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Just thought this deserved a separate thread on Demonland. As mentioned by @WalkingCivilWarin another thread, it will be Clayton Oliver's 150th game for the Melbourne Football Club. Clayton Oliver, only one third of the way through his career, at 25 years of age has to be one of the greatest Demons players in the modern era. You gotta love Clarrie. I hope he wins more Premierships for the Demons and also grabs that elusive Brownlow Medal one day. Clayton Oliver is a Champion for the Melbourne Football Club. I hope he goes on to play at least 350 or even 400 games for the Demons. I encourage as many Melbourne supporters as possible to attend the match against the Swans on Sunday at the MCG to say a massive THANK YOU to Clarrie in his 150th game for the Demons! His "bang, bang bang!" goal late in the 3rd Quarter of the 2021 AFL Grand Final will never be forgotten! Fingers crossed Clayton Oliver plays, many, many more magnificent games for the Melbourne Football Club! Congratulations on 150 games for the Demons Clarrie! 🔴🔵👹

Watched Hunty yesterday. He played on the wing and played it well. Kicked 2 goals and looks extremely happy there. Really wish him well! Had it not be for that unfortunate foot injury on the eve of finals 2021 we'd be easily calling a premiership player. I really hope he feels he can walk back into the club with no hard feelings.

Some valuable lessons: Midfield need to relearn how to shark opp ruckmen. For mine that is the biggest lesson from this game. Viney and Grundy need to work on their leadership: When Gawn went down a re-grouping pow-wow was required and I didn't see this happening (on the tv broadcast). Very disappointing that no one else stepped up. Too much left for Lever to do. May is our last line of defence 'general' marshaling the defenders while Lever positions the mids. If May was there I very much doubt the Lions would have had a 4/5 goal head start in the first quarter. No Gawn and no May left too much for Lever (and to some extent Petty) to do. Train the expected conditions: Other teams in the past have trained with a greasy ball in Melb for a game in humid Qld. Stay focused: When Gawn went down it was like the air went out of a balloon. It looked like their minds were not on the job. Brisbane weren't as good as they looked and we weren't as bad as we looked. I'm really ok with this game. Very valuable lessons learnt and it is great we learnt them this early in the season. While I'd rather Max not be out we will see how mature our team really is.

Noah made his debut today as a bottom age player for the Oakleigh Chargers against Brisbane. There was some good glimpse from Noah today who gathered 10 disposals and kicked 1.1. He's listed at 189cm tall but being a bottom age player and still growing he could end up around the 191-192cm mark by mid next year where he'll be eligible for the 2024 AFL draft.

Just for the milestone, let's take a moment to see how he's going on the stats. Disposals: 4,341, at 29.13 / game. All-time target for total disposals is currently Robert Harvey (9,656) but will probably be Scott Pendlebury by the end of the year. On disposals per game of, only marginally behind Tom Mitchell at 29.42. I'm comfortable saying Mitchell has peaked while continuing to be very good for some years yet. The target is basically Clayton's to chase. Clearances: 1,024 at 6.87 per game. Clubhouse leader by a fair margin is Selwood. on 1,844 at 5.19 per game. Patrick Cripps is the only other chaser, going at 7.07 per game but is two seasons older for just 12 additional games due to the strain of carrying Carlton on his back. Contested possessions: 2,332 at 15.65 per game Patrick Dangerfield leads overall with 4,082, at 13.38 per game. Once again Cripps is the main rival chaser, going at 14.73/game. Tackles: 891, at 5.98 per game. Record currently held by Selwood on 1,799, but is another likely to be claimed by Pendlebury by the end of the year. Of current rival 'chasers' only Jack Steel (6.98) and Hugh Greenwood (6.74) are laying more tackles per game than Oliver. Clangers: 4.32 per game. The all-time leader (at least since the stat was formally recorded) for clangers per game. Almost all modern Brownlow medals have been won by a player with an exceptionally high clanger count (Martin, Fyfe, Cripp, Wines, Mitchell - the only exception in the last 8 years was Lachie Neale in the 18-game 2020 season) Brownlow votes: 110 votes, at 0.79 per game. Gary Ablett Jr's 262 total votes would seem insurmountable, but Oliver is actually going at exactly the same rate of votes per game. Something I find interesting is that it took Ablett Jr 100 games before he even cracked double-figures for votes in a season. He then had 8 consecutive seasons of more than 20 votes per game, before a long tail of another six seasons which netted him another 50 or so votes. Oliver was in the double-figures by his second season and now appears to have just entered his peak '20+ votes' period, but his average is already a match for Ablett. In years to come it will be interesting to compared Ablett's tragectory and the 'clear best player in a weak team' vs Oliver's 'great player sharing votes with great players in a strong team' distribution of votes. In summary and touching wood of course, if Clayton Oliver just keeps plugging along even without any further improvement on his first 150 games, he is realistically on target to become the all-time record holder for; Disposals, Handballs (obviously), Contested possessions, Clearances, Tackles, Clangers and Brownlow Votes.

One of the greats of our club already. Freak of nature and my favorite player to watch. Deserves a good game and a win this weekend.

I know most of the focus is on team changes at the moment, but I can’t stop thinking about how important this game is. I truly believe this game will determine how well we’ll go this year. No Gawn (and Kozzy) against a team that has had the wood over us who are also in terrific form. We can’t just tread water and hopefully win some games while we wait for Gawn to come back. We had a terrible record against top 4/8 teams last year. Here’s a golden opportunity to prove that we’re going to be a genuine contender this season.

Nothing says Oakleigh vs Brisbane like... Craigieburn.

We just want resolution on how accurate binman’s loading theories are.

Kynan had a solid game today picking up 23 disposals and kicked 1.1 Watched the whole game today and all I will say is that Melbourne fans will be excited when he officially becomes a Dee.

Absolutely! A big THANK YOU to Jason Taylor our National Recruiting Officer. He really is a brilliant recruiter. Clayton Oliver has been a star since his debut game for the Demons! Here is a great video clip of his debut game in Round 1 back in 2016 against GWS to bring back some fond memories. And once again, well done on 150 games Clarrie! Let's hope you play at least 200 more (so over 350 AFL games) for the Demons! 🔴🔵👹

I was feeling a bit gloomy still after our performance so I wandered over to a Freo forum to make myself feel better, feeding from their negativity..... I wasn't let down and wow did I get my fill. They're ready to burn the whole place down and start again and already wanting mass changes and the coach sacked. I never had much against the dockers as they've always been rather irrelevant but reading some of the arrogance coming from supporters and administration when they picked up Hogan and Jackson really left a foul taste in my mouth. So yes, I'm quite enjoying this whole 'death ride' experience and well and truly on board for season 2023. This will be the second time in my life cheering on the Eagles on Sunday. The first time ever was 2018 GF where I found myself watching as a completely neutral supporter until they kept showing Eddie pumping his fists and jumping out of his seat when the Pies got away early. It was then I remembered the hatred of the filth > dislike of the eagles. So let's go West Coast! Bring us home a top 5 pick!

This is one of those classic games where a coach has to decide whether we change the way we play to beat the opposition or where we try to play the way we want to play and trust that it's good enough to win. The latter seems to be Goodwin's style. He's shown very little tendency in the past to try and alter the way we play. However the record says they beat us regularly so it remains IMO an acid test for the coaching staff to see what we have learned from previous games. You could argue that in the H&A 2022 we were unlucky with injuries as we were leading handsomely before they struck. They also kicked goals out of their Jackson from the boundary etc Guys like hayward, Reid and LMcDonald played blinders. Mills was BOG from memory. Their pressure rating for the whole game averaged 190 which is huge. Expect a repeat. We also led in the finals game and were going well before being overun like all of our losses last year. Sydney laid 14 tackles in our fwd 50 in the last qtr! So the instruction would have been to keep pressuring us and we would wilt. Its a massive litmus test for us and we can't let them run free.

About the same. Young Kynan is a hard nut though. Played majority of the game on ball and more forward in the last quarter. He's an in and under who's got a good burst of speed out of the stoppages. Honestly he's like a cleaner and quicker version of Jack Viney. Sometimes I even see Josh Daicos as well with how nimble he can be around stoppages. He's a left footer at similar height. One thing that caught me by surprise watching him was his vision and awareness especially going inside 50. There were times I thought he was going to blaze away when he would burst out of stoppages but he lowered his eyes and would hit up the leading forward. His ball use is very clean and certainly won't have any issues with delivering the footy inside 50 or around the ground in general. Really intrigued to see how he's goes this year especially when the under 18's championships start.

11:30pm in Melbourne and you’re doing this [censored]. Bro…… 🤔🤣

Not enough people talking about how hot it was. I'm from Darwin, and I know heat. It was stinking on Friday. I was at the ground, and sweating away in the stands, can only imagine what it was like running on the field. On way home after the game the temp was 27C (at 11pm) and it was still humid as anything. For sure they had an off night - didn't help when Gawn went down - but I think it was an aberration. And really, it's a reminder of what it takes to stay on top. Better to have these reminders early in the season, and store it as steel for later in the year, when it really counts.

How good is it having 3 teams to support this year 1. The Dees 2. Whoever plays Collingwood And the new comer 3. Whoever Plays Freo So much more interest in this season - statistically interest level is up by 50%....

Good player but needs to work on his consistency. We can’t afford to carry guys who go missing every 149 games and only get 37 possessions.

Barring injury, will play well over 300 games and most likely finish his career as our most decorated player ever (subject to a couple more flags). The thing that excites me about Clarry (and Trac) is that he's a wonderful contested mark and was a really good junior forward. I have no doubt when he gets a tad older, he'll be able to spend more time up forward and have a genuine impact there as well as the midfield.

I think one thing Mark Neeld got wrong as coach was he thought that by virtue of playing x amount of games history tells you that's when you become good. i think the reality is you need a core of the right young players, surrounded by the right development coaches and program to play a significant number of games together with a similar game plan to build cohesion. Fremantle i'd say haven't identified and adapted to the new trends in footy and have gone back to an outdated game plan with slow movement, they don't have the players to kick a winning score consistently and by clearing out the players to fit in Luke Jackson, they've destroyed that cohesion, and upset the player group by paying him so much money. they're a live possibility to have a similar year to what we did in 2019 when we finished second last following a prelim.

It's just so obvious that this method is not how you take a club to the next step. Those 20 gamers you mentioned were big contributors in 2022, especially Acres. With a list profile at the stage theirs is at, that many changes can upset the mould and take time to reset again. Then to go out and throw the money bags out there who is really only high potential who doesn't address a need. They weren't crying out for a ruckman and he doesn't fix their forward issues. I just can't see how this can be seen as an organisation making good and sensible decisions in line with the vision of a club yet to break their duck. I see it as a club that was on the way to building a 'bloods no DH' culture and overnight has pivoted to the old fashioned Carlton mentality and caving in to the shiny object syndrome.

Another tricky selection week coming up. I don't think we'll see wholesale changes like some are hoping for. JVR for Gawn - With Schache going down, I don't see any other option and I think it's time to unleash him for a minimum 2 weeks. After that it will depend on his form and the form of TMac and Schache at Casey. But it's Roo time!! May for either Tomlinson or Petty - Two weeks there's no way I would consider that, but Thommo has exceeded my expectations and Petty seems to be out of form, especially one on one. Add to that his jarred knee, perhaps he will be the one who makes way for May. Melksham to be replaced by JJ or Laurie - I lean towards JJ I think McVee will get at least one more week.

They are one of the best disposal teams going around, especially that last kick into 50 and love to run & carry as well. You don't want an open free flowing game against this mob imv. Don't give them an inch of space. The Cats mauled them and worried them out of it in the first two quarters of the Granny and it worked a treat. They never recovered. Anyone not using that footage as a reference as to how to beat them would be pretty foolish. Might be too old style and off the mark but if it was me coaching this week i'd be seriously considering asking the boys to play back of shoulder (heavy pressure man on man) and make sure they get no clean ball or run & under constant pressure for at least the first half of the match. Make it a massive heavy hitting scrap with no easy possessions then possibly reset back to a slightly more open / rolling zone style afterwards depending on scoreboard / results of first half lock down strat. Cover the guts from their kick ins as they love the FB to run it straight up the guts and also make sure there's an extra number defending the wings as they also love to go wide with medium kicks looking for a free out there, then they link up run & carry into 50 for the angled pass. Not unlike a soccer play down the L/R chanels before crossing the ball in.

Football is a funny game and it certainly plays tricks with your brain. Only a week ago most were predicting a comprehensive win against the Lions on their turf. Now, a few days after a poor display people by our high standards and the loss of the skip people are salivating at Sydney's odds. I'm expecting a big response.

Match report on Eagles v Giants. Jayden Hunt was recruited for his speed, and on Sunday he showed his value with 23 disposals, two goals, and 566m gained.

Good day Demonlanders. After the gloom of last weekend’s sub-par round in the Vegas sauna bath. Something to brighten up your day. Snow is falling this morning. All downhill skiers may now rejoice.

What are you on about? We averaged 39,218 to our home games last year. 6th best in the entire competition, behind only the big four (Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon) and Fremantle. We were only fractionally behind Essendon, too, and that was because of the Alice Springs home game. Take that out and we averaged 42,508 from our 10 MCG games, which was 5th best. Inclusive of away games were also 5th highest. Other than Fremantle, we had 20,000 fewer members last year than Carlton and Essendon, and 35,000 fewer members than Richmond and Collingwood. I haven't run the precise calculations but as a proportion of our membership our home ground average stacks up bloody well IMO. And last year we were away on both ANZAC Eve and Queen's Birthday. I don't know what you mean by "minimum" 40k at Round 1 this year. The crowd was 48,103 on a day with rubbish weather, and the overwhelming majority were Dees fans.

It’s fine JVR will debut this week and kick 10 and go on to win the rising star, the Coleman and a flag.

I am in the JVR camp, he needs to come in. Contest and make the McCartins accountable. Hibberd in as well, if nothing else but to pile drive number 11’s head deep into the fresh MCG turf. I think we will make a statement on Sunday.

What was the cause of the apparent difference in fitness levels between 2022 and 2021, and the capacity to run out games? I appreciate he may be limited in what he can say, but I think it’s worth asking in any case.

Not much more i can add other than he was a JT masterstroke.

Clayton Clarry Oliver what an absolute Champion of the game and I agree with all above Clayton is the Best Demon that I have seen in my time as a Member of the MFC. Let’s hope he gets to play in a couple more Premiership’s and wins a Brownlow.❤️💙

This thread has overtaken the weekly “what they are saying on [insert opposing team HQ location here] street” thread as my favourite on DL.

Already the greatest MFC player I have ever seen. Over the past 35 years I had always wished for a gun midfielder and he finally arrived. And he is a down to earth good bloke too! He is so durable as well as skillful, I would back him to get to 300 games in 7-8 years time. and then sign another 7 year contract! ;-)

I reckon him coming into form during that season was a bit of a catalyst for us doing so well in 2021. Still see him as part of that Premiership as he played his role to aplomb throughout the season and stepped up from his previous ordinary one. In 2020 i had him ranked (statistically) as the 33rd player out of 35 that played that season In 2021 he moved up a massive 19 places to finish in 14th from 34 that played. Albeit off a low base, his average weighted score in 2021 was up 127% on his previous year (2.59 vs 1.14) Very sad to see him go. Personally would've signed him for at least one more season. Great young fella and fabulous to watch in full flight off HB.

Two NGA prospects heading into this year. New one that has come through goes by the name of Coren Giliam. 181cm who plays as forward and is listed for Dandenong Stringrays squad. Didn't play on the weekend. The other is Riak Andrew who is Mac Andrew's brother. 193cm 70kg tall who plays up forward and has speed. Riak is a current member of the Vic Country hub and will definitely be one to keep an eye on this year. Another who's on the Dandenong Stingrays squad.

I have to admit you are becoming a better poster I may have to take you off my ignore list. That's great news.

This is a ridiculous post. They will have played three sides most picked to be bottom 4, and we will have played two top 4 and one (expected) top 8 sides. We had the hardest first three weeks out of all teams. Freo had the easiest. With Adelaide and GCS to come in round 4 and 5, unless they are 2-3 they are in serious trouble. Remember, their return games are against: Brisbane, Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney, West Coast, Western Bulldogs. Their fixture isn't getting easier.

The AFL will carefully monitor the progress of Melbournes NGA's and adopt whatever policy denies us access.

Don't think they'll make more than 3 changes unless forced (injury), Goodwin and co. have always favoured continuity and consistency. May for Thommo plus someone for Max would be 2. Then it's perhaps a tossup between JJ for Harmes and Hibberd for McVie. Tom Mac has indeed been underwhelming, but Max out perhaps throws him a lifeline, at least for a bit. Not the week to be dropping a tall who can pinch-hit.

We are just really panicky and fumbly for a team that is built around contested ball and has so many players in their physical prime. The only way to overcome this is to apply enough pressure on the oppo that we get some clean ball running away from forcing turnovers. We haven't been a good pressure side since 2021...we seem to have forgot the magic ingredient. Geelong copied our 2021 game style last year and included the full ground pressure that we left behind...and looked street's ahead of everyone. A bit like us in 21. Like to admit it or not, we've been done for hardness in the air and around the contest by multiple teams over the last 12 months...it's up to the players if they want to go down that way or step it up and make the most of this window of opportunity that we have.

I think we got shell shocked and went back to old habits. Ive said this before (and been proven wrong), but if we play slow contested footy and continue to bomb it in to our F50 we will struggle again this year. We are great defensively but terrible offensively. Brisbane exposed our lack of skill and poise, and I am not sure we can support all of our inside mids in the one side of they can't hit targets. I know we've trained for faster crisper ball movement and I know and trust goody will back the boys in, but my gut is telling me bring in the kids if they can keep poised and find targets. Did clarry or Viney hit any targets before 3qtr time? That's our fatal flaw.

I'm buoyed. Unlikely viewpoint yes, but... Humid, warm conditions, bounce of the ball, ordinary umpiring - just wasn't our night. Having said that I thought we were going to get up all night. Yes I did. We have steel. Brisbane do not. Don't win a flag in round 2. Tough competition.

What we’re seeing at present is the advent of the elite young player coming in and playing well from the get go - Nick Daicos, Harry Sheezel, Will Ashcroft, Cam McKenzie and Mattaes Phillipou. They’re all medium sized midfield types (although not necessarily playing there yet at this level). Jacob van Rooyen is a key position player with a season of VFL behind him and before that, a few WAFL games. He has to be rewarded with an AFL debut very soon and if it’s true that Schache is out with concussion, next week against Sydney is the time to make it happen.

If you go back to my post last week before the round 1 game you'll find that I mentioned that Melksham is a smart option for the sub purely because he has the ability to kick quick goals. He came on 5 minutes into the first quarter and had absolutely zero impact on the game. Not sure why you're bringing the whole "he replaced Max" , because he didn't? Grundy replaced Max. Its not like he came in to replace the actual position. That's not the way the sub should be judged on. After watching Casey yesterday it's reassured to me that it's time we start focusing on the likes of Laurie, JVR, Jordon and even AMW (who was pretty impressive) as options moving forward.

Glass half full: 6-8 means Max will hopefully play the majority of the season. 6-8 means we can try the options of Grundy, Tmac, Schache. One door closes, another opens 6-8 means we give JVR a few games 6-8 means that our centre square mids will need to harden up (tongue in cheek) due to not getting silver service

Cameron took one mark and kicked 2 goals, one a mid air volley. Being the amount and quality of ball that went in the Lions forwardline I would possibly argue McVee won the match up or halved it.