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I heard from a relative of Oscars that he has been offered a two year contract with Freo and he currently making plans to pack up and move over there as we speak. I wish him all the best. Apparently he has been working his guts out at VFL level and has been rewarded.

He's not quite dead yet! https://www.afl.com.au/news/1057306/former-melbourne-demons-and-carlton-blues-defender-oscar-mcdonald-set-to-head-west-to-fremantle-dockers-after-strong-vfl-season

Daniel Turner will receive a promotion on a 2 year deal.

That's awesome for omac. Great reward for super hard work. By all accounts his back injury was pretty bad, which makes getting back on an AFL list all the more meritorious given the rehab he would have had to push through - made tougher by not being in the AFL system with all the resources and support at club land. A super smart fella who works hard and is the very definition of a solid citizen. Great pick up for freo. Good on freo for offering him a two year contract. Uprooting your life and moving to the other side of the country is no small thing. 14 more games and he gets to 100 games and AFL life membership. Good onya Omac.

Last night half the team were at banner making. Both Gabby Colvin and Tayla Harris told me they're not playing. Gabby mentioned she's close with her archilles but it's just been frustrating. Tayla is being patient, doesn't want to risk her form for finals, and was pretty upbeat, she's close.

Good kid, plays a lot higher up the ground than JVR, a link up option who really applies a lot of second efforts at ground level. He’s not at JVRs level but there’s a bit to work with. Think he’ll at a minimum get invited to train with a club over summer. Like JVR can pinch hit in the ruck, played his footy as a CHF but I wouldn’t mind seeing him tried as a defender. Good athlete, competitive, clean below his knees and decent field kick

This is maybe a brilliant strategy. We’ve put our best offer. North are low balling. Why our position is so smart imv, is that WC are naturally holding out for the best offer from North. The question is: what’s North’s best offer without us trading with them? I’d say it’s 2+15+17 for P1 Is that better than 6, 11, 42 and F1? Perhaps slightly but also depends on what players WC want and where they think they’ll fall. And I doubt North would give that up, given their huge delisting numbers. It’s a brilliant play because we’ve given WC our best offer. But we will have undoubtedly simultaneously made an offer for 3. This one however a low ball. I’d guess 6 + 11 for 3 + 15. North need our 6 and 11 to make the deal they want with WC. Which you’d assume is what everyone has floated here many times. But we’ve made the squeeze play. WC have our best offer, eventually North will stop low-balling and give them theirs. But we can squeeze, we can hold out on facilitating the 3 club swap. We can even hold until after WC make their No 1 selection before we budge on our swaps with North. If we want 3, wait to then. It’s smart.

That's right. Expect his and AMW extensions to be announced shortly.

And that might be his best contribution to football journalism.

Probably be better to not take any notice of what Cornes is saying.

Shelley is so cute, her fierce tenacity on the football ground defies her appearance.

12 of the girls attended banner tonight and we had THE. MOST. FUN. EVER. So much laughter and mucking around but I tell ya what… when it came to the actual cutting out of the letters and the taping etc. they were machines. They don’t do half measures, absolute perfectionists. Jordy at one point cut part of a letter about two millimetres outside the line. She was really annoyed with herself. I said “It’s all good. You see it because you’re looking at it up close. On the day, no one will know.” She said, “But I’ll know!” I reckon that pretty much sums up the standards they set for themselves. The girls, having completed Heater’s milestone banner… Tayla is so bloody fierce on the field but off-field she’s super sweet and gentle and softly-spoken. And quite cheeky… Tay’s tape shenanigans One would think they make banners every week… Banner-making with the Dees Banno making use of her long limbs… Banno

Eagles fans will probably love it but doesn't come across as professional.

Rough early walk through in 1st round (no inside intel like Cal) 1- WCE. Harley Reid 2-*GCS Jed Walter gcs academy gift 3- NM Coby Mckercher 4- NM Zane Duursma afl gift 5- HAW Dan Curtin 6- WB Nick Watson 7- MELB Ryley Sanders 8- *GCS Ethan Read gcs academy gift 9- GWS Caddy 10- GEE Connor O’Sullivan 11- *GCS Rogers gcs academy gift 12- ESS Darcy Wilson 13- ADEL James Leake 14- MELB Caleb Windsor 15- Syd. Koltyn Tholstrup. 16- Stk Ollie Murphy 17- ADEL Riley Hardeman 18- NM Arie Schoenmaker 19- *WB Croft father son 20- GWS Clay Hall 21- NM Will Green 22- NM Archer Reid 23- *Haw Will McCabe 24- Coll. Harry DeMattia 25- ADEL Mitchell Edwards 26- STK. Archie Roberts 27- *GCS Will Graham gcs academy gift 28- Carl. Charlie Edwards

omac's greatest moment

I suspect they'd be keen on the best player in WA. Hardly a wild guess.

Everyone assumes WCE want Curtin. Where is the evidence?

I think the AFLW season needs to start mid-year, ideally during the AFL bye rounds, then run for 17 weeks + finals, such that we get to the grand final by end of October. The benefits would include: for at least part of the season you run alongside the VFLW comp, so players outside the 21 can play a game each week. you make the most of quiet periods in the AFL season around the bye weeks and post-GF to focus on AFLW. as much as the AFL want otherwise, you don't have 12 months of constant football and there is clear downtime for fans. Clearly supporter fatigue is having an impact on crowd numbers. in some markets double headers are an option, particularly where AFL games are scheduled for 1pm.

Thanks Demonland great pick up, Tom sounds like a great get for us, humble but keen and determined to play AFL was prepared to move anywhere to get an opportunity I hope we put the finishing touches on Tom and give him regular game time, we are crying out for a two metre player with athleticism and great agility.!!

Good point. I work in said windswept soulless high-rise wasteland these days with said overseas students. Have made it standard practice to tell them that all overseas students are obliged to support the Melbourne Football Club. I explain that it is a law, and say that they ticked the MFC box on the landing card as they flew in and now must follow through. Doesn't seem to be having the effect I assumed it would, but you never know...

I’m on my way to banner-making right now. It’s usually on Thursdays but some of the girls are coming to help us make it and they have training on Thursdays so it’s tonight for this week. Will be funny if Heater turns up to make her own milestone banner. 🤭 PS the Club didn’t organise this. The girls requested it because… well, the girls. 🥰

Every week I find something new to be impressed and deelighted by this team. What a wonderful team.

I have watched this about 150 times. One of the ultimate highlight goals in my opinion. I was also there that day and screamed so much I think I lost my voice for a few day. That whole link of play was magnificent to watch. ❤️💙

I think getting on a third AFL list will qualify him for the honorific title of "journeyman". And a hearty round of congratulations, too.

A little video I made of the girls at banner making last night https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSNkFHf1Q/

I find it puzzling how people are excusing not paying them a salary that can enable them to concentrate full time on their football then comment they're not at the same standard as AFL. How do you expect the game to develop to a level deemed acceptable by those making comments "the standard is poor, the men's game is better" when they don't allow them to train and play under the same working conditions? Especially as during the season they're expected to basically abandon their jobs outside football to travel at times while they'd be at their other jobs, leave work to go training, etc? The demands on them are of those of a full time professional career without the renumeration or security. Just posing the question.

I sense we rate Reid/Duursma significantly higher than all others available and will attempt to do whatever we can to land either.

I don't think Melbourne is going all into get pick 3. Its pick 1 or nothing (ie: keep 6 and 11)

I'm going all in, assuming we like Duursma ... WC give 1 + 23 get 2 + 6 + 42 - result: 2, 6, 37, 42, 58 North give 2 + 3 + 18 get 1 + 11 + F1 - result: 1, 11, 15, 17, 57 + F1 MFC give 6 + 11 + F1 + 42 get 3 + 18 + 23 - result 3, 18, 23, minus F1 23 is a valuable pick because it's the first pick in round 2 on night 2 and clubs who want a slider will pay a F1 for it. You can leave the F1 and 18 out of it if you prefer.

I think North will get 1 but it will take getting 6 off us for 3. 2,6 and more will give WC a guaranteed Curtin and another high pick plus more. WC won’t reject that. However we must keep 11 to get another good player. 6 and F1 is plenty for 3 and should get that deal done, which will see North pass it on and be part of deal for 1. We should keep 1 and ask for one of North late first rounders back and bundle it with 11 to get a bit higher.

Forget about points for deals like this. No one is trying to get a FS or academy player. We want the best player in the draft - the points don’t come Into it at all. At all.

I'm not sure where I sit on our offer. On paper it reads like massive overs. But the mail on Reid is such that he appears as likely as any draftee to be a 200-game player. If we think 6 and 11 aren't going to produce that sort of quality, then I'm not necessarily against trading them. What I am sure about, though, is that there's no reason for West Coast to agree until closer to draft night. Hold out, make us sweat, make North up their offer, let clubs bid against each other, get a firmer read on the likelihood of Curtain being available at 6. No need at all to do that deal now and if they are interested, they'll talk to us closer to the night.

Also, if selected (!), it will be Shelley Heath's 50th game. We really went a week early with out appreciation of her in the last matchday thread but why not go again! In checking that this was indeed 50 games for Heater, I came across an article describing her drafting at pick 44 in 2018 as a shock. It seems that Melbourne was the only club that showed interest (she'd only been playing footy since age 15). Wasn't even watching the draft when her name was called! From the beginning we've lauded her tackling ability - hard but typically fair and controlled, in a way that is increasingly valuable. She's also probably the most noted tagger of the league to this point, with some seriously big-name scalps. The addition of more attacking attributes has now sent her to another level, still aged just 23.

Maybe Caddy could help him with this?

katrina, i understand your points and frustrations. ignore those who complain of the standard of skills and comparisons to the men. these are just trolls personally i think the development has been rapid and impressive. i know it's somewhat hackneyed but it's going to take time to get all the pieces in sync and follow a development process, but a process must be followed to be resilient and not fall flat in its face. There is SO much to do and money IS a big part of it and i don't just mean salaries. enjoy the ride (i am 😃) ... and keep pushing

I want to joke that Tahlia is actually wearing long pants, but with her long legs, they come across as shorts :)

Silly Dwayne. Everyone on here knows it should be 5. May 4. Viney 3. Gawn 2. Oliver 1. Petracca 😄😄 😄

I basically ignore him and a number of others. It's all about looking relevant to keep their jobs.

Flag or Bust. Just Do It

Curious what people think the value of Geelong’s pick 8 would be? Cal Twomey has stated that we - as well as Adelaide - are interested With Geelong seemingly interested in taking multiple picks to the draft, would 11, 42 and perhaps a future second or third round pick secure it? Or is that overs? Could be the missing piece of a play for pick 1 or another strong move up the draft for us

Love it. We should have an MFC presence in international arrivals ready to hand over a supporters pack to every ‘New Australian’ emigrating to our state.

Wait for the next vindictive installment from the usual suspects. ”A besieged Victorian AFL coach jumped off a cliff whilst in hiding from journalists hoping to share important impartial information, on a remote Indonesian island and was fortunate enough to land near a random surfer who rescued him.” 🙄🤔😡🤮 ❤️💙❤️❤️💙

No two instances are the same, Bingers. I’m glad you didn’t need rescuing and that you survived. This young man clearly did need rescuing and he’s lucky Goody was there at such a time of need.

Trent Rivers is one of those players who really grows on you, he just keeps getting better. The coaches haven’t put a ceiling on him and neither should we, top 10 this year. Tough, fast, disciplined courageous, skilful, a lot of love in the team for and from Riv. I love him off the halfback line, rarely beaten and a critical link player for us. Someone mentioned Future All Australian and I tend to agree.!!

Toby Greene a great choice as no 1. Super player

It seems I have upset everyone by saying "saved his life" might be a little dramatic. So I retract and humbly apologise to all offended. I admit the bloke would have definitely died. Painfully. Now fully recovered. JFK performed a similar feat in WW2 near Bouganville and they made him president. So, I say, Roffey , you are out.

Interesting, wouldn’t have thought we were way off $$$$. Sale of Bentleigh Club and years of generous donations from Foundation Heroes would have raised a healthy deposit. No doubt we would rely on some level of government funding. Sincerely hope we get it as Caulfield for me ticks so many boxes.

I don’t understand the appeal of Fisherman’s Bend or Port Melbourne. We have no ties to these areas. Caulfield Racecourse is right in our “heartland” as they call it. I couldn’t think of a better outcome. Just gotta close.