Swooper1987

Was a very talented country player. Came up through the under 19's, originally number 46 then moved to 15. Followed Swooper Northey to the Tigers. He ended up a legend at Beaconsfield where he coached them to a number of flags and kicked the ton a few times. He was actually three years behind me in school and ended up at Rusden College with me for a year or so. I remember in our school footy teams he was the only Year 9 amongst all of the Year 12's!

Most others would, including Scott Pendlebury. I'll back his view against Jay Clark's any day!

A Demon fan as a young bloke was Pendles. He'd have a fair idea.

Cannot believe James McDonald is not on this list. He'd surely be top 10. Inspirational skipper, AA midfielder and probably the most courageous player I've seen in red and blue. A definite for this list if ever there was one. And also happy to see Lyon at 1. He was a sensational player.

Sadly for us the 87 prelim is definitely a top 50. It was an outstanding game of finals footy and it is rare that a team can lead an entire game and still not be the winner. A genuine last man standing affair and I'll make sure I'm not watching when it gets replayed. Once was enough and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Eddie Jackson would be somewhere near the top of this list.

Just a wonderful player. None better in the red and blue in my life time.

Langdon and Tomlinson were excellent today. I think Tomlinson took 6 or 8 marks today simply by holding his position. I love that he doesn't get sucked into the contest and has the discipline to play his role. He will consistently provide us with an option and his team mates will have confidence in him because they'll know he's where he is supposed to be. Langdon's run was very impressive.

Tom Chadwick reported that Viney was not amongst the top vote getters in the players vote. Specifically mentioned Gawn, Lever and May as leading that. Said that it was possible the players could be overruled, but unlikely. Apparently Viney was very disappointed according to Tom. That was about it.

That's right. Lyon only played three quarters. Balme took him off with a tight hammy; Schwarta stayed on and got injured near the end of the game. Both played the next week in Perth to no avail. Was an exciting finals series that one! The first win against Carlton was an exceptional performance.

What an outstanding player he was! Hard to believe he still isn't a Hall of Fame member after retiring 20 years ago! Probably the best all round Demon player since Flower.

It was the last game we lost before we went on our run of consecutive wins. It was also round 17 played a week before our round 16 game against Geelong. In an interesting fixturing event we played round 17 on July 18 and round 16 on July 25!! We beat Geelong comprehensively at VFL Park, the first of 6 consecutive wins. In that run we beat not only the Cats, but also the Eagles and the Dogs - the three sides who ended up finishing directly below us. We definitely earned 5th place. Our other wins in that run were against also rans Richmond, Collingwood and Brisbane. We were in white hot form by the time we hit September.

They were. Moore tore a hammy mid way through the season and that was the end of him. Cordner was sent to the Swans with Adrian Battiston in 1988. It's definitely the 1987 team.

1987 - managed to lose to North Melbourne during the season when Alistair Clarkson, in his first season kicked the winner after the siren. Then the one no Demon will ever forget - the Prelim final.

As our most successful coach since Norm Smith I think it would be fitting if Swooper was made a life member at the club. He coached 167 games for 90 wins and five finals series including our first in 24 years, as well as 2 night flags when that was actually a real competition. I know 10 years service is the mark, although Brian Wilson was admitted on the basis of 150 games played after falling short of the 10 years service. I think Swooper's contribution was enormous and it'd be nice to see him acknowledged now he's well into his mid-late seventies.

It was a very exciting finals series but geez did we nearly blow it before the finals. We were comfortably second for most of the year and actually beat Hawthorn during the season. Then we dropped 5 games straight from round 17-21. We had to beat second placed Carlton in the last game of the season to hold 5th. We did and then put those 3 finals wins together. We were fortunate to beat the Eagles in the wet at VFL Park, thanks to a great Lyon snap and a Murray Wrensted miss basically on the siren and we always had the Pies under control in the first semi. We beat the Blues on a rainy, windy day and lost O'Dwyer to suspension after that game. Hawthorn were a great team but we should have been more competitive on the big day. Still it was a great week in the lead up and all the neutrals were cheering us on. Still, 1990 was the one that got away. If ever there was a flag there for the taking for us it was that one.

I was fortunate enough to witness the stirring run home in 1987 - 6 in a row and relying on others to lose. Northey was a terrific coach who extracted everything from his group. 1990 we were the best team in the comp but unfortunately we had a shocker against North and lost by 127 points which cost us percentage and the double chance. We won 16 games and finished 4th. We beat top side Essendon twice including at Windy Hill and beat Hawthorn in consecutive weeks including the Elimination Final to end their run of consecutive GF's which stretched from 1983-89. We were the only team that could really trouble Collingwood - we had knocked them out of the 1988 and 89 finals series- yet inexplicably got rolled by WC at Waverley in the first semi. There went Northey's best hope of landing us a flag. Daniher did a great job in 1998 and we were capable of beating anyone. In fact we rolled the eventual premier in the first final of that year under the "old" final 8 system. 2000 we were never a chance against Essendon but it was nice to make the GF because it meant Carlton didn't! For me, I'd go for Northey - 5 successive years of finals with at least one win in each of those series. Other teams feared and respected us and of all the Victorian teams over the period 87-91 we had the best record against Hawthorn - no mean feat in that era.

"And up go the two calicos" - KB early days!!

Lyon was a superb kick - perhaps the best in my time watching the Demons. Warren Dean was a spectacularly long kick - not always accurate but could roost it. Steven Stretch was also a very good user over short and long distances. The great Robbie Flower was wonderfully skilled in all aspects of the game. Brett Lovett used the ball very well by hand and foot.

I'd take Tomlinson. Durable, a better mark and more versatile. KK might have been anything before his concussion issues and still may be a useful contributor, but I rate Tomlinson. He'll prove to be a valuable acquisition.

Gawny has won the last two Ron Barassi Jnr Trophies for leadership. Now that a vacancy has arisen with Jones stepping down he will be Captain (or co-Captain). It's a no brainer and doesn't require a vote, a leak or anything else to determine. He's been Captain in all but title since 2016. When it is officially announced, it will be nothing more than a statement of the obvious.

Other than Gawn and Oliver they struggle to rate against the competition's elite. However, the list is Melbourne's best 10 of the decade and I'm struggling to think of anyone else you could add. Bluey winners are 2010 - Green, 2011 - Moloney, 2012-14 - Jones, 2015 - Vince, 2016 - Viney, 2017 - Oliver, 2018 - Gawn and 2019 Gawn and Oliver. Both Moloney and Green were done during the Neeld era. It's an accurate (and sad) reflection on our last 10 years. I'd argue Jones is a couple of spots too high but I can understand why he'd be put first.

There should be three line leaders - backs, mid and forward so for me it'd be Lever, Gawn and McDonald. Be happy with Gawn as C and the other two as VC's.

He has a similar running style to the great Jimmy Krakouer. If he turns out half as good as Jimmy pick 12 will have been well spent.

Goodwin on SEN this morning said that Jackson could be the first genuine midfielder at 200 cm. Makes sense.