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So Trengove has 30 touches and 2 goals in his 2nd full game back and half of Demonland is writing him off? I really need to stop coming on here!

The big fella would have celebrated a milestone today. He would have enjoyed the new exciting dees thats coming along. He would also be proud of one Max Gawn who is doing his number very proud.

And proof you shouldn't make wild judgments after seeing just a quarter of footy.

Sensational news in another game down by the bay. Frankston seniors who Casey thumped by 24 goals just two weeks ago have gotten up to beat the Richmond Tigers. Their first win since July 2014.

Jack Trengove has missed two years of footy, has played just 3 games in his comeback. Lets give the bloke a chance before stamping his papers as too slow and finished. For [censored] sake he has busted his arse to get over this injury and get back on the park. For that alone he deserves our praise and admiration. Reading some comments you get the feeling that people are actually willing him to fail because it suits their narrative.

Roos stated that the plan was for Petracca to play four games in the VFL before making his debut. The only reason he was named this week was if Garlett didn't get up. You should be happy the club doesn't rush in players and sticks to the plan. I'm glad the club no longer panders to supporters and debuts players too early in an attempt to sign a few extra members.

First bacon burger down before qtr time. Beef bacon onion coleslaw sauce. I opted not to include the egg this time. Yum.

The hardest conversation with a player is when he has played a role in the team and played it well and you are trying to tell him, despite all that, they are being dropped out of the team. It's easy to justify when it is a senior player like Vince or an important player to your structure like Garlett, but when it is a first gamer - that player will look at you like you a confused puppy. And I get the 'he is no ordinary player' argument but footy teams don't function so neatly. You have to be sure he has earned it, that the team will largely accept the change, and that he does the job. This is partly why our culture disintegrated under Bailey - players were given games on potential and reputation and it can be disruptive if it fails.

Haven't seen the double up in a while now (just [censored] with you Nasher)

BB I don't bring this up, other than to answer another post about the habit of attacking former players, which I don't like, as I said in my post, with one notable exception. I gave my reasons for that and if you don't accept them, so be it. You were wrong about the first reason you gave for his leaving, our club, it was purely the second, money. His behaviour was totally different to the three players you named, they were up front in expressing that they could leave. Dangerfield did not go for money, as he was offered more to stay. Ablett and Franklin were offered huge amounts, but their clubs knew they were going and in fact prepared for it. Our boy lied to us over and over again. As I said he even lied at Sydney Airport, where he said he was just going up for a look around and that afternoon was front and centre of their recruiting, having signed allegedly at the end of his first season with us, while he had a year to go on his contract with us, yet, with a CD already out, showing him in GWS jumper, which clearly had been done a few weeks or months earlier. I am allowed to dislike the way he treated us. He is the only past player who has gone to another club, that I have booed on the field. That is my right. I agree it was a massive win for us that he left. I find your last sentence extremely disappointing and in poor taste. That aside, hopefully we can catch up again soon, it has been too long.

What's wrong with commenting on an opposition player in a thread about games going on that don't involve the MFC? Did Jimmy run over your dog or something picket? the only soft person involved in this conversation is the hero who doesn't wish a good young kid well, he was bought in as an early pick, thrown in early and it hasn't worked out, that's life, we've addressed our recruiting issues, i have no issues with Toump whatsoever and always have and shall continue to wish him well at Port. But i am very happy to have Kennedy at the MFC

Uh picket.. the title of the thread is " Around the league" that's why i am commenting on an opposition player.

I'll get shot down for a few of these comments, but here goes. This has been like watching Melbourne in 2014. On the occasional moment you can actually see the play from this ground, it's just utterly frustrating because the performance has been ordinary. Got here at the twenty mark of the first and have seen two Casey goals. One from an impressive Weideman mark. Grimes is still just as bad at this level and Trenners looks as slow to me as he did before he went down. Can't see Trenners or Petracca getting in next week on this performance, but still a half to go. Still reckon Trenners' best position at AFL level is half back. Doesn't have the speed for the wing. Not in our current team anyway.

I managed to get along to training yesterday, for the first time in years. It is good to be back in Melbourne. The atmosphere was great, I was mostly just enjoying soaking it up and how different it was, compared to say 2009. All kinds of intense, much shorter time setting up and getting organised for each new drill, and a mood a cheerful competitiveness. One thing is very, very clear - for the full ground drills the emphasis was all on fast ball movement and not f'ing it up, and being ready to get back when the chain does break. There was also a lot of time spent on shots on goal from general play running to/across the 50. Or, as (I think it was) McCartney put it - "The ball is electrified! We want electric ball movement! Piew-wiew-wiew!" Like I said, the mood was energetic and intense but also pretty cheerful. As a side note, Alastair Lynch was waiting by the boundary, presumably for an after-session coffee with Roos? Next thing you know, Roos has taunted and called him out onto the ground and our defenders are training with a hall-of-famer holding the jump padding. Good times.

Gentlemen, gentlemen ... this issue is never going to be resolved to the satisfaction of all because each of us looks at it from their own perspective. I like Redleg's idea of catching up one day soon to discuss the progress of our team going forward. If you like, I can add to Blistering's story and explain why it is so compelling as proof that a deal was struck very early in the piece which left the club in a blind alley over Scully with no possible way of convincing him to stay and nothing that the club did with the kid was mismanagement. There were certainly mistakes made by the club in that era as there have been since time immemorial with many football club administrations and we can finger point in every direction but the club was well and truly ratted on by the Scully camp, GWS and the AFL over this one. Incidentally, I'm loving what's going on at the moment at Collingwood, Essendon and to a lesser extent at Richmond. May they all keep losing and may at least two of them do so this weekend because the unsuccessful clubs are where the backstabbing always usually occurs.

I get it that you hate the Mclardy Stynes Board, you have made it clear over many posts. As for the AFL giving us money, for whatever reason, I contend that it is the clubs' money, as it is the game, put on by the clubs, not the AFL, that earns it. They are the managers of the money, earned and owned by the clubs. They also, I note, pay themselves very well, for that task. More to the point, we are not alone in receipt of funds, many clubs receive money, some among the biggest in the competition.Why single us out, when we are given money, on the back of a trumped up finding, on a trumped up investigation, years after the event, years after the AFL CEO had stated on the record many times, that we had done nothing wrong, then essentially sacking people, with assistance to pay out their contracts. Before you post that we tanked, I know we did, as I have said multiple times before. We did something that was within the rules at the time, which several other clubs admitted to, by their staff, yet we were singled out, by who the AFL, shambolic. Anyway enough about that topic. You surely agree that we are generally given a poor fixture, that hurts us financially. How can the managers of the competition, therefore not give some compensation to those disadvantaged by a rigged fixture, that advantages some and hurts others? Certainly not equal treatment of clubs, effecting their ability to perform and even stay in business. I thought you were one of the proponents,that blamed the AFL in the Bombers saga, among other issues. Is the AFL not a shambolic manager then, when we see all of the fiascos they create? If you cannot accept that TS left for money and cling to some view that other altrusitic issues played a part, I don't think there is anything to gain by continuing that discussion. IMO he left for money, dollars, riches and yes security. Yes I have often said I don't blame him for taking the money, but we will have to disagree on that, as you see him as a nicer bloke than I do. He has not demonstrated one thing to me in his AFL career, that suggests he is a nice bloke, unlike so many other AFL players that I have met and heard about. Lastly, we are not under AFL management. Are you suggesting all of our operating decisions are only reached with AFL approval? PS. You haven't responded to my post that your suggestion that "I would blame TS for Jimmy's death" was in poor taste. Do you agree it was in poor taste? PPS. I much prefer the non political discussion, but there are times when it raises its head, as it has here.

A champion of the club as a player and then did some great work saving it from extinction when he took on the role of chairman in difficult times only to be taken from us and particularly his young family far too soon.

I don't think there is any point preaching to the Demonland nutbags, as I'm sure everyone here is a member.... But if you're not, sign up! It's time for new records of the positive kind. While my very expensive membership sits quietly at home waiting for my return, I'm glad the money is going to a club that now seems at least somewhat more in control of their sh!t. It's not wasted money like it was a few years ago.

Yes, I would rather knock the player who lied to a dying President and Club great, when asked in confidence if he was leaving, as was verified in writing, by the said now deceased great's widow. The player then continued to lie to his club and supporters. The player then lied even at Sydney airport, when he said he was just having a look around and then signed the next day with his new club, which immediately had ready advertising material which had been done weeks earlier. No I don't blame him for going for the money, I blame him for his continual lying. Jeremy Howe was forced out of Melbourne, because the club wouldn't agree to the contract he wanted, even after he reduced the amount sought, after his 7 years with us. He was being shopped by us to the Suns and other clubs. He chose the Pies for less money but because they were his team of support and he idolized the Coach as a player. I know who I'd rather knock.

An interesting Brayshaw family story ~ Angus Brayshaw's close family ties

Feel sorry for Toump. Unlike the Mortons, Gysberts and Sylvia's Toump was actually one who worked hard off field and tried his best when wearing the red and blue. It just simply didn't work out. We all move on.

That team of part time VFL listed players are the reigning premiers.

not that hard

Don't care about the past anymore. No more grudges on my part. Just salivating at the prospect of many regular wins, a decent 2017 draw, finals and premierships to come. And also the prospect of Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon and Carlton becoming known as the Tetralogy Of Failure.

Except Petracca, by the sounds of it!I Love the story, Ron. It has no relationship whatsoever with reality, but I still love it.

How does a club like Hawthorn who's won the past three premierships and has over 70,000 members only get 45,000 people to a Friday night game?

I was in both Beijing and Shanghai not all that long ago and I have come to believe that the experiment of playing a game there, no matter how lucrative for the clubs involved, is in the present climate, a potential disaster for the clubs involved. Whilst the Chinese economy has been booming during periods when other economies have struggled, there have been recent signs of economic slowdown. The progression from a socialist society into a combination unique to China of the old with capitalism is bringing its own problems and then there is the environment. Who is going to construct a stadium to meet the specifications and size for AFL and who can guarantee clean air for the participants? Beijing is one of the most heavily polluted cities on this planet and Shanghai is not far behind. Large numbers of people get around wearing face masks to assist breathing and also apparently to ward off infectious air borne diseases (nobody's sure how effective they are). We were in Shanghai for two or three days and never saw sunshine - the city was shrouded in a dull fog most of the time. Our guide, a well educated man who had good contacts told us that the authorities released dodgy figures of smog readings which are bad enough in themselves but the real figures are much worse and whilst other Asian countries are trying to clean up their acts in this area, the government in China lags far behind. The AFL did not hesitate when the CAS sanctions were handed down against Essendon, to cite health and safety reasons in order to give the Bombers massive concessions to enable them to prop up their team. I wonder if the AFL will take the same concerns with it into the China project. Will it undertake studies into the pollution issues? Can it trust the authorities to provide decent grounds, issue visas etc for the games to go ahead and will they stick to their promises noting the stories about the ground set aside for football during the Melbourne experiment of five or six years ago remains untouched to this day. I suspect that this all boils down to one thing in the end and that's money. The health and safety of the players and the interests of those who follow the game can be damned as usual.

One Watts will do.

After all Biff, the Greeks invented sex, but the Italians introduced women to it.

He didn't really lose his forearm, it's just being covered by the ball.

And the radio guys have now picked up on Trenners name after I had a go at the boundary rider.

Loving the clarity of sound in the huddle of the throat clearing and nose blowing. Almost HD. Enjoy your dinner.

Agreed. He redefines the location of the left field with most of his posts and I have noticed his absence

Can' t wait. I loved the pre game formalities last year and loved the end result. I never need an excuse to stand up and sing the national anthem - apologises in advance to anyone sitting in level one in the members. Singing is not one of my finer points.

Am I right in assuming that the VFL free to air games won't be shown until round 4? If so its pretty [censored] poor by channel 7. They were supposedly championing their promotion of the local game when purchasing the TV rights. I preferred the abc at least you knew a game would be broadcast every Saturday afternoon.

We're not "under AFL management".

BTW, when one contemplates the scenario, that a down on its knees club, on draft night parading its star recruit on stage live on TV across the country and then the head of the competition, the AFL, is complicit, while that players is in the first 11 months of a 2 year contract with his club, in luring him to another club, with the use of competition money. I find that disgusting, dishonest, treacherous and behaviour that should have led to the resignation of the AFL executive officers from the game. Yes we ended up well out of the deal, but that is not the point. PS. The same AFL, that later singled us out for a tanking inquiry, despite several other clubs doing the same thing and acknowledging it through their people, ( Eddie and Libba for example ) and then penalizing us on a made up charge, despite beating the tanking. Shambolic management.

I both agree and disagree Jaded. If us hard-core Demons had failed to stick fat during the dark times, there may not have been any sh!t left to get under control, so it can be regarded money well spent! .......... and as a consequence of our loyalty and die-hard attitude, the Football Gods will soon compensate us for the unprecedented and 'never-to-be-repeated', pain and suffering we have been forced to endure. It will need to be a bountiful feast!

It fascinates me when people fail to grasp the concept that players being fatigued at this stage of the season has nothing to do with how many games they have played, but rather the effect experienced by the reduced interchange cap and the additional running required during the course of a match as a result.

I have said it before and will repeat it. The whole pre match (for weeks) ritual of somehow equating what these young men, from whatever teams, playing a game of football to heroism of war just turns my stomach. To hear the word 'hero' used for footballers any day of the year is just plain overkill, but on ANZAC Day it is an insult to all who have been involved with war at any time and in any way, be it as military participants or as civilians caught in the sandwich. Sure it takes courage to take the field, but FFS nobody is shooting at them or bayoneting them and if they break a leg they are rushed off to have modern first class treatment immediately. Just get some perspective and cut the hype

Just when you think the enjoyment of the game is moving forward the umpires step in and put a halt on it. [censored] insipid how that did not pay holding the ball. [censored] need to wake up to themselves and learn to properly umpire the game. Two games the hawks have been gifted wins. Watch the media and commentators come out and say what a great job the umpiring has been so far.

You have many likes, but I must say that I can't say I see the profundity others do. He is not "just another draftee that shows promise".

As I knew. When Trac is ready they will make a big deal about it and he will play. No issues leaving him out. I'm all for making sure he is fit and firing. Pressure on this kid is massive. If he comes in and blows up in the first quarter, imagine the reaction. As for resting Oliver, kid came in without the best fitness base having lost weight to get drafted. He did really well to force himself into the side, but he can barely crack 70% TOG. Wouldn't surprise me if he's feeling sore and they're worried about overuse injuries. How furious would we be if they played him and he broke down with a groin injury or a hamstring injury? Better to be cautious with these guys. They are the future and precious commodities. No need to rush them.

Just be thankful we have B.Gale and PJ reinforcing the ANZAC Eve blockbuster, alternating home game status each year, plus the QB blockbuster. Happy with our 2 Blockbusters. That's two more than the likes of StKilda, Nth Melb, Western Bulldogs.

I love the wild imagination of some on here. One photo of Garland's arm around him and it's "he can sook off in to the VFL...", "he's probably ripping apart a yelliw pages" (?!) and even "his whole generation are sooks"! More likely: he was told yesterday that he wouldn't play, Jeffy is fit, and ANB is the resting emergency, and all his attention and focus goes to the Casey game tomorrow night, just as it has every week so far. I know that probably isn't as exciting though.

.

Rather than knock Scully perhaps we should have paid more attention to him. He left because we were a dysfunctional and unprofessional club run by a bunch of half wits who took us to depths rarely seen and he wanted better. Now there is a shooting offence. He accepted a once in a lifetime offer to secure the future of his family and particularly his sister. What a shocking person. He delivered us Hogan - I'm looking for the downside here. His behaviour regarding leaving was no different to Ablett, Dangerfield and Franklin. Really, life is too short to carry on with this sort of stuff so long after the event. It was a massive win for us. The way you're going on Red you'll blame him for Jimmy's death soon.

Jeremy has done us a favour. We should thank him. In fact we should thank $cully, Clark and $ylvia as well. They have all done us favours.