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I think this thread could go down as one of the worst DL threads ever. So much BS, so much anger and arguing over things we know so little about, so much disrespect. In a lot of posts it is simply toxic. We lost one of my favourite posters due to the disrespectful posting, and DL is now much worse for her loss, no matter whether you thought of her as a “happy clapper”, a breath of fresh air, or simply deranged (my favourite). Let’s not lose anyone else. We can do a whole lot better.

Gee that annoys me I specifically told your wife to not tell anyone!

Good to see the likes of Jacob Van Rooyen, Jake Bowey, Bailey Laurie and Blake Howes in the USA doing some intensive training over there in the off season. I see Jake Lever being the leader that he is has joined the group which is a exactly what you want from your leaders showing the way. Would be good to seeing JVR, Bowey and Howes take the next step next year with Laurie at least finally showing his worth.

Yep. Some absolutely trash posting. Playing the person not the ball. And of course it's all the usual suspects. Makes the site bordering unreadable. Embarrassing really as I presume such posts are from adults.

People who expect other people to publically name their sources are ridiculous. Ive had two sources in my time and neither of them would have stayed a source at all if I had outted them, one former employee of MFC and a guy I play golf with every fortnight who knows people through sports management. Naming the would have just strained that relationship and their own employment.

For those of you who get annoyed by posters on here, but still want to contribute, I developed a coping mechanism a few years back that helps keep it all fun. I imagine certain posters as fictional characters. One is George Costanza, another is Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh books, and another is Dwight from the Office. Then when I read their posts it makes me laugh, and helps me remember they are just people. Whatever you need to do to stick around I reckon. This place needs all the opinions, but it’s the most fun when nobody takes it too seriously.

Source?

Calm down, dude. Man, this site is becoming increasingly toxic of late.

Back it up a notch fella. It's a beautiful morning. Take a walk in the sun and breathe in some fresh air.

Ollie is coming along nicely. Spoke with him at the B&F. On Insta you can see a group photo with Kolt, Howes, Windsor, Woey & Brown, the young Brigade. He is as tall as Howes. He had a monster pre-season this year and shredded all the puppy fat. He is doing all the right things and, after a European holiday, will be back into it. He certainly has the passion and desire to make the grade. The team manager at Casey speaks highly of him and agrees that Ollie is a natural footballer who needs to improve his tank. He ran 4th in the Casey B&F and when in the midfield at Casey was great at clearances. He is one of WCW's favourite young players

I’ve been told by most of my football following friends that all of Oliver, Petracca and Pickett are definitely gone. They’ve also suggested Goodwin is a dud, the club is a joke, the window was never open, the flag doesn’t count as it was in Perth and none of it matters anyway as I’ll be at the snow. One seriously continues with the line that the Doggies were the better team in 21 and hadn’t it been for a few pivotal free kicks they would have won the flag. I just reread this and realised I don’t have to leave Demonland to get these opinions, ain’t life grand!

He’s probably going to do his altitude training in the You Yangs

Look, I don’t want to hammer you about this…. But regarding said poster (and any others who may fall into a similar category), I get that you might not consider their input as useful or relevant to your needs, but calling people who devote their time and put words into actions for the club we all support here “losers” seems unnecessarily harsh. I’ll just leave it at that

Why because you simply don't agree with his opinion?? Put him on ignore then. Not for you to tell everyone else what they should and shouldn't do.

Agree with everything except maybe the last 2 words. We all hear rumours and personally I love hearing them whether they turn out correct or incorrect. It’s one of the reasons DL is good reading. I disagree with attacking people over their rumours and hope they always continue. Just on this one about Clarry going to the Cats, it would see several people appear as liars or fools if it happened. Lamb, Green, Richo and Goody have all said 100% he is staying. Mackie said it won’t happen too as i recall. The Cats apparently only offering a F1 and not wanting all of his salary and not budging. That if true would stop it happening. For the above reasons I don’t see it happening, but then again footy is a funny business, yes business not game. Keep up the rumours Picket and watch out for those snakes.

You left out the bit where he won us the game in the 2 minutes he was on

Hope its 40 + F1, rather than 28 + F1 5, 13, 28 would be mint

Pretty ordinary stuff by GWS if they hold him. Derks has a partner and kids and is on ordinary money at GWS. The Dees deal would be good for him and his family.

MELBOURNE has opened talks with Brisbane on a deal for contracted winger Harry Sharp, who has already requested a trade to the Demons. While the exact details of the agreement are yet to be finalised, a move for Sharp is likely to help the Lions bank picks and points to match bids on draft guns Levi Ashcroft and Sam Marshall. All six picks within Melbourne's current draft hand (No.5, 28, 40, 49, 54 and 65) have points attached, with a swap of later selections that accumulates more points for Brisbane likely to make up the bones of the trade. Sharp requested a move to Melbourne on Friday after meeting with Demons officials earlier in the Trade Period, with the tireless winger hopeful of earning more senior opportunities in Victoria next season. The 21-year-old was restricted to just six AFL games this season and was an emergency in the Lions' victorious Grand Final-winning team. Melbourne has been on the hunt for more running power after losing Alex Neal-Bullen to Adelaide, with Sharp the current record holder for the draft combine's 2km time trial after completing the event in 5.28 minutes to smash the previous record by 20 seconds in his draft year back in 2020. Sharp is contracted at Brisbane for 2025, but informed the club during the week that he wished to explore his options after being restricted to just 16 games across his four seasons on the Lions' list. – Riley Beveridge

Yet they’re happy to throw out terms like ‘bullying’ and ‘harass’ when you have some sort of opposing discourse.

That’s the farcical thing. The very posters that will uncritically claim that all ‘anti’ (sic) MFC reporting is ‘BS’, are the very ones that will never be critical of ‘complementary’ reporting. You cannot credibly claim media is ‘BS’ when it doesn’t suit agenda. Still, those certain individuals will continue to act in this way. It’s nauseating.

Mentha is in our Next Generation Academy, just as AMW was. NGA players can have bids matched at any stage of the draft, but if they go undrafted in the main draft they are also eligible to become Cat B rookies to increase NGA players on a list (Cat B is for international, NGA, other sports). Andy was a multicultural player from a Darwin zone we had. Ricky would be the first player taken from our Alice NGA zone. Not sure if AMW gets elevated to a main list or stays cat B. I think our plan is for Mentha and/or an Irish lad to be added as additional cat B rookies in 2025.

I . AM . THE . SOURCE

Watching him this year I was seriously impressed with some of his tools. Excellent kick at all distances. Very strong thru the core, a good overhead mark and makes good decisions with ball in hand

It's likely 28. Maybe GC will give us 41 back and we can package 40, 41, 49, 54 and 65 to Brisbane for 32 and 34. Gives us 5, 13, 32 and 34.

it’s only madness if you think we’ll finish in bottom 4 or close next year

Gippsland Power dasher Ricky Mentha took a shine to “Kozzy’’ Pickett when he trained with Melbourne briefly last year. Now the AFL draft aspirant is on the brink of being handed a chance to unite with Pickett and the Demons and live an AFL dream he formed in Alice Springs. In what would be a historic move for the Demons, they are considering taking their Next Generation Academy member as a Category B rookie after watching his progress with Gippsland Power in the Coates Talent League in the past two years. Mentha, 18, is from Alice Springs (part of Melbourne’s zone), where he represented the NT in under-age football and basketball. Melbourne recruiting boss Jason Taylor first saw Mentha playing barefoot in an eight-a-side football game on a ground the size of a soccer pitch. The Dees have followed him closely given his talent and determination to do everything possible to play at the highest level. Last year Mentha made the huge step of relocating to Gippsland last year, where he lives with his father and plays with Power and local club Morwell. The Demons have had the Alice Springs zone as part of their academy zone for some time but have never taken a player from there as an NGA talent. Melbourne recruited Liam Jurrah as the first Indigenous person from a remote Central Australia community to play AFL and secured Austin Wonaeamirri from the Northern Territory. It has space on its list for a category B rookie after taking players from basketball and cricket in recent years. “From the word go, his footy IQ and his skillset were at a really high level,’’ Power talent manager Scott McDougal said of Mentha. “Physically and preparation and speed of the game were some of the challenges he had to overcome but he got a few games in towards the end of last year and then he had a little injury. He was put away in cotton wool and had a really, really good pre-season and started to come on as a footballer and feel comfortable around the group and enjoy the program.’’ Mentha played 14 games this year, was used in a few positions and averaged 12.3 disposals. He also had two matches for the Allies at the national Under 18 championships and two for Morwell’s senior team in the Gippsland league. McDougal said Mentha was a crafty small forward but the Power also played him at halfback. He gave an outstanding performance in rugged conditions against the Western Jets at Williamstown, having 22 disposals. “Like another Indigenous player from back in the day, Anthony [McDonald]-Tipungwuti, he made it look like a dry ball … decision-making, clean, balanced,’’ McDougal said. “He didn’t have the absolute standout, everything-went-right season. He had to deal with some injuries and form that came with getting used to new positions on the ground. But throughout the whole season he showed a lot of AFL-standard moments. You couldn’t fault his workrate and his willingness to learn.’’ Mentha spent time at Melbourne after last season. Some AFL recruiters are split on his talent – at last week’s AFL combine, he didn’t blow them away with his 20m sprint time and he does need to work on his endurance. But Melbourne believes he has rare talent and is also impressed by his sheer dedication to move to Victoria and get his football going in the elite Under 18 competition. Some Indigenous players from the Northern Territory have talent to spend but understandably struggle with the changed lifestyle and professional demands. Melbourne knows Mentha will leave no stone unturned if he is handed a category B spot. McDougal said he “hit it off’’ with Pickett and Mentha hoped to emulate the premiership Demon. “He was blown away by how professional he was … it was a great experience for him,’’ he said.

Because we’ve all been dkicheads at times and you just have a good wrestle and move on. Plus the playground rocks when it’s packed!

Usually we get a better result when plan A doesn't go our way Going to the draft is a win even if our hand was forced from the Houston stuff Part of me did understand Richardson's logic at the time though, we lost Jordon, Harmes, Brayshaw, Grundy and replaced them with kids for the most part Or in Gus' case, didn't replace him with anyone given the timing of his retirement

Dusty Martin achieved great results by doing his off-season training with Dane Swan in the US. 😁

Which wouldn't have been the case in this instance by the sounds of it. Honestly, I think we've actually over corrected in this respect and there are a number of worthy debutants that have been burnt by the club via the sub rule in recent years. Main culprits in my mind are Toby Bedford, Taj Woewodin and Kynan Brown. Kynan Brown in particular out of this group got like 2mins of a game against North three quarters of the way through the season, when I actually think he looked quite ready from watching him in the preseson game against Richmond. Getting back to the Collingwood game - we looked putrid, lathargic and flat for that game and an injection of youth could have been something great to booster some energy and enthusiasm, but I guess hindsight is a beautiful thing isn't it.

That's definitely where I'm trying to stop myself short with too much criticism at the moment. I've got my thoughts and feelings about the club right now but don't want to get too aggressive towards players because the truth is we don't know everything.

You've just been given the company line why would they tell you what was really going on? It's almost as laughable as when another cheer squad member claimed that the cheers quad work really closely with the football department. One of the most ridiculous things I've seen on here and I've never heard such rubbish. These people would have countless losers coming up to them asking them for goss. You're just not as important as you think you are.

I like him, he has some really good attributes to his game but people have to remember just how far back he was coming from. He never played U18 Coates league or any Vic metro. He's clearly done a mountain of work to get his body up to the standard and I reckon after another pre season he'll push for a debut next season.

The coaches discuss Demonland posts? As if they care about a lowly message board? If they don't care about the media then surely they don't care about us nutcases

I would seriously question the judgment of a coach that was bothered about anything that gets written here. Don't they have more important things to deal with?

So you are the Club leak then Saty!

Similarly, Brisbane won a premiership on the back of a pre-season at Vegas.

Is it only unreadable because the rumours are seen as negative towards the MFC? Are you ok with people posting that we are still actively trying to recruit Wade Derksen, even though Jason McCartney has publicly shut down any move? Whilst the powers that be at the MFC have shut down Oliver being traded, I've no doubt that Oliver's management are still in discussion with the Cats to get a reasonable trade proposal on the table. And I'm sure that's where PF's rumour is coming from. If it doesn't eventuate, it doesn't mean that his rumour was incorrect.

Sharp steak knives 😉

I think we have the same friends.

I forgot Aleer and we should all hope they get Jake Stringer, as that will be 10 ahead of him and make it easier for them to clear WD to us, which I think will happen.

For those doubting the impact of a tweet from the Pres: Headlines from two major papers Demons ridicule claim on Oliver Dees hit back at latest Oliver rumour Excellent work Greeny

Don’t get caught up in the whole points discussion, it’s irrelevant unless you have academy, nga or father sons in the 1st rd

Nothing says serious football club like handing out token debuts to kids who haven't earnt them.

Think there's enough there to make this a great acquisition. Even if just filling Hunter's spot

With the lack of appetite and application we brought into the round 24 game against Collingwood (compared to the prior week) hindsight says we could’ve debuted Sestan and Jefferson for that game to give them a taste of AFL footy against a high quality club.

What are you on about? Where I'm from when people perform poorly they are held to account. The cheerleaders on here that mindlessly support the club even when it is being mismanaged are worse than the people in the media gleefully kicking us for being a basketcase. There were many on here back during the Schwab years who didn't want to hear a bad word about that administration either, the threads will still be here if you do a search.