TeamPlayedFine39

No worries.

You'd be hard pressed to find any children begging for less time with their fathers. AFL is so far from an essential activity; it is a luxury for society. If it is safe to play, then that's fantastic. Playing is isolation hubs where players are essentially under draconian lockdown however is absurd. This is a global pandemic the likes of which hasn't been seen in 100 years. Literally pulling families apart for a luxury spectator event is absurd. Australia is not Covid-19 free and most likely, won't be for another 14-18 months. It will spring back up as soon as restrictions are eased - that is a certainly. The government can test, and track and attempt to contain it, and that will probably prevent it running wild and overloading the system. But it won't be gone. The only reason we don't have mass graves and AFL stadiums as field hospitals is because of social and economic lock-down. IMHO, we may be able to get to a stage where we can play to empty stadiums like round one, but if the situation is such that we need 'hubs' then it is not worth it. It may be nothing for 2020, empty stadiums 2021, then normality 2022. Western countries have already lost patience with the pandemic, they want it to be over and believe that sheer strength of will and positive thinking is enough to get it done.

Jimmy was a great player and the reason I started going for Melbourne. Absolutely idolised the man. With that said, Jeff White is a massively underrated player in the AFL for the past 20 years. He's very much overshadowed by the emergence of Cox and Sandilands toward the end of his career, and now with Gawn and Grundy, he doesn't really rate a mention by most. He was a gun. Stynes... but I did have to think about it.

Scully and Trengove were an absolute lock; as certain a top two as Rowell and Anderson last year. I challenge anyone to find a source from 2009 that says otherwise.

As a kid who was forced to play full-back every week, I loved watching Sean Wight play. He could punch a ball further than many could kick.

If the 'since' is including 2000 then it has to be the Wiz, though he left shortly after (not so exciting). For the excitement of seeing a player dominate and carry a team on his back, it would be Neitz. For the excitement of believing we had a genuine superstar emerging in our side, it would be Hogan, followed by Oliver.

Regardless of what happens with the draft this year, this was a good trade at the time and I'm stoked that we've got Pickett. Good luck to Nth, but I have a feeling their supporters may look back at this as a 'We could have got Kozzi moment'.

Todd Viney ‘retired’ to train Mark Philippoussis, only to later return to the Dees when that inevitably went aas over elbow.

Old interview I think as Robbo said at the end that he hopes to see Green in the finals again before he’s through.

I think we were Drake until 91, Snowy Mountain Water in 92, Pioneers Homes 93 Tooheys from 94-97. 94 had the distinctive diamond Tooheys Blue logo. I think it was the simple, rectangle one after that.

I don’t think we had Tooheys on the jumper in 98... I think we’d switched to LG by then.

The Eagles were an excellent team in 94 - very underrated when we talk about the great teams. For as good as our forward line was, teams simply couldn’t get a look in against a backline of: Jakovich, Worsfold, McKenna, McIntosh and Brennan.

Febey for me and by quite a long way. Talented, tough and completely reliable over the course of his career. Davey IMHO was at his best in his first three-four years and even then was too easily tagged out of matches. I think when you weigh up his talent and physical attributes, he under achieved for what he was capable of.

Just not sure he's a particularly good player - seems a bit like Port's John Butcher to me. Good luck to him, but pass.

Tingay is a very underrated player; fast, tough, skilful, whose careers was derailed by injury... but it’s a very difficult ask for any child of the 90s to vote against Allen Jakovich.

Was there that day. It was a front row seat to Gary Ablett starting to realise his potential. He single handedly tore us apart in the second half and showed that he was capable of being more than a flashy half-forward.

Probably mirroring a few on here. Johnstone's best was incredible; he was a player of extremely rare talent who I honestly believe could have been amongst the best players in the afl. Yze on the other-hand was a top-shelf player whose skills and poise could turn matches in minutes. Yze's body of work over his career beats TJ's.

I think we may have lost Neitz on the morning of that final against Essendon too- he plays, we’d probably win. With that’s said we were a step below Saints, Lions and Power that year. Geelong we’re running hot in the right time of the year too. 04, 05 and 06 were pretty similar stories; each year we faded badly in the final rounds and limped into the finals.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the camp cancelled leading into the 2018 season? The article states: "When Melbourne players contacted the AFLPA and had a commando camp cancelled ahead of the 2017 season it became a big story." Context is very important here. 2017, we choked in the final round, 2018 we made a prelim.

Best match I’ve ever attended was the ‘Merger Match’ against Hawthorn Round 22 1996. Hawthorn by a point, Dunstall kicks 10 (including 100th), Neitz kick 6, Farmer 4. Hawthorn needed a win to play finals, a Melbourne win could mean it was the last time either team played in the AFL. Incredibly vocal, passionate and emotional crowd.

That was a completely bizarre overreaction to soft-ball question... which raises the bigger question, where has Eddie invested all of Collingwood's money..?

I'm now being given very mixed messages about food delivery and weight loss...

Hawthorn finished the HA season a game clear in 4th. It was a very good win.

Remember this game very well. Not quite sure why, but I went into it very confident of a good win - It was Round 2 that (rightfully) had me concerned. Despite the pre-season optimism, I don't think even the optimistic posters saw Clayton Oliver coming. Huge 4th quarter by Watts and Hogan.