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Another great Demon and pemiership skipper of our golden era passes. One of my childhood heroes along with Ron Barassi and Noel McMahen. Johnny Beckwith came to the club from Black Rock where he won an Under 18 Best & Fairest. He joined the Demons in 1951 and soon tasted success in that great team of the 50s and early 60s. He played in five premierships - 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, and 1960 (his last game as a player) and was captain in two of those campaigns (1957 and 1959) winning the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal in his first season as Melbourne skipper. He is a Melbourne Hall of Famer and was named back pocket in the club’s Team of the Century. He was famous for finding the boundary with his kicks out of defence in tight finishes well before the out of bounds on the full rule came in. He also coached the club in the post-Norm Smith era from 1968 to 1970 but had little success with a team in the early stages of decline after that great era for which he will always be remembered. Apart from the fact that the names of Beckwith and Barassi will always be tied together as great Demon captains and premiership players, there is another little snippet that binds them. Ron Barassi passed away last year on September 16 - it was the day of John Beckwith’s 91st and last birthday. Condolences to John’s family. [This is an article by club historian Lynda Carroll about the late John Backwith - Where are they now?]

Well he’s not happy to say the least but the excuses are just rolling thick and fast. I'm being a tad annoying as I’ve watched the Maynard ‘footy act’ about 50 times. He’s getting a bit sick of me yelling ‘ Karma’ and that Darcy is my hero.

i don't understand that apathy towards stafford at all as forwards coach he has seen multiple players turned into key forwards, players develop to ability the go into the ruck as pinch-hitters, and fritsch has become the best medium forward in the game, with pickett one of the top five or so small forwards that's a pretty great resume i would've thought

Reckon Darcy junior will be a very good player.

good lad Luke Darcy Jr. Excellent work. levelled out the scumbag

No, JT said he is a long term project and I am certain you will see him get at least next year to develop. He is a year behind Jeffo in the system, but he may not be that far behind him physically, as he looks a big lump of a kid. Will just need AFL conditioning and playing in our game plan. I like the selection on type.

AMW played in Darwin not Alice Springs and my understanding is he is of Timorese ethnicity.

It’s up to us now. Beat Freo and the Pies and we go into the bye two games clear in the 8 guaranteed in the top 4. We have rarely taken these chances since 2021, cmon Dees! Two big wins! Set the season up, put Freo and Pies away!

I like the thud of his shoulder

Ugle- Hagan was " in a contest on his own ". AnotherBT classic.

The dog flattened. Beautiful to watch ...... sadly, he got up.

Sam Darcy my new hero

This is pretty much a game to ensure we stay in the race for the top four. We have no 'genuine natural' forwards in any real form bar Fritta (2.5 goals per game in 24) & Kozzy and Kozzy's being used substantially in the mid field to give us some drive out of there of late (1.7 goals per game... nb given his minutes in the middle). Besides Tracc spending significant minutes forward or getting away from the oppo out the front of CBs and scoring (1.2 goals a game). Then the occasional (every other match) goal from Viney (0.6), our other 'regular' genuine mids generally don't score goals. Sparrow 0.3 Clarry 1 goal in 11 matches You then have... An under done out-of-form Petty potentially carrying a niggle and who's probably going to also be asked to relieve Max in the middle for 12% or so of CBAs. He's also struggled to do what he's supposed to do. Having only scored 2 goals in 9 matches, averaging a whopping 0.2 goals a match so far. That's on track for one goal every 5 matches at this point. Name me another team, bar North and/or the Eagles, that would keep playing someone so out of form for this many weeks here? An under done Smacca who may or may not comtribute. And Chin, who while i love his scrapping ability and pressure side at ground level, is also a hit and miss prospect in front of the sticks, averaging less than a goal a game so far in 24 (0.9) Then there's the occasional cameo from Nibbla averaging 0.6 goals per match. Again that's approx 1 goal every other game. I know we're a defensive side and usually keep teams to lowish scores but i'm strugglimg to see how we kick a winning score here against decent oppo (Freo being one of those) or better opponents from here, bar some sort of miracle from Petty, Brown or Roo (1.3 goals) / Melky on their returns. Turner would probably need to kick at least two or more (if he plays) this week yes? Possible but again an unreliable score source at this point. Let's face it, we presently have a very uninspiring forward line in a talent/form 'genuine natural forward' sense where you can actually put your trust in them to score each week. And potentiality to kick multiple goals on top, bar Fritta & Kozzy. And no i'm not putting BBB in here as he is just too hit & miss as a week to week proposition at this stage of his career in terms of even making it on the park let alone scoring (1.2 goals on ave so far in 2024). Our forward woes and ability to put goals on the board (against decent or better oppo) continues to be our Achilles heal 3 years on from 2021.

I find it hard to accept that Goody and the FD know more about the players on the list than I do.

I like the cut of his jib.

Darcy is going to be a weapon.

2 weeks in a row now the pies have been ran down

Just in case you weren’t aware, Daicos is playing in this game. I haven’t heard the commentators mention him.

I don’t care how soft people think they are the Daicos brothers are very good players.

Blow your [censored] whistle you maggot. Favouring “big” name players. Disgusting 🤮

Forecast for Sunday is 4deg going up to 18deg with no rain. Looks perfect for footy

Mono listening to JT’s interview he remarked that they have been following Lukers progress for some time and view him as a long term prospect. We will free up a Rookie spot at the end of year when Judd McVee is upgraded to the Senior List so should be a spot for him. JT also mentioned that Luker will be moving in with The Kolt and his host family.😁

People are dumb.

Sometimes I think supporters just get bored and want something new and shiney.

The number of times in the last that I saw Pies players throw their arms out at the umpire appealing for a free, as if in a tight game its expected to go their way and they should be allowed to win. Bad bloody luck! Ha! As much as Darcy looks to be a young star, I also loved the composure of Sanders. He's a great addition to their midfield

Let’s start the whip around for Darcy.

That was beautiful

If I understand the system, it's the players who decide whether to nominate for 6 or 18 month contracts. Thinking it through, it suggests to me that those who choose the 6 months option have more confidence in their abilities and expect to be able to sign a longer contract once they've been at the club for a short time. That new contract would presumably provide them with better terms (ie, money) for the subsequent 12 months than if they had been signed on an 18 month contract from the outset.

Gulden was a Swan academy member. No one else had access to him really. But generally I agree.

Taj deserves to start tbh

His agility for a tall is good in terms of clean at ground level. His lateral movement is where think he lacks agility. Pace has improved from last season but still wouldn’t say he’s quick, what they may be referring to is his explosion off the mark

i think disco was 6 months initially as well?

To be fair, AMW would probably be captain of North Melbourne or St Kilda by now.

Incompetence. He brings incompetence.

My cousin is off to the Alice for the game and has just 'wet' herself; Kossie is on the same flight.

Let's see what umpire 22 brings to the table.

Closer to home... Tom McDonald 53.

We had 21 shots at goal from only 36 inside 50s against West Coast. The forward line actually functioned very well from limited supply.

Really disappointed in the loss of JVR. I feel other parts of the field could absorb a loss better than our (rightly) maligned forward line missing one of its key cogs, eg - Tomlinson being a proven and ready made replacement for Lever in our defence. Our forward line functioned poorly without JVR against West Coast, and Petty is going to really have to pick up the slack this time around. Clearly BBB or Turner will come in. The question is do you go with the proven forward who can barely move anymore but can still pull off a blinder such as the Port game in round 3, or a player with potential that's new to the forward line gig? Really important game this weekend. Win and we're third with opportunities in the coming month (depleted Pies, North, an inconsistent Brisbane away and West Coast at home). Lose and we're quite frankly going around in circles and will probably be fighting for 7th or 8th spot all year.

That's a great call. A Cam Pedersen level player would be a good outcome.

We are 7-1 when Max Gawn gets Coaches Votes and 0-3 when he doesn't. (The Brisbane game was the only game we lost when he got votes.) Up against Darcy and Jackson this week, we need a big game from Max.

Well we've averaged a goal a game more than Freo this year 905 points vs 842. Defence very close 774 to 761. Don't expect a scorefest.

Flower for me too. Along with Gaz snr they were the ones that you would know, that even if they were having a quiet day, would do something that no other player could do at some point... and then there were days when they were on. Must have been 84 or 85... before we became a good team... I was at a game at the Western oval right behind the Geelong end goals, right on the fence. We had a free about 50 or 60 out and every man and his dog was in the goal square. Not Flower. He stood behind the point post about half way to the fence. As the kick came into the square he loped in, and then as the ball began to fall sped up and took it at the highest point. He must have been 5 back when he left the ground, but in front and a foot higher than everyone else when he took it. Bang! Goal! He just knew it was going to go there, and how he was going to get it. Truly magical. It's a damn shame that so much of his sublime skill was never captured on camera. Best is always subjective, but Flower did things a great footballer shouldn't be able to do, let alone a skinny kid in glasses, and, at least in my eyes, he seemed to do it every week.

I see shades of Cam Pedersen... Hope he can be a useful gap filler like Cam was over the few years up to '18 JvR out has me cringing thinking about Petty, BBB as 2nd ruck/fwd, Petty's been hopeless this year, BBB better for structure has 1 competitive effort this year only... Do I recall correctly Peds playing starting ruck with Max out (??), and having a cracker. Regardless, I knew him as "clunker" as he was a decent clunk. Denfitinitely got the most out of his 193cm. I miss Cam! 😢

'Jesuschrist05' So, not merely the Second Coming; the Fifth. Perhaps a very, very, very, very, very naughty boy?

But seriously, our forward line is starting to sound like an English manor house with Kentfield, Fullarton and Jefferson. Hopefully we'll be lording it over the opposition in the years to come.

Those bagging the Luker Kentfield selection just got a big clip across the ears after seeing the gaping hole in the forward line the relatively inexperienced JVR creates when he is out. Our 'hand to hand' combative style of footy requires AFL big build ultra competitive bigs up forward. Luker fits the category. Skinny kids need not apply. Luker may or may not make it but Einstien defined insanity as doing the same things over and over expecting a different result. We have problems up forward and going for mids over and over ..... well Einstien nailed it. You just have to mix it up. We have recruited well from WA in recent years which indicates we have exceptionally good scouts over there. No doubt they have recommended Luker to JT. Luker potentially fills a hole after BB and Schache finish up season end.

And Turner. And Fritsch. And Pickett. And McAdam. And Petracca. And Chandler. And so on.