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Bit surprised people are suggesting players like Mitch Brown and Daw. IMO Fritsch is a more rangey type, good on the wide leads and flexible enough to kick a few opportunistic goals. I wouldn't be replacing him with a big lumbering forward. Put Melksham into Fritsch's role. He's better as a finisher anyway, doesn't do enough higher up the ground.

Can confirm this continued on after the game as Selwood attempted to have some dinner.

What I find even more offensive is the use of the word “hero” especially on ANZAC Day. Likening cushioned safe-at-home footballers, (sure, many are great athletes and show courage on the field), to even the lowliest of our serving military facing artillery, bayonets, gunshot and years of deprivation in the trenches or POW camps is just so disrespectful and lacking in any perspective.

Young volatile player is peed off with not playing finals, then subsequently finishes 5th in the B&F. Said young player who feels he should be more highly valued and is still feeling a little raw meets an opposition coach of a club that he knows is keen to secure his services. Rumours subsequently abound. But pretty soon he has time to think about his mates, the club, the journey, and the direction he's thought about for years. But the cat is out of the bag, so the rumours won't stop. This would happen all the timer every year. Did he get p1ssed off and think about leaving ? Probably. Who cares ? That's a million miles from actually doing it.

Picture this.... temperature around 27 warm , balmy nights and the Fence enjoying the majesty of a magnificent pool environment, does this sound inviting? Well I can tell you it beats the hell outa freezing cold conditions at CASEY FIELDS! But out here you still have to worry about slitherers but up here they are far more dangerous and bigger than their southern cousins, Taipans, Pythons and Death Adders are out and about but there is another.... more menacing presence .... which I will alert you to at end! Where am I?? Far north Queensland on Family business annnnd knowing there is a very very good local side "The Port Douglas Crocs" decided, upon hearing some footy sounds emanating from the local oval, decided to mosey on over... This team is the all conquering pre-eminent perenial premiership winners for last few teams and thinking that training will just be glorified Circle work well, you could not be further from the truth. SKILLS, DRILLS AND MANUEVERS Missed warm ups, probably coz ist soo hot up here you are already warmed up!! The coach was enthusiastic, and seemed to want to instill a fast free flowing game foundered on rebounding defence and quick ball movement. Some of the drills I have seen at Casey reminded me of some similarities at Dees, things like skills under pressure, creating options and space, pressure at the contest seemed to be the order of the day. Seems to be a very well run organised club who take their AFL SERIOUSLY, very seriously. Apparently many kids are interested and there is a 7 team competition. I'll leave you with this commentary that would not be outa place in Footy in the far north.. Centre bounce Pencil goes up, cleverly palms dexterously to top inside mid, Tank who transfers the air conveyance to free running and Hot..Sunshine. He gathers and evades traffic before sending a bullet like pass to Flash. Flash holds it up before playing on dodging weaving evading tantalising and mesmersing opposition before seeing and opening and delivering LACE OUT to competition glamour forward Sea Turtle. The turtle is a liitle too far out and decides to land it in the goal square. He kicks a big pack forms........ Annnnnnnnnnd Its ROBBO MARK 2 ( who followed the Demons all his life) and favourite player was Russell Robertson who launches himself into the stratosphere to Claim yet another MOTY Nomination... Crocs by 6 pionts ... 2 minutes in at that stage the pool beckoned a few glasses of cleansing refreshment and I left clearly impressed with local Footy Club Port Douglas Crocs Oh and the sign I saw at potential fishing hole was this FISH AND CHIPS MIGHT WELL BE THE GO I RECKON Cheers PF

Say what you like about Selwood, but he’s been a champion player, who has set and driven standards from the day he was drafted to Kardinia Park. Players like he Hodge, Hayes and Kirk are a rare commodity who change clubs. Would have loved to have had him

Our unofficial Grand Final of 2016.

"St Kilda have got to duck more here ... they need to pull something out, they should be throwing the ball at every opportunity ... the game is on the line, I don't understand why they're not whingeing to the umpires."

Fritsch and May out will test how far we've actually come. Time for Melksham to step up to the plate.

That was Sam McClure's gripe also. To be honest I understand why people would feel this way. Oliver still has a lot of maturing to do, and I think in the next couple of years we'll really start to see him become more level headed and wiser as he continues to grow as a young man. This is where Mark Williams will have a profound impact on him. Still a young lad just working his way through the system.

If only the VFL season had started so we had some players in form. I reckon M Brown is the best replacement without considering form. He leads well and creates space. Something a guy like Melksham doesn’t do

Fear not brothers, this is good news. Time for Mitch Brown to kick 23 goals v Hawthorn and win by 187 points.

Given all the speculation about him not being happy, it's interesting that he's not smiling in that video. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still meeting with Carlton.

AFLW Grand Final. Been slated as a stand alone game.

Find it hard to believe Clarrie has been false and dishonest in regard to the Carlton thing as suggested by another poster. Just watched the club interview and gee, he’s not overcomplicated. Seems very straightforward and enjoys mate ship. Winning is the icing on the cake. Anyway, we should be celebrating his commitment and re-signing rather than being critical about (what are only rumours) his dalliance with Carlton. We have all had dalliances when young, for some, even when we are old. They usually never amount to anything and don’t last.

Our new president has close links with govt, VicSport, Tennis Australia and the Tennis Centre Upgrade committee. If only she could convince the govt to include elite indoor training facilities in the next stage 3 upgrade for use by the worlds best tennis players in December/January and MFC the rest of the year. And surely there is a potential social club venue already existing in the tennis complex somewhere that could be commandeered for MFC in season. The tennis centre is under utilised for most of the year. That would give us admin in the Southern Stand, elite gym/training faculties across the rail tracks and a social club inside the Melbourne Tennis Complex and our training ground at Gosch’s across Swan Street. And I still think we should demand access to train on the MCG once a week during the season. At the end of the day the Tennis Centre is a huge under utilised asset, it is in our precinct, surely we could work something out with the govt.

The tackle then the trash talk has been posted on here and talked about a lot, but yes at the end of the half right after Trac kicks that goal Selwood goes after Kozzie and Oliver intervenes. Sounds like they may have been at each other all game. God bless Kozzie for showing no respect to that diving cheat.

Brad hill. So glad we didn’t get him (hindsight) as he is a flat track bully.

That's a tough one. I think he may be permanently concussed.

Should’ve traded him. But seriously, as good as he is and as much as I love him. It’s our 2nd injury since the season started. Players around the league have been dropping like flies. We’ve been lucky so far. A good team should cover a couple of outs, especially against Hawthorn. Makes it harder v Richmond but it’s basically a free hit. We’ll be right.

I still miss Pedo on dayz like this.

Yep, melksham is the logical replacement. Arguably melksham's best role is the one fritter is currently playing. Like fritter he has good hands ans is generally an.acuuraye kick Might be good for him too as the kpi is goals not disposals.

mayak daw might be a chance

In fairness to Oliver, he's probably had media training from the club as well as direction from his manager to go with a certain dialogue that would appeal to the Melbourne faithful the most.

All this talk on Kate Roffey’s credentials driving this issue foward - she has been on our board for 7/8 years with exactly the same credentials over that timeframe. Whilst I’m hopeful, I’m not sure her appointment from Vice President to President will dramatically accelerate an outcome here. In fact, it could be argued she had more time to focus on this issue without the broader responsibilities of President.

but as one of the others said he could have just been bumping up his value at his managers direction just because he met teague (if he did) doesn't necessarily mean he wanted out i imagine it wouldn't be hard to talk a player into "just have a conversation, no commitment, no harm, everyone does it"

anyone who thinks BBB is not in our best 22 as a walk up is kidding themselves. he could still kick 60 goals this season, two injuries in an 8 year career doesnt make u injury prone. and yes, i believe he'll get up for the tiges

Yes look apart from some key distinctions such as: • Sparrow belongs to the Family: Passeridae while swallows are members of the Family: Hirundinidae. • Taxonomic diversity is much higher in sparrows than in swallows. • Swallows are bigger and heavier than sparrows. • Sparrows have a stocky body while swallows have an elongated body. • Swallows make mud nests, but sparrows never use mud. • Swallows usually fly around water bodies whereas sparrows prefer to fly around terrestrial ecosystems. • Wings are characteristically elongated in swallows but not in sparrows. Once upon a time a Swallow at the dees might have been a nice edition but I'm quite happy with our Sparrow especially if he has higher taxonomic diversity.

A labor of love thanks Buck Is alot of what you mention the upside of the Burgess factor coming to the fore? Certainly in these games up to our neck aren't we. Let's hope that continues. Some lovely work LG. Would love to know who our best are at hitting up targets coming inside 50. Tracc No.1 at getting it inside as you have highlighted but from what i've witnessed i doubt he would be our No.1 at connecting. If he can improve this part of his game his impact will go through the roof and we might start slaying opponents on the scoreboard occasionaly. The other aspect of his game is decision making. Sometimes i feel he tries to be too selfless. Looking to thread the needle a little too often and trying the super hard pass. When instead he might be better off going for broke inside 50 and shooting at goal, even from 40+. He has a big hoof on him on the run. Hopefully this ability to decide when to share and when to shoot will improve with time. If we think he's good now, his game will go up another notch if he can improve here imv. Someone pulled out a stat yesterday on SEN that suggested that 90%+ of wins this year have been by the team winning the marks inside 50 count. They were highlighting how important the set shot is under less pressure which makes sense. The improvement of pressure i50 is a ripper so far. I particularly like the last two here GT. We have so often struggled with uncontested (spread issues) and we're presently sitting 3rd! The pressure side also. While not a new thing, i believe we were somewhere near or at the top in 2018 here, it's a fabulous sign albeit early days yet.

The day the 10 year fog lifted. A glorious day well inside my top 10 days (in 45 years) as a Dees supporter.

Yep, an absolute champion and an exceptional leader. Would also have loved him at the Dees. That said, I do get a kick out of seeing his face when we beat them.

What a great 10 minutes of footy, completely owned them. Ripper of a game. I believe this game produced this one handed beauty of a pickup from Clarry (while we're reminiscing) I'll be delighted if we kick 17 goals 7 this Sunday....

I totally understand and agree with @Pennant St Dee that Selwood is a champion and future hall of fame player who should be respected. However there is a strong distaste for him especially amongst the players especially within games. Every week I see players giving it to him. I even noticed Sparrow give him a nice shove after getting him in a tackle where he was called for throwing the ball. It might simply be that he talks a lot of [censored] out there or the well known narrative around him milking/playing for free kicks but in the heat of the game as others have mentioned these things happen. It's all part of the game. Only one I don't love is when a defender is beaten in a forward marking contest or gives away a free kick and while his man goes back to take a shot another opposition player will come and really rub it in. Unless there is malice I don't really like it.

It's the last week of Thursday night footy which is a shame. I hated it when it first came in but now I'm 100% on board, great to kick back and watch a game of footy on a Thursday, makes it feel like the weekends already started. Would be difficult actually getting to a game but on tv it's a winner.

I was travelling to Koh Samui that day. By the time i got to my Hotel, we had just won. Cold Beers went down beautifully watching some replays

Sorry to derail the thread for a minute. I was always a bit dark on Stan that as a reigning Captain of MFC he took off to chase a Premiership at North. I spoke to him at a coaching clinic some years ago and that wasn't what happened. Bobby Skilton was the coach in '76 and at the end of the season he said sorry Stan even though you're the Captain we are going to go with a youth policy from now on and you're going to have to retire. Stan was shocked and very disappointed and thought his career was over. To put that decision in perspective at the end of that year it was thought the Dees were very close to a new era. In the last round that year the Dees were on the cusp of the finals they just had to beat the Pies (who finished bottom but the next year drew a Grand Final) and Blues who were on top of the ladder had to beat Dogs who were not even in the 5. We beat the Pies and as the players were going off the ground the score for the Blues v Dogs came up on the scoreboard and it was a draw costing the Dees their place in the finals. As the Collingwood players came off the ground and saw that result they clapped and laughed. Thus was born my never swerving hatred of that Club. I fantasise about the one point Premiership win we will have against them with a kick after the siren. Anyhow back to Stan. During the preseason he got a call from Barassi who asked if he wanted to give it a go at North. By the end of that first season in '77 he'd become a Premiership player and was famously doing cartwheels on the members wing after the final siren. As a side note Skilton was gone as coach at the end of that year. Joining a long line of failed MFC coaches. Back to Lingers and Choco's magical kicking coaching. :)

Not sure Viney for May would be the way to go. I like our back six and you'd want a like-for-like player to come in so that lever can continue to do what he does best. His pressure would be great all over the ground, but our small defenders are really putting heat on opponents. Hunt is tackling like I haven't seen before. Salem, Rivers and Jetta (to a lesser extent) have been sound. I think Viney's presence in the forward-line is another fear factor for opponents. We're still a forward half/territory team who rely on strong forward half pressure. As long as that continues to be strong, our defence will stand up, even with May out. Don't want any more to drop though.

This is a huge test for the maturity of the team, we have been guilty of drinking our own bathwater in previous seasons but a loss to the Hawks this week then coming up against the reigning premiers we could be looking at 4-2 very quickly and back into the pack. Ultimately what is getting us wins is pure hard work and working for each other. If we continue that attitude we will get more wins than losses.

Only five?? Very generous of you Chook! How about.... all those who suggested / agreed this was a good idea ; 1. Attend the Manor for a jolly good thrashing from uncle... at least 10 lashes; 2. Exit fee to avoid further lashings... a bottle of Henschke, Hill of Grace 2012 3. Attend 5 senior training sessions as the marking / tackle bag; and 4. In the off seaaon, shout Jack to an all you can eat pancake session at the Pancake Parlour That should just about do it

I believe so, unlike last year when he stopped his involvement when the season started, he has continued 3 days a week and has been working directly with Uze and the midfield. Among his media commitments I have been listening to him on AFL 360 and I love his team analysis. I have noted that he only talks in generalities when it's Melbourne related. I've been wondering where to post my next observation so thanks for giving me the opening. I thinks it's been largely overlooked/forgotten that Pert instigated a review of the coaching department to identify the needs going forward. It would be naive to think Goody and Richardson didn't have input into that and then Pert set the task to identify the best candidates that addressed those needs. Likewise Goody and Richardson would have to be not just comfortable with the choices but excited by the prospects otherwise it just wouldn't work. The review, the implementation and the results to date say it's been a great success and Pert deserves some kudos. He will deserve the ultimate praise if we can go on to win the supreme prize.

Don’t like shaming a lack of knowledge, but not knowing who TISM is might be grounds for handing in your citizenship. On topic, I would’ve loved it no matter who it was. The fact it was Duckwood was, as Bruce would say, delicious.

Love him. Well done, Clarry.

Whoever isn't a star is either a legend or a champion. Many of our game's commentators have small vocabularies unfortunately and think hyperbole can fill in the gaps. I'm sure I can actually feel my brain cells dying just listening to some of them.

I could list 100 reasons why not but I won't waste yours or my time. From everything I hear the Gosch's paddock area of the AAMI Park precinct is a viable option that's being explored.

Haha, I really don't like my previous post. The debt stuff is nonsense. Sure, the Fed Gov has issued more debt than Labor did, but they spent way more money than Rudd/Gillard/Rudd did and since the AOFM (Treasury) chooses to issue debt after the spending has occurred in order to provide corporate welfare to financial institutions and secondary market players, the debt has increased, but there is no burden. There is no need to issue debt at all since QE has killed the overnight market and placed downward pressure on IRs. I'd argue it never needs to issue debt again - the short term IR is the anchor for all commercial IRs in the economy. They should merely anchor off a ZIRP. The RBA has also bought up billions and billions of state and territory debt since March last year. Its entire $200 billion JobKeeper spend was then offered to be converted to bonds to market players, and then the RBA repurchased these bonds in the secondary market. In other words, it was issued to banks for a quick gain and then swallowed back up. Now it sits on the RBA balance sheet and when it matures, it is transferred back to the Treasury as a dividend. It's not a debt like a household debt. There is literally no reason to take CCP money. It's dumb and based in a neoliberal lie that we need DFI. Dumb move by the Napthine and Andrews Governments.

Halfway through the last quarter Mitch Duncan receives the ball in open space & starts running it towards Geelong's forward line. Langdon gives him 25 metres start and is no hope of catching him. But he puts on the jets & bloody near gets him just as Duncan takes his kick. I thought that summed Langdon up. Unconditional effort given no matter what.

I'm one of those who associate Royal Blue with desperate times. That being said I'm in favour of it as an away jumper, much better than the white versions we've had.

Rnd 4, 2021 Manuka Oval - Demons vs Cats O'Conner was no match for Clarry today who still managed to shine under a full lockdown attempt. Lets look at some of his numbers.... 23 Effective disposals, 6 clearances, 3 rebounds, 9 inside 50s, 6 tackles (two of those inside 50), 10 score involvements, 3 intercepts and 474 meters gained. If Clarry could learn to hit the scoreboard once or twice (or occasionally higher) every other match or so he would be a bona fide AFL champ. Some other great results... Tracc was outstanding in many aspects with 22 effective disposals, 9 clearances, 8 inside 50s, 10 score involvements, 2 goals and lead the meters gained for us with 657 only bettered by Isaac Smith with 658. Not bad for an old fella eh. Tracc's only downside was a hefty turnover count of 8 . A pretty bad day is usually around 6 or more imho. Lever played an amazing rock/intercept role down back with 11 intercepts, 10 one percenters, 5 rebounds, 5 tackles, 4 score involvements and only 1 turnover. His decision making was first class and he got to so many contests i would say the best match i've witnessed live from him so far. Viney and Gawn were in everything. Viney with a massive 8 clearances, 5 inside 50s, 12 tackles (most for the day for both teams and the only player to hit double figures here including two inside 50), 2 intercepts and 354 meters gained. The big man....12 effectives, 7 clearances, 4 rebounds, 4 inside 50s, 4 tackles, 5 score involvements, 6 intercepts, 449 meters gained and a goal. Turnovers not so good however, with 6. Salem superb as the floater across HB with 11 intercepts, 2 contested marks, 8 rebounds and a massive 562 meters gained. Gus, Hunt and Ed were also very solid. One or two mucks along the way to be expected under such ugly conditions and pressure. Looking at Hunt he had 7 intercepts, 5 tackles, 4 score involvements and three inside 50s. Shout out also to LJ who i thought played a very serviceable game given the few he has under his belt. His tank / consistency seems to be growing slowly with each match. Tables show 10 players hitting a weighted score of 3 or higher, which is about 5 to 6 more players than most weeks last season. A score of 3 often, but not always, appearing to represent a good solid serviceable game usually with a few turnovers thrown in for good measure depending on the position played / role being asked on the day. For dedicated forwards something around the 2.25 is about par, given they usually have less opportunities to get their hands on it. Player Score Rank Clayton Oliver 6.125 1 C Petracca 4.650 2 Jake Lever 4.625 3 Jack Viney 4.175 4 Max Gawn # 4.150 5 Christian Salem 3.900 6 Angus Brayshaw 3.525 7 Bayley Fritsch 3.400 8 Jayden Hunt 3.225 9 Ed Langdon 3.050 10 Kysaiah Pickett 2.875 11 Charlie Spargo 2.850 12 Alex N-Bullen 2.250 13 Tom McDonald # 2.250 13 Luke Jackson # 2.050 15 Jake Melksham 1.700 16 Nathan Jones 1.525 17 Tom Sparrow 1.500 18 Neville Jetta 1.425 19 James Jordan 1.200 20 A Tomlinson 1.175 21 Trent Rivers 1.025 22 Steven May 0.125 23 Team Score 62.65 Top 6 27.63 Bottom 6 7.85 # Hit outs to advantage not captured Stats courtesy of footywire.com