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Can report Shane McAdam is at the Mansfeild community camp, he hasn't retired.

YouTube his highlights and you'll see a human highlights reel (albeit a lot of his goals were from the goal square) Despite the fact that he couldn't kick more than 30 metres out in his 3 AFL appearances this year, I've seen him (in 2023?) kick a set shot goal down at GMHBA where the 50 metre line meets the boundary line. Basically the toughest set shot in footy. I refuse to believe that a player can lose his talent and ability to play AFL over night. Until he's off the list, there's a still a possibility that he features for us next year. Attending camp is a start.

Just get Jason Taylor onto it. He'll get us the best available pick.

We obviously have very differing opinions about nibbla's ability gator Opinions are obviously subjective, and when it comes to assessing talent of footballers will vary from person to person based on their own assessment criteria. But whilst we won't agree on our personal assessments, we can agree on agreed facts that provide some measure of objective data to inform an objective assessment of nibbla's talent. It is difficult to argue nibblas record in the bluey supports an opinion that nibbla is an ordinary player. Nibbla's record in the bluey in his last three seasons is 9th, 6th and 3rd. If someone was looking to downplay the significance of that record they might point to the strange voting system that probably favors players who play assigned roles. That's not unreasonable, but it points to the importance of the role nibbla played and his ability to execute. And it's worth noting in that context that arguably the most comparable player in terms of playing a similar role (and in fact in a number of other ways) is langers. Nibbla finished ahead of langdon in all three seasons But even if someone argued the bluey is not a great guide to ability, third is impressive by any measure. The rest of the top ten were, in order, koz, langers (who had his best season since 2021), Rivers, Mcvee, Chandler, May and tmac. That's to say nibbla finished ahead of some very good players. That doesn't happen by accident. Nor is it a case like bates finishing high in the bluey because we had a team full of plodders. Not many players in the 160 year history of the club can claim a third place in the bluey. Leaving aside the bluey, we have an even better objective data point - how the AFL 'market' rates Nibbla. The crows just gave us pick 28 for him. Perhaps some might argue the crows were prepared to pay overs to fill a need, but if true it again just reinforces the importance of the role he plays in modern footy. But really, does an AFL club give up pick 28 for an 'ordinary' player, one who is 28 and has 150 odd games of exposed form? Even if they really need to fill a role? I don't think so. Objectively, nibbla is worth pick 28 in this year's draft. That is a fact Again, langers provides an excellent comparison. Both players were late draft picks in 2014, both play a similar role and both player's one wood is their elite athleticism And both were traded to other clubs. The market valuation of langers was pick 22, 79 and a future second round selection. In return to we got Langdon, pick 26 and a future fourth round pick. Hard to line all that up, but hard to argue a straight 28 doesn't suggest the market valued nibbla higher than Langdon. And there a couple of other relevant comparisons in terms of the market vue of players with similar strengths and attributes. We traded Bedford for pick 44. And this year we traded in Sharp. For sharp, the lions received pick 49 and a future third-round pick. The industry, full time professional football people, cleary rate nibbla as much, much better than an ordinary footballer who will be easy to replace. Dem the objective facts. All that said, i wish nibbla luck but he is no longer a demon. Time for me to move on.

Interesting. iirc Sam Graham was Gil's preferred replacement for Peter Jackson. His last two AFL positions: afl-congratulates-sam-graham COO, understudy to Greg Swann at Brisbane Lions Graham has been part of the AFL for more than 18 years, with leadership positions across Strategy and Club Services, Chief Executive of AFL NSW / ACT, AFL General Manager Game Development, and most recently on the AFL senior leadership team as General Manager Tasmanian expansion. sam-graham-appointed-ceo-of-afl-nswact An excellent background. Helps that he knows his way around and has contacts at AFL HQ! Either Fox or Graham would be excellent for us.

Talked about finishing up some work for his boss. Heads back to Werribee for the family day. Does seem a ripping bloke.

Thanks Andy. Hope you're all well and have a safe and fabulous break. We don't say it often enough but you do an amazing job with this site and the podcast and it is hugely appreciated. Good luck Binman with pre festive season loading.

Best wishes Andy and to any other podcaster affected.

Hope Charlie has a ripper preseason and returns to the senior side asap. He is a smart footballer, always uses the ball well

This is a post from a St Kilda supporter on another forum re Kalani: ''Had a bit do to with them down on the coast and I'm 99% certain if there was a choice to be made, he would be off to the D's. However, I would be surprised if either club made a play for him. He is not particularly good, and the continued selection in various elite programs does nothing to dispel the claims of nepotism for kids involved in northern academies who have fathers from southern clubs. Talls can develop at different rates though, and there is definitely something there - but he is miles off it currently. Barely got a kick in local u19s this year.'' It's just one person's opinion, but it's good to hear a view from someone with no skin in the game. Let's hope he keeps improving.

It is unlikely that we will be having an end of season podcast at this stage due to a number of personal reasons.

Picket, you should give yourself an uppercut, but you'd miss.

Here is the actual extract from the Directors' Report (I hope the cat's OK?): $3.1m expense (including on-costs) relating to settlement of Angus Brayshaw’s 2024 – 2028 playing contract following his medical retirement. Whilst payments will be split across multiple financial years, the total cost (including on-costs) is required to be recorded as an expense in 2024 in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards;

Still pinching myself that he's ours. Just listening to him in some of the last few interviews he's done, he's got captain material written all over him. Level headed and speaks with maturity beyond his year.

Disagree on easily, but agree woey might be a good option. The role, often spoken about by AFL footballers as the hardest role in football, demands elite fitness, total team first attitude and discipline. I reckon woey has those attributes. In fact the high half forward role might be woey's best shot at being a permanent best 22. I'm not convinced he works as a half back flanker, nor a mid and the wings are taken. Doesn't leave many options.

I’ve taken step of locking this thread because it has moved away from its original purpose of informing Melbourne fans about Friday’s training session which was a largely positive one for the club. The club is moving on to its Mansfield training camp with the full entourage including the recent draftees expected to attend. It’s a beautiful part of our state and I look forward to more positive reports from those fortunate enough to make it to that part of the camp which is open to the fans … and please keep on topic. Thanks.

Not sure if it is common knowledge but Fritsch played the second half of the season with a knee issue that resulted in surgery at seasons end. He was pretty frustrated with his 2024 year but when you cant run makes playing the game well pretty difficult.

All the above?

The Melbourne Football Club has gone bush to a magnificent part of Central Victoria. The boys were photographed today at various locations around Yea - at Sacred Heart Primary School and at Yea High School. Tomorrow, it’s off to Mansfield for Open Training at the Mansfield Recreation Reserve (9am - 10am) followed by a Player Signing Session (10am - 10.15am). If you’re in the area, please report in!

WE'VE MADE IT!! Quiz in the Age this morning wants to know if demonland is a fan forum, tattoo parlour, seedy nightclub etc

Our contested possessions need a bit of work. IMG_8112.mov

I can confirm that he will definitely retire, just not sure when

Maybe he's retired and become a school teacher

Jefferson is ‘miles ahead of AJ’… One is a proven VFL player trying to step up to AFL. The other is a kid that is trying to step up to VFL. People are too worried about how someone enters the AFL system. James Magner had a better career than Jordan Gysberts even though Jordan was ND11.

Leave Windsor alone. He showed last season that he could be the winger that we dream of. Like Langdon, he covers the whole length of the ground. Why compromise his best position to try and make him something else. GO CALEB. GO DEES.

All the best to everyone, and thank you for running such a great site.

Thanks for all your combined efforts during the year, the three of you do a terrific job! Hope all works out fine and pass my best wishes onto each of you!

the ~80 thousand dollar desk. I've heard the names Stuart Fox & Sam Graham mentioned as leading contenders.

A good analysis. A couple of points: The Bluey favours players that play the most games or play relatively injury free. In any other season Petracca, Oliver and perhaps May and Lever would be higher up the board. Bowey and Salem also missed a large part of the season for those reasons. The Crows pick 28 we gave away as steak knives to Ess in the pick 9 swap. We fought hard to get better than pick 44 for Bedford. In the end we gave it away as steak knives in the Jackson trade. I don't think many undervalue ANB's contribution. But imv we don't need a player dedicated to his role: We will still have defensive midfield/forward tactics but I see roles changing as our game plan and ball movement (hopefully) become more attacking (particularly from d50 to f50 where ANB does most of his work). In the last few drafts we have added players with very good footy IQ and skilled in ball movement (McVee, Windsor and maybe Langford/Johnson). Other players eg Sparrow can protect the paths forward for Petracca etc. Our not so little dynamo Kolt, will dish out a fair amount of defensiveness and get in the face of ops. With a change of ideas from new coaches ANB's role won't be obsolete but I don't think we need to tie down one player for it. The ANB role that will be harder to replace is 'general of the fwd line'. Melksham or Chandler to cover this role until someone else steps up.

Regarding the way Lindsay positions himself for contact, I see that as more a way to dispose of the ball more accurately while getting knocked off balance. He prepares himself for the tackle / bump and ensures his hands are free and his body is aligned so that when the hit comes, his centre of gravity isn't knocked too far off line.

I have it on good authority that they’re all confident he’ll never turn the ball over again

Then they wouldn't be called highlights

Great content! But it’s now clear, as someone who doesn’t like being touched, I never would have made it in the AFL.

Yes Smith is already working behind the scenes before the handover from Green mid season.

I think it’s very safe to say that WCW/GW is a pretty unique individual, who has done nothing but provide virtually all of us with nothing but entertainment and joy. DL is such a better place when she’s posting. Why she continually gets “attacked” by certain posters is beyond me, and it is simply disgraceful. There is just no call for it, and why these snide attacks are seemingly let go through to the keeper is also beyond me. She was going to return to DL, but has now - thanks to certain cretins - decided to give it a complete miss. So, as she says, there will be no more GW training reports. I’d say 99.5% of posters will sorely miss her and her reports.

We don't need a replacement nor do we need a specific type of player to do the role. Our issues is our players have been programmed to be too defensive minded sucking the absolute flair and offence from the players themselves. Let our smalls just do their thing.

The first question is: Do we need someone to play that role? Methinks not! After all our game plan is changing, new players, new coaches etc.

Musings. Some really odd comments out and about re Dees' draft haul. So many of them feel that we should have/could have reached a bit with this pick to get Tauru. Or another tall with the Lindsay pick. But they seem oblivious to the number of talls we have on the list, even after the loss of, ahem, Schache and Tomlinson. On the other hand, we really suffered with the loss of Brayshaw, and will lose again with the loss of ANB, and it should have been obvious to all and sundry that once Petracca went down and Oliver stopped being Oliver, we were a shadow of ourselves. So I would have thought that it was fairly self-evident that the priority had to be midfield depth, if not midfield talent. Odd.

So Collingwood pole-axing Gus won them a premiership and put us into negative finances. And people wonder why I hate that club so much.

The Club has put $13 million into Casey since 2020. Just $9.6 million in cash/financial assets is currently set aside for the new home base. Caulfield has moved from Feasibility to Business Case stage - The Business Case will be undertaken throughout 2025, and if successful will be followed by funding allocations, detailed design and project delivery. Anyone's guess at the total cost - $80-120 million?

I miss WCW. Those that attack her should ignore or block her instead. We are poorer as a result of their bullying. This site has a history of chasing away posters that go to the effort of going to training and reporting their observations often using humour. It may not be to everyone's taste but that's life isn't it! The bullying must be controlled or many will give up.

Just worked out who this boy reminds me of and it’s a young Roland Orzabal, the guitarist/vocalist of Tears for Fears. Hopefully Xavier and the Dees can rule the footy world.

And you are despicable. I've had absolutely enough of the posters who disparage WCW/GW - it is beneath contempt. And moderators: how do you allow this?

This footage just goes to show how elite Lindsay could be and how fortunate we are to have both these young guns at the Dee’s.

That was brilliant. Or as XL might say, that was [censored] brilliant

So much more engaging seeing players be themselves rather than trying to concoct answers to statements-masquerading-as-questions like "you must be excited to be drafted to the Demons"!

No, they do print on the spot the moment their names are dropped. I've seen first hand the machine they work with. It's a pretty easy and quick process.which doesn't take them that long to get their names a pick on these.

2 deadset Rippers by the looks. The cameo from Smillie and the little cuddle with Tauru (thr 2 gippsland boys) - they look like great blokes as well. Hope our 2 can get them across as well in a couple of 😉

Xav dropped the F bomb a lot so he’s my early favourite They both seem so genuine, it was a great watch. Anything could happen but i’m getting Gus/Trac type positive vibes