deespicable me

8 All Australians. No other Ruckman has achieved this. In the history of the game. There have been 3 anomalies with the All Australian Captaincy. Hawkins in 2022, Jeremy Cameron in 2025 and Buddy in 2018. Of the six other players that have achieved 8 All Australians, there are 2 forwards in Ablett snr and Buddy, and 4 mid-fielders in Ricciuto, Harvey, Ablett jnr and Dangerfield. Max was Captain in 2021, but in 2022 he either should have retained the Captaincy or there was Lachie Neal or Patrick Cripps, but no Hawkins gets the gig. This year sure Dawson or Harris Andrews would have been noteworthy Captains but if you are looking left field then recognising Max for the body of work over the last 8 seasons, including the last 2 where his team has been poor, he would have also been a worthy Captain of the team. On top of that a Geelong player has Captained the side 6 of the last 13 editions of the All Australian side. In a time when they have only won the premiership once. Fair. I don't think so.

Don't agree. Max deserved it for being a mainstay in the AA team for 8 years. Speaks so well, and is a natural leader. Has led our team for a long time and won a premiership as Captain. Absolute joke to make Cameron Captain. Disgrace.

I thought the girls played without wings??? But maybe I'm on the wrong forum. Rather than Demonland maybe I should be on La La Land

First of all thanks for your efforts over the year, it is much appreciated and loved by many, myself included. Happy holidays for a while at least and I believe it's good luck on the punt to Binman although I'm sure your analytical mind would find lots of winners. I'd like the panel to discuss the Rising star award. Once again Langford put in a great game for us but remains an outsider to win the award. The main 3 everyone is talking about are Read from Freo, Curtain from Adelaide and Ashcroft from Brisbane. Who do you guys think WILL win the award, who do you guys think SHOULD win the award and long term, say in 3 years, barring injury, who do you think will be viewed as the best of the draft of 25 Thanks

I love all the NO memes, if that is what they are, but lets see, he is an upgrade on Billings, Fullarton, AJ, Campbell, and many others running around in the 2's. He is sure no more than a depth upgrade and wouldn't get a game in front of May, Lever and Turner, or probably even TMac, but if every other club is shaking their heads like all your memes then he might be money-ball. He averages 1 good game in 5 and is perennially injured so he would have to come cheap. That is where another club might offer slightly overs coz they need tall backs, maybe even Dogs, but if he's falling cheap then I think as I say he is an upgrade in depth.

Purcell was interviewed after the match and spoke so well. Balanced, intelligent and praising of others, along with Hore, Hanks and others I just love these leaders. Really liked the effort of no. 20 Mahoney, she was in everything down forward, her tackling a highlight and with a few more games under her belt she should be one to score a lot of goals. I encourage other Demons to get on board as I think they are a good team, well worth watching and hopefully we can give it a shake. Go Dees

I don't know or care much for boards and their machinations but I do think Green is doing a good job and next year I expect he will have all his men in place to take us forward. What I do concentrate on is the team and how it is going and while I have been perplexed by the variety of performances thrown up by this group in the last 18 plus months I am quite happy / not unhappy that we have let Goodwin go. The main reason being is that they (in my opinion) became comfortable. Complacent even. And that attitude if it is seen or perceived to be seen is a black mark against any coach. People talk of losing the players, well that is definitely not the case with Goody, in fact it was closer to the opposite. He became too close to his players and consequently couldn't give them a "bollocking". And while Goodwin was probably turning our fortunes around the "will to win", the desperation to get over the line, the intangible team ethos that gets wins from anywhere, was missing and is still missing as evidenced in the game against the Dogs just gone. This is where a new voice from a new coach can have some impact. And Goodwin must know that.

Best one-two punch in the league, so I think we need at least 3 talls in case one goes down or gets towelled up and one extra to intercept or come over the top to help spoil. English likes to go forward as well, that's 3 towering forwards. Scary

I love this highbrow stuff from Demonland. Well done BoBo, however your nickname is more that of a chimpanzee than that of a scholar. Please no offence intended

Creepy bloke . All the assistants and PA's will have to have a large set of Bazookas. I hope thats cryptic enough

Ok. This is the perfect time to introduce Clarry to the role of Captain/Coach. You beauty. Go Clarry.

Geez, it's not hard to jump on the dissapointing Demons bandwagon after that loss last week. If she was in a gang she'd be the first one in with the boots when someone goes down. It reads to me like an example of slective writing, taking every opportunity to be negative. Balanced? [censored] off.

Yes, Captain. Now you're getting it.

I agree. It's as if he's reading from Salo's playbook. Stay under notice, give out minimums and bank the cheque each week. Bit harsh I know but I also think it's a valid criticism of many players, not just from Melbourne. You don't see it at the good clubs though who are well coached. At Collingwood they consistently play as if it's the last game they'll play. Hunger is such an under-rated team trait. I don't think Collingwood are necessarily that good on paper. But boy they bring it on game day. That's one of the big criticisms of Melbourne. In 2021 we were hungry. Now it's like we Just Don't Care.

Make Clarry Captain. Sounds ridiculous. Well yes but... This would be the making of him as a footballer and a person. He craves respect and this will give him respect. He will put everything into his health and fitness. There are other bad boy Captains in the league, Toby Greene and Tex Walker (was). Clarry is well liked in the club and I think they will rally around him. Not putting Max down but clearly the connection with the coach is now more damaging than positive with the softness that has enveloped the playing group. 3 or 4 times best and fairest and one of the most loved Demons of all time. I'd love to see him given the Captaincy.

He needs to grow up and take responsibility. Has really good talent but is poorly coached. Takes the easy option far too often. Isn't ruthless for a back pocket like pig was. Kicks backwards to a safe out all the time. Passes on the responsibility of finding an option upfield, which he would probably be good at. Needs to be challenged. I've been waiting for the last 10 weeks for some indication that someone in the coaching department is guiding him but nada. Makes me think they don't care, he doesn't care, he's leaving at years end.

It's hard to tell coz I'm so biased and invested in Melbourne but I thought they weren't playing honest football. What's honest football? Well I spose it's when everyone is trying and invested and we all push together in the same direction. I watched Freo, Saints on Sunday and really enjoyed the game, I think the Saints are coming on quite well. I don't see any of those signs with Melbourne.

I reckon Gill's advice to Dill would have been don't, whatever you do, go near umpiring. It's such a can of worms Dill, stick your head in the sand for 5 years, take your money and let the next bloke fix it.

People are so scared of change and things they don't fully understand. The Tasmanian naysayers don't like "mainlanders" and think this is a bulldozing job by said "mainlanders" to ruin their state They are generally bigotted people who turn themselves into victims. They will protest the whole way through the project for reasons they forget. They are similar to the "save Albert Park" mob. Then when the team is up and running they will sit in the stands and complain that every free kick against them is some sort of conspiracy that they are just fodder to the big Victorian clubs. I really hope these negative nancies don't win and a magnificent stadium gets built and Tassie gets a team. It will be a massive boon for their economy, my only concern being that it will be booked out all the time with its very limited capacity. It will be like getting finals tickets, but overall I'm really looking forward to getting down there.

Well I for one aren't going to let a little black armband ruin a good story.

Firstly I think if you ask a lot of the other coaches out there if they could re-invent and re-invigorate many of our players the answer would be yes. If you believe this and I do, then already other clubs are starting their approaches to get hold of our players. Take Fritsch for example who has lost all confidence or Viney, who has become a turn-over merchant under Goodwin. Oliver who has lost his speed and couldn't keep up with Danger on Friday night but is still about 5 years his junior and still has a lot to offer (most likely with another team). Petracca who is frustrated and believes it is everyone else's fault. Kossie who is a simple genius and doesn't want to deal with all this negative introspection. All these players and more are ready to listen to the sweet dealings of other suitors. Under Goodwin we will be a year or two behind Richmond in a short time and with Tassie on the horizon it is not a time to be sinking to the bottom of the ladder and with Melbourne's inability to hold off the evils of the media we will be preyed upon very quickly. This will already be happening and it may be too late to change our ill fortunes. But we do need to act quickly. Whether you are a glued on fan of Goodwin or not the situation has moved beyond him. The club I think needs to change. It needs to turn a leaf. We are mired in such a funk that if we continue there is no avoiding a full blown bottoming out and possibly years in the bottom four. We need someone new to re-establish the faith. The incumbents have had their chance and their story has become our reality. I would be approaching Longmire with the biggest selling point being our home ground is the MCG a ground that was a stumbling block to his ambitions as a coach. I think he would love to master the MCG. Melbourne might be that club.

Great summary as always Binman. I think GWS will be up there at the pointy end of the season so a win is hard to envisage even for the optimistic like yourself. Beyond the win/loss result of today's match I do hope the debutants show something and they are not 1. Overawed or 2. Injured. If we see positive signs from the youngsters in the team that will be enough when we are "building into the season" as Goody says. Go Dees

SSShhh! Keep it quiet Binman. We don't want Roost it Far to get wind of this. All hell will break loose. You know what he's like when a training report isn't on time!

Nice! Nice! That would be like heaven on Earth. Oh please, please, let me live in that Universe.