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Neale Daniher has been awarded the honour of being Victoria's nomination for Australian Of The Year. MND has an average time frame of 27 months, but here's Neale still fighting eleven years after his diagnosis. Onya Danners. I reckon all Melbourne fans and the greater footballing community supports your work and is proud of you. Neale Daniher named Victoria’s Australian of the Year

The obvious void is a very specific, Gus shaped, one. I’m on record as saying Lever needs to worry about his footy more than his leadership, he’s treading a fine line between being useful and a liability. I’m not sure Rivers needs the pressure of leading others, he’s had some flashy games recently but has a decent way to go before he cements a midfield role, let alone a leadership position. I think the cupboard is quite bare between Max/May and the rest

CF they said that claims against Simon were proved to be false and that everyone was sorry for the hurt that had been caused to SG and his family.!! Pretty straight forward for mine CF.

Interesting Interview on the MFC website with Nathan Bassett, speaks with confidence, looks fit, professional and self assured has a good range of playing and coaching experience. Should be a good fit for Dees.

Hopefully Australian of the Year is next.

I am an unabashed Clayton fan - but even putting that to one side - I think he is going to surprise an awful lot of people in 2025 - looking forward to it and the doubters who will be very quiet.

Brad's achievements in a few short months. Seamless and bloodless transition to lead the Board Drove the FD and Board reviews (and will oversee their implementation) Negotiated the departure of our CEO Facilitated the arrival of Steve Smith (pending voting) and succession plan to be the next Board leader Ended the off-field legal dramas taking the unwarranted heat of our coach and our club. In a few short months he has neutralised the topics creating negative media attention. 👏👏👏 I will confess I was a bit 'meh' when he joined the Board and thought replacing Roffey was just window dressing. I was very very wrong! If he does nothing else he has been incredibly successful in laying the foundations for our stability, growth and success. Change management is one of the hardest things for any organisation to undertake and Brad hasn't put a foot wrong.

Brad has never led a major business/organistion and may be wondering (or have wondered) "...what do I know about chairing a footy club - or anything else..?" Rest assured Brad your'e doing just fine and are a credit to yourself and your playing reputation. Lucky to have him as one of us.

Smith got 30 touches in a VFL match for the tiges, he'll be fine.

Jagga at 5 and Smillie at 9

I planted a rumour on bigfooty yesterday that would serve a purpose for us having more choice of midfielder at pick 5. I know this will have absolutely ZERO effect on absolutely anything and is laughable to think otherwise, but I did my part 😂

How did any of us survive the Neeld years??🤯

I though Trac would be a future leader but this year shows he doesn't have it

Kicking and decision making are skills that can be refined, but not vastly improved upon imo. We need elite decision makers and elite disposers of the ball. If draftees don’t possess these already, they aren’t going to magically develop in an AFL environment.

Just wanted to share with everyone that my mum went to a luncheon last week at the Australian club where Jason Taylor was the guest speaker. Jason informed everyone in the room that Melbourne will be drafting midfielders this year. So I doubt we’ll see Harry Armstrong in the red and blue next year.

In his exit interview he raised that he’d like to one day captain the club.

How did you survive the Neeld years?

Let's get off the fence and state our preferences, perhaps a short explanation as to why. We can muse over a choice but we have to settle on a player for each selection, and it has to be realistic - can't really be going for Lawlor @ 5 and FOS @ 9 etc. Bonus points who's your "unknown" for pick 83?

Glad you asked. I've got two preferred combinations, and I'll list them in order; Preference 1 combo; Smith/Travalia - Pace, drive, tenacity and agility. I see Smith as the perfect accumulator and distributor who will deliver it to our forwards with aplomb and Travaglia a perfect accomplice being a jack Russell in defence running up and down between the arcs providing much needed pressure. Preference 2 combo; Langford/Allen. For all of Langfords silk, skill, grunt and iq you've got Allen's freak athleticism and flare to compliment. Smith and Travalia for me.

I would take Jagga Smith at pick 5 and Murphy Reid at pick 9 assuming both are available. back up plan for either pick would be Langford and Travaglia/Hynes

Any of Smith, Langfotd, Smilie, Draper in that order!

5 - Jagga Smith I was on Langford for a long time (and would still take him if Jagga isn’t there) but I’ve come round to Jagga in a big way the past few weeks 9 - Allan or Smilie This presumes we take Jagga and we look to pair him with a big bodied mid If we take Langford at 5 I’d love Lindsay or Reid here

Jagga Smith at 5. Would be happy with Langford next if Jagga is gone. Smilie or Allan if they're there or Hynes at 9.

5. Jagga (Really like Langford and Smillie too) 9. Travalgia, Allan, Reid, Lindsay all intrigue, might have too many options for pick 9! 83. Clancy Dennis

5 - Jagga Smith 9 - Tobie Travaglia 83 - Floyd Burmeister or Thomas Sims

Good leaders know how to inspire, great leaders are also great facilitators they get the movers and shakers on board aligned with a clear vision of where they all want to go. Appears this is Brad Green’s moment.

Bella should be our next captain.

My amateur feel is that there’s a strong likelihood that Draper gets to St Kilda’s pick. Everyone assumes that Adelaide takes him but I get the feel that everyone is just matching his value to whatever pick Adelaide has. I wonder if anyone has considered how Adelaide feels about it. I think we all want things to fit into neat boxes but each of these clubs is selecting the player they want the most rather than making phantom drafts look neat. I still remember everyone losing their minds when Adelaide picked Dangerfield over Ebert.

The conventional wisdom is that Adelaide take Draper but Gettable said Adelaide is trying to trade into North's 2 from 4. That must mean they want the same player as Carlton. Maybe that is Draper, but the common view has been that Carlton traded up for O'Sullivan, so maybe it's him. That trade, on draft night, probably looks something like 2 + F2 for 4 + F1 since neither team has many other 2024 draft assets. Whatever, that trade almost certainly signals North takes Tauru as predicted, at 4. The flow on effect of that is we get to choose from 2 of the top 5 mids (excluding Ashcroft) - Draper, Lalor, Langford, O'Sullivan and Smith at pick 5.

I'm a fan of this guys videos tbh he is balanced in his views. In this video he has us with Smith and Allen which would be a dream outcome for us I reckon.

Losing Gus and Nibbler was a huge blow to the leadership stocks.

If Jagga gets through to our first pick it’s him 100%. Then ideally a Bo Allan or Josh Smillie. If not Jagga then I’d go Langford and then Reid at 9. In both scenarios you get a smaller, consistent ball winner with good hand and foot skills and pair him with a big bodied athlete with a high ceiling. No matter what I’d be going 2 mids.

I might not know much but my experience of watching kids come into the AFL tells me that slight bodied 18yos are less likely to dominate than equally talented bigger boys. Unless you are Daicos or Butters good. For this reason, I see Smith sliding and hopefully past our pick. AFL is a brutal sport and it is very difficult to dominate the midfield. Maybe this is why he is already potentially being passed on by 4 clubs He could be the best in the draft but for me it’s a risky pick.

Hoping we'll hear more solid rumours next week. Wonder if there is a surprise in store similar to Windsor last year? Could Reid get selected earlier than currently expected? Still hoping Lalor somehow slides through but that looks like the least likely outcome. Can see different scenarios where any one of Langford, Smith, Draper and O'Sullivan get through to our pick.

Assuming north are unable to trade down past our first pick, and take Tauru 5 - Jagga 9 - Bo Allen others I wouldn’t be disappointed with would be Draper or Langford at 5, and Travaglia, Reid or Smilie (unlikely gets there) at 9

Please don't be self-deprecating. Your butterfly wing flap may have contributed to our next Flag.

None of them currently play midfield. Salem will never be a consistent mid. Jury is out on McVee as a mid, windsor potentially.

The most vital thing for us is Norf retaining a pick ahead of 5, whether that's pick 2 or acquiring 4

Certainly been a lot of talk of late that Smith could be our pick. With Jason Taylor confirming that we'll be drafting mids in the draft, a Smith/Allan/Langford/Smillie or even Haynes combo would be a huge win for us.

He is a managing director at his place of work, he was the obvious choice as stand in president as he was a former favorite player and supporters know him more than other board member, and yes he is doing well so far.

That first four seems to be coming up again and again. I wonder if it's just about set... or are people just assuming Adelaide will go for the South Australian?

Not sure I’m on the same page as you on May…. Reckon he might be more of a leadership problem than a talent in our side, particular outside of game time. I acknowledge however he looks like a leader on game day in the backline with the way he works with Lever to hold the structure together (whether that is valued or loathed by the club and his teammates I am unsure… guessing a bit from column A and a bit from column B though).

Momentum building around Allan … if we get Smith at 5, then Allan is ideal at 9

Reports from Echuca indicating he's working hard up there - Go Clayton.

Don't of course bring up the number of times quality players like him were, year in and year out, regularly punched in the guts or tripped or pushed into contests dangerously. The unfunny part about that was that maggots , for all that they promise to be "watching out for", are as blind as the three wise monkeys.

Feels like Green is doing a good job allowing the club to focus on what’s important by putting to bed some outside noise. 👍👏

The parties have come to agreement. Former President Glen Bartlett’s contribution over his long period of service to the club and it’s revival has been acknowledged and recognized and allegations regarding our premiership coach Simon Goodwin have rightfully been discredited. Let's move on and support the Demons as they rise to the task of winning the 2025 premiership.

Yes I believe he is, also hearing the same from others but if the club select him they are backing themselves to keep him

“I really want to be around to implement the review findings and basically provide some stability because the next six months is going to be so important to effectively reunite the club,” Smith told the Herald Sun.

Agree. If we reckon Spargo out was a major issue then we have real problems.