Deemania since 56

Those few, early-season appearances might well be the difference for him as he has worked hard to elevate his presence off-season.

Gotta agree.

Thought the same, as if recent umpiring against Max being bashed are now a confession of unfair and dangerous conditions being tolerated, due to his abilities (that must be allowed to be stopped, somehow).

Great signs, yes.

I have been hesitant to consider Salem in the midfield, preferring his work in the backline. However, in this practice interclub match against Carlscum, he shone as a midfielder. This probably indicates his current fitness achievements and readiness for the season; yet, his footwork and delivery from the midfield was almost immaculate; he enforced plays to creative, lesser forwards who were prepared to find space, to move and to scrounge the ball with good hands. Salem brought many of our 'smalls' into the game wherein his foot-passing could be relied upon, opening chances instead of rebounds by the opposition, and strengthening the whole forward progression of the ball and the team intent. Great effort, Salo - great thinking. Also, Max was phabulous! All game.

Midfield minutes will be a plus for him to expose his wares in a newer role; however, his role and chartered history is to play a dynamic 'midfielders function' in the backline to the rest of the field before him and in so doing, exposing pathways for others to creatively exploit in the passing of the ball to (and through) goal(s). Hope he is fit and unencumbered with illness/injury and if so, should have a rip-snorter game ahead of him and into the season. He certainly has the class to achieve once again this season.

Ripper, WCW, I'm in Adelaide now, so I cannot miss this one - let's hope the game quietens those amongst us on DL who have early-season jitters, doubts and criticisms. I reckon we will knock a nervous Carlton into no-man's land.

Thanks, Werridee. I will watch it with enthusiasm.

Is there any direct coverage of this game? TV, radio, other media? Please advise if known.

Yes, a good comment, Rodney BG. There is a cloud on the lower atmospheric zone, impenetrable, unanswerable, tainting the earthly environment: Collingwood and all it stands for in terms of the polluting opportunities and influences of the AFL itself.

Gus will be a prominent watcher and supporter of such a rise in form from our players, motivated by Gus' departure under very questionable circumstances and minimalist AFL concern. Gus, you were our marque on what MFC players should be doing onfield.

That's an assumption Cornes can read.

Nope, don't like Salem in the guts; his best strength is back flank for mine, he knows the Lever/May/McVee routines and clears well to position - particularly when fit or free to make running space with the ball. Some backline shepherding would help, as would run-on either side. Defensively, he's quite good at spoils and intercepts, tagging the man and short clearances to expectant and moving receivers. The backline needs him in these roles bringing more 'team' to their responsibilities onfield.

Hook-foot curvers; not the best sight in execution and then, the result. A few have the habit and have owned it as their 'style' so often, yet they deliver better and split the sticks better when conventional drop-put efforts are made. The Melk, is a natural hooker and is made less reliable at the goals, for example, because of it. His record could well be doubled for goals kicked using a more standard, less variable kicking action - it's ok for short passing but that is all. Tracca has adopted the style, too, and so has ANB and Chandler. The latter has demonstrated better and more reliable accuracy with conventional efforts.

Fairy Nuff.

Yes, Green (and Alves) could justify a best-10 nomination, as could Shawtah. Impossible to name such a listing, in reality.

More common than we could imagine in those days - particularly at Viccy Park. Yes, my melee incident was minor but it hurt, it offended, it surprised, it disgusted several Demon supporters (I got a can of beer to make me feel better from one nice bloke in red 'n blue) but at the end of the day, it felt dirty, diseased, bacterially tainted after a short tussle with the smelly Filth offender and set a lifelong tone about that club and its supporters - still held today.

We are dynamic and highly talented yet suffer greatly from injured players - so we must add still more depth as coverage in the team - plus train consistently with our young talent pool to enable a range of 'ready' swaps at short notice (not just game-day try-outs punctuated with our combined, enormous hopes that corners will be turned). The public entertainment rules raffle from the umpires has also hamstrung our team considerably for several seasons, as if we were walking scapegoats for intended games outcomes. Perhaps, there also seems to be an issue with our club leaders, officials and their donned associates who need to be more forthright, more challenging and more consistently aggressive about the snots' decisions that glaringly hinder, hamper and handicap our performances in games and the related implementation standards of rules in a game, not selective applications to force a certain result.

Great bit of footage, Macca. Thanks so much for putting it up on DL. Wonderful memories, Demon players, heritage thoughts invoked. Was there, that day - a game that I had forgotten, over the years. l think I got a smack over the head from a Filth fan during the last quarter, as fading memories recall.

Excellent signs are these not? I have some relaxing confidence in the team design across this year and further into the future with developing young players like these. Powerhouse stuff - now for the coaching team to maximise their ascension. That would be the only hesitancy one could hold, sadly.

I thought Stanley was absolutely superb on the Southern Wing, as well. That raking long torp and the more steadied drop punt (closer in) scored us an enormous number of goals for a dedicated wingman. He still leaves me with the sense of absolute awe of his blind turns, dodges and run-arounds on every opposition player attempting to prevent his ball delivery or forward line penetration, let alone his accuracy with 'outside' goal-kicking. His accelerating speed could not be contested effectively, even by the alleged 'greats' assigned to stop him across many years. Definitely, Stan remains very close to the top of my list of outstanding Demons over the years, in the masterclass of the gifted clutch in red & blue.

This is what we want to hear ... but why did it take years of team training and coaching to move into this critical, essential mindset and preparation?

Thanks, PF. It will be great to see a comparison or two in a few weeks time - players, movers, game plans and practices, etc. It would also be nice to see those 'rubber gloved' at this point returning to compete fit and well, keen as mustard, providing the noted youth with great 'team' encouragement.

Blud oath!

On match day, Nibbler adds ... and adds ... just what we need, at unexpected moments.