Leaderboard

I will see if banned posters can be labelled with it.?

Didn't wish to start a new thread so have bumped this. It looks like Demonland software has had some tweaks: symbols and ratings (x/6) for each avatar. And the details for number of posts and number of community 'ticks' no longer appear in posts. Not sure if some 'profiles' in posts have been abbreviated. Is it possible to know meaning of the symbols/ratings and to get post/'ticks' details back? While I'm on this thread, Thanks to all who manage 'Demonland' for a great job.

And anyone who exclusively posts only after defeats should get the Mark Neeld Reality Bus icon.

This round shows a few things. First, "good sides don't lose to bad sides" is rubbish. Second, West Coast and Richmond are, hopefully, fingers crossed, pretty please, cooked. Third, upsets are going to happen. Fourth, our best is as good as anyone's. Fifth, everyone down to Gold Coast in 14th can still make the finals.

Use your freedom of choice.

I was born in the mid 80s and was fortunate that my father had close connections to the MFC during my childhood, especially the 90s. I used to get into the change rooms after matches as a kid and meet all the players. I had an autograph book and got the entire 1994 teams signatures EXCEPT Gary Lyon. He was always a grumpy [censored], win or lose. He used to live around the corner from me and I saw him at the 7-11 a few times, was always grumpy and would never thank people for holding door open etc. Jim Stynes was the opposite, always friendly and would handball with me and I vividly remember him putting me up on his shoulders. He was a wonderful man and I was so sad when he passed after his battle with cancer. Unfortunately dad doesn’t have many close ties at the MFC anymore, so I haven’t been into the rooms for years. Being able to experience that as a child though made me diehard MFC for life and I convert all those around me!

no thanks the notion of a player 'debuting' in a game where they might not even take the field is a terrible thing to do

The ranks have always been there but in text form and just relate to the number of posts you have made. The new software update has turned that text to a badge. I've added images to the default badge that the software applied and have tweaked and added to the names of each rank. Rookie Demon: 0 - 49 posts Demon: 50 - 499 posts Mighty Demon: 500 - 999 posts Redleg: 1000 - 4999 posts Trident: 5000 - 9999 posts Legend: 10000 - 49999 posts Captain: 50000 - 99999 posts Coach: 100000 - 499999 posts Fuchsia: 500000 - 999999 posts Premier: 1000000 + posts I'm not sure what has happened to the community ticks which was actually called reputation which was based on the Likes & Thanks reactions a poster received. I will check into it.

A summary of the Run Home: After this weekend's upsets good luck trying to predict the ladder order at end of H&A. Never before has the adage that 'any team can win on any given day' been so true. So no team can afford to relax even for what last week seemed to be 'easy' games. Interestingly the Bulldogs play the same 3 of the bottom 5 sides as we do so should be an even run home. Lions also play 2 of those 3 'lower' teams. Observations: I would think the top 6 teams are set but the order is up for grabs. Round 20 will probably decide the minor premiers: Demons or Bulldogs. Sydney is the only team that does not play a top 6 contender and only Freo as a top 8 contender, have a healthy list so could easily jump to 4th. Freo. Virtually playing an elimination final each week. Doubt they will make the 8. Eagles. Well what can one say. Boo stadium is no longer a fortress. Ess, Bulldogs and North have beaten them there this year. And vs North they had their best 22. Would love to see them miss. Saints. Like Freo they are playing an elimination final nearly every week. Their relatively poor % may cost them in the end. GWS. Like Freo and Saints nearly every week will be an elimination final. That draw may come in very handy. Ess: An 'easie'r draw than others and have very good % so a good chance of making the 8. I so desperately hope they don't. Richmond: Oh how the might have fallen. A lot needs to go there way to make it. Each week there are at least four 8-pt games On paper, Ess and Rich have the better chance of making the 8. ??? Unless Richmond make it we are the only finals team with the G as our home ground. If the top 3 stay the same regardless of order we will have at least 2 Home finals at the G. Look at round 23. It will be a doozie and depending how the cards fall will be key to final 8 order, especially if Saints and Freo are still in contention for a finals spot.

West Coast are pathetic. They can only produce AFL-level football when they're at home and it's not wet. Anything other than perfect conditions and they fall apart. They're slow, unfit, lazy, old, disinterested and [censored]. And don't you just love to see it.

Not sure why anyone's surprised about their disposal. This is on their website.

Let’s try to throw some logic in as well. The experts might be salivating at the thought of Mac Andrew being snatched out of Melbourne’s grasp with a top 20 pick in the November draft but the question as to what are the odds of it happening? The argument about best pick available vs club needs has been going on since the early days of the national draft. I think it’s fair to say that unless a ruckman is considered in elite company, clubs would be reluctant to risk a high draft pick for a developing tall. That’s why many clubs with ruck needs were falling over themselves to add to their ruck stocks at the midseason draft. I was reminded of this watching the NAB Boys League game between Sandringham Dragons play the Calder Cannons at the weekend. The Dragons played 204cm ruck/forward Max Heath who was selected in the mid season draft by St Kilda at pick 7. They also produced the #1 pick Jacob Edwards who went to North. A number of other clubs also drafted ruckmen - Gold Coast, Carlton, Sydney, Brisbane and Collingwood. The Bulldogs are well stocked for tall timber but will be taking father/son prospect in Sam Darcy. Then there’s the question of who will be in a position to pick Mac Andrew in the draft? Let’s assume that he remains in the current range suggested by the pundits at somewhere between 15 and 25. Let’s look at the clubs that would be in a position to select him and for the sake of the exercise, let’s start at pick 12. Based on current ladder positions the picks with which he could be nominated are - 12. Fremantle 13. Sydney 14. Port Adelaide 15. Brisbane 16. Richmond 17. Western Bulldogs 18. Brisbane 19. Gold Coast 20. North Melbourne Obviously, these will change over the remainder of the season and with trading in the post season but I think that in reality the number of clubs looking to pick a Mac Andrew in that range is going to be very limited.

I've met Weid, Melksham and Brent Grgic. I washed my hands after meeting each of them. In all seriousness I have met all 3 of the above whipping boys and they were all top blokes. I also went on the Daniher drive a few years a go and met lots of our greats from the Daniher era. On one of the mornings they had a kicking comp.i flukes a kick in thongs into a bin about 30 metres away and ended up in a kick off against Neitz, Brad Green, Yze and Cameron Bruce. I ended up coming 2nd to Neitz. I can live with the fact the greatest goal kicker in Melbourne's history fixed me up. Very surprised to finish ahead of Yze and Green but I thought I would have Cameron Bruce covered. True story.

As predicted, the Darwin fiasco has led to us losing the Friday night against the Dogs in Round 20, with a Saturday night game given instead. So Essendon v Sydney gets the Friday night slot. Should at least be on Channel 7. Round 19 Friday, July 23 Port Adelaide v Collingwood at Adelaide Oval, 6.45pm ACST Saturday, July 24 Hawthorn v Brisbane at the MCG, 1.45pm AEST Sydney v Fremantle at GMHBA Stadium, 1.45pm AEST Essendon v GWS Giants at Marvel Stadium, 4.35pm AEST Gold Coast v Melbourne at TIO Stadium, 6.55pm ACST West Coast v St Kilda at Optus Stadium, 5.40pm AWST Sunday, July 25 Western Bulldogs v Adelaide at Mars Stadium, 12.40pm AEST Geelong v Richmond at the MCG, 1.45pm AEST Carlton v North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, 4.40pm AEST Round 20 Friday, July 30 Essendon v Sydney at Marvel Stadium, 7.50pm AEST Saturday, July 31 North Melbourne v Geelong at Blundstone Arena, 1.45pm AEST Brisbane v Gold Coast at the Gabba, 3.20pm AEST St Kilda v Carlton at Marvel Stadium, 4.35pm AEST Melbourne v Western Bulldogs at the MCG, 7.25pm AEST Adelaide v Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval, 7.10pm ACST Sunday, August 1 GWS Giants v Port Adelaide at TBC, 1.10pm AEST Collingwood v West Coast at the MCG, 2.10pm AEST Fremantle v Richmond at Optus Stadium, 3.10pm AWST

I don't get what the difference is between free-to-air on a Friday night and free-to-air on a Saturday night. Both are equally attractive to me. The worst scheduling is the Saturday twilight "pink women" game this weekend. Ruins the whole idea with the poor timeslot.

Fair enough though, after their great win against the Crows, aren't Essendon back to premiership favourites?

I was waiting for one of our WA posters to appear so I could go with "God Save McQueen".

How about a quality over quantity badge? Noting of course that i will never get that badge

As will mine, binman. I was lucky enough to meet Robbie and his then wife Kim at his home in Nunawading in 1979. I was 14, visiting family in Melbourne from Auckland, one of whom set up a meeting with Robbie via a Sun newspaper journo. Me meeting my hero on a trip back from NZ was somehow worth a published story in those days (with photo of course). He was indeed a gentleman. The thing I remember most otherwise were his ‘coke bottle’ glasses and so obviously slender physique, and how remarkable it was that he’d become, in my eyes at least, the best footballer going around, considering how much he must have been teased and underestimated during childhood. That meeting alone made up for the 5 years I was away from seeing any VFL footy. Of recent times, I met both Alex Neal-Bullen and Billy Stretch at a ‘football’ art exhibition in Glen Eira in which I had a couple of pieces. It was the week after our 2018 finals win over Geelong (happy times!) and they were there because Nibbler’s player sponsor had a piece in the show. (He and Billy were housemates). Lovely kids both, mature beyond their years. Had a lengthy chat with Billy, mostly as he was studying physiotherapy, and found him in contrast to so many early twenty-somethings remarkably engaged and interested. Almost old-fashioned. Smart too. I’m sad his football career wasn’t what it might have been. Another memorably random encounter was seeing Jack Mueller as a patient (~1994/5, so he would have been 79/80). He was a big, quiet man, with a big presence and huge bucket hands, missing finger notwithstanding, which was very much on ‘show’. Or no-show as it was. My only reference to him otherwise was that famous photo….which remains one of my faves.

Well I actually thaught North played some good footy.

Mustn't replace a handball with a throw in the rules. The handball is a unique feature of our great game.

The game time is most likely driven by The Dogs playing Sunday.

I remember the Sri Lankan fans saying that Murali had had a "bad Hair day". I also recall the crowd at Bellerive singing to him: "Throw, throw the ball, gently down the pitch. Murali, Murali, Murali, isn't life a b*itch". I'm with faulty on this one and have no doubt at all that Murali was a deadset chucker for whom the rules were changed to accommodate his cheating. Neither Hair's occupation nor his crime are of any relevance.

All good, thanks!

One of my famous brainteasers, most likely. There'll be another tomorrow!

weather and seating aside I encourage all Melb based supporters to get to the game a and make as much noise as you can its the home stretch - critical we maximise our support at each game

Thank you! For anybody who's keen the audio is here. Nice to be on SEN for the first time not answering a quiz or whinging on the talkback line.

Now that I've upset Andy by picking on his spelling, I'm never going to be awarded that elusive Fuchsia badge. In the immortal words of Johnny Rotten, "No fuchsia, no fuchsia, no fuchsia for me".

LOL it took every fibre of my being to resist mentioning this, and I thought I bet Demonstone picks it up, and… here we are. ?

No email, which is weird, but I think most people get the gist by now. Ticketek website confirms the above timelines. If you go in and put your usual barcodes it will say 'tickets available at 1pm'. But if you're level 1 reserved seating and you try to put the barcodes at 1pm it will say tickets available at 3pm. Every week I try for 1pm just for [censored] and giggles (and also because I have a 3pm zoom call every bloody Tuesday!), and every week it says 'good try come back at 3pm'

And of the 3 Vic sides, we are the only team that plays at the MCG regularly. Geelong has played there 4 times this year, with just one more game against the Tigers to go. Dogs have only played there twice, with one loss to Richmond and have just one more game there against us to go. If we can stay injury free and Covid can get off our [censored], we are a chance.

Hope your ok?

I was working in retail a couple of years ago during Grand Final day (proudly wearing my Melbourne scarf even though we were thumped by West Coast in the prelim the week before) when I served two older gentlemen. One noticed my scarf and made mention that the other's son used to play for Melbourne some years back. Curiosity got the better of me and obviously, I couldn't help but ask who the player was. The player's name was Troy Broadbridge. Rest in Peace Troy.

I just informed the club. They advised that they have been doing an average job before this point as they only wanted to get average results. They will double their efforts now that they have been formally challenged.

Oliver is ridiculously underrated by the footy community and commentators. Luckily those who really matter rate him as the best mid in the competition.

I met Gary a few times. Well, met is probably not accurate. He was the year above me at Melbourne High back in the day. Old mate gaz waltzed around the school like he owned the joint and was more much more likely to push me down the stairs than say g'day.

Ok, let's shorten the quarters by not having the field umpire wait in the middle of the ground after each goal with the ball at their feet looking up to the stand waiting for a light to go on before he can bounce the ball. Or not wait to have a chat to the players around the place to discover which one is going to contest the ball up. Or perhaps not wasting time to review a decision that a competent goal umpire would get right 99 % of the time, or maybe just get the boundary umpire to throw the ball in as soon as he is in position with the ball in hand. How about never stopping the game to look at balls crossing the boundary line. Just adjudicate on what you see. The duration of the game would be significantly shorter with any of these changes. Whatever Chris Scott is pushing for should be opposed with every fibre of our bodies !!!! Plonker !

Port Adelaide v Melbourne 10 Christian Petracca (MELB) 8 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 6 Tom McDonald (MELB) 2 Steven May (MELB) 2 Max Gawn (MELB) 1 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB) 1 Christian Salem (MELB) Leaderboard 79 Clayton Oliver MELB 76 Marcus Bontempelli WB 76 Touk Miller GCFC 73 Samuel Walsh CARL 70 Jack Steele STK 70 Ollie Wines PORT 63 Darcy Parish ESS 61 Zach Merrett ESS 60 David Mundy FRE 55 Max Gawn MELB 55 Hugh McCluggage BL 53 Christian Petracca MELB

If we can use this season to get an extra 5k-10k names to send reminder emails then that is one way to make the most of this difficult year.

That spoil by Ziebell with about 10 seconds left was magnificent. And it would appear he ripped a bit of skin doing it because he was bleeding solidly from his hand during the celebrations. Something about that game just felt vintage and I'm sure it will go down in North folklore.

Celebrating a Norf win really underlines my complete disdain for the Eagles. ??

Eagles losing makes it a perfect weekend, take that Meth Coke!

I love this round so much.

Been down in the dumps a bit so this is exactly what I need, looking forward to it.

Now we're a lock for finals, I feel like we should recognise that, esp after the last 2 years. Having said that, the fact it's a non-event shows how high expectations are which is really good too. Congrats to the entire club to get us so quickly to the position where we're unhappy with anyone outside the top 4.

Met Ray Biffin a few times. His father Leo worked for my father. I used to go hang with him at work when I was a little tacker. If you asked Leo I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have thought he was hanging with me. Anyhow.... He used to slip me an old redundant MFC training ball every now and then. Met the great Ronald Dale at his pub once through a mutual friend. Had a long chat. Told him he was the reason I supported the club watching him on the Happy Hammond show when he did the Western Star footy clinic every Saturday when I was the only person awake in our household. He had a laugh and was delightful. Couldn't believe what his fingers were like. The knuckles were so swollen from being bent back and broken by balls that the knuckles met a long way out from the fingers. Met Robbie at the old MSD sports store where he worked at the end of 1980 . I went in to buy something and there he was on his own no one else around. We had a long chat. He was quite candid in saying he loved Carl Ditterich as his coach and didn't know why they had replaced him with Barrass. It was before Barrass started. LIke Binman and others he was my idle. No. 2 is still my favourite number. I got tennis lessons from Todd Viney for a while at the Junction Oval. Without a doubt the best tennis coach I ever had. He was still playing and it was a bonus to sneak in a few footy questions during lessons. I met a bunch of the players at the 2011 B & F. My son was about 12 and playing footy. He was a nightmare at getting to eat vegetables so I went around the room and got a bunch of the players to say into my phone Charlie eat your broccoli if you want to be a great player. Jack Watts was particularly great saying Charlie I hear you're like me a skinny, tall, CHF. Take it from me you gotta munch on that broccoli if you want to become a great player. Liam Jurrah was hysterical. He didn't know what the hell I was talking about but did it anyway with a great grin on his face. Got a few others as well. Had a great chat to Aaron Davey with a group of other supporters and he was saying he thought Bailey was trying to get them to execute a game plan they couldn't execute. I believe it was the two way running it's only taken them 10 years to finally master.

I would detest Spargo if he played for another side. He throws his head back every time he is tackled. Only consolation would be Spargs receiving a free kick to win a grand final fŕom staging against Hunter or the faux tough guy from Brisbane who can't kick. These head thrower-backerers and knee benderers really get my goat. Except Spargo. (Apart from the times he throws his head back. That really annoys me)

Impossible! There's a week off before the finals :-)