Leaderboard

https://www.afl.com.au/video/1119533/afl-rising-star-jake-rogers-stars-in-round-7?videoId=1119533&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1714379400001 I like this kid more than JUH (who I previously had along with others as a forward line colossus), but that R7 game of Jake's was a brilliant rising star game, I would compare him to Wayne Schimmelbusch (179cm/74kg), who never wasted a kick. To kick the way he does, right out of the box, is amazing, and looks better than Salem, Bowey, Melksham or anyone else on the list (kicking wise). I just have a feeling this kid is going to make a lot of FF/CHF look like rock stars with his delivery. If the club doesn't find the right gorilla FF, JVR doesn't fix his iron mitts etc, they could do alot worse, (and pay alot less) to convince this kid to move back to Melbourne. I honestly think he could do for Melbourne what Lever did for the backline. Barring injuries and lifestyle dramas he could set new standards in score assists. I know this is a big call, and yes he got talked up on OTC, but I am not just regurgitating sound bites, I was as excited seeing this kid kick as I was watching Clarry's draft video highlights, watching his handballs. The thing is he didn't get lucky standing under a few marks, he executed the hardest skill in football perfectly, he's a natural with ball in hand, almost like a premier league striker with the way the ball comes off the foot. He is also named Jake, I think Melbourne should a monopoly on all players named Jake/Jack (except Stringer who is a nong and should be forced to change his name to the diminutive of Richard).

is he cumming or going?

Yes Geelong have been consistently contenders but Scott went 11 years until he won that second flag and Longmire is 11 years in and counting. We're 2 years in and counting. Oh yeah crazy Bevo 7 years in - but who's counting?

I couldn't see a thread on this topic, but by my calculations Steven May reaches 100 games for the MFC this weekend. He has truly been a colossus for the club over the past five years (let's not talk about 2019), and pretty clearly we don't win a premiership in 2021 without him. Add in a couple of All Australians, regular top 5 finishes in the B&F, and he is truly a great of the club. Congratulations Steve, and hopefully there are plenty more games and accolades still to come.

SON OF A GUN TO SPEND TIME AT DEES by Riley Beveridge MELBOURNE will welcome talented father-son prospect Kalani White into its program this week, as the club vies with Gold Coast for access to the gun youngster. White, a strong-marking 200cm defender, isn't draft eligible until 2025 but will be able to join either the Demons under father-son rules or the Suns as part of their Northern Academy program. The athletic key-position prospect is able to join Melbourne due to his dad, Jeff, playing 236 games for the Demons between 1998-2008. But he is also able to join Gold Coast, having relocated to Queensland when his father's playing career ended. The teenager, who turns 17 later this week, is in Victoria ahead of the Gold Coast Academy's Coates Talent League clash with the Dandenong Stingrays on Sunday and will spend time at Melbourne in the lead-up to that match. White will not be able to train at the Demons, due to being a bottom-age prospect, but will observe a series of sessions and player meetings as part of his time at the club. The youngster caught the attention of AFL recruiters at last year's under-16 carnival, where he was named as the All-Australian centre-half back. He also played forward throughout that campaign, kicking two goals against Sydney's Academy. Speaking to AFL.com.au in March, Jeff said his son was enjoying the opportunity: "He's really looking forward to it and having interest from Melbourne and the Suns, he likes being a part of it and talking to the recruiting officers and finding out what he needs to improve on. It's a unique position to be in but in saying that he's very dedicated to getting better." From: Rivals keep tabs on Saint, free agency switch floated, Hawk's trigger

i mentioned earlier that the BLues have yet to have a 5 day break either whilst many in the comp have had 1-2 already. Tell me who the AFL is supporting without telling me who the AFL is supporting

Very good footballer and exactly the right fit in terms of outside skill set. Have always rated him highly.

Steven and Rick have lead the No.1 defence in the AFL for the last four years, long May they reign.

Can you please let him know he's trusted when he lines up for goal. An accurate set shot.

Defenders are so underrated in the AFL He is a beast. Every winning team needs a bloke that strikes fear into the opposition. Winning mentality. Amazing skills, great mark, does not accept poor performances from his teammates he has plenty of footy in him One of my favourite all time Demons Fantastic recruit by the MFC. Every team wanted him

I'm interviewing Melbourne Football Club's small forward Kade Chandler tomorrow for the Demonland Podcast. I'll be asking him about his road from being overlooked in the draft to his rookie listing to his apprenticeship as a sub to VFL premiership to his breakout 2023 season to mainstay in the Forwadline and much more. If you have any further questions let me know below and I'll see if I can squeeze them in. I will release the podcast at some time tomorrow so stay tuned.

Fantastic interview Andy and Kade, as well as Demonlanders who contributed to the thoughtful range of questions posed to Chin. This is exactly the sort of interview that makes Demonland the premier supporter site in the AFL. Well done all!

4 of us are making the trip down from Brisbane…that might not get us to 70k but we’re also dragging 5 others with us from Melbourne that wouldn’t ordinarily attend…and for reference our biggest ever home and away crowd against the cats is 58,208 so hopefully the nine of us push us past that 🤞

Won us a flag with his hamstring dragging behind him on the grass

My icon might indicate otherwise but my favourite MFC player by the length of the straight. The trade to get him was more important to our flag and sustained top end finishes than any other including the Roos appointment or any other list move (yes including our sublime midfield bulls). A super competitor who reads the ball in flight as good as any. So consistent in his performance regardless of the type of opponent he’s on and such a hard, tough ball player which was so not MFC at that time of his selection. Defence wins matches and premierships and he’s 100 games the cornerstone of ours (the best defence in the land across 4 years) Hopefully many more to come.

Anyone else thinking he could be a Coach one day? My mad Hawthorn mate still teases me about the time I called him up (in 2020 as an excited 50y.o.) saying we now had the best defence I had seen in my life and to watch out hence my Demonland handle). I too loved Buck's calling us a big club, as a favour to Garry no doubt.

He gave both Buddy and Curnow all time floggings in AFL finals; two of the best defensive games ever. So good, I never worry about an opposition forward; they rarely get us when May plays.

If Steven May played full forward and influenced every game the way he does at full back he'd be celebrated as one of the greatest players to ever play. I always found it interesting that preventing goals isn't applauded anywhere near the degree kicking them is.

Out of contract and seemingly out of favor at a very strong GWS backline. If we are going to persist with Petty and Turner forward, should we look at this kid? He is a very good footballer and GWS obviously like him as they have tried to play him in other positions to fit him into the side but he is an intercept backman and plays it very well. Only 25, has shown he can play at a very high level in the AFL, only issue is it's just not an are we really need.

The focus for us should be playing our game and getting our midfield running well. obviously look after Cameron etc but if we get our guns rolling, we make the Cats react to us.

What all of us have in common is waiting a long time coming for our last flag. My kids born in the 1980’s are not dissimilar to you. They literally had to wait a lifetime, be it 30 to 40 odd years Me, I was alive for our flag in 1964, so it had not been a lifetime waiting. But it was over half a bloody century waiting! That is a very long time. I was resigned to think I may never see us get one while I was still alive. As a footnote, I have never enjoyed going to the footy as much as have in the last few years. Dream of perhaps seeing us snag a few more. 🤞GO DEES !!

Tell me about it. But we have history, legends like Gawn, Trac, Viney, and multiple AA. We play at the homeland of footy every second week. Recent premiers. With all due respect to the Suns they have nothing to offer. And oh dad played over 200 big ones and loves the club.

Don’t think anyone has played a more important 100 games for the club. He is pivotal in our structural set-up. The first picked every week.

This list needs to win another, we all know it. You only need to look back to last years finals to see what a wasted opportunity looks like. We had the Pies on toast and forgot the butter.

I think Rivers on Cameron is our best match up - will keep up with him for pace and will force Cameron to think a bit defensively.

That's an explosion in a fact factory!

Fills a very significant need for us with Rivers and potentially McVee playing more midfield time, and Salem constantly injured. We should absolutely be looking at him if his body is in good nick.

He's been injured to start the year. Was best 22 last year and will work his way into the team shortly. Has played >20 games for them each season for the past 3 years. Can play wing and back and actually think we're thinner than we release for medium defenders. Salem is getting on, we've lost Brayshaw and with an injury to Bowey we are relying on Howes and Woewodin to hold the fort who have both looked put of depth at times. We have nothing beyond that beyond Hore and developing AMW in that position as Casey. Then we have Langdon/Windsor/Hunter as our wingers with Hunter maybe gone at seasons end.

In simple terms you have to look at our best 26 and say who is bottom 10. Then you ask is he a better player for a particular role than someone in the bottom 10. If yes... go for him I'd be disappointed if the recruitment team have not got a secret spreadsheet where this exercise is applied to every bottom 10 across the league. You can easily add in the "gettable" factor when you've identified your targets to determine the prime targets.

He should be captain, but hard to replace Gawn who's such a star and lead us to a flag. Jake's the most natural leader at the club, probably in the top few leaders in the whole league, and could be a future coach. We're blessed to have him.

I find it vulgar when people who support/are connected to unsinkable clubs start talking about other people losing theirs, but am also happy that we've escaped the 'next club to cark it' conversation. Eddie loves a badly thought out radical plan (remember when he wanted to give the winner of the pre-season comp a bye to the finals), so I assume he doesn't say anything about the process of dropping a team. If they're not relocating to Tasmania, then it's only going to happen via merger or them just flat-out catching fire and disappearing. A few years ago I thought the AFL would artificially boost Gold Coast by bolting a dying Victorian team to them, but surely other clubs wouldn't go for that after they've had a bunch of top draft picks and highly rated academy players. So to return to 18 you've got to either start World War III by trying to merge them with another Victorian side, or find a way to drive a club that was debt-free a couple of years ago and still made a profit last year completely broke. Losing the Tasmanian money will hurt them but it's not like they're Fitzroy 1996 and one strong breeze away from dying. One potential (but unlikely) scenario is that if AFL decides on 20 teams, with a third in both SA and WA, and North get shafted into becoming one of them. Even then, that's years away so I don't see how anything's going to change in the short term. I think this is just Eddie talking out of his ringpiece again.

We can laugh about it now, so I'm gonna post it.

Forget the past, May is a superstar.

I will never respect a side that gets the draw they get. Sides are forced to play them on a 2 bit public school oval that nets them a ridiculous sum of money. They have a massive unfair advantage.

This was us 10 years ago… couid be us again one day. We need to support the roos not dig their grave.

Played the pokies for the first time a couple of months ago aka the slots ...one armed bandits No such exercise. No heavy lifting required. Just press a button. Whir. Click. Buzz. Spin. Fifty cents down the dunny. Whir ...spin A JACKPOT. Two dollars. Whir spin.....you get the point, if like me you were dumb enough to play them....ten mins later ten bucks removed from my person. Game over. Everything tried in life ( almost).. once right? But how people play these on a regular basis is sad. I'm all for everyone getting their buzz on but how this could be it and the cost involved... I'll never understand. I'll play black jack on the cruise ship. I mean at least there's a sporting chance and some fun. And maybe betting in the past on ponies and Afl ...at least there's. skill/ knowledge involved . Well for some. But those machines suck. Funny, I recall people driving to Echuca to play them. Shame it's not still the way. Might be good for the clubs but not the patrons. A fool and their money I suppose.

We need him; we have the spaces; creates another alternative to our mesmerised long-bomb conundrums up-front. Get him - blend him, keep ingenious options open.

Can you imagine seeing him line up on you at the start of the game? Terrifying.

Can you ask Chin about the lure to Adelaide and what kept him at the club. What is it about the Dees he loves? On that note, thank him for staying, he is one of my favourite players to watch on ground. He is like a terrier/pest without the ball in hand to the opposition on ground. Can you ask him to get in Petty’s ear 😬😳😜,

Maybe Hawthorn and Norf could merge to become the North Dingley Kangapoos?

For those questioning my ongoing support of and the viability of an NT team, here are my solid contentions; An Indigenous-led team will be underwitten by the fed and state governments, as a social mechanism. It will still attract massive sponsorship $$$, in a CSR respect (sorry Santos and INPEX). The locals will be more likely to switch allegiances or support the NT as a second team compared to Tas. Most of Australia will take up the dynamic (cliche) NT as a second team, inc. dinky memberships. Anyone who has ever watched footy up north will know it's not just a cliche. [censored] is exciting. A local team will unearth local hidden talent, adding to the AFL pool. See Jurrah x 10. The conditions are challenging, but it's not a big deal in winter. Just a bit slippery. Seriously. A new 25,000 seat stadium in the city will fill out every second week the team play at home. The same stadium can host other stuff and bring in people from SEAsia. Benefit NT. .................................. I'm a Norwood supporter, but would back an NT team before a third SA or WA team. An NT team would outperform GWS and GC on almost every metric in their first season, on and off field. Canberra? pfft. Darwin leans AFL but is fairly split with NRL. Start a team up there and watch the fans and kids gravitate. I have first-hand anecdotal evidence: my kid brother is 6ft.7 and build like the proverbial. He should be an AFL ruck already but is still [censored] around playing rugby.

Yes I have a little 4 year old liar too… ah well…

the thing that i loved is the first thign i noticed in the highlight of the opening ceremony to anzac day eve lever smiled at windsor and made it clear how special it is to be involved in a game like this... ...and then lever specifically talked about that on the couch he's such a natural leader

The best pure defender in the game. I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.

Hope that helps 🙂

They are simply amazing stats. Add the fact that since the start of the 2021 season we have only given up 100 points three times (next best 9) and you get a great sense of how remarkably effective our defence is. And how central defence is to goody's coaching philosophy. I wonder if there has EVER been a more effective defence over any four season block? It's worth noting too that Daniel hoyne, in discussing our new method at the start of the season warned dees fans we are likely going to give up more goals this season ('you've got to give up something to get something' ie a more expansive, turnover based game will open us for goals the other way). Hoyne might still be proved correct, but not on the evidence of the 7 games so far.

As we haven't seen a "What they are saying down at Kadinia Park" thread, I thought I would head over to big footy to check out whether there were any memorable quotes Conclusion they are in cocky mode and the comments bordering on back slapping vomit producing drivel. Boy how much fun will it be when we knock them off on Saturday night.. (rubs hands together)

That's a very small injury list. Maybe this Selwyn bloke knows what he's doing. Adelaide, by comparison, now has four players out for the season. I forget who their fitness guy is.