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

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!

Lucky Hibbard's first name isn't Jordan.

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..

Hi all, Just got my tickets for the two founding AFLW teams. Game is on Sat night at Whitten Oval, should be a cracker. I haven't heard of any of the girls having covid so hopefully it goes ahead as normal. Will be interesting to see how Harris goes, we certainly need some more goals Anyone else going? DubDee

Meggs is pleased to see Brenna T down back, she’s our most skilled defender. Fitzsimon at CHB is odd but good on her, thought she was a midfielder. Bannan’s pace and game smarts make her a great option on the wing. Both our wings are tall and quick. West and Brown have pace too. This team looks really balanced. We are primed for a great start to 2022. Let’s win girls!

Never left the goalsquare until he had to go back for his run-up

McDee works for me!

The first sighting of 'Hibbard' for the season....

Bowey if fit, plays as the small distributing back. Hunt and Hibberd are vying for the flank. I favour Hunt being younger, taller and quicker, as well as a better mark. I still think D. Smyth is a chance too. I still can’t believe I am discussing team spots as the reigning premier. Added to that we have a deep list and a young profile. Hopefully more good times to come for the MFC.

He has a real Mac DeMarco vibe to him

We’re the reigning premiers. There’s no obvious need to rush kids through in their first seasons at the club just as we didn’t rush our 2020 draft selections last year. Jake Bowey wasn’t picked to play for us until Round 20. Bailey Laurie had some injury issues during 2021 and played only a handful of games at Casey. Fraser Rossman was a late pick who was never going to be ready last year. We’re in a good position but don’t discount Van Rooyen who played some senior football with Claremont early last year before getting glandular fever.

Jason Taylor didn’t even mean to pick him, he just saw his name on paper and felt compelled to say it out loud

I watched Gus and Gawneys podcast when they had Goodwin on. They asked Goodwin who his favourite player was. And the answer was ...... Vines. "You watch his vision .... He's actually half mad." Point being .... If anyone thinks Dunstan is gonna walk past Viney into this side had better have a rethink. And he won't be getting past Sparrow IMO either. He's a gem.

Goldie and McNamara both played in the practice match, so I'm thinking injury or something Covid-related since then. A bit of pace missing... Colvin and Magee are the other two regulars from last season missing from tomorrow's team. Glad to see Caris get a run!

Welcome Back Tayla

From the AFLW Record - Round 1

Sighting? Citing? Either way, it's disrespectful to Michael Hobbit.

18. Darren Kowal

According to this 2019 article (Telstra Tracker) "North Melbourne’s Ben Brown was the player with the highest average distance covered per game across the entire season, moving 15.6km per game". In 2018 he was at 15km per game. I am not sure what brand he was playing at North or how it changed, but he was clearly getting up the ground and back a lot at North when he was playing well.

I wrote a bunch of speculations and then deleted them and wrote some more and deleted them, also. But I do want to thank you for giving me an excuse to look over our list and go, "ooooooooh nice".

Bowey has got run and carry to his game and finishes it off with super disposal.

The premiership package: we know all about that one. The jumbo package: May plays the lockdown pocket, Petty full back, Tomlinson CHB/oversize flanker, Lever intercepts. We lose speed and run but can own the air The versatile zone package: 3 talls as last year, Rivers, Salem and 2 of Hunt, Hibberd, J Smith. By playing a lot of 187-190 flankers we can switch opponents at will. The speed package: 3 talls, Salem, Rivers, Bowey, Hunt/ D Smith. Plenty of run and pressure at ground level We’ll see how he adapts to year 2 but Bowey’s certainly a lock if he plays the same way. He’s good enough defensively to take a man but of course it’s the balance of his game that’s most impressive. Rivers probably played better when Bowey came in, he had more of a defensive responsibility and did the job. Long term I think he’ll want to come up the ground. I doubt he’ll want to be known as the lockdown guy. That leaves the one lockdown spot. It’s Hibbo from J Smith from D Smith currently. But Hunt could target this spot. It’s not his natural role. But it wasn’t Hibbo’s natural role until he adapted to it either.

Bowey is already better than Hunt, and I think Hunt is still a reasonable player

It was clearly a spelling error He meant cask, having said this , since the wonderful Chinese government banned red wine from Oz, the cheap red is much better. not so good for the winemakers, swings and roundabouts, Covid and Demons premiers. we live in interesting times. Go Dees live in 22.

Watched the same bit ysterday also. I noticed that for Sparrow to be in the clear to kick his 3rd 1/4 goal his opponent left him to attack the ball carrier Oliver coming out of the center. Caleb Daniel.

Hopefully Van Rooyen kicks 3 in a Premiership winning GF. He is only an injury to BBB, TMac and possible Weid away from being in the team.

Pet's name "Judd", childhood address "McVee St"?

Judd McVee sounds like a made-up name.

Yeah he disconnected coz his team mates are SUB STANDARD I agree with Dazzle This guy will deliver in Spades Won Brownlow votes vs good teams in crucial stoppages and clearances Welcome to MFC LUKE You will just fit in fine

May not be back in Perth for a while

Remove if not allowed

As mentioned above, all the above have not won a Premiership. The point I wanted to make is that while many people seem to claim that a player can't be considered a champion if they haven't won a Premiership (and Demonland has been littered with occasional such comments over the years), these players have all had extraordinary careers and would all be considered champions of their era. Conversely, there are Premiership players who just happened to be lucky enough to be in a winning Grand Final team, even though their careers were not otherwise particularly notable. Mitch Morton and Stephen Armstrong come to mind. And good luck to them. Being a VFL/AFL footballer is a terrific achievement, but that won't automatically make them champions of the game. (I'm sure someone could put such a team together.)

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.

KDA sorry but you have not looked at our last 6 Finals. Jack Viney has been in our top 3/5 in all games except the 2018 Prelim Final where hardly any one played well. I also suggest you look at the GF again and see who got the ball out numerous times for our outside mids to break open the game and score multiple goals. Jack played one of his best games ever and has changed his role for the teams benefit. He looks to pass the ball on first grab he gets and no longer takes on the opposition and gets caught with the ball. I believe Dunstan will be valuable and get games as part of our midfield mix but form and injury will decide over the season who plays in the AFL team. Sparrow especially but Harmes and Jordan also deserve their spots if they are in form and fit early days 2022. But Dunstan is a good player who will be valuable in 2022 at various stages, But to say he will work better than Viney with our rucks and mids after the Finals is not correct as their chemistry was as good as it gets from Round 20.

Great article that sums up the situation really well. https://themongrelpunt.com/afl-season-2022/2021/10/12/where-the-dees-get-even-better-in-2022/ Quote “In successful teams, there is always someone knocking on the door, and with Dunstan’s move from St Kilda to the premiers, he has made no bones about the fact that he wants to prove himself and make his way into this rotation. It puts the others on notice – step it up, or step out of the way.” ”Whilst a lot of the attention when talking about the Dees goes on the Petracca/Oliver combination, and rightfully so, however, the designated roles and the discipline to adhere to their allocated roles are an absolute strength of this Melbourne team that simply does not get the attention it deserves.”

Still pinching myself. Life has brought no other pride and joy than what it did following Bailey Smiths fumble on Sept. 25th, 2021

(c.c. @daisycutter) I was done yesterday. Is insomnia a symptom? It's after midnight and I've been able to stay awake watching R23 from 7 minutes to go in the 3rd. Looking forward to symptoms extending into tomorrow night...

Watching last quarter of R23, with commentary for Tom Sparrow's kick at goal, last quarter, for the lead: "If he can nail this it'll be the biggest of his career, by some margin". Wouldn't have lasted long... 😆

Shane Woewodin’s Instagram account.

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.

Taken by LJ?

Haha!

"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?

Another three quality kids coming into the club let’s just hope that they are knocking the door down when they are needed, agree Jibroni no external pressure on our four newbies.👍🙏

Hopefully these kids wont need to be rushed through next year

His hair might turn blonde though

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

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.

I'm guessing there's probably an AVB farewell thread somewhere else as well, but will take this oppertunity to thank Vanders as a supporter for standing up and giving us hope as supporter when the team was still on the rise back to competitiveness. Really admire that someone who didn't come through the elite junior ranks was able to elevate himself to play AFL footy at the top level and make a real impact (physically and metaphorically speaking). Had not his body let him down, I think AVB could have been a premership player for the MFC. Loved his strong marking, bulldozing bursts out of packs, through players and his bone crunching takes and body on body work were something to behold. His contribution to our 2018 finals rebirth was probably the pinicle of his career and I think his presence in that series contributed immensely to the belief the team built out of making and performing well in finals as an important stepping stone towards the premiership glory of 2021. Hope AVB looks back fondly and with great pride of his time at the mighty MFC. Thanks Vanders, you were a ripper!!