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You'd be hard pressed to find any children begging for less time with their fathers. AFL is so far from an essential activity; it is a luxury for society. If it is safe to play, then that's fantastic. Playing is isolation hubs where players are essentially under draconian lockdown however is absurd. This is a global pandemic the likes of which hasn't been seen in 100 years. Literally pulling families apart for a luxury spectator event is absurd. Australia is not Covid-19 free and most likely, won't be for another 14-18 months. It will spring back up as soon as restrictions are eased - that is a certainly. The government can test, and track and attempt to contain it, and that will probably prevent it running wild and overloading the system. But it won't be gone. The only reason we don't have mass graves and AFL stadiums as field hospitals is because of social and economic lock-down. IMHO, we may be able to get to a stage where we can play to empty stadiums like round one, but if the situation is such that we need 'hubs' then it is not worth it. It may be nothing for 2020, empty stadiums 2021, then normality 2022. Western countries have already lost patience with the pandemic, they want it to be over and believe that sheer strength of will and positive thinking is enough to get it done.

Trump gives me an hour amusement every day on you tube. Dumbest president ever.

Instead of taking the flag off them the league just deleted the entire club.

nah, it's more how young they are

My favourite NQR Finals stat is Fitzroy simultaneously winning the wooden spoon and the flag in the same season.

Two loyal and reliable assets, consistent and stalwarts of our club. There is Brett Lovett saving us time and time again and so cool under pressure. He that would fit in so easily on the HBF . We could have done with him now and would've fitted in just nicely. Nathan Jones a loyal subject IMO a little bit underrated due to being in a side that under performed most of his career, however he battled on showing that he was mentally tough. A most consistent and hard nut , terrific leader for our great club. Nathan just.

Best Bet (Sat) Sandown Race 7 No.1 Ancestry (Place) $2.60

Not only '88. Had he stayed, he would have been another of the troop playing with Robbie in '87, in that Preliminary Final. And most likely, in the Granny following.

No 50. 1986. Round 14 V Fitzroy. Waverley/VFL Park. 1986 was the start of life after Ron Barassi’s messiah coaching return didn’t bring success. John Northey was appointed ahead of a number of senior experienced candidates. He was not high profile so he’d been dismissed by the Swans. The Dees were 3-10 after 13 rounds and not looking very promising. The winless Saints had easily beaten the Dees in round 12. It was a dark mood around the club. The season was turning downwards and the rumours of merger talks had started to be raised between the Dees & the Lions. Fitzroy were a top 3-4 club and still had several stars in their line up. But Dees started like the top team , belting the Lions kicking 7 goals to nil. The crowd was in awe. The Star was a young strong forward John Fidge, younger brother of Ted Fidge, who kicked 5 goals. The emergence of young Garry Lyon, Steven Stretch and Steve Newport showed the promise of better times. A young Hawthorn reject named Brett Lovett was on debut. Greg Healy stepped up afer his brother Gerard had “desserted” the Dees for Sydney’s $$$$. Brian Wilson “Willo” returned the Brownlow level form and fitness, showing why his prior injuries had hurt the Dees. On a cold June day, it brought some hope to my Demon heart. It was the first talk of mergers and the Dees had stood up to say No Thanks. The team copped some real beltings by over 100 points on several occasions in 1986 but this day was remembered as a plus sign. Melbourne 17.13.115 defeated Fitzroy 11.5.71

We also won the 88 prelim vs Carlton there. I don't think it had anything to do with waverley, it was the games we dropped mid-late season costing us the double chance through the Northey era that cost us.

Discussing. And what's being discussed is nothing like a return to normal, far from it. At the very least, international tourism, both inbound and outbound, will be curtailed if not closed. As for domestic, I'm in France, and the message here is don't even think about summer holidays for the moment, and even then, probably only locally (within 100 km). And that's just the summer - there's increasing awareness that even the 20-21 ski season which starts in December is looking dicey.

Toughest choice yet. Brett was simply outstanding and for many years was, in my opinion, the best classic hbf in the league. Rarely beaten in any contest and his disposal was always to advantage. Nathan has been an outstanding warrior for our club whose efforts can not be overstated. But for all this, he was not better than others who played the same role. It breaks my heart to deny a champion and club captain but Brett was too good to overlook. Brett for me. Nathan to repechage.

Leave Trac out as he will annoy the crap out of the rest locked in a hub!!!

Yes, the grass is often greener on the other side, but it's equally hard to mow!

AFL looks to bring back under 19s This would probably help a lot of young footballers develop.

Yes, there does seem to be a disconnect between the reintroduction of the Under 19's competition and its likely impact on economic and political stability in the greater asian region.

Not sure he's had a far superior career... Definitely a standout in a poor time for the club. Lovett was a fantastic player for us in better times.

No worries.

Thanks for relieving me of my ignorance.

Half the world is begging for a couple months away from their partners at present. Sooky love-sick kids.

This was very satisfying victory.

Thanks for comment DJ. Not sure that I agree with myself at the moment. Find myself yelling at the TV and some of the comments. It's good to be able to find refuge in the occasional replays that are highlighted by a knowledgable demonland population. We have some way to go apparently. But as I look at the empty streets in Beechworth and see the Beechworth Bushrangers being unable to train when there is absolutely no indication of the virus having been evidenced within our NE area is frustrating. If we increased our testing we might find that we are able to return to some normal activities.

The way people vote here could be greatly influenced by how old they are.

No.47 1973 Round 10 v Geelong at MCG The debut of Robbie Flower. Robbie was only 17 yo when picked as a skinny teenager. The Dees were desperate for a win (were 4 wins 5 losses) and smashed the Cats by 9 goals. Greg Swan kicked 8 goals and John Tilbrook kicked 6 goals. I did not see this game (my first year of going to games was a 6 year old in 1975) but my late father reckoned John Tilbrook was one of the best players that he saw in the red and blue. He must have been very good. Greats like Wells and Alves starred. Robbie’s debut was victorious and he played every game for the rest of the year. It was the start of a very special career for a very special Demon. Melbourne 20.19.139 defeated Geelong 11.15.81

We are not immune. We are part of the world. However we are unique in that we have a border that we can control. We also have witnessed a very compliant community. We also have more dispersed population with discrete centres of density. With our cultural and social habits of close community relationships we also had internal tracking. But most importantly we had a health system which was also dispersed and with a culture of collegiate and community commmunication. We also had a more egalitarian population with less vulnerable and unsupported sectors. While our health system had been allowed to be degraded and was considered under resourced it was still way ahead of every other country. The virus was/is a health issue and that is where we should have concentrated responses. That lockdowns and distancing were adopted from that expert advice was another factor in our success. But the economic impacts are not all caused by the virus. These impacts are the consequence of government action. The politicians have chosen to close down economic activity and have caused confusion through contradictory action. Why a hairdresser and even supermarkets are exempt is unfathomable. How many transmissions have come from these sources. The social changes being undertaken by the government are economic decisions they are not caused by the virus. We could have invested more heavily in testing, tracking isolating and treating without closing down every community and every ectivity. The government is using his crisis as a huge data collection exercise. With an approval for a huge budget allocation which it will be able to allocate as easily as sports grants this is an opportunity for this government to undertake and entrench ideological action.It is not the virus causing this it is the deliberate political practice. We definitely need to improve our health system. We need to increase our testing and tracking procedures. Education needs greater coordination and consistent practice. Perhaps a health nurse in schools might be a better investment than a chaplain. Our Child care and aged care systems need more resources. As the drought, bushfires and now this pandemic have shown we need a strong central government. This does not mean we need dictatorial and undisputed power application. We do not need more division and less government we need a more representative structure. Border closures and the current divisions of state populations is not required. We are all in this together and yet we are creating and celebrating in many cases the differences. While we have time to reflect deeply on these matters we can also appreciate the role that sports has played in our society. Perhaps as a demons supporter I have become too inured to defeat to lead an uprising.

I want Nathan Jones to win it. May as well cancel the 1900 flag that we won from 6th of 8 because the final series was NQR.

At Waverley: 87 - lost to Hawks after the siren 88 - beat WCE by 2, 89 - beat Collingwood 90 - lost to WCE by 5 goals 91 - lost to WCE again, but beat Essendon the week before (all finals at Waverley that year) At the G we got hammered in the 88 GF, and the 89 semi v Geelong. Our record at Waverley was no worse than at the G, and we did win the 87 and 89 Night flags at the old VFL Park!!

Mate your talking Oz here Politicions will keep us under the knuckle for as long as they can. We are very few problems compared to most other countries

These comparisons are really tough; agreed with your summation but it seems unfair at this point to discard BLovett, doesn't it?

Thanks BBP. I don't remember him at all. I was thinking of Graham Molloy, who was apparently his father.

The 1990 team definitely was good enough to win it. Pies stole it. The Bombers & Hawks had dominated the prior 7 years. We were able to BEAT both of them in 1990. We lost to lower teams. We were capable.

7.30 Sunday night. Recording already set.

We were close to winning a premiership prior to the 6-6-6 rule. That rule stopped the fast, attacking and ruggered game style that could afford kicks not being pin point as they do now because of opposition players being in the space where there used to be paddocks of space for Demons to kick goals. 6-6-6 was the single most detrimental thing to happen to Demons winning a flag and now fallen in the pack because players not skilled enough to cater for the rule change. The misery continues for now.

We were leading Brisbane by about 8 goals at half time at Waverley and won by 2. Stkilda seemed to be our bogey side through that era we lost to them in 88, 89, 90 and 91 (round 3) before finally getting over them later in 91 by 1 point at Moorabbin thanks to some Jakovich magic

No.48 2016 Round 20 v Hawks at MCG The Hawks we’re reigning premiers but Roos’ Demons were a rapidly improving side. Roos was to step aside at the end of 2016 but the Dees had a very small sniff of possible finals actions. They only had to win their last 4 games. The Hawks were tested by the Demons earlier in 2016 and had won a tight encounter. So despite the Hawks being a top 3 team again, we felt we were a big chance of an upset. Unfortunately Jesse Hogan was out and Sam Weideman came in for his first game. Another tight affair was evenly balanced at 3/4 qtr time with the Dees in front by a goal. With the demon faithful supporting, the Dees lifted to win by 6 goals. Dom Tyson kicked the sealer and the Dees celebrated. We’d finally beaten the Hawks after years of embarrassing losses. Watts, Gawn and Jack Viney were our stars but backed up by many young players coming through. Hope was rising that very soon the finals drought would end. Melbourne 17.8.110 defeated Hawthorn 11.15.81

No fact there, just the opinion of a Richmond supporter

I'm very happy we have another voice on the MCC board! To me it's critical given the profile of the other (unwelcome) existing tenants and wannabe tenants. I suspect Howcroft's place on the board has a bit to do with his advertising nous/experience.

Can we stick to footy?

My recollections of that particular game, which I posted on this forum a couple of years ago ... In round 20 of 1982, me and my Demon mate went to Victoria Park for the first (and last) time to watch Melbourne play Collingwood. We found standing room in a packed outer but soon realised we were surrounded by a seething mob of dirty, ugly, loud, abusive, obscene, smelly and toothless black and white supporters. Almost without exception, they were drunk, smoking like chimneys, swearing like wharfies and even at this early stage of the day fighting amongst themselves. Some of the men were just as bad. We started well with the wind but the Pies had regained the lead by half-time. The third quarter was all ours with eight goals and in the last, we kicked another eight to finish all over them by nine goals. Having kept very, very quiet all day for fear of attracting the wrong sort of attention, the beers (ice-cold cans!) finally got the better of me and this is when I did the craziest thing in my life. As Mark 'Jacko' Jackson kicked his seventh to seal victory, I let rip with a loud "Go Demons!!". Things then went eerily quiet in the outer as hundreds of pairs of beady eyes bored into us. I looked at my mate, he nodded and we turned and ran as fast as we could towards the exit and kept going all the way to Johnstone Street where we jumped on the first bus we found. It didn't matter that it was heading in the wrong direction, we just wanted to get away from that horrible joint. Only my drycleaner will know just how frightened I was that day.

the appointment is to the MCC Board not the MFC Board

This is such a bad take it reads like sarcasm, but I know it isn't. You've literally said "even if the game had no meaning, I think it meant the following". There is a massive asterisk over Round 1 given what the players knew going into it, and we won't know whether what we showed in Round 1 is indicative of what we'll show in any remaining 2020 games until we start playing again.

Nuff said...

Poor appointment...he was on our board at probably the worst time in our history. ...an empty suit.

Yes he left us as a 24 year old star. The irony was that Healy left the Dees and could have played in the GF in 88. In fact he won the Brownlow in 88. He was an elite footballer and was sorely missed.

There’s some talk of having extended benches if they do the carnival format. This would be perfect for him.

I think the whole season will be cancelled. The afl will take the lead of nba

The impact of Trengove's foot injury was starkly apparent the day that old concrete boots Brock McLean ran away from him.