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No, I will just write his name on some paper and put it in the freezer - guaranteed to bring bad luck according to my mother-in-law. She has used that technique successfully on me in the past.

I have heard Shane won’t be doing his Assistant Coach duties at Wesley College vs Trinity on Saturday as he will be in Melbourne. This isn’t from the horses mouth, but source is pretty good, so I suspect Taj will debut

Shout out to my man FTB! lovely chap who went out of his way to make sure me and my mate can attend. And attend in style in the MCC, I'll have to fish a collared shirt out of the wardrobe! lol

King's stats are good for discussion - hopefully they've been compiled the right way in the background. He says our general contest win rate drops to 10th without WCE, Haw and NM - presumably when calculating a #10 rank, they have also stripped WCE, Haw and NM away from other teams that have played 1, 2 or 3 of them and re-ranks them as well. In which case - for the teams that haven't played any (Collingwood), or only played 1 (Lions) or 2 (PA), their ranking includes data from a greater number of games. This won't lead to totally wrong conclusions for a % based stat like contest win rate - but when he quotes scores from stoppage that are cumulative - I'm not sure how it's been compiled and the methodology gets tricky. Presumably those are averages, but -50 scores from stoppage doesn't sound like an average. -160 from D50 stoppages doesn't sound like an average either. Long story short, pulling these rankings in the middle of the year when not every team has played one another is inherently flawed. Throw in the effect of Home Ground Advantage, uneven travel schedules and significant injuries - you get the drift. There are also a good number of positive metrics you could also mention depending on what narrative you are seeking to create. We are: #1 in Inside 50s #2 in Goal Assists #1 in Total Scoring #4 in Disposal Efficiency #3 Tackles i50 #2 Contested Possession #1 Goal accuracy #1 Intercepts Yes - we've had the benefit of playing WCE, Haw and NM which no doubt helps many of these stats. Port have played 2 of those teams and are top 4 in some of those stats, but not all. Brisbane have played 1 of those teams and again are top 4 across a different set of statistics. I agree to my (negatively biased) eyes there is a lot that looks off, but truthfully mid-season, it's all guesswork with incomparable bodies of work and evidence being gathered in entirely different circumstances for different teams. The W/L column (which itself is a result of fixture) is the only thing that matters at the moment and we are still sitting top 4. Big tests to come.

Who?

Sure. And that's essentially what i have done (I have almost completely stopped watching or listening to any footy media – the two ABC radio footy shows on Saturday and the catch up of Sando’s Thursday half hour on SEN are pretty much all I regularly consume). But my comments about how much the football media frustrates me wasn't limited to the 'review shows' – it is the entire footy media eco system. And why shouldn’t that frustrate me? I love the sport, am passionate about it and am always trying to better understand it. So to basically have no mainstream media options that help me understand the sport and that I really enjoy engaging with, is super frustrating, and in my opinion a sad reflection on the industry. I mean c’mon, the AFL and the media love to look to the States as the template. But apart from stupid loud music at games as some sort of manufactured game day experience, they ignore all the fantastic ways their sports are covered. As an example, I haven’t followed the NBA for a few years, so am out of the loop where things are at. But i watched the Denver v Lakers playff games because I love Nicola Jokic and LeBron James is simply incredible. I learnt more about basketball, the systems of the Nuggets and Lakers, their relative strengths and weakness etc etc in the first 30 mins of game one than I have about footy from the football media in 3 months of this season. And that’s just the live commentary – their ‘review’ shows are next level and as a rule, incredibly insightful. I had much the same experience watching the superbowl this year. I havent followed the NFL for 20 years, so am even more out of the loop than i am with the NBA. But the team covering it did a fanstastic job to help me undertsand what i was watching. Ditto for the coverage of the PGA championship. I know footy, but watching the TV coverage makes me cringe and does nothing to help my understanding of the game. It's a joke. And its not as if it is an Australian thing. I love Test match cricket almost as much as football and have played a lot of cricket. I know the game. But unlike the coverage of footy, the way test cricket is covered helps me grow my understanding of, and love for, the sport. The coverage is fantastic in terms of explaining the game, it's use of data to help do so and drilling down on tactics, techniques, stenegths and weakneses.

I just posted this on the podcast thread: Thanks AF for that info. The coverage of football [censored] me to death. Collective memories of particularly slow gold fish. At this point last year the media were all the cats are dads army, the cliff has come blah blah blah. Cut to the finals and the media is lauding their fitness, their experience, their slow build and banging on about how well they managed their players (echoed on here too - suddenly the cats were the exemplars in terms of resting players, more players thru the middle etc etc). And then they trot out the line that clubs always look to the previous flag winner for cues. And that is exactly what the cats did - copied our preparation and essentially game plan too. Well, it would very much appear that is what we are doing this year - ie copying some of the things the cats did to win the flag last year. And as we approach finals, after a couple of months of pearl clutching about the dees form around the middle of the season, and the dees start stringing the wins together again and begin to look very ominous, the 360 and first crack peanuts will suddenly have the exact same revelations they have every year - the flag is not won in May and June, there's essentially two seasons - H&A and finals - and it is all about peaking in September blah blah blah. And then, like this has suddenly dawned on them, despite having put much the same graphic up every year, they will put up a graphic with the sort of info below to support the idea that dees are building very nicely thank you very much: W-L record of last 10 premiers after round 10 2013 Hawks 9 wins 1 loss 2014 Hawks 7-3 2015 Hawks 6-4 2016 Dogs 7-3 2017 Tigers 6-4 2018 Eagles 9-1 (ironically massive flag favs all season, tigers, were also 9-1) 2019 Tigers 7-3 2020 Tigers 6-3-1 2021 Dees 9-1 (but in next 7 games went 2 wins, 4 losses and a draw) 2022 Cats 6-4 2023 Dees 7-3 10 seasons is a pretty good sample size. The pattern is pretty damn clear. Seven of the ten winners not better than 70 30 after 10 rounds. But sure, let’s write off the dees premiership chances at round 10 on the back of a 4 points loss against a team coming off six straight wins. on their home deck, in conditions that suited them better and off a six day break plus travel. It’s like some weird footy take on the quote from philosopher George Santayana, ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.

Saraid has been signed on as a replacement player while Sammie Johnstone is on maternity leave after giving birth to Luca earlier this year. Welcome to Dees, Saraid!! https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1339058/saraid-taylor-becomes-a-demon

Probably when he takes his first mark. So maybe not.

There you have it. I have a real level of disquiet about the Tribunal Chairman and to a slightly lesser degree the MRO. With the MRO there is little transparent explanation, as to why some incidents and not similar or worse outcome others are treated so differently. With the Tribunal Chairman, the former AFL prosecutor at the Tribunal, he seems determined from my viewing, to confirm penalties rather than truly evaluate the incident. He tries to bring in the Law, to cover deficiencies in fact. Tribunal hearings imo, should be about the common sense issues of what happened and were they intentional acts or accidental, could or should they have been avoided and an overarching principle of how we want the game played. The Chairman has decided cases, by suggesting alternative actions, that are totally unreasonable in a contact sport and in some cases just plainly impossible to perform in a contact sport or pressure situation. Some of his decisions imo are just plainly laughable. He has confused the reasonable man in the Law definition, with a footballer in a pressure situation, where there is no sensible comparison. I think we would be better served with someone else as our Tribunal Chairman, with a background in the game and yes possibly a Law degree, but not used to stifle the actual way the game is played, so as to make it nearly impossible for the players to play and the fans to watch.

Just bought a couple MCC guest passes for @DubDee, the PAX number on the tickets are 83,000 which means 83,000 tickets have been sold (including our reserved seat members) with MCC walk ups (around 8k) to be added on the day. 90k a real possibility

You have to be kidding me right Doug? The poster i quoted is named CHF, I was addressing the poster by their name.

Tmac hasn’t looked very good since about halfway through 2021. Can’t believe Brown has been frozen out since his first couple of games this year. Very weird. He’ll never play that well at Casey. Needs that silver service, and not often Div 2 footy will provide that.

That's a plus for the dees given our struggle against quality mid sized forwards and winning ground ball inside D50.

I must be one of only a handful that thought T Mac was ok last week considering the conditions and the amount of ball we gave up.

Christ, supporters overrate Jordon the way they bang on about him.

Oh well it looks like we’re going to lose a very solid future 200 game player at years end Sad to see you go JJ

I think of all the things I dislike about Demonland, revisionism tops the list. We were 17-1-4 with a percentage of 130%. That’s the entire season of course, not just the last month. Pre-bye we beat Geelong (prelim finalist), GWS away (they finished 7th and won a final), Sydney (finished 6th), the Dogs at Marvel, Brisbane, plus St Kilda, Richmond, Fremantle and Carlton (10th-13th - so not finalists but also not bottom sides). Post-bye we also beat Port away (prelim finalist). Saying we didn’t click until round 20 ignores the stunning body of work we put into the first 17 weeks. Saying we got “beaten up” by the Dogs ignores that we’d already beaten them at Marvel, and is inaccurate anyway - that was a 20 point loss where it was single digits midway through the 4th quarter. We beat 16 of the 17 other sides that year (only missing out on Collingwood). Our 2021 season was, from start to finish, supreme.

Chandler’s good games have stored more than enough brownie points to guard against being dropped this soon. I’m not sold on the JVR-TMac combo but if we’re dropping one IMO it should be TMac.

As a wingman - a useful role player who’s kicking and lack of breakaway speed puts a ceiling on his value. But maybe we see this week if Taj can be that and hopefully more. As an on baller - he’s still very raw and untapped. I assume he only played 3/4’s v North after playing a quarter v Port and had 27 touches showing he’s starting to improve his accumulation and contested ball. His running can be a weapon. His size an asset. But his lack of forward traits (speed, skills, marking) makes it hard to pick him as an on baller because you don’t want him spelling on a forward flank. He’s the type of player who will be a good pick up at another club but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve done anything wrong if he goes. I’d like to see him get a string of games as an on baller at AFL level but I also understand we have to fill a wing this week and we can’t just give out midfield games.

Thanks AF for that info. The coverage of football [censored] me to death. Collective memories of particularly slow gold fish. At this point last year the media were all the cats are dads army, the cliff has come blah blah blah. Cut to the finals and the media is lauding their fitness, their experience, their slow build and banging on about how well they managed their players (echoed on here too - suddenly the cats were the exemplars in terms of resting players, more players thru the middle). And then they trot out the line that clubs always look to the previous flag winner for cues. And that is exactly what the cats did - copied our preparation and essentially game plan too. Well, it would very much appear that is what we are doing this year - ie copying some of the things the cats did to win the flag last year. And as we approach finals, after a couple of months of pearl clutching about the dees form around the middle of the season, and the dees start stringing the wins together again and begin to look very ominous, the 360 and first crack peanuts will suddenly have the exact same revelations they have every year - the flag is not won in May and June, there's essentially two seasons - H&A and finals - and it is all about peaking in September blah blah blah. And then, like this has suddenly dawned on them, despite having put much the same graphic up every year, they will put a graphic with the sort of info below up to support the idea that dees are building very nicely thank you very much: W-L record of last 10 premiers after round 10 W-L record of last 10 premiers after round 10 2013 Hawks 9 wins 1 loss 2014 Hawks 7-3 2015 Hawks 6-4 2016 Dogs 7-3 2017 Tigers 6-4 2018 Eagles 9-1 (ironically massive flag favs all season, tigers, were also 9-1) 2019 Tigers 7-3 2020 Tigers 6-3-1 2021 Dees 9-1 (but in next 7 games went 2 wins, 4 losses and a draw) 2022 Cats 6-4 2023 Dees 7-3 10 seasons is a pretty good sample size. The pattern is pretty damn clear. Seven of the ten winners not better than 70 30 after 10 rounds. But sure, let’s write off the dees premiership chances at round 10 on the back of a 4 points loss against a team coming off six straight wins on their home deck, in conditions that suited them better and off a six day break. It’s like some weird footy take on the quote from philosopher George Santayana, ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.

Some like me have MFC Memberships but sit in the MCC area. There's quite a lot like that who simply want to support the club financially and directly.

It was mentioned earlier here or on the ticketing thread, but I just wanted to stress the point that tickets are still available for GA members. On Ticketek select 'Club Members & Public Reserve', enter your membership barcode/s, hit unlock tickets then a pop-up appears and select 'Melbourne Supporter Allocation'. Still a handful of seats available in the bays highlighted in the image below. Mostly single seats, but some pairs of seats still available together. It's only a sellout for the general public.

This. Bravo. People like to think we played like the prelim all year long

Thought it was a pretty fair reflection of where we are at. Down on contested ball, bleeding in the back half, struggling at stoppage. Particularly liked the reference to the brutality of 21 and early 22, id love to see us destroy a contender (somewhere around june 12 preferably).

I rang in to Demonland tonight & was thankful Andy & Binman gave me some time to share my thoughts on this great team we barrack for. Here's what I said & what I feel. I'd like to share my thoughts on the Redlegs as a whole circa 2023. As a club, we're in rarefied air; a men's, women's & VFL Premiership all within the last 2 years. A recruiting, administrative & conditioning team that made impeccable decisions for almost 10 years. The highest paid up memberships in the history of the club. A pool of generational talent signed to long term deals. A strong list of youngsters pushing our best 22 for team selection. A destination club that has attracted All Australians, Best & Fairest's and previous club captains. A team of A list assistant coaches. A coach that tasted the highest success in his playing career & now also as a head coach, that not only learnt from a genius & passionate Demon fan in Paul Roos, but is young enough to relate to his players, young enough to grow with his players & young enough to be around for another decade which creates an environment of trust & cohesion. If you think back to your amateur team sports days, be it AFL footy, local cricket or even indoor soccer, when did you, as a team, create success? When you had consistency & cohesion & trust. When you had the same 22 fellas running out to kick the sherrin, the same 11 blokes going out to field, the same 5 friends putting on shingaurds. Why, because you built patterns, game plans and trust in their abilities. You could anticipate what your team mates were going to do & when they needed your help. The Dees finally have this. Stability, trust & importantly genuine class. What we don't have is a recent history of it. They're learning to be successful. Just as we as a supporter base are learning with them. We're not used to this success, being the favourites to win every game, being in every game, no longer being thrashed each week. But what I consistently see when I read frustrated fans' posts on various platforms is that we should be better. And it's this word I'd like to analyse. 'Better than what' is what I would like to ask. Is it possible to win every game? Of course not. Is it possible to only lose 4 games in a season. History would suggest not often. It's been decades since we've had this kind of heat. Teams need to play at their very best to beat us. So each week, we are playing the very best the opposition has to give, week in, week out. This takes its toll on the boys; you simply cannot be up every week. You simply cannot be 'better' all the time. This not an excuse, or a defeatist attitude, it's a fact. We all know the cliches; you don't win flags in 'insert any month except September', you have to peak at the right time, you must finish top 4 to win a flag. They're cliches for a reason, because the better teams have fulfilled these cliches better than other teams. As Binman says, if you have all the pieces in place as we do (talent, good governance etc), the key determinant is injuries & increasingly suspensions. These are the things to concern yourself of. Not the team itself. In the cut & thrust of battle ie the home & away season, it can be hard to pull back & see the bigger picture. What is it? The future has never been better. It's ok to be angry at losses but let's get behind them rather than walk away. Let's be that club that turns the umps whistles our way with our own noise of affirmation. Let's continue to pay our membership, to buy whatever merch we can afford from the Demon shop to assist the club to find a spiritual home for us congregate; not Casey or Gosch but a real home. Let's not feed into the collective anxiety that if we don't win a flag in the next few years, we never will again, but rather strive for sustained prolonged success. Because then the flags are inevitable. Simply my point is, trust in this team, this collective organisation. The club has never been in a better position. If we can't enjoy this now, when can we enjoy this team?

good post. I am one of the complacent ones. I really haven't been in this position much, and its great! 10 years ago I had a bay to myself on ground level and it sucked Agree with your sentiments, why complain about what the Pies have? Think about a year ago and now consider we have Anzac eve, BF monday, many night games and lots of TV exposure. If you are correct and we could make 2M from this game it is bloody fantastic! Now over the Gawn, Vines and the boys to make us proud