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‘Better midfielder than Viney…’ Sigh. Yeah, nah. God, Jack puts up with some crap on here. If the players at the club ever read this they would laugh their heads off.

Me and my wife won an auction for my 2 sons (8 and 6) for their birthdays to meet and greet Petracca and we done it today. He was amazingly generous with his time and was genuinely interested to hear about their auskick and their school, friends and anything else they wanted to walk about. Heaps of photos and a couple of signed gurnseys. Absolute class act, can not speak highly enough.

Oliver is ridiculously underrated by the footy community and commentators. Luckily those who really matter rate him as the best mid in the competition.

the notion that bedford is a better midfielder than viney is absolutely absurd

Port Adelaide v Melbourne 10 Christian Petracca (MELB) 8 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 6 Tom McDonald (MELB) 2 Steven May (MELB) 2 Max Gawn (MELB) 1 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB) 1 Christian Salem (MELB) Leaderboard 79 Clayton Oliver MELB 76 Marcus Bontempelli WB 76 Touk Miller GCFC 73 Samuel Walsh CARL 70 Jack Steele STK 70 Ollie Wines PORT 63 Darcy Parish ESS 61 Zach Merrett ESS 60 David Mundy FRE 55 Max Gawn MELB 55 Hugh McCluggage BL 53 Christian Petracca MELB

Celebrating a Norf win really underlines my complete disdain for the Eagles. ??

I don't mean this in a patronising, or facetious way, but Robbie was ahead of his time in many ways. I grew up a passionate dees fan. The only fan of the dees, and the only fan of footy actually, in my family. Robbie was my hero. The only one I have ever had. And in the 70s and 80s, his grace and compassion and - what a perfect word for Robbie joeboy - his gentleness was decidedly uncommon for men. Particularly those playing football. Add in his fierce desire to play to his limits whatever the score and his leadership, a finer role model you could not find. I went to his memorial at the g and the love for the man was so incredibly palpable. When we win a flag, I'm sure my thoughts will turn to Robbie.

Did anyone else watch The Round So Far on the AFL website over the weekend? Kane Cornes (yes, I know, but hear me out) highlighted something Gawn did against Port using behind the goals vision: we had a forward 50 stoppage but Gawn left it to sprint out of our forward line to go stand on Dixon, freeing up May to play the last line of defence. Apparently that's something Gawn did that more than once. Just a shout out to our superstar captain who should comfortably collect his fifth AA jacket this year, and deservedly so for doing selfless team stuff like this (alternatively/jointly a shout out to our coaches for getting this sort of stuff to happen).

Played against a lot of ex VFL players in my Bush Career But the one who worried me the most was the thought of Greg Parke using my back as a step ladder as I filled the gap at CHB as all good ruckman do Greg was one of my hero’s growing up So as you do I tried to shirtfront at him first opportunity Result Free and Goal to Parky

Prior to this round they were leading the Free Kick Differential by nearly 30. Also they are the only team that consistently gets away with blatant throwing of the ball.

West Coast are pathetic. They can only produce AFL-level football when they're at home and it's not wet. Anything other than perfect conditions and they fall apart. They're slow, unfit, lazy, old, disinterested and [censored]. And don't you just love to see it.

Not sure why anyone's surprised about their disposal. This is on their website.

As sure as night follows day, Jim. I was at a small gathering over the weekend, mostly people I didn't know. The woman next to me mentioned her husband works in the transport industry and just got back from Sydney. I asked why she wasn't at home isolating with him. The reply was that they were exempt from isolating and testing because he works in the transport industry, as if that is some sort of COVID barrier! Go figure. I got tested the next morning, of course.

Now we're a lock for finals, I feel like we should recognise that, esp after the last 2 years. Having said that, the fact it's a non-event shows how high expectations are which is really good too. Congrats to the entire club to get us so quickly to the position where we're unhappy with anyone outside the top 4.

Michelle is a really lovely lady. Got to know her when Clarry was doing bushies (Murray Bushrangers) The sacrifices that lady went through to get Oliver to the position he got to in being drafted is phenomenal.

With Scott whinging about 'long' games and wanting them shortened suggests he knows they won't win a flag with an ageing, slowing team. He has also talked about resting players. Says it all about his concern of the chances of their best 22 list playing a long finals campaign. With games vs Freo, Rich, Saints and GWS (contenders for the top 8) and Demons, he won't be able to so readily rest players like he did vs Carlton.

In short spurts Bedford really looked great the problem with Toby is that the % of the game that he seems to be involved is quite limited. If he could somehow manage to be a consistent contributor across 4 quarters then we have something to work with. He is not in the same mold of most of our current mids IMO - he is very much an outside player and cannot be compared to Viney, Oliver, Trac, Harmes, AVB etc who are the contested ball specialists. My guess is that Toby has been told he needs to work on certain areas of his game and tick some boxes before he is invited back into the senior team Of the others mentioned Chandler - A fair way down the pecking order in that small / speed forward category Bowey - Great skills , football brain, very good at picking the best option and delivering with precision. Has a future but no idea what his final position will be. He sort of reminds me of a faster version of Spargo as both rarely waste possessions Lockhart - Solid and is very brave, injury interrupted season probably hasn't helped his case - worth persisting with IMO as a replacement small defender

And on penalties too. Seems like plucky little England -- who united the nation! -- weren't able to defeat the evil conglomerate after all. And the whole exercise was going to justify Brexit. The rest of Europe is now thankful the game was played at Wembley. The hooligans can rampage and destroy their own country now.

Twas written in the stars

It's coming Rome.

If all the teams in the eight play at their very very best Melbourne win. Simple if we can play at our best we win the flag.

while I was browsing some stats from the game I came across Harrison Petty, how was this for defensive numbers?! 8 intercept marks 12 possessions 91% disposal efficiency 8 1%ers he is really starting to get the job done

I admit I was a biased observer( going for Sydney for Dees’ sake), BUT ......... 28 frees to 15 in Scraggers’ favour, despite less possessions. Very similar to their GF win, when their run with the frees was unbelievable against the Swans. They’ve been doing it to us for DECADES! We need to find out what it is that the umpires like about them, and copy it. If we meet them in the GF it’ll happen again. Nothing more certain. Its not just the frees. The umps let them move both ways with steps to either side before calling play on. Then quickly yell “ play on “ when the opposition even look to one side. Similar bias with adjudicating the length of very short passes. Has anyone else noticed this?

Eagles losing makes it a perfect weekend, take that Meth Coke!

What a great result. [censored] West Coast.

Josh Kennedy or Jim Carey?

Tracc was great the other night but it was also great to see Clarry back to his one touch brilliance...hitting the ball at speed, puts the hand down and takes the ball so cleanly. He's had a great year but I think he's coming back up to another level as we head to finals...

I met Gary a few times. Well, met is probably not accurate. He was the year above me at Melbourne High back in the day. Old mate gaz waltzed around the school like he owned the joint and was more much more likely to push me down the stairs than say g'day.

This feels very different to 2004 to me.

Met Ray Biffin a few times. His father Leo worked for my father. I used to go hang with him at work when I was a little tacker. If you asked Leo I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have thought he was hanging with me. Anyhow.... He used to slip me an old redundant MFC training ball every now and then. Met the great Ronald Dale at his pub once through a mutual friend. Had a long chat. Told him he was the reason I supported the club watching him on the Happy Hammond show when he did the Western Star footy clinic every Saturday when I was the only person awake in our household. He had a laugh and was delightful. Couldn't believe what his fingers were like. The knuckles were so swollen from being bent back and broken by balls that the knuckles met a long way out from the fingers. Met Robbie at the old MSD sports store where he worked at the end of 1980 . I went in to buy something and there he was on his own no one else around. We had a long chat. He was quite candid in saying he loved Carl Ditterich as his coach and didn't know why they had replaced him with Barrass. It was before Barrass started. LIke Binman and others he was my idle. No. 2 is still my favourite number. I got tennis lessons from Todd Viney for a while at the Junction Oval. Without a doubt the best tennis coach I ever had. He was still playing and it was a bonus to sneak in a few footy questions during lessons. I met a bunch of the players at the 2011 B & F. My son was about 12 and playing footy. He was a nightmare at getting to eat vegetables so I went around the room and got a bunch of the players to say into my phone Charlie eat your broccoli if you want to be a great player. Jack Watts was particularly great saying Charlie I hear you're like me a skinny, tall, CHF. Take it from me you gotta munch on that broccoli if you want to become a great player. Liam Jurrah was hysterical. He didn't know what the hell I was talking about but did it anyway with a great grin on his face. Got a few others as well. Had a great chat to Aaron Davey with a group of other supporters and he was saying he thought Bailey was trying to get them to execute a game plan they couldn't execute. I believe it was the two way running it's only taken them 10 years to finally master.

Also investing some money into junior umpiring, so we have some decent umpires coming through. We've lost a few good ones to retirement and they have been replaced by absolute bottom of the barrel D grade umpires and even worse ex-footballers. If we made umpires full time employees or at least took umpiring more seriously, the standard may get a hell of a lot better making games a hell of a lot better. The only thing that has been awful to watch this year aside from umpiring, is goal kicking. The goal kicking standard has been woeful.

Very kind of you to suggest that. But no, when England go down, all is well.

Went to Werribee on Saturday to watch the game and check out our next likely players to come in. Bedford was interesting, along with Chandler, Bowey and Lockhart as small quick players and I tend to agree Bedford has a bit of potential and could make the grade, but only just and all four were below our AFL small brigade of Spargo, ANB, Kossie, and even Hunt and Hibberd who sometimes play on smalls. Unless there is injury they probably won't get a look in this year. For the Bowey fans I still don't see any reason for him to play AFL for a year or two. He has the Salem smarts about him but doesn't have an AFL body yet, so needs a couple more pre-seasons and natural growth. Weidemann is a bit dissapointing. He doesn't play the role of the lead up forward and constantly gets caught out the back of contests. White and Ellison were the two presenting all the time and the fact Ellison who is a natural forward kicked six in his first VFL game is an indictment on Sam. Ellison could have kicked more as he found space early in the day but was ignored as we kept looking for Weeds. (Just a note that Ellison was minded by the 3rd defender whereas Weeds would often attract more than one defender) Sparrow is still the next in and Melksham has a touch of class and remains in the mix. Just a note on the Casey boys. Obviously with low injuries there is a lot of AFL listed players in the team so the Casey boys opportunities are limited, but all of them played good games. And finally I thought two of the most promising players out there were No's 68 George Grey and 40 Kye Declase. George Grey was fantastic, quick, clever and in everything, he definitely has a future and we should get him on the list ASAP. Declase played the wing taking over from Rosmann who was largely unsighted unfortunately, But Declase is another who could definitely go to AFL level. He is tall, and plays the wing role really well with good endurance and skills, and with Ellison kicking six our depth is good and Casey are flying. Well done to our recruiters and VFL coaches and development staff.

Is Southgate the right guy.....

Italy - Solid CBs, talented midfield, inconsistent forwards winning the cup. A good omen for us.

Outstanding player is a bit of a stretch.. His last AFL game against Freo last year wasn't exactly anything to write home about and with 6 AFL games left in the season I would think he's in real trouble to retain his spot on the list for next year.

Id be more worried if I was a dogs or cats to be honest both are round 50/50 vs other top 8 sides and already lost to us this year. Top position and a flag are both ours to loose, we have a healthy list and have not lost to any other contender, every other team would kill to be us right now. If we fail to do either we don’t have anyone else to blame but ourselves which is the most scary thing.

I studied (Architecture) with Max Walker. He was an all-round good bloke.?

I'm not buying the conspiracies. I reckon it's a number of factors: 1. Nice guys: Some of their best players - Macrae, Bont etc are nice guys and fair players. Compared with some of ours - Gawn used to give the umps a serve, Oliver was awful - you get the umpires onside or off by your behaviour, that's human nature. 2. The Duckers and divers: Lachie Hunter is the number 1 transgressor. Weightman's not a bad prototype. McLean an all time classic. We have Spargo but that's about it. 3. Aggressive zone defending. The Dogs backline often play in front and pretty much play as the forwards. That means they get the free kicks for pushes in the back or chop of the arms and also means they don't give away the same free kicks by playing from behind. Someone like Lever will always have a better for/against than Steven May, just from the way they play and the Dogs whole side is more like Lever. I think the main one for us to take from them is to be more professional and respectful to the umps. Gawn has matured in that way and probably gets looked after a bit better now - although not nearly as well as he should. Oliver and even Petracca can probably improve a lot there.

Based on our form to date, you would be justified in being more concerned about Hawthorn, GC and Adelaide than about the Dogs, West Coast and Geelong.

In years to come, the old timers will talk in wonderment about the “Avalon Avalanche” that hit Werribee’s Avalon Airport Oval on a mild winter’s afternoon at about ten minutes after the halfway mark of the game between the local Tigers and their cross town rivals, the Demons from Casey. At that moment in time, the game was poised as if on a knifepoint. Up until the main interval, it had been the visiting team which had maintained the lead from the start but it had struggled to entirely assert its dominance in field play on the scoreboard. The Werribee tactic had been to close down play and crowd the Casey forward line preventing the highly talented Demons from opening up a big break in the game. They had one effective forward in Sam Weideman with two goals to thank for their 17 point lead at that stage, one that should have been a lot more. The standard of the game had been poor, the pace at times was barely pedestrian. Then, when play resumed after half time, the home side was ready to strike. It opened up the play, ran into space and for ten minutes took over the proceedings. But for their inaccuracy in front of goal — they kicked 2.4 from several forays into the forward line punctuated by Weideman’s third goal in the middle of their run — they would have been able to snatch away the ascendency in the game and grab a nice lead. As it was, they were down by just seven points but you could sense alarm bells ringing in the Demon camp. Then the avalanche struck. In the space of seven minutes, the Demons ran the Tigers ragged with their superior pace and ball movement into attack with five different players scoring goals to catapult them into an unassailable position. One of the goalkickers was newcomer Kye Declase who was recently plucked away from Werribee per medium of the the Midseason Draft and who has a future in the game. The other was a surprise packet playing just his fourth game. His goal at the 17 minute mark of the third term was his first in the VFL and made up one of the stories of the day. Corey Ellison is a local product from Cranbourne who spent a couple of years on the fringes at the Dandenong Stingrays and missed out on playing alongside teammate Toby Bedford in their 2018 premiership. (Ironically, it was Bedford who kicked the first of those five avalanche goals after some exciting play from Jake Bowey turned defence into devastating attack). After committing to Casey last year, Ellison took to the gym and built himself up during the lockdown and did his preseason with the Demons but the presence of Ben Brown and Weideman meant he was consigned more into defence. He was selected there for this game but, as fate would have it, he was up forward in the third term. Late in the quarter, he managed two quick goals and with the game free and open at last, he added another three in the final term to make it six for the game to match his six goal haul for Cranbourne on Anzac Eve which gained the high flyer his VFL debut on a Thursday night against North Melbourne back at the end of April. Earlier in the day, Bowey had shown his class and composure and signaled that his elevation to the big time was not far away. Weideman was in his element as a key forward who at times roamed far and wide to generate some attacking spark for the team. The experience of Aaron vandenBerg and Jake Melksham shone out in the second half and Tom Sparrow had some big moments before injuring himself late in the game. The two midseason draftees Declase and Kye Turner are coming on nicely. Apart from Ellison, the Casey listed contingent was well led by Mitch White and the tackling machine that is Jimmy Munro. George Grey also showed some flashes of pace and brilliance. With another percentage boosting win to give it a 7-1 record, it is believed that a finals berth beckons in the magical mystery competition that is the VFL in 2021. But all of that depends on a bigger landscape as we await the next avalanche. CASEY DEMONS 3.0.18 5.5.35 13.8.86 17.14.116 WERRIBEE TIGERS 1.2.8 2.6.18 5.10.40 7.15.57 GOALS Casey Demons Ellison 6 Weideman 3 Chandler 2 Bedford Declase Grey Melksham Munro Sparrow Werribee Tigers Kemp Thar 2 Buzza Malual Pinnuck BEST Casey Demons vandenBerg Ellison Lockhart Melksham Weideman Declase Werribee Tigers Sodomaco Garoni Thar Pinnuck Gribble Hayes Statistics Oskar Baker 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 71 dream team points Toby Bedford 1 goal 1 behind 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 73 dream team points Jake Bowey 1 behind 15 kicks 4 handballs 19 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 87 dream team points Aaron Bradtke 7 kicks 4 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 44 dream team points Kade Chandler 2 goals 2 behinds 9 kicks 1 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 60 dream team points Majak Daw 10 kicks 3 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 33 hit outs 90 dream team points Kye Declase 1 goal 1 behind 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 7 marks 1 tackle 83 dream team points Corey Ellison 6 goals 1 behind 10 kicks 1 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 4 tackles 2 hit outs 106 dream team points Zac Foot 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 7 tackles 83 dream team points George Grey 1 goal 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 57 dream team points Neville Jetta 11 kicks 6 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 62 dream team points Jay Lockhart 20 kicks 4 handballs 24 disposals 8 marks 1 tackle 96 dream team points Jake Melksham 1 goal 1 behind 13 kicks 7 handballs 20 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 86 dream team points James Munro 1 goal 1 behind 9 kicks 10 handballs 19 disposals 1 mark 10 tackles 86 dream team points Fraser Rosman 1 tackle 4 dream team points [injured] Miles Shepherd 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 38 dream team points Joel Smith 14 kicks 4 handballs 18 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 68 dream team points Tom Sparrow 1 goal 10 kicks 10 handballs 20 disposals 4 marks 7 tackles 96 dream team points Daniel Turner 11 kicks 3 handballs 14 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 58 dream team points Aaron vandenBerg 3 behinds 14 kicks 7 handballs 21 disposals 10 tackles 101 dream team points Sam Weideman 3 goals 10 kicks 8 handballs 18 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 4 hit outs 101 dream team points Mitch White 1 behind 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 55 dream team points

I was fortunate enough to be on first name basis with Robby Flower, though we really only met a handful of times. He was a courteous and gentle man…the most unlikely looking football genius you could ever meet.

With 6 rounds to go in the Home and Away with us at the pointy end of the ladder I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread that looks at the impact of the results per round and speculate on the next round. At this stage we could end up anywhere between 1st and 5th. Saints and Swans did us favours this week end against the Lions and Dogs, at the end of this last round we could have sat anywhere between 1st and 5th and the result fell our way. The Pies might roll Richmond. 9 points ahead with a few to play at this time. We sit top after 17 rounds a game clear of both Dogs and Cats both of whom we play on the run home. these will be critical games. Next round the critical games in my view are, obviously, our game against the Hawks, one that we should win going away. Dockers Vs Cats in Perth? Dockers may surprise on their home turf. we can only hope. Tigers Vs Lions. Critical for both teams. Tigers to try and climb into the 8 and for the Lions to keep up top 4 aspirations. Suns Vs Dogs. pressure on the Dogs after the loss they just had. Go Suns! Saints Vs Port. Saints a big chance in this one and they need it to try and challenge for the 8. Best results next week see us 1st 2 games clear of the pack and the worst result would find us 3rd on percentage behind the Dogs and Cats ad a game clear of Lions and Power in 4th and 5th. It is going to be an interesting ride.

I've long held the view that Toby Bedford is an outstanding player and should be playing midfield for us. I must admit I was won over by Bedford when he plays midfield. Saturday was no exception. Bedford is so bloody good, so fit, quick and bloody tough and puts on hard tackles on opposition and a great kick and dangerous, and runs and also dynamic. For example his game against North reserves back in Feb 2020 when he ran and kicked a magnificent goal at the City end. In summary I just think Bedford is a better player at this stage than Viney, I like Viney and respect him but more the reasons expressed above we can do better with Bedford. Further, whilst Jack Vineys courage cannot be questioned Jack is somewhat limited/lacks outstanding abilities in many vital parts of the afl game: a) kicking the ball (in particular depth, accuracy, ability to pinpoint a quick incisive pass as compared with and not be confused with a slow 15m easy kick) b) marking(caveat here, its not surprising and to be expected given his short height) c) pace, spread from the contest, ability to get into dangerous positions to receive the ball, ability to put on a side step or burst of pace (not to be confused with ability to jog beside/behind an opposition midfielder who he is tasked with tagging- he tagged Wines on Thursday and Wines had 33 possesions! And a goal. d) damaging with handball (not to be confused with ability to handball in tight e) never impacts with a goal Like all supporters I admire Vineys courage and big heart but above all I want our midfield to be better in fact it is a longstanding theme of discussion in post match statements by Goodwin With respect our midfield could be much better, imo there is so much room for it to grow so that it is less dependent on stars like Oliver, Trac and Jordon and Kozzie with his midfield cameos , that is to have a player who is more skilled and in particular better at kicking, has pace/spread from the contest, side step and just a better overall package rather than mainly tackling. I cannot see it happening but I think the Match committee should not select Viney unless the other midfielder players mentioned above are injured Furthermore I would play Toby Bedford in the midfield instead of Jack Viney to see if the hypothesis that Bedford can do more than Viney is correct and test whether Toby makes us a better team. I know this appears to come from left field but hear me out: firstly it's based on long held views about limitations of Jacks game and I respect Vineys commitment/courage, secondly I fear he is not the best available option if we want to win a premiership and teams with better midfields will expose what I perceive to be an inherent yet fixable weakness in our midfield.

Better have another look at Jack's taking down of Ablett in our most recent final against Geelong!

Football has become a music video for "What about me" by Shannon Noel.

Simple answer but obviously more expensive, buy an mfc membership with grand final guarantee.

The extra 60 rule is coming in too. Any Victorian team that is based more than 60 k’s from Melbourne, each season, gets an extra top 10 draft pick, a guaranteed 10 games at their home ground, 5 extra fees in front of goal each game, 25 more rotations each game, 19 allowed on the ground in each game, 25% more on the salary cap and unrestricted father/son and NGA players as well as anyone who says they once visited Geelong or have even heard of it. Also a finals wild card if they miss the 8 and a captain’s protest, to be used in any losing final, to have the result reversed.