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That’s not a ‘most likely’, it’s an absolute. As per influenza, it will circulate, evolve and mutate whilst it has humans to infect. Vax or no, it’s never going away. As for the flu, but more compellingly obviously, and government mandated to various degrees around the world, we will require vax boosters for the remainder of our lives. These will improve, so it may end up as every 3 years or such like. Treatments for the disease will and already are improving. There is currently a trial growing through its last stage that decreases symptom potency by 50%, thus hospital admission/ventilator support and death. I find it frustrating to re-iterate the point, because it’s so poorly reasoned and understood, particularly by the ‘just open up’ crowd, but the reason we are locked down is very simple. Greater infection rates means greater numbers who become ill. A high enough percentage of those who become ill need hospitalisation and OUR hospital infrastructure becomes overwhelmed. Not enough beds, not enough staff (who can become ill themselves and thus leave the workforce - temporarily and some permanently), and not enough equipment. What comes next is the salient point. ALL those illnesses, injuries and diseases that would normally have access to hospitalisation and care CAN’T then be treated. This could and will be any one of us. Heart disease, life-threatening cancers, broken limbs, everything then gets neglected, and our fabulously privileged, otherwise healthy society suddenly becomes not so. Knock-on effect of COVID. Two recent stories. Last week I treated a final year paramedic student. She has for the last 3 months been seconded to a vaccination hub, to be a vaccinator, in order that nurses who would normally get the gig are allowed back into the hospitals, because they are desperately short-staffed. Remember, she is a student. Knock-on effect of COVID. I witnessed a car accident outside my double vaxxed 96 year-old mother’s house just yesterday. Two cars, one driver ok, the other trapped in his van. I went to help, he was incredibly distressed and agitated, desperately trying to get out of his van, which was smoking, trying impossibly to crawl out his shattered window. I couldn’t get any doors open, so tried to keep him calm whilst someone else called the ambo. He appeared relatively unharmed, no blood, able to move all limbs although his right arm was in spasm. He was clearly in shock, and couldn’t tell me his name, or in fact speak at all. He then lifted his cap to show me a broad surgical scar along his forehead. I asked if he’d suffered a previous head-injury, to which he calmly affirmed with a nod. He became easier to settle after this. Within ~ 10 minutes of the crash the paramedics arrived, two minutes later the fire-engine, who wrenched open his door with a portable machine (clearly built for such things). He was assisted out and into the ambulance. This is simply spectacular emergency attendance and care. It’s what we’ve come to rely on. This would not happen if COVID is allowed to overwhelm the system. Let’s assume he’d suffered his pre-existing head injury from trauma, or perhaps cerebral incident - tumour, bleed. He obviously survived whatever this was, and has thrived, undoubtedly because he was treated in a timely fashion - AS AND WHEN IT WAS NEEDED. All of this goes away if COVID runs our health system beyond its limits. We are lucky, and privileged. We have two simple choices to keep it that way. Get vaccinated, and do what the experts tell us to limit infection. The light is at the end of the tunnel.

Anyone know the Canberra Times' strike rate? This is in the Canberra Times, article published this afternoon: "In more good news for the AFL premier, grand final hero Luke Jackson will sign a new deal with Melbourne soon. Jackson, who is contracted until the end of next season, will commit long-term to the Demons. The West Australian believes his future is in Melbourne and he will be joined by his parents in Victoria." https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7464063/the-chase-is-on-to-catch-the-melbourne-demons-in-2022/

From a player who shall remain unidentified in a forum which I cannot disclose. On Ben Brown: "An incredibly nice person, a brilliant story (to come from wooden spoon to premiership team), very calm person, a steadying factor for us". On Bayley Fritsch: "Very stiff to miss the medal, a worthy second, a ripping fella". On Luke Jackson: "Played a huge part in turning the game, could be anything that boy". On Christian Petracca: "Like a big Labrador, incredible development since being drafted, a consummate professional, has learned to re-set after setbacks, may have another level he can go to". On Jake Bowey: "Very competitive, towelled up Weightman." On Christian Salem: "Tough as coffin nails, genuine superstar." On Steven May: "Didn't want to know his scan result, said if I can train, I can play - and did, despite a 5 cm tear".

All true from what I've heard. His folks have been shopping for property in Melbourne, and "long term" is the phrase being used about his extension.

The Norm Smith Curse is over. The Clarkson Curse has begun. Long live the Clarkson Curse!

Just drove past this in Leichhardt in Sydney

That Gather (watch it closely) and Kick in the 3rd Quarter is a thing of sheer beauty, pinpoint accuracy Well done James.

Got my Charlie Sprago #8 sherran today.

Cheers for the plug, mate. Really appreciate it. We do this every year for the premiership team. As you can see from the contents, not every game is covered as I can only feature the content I write personally - this includes the members content, and a couple of extra articles for the year. All other Dees articles can be found on our site. Again, thanks for the support and if you opted to part with your hard-earned, hope it was an enjoyable read. I reckon the finals section provided value for you guys. Cheers - HB

The Hawks off loaded Clarkson, I don't think they know what they are doing.

Heart and soul type player. The reports of him trying to sub himself off so James Jordon could play some GF minutes shows his selflessness. Will be an important cog in our push for more flags.

Many years ago me and a couple members here joined forces to produce a Robert Flower highlights dvd. I'm very pleased to say that my collection of Robbie Flower highlights has grown and as tribute to the Dees making (and hopefully winning) the 2021 GF, I have uploaded a highlights video to Youtube of the greatest Melbourne player in my life time. So if you have a spare 40 mins or so, have a look at it. If you are too young to have seen him play, you need to see this. If you are old enough to have seen him play and remember what he was like, please enjoy.

My Hingrito poster just arrived! Quality is fantastic, absolutely stoked 😍❤️💙 Cheers @Lord Nevfor the heads up!

Does anyone think we will see Dogga playing midfield minutes next year? The thought of him roving to Gawn and dishing out to the Tracc/Clarrie (Trollie) combo is, in my opinion, [censored] mind-blowing.

So they are geniuses for getting enough picks for a father son and trading for Nathan Kreuger and Patrick Lipinski, two fringe players? Seriously Rendell is a complete [censored] and it makes me angry he gets paid for this dribble when people in Melbourne have lost their jobs due to Covid.

The sale of memorabilia is going to make a huge income and welcome profit for the club. It is the advantage and result of the hard work done to win a premiership. However, I'm disappointed that the club is going so far as to auction off match-day Mascot experiences for kids. Given they are selling for $1000-$2000 per game so far, it means that the children who can be Mascots are almost certainly going to be from very privileged Melbourne families. I'd hope that children from less-advantaged Demon families would be able to participate as mascots, and not be shut out because their parents can't afford the cost. I think the club should reconsider this auction item, or make arrangements for some children whose parents aren't rich.

I used to dream of a time when this trade period would mean little to me. Oh my God it is here I don't give two hoots about it this year. Let those inferior teams fight over third grade talents. Am I being arrogant? YES!

Not one player who is about above a C+ has been traded or talked about being traded. Putting aside our Melbourne bias for a second (as I have thought this for a long time) it is a disgrace that so much energy goes into the trade period so soon after the finals. If good players were being talked about being traded I would understand, but Bobby Hill changing teams is about as relevant and interesting as eating cardboard.

Received my custom framed demon today

He's a good player, but I don't think we will have the coin for him. Sounds like we will be giving Jackson a decent deal. Plus we will need money for guys like Rivers, Pickett and Sparrow in a year or two. There's only so many A grade type players you can have on a list due to the salary cap and in the middle we have two genuine A+ players in Trac and Oliver.

Good players play best in pressure situations when the team needs them most Harmes and Brayshaw are examples of players desperate to do the teams things in the 'teams hour of need'. In the 3rd quarter the lesser lights Harmes, Brayshaw, TMac and Sparrow stood up and showed their metal and did things which helped us to victory.

howie kotton is an old school football journo - if he's saying it it's going to happen

Worth every cent. And it goes to charity. I'm not sure when the AO awards are but I've sent my suggestions. Toot toot

"Luke, let me introduce you to this nice girl who's a stunner, who lives in South Yarra, right near Gosch's, and whose family all live near Casey fields, and who has no intention of moving anywhere else in Australia, ever."

Sincerely thanks for this And I will watch it tomorrow but tonight I need to watch the replay again because I have this unrelenting nagging feeling that there is a handball somewhere that I have not committed to memory

lol. mostly midfielders and 3 full forwards a well balanced side....not

If we had room for Cerra in the cap then we have room to front end a few deals and get some years on the end of Jackson, Oliver, Pickett et al

If Rory Lobb is $700 000 plus a year (staggering), Luke's contract will be a fair bit above that 450 mark.

He helped us turn and then dominate a GF. I don’t know what you’re waiting for. If we won’t pay him, 17 other clubs will happily.

Very good player but injury prone costs $$$$$s we don’t really have room on the list numbers we don’t have trade picks or players as currency salary cap tight at MFC with younger stars needing extra $$ in future so it’s a no

He is average or the Hawks would not be looking to off load him.

The problem for Hawthorn is that they are not going to be bad enough to get access to the pointy end of the draft for a number of years. They are looking like a 7th to 12th team and probably on the slide. A midfield of Mitchell, O'Meara, Wingard, Worpel, Impey, Shiels, Phillips, Howe - serviced by McEvoy, maybe Ceglar if he stays, and the promising Reeves is competitive without being at the top echelon. The problem here is that the core of talent is closer to the end than the start of their careers. This area is going to ultimately get worse before it gets better. The backline looks solid and has a lot of potential provided Grainger-Barras delivers on his draft position. Sicily, Day and Scrimshaw are all good players. Jiath is exciting. Frost, Hartigan and Hardwick are all capable. Bramble showed some good signs at the end of last year. This area will only improve. The forward line is more uncertain. Gunston and Breust are very good players and providing their bodies hold up will deliver the goods over the next year or two. Talls have shown some promise but are unproven - it could go either way with Koschitzke and Lewis. Moore had a very promising 2021. This area is going to get worse before it gets better. But I'd much rather be following Hawthorn than Geelong.

Number 2 should be reserved for now. Very special number for this club. 22 would look good on him

Plain old normal? I'm in Europe (France), so a bit further down the track on this than Oz. Through a big stick approach we've managed to get vax up over 90% of most of the adult pop, kids over 12 rapidly catching up. We're currently at under 5K cases a day nationally, which is about as low as it's been for 18 months, though tragically, still losing 30+ people a day. Here's what we live with to keep those figures down: - Masks in all enclosed spaces, public transport etc. etc. Includes private spaces (work etc.). - Anywhere people come together, whether it's restaurants, theatres/cinemas, sports stadiums or sports facilities in general (gyms), and any long-distance travel, you can't get in without a vaccine pass: vaccinated or recent negative test. You can't even sit outside at a cafe without one, and people in all these places have a scanner on their phone that verifies the code that you have on your phone. - Most school kids are still having to mask, though that's being eased for younger kids in areas with very low cases - Many shops are still restricting number of people inside at any time and "number allowed" is often displayed outside - Social distancing is still practised, and enforced in some circumstances. e.g., most shops where you have to queue have marks on the floor, 1m apart. - Hospitals and places where there are vulnerable people are insisting not just on being vaxed, but having a negative test as well. etc. etc. "Normal", but the vast majority accept it as the price to pay for living with the "pandemic that won't last forever".

I just worked out it downloaded to the book thingy on my mac... you can control the font size so its down to 210 pages...anyway what I am enjoying about it is the conjecture early on about our structures and how they were to go for the rest of the season and the praise given to Goodwin for his tactical acumen. eg: Referencing the first match against The Dogs. “THE TACTIC NO ONE WILL TALK ABOUT This was a really sneaky little move by Simon Goodwin and his coaching crew, and I hope that someone highlights it as part of their TV reviews. If you’ve got the game recorded, you can do it, yourself. When the Dogs had the footy in their back half and were looking to switch it, I want you to concentrate on the Melbourne player given the responsibility to leave just enough space between him and the next defender in the line to tempt the switch. That player was Kysaiah Pickett, and with his closing speed, all it took was one slightly wayward kick to create a pressure situation out of what would normally be a standard two kicks across the defensive fifty to open up the game. Pickett managed to create a bit of havoc, forcing the next defender in the chain to kick hurriedly out of defence, often to a contest and rarely displaying any composure. The rest of the Demon forwards would press up to create congestion across half forward and the middle, leaving Pickett to work back and man the switch. Poor Taylor Duryea found himself up a particular creek[…]” “Teams will work out how to successfully bypass the Pickett pressure at half back, but it was something that troubled the Dogs greatly, and with Pickett causing mayhem the Demons down the line knew to play in front to mark the dump kick from the panicked defenders. A great move by Goodwin - bloody intelligent.” Excerpt From: Brett Meyers. “The Mongrel Punt: Melbourne Demons, Year in Review - 2021.” Apple Books.

Just a reminder that we played them for 6 hours this year. They were better than us for a whopping 10 minutes.

The best $6 you'll spend on 410 pages of pretty darn good content. * I have no affiliation - HB Meyers and his crew are just fine writers and far more forensic than other more digestible content.

Added to this, our investment in our health system (and by system i mean the whole shebang, not just hospitals) in Victoria has been completely inadequate since the Kennett years, by Labor and Liberal governments alike. So 25 plus years of underinvestment in policy development, communication, community health, hospitals etc etc. And we all have some responsibility let that situation evolve, to some extent, in so far as collectively we have not made it an election issue. Or enough of one I'm firmly of the belief that this decades long underinvestment was a huge factor in some of the problematic elements of our response early days in our first outbreak and lock down (ie 2020). NSW have not underinvested in their health system, at least not to the same degree, and were much better place to respond to the ultra shock of a world wide pandemic.

Agree entirely. The problem is that this requires enormous investment (18 months was never enough time to bridge the gap, but I agree the process should have been fast-tracked regardless), which must be sourced from the populous. Tax levies must be increased to pay for a more expansive system, wages and conditions for health-workers must be improved to attract them. I’m happy to pay for this. Do you think our governments (all) have the stomach for selling this to the public at large?

You do need the Medicare express app to do it all via your phone.

To say ANB is a dedicated Demon is a huge understatement. He is nearly always the first to congratulate a teammate after a goal or good play. Watch him run in behind Max's deciding kick for goal in round 23.He has become a regular in this super strong team.

Wow, thanks for that. I can't believe what I am seeing right now. Premierships, superstar players developing before our eyes, AND not looking to go back to their home states (Yes, I'm looking at you Scott Thompson and Jeff Farmer) I could get used to the new Melbourne.

helluva player rated super highly internally but not nearly enough externally

Starting to look like they might even be doing it -worse- than the Demon's first rebuild 2007-11. Wingard, Mitchell and O'Meara are only in the 27-28 years range. They have a dozen other players older than that and many of them are also important to the team. It is a big risk to be trying to dispose of your remaining mature players when you are already about to lose a host of them naturally. But I guess that works both ways - if they don't hit the panic button and get whatever draft selections and young players they can, they will be in all sorts of trouble anyway. Looks to me like the only part of the ground they have reasonable prospects in from the younger players is defence. That's important (As we so happily know - Oh hey, did you hear we won the premiership? Yeah, we did that) but damn they look threadbare everywhere else. They've got just 80 games total into every player they have 21yrs or under (Demons: 220!) and that's a fair reflection of what's available in that group. I've looked at it and talked myself in a circle but the conclusion is; I cannot see a way Hawthorn can avoid a really awful and sustained slump. YAAAAAAAY! WOOOO HOOO!

We will get to 90% fully vaccinated in the 12+ population by the end of the year in Victoria. We are almost at 90% for 16+, and the 12-15 year olds are getting vaccinated faster than any other age group, and they are working on approval for Pfizer for 5 year olds and over. I assume that games will continue to be ticketed to an extent. If you have a membership you'll need to link it to your vax certificate to get into the ground. If you don't, you'll need to provide it when buying a ticket online or at the gate. There is no chance that we will continue to pause the state for 10% of people who are too stupid and selfish. Let them get sick and let them die of Covid. It is unfair to our incredible health care workers, but life has to go on for the sake of everyone's mental, financial and emotional health. Our case numbers are insanely high, but actually our hospitalisation numbers are well down on last year, where at our peak we had less than half the case numbers. Vaccines work, and they will enable us all to move on to a better future. I just hope that the absolute morons who think it is "their body their choice", don't come crying when their bodies are too sick to make the choice of breathing independently.

I believe that was one of the reasons Goodwin decided to coach from the boundary a la Norm Smith, I have heard that with all the people in the coaches box stats people and coaches your head is full of distracting noise from these people and when your team is in trouble clear thinking is a necessity so you can give clear instructions to players going on to the field and relate to players coming off.

And if he goes to Geelong, he's 'Over The'...

But an absolute gentleman in his latter years. I was lucky to attend a number of small lunches where he regaled us with his recounts and tales of the times. I hope that he gets to the ton!

Petracca, Oliver, Gawn and Jackson. All once in a generation type players, all in the same team at the same time, and they’re playing for us!