Swooper1987

Daisy Thomas talking sense though. Buckley is a realist. If he goes to Tasmania he's not winning a flag. Small town club, playing in front of 15-20k for home games and not much better than that away, and at least 5 years before they'd be genuinely competitive. Melbourne - the MCG most weeks, big games like ANZAC eve and King's Birthday, already competitive and with great young talent. At 53 the clock is ticking for that elusive premiership. It's not a difficult choice.

I generally stay away from these topics but I see Buckley as being so much better prepared this time around. 10 years of experience at Collingwood including 5 years of finals, three consecutive from 18-20 (GF, Prelim and semi), finished up half way through 21. Had Nick Daicos been born four years earlier, Buckley is at least a one time, and quite possibly two time premiership coach. If you go back and look at the team that took the field for Collingwood in 2018 it's a miracle they got as close to WCE as they did. His analysis is impressive and he has a gravitas in the footy community that we really need. Gawn has been a great front man but ideally the coach does that job. Buckley is a media heavyweight. I think he will reinvigorate Petracca and Oliver and should he be appointed I expect both will stay.

Just did a quick check of Wheelo's page and found that only three players this season polled coaches votes in 16 games - two from Gold Coast (Rowell and Miller) and Gawn. What an extraordinary achievement in a team that only won 7 times. That is consistency of a remarkable level.

He's now certainly the greatest ruck of all time. Having followed the Demons since the late 70's as a very young kid, the only player who would rival Max in my time would be Flower. Petracca and Oliver from the recent era are both champions but never had the influence of Gawn. Neitz, Lyon and Stynes are rightfully Hall Of Fame members but again, none could do what Max has done. He's an all time great and future AFL Legend.

Herald Sun De Goey 3 Gawn 2 Pendlebury 1

Thanks Wheelo. I thought Oliver had a better game than that. I guess his very low contested (5) and clearance numbers didn't help, however he did have 9 score involvements and went at 87% efficiency. Also of interest - once again Gawn dominated against Cameron. 10 less ruck contests for Max though. A lot of Cameron's hit outs came against our second rucks in our forward line. I felt at times Max needed to take the ruck in the forward 50 and let Petty or JVR drop back behind the ball. Thanks a lot for your contribution this year Wheelo. I've really enjoyed looking through your numbers.

second this

Current standings in The Age Player of the Year. Finn Callaghan GWS 115 Jordan Dawson Adelaide 112 Max Gawn Melbourne 102 Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera St. Kilda 101 Noah Anderson Gold Coast 100 Herald Sun Player of the Year Max sits equal 11th on 16 votes and the only non-mid on the leader board.

Gawn by a mile. Rivers - he was good in the second half and the new coach needs him in the middle Salem - decent enough game Oliver - he's on an upward curve Van Rooyen - like his work as a second ruck and he moved well as a forward. Petty - one of his better games.

Is that the biggest winning margin in Demonland POTY history? In terms of Gawn's previous seasons, before coaches votes become public, this year he has polled in 13 games thus far which equals his 2018 season when he won the award (excluding two finals he polled in). He polled 12 times in 2021 (not including finals where he polled in an additional 2 games). He polled in 10 games in 2019 and 2024 and 9 games in 2016. Should he poll coaches votes in any of the last three games, this season will become his outright most prolific season in his career using that metric.

Gawn's second highest rated game of the year. Even better, English only rated 7.9 rolling around picking up uncontested junk stats. Culley a great effort. Hard to believe there wasn't a spot on the Eagles list for him.

Gawn - another AA now guaranteed (if it needed to be) Petty - competitive in the air and on the ground Rivers - mostly excellent McDonald - safe and efficient Salem - set up the play Langford - looks at home

Gawn - set it all up Viney - contested beast. Oliver - best game in a while Pickett - no goals but lots of influence Fritsch - good reward for effort Petracca - not spectacular but a good team game. (If anyone doubts Gawn's influence listen to McQualter's press conference).

Congratulations Max on another great season! If my maths is right he can't be passed.

Well the club threw everything at it at least. Jack Rush is a former Supreme Court Judge and was a Saints Board Member as well as being Judge Advocate General. Nobody more qualified.

Hall is a jet. Kudos to him, and the Saints recruiters for unearthing him.

The irony of the votes I am about to give is the genuine lament I feel about lack of onfield leadership in the last quarter, however, clearly our best two players over the entire game were Gawn and Viney, so here goes: Gawn 6 Viney 5 Rivers 4 Fritsch 3 Pickett 2 Chandler 1

Your observation is correct. Grundy the 14th highest rated player on the ground according to Wheeloratings. Game rating of 10.6. Callaghan was best with 21.7 and there were three swans (Mills 19.5, Warner 17.6 and Hayward 13.0) ahead of him and a plethora of Giants. It was another typical Grundy game where he gets a bit of it and not much actually happens as a result. As long as Buckley and Cornes are AA selectors, Gawn is getting in ahead of Grundy every day of the week.

Pickett - an absolute to delight to watch this guy do his thing Gawn - just a genuine superstar and brilliant leader. Beat both the Carlton rucks easily Fritsch - nice to see Bailey looking like he's enjoying himself again. Oliver - thought he tried hard, especially in the second half. Took a couple of nice contested marks. Rivers - stood tall early and remained a consistent positive influence throughout. Langdon - I liked Ed's game. Lots of contested possession for him and ran hard as always.

Fortunate to have seen every Melbourne player since the late 1970's. Flower stands above all as the best I've seen. Gawn is next because his influence has made everyone else better. Oliver sits comfortably third behind those two and well ahead of the next best. At his best (and he was amazingly consistent between 2017 and half way through 2023) I would say he was the most influential mid in the competition. In 2017, only his second year in the AFL he won the Bluey by nearly 200 votes! He polled 530 to the runner up, Jack Viney's 346. He had just turned 20. 2nd in 2018 - his first AA year, tied with Gawn in 2019, 5th in 2020, Back to back wins in 21 and 22. That's 6 consecutive top 5 positions in the Bluey, 3 x AA and 2 x AFLCA Player of the Year to go with a flag. If he stopped playing today he'd rightly be recognized as an all time great, yet at 27 there is so much more to come. Have a great game Clarry and thanks for the incredible highlights you've provided us with over the last 10 seasons. Much appreciated.

Coaches votes: Petracca 10 Melksham 6 Gawn 5 Sheezel 4 Fritsch 3 McKercher 2 Gawn now equal 8th and ahead of Xerri by 1 and Grundy by 2 for leading ruck.

Agree. Xerri was super frustrated. Gawn was absolutely dominant and Xerri had next to no impact at all. Just checking Wheelo's ratings, Xerri scored 4.9 for the game which is by far his lowest rated game of the season. Gawn was third highest rated on the ground with 17.3 which is actually his 6th highest rated game for the season. Xerri was losing it before he dropped Sparrow.

Petracca - impactful the whole game. Disposal needs a tidy up but was almost back to his best Melksham - irrepressible as always. 5 goals is a mighty effort Gawn - a dominant display against the second best ruck in the game. Haven't seen the stats but seemed to have a lot of hit outs to advantage, even if our mids sometimes found a way to mess up the clearance. 6 clearances of his own and 8 score involvements. Fritsch - his best game in some time. Langford - polished and thoughtful with the ball. Salem - a very nice game. I sat with his nephews and they are ripper kids.

He was no doubt a great footballer - one of Melbourne's greatest ever, however his legacy as a politician is largely overlooked. He was a genuine "small l" Liberal politician and was one of the key drivers in the Hamer Government's push to modernise Melbourne and Victoria. He was Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation and most notably led the introduction of the Life. Be In it campaign, but as a cabinet minister in a moderate Government he worked to introduce stronger environmental protection laws, the abolition of the death penalty (he strongly opposed the execution of Ronald Ryan), the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the introduction of anti-discrimination laws. His contribution to the state was immense.

If ever Campbell was going to play this is the game. Absolutely ragdolled Xerri in the preseason game when Gawn was recovering from the throat injury.