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I think people are very quick to forget Spargo's 2018 season and base a lot of their views on his lack luster 2019 in which he was probably playing injured for the most part. Not only is he a competitive animal, but his positioning himself to win the footy and use it in dangerous ways is also pretty good. I've got no issues with him being in the side with the form he showed over the preseason.

Demonland.com will be purchasing 5 Memberships from the Melbourne Football Club and gifting them to 5 people. All you need to do is post a video under our posts of Facebook & Twitter of yourself doing the #SAFEHANDS Challenge. Film yourself washing your hands & singing the Demons Theme Song. We'll double it to 10 Memberships if a Melbourne Football Club player posts a video of themselves doing the #SAFEHANDS challenge & singing the Demons Theme Song. We'll pick the best 5 (or 10) videos and contact you via Facebook Messenger or DM on Twitter for your details. * We want to promote good health through hygiene by raising awareness of the importance of washing your hands. We also hope to assist the club that we all love financially in these times. We also love hearing the Demons Theme Song. * In order for Demonland.com to be able to purchase a membership on your behalf you must be comfortable with providing your name, DOB, Address, email & mobile number in private via Facebook Messenger or DM on Twitter. Your details will only be shared with the Club.

This man has seen things.

Make him a staff member for the weekend.

Have just seen that Red Bull have joined the MFC as a ‘partner’ (sponsor?). Great match for the colours, and hopefully we can be as exciting and successful as their other partners! Welcome! Red Bull gives Melbourne wings

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

How would you know?! Have you asked him?! Have you asked his skill levels anything?! You don't know what role Goody has for him (why haven't you asked Goody?! I have!) so just shut up and watch it without any input that "denigrates" the players, club, sponsors or history of our great club!!* *please note this is just a gag relating to a certain poster who hates any comment on players, coaches or the club becuase we just don't know because we don't ask them.

Out of order, really? I don't think I'm normally one to endlessly chip the club, our players, coach or other posters on this forum. I said it was poor, which I understood could be interpreted as being overly critically of the club. But I think if you read that in the context of my post, you would see that it's was as much about frustration with the general situation at the moment. As an asides and a bit of constructive feedack for the club that asides from the Daisy Pearce Comeback and the To Hell and Back Segments (which have been excelent) their website has been a bit of a mess for the past few months and the frequency with which it has been update has been a bit disappointing compared to what it was previously, even prior to the whole COVID thing. Perhaps that came through in my post a bit as well. These are stressful times for some and we all need to be a little kinder to one another.

Gawn can ruck most of the game with these shortened qtrs, so no need for a specific back up ruckman. also no Jones or Vanders rotating fwd/mid allows us to play a couple of smaller forwards, as our main midfielders can now take a greater % of game time on their own, so we don't really need the extra mid rotations anyway. less inside ball winning bulls needed, and more forward half run and pressure instead. it looked like it was a big focus for us in the pre season games and it seemed to work well, so it makes sense. also i'm glad Lockhart is in the team. our ground ball gets in the back half really needs to lift and he can help there. i guess the main question i have is whether TMac, Brown and Fritsch is enough of a threat in the air forward though? we'll find out I suppose.

Good luck to the 5 debuts in Tomlinson, Langdon, Pickett, Bedford and Brown. I hope you all have rippers.

It's very easy for people to say 'lets close schools', but the reality is our healthcare system and our economy are both under great duress. Some of us don't have the luxury of working from home, and we have small businesses which employ people. If the kids don't go to school, we have two options, close our business (so 6 people lose their livelihood, including ourselves), or have their 70 year old grandparents look after them. This is just us, but what about nurses? doctors? people working in food production? pharmaceuticals? If you close schools now, you are looking at prolonged closures, job losses, a greater hit to our economy and increased pressure on our already struggling health care system. Kids are the least vulnerable to this disease, and while there is a risk of infection within families, and while I applaud teachers for risking their own health, right now, this is the best option for the greater good. Schools are being extra cautious and have cancelled all incursions, excursions, assemblies etc. Everyone is doing their best in what is a very difficult time. The less armchair experts get involved, and sprout unnecessary fear and panic, the better. P.S.- if you can, please support small businesses during this time. A lot won't survive this otherwise.

Emergencies for when we're Running on Empty.

This is after a sample of one game without a crowd. The same teams have played the opening game for how many years now? ...and how many of those games have been watchable? If the AFL need to pull any pin, it's the idea that this should be the opening game.

I’m not sure if this is being discussed anywhere but we should be getting in touch with Amazon, Netflix, and other online based companies to offer sponsorship tarps to cover the empty seats in the ground. It will cover the bizarre look of the stands and will provide addition cash into the club, there is literally an entire ground that we could cover in it!

When you insult or denigrate fellow posters on a public forum it becomes everyone's business. And i reserve the right to call it out. If yoy want to insult or denigrate a poster and don't want to make it everyone's business PM them.

Another one bites the dust.

It was quite interesting. Nice to have a sporting event without being drowned out with music like the big bash.

A fantastic signing in the current climate. I'll wager that there aren't too many other AFL clubs who have signed up new sponsors in the Covid-19 era. Well done MFC!

Same goes for US presidents

If he was applying for employment in football, that might be a limitation. But it's a fan forum, where being out of your depth is not just permitted, it's a feature.

As if we aren't suffering enough....

What a fantastic initiative. Proud of you guys. No way in hell I would ever be caught singing on social media, so i just donated $50 to offset the cost for you. Keep up the great work, and thank you.

The club should help him out here. What a remerkable person.

i always thought it was oldest, continuous, professional, football club

I think people need to accept the reality that Spargo is going to get a lot of games this year. He tackle, harrasses, and links up well between mid and forward. His Marsh series was actually quite. I would have ahead ANB who is as sloppy as they come, and plays wet weather football every week. Weideman and Lockhart get the last 2 gigs. In fact, i would be immensely surprised if Lockhart misses out.

School, work, supermarkets - essential services Professional sports - non-essential luxury entertainment The point is not to eliminate exposure, chances are a majority of people are going to end up contracting the virus at some point. The point is to slow it's movement through society so the public health system isn't overwhelmed and people die because they can't get treatment. Any non-essential activities should be reduced or eliminated to reduce the chances of infection and slowing the spread. But it will spread now that it's here, I don't think we can put the genie back in the bottle. Borders should've been locked down a month ago but then again a month ago I was laughing at people who were worried about this. I thought it would be another SARS/Avian flu deal. The effects on health and the economy are beyond what I imagined it would be and for Australians it is going to get worse before it gets better.

The missus reckons I‘ve said “[censored] this [censored]...I hate both these [censored] teams”, early in the first quarter for the past 4 years..

Are you for real? Was a completely reasonable comment from RBG. Not for the first time you are well out of order.

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.

With no crowd to make a noise it is amazing the things you hear. The sound of boots near the boundary The players calling "BALL" The sound of boot kicking the footy The umpire exhaling as he bounces the footy. Feel free to add yours

Unless you have written this in Mandarin I am reading it as you saying Caronavirus is a huge scam

that's 6:40pm melbourne-time, i believe so 3:40pm perth time

Extra special effort in these tough times.

Here it is boys and girls

When are the final teams announced? We'll definitely be going small, as we rightly should. Bench of Pickett, Bedford, Lockhart and one tall. Could potentially go with 4 smalls on the bench. If Gawn gets injured or tired, we can have one of Tomlinson, TMac or OMac ruck. Pure rucks are the least important role on the ground, all they need to do is negate. Good midfielders will rove to the tap of whoever. I'd actually like to see us go in with a completely short bench and try to run the bastards off their feet. No long bombs into their backline, just run and handball. It's our only chance, as on paper they have us beat.

I reckon this proves he would be immune to COVID-19. Perhaps we should turn his blood into a vaccine.

He should be knighted for turning up in 2012 and 2013.

Self isolation Roaming Brian

This isn't quite true as 'Tarax' did actually miss our two Fosters World Championship games in Vancouver back in 1987 which I like to remind him of. He does at least have the footy record I picked up there.

I like his decision-making and tap-ons to teammates to create plays. He has played this role well in the pre-season and last season - he was asked/left to do onfield things for varied in/out teammates who were not ready for his quick thoughts and actions. I'd suggest that he is an ideal link man off the bench, when the talls are not taking their grabs due to their static preferences where there is no space. Who is going to tell these talls that the game has changed ... static height doesn't get you the pill against a manned-up bank of defenders. Spargo, therefore, could be a remedy to their poor habits, including the abundant other 'smalls' - just like the Tigers' team.

For me the game really lacked atmosphere and it took away from the viewing. Especially when Carlton was mounting a comeback. While I'm so happy we can still watch footy, and while I'm looking forward to our game on Sunday, there is no doubt that the crowd and the involvement of the fans is what makes our game so special.

I think Lockhart plays this weekend given Salem's out.

You're more of a masochist than I thought! 5 weeks of the BBC World Service. True, it's great for 30 minutes, then they just keep repeating the same stories, over and over. Bit like some Demonland posters, actually.

CGI coverage of the stands has been a possibility for years. They did it at a rugby union game years ago. It's the MCC who is against it.... they own the ground advertising rights. They had apoplexy at the time

The rain... sounded like polite applause.

Just wait until next week when the AFL realise that the game is missing that tacky and crass element and they need to do cheapen things up a bit.

This is where Morrison was last Friday so i don’t have a lot of time for his opinions personally

A well considered comment...not. How about you make a constructive comment for once rather than just snipe everyone else on the site. Take what I said to pieces, do your best.

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.