Chelly

Yeah, nah. The banter among the players, their nicknames and even their interests all add to the atmosphere at training. It’s good to read about these things and frankly, if you’re not interested, you can always move on to the next post. Easy … peasy.

Great. I know that we have a good few talls on our list but I would like to see see Tairon Ah Mu try out at Casey next year.

What about Corey Ah Mu? Will they now be including the Samoan and other south seas islanders into the acadamies?

Mentioned in the local Shepp News Shepparton NewsShepparton United’s Riley Onley selected with third pick...Onley’s AFL dreams have come true.

Time to do my annual early phantom draft for next year (picks based on current placings) - 1 West Coast Eagles (Arki Butler - Vic Metro) 2 Port Adelaide* (Dougie Cochrane - SA/Port NGA) 3 Carlton* (Cody Walker - Vic Country/Carl F/S) 4 Richmond (Archie Van Dyk - SA) 5 North Melbourne (Lewis Houndsome - Vic Metro) 6 Essendon Harry Van Hattum (Vic Metro) 7 Melbourne (Jack Pickett - Vic Country) 8 St Kilda (Gabriel Patterson - SA) 9 Brisbane Lions* (Caylen Murray - Brisbane Lions Academy) 10 Western Bulldogs (Wil Malady - Vic Country) * matched bid As you can see, there are a few matched academy/father son bids and Melbourne’s pick was an automatic selection based on the name only 😀 Pick 1 has a great first name but he wins the honour because he’s been compared to Tracc …

Almost twelve months out I got close with Duursma and a few of the northern academy players but I was way out with Ollie Greeves and Riley Onley. He’s still good Demon fans but the exercise shows how hard these things are to predict from a long way out.

The list is shrinking 🙏 Injury List: Preliminary Final Melbourne Eden Zanker — concussion / Test Maeve Chaplin — hamstring / TBC Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive

Best thing apart from the win is the “Nil” in the injury column.

6. Kate Hore 5. Elizabeth McNamara 4. Shelley Heath 3. Thalia Gillard 2. Megan Fitzsimon 1. Sinead Goldrick

Injury List: Semi Final Melbourne Sinéad Goldrick — eye / Test Eden Zanker — concussion / Protocols Maeve Chaplin — hamstring / TBC Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive

Injury List: Qualifying Final Melbourne Grace Beasley — knee / Available Gabby Colvin — wrist/ Available Molly O'Hehir — shin / Test Sinéad Goldrick — eye / 1 week Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive

6. Tyla Hanks 5. Tayla Harris 4. Eden Zanker 3. Shelley Heath 2. Maeve Chaplin 1. Kate Hore

Injury List Round 12 Melbourne Georgia Gall — ankle / Available Sinéad Goldrick — eye / Test Grace Beasley — knee / 1 week Gabby Colvin — wrist/ TBC Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive

Injury List Round 11 Melbourne Blaithin Mackin — calf / Test Maggie Mahony — nose / Test Sinéad Goldrick — eye / 1 week Georgia Gall — ankle / 1 week Grace Beasley — knee / 2 weeks Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive

6. Hanks 5. Heath 4. Zanker 3. Gillard 2. Hore 1. McNamara

Circumstances may evolve and a more favorable outcome could be achieved for all parties in 12 months’ time. There is no necessity to accept the GWS offer at this juncture, given its inadequacy and the disrespect it shows to the club and the player they seek to acquire.

Love the fact checking on Cornes (and his minions who followed with the same thoughts). These AFL Trade Radio commentators are like zombies lacking originality of thought. What are they going to come up with for their zinger of the day?

Injury List: Round 9 Melbourne Shelley Heath — finger / 1 - 2 weeks Sarah Lampard — calf / 1 - 2 weeks Saraid Taylor — hamstring / 1 - 2 weeks Blaithin Mackin — calf / 3 weeks Grace Beasley — knee / 4 - 5 weeks Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive

Injury List: Round 8 Melbourne Blaithin Mackin — knee / Test Molly O'Hehir — leg / 1 - 2 weeks Sarah Lampard — calf / 3 weeks Grace Beasley — knee / 4 - 6 weeks Saraid Taylor — hamstring / TBC Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive

For perspective, I just checked the Demonland Player of the Year voting to see how Judd McVee went in 2025 with Demonlanders who were the ones who cast the votes. He polled three votes, a mere 295 behind the winner and wasn't in our top 20 votegetters. Appreciate that he did much better last year but you're only as good as your last game.

I’ll bite - very difficult to cast votes when the team had such a comprehensive victory but here goes … 6. Megan Fitzsimon 5. Ryleigh Wotherspoon 4. Tyla Hanks 3. Tayla Harris 2. Kate Hore 1. Maeve Chaplin

I was just thinking that early on Saturday evening, one of the teams that we disposed of with great ease during the 2021 AFL finals series will have won two premierships in the interim four years since then. Such a shame that we couldn't make it a dynasty.

Is St Kilda is the frontrunner for Flanders because they offered him the most money or am I missing something?

Never really got much of a go.

But I have a feeling that it might get better next year 😊