Half forward flank

On what basis does Hibberd get a game. Time to shake the tree.

In all my years of following the Dees we have always been undersized compared to the top teams except for when we had the Big Red Engine and Jimmy working in tandem. gee it gave a lift to their teamates and the fans.

Seems a pretty dumb plan to try and keep it in the forward line when the kicks going in favour the opposition getting the ball or clearing it quickly out of there.

I know the search has been going on for decades now but wonder if we have ever had a working party physically go from sporting ground to sporting ground to maybe, just maybe find that hidden gem. Perhaps there is a struggling local club out there somewhere that would jump at that chance to have access to a modern facilities. Remembering local clubs train late afternoon and play games on an oval that we operate and can call home. I know of two such oval in North Balwyn. Clearly council is an issue but I would expect we would have a working propsal to integrate into the community for just such an inventuality.

Punt Rd is a little different. The other grounds were right in the middle of housing communities and the relevant councils were not supportive of prime land being locked away for exclusive elite footy club use. I encorouge you to have a walk around Glenferrie and Pieland and you will see the councils have been proven to ave had the correct foresight. Both grounds are used extensively by the community with people walking sitting, reading books and enjoying the fresh air. Punt Rd itself creates a barrier to that sort of activity for many people, the elderly, Mums with young kids and so on.

It would have made interesting listening if the interviewer had the brains or balls on supporters behalf to ask Mahoney, exactly how has this been able to addressed in corona lockdown.

Or play the last Post.

It is not just about personal and raw potential at the two Clubs. It is about which Club has the culture and knowlege to win a Premiership. Even if and when we have the personal and coaching panel in place it might still take 2-3 years as a top 4 team to do it, and yes i know there have been exceptions like the young Bulldogs, but against that look at the other Sydney mob.

Yes, likely with Vic park and Glenferrie as models of how to do it.

Big difference between a person having an opinion on a particular conversation than on a person never being pleased.

And what about when he said, "WC have good defenders"? Oh well, let us let our boys off the hook, they had good defenders. I have never ever sensed any Demon passion with Mahoney. Pass the paycheck please.

What a cop out of a response. We did well in the pre season. Imagine hearing someone at Hawthorn say that. Anyone who did would be immediately spoken to. And an insult to supports when he said, 'sometimes you do bomb it in" Yes josh, we can tell the difference between a occasional long forward entry and someone bombing it in and we are not refering to the former of the two cases. Pack your bags or do better.

So true Leoncelli. Seems another of those decisions supporters are way ahead of the coach and co on. Harmes is a heart and soul player who you do not want to muck around with.

I hear what you say about travelling time TPF but I think the travelling time is overdone a bit. Take Lever, do you think he would not have accepted a lucrative contract if he had to travel to Casey. Not too sure. I also believe it is overlooked that some players , maybe country boys could choose to live beyond Cranbourne, even as far as places like Phillip Island or Inverloch if they are into the beach lifestyle.

It is 29 minutes gone, last day in the only month that counts. Dees are 10 points down. Preuss positions himself perfectly for a clear tap to the running Viney. Only he inexplicitly completely misses the ball. Shame Maxy is out due to the AFL investigting the cause of his remarkable skinfolds. The Hawks swoop and swiftly move the ball to another bloody Buckenara forty out on a slight angle. Fortunately this time Buckys kick is slightly offline. So its 11 points now, less than a minute remaining. Everyone knows you go down the middle when all hope is lost, and thats what TMac sets out to do. Only the kick slews off the side of his boot and tumbles toward the boundary for a certain, out on the full. Only a change of breese keeps it drifting in the air and one long skinny arm reaches out and somehow plucks it centimetres from the line, Omacs moves quickly to the rampaging Petracca, the overlap is on. Some say it was Oskar Baker who recieved the handball, it sure looked like his number but something about the lopping graceful stide and the deadly blind turn had someone in the crowd shout, "its the ghost of Robbie". Onwards one bounce, two and now three, the ghost looks up to the leading Hogan, a Demon again again, his demons now gone. Surely he will pass, Hogans directly in front. But on runs the ghost and sixty from home the torp finds its mark. A goal it is with seconds to go. Five points screams a kid, but time ticks on. No one with ever know what the free kick was for but Hogan now stands 20 from goal, directly in front. And with that one kick 60 years of misery is finally no more.

As I said elsewhere we have not had a top line leader in the horror years apart from Jimmys short tenure. Listening to Brendan Gale last night just reinforced my view. Gale is a modern, intelligent, well spoken leader with a clear vision for the Tigers. No false bravado or macho talk. As example he said, as soon as Rance said he was quitting they drew a line through him and looked to young players to fill the void.

HD -Pretty spot on for how it could look. Going forward my queries are Hibberd, has he still got it? Harmes, I do not agree with the move to half back. Tomlinson is not a true wingman ANB lacks class and finishing skills We still need to find four to six players.

Sure, but tragically Jimmy never had the long tenure the others have had.

The weakness in the Roos and PJ situation was neither were doing it for the love of the Club. We have not had a passionate, dynamic and capable leader like Eddie or Kennett.

I did not realy remember the draft for Jackovich, really just making the point all three were somewhat established and not blokes who came through our development system. And yes, of course you are right on Robbie, he did in fact win us games, and more than that he was the reason many of us toughed out those times. Only saw him beaten once, just slighly by Peter Motley at Princess Park. Robbie was a genuine Superstar. A rung behind that lot, players who tore the opposition apart with X factor , for mine, Brian Wilson, Liam Jurrah and Wooma.

Mitch Clark was one of only a few players I have seen at Melbourne who opposition Club supporters feared they could not combat. Another was Jackovich. I do not count Robbie as no matter the damage he did we were still most unlikely to win. Jeff White too, was unbeatable for a while there as well. Petracca has some of the attributes but we will need to wait and see on that one. Interesting all three, Clark, White and Jackovich were traded into the Club.

I remember McLeans first public appearance soon after getting drafted. He was on the Footy Show. Newman was being his usual irritating best until McLean said to Newman something to the effect of, You always ran away from my Uncle Ricky" not that I would blame him for that. However it showed a cockiness that I noted. That sort of confidence needs to be noted and monitored by a Club and then expressed in a positive way with boundaries imposed on it. I think too many Clubs have personal who know how to give a footy or make a spoil but not enough people who understand young people.

I agree with much of your assessment and focusing on the present and the future. I am hanging on in hope this could be a year to get on a run make a go of it. Really no one has excuses this year. Sure the losers will blame the virus and its disturbance but there is a Flag to be one. My big concern is the coach,, after a reasonable time at the top the jury is still out whether he has the all round attributes to compete with the top coaches.