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Congratulations to Mitch and his lovely partner on their engagement.

Surely no team can come back from 4 and a bit goals down with just 7 minutes left

A shout out to Ed's mum Belinda. I was on a swim trip on Croatia in 2018 that she was part of. Here's my fb post at the time: "So the conversation with Belinda (from Sth Yarra) over dinner the other night went something like this: Me: do you follow the AFL Belinda? Belinda: yes. Actually both of my sons are in the AFL Me: Oh yeah. What's their names? Belinda: Ed and Tom Langdon. Me: I've heard of Ed. He plays with Freo and goes alright. There's talk he may head back to Vic. when his contract expires. I'd like to see him at the Dees. I bet you'd rather see him at Melbourne rather than with some club like those ferals at Collingwood? Who's Tom play with. Belinda: Tom plays for the Collingwood ferals. I must have said something to upset Belinda. She hasn't spoken to me since that dinner." PS I was aware that Tom was a Pies player but had hardly played due to injuries. Murmers that we were looking at Ed.

Good chance to watch potential recruit Zane Duursma in action again for Casey.

Player least begged on DL? Must be Clarry. EVERYBODY LOVES CLARRY 😂

I want Smith to come into the 22 and Chandler be the sub. Demonlanders underestimate what he could do for us.

FATHER-SON BOOSTS HIS STANDING - Chris Cavanagh Melbourne father-son prospect Kynan Brown boosted his standing in this year’s draft pool with some strong performances for Vic Metro across the under-18 national championships. The Oakleigh Chargers co-captain played predominantly through the midfield and averaged 22.8 disposals, 4.5 clearances, 4.8 tackles and 6.5 score involvements from his four matches. “He was really consistent and I think his contest work really stood up through each of the games,” Vic Metro coach Rob Harding said of Brown. “Even when we were challenged by some of the stronger midfields in the nationals, he stood up really well through those games. “Melbourne has been working with him over the past couple of years and they would have been really excited by what they saw over the past few weeks.” Brown – who is the son of former Melbourne defender Nathan Brown – has also spent time across half-forward with the Chargers in the Coates Talent League this year. Along with his strong contest work, the left-footer also brings quick hands, sharp vision and strong creativity in his game.

Heads up to footy fans, the tall bloke from Aunty Donna has a podcast this year called The Footy and it is quite good. More lighthearted and no depth but very funny. Broden is a Dees fan. And he left early last week.

Marc McGowan and his (v good) take on the first 25 prospects (if they were to be picked right now): Pick by pick: The top 25 if the AFL draft was on now

Tomlinson is named on the field so he’s definitely playing.

I mean the reason we have Gawn, who led us to victory with a game for the ages, fit, fresh and firing is because we have Grundy. Grundy’s done his job and if he can add a goal and a half a game he’ll be worth every cent.

67k+ is a supreme effort considering where we were a decade ago.

Here we go again. More rubbish speculation on some unknown dees player who supposedly has zero time for the Demon army. Seriously, who cares. Has nothing to do with this thread. Back on topic, here are a few dot points on what I'm looking forward to this weekend against the Crows • Max going solo again. If he has another game like he did against the Lions then the discussion ramps up again regarding the debate on Grundy's worth in the team • Another week for Brown and JVR to build some cohesion up forward. We really need this forward line humming before finals. • Petracca up forward and the midfield taking care of business without him. • Mcvee match up on Rankine. • Kozzie to hopefully show that he's back in form.

The least bagged players on DL are Clarry, Trac, Max and Viney I reckon. Oh and maybe JVR. Hasn’t done enough wrong yet 😂 I know it’s not Max or Trac. They’ve both been nothing but lovely when I’ve met them before. Viney would probably punch you if you annoyed him 😂

I'm reminded of one of Jack Dyer's memorable comments (about Melbourne's own Lally Bamblett): "Bamblett made a great debut last week and an even better one today".

Couldn't agree more. I really think Goody has totally scrapped the Petty move which is strange because as you correctly mentioned, was finally working well. Which really means that Tommo is just a spare. Maybe the media is on to something and that the bloke just wants to play some serious footy in the twilight of his career. Probably a good three years left. His pies performance was no accident. Hes a good footballer and it would be a shame to lose him. I guess when you have depth there is always the annual churn from the yearn to play.

Great goal Oskar

Bontempelli carries this dogs team like no other. Case in point: Bont wins a 50/50 ball in the backline, kicks 50 metres to a contest at CHF. After 10 seconds of his much less skilful teammate buying time managing to hold the ball up long enough for Bont to get there, Bont collects the ball and speeds away blasting it from outside 50 and missing. It's like a primary school football game with Bont as the one good player in a sea of kids who have been told to just "get it to Bont"

Massive games this week in terms of shaping the 8 AND our precious draft picks.

Well I still don’t know who you’re talking about, but whoever it is, that is very disappointing to hear. All players should make time for supporters, especially those who spend so much time volunteering and helping in the cheer squad. For what it’s worth, every Melbourne player I’ve ever randomly met has been really really nice. On a side note, the night we beat Saints in a final (yes it was that long ago), I went out with friends after the game and we ran into Nick Del Santo. He was a real [censored]. I told him he and his team sucked. He was an [censored] before I told him that. No regrets 😂* *I may or may not have been very drunk

They call their show Fireball Friday, as in you'd rather set fire to your balls than listen to it

Thanks for sharing that. Not surprised in the slightest about BBB and Lever. Both come across as ripper individuals.

Yeah ,nice one, very funny! LOL He played in R 1 apparently. I must of been on the sauce.

Left for overseas yesterday so will miss this one Pirhana Park, Coburg is a lovely well located ground. If nearby get along. The local craft brewer used to have a tent there for those who like a beer. Parking should not be hard either in the car park or in the side streets and a short walk to the ground.

The biggest drawback is the fact that the clubs don’t play each other once during the season. In Casey’s case, that means they miss out on a couple of potentially easy games against Northern Bullants and Porr Melbourne. Fingers crossed that they’re in a winning frame for the rest of the season.

Probably Geelong.

Tomlinson for Petty is the right call. Wonder what the rumour mongers will come up with next. Spargo out is also correct IMO. I suspect Chandler comes in but the Bowey/Hibberd idea is appealing.

Looking at the team selection, I would expect only one of Tomlinson or Hibberd to play, unless there's a late withdrawal of one of the other nominated defenders or one of Tomlinson or Hibberd is the sub. The other six defenders (May, Lever, Salem, Rivers, Bowey and McVee) are all ahead of Tomlinson and Hibberd and we play seven defenders, not eight. I suspect Tomlinson will play while one of Chandler or Laurie will replace Spargo. Smith, in my view, will again be the sub.

Clearly Sydney beating Freo and Brisbane beating Geelong are my picks from the menu. We need Geelong as far away as top 4 as possible. Top 2 is not critical in my book. The last time first and second both made a grand final was 2014. One of the grand finalist is invariably 3rd, 4th or 5th.

I kept wickets for 30+yrs laughed as soon as he took the diving catch and ended up on his back some how,just proved how bad he is

On a random note did anyone catch the Jack Viney piece they did before the game last week? It was really good. Shows how far our club has come to the dark days when Jack first started

Grundy out…

I think I heard before Grundy was brought in that a lot of people here on Demonland, including myself thought that it would help Max play a little longer without being knackered come finals time. Things are going in the right direction.

good grief, kornes AND king debating ruckmen?!??

if you want to experiment with bowser forward, the norf game might be a safer choice?

I like Tommo in the backline, he hit form vs Coll and has been playing very well at Casey. Too good not to have as one of our 3 tall backs Whist Petty is a good player, he has been injury prone this year. Get him cherry ripe for finals. Unlike others, I think there's still much potential for him as a key forward Should Tommo cement a spot with form in the next few weeks it's a great problem to have finals W1. Look at the Pies. Their depth is such that they have good players in form dropped to the magoos. And their culture under Fly has this working

Isn’t it you with your tongue out?

I reckon a fully fit Melb or Geelong team could win it from 5th. Obviously 4th is perfect . Play and beat Pies at the G straight through to prelim at the G. Might change my mind if cats are mauled by the lions on the weekend. Top sides should win or lose narrowly at the Gabba not get flogged. Huge game.

Haha appreciate that! I do having a passing interest but wouldn't be able to go too deep. It's definitely a potential trap game if we aren't careful, if the Crows take the game on I can see them giving us some issues. Need to make sure our forward line is moving constantly and not stationary, just need to kick enough goals and we should be right. Ever since we lost that game in Adelaide by a point I've just wanted to build this massive streak on them 😃

I loved Peter Donegan's interview style. One of my inspirations in the small number of interview situations I've been part of

Just go with the best available if we end up with a pick 4/5, if we get a pick closer to 10 then maybe go for a key position player, we immediately need a tall fwd and it won’t be long before we need a replacement for May.

Some of my mates seem to find golf bad for their mental health: on the other hand I just say stuff the score and relax and enjoy it. Though I cannot envisage Stephen May (who is according to himself MFC’s lowest handicap player around 6 I think) doing anything short of taking it very seriously. binman - stay away from mainstream media. There is a podcast that I can highly recommend that is often true and accurate, with absolutely no 🐂💩- Demonland I think is the name. Some of the presenters actually seem quite intelligent 🤗🙄❤️💙❤️💙

i'll go melksham, jordon, rivers, chandler, with smith as the sub

Looks like Tomlinson will play - and a good thing too.

I'm sure someone will tell me why I'm wrong but the above table seems a totally useless statistic to me.

Guess how many rucks we played when we won the flag 2 years ago...

Can’t say I blame him. His did what was asked of him in terms of going and playing well in the twos- got an opportunity to play in the first team and did all that could be asked of him but instead of being rewarded for a good performance he was sent back to the twos even when Petty was playing injured. He’s a good depth player and we might regret it if we let him go. I think we might hold him to his contract. With JJ also rumoured to be looking around, Tmac, BBB, Melksham and Pig all close to the end it would be hard to find replacements for everyone.