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Come on guys and girls. Journos are paid for journalisiming. Have a look at your own 2021 predictions before you go backhanding his predictions. I see Essedon and Adelaide as the rising powers in the coming years, and West Coast and Geelong as the big sliders. Geelong, ffs, its OVER, let it go. I've been negative for 4 decades based on experience, but this is a different beast. This MFC has talent, belief and commitment. We have multiple flags at our feet,.

It's fair to say that I find the discussion around the word "frank", Charlemagne and the Merovingians to be far more interesting and definitely more informative than Jon Ralph's article.

Thanks. Just to clarify, it’s generally a breach of copyright to post entire articles, or even large slabs of articles. There are exceptions to this under what are known as ‘fair dealings’ provisions in the relevant legislation. One of these exceptions is for parody or satire - I’m sure plenty here could make an argument that Jon Ralph’s writing falls under such a category. Small excerpts are also OK, and because this particular article is very long, it’s fine to publish the Melbourne snippet, which is: Every single member of the Demons’ flag team will go around again. And Sam Weideman, Adam Tomlinson and Jayden Hunt will move heaven and earth to be part of the fun this time around. Players with significant upside from that brilliant drought-breaking team: Luke Jackson, Kysaiah Pickett, Tom Sparrow, Trent Rivers, Harrison Petty, Bayley Fritsch, Jake Bowey, James Jordon, Charlie Spargo. Add the freaks: five-goal prelim final hero Max Gawn, Norm Smith medallist Christian Petracca, All-Australian defenders Jake Lever and Steven May, Brownlow Medallist-in-waiting Clayton Oliver. If the Demons don’t win another flag in the next three years something has gone seriously wrong. Early prediction: If Luke Jackson isn’t re-signed by June, West Coast will be offering him $7 million over six years as the franchise target of their rebuild for 2023 and beyond.

His top 8 prediction is MFC, Port, Dogs, Lions, Cats, Bombers, Sydney, Tiges. So he is being bold this year and has GWS out and Tiges in. His 2021 top 8 prediction was just the 2020 top 8. No changes at all. A few other things from the article. He thinks if the dogs had a ruckman they would be premiers. That's laughable considering they had the 14th ranked defence and no premier has been that bad defensively since they started measuring these things. He thinks the cats will be contenders again based on their bad injury run last year. Fact: They had the second least games lost due to injury in 2021 behind us. He thinks West Coast will be coming for LJ with an $8m 7-year contract

Crikey! I go away for an hour and the correct answers have flooded in. The common factor with these players is that their surnames are also the names of Federal Electorates. (Sorry, WCW, you were in the right area but I didn't want to give the game away by revealing that!). First across the line was Tim, who is hereby appointed Prime Minister. Congratulations, sir. A short half-head behind in second spot was Satan, who has earned the title of State Premier. Kudos. In third place was mo64 who has been elected Mayor of his Municipality. Well done. Honourable mentions also to Councillors La Dee-vina Comedia and #11-TonyAnderson. You can now see why I couldn't reveal the prizes. And, in case what you were wondering what the cryptic pictorial clue was going to be, here it is anyway (a reference to Morrison). I did consider boy band Hanson and Robert Palmer as well, which I am sure would have misled people into believing that the answer was music related. Thanks to all who played or gave up in frustration. I hope you all had some fun.

Simulations conducted by Warner Bros and Walt Disney have predicted that when dogs chasing a sparrow converge, the sparrow flits off and the dogs all crash into each other. Football scientists now consider this theory to be proven.

As for top 8 predictions, will wait until the FIXture is out.

I love these kind of nonsense ‘predictions’. Even if the Eagles want LJ he’s a former number 3 pick whose only gone up in value - meaning we’d want the equivalent of a number 1 pick and another top 10 to contemplate a trade. So they’d essentially have to finish on the bottom to facilitate it and then give up something else - which isn’t how you rebuild a list if that’s what’s he’s trying to propose. My Early Prediction: this isn’t happening.

He’s not an anti vaxxer and his political views should be irrelevant. I'm surprised that, as a doctor, you would offer an opinion without having access to his medical records.

Tommy Sparrow announced himself in the finals series this year. Expecting a big year from him in 2022.

I want a Saturday afternoon game so i can bring my son along. Next preference is Friday night so i can have a few beers and not have to worry about work. Wednesday night sucks

Another good injury run and it's Demons for the flag then daylight. Couldn't give a sheet what order the rest of them fall into. Jackson signs and we'll win the next 3 getting that 4peat we dropped in the fiddys.

Warning ⚠️ on the Giants - look at their form with Mummy and without, they’re putting a lot of faith in Preuss getting on the park! Also no Toby for the first 5 rounds. Coniglio would want to have a very good year.

Will humour work instead of mandates? Or could it be seen as too condescending?

Dante the Cop sat in his saloon car watching the football club guys wandering in and out of the hotel like ants fighting over a seed. Dante hated football, ever since he was forced to play it back in school and was sat on his rear end multiple times by guys who looked like refrigerators with eyes, and were about as smart. His mouth felt like an old towel left out in the sun and he cursed for the hundredth time the dame from the night before who had lifted his wallet while he was trying to find out where her stocking seams ended. Goddamn football, and goddamn the tall slender stranger who had offered fifty a day, two hundred of it up front, plus expenses, to play nursemaid guarding a goddamn giant shiny beer mug.

I used to play cricket with ralphy. A really good fella. Pretty quick fast bowler too. But jeez his footy writing leaves me cold. Exhibit A - this line: The dees 'must win multiple flags to frank this brilliant collection of talent'. One, the talent didn't magically appear in 2021. If we have so much talent why didn't he pick us to finish top 4 tgis year (iirc he didn't even have us making finals). Two, it's a any way to set up a stupid narrative should we lose a few games - with this collection of talent they are under pressure because they should be winning the flag. Three, yes we have a talented list. But the biggest hurdle will be remaining disciplined and selfless

It started back in the 60s when someone Franked Davis as Melbourne captain.

Agreed, we drafted for needs and by the look of it, have come up trumps. JT is future proofing our list with these young draftees. In all my years of being a devoted Dees supporter, and it it has been a lot of years, I have never seen such a deep and balanced list. The fight for spots in the 1's is going to be fierce next year. By the way I am a long time Demonland viewer and first time poster. Very excited about our event at the G this Sunday for the Melbourne faithful. Great times for our beloved club

My guess? Clubs naturally look at what the premiers are doing. West Coast are the outliers since the dogs won the flag in 2016, in so far as the other winners have all been manic contest teams with really strong, combative midfields with game plans that emphasise territory over precision ball movement. This model requires inside mids and contested ball winners across every line. And a key element of both the tiger's and dee's game plans is top line intercepting key defenders and rebounding half back flankers with great kicking skills (the latter is true of the dogs too). I wonder if the other clubs, all playing catch up except the dogs and to a lesser extent the tigers (who needed an injection of young, manic energy - and drafted accordingly), prioritised such players. And conversely had less interest in outside players, wingers and key forwards such as JVR and Howes. We have enough inside mids and contested ball winners. And more than enough top line intercepting defenders, not to mention rebounding half back flankers with great kicking skills. So we can afford to target a key forward AND and winger. And seem to have done exactly that

Its early days but from what Ive seen at his age, it looks like we have a future champion.

Some of the lame criticisms against Sparrow could easily be applied to Petracca. As far as I am concerned a player with sublime penetrating kicking skills should exploit them rather than lowering themselves to expected standards of lesser skilled players. The coach and bench went crazy with joy after Sparrow posted our 11th goal. That says it all.

You win the Internet

It doesn’t surprise me in the least. Our so-called ‘advanced nations’ have widespread access to a thing called ‘the internet’ and that has become the new playground for conspiracists. One can only wonder what the world would be like today if the internet has existed mid 20th century… polio, smallpox, measles, mumps etc etc would have run rampant.

I'm not big on Frankfurts. OK with other types of sausage. Bratwursts, Chorizo, BBQ snags etc.

An expert committee voted to recommend the US Food and Drug Administration authorise Merck’s Covid pill for high-risk adults, the first of a new class of antiviral drug that could tackle Omicron and other variants. The drug, molnupiravir, is likely to be approved for older and more vulnerable people at greater risk of severe illness. The treatment is given within five days of the start of symptoms and is taken as 40 pills over five days. That's a lot of pills 😎 (From the UK Guardian daily blog)

In my view the 3 locks for top 4 are Dees, Port and Lions. History shows that sides who are beaten easily in a GF often drop off the year after, so I'm holding out on calling them Dogs a lock for top 4. I think the Cats will drop out of the top 4, and while they should still sneak into the 8 there is a huge fall coming soon - could it be this season? Tigers will get back into the 8, but I don't think they have the depth and talent to go all the way anymore. Over the last 2 seasons they have lost Brandon Ellis, Bachar Houli, David Astbury, Mabior Chol, Jack Higgins & Oleg Markov. Plus guys like Reiwoldt, Cotchin and Edwards are well into their 30's. Both Essendon and Sydney will have to back up their form from 2021 and that isn't always easy for up and coming sides. I think at least one of them will drop out of the 8. Final 8 prediction (pre finals): 1. Port Adelaide 2. Melbourne 3. Brisbane 4. Western Bulldogs 5. Geelong 6. GWS 7. Richmond 8. Essendon

We can let Stuart Dew worry about it now.

Yesterday’s Herald Sun had an article on the young guns rated as ready to play. There’s no link available.but Andrew wasn’t mentioned in the Sun’s list. Their men were Charlie Constable (pick 63 in the national draft) and Academy player Bodhi Uwland. Contrast that with what they say about our men - “IT’S a hard side to break into but WA swingman Jacob van Rooyen, who the Demons will develop as a forward, will be ready and waiting. The 18- year-old, who played senior footy for Claremont, is one of the most physically developed draftees and is strong in the air. After starring in defence for WA, the 193cm van Rooyen booted 24 goals in his last six WAFL Colts games. If anything, Melbourne could use more run through the middle, and that’s where the athletic Blake Howes could come in to the equation.”

This post is evidence to me that you are viewing this virus through a political lens. Unless you post a critique of a hyper-pro vaxxers manipulating situations during this pandemic to suit their politics/agenda. Then I will unreservedly apologise.

To be fair Wrecker, it's only their stories about Melbourne Football Club that we care about. I find the posting of links to paywalled items a little puzzling, regardless of which publication they are from. Subscribers can already read the article if they haven't yet done so, while non-subscribers can't read it at all. To me, it defeats the purpose of the exercise, even though posters do it with good intentions and are trying to share information.

Love just how fickle the media are. Start of last season they bearly rated us at all, had St Kilda, Carlton, Freo, Essendon and possibly Hawthorn surpassing us. Now all of a sudden we have a list that is setup to win multiple premierships. To be honest, I didn't exactly foresee last season would go as spectacularly well as it did, but I did think we had the core of a list that could compete for a flag over the next 2 or 3 years at least. Now all this incessant tyre pumping is making me nervous and I just hope we arn't about to get 2019 Mk 2.

We were able to do so because JT and Tim lamb have one such a brilliant job getting the foundation prices in place in the last 6-7 drafts.

Worth a watch, Gawn and Trac.

It's new and I love this club.

On to membership year number 15 (joined at the end of 2007)... And speaking of which, I just noticed there's a 'reward and recognition' scheme on the MFC site. https://membership.melbournefc.com.au/reward-recognition Is this new? (I can't recall having seen it before...)

That's not a pointless fact! It's connected to the fact that we've beaten Collingwood and Essendon in 10 Grand Finals which is a very satisfactory state of affairs! We have a great record in grannies - 13 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses. 6 wins over Collingwood, 4 over Essendon, 1 each over dogs, Fitzroy and Richmond. 2 losses to Essendon, 1 each to Collingwood, dogs and Hawthorn.

Finally picked up a blue-ray edition of the 2021 Grand Final. After at least 4 weeks of not watching the grand final, it was so refreshing to watch it again. My better half was amazed that after so long that a yelp (or two) and the odd fist pump were on display. I haven't bothered to trawl through the pages of discussion since i last visited this topic and I'm sure it has been discussed to death, but wanted to share a few things that were apparent to me this time around. 1. Alex Neal-Bullen had such an impressive game. The big-time players have all been well documented (Trac, Oliver, Brayshaw, Fritsch, Salem and LJ) But ANB had 25+ disposals and just seemed to be everywhere, with his gut running, score involvements and defensive pressure. I for one commend him as i would have been leading the pack to have him dispelled a few years back. Happy to swallow my pride on that one and am so glad he is playing for us. Most happy with his decision making inside 50. 2. Umpiring. Whilst i will caveat this with the fact that we had the upper hand in umpiring decisions, and that in general the umpiring was good, there were several decisions (or non-decisions) that, in the moment could have had a major impact on the game. The four that were most apparent and during the most critical points in the game that I noticed were: a. Gawns point (looked a goal) b. Hunters ducking free (resulted in a Doggies Goal) c. Harmes & Kozzy high contact inside 20m in front of our goal - non decision d. Johannison push in the back on Doggies goal line (resulted in Doggies goal) 3. First time i watched the post game celebrations with attention to detail and can confirm Basil is an absolute a-grade [censored].

Max said much the same re analysis in his article today in the age. He bemoaned the lack of understanding the media have of the modern game and how he can’t watch afl because of it. I think Goody is different to the intellectually curious coaches and managers you allude to. I may be mistaken. In my view, Goody is more a “manager” type. I don’t see it in Hardwick either. But they both stuck with a sound basic strategy, built lists to execute it, and got the culture right to perform. It’s such a lesson for other clubs that it usually takes time for a list to develop to execute a strategy. What strategy works for list A won’t for list B. Burgo talks about this a lot in soccer on his podcasts where the difference between the physicality of the press strategy requires completely different players to the possession based strategy’s. There are similarities in AFL but not as pronounced. As Goody has the right people around him now it doesn’t matter if he is brilliant or not. His limitations showed when he stuck to some flawed tactics for long periods of time that other coaches could easily exploit, especially when the pressure was on, and he clearly didn’t have the right people around him to point out the issues. The entire thread about whether he was the right guy was after his experimental strategy was ripped apart by Clarko and Hawthorn. Richo was the master of exploiting the holes on Goodys gameplan and was a great addition for us, Yze fixed Goody’s “win contested ball at all cost” stoppage strategy, and Choco in my view likely kept coaches and players on their toes in a way that didn’t seem to happen from 2017-2020 when we always seemed to get ahead of ourselves or not handle expectations. 2021 was all about Goody managing all of these people and the players and making it work. I really don’t think Beveridge should be mentioned in that elite coaching group either. His “genius” to handball out of stoppages and hit form for 4 weeks in September 2016 has resulted in a 5 year leave pass and in him being credited as tactically brilliant whenever the dogs have success, but never criticised for their failures. And some of their failures are all on him, like their lack of midfield defensive running, flawed defensive work at stoppages, a defence that is terrible 1 on 1, and the result being a flawed strategy where they can leak goals (like 16 in 28 minutes of playing time in a GF). His strategy is flawed yet he is credited with being a genius. That makes no sense. The really elite coaches all have been first with a new point of strategic difference, and built unbelievable cultures and lists to execute it and created sustained success for long periods. Roos turned the game on its head tactically and won a flag that no one believed was possible, using systems imported from US basketball that even the AFL CEO didn’t understand. He broke a longer drought than ours, and put in place a bloods culture that still remains. Clarko moneyballed the AFL with elite kicks and got 4 flags from it in 8 years. But it wouldn’t have worked without the culture. Leigh Matthews was different in that it was more about culture and psychology. But he’s a 4 times premiership coach, and if you listen to him on dynasties it is no less impressive than what clarko did. Goody will be seen alongside these revered coaches if the culture and success is sustained. Worsfold built the Eagles from a rabble in 2000 and 2001 to a flag in 5 years, but their culture sucked and he didn’t get what he could of out of that list. I don’t think we will be a one hit wonder but only time will tell. If we only have 1 flag to show by 2025 Goody will always be respected for 2021 but seen more like a Worsfold or Chris Scott than Matthews or Clarko. I’d prefer he is a future AFL Hall of Fame legend alongside Norm Smith.

Well done Mazer, you got another one!

Do we have to simulate being nervous when Bont kicks a "more [censored] than class" to put them 19 points up? I expect to see lots of people getting a pass out to have a gasper on the concourse outside. I'm looking forward to the bit where everyone shouts out "bang bang bang" in unison. BANG BANG BANG! (I'm just practising.) This is going to be good. What does that fool know? It's already in AFL folklore as "that 10 minutes". Spoke to a Hawks fan yesterday. He was saying that was the most amazing few minutes of football he can remember seeing. God it feels good, not just winning the flag, but doing it in a fashion that will never be forgotten. And respected.

Bloody Sunday time slot again!! The AFL hate us! etc.

He actually reminds me of an upgrade Todd Viney with abit of Steve Tingay and an ounce of Adem Yze

I take it the comments about Sparrow's kicking and 'decision making' are meant to be funny? The 'low percentage long goal' - made with Bulldogs players charging at him - was one of the goals of the year. The second one at the start of the 4th he spotted Brown with a long and penetrating kick. It was superb - and recognised as such by Bartel on the radio commentary. Just as well he didn't pissfart around looking for options spied from the comfort of the lounge chair. Bit different out on the ground.