Skuit

A bit of [censored] OUTING, but who really gives a [censored]? We've lost two games by a combined two goals against two of the bottom three teams, and struggled against the other. Supposedly that exposes us to other teams on how to beat us, but we've stood up against every genuine challenger. Move on. We're still the team to beat, by a fair margin. Go Dees.

I'm somewhere between pfft-fugazi and oh-my-god-Hogan-isn't-smiling on the Buckley swansong impact expectations, but I agree that hopefully it will have a positive impact - not just the thought that the Pies will come out swinging, but that they indeed do and make it a high-pressure game. I have been a bit concerned about our inability to play our best outside of big occasions and genuine challengers. I know this is a partially flawed measure, but it terms of points gains and losses on last season results: Rich +61 Dogs +56 Geelong +28 Bris +26 Hawks +3 North -27 Adelaide -50

There's a difference between a list and development. It's far from surprising that you don't credit maturity and humility as factors in our rise.

Could have just added to the facepalm emojis. But I thought it best to quote you both again for SEO purposes and the best chance that your moronic posts come up at the top of the Google search rankings in perpetuity.

I say it based on the presumption that anyone clued into our cap isn't posting on Demonland, especially about this specific matter, and I would be highly disturbed if they were. Ergo, no one on here has any idea as to the current management of our salary cap. Be weary all you want, but don't buy into uninformed speculation.

MFC salary cap tightness is a fantasy. No one on here (presumably) has any idea how we've managed our cap in recent years, and the fact that we've got ahead of the game this year and extended a number of our key components to 2025-2029 suggests we're making space rather than using it all up. I'm supremely confident that if a marquee player came into the frame such as Merrett we could accommodate them, but that we will also continue to manage the cap wisely. I believe that we have room if something falls in our laps in the short term, but will otherwise plug smaller holes with cheaper acquisitions until that presents. Go Dees.

Serial polyamorous anti-parental monogamoust here ManDee, and I'll ask you not to judge, bread becomes before breeding.

I quite like that doofus, similar to my fondness for Fitzy and Frost. Faulty along with the rest of the supporters should put his/their efforts into keeping Burgo at the club, at almost any cost. I would support him working for almost the same remuneration for a few months over the pre-season with FIFO top-ups during the year, just to ensure he was ours and didn't defect to the Crows. We're already paying that cash. That's how important I think he is. It's so satisfying heading into last quarters knowing we will at least have the legs. On top of that, Burgess is a truly inspiring figure, like having a second coach.

Is Jahmal Stretch someone we should know about? Not a common name (and other stuff from older discussions about Steve and Billy, which used to constantly pop up in my suggested Demonland threads ).

Playing devil's advocate here . . . poor Daniher looked a tad tired and aha-ahaha long live Darren Burgess. Though I sometimes wish Tomald or Gawn would put in those types of efforts at the contest and not gain possession. Maybe it's instructed?

I love cucumber sandwiches. Just today I had one with sweet baby Lebanese on homemade sourdough adorned with sumptuous organic butter, but augmented it with some aged Italian parmesan shavings and garden-fresh coriander and rocket, dusted with ground Kampot pepper and pink Himalayan salt crystals. It was so delicious that I quickly prepared and snuck in another one when my current life partner ventured out for a brief errand. She almost caught me with evidential crumbs on my shirt, but I fibbed and said it was dandruff! Queen Elizabeth II enjoys her cucumber sandwiches with Norwegian smoked salmon, so I didn't feel too guilty from a purist's perspective for my wild embellishments. And from a Collingwood perspective, I suppose at least it was white bread. I dunno, I feel like it beats meat pies with a regulated 18 percent 'meat' content and four fifths gristle and floor sweepings. But maybe that's just me.

So toward the end of last year I spent some time in a remote corner of northern Australia. Chatting to the AFL-employed footy development officer for the region, he mentioned that the official zoned club had not done a thing to promote football etc. - but also said that under the program if clubs don't engage with the communities other clubs can come in and claim the players and regions. Someone recently mentioned St Kilda had been making phone-calls in their community. I hope we're doing the same.

For all that 1998 was a great season I still recall heading into our prelim with little hope vs. North. They were the AFL's Friday night darlings and had given us a spanking in the run home. 2000 we were never in the race, up against possibly the best performing team in history. This year is different - we are the genuine front-runners now. That said - that's rating flag chances, not teams. As for teams, we have the best midfield and best defence in my lifetime, especially the two one-two combinations of Oliver/Trac and Lever/May - nothing comes even close to those pairings in my mind. We're lacking star-power up forward, but the forward-50 arc is probably the most difficult to compare between eras. I think on the balance of things, this year* is close to the best team we've fielded in the past thirty. *Note: we basically fielded the same team last year.

A sub (in industry terms).

My workings above

What it says on the can. I started a similar thread in 2017 but it didn't get far. Quite a difficult exercise, but I will give it a go to kick off. Explain your workings and own parameters if you care to or not, and add stars or ratings however you see fit. Mine are just in order of merit and emotion. Richmond Dogs Brisbane Geelong GWS Saints Sydney Carlton Hawthorn Freo North Adelaide

Welcome to Skuit's random post-match thought-bubbles. It's nice to support a real football team. I'm so (expletive) proud of the boys tonight. But it's a bizarre feeling though that after so many years supporting the MFC in the wilderness that my pride in the team now has a fatherly quality. Have loved Pickett's dressage approach for set-shots all season. Disappointed that BT expressed a similar sentiment tonight before I put it on public record. Yet, I still have time to claim that May's body posture resembles one of the Rolling Stones. Paging @demonstone Eric Hipwood reminds me of what Sam Weideman hasn't been able to achieve. We were literally out-marked in the first half, with Brisbane beating us by first hitting up marking targets at half-forward to negate our usual defensive dominance. I was the lone MFC supporter in the venue tonight. A Brisbane guy said it probably wasn't what I was used to coming from Melbourne, before I told him I wasn't from from Melbourne, and then realised I've spent most of my life as the lone MFC supporter. Although, if I wasn't a Melbourne supporter, I would probably have an even greater appreciation for how good Oliver and Trac truly are, even though I already think they are two of our best if not greatest ever mid-fielders. I bet large on Melbourne for $6.50 at 40+ (gamble responsibly or not at all), and despite the beautiful gritty win I'm getting concerned that we don't have a kill mentality. Started the exact same thread in 2017 and was ridiculed, until . . .

Caroline Wilson blends opinion-based writing with investigative journalism, which blurs the line between rhetoric and fact, and is the reason many people find her and much of contemporary Australian media so antagonising. The righteousness and often innuendo in her reporting isn't befitting of a balanced journalist, as the story should really speak for itself..

Doesn't seem to like marking overhead.

Scroll back to the start of this thread and read the first post which details both Turner's height and how tall he is.

At some stage over the past year I posted that Sam was closing his eyes on contact. I had noticed it once or twice live and went and closely looked at some footage to confirm. I imagine all players do to some degree but it really stood out to me. I haven't bothered to check again but this would be a fairly obvious reason for failing to complete his marks. Suggested some heavy marking work with the tackle-bags as a possible remedy.

Our mean and median average winning margin is basically same. Would be nice to win a match by more than four-to-five goals one day. Well done to the boys though.

We've all been riding the 10-zip wave and framing its parallels as a hopeful conclusion to a five-decade long saga dating back to Norm's dumping. But the true narrative starts almost exactly one decade ago, in 2011 - and the parallels, and almost spiritual redemption, are both uncanny and monumental. Whereas as the sacking in 2011 of a young and tactical coach, who lacked the faith of the president but had a united and still maturing playing group, led us to the darkest era of possibly any club in history, this time the board saw fit to remove the critical president and back a coach in a highly similar situation.* Curiously, there's one figure who is central to both events - one who may be the real redemption figure here;** “I reckon it was one of Melbourne’s biggest mistakes getting rid of Dean Bailey.” "“Any business or organisation when you’re doing those things you’ve got to stick to your guns." “I’m still ashamed of the game today. We, and I, definitely took full responsibility for Dean getting sacked and the way the club went down was something that still doesn’t sit right with me to this day. I feel sick about it really. It cut deep.” ................................................................................... *If Gleeson's account is accurate in its portrayal. **Which may also shed some further light on Caro's board article last year.

Why is everyone so keen for this game - and round - to go ahead? In terms of ladder position and outside of finals, this is one of our most keenly anticipated matches in years. Now both teams have had significant disruptions, and the match will be played in an empty stadium without a crowd. I've personally lost all interest, and I say this with having no prospect of attending the game live to begin with. Why not just bring the bye forward and give it a week to see what happens, while also helping to minimise the risk of exposure to players - which could disrupt the competition to a much greater degree. ? Other recent snap lockdowns have proven successful, and we may just get crowds allowed in and $$$. Instead, our players have to wait till gameday to see if the match is even going ahead. I understand the AFL's get-as-many-games-done-when-you-can mentality last year, but this is a completely different situation.

They can get tactical advice from Vlaustin and Short.