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A+ for passive aggressiveness.

Well that escalated quickly. MELBOURNE 16th Under-23 players: 14 players in total Clayton Oliver (78 games), Bayley Fritsch (41 games), Sam Weideman (31 games), Charlie Spargo (24 games), Corey Wagner (15 games), Harrison Petty (nine games), Oskar Baker (seven games), Kyle Dunkley (two games), Tom Sparrow (two games), Toby Bedford, Austin Bradtke, Kade Chandler, James Jordon, Aaron Nietschke Rising Star nominees: One player Clayton Oliver (2016) No.1 star: No one even comes close to Clayton Oliver. He's among the premier onballers in the competition and few can match him at the coalface. Biggest upside: Despite injuries decimating Melbourne's forward line and the delivery not always being great, Bayley Fritsch has shown potency in attack. He hasn't really settled into a position and might suit the team more across half-back or on the wing, where the Dees can make the most of his pinpoint delivery. Needs to show more: It was tantalising to see what Sam Weideman produced in the Demons' first two finals last year. Those games were the reason the club felt confident it could send Jesse Hogan to Fremantle and still contend. That hasn't worked out, and Weideman's copped a couple of niggles, but the club needs the key forward to rebound next year. Summary: There's a steep drop-off after the three names mentioned. Oskar Baker has serious dash but it remains to be seen whether the others can become consistent contributors in a good side. However, considering much of the club's core is only a little older than this group, there aren't any major concerns around the make-up of the list. - Dinny Navaratnam

As the season rolls on towards the finals and the football world witnesses the aftermath of the sacking of the league’s unsuccessful coaches, it’s almost inevitable that the spotlight will turn firmly upon the complete and utter failure of season 2019 - the Melbourne Football Club. For a team that finished in fourth place last year and was heavily touted as a premiership contender, the fall from grace has been dramatic. As things stand, the Demons look certain to finish 13 places down on their 2018 placing and even below the Blues who, they beat last year by 109 points and who only a month ago, they took apart for three quarters before their injury curse saw them almost drop the unlosable game. Since then, Carlton has won three on the trot while Melbourne has been winless, allowing it to be leapfrogged by last year’s wooden spooner. The only positive I can come up with about Melbourne is that the team is undefeated at its MCG home since the Queens Birthday loss to Collingwood back in early June. But that’s only two games and this week the team comes up against Richmond which seemingly plays every week at that ground and usually thumps the opposition every week. It’s not as if the injury-dogged Demons are being routinely thrashed. In every one of their four defeats since the mid season bye they’ve been either in front or close to the mark at the start of the final term before fading out late in each game. And before the break, they also dropped a couple of games when they were in winning positions late in their contests. The statistic that stands out here is the one that says that over their past four games, the Demons have scored an average of 13.3 points in the final quarter, while conceding an average of 28.5 points. That’s a damning statistic when looking at close encounters - in fact, it’s the stuff that forces the fans to collectively tear their hair out. It might be argued that the team’s depth has been tested by a season from hell on the injury front and therefore, the fade outs are understandable. Possibly understandable but still not forgivable in light of the number of unforced errors leading to turnovers that should never happen and missed shots at goal that were so easily converted last year. My fear is that coming up against a resurgent and rampant Richmond which is overcoming its earlier injury woes and consequent drop in form, the club’s confidence crisis brought upon by the negativity now surrounding it, will result in a Saturday night blowout. The main thing Melbourne has going for it is Max Gawn. It’s midfield is well down on last year. The defence hasn’t been together for most of the year and the forward line is decimated. Simon Goodwin is on a hiding to nothing and I’ll make the following predictions for Saturday night - 1. Tigers by 85 points 2. Goodwin will really be facing the blow torch by the end of the round. That’s football. THE GAME Melbourne v Richmond on Saturday 3 August 2019 at 7.20pm at the MCG HEAD TO HEAD Overall Melbourne 75 wins Richmond 106 wins Drawn 2 At MCG Melbourne 63 wins Richmond 71 wins Drawn 1 Past five meetings Melbourne 2 wins Richmond 3 wins The Coaches Goodwin 0 wins Hardwick 3 wins MEDIA TV - Channel Seven Live at 7.00pm Fox Footy Channel Live at 7.20pm Radio - TBA THE LAST TIME THEY MET Richmond 12.13.85 defeated Melbourne 6.6.42 in Round 6, 2019 at the MCG Melbourne decided to try something different for this game in an effort to revive its season. The team went super defensive - Tom McDonald was moved back into a defensive role and some strong tags were put onto the star Tigers but the tactic backfired after a competitive first half. Melbourne managed just two goals after quarter-time and with the exception of Max Gawn in the ruck, Michael Hibberd’s tagging of Dustin Martin and hardworking midfielders Clayton Oliver and Angus Brayshaw who picked up 29 touches each, the effort on Anzac Eve was nothing short of miserable. THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B Michael Hibberd Oscar McDonald Jake Lever HB Christian Salem Sam Frost Jordan Lewis C James Harmes Christian Petracca Nathan Jones HF Kyle Dunkley Harrison Petty Jayden Hunt F Jake Melksham Clayton Oliver Bayley Fritsch FOLL Max Gawn Jack Viney Angus Brayshaw I/C Oskar Baker Jay Kennedy Harris Braydon Preuss Corey Wagner EMG Kade Chandler Marty Hore Alex Neal-Bullen Josh Wagner IN Kyle Dunkley Jay Kennedy Harris Jake Melksham Braydon Preuss OUT Neville Jetta (knee) Alex Neal-Bullen (omitted) Tim Smith (foot) Josh Wagner (omitted) RICHMOND B David Astbury Nathan Broad Dylan Grimes HB Bachar Houli Nick Vlastuin Shane Edwards C Jayden Short Dion Prestia Shai Bolton HF Daniel Rioli Brandon Ellis Kane Lambert F Liam Baker Jack Riewoldt Tom J. Lynch FOLL Ivan Soldo Josh Caddy Dustin Martin I/C Dan Butler Jason Castagna Mabior Chol Jack Graham EMG Callum Coleman-Jones Connor Menadue Patrick Naish Jacob Townsend IN Dan Butler Josh Caddy OUT Trent Cotchin (hamstring) Sydney Stack (calf) Injury List: Round 20 Mitch Hannan (groin) – test Steven May (hamstring) – test Charlie Spargo (calf) – 1 week Tom Sparrow (knee – 2-3) weeks Aaron vandenBerg (foot) – TBC Jeff Garlett (shoulder) – season Kade Kolodjashnij (head) – season Tom McDonald (knee) – season Aaron Nietschke (knee) – season Joel Smith (groin) – season Sam Weideman (jaw) – season Guy Walker (shoulder) – indefinite

Had you listened to our interview with Balls a few weeks ago you would know this already. ?

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Balls was on SEN with Bob Murphy and Andy Maher

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Moot point now but at least we know when the pain will end ...

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? | https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-melbourne-has-no-recognisable-brand-says-former-coach-paul-roos/news-story/821c8680cea217ec00536145517067c0

At half time in Sunday’s game at Trevor Barker Beach Oval, things weren’t looking too flash for the flailing finals prospects of the Casey Demons. Key forward Sam Weideman had suffered a concussion in his first contest and, with a few exceptions, the team was playing like a rabble rather than a finals contender. The Demons were 23 points in arrears to the Zebras and their season was headed towards oblivion. It was the skipper Mitch White who spurred his team on by word and by deed - he finished with three goals and really rallied the team to a great comeback that saw the team’s final hopes remain on track with a 12-points victory. But if White was the catalyst, then it was certainly ruckman Braydon Preuss who made up for the disappointment of being dropped from Melbourne’s losing side against the Eagles to record an outstanding 185 dream team points in one of the best ruck performances seen at this level. The Demon big man was easily best on the ground with 27 possessions, 14 clearances, four tackles and 59 hit-outs. He even kicked a goal as the cherry on top of his stellar performance. If there was anyone who came close to the same stratosphere as Preuss then it was Jimmy Munro who recorded 18 kicks and 12 handballs on top of eight crunching tackles. He well and truly put the Saints’ Jack Stevens under the hammer and earned the accolades of all and sundry at the ground for his persistence and determination. Twenty third player Ariek Lual showed some flashes of brilliance and will be worth watching as a player with definite X factor attributes. There were some other good performances on the day - mostly in the second half - with defender Marty Hore returning from a broken collarbone sustained less than a month ago. Jay Kennedy Harris was, as usual, very steady and reliable at this level. The Demons remain in ninth place on the VFL ladder and, following narrow losses in their previous two games, are very much an outside chance of progressing any higher on the ladder. This week they face a tough battle against ladder leaders Richmond VFL at the Swinburne Centre and will have to be at their absolute best to get the points and remain in the finals race. The moment of truth is coming. 2019 Hard Yakka / Totally Workwear VFL Casey Demons 2.0.12 4.5.29 9.9.63 12.11.83 Sandringham 4.1.25 8.4.52 10.4.64 11.5.71 Goals Casey Demons White 3 Dunkley Lockhart Melksham 2 Jordon Lefau Preuss Sandringham Joyce Owens Steven 2 Answerth Parker Rice Seccull Young Best Sandringham Joyce Seccull White Marsh Steven Fox Casey Demons Preuss Hore Kennedy-Harris Munro White Lual Statistics Toby Bedford 1 behind 3 kicks 7 handballs 10 disposals 9 tackles 63 dream team points Austin Bradtke 4 kicks 3 handballs 7 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 2 hit outs 33 dream team points Kade Chandler 6 kicks 10 handballs 16 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 59 dream team points Wayne Collis 7 kicks 8 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 58 dream team points Kyle Dunkley 2 goals 13 kicks 7 handballs 20 disposals 4 marks 7 tackles 106 dream team points Tom Freeman 12 kicks 4 handballs 16 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 55 dream team points Marty Hore 15 kicks 5 handballs 20 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 77 dream team points Jack Hutchins 1 behind 8 kicks 2 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 57 dream team points James Jordon 1 goal 7 kicks 8 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 55 dream team points Declan Keilty 3 kicks 4 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 14 hit outs 41 dream team points Jay Kennedy Harris 16 kicks 8 handballs 24 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 77 dream team points Mykelti Lefau 1 goal 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 33 dream team points Jay Lockhart 2 goals 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 5 tackles 65 dream team points Ariek Lual 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 57 dream team points Jake Melksham 2 goals 1 behind 11 kicks 5 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 5 tackles 85 dream team points James Munro 1 behind 18 kicks 12 handballs 30 disposals 4 marks 8 tackles 121 dream team points Braydon Preuss 1 goal 1 behind 24 kicks 3 handballs 27 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 59 hit outs 185 dream team points Aiden Quigley 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 22 dream team points Cory Stockdale 1 kicks 6 handballs 7 disposals 1 marks 3 tackles 21 dream team points Billy Stretch 9 kicks 7 handballs 16 disposals 2 marks 48 dream team points Luke Tynan 3 kicks 10 handballs 13 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 43 dream team points Sam Weideman - injured early in game (no statistics) Mitch White 3 goals 3 behinds 12 kicks 3 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 1 tackles 73 dream team points

Times we’re already getting quite desperate. THE TEAMS RICHMOND B Nathan Broad David Astbury Dylan Grimes HB Nick Vlastuin Shane Edwards Bachar Houli C Brandon Ellis Dion Prestia Kamdyn McIntosh HF Daniel Rioli Jack Ross Jason Castagna F Jack Riewoldt Tom J Lynch Dustin Martin FOLL Toby Nankervis Josh Caddy Kane Lambert I/C Liam Baker Noah Balta Jack Higgins Sydney Stack EMG Shai Bolton Jack Graham Connor Menadue Ivan Soldo IN Jack Riewoldt OUT Shai Bolton (Omitted) MELBOURNE B Marty Hore Sam Frost Jordan Lewis HB Bayley Fritsch Michael Hibberd Christian Salem C Nathan Jones Jack Viney Jayden Hunt HF James Harmes Sam Weideman Christian Petracca F Alex Neal-Bullen Tom McDonald Jake Melksham FOLL Max Gawn Clayton Oliver Angus Brayshaw I/C Jeff Garlett Jay Lockhart Tim Smith Billy Stretch EMG Declan Keilty Oscar McDonald Tom Sparrow Corey Wagner IN Jeff Garlett Jay Lockhart Alex Neal-Bullen Tim Smith Billy Stretch OUT Neville Jetta (knee) Braydon Preuss (shoulder) Charlie Spargo (omitted) Corey Wagner (omitted) Josh Wagner (omitted)

Max is back in command Progressive voting - 191. Max Gawn 169. Clayton Oliver 129. Christian Salem 122. James Harmes 74. Angus Brayshaw 66. Jack Viney 51. Sam Frost 48. Nathan Jones 42. Marty Hore 38. Christian Petracca 36. Steven May 31. Jake Melksham 30. Bayley Fritsch 28. Jayden Hunt 27. Tom McDonald 13. Michael Hibberd 12. Jay Lockhart 7. Jake Lever Harry Petty 5. Oskar Baker Braydon Preuss 4. Josh Wagner 3. Corey Wagner Sam Weideman 2. Alex Neal-Bullen 1. Jeff Garlett Neville Jetta Jordan Lewis Oscar McDonald Billy Stretch

And BOG for St. Kilda in last night’s game at Marvel Stadium? It was Melbourne! This brilliant contributor managed to be the initiator of 13.7 in turnovers for the side, and resulted in a come from behind victory for the mighty Saints. That’s it folks, Melbourne have set a new record for the most turnovers resulting in opposition scores. Despite leading half way through the final quarter (yet again) the Demons managed to right themselves and deliver the ball directly to the opposition to guarantee a victory for them. Watching this now for week after week, where the same players are selected, who fail to deliver, or more importantly fail to deliver it to team-mates, is simply beyond those spectating the game. Sure we have serious, serious numbers of players injured, particularly in important parts of the ground. But this train-wreck of a side, can do no better than play a couple of players completely out of their normal roles, as they can do no worse than what is being offered at the moment. Preuss was dropped from last week, supposedly because he couldn’t “clunk” enough marks. Well ANB can’t clunk any either, and he solely was responsible for five turnovers which resulted in opposition goals (not scores, goals!). Not to mention the 2 certain gimme goals which only required him to deliver to Lewis out the back on his own, and Fritsch a simple five metre handball, and on both occasions he couldn’t deliver. Corey Wagner only seven touches while playing on the wing. Give me Preuss any day over this sort of performances. Give me a completely unfit player like Jake Melksham coming off a two month injury instead. Give me a Corey Maynard wherever he might be. In all honesty they couldn’t possibly do worse. The slogan for the club is “my Heart beats True”. Well after this insipid performance and after weeks of watching the same sort of thing, the Heart of the club has stopped beating! How many supporters will turn up to watch the inevitable thrashing which will happen in coming weeks against Richmond and Collingwood? How many televised games will the Demons be allocated next year, on the back of these type of performances? How many fans will sign on as members next year? The on-field performance is having a profound effect on the club, its supporters and its future. The Demons got off to a bright start with Petracca showing what he is capable of. He finished with 3 goals for the game, but should have had more until his unselfish passing to others can be curbed. When you are inside 50m…go for goal! We have no-one else who can, so do it yourself. Then the Demons reverted to style and simply let the Saints back in the game to level the scores, before a couple of goals near the end of the first period put them back in front. A solitary goal in the second quarter was again typical of what the Demon fans have come to expect, and then despite 4 goals in the 3rd, the scores were within 4 points. The opening of the final term saw Melbourne out to a 13 point lead, until the usual culprits handed the ball back to the opposition. It made it very easy for Bruce and Membrey with 7 goals between them to win the match. Little blame can be laid at the feet of the defenders when their efforts are simply blown apart further up the field, and the ball keeps coming back. Up forward Harrison Petty again showed he could become something. He is still only 19, but held his own against Carlisle and Brown. More importantly he is able to deliver the ball to team-mates under pressure and keeps working. Fritsch produced a couple, but like previous games, just fades away. Perhaps not surprising given what he is expected to do in the absence of any big bodies for the Demons up forward. Smith and Lewis? While both have footy smarts, they don’t have the capabilities to influence the game. Neither have any pace to be able to lead so they depend upon when the ball hits the ground. Again, just filling the gaps and nothing more. The mids really need to lift their game. The Saints are a rebound side, and too often our mids just let them run wide to the flanks before bringing the ball back inside to their leading forwards. Not enough pressure on the ball carrier. Small wonder Bruce and Membrey had a field day with uncontested marks in front of goal. And when we are kicking the ball in from defence, it is almost an unseen happening that the recipient is a mid-fielder, running into the gaps. We are stuck with “down the line” and hope that Max can grab a mark. This was the most dispiriting game of the year for the Demon fans. We all longed for a competitive side when we were being thrashed week after week a couple of years ago. The Heart of the club was beating briefly as we accumulated the right sort of players into the club, but that very Heart is being ripped out by players emblematic of those bad old days. Now is the time to bring in something else. We will be beaten by Richmond convincingly, but does it make any difference if it is by 8 goals or 10? Then bring in players who are willing to have a go, even if they are not ready. It’s over to you - the selectors! Melbourne 5.3.33 6.4.40 10.6.66 13.7.85 St Kilda 3.2.20 5.7.37 10.10.70 15.14.104 Goals St Kilda Bruce 4 Membrey 3 Long Ross 2 Billings Hind Langlands Lonie Melbourne Petracca 3 Fritsch Harmes 2 Lewis Neal-Bullen Oliver Petty Smith C Wagner Best Melbourne Gawn Oliver Harmes Petracca Lever Frost St Kilda Ross Bruce Gresham Sinclair Membrey Wilkie Injuries Melbourne Nil St Kilda Acres (shoulder) Reports Melbourne Nil St Kilda Nil Umpires Stevic, Hay, Howorth Official crowd 22,854 at Marvel Stadium

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 please

Who comes in and who goes out?

2019

Now we're scared to kick inside 50.

Membrey must wake up with a smile on his face when he plays the Dees.

Cue the Bruce/Membrey show.