Leaderboard

All time Brownlow Votes for Melbourne (EG is eligible games played) 1 – Robert Flower – 130.5 votes (269 EG) 2 – Clayton Oliver – 116 votes (152 EG) 3 – Greg Wells – 92 votes (224 EG) He's alright Clayton. Just need him to get back to what he does best

But Kane Cornes told me we needed to trade him and a first round pick! Why won’t anyone listen to Kane when he tells us Pickett and Petty are leaving and then says we should trade Oliver? Poor Kane.

Wish it was this simple mate. Unfortunately during the season you have to prioritise recovery. Means that maintenance of fitness level is really the go - outside of the L word or the 6-8 week 'mini' pre seasons that we sometimes see. Your pre-season sets up your year. Talked to a mate about this recently who played at a high level. He missed a month or so of preseason once and said he couldn't get near it for the rest of the year, eventually his body broke down before the end as well. Full preseason the year after and he was back to his best. Feel free to take with a grain of salt as it's just a one-off anecdote. I fully expect it's the same for our boy though.

So you mean we won't trade him and a first round pick for a packet of chips? Gees I am shocked that Cornes is yet again talking absolute garbage. He is the Donald Trump of the AFL media pack.

Petty for mine because I never worried about Windsor going anywhere at this stage. I am thrilled to secure a key position player who is only 24 and a proven defender, a proven contested mark and a potential gun forward. And just for context, it took Tmac 2 entire seasons to find the form he’s currently in post a Lisfranc injury. Every man and his dog wanted him paid out and delisted. Now everyone hopes he stays on.

I reckon titan-uranus runs rings around all other contenders.

not sure why posters get so triggered by this. its typical fare in the world of AFL media. reality is there's been noise around Clarry for the last few years. And the club did put him on notice last year. it's inevitable that there will be stories about him again. That said, I'd be very surprised if he is traded. makes no sense when his value is at its lowest. lets see how he goes next year after a proper preseason. If he can't get back to his best then i think the considerations will be different.

Ok Im saying this now, If Clarry is out, Im out, no more memberships, no more training reports and probably better for some no more P.F I know little of his background BUT I do know footy clubs and cricket clubs at ANY level have their fair share of hipsters, jive bunnies, try hards, alternatives, party animals, wacky terbaccy imbibers clowns, nutters, mad men ( and women) eccentrics,musicians, drunks you name it I have seen them all then some more!!.You embrace em and support and encourage whatever the scenario. AND LOOK AFTER THEM! NOT SAYING CLARRY IS ANY OF THAT, BUT ...Clarry needs us as we need him!

If I had one wish for 2025 is that Clayton Oliver can find himself and his form again and prove this AFL nupties wrong.

I really rate Houston and would love him at Melbourne. He is a gun. But I gotta laugh at Port fans thinking they are more any chance of getting Pickett in a trade for him. Delusional.

I've listened to plenty of interviews with AFL players who have spoken about the importance of a good pre-season. Just look at 2019, we stunk and the club regularly spoke about the challenges we had with so many players going into surgery at the end of the year. During the season you are battered and bruised from playing, most efforts during the week are for recovery, not gaining fitness.

We’ve lost players who are AFL standard and replaced them with VFL standard players. Big part of why we are being so exposed right now .

A good summary of where we are at. And agree about our amazing core. I'm just worried about the recent approach of getting only who we can afford and end up with fringe players. imv this approach needs to change asap altho tbh I don't know how; 4 years of (imv) relatively poor trading won't be easy to recover from. I don't want to be too harsh on lamb as list management is a team effort and decisions are made within the context of the FD (Richo/Goodwin) game plan. But TL is the one who finds and sells mfc to the candidates. Until the end of 2020 our trading was handled by Lamb, Todd Viney and Josh Mahoney. I find it difficult to understand how we have not attracted any B+/A level players since they left, while we were the reigning and recent premiers. I feel we are missing the negotiation skills of the latter two and the less tangible gravitas they brought. And perhaps their administration skills when it came to sal cap managment.

Fair points, well made and can't disagree for the most part. Particularly about the players we've traded in. There was clearly a lot of risk involved with some of our long term deals and in the context of this season we are being stung. There must also be acknowledgement of the risks of not signing up players long term, which is now a common practice. We don't offer long term deals to Oliver and Petracca then they could have very well been wearing a Blues and Pies jumper respectively. Is 2024 a fail for the MFC in isolation for our list management team, quite probable. However, we've been provided a premiership and a top 4 list for the past 3 years which is no easy feet and in a competitive industry is well above the norm. A lot of angst on this forum in my view is coming from the perception that we have underachieved and perhaps that is true. In my opinion, we should have taken out last year's premiership and that failure lies on the players and coaches, not the list management team. Our list is no longer the same as 2021 and we're in somewhat a state of transition. Will our list management be a fail from 2021 - 2029 is what I'm interested in. We still have an amazing core and now room for aggressive trading and drafting. I'm holding off my judgement of our list management team for now as I believe with the right calls at the end of the year we will be right back in contention.

Clayton is not going anywhere. After all the unfortunate dirty laundry aired in the off-season, there is no reason for us to come out an deny unequivocally, unless it's the truth. This garbage comes from Sam 'hot garbage' McClure. It's the media drumming up the usual [censored] they do for...surprise surprise...clicks! Then Cornes gets on it (SHOCK), and it continues. If we ignore them, they will go away. I follow Clarry on Insta, and together with the bits I see/hear from him along the traps he seems genuinely healthy and happy. Some people still want to see 2021/2022 Clarry RIGHT NOW - and I get that. But for a multitude of reasons (fitness, game style, tags etc), we aren't there yet. We have to get used to it. So many willing to throw a deadset champion out because of a 'bad' season (according to THEIR standards). The fact that so many other teams want Clarry should tell you enough. Clarry is gonna get a good preseason in him. Together with his current positive mindset, hunger to improve, and the team improving, collectively, not just one guy, he is going to be a ball magnet BEAST, again, and then all those people who asked/demanded he be dropped/traded/sold down the river will be awfully quiet. Big love to Clarry who looks like he's doing well, and our FD is happy with him. I'll take that and let's get back to the team effort to play each game out, in its entirety, and make the finals for some ultimate disruption.

This thread has gone very quite so I assume posters think we are out of the running for the 8. My optimism and predictions for last week were way off the mark. Nonetheless we can still make it. A few of the top teams sustained significant injuries last week so I have included some info. Plenty of 8pt games. Top 4 not yet set. Port/Ess could slide out of the 8 with WBD/Dees/Hawks to replace them. Coll almost fully fit but very tough run. Our destiny is still in our hands - lets see how much the team wants it.

Carlton (even though he’s Richmond NGA, won’t go there) have a beauty in Cody Walker and Cochrane looks a star as well. Of interest to us, Marcus Prasad has been attached to our NGA program, quick and skilful small forward/mid.

Sadly, if we miss finals we could end up with a pick between 6 - 10. An option maybe to split our pick. Freo currently have theirs, ports and pies first rounder. Could enable us to split say 7 for 12 (port) and 15(freo) with some balancing if required. 12 for Houston, we retain 15... or vice versa. Of course this doesn't work if we get on a roll and win the flag

JVR, MCVee and Windsor are the must keep at all costs

“There is an increasing belief that the 27-year-old will request a trade once the Power’s campaign ends, but he is yet to relay that to the club and is focused on completing the season, according to two sources. The rumblings about Houston’s future, and in particular his links to the Demons, started early last month. Industry sources who wanted to remain anonymous when discussing Houston’s future confirmed Melbourne were monitoring the situation.” Also says he’s actually contracted to 2028, not 2027, and that Port will be up for a trade to get picks in so they can try to get Perryman. Suggests we’d have to part with a first rounder.

According to the 3 schoolboy type media pundints on the midweek tackle Ed Langdon is set to sign a new contract which will be announced very soon.

Deestar, I'm honestly comfortable enough in myself not to care what people think or say about me. I don't think there was anything vitriolic, laughable or embarrassing in my post, but if you reckon there was then fair enough. In the context of this thread it was offered as a counterpoint to opinions that SG is an eternal legend and we must never question his wisdom or coaching. I think it's also fair to say that I like and admire HP as a person and how he plays as a defender. Unfortunately I think he's lost confidence as a forward and isn't good enough to play in the ruck. Again I'm sensible and independently minded enough not to accept the herd mentality, so it doesn't really matter but I'm not alone in either of those opinions. I can trust my own eyes and footy experience and knowledge and make a judgement that I'm happy with. I agree there's plenty of crazy stuff posted on here. In my life I try to stay measured and be fair to everyone. If you and your mates are happy with what you're witnessing at all the games you've been to this year then good for you. I've found some of the games to be frustrating and disappointing. I'm not calling for anyone to be pilloried or whipped or shot. I'd just like to see our professional athletes and coaches actually learning from their mistakes and not repeating them. I'm also an optimist and am hoping for the best for our team that they can realise their potential. I'm not willing to accept mediocrity and I'm not embarrassed by these opinions. Just because Melbourne have had many years in the doldrums doesn't mean we should accept half efforts or inadequate leadership. Again if you think everything is rosy and I'm just an [censored] spouting unrealistically rubbish expectations then that's fine with me.

The only better outcome is making finals and winning one. Get that bloody finals monkey off our backs. It’s unlikely, but it’s not impossible. Plenty of mediocre teams who we could end up facing in a week one elimination. This is the least obvious season we’ve had in years in terms of who wins the flag. Swans are good but not great, especially at the MCG. And the rest are up and down like a yo-yo. We could easily go 0-5 or 5-0 from here. Nothing would shock me anymore. Of course the MOST important thing left to do in 2024 is to win round 24!

I miss being the expected score kings

This and this, West Coast scenario when they felt they had one more two year tilt left in the list and gave up 3 picks to get Tim Kelly is very much a buyer beware for what they are suggesting Houston would cost us

Overated for these reasons 1 No plan b or c if things go astray on match day 2 Traded Grundy 3 Some players are untouchable at selection 4 Has anyone heard him take responsibility for Ruck error last week? Swarta is on the money with this 5 In my belief he has run his race and our premiership window has ended

I do have a clue

McQualter today when asked about it - simply not true

What an honor!

I usually share your views but not so much on this. Such prioritising is a risky strategy as a number of those mentioned (Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver) aren't available or not healthy and who knows if they will be. There are also doubts over the ongoing fitness of Viney, Gawn and Salem. All were/are on long-term contracts. Unfortunately they are in our top 10 best players. Their specific injuries/illnesses could not be foreseen but a risk analysis would show say may not play out their contract. Known risks: Salem and thyroid, Brayshaw and concussion , Oliver and ADHD and related issues , Gawn and age. If we can only get fringe players that we can afford that suggests poor sal cap management. The result of such prioritising is a number of our highly paid players aren't fully available and cheap fringe players can't get a game or are subs. Do we even have 30 players that are currently AFL standard to make up a regular 22 (exluding players yet to play a game) when we have the odd injury? So imv our list is unbalanced for age, skill, position and depth. I wouldn't put it all on TL but it is his job to identify trade targets and negotiate them into mfc. Our traded in players in the last few years a rather 'meh'. I'm not using hindsight here as in my experience risk analysis/due diligence are essential parts of any planning. As is a risk based allocation of a $ budget.

He was walking round the Tan last week and patted our family dog (who is now allowed to sleep on my pillow)

I think Salem is 'cooked'. He has lost pace and penetration in his kicking. He cannot kick more than 45 metres anymore and the speed of his kicks is also much slower. He is still a smart player, but his loss of strength and pace also means he is not as good as he was in the contest. Plus he is getting more soft tissue injuries.

After all the doom and gloom I was rapt to open up Demonland this morning to hear this fantastic news. The future looks bright ❤️💙

Call me crazy, but it's hard not to watch Windsor go about it and think at some stage he will captain the club. Has a Robbie Flower level ceiling as a player in my opinion.

Four years is a big commitment Petty signs a three year deal and disco a two year deal. Great vote of confidence in the club, goody and the direction we're going. What odds Harley Reid signs a four year extension at the Eagles? Top work Tom Lamb.

Brilliant news People on social media should be ashamed of themselves with some of the comments being made about Petty. Absolutely shameful garbage that I would expect from Pies fans not Dees fans.

In defence of Lamb, our priority was clearly re-signing our premiership team which he did well. We secured Petracca, Oliver, Pickett, JvR, Lever, Rivers, Brayshaw among others in what we hoped would keep our core team together for a long time to challenge. This can be picked apart in hindsight, in particular the Brayshaw deal and Oliver's issues, but it was clearly a well supported move that most here were happy about. As such, we were playing on the fringes of trades with what salary cap we had left. Players left for more opportunity and we had limited salary cap with our stars signed up long term, so we scouted the fringes of teams of what we could afford. Were there other targets that could have improved our list or provided better depth, most definetely. Could we afford them from a salary cap position and did they want to come to us with best 22 spots limited and the prospect of spending the majority of time in the two's? That's another question. The good news (sort of) is we have best 22 spots opening up on the list and salary cap space now to hopefully lure some talent.

Where there's smoke, there's often just smoke.

The internet and forums like Demonland are a weird place at times. If Binman and (insert disgruntled Demonland member here) were to be having these debates over a beer before a game, there would be way less vitriol and more constructive conclusions. Instead, people on Demonland get very personal and worked up about someone else’s opinion.

They often turn up on mass at the Gosh's training. On special days they can be seen collecting awards for their work, other times they are part of the community campaigns, as guests observe the trackers. The numbers can vary from a handful, to the entire admin staff. Seems the club will work hard to be connected, given the non optimal situation of the physical separation of departments.

Any chance that Hore comes in for Salon rather than the more obvious choice of Howes? I think Hore has played ok since his return from injury.

We also have a bizarre 16-3-1 record on Saturday nights since the start of 2021. It's by far our favourite time slot. GWS also seem to be winning games on the back of kicking 6 behinds a game which is unsustainable. Both of these factors are predicated on us bringing the minimum standard of AFL pressure. Last week's pressure against Fremantle wouldn't stack up against Nar Nar Goon's thirds.