those games were all suspended a few weeks ago. I have been watching the footy via Watch AFL and the discount I get with the MFC membership so I am used to remote supporting. The town is sooooooooooooo quiet.

Thanks for that info DG ... I knew Warren had some sort of injury as he was well on his way to becoming a very good long term player for us. He could certainly roost a footy and moved well. Good hands too.

Northey had the team going very hard at the ball and the 2nd & 3rd efforts were great to see. The run from the backline was another highlight. We weren't the most skillful team but we played no nonsense footy at all times. Warren Dean was terrific to watch though ... silky smooth. Was it a knee injury that curtailed his career?

At this point I'd argue that anyone who is going to be 'okay' during this should be putting their mind towards how to help the very large part of the community that is going to be very, very hard. Got a spare room? Someone you know or a friend of a friend is going to need it because I fear it'll be a pretty slim minority of landlords prepared to offer meaningful amounts of rent relief. Even offering some garage space as storage will help people who need to move but can't afford to secure a place. Got cash on hand? Someone you know or a friend of a friend is going to be facing an actual zero dollars crisis as they can't afford even the costs of ending a lease so have to push through and hope. As for the players... a 20% cut should be the start point of their thinking, not the target. Scaled to the extremity of their pay, of course. More than a millions Australian have already 'taken' well over 20% pay cuts, many already down to just 20% remaining of their pay. All of us, anyone who is doing okay, needs to be actively looking for ways to help. This is a once-in-a-century event, if you can't be generous now, what are you?

Whats the point of shortened quarters lol Either you play or you dont

A big fan of #19

Lever has played 19 of a possible 45 matches with us. To be generous, perhaps 4 of those games were of a quality that would justify his 2 first round picks, $800k, 5 year contract. Has to do way, way more before there is talk of him succeeding Max

Coaching director at St Kevs old boys. Which is a fair fall but they aren’t a standard VAFA club. I heard a rumour that one year post AFL the Russian Jamar was in the 2’s, that’s how strong they are. I wonder if he’s also got a job at the school. The way things are going coaching an APS school team is probably more prestigeous than VFL.