Mel Bourne

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.

My comment on game day thread: “My gut-feel is that we get a lot closer than many here are saying we will, but a very much in-form Lions will do what very much in-form teams do. Just want to see some fight and improvement. Go Dees.” So I really can’t complain, and I won’t. Thought our team showed the kind of grit and cohesion we thought might have been lost. And was really heartened by the young players’ efforts.

My gut-feel is that we get a lot closer than many here are saying we will, but a very much in-form Lions will do what very much in-form teams do. Just want to see some fight and improvement. Go Dees.

I’m in favour of the push for our young players to be given time on the big stage this season, and I’m sure they are too. And they must all realise that entails not having any expectations when it comes to selection, even after a solid showing. There are only so many chairs at the table. While some here are expressing disappointment on behalf of Pup, I’d guess he’s somewhere else feeling pretty chuffed about how things are going so far.

He needs to get good psychiatric help throughout all of this. Ideally not club-appointed, so he can process freely. And maybe he can seek some comfort in the law of averages. 400-odd AFL players (and thousands in lesser leagues) risk what happened to Trac, happening to them every weekend. If something similar happened to him again he would be one of the unluckiest dudes to ever lace up.

Dangerfield got off because the club disputed it, and I feel, rightly so. The only argument in favour of suspension was that Walsh’s arms were both pinned, thus preventing him from being able to brace. In a sling tackle that’s fair enough, but Dangerfield’s tackling motion was pretty textbook. The tackling rules have found themselves in a bit of a nowhere land of late. The unusually-tetchy argument that broke out between Lyons, Riewoldt, Buckley and Jordan post-game was an illustration of this. Pinning the arms in a sling tackle absolutely needs to be phased out. But in most other situations, not pinning the arms provides the opposition an opportunity to dispose. Which is completely at odds with the intent behind a tackle in the first place.

Maybe it’s my well and truly lapsed Catholicism or growing up with too many saucy British comedies on the TV, but I don’t think too many AFL players would want to be known as “The Vicar”! I’m going economic: “Mon”.

Our Trac is one of the most raw, candid and charming AFL players that front up to the cameras, and seeing him so emotionally affected is tough viewing. The love for the guy from all the neutrals over at the AFL Reddit page has been heartening. I genuinely hope I'm reading too deep into this, but I couldn't help but notice that when asked about the support he'd been receiving he said words to the effect of "the support from my family, friends, fiancee and the footy-world in general has been amazing". No specific mention of the MFC. I'm just going to assume it's because they don't start with an "f" and move on. Rest up, champion.

Tear it up Mon! Love it Wow, five debutants in one season. And with nine rounds to go, could that number increase?

I don’t doubt her intelligence. But if she thought she was going to get softball-questions, then it was quite naive. Anyway, tomorrow is another day…

Look, I’ll concede “appalling” might be too strong an adjective. But to say she hadn’t even seen it…I’m sorry but I question the honesty here. It’s very disappointing at most, and if true that she hadn’t seen it, most weird at the least. Her role may be administrative, but when she chooses to go on the radio it extends to “publicist”. And a good publicist doesn’t front up to the media without doing their homework.