Rodney (Balls) Grinter

So BBB is finished yeah?

I know Kade is looking pretty buff this season, but he needs to get on the weights hard core if he's to remind me too much of Andy. Chopper was a beast!!

So Kade gets a gig on the ground straight up. Great reward for effort for the guy. Really hoping he puts in a good performance and holds his spot. I'm upping my bid to $2.45 now, in anticipation Chin playing well on Saturday night.

Bulldogs with strong power forward lineup. Best way to combat them without May is to deny them supply. Bulldogs have also lost Hunter and Dunkley. Libby jnr is a year older and not that great the past few years anyways. I'm thinking we have them covered with without Maysy, without even considering our substantial backline depth and capability, but the job still has to be done, so let's get the first 4 points on the board for 2023 Demons. Teams on paper mean nothing it's the consistency of winning that counts.

Couldn't agree more Harmesy, but at the same time, I think the Buldogs are one of the few teams that I see genuinely challenging us this year. Been watching that 2021 GF on repeat again a bit myself of late, along with the 2021 prelim. Can't wait for the contemporary 2023 versions - BRING IT ON I say!! GO THE MIGHTY DEMONS!!

How/where can you get one. I don't recall this being sent out by the club. Along with many others, I hate the electronic ticketing with a passion. For this reason I screen shot the barcodes, so you don't have to compete for the network at the same time as thousands of others do download them at the gate. Phone often gives a message as you take the screen shot that you cannot use that to enter the gate, but it's always worked for me. Was such a pain at the start of last season when you had to go through not only mobile ticketing, but the service Victoria app and get you bags searched entering the ground. Try managing that taking two young kids to the footy and then the crappy late night finishes of all the night games we played. Talk about un family freindly.

More greed on behalf of the AFL. I honestly hate sitting on level 4. At last year's Anzac Eve game there was no GA on level one and it was either Richmond members or reserve seating and a lot of it was empty. The MCG has soo much capasity, yet so much was already reserved for AFL members, MCC members, to not give away club members and or some general public access to decient ground level seating is pretty rank. Further, at most MFC home games there was usually some GA and or away member seating available on the ground level. That we are not afforded the same by other clubs is an awful practice. This sort of might is right of the power clubs and being for the average punter is what the AFL and Gil were supposedly all about. What a bloody hoax.

Never noticed before - he's got a strange set shot kicking action. Really stools down a bit before the ball drop. Not a criticism as he seems to slot it through the middle well enough, so whatever works for him. Just looks a bit weird.

We smashed them 2020 at the Gabba. Honestly, I'd just put alot of it down to [censored] luck on our behalf that they've beat us in recient years: 2021, was just about our first loss of the season and we'd copped them the week Buckley was sacked; 2022 we got them at just about or lowest injury point on Queens birthday and when our form started to dip through injuries and fatigue late season and we still nearly beat them. Before that we were mostly just [censored], but I do remember a year we beat them convincingly Queens birthday during our horror years, when Gawn kicked a bag.

Will there be a freindly competition between him and Max for most goals kicked and/or most hit outs to advantage?

I recall reading in Leigh Mathews book that his view is that while good coaching and good player management gets you into the position to play finals and GFs, so much of winning premierships still comes down to luck and having a fit squad come the GF. Even then, calls need to be made on key players carrying injuries of some description. I can't recall which Lions GF or the outcome, but I remeber something about a huge fitness test for Jonathan Brown one time that if it were any other game he would have been rested, so this hardly a new issue or one that's unque to the MFC. Similarly in retrospect, Steve May probably shouldn't have played in the GF in 2021, based on him having a huge tear in his hammy that could be seen on the scans. But he got through ok and we won, so that doesn't get negatively scrutinized. It would have been a difficult decision to leave out Maysy due to his pivotal leadership role and huge presence in our defense. I also think he's a guy who really earnt his piece of premiership glory, so I'm really glad he played from that perspective as well. I think Roos and Goody both preach the right mantra that it's all about having a list and playing/coaching mindset of having a team that can genuinely compete in finals over a period and that will hopefully translate into multiple premerships in that time. I think it's well recognised that we have one of the best lists and well coached team defense systems in the league, but the competition is so close that you only need to be half a pace off at the wrong time to miss out on the ultimate prize. Here's to hoping all the planets align for us in 2023 because I'm still craving being there in person at the G when Gawny and Goody raise's the cup again!

I'm glad we didn't throw JVR in the deep end during finals last year. In the preseason games I've seen him to date, he's not made much of an impact at senior level, while being quite dominant at the level below. That indicates to me his time will come soon, but he should be given an opertuity to find his feet at AFL level before we rely on him to make a substantial contribution. IMHO, we had better options in that game against Brisbane that were not triggered into action. Petty forward earlier might have given us a few goals from our entries and kept us in the game.

For want of a better live thread, does anyone know what's caused the absence of Fritta from preseason games to date? Has he had a delayed preseason to let him fully recover from the knee injury mentioned at the start of this thread or is it something else which has occurred since?

I thought it was Tyrrell's Wines, but apparently in 2021 and 2022 it was Bleasdale. We might as well just go through them all I recon. Second the punter who suggested we need an official cheese sponsor as well.

It was Bleasdale that made the 2021 MFC premiership special edition. Got a bottle for Christmas a couple of years back and never tasted a better wine. https://www.bleasdale.com.au/wine/2021-melbourne-football-club-premiership-wine Can't wait for the 2023 Pentfolds version! P.S. I nearly spelt edition as addition 😉😂 @Demonstone

I tend to agree, but as far as things go, this is probably on the pretty low end of the scale of things posted on social media these days. If it were most other people it would be - meh, yeah ok, so what. But it's not necessarily the most tasteful message to share with the world either. I guess it's something of a sign of the times in a good way that the AFLW players now actually have a public profile this would be noticed by someone and actually become 'newsworthy'. Perhaps the AFLW players need to be a bit more self aware about what they post to social media these days? Perhaps the media need to get a life and stop picking small personal moments and blowing them up like the Sky is falling down too.

I'm not disagreeing with much of this either Daz only to say that the two players you mentioned played at the level below. I thought Laurrie was decient. I'm not sure that Harmes was best 22 from 2018 - 2020 on this forum. Always seems to attract comments questioning if he's good enough. But he still seems to play majority of games most seasons. I think we've agreed to disagree on this topic, but personally I think write James Harmes off at your peril.

Anyone got good ideas on parking near Gooches? Train services on the Belgrave/Lillidale line are going to be rubbish for the first part of the season due to track closure and replacement buses for the Mont Albert / Surrey Hills level crossing removal works.

For me the surprise was that JJ didn't stand out in the second game anywhere near as much as I thought he would. Maybe cause for concern or maybe he just had a bad day?

Not entirely sure I agree with this. I didn't overly notice Harmes, but did see him do a few good things. In terms of sliding down the pecking order, from the moment he stepped into the club as a final round rookie draftee, I think he's been fighting to justify his place in the side just about every season since. He's a tenacious beast and good honest footballer in my book, but does also have some assets being his hardness, kicking is generally better than some make out and I think he has a reasonable ability to break out of a pack situation with his strength power and speed in those situations and break lines a bit. His best asset is his ability to be at the right place, right time and execute some fantastic well weighted passes into 50 in critical match situations. Turned the premiership in our favor with his brilliant pass to Fritta in the 3rd quarter and back in 2018, he hit up a perfect pass to Dean Kent that put the sealer on us beating West Coast and got us a finals birth for the first time in 14 years. Selectors would be excluding him form the side at their peril IMHO.

Hibberd on his last legs? Yeah nah. Was a gun in the second half of last season when we bought him into the seniors. Thought he was by far our best defender and close to best on ground in the second hit-out. A class above. In my mind, if he's fit, he plays ones. Brings so much hardness, toughness, never sat die and just a ripping player and defender. If we're cruising I think it would be something of a luxury to have him play seconds to mentor the next crop of defenders, but back end of last season, he was definitely a required commodity in the senior side. I did like the look of McVee though. Thought Rivers and Bowey were also good, so there is going to be tough competition for spots. Disco was good in the second game and that was a great screamer he pulled down.

Was watching the game today and thought that Will Verrall has a bit of the Jack Fitzpatrick look about him. Hope he has a better AFL career than Jack i.e. less the concussion. ...please don't teach him tunnel ball at training.

I somewhat miss the 90s MFC/MCG experience. Red Seats MFC members for the game and Demons Club in the room under the Northern Stand afterwards. There was a number of MCC members that use to come across the divide and attend the Demons Club functions rather than the Red Legs, because they preferred 'the vibe' of the Demons Club. If only we'd won a premership in that era.

You know what I mean. Echuca is on the Murray (somewhat to Echcua's detriment with all the recient flooding). Although as you point out, technically the Murray may be closer to Adelaide, but the time it get's there, it's a bit like the city of Adelaide it's self - a backwater [censored] hole.

Honestly, asides from the Collingwood arrogance about this issue, I'm not really that bothered as it hardly impacts me and I suspect it doesn't really impact our members. The bigger issue for me is how the MFC has decided to manage it's allocation of seating during our home games. I resent that the club took away the premium seating area on the wing/half forward ground level of the Northern Stand which use to be the MFC members ' Red Seats ' area open to all MFC members and made it into an exclusive MFC reserve seating area. I get the finacial imperatives the club operates under, but I actually think this move was somewhat corrosive to the fabric of the club from a supporters perspective. I reestablished my MFC membership since around 2011 back when we were rubbish, so think I hace contributed reasonablely to the club over recient history. The way the MFC reserve seat area on the wing is managed is [censored]: 1. For a family it would cost me excessively for everyone to purchase reserve seats in the area; 2. Even if I could afford it, it's difficult to get enough seats in a block together and almost impossible to also be allocated next to/near my old man's reserved seat in this area; 3. The other issue with perminantly reserved seats is that when people don't rock up, they go vacant, per the Collingwood home game issue. Having vacant seats in premium viewing positions is bad business and bad for footy culture in my view and bring a real finacial eliteisim to the game that erodes it. Please bring back the old MFC members Red Seat area (Even if they are now grey!). Perhaps Kate can champion that cause for the average MFC punter.