DeelightfulPlay

I'm on the fence as to whether he competed well (I didn't pay him much attention tbh). But I don't think he is fit - there was a moment in the second quarter where he was looking puffed and he was jogging after the ball as Richmond players handballed it around

Doesn't change the fact we were playing him split between the midfield and backline prior to injury this season! FWIW, I didn't mind it as an experiment

But the outs mentioned don't quite go to our backline traditionally. Gus last year was spending more time through the middle, so his retirement effects both mids and backs. But then our solution this season was to have Salem play more through the middle, enabled by Bowey taking on the crisp, accurate kicking role from the back. So Salem and Bowey out leaves holes in the midfield for us again, even if we are able to supplement their other roles up back. TMac and Howes have both had lots of exposure to our defence system so it makes sense they've been able to slot in nicely (even if disposal isn't a strong suit). Separately Smith was finally coming good as a forward last season (and was likely seen as too unpredictable to be anything more than a back up defender given he wasn't used to our defensive system up back), so he's not really missing for our backline. If anything, Smith was a bit of a Melksham replacement (and we missed Melk's banana goals last night!) Windsor seems to have done a good job so far picking up Hunter's role, will be interesting to watch the battle for this spot as the season continues

It's a game of manly sports, no need to muddy the waters with this fantasy of loading and sports science (😉😂)

Would love to hear a bit about how you would rate Laurie's performance once he was subbed in for the final quarter. He's been a bit of a Demonland whipping boy and so objectivity around his performances (or bench warming traditionally) has been in short supply! P.S. look forward to the new ep after your well deserved bye last week

Agreed. Plus, he was so thrilled for Disco and Laurie at their goals. He was one of the most enthusiastic team members each time when the camera showed the celebrations for goal!

Thanks WCW! You always blow the opposition out of the water with your shouts of support 😁 I'm working on my next escape plan for the 'G and hope to see you (and our boys!!) soon! ❤💙

Managed to get out of a 7 pm meeting, can't wait to watch and cheer from the couch 😁 Encourage the boys for me, those of you lucky enough to go in person!

An alternative mode of enjoyment to those looking for new ways to listen to the Demonland podcast (instead of this 1.5x speed business)... simply listen to each episode of the podcast 2 or 3 times during the week it is released, while working, commuting, and interacting with friends and family. Eventually it seeps into your subconscious and you can dazzle your Sydney, NRL-loving coworkers and friends with your detailed AFL knowledge (and drown out their requests to stop talking)! (No, I'm not AFL starved, I'm completely fine, why do you ask?)

Have you lived it 10 times or more?

Just tell him what I believed as a kid - that the Blues was the second team of the Dees (since we're the team of the red and the blue). By the time he realises, he'll be too old to care!

It's called Lenny's, for anyone interested in visiting! It's on my list for next time I'm in Melbourne

To chime in alongside the other comments / questions around depth... With Gus retired, it was insightfully noted on the podcast earlier this season that we have a few players taking on aspects of Gus' versatile role in the midfield / back. For example, Salem playing more midfield minutes and Bowey being a clever, strategic kick from the half back. This seems to have worked well. For our first few games we've had quite a bit of movement in the team due to injuries (Petty, Hore, May, Bowey and now Salem) which has made it hard week to week to gain cohesion and required us to blood some young ones (admittedly all doing a great job). Our depth held up until this last game really. Now, after a punishing timeframe of 4 games in 19 days, including some hard fought games, it's unsurprising that players young and old (and some understandably sore players like May, Brown and Oliver) had no energy this game. The 12 day break should help us greatly. But even so, it feels like that's a bandaid fix for what is a long season remaining. All up, I'm not worried about dropping the Lions game but do worry that in the long run this season we're going to find it hard to keep the cavalry for success. Please help me find some optimism, guys! Thanks also for the hard work and wonderful podcasts as always! I've unfortunately had a string of late nights at work in the past month but each week it's a joy to listen to the pod hot off the press.

Apparently he's available for selection this week, which should be interesting given how hot Windsor has started!

Broden and Tom often make mistakes and joke about how the point of the podcast is their uninformed and imperfect reflections on footy. Marnie (who is now a regular) is a sports journalist and more facts focused. The podcast is pretty light hearted and enjoyable, without being off-puttingly blokes and pointless. One of my top 3 regular podcasts (alongside Demonland and Footy Time)!

I wouldn't be surprised if he was more vulnerable to pain in his left (?) hand after that Geelong kicking incident in 2022 (?). He ended up having off season surgery on it from memory after the initial treatment in the final rounds of the season (back in ye good ol' days where he missed his first game ever for injury after a record run of games!)

For a long time, I hated St Kilda the most because of some people I had the displeasure of knowing. These days, it's mainly Collingwood (for the many reasons expounded by people above) and Carlton that draw my ire. A small corner of me hates Richmond due to one of their fans as well, but that's trivial.

Far too useful when it comes to my abode during the work week!

Can't wait! *stares at my floordrobe in concern*

Less yellow before the dye, but often more yellow than high quality butter until the butter has been exposed to air for some time and developed that rich yellow colour 😍 I'm hungry now

Loved the poddy this week and last, welcome back! Can't wait for the season to start!

The reciprocal tickets are pretty expensive for the privilege - think it was close to $80 last year when I looked into it? The public tickets are less dear ($45?) and give access to the rest of the stadium, try to sit near bays 2 and 3 which is where the Demon Army is! Or see WCW's post below to sit with us 😁

I'm getting a bit mulish about the repeated use of bullish. Maybe time to spring the Club a thesaurus!

There's a picture of Yze in his playing days and Noah at training today on the MFC instagram. Noah looks more buff than Adem at that age!

Could we please move the training ground discourse to the training ground thread?