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Yes and will be nominating for father son as well.

Not really. Mitch is much more a like for like replacement for Tmac. Would slot into that mobile high forward, who gets up and down the ground, perfectly. In large part because that is exactly the role he plays!

I’d say they’re setting him up for the second half of the year. Richo mentioned on the radio this week that he’s building and increasing his intensity at training so I would suggest the club has just put a timeline in to work on a block of training before they consider him for selection. I’m not too concerned about him at the moment.

Melbourne supporters are an unusual lot. Their lived experiences over years of witnessing their team’s humiliation at the hands of the competition’s bullies have left them suspended in a Bizarro World beset by a cognitive distortion know as 'mental filtering'. This is a phenomenon that occurs when people focus exclusively and blindly on long held belief systems. They refuse to accept that conditions have changed so when the evidence is present before their very own eyes, their minds are frozen. At a time when their team sits at the pinnacle of the AFL, when they have beaten almost all before them and when the football world is beginning to believe the Demons are the real deal, they still cling to old mythologies and fears. Meanwhile, at the other end of the football supporter scale, there’s Collingwood … This is the train wreck that was waiting to happen for years. The seemingly indestructible silver bullet express that was tantalisingly close to a premiership in the dying moments of the 2018 grand final, somehow managed to lurch off the tracks in the moment when Dom Sheed’s kick sailed between the big sticks. The derailment that followed could be viewed close up and in slow motion; a vision combined with elements of hubris, arrogance, blind greed and sheer incompetence. The catalyst was the godfather offer to lure Danye Beams back from Brisbane in the last half hour of the trade period that followed. Then there was the 2019 preliminary final disaster in the wet, the Grundy contract extension, shenanigans in the hub, list mismanagement and the embarrassingly mishandled trade period when they lost valuable players for little return, the desperate bid to make good in the draft and the disastrous failure to come to terms with the report that found there was systemic racism at the club. “This is a historic and proud day for the Collingwood Football Club,” was Eddie McGuire’s spin that ultimately spelled the end of his 22-year reign as president. The final crash came this week at the very point when the Magpie kids were showing signs that they were starting to flourish under Nathan Buckley’s new road map. The club is now trapped in time. Frozen. We arrive at a particular moment when one of the AFL’s major blockbuster games, which also celebrates the Big Freeze and a wonderful charity initiative honouring Neale Daniher’s fight for research into healing MND, is taking place in Bizarro World at a distance by road of 878 kilometres from the true home of football. The pessimists at Melbourne were already quaking in their boots. After all, the team has no problems with disposing of teams in the top 8 but can lose to Adelaide (on the same oval where the Pies beat the Crows) after struggling for a long periods in games against the two bottom teams. How were they going to cope against a resurgent Collingwood with their 6 goal wonder boy back in the side? And now, an emotion-laden game to farewell a club hero? The answer is that the game is being played in real time and not in a mythical Bizarro World frozen in time. Even the slipping and sliding of the Big Freeze is happening miles away from the football action. In the reality of the here and now, Melbourne is not only the far better team but it’s playing with unity and purpose and brings pressure and selflessness with it onto the field. There’s a healthy competition among the playing group for places in a team that will play off and go deep into the finals. The opposition won’t be taken lightly now, especially after taking all of the limelight in the lead up to this game. But they’re young and inexperienced and their club is divided off the field by warring factions and staring into a bleak and uncertain future. Melbourne to win by 61 points. THE GAME Melbourne v Collingwood at the SCG Monday 14 June, 2021 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 84 wins, Collingwood 150 wins, 5 drawn At at the SCG Melbourne 0 wins, Collingwood 0 wins Last five meetings Melbourne 1 win, Collingwood 4 wins The Coaches Goodwin 2 wins, Buckley 4 wins MEDIA TV live and on demand on Kayo and live on Foxtel. Check your local guides. Radio - check your local guides. LAST TIME THEY MET Melbourne 16.4.100 defeated Collingwood 6.8.44 at the Gabba in Round 11, 2020 The Pies, depleted by injury and coming off a 4 day break were effectively road kill for the in form Demons. The midfield dominated with Brayshaw, Petracca, Oliver and Viney all on top of their game. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B: M Hibberd 14 S. May 1 J. Lever 8 HB: J. Hunt 29 H. Petty 35 C. Salem 3 C: A. Brayshaw 10 C. Petracca 5 J. Jordon 23 HF: J. Harmes 4 T. McDonald 25 A. Neal-Bullen 30 F: C. Spargo 9 S. Weideman 26 B. Fritsch 31 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Oliver 13 K. Pickett 36 I/C: L Jackson 6 E Langdon 15 T Rivers 24 T Sparrow 32 Sub: K Chandler 37 Emerg: I/C: O. Baker 33 M. Brown 38 J Melksham 18 IN: K. Chandler E. Langdon OUT: O. Baker (omitted) J. Melksham (omitted) COLLINGWOOD B: J. Noble 9 J. Roughead 23 B. Maynard 37 HB: I. Quaynor 3 D. Moore 30 C. Mayne 16 C: W. Hoskin-Elliott 32 S. Sidebottom 22 C. Poulter 27 HF: N. Murphy 28 D. Cameron 14 T. Bianco 8 F: J. De Goey 2 B. Mihocek 41 J. Elliott 5 Foll: M. Lynch 15 S. Pendlebury 10 J. Crisp 25 IC: J. Daicos 7 J. Madgen 44 B. McCreery 31 J. Thomas 24 Sub: J. Rantall 1 Emerg: C. Brown 17 M. Cox 46 T. Wilson 12 IN: B. McCreery C. Mayne OUT: C. Brown (omitted) B. Sier (jaw) Injury List: Round 13 Ed Langdon (concussion) — Available Jack Viney (toe) — 1 to 2 Weeks Bailey Laurie (eye socket) — 2 Weeks Deakyn Smith (ankle) — 2 Weeks Joel Smith (knee) — 2 Weeks Marty Hore (knee) — 9 to 11 Weeks Aaron Nietschke (knee) — Season Adam Tomlinson (knee) — Season

Tell ya what, both teams defensive efforts are pretty dismal. Fun to watch a shootout tho. Rozee is not a bad player! Let’s go Port. My hatred for Geelong cannot be explained in words.

Come on Mrs McDonald, keep those legs crossed for just one more week ? Looking at the extended bench it seems unlikely that Lever is in doubt as previously rumored on this site. Still think Salem may miss with Positive as his replacement.

No way Harmes will be dropped on his current form. He has been excellent.

Bs and Cs in English, Cs in maths, Ds in drama, As in P.E. & metalwork.

As was the case last week, M Brown is in front of B Brown at the moment, which is really quite interesting. Jackson, Melksham, Rivers and Sparrow are on the bench and therefore in line to be dropped for Langdon. So will be one of Melksham and Sparrow. I know who I'd prefer to be dropped of those two.

Says a lot how M Brown would get selected over B Brown should TMac miss...

I love cucumber sandwiches. Just today I had one with sweet baby Lebanese on homemade sourdough adorned with sumptuous organic butter, but augmented it with some aged Italian parmesan shavings and garden-fresh coriander and rocket, dusted with ground Kampot pepper and pink Himalayan salt crystals. It was so delicious that I quickly prepared and snuck in another one when my current life partner ventured out for a brief errand. She almost caught me with evidential crumbs on my shirt, but I fibbed and said it was dandruff! Queen Elizabeth II enjoys her cucumber sandwiches with Norwegian smoked salmon, so I didn't feel too guilty from a purist's perspective for my wild embellishments. And from a Collingwood perspective, I suppose at least it was white bread. I dunno, I feel like it beats meat pies with a regulated 18 percent 'meat' content and four fifths gristle and floor sweepings. But maybe that's just me.

Why do I get the feeling that the first 4 named on the bench are the ones playing and Sparrow will once again be sub. What more does he need to do and what is Melksham doing that keeps him in

Not wanting to single you out jaded, but is a widely held view that, in my opinion does not hold up to scrutiny. The Northern beaches stated with a single transmission and very soon the much vaunted NSW contract tracing team were not able to keep up and lockdown was called for only days after the first case. By the end of the outbreak 151 cases were linked to the cluster and the lockdown had lasted 3 weeks. This despite it being relatively small population, a population that does not move around greater Sydney much, minimal exposure sites and a contained location with natural boundaries. And that lockdown happened over the XMAS period so businesses were smashed and families separated. As anyone who knows that part of Sydney, the NSW government was extremely lucky the outbreak was in the Northern beaches, not say the west of Sydney (which is geographically very similar to Melbourne). Our equivalent might have been an out break on the Morning Peninsula, which could be isolated in a matter of hours if needed. Our current outbreak (which largely came from leak from a SA hotel) is almost exactly the same in number, yet we are out of lockdown in two weeks. And we have huge population, hundreds of exposure sites, a highly transient population in terms of movement around the city and basically no natural boundaries. Really, by any measure Victoria's contract tracing and related responses (eg exposure sites) has been extraordinary in this current outbreak. It is worth noting that we had the Black Rock cluster that was related the Northern beaches outbreak and we only had a brief lockdown. WA had a lockdown as did SA, after very low numbers. The one in WA cost the dockers and eagles millions. People made fun of the restrictions SA put on the pies and cats going into their state, were amazed at the hard lock down WA applied, shocked in the hard line Qld have taken this time to travel from Victoria etc et. That is all examples of very risk averse state governments The NZ government has had a couple of snap lockdowns after very low numbers And the bleating from the Liberal party in Victoria is completely hollow, becuase they would have made exactly the same decision to lockdown if in government. The problem is that as a country we have decided to implement an elimination strategy. Not a suppression strategy, an elimination strategy. I'm amazed Andrews and co have not pointed this out previously, but finally Sutton did so on Tuesday As Sutton said, we can't 'grumble along with one or two cases a day' and live the life we have been living (full pubs, everyone back in the office, 50k at the footy, packed trains. Because the numbers would eventually explode. As they have in Taiwan, a country that is also taking an elimination strategy. In that scenario eventually restrictions have to come into place that as Bing points out has been a feature of much of the world whilst we go about our covid free lives. There is not one example in the world of a country that has been able to effectively implement a suppression strategy. We have called our strategy suppression but that is bollocks. Arguably there is no such thing as it eventually gets away from health authorities. The only two real strategies are elimination or stem the tide/minimise the impact. Even if they are not pure lockdown like we had last year (which in an case lots of countries have had of course), if there are enough restrictions it doesn't look much different. We can't have our cake and eat it too. Enjoy the benefits of no covid in our community and put up with the risk of lockdowns. Or accept living with covid and risk not living covid free (eg masks everywhere, all the time, no live sport etc etc). We have collectively chosen the former. And so have to accept lockdown are likely to occur. Of course the big problem is that it is dead obvious that a key plank of the elimination strategy should have been a war time like focus on national vaccination program with a super ambitious goal to say to vaccinate 80% of the population by Easter, or 1 July 2021 or some such. Call a national holiday to celebrate, once achieved. Which of course would have been hard, but not having covid in the community and all the testing infrastructure in place gave us a huge opportunity other countries haven't. Yesterday Seattle became the first major city in America to fully vaccinate 70% of residents 12 and up against COVID-19. Fully vaccinate - so two shots for everyone over the age of 12. Seattle is not much smaller than Melbourne for Pete's sake! I'll save my anger for the federal government.

My understanding from chatting with a part time scout for another club is that he’s rated enough to be picked up later in the draft by us as we love his attitude, professionalism, competitiveness and hardness. His overall play/skill set is a bit vanilla and seen by other clubs as a limiting step in his potential. Seen as a HBF type. Sounds similar to his old man…. And blokes like Hibberd who had to ply his trade in the VFL as he was seen as not having the required skills and athletic profile to succeed.

who's going outside in this [censored] weather?

La Dee I am so glad you mentioned this as I was invited to a book launch a few years ago of a biography about Harry Graham "The Little Dasher". It isn't an easy read as it is a sad story with a very unhappy ending for such a talented sportsman. The launch was held at the MCG library and there were a few MFC and Melbourne district club champions in attendance. The dinner later on was a school boy dream. The author Ron Cardwell his team along with special guests from the launch. Graeme (Beetle) Watson, Paul Sheehan, Peter Bedford and Keith Stackpole were fascinating to talk to. Watson played for both MFC & MCC, Victoria and Australiawhich is a fair C.V. Sadly he has since passed as did Tangles Walker, (who had the same C.V.) years ago. The book is pictured below and I got it signed by the boys.

Honest question - to those complaining about this survey, why don't you just just not fill it out and move on with your day? How often do you take issue with other completely optional academic surveys?

Personally, I hope we pound them into the SCG turf and then the AUS cricket team can land short balls on the dust of their faces for years to come. Have no mercy. One for the ages, please.

"Video of the Weak"?

What motive could anyone possibly have to bother doing that? He/ she (or at least a poster also going by 'the academic') was inviting people to complete the survey on bigfooty (and presumably other footy forums) as well. Who knew, it's possible that footy forums are an ideal place to locate a bunch of people with an interest in AFL. Researcher: - Completes bachelor of science, achieves grades necessary to enter postgraduate research. - Completes honors/ masters thesis, develops expertise in field. Achieves results required to obtain PhD scholarship. - Undertakes PhD, commences novel research in field of expertise. - Develops expertise in survey design, data analysis, etc relating to field of research. - Completes PhD thesis, publishes results in peer-reviewed journals. - Results subject to rigorous and soul-destroying peer review process by rivals in the field. - Successfully procures funding to undertake further research via competitive grant application process. - Designs 5 minute survey on racism in the AFL based on well established survey methodology. Coal miner from Queensland who failed year 9 science: - Bull****!

Hi all, hope you are all keeping safe and well especially with lockdown restrictions in Melbourne recently. I’ve been paying attention to Melbourne’s trade activity these past few days and delighted to see so many players have signed on for another season or two and looking forward to seeing the new recruits in action too. That includes Sinead & Lauren coming back for season three and two respectively. No surprises with either of them, I had little doubt they’d be returning. This is slightly off the topic of AFLW and some of you may be interested, others less so. Lauren & Niamh have returned to playing with the Dublin Senior Ladies Team in the past three weeks. They’ve played three games so far with three wins. Their next game is a semi final to be played on Saturday June 12th. I’ve attached links for their previous three games if anyone is interested in watching them back. The second and third games are shown here on the TG4 channel which has Irish commentary only so you’ll have to make it up yourself. This competition is the league so it’s not the main championship, that comes in a few weeks. However the density of this season makes every game very important. I would highly recommend watching the second game vs Cork, it was a cracking match. Lauren & Niamh have featured in each game so far, Goldie still recovering from her hamstring injury. Round 1 vs Waterford: How to get Round 2 vs Cork and Round 3 vs Tipperary. - Google TG4 Player. tg4.ie is the right one. - Click main menu in top right hand corner and make sure setting is on English. - Click the watch arrow in the main menu, then press sport. - Scroll down to find the tab “Peil na mBan Beo”. It means Live Ladies Football. The photo at the moment is of Niamh McEvoy kicking a ball so that’s a giveaway. - Round 3 is down as Tiobraid Arann v Ath Cliath. (Tipperary v Dublin) S 21 Ep 4. - Round 2 is down as Corcaigh v Ath Cliath. S 21 Ep 3

It's lockdown and you can tell that I'm quite bored and have way too much time on my hands. Below is a team, listed in position from the backline. Some of the names will be familiar, others less so but all played VFL/AFL. Your task is to find the common link. B: John James Chad Morrison Majak Daw H/B: Alex Keath Ted Richards Neville Stone C: Jason Gram Michael Parsons Craig Bird H/F: Farren Ray Rick Davies Rene Kink F: Lachie Neale George Young Gary Cowton R: Chris Bryan Chris Connolly Eric Sweet Have at it Demon fans!

Ports defence brings me chills of 2017 when clubs would just sling shot out the back with not a Melbourne defender in sight.

I hate Geelong.

You were expecting TMac to have an AA year then I assume? Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

So Weeds has been a "Stellar performer" has he? Nup give me a 60 plus goal kicker over a maybe iffy can he Weeds at present! Weeds ok at Casey but hardly compelling! In fact I rate Mitch Brown a better player than Weeds!

Deep Purple are one of my favourable bands. Machine Head is IMHO one of the best albums of all time. Favourite songs: Hush Highway Star Lazy Never before (very underrated) Space Trucking My Woman from Tokyo Speed King Strange Kind of Woman Burn You Fool No One Getting Tighter Might Just Take Your Life Stormbringer

Can't drop sparrow after 19 disp and a goal and his ability to get straight into the contest and pace of afl everytime he is called upon. Melksham has to make way. So Langdon for Melksham easy . Selection had been spot on this year unlike the last two and goody had already dropped his mate melky before so I'm sure common sense will prevail

Just drop Melksham.

Thanks @demonstone, I do get very very enthusiastic about somewhat cryptic music trivia. The beauty of music is the influence is subjective - it's beautiful, anthematic, seminal, or meaningful for the listener. I'll try to nut one out tomorrow - love this stuff.

Deep Purple it is. Thank you linespeople, thank you ballkids and goodnight.

Deep Purple...

naw, missed this! i wanna play!! do another one @demonstone!!!

Love your work Demonstone. I'll take the easy ones: James Morrison - the Doors Keith Richards - Stones Ray Davies - the Kinks Bryan Connolly - the Sweet Missing the Neil Young/ Gary Cowton link, and the centreline has me lost as well.

I've got a sneaky feeling Weid will explode this Monday in his audition for his new side. If Goody's feeling all matey this week: IN - Langdon Out - Sparrow If Goody has any integrity of selection: In - Langdon Out - Melksham

Welcome to demonland, but please read the injury updates. Viney isn’t back until after the bye. Also there’s no way Harmes would be left out even if he was. I doubt this is the week they give up on Weid with Brown lacking serious match practice, but that’s a different issue.

Technically, its the bone that connects their handcuffs to their elbows.

Pretty clear what the real research here is. Post a link to a survey with some simple, open questions relating to experiences of racism in Australian sport. THEN observe and quantify people losing their collective [censored] in the comments.

Yes the treatment of Adam Goodes was dreadful but in my view it started when the AFL security goons dragged the young girl away. Her parents complained & the public blamed Goodes for the incident. It had little to do with racism. But of course the narrative sounds much "sexier" if you suggest racism is involved.

Because you can't fossilize feelings.

You can be born a male and lead the rest of your life as a female as much as you want. Then 1000 years down the track, a team of archaeologists will come along and dig you up and label you a male due to you bone structure.

My gender has changed since I completed the survey. Do I need to complete it again?

My following post could be interpreted two ways - I only mean the best. I know I've recently posted about my fathers own death via MND on here - and his own relationship with Neale. Dad's diagnosis to death time frame was 16 months as he had the most aggresive form. It started in his head, whereby he started slurred his words (ie: sounded drunk) - loss of motor coordination in the mouth and tounge. I am so so so pleased for Neale and his family that 6 years on from a diagnosis, he is still functioning where he is - the 'knowing' smiles/tears my wife and I gave to one another last week where we saw Neale on AFL360 talking with immense difficulty - and going 'oh...[censored] he is close to losing the complete capacity to speak' - was exactly like my fathers. His work has being immense and I am so glad the disease (or his bodies resistance to the disease) has been a long drawn out process. For Neale, the observation (and living) of his own degradation of his motor co-ordination, whilst being full congniscent of what is occurring and having no control would be the most unbearable thing. Yet on the flip side - here he is - crusading...he's [censored] amazing! I mullled over putting this part in... but what you wont see of Neale (or perhaps they will show it as this is what occurs) and I put it in to give the full reality of the experience whilst being fully conversent in your own head, but your body doesn't allow you to speak You may move to using a computer, whereby your own fingers allow you to type words, press a button (much like a computer) and it speaks the sentences for you Your motor coordination of your hands decrease incrementally bit by bit that essentially your hands rest on that computer, and your fingers barely reach the keys to type your perfectly formed conversations in your head. You will experience immense frustration...conversation after conversation after conversation for many months... Finally your fingers don't move - but you can't talk - so somehow you must communicate to family members or others in a caring capacity what your perfectly formed conversations are... how the [censored] do you do that? So you grunt, or make growling noises because your throat cannot work, at your loved ones, whilst they move your fingers hovering over the key board, doing their best to predict what it is you are trying to add to the conversation... they will get frustrated at you, you will get frustrated at them...all of you, exhausted. In parallel to this, you can't swallow food as your motor coordination of your throat fails, - so you will have a tube inserted into your stomach, and all your food gets pureeed, and syringed into your stomach. Your family/carers will do this for you. You will have no control over your toileting functions, your family and carers will hold your penis and wipe your bottom. You will look at your family member who is holding your penis and question why it has come to this... You are still the same bloke/person you were cognitively prior to the onset...but you now bare witness to your own slow death. 'The frustrated, saddened compassionate silent observer' of your own body's destruction whilst your cognitive capacity has not diminished at all. The loss of 'dignity' and suffering (my words) is immense in the final stages. My father weighed 41kg when he died... And again, this isn't me musing/reflecting on my Dad, this is about Neale. What a magnificent beast he is.

Absolutely we should be going after Maynard. Remember also his old man works for Casey Demons already. Great replacement for Hibberd.

Having watched the documentary they did on his last season, I would say he doesn't want anything to do with the AFL. Fair enough I don't think Adam Goodes owes anything to anyone. Last time he took a stand on racial issues, he spent the remainder of his career getting booed by crowds, and mocked by a club president. Why should he jump at the opportunity to 'help with reconciliation and healing' when he got burned so badly in the past

From the Bushrangers to the top of the AFL table, Flag-favourite Demons - what a day - well done Daniel!

I think we'll have to agree to disagree. In my view, a journalist is a professional occupation which requires formal quals (or relevant experience over many years) and an understanding of concepts such as public interest, ethics and protection of sources. A part-time sports commentator can be a journalist, but most are not. Dermott Brereton and Daisy are definitely not journalists under my definition. we're not the only ones who disagree. The definition of "journalist" is a sensitive legal area right now. Just ask Julian Assange or those wishing to extradite him to the US.

I took the survey in good faith. Unfortunately, most of my answers were limited to binary yes or no when I felt I had more to contribute. Then of course came my gender question and I had all sorts of options when it could have just been binary.

This is a really worthwhile area of study. Well done theacademic.