george_on_the_outer

Another great win by the girls. It also showed the difference between top and bottom sides, where the ones at the top have that group of seasoned campaigners who don't stop for the whole game. Paxman was superb again, but not as noticed this week, but she was always in the scrap in the middle. Hanks was also fantastic, and has also learnt to put the ball on the boot to clear the pack in the middle. Simply appalling umpiring decision to award a HTB against her in the first seconds of the game. No prior at all. Still she stuck to her guns and along with KP just ground the likes of Conti into the ground. Lauren Pearce was fantastic again. She does more than just hit the ball out, she has great ground skills, and this was telling when having to play against Sabrina Frederick. Richmond needed her ( when she was in the ruck) and Conti to provide drive, and they didn't get it all game. Take away the first minute and the final couple of the game, and Richmond would not have scored a major. Don't you just love Goldrick. She just has one approach...see ball get ball...and heaven help anyone who gets in her way. Can't wait to see McEvoy and McGee out there with her, that will be one tough unit. Fortunately, we cut down on the handball this week. Kicks off the ground were used instead of trying to pick it up like last week, and the result was the ball just gets to the scoring end. We still have a propensity to go for short kicks, and against a better side, we would have paid heavily a couple of times. Bannan is a real find. She is what the recruiters were looking for. Someone who has played the game all her life, and has that background of knowing when to go and when to hang back. And has good overhead skills to boot! Loved McNamara again, she will be, and has been in her 2 games another great find, being a natural footballer. Can't go past the efforts of Lily Mithen. She has stepped up to a different level, and her ability to get ball to boot in tight situations was critical. With Hanks and KP they make a first rate on-ball brigade. We have 3 talents in there and most teams struggle to have one at that level. Up forward Bannan and Hore were the major scorers, but a shout out should go to Eden Zanker who gifted Hore one of her goals with a smart tap, and then she fills in the ruck position and still does a great job. 2 from 2. Much better position to be in than we have found ourselves in past years, where we were not winning the winnable games, and we had an injury list which limited chances. With only the hamstring loss of Petrevski, we still have a host of both experienced and newer players ready to go, so we can only get better.

as Sir Humphrey said " never ask a question you don't know the answer to ...." Bruce may expose more than he wants to hear. Remember it was the Australian Crime commission which first alerted the AFL to check out what was happening.....

Mason Cox is...but Trent Cotchin and Joel Selwood aren’t....please!

Anyone else posting unfounded rumours will score a ban from this site... Go to BigFooty instead

How quickly people have forgotten that Geelong were sniffing around seriously for him. They have Guthrie, Dangerfield, Selwood and Duncan. You can never have too many mids.

A win is a win, particularly given such a horrible travel schedule. Even a 7.30 flight means getting out of bed at 4.30-5.00 which makes it even worse. A lot of positives: McNamara will be a ripper, and is typical of the up and coming players. Strong and powerful. The best in the competition are all built the same way. Bannon will also be good. First hit out and more than held her place. Still not convinced with Stinear as coach. Too much emphasis on handball, which the girls can't execute properly ( across the competition). GC showed in the first quarter that a kick is more valuable than a chain of handballs to gain ground. When Paxman started thumping the ball into the forward line in the second, things changed mightily for us. Also I wish he would teach the players to kick the ball off the ground, instead of trying to pick it up in contested situations. Again, Paxman knows how to do it, but with a team stacked with ex-basketballers, soccer players and netballers, they just aren't suited to the oval ball. Kick it along the ground and gain the meterage. Fortunately, he moved Cunningham up the field in this game. She can't sit in the square like she did last year. Forwards are progressing toward the same model as the men. Big and powerful. The backs are matching it. Moving her up the ground as a target at CHF gives her the chance to use her height. Greiser (St.K) and Perkins(G.C.) are the body types that are excelling at FF. Livingstone(Coll) is the future of FB's. No small wonder Tayla Harris(Car) was cleaned up again by her the other night. We need Meg Downie back to bolster the defence, as Perkins nearly pulled GC back into the match on her own, like she did for us against GWS in the final last year. Demonlands own Karen Paxman was a ripper. Not just the drive in the middle, but her relentless running around the ground is the reason she will be AA again. Good to see Lauren Pearce back for rucking duties. And she is mobile and capable around and with the ball. Goldrick never loses a one on one, and so can't wait for McEvoy and McGee to get the chance to show their wares. Don't know what they do in Ireland, but they are sure some tough lasses!

Great to see Goldrick in the side after just leaving quarantine.

I was there for about 2 hours, and because I was outside the fence it was really difficult to pick out individuals, especially when half were in vests. And most of the exercises were in mixed groups, or full length circle type work, with a concentration on kicking and ball movement skills, so there wasn't much done in traditional player roles. Tom was certainly out there, and moving freely, but I really can't add more than that.

Yes he was, but while I was there, the players didn’t separate into groups as they have done before.

Lovely day down at Casey, blue skies and low 20's. A sharp contrast with the high 30's that we experienced last year with smoke filled skies. Only allowed to watch from outside the fence, so the track-watchers on Monday got it good! Today I was really "on the outer". In rehab: Brayshaw, Petty and Smith. Smith carrying a bandage on his left knee. Most of their work seemed to be strengthening type exercises. All were kicking intermittently, Brayshaw off his right foot ( I can't remember which one was injured).Hibberd was unsighted, but I may be wrong as half the players were wearing fluoro vests, making it difficult to pick them out. In bad news for fashionistas, Luke Jacksons mullet has gone. Nathan Carroll is reportedly heartbroken. A couple of main drills involving full ground transition, which I was told was all about stretching the field to create space in the mid-field. However, Pickett and Lockhart didn't participate, and later Pickett joined the rehab group, but nothing obvious as to why. Perhaps it was about loading, as he was involved with tackling exercises later, meaning he wasn't trying to protect and injury. Watching Rosman one can see the natural athlete and runner. He just glides over the ground effortlessly. But comparing him, Bowey and Laurie, they are obviously the new recruits. Physically they are a step below players like Jordon, Chandler and Rivers who have only had the benefit of barely one season in the system. Ben Brown is one seriously big unit and will be a major target up forward. Fans can be assurred he will be using the same long run technique when kicking for goal. He took a mark in the forward pocket at one stage and started his run up from the wing. Still he put the Sherrin through the big uprights, so you can't complain about that. He did leave the session early after about an hour on the track. Make what you will out of that. Clarrie had a Ronald McDonald look about him. A bright red cap and a face smothered with sun-screen. Good sun sense however for a red-head. The session finished with lots of re-runs of touch type football with what seemed like a focus on evasion skills, and shrugging tackles. Also an emphasis on short accurate passing and quick switching to outside runners. Sorry, not much more to report. Always good to see only 3 or 4 in the rehab. I can remember the sight of a dozen plus in rehab in early 2019, and we all saw what came of that. Even those that are away from the main group don't appear to be too far from joining full training. But then the first game is just 2 months away, and practice matches sooner......

Like Sam Mitchell, kicks equally well of both feet:

Ripper...... $100 on its way to assist Demonland with the sponsorship: https://demonland.com/clients/donations/

The Age reporting the results from the practice match against Geelong ( no link available on-line): "Karen Paxman suffered a corked quad in 2nd quarter after starring early. Meg Downie an ankle injury in the 3rd quarter, diagnosed later as a sprain only. Melbourne win 8.7(55) to Geelong 5.4.(34)

Requirement under Corporations Act when club doesn't have an email address. Members who have not provided one to the club actually cost the club tens of thousands each year. I think there were 9K last year when volunteers posted out notification of the Annual meeting.

For @old dee and @hemingway there are a few clips that they would remember.... and perhaps the last players, Alistair Lynch, Moorcroft....who last kicked one seriously in a game? https://www.afl.com.au/video/32505/myth-breakers-what-happened-to-the-drop-kick?videoId=32505&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1420484400001

Here are highlights ( with English commentary!): Sinead Goldrick ( 7), Niamh McEvoy ( 14), and Lauren ( Speccie) McGee (8) are our girls..... McGee gets a yellow card in the last 30 seconds, but if she was playing AFL would get a crowd cheer instead.....Goldrick shows her AFL level skills multiple times, and there is no doubt about the fitness of any of the girls, in this game they run all the time.

Welcome to the world of accounting....unless you see the actual book entries, you will never see the whole story. It will never be in the accounts, but the possible advantages could be: * rental at less than market rates for the administration offices. * financial support directly from the MCC, but this would be hard to find in their accounts as well * utilities costs? * provision of superbox at the MCG, at cost? * advertising material inserted into MCC membership renewals The pity is that the MCC has not provided enough to the MFC through its 160+ years of existence. We don't have a training base because the MCC only rented places like the Junction oval instead of putting up the money for a permanent facility. Ground advertising went to the MCC for MFC home games for years. Perhaps they can be "encouraged" to contribute to a future training and home base facility.

Apparently 30% of staff were made redundant as well...

That one line explains everything that has been claimed. The Bentleigh club had not been revalued for years ( and should have been). We have been drawing down on the sale proceeds from the Leighoak club for 2 years now. While this past year has been difficult, in terms of operational cash flow, all that has been happening is we are selling assets. Importantly, although the sale of Leighoak was fortuitous in terms of COVID since Poker machine venues couldn't operate, we have not replaced the $1M per year of profit that it provided. Revaluation of Bentleigh, doesn't put any more food on the table. The sooner it is sold so that either the money can be invested to provide decent long term income or directed toward a training base, the better.

Importantly we haven't been shafted by the AFL in terms of the home games against Richmond and Collingwood. These are huge earners for the club, as the home side. Post covid ( let's hope it has been suppressed by then) it is important that we get back on our feet financially.

While we have been over and over this in numerous threads....I have to agree. Why weren't we involved with the redevelopment at Caulfield racecourse? More room than Goschs/AAMI. Local clubs involved. Middle of Demon heartland.....I could go on, but as you said we have hitched to a different wagon.

Yes....from Demonwiki: http://demonwiki.org/Roy+Park "After his football career ended Park threw himself into a cricket career and earned a test call-up for Australia against England at the MCG during the 1920-21. He was dismissed for a golden duck in his first innings and urban legend has it that his wife dropped her knitting as he faced his first ball and therefore missed his entire test batting career. "

And the wheel turns. Melbourne Heart started with Casey Fields as their training base way back when...then they became Melbourne City...off to Latrobe - Bundoora, and now back to Casey...... Pity we couldn't convince Victory to move out of AAMI instead.......

How has the soft cap reduction affected the recruiting team?