Leaderboard

Over the course of watching and supporting a lot of football in my life I had the privilege to see some greats of the game. Max Gawn is truly one of the very best I've ever seen. Sure I'm a bias Melbourne supporter but even non believers must find it hard to argue otherwise. He has year after year, been heralded as one of the best players in the AFL over the last decade. And rightly so. He has turned the tide of many a game and was the first captain of the club for half a century to help win us a flag. It's a shame ruckmen don't win Brownlows as much anymore. ( I'm perplexed why he hasn't). After all one could rote statistic after statistic about his on field prowess. But I wish there was another medal. One that encapsulates who Max really is. A damn fine human being and gentleman of gentlemen. Last week we saw Max get angry over an incident that I don't really know anything about. ( I don't know because it doesn't really matter). It doesn't matter because it rarely happens. Max Gawn may show signs of frustration and anger at times but it's not much for an AFL player. And more often than not when it does occur, it seems justified. But that's because Max Gawn has high standards. ( To my knowledge he's never been reported). Standards that go beyond just being a simple AFL player. He is a captain. And he takes this role seriously. Being captain is about leadership. But for Max leadership isn't something that happens for a couple of hours each week on a patch of grass. It's much ,much more. It's about standing up this week about homophobic slurs in the game. It's about taking in a teammate when he may be doing it tough. It's about standing by your mate when they have had to retire from the game. It's acknowledgement of being beaten by a better opponent. It's about visiting sick kids in hospital. Being an advocate of mental health or simply speaking to a fan when he's probably really tired and just wants to get a coffee at a cafe in peace. Like his on field performance, I could keep going. So thanks Max for showing us what a true captain of a club should be. On and OFF the field. I'm sure other Demonlanders stand with me in applause when I hereby award thee the unusually long but very aptly titled... "Captain of captains and gentleman of gentlemen and the best of blokes" medal. 👏. Thank you.

Given both Turner and JVR out BBB looking more likely

Have you got any good news?

Except for the need for a second ruck. They could use petty and maybe tmac, but neither have taken a centre stoppage ruck contest this year and I both have had recent foot injuries- do we want to risk them getting smashed at centre bounce? I wouldn't mind to see verell get the call up.

It's absolutely amazing that the injury prone kid caught smoking on the way to training has developed not only into a wonderful young man, but a premiership captain, possibly the best ruckman in the history of the game and arguably the best captain and player the MFC has ever produced.

We have the fifth largest home ground attendance this year of any Vic club. Considering our membership numbers compared to the other 4 clubs, I am really not sure what the hell his problem is? We got almost as many people to the Geelong home game, than Carlton got the week later against us, and it was their home game! So stick that in your pipe and smoke it Zeeto.

Hearing its a Tom Fullarton debut that is on the cards.

Smashing it today @WalkingCivilWar . Thanks for the intel!

A mark of a true champion is when opposition supporters can’t find something to hate about a player. That’s our man Max. Universally loved

A great report @WalkingCivilWar, you are a national treasure!

Getting it out of the way earlier this year so we'll have better luck come finals?

fixed

JAKE LEVER AND TWIN BROTHER MICHEAL BIEHN ( FROM THE SCI FI CLASSIC THE ABYSS)

JVR will be back against Saints and by what WCW is saying Disco the week after. By then McAdam should be 100% ready and Melksham will be close too. I don’t think it’s panic stations just yet, not that you’re saying it is of course.

Have been thinking about the horrendous state of umpiring Here are my thoughts. 1. It seems to me one of the most contentious issue is players being given the opportunity to dispose of the ball. The 'prior opportunity rule'. Most seem to agree that we want to reward the player who gets the ball. But when tackled, they should be pinged if they: Do not dispose of it correctly AND IMMEDIATELY by hand or foot (ie drop it, attempt to kick or HB but miss) Players dropping the ball, spinning 360deg looking for a HB or going to ground holding the ball maybe should be penalised. The only exception I would make is if both arms were held in the tackle. This if adjudicated correctly would see players immediately try to dispose of the ball resulting in either: play on, a free or a ball up. There would be less room for interpretation 2. Next I would look at push in the back. Enforce the rule FFS. Players now do it with impunity. The only exception should be players trying to take a high mark within reason. The Deliberate OOB is a joke. Bowey was pinged for this despite being shoved sideways as he was pushed. 3. Throwing is a blight on the game. I was brought up with the rule interpreted as hitting the ball with a closed fist from a stationary hand. What we have now is an abomination and it needs to be stopped 4. Positioning of the umpires does my head in. Players are aware of where the umps stand and deliberately turn or throw the ball when near the boundary. The crowd can see what happens but the blind umps cant. As for Goal umpires wTF? why do they stand side on rather than behind the ball when it is going through the sticks? 5. Scragging. Just get rid of it. If you touch a player when the ball is not within 5m you cop a free. It will stop in a nano second. 6. The rules around Ruck contests are unfathomable to everyone. No shepherding, scragging, holding or bumping allowed. Just a clean run and jump. Fixed There are no other games I can think of where the Umps must run a half marathon every game AND perform a skill. Get rid of the bounce, keep the umps in Zones and allow them to move out of the central corridor. Have one stand behind the kicker when shooting for goal. Rant over

He could probably do with a rest anyway

I never thought I'd see a better Melbourne player than Robbie Flower, and I probably still haven't, but Max is by far the most influential - on and off field.

Insightful perspective. It's true.

A Dees fbook site said there was a jumper presentation after training this morning. I guess Fullarton or Verrall.

It will be something like 17 days from Carlton to Saints. If no lingering issues he should be ok.

2023 stats Membership ladder and home attendance in brackets COL 106 (63) WCE 103 (42) RFC 101 (51) CAR 95 (51) ESS 86 (46) GEE 82 (31) HAW 81 (33) MEL 71 (45) ADE 68 (39) SYD 65 (33) PA 64 (38) FRE 62 (41) STK 60 (33) WB 56 (28) BRI 54 (27) NM 51 (21) GWS 33 (10) GCS 23 (14) As a percentage of membership base Fre 66 % Mel 63 % Col 60 % PA 59 % GCS 58 % Its simply not true our supporters 'don't turn up' as measured by home attendances and membership base. I'd say to him it's nice you live in a fantasy land of make believe.

Poor guy can't catch a break. Has been solid since joining. Looking forward to him having a good run after Freo. Seems like a good kid, and knows where the footy is. Can kick. Much to work with. Just needs some luck!

At my gym l talk to supporters of different clubs.They have nothing but praise for Max .And say how lucky for having him.Both for his leadership , and personality and intelligence off the field. We are lucky the club made the risky decision to re-sign him in hie early years when he was regularly injured.

Thanks WCW greatly appreciated and all posters for their comments and information .!!

Whatever our team line up is can they all synchronise their watches. Turning up to the FIRST bounce might prove effective.....

I think those votes are spot on.

We need to remember that 12 days is the minimum time required to be out following a concussion. If it takes longer, so be it. Nevertheless, I hope van Rooyen only misses the one game.

I'd be going Fullarton myself. He's the only one that's capable of filling JVR's relief ruck role in the middle. He can also take the forward stuff. Mind you i'm not saying he's great at this part of the game but neither is JVR. He's also played two consecutive serviceable games as a KF at Casey. Will he be able to step that up at AFL level in one match? Probably not. But then neither would BB in his present state. Fullo just needs to compete, get the ball to ground if he aint confident of marking... and, stay outta Petty and Fritta's way. A few down the line outlet or intercept grabs would be handy also which he's been doing reasonably well at for Casey. This is exactly why we recruited him and his window may have opened. No better opportunity to see where he's at than this week against bottom of the table Eagles.

Essendon nearly lost to them last week. They're the media's current darlings. Sydney was behind them for half the game in Gather Round. They're the undisputed number 1 seed right now. If Yeo and/or Waterman play, they are a much stronger side. I don't accept that if we don't "win this easily" we "have some way bigger issues".

I would assume that it’s about him being a mid not a forward 9 times out of 10

It will take a generation or two to change this perspective. We have been irrelevant for almost 4-5 decades with the odd few years where we good but not good enough. Our numbers just dropped away. But in the junior leagues the amount of kids i see wearing Melbourne kit are extraordinary. I hold hope that we will prevail in the longer term. What will secure this and potentially accelerate it, is another premiership. It is just the external perspective that you have to take on board. Its also an easyfix....

The entire family have all moved into the Wizard of Kozzies Melbourne bungalow after his post convinced the club to sack Ben Brown and recruit Sammy Van Rooyen in the mid season draft

Normally I would say that the Pies would get the Friday night slot, but I suspect it may be given the Saturday 4:35 because that's the new AFL favourite slot (after 1 game fml) and allows people from Geelong to get to the game.

McGovern out this week Sir Swish

That's probably fair enough.

Bumping this thread solely to allow Zurich a bit more credit for taking a backseat.

Am I alone in thinking it bizarrely ironic that it's JVR affected by concussion !!

If they don’t pick Verral they may pick Thommo to take TMacs role and put TMac up forward and ruck Ben Brown in for Turner If they do decide to rest Windsor for a game , it could be this week and bring Hunter in. They might give Salem one more week too , rather than risk a long flight. Koltyn and Mc Adam possible smokies

And the umpires upset for the missed the opportunity to pay a free against him for dangerous marking attempt.

Form is something you do not mess with, especially with T Mac. He is killing it in defence and is no chance of moving forward unless we literally have no other options. Perfect time to blood Fullarton. We are quite tall with 3 tall fwds plus Fritsch so I think we can go in with only 2 talls once one of them can ruck

"Essendon 3rd on the ladder is like seeing an elephant sitting in a tree. You don't know how they got there but they're gonna come crashing down" - SEN this morning

I know it won't happen but is it worth trying Tomlinson up forward and as relieving ruck? Turner has gone from black to forward. If my memory serves correctly Tomlinson played some time forward for the Giants. Arguably Casey's best player this year. For mine nothing to lose and he might surprise. Waiting to be shot down!

Looks like "Verrell" is the new "Fullerton".

Haven't heard it but I suspect what he's saying is not that Trac isn't capable of playing that well, but that he won't play near-permanent forward each week, so that's why he won't "play like that".

Might be Fullarton time.

Oh my... now that's three games in a row with highly visible dives by Carlton players. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/match-review-shock-as-cats-star-sanctioned-over-act-great-claimed-was-playing-for-a-free-kick/news-story/4019264312794c2bd1da2d7a62460ab0 Diving is a policy at Carlton.

I have thought about this, Giving Jeffo a go, given he kicked 3 the game before and the news that he presented well and crashed a few packs leading to goals makes me think that in case of both JVR and Disco out, could be worth blooding him to give him a taste? Not the worst idea going around!

The other night when I was outside the ground I saw him & TJ. One is extremely awkward & the other one you wouldn't tell your secret to because he'd tell everyone