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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 ??????

The sound of people scratching their heads trying to work out why the AFL persist with this match up as the first game of the season

Jackson wasn't announced as a debutante so he probably won't play and be an emergency. Every chance the club has thoughtfully included him in the squad so he can get home and see his family and friends.

It would be pretty hard to leave Lockhart out based on the form he has shown over the preseason I recon.

I'm friends with a couple in New York who are reporting the same thing. Have had mix of fever, sore throat, body aches and headahces for over a week. They otherwise feel relatively fine (except for the guy who has a fever. his wife who just has some headaches and body aches is otherwise fine). Other Aussies and Americans they have been in contact with in the past week prior to the more "stringent" measures in place now report similar ailments. None of the them can be tested and they've tried very hard. They just don't fall into the category that can be tested. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Most likely they will be fine and recover but the numbers reported are probably not even in the same ballpark as what the infection rate actually is. We should be testing, testing, testing. To bring this back on topic and relating to the tale of my friends in NYC you can be relatively fine and still pass this thing on. We all should be being a lot more careful than what I am witnessing (myself included) in everyday life. I consider myself relatively fit, not elite professional sportsmen fit but fit nonetheless and I would warned against playing a contact sport. Not sure why it's ok for the AFL. I have to agree with Optics crowd. It send completely the wrong message to what we should be preaching to everyone in this society to stop or slow the spread. I love that we can watch footy. We've been dreaming about 2020 since about Round 9 last year (probably since 20 mins in the 4th quarter of Round 1). I just think they are making a big mistake in what this is telling the public. Stay safe Demonlanders.

Take the time out to feel for Bedford and Picketts family who unfortunately won't be there live to watch their kids debut. Years of sacrifices they've had to make and unfortunately not their to see the fruits of their labour.

I am at work today. All the businesses in town are open. Precautions are being taken but life goes on. I note that most schools are still open and apparently public transport is running. Why should the AFL not go ahead at closed stadiums? We are doing our jobs and football is their job. I do not see any increased risk to society by football being played. If you think that healthy footballers not playing football will just sit at home in isolation I think you are wrong. Probably the safest place they can be is training & playing.

I want to see just one in my lifetime. Plenty of others have an asterisk next to them e.g. West Coast drugs 2006. I don’t care. Just [censored] win!

I’m confused. Is this a rhetorical question? Because I would hate for us to win anything. Please stay mediocre and irrelevant forever.

There’s an argument that this will be the toughest season ever in which to win the Flag. So yep, in short - absolutely!

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.

Once we hit 100 posts will need to shut this down

?Gawn hinted on RSN that Weid would be playing

Yup, I did. The MFC have been so poor on sharing this kind of info and there hasn't been much news asides from COVID 19 stuff that I've given up on checking the MFC website and even Demonland for actual player/footy news for the last week or so. Actual footy will be a great break from the real world for a while, while it lasts.

I've pulled this across from the game day thread as I think it's probably more suited to here... It is a tough spot to be in but I feel they have probably taken the easier decision. Unfortunately hindsight is going to be a wonderful thing here. We can all be experts in 12 to 18 months time. To me it makes sense to put the season on hold but I can understand why it's going ahead. We're only at the tip of the iceberg at the moment and people saying it will be a mental release to watch some footy whilst right are going to have to find some resilience going forward. It's going to get a lot worse and there will be no footy. It's the goodwill that might be more important than playing now. The players voted to play 22 games, they're good footballers but not very strategic thinkers. There is no way they were ever going to play 22 games and finals... There is also no way they will be able to keep their current contracts. It's not going to be sustainable. This goes for all in the AFL bubble. SEN may well close up shop, I can't see them making it through a close down (they were reliant on this season to pull them through) and other media outlets/people will suffer. Will FOX keep paying their high priced presenters if nothing is happening, history says no. Club CEO's will take a hit, they will have to...some may retire early. Will Cook and Pert have the energy to rebuild the game. They've done well out of it but will they give back now or move on into retirement. We can kiss goodbye to the training ground/facility but then again what we have may be good enough if we make it through. A lot of the backroom stuff may go back to volunteers and elected officials. Anyway, starting to ramble a bit now. Over...

Gills leadership has actually been outstanding. Gill hasnt just made this decision on his own. Those extra dollars are the dollars that might just keep our club alive. I'm sure if we end up 10-20 Mil plus in the red at the end of the year you'll be the first to jump up at the AGM having a go at Pert.

A pessimist sees the glass half empty, and optimist half full. But an engineer asks why the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. I'll see myself out....

Rotten luck and unrelated to other injury. Back on the park in July. Contracted for next year so no need for any tough decisions just yet. See what it looks like come September 2021.

How good

I disagree. I think social disruption caused by individuals being unemployed, underemployed, socially isolated and restricted from going about their normal daily affairs may lead to various negative consequences varying from mental health issues to marauding gangs going on a rampage just for something to do. People need to be kept occupied and entertained. If the AFL can help by entertaining people, it should do so. If it's forced to stop because Covid-19 affects players or officials, they should stop. But while eveyone is healthy, let them play. Not only will it entertain people, it still provides work for people in various industries, including media, transport, stadium management, healthcare, etc, albeit at a far lower level than we would all like.

Good news, should be back for Round 6.

No crowd, shorter Qtrs, 17 round season I’m so excited that we will have footy back this weekend to get our minds off all the [censored] that is going on in the world right now. Can’t wait to see us smash them eagles. Trac to get 36 touches and kick 5 goals. Fritta also 5 goals. We win by 37 points

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...

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?

I was thinking this playing without crowds thing advantages GWS the most out of all the clubs. It will be like they are getting a home game every round.

why the usual half time break? Thought they all wanted to shorten it and it was only kept so the fans could get to the toilet etc....No fans ...so

I remember the first night game we had against WC last year over there. From memory we were really undermanned and went over with a smaller side. I remember thinking we looked unrecognizable for three quarters, we took the game on literally every time running the ball through the corridor with link handball (also forward handball from contests) and we really had them for three quarters. But we tired and their experience wore us down late. Will be interesting to see if we take some things from that game into this one with the small lineup. Fitter and quicker then last year.

No crowd buys us at least 2-3 goals

Just to clarify for people who are just looking at the team sheet and aren't up to date. - Bedford and Kozzy are in as announced - Jackson was not announced to debut so will be an emergency - Two bench players will be picked from Weid, Brown, Hore, Lockhart and Sparrow. So it will be one of the two tall forwards and one of those backs I would imagine. Sparrow being emergency mid. I'd say Lockhart and Weid will round out the team. Weid being the backup ruck.

Too many small! Bedford Pickett Spargo

My tip for the final 4 weid, Lockhart, kozie and Bedford.

Have never seen politicians creating such panic as as have the PM and the even worse state premiers. Andrews..." we will hit the worst in June when thousands of patients will need intensive care" Riddle me this...why should the per capita result be much worse than China which extrapolates to a total case number of less than 0.001% Even if we get ten times what China reported so say 0.01%.(26000 Australian total) with deaths one twentieth of that. Where do you get "thousands in Victoria alone needing intensive care" when the published data shows that most will not require hospitalisation. ( Please excuse if I have some zeros in the wrong place but the basic premise holds true)

I'm a bit embarrassed by buying an extra 5kg of rice for a friend in a mining town whose supermarket has no stock due to the panic. Can't imagine the mindset of people who profiteer from the suffering of others

Those bloody millennials again, ruining everything.

According to Nick Smart in HS they are flying over on Saturday in a chartered VIrgin plane so no risk from public. Wonder if lack of crowds will help the debutants settle in and not get overawed. What a surreal way to start a career.

I think those injuries/illness whatever it is opened the door for Bedford. The shorter quarters could mean Langdon and Tomlinson can play the full 100% game time on the wing. Maybe a quick chop out from Brayshaw or Harmes from half back. Otherwise we'll go small and fast and heavily rotate the small forwards and try to keep pressure up on the Eagles. If I had to guess at the team I think it's: FB: Jetta May Oscar HB: Harmes Lever Hibberd C; Tomlinson Petracca Langdon HF: Spargo T Mc Melksham FF: Fritsch Weid Kozzie Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Lockhart, Brayshaw, Bedford, ANB E: Brown, Jackson, Sparrow, Hore

The club inexplicably gave him a three year contract, and it's the only thing stopping us delisting him ASAP. Given this season is shortened and he's off legs for an extended period of time again now, he probably won't play this year. Fact is he'll be 29 years old and will have played 7 games in 4 years. For someone who is borderline best 22, it's poor list management to keep him around. I like him as a player, he's no superstar but he brings intensity and hardness. If he can't get on the park though then it's irrelevant how good he is. Time to admit the mistake and move him on Melbourne.

Love those debut videos

Super excited for Bedford. Has clearly had a big preseason and made a big step up from last year. Looked excellent in the Marsh games and really added something to the forwardline.

Winning a flag is the only item on my bucket list that's not been ticked off. This year would be just fine, thanks.

Kozzy's in!! (And Bedford too)

According to the MFC website, he broke his foot kicking the shin of an opponent. I know it’s unkind to laugh but I don’t know how else to react. He must think he’s cursed. Completely unrelated to the existing foot issues though supposedly, so that has to be good news.

Thanks Binman. As ScoMo said yesterday, ignore anything on social media putting forward 'facts'. Take note SWYL please

My interest and excitement meter is very low atm. it just doesn’t feel like footy ..............

I prefer to finish 9th by percentage and let that anger and disappointment drive my winning personality

17 rounds means it's the most even competition since it expanded from 12 teams so if anything winning it this year is better.

And who says winning with an asterisk in 2020 means we couldn't win again in 2021, 2022, etc? GO FOR IT!

If the season goes that far & we win it I will be ecstatic...some light in a dark year.

At a distance...