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Very slim pickings so far from two fan websites! Preoccupation with selections and impact of Cyclone Lisa. Forecast shows Friday and Saturday in Adelaide as very wet. The oval will probably be a mud pile for our game. Not detecting much optimism. As and aside, training today is a good time for us to practice wet weather footy. Bomberblitz/Bigfooty After watching Melbourne yesterday this game is going to be ugly, they're are just so clean and tackle so hard, they are going to score so many goals from turnovers They were playing the Eagles, relax Don’t be so so silly. Stringer is no aerial threat, his strength is his bullocking work at ground level. Playing him as a marking target is an invitation to disaster, May and/or Lever would dominate him in the air. Good chance to pinch this one if wet, our small forwards are dangerous, in good supply and would be hard to stop if pill on the ground a lot. Have you not watched essendon in the past 15 years. Worst team in the wet by a country mile! Boggles the mind that anyone could have watched us over the past 20 years and think wet weather … yep that suits us. If the forecast stays true then I am taking out a mortgage on Friday arvo and putting every cent on the dees at $1.25. My Favourite (if I have to choose one) At least their match winner from last time we met will be sitting in the stands wearing an Essendon blazer this time… I'll check in later in the week and see if there is something interesting.

Most hated team. Their supporters, who always seemed to number more than necessary whilst growing up during the 80s and 90s, were smug and nasty. We havent given them a proper smashing in decades. This is the time. Their tails are slightly up, there's a glimmer of belief that this season and their team might be ok. I hope we belt them by 15 goals in biblical rain.

Trying to find a use for years of scarves, the mum in law turned a bunch of them into blankets to keep the kids warm at the footy. Plz ignore the mess 🙈

Absolutely no surprise there. Essendon fans are THE WORST of all. I hate everything about that club. Everything! I hate them almost as much as I love the Dees. But you know what I hate the most about them? I hate that they evoke such a feeling of intense hatred, the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. I didn’t think I’d ever be capable of such a level of hate. It’s a lot of hate for one small person to feel. GOD HOW I HATE THEM.

Can't say I've ever heard Weid described as a 'match winner" before.

Isn't this a very curious and interesting subject for some ,or a bugbear for others. Oh where oh where shall thy Demon heart reside for all eternity ? ( henceforth ) Where indeed. Despite what some proffer (or prefer) we do actually live in a very binary world. You're either dead, or you're not. You're pregnant or your not. You're either a Melbourne supporter or you're not. See a trend ?? Life is essentially about choices, most often 2, to do what is in front of you .....or ....I know you know this.....or not !! So he we are with our eternal favourite kicking toy the question of where we shall be. Over the years there have been many a good idea and/or recommendation and yet strangely enough despite being the founders of this fair game we've been kicked from pillar to post and dealt rotten hands. None of that really matters because that was then and this is the NOW and it's in the now we must be bold and make clever and informed decisions. Some can not grasp that we are never going to get that 'deserved home" , that grandiose location of 'somewhere near the G' Why ? Why they can't grasp ? Well it's hard to let go of a dream. I get it. If the world was fair ( in our minds we would live at the MCG, or something akin to Richmond's setup, but better. We've tried that path...not happening. We could have had the Olympic Park site...well... 'nuff said !! That too a fizzer. Now we arrive a little further down Swan Street to Gosch's. Not called a Paddock without reason in my thinking. Padocks are very usefull...Go find some cows, some horses perhaps , sheep, whatever as that's what paddocks are for. It's a ham fisted convoluted compromise at the very best ( no matter what $$$ are thrown at it ) . It's second rate.Better than a Container at someone else's Cricket Ground perhaps... Goschs is entirely befitting a Soccer Club or some other silly game. Not ours and not this club, my club, your club...The ONE and ONLY MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB.. Yes I'm yelling...I need that to sink in. We are a very unique Club, in any form of code or Sport. Much is made of proximity.. We NEED to be close to the G. Well given our very essence is inscribed upon the walls of that great Stadium I'm not sure how we aren't. No matter where we are...we ARE Melbourne. We aren't anyone else. I go back to the idea that we are unique. We are so SO UNIQUE that we hold a position in this game no other club can. The game evolved out of Melbourne. The very soul of the game lives in the annals of the recorded history of Footy/VFL/AFL. It does because WE put it there. Who doesn't get goosebumps sometimes when you walk down through the G, through the Members, see all the Pictures, the Cups, the History. We are Melbourne. That's something else that needs to sink in for some I feel. We and ONLY we are Melbourne. And again I retrace our point of difference, our uniqueness our major asset of assets. Our name, Melbourne. We are not incidentals like those suburban clubs. We aren't defined by a mere locality , not defined by proximity to a pub, a river, a beach or any such trivial and limiting precinct. We're Melbourne..We embody everything this great city is and has been. For a long while this circumstance has served to hinder our embrace of everywhere and everything that IS Melbourne. We though, seemingly that we were an odd fit as where did we belong. The answer has been staring us in the face all along..Quite Simply...We are Melbounre. We are ALL of it...not just a bit...ALL of it. And only we can... It's time to step up and claim that historic inheritance and stamp ourselves as THAT Club that can be for everyone that is Melbourne at heart. Heart. The very essence of a person, a club, a city, a passion. How often do you hear she's the heart of ....... this place runs to the blood of ....some bloke. Heart. It's where it all emanates. Everything that courses through our veins as Demon Supporters comes from the heart. Every once in a while "OPPORTUNITY" stares you in the face. And like all those other decisions in life you either do....or don't. We are at that Crossroads where you have to either turn left or right. The road directly ahead ( for this prose I suggest it's the road to the G ) is not available. There's a track to a paddock or theres a road to a greener field.. I've included a map below. Would anyone like to guess what's located as near if not at that crossroads ( as it were ) ...i.e the point where the two RED lines cross ?? That Boys and Girls, is the land of Opportunity. It's all but smack bang middle of this wonderful City of ours, located pretty much in ITS Heartland. For those following at home the Geo Centre of Melbounre for the last 20/30 odd years has been the Southern part of Geln Iris. I know Glen Iris well as I grew up there but i digress...lol.... The point is Melbourne is much more that the CBD. It's much more than the MCG ( by a smidge ....) ....it's a bloody big place and there's ONLY ONE.....repeat ONLY ONE football club that can claim its entirity by right of fact that we are the Heart of the Game. We need to stop limiting ourselves and embrace everythingand everywhere that falls within our ardour. Let's be that Melbourne that we've always dreamt we SHOULD be....the one and only Melbourne. The MFC. As such we CAN be located at Caulfield , quite possibly /probably in truly State of the Art facilities. Take it as a positive by stamping ourselves in the very Middle of Melbourne that we lay claim to everywhere, everywhere that is Melbourne...today, tomorrow and the next. In footy there are times to lower one's eyes, in life there are occasions to lift them and think big... hmmmmmm...Think Big...there's an Omen.

Best stat is football - 19 years since Essendon last won a final.

BBB available for selection Hibbo ruled out Lever a test Harmes playing VFL According to Goodwins presser

Dagnabbit Luci. The team I despise the most and that’s all they’ve got?! Talk about going down without a fight. Gutless wonders. I’ve been mentally preparing for this thread: meditation, Valium, no breakable items in arm’s reach, and all for nought. Oh well, it’s yet another reason to add to my ridiculously long list of reasons for hating them. As always, thanks for trawling through the dung (without a hazmat suit at that!). You take one for the team every week and we all appreciate it! 💕

"Melbourne is clearly thinking" looks suspiciously like pretending to know something.

Bummers were irrelevant to me until year 2000. They won the grand final pumped on steroids (I will always maintain this, with their "weights program" and/or "physique development" looking impossible and dodgy) They bashed a group of brilliant young Dees players out of the game My despising of them went instantly to 11 on the dial, and has never abated. Leapfrogged Carlton and Collingwood. And then the jaw-dropping hubris during the drugs scandal headed by the most arrogant coach to ever grace our game - James Hird - moved my dial to 12. I love seeing them struggling. I would prefer them finish position 13-15 each year so they are never wooden spooners so can't get the best young players, and therefore remain mediocre and irrelevant.

DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!! I’m enraged at the mere mention of that club. I can hear myself one day in the future saying, “But Your Honour, I had to kill him, he was an Essendon supporter!” A reminder of how much I hate Essendon: every week I place a bet AGAINST the Dees, regardless of the odds (which I don’t really understand anyways). My reason is because if we win, fantastic! But if we lose, the $ cushions the blow a little. It’s only ever a $10-$20 bet… except for when it’s vs Essendon. Last year, round three, I lost $100 but skipped home from the ‘G happy as a pig in [censored]. I’ve put $100 on them again for this week. And the car trip home from Adelaide will be so sweet despite me being $100 poorer. THAT’S how much I detest this pack of uncultured cretins. PS a few shock losses have resulted in decent “wins.” When this happens I make a donation to Reach (forever in my heart, Jimmy 💕). It turns dirty money into clean.

Apparently it is the first time in the clubs history they have won by 50 points in 3 of first 4.

really? Maybe they're thinking exactly what we are

Remember when Essendon fans liked footy?

Thank you @WalkingCivilWar you have revived my god damned hatred of that football club. This is a deep seated hatred that goes back as far as my football memory goes (mid 80s) - my most hated side ever.... it has unfortunately waned with them being pathetic and all, which has left Colonwood out in front of hatred. But if they ever even remotely come good again.... it will return. I'm sure there are multiple records on here of me venting about my hatred for that God awful club. I miss my pure unadulterated hatred of Essington Was at Windy Hill as a 12 or so year old for the bloodbath game with Strawbs O'Dwyer having his beautiful face rearranged. F*****g Hirdy pulling out 2 goals from his [censored] in the dying minute to beat us by a point or so in 99 or 2000 or whenever The desire to completely obliterate that football runs deep - and doesn't even include the drugs garbage... Bloody Ferals

Have you tried barracking for the Suns in a game lately Adonski? It's like watching a toaster reverse into a car wash.

Some choice elements from bomber**itz. Some surprisingly reasonable comments but it could be that they're deranged from all the beatings. If they get on a winning streak (a real one) then look out. Port fans would rather see us win than Melbourne, I’m predicting. Especially after they (Port) have owned us in recent years and Melbourne would be more of a rival when it comes to spots in the top 8/top 4 this season. And I know we weren’t that impressive today against GWS but Melbourne haven’t looked too intimidating against a third of a West Coast Eagles side. I reckon neutral fans from most teams would hate us. Haha. Lets be real, you have to pick the most competitive team against Melbourne. Jones won’t work against May, he’ll be destroyed by their defenders and the structure will fall down. Best bet is to get Voss in to crash and bash and provide a physical presence. Heppell was OK but against Melbourne he’ll get wrecked. Hobbs and Snelling will provide more than both those will. Scores from stoppages needs working on still, today that was glaring but against Melbourne whole new level 10 goal loss coming up then. Nothing surer I want voss in just to run through steven may. They have gotten us by 5 goals and 2 goals the last two time we have met em. This time around they will have travelled perth-melbourne-adelaide in a week and we are playing much better footy. Reckon yes they beat us most days. Just think the stars might align for us. We are a chance Our smaller backline will go ok against the dees forwards theres much worse matchups for us to contend with in other sides We are finding goals from different avenues. You never know eh. The message all week should be dont let these ■■■■■■ get a 5 goal head start. Of course we are a chance, but we have had the easiest draw in the comp so far, and when we played a half decent team in the saints…we lost. I think we could stay with them for a qtr or so, but then they’ll over power us. Setterfield / Oliver and Caldwell / Viney I cannot wait to see the above match-ups in the middle. It would go a long way to us winning if Shiel finds some inner brute and runs with Trac when he needs to, Kelly to take him in D50. They rotate their mids hard and if we run the above rotation on their first choice mids then I rate Parish/Merrett against their second stringers. Is Pickett back in the side this week? He’s the sort of player that would wreck us. Not too concerned about McDonald as Bezerker will shut him down, Fritch will kick his couple, but if we can work over Grundy and do a somewhat decent job of nullifying Oliver we can win this. I’m optimistic about this week, I can’t see us losing by more than 40 points. Good chance to pinch this one if wet, our small forwards are dangerous, in good supply and would be hard to stop if pill on the ground a lot. Weid out , so bring in Snelling or Hobbs me thinks We need fwds who will lead agaist melbourne. Lever and may will distroy us if we bomb it in like we have been. If it’s wet that will be good for our forwards, lever and may won’t have as much impact i’d think and davey, menzie, perkins and the rest can get their hands dirty. Personnel will be important but sticking to the plan, and keeping Lever and May honest are priorities. History, as with the majority of games coming up, are against the rebuilding Dons. Only beaten the Dees once in the last 5. Essendon will be hard pressed to win 1 or 2 games over the next 6 given the weight of history against them. If the forecast stays true then I am taking out a mortgage on Friday arvo and putting every cent on the dees at $1.25. They are a well drilled, hard working, contested ball-strong team. We haven’t been able to play good wet weather footy for 15 years.

Bowza has done it again

In years gone by, Jason Taylor has done some incredible work with later picks. With 4 picks under 40, he'll set us up for the next 10 years.

The AFL survived covid on the back of continuing to charge membership subs for people unable to attend games; pushing ahead with games by forcing clubs/players into hubs and playing games all over the country on 4 day breaks to ensure the tv money kept rolling; and by taking out a line of credit on Docklands, something they were able to do due to the VFL's purchase and subsequent selling of Waverley 60 years prior. The reason people are cynical about the AFL and it's money making is because often it comes at the expense of the integrity of the game and the wishes of supporters. For example the AFL makes a tonne of money off of their relationship with gambling companies but the trade off is constant bombardment of gambling advertising which is extremely problematic especially when you consider a large portion of the audience are kids. You can applaud the AFL "making money" but I'd rather they stick to integrity of the sport.

Great article BB, its time we stopped thinking about the me. How close we are to Gosches paddock and how only peasants live miles away. The question that needs to be asked and the only question is, what is best for the MFC. The club and only the club, not us landers. As long as we share facilities with other codes we will be turfed off of our training ground, which is happening for the womens soccer. Are we happy to be a gypsy football club at the bec and call of every piddly code. Its time we became the MFC not the CBD football team. By the way I dont live near Caufield but at Pakenham, 40 ks away.

Today I read this thread while sitting next to my Essendon supporting coworker 😇 I also unearthed two Demon supporters and added them to the Demon work chat. Productive day all up!

You really are a one eyed supporter if you reckon Strawbs had a beautiful face.

Zane Duursma will be high on our draft board.

Being part of the Demon diaspora don’t get the opportunity to regularly go to the footy like decades back. But did get some continuity over west in the ‘21 finals series. In the preliminary final, Jack Viney ‘live’ set the tone against the sCats. Uncompromising physicality on his attack on the ball on the inside and flair and creativity on the outside. IMHO best on ground that evening. Pleasingly got the opportunity to compliment him personally later after the game. He was gracious and appreciative of what was due praise for that ‘bravura’ performance. With the emergence of so many stars in our terrific football team, Jack still works away in his uncompromising, committed fashion often away from the spotlight. A true team player, who will be duly lauded at the completion of his footy career as a Demon great.

Where do you draw the line?

Still posting about this? What is the point? What is your goal?

Pretty sure I was at the last final they won 😬 Long may they wallow without winning another.

Calm down WCW, before you do yourself a mischief.

I think it is healthy to hate Essendon. Imagine how much you would hate yourself if you liked them 🤧

I read this and now I feel like punching somebody. And I’m a pacifist through and through! This post should be enlarged, printed out and stuck on the wall in the rooms on Saturday.

It would be fair to say that the departure of Tom Scully in September 2011 from the Melbourne Football Club to seek fame, glory and a million dollars a year in the northern suburbs of Sin City was not received well by the Demon faithful. After all, the club had taken him as first selection (a priority pick) in the 2009 AFL National Draft and bestowed on him the prized 31 guernsey formerly worn by the all time club champion and six time premiership player Ron Barassi Junior. How dare he leave us? Scully went on to have moderate success with expansion club, the GWS Giants over seven seasons, adding 121 games to the 31 played for the Demons. He even had a fleeting taste of finals football before the relationship soured amid concerns as to the Giants' handling of an ankle injury he incurred early in 2018. His career ended after 35 games at Hawthorn under the coaching of Al Clarkson who was trying vainly to sustain his club’s crumbling dynasty. Several months after Scully’s retirement in February 2021 at the height of the Covid19 epidemic, his first club broke a 57 year premiership drought. The team was led by skipper Max Gawn (today a 6 time All-Australian) who was selected with the thirty-fourth selection in the same draft as Scully. On Grand Final night, the famous number 31 guernsey was worn by Bayley Fritsch who booted six goals in the magical victory. He was picked at number 31 in the 2017 draft. Today, a little over two years after Scully’s retirement, the Giants are well back in the pack while the Hawks are in a deep hole. And the fascination with high draft picks continues. There’s a highly fancied youngster who the pundits have pegged as a certain number one, much like Scully in his day. There’s also speculation that the club where Scully’s career came to a sudden and silent end, might be tanking to snare that prized number one pick come November. There’s also a somewhat unsavory pastime among some Melbourne fans who are “death riding” rival club Fremantle; wishing failure on them so that the Demons can derive maximum benefit from the fact that they hold the Dockers’ first and second round picks in this year’s draft thanks to their trading of selections when Luke Jackson crossed to Fremantle. Demon fans should know better. The pursuit of Scully all those years ago failed to achieve the holy grail. Instead, it heaped more years of desperation and humiliation upon them as they searched vainly for that special someone. The messiah who, in the words of the disparaging parody song that emerged on social media after his departure, was the “someone like you.” History tells us that Melbourne eventually found much better than that someone who could singlehandedly and magically bring about success. Rather, it methodically and slowly built a whole team with many component parts that, with a lot of hard work and a modicum of good luck, enabled them to reach the pinnacle. Harley Reid alone will not help achieve this. Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne Demons in tug of war over young superstar Tom Scully

I did not realise this. Commercially it makes sense of course. I watched the swans match with my 7yo on free to air for the first time and honestly felt quite uncomfortable with the amount of ads and Nathan Brown pushing punting. I turned it off half way through. Now, totally each to their own, AND it’s an indictment on the AFL to normalise punting to go hand in hand with the game, irrespective of the ‘remedial’ work they do, be it via public education or advertisement to ‘know your limits’. That won’t work*for kids exposed for 18 years weekly that AFL and gambling neatly coexist and are a normal part of culture. * nor do they give a damn…

It took him 3 years to write that post!

We’re not looking for the messiah, but rather a very tasty cherry for a beautiful cake

Gift? No. But I can imagine that if two players were seen on level pegging for the sub role, then the Club may give it to the bloke who is only 3 games from life membership. Personally I want Jake to get to 100 games for the Club, it is a significant achievement. He probably wants to too. As long as it isn’t detrimental to the team performance there is still room for a bit of feel good

So true DC. Essendon invokes involuntary gagging or vomiting in healthy well adjusted humans (probably animals too)

Goody in his presser today said we sure can play all 3 when the question was asked.

I wasn’t at all referring to his performance. I noticed his overall demeanour was different. He didn’t seem as exuberant as usual. And it’s not that I was looking out for it, I’d forgotten about the whole will he or won’t he thing. It struck me early in the match and continued on that way.

I actually think the round looks great - other than our game, most of them have potential to be close games (maybe Geelong v WCE and potentially Hawthorn v GWS aside) eg Bris play North but Brisbane away from the Gabba have been rubbish Pies play without a ruckman against undefeated saints Suns v Freo is interesting for us - but the ramifications of the loser are enormous. can you confidently pick it? Carlton v Adelaide - the way the crows are playing I think they might get them Sydney v Tigers - both underperforming and have significant injuries so a crucial '8 pt' game for both Port v Dogs - hard to get a form line of these teams but both capable of top 4 if they play at their best.

I just love the mental reversal in our current period of drafting. Instead of 'that player is rated No.1 /No 4, etc, therefore they are what we want', the attitude is 'we highly rate the following players and will do what it takes to get them even if that seems excessive'. It's Oliver, Lever, May, Bowey, and a whole lot of little draft point trades to get us to positions where we can make our own choices. Plus, we aren't trying to do everything in one draft. If we think the available value in a draft is used up as best it can, we're very happy to push things back to future picks so we can play our way in the next draft.

I Think we all wish Freo's demise because it would be just fair to get a good pick as a compensation for Jackson. Not so much that we are desperate to get our hands on the number 1 pick. We used pick 3 on Jackson, two late first round picks wouldn't cut it in my opinion. It would be nice to get at least a top 6 pick this year.

Poor bloke, not even a flag could cure that ailment it seems.

Writing novellas evidently

Bub … welcome back. Where have you been?

Question from me What do you make of the regular Jack Viney bagging on DL? He plays in a scrappy part of the field, and is first touch in many contested sequences. It's hardly fair to expect him to compete with likes of Bowey for DE% He had 7 x CLR 5 x I50 and 9 x SI against WCE (at 82%DE + 1 goal) And 5 x CLR 6 x I50 and 4 x SI (all I50s resulting in goals) against SYD (at 58%DE) I think he's thriving and playing some of his best footy.

I think that the retirement of Mundy at the same time that Fyfe has stopped playing as a midfielder, has had a big impact on how Fremantle operates. Mundy and Fyfe are both around 6'4 (~192cm), so they are big midfielders, and are contest winners with Mundy consistently averaging over 10 contested possessions a game (9 last year) and Fyfe averaging closer to 15 before injury and form issues recently. What these bigger bodies do is take the load off and make it easier for the smaller midfielders in the contest. By comparison, their spot as the top contest winners in the engine room has been taken by Serong (5'10 - 178cm) and Brayshaw (6'0 - 183cm). They're both excellent players but they don't have the physical size to make the game easier for everyone else. Serong averages 13 cp/g this year and Brayshaw 10. The other midfielders are O'Meara (6'0), Aish (6'0) plus whatever's left, but none of them are big midfielders. Brodie helped a lot when he was in form at points last year but has been struggling (and dropped) this year, Fyfe and Mundy could always make the job of others easier around the ball but they can't anymore and now they just can't get any drive from the contests. It's a bit like the Neale, Zorko, Lyons midfielders from Brisbane, where they always struggled in the tough games because they got beaten up with size around the ball. They've picked up some big midfielders in the last few drafts (Johnson and Erasmus) but neither have shown so far that they're going to be the answer. They also struggled last year to get consistent contests in the forward line from their big guys, and with Lobb and Logue moving on they are getting almost no aerial contest inside 50. Taberner has always been more of a leading forward, Jackson isn't that sort of player and Amiss is a kid. Freo are going to have to learn how to turn slow inside 50s into scores, as that's how they're set up at the moment. They shouldn't be as bad as they are at the moment but they've got an oddly constructed list with some big gaps that they need to be filled with few resources to fill them. It'll be an interesting journey.

I don’t feel for Jackson, Nathan Jones went on radio last year and outlined this exact scenario and the club told Jackson this was a possibility multiple times. There’s a huge risk when a young player goes to a club on huge coin to be a cherry on top premiership winner. That risk is if things go wrong or your form dips the scrutiny is immediate and immense, probably unfairly so. Tom Boyd, Tom Scully, while they both ultimately pushed their clubs to some success their individual careers never hit the peak they were destined for as the constant pressure and mention of money stifled their love of the game at a young age. This was always a possibility for Jacko and as much as I love him and will always be grateful for his part in our flag he was very aware of this component of the decision and sadly this is just the beginning. It’s rare that one player comes in and completes the puzzle, Dangerfield took a long time to get the flag, Lynch is one of the few that worked for Richmond but even that looked a bust for a bit. I think this is just the beginning for Jacko and Freo, lose to the Suns this week and the blowtorch will turn up to 11 but even if Freo can eek out some wins the bubble has burst. They aren’t a team one or two stars away from top 4, they are a team that had one great season with some aging veterans and role players in career best form who are finding out that sustained success in the AFL is very tough. I do however feel for Jayden Hunt, after all these years he’s back at a bottom team playing his absolute guts out. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with Hunter and the direction we took, but I do feel for Jayden who was a big part culturally, love and effort wise in terms of helping bring our club to where it is now and it’s sad we couldn’t fit him in.