Ron Burgundy

This is possibly the most stupid post I've ever read on this site. And that's saying something. Moloney is one of the best contested possession winners in the entire competition. He is also a Demons man through and through and an elite clubman. What an absolutely idiotic post.

I reckon Jamar is one of the best contested marks in the AFL. He will always be good for a couple of goals each week if rested up forward. Martin's showing a lot IMO. In ruckman terms, he is still an absolute rookie and, at times, holds his own against much more experienced ruckmen. Good signs.

And let's wait and see whether Scully actually does the right thing by the club and commits to it, before even mentioning him as a potential captain of the club. The sort of future captain I would like to see should literally be champing at the bit to sign for the club (eg, Trengove and Tapscott). Dead set, I reckon 8 year kids have more sensible footy discussions than some of the garbage served up on this thread.

Green is the Captain for the 2011 season. Simple. Changing this midway wreaks of desperation and demonstrates nothing more than an under-confident, reactionary, ordinary culture. Re-elevate Moloney immediately to the leadership group, particularly wih Grimes and Rivers out injured. And reinstate him as VC - his presence is needed. Also elevate Sylvia and Jamar to the leadership group - quite simply, we need them in it. With Moloney, they are are our senior on-field warriors.

I think pretty well every astute Demons supporter felt that the decision to let James McDonald go was the wrong one. And that's not with the benefit of hindsight - it was felt by most at the time. It was also handled extremely poorly, and rather naively, by the club. The consequences of that decision are being played out now. We lack senior on-field leadership and I often get the feeling that: - the senior players and the coach don't get on that well (partly due to Bailey's handling of Junior, Bruce, Robbo etc); and - the senior players and the rest of the list are quite disconnected (principally due to age and the senior players' relationships already being very established - and the rest of the list essentially being new kids on the block, not only in AFL terms but in life). For some reason, Junior seemed able to bridge these areas. The younger players seemed to love having him around (struck me as quite a selfless, though hugely experienced, clubman), and this translated into being a great mentor to the younger players (which is the majority of the list). He also had the respect of the senior players, so could readily have them toe the line with the coaching staff (if required). (This is all based on my observation from afar, and obviously I could be entirely wrong.) That said, Bailey has acknowledged that he didn't handle the James McDonald situation well. In fairness, I think it would've been a very difficult decision for him to make - and, in good faith, he carried it out, presumably in what he perceived at the time to be the best interests of the club. The easy course would surely have been to simply give Junior another year. In short, I don't think Bailey appreciated the intangibles James McDonald brought to the role of Captain. He was a bloody good player, but his importance to the list was as much off-field as on-field - and I think Bailey focused only on the on-field, particularly in terms of the effect his retention would have on game time to the younger players. Clearly a mistake. BUT I don't believe Bailey should be castigated for this. It was a tough decision. He didn't shirk it. And he made it in what he believed to be the best interests of the club at the time. And, as an aside, the reason we didn't beat North - and why our season is now likely in tatters - is because we don't have a competitive ruckman. All our eggs were in the Jamar nest, which, whilst a bloody good nest, is no good if he gets injured. That's exactly why we recruited Campbell - as Jamar insurance. Again, not really Bailey's fault. Just an incredibly poor situation to be in. Go Demons!

What`s a joke is afl.com. It`s fricken 3.20am in Brazil and I can`t get a live stream (audio) of this game, all because afl.com dominates the free to air commentary through 3AW and Triple M by defaulting it back to its web page, such that one cannot stream the commentary. I feel like flying back to Oz, heading to AFL HQ and kicking those dead----s in the head personally. Dead set, those incompetent, black sunglass wearing tyrants make Libya look like a well functioning democracy ...

Thanks for the tips fellas. For some reason, afl live tv "is not available in my location". It wasn't in BA either. I think the streaming problem I'm having is due to the fact that iPads don't support Flash. Genius thinking bringing the iPad over a laptop on this trip!

Apologies for starting a thread on this, but some guidance would be really appreciated. I am currently in Buzios in Brazil and would like to listen to the game live on the net (2am over here) tomorrow. I have an iPad and fairly sketchy internet access. Last week I was in Buenos Aires and spent the night (again 2am start) wrestling with this bloody iPad trying to log into either SEN or Triple M to listen to the game live. I was nearly in tears that I couldn't listen to it, as regular score updates revealed that I was missing a one in ten year Demon rout. My wife was nearly in tears too, because I spent the entire swearing my guts out. The problem I faced seemed to be that AFL.com wouldn't allow me to access the commentary because I'm not an international user (despite the fact that I subscribe to Foxtel and bigpond.com) at home. I also encountered significant problems with trying to stream radio to an iPad - it seems if I had a laptop I might have been okay on, say, ABC. Have any of you listened to a game on an iPad from overseas? If so, how did you do it? Thanks in advance for any help. Go Demons!

Yep, definitely. Reinstate him immediately. Should not have lost it in the first place. He plays like a man possessed for the Demons, and that sets the tone as a leader of the club.

Pathetic stuff. Along with Jim Stynes, these guys saved the club. It's actually that simple.

Every time I see Zaharakis, I think he should be on our list ... with pick 19.

Absolutely rapt about this ...

I knew Moloney would have a great game. But for his performance on Monday morning, he is a true leader and he is MFC to the core. I hope he's elevated into the leadership group (and reclaims the VC gig) asap.

I reckon Morton will be absolutely awesome in the years to come. He'll be bloody hard to match up on as he gets more experience ... and muscle. Watts will be good, although I've always thought Hurley was the best pick in the top ten from that year ... and the early signs seem to suggest that the Dons got the bargain of that draft. Don't know why we picked Strauss over Zaharakis, but, then again, this stuff ain't an exact science. In short though, I reckon most other clubs would kill to have our younger brigade ... and that speaks volumes about the state of our recruiting department.

I know this has been done to death, but has Blease actually lost any pace following the break?

This guy has given USD5 billion to charities and deserving concerns in his lifetime (including $10 million to the Kirby Research Foundation a few days ago). He intends to give another USD2 billion to philanthropic interests over the next few years. I could be wrong on this stat, but I think he's given about $500 million to Australian charities and foundations in his lifetime, yet he is little known and does not receive the accolades he deserves. He is a very modest man, wears an old Casio watch worth about 2 bucks, flies economy class and does not even own a house. I expect he'd be impressed with the work of our president, and indeed the man himself. In particular, I reckon Reach would be something he'd be interested in.

Dead set, this guy is an absolute legend. Australia's greatest philanthropist, yet he's not even an Aussie - he's Irish American. In some respects, not too dissimilar to our great Irish Australian. It'd be great if Chuck and Jim could have a coffee together sometime. How can we make this happen?!

*bump*

If, like me, you think an 8000% guaranteed return on your initial investment is a good deal, I'd suggest you immediately do the following: - locate a TAB/Tatts outlet, walk into it and find the betting machine - select the "Who will win the 2011 AFL Brownlow" bit and locate Colin Sylvia - then put all of your liquid assets on Sylvia to win it - currently he is paying 81/1 - confidently stride back to work in the knowledge that you've just locked in amazingly large profit, to be paid in cold hard cash later this year It's that easy. PS. I hope the club signs this man up very soon for the next 3-5 years. -

I'm surprised Bennell doesn't rate more of a mention on this thread. He has enormous upside - and, at times, literally oozes class.

Good thread. I have to say, after the first NAB Cup games I was feeling very optimistic of making the finals this year. Currently I feel less so. This is probably due to our poor NAB Cup offering and is therefore largely superficial. But - I think we've lost a lot with Junior and Bruce retiring/leaving. We perhaps needed to keep one of them for this season. Junior should still be wearing the red and the blue IMO. I also think Frawley's absence has had a disturbingly negative effect on our backline - and I think Wellman's departure has been/will be a massive loss. We need the backline to function like it was at the end of last season - and the early signs aren't that great.

Zaharakis went at about pick 24. Many on this site found it unusual that he went after Strauss. I hope history proves the club to be correct because, to date, Zaharakis has shown a lot more.

Dead set, some people on this site are so damn myopic it continues to amaze me. This thread makes an observation about the marketing strategy adopted by a new expansion club, namely GWS. I would've thought it is currently quite a relevant topic for people who take an interest in the code. But Demonator, in answer to your patronising (and wholly simplistic) question/observation: yes I am a member. FWIW, I have also signed up most of my family, several of whom couldn't give a rat's about AFL, let alone the Demons (including, for instance, my 98 year old grandmother who has not ever even seen a game of AFL). I have also donated $1000s to the debt demolition campaign over the last few years. My wife and I also regularly fly down to watch games. In fact, you could count on one hand the number of MFC games I've missed (internet, tv or radio) over the past 10-12 years. But thanks for your insightful and generous comments Demonator - it's people like you who continue to add value to the world ...

Perhaps you're right, belzebub - but it's cost them one membership and it irks me that I can't now attend a Sydney derby and cheer for GWS against the Swans, if only to be able to annoy the vanilla Swans supporters ...

I am, and have always been, a Sydney-sider. Unusually for a Sydney-sider, I love AFL and, perhaps even more unusually, I am a passionate Melbourne Demons supporter. I have taken a lot of heat over a long, long time from a lot of people in Sydney for supporting the Dees. In particular, from quite a few of my mates who support the Swans. Along with another friend of mine who's a Dons supporter, I was going to buy a GWS membership this year - essentially to help the AFL get a foot hold in Sydney's west, but also to get in the face of my Swans supporting mates. I am not the only person in Sydney to have entertained doing this. Many people who live in Sydney, but support clubs other than the Swans, may also have entertained doing this to support the growth of the code. BUT - given Sheedy's irreverent and idiotic rhetoric of late, and the fact that GWS is playing hard ball on young players like Tom Scully, they can get stuffed. Truly stuffed. So Kevin - you've cost your club one less membership this year. Not that I would ever truly support any club other than the MFC, I was going to assist in giving GWS a much needed leg up this year - but no more. Perhaps something these idiots have failed to consider?! Having said that, Sheedy doesn't strike me as a particularly considered man or thinker. In short, GWS's approach to poaching young players has some genuine downside that I suspect they've not even started to think about. And perhaps this is something they should have thought about, giving that they are throwing unlimited cash at marketing at the moment ...