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Normally I take the time trials with a grain of salt (after all, ANB is currently our best runner), but I think it will be really interesting to see if tmac is back close to the levels he was at a few years ago. That could be a portent of a much improved year. With reduced interchange, I reckon having a player who can play key forward or back, a few minutes in the ruck, and possibly even pinch hit on the wing could give us valuable insurance on match day and more flexibility with team selection.

Separation from op and running patterns would be fairly essential tools in a key forward's kit bag. It beggars belief that going into his 7th year the club has not provided this (or if it has, not sufficiently) and he feels he needs to seek it out for himself. He said in another interview that he was trying to learn what to do from Steven May which has some merit but not a substitute for good coaching. It all makes me wonder if we had a development plan for Sam or it has been left to chance. One could be forgiven for thinking his development has been collateral damage of not having an experienced forward coach nor a consistent one for most of his time at the club. Its hard to develop confidence if you aren't very sure on what to do or how to do it. Hopefully, this is a turning point for him. And hopefully, his up field teammates learn what Sam's running patterns will be so they can anticipate ball placement.

Sometimes it is in his head and not skill based. Getting confidence could be a big step towards clunking them. He is quite intelligent and reflective. He knows the problem he has of not being clean. Acknowledgement is a first step to change. He mentioned the marking and fear of the big boys to me in his first year on the paddock (just a passing comment which did surprise me). His body is stronger now and he appears ready to impose himself. He is clean at ground level. Hoping he can do the aerial thing as well, and 2021 is his year.

Clayton Oliver by quite a way...

Not sure that's true considering the price we pay for him.

Here are highlights ( with English commentary!): Sinead Goldrick ( 7), Niamh McEvoy ( 14), and Lauren ( Speccie) McGee (8) are our girls..... McGee gets a yellow card in the last 30 seconds, but if she was playing AFL would get a crowd cheer instead.....Goldrick shows her AFL level skills multiple times, and there is no doubt about the fitness of any of the girls, in this game they run all the time.

One of my greatest days as a dees supporter at the QB and Wiz gets dragged and replaces Ben Beams. I was there with 2 Collingwood supporters with 40 mins left in the game!

Club has actively been trying to get Brown involved in some way for a few months, at one stage the rumour was a board position was on offer. Fingers crossed this is a hint/step towards more official involvement from him.

Thank you Debra and the Brayshaws plus all the other host families and player sponsors for the Dees. A most underrated and valuable resource which must give much comfort to all Footballers families and faith in our Club. Well done Dees !!

I think positioning and not getting enough easy ball are far bigger problems for Weid than toughness or presence. The lack of reliable second option meant he had to be up the ground, and the game plan to get goal side for long bombs to the square left him sprinting deep. The Jackson - Weid combo worked briefly before Jacko went down. Personally I’d rather stick with that but the Brown-Weid combo should be able to produce similar results. But part of that is Weid finding easy ball when he’s up the ground or even leading inside 50. Add a couple of uncontested marks each game and another half a goal a week and he’s right up with the best forwards.

As long as he's not offering elocution lessons I can't see it doing any harm.

I'm married to a Wong, mate, and have Wongy kids, so shove that lazy thinking where it fits.

Fair enough, though they do seem close, and i think in the Media you would need to have trust.

Our batting has been terrible and it starts at the top. Harris and Wade should open the next test. Wade, the same as Labu can't go on from 30 to 40 runs. I would look at Head and I would give the unit the rest of the test series off. He is tired and being seperated from his family is not doing his head space any good. Bowling has been good but batting is under 11s.

The latest with Warner is that he still can't run properly. Not sure he'd be allowed in from Sydney either due to Covid. Still, the 3rd test is 10 days away so who knows Bancroft, Harris, Renshaw or Khawaja could come in to open and Wade is best suited to the late middle order. He's a fighter but not a A grade test opener Our batting is all over the place with Labuschagne & Smith entering the fray too early. Wade or Green but not both? And Travis Head looks completely out of sorts as well. The batting is a dogs breakfast right now and India only need to win this test (likely) and 1 more test to retain the trophy

Death, Taxes and the Browns failing to get the job done.

Bit of garbage from you there.

Welcome to the world of accounting....unless you see the actual book entries, you will never see the whole story. It will never be in the accounts, but the possible advantages could be: * rental at less than market rates for the administration offices. * financial support directly from the MCC, but this would be hard to find in their accounts as well * utilities costs? * provision of superbox at the MCG, at cost? * advertising material inserted into MCC membership renewals The pity is that the MCC has not provided enough to the MFC through its 160+ years of existence. We don't have a training base because the MCC only rented places like the Junction oval instead of putting up the money for a permanent facility. Ground advertising went to the MCC for MFC home games for years. Perhaps they can be "encouraged" to contribute to a future training and home base facility.

Surely can only be a good thing. If nothing else just to get a bit more mongrel about him.

So you're happy with Brad Green on the board, presumably because he's ex-Melbourne, but you find it a 'bizarre suggestion' that MFC would look to recruit a 3x Premiership, 2x All-Australian, 2x Best Captain, 3x Most Courageous, Victorian Captain and Hall Of Famer for a spot? I'm not sure many understand how AFL clubs are approaching football departments for 2021 yet. There will be plenty of innovation going on in getting people involved, this is one way it can potentially happen.

Brown was never going to be on the Board of the MFC. One of the more bizarre suggestions I've ever heard. I'm not sure many understand the varieties of skill-sets required to cover the board members responsibilities. And we now have Brad Green in place to cover the footy experience and knowledge portfolio. Brown would have been a fish out of water and lasted one term. Best not. Happy to see Brown in a support role with the forwards perhaps as a part-time assistant. He would be a great asset.

Are we reading too much into this? All we know publicly is what Sam said - ie he rang JB and had a chat with him. Saying that Sam is being mentored by JB is a bit over the top at this stage I would have thought - and heaven knows where the “ear massage from Roos and Lyon contributed to (JB) getting a gig” came from. The fact that the video was essentially about back yard cricket, with a (MFC) worthy football statement thrown in as an aside, would seem to highlight what the media found as more news worthy. I rate Sam, and would welcome him seeking JB or Carey or Lyon as a mentor as good news, but I just don’t want to jump the gun on this item just yet.

There is considerable financial benefit - not my place to talk to the detail but can guarantee that the Club is much better off being a sporting section that not being one.

wait, but Oliver wasn't even in our best 22 last year at some stages according to some demonlanders. LOL, you lot. Oliver is the best 21st century mid

He (Weideman) did need some work and as much as i hate to but i think Brownie having a little bit of ear massage from Roos and Lyon contributed to this effort getting a gig.

When Farmer left Melbourne it was the only time I have seriously considered abandoning the Demons. Such a gut punch.

Just listening to Angus's mum on ABC Grandstand. What a terrific person. Raised 4 boys, 3 to elite level sport and with them all out of the nest has taken in Luke J, Kossie and Trent Rivers into their home. An inspiration.

Raised four boys and now looking after three more footballers? Australian of the Year!!

I opened this thinking she had taken over from Gus to complete traditional 100/100s.

Mark Brayshaw played for North Melbourne and Claremont aprox 142 games in Total and Mark's father Ian Brayshaw was an all rounder playing cricket for WA and was an excellent player captained WA and played over 100 first class matches. however did not play for Australia. Ian Brayshaw is father of Mark and James who is a former State cricketer. A commentator for Afl footyball on radio and TV. Mark has 4 sons 3 play AFL footy and Angus Brayshaw is his son. Now that is an elite sports family. Debra Brayshaw has an elite sports family in her life and bet she keeps them level headed.

Banner worthy I think. The brayshaws have opened up their home to many Melbourne recruits

Jackson only signed a 1 year extension...the usual is 2 years which is what Rivers & Kossy signed... My point in regard to this is similar to yours, we win games & players stay. Jackson taking a year put's him in the undecided category.

For the record, it is absolutely possible to train 'tough'. Hell, you can train people to be savage killers if you're willing to go that way. More practically, it is absolutely possible to train people to keep their eyes on the ball when anticipating a collision, to initiate/respond to heavy body contact in a marking contest, or to hit a pack at speed in pursuit of a mark. These things are decisions and habits that can be trained and provide something very close to 'toughness' even if you don't have Jonathan Brown's look like he's about to solo wrestle and haul out the mad ram that got into the home paddock again.

if.... if tom is fully recovered from injury if tom has a good preseason and gets fully fit if tom can avoid future injury ....then he just might have a very good year. we know his best is very good.

A challenging year on all fronts, not just footy. I have to say to all on Demonland whether or not I agree with you or whether or not you agree with me one thing is for certain. Demonland has provided some sanity in a rapidly changing and challenging year. My thanks to you all. Cheers PF

Drink ? up. Drown the sorrows of seasons past...

If he’s any good, then we get rolled. NGA rule changes effective from 2021 draft mean any NGAs picked inside top 20 can no longer can be matched by affiliated academy club. Bulldogs we’re spooked that changes might come into effect from ‘20, but lucked out.

Just so you know Adem Yze was a very keen Dons man. However he finished his playing days as a one club player. 271 games. I don't think Salem is going anywhere any time soon. However, Interesting to see what Oliver is thinking. Hope he signs. Soon!

I'd start by reading RECLAIMING THE STATE mate. You're spot on about Australia's geographic superiority for renewable energy and even sustainable agricultural land. But the biggest hurdle we need to get past is the fallacy that free markets are too powerful and that the government needs to get out of the way. It is a lie and any possible situation you can think of, the government has the real control and markets depend on the government, and exist because of the government. Australia cannot be attacked on the foreign exchange, while we float our currency we will never suffer a balance of payments crisis and as long as we maintain monetary sovereignty (unlike the EU and many developing nations), we can greatly improve our domestic economy and then help others. When we help others, if we show leadership in the ecological space and provide financial support where necessary for developing nations to ensure they can develop their own nations without unsustainable ecological degradation, we can start to make a dint in the battle against climate change.

Thanks @dieter. I mentioned the ecological costs in my previous post. We need a just transition for fossil fuel workers and their families to ensure they don't immediately become unemployed, meaning our transition to sustainable industries would be negatively socialised. I've heard Bill Mitchell talk about a just transition, which would be anywhere between 10 and 20 years. You cannot simply close the mines tomorrow. You need to wind them down. Neoliberalism has had dramatic ecological impacts and if we're going to have an habitable planet, we need to deal with this, and quickly. Keating was a great orator but horrible on economics. His lasting legacy will be that he floated the dollar, but his deregulation of the financial sector, quashing of capital controls and wage suppression via the Prices and Incomes Accord of 1983 have been a disaster for our country IMO. Not to mention his sale of national assets like QANTAS (it'd be great for all those workers that just lost their lobs if the airline didn't have to run at a profit even in a recession) and CBA. He could also be credited with starting the depoliticisation of the RBA in this country too. The RBA is independent in name only, I may have written this already somewhere, but the RBA board is appointed by the Government, operates under legislation laid down by government (or politicians) and along with Treasury (the chief public servant in the Treasury sits on the board), decides on the Government interest rate. It's simply so politicians can defer to unelected technocrats that the RBA has been given any sort of 'independence'. As the former RBA Governor Bernie Fraser once said "Given that central banks are created by government legislation and derive their powers from such legislation, they cannot be completely separate from the government". That speech is available on the RBA website. Whitlam was a legitimate progressive, but his Treasurer Bill Hayden became a monetarist and turned the Labor Party into a fiscally conservative party that no longer represents working people. They've never recovered. The back end of the Whitlam Government saw the goal of tight full employment abandoned and when the Labor Party is telling people there is a natural rate of unemployment, then there's no chance of achieving what is laid out in the RBA Act legislation. What I've learned from the economics of Bill Mitchell and co is the importance of history and empirical evidence. The mainstream does not operate in the real world. It is based on a world of barter where money is neutral (anthropologist David Graeber's book DEBT blows this out of the water - there is no anthropological evidence to suggest economies ever operated on barter and markets have always been entwined with the state); households can make superhuman decisions all the time, based on information they could rarely predict consistently; there are no banks; and there is certainly no chance of an endogenously created financial crisis. The latter of course was how the GFC was created, with financial institutions expanding credit unsustainably across the financial sector. That is, because central banks cannot control demand for deposits in private banks, the endogenous demand for credit by households and businesses can drive private debt to unsustainable levels. This IMO is where Australia is currently at. Finally, the con of neoliberalism and its supposed free market approach without government intervention is that in order to privatise and deregulate, you need the government as a massive player to kick start anything. As for profits and wealth creation, it needs the government spending big to the rich in order to operate.

Simply having them out there will do it for me.That and a win. Besides, the opening round usually throws up some surprises.

We don't need China. This is what RECLAIMING THE STATE shows us. Neoliberalism has taught us that we need globalisation to deliver prosperity and that the nation state cannot compete with the power of global markets, but that's utter rubbish. Apart from the ecological costs of continued mining, we need to reorientate our economy around the domestic and ensuring tight full employment and prosperity for Australians. The RBA Act 1959 specifically states all this. We need leaders who are prepared to ingest in Australians and ensure workers have jobs, rather than multinationals maximising their profits. China have managed their exchange rate brilliantly. They are a rare example, but they are still incredibly beholden to the US. Their currency has an unusual peg to the USD, but nevertheless a peg. So they're essentially operating in fixed exchange paradigm. Their working population gives them a great advantage though as you say. Labor is making noises about pivoting towards making things in Australia and full employment, but given who their economic advisors are at Federal level, I don't see how they're going to manage any of that.

we can match salem if he is offered a contract by another club like you, he's a must-keep for mine

If he says there is no fiscal policy that can replicate what the World Wars did, I'd say he is utterly wrong. Firstly, the lack of adequate fiscal policy and regulation over the private banking sector caused the 1929 crash. Secondly, the fiscal policy position taken by governments post WW2 was a full employment agenda. That agenda is still absolutely possible, but what happened eventually is that the market lost its discipline and so slowly lobbied for deregulation in search of higher profits. Things that were previously illegal were now okay and the financial system grew increasingly unstable. This is why I follow Minsky and his disciples. His belief was that stability breeds instability in the capitalist system. He was a Wall Street insider and had a very good handle on private banking and central banking operations. He said that the Kennedy jobs program would fail in the 60s because there was no employer of last resort. He was right. He was big on the lender of last resort too, in terms of the central bank stepping up and backstopping the system from failing. He would not have liked what the US did in response to the GFC though. He'd be shaking his head at Frydenberg's approach to the banking sector also. That guy is a deadset loser. I wouldn't let him handle my company accounts, let alone the country's. He even managed to get the Herald Sun off side by trying to run a surplus in 2018-2019 that triggered two per capita recessions and he didn't even managed to run one. I will be surprised if the LNP in its current form and the ALP in its current form exist in ten years time. They're both utter disasters who represent no one but corporate interests, maybe some religious interests too and that's about it.

The government interest rate is now 0 and has been for a month. The Gov announced at the start of November that it would stop paying interest to ES balances, which was the last interest bearing route that was initially the support rate (0.10%) below the 0.25% cashrate. But when they announced that 0.25 cashrate in March, they introduced QE too, so due to the excess deposits in the banking system resulting from QE (QE is an asset swap - gov bonds or highly rated corporate bonds for new reserves in the private banking system), the interest rate dropped to the support rate 0.10%, which is what the RBA paid on ES balances. There hasn't been a real reason other than maintaining interest rates to issue debt since we floated the dollar in 1983, but now there is certainly no need to issue debt. So gov/public/national debt will start to come down now, as shorter bonds mature, providing interest rates stay low. The New Daily wrote this piece today about market sentiment and how market confidence is back and then proceeded to cite CBAs household credit numbers being higher than 13% at this time last year. In other words, households are driving the economy with debt. I read the Fin Review a bit and one of my best mates is in property and all I hear from both is deluded blue sky junkiness. I'm constantly saying, the private debt level is unsustainable, nah, nah, we're back on track. No we're not. 21% of new loans are interest only. As Minsky would say they're somewhere between a speculative position and ponzi position. And yet the Federal Government wants to continue deregulating the banking sector. Absolute nightmare on the horizon.

Yep, Reclaiming the State blew my mind. It really is the roadmap for getting out of our current mess. If you see the debates about China at the moment. We don't need China. One of the most dangerous things the Liberal Government did was allow Lib MP Andrew Robb to lease Darwin Port to the Chinese on a 99 year lease. The company it was leased to, he then sat on the board of after politics. It's utterly traitorous IMV. I don't mind Chinese companies holding state bonds or federal bonds, because we issue those in AUD, so can always pay them back. But I don't agree with the idea that we need them for infrastructure or resources whatsoever. The state has the power and crowds in with its spending. Without it, the private sector relies on debt to drive spending and higher profits. The latter is not always possible, because the economy is inherently unstable. Our Federal Government has the capacity to purchase anything available for sale in AUD. It issues the currency. We should not be selling bonds to China, although it's fine, it means they're looking to invest here. But even allowing direct foreign investment is a political choice. Japan doesn't. It's a very closed economy. I'd be looking at what they've done with their private debt levels too in Japan. We have the second most in the world to GDP, and the Japanese, the Brits and even the Americans have less household debt to GDP than we do. This is where the crash will come from - the housing market. As for Keynes, his General Theory, which inspired the so-called Keynesians is still an important work today, but Keynesians (neo and New) have bastardised the General Theory and Keynes' ideas. One of his fundamental ideas was the economy was unstable. The mainstream has completely butchered Keynes and as his contemporaries once said it's a bastard form of Keynes, with its roots in Ricardian Classical Economics and Walrasian General Equilibrium. The mainstream does not describe the real world. It describes a barter world with no anthropological evidence to back it up. But that doesn't matter, because it's just a story. It's wrong though. He effectively says that Friedman predicted the GFC and that the only reason the central bank targeting the money supply didn't work is because the central bank had moved away from it. For starters, they moved away from it, because it didn't work. Friedman used Marx's idea of Reserve Army of Labour and created NAIRU. I think he was a dangerously wrong economist whose ideas were proved to be incorrect within a decade of winning Sweden's central bank economist award (sometimes called the Nobel Prize - it is not a real Nobel Prize...). His economics are still part of the foundation for the New Keynesian movement. New Keynesian has its roots in Friedman's monetarism too. Deregulation has been an absolute disaster and caused the GFC. It's completely disingenuous to suggest otherwise. Keating, Clinton and Blair's deregulation have absolutely smacked our three countries. He had no idea about institutional operations, unlike Minsky who worked with private bankers and central bankers all the time. And Ferguson is an absolute hack, and either liar or deluded. He holds up his phone and claims the free market is responsible for it. Except that the R&D that took the chance on tech companies like Apple was the Government itself. The big giants all started with R&D grants and loans from the Government. Again, disingenuous. He also cites Krugman twice as some sort of left wing intellectual. The guy is the king of the neolibs and his career relies on continuing the lie of his economics. His quote from Friedman that he uses to cite the importance of the free market hinges on the corporations acting within the law. Moments earlier he talks about the importance of Friedman to the idea of deregulation. It's only legal if someone deregulated it. It used to be illegal for banks to deal in many things they are currently allowed to deal in, and yet those very risky practices are what caused the GFC. And yet this bloke is up there talking about Friedman and the GFC in the same sentence and not realising (or again, not caring) that his ideas caused the shift from a stable robust system of capitalism that gave us the golden age of capitalism, to one that is either in crises or stagnation. The only reason Friedman went mainstream was because the Neo Keynesians like Samuleson had no answer to the real world problems (like the OPEC oil shocks) of the 1970s. If they'd used more of Keynes' ideas or Abba Lerner's ideas, along with Minsky's, they'd have found it quite possible to beat off the inflation and there would never have been the unemployment that followed. Minsky was calling for an employer of last resort from the 1960s. That idea is today's Job Guarantee proposal. That's how slow this stuff moves. I agree with Ferguson on his views about the EU, but he flip flops so much you wouldn't know what his new view is this week. Yeah, we need to get serious about R&D in this country. If we do, we'll have everything we need at our finger tips. We need nobody and we do not need direct foreign investment either.

I actually really love the fact he wears his helmet mainly for his mum. The studies done on wearing helmets show minimal (if any) assistance to persistent concussion issues, but he wears it because he knows his mum worries.

It's true, footy brings out the best in mums.

I'm absolutely sick of it. It's bullying. It derails threads. There is going to be a no tolerance policy about it. I'm not going to be playing favourites about it either. If I see it or it is brought to my attention and espcially if it's from one of you usual suspects, and you know who you are, then you are gone. It might be a week, it might be a month, it might be a year, it might be forever. I do not like to do this and I hate that it has come to this but for some of you your time on Demonland is almost up. Last warning for everyone. Play nice. Play the ball and not the man. If you don't like a poster or his/her opinions then scroll past their posts or use the ignore feature. If you continually bait certain posters you will be banned. No more warnings. If you continually abuse certain posters you will be banned. No more warnings. If you derails threads you will be banned. No more warnings. I might miss things and it might seem unfair that this one gets dealt an unfair hand well that's just bad luck. If you don't do the crime, you won't do the time. I'm building a wall around Demonland and the Richmond fan forum is going to pay for it. Last warning starts now. THESE ARE EXCITING TIMES AHEAD FOR OUR CLUB. IT WILL BE A SHAME IF YOU ARE NOT HERE TO PARTICIPATE.