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Its a good feeling not having to hang your hat on what the recruits can bring in their first (or second) year. Let them develop in whatever time it take to make them the best player they can be with no expectations on them to perform straight away. 2021 Premiers with more to come *Smugly lights cigar and quaffs brandy.

Judd McVee, Jacob Van Rooyen and Taj Woewodin on an Instagram photograph that appears to have been taken at an airport. It looks like they’re taking their first flight into Demonland. Good luck lads!

Tomlinson could literally play anywhere if we are seeing players miss with Covid. Pretty handy player to have in these times.

I really like this bloke. So personable and easy to relate to. We are really spoilt for choice. We can manage an injury in just about every line atm but let’s hope for another healthy season. May is really the only player that has soft tissue vulnerabilities in backline but you could argue that his hammy in the finals was more a result of the push than anything else.

If his demons career works out Taj will never be that tanned again in his life.

This will help you understand…

Rode past Gosch’s this morning as part of my new year’s resolution to get back in the saddle and lose some kilos. The good news is the works are due to be completed in May this year. Hopefully training gets relocated there from its current interstate location out at Casey! I rode over to the tennis centre and heard someone hitting balls on the practice courts on Swan Street so stopped to have a peek through the fence. A young Chinese woman was hitting up with a not so young male coach and she had very powerful ground stokes. But my eye was drawn to the male coach and the way he was so effortlessly hitting the ball, just a joy to watch and strong on both sides, hardly mis hitting a ball. The more I looked the more familiar he became, it was Pat Cash. He is 56 but from a distance he looks just as fit as when he was at his peak. His student’s name escapes me but she is ranked number 34 in the world.

Top shelf depth for this year. Probably misses round 1 if we’re at full strength. We’re in a great position to have May, Lever, Petty and Tomlinson fighting for 3 tall defender spots.

Viney is severely underrated on here which is suprising considering his finals series.

Judd McVee sounds like a made-up name.

Ben Brown didn’t play the brand of footy the club wanted when we recruited him. At North, Brown was just a a stay at home forward who barely moved outside the 50. This year Brown spent more time playing higher up and even he’s been on record stating he had to change his style to fit into the team structure. Just because Dunstan may not play the brand we want as a club doesn’t mean he can’t change to suit our structure. The club have already said he brings a lot of strengths to the team and is a ‘cultural fit’. I think I’ll put my faith in the coaching staff that’s just delivered a flag in 57 years..

"appears to have been taken at an airport"...that Perth Airport written on the TV above Woewodin's head is a bit of a giveaway. Otherwise I would have thought a Kalgoorlie shopping mall, maybe?

"the fittest I've ever been" ....... wow! Competition for spots in the best defense in the AFL will be intense, and that bodes damn well for our quest to go back to back!

Absolute speed reader. I average around 3 books per year, knocking off a few pages every night. Bit of a sloth really. Nonetheless, I've got this book on the shelf ready to go. If I start today, I should be finished by April...

Brett Lovett was my idol as a kid. He was a pure footballer, and for a long period of time was an absolute star. It’s easy to rank the current guys higher because they won us a flag, but I reckon Salem has to do it for another 3-4 years before he’s remembered as fondly as Lovett. I hope he does, and I’m sure he will.

I thought the comment around Milky was a great example of feeding off and helping drive each other. The incumbents will know what is in waiting and I think today's performance by Khawaja just shows the value of having a "next man up" opportunity.

Arr I am actually surprised at this announcement. Not because we are not worthy but because the Jag group have lost considerable market share over the last two years. There sales have tanked substantially and I wondered if cost cuts might be the end of the MFC sponsorship. Obviously not. They are changing to all electric so perhaps they see us as a good vehicle to show off their new electric cars.

Correct, we just need to get our foot in the door so we can get on the gravy train of repeated upgrades, etc, that the other clubs have shown is well and truly in place. ATM we're watching the train go round and round on a circular track and we're not even on the platform.

Beggars can't be choosers? I think AAMI Park is only hosting 6 WWC games, so I am sure the facility is being designed with both the WWC and the MFC in mind. If the Government funds the build and we just pay for the refit I think we have done well.

Jag have re-signed for another two years 👍🏻 https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1042974

Apologies if this has been shared but I couldn’t see it anywhere? Not sure this link will work, may need some IT gurus help. Just when you thought you couldn’t love this club any more. Get the Kleenex ready https://fb.watch/al8RBR1mxT/

I cannot believe some people think otherwise

I've watched a couple of Dunstan's games and he's not in the same street as Viney. If he gets a game it won't be at the expense of Jack, he will have to improve many aspects of his game to get in to the side.

If 2021 is anything to go by Dunstan Is very good. Viney at his best I think has more to offer, but Viney is rarely at his best, whereas Dunstan is ultra consistent, improving, and could possibly work better with our midfield. Dunstan gives our midfield more versatility because he can be first cab off the rank, which makes Oliver/Petracca harder to tag at center bounces as they would be on the move. It’s just something else for our opposition to worry about. Dunstan is a very good ball winner. He is a magnet to the footy, just needs to continue to improve his usage. For a large part of 2021 we didn’t use Gawn’s taps all that well. Dunstan may be the guy who gets better use of them.

You dont get best on grounds in multiple games in winning teams against Richmond and Brisbane without being very good imo. A first round draft pick entering the prime of his fitness and abilities with his best ever year behind him?! He's unquestionably "better" than Sparrow, Jordan etc but is he better at playing the role the team needs? That's questionable. St Kilda have been diabolical with their list management in recent years. Cant believe he's on the scrap heap when depth is going to decide everything this year, if indeed a full season gets played with player (s) pulling out every week on the morning of games.

Seen (and bought) at Rebel in Chadstone

I have been checking out the size and shape of presents under the tree and I think I may have done the right thing by waiting for today instead of buying it.

Very interesting read. I'm 100 pages in and fuming at the total power and nepotism displayed by Demetriou and McLaughlin. From the lack of transparency in appointments and contracts to the toxic work culture and bullying at AFL HQ. There's helps of gold quotes from club heavyweights and industry insiders. Haven't yet got to the tanking episode or where the Dees were pre warned about the doping scandal and the Bombers were pushed under the bus. We all point the finger at the Bombers for taking 'suppliments', but its a very grey area and numerous clubs were on a similar path. Highly recommend so far.

There both guns. Can't split them.

You are either obsessed about the division between everyday life and politics, especially when it comes to f o o t b a l l, that you simply don't have the mental faculties to come to grips with the simple fact that the topic 'Covid and AFL' is totally dependent on decisions made by politicians, whether to do with their neglect and incompetence - but we can't, according to the likes of you, actually NAME the offenders if they come from the right wing of the so-called Liberal party - or the decisions they make about lockdowns and border closures. What is your problem? Why do you keep wanting us to hide from the bleeding obvious, namely, that everything about Covid is and alway has been Political because of the simple facts that lockdowns and closures and policy regarding them have been politically motivated?

No you missed my point Tom's form dropped off dramatically just when he was being touted as AA full back.. it was later he was moved forward . Possibly not even the same year. For a time I thought he was better than the 2nd forward he was being called. He could clunk marks in a pack without having to leap In following years he has carried foot and leg injuries and as a result has a history of not being able to complete a season at his best. There does seem to be a confidence issue as well and you can often read it on his face. I think his best is way way better than anything Weid has shown and hope he gets a full year in the team before the younger Weid finally catches a few and kick some goals ....in 2023

Hotel Quarantine was the state governments biggest stuff up. But it should be noted that quarantine was a federal responsibility until Scotty agreed to let the states take over because he had no plan and no interest in a plan. No plan for economic stimulus until Labor gave him one. No plan for stimulus in 2021. No plan for the vaccines. No plan for rapid tests. Every state also had leaks from hotel quarantine. It was a highly flawed system tackling a once in 100 year pandemic. And as bad as the leaks from quarantine were the states test and trace was awful too. Our leaks became an out break. And the deaths. They came because it got in to aged care and spread from nurses going from home to home. Why - because aged care nurses are causal employees with multiple jobs, because the feds like cheap foreign labour rather than paying professional full time jobs. The health minister got the lemonade and more ownership should’ve been taken from Andrew’s and other senior members. I don’t like Andrew’s. I have a moderate respect for him. I think most of his cabinet stink. Stink nearly as bad as the awful liberal state mps. I’ll still take the guy who’s actually made seriously difficult decisions and fought for Victorian lives and Victorian jobs/businesses with extra support packages rather than Scomo who forgot we existed until he needed a hair cut a few months ago.

Not forgetting a big thank you to Civil for brightening up our day with some brain wrenching challenges. Thank you Civil!

Scratch that. Wikipedia showed it to be Pieter Ilych Emburey.

Surely that would be Yehudi Boycott?

And further to these excellent points, it is ridiculous to compare Omicron to previous variants. Even more ridiculous that some people use the current Omicron tsunami as evidence to retrospectively support anti mandate, anti masks and anti restrictions positions on previous variants. Omricon arrived in Victoria and NSW in mid November. Today, less than 3 weeks later, in those two states alone there were 53, 000 plus cases, with both jurisdictions acknowledging wit the testing and RAT issues this is almost certainly an undercount. The phrase 'game changer' has been used ALOT in the last two years. However, if there was ever a time for it to be used accurately now is that time. Omricon has changed the rules AND the playing field.

Without Victoria bringing in harsh restrictions to contain the spread and drive numbers down it inevitably would’ve escaped at least to neighbouring states if not more. It did escape to a Sydney hotel, but in small enough numbers to be held up. NSW stuffed around with their lockdown and suddenly covid was in Victoria (multiple times), QLD, NT, SA and New Zealand. (Side note; It’s why other states were pleading with NSW to enforce a ring of steel around Sydney. Of course they refused but then sent an army of cops in to West Sydney, because they care about some people’s liberties more than others.) Until Delta covid zero was absolutely achievable because we achieved it. The smaller states achieved it the whole way through. And as a nation from October 2020 until June 2021 there was all but zero covid with no extended lockdowns. For 8 months the country was overwhelmingly covid free and prospering. If the Dees finish 17th in 2022 will you suddenly say the 2021 flag didn’t exist because we were bad either year before and after? I’m not saying the state government hasn’t made some howlers and the feds been even worse. But you have to evaluate each strategy in regards to the aims, the variants and the vaccine status. Bemoaning lockdowns for 5 cases and not 17k is very simplistic and ignores all the other changing factors.

@picket fenceWhat is the best way/day/time to find out when training is on?

5 Devon Malcolm

Apart from the fact Australia held back the tide for over a year. With Victoria crushing an outbreak that allowed every other state to go about their lives as normal whilst the majority of the world suffered huge loss of life and far bigger economic impact. And that QLD, SA, NT and Tassie (and maybe one day WA) got all the way through to 80-90% vaccinated thus saving thousands of lives before opening up. Small minds will conveniently edit history in their favour. Covid zero was a fantastic policy for the original strain pre vaccination. Might've even worked for Delta too but NSW decided they'd mess around and enforce half measures.

Sally is definitely a Demon’s supporter (long term not a ring in)

Read Gawny's diary just after Christmas. Entertaining summation of each game. Now onto Michael Warner's The Boys Club - power, politics and the AFL. An amazing eye opener into the corruption and power of Demetriou and McLaughlin. Well worth a read if you are looking for a summer time footy related book.

What I enjoyed most was that the book was not just about Maxie but about the team. His was highly complimentary about the other players and highlighted their contributions to success. He even included the contributions of former players. Clearly written by an impressive mature, classy leader to serve a higher purpose. GO DEES.

Which is why I wrote about a " full season" ..that's been his problem since he was headed for AA Full back back in the 90's(?) Then his form suddenly collapsed until they had to move him forward..... and the pattern continues.

KC, TITANS, COLTS. Dibs on this combo! Go get your own 😂🤣😂🤣😂

I suppose I cheated! I borrowed a digital copy from the local library and read it in two sittings! And no I’m not a skinflint but as a retiree and having purchased the supa dupa Demons 2021 box set for $139.95 and renewed my club membership I’ve spent my football allowance for the year. It was certainly an enjoyable read😀.

Why is this website accepting filthy money for this ad ? Just before tomorrow too. Poor form imho and im humble

I identify as a single hetero male but, according to the lasagne I heated up last night, I'm a family of four.