Sydney_Demon

Van Rooyen is going to be a great addition for Melbourne. I think you're being a bit tough on Wiedeman. It's the first game of the season but I do think that chest mark he dropped was pretty much inexcusable.

Jimmy Monroe's probably the best player on the ground, but I agree that he lacks the skills to be an AFL player. Disappointing that guys like George Grey don't get a game when 16 melbourne players are playing.

Looking forward to this game at 1.05 today. Streaming on AFL website & app. Sandringham were mid-table last year but don't know how they recruited over Summer. The good thing for those who can't watch it live is it looks like the full replay will (eventually) make it on to the AFL website. l checked Friday's VFL games yesterday and only the highlights were up but as of this morning the full replays were there.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/717215/crystal-ball-our-predictions-for-the-2022-afl-season-are-in What stands out for me: 5 out of 9 'experts' predicting Jeremy Cameron for the Coleman, 2 Aaron Naughton, 2 Harry Mackay. My questions are how many games will Cameron miss because of injury? How many goals won't he kick because Tom Hawkins will be kicking them instead? Aaron Naughton, seriously? Josh Bruce will be back later in the year. I think Bayley Fritsch is a bit of a smokey, but my money woud be on Harry Mackay. 8 of 9 picking Nick Daicos as Rising Star. Is he that good? What about Jason Horne-Francis? Is Jake Bowey a chance? Brownlow: Petracca 3, Oliver 2, Bontempelli 2, Miller 1, Fyfe 1. I really think it will be like last year with Petracca taking votes off Oliver and vice versa, and Gawn taking votes off both. We got a record number of Brownlow votes last year and still Oliver didn't win. Ollie Wines won last year and yet no-one has picked him? Damian Barrett picks Tom Sparrow to be All-Australian but Melbourne not to make the Grand Final. If Tom Sparrow is an All-Australian Melbourne won't lose a game in 2022 given the rest of our midfield and our backline. https://www.afl.com.au/news/717215/crystal-ball-our-predictions-for-the-2022-afl-season-are-in

The whole ticket/barcode thing worked pretty easily for me and I've just copied the bar code across to Google Pay just in case there's a mobile internet issue at game time. However, one thing that had me a bit confused was how I could access the 2 additional GA tickets I have available as part of my membershp (I'm going with my brother who's not a member). Just to save others in the same position making a call to the Club, I'm advised that the bar codes for the 2 tickets will be up on the app on Wednesday. According to the girl I spoke to, the AFL is responsible for that particularly delay.

I'm with you at this stage Ben E. Obviously there's a lot of pre-season predictions going on at this stage but Carlton have proved absolutely nothing as yet. Winning a practice game with the benefit of multiple 50m penalties against a Melbourne team missing virtually its entire backline and only turning up after half-time counts for nothing. What I've been amazed at is Vossy turning up to spruik his being given a 2nd chance as a senior coach. If I was him I'd be keeping my head down until my team (and therefore the coach) had actually achieved something. I suspect Carlton's first half performance against Melbourne might be the high point of their year. Time will tell...

I have my membership on my phone so assume the barcode will be there in 18 hours, 20 mins (that's what the Melbourne app is telling me). I'll be there on Wednesday but was intending on using one of my 2 free GA tickets included in my membership for my brother. Does anyone know how that process is going to work? I'm particularly keen to sort this out as there seems to be some doubt as to whether walk-up GA entries are going to be allowed on the night...

Thanks for that Nev. I thought this was absolutely brilliant. Really well-edited, informative, short but focused, inside stories, communication during and after GF, Angus Brayshaw, emotional impact, perfect.... As you probably know there's an excellent series on AFL On Demand going back to 2012 on the Premiers for each year. Nothing on there yet for 2021 but here's hoping it's not too far away. https://www.afl.com.au/ondemand/original/518213/premiers?episode=9#season-1

I'm no Geelong apologist but really? Thuggery? I don't like the way Selwood always whinges to umpires and plays for free kicks but I don't think he has a thuggery element to his game. And Tom Hawkins?

Sorry. You are right. Of course certain players can be rubbed out on occasion and still in general be treated leniently. Maybe Dangerfield falls into this category. The general tenor of the posts on this seemed to be that Dangerfeld always gets away with these sorts of actions because he he is an AFL darling, which I think is an overstatement (because he clearly doesn't always gert away with it!).

I agree with you that it's great being able to watch everything live or from the start (although I wish they's leave the scores off the top of the screen. Sometimes you accidentally get a peek). I also like the Kayo minis for when you're time-constrained or only mildly-intetested. However, it does annoy me the lack of historical content. e.g. I was goin to watch the 2 or 3 Casey games on there from 2021 to refresh myself on a couple of our developing players only to find they'd deleted that content to include a new tab for current peactice games. Plenty of room for both surely. You can go into the AFL website and get video of every match going back to 2013 if you're interested which is the way it should be with Kayo.

As I said they were constrained by the 75 minutes. Just saying the way it could have been in a perfect world. They still had time to go though that old Norm Smith curse BS and Jim Stynes 15 metre penalty for the 1,000th time, including Garry Lyon running through a non-existent countdown for dramatic effect. I said I love Garry. And he works for Fox Footy so I understand. I just don't think he has to be the sole focus just because he was once a great Melbourne player and is well-spoken. All I'm saying is just share it around a little.

I'm with you tiers. I accept the fact that the contact was accidental, but it was definitely careless. Lloyd could have just as easily been concussed from the contact as from hitting his head on the ground. And why did he his head on the ground? Because he was unbalanced from being hit in the head. I was amazed that Collingwood appealed this and my faith in the process was restored somewhat by the MRO chucking the appeal out. Lucky to geet onlt 2 weeks IMV. Having said that, I really don't understand why the level of injury should have any effect one way or the other. Why should the rule be that if you're lucky your opponent isn't injured the penalty iis less (and vice versa). It should be the action, not the consequences, that count

I disagree. Greene kicked his opponent in the head. Dangerfield basically pushed his opponent in the chest with his foot. IMV not comparable. I'm no Dangerfield apologist and I thought it was ridiculous he appealed his suspension early last year on the grounds of protecting himsaeld from the collision. Surely though, the fact he was suspended last year shows he's not getting special treatment.

The documentary was OK IMV but not brilliant. I guess they were hamstrung by the 75 minute length. You'd probably need a 4-parter to do justice to the last 57 years of history. I liked the idea but personally would have preferred say 3 episodes of history with the last episode focusing on 2021. They clearly had a narrative in mind and selected the bits to feature to fit the narrative. Haven't we all seen enough of the Norm Smith Curse and Jimmy running over the mark in 1987? They should be included in the back story but shouldn't be the entirety (along with the non-merger). If they're going to include Michael Hibberd's personal tragedy at least do it a bit of justice rather than just throwing it in for 30 seconds on the assumption that everybody already knows about it. I would have thought Troy Broadbridge's death was at least as worthy of inclusion. What I liked: - inclusion of some key events - Robbie Flower & Jim Stynes' prominence - some balance to the merger coverage (especially liked the fact that Ian Ridley was portrayed as being the great club man he actually was) - the Vineys What I didn't like: - simplistic portrayal of history. You'd think that the entire 23 years on non-finals between 1964 & 1987 was due to Norm Smith being sacked. In reality it was largely due to zoning favouring the bigger clubs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning_(Australian_rules_football) - where was the just-missed finals year of 1976? - nothing about all the great players of the era (except Jim Stynes, Robbie Flower) - as mentioned by others, no coverage of the earlier finals massacres of North & Sydney in 1987 - no coverage of the good years post-1988 to 2006, other than 2000 (Melbourne made Finals 12 out of 20 years). We beat Adelaide, the eventual premiers, first round of finals in 1998. 1994 Finals. The amazing Semi Final against Adelaide in 2002. - a focus on the record losses against Fitzroy & Geelong but no nuance. Yes, we were horrible defensively when Dean Bailey was coach but we had some great wins. IMV he shouldn't have been sacked largely because of one record loss (we were 6 points outside the 8 even after that loss, and then lost 4 of our last 5 under Todd Viney) - 2018. We had 2 great finals wins against Geelong & Hawthorn but apparently the only think that counts is the 1st half against West Coast in the Prelim - Garry Lyon. I love Garry but is is actually possible to watch some Melbourne history without him being the expert? Like the Premiminary Final. Apparently we can't just enjoy the game. The camera has to show Garry Lyons' reactions like they're in some way meaningful In summary it annoys me that there is this false story of 57 years of misery between 1964 & 2021. In reality we had 23 years pre-1987 and then another 8 post-2006 (by 2015 we were clearly on the improve). We were wildly inconsistent within seasons and from one season to the next but with a bit of luck could definitely have won a premiership. Naturally none of this was communicated in the documentary.

Excellent clarification DubDee. I agree it would probably be something like 12 (or maybe higher) out of 17 (70%) if they were asked to name the 2 teams that would make the Grand Final. It probably overstates the true likelihood. I'd say we're something like a 70% chance of Top 4. Interestingly there seems to be consensus that the 8 will remain unchanged apart from Richmond coming in at the expense of Essendon. I can't see how Cameron & Hawkins can both be so favoured to win the Coleman as they're going to take goals off each other (a but like Petracca & Oliver in the Brownlow). And yet neither Ben Brown nor Balley Fritsch are listed. I do agree that Harry McKay is the obvious pick.

I'd argue Kossie doesn't do himself any favours because he arguably does play for free kicks or at least puts himself in positions that the umpires could interpret it that way. Similarly TMac appeals for ridiculous free kicks all the time which likely works against him when there are legitimate ones. Because Viney plays the game hard, umpires generally appear to award soft frees for hign tackles against him (last year's GF) and don't reward him for similar tackles against him. I guess we'd all just like to see consistency. I did like the fact that in the GF when Weightman tried to milk a free against Kossie just before Brayshaw's 3rd Quarter goal the umpires didn't fall for it (unlike numerous instances in the Elimination Final against Essendon). Selwood of course is notorious for getting frees for high tackles when he causes them by lifting his arms. To their credit, I don't think the umpires are falling for that anywhere near as much as they used to. I'd like to see frees paid more often against players that are clearly staging.

Brilliant response. I appreciated your use of actual facts using real data. I can't believe the amount of negative commentary on this site about individual players based on one practice match. Maybe we should drop Petracca & Oliver. Our midfield was smashed against Carlton (North Melbourne doesn't count because that's superceded form) and their Carlton performances show they're out of touch and could use a spell at Casey to freshen up (even through Casey don't play their 1st match until 27th March)...

Sorry mate. I wasn't accusing you of racism. What I was trying to respond to was the idea that because something is 'traditional' then that somehow makes it OK for all time. Values were different 50 years ago and I'm glad values have changed. BTW I like your taste is music. Never a huge Queen fan but love both 'A Night at the Opera' & 'A Day at the Races' albums. 'Wish You Were Here' a great album.

Firstly, I apologise for starting this whole exchange. I accept disappointingly I'm probably in a minority of one on this given no-one else has come out in support and a number of you have actually pushed back (I must have touched a sore point). I already acknowledged that the fans who still use the term maggots to describe umpires are highly unlikely to take a good hard look at themselves but thanks for confirming it in your case. I totally get the emotion involved in watching a game of footy. I got involved in a meaningless and fairly childish exchange with a Carlton supporter last year. I cooled down a little and actually apologised to him for overreacting and he apologised back (a high point for both of us that day). Playing Brisbane in Sydney last year I got involved again in a meaningless exchange with a group of Brisbane supporters who'd obviously had a few beers pre-game. I decided that I was about to lose it so changed seats at half time. before it got out of control (I was vastly outnumbered). I'm also fairly notorious for loudly expressing my view on umpiring decisions I don't agree with. I also agree it's better to call an umpire a maggot rather than jump the fence or affect your mental health by not being able to say it. A bit sad that that's what it comes down to but if that's the way it is... I also appreciate you making just that little bit of extra effort under duress to make sure you're not too close to the action or shouting too loudly to make sure the umpires don't hear it. I'm also sure all those around you are sitting there silently thinking how witty you are and how they love the use of your colourful if dated vocabulary. Even if they find it offensive (highly unlikely I know as everyone loves a bit of verbal abuse), that's not important. It's much more important that you can feel free to fully express yourself.

Not sure what it explains. I think all it probably explains is that some people either have too much money to waste or too little intelligence to use it properly (or both). Gambling on a practice match I would have thought might be a little brave.

Well, all things being equal obviously better finances and atmosphere are a good thing. But the reality is to win premierships (which in itself leads to higher membership/better finances/better home crowds, apart from the pleasure of actually winning) you need to mazimise your wins. Inarguably it's easier to win at home, especially against interstate teams than it is away, which leads to a better ladder position, home finals, double chances etc. And just to save someone responding, I know if I was a true supporter I should be saying the harder the draw the better, give us 22 games away, we're the premiers and invincible, every other team is crap compared to us, yadda yadda yadda....

Brilliant, thankyou!

Hello LH. Just wondering whether you've done an updated list for 2022 including draftees/rookies? I couldn't find anything using the search function.

Are you kidding? So you pay a bloke not to play whose definitely still in our top 30? Then you find money (that should be put aside to use on required players) to use on a low-level draft pick that's highly unlikely to make it. I'm very impressed that you are able to address talent without seeing it. You are clearly psychic. The only reason you haven't seen these young players is because we had no injuries in 2021 and had winning form. The lack of list turnover is something you've made up. It just isn't true. I already posted about last year's delistings. We all know the reasons Melksham's still at the Club. Daw & Mitch Brown are depth players and rookies so they cost us very little. We could have delisted Mitch Brown and replaced him with a delisted player from another club but I think key position players that you can put on a rookie contract are a little thin on the ground. Laurie was a 2020 Draft Pick who got injured last year. Just as well Bowey made the side in Round 20 or no doubt you would have written him off since he'd already breen on our list for 10 months and hadn't yet been picked! We have no-one 24yo+ who isn't experienced and close to senior selection. Who would you trade of the following? Melbourne Demons Season 2022 Players Demons Past Players No Name Games Age Date of Birth Height Weight Origin Position 14 Hibberd, Michael 173 32yr 2mth 3 Jan 1990 186cm 94kg Frankston Defender 38 Brown, Mitchell R 76 31yr 6mth 28 Aug 1990 196cm 91kg Sandringham Dragons Forward 28 Daw, Majak R 54 30yr 11mth 11 Mar 1991 195cm 97kg Western Jets Defender Ruck 18 Melksham, Jake 195 30yr 6mth 29 Aug 1991 186cm 86kg Calder Cannons Forward 11 Gawn, Max 159 30yr 2mth 30 Dec 1991 208cm 108kg Sandringham Dragons Ruck 1 May, Steven 171 30yr 1mth 10 Jan 1992 193cm 100kg Southern Districts Defender 25 McDonald, Tom 193 29yr 5mth 18 Sep 1992 194cm 99kg North Ballarat Forward 50 Brown, Ben 143 29yr 3mth 20 Nov 1992 200cm 100kg Werribee Tigers Forward 20 Tomlinson, Adam 160 28yr 6mth 10 Aug 1993 194cm 96kg Oakleigh Chargers Defender 7 Viney, Jack 150 27yr 10mth 13 Apr 1994 178cm 86kg Oakleigh Chargers Midfield 27 Dunstan, Luke 116 27yr 1mth 29 Jan 1995 185cm 84kg Woodville West Torrens Midfield 29 Hunt, Jayden 94 26yr 11mth 3 Apr 1995 187cm 81kg Brighton Grammar Defender 3 Salem, Christian 130 26yr 7mth 15 Jul 1995 183cm 84kg Sandringham Dragons Defender 4 Harmes, James 122 26yr 4mth 5 Oct 1995 185cm 85kg Dandenong Stingrays Midfield 5 Petracca, Christian 127 26yr 1mth 4 Jan 1996 186cm 97kg Eastern Ranges Midfield 10 Brayshaw, Angus 119 26yr 1mth 9 Jan 1996 187cm 91kg Sandringham Dragons Midfield 30 Neal-Bullen, Alex 105 26yr 1mth 9 Jan 1996 183cm 80kg Glenelg Forward 15 Langdon, Ed 109 26yr 1mth 1 Feb 1996 182cm 76kg Sandringham Dragons Midfield 44 Smith, Joel 21 26yr 25 Feb 1996 191cm 88kg Geelong Supercats Defender 8 Lever, Jake 117 25yr 11mth 5 Mar 1996 195cm 89kg Calder Cannons Defender 31 Fritsch, Bayley 85 25yr 2mth 6 Dec 1996 188cm 84kg Casey Demons Forward 26 Weideman, Sam 49 24yr 8mth 26 Jun 1997 195cm 94kg Eastern Ranges Forward 13 Oliver, Clayton 124 24yr 7mth 22 Jul 1997 187cm 88kg Murray Bushrangers Midfield 33 Baker, Oskar 13 23yr 9mth 25 May 1998 184cm 84kg Aspley Midfield 35 Petty, Harrison 30 22yr 3mth 12 Nov 1999 197cm 90kg Norwood Defender 9 Spargo, Charlie 59 22yr 3mth 25 Nov 1999 173cm 74kg Murray Bushrangers Forward 37 Chandler, Kade R 2 22yr 1mth 13 Jan 2000 175cm 76kg Norwood Forward 12 Bedford, Toby 2 21yr 9mth 27 May 2000 179cm 71kg Dandenong Stingrays Forward 32 Sparrow, Tom 23 21yr 9mth 31 May 2000 183cm 84kg South Adelaide Midfield Forward 23 Jordon, James 22 21yr 2mth 20 Dec 2000 187cm 82kg Oakleigh Chargers Midfield 36 Pickett, Kysaiah 39 20yr 9mth 2 Jun 2001 171cm 72kg Woodville West Torrens Forward 24 Rivers, Trent 34 20yr 7mth 30 Jul 2001 188cm 88kg East Fremantle Defender 6 Jackson, Luke 30 20yr 5mth 29 Sep 2001 199cm 100kg East Fremantle Forward Ruck 42 Turner, Daniel R 0 20yr 1mth 28 Jan 2002 192cm 80kg Murray Bushrangers Defender 16 Laurie, Bailey 0 19yr 11mth 24 Mar 2002 181cm 77kg Oakleigh Chargers Midfield Forward 19 Rosman, Fraser 0 19yr 9mth 30 May 2002 194cm 84kg Sandringham Dragons Midfield 34 Smith, Deakyn R 0 19yr 6mth 22 Aug 2002 179cm 65kg Dandenong Stingrays Defender 17 Bowey, Jake 7 19yr 5mth 12 Sep 2002 176cm 69kg Sandringham Dragons Defender 40 Woewodin, Taj 0 18yr 11mth 26 Mar 2003 183cm 78kg East Fremantle Midfield 22 Howes, Blake 0 18yr 10mth 7 Apr 2003 190cm 79kg Sandringham Dragons Midfield Forward 21 Van Rooyen, Jacob 0 18yr 10mth 16 Apr 2003 193cm 91kg Claremont Defender Forward 41 McVee, Judd R 0 18yr 6mth 7 Aug 2003 183cm 72kg East Fremantle Defender Midfield 45 Moniz-Wakefield, Andy R 0 18yr 4mth 26 Oct 2003 181cm 70kg NT Thunder Midfield