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A FINAL NOD TO RON by Whispering Jack I sat down a little while ago to document the Melbourne Football Club’s 2023 in a “That was the Year that Was” format and I soon hit a snag in putting it all together. You see, it was a year that by all rights should have been a shining light in the club’s history after the club achieved such great heights at both men’s and women’s levels that it took out the revamped McClelland Trophy, adding $1m to its coffers. The format now includes the AFLW and is a combined award presented to the 'Champion Club' for the men and women. The Demons finished both competitions with the double chance but failed to make a Preliminary Final in either one of them; a crushing blow for all at the club, from the point of view of the administration, players, staff and supporters alike. Particularly so, because in both competitions, the club was not far off the mark which is a testament to how competitive our game is at the highest level these days. And as if that wasn’t enough, Melbourne suffered a further blow within a day of its semi final exit against Carlton, with the news of the passing of the man who was arguably the greatest player to ever wear the Red and the Blue, Ronald Dale Barassi. Former skipper Stan Alves, who made his debut in 1965 which was the season after Barassi left the club for Carlton, said, “No greater person has been involved in the game than Ron Barassi.” The dark cloud hanging over the club has barely lifted over the past few months with issues facing one of the great players of our present but time will surely heal. The players will be back on the track in no time to begin preparations in earnest for the season. What would the great Ronald Dale Barassi advise the players as they embark on their next campaign after letting the opportunity for greatness slip twice in a row? It would have to be encapsulated by the elements that made him famous — his resilience, his determination and his heroic feats. During his playing days, it was always Barassi who demonstrated the ability to rise to the occasion. He did so throughout his life and his career, both inside and outside of the game. Barassi was born in Castlemaine in the goldfields region of Victoria in 1936 and was five years old when his father, a former Melbourne player Ron Barassi Sr., died in action at Tobruk during World War II. I recently found this news item from the Castlemaine History Group that demonstrated his potential as a young sportsman of 11 years of age. Not long after this, he and his mother moved to the big smoke of the city and when she married and moved to Tasmania, he was taken in by Melbourne’s Coach Norm Smith, the father/son rule was devised and by the time he was 17 years and two months old, he was a senior footballer with the Demons. Two years later, a premiership and on the way to six flags in a decade as a player. Ronald Dale Barassi could turn a game on its head with a single bound. He was a hero to every second kid on the block. From his modest start in life and with the difficult circumstances of losing a father in wartime through his outstanding playing career, his brilliant coaching and even in the later years of his life, by his chivalry in saving a damsel in distress, he was not only the quintessential hero. He was a winner and while he was as tough as nails, played the game in the right spirit, was a happy, personable friend to all. That was Ron - heroism, sportsmanship and resilience personified, the very person for the Melbourne Football Club to honour in the season to come and, in return, his legacy will give inspiration from on high to take us forward to a bright premiership filled future.

Judd McVee’s debut season is the exception rather than the rule. Running my ruler along the line rather than through it, to add the millimetre perfect hyphen. In the tradition of Audley Gillespie-Jones, Ivor Warne- Smith, Trent Ormond-Allen, Jay Kennedy-Harris and Alex Neal-Bullen my nomination is Andy Moniz-Wakefield the local lad. Admittedly some wide degrees of auspiciousness on that list. From just about absolute bust to double Brown-Low divinity. But a debut and some on going opportunity would be terrific for AMZ. A young man with a 🔥 desire to succeed.

Blake Howes.

Remember that freo comeback game when we were 50 odd points down? Well, leaving that i ended up walking behind the southern stand with the great man. I was rather excited at the time but he was just as happy. "Itll give the boys such a lift". Will never forget that 50m walk.

Koltyn Tholstrup

69 i50s to 35 i50s We lost the game Is inexcusable regardless of the rwd line we had in place

Could be as many as five players forward that didn't play in the last final. McAdam, Billings, Petty, JVR, BBB if fit, also Fritta who was barely fit enough to get on the ground for the last few weeks. Should be enough options to tweak the forward line somewhat.

All the best KF's were/are strong on the lead but as you said, the game has changed and it's much harder for forwards to lead into space (but not impossible) Quick ball movement further afield and quick f50 entries is the key And that's what the Pies do. They catch out teams on the counter so it often looks like they've got an open forward line with their f50 entries They are quick and it's nearly every time. Thus, their forwards have got space to lead into What we do has been much discussed and we have to change We do a lot right though with a tremendous zone defence and we have real talent in our backline. The midfield is fine as well with plenty of talent It's just our ball movement which is not corridor-centric which leads to slow inside f50 entries So we need to be quick from HB, stoppages or centre-breaks and we should back ourselves to use the corridor ... turn it over and we've got the stellar defence as back-up Footnote: Pound for pound we've got a better list of players than Collingwood but their system takes them a long way. They play high-risk football knowing that mistakes & clangers are going to happen, no matter which way they play And the best way for us to pay them back for the act of thuggery is to beat them on the scoreboard (although we could send out a goon as well - Ice Hockey style!!)

Wouldn't mind this, though!

Laurie - from all reports he’s taken a significant step forward with his fitness (coming 3rd in the 2km time trial), which is what Judd credited for his breakthrough into the senior side last year We’ve been crying out for classier ball users and if Laurie can hold down a spot averaging 15-20 possessions a game (which an increased fitness base should allow him to do) it will go a long way to addressing one of our biggest areas of weakness

Woewodin, I thought he showed enough last year in the games he played.

based on performance I think Turner, who is improving like JVR the year before.

That highlights the lack of quality amongst our forwards ... most of our entries came straight back out If Petty, Melksham & co had have been available, our forward line would have functioned better and we would have in all likelyhood won the game The amount of entries is also dependant on the quality of the personnel up forward and our forward line that night could best be described as C- We've had similar quality forward lines (C-) from 2007 through to 2015 with similar results. The amount of entries is just a number and often just a reflection on the strength of the respective midfields and/or clearances won There were many times when we matched the i50's with the opposition during the Bailey & Neeld years ... we still got smashed Equally, one could argue that the opposition were extremely efficient with their low number of f50 entries. Again, a reflection on the quality of their forwards in comparison to our forwards The following week against the Blues we matched them for i50's but the same issue was there, a lack of quality forwards. Therefore, we lost So, to win any game of football you need (in general terms) a decent forward line. To win a final you need a better than decent forward line and to win 3 finals in order to win the GF, your forward line needs to be at least, very good Our forward line during the 2023 finals series was not up to par (due to a multitude of injuries to our forwards)

So where do McAdam Billing’s and others like AMW Kolt and Caleb Windsor fit into your 2024 plans. McAdam and/or Billing’s wil help our forward line and even Fullarton will get an opportunity. Not all of our 2023 forwards will be there during the season if our recruits live up to expectations. I believe McAdam will be a lock plus Billing's a chance also. And don’t rule out Kolt and Duke (Windsor getting opportunities to debut. Also AMW appeals as does Howes and of course Taj. KP wise we may even get some good service from BBB and Fullarton is a chance of playing in the AFL also. Plenty of chances to assist our forward line and a game plan plus greater connectivity will make a great difference. Also JVR cannot wait to see him further develop his skills and ability plus team play and X factor. 2024 should be a great response to our 2022-23 disappointments

I really can’t understand these incredibly negative opinions. We only needed to score one more goal a game last season & we go to one of the top forward lines. A few tweaks to our forward delivery & more importantly keeping our forwards on the ground will make a massive difference to our team. Get consistency on the scoreboard & that will impact our whole team dynamic. Name one team we haven’t matched it with & have lost for any other reason than because of our “much publicised forward deficiencies”.

All good points. To be honest i was in shock after the QF game and Gus incident - in large part because it was the worst, most awful, febrile environment i have experienced at any sporting event. Because of that, and becuase he had been quiet for the preceding few weeks, the JVR suspension washed over me and i didn't really factor it in when thinking ahead to the blues game. But to a large degree, as you imply, JVR missing that game was the straw that broke the back. Even if he had another game he would have had his chances and with his accuracy most likely taken them. And JVR strikes me as a big game player and so there is every chance he would have risen to the occasion and had a big impact. And Smith and JVR would have been a hard combo for the blues to cover. I reckon there is one factor that the impact of which consistently gets underplayed by fans and the media (and me too) - luck. People seem to hate suggesting luck is a factor - i suspect because it feels like making excuses and/or perhasp it so ephemeral. But however anyone assesses our performance, its hard to argue that once again we had our (un)fair share of bad luck.

Too bad you picked the dees to support then. Failure is part of the deal. Not sure how long you have been a dees fan, but as someone who has been supporting the dees for half a century the current model of failure sure beats the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s model.

I can hear Richo in my head calling him a cult hero after every goal.

His teammates did - refer the occasional club website interviews during the pre-season (which I linked to in (MB)JMcV's 'Welcome to...' thread). I'll be looking for those again this year. But pending them, I'm going to go out on a (long!) limb: Tom Fullarton!

I have no idea what anyone in here is saying. It might as well be in alien.

Castlemaine is a lovely part of the world. I lived there for a while but it was badly hit by a drought some years ago. Ron never played for Castlemaine but it produced some great VFL/AFL footballers: • Jack ‘Skinny’ Titus, Richmond (VFL), 1926-1943 (294 games). • Ronald ‘Ron’ James Barassi Snr (VFL), 1936–1940 (58 games). • Warren "Wow" Jones, Carlton and St Kilda (VFL), 1978–85 (123 games). • Rod Keogh, Melbourne and St Kilda (VFL/AFL), 1989-1998 (82 games). • Dustin Martin, Richmond (AFL), 2010-present (289 games). • Kane Farrell, Port Adelaide (AFL), 2018-present (33 games). In the 2009 AFL draft, Melbourne chose Tom (?) and Jack Trengove with the first two picks of the draft. Dustin Martin was third pick.

Lovely bit of writing there. And by all accounts he was a modest person & didn't have tickets on himself. A great loss for Australia.

Bad throw, was behind him, but still catchable so as Troy said both will blame themselves.

Something more than 'Sorry' needed, 'Good' Sir. Wikipedia-ing and Demonwiki-ing - precious time I will not get back!

Your ability to make anagrams is elite, @Demonstone!

Take the last player you’d ever expect to play all games and become one of our most reliable players with and without ball in hand. No one saw McVee coming and now he’s tracking to be the best Judd to ever play the game!

This is more or less on the anniversary of my 26 January 2023 quiz in the same vein, @Demonstone, for which I now apologise in that I didn't give letter counts! (though, being a specific, unique team, maybe I can be excused?) Charlie Spargo, in it, was 'Fight, fight!' btw. Can I have him for your no.8, too, then? 😉

Goodson drops it for the Colts Has he dropped their season? Nice hoof to finish things from former Demons listed player Cameron Johnston Houston win!

I still hold to the opinion I expressed earlier but KT is a very good prospect to replicate the achievements of JMcV. And if he doesn't, that's no knock on him either.

As for the moves the club could make ... Definitely more midfield minutes for Kozzie JVR to play CHF (when required) and to be used as a constant moving target I can see Tholstrup forcing his way into the team and staying there. Looks to me to have x-factor and that's what we need Rivers with some midfield minutes With a full compliment of midfielders, Brayshaw to be used as a defensive midfielder Sparrow to be more of a linchpin midfielder To be more of a corridor-centric team, Hunter & Langdon to be (periodically) used on opposite wings to normal We need to also find out whether Fullarton can hold down a spot as a forward/ruck. In racing terms he's lightly raced but ruckman are a different breed and he might be able to play a vital role Don't know enough about Jefferson but the contract extension is a pointer Petracca to continue playing as a mid/forward McAdam or Billings to play a role as HFF's (not sure there's room for both) More corridor football as we need to back ourselves in on that style of footy Backline ... business as usual

Losing all those forwards last year to injury reminded me of 2007 when we lost Neitz & Robertson. Couldn't win games without them so what did we do? Sacked the coach And even further back to the mid 90's when our forwards were succumbing to injuries en-masse. Sacked another coach as a result So now we've got many here questioning Goodwin because of something that is outside of his control (numerous injuries to key personnel up forward) Sure, question Goodwin on certain tactics but injuries? Doesn't make sense

Agree. Improve ball use and we are a real contender. “Team first” return to mindset wouldn’t hurt either.

Which I think was my point & in both seasons we had massive disruptions to personnel in our forward line. Looks like we have addressed the personnel situation..just need them to fire

I have really high hopes for Jvr. Our forward line was on a state of constant flux and there was no real time to have everything gel in terms of game plan. It would be wonderful for some consistent key positions covered consistently if that makes sense. Jvr came on in leaps ( literally)and bounds last year and if that trajectory continues into this season he will be a star. Would like to see him settled at chf all year creating a strong leading marking option. Petty played little time up forward but proved that he was a star in his last two games before injury. He his a very hard matchup at full forward. Fritta was plagued by injuries as well. He is a natural fwd pocket player. If these three are firing and the three crumbers in Kozzie, Chandler and Anb can get back to their best then one could expect to see probably one of the best forward lines around. Spargo can play the odd cameo there as well. Also without mentioning names if all goes well maybe Trac can spend more time in our forward line in the other pocket. Although he does need to fix his set shots on goal. Joel Smith would be a good forward sub. I think injury wise we are due for some good luck this year.

I should keep my trap shut, but when I saw your avatar had posted some news, I clicked on the thread dreading that it might be a contract extension. Hope Bill proves the doubters, including me, wrong this year!

Did Summers on Melbourne seem hotter when you were a kid? I remember water restrictions with buckets to fill up our clark pool and swimming Christmas day. Visiting Melbourne...St kilda East where I grew up I was reminiscing about taking up street leaves from Great trees and burning them in the gutter. No such fun these days. Oh yes and the fireworks I could get at my local Milk Bar . Fireworks were the best entertainment money could buy. I'm seriously considering driving to the Territory to get some. I also noticed there aren't kids playing cricket in the street with bins like I did until the sun went down. Probably kids are all on the Internet buying laptops and phones. Sheesh.

Having lived in both Sydney and Melbourne, I've never understood the schedule of test matches in Oz. Sydney's weather is reliably rainy and should be the first cab of the rank in late November. Melbourne is reliably unreliable and should be the last in late Jan. But too much tradition too change now.

Back to the cricket. I’m so sick of seeing a petulant Steve Smith performance when he is given out. He blames everyone or everything but himself. And to stand in the middle of the pitch and stare after he was given out is just plain disrespectful and bad sportsmanship. He was a very good player- he no longer is. As for holding up play while a ball of sticky tape is removed from the sight screen area, was just a joke. Time for the selectors to look toward the future. Hopefully he can join Warner on the sidelines. He’s lost my respect as a player.

Your best bet is to make yourself known to them socially and then work on the actual issue. Vietnamese culture generally shows very little consideration for people unless there is a personal connection. You don't have to marry their eldest son, though. The very next step down from that is to grab a box of in-season cherries from a proper grocer and knock on the door. This time of year cherries even overtake vitamins as the preferred checked baggage for Australia to Vietnam flights. 100% not kidding. Premium fruit is a Vietnamese social activity and they'll even be sharing on social media how great their neighbour is. You will be officially inducted into the circle of people to be considerate of. From there eventually you'll be able to set some boundaries. As long as you don't marry their eldest son. Then you'll be expected to bring more cherries every time they karaoke.

He has this year to show a lot of improvement otherwise he will be delisted.

Yes - l think the initial builder went belly up and they had to find another one

Our 3 most important players are Petracca, Gawn and May.......I'm in no way saying your 3 aren't important but lose Petracca, Gawn and or May and we're done. As a lifelong Dee's optimist this season leaves me feeling a little flat. I was certain of success last year and those finals hurt more than any others apart from the 87 Prelim. We are responsible for a Pies flag and only a flag will heal my pain.

100% agree. Goody has said from the get go that the aim is to build a team that is contention for a flag for many many years. And that is exactly what they have done. To be objective as possible I apply a racing punters lens to the question of how we'll go next season. In punting the key data point is of course form - of each individual horse in isolation, and more importantly how the form of each horse compares with its competitors. In doing form, (good) punters look at historical form and recent form. Applying a similar lens to the next afl season then these are the pertinent facts (im conceptualising the 2024 season as a Group one WFA classic like say a cox plate). Using the last three seasons as a reference point for historical form to assess the chances of the dees finishing top 4: - the dees have finished top 4 three times - the dees have won one flag - that is the best 'form' of any team over that period - the pies are next best with two top 4 finishes and one flag - next best is the lions with 3 top 4 finishes and one GF appearance - swans and port can argue over next best So, over three seasons the best three teams based on their records are in order, the dees, pies and lions. In horse racing parlance they are top 3 rated teams Looking at recent form (last season): - after very strong win loss records in the regular season the pies won the flag and the lions made the gf. They were the two best teams in 2023. - against the two best teams in the 2023 the dees went 50 50 against both, including a narrow loss against the premiers in the QF - so if for instance you really rate the pies, on form it is logically inconsistent not to also rate the dees What about up and comers? In racing there's of course always the possibility of a new star coming along and usurping the current class horses. Are there any such contenders in the AFL? The historical evidence (another important data point in horse racing) is that it is relatively rare for a team to come from outside the 8 and make top 4 the next season. Not impossible but rare. That knocks 10 teams out of being a top 4 contender Of course more common for teams who made the 8 to take the next step and make the top 4. Can one of the blues, swans, giants or saints make the top 4? Absolutely. And port can stay in the top 4 too of course (and I think will). But applying my form equation none of those teams' record over the last three season makes for a compelling argument. And looking at last season's form only the blues and giants make a strong case for taking the next step and finishing top 4. On the dees key competitors I largely agree with Little Goffy's excellent assessment. I really rate the giants and hard to argue with the blues form. So both a chance for a top 4 finish. I can't see swans or saints making it Port finished top 4 and I think if Hinkley can implement a modern defensive system will do so again. Another factor to consider is class. In both horse racing and footy class is more subjective than form (on form the record is the record(. Personally i would argue we have the best list in the AFL (lions, port, pies, giants next). And i also think we have the most balanced list of say the top 10 teams in terms of the balance and spread of age and experience (pies, port, giants next). So in totality what does that mean from a punters form perspective? The dees are very likely to make the top 4, as are the lions and pies. The dees are very unlikely to miss the 8. I haven't looked at the current betting markets for top 4 and top 8 They would have nothing in the pools and futures betting is a mug's game (they may not even have them up yet). But they would be the most accurate assessment as the prices are set by the professional analysts bookmakers employ and are yet to be influenced by the market (ie punters betting). If I was to set a market/price for the dees it would be: Top 4 finish: $2.50 Top 8 finish: $1.40 (winx says hello)

After the passion has cooled, we did pretty well given all our fwd line injuries.

From memory we missed the finals in 2017 by percentage, we made a Preliminary final the following year and got beat up by the eventual premiers, we had a horrid 2019 multiple surgeries, etc, just missed the finals in 2020 shortened quarters due to Covid, then actually won the Flag in ‘21. We have followed up by finishing top 4 two years in a row but we’re bundled out in straight sets due in part to injuries, inaccurate kicking and a degree of bad luck. I attended all those four finals and not once were we smashed but I was still gutted, battered, angry and frustrated, However I have put it behind me, I have moved on and I am looking forward to what we can do better and get luckier in 2024-25. I am now starting to tire of those supporters who want to keep beating the club and particularly our Very successful coach and playing group up and you have to give some Credit to the sides we played who kicked straighter and had a lot of luck go their way.!!

Not an excuse but sound reasoning ... our forward line was decimated with injury and that was out of the club's control. And then losing Brayshaw and not being able to play Petracca forward was also problematical I'm not being disrespectful in describing our finals forward line as C- ... especially with JVR missing the Carlton final 2 months ago I posed the question on how we could possibly win 3 finals without even a half-decent forward line I don't believe it's possible and the odds say that we were almost certainly going to be found out at some stage I'm actually glad that being found out didn't happen in the GF Petty, Melksham, a fit Brown and a fit T-Mac are all sharp shooters too. As is Petracca when he is on song. Fritsch didn't look entirely right either Not forgetting that Gawn just couldn't find his mojo in the forward line either And I never make excuses