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To put this into perspective, you have to keep in mind that this poster also insists that Trump won the election, COVID-19 is a hoax/no worse than the flu and that there was no riot at the Capitol building this week. That's not "higher plane". That's a plane that lacks a pilot and has never got off the ground.

Make a blanket out of them and give it to your wife for Christmas.

Quite a punishing first 6 weeks for Goody and he’ll need to be 4-2 at worst if he’s any change of making finals and hence keeping his job. We need to be consistently ahead of the ledger all season as we have a penchant under Goodwin for dropping games to bad teams in the second half of seasons for absolutey no good reason and it coming back to cost us top 4 and top 8 spots in 2017, 2018 and 2020) (2017 - North and Collingwood. 2018 - St Kilda. 2019 - St Kilda and Sydney 2020- Sydney) We also generally have a poor to mediocre first 5 to 6 rounds under Goodwin forcing us to go on 3-4 winning streaks mid season such as 2017 and 2020. The first 6 rounds are very punishing as follows: Fremantle - Will make us fight to the last minute under Longmuir. If the side goes to sleep for a quarter, we will lose this game. St Kilda - Were a pretty serious side in 2020 and will only go up a notch at Marvel. GWS - Have a great record in Canberra. Even better than Giants Stadium. Geelong - Always hard to beat but we’ve come very close in the last two home and away game we’ve played them at the G. A season defining game for Goodwin IMO and has yet to beat Geelong in the regular season. Hawthorn - We have no business losing this game and Goodwin has a great recent record over the Hawks. Richmond - Goodwin also hasn’t beaten Richmond and hasn’t really gotten close aside from a terrific game of footy on Anzac Eve 2017. He needs to beat one of Richmond or Geelong in the first 6 rounds to show that we’re on the upward trend under Goodwin and to take our first major scalp since late 2018. We then have 4 teams that are likely to highly likely to miss finals. A 4-2 or 5-1 start could really set up our season assuming we don’t have any accidents. A big first up 6 weeks.

Trump cost Republicans the Presidency, the Senate and the House. The orange narcissist actually did it. He made America great again.

Lol at blaming the hubs because these meatheads can't keep their [censored] in their pants

The one good thing to come out of this crazy episode is that Trump has alienated a lot of his enablers and poisoned any chance of winning the 2024 republican nomination. Lyndsay Graham, William Barr and Mitch McConnell have all turned against him. His treatment of Pence has been disgraceful. When the pressure came on, Pence acted constitutionally. He’s the early front runner for the 2024 nomination. And another good thing is that Ted Cruz has tarnished his credentials irredeemably with his shenanigans in the senate. That guy is as dangerous as Trump!

To say the coach doesn’t win matches is ludicrous in the extreme. Are we saying that Roos didn’t mastermind Sydney’s rise or Blight didn’t win Adelaide a flag or Beveridge get the Doggies over the line. Clarkson says hi in 08. Some clown just wrote a thesis trying to say a coach isn’t important. A coach is paramount to success...period

Well they've changed everyone around him so if we fail next year, there's only one change left to make

Totally agree about Hore. A good VFL player but wouldn’t have him in my top 30. I would also be asking Melksham to start in VFL and work his way back with a string of good games after is pathetic 2020.

Good lord jimmy, you seem not to have understood what I have said at all. Perhaps I was unclear, so i'll give it another go. 1. I just don't see how this theory can be correlated with our current state as a footy side. The theory is that the evidence suggests the coach does not play a very big factor in making a great team. Which to be clear, is not to say the coach is not important - the role of the senior coach in an AFL tis critical. But players make great sides, not coaches. And i don't need Sam Walker to tell me that. I have 40 odd years of watching the dees fail under some pretty good coaches (Barrasi says hi) and other teams win flags (Scott says hi) to come to the same conclusion . 2. The players aren't ready to perform consistently due to a variety of reasons. Sure, but at the end of the day they are professionals and just like i am responsible for my performance at work, not my boss, so are they. Once a game starts the buck stops with them not the coach. That said, I noted the coach is responsible for motivation and creating the optimal environment and of selecting the right players. And in response to you critique that 'I missed out' key responsibilities, also noted that it goes without saying that developing and implementing the game plan is a key responsibility of a senior coach. 3. You speak about it in such simple terms. Really? I wouldn't have thought so, but maybe I need to simplify things even more given it appears you've misunderstood what i wrote. 4. Using your example of the two games that in your view were the reason we didn't play finals last year, your diagnosis is that the players simply didn't 'turn up'..?! Where did I say those two games were the reason we didn't play finals last year? I mean, I might have at the time, given losing those two games were in fact the reason we didn't play finals (personally I think the dogs game was the killer), but not in this thread. And why are you using quotes around the phrase 'turn up'? Are you quoting me? If so, i'm not sure why given I never wrote those words. Perhaps they were paraphrasing quotes, if there is such a thing. If so, still wrong, given my 'diagnosis' for the two losses in Cairns was not 'the players simply didn't turn up'. What I did say was that the players were clearly not switched on. That is on them as pros. Unforgivable. Particularly the second game. But sure let them off the hook and blame Goody. I'm sure the players would love that. Or at least some. Steve may not so much. But the players not being ready to play a season defining game was not the only 'diagnosis' for losing those games. I also said the players were simply too lazy to stop Freo's spread, just as they were against the dogs, and against the Swans they played stupid football in the wet and windy conditions. I also noted that once a game starts it is 95%, maybe more, on the players. Sure that is subjective, but I stand by it and I'm glad to have Sir Alex Ferguson (and any number of other coaching luminaries) in my corner on that. And by the by the other 5% provides plenty of scope for the coach to be the reason a team losses a given game. 5. It's far more nuanced. Good to know, i'll factor that into my analysis of footy from now on. 6. Just as it was when we consistently played an underdeveloped and underperforming Oscar McDonald for the amount of time we did in our side. These things fall on Goodwin. Selection, gameplan, connection, player positions, gameday strategy, messaging, communication etc etc. You seem not to be able to let Omac go. Touching. I totally agree that selection, game plan, connection, player positions, gameday strategy, messaging, communication etc fall on Goodwin as coach. But not being facetious here (i promise) - it would be too simple to say it falls totally on him (noting that you didn't say that). There are many other pieces of the puzzle and other people who have key responsibilities, which is why we have spent big on getting people like yze to the club. 7. Honestly, use google to find the evidence binman. It's there. And if you didn't hear it, then maybe you don't watch enough football. People from Ross Lyon to Jason Dunstall and many in between have made comment on how easy we are to play against. What is this business about evidence of people saying we are easy to play against? You're right, there's probably plenty of examples to back up that argument. But that is not the the assertion I asked for evidence of. Your assertion I asked you to provide some evidence for was (my emphasis): 'there are many footy experts both in the media and or who work within the AFL who know full well that Goodwin's shortcomings as a coach in a variety of areas are the main contributing factor as to why we are a middle of the road side right now'. And, no i won't do the work to find the evidence. You can do that. 8. A head coach takes full responsibility for moulding a team over a period of time to play a certain way. He/she might well do and as Old Dee noted the buck stops with the head coach. Which is why, historically they get sacked when success doesn't come (by the by this seems to be shifting somewhat - Hardwick being the obvious example - as AFL clubs start to realise the coach isn't the key factor at play). But whilst they might take full responsibility, they are not in fact fully responsible for moulding a team over a period of time to play a certain way. Sure they are the most important element but as I noted there are many other pieces of the puzzle. For example Jennings had fair bit of responsibility for our game plan up to the end of 2018, McCartney was critical in terms of instilling a certain approach and guys like Yze and Williams will have similar responsibilities. 9. He has been too slow to make change to the list in general, positional change and change in the way play. I agree that under goody (and Roos) the club has recruited too many similar type players - contested ball winners. And that we have not recruited enough outside players or elite kicks. That's not all on him - again there is a team behind such decisions but he sets the agenda no doubt. But collectively they brought in Lever and May to address the defensive weaknesses you highlighted and last year recruited Langdon to fill a glaring gap. May and Langdon are probably in the top 10 players we have recruited in the last 50 years in terms of impact. And they went outside the square in selecting Kozzie and Jackson, two players with x fact that are a million miles from the glass eaters they have previously recruited. And in Rivers they have look to address the need for elite kicks, something they have continued to focus on this season with Bowey and Laurie. Rosman is another x factor selection and Brown represents another pretty big change to the list given it signaled Tmac was unwanted. So in the last two years, half of his time as coach, Goody has hardly been slow to make changes to the list. As for being slow to make positional changes and changes to the way play are we watching the same team? I mean seriously, it is actually quite remarkable how much our game style (not the fundamentals) has changed since Goody started coaching us. To be honest if you can't see that i can't be bothered pointing out how. But the players we have recruited give a clue, as does the scores we concede, how much we now score and our scoring to possession ratio, amongst a myriad of other indictors. And slow to make positional changes? Perhaps you mean positional changes during games. If so, then it is true he doesn't make many but it is really a subjective thing as to whether this is a bad thing or not. But if you mean playing players in different positions week to week, he has been anything but slow to try different options. Tmac from back to forward, Petty from back to forward, Gus from the center to the wing (and back), Jones all over the shop, Harmes mid/tagger/half back, Smith forward/back, Weed as back up ruck in 2018 and then not again, etc etc. 10. We've been losing in an almost identical manner for three years now under Goodwin, No we haven't. Goody has coached for four seasons. In 2017 and up to about the mid point of the 2018 season the common dominator of our losses was the best teams opening up and hurting us on the rebound by punishing us for our super aggressive high press and [censored] foots skills. We ran up big scores against the mid rung teams but the best teams not only beat us they did so by 5 or six goals. We then made significant changes to our game plan, stopped being so aggressive with our press and stopped running players of the half back line. From that point to the end of the 2018 season we became the hardest team to score against in the league. And in 2019 and 2020 we remained pretty hard to score against, which is reflected in the fact we have less blow outs (even in 2019 when we had so many injuries). Another difference to the way we have lost in the four seasons Goody has been coaching is that a factor in our losses in 2019 and 2020 has been our woeful inside 50 to scoring ratio. That was not such an issue in 2017 and 2018, when we were much more efficient, a fact reflected in our high scoring. So no, we haven't been losing in an almost identical manner under Goodwin, unless you mean the opposition has scored more than us in those losses, which if the case is an issue we have struggled with for 165 years. What i would say is there is certainly repeating themes about our losses (and many of our wins for that matter). Probably one theme that has been there throughout Goody's tenure is our propensity to give up runs of unanswered goals. And i would argue another consistent theme in our losses is too many lazy players who don't put in the required effort. Other themes include turning the ball over too much, gifting easy goals to the opposition and failing to hit targets inside 50. The other obvious theme in 2019 and 2020 is so much effort for so little reward. To be clear as senior coach Goody has a responsibility to address all these weakness and you could argue his game plan might magnify them. By the same token the player have to take level of responsibility and once the game starts most of the responsibility.

I once asked that the Club stop sending a scarf with my membership pack but to send me current year cloth badge instead. Then I would be able to sew this onto my scarf. Thought it would look really cool to have years and years of membership on the one item and would eliminate the issue of too many scarves, too much waste.

I would imagine being an AFL coach would put a lot of strain on relationships

I can't take seriously any teams posted that include Baker, Smith, Lockhart, or Hore. At best they're VFL quality players.

I think it is a low odds bet who it is!

I only heard a whisper... he has a job to do

Are they saying that the 3rd coach has split because of another relationship/s? There are other reasons marriages split and sometimes it's not even the male of the partnership caught with their pants down.

Judging only from highlight videos but Rosman looks a different type of player than Tomlinson. He has real speed and is athletic and agile. Tomo will be a key back and not much else I reckon ill let myself get carried away and be optimistic on this one

BRIDESMAIDS AGAIN by Whispering Jack Historians of the future will have little difficulty in finding words to define the year 2020. “Covid-19”, “pandemic” and “plague” come readily to mind. The Covid-19 pandemic dominated the year in every aspect of life and it certainly didn’t spare AFL football or the Melbourne Football Club. In the circumstances however, it didn’t treat it as badly as the Spanish Flu epidemic which raged a century earlier from February 1918, through 1919 and into 1920 when it finally petered out in April of that year. Melbourne was in wartime recess in 1918 but returned for a winless 1919 season and a wooden spoon. One hundred years later, the competition had doubled in size to 18 teams and the Demons finished 17th with five wins. Hence, the improvement in pandemic-ravaged 2020 to 9th with nine wins in a shorter 17 game season would on the face of it, appear to be satisfying, but it truth, it left most supporters with hollow feelings. We were the bridesmaids again. The year began with the expanded AFLW competition played under the much maligned conference system. The Demons won four games out of six to make the finals but, as in the past, they were routinely inaccurate in front of goal. They managed 1.8.14 in going down to the fledgling Saints (3.1.19) in Round 3 after early wins against North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, recovered for a couple of good wins but were on the ropes after a capitulation to the Blues before the finals were called early. A stirring final quarter saw the Demons 4.5.29 home by three points in the Elimination Final against Giants 3.8.26 with Lily Mithen booting the winning goal with 30 seconds left on the clock. A few days before that game was played the world officially entered pandemic mode and AFLW season was called off with no premier declared. Stalwart Karen Paxman was the club’s best player in the truncated season. The AFL men’s season was also called off on the following day without the announcement of a return but not before the Demons lost their opening round match to West Coast in Perth by 27 points in the final match of the round. The opening game was played to an empty stadium under new rules to enable players to cope better with the pandemic including shorter quarters. The AFL left it until half an hour before the start of this game to let the public and the players know and Melbourne capitulated giving away four consecutive goals in a few minutes before the first break. Over the ensuing months, Australians were asked to abandon their normal lives to control the impact of the disease. There was no vaccine and no cure, and like 100 years earlier, the people relied on quarantine, supportive medical care and the goodwill of the community. As the months passed, plans were made for the resumption of the season. The AFL factored in the possibility of further restrictions and while the eventual restart happened in mid-June, the worsening situation in Victoria meant that clubs were shipped around to interstate hubs, the fixture was changed randomly and willy-nilly. The idea of the football frenzy with daily/nightly games to compact rounds was introduced to ensure that the season could proceed with the minimum of disruption. However, the Melbourne Football Club was one of two clubs that simply couldn’t avoid disruption and it probably paid a very high price for that eventuality. After destroying the Blues in the first half of the return game and then barely managing to hold on to win by a point, the Demons’ third game was scuppered when Bomber Connor McKenna returned the only positive test of the season. Much later, that game was declared a bye with the encounter rescheduled to the end of the season, meaning that both clubs were deprived of a vital rest during the frenetic second half of the season. Who knows whether the benefit of such a break which was available to all other clubs might have helped the club across the line in those vital games lost in Cairns to Sydney and Fremantle? The club’s season was already on the line when it played its first game for the year on the MCG against Geelong. A sluggish start proved costly for the team which took time to get going and, in the end, a narrowly missed shot at goal by recruit Adam Tomlinson in the last 40 seconds was costly. They performed well against the Tigers but lacked the class to take advantage of opportunities to keep in touch and, as the clubs evacuated Victoria, the possibility of making finals was looking remote. With Melbourne moving up to its first hub home in Sydney, a minor revival was under way. The Demons disposed of Gold Coast and Hawthorn but then faced the top two clubs in Brisbane and Port Adelaide within four days playing out of their new Queensland hub. They nearly stole the match against the Lions at Metricon Stadium but collapsed in a heap to the Power at the Gabba drawing the ire of the club’s Chairman, Glen Bartlett. The tongue lashing had the desired effect with three resounding victories on the trot against Adelaide, North Melbourne and Collingwood that saw the club enter into finals contention. The Demons were raging favourites against the Western Bulldogs but a poor third quarter saw them tumbling to defeat. Melbourne was becoming a team of nomads and their next stint saw the team sneak home by two points in Alice Springs against St Kilda. With four games left of which three were against teams that were out of contention for the finals and the other fading fast, it seemed only a formality that Melbourne would play in the finals. However, there was a catch. The team had to dash across the continent and play two games in four days up in Cairns, the first against Sydney in trying conditions after a long trek out of their hub on the Sunshine Coast. Disaster followed disaster four days later against Fremantle and, despite victories over the Giants and Bombers, a ninth placed finish two points behind Collingwood was the club’s epitaph for 2020. Christian Petracca had a superb season and took third place honours in the Brownlow Medal along with his first Keith “Bluey” Truscott Memorial Trophy. Clayton Oliver was once again imposing as a midfielder although hampered by problem shoulders that required post season surgery. Steven May was outstanding in defence while skipper Max Gawn shrugged off some knee issues and close opposition contact to dominate the club’s ruck. Jack Viney and Christian Salem also stood out during the year while the consistent Ed Langdon was the club’s best recruit and gave great drive from a wing. First year players Luke Jackson, Kysaiah Pickett and Trent Rivers all showed great promise for the future but the experiment with Harley Bennell ended in disappointment after some glimpses of excitement for a reprise of the early days of his career. To make the finals, the club needed more from Tom McDonald and Jake Melksham who were down on their previous standards and it’s to be hoped that 2021 will see them back to their best. What to make of the coach’s year given the challenges of managing a team of nomads and life in the hubs with no second tier competition to gauge his reserve players? We could point to a number of miscalculations with regard to player positions (eg James Harms in defence) and team selections both early in the season and during the period of the cross continent games that ended in the twin debacles in Cairns. All in all however, Simon Goodwin managed a difficult task reasonably well and without too much luck. The fact remains that he will inevitably start 2021 under the pump! The club goes into 2021 with a key on field recruit in full forward Ben Brown, some interesting young recruits, a couple of significant coaching inclusions in premiership coach Mark Williams and former star Adem Yze and high hopes of rising further up the ladder. The club posted a loss of $2.9m thanks mainly to the effect of the pandemic but thanks to some fancy accounting and asset revaluations, we’re not supposed to feel too bad about the result. Like the feeling of always being the bridesmaids and finishing ninth on the ladder again.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/third-afl-coach-splits-with-wife-as-devastating-impact-of-2020-season-grows/news-story/e1a9388701124dfa8ef6fb92ab6ae07e News.com.au reporting a third coach has split with this wife but has refused to name the coach. Not suggesting it’s Goodwin, but....

Goodwin has 12 weeks of the ‘21 season to prove himself Winning is the Barometer

I really thought you couldn’t get more insane. I was wrong. Your dangerous disgusting piece of [censored] cult leader will be gone in two weeks, and the world will be a far better place for it. Let’s hope he ends up in jail where he belongs.

True - prior to his ?ankle injury he was really on fire. But, sadly, like #13Jako beforee him, he didn't handle injury recovery at all well.

Bills 34 Indianapolis 31 Seattle 20 LA Rams 31 Tampa Bay 26 Washington 28 Titans 34 Baltimore 28 New Orleans 37 Bears 20 Cleveland 24 Pittsburgh 26 I actually thought browns would win prior to not being able to train all week and missing their head coach

It will be difficult for him to change his match day, in the box processing of gmes. Goody a life time learner? I am not aware of any educational qualifications.

From what I can gather the big bloke with the beard in the middle tries to tap the ball to one of the smaller blokes gathered around. If the little blokes can get it they usually close their eyes and boot it as far as they can in the hope some other bloke in the same colour jumper can get it and kick it between the two biggest sticks. Hard to watch , rarely works.

The AFLPA was the worst thing to happen to footy. They are nothing but lazy primadonnas these days. No surprise that Dangerfield is their president.

Seems so P2J. Remember my old days in Melbourne at a local club in the eastern suburbs. One days training, normally Thursday night followed by heaps of drinks, be crook Friday and play well (sometimes) on the Saturday. Sure many of you did this.

Marnus is the normal one and a good guy. The other two in Shane Warne and Simmonds are ratbags of the highest order.

In Quarantine, enforced by Dictator Dan. I am poeta Credlin, I am Andrew Bolt. I am Rudolfo, I am looking after your welfare. I may even be Devine!!!!!!

Here is a bit of Jimmy and Joe. Jimmy’s daughter does backing vocals for Joe as well. What a voice, what guitar work!

Yes only first draft

I wont be surprised on the basis that the second wing role is clearly the most open role for contention in our starting 18 with no clear front runner.

I'd take Lever over Hore any Day. Hore don't make the 22 in my team

Historians of the future will have little difficulty in finding words to define the year 2020. “Covid-19”, “pandemic” and “plague” come readily to mind. The Covid-19 pandemic dominated the year in every aspect of life and it certainly didn’t spare AFL football or the Melbourne Football Club. In the circumstances however, it didn’t treat it as badly as the Spanish Flu epidemic which raged a century earlier from February 1918, through 1919 and into 1920 when it finally petered out in April of that year. Melbourne was in wartime recess in 1918 but returned for a winless 1919 season and a wooden spoon. One hundred years later, the competition had doubled in size to 18 teams and the Demons finished 17th with five wins. Hence, the improvement in pandemic-ravaged 2020 to 9th with nine wins in a shorter 17 game season would on the face of it, appear to be satisfying, but it truth, it left most supporters with hollow feelings. We were the bridesmaids again. The year began with the expanded AFLW competition played under the much maligned conference system. The Demons won four games out of six to make the finals but, as in the past, they were routinely inaccurate in front of goal. They managed 1.8.14 in going down to the fledgling Saints (3.1.19) in Round 3 after early wins against North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, recovered for a couple of good wins but were on the ropes after a capitulation to the Blues before the finals were called early. A stirring final quarter saw the Demons 4.5.29 home by three points in the Elimination Final against Giants 3.8.26 with Lily Mithen booting the winning goal with 30 seconds left on the clock. A few days before that game was played the world officially entered pandemic mode and AFLW season was called off with no premier declared. Stalwart Karen Paxman was the club’s best player in the truncated season. The AFL men’s season was also called off on the following day without the announcement of a return but not before the Demons lost their opening round match to West Coast in Perth by 27 points in the final match of the round. The opening game was played to an empty stadium under new rules to enable players to cope better with the pandemic including shorter quarters. The AFL left it until half an hour before the start of this game to let the public and the players know and Melbourne capitulated giving away four consecutive goals in a few minutes before the first break. Over the ensuing months, Australians were asked to abandon their normal lives to control the impact of the disease. There was no vaccine and no cure, and like 100 years earlier, the people relied on quarantine, supportive medical care and the goodwill of the community. As the months passed, plans were made for the resumption of the season. The AFL factored in the possibility of further restrictions and while the eventual restart happened in mid-June, the worsening situation in Victoria meant that clubs were shipped around to interstate hubs, the fixture was changed randomly and willy-nilly. The idea of the football frenzy with daily/nightly games to compact rounds was introduced to ensure that the season could proceed with the minimum of disruption. However, the Melbourne Football Club was one of two clubs that simply couldn’t avoid disruption and it probably paid a very high price for that eventuality. After destroying the Blues in the first half of the return game and then barely managing to hold on to win by a point, the Demons’ third game was scuppered when Bomber Connor McKenna returned the only positive test of the season. Much later, that game was declared a bye with the encounter rescheduled to the end of the season, meaning that both clubs were deprived of a vital rest during the frenetic second half of the season. Who knows whether the benefit of such a break which was available to all other clubs might have helped the club across the line in those vital games lost in Cairns to Sydney and Fremantle? The club’s season was already on the line when it played its first game for the year on the MCG against Geelong. A sluggish start proved costly for the team which took time to get going and, in the end, a narrowly missed shot at goal by recruit Adam Tomlinson in the last 40 seconds was costly. They performed well against the Tigers but lacked the class to take advantage of opportunities to keep in touch and, as the clubs evacuated Victoria, the possibility of making finals was looking remote. With Melbourne moving up to its first hub home in Sydney, a minor revival was under way. The Demons disposed of Gold Coast and Hawthorn but then faced the top two clubs in Brisbane and Port Adelaide within four days playing out of their new Queensland hub. They nearly stole the match against the Lions at Metricon Stadium but collapsed in a heap to the Power at the Gabba drawing the ire of the club’s Chairman, Glen Bartlett. The tongue lashing had the desired effect with three resounding victories on the trot against Adelaide, North Melbourne and Collingwood that saw the club enter into finals contention. The Demons were raging favourites against the Western Bulldogs but a poor third quarter saw them tumbling to defeat. Melbourne was becoming a team of nomads and their next stint saw the team sneak home by two points in Alice Springs against St Kilda. With four games left of which three were against teams that were out of contention for the finals and the other fading fast, it seemed only a formality that Melbourne would play in the finals. However, there was a catch. The team had to dash across the continent and play two games in four days up in Cairns, the first against Sydney in trying conditions after a long trek out of their hub on the Sunshine Coast. Disaster followed disaster four days later against Fremantle and, despite victories over the Giants and Bombers, a ninth placed finish two points behind Collingwood was the club’s epitaph for 2020. Christian Petracca had a superb season and took third place honours in the Brownlow Medal along with his first Keith “Bluey” Truscott Memorial Trophy. Clayton Oliver was once again imposing as a midfielder although hampered by problem shoulders that required post season surgery. Steven May was outstanding in defence while skipper Max Gawn shrugged off some knee issues and close opposition contact to dominate the club’s ruck. Jack Viney and Christian Salem also stood out during the year while the consistent Ed Langdon was the club’s best recruit and gave great drive from a wing. First year players Luke Jackson, Kysaiah Pickett and Trent Rivers all showed great promise for the future but the experiment with Harley Bennell ended in disappointment after some glimpses of excitement for a reprise of the early days of his career. To make the finals, the club needed more from Tom McDonald and Jake Melksham who were down on their previous standards and it’s to be hoped that 2021 will see them back to their best. What to make of the coach’s year given the challenges of managing a team of nomads and life in the hubs with no second tier competition to gauge his reserve players? We could point to a number of miscalculations with regard to player positions (eg James Harms in defence) and team selections both early in the season and during the period of the cross continent games that ended in the twin debacles in Cairns. All in all however, Simon Goodwin managed a difficult task reasonably well and without too much luck. The fact remains that he will inevitably start 2021 under the pump! The club goes into 2021 with a key on field recruit in full forward Ben Brown, some interesting young recruits, a couple of significant coaching inclusions in premiership coach Mark Williams and former star Adem Yze and high hopes of rising further up the ladder. The club posted a loss of $2.9m thanks mainly to the effect of the pandemic but thanks to some fancy accounting and asset revaluations, we’re not supposed to feel too bad about the result. Like the feeling of always being the bridesmaids and finishing ninth on the ladder again.

God I can’t wait to see BBB snaffling marks in the fwd 50! (And slotting them). What a difference a proven goal kicker will make for us, those games we get on top in the midfield and backline but either can’t take a mark or turn a mark into a goal. 2-3 more wins based off of BBB alone in expecting*. *I expected us to be top 4 the last 2 seasons as well...

In his interview Ben Brown said the deck was immaculate and the gym facilities top notch. Covid or no covid I think the team should be training in Casey.

I doubt that very much... as I understand it, he is relatively new to the game and was taken due to his natural athletic prowess. In some ways he is a project player, so I'd be a little surprised to see him get a game at all this year.

i don't get the love for hore... hopefully i'll be proved wrong but he was dropped multiple times as a senior recruit in his first year, finished the season in the vfl, and then was crocked the entirety of 2020 smith is ahead of him for mine by dint of being regularly IN the side last year seniors B: Smith - May - Lever HB: Rivers - Tomlinson - Hibberd C : Langdon - Petracca - Salem HF: Melksham - Weideman - Harmes F: Fritsch - B Brown - Pickett Foll: Gawn - Oliver - Viney I/c: Jackson - Brayshaw - Hunt - Baker Emerg: Jones - Spargo - McDonald - Sparrow magoos B: Jetta - Petty - Lockhart HB: Bowey - Hore - Chandler C : Nietschke - Jones - vandenBerg HF: Neal-Bullen - McDonald - Spargo F: Laurie - M Brown - Bedford Foll: Bradtke - Sparrow - Jordon I/c: Rosman

It's still pretty surreal seeing him in Demon colours, like im in some weird alternate reality.

if you have been there please attend Tigers training sessions

BOOOOOOOOOO!

Curious? Was Phil's full moniker Philip Hamilton Rhoden? Believe there was a previous thread on demonland regarding that 'gentleman's' professional activities.

i think the filth fans win the dropkick award, closely followed by the ferals

Billy Barrot used to do them as party tricks at Oakleigh in his later years, amazing to watch!

First level Public seating in the old Olympic (northern) Stand. I did not see my father much during the week but he always took me to the footy with his footballing mates. They were otherwise unconnected and all worked in different occupations. But they loved meeting at the footy. With a thermos of red Ned and also a thermos of coffee topped up with brandy to wash down the rock cakes. I remember the smell of the brandy always turned heads. When not at the MCG which always seemed luxurious, it was standing on beer tins in the outer at the suburban grounds. What a cultural experience! Drunkenness , fights and abuse from home ground fans. I first heard and learnt swear words and I think I heard the F word for the first time at Victoria Park. But being a young boy surrounded by my Dads footy mates, I felt safe and I felt like an adult. My whole week was thinking about the game on Saturday. By the time Saturday band around my excitement was palpable. Back to the MCG, the Smokers Stand seemed distant and not a place to aspire to. Stuck up, snobbish and rule bound. I remember one match when I was invited into the Ladies Stand/ Grey Smith Stand, with my view obscured by a post, surrounded by ladies with their blankets, the wives of the Smokers. I felt completely out of place and hated it. I could not wait to return to the Northern Stand with my fathers mates.

Never was good at English or expression could only add up !

Livin' the dream!

Get on board Brown for the 2021 Coleman medal. With a full 22 rounds and fitness , he will be a 70ish goal a season man.

The meaning is clear. We're going to push the envelope next season.

Not sure how anyone could be negative about this trade. Brown is the most productive forward we've had since Neitz, and we essentially traded him in for a pick in the 30s. We basically traded Preuss (a 25 year old ruckman played 10 games) for Brown (a 27 year old key forward played 130 games for 287 goals). Even if Brown goes at 50% of his peak output, he'd still be our leading goal kicker! On paper, it's possibly the best trade the club has done this century. F*cking stoked we pulled it off!