Leaderboard

I don't think I've come across any other professional sport where so many players are homesick for places that are an hour or so away by air or a few hours by road with exactly the same culture, food and language.

Or like when Lever picked us over Collingwood and May picked us over Collingwood and Hawthorn

My sources tell me that we have struck a deal with Carlton. We are getting McKay and Curnow in exchange for pick 46 and Bailey Laurie. Is that better?

This thread?

Oh please - what is it with the 'email the club to express my frustration' palaver. You dont think they have better things to do than respond to fans critiques? Please. I encourage my fellow demonlanders to not contact the club to bag them out.

You saw ‘highlights’ where he went missing?

This times 1000. As Scott said on 360, what do you think Maynard would have done in that exact scenario, ie jumping to smother from a distance, at training and he was about to collide into a teammate. Does anyone seriously think he would have turned his body to and hit his teammate in the head with his shoulder? Or, as you suggest put his hands out to protect his teammate, which is the instinctive reaction (unless you are a thug). Even if just falling over face first, say onto a mattress, the instinctive reaction is to put both hands out in front to brace for impact and cushion the fall - not turn and hit the ground shoulder first. I cant believe the biomechanics expert was not asked about the the latter point (ie 'what is the instinctive, natural way to break a fall?') And i can't believe Maynard was not asked how he would have acted in the same situation at training. Scratch that. I can believe it. The fix was in.

We won't trade Petty. Hold him to his contract and start negotiations on a great extension next year. If it doesn't work out then we've got a year to make alternative plans. He has 2 years to run so if he wants to go to the Crows at the end of next year they still have to pay up big for a contracted player.

Pretty tasteless, to be honest

The draft talk buzz from Cal Twoomey was that Curtain was slipping down the order and now expected to be available at Melbourne's pick. The draft is also meant to become much weaker from pick 15 onwards (including academy players) so pick 11 is one of the last truely valuable picks for a higher likelihood of a good player in this draft. Given this, it would seem unlikely that North could beat our offer unless they can trade their later picks to move up to pick 7. If WCE can get the same player at 2 as they could get at 6, then this is perceptually not a huge difference in value. The secondary element is that North's later 1sts are all in the speculative picks range of the draft so I don't see them moving the needle if you were WCE. So North would either need to go for picks 2 and 3 or 2/3 with their first next year to be in the conversation. I would say the Dees are in the box seat and that is the reason why we paid so much for pick 11, because we called North's bluff and now they are stuck with a tonne of 1st round picks which are more like second round picks in other drafts due to how far the slide is in this 'weaker' draft.

Petty has to be the most underrated player in the competition! Any Petty trade significantly reduces our current window while Max and May are still elite AFL players. I would only consider Thilthorpe plus all their first rounders.

Petty is worth so much more than Thilthorpe. Petty has shown he is a very capable KPP at both ends, Thilthorpe is struggling to be a half decent KPF

I just found a very reliable source (cannot name) we are going for pick 1 to get Reid. I was not told what we are giving, just that we’re trying for pick 1.

no-one knows what it means but it's provocative ...

The Flat Earth Society agrees and they should know. They have members all around the globe.

If Duursma is that good, he'd be going no. 1. Personally I'd rather draft 2 of the best 11 kids than someone who's probably rated 4th or 5th best.

You are probably right old. But what i would say is there is a different culture in rugby league in terms of players announcing they are leaving during the season and continuing to be super committed to the club they are leaving and playing at a very high level. There were two such players in the Penrith team that payed in their incredible GF win. I'm not sure the same culture exists in the AFL. It certainly doesn't in terms of announcing they are leaving mid season, but i wonder if it is more common for some such players to perhaps not go full tilt once they have decided they are leaving than it is in RL. I'm not saying that's the case for Brodie but it is a possibility. And whilst i'll happily give him the benefit of the doubt, i'll also give the club the benefit of the doubt (ie there is a chance, albeit slight, that there hand was forced in terms of not selecting Brodie for the finals - which by the by I would have preferred he was). It's worth remembering too that we didn't axe brodie, he asked to be traded. For understandable reasons he wanted out, but the fact remains he could have chosen to stay and make it work. And perhaps if he had done so he might have been selected and he might be premiership player.

Grundy didn't work out for us primarily because Max couldn't play effectively as a forward as he hoped. I think the insinuation that Grundy wouldn't play for us in the finals is far fetched. The criticism that he began discussing his future with other teams at that time is misplaced. He only had a few weeks to make a major life move. There's no doubt in my mind that he could have played for us and sorted his future simultaneously. It happens in RL all the time. He didn't play for us in the finals because the FD didn't select him.

True but unlikely. You cant even change a light globe at Caulfield without going before the heritage committee. (how they allowed electric trains i will never know)

It doesn't make sense to me. If he has only 1 year left on his contract, why would GWS need a salary cap dump? Unless they are getting in a player this year for 800k, what's the point? Keep him 1 more year, save your draft pick and let him go at the end of 2024.

Apologies to Harry and Casey (Chambers): Am I not Petty enough? Is my foot too broken? Do I cry too much? Am I trade verboten? Don't I make you better? Should I go Wudinna? Why all this fuss about me?

Sunday 15th October, 5.05PM AEDT, Mineral Resources Park. Broadcast: Fox Footy, Kayo or live & free on the AFLW website It's a big chance to bounce back from the first loss of the season and the end of a 14-game winning streak. It's our first game at Mineral Resources Park, where West Coast have a 4-10 win-loss record. This is only our third encounter with the Eagles (we last played WC in R10 2022B, a 78-point win that we wish had been just 1 point more). The Eagles' only win for the 2023 season so far was against Port (14th) in R5. Their losses have come against 13th, 5th, 6th, 12th and 16th. Player spotlight: After Round 6, Tyla Hanks is 16th in league avg. disposals (23.2). The notable part is that she has a higher disposal efficiency (72.7%) than any player averaging more than 21.0. All other players in the 21+ category are around 65% or less, the only exception being A.McDonald (Geelong) on 24.2 at 70.3%. In R6, Hanks' DE dropped to a season-low 50%. How the team's ball use stacks up against the better pressure of top teams will have a big say going forward. We'll see what the Eagles can bring and expect a big lift from a lot of our players. Also congrats to Zanker who became the third Demon to kick 5 in an AFLW game, which rocketed her to the top of the league goal kickers and already past her S7 total tally of 14 goals. Injury list: I reckon there's a big chance we leave Pearce at home and give Campbell the main ruck duties - perhaps this was always the plan hence her week off for R6. Paxy misses again as she's still under concussion protocols after the incident with her dog (who has a lot to answer for and better be very cute!). Perhaps we spare A.Mackin the 30+ degree heat or give Chaplin a go if Goldrick's not 100%. This week is the first of two Indigenous Rounds and once again we'll be Narrm. You can read more about our 2023 indigenous jumper (also worn during the men's season) designed by proud Nyul Nyul Saltwater man, Lowell Hunter, here: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1449670/narrm-football-club-returns-for-aflw-indigenous-rounds

Port's approach to their defence is interesting. Ratugolea showed promising signs in defence as an individual this year... but Geelong's defence looked much better once he was no longer in the team. To me they need a lockdown defender to allow Allir to go third man up. Instead they're chasing two defenders that haven't been able to play the lock down role in Ratugolea and BZT. Odd

Adelaide continually going after Petty to me is reminiscent of the naughty kid in the supermarket begging his mum to buy him a packet of M&Ms long after she said no. It's embarrassing to see. Meanwhile them thinking Petty is comparable to McAdam is even more embarrassing. Why would Melbourne trade a Jaguar for a Toyota? See what I did there?

The AFL legal counsel was inept during that hearing, one has to think on purpose. It was all a publicity stunt to make it look like they AFL care about head knocks and to try point to it for future litigation. Was actually blindingly obvious and it would be nice if someone in the media had a modicum of integrity and went at them for it.

3 first round picks and Petty? ummm, hell no! I know there is talk about 6,11 and F1 for Pick1, but I think we'd want change in return later on (for Brown) .... that means Petty for McAdam! Lemme guess Adam Cooney came up with that megatrade? I swear they just give him the megatrades to stop him from contributing too much to the conversation!

Basically values Petty as Future 2nd and McAdam to us. Every other club says yes because Melbourne loses out so badly in this deal. Thilthorpe, pick 10 and McAdams to be in the conversation for Petty.

Would West Coast be disincentivised to hand Reid to the Kangaroos (or Hawthorn) so as not to strengthen the clubs that are likely to be contending around the same time as them? If you're a developing club that's given the choice between trading with another developing club and one that's in the premiership window, I would have thought that trading with the stronger club is a strategically better option. Is this sort of consideration ever an input into trade decisions? Would obviously benefit Melbourne if that's the case here.

Agree, it's called (draft) tampering in the NBA massive fines. I loathe the AFL as an organisation just so compromised in every facet of the game

Received a message from a good source in Perth that West Coast have come to an agreement with North to trade pick 1. Full details of the trade weren't specified, but it seems logical given that North have picks 2 and 3. What doesn't seem logical is our upgrade from pick 14 to 11. It was never going to be a deal breaker in getting pick 1, so something else must be on the cards.

Public transport access is probably the best anywhere in Victoria and when the multi billion dollar rail tunnel opens, if it runs ok, will link even more quickly with northern and western suburbs. The Caulfield Station itself needs some upgrades especially improving inter connectivity between platforms without having to leave and re-enter but that won’t affect those whose destination is Caulfield, or who wish to depart from there.

There was no prosecution - counsel was inept.

I don’t get when people say pick 5 becomes 6 & pick 11 becomes pick 12 who will be available? To me pick 5 is still pick 5 because we don’t have access to other teams academy selections or father sons, so we should know who will / should be available come our selections. Pick 5 of available players….

I thought I'd type a list of common cards from 1979 to now. In 1983 there were only stickers, The 1985 card of Gerard Healy looks a lot like Greg. Phil Seaton 1979 Barry Norsworthy 1979 Paul Thompson 1979 Maurie Wingate 1979 Shane Grambeau 1979 Robert Flower 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985 Graham Gaunt 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 Henry Coles 1979 Greg Wells 1979 Peter Johnston 1979 Ray Biffin 1979 Ken Roberts 1979 Garry Baker 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 Wayne Gordon 1980, 1981 Peter Giles 1980, 1981, 1982 Cameron Clayton 1980, 1981 Tony Dullard 1980, 1981, 1982 Andrew Moir 1980 Gerard Healy 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985 Peter Hamilton 1980 Kelly O'Donnell 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984 Michael Byrne 1980, 1981, 1982 Carl Ditterich 1980 Stephen Smith 1980, 1981, 1983 Rob Elliott 1981 Bill Nettleford 1981 Laurie Fowler 1981, 1982 Jim Durnan 1981 Tony Elshaug 1981, 1982 Glen Giles 1982' Greg Hutchinson 1982 Michael Seddon 1982, 1984 Shane Zantuck 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987 Paul O'Brien 1982 Mark Jackson 1983 Adrian Battiston 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987 Dale Dickson 1983, 1984 Alan Johnson 1983, 1985, 1990 Michael O'Sullivan 1983, 1986 Stephen McCarthy 1983 Peter Moore 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 Brian Wilson 1984, 1987, 1989 Rodney Wright 1984, 1985 Glen McLean 1984 Chris Connelly 1984 David Williams 1985 Russell Richards 1985, 1987 Ted Fidge 1985, 1987 Francesco Rugolo 1985 Rodney Grinter 1986 Mark Withers 1986 Alan Jarrott 1986 Kelvin Templeton 1986 Nigel Kol 1986 Garry Lyon 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Danny Hughes 1987, 1988 Greg Healy 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991 Stephen Turner 1987 Steven O'Dwyer 1988, 1989, 1990 Steven Stretch 1988,1990, 1991, 1992 Warren Dean 1988 Todd Viney 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 Sean Wight 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995 Ricky Jackson 1988 Brett Lovett 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 Jim Stynes 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Anthony Lovell 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995 Earl Spalding 1990, 1991 Steven Febey 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999 Luke Beveridge 1990 Darren Bennett 1991, 1992 Andrew Obst 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 Graeme Yeats 1991, 1993 Simon Eishold 1992 Allen Jakovich 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Peter Rohde 1992, 1993, 1994 Chris Sullivan 1993 David Schwarz 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Glenn Lovett 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Stephen Tingay 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000 Matthew Febey 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000 David Neitz 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 Martin Pike 1994 Sean Charles 1995 Paul Prymke 1995, 1996 Marcus Seecamp 1996 Shaun Smith 1996, 1997, 1998 Adem Yze 1996, 1998, 1999,2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 Darren Kowal 1997 Craig Turley 1997 Alastair Clarkson 1997 Jeff Farmer 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Paul Hopgood 1997 Shane Woewodin 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Anthony Ingerson 1998, 1999, 2000 Andrew Leoncelli 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Jeff White 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008 Guy Rigoni 1999, 2001, 2005 Travis Johnstone 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 Brent Grgic 2000 Daniel Ward 2000, 2002 Stephen Powell 2001 Brad Green 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Anthony McDoanld 2001 Cameron Bruce 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Peter Walsh 2002, 2004 Peter Vardy 2002, 2003 Clint Bizzell 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Russell Robertson 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Nathan Brown 2003, 2004 Matthew Whelan 2003, 2004, 2005 Chris Heffernan 2003, 2005 Simon Godfrey 2004 James McDonald 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Chris Lamb 2004 Brad Miller 2005, 2006, 2009 Brent Moloney 2005, 2011, 2012 Phillip Read 2005 Colin Sylvia 2005, 2012, 2013 Mark Jamar 2005, 2012 Brock McLean 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Aaron Davey 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Jared Rivers 2006, 2010 Byron Pickett 2007 Nathan Carroll 2007 Clint Bartram 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 Matthew Bate 2008, 2009, 2011 Daniel Bell 2008 Nathan Jones 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Paul Wheatley 2008, 2009 Cale Morton 2009, 2010, 2012 Jack Watts 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 Liam Jurrah 2010, 2012 James Frawley 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 Kyle Cheney 2010 Ricky Petterd 2010, 2011, 2012 Tom Scully 2011 Jack Trengove 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Jack Grimes 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 Sam Blease 2013 Mitch Clark 2013 Colin Garland 2013, 2014, 2016 Jeremy Howe 2013, 2014, 2015 Tom McDonald 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 Jordie McKenzie 2013 Shannon Byrnes 2014 Lynden Dunn 2014, 2015, 2016 Matt Jones 2014, 2015 Dean Terlich 2014 Jack Viney 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 Rohan Bail 2015 Daniel Cross 2015 Cameron Pedersen 2015, 2018 Dom Tyson 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Bernie Vince 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Jeff Garlett 2016 Max Gawn 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Jesse Hogan 2016, 2017, 2018 Christian Salem 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Billy Stretch 2016 Tomas Bugg 2017 James Harmes 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 Dean Kent 2017 Clayton Oliver 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Michael Hibberd 2018 Jordon Lewis 2018 Christian Petracca 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Angus Brayshaw 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Jayden Hunt 2019, 2020 Jake Lever 2019, 2022, 2023 Alex Neal-Bullen 2019 Seven May 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Ed Langdon 2021 Bayley Fritsch 2022, 2023 Kysaiah Pickett 2022, 2023

I do wonder if we might still look at a back-up ruck as a DFA or rookie. Sam Hayes and Scott Lycett for Port I believe are out of contract and would come cheap. Not sure we can rely on Fullarton if Gawn goes down and he seems to be more a fwd with a little bit of ruck rather than the other way round.

I’ve been on Zane dursma all year so much going for him fast, elite skills, great mark and big leap when he was playing at Casey there was a few highlights of him linking up down the wing with harmes and few others and he already looked better than them. Makes good and fast decisions. Reminds me a lot of Conor rozee

Good bye and good luck Brodie Grundy it sounded like it could work, one in the ruck one up forward, take a couple of marks kick a couple of goals. Sadly the experiment failed and Brodie has moved on. We have freed up $650k towards a replacement player we got back what we laid out, a wasted year and life goes on. No good sooking about it Or getting angry with each other none of us know what actually caused the breakdown .!!!

Living in a city where he went to boarding school is a draw? Because he has such fond memories of being hazed by wealthy country boys?

It will be higher next year if he kicks 50 goals