Leaderboard

The best mixed metaphor I’ve seen was on a list of soccer commentary gaffes many years ago: Somewhere along the road, the ship ran off the rails.

A grasshopper walks into a bar, the bartender looks down and says"hey we have a drink in here named after you!" The grasshopper says,"what - Kevin?" I'll see myself out!!

They're not even supposed to be on that ground.

Great footballer and an even better bloke! LOVED playing practical jokes as well! A few little known facts, he was an excellent left arm medium fast bowler who once took 5 for playing in Melbourne District team, and was a great golfer as well. His brother Tom featured in the interview kicked 5 goals in a game V Filth in his 26 senior games! Tom was an almost scratch golfer as well. Older Brother Jim was a sensational all round cricketer who had match figures in a Grand Final of 13/32. Jim also shared the new ball with Gladstone Small in Sub District cricket. All in all a very sporting family, all highly regarded by those priveleged to know them as fine people, and brought up by sensational parents! Great documentary!

That's my cue to repost this mashup of bar jokes and grammar nerd principles! An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars. A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly. A bar was walked into by the passive voice. An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening. Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.” A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite. Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything. A question mark walks into a bar? A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly. Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Get out — we don’t serve your type.” A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud. A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves. Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart. A synonym strolls into a tavern. At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar — fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack. A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment. Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor. A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered. An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel. The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known. A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph. The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense. A dyslexic walks into a bra. A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines. A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert. A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget. A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.

It took until right at the end of Robbie’s career for him to appear in a finals series and he never played in a grand final. In 1987, his last year at the club, the club made a late run for the finals and the theme at the time was for the club to “do it for Robbie”. The scenes at Whitten Oval at the end of Round 22 when we finally knew we had made it, were euphoric. But I have confess that we could have done it a lot earlier and better, but for a couple of odd coincidences - Odd Spot (1): Coincidentally, one of the other panelists on Episode 1 of the Legacy Series program was a client for who I acted in connection with a business transaction about a year and a half after I started my legal practice. I won’t name any names for professional reasons but he played in a drawn match in the final round of the 1975 season which resulted in his team keeping Melbourne and Robbie out of the finals (the Demons beat the Magpies in the same round). On the Monday following the game, the client attended my office and broke the news to me that he saved the game when he “touched” a shot at goal from a Carlton player in the tricky wind in the last minute of the game. He said he thought he might have been lucky to get the benefit of the decision which of course, kept us out of the finals for another 12 years! Odd Spot (2): Fast forward another three years and I’m now acting for a young footballer from Prahran who just played in their VFA premiership team where he kicked 4 goals in the Grand Final. He wants to play for Melbourne (I can’t mention the name for professional reasons but he became a football great who was a dominator in finals matches). He’s been knocked back after two preseasons with the Blues and wants to go to the club that his Prahran teammates John Townsend and Ken Emselle suggested he give a try. Carlton are bargaining for a trade - they want Tom Flower who kicked 5 goals in the final match of the 1978 season against Collingwood. It’s no deal. My client has to do the preseason with the Blues and kicks four goals in a quarter in an intraclub practice match that he was told was his last chance to impress the coach. His opponent in that fateful quarter was the club’s newly appointed captain-coach, A. Jesaulenko. The young player went on to play in four Carlton premiership sides including 1987. How different would things have turned out had he gone to Melbourne and played in the same team as Robbie all those years ago? Sorry Robbie and the Demon fans of that generation - I feel like I let you down.

Lots of players are still training over the Xmas break. I run or cycle most days and usually stop at Whitten Oval to do some stretches and I've twice seen Harmesy there with some other Dogs players doing short sprints and timed laps. Yesterday it was Tim English and Rhylee West doing the same. It's a lovely ground these days by the way and the playing surface is immaculate.

I don’t think Fritta was ever right last year, physically or mentally. Hopefully this year he is back to his best.

Firstly, Robbie played 272 games from 1973 to 1987 while Tom played 26 games from 1977 to 1979. [This part has been corrected] Secondly, a personal reflection. I started my legal practice in April 1974 in Murrumbeena Road, Murrumbeena and the first person to knock on my office door was Jim Flower (the third brother) who was collecting donations for the Murrumbeena Football Club. As he was explaining the purpose of his visit, in comes Greg Wells who was a sign writer, ready to paint my office signs. So we spent the better part of the next hour chatting about the Demons and Jim’s bother Robert of who he was mightily proud. Soon after, I got to meet Robbie and he was, of course, every bit as great a footballer as he is depicted in the program and, on top of that, a wonderful bloke. Sadly, the team rarely tasted success in his time and that of Greg Wells and, in the final quarter of his career, he was robbed by injury and circumstance of the opportunity to play in a Grand Final and possibly a Premiership. It would have been a fitting end to his career just as it would also have been wonderful had he been fortunate enough to have lived to see the glory of 2021. I still look back fondly on my first day of practice in my new office even though my bank balance after Day 1 was lighter by the cost of the sign writing and the $10.00 donation made to the Murrumbeena Football Club. This discussion has reminded me of a couple of odd circumstances that happened over the ensuing years which I will come back to later. But for now, bring on the tributes for one of our all time great heroes.

Mods, I think @Demonstone has hijacked @DubDee’s account!

An issue with Fritsch is that he is really only valuable as the deepest forward. He is not a great kick inside 50, is one sided and lacks the effort when the ball hits the deck. This means that he can be a liability up the ground and we need to structure our forward line with him close to goal.

Also the sound space wasn’t great. These are the little things they will get better at with practice considering they never bothered doing them much in the past.

They say it's a mistake to meet your heroes. On this occasion it wasn't. I met Robbie the year he died (2014). It was during an MCC club function promoting the new coach (Roos). My Brother and I chatted with Rob for a good 10-15 minutes. I was taken aback by how friendly he was. Nearing the end of the night we mentioned we had to go and he also decided to leave and took the lift down to the car park with us, where we chatted further. It was a wonderful meeting for long suffering supporters who cherished the memories of watching him play. He was just so nice. He is also without question the greatest wingman to grace a footy field. There are many videos of Rob, but I like this short one.

Interesting commentary in that clip. The club has been very vocal advising that the reported culture problems are massively overblown. Reading that a 'young teammate declares he is determined to play a key role in changing the culture of the club' instantly made me click it to hear what was said. Windsor doesn't actually say that at all in the clip.

The Robert Flower Terrace is a permanent fixture in the cricket club area of the ground and was an initiative of the cricket club. I went to the formal opening, as did Robbie’s brother Tom.

I have mentioned on DL before that I went to primary school with Robbie as we were both Murrumbeena boys. He had great athleticism even in his early years. There would be ad hoc football games from time to time at the grassed area at the back of the school. Robbie would jump over other guys heads even in those early years. We both followed the Dee’s and would talk about it from time to time and I visited him at his home a few times and it was always talk about footy and the Dee’’s. i was fortunate enough to be at the Presidents lunch pregame when the Number 1 ticket holder was handed from RDB to Robbie. Being an introvert I worked up the courage to go up to him and say: No one is more deserving of being the number one ticket holder than you. He thanked me and immediately changed the subject to me. Remembering me from all those years ago and telling Tom who was there that I was a Murrumbeena boy. I have always placed loyalty above all else and he epitomized that trait more than anyone. For those who weren’t old enough to have seen him play live you missed out seeing poetry in motion. He moved like a cat on the field, so graceful. Why there isn’t a statute of him has always left me in n disbelief. I hope it’s rectified soon. I was so sad that he didn’t live to see the 2021 Premiership,he would have been pleased and proud.Anyway enough of an old man’s ramblings. Rest welll Robbie MFC Champion. Edit is this afterthought: I have always felt the club have not done enough about a suitable permanent recognition for Robbie and his selfless service to the club.

The Legacy Series | Episode 1 | Robert Flower This is bloody brilliant. Well done MFC. Being born in 1987 I was probably at a game as a baby in his final year, but whenever older Melbourne supporters talk about great Melbourne players, it's always Barrass and Robbie. I've always admired Robbie more for his loyalty. 59 is way too young. 😪

i didn't know you were worried a certain poster might pay you a visit 😮 it looks just like one i keep handy 😎 great minds think alike

In other words he’s safe as houses

It's a bit sad to compare McAdam and fritta's intensity. I do hope Fritta comes out all guns blazing.

Hey all 👋 have yet to post in this, the crème de la crème of Demonland threads. Thought now is a good time to post something since it’s a very quiet time in the world of footy. This happened a couple of nights ago… Got Maccas DoorDashed to mine and noticed a couple of items were missing. This has happened before and DoorDash aren’t exactly quick to respond when contacted. But this time they were very quick and very helpful, which puzzled me. Then I saw the photo the DoorDasher had taken when he delivered the food, and now I think I know why they were so quick to help.😂 🤭🤭🤭

I see Fritta's position coming under threat if Melksham is banging down the door and McAdam gets on the park and plays with intensity that Fritta sometimes lacks.

Thanks for that information. Very happy the MCC did this in honour of Robbie. I only remembered that the MFC were going to put a sign on the Nothern Stand on game days “The Robbie Flower Wing” (which they were doing and I presume they still are) or similar naming to that, I personally would like to see the MFC for whom he played for do something more in his honour. Cheers.

It was but you were annoying me 😘

i’ve never been more complimented and insulted in my life 😊

Nasty comment!

Well you’re right he doesn’t explicitly say he personally wants to help change the culture but he does explicitly on several occasions talk about it being improved etc Either way I’m fine with that and I’m pleased to see some of our best players getting along just fine (it appears at least) and looking much fitter It is a big year for most of them after a few years of disappointing performances I'm still feeling good about my Trac Brownlow and the MFC making the top 8 double at $61. Trac is too good a player not to win this subject to him staying fit - the big problem - others taking votes from him if they are playing well - I’m ok with loosing that bet in that scenario

I realise Caleb is still a bit green but can we shut up about culture already?!? Apparently this is our goal now... 🥴🤔

I actually took a snap of this plaque in the MCC area on Boxing Day, roughly located from memory at Q45 I guess? It didnt actually say Robert Flower Terrace anywhere, but there were no other plaques like this around anywhere

Bartender, these peanuts keep saying how good looking I am, is that normal? Ahh, the nuts are complimentary

Well, that didn't take long. They've already made a movie about it. The good news is that Steven May doesn't have a starring role.

It’s there on MFC game days only from memory. (Which to those who dont know it was arranged by the MFC you would think it’s a tribute by the MCC) Personally I would like to see something else like an award on BNF night. Just my opinion to which I am entitled.

such different sorts of content being produced under the new media and comms head great to watch

He was loved by all including those that may never of had the honour to meet him in person It is unlikely we will ever see another player of such uncanny football skills and grace For those who saw him in the flesh we are all so privileged

Robert Flower was as artistic in his movements on the field as any great ballet dancer on stage. A wonder to watch! And I had many happy years watching him play! Within the cricket club section of the MCG there is the Robert Flower terrace, so he certainly has been recognised (and rightfully so)✔️.

Leather poisoning he gets that alot

The solution is AFL-related! No blurting! Please PM the answers for your podium finish. Shouldn't take long! HNY, enjoy: B - J Kolodjashnij H Andrews N Newman HB - L Evans J Clark M O'Connor C - E Richards L Neale N Earasmus HF - C Spargo C Curnow C Ah Chee F - A Neal-Bullen J Stringer J Ugle-Hagan R - D Cameron T Kelly W Ashcroft I/C - O Florent N Answerth J Treacy T Taranto (E. Yeo)

Great clip. Apart from his complement of overwhelming footy skills - par excellence - he really did have the best drop punt in the game and a great sense of space in which his wizardry could be utilised. I found it too difficult to view the whole clip - too sad - the memories hurt like hell. You are never forgotten, Robbie.

Does this take in consideration oa knee injury and lack of mobility in 2024. How does that match up with other mid forwards in the game? Being played as a KPF when physically suited to a HFF role? Kozzie and JVR are different types of fwds therefore they are not 100% comparable. How does all Fritta’s stats compare to similar fwds in the AFL. Including goals per game? Stats are great, but need to be used appropriately, and in comparison to similar types of player. Not with a small fwd who is elite defensively and an athletic beast, and a crash and bash KPF in JVR. Stats are a useful resource, but are flawed at the same time. Every expert in The game talks about natural ability to read the game. How do you stat a tagger vs a natural ball getting midfielder. Who has more talent to read the play and get the ball? Who has more impact using their strength? Stats are great to prove a point, but they don’t prove a point as AFL is different beast of a game. Too many variables as evidence with the interpretation, umpiring and adjudicating the game. Getting back to the point, there is no way Fritta gets dropped in 2025 if his output is 41 goals for the year. I suspect it will be more as last year was a poor year by his standards. He is more a 50 goal a year forward if you average out those stats.

With the things about Robbie they've got to talk about, and do - from living first-hand knowledge - it's hard to imagine how other reminiscences can match this. In this regard, particularly, Robbie02 seems correct. '...| Episode 1 |...' has created a challenging precedent for '...Series...'.

I have been a passionate Melbourne supporter since the mid 70’s. Robbie is by far my favourite ever player. Daylight second. In my early days going to watch him play was pretty much the only reason to go to our matches. The other team probably won but they didn’t have Robbie playing for them.

My early prediction is predicated on the following: At least 3 teams must go and in and out of the 8 each year. I hate Collingwood as much as the next person but it would be unacceptable if they don't finish top 2 given their recruitment for the now. One of Carlton or Bulldogs must miss the 8 due to at least one elimination final loser dropping out the next year (since we became an 18 club league in 2012) People will blast me for this but I expect us to miss the 8. Far too many question marks heading into 2025 and so many things need to align for us to win 14 games or 13 with an excellent percentage. 1) Collingwood 2) Brisbane 3) GWS 4) Fremantle 5) Adelaide 6) Hawthorn 7) Carlton 8) Sydney --------------- 9) Geelong 10) Port Adelaide 11) Western Bulldogs 12) Melbourne 13) Gold Coast 14) St Kilda 15) West Coast 16) Essendon 17) North Melbourne 18) Richmond

You want me to spell it out for you?

With our new 'recruits' Petracca and Oliver expect top 4.

Better odds of winning tattslotto, world peace or a Tom Sparrow break out year than our best forward ever getting dropped

Weddle is Jayden Hunt with good PR

You typed your post in ❤️ and 💙 and in the right proportions, that’s some serious commitment right there. Love it!