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He made me age 50 years in one footy season,and i was already 60yrs

IMG_0076.MOV My grandson was born the week after the GF. Membership purchased in November, and the membership pack only arrived this week. Training for the 2040 draft well under way.

I almost choked on my Corn Flakes the other day when I heard the Essendon coach Brett Rutten say of their smashing at the hands of the Cats " We didn't see that coming " Now where have I heard that said before by an AFL coach ?? What other Neeld influence has rubbed off on the Bombers ?

Really don't like seeing Carlton play good footy.

I see arguing with the umpires is back.

Spotted by a friend

Dogs look [censored] scared of going down the middle. We definitely broke them.

I guess they're on the reality bus....

I really hate Carlscum.

Wow that's pathetic from O'Brien, and from the ump for falling for the "high" against Treloar. The poster got what it deserved.

If this continues Bevo’s presser will be interesting!

Really pleased Riv is back. Very much needed

I like it. Did anyone receive the email a bajillion times or was that just me?

and if we win and the crom lose theirs we'll host there too, presumably?

Coming back from a significant injure along with his dad passing.. tough times, I hope he is ok.

So he's nearly six months old and still hasn't seen a Melbourne premiership? Poor kid - I can't begin to imagine what that must feel like.

"Flag hero"? I don't like sportspeople being called "heroes" at the best of times. It's a word more befitting people in the Ukraine and those who put their lives at risk to save others, such as firefighters. But even if it's to be ascribed to footballers, why, exactly, is Rivers a "flag hero"? To answer my own question, by that standard every Premiership player is a hero. Really?

Here is a previously unreleased image of Jake Lever sustaining his plantar fascia injury. Hope to see you back out there next week, Rick!

Blues have Hawks & Suns in the next 2 weeks. Will be 4-0 going into Port at the G.

Maybe my bias coming in here but think Jonesy is acquitting himself quite well on TV.

I see the Blues as being similar to us in 2018. Exciting, up and coming, win and final or two but not ready for the big dance. They look good though. Blues fans will be very up and about. As for the dogs, big chance they’re 0-3 by the end of next week.

No way making a call about Carlton yet. Dust doesn't settle until about round 8. Their midfield is very, very good but Cripps will probably not be able to sustain his current rate of work, and their defence can be easily exposed as shaky and vulnerable. And the Doggies are a proud bunch with a brilliant skipper, I doubt they will roll over.

Yep. They will struggle to win 8 games this year. The intensity has gone. Beautiful thing… We killed em off

I think you need some re-education WCW

these free kicks they give in the Ruck are a disgrace

Is Schache another name for umpire?

The bulldogs are nothing without schache

How did we let the Bulldogs kick eight in a row against us?

It's quite amazing how many simple marks bulldogs defenders drop.

Bont looks really hampered to me.

Jonesy a good addition to the commentary team

Patrick Cripps might be the only player in the comp the umps love more than a Dogs player. EDIT: Dogs are getting a bad run with the umps. What is this nonsense?

Carlton will be pushing for top four easily, no idea why the Bulldogs were such big favourites for this game.

So you've jumped on the non MFC Round 2 thread to let us know that you don't care about non- MFC games. I'm no expert, but wouldn't it be easier not to go to the thread in the first place?

Hot take - Melbourne will win the flag in a canter this year because we're the only team with a halfway-decent defence.

Welcome back Riv, the very obvious inclusion for Salo Just fantastic that we have the depth to cover injuries that, in the recent past, would have rendered us vulnerable.

I don't think it is in the least bit incoherent. It is very specifically racist (and sexist). It is saying it is ok to discriminate against people like this, but not me cos i am white and male. How much more racist do you want?

If its going to be wet I would give serious thought to playing Dunstan for an extra strong body around the stoppages and also to rotate the midfield a bit more on the strength of it. If Smith is doubtful you would keep Bedford as medical sub and then bring in Dunstan, And if Rivers is fit then I would play both Rivers and Dunstan and relegate Bedford perhaps.

I can't possibly see how it can be seen as anything other than terribly racist, homophobic and sexist.

The Cats moving the ball quickly and moving from a 'control' to a 'territory/keep-the-ball-moving' game style is straight out of the demon playbook, courtesy of the IP their new development coach, Shannon Byrnes brought with him, which of course he allowed to do. Not sure they have the talent to pull it off consistently against good sides. Hopefully, we have developed a few new tricks over the season that will surprise them and others..

On the morning of the 31st July, 2021 an aircraft carrying the Melbourne team for its recently rescheduled game against the Gold Coast Suns was diverted to Brisbane Airport after the Queensland Government made a snap decision to lock down the South East of the State. Forced to return home to play the game against the Suns at an empty Marvel Stadium on the following day, the dominant Demons easily won that encounter and never looked back. The rest became history. The opposition on that day was cooked after a long disrupted season, ravaged with injury, a young side lost in a tough competitive system and bereft of confidence. Things are going to be far different when they clash at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night. They were unbeaten in the preseason and opened proceedings for 2022 with a win over the Eagles — their first ever victory in WA, after booting eight goals straight in the final term. The Suns’ young guns are strutting around like true winners, they’re playing on home turf this week won and they have every reason to feel confident this week because after all, they are champions of Round Two having amassed a 4 zip record in that Round over the past four seasons. The catch is that they’re coming up against the reigning premiers who were in good form in the opening Round so their young guns in Rowell, Anderson, Rankine and Lukosious will need to be at their absolute best again to make it five in a row. But this time, the Demons are a fair way from having their best team on the ground with five premiership defenders under a cloud on the injury list. They are Michael Hibberd (calf), Jake Lever (foot), Harrison Petty (calf), Trent Rivers (knee) and Christian Salem (knee) and at ref time of writing, only Rivers is considered a chance to play on Saturday night. Coach Simon Goodwin needs to shuffle players around which could see Angus Brayshaw and Tom McDonald playing in defence again, joined by the likes of Jayden Hunt, Joel Smith and Adam Tomlinson. Whilst the shuffling will also have consequences on the rest of the line up, Melbourne is fortunate to have a solid and ever-reliable, star studded midfield and those hardworking small forwards ready to contribute to another Demon victory. The Gold Coast Suns are up and coming but I expect a total eclipse is on the cards. Melbourne by 38 points. THE GAME Gold Coast Suns v Melbourne at Marvel Stadium Saturday 26th March, 2022 at 8.00pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall - Gold Coast Suns 3 wins Melbourne 12 wins At Metricon Stadium - Gold Coast Suns 1 win Melbourne 2 wins Past five matches - Gold Coast Suns 0 wins Melbourne 5 wins The Coaches - Dew 0 wins Goodwin 5 wins MEDIA TV - live and on demand on Kayo and live on Foxtel. Check your local guides. Radio - check your local guides. THE LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 18.20.128 defeated Gold Coast Suns 4.6.30 at Marvel Stadium, Round 20, 2021 One of the passengers on that flight north in late July was debutant Jake Bowey who made the AFL’s longest trip for a first up game but when the time came to play, he was certainly no passenger. The 98 point win was a great start for the youngster and he continues to play winning football every time he steps on the field. May that run continue well into the future. THE TEAMS GOLD COAST SUNS B: D.Swallow 24 S.Collins 25 S.Lemmens 23 HB: R.Atkins 2 C.Ballard 10 W.Powell 27 C: J.Sharp 20 T.Miller 11 - C B.Ellis 4 HF: N.Holman 7 L.Casboult 30 J.Lukosius 13 F: S.Flanders 26 M.Chol 1 B.Ainsworth 9 Foll: J.Witts 28 - C M. Rowell 18 N.Anderson 15 I/C: A.Davies 5 B.Fiorini 8 C.Graham 46 A. Sexton 6 Sub: D.Macpherson 44 Emerg: J. Corbett 19 In: R.Atkins S.Flanders Out: MELBOURNE B: A. Tomlinson 20 S.May 1 J.Hunt 29 HB: T.Rivers 24 J.Smith 44 J.Bowey 17 C: A.Brayshaw 10 C.Oliver 13 E.Langdon 15 HF: K.Pickett 36 B.Brown 50 J.Harmes 4 F: B.Fritsch 31 T.McDonald 25 A.Neal-Bullen 30
Foll: M.Gawn - C 11 C.Petracca 5 J.Viney 7 I/C: L.Jackson 6 C.Spargo 9 J.Jordon 23 T.Sparrow 32 Sub: T.Bedford 12 Emerg: J.Melksham 18 S.Weideman 26 L.Dunstan 27 In: T.Rivers Out: C.Salem (knee) Injury List: Round 2 Kade Chandler - Abdominal | Test Michael Hibberd - Calf | Test Jake Lever - Foot | Test Trent Rivers - Knee | Test Harry Petty - Calf | 3-4 Weeks Daniel Turner - Foot | 4-6 Weeks Christian Salem - Knee | 6-8 Weeks

We can't take this lightly, the Suns have won their last 4 round 2 matches, and always play better in the early rounds before fading mid-late season. The longest road trip in footy off a 6 day break won't help them, but we'll need to be switched on early so they don't get too much believe up.

Looked like Ooze telling the boys he had finally been asked to appear on "Gus and Gawny".

They are Garbage, with a Garbage history, with Garbage traditions with a very average list and more average coach. We should win by 150 plus pionts. Having said that Dees comfortably by 35 pionts

Let’s be honest here, we should win by 50+ points. We were pretty clinical if not rusty against the dogs. We still put them away easier than the score line suggests. I was there and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t worried that we were going to lose at any time during the match. Bloody amazing feeling! The way the suns played last week was littered with errors against a WC team that had what, 16 players out? The Bulldogs are a waaaayyyyyy better side than Gold Coast. When I say we ‘should’ win, I’m more confident against better teams than I am against teams we might not respect. We lost to Collingwood and Adelaide last year because both teams went in harder and had more intensity than we did. We played like we just assumed it would happen. All teams will have a laser focus on how we do things this season. Hopefully we realise that every game is a tough game this year and that every team is going to come out HARD against us. We are the hunted now, we have to be ruthless and put these easier wins in the bank early as, the longer this season goes, opposition teams will have a chance to see what works against us from every opposition and they’ll adapt it into their own plans. Obviously I’ll take any win, but to be honest, I’ll be annoyed if we don’t slam this team as we bloody well should.

I hope the boys don’t go in underestimating them, their win last week (putting aside that it was against a very weakened WC team) could be a real confidence booster for them. I’m hoping we get off to a strong start much the same as last week and just keep them at arms length all game before breaking them. Would love for Kozzie to have a big one.

The Astologist is also entered in the $1Million William Reid St on Friday night ... and has drawn nicely in the No.1 barrier (and is an on-pacer on a tight-turning track - ideal) Although, Marabi is a big big chance to win the Reid St so everything else is possibly running for 2nd!

With the round 4 game in Adelaide on Thursday, and possible the aflw grand final on the Saturday, any news on the cup coming to the city of churches?