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Sometimes you'd think these things are scripted for the hysterical media write ups... Postscript headline "Brown goes south and sticks it up North."

If the Dogs lost to GWS and we beat the Tigers, it doesn’t matter what the margin is as we will sit on top of the ladder regardless, being the only undefeated team.

We can't whine when we can't get big name sponsors because we get no airtime and then whine when we get airtime. Success is a double edged sword. We want to keep a lid on it but the attention is good for business. You want good facilities & money to spend of the best people then this attention gets the attention of the big hitters.

From the AFL article: https://www.afl.com.au/news/598967 ... it will be May and Weideman in. Fritsch not right. No Brown for the fact that we cannot handle altering our setup so radically in one game. A really mature decision. I guess M Brown and Petty out.

One of the key things on re-watch of the Hawks game was how many times Salem receives an absolute hospital handpass/kick but he still sits there fully prepared to get crunched, and yet still disposes of the ball to the next player to start the chain. He makes messy situations look good and he is a hard player which you might not think at first glance.

Eagles can wait, we're going after tigers this week.

Onya Froggy! As you may have noticed, I'm on a mission from Gad.

This Guy: "They're actually looking really good, and some of the areas they excel are areas we aren't so strong at. Gawn will dominate against us, especially if we only play Nankervis. He will need additional support and even then, Gawn is likely to be the best big man on the ground. So they excel in our ruck weakness. Also without Prestia, their midfield has the potential to smash us inside. Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Jones will be very formidable inside and doing the grunt work. We probably have them on the spread if it gets out, but there's every chance they dominate the clearances so I think their strength there is challenging to one of our weaknesses without the Meatball to help. To mitigate this, one of RCD or Ross has to come into the 22. I think we are going to need that extra player in the mid rotations and hope they are ready to have an impact. The areas I think we are on top, is that I think our forward line stacks up well, particularly if May misses again. I rate the firepower of Lynch, Riewoldt, Martin plus our rotational smalls compared to their team. Ben Brown could be a danger if he plays, but he could also be coming in for his first game and not have a big influence or synergy yet. I also think our back 6 has the edge, and just need our mids to break even. The danger is if the mids are smashed the back 6 will be under siege and missing Vlastuin still will hurt. A lot of our forward strategy depends on if May plays. If he doesn't then Jack and Lynch need to play as far away from each other as possible to isolate the other against the lesser KPD, and force Lever to choose one or the other rather than sitting loose and zoning to cover both of them. We know that in the first 10 or so rounds, Richmond are more of a grind and get results rather than playing our best football. I feel the Demons are on a higher level than that at this point of the season, and so wouldn't be surprised if they get up. The final thing in our favour though is that Richmond do generally turn up in the big games, and while the Demons will not lack motivation, in front of a big crowd (unsure of the capacity limits?) on the big stage Richmond have to have more trust in them. It's a genuine 50/50 game for mine. IMO we need to split the Demons/Dogs 1-1. It would be a big ask to win both on current form of all 3 sides, but we can't afford to lose both either. I think this is a better match up for us, and tipping the Tigers to shake some of the early season cobwebs and flex a bit of muscle to win a great contest by 8 points."

One of my mates is a Casey coach. He has huge wraps on our AFL boys, which is saying something as he's a massive Collingwood man. He says the facilities at Casey compare to what he's seen of the EPL clubs and their training facilities. Huge wraps. He also thinks we'll beat Richmond. Says we're playing exactly how we're training at the moment.

fwiw, max in a recent interview talked about what a difference training at casey over gosch's has made to setting up defensive structures the players previously 'felt' that they were set up okay based on their defensive set-up and patterns with regards to the way they would set up at gosch's and the space they would have to defend it was only once they went out to casey and a 'full size' ground akin to the mcg that they realised how much space they were leaving open with their previous set-ups

Well I got that utterly wrong. The club has nailed every selection decidion this year. Let's hope they keep the balance right for Richmond on Saturday night.

I find it bizarre that some supporters would question us celebrating Jones on Saturday with comments about his form etc... YET at the same time are wanting our guns to sign on to being one club players. Clubs that treat their senior players with respect build culture, trust and bonds that younger players want to be part of. If the boys can beat the Tigers on Jones’s 300th we’d have stepped up to genuine contenders while honouring one of our best. Win or lose on Saturday, by honouring Nate we make our club stronger, and our elder players more “sacred”, a very good thing. Well done and thank you Nathan, and Go Demons!!!

It's bloody JORDON!!!! (I hope that helps Mr Demonstone)

Genuine question, why does it matter where our 'support base' is statistically geographically located or where the 'population' centre is? There's only ever a handful of people who go to training, it's not exactly a big attraction. You don't all of a sudden start getting fans because of where your home base is, just ask GWS and GC. Winning does that. We have the family day at Yarra Park, a social club is a terrible idea, I don't really understand the preoccupation with making our training base a good location for supporters? Way more important that it's a good location for attracting players and staff I would think.

Another half a dozen inside mids should do it.

...and to answer my own question, I think that playing Nate Jones for his 300th on the biggest game of our year, which may make a slight difference to the result shows our spirit. Dermie meanwhile said on reviewing the game that if we were tough and ruthless we would look at leaving him out. Dermie you are a c0ckhead.

This thread just goes around in circles. Does anybody have any idea what is going on with our homebase other than our past president and board keep telling us the MCG precinct is the preferred site .

Jordon

Yes I heard that interview. Was not suprised at all. Wherever the Training base is located, we must have an MCG sized oval for training. That must be written in stone

I cannot believe the posts here discussing dropping Tomlinson. The defence is now solid and it includes him, plus he has versatility to play wing if needed. As he said post match last Sunday - The hawks kicked 27 points in the first 1/4 , then 27 points for the rmeining 3 1/4's. Tomlinson is a key to those sorts of results and we now have a premiership-standard back 6 or 7.

I would love the opportunity to be an arrogant, insufferable, unbearable supporter. Just one flag, please.

Relax people, we can only take this ONE WEEK AT A TIME.

Be vewy vewy quiet

The game this weekend will not make or break our season. We will either be 6-0 or 5-1 with more than 2/3 of the season to come. Make no mistake, I want us to win and believe we have the players and game to do so. However, win or lose, I will be most interested in our team/players reaction to the result. After the game is done and dusted, I want the players and coaches to do what they appear to have been doing all season so far. Turn our attention immediately to the fixture next week and prepare fully and properly. No matter who we have coming up. So far this season we have met every challenge by ensuring we are ready when the ball is bounced. I want the same thing each week.

Spell Jordon's name properly. I may have possibly mentioned this once before.

If Fritta doesn't get up I wouldn't be surprised. No need to rush him in for 1 game. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Gee I hope May plays. No disrespect to Petty, I think he'll be a fine key defender, but I reckon May's inclusion takes this game from 30/70 to closer to 50/50 . Richmond's tall forwards are a handful, bringing in one of the comp's best big defenders is huge IMO. I believe we have the talent to challenge the top teams like the Tiges, just hoping we can hold our nerve in the big moments. Richmond are such a good team, they will keep cool heads knowing they have been there and done that.0 Hopefully the knew-found maturity and belief in our system can get us over the line. PS don't you love how the media jump on us when we're winning then all of a sudden this translates to "Demons supporters have blown the lid off"? Very annoying, when the vast majority of Dees supporters will keep the lid on until the final siren of the GF if we were to make it.

They were insufferable after they beat us in the 2017 ANZAC eve game - before they won their flags. Their arrogance over on Bigfooty that night was horrid. Even after we we had 1 fit bloke on the bench and had to ruck Watts for most of the night.

To be fair, we're never going to drop Oscar McDonald again.

If we win 3 flags in 4 years, I too will turn into an arrogant [censored]. I promise. Just give me those flags!

I am hopeful my prediction is wrong..

Can’t be a Tigers fan. It’s too articulate, is without spellos and well argued.

Also lets be happy that finally, after Jones carried rubbish teams on his back for a decade, he can finally be carried by his teammates to 300 games. He sure has earnt that right!

Watched the Casey game with an emphasis on another kid I have a lot of faith in and he was great. Toby has pace as we all know, but he now is an aggressive pressure player, who doesn't allow easy possessions to the opposition He now has very good disposal skills, as well as the ability to make a goal from nothing. IMO he will be a regular in the AFL side sooner than later and with Kozzie will prove an absolute handful for the opposition. I also thought Deakyn Smith was very good and looks a player. Rosman also looks a likely type and Bowey's disposal is superb. We now have significant depth.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/917015/-checker-to-be-honoured-on-anzac-day-eve This is an excellent development. Better than the Ezra Poyas Medal that I had in mind.

I agree with you but Bartlett pushed the MCG precint very strongly in just about every interview where the question was asked.. I don't think there is a logic in being close to the G. I wasn't suggesting we will get fans if we are close to the G. My point was it is easier to get/upgrade facilities if the local community is on board. We don't have such a local community around the G so it has been and will continue to be harder to get an MCG Precinct facility happening. Maybe Kate will soften on the MCG precinct view.

Looks like the Bulldogs have landed themselves another training facility in their heartland. a-huge-opportunity-western-bulldogs-find-second-home Because it is in their heartland they are able to harness local support and put a big emphasis on community benefit. Placing ourselves in the MCG precint denies us the same persuasiveness with local greenies, coucils, other sports etc. Hopefully Kate can work thru that for us.

I think the credit should go to Mark Neeld - he said he wanted Melbourne to be the hardest team to play against. Finally his master plan is coming into fruition!

You gotta feel for Mitch Brown. Wasn't half bad and definitely not the worst on the ground. Stiff kicking a couple and getting dropped, but he knows what's on the line.

I'd go with the combo that got us here - Fritsch for M.Brown and May for Petty. If Fritsch doesn't get up I'd go for B.Brown over Weid, it's career achievement vs last week and I'm a big Weid fan. Prestia and Vlastuin out does hurt the Tigers in both areas. It will be great if May can play, he is important for Dusty when he's forward - no-one else could really go with him. I really think this could be the difference between winning and losing. I'm firmly in the No Dusty = No Flags camp.

I'll never forget on a trip to Melbourne many moons ago, they were on every corner with a hand (tin) out for cash. Ever since then I've thought of them as the Richmond Beggers.

Goodwin on May (https://au.sports.yahoo.com/demons-ponder-forwards-set-regain-010729404.html): "He's got the clearance from the surgeon around his eye, so he's really confident in that," Goodwin said. "He's got to get through some concussion protocols in the back end of the week, but he's really confident. "He's trained really strongly through this little period, the last four or five days. "We're confident that he's in a good position and will be available to play and we're going to need Steven. "He's a really good leader for us and they've got some really dominant key forwards in the game."

I hate to say this... (because i have bagged others on here for the same attitude at times for not enjoying the wins...) We really havent beaten anyone good yet. Freo are ok. StKilda are a rabble at the moment. GWS lost a heap of players to injury but are a decent team. Geelong are playing far below their best so far this year (hopefully it continues for another decade). Hawks are an average team. What i will say is that we look like a team who will play finals. But can we challenge the top 4 teams? This week will be a true test to see how we are travelling. Looking forward to it!

hmm, not sure i agree with that from midway thru the first quarter onwards, the general 'vibe' around me in the southern stand was that we were significantly on top but we just weren't converting on the scoreboard; the same case for the majority of the year thus far tbh and i'm talking bout hawks and dees fans - the former were happy to be hanging around on the scoreboard and being 'in the game' as it stood, much as they have for much of the year, whereas we were clearly trying to find a way to get on top on the scoreboard as well as around the ground i long for the arrogance of being a tigers supporter

I have seen him at training in match simulations playing forward and taking some great contested marks.I believe he has all the attributes to become a really dangerous forward. Again ,he is just 19 ?

Trust me, there's plenty of rubbish that I've got in my post history. But don't look too hard for it! ?

Salem's a gun. His decision making and skills are as good as anyone who's come through our doors. Quite underrated one-on-one as well. Don't remember him losing too many contests over the journey.

2 more to the tally! Finally got my twin daughters' first memberships finalised, after a reasonably complex scenario was handled with aplomb and relative efficiency by a particular individual down at the membership department. A great customer experience. With their packs unlikely to arrive for their birthday next week, the club says they'll send birthday cards in lieu of the delay - let's see if they come by then! In any case, I can't wait to take them to their first game at the G - maybe Queens Birthday! But my true thanks goes out to @roy11for his thoughtful generosity and getting it all happening - cheers mate ??

Anyone wanting to watch Mac Andrew can via the Nab League App, last weekend's game is already uploaded. I'm pretty sure the first few rounds have been missed, presumably due to the AFL being slow to get their house in order, but I would expect highlights packages for every NAB player down the track as well. He is certainly an intriguing prospect. For those with a familiarity with the NBA, he is a very similar bodyshape, though not as tall, as the late and great Manute Bol - which is a different Sudanese physique to players like Majak Daw and Aliir Aliir. One thing immediately noticeable is how slender his arms are, I can't recall seeing a player/potential draftee with such skinny arms and this marries to the fact that at under 16s level he was 59kg. Now he's more, to the eye anyway, 200cm or so and 70-75kg. On the weekend, the Stingrays played the Dragons who are a very good side at the moment and featured Max Heath in the ruck, a strong bullocking overage ruckman who was in draft calculations last year and will be one of the tougher opponents for young ruckmen to face in the NAB this year. Andrew started forward and took turns through the ruck during the day. At this stage his lack of body mass hurts him in some competitive situations, but he has a very impressive standing jump which, in the ruck, meant that he dished out some very nice service for his Stingray midfielders and it will be a seriously attractive attribute for recruiters. He wasn't super consistent at stoppages, but there was some ruckwork stuff that would have list managers salivating. Around the ground, he dropped back a kick behind the play at times and took some nice marks, mostly when he had read the play well, channelling Aliir Aliir, and was able to mark uncontested. Again, his lack of strength hurts him in some contested aerial skirmishes. What I think was most exciting about him is his fundamentals. This is not some Sudanese kid new to the game running around out-athleting kids and doing weird things with ball in hand. He has very sound kicking mechanics and his ball use by foot was very neat and a set shot at goal was finished smoothly with the coolness of someone who had been playing the game since he was 11 years old. I don't know whether it is the case or not, but it was very encouraging. So really, this is exciting ruck prospect, with likely versatility to play in other positions, perhaps key back and as a forward/ruck but very much at least a few years off having the muscle to be able to play at AFL level, certainly in the ruck at least. But with such good fundamentals and a vertical leap, you can see why the drums are beating loud for him. Is he a top 20 pick? He's going to need to be dominant through the season, I'd imagine, to get near that status, or need one team with a specific focus of getting in a developing ruckman, happy to bring them on over a few years. But he's a very interesting player and assuming he has good intangibles, can't see him not being a category B player for us at the absolute very least. I really like the fact that he kicks the ball with good technique. With the rest of the package, it is very desirable. You really are only needing to muscle up him up to have a theoretical first ruck option possibility your hands. They aren't always easy to find.