Mel Bourne

Beautiful day here. I can feel a smashing coming on, and I’m not normally one to say such things.

Great idea.

Haha! Look that’s a valid question, but no I’m a guitar/keys player who’s really letting my crew down today. Gallows humour incoming: I spent a good chunk of my week at my Mum’s new aged care place helping her settle in. I texted my (football-averse) wife on my way back from “the game” today asking “Is Alzheimers contagious?” She replied “No babe, you’ve just got Dee-mentia”

Put on my Demons scarf around midday and hopped on the train to Jolimont. Big thanks to the people on the carriage who told me the game is tomorrow. It’s been one of those weeks, folks.

As a side note, Crisp’s three goals in the first quarter tell you that automatically benching a player after they kick a goal is a deeply overrated coaching trope.

Like any sensible human, I can’t stand the Essendon fc, but I love the fact that the Pies players and supporters have to watch Travis Cloke hand out bottles of water to the Bombers’ players after they kick a goal.

Did you see Trac’s interview on AFL 360? He very much made a point about him and Moore’s friendship, and the level of concern Moore showed in the aftermath.

Sure, I can agree with most of that. Was more referring to certain posters who are convinced Moore set out to do some damage.

Hmmm, I think there are quite a few people on this forum alone who are at odds with this thought. I don’t agree with them, for what it’s worth.

Trac said that Moore has been in touch with him regularly since the incident. They’re friends who have known each other since they were eight years old.

This is what the naysayers are forgetting. 2022 - knee injury and three months off the ground, then later that year his thyroid issues started to re-emerge (he’d had previous bouts in ‘13 & ‘16). 2023 was a compromised pre-season and another three months on the sidelines. This year his hamstring saw him miss five matches. He’s been seriously unlucky, but he’s a naturally gifted footballer and if he can get a decent preseason in next year he’ll be worth five times more than any trade will fetch. Him, Trac and Oliver are a particularly tight trio, and among other reasons, his presence would be a stabilising force at the club right now. I’m confident he’s got some good football ahead of him.

Sorry, it wasn’t clear but I was speaking in a more historical context. Previous posts on here over the past couple of years.

Salo will be 29 next year. He’s not “trade bait”, because most clubs would be wary of his health issues. Regarding these issues, it’s baffling to me how many posters attribute his form to “injuries” and overlook his thyroid condition - something the poor guy has had to manage the hell out of to stay on the ground. Another reason he’s not “trade bait” is because he’s been a champion for our club and has worked harder than most on our list have ever had to. He may one day have to concede it’s all too difficult, but until then he deserves our respect and not be reduced to such insults.

Saw that, and yep, if it were a middling/little-known player they would most certainly have been made an example of.

So I must confess, I’m watching the Pies/Suns replay now, chiefly, because I want to watch the Pies get done. Possibly a new low. That Maynard stage was pathetic. But not as pathetic as the commentary that went with it. Jonathon Brown in his full-grown-toddler way heaping praise on him for “earning a free kick”. [censored] off, bozo.

Two games separate 3rd and 12th on the ladder. What a time to be alive.

I watched the game at the Lincoln Hotel in Carlton. Mercifully-muted screens, and enough interest from the attendees to provide the right kind of ambience. A few Brisbane supporters in my midst too, but I must say they were very respectful of the Dees. One of them even confessed to me that Trac is his favourite non-Lions player and we would have thumped them without his absence.

Pretty solid unexpected hit from the [censored]. Not sure Kolt’s had too many of those (from the ones who know how to do them “properly”), so prepared to give the benefit of the doubt. Edit: are we really censoring the word that starts with F and rhymes with “log” now? That is somewhat hilarious.

He was in my thoughts, but it’s Zorko by a whisker.

As a brief aside, was great to see the players step up to the league’s supreme [censored] when he chose to rough up an 18 year-old. I detest Zorko more than any other player in the game, and wish him a miserable post-AFL life.

Seven players out there between 18-21 years of age. Tanks don’t get built quickly.

I don’t understand how anyone could have watched that footage of Petty and Fagan and thought there was any animosity there.

I told my Dees-supporting buddy to prepare to have their heart broken at the start of the last quarter. Not because I thought we were going to “soil the bed” (which thankfully they didn’t do “literally”), but because I felt we had just one too many young fellas out there without the necessary tanks/mind-sets to complete the task. But I drew a helluva lot of positives out of that match.

Big lift from Clarry tonight.

I don’t mind that. We’d be a far lesser team without Lever and May, so if bickering is what makes them tick, please keep ticking on.