old55

Great to see Langdon, Tomlinson, Brown, Jackson and Pickett in red and blue. And AVB, Melksham, Lever, Jetta and TMac all turning out for the opener. Exciting times. Strap in for the ride.

Probably more likely than a Spargo, Kossie, Lockhart combo.

I guess Mario lost his reason for existence in 2017.

I can't see why he couldn't play v Hawthorn that's an 8 day break. He gets a 6 day break to the Vic game - that may be enough, he will probably play limited minutes in the Vic game and could do that in the MFC game too. maybe he'll play all 3.

Suspect Jetta may miss since he probably has Vic responsibilities on Fri 28/02? Lockhart in?

I did look at that on Sportsbet but they won't allow the multi because they are not independent events. I do think Petracca at $501 is good value though.

Nice right and left hand breaks off Greens Point.

notsureifserious? just add 3 to the age at the start of each line. delist any of the non bolded players you definitely don't rate bold Petty, Jackson and Pickett, some love Jordon too but all are early calls who knows who else we might add via trade, FA and draft

I need to eat my own dog food, I reckoned we could win the flag this year if everything went right but while we've had a good pre-season enough things have gone awry to cast serious doubt. Gawn injured and then Preuss injured hinders our ability to practice midfield cohesion at this crucial time. Similarly May injured hinders our ability to practice backline cohesion which is absolutely vital. I think we can have a very good year but flag is a bridge too far now.

Yes Richmond lost by 113 in R23, can we just ignore their other losses by 88, 70, 70, 68 and 46? By contrast last year our biggest losses in this range were by 80, 53, 43, 41 and 40. At 3 quarter time we were in front or within a goal of our opposition in 12 matches for only 5 wins. It's well documented that our poor pre-season and injuries meant we weren't able to run out games.

I think the 4 year horizon with finals each year and a flag is very reasonable looking at our list age profile. I've tried to make a graphic representation below of the age of players at the start of the 2020 season. I used 5 characters per player name so it works like a graph (yes I know it's not exact because it's not a mono-spaced font). I have also bolded (who I believe) are locked in best 22. I think this data shows that we've definitely entered the window now and the current group has 4 years to deliver. Nev is the only lock who is guaranteed to be gone. The next set of Melksham, Gawn, TMac and May have 3-4 good years left - at the start of year 4 none will be older than 31. We've got an absolutely fat line now at 24 that is going to move through to 27 across this period. It's also reasonable to expect that some best 22 locks will emerge from the 18-21 set e.g. Petty, Jackson, Kozzie. 32|Jones 31| 30|Jetta,Hibbo 29|Brown 28|Melks,Gawn-,May--,VdB-- 27|TMac-,Benne 26|Tomli,Hanna 25|Viney,JWagn, 24|Salem,Harme,Petra,Brays,Langd,Lever,Hore-,OMac-,Hunt-,Preus,Kolod,Neal-,Lockh,Smith 23|Frits 22|Olive,CWag-,Weide 21|Baker 20|Petty,Sparg,Chand 19|Niets,Bedfo,Bradt,Sparr,Dunkl,Jordo 18|Jacks,Picke,River Data source: https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tp-melbourne-demons?year=2020&sby=15

That was the page 1 scenario.

Your scenario on page 1 was feasible but this is fantasy land. If I'm the player I demand you pay me the money when I'm old and useless. It's a contract, I'm fine with spending 3 years in the rehab group on full pay. You can delist me but you have to pay me out the full whack.

Look I know you want the best for the club, but the benchmarks have to be realistic. When was the last time that happened full-stop? FTR, over the last 3 years Richmond has one last quarter where they outscored the opposition by 40 points and so did Melbourne and both were in thrashings not come from behind wins.

I think your first ch-ch-change is to add Nev to the starting 18. I like Lockhart but ...

Could not agree more. It's far easier to predict outcomes after they've happened!

How does JDG look in yellow and black?

As @bandicoot says, I don't think Richmond is rorting on this occasion, Rance screwed them over. But @Mazer Rackham has shown how this could be used as a precedent for other clubs to rort in future.

Shakira-Shakira - Hips don't lie! It's half-time show, not a concert. I'm not a fan of either artist but "that's entertainment!". I feel sorry for you if you couldn't enjoy that. You probably hated Katy Perry and left shark too?

Favourite memories of Arden St? I was there with 6821 others when we fought back from a big 3/4 time deficit for a draw in R18 1971. John Tilbrook monster goal was instrumental IIRC. It's a long time ago ...

I missed that bump. Some tremendous work there from the usual suspects.

We should give Bennell a contract - what we're gonna miss out on Josh Deluca if we do? Spare me!

Avatar 2 or Demon flag - which happens first? Discuss ...

Do you live anywhere near Box Hill?