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Robbo crying over his beloved Bombers. Cry me a river Robbo

It's left out of the conversation because it's peak stupidity. Yes people die from the flu every year. Yes it's sad, but largely unavoidable. If the current virus is allowed to spread unchecked throughout the country, best estimates are that there will be over 100,000 preventable deaths in Australia alone. Governments don't take the decision to shut down countries lightly. If you still can't get your head around that at this point, you must be actively avoiding listening to anyone who knows what they are talking about.

How on earth would Dusty fail to get a gig?

No problems at all Andy. I have made a donation of $50 to help you. I love this site, and am happy to contribute to help with the costs of running the site.

This is what is really annoying me about the way people insist on comparing this event to the flu. Apart from the fact that there is no cure and no vaccine, coupled with the fact that this is far more contagious, people insist on misrepresenting the deaths statistic!! In Australia, we have a total of 261 cases that have an outcome, 17 of which are deaths (maybe 6 to 7%?). No one should be stating deaths as a percentage of the total number of cases as the bulk do not yet have an outcome. Of course over time the percentage of deaths will drop, but while there are cases yet to have an outcome, no one can be sure what the number of deaths will actually be. This is nothing like the flu and it is folly to think that it is.

I regret to inform those that have taken out a Life & Annual Membership with Demonland that as of the 1st of April you will see the return of Advertisements on Demonland for at least one month. Not having any footy has severely cut down our visitor numbers for this time of year and has had an huge impact on our revenue stream to pay for the costs of running the site. I know that everyone has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and that is why I’m not asking anyone for assistance or passing the hat around. The return of Ads should hopefully cover the costs If any Life or Annual Members would like a refund I will happily provide it. Please let me know here or via PM and I will arrange it I apologise for the inconvenience and the annoyance of having the advertisements back temporarily but I assure you that in time they will disappear again. I will reevaluate in a months time. As a Life and Annual Member you will still have the following benefits. Life: As an added bonus Life Members can change their Display Name once every month as opposed to once every year, they have a higher storage quota of messages within the Private Message system, they have a higher storage capacity for attachments and they can edit posts up to 4 hours after postings instead of 1 hour. Annual: As an added bonus Annual Members can change their Display Name once every 100 days as opposed to once every year, they have a higher storage quota of messages within the Private Message system, they have a higher storage capacity for attachments and they can edit posts up to 2 hours after postings instead of 1 hour. Thank you for your understanding. Andy

Dear Melbourne Football Club, Thanks for your email. I will always support this club through the good and bad times! My late father, Kevin Raymond Hardeman who passed away on 3rd December 2018 and was a financial paid up member of the MFC since 1972 (except 1979!) and we, as a family attended every MFC game up until 1987. In 1973, I remember sitting in the Northern Stand with my Grandmother (Gary Hardeman’s Aunty), my Dad, Mother, Brother and Sister (my youngest brother wasn’t born at the time) with Robert Flower’s parents and talking to them while watching Robbie play his first game for the MFC! I was still taking my Dad to the footy in 2018 and sitting in the top deck of the Southern Stand in the AFL members...sometimes on our own!! My Dad saw his last MFC game and win against the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium! It was a fitting last game for Dad (who had Dementia and was living in a nursing home at the time!). My Dad had grown up a Footscray supporter and saw many of Melbourne’s premierships in the 1950’s. My father was a good footballer in his own right and played U18s for Yarraville Football Club and told me he had played football on the MCG and his opponent that day was EJ Whitten who was playing for Braybrook. It was the season before EJ started playing for Footscray. Dad also coached North Footscray Football Club and was a life member of the Umpires Association in the Footscray District League (FDL) which is now defunct. My Dad was the strongest, nicest and honest man I ever knew. He was and is still a legend!! Our greatest MFC moment was at Whitten Oval in the last game of 1987 when we beat Footscray to make the finals for the first time since 1964! I remember hugging my Dad as the final siren rang and dancing on the terraces...what a game! What a team! What a season! We where also there at the Preliminary final at Waverley and watched as the Hawks broke our hearts!! We went to our Grand Final losses in 1988 and 2000 (another great year...loved ‘The Wiz’!!). My poor Dad was too ill to go the finals in 2018 but my brother, my niece and myself where at the MCG to see us beat the Cats and the Hawks (I was responsible for starting the Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne chant after the game!). I flew to Perth for the 2018 Prem final and sat behind Daniel Cross (Daniel lived with my Dad’s brother Peter Hardeman and my Aunty when Daniel first started playing at the Bulldogs) and the club doctor on the plane over...the loss still hurts as does the 186 point loss at Geelong (Dad, my son and I sat though the reserves as they got beaten by 30 goals and then the seniors by 186 points...I am still recovering from that defeat!!) My Dad also knew Dudley...and I remember Dudley selling peanuts at the footy at the G in the 1970s and 1980s... Anyway... I love this club with all of my heart and soul! Stay strong and take care. Go Dees!!!

I really hope they don't do this. We need Western Australia. It's somewhere to keep the West Australians.

I liked Nathan Carroll. He was undersized and fought like hell against the big forwards. HE was also a legitimate Dumbass off the field. What's not to love?

Where's my violin

I’d be amazed but anyone who says he isn’t missed is having a laugh, surely.

I missed this first time around, 'adc'. Love your work.

Graeme Watson, 18 games(15 wins) for Melbourne 1964/65. No finals. Despite playing 15 games in 1964 he was unlucky to be named as the emergency for the finals games. Known more for cricket than football. Dashing right hand batsman alrounder. Played 5 tests for Australia. First player to play Sheffield Shield cricket for 3 different states. Also played World Series Cricket in later 1970’s. Was nearly killed by a Tony Greig beamer to the face during the Rest of the World Series in 1972. One of the worst injuries ever suffered in Test Cricket and spent a month in hospital.

He was a smoker. I recall a quarter time break in the Reserves at the Footscray oval on the day Brian Roet demolished Ray Baxter's claim to be the next Victorian Centre half Forward - I played cricket with Ray in the mid 1970's at Ewing in Central Park .It was probably Rowarth's his last year, 1963, and like a lot of players, he was lit up, sucking on a Craven A, maybe a Turf, maybe a Capstan, maybe a Rothmans....A bloke I went to school with in the 60's lived in Apollo Bay for years. He knew Alan Rowarth, always spoke highly of him.

Yes, not a good time to have a heart attack or stroke, or to fall off a ladder. Also a good time to pass on a phone number to elderly neighbours via a note in their letterbox. No man is an island, as they say.

100,000 is just the CV-19 deaths, with hospitals overrun for a period of time other preventable deaths would rise as well.

The real John Howat.

This is why I don't want people donating. Keep your money. You never know what is around the corner. Demonland will survive.

I really didn't want people to have to dip into their own pockets. Everyone's doing it hard and a footy message board should not be high on the list of priorities. You contribution is appreciated but please Demonlanders save your money for a rainy day. The Ads will suffice.

no dramas whatsoever

No problem at all Andy. Thanks again for all your hard work.

All good Andy!

No problems Andy Will be interesting to see what the advertising bot sends my way ?

Winning masks or makes a lot of bad stuff go away. The Club severely failed with a group of young men.

Henry Coles could play a bit. He must be close to the bravest footballer in the world. About his last game he apparently had a punch up with Carl Ditterich in the changing rooms. He was pretty feisty on the field but one would think lucky to survive a stand up with Carl

The leopard doesn't change its spots. When he was with us, away from his bad WA influences, he often showed disinterest and went sooking to the umps. That's what we'll get if he comes back. Huge talent, likely to be unfulfilled no matter the club. Maybe AFL-level football isn't for him.

Didn't say that. You are putting words into my mouth unnecessarily. Those that think Hogan would take us deep into September are living in la-la land. His well discussed record against better teams says it all. Wish him well, but he will remain an unfulfilled talent.

I know the pay issue is important, but it really highlights for me why ive turned off almost all afl media last year and already this year; Barely any discussion of games, and instead footy politics. Where were the 'on the couch' game graphics and behind the goal vision from round 1? Instead just a round table discussion on pay disputes. What a bore.

Very good Tacky. When I die, I want to come back as the king of Thailand: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-thailand-king-maha-vajiralongkorn-grand-hotel-sonnebichl-germany-a9431936.html

I'm with you. If the players weren't switched on that is an indictment. A bit like rd 23 2017 when we had to beat a lowly Collingwood to make finals for the first time in a decade. Everything to play for but the players weren't 'switched on'. In fact they didnt lay a tackle inside the first 15mins. I am so sick of Melbourne not turning up to play. The coaching staff is on notice this season and they have fallen at the first hurdle. Yes there was an unusual circumstance but it didn't bother the Eagles. It would seem in fact (and has been pointed out elsewhere) it wasn't in this case their lack of endeavour. It was the complete failure of their game plan and ability to have any system bringing the ball into the forward line. Same old crap we have been dealing with for a decade. What doesn't help is people making lame excuses for them.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Please be careful. There’s a link going around for a stream of Bono from U2 doing a live gig from his home. Do NOT click the link! It will take you to a stream of Bono from U2 doing a live gig from his home.

I think the suggestion is if this happens then it will be in two stages with 40 in 2021 shifting to 35 in 2022. I assume this is to smooth those coming out of contract. If they are to do this which I do not disagree with to reduce costs they should also do the following to support it. Lift the draft age to 19 to reduce speculative picks as well as ensure players once on list have an extra year of physical and mental maturity and readiness to play. Reduce to 16 on field as per the AFLW. It will both reduce cost as well as improve the speed of the game. Align each club with a secondary club that they can develop talent with and if injuries hit you can promote from. If we go to 35 you will really see a premium placed on utility types that can play multiple roles well. Ignoring existing contracts and assuming 2 new draftees and no trades I would delist/retire the following. Jones, Spargo, Hibberd, KK, Hannan, AVB, Hunt, Brown,Wagner, Wagner, Bradtke NB: I am assuming Nietzschke and Bennell are available for full preseasons.

Damaged goods now, he would be a 3rd or 4th rd pick. Freo would be happy to see him go, I’d say. I’d have him back in a heartbeat.

would welcome him back in a heartbeat but i doubt it'll happen

For a bit of fun I had a look at Jurrah's highlights on youtube, jeez he really was something special. I can't help but wonder if in a parallel universe there's a version of him who was able to be managed better and given a full AFL career.

Hawthorn finished the HA season a game clear in 4th. It was a very good win.

Kane Cornes should be ashamed. Hysteria? Tell that to the families and friends of the 14 (now 16) people who died alone, without even the comfort of having their families beside them. Australia is also 2 to 3 weeks behind the rest of the world in this widening pandemic. It is not going to get better, especially when people like Cornes think everyone is over reacting. He should keep his mouth shut and appear stupid, rather than open it and remove all doubt. (With apologies to Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln or whoever the quote belongs to.)

And we could have had his cousin brother who was the real star of the family. (Source) Plenty of SANFL stars didn't translate to the VFL but tell me this wouldn't have come in handy...

A complex character. On one hand he took his life from the penthouse to the ****ehouse . Yet while he was at at Richmond he was a terrific support to a young man of my acquaintance who was suffering from severe mental problems

I have tears right now star of the 80's.

Hmmmm. Poster with 12 posts announces inside info about a player wanting to come back to Dees. Some people don't handle isolation as well as others.

Our forward line would function so much better with Hogan. I’ve come to the realisation that it was a fluke and an anomaly that we won from round 22- semi final 2018 with the T Mac - Weid combo.

Unlikely but possible. Hogan would need to get delisted first but if fit, he would be more help than a few on our list. I would welcome him back in a heartbeat if he was committed to come like Bennell was. Hogan was more stable and successful at the Dee's and he knows this. I don't think there are many clubs that would be able to help him.

This is a bit premature. April Fools Day isn't until Wednesday.

Take it to the bank, Hogan has asked management of any chance he can be traded back to Melbourne in 2020 trade period. Seeks a fresh start away from bad influences in WA

I for one would be lost to the game if we ever folded or merged. I could never mine the same depths of disappointment or reach the same fleeting heights following any other side.

It is really pleasing to see that people are STILL buying memberships to support the club. Since last Saturday 317 people have effectively made a "donation" to the club, to keep it alive. Total as of today: 37,888

This talk of merging is totally gross. And especially with Carlton who as far as I am concerned can merge with the filth.

So this is the 'ideal model' in your opinion, post-covid-19? Can't say I agree mate. All the fans of the teams that are gone won't just pick another team, they'll be lost to the game which means less revenue for the AFL on top of the losses this year.