Supreme_Demon

Absolutely! Jackson Callow was a Melbourne supporter growing up as a kid. About 194-195cms tall. He has a vice-like grip when taking marks Would definitely be worthwhile giving a chance to. Hopefully Jason Taylor is having a re-look at the Tasmanian under-18s football footage. Would definitely be a better prospect than Mitch Brown and is only 20 years of age. Found some more video footage of Jackson Callow playing for Tasmania here: https://youtu.be/fM2kOFJywvg

What about Jackson Callow? The big Tasmanian forward who played for Norwood in the SANFL and then got picked up by Hawthorn in the mid-season draft? Apparently he got surprisingly delisted by the Hawks. I think he is worth looking at as a delisted free agent. Here is a video of some highlights of him when he was playing at Norwood.

No surprises. Simon Goodwin likes a stable team. Would of liked to roll the dice with Tom McDonald but I guess he needs another run in the VFL for match fitness. Just hope all our forwards have their goal kicking boots on this Friday. No more excuses for Alex Neal-Bullen and Jake Melksham. They need to perform! Fingers crossed Christian Petracca can have a significant impact too. 🤞

I thought about Brunswick Street Oval as an option. I still see it as the spiritual home of the old Fitzroy Football Club. I dunno if it would feel right. It would be a bit like moving into Lakeside Oval in Albert Park where the old South Melbourne Football Club used to play. Sadly moving to Brunswick Street Oval would face the same opposition as the plans for Jolimont Station/Yarra Park which were proposed and shut down by the Government and East Melbourne residents. If this was the 1960s or 1970s it could of been built in that area with no problem. But we live in different times now. In the inner City there are unfortunately too many NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) types who have their on prerogatives and don't have any interest in the Melbourne Football Club. I am sure some barrack for Melbourne but not enough to change community opinion. It greatly annoys me that Eddie McGuire and Collingwood snuck in and took the Olympic Park area in 2005. I think we were originally offered it around 2000(?) but former Melbourne President Joe Gutnick declined. This also had to do with the fact that we just didn't have the funds to afford to build our home base back then. Being at Junction Oval (St. Kilda's old home ground for many years until they moved to Moorabbin) was adequate for the 1980s but the facilities there were mediocre. We have all heard the stories of the possum droppings and other poor maintenance issues at Junction Oval. How we made the finals using that place really is beyond my comprehension. To think the MCC leased it to us for 30 years and then a few years after we move out to go to AAMI Park it goes to Cricket Victoria and gets a multi-million dollar upgrade. Wow! Gee....thanks for that MCC! 😒 I will never give up on the Melbourne Football Club having a new home base built. Hypothetically, if I was a billionaire and had the money I would build it myself no matter what the cost. But that isn't the case. The MCC has really screwed us over in many ways for decades. If you even look at the way they treated us when we were a subsection of the MCC they barely gave us any money to recruit players and we were constantly kicked off the MCG when it came to Pre-Season training. The Melbourne Football Club was basically the unwanted step-child of the MCC. To think that in the 1950s and early 1960s we helped make the MCG not just the home of cricket, which is already was, but also the home of Australian Rules Football. We should be the wealthiest and most resourced Club in the AFL. But the MCC would rather just spend $1 billion on upgrading the Shane Warne/Great Southern Stand and ignore us. But yeah, I am definitely very angry at how the MCC has treated us in recent times. All we can do is continue to raise this matter with the Melbourne Football Club board and make sure that our home base gets built eventually!

How Richmond can afford both Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper is beyond me?! I am still keen on the idea of the Demons making a last minute pitch to Tim Taranto. Especially if we do end up losing Luke Jackson. Apparently Tim Taranto used to barrack for the Melbourne Demons as a kid growing up and as much as we probably need another tall forward it would be a massive coup to bolster our midfield even more with someone of his calbre. Anyway, we will see whether or not Luke Jackson stays with the Melbourne Demons or goes to either Fremantle or West Coast.

Ok....scratch the suggestion of Josh Schache from the Western Bulldogs. Bit of a case of too timid unfortunately I guess. What about two current Bombers that wanna leave Essendon? There's Aaron Francis who had enormous potential but still hasn't "kicked on" as either a forward or a defender. I know he was highly rated in his draft year back in 2015. However, Aaron is still incredibly talented and a change of scenery moving away from Essendon would probably do him good. Another Essendon player is wingman Brayden Ham who the Demons were keen on back in 2019 or 2020 I think? Would he be worth another look? Anyway, I am sure the Melbourne Demons List Management team is look at all these possibilities. Just wanted to hear what you all think about the options of Aaron Francis and Brayden Ham?

Apparently Josh Schache from the Western Bulldogs is "desperate" to play for a new AFL Club. Could we consider him? He's a former number 2# AFL Draft pick from 2015. Originally from the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup and is friends with Clayton Oliver. Even won the Larke Medal at the State Under 18 Championships back in 2015 too. He is 199cms tall and can be played in defence or up forward. Frustratingly, Josh really hasn't "gone on" with his career but a change of environment may do him good? He is still only 25 years old and may be a handy addition to our list? Anyway, I am interested in knowing your thoughts on Josh?

I know the 2022 AFL Season isn't over for us yet. But I thought it would be worthwhile giving a progress report of the Melbourne Football Club's Strategic Plan for 2020-2023. Especially as we had a few lofty goals that we have now achieved. DEMON GOALS, 2020-23 1. Play AFL and AFLW finals each year, win at least one AFL and AFLW flag. - Besides 2020 we have been doing this and making the finals in both AFL and AFLW. We also have won (finally!) an AFL Premiership in 2021 and came close to winning an AFLW Premiership last season. 2. Eliminate debt, aggregate $4 million profit over 4 years, $30-million plus of income-producing assets. - As far as I know debt has been almost eliminated and we are heading in the right direction regarding assets. 3. Inspire excellence, attract new talent. - I definitely think we have begun doing that getting Adem Yze back at the club and Mark "Choco" Williams. 4. 75,000 members (from 52,000 in 2019), MCG home game average crowds of 50,000-plus. - Not sure on the average of 50,000+ crowds at the MCG but we are on the way to getting 75,000 members and currently have 66,000+ members as of 2022. 5. Finish high-performance facility at Casey Fields, start construction of new Melbourne home base facility with a social club, aiming to be ‘‘within walking distance of the MCG’’. - We have had the facility at Casey Fields completed and got the oval expanded at Gosch's Paddock. We now just need to get the home base facility and social club constructed. In this regard, you gotta say Melbourne Football Club's Strategic Plan for 2020-2023 has achieved most of it's goals. If you were to grade the success I would say the mark of a B or even a B+ for CEO Gary Pert and the Melbourne Demons Board would be a fair assessment. Just gotta get that home base facility and social club built! That will be the big challenge! Nevertheless, breaking our 57 year Premiership drought in the AFL and becoming 2021 Premiers was the number 1# achievement for the Melbourne Football Club. Just gotta win a few more Flags now! Feel free to let me know your own thoughts on this assessment of the performance of the Melbourne Football Club in implementing it's current Strategic Plan for 2020-2023, which I assume they are still following?

Additionally, the home base should include a massive interactive museum for the Melbourne Football Club (even better than what other AFL Clubs like Carlton and Essendon have) which would illustrate our proud history, which is over 160 years old, and would be a wonderful experience for Melbourne Demons fans to walk through and experience. This would talk about the beginnings of the Melbourne Football Club. The great players, teams, coaches and administrators, the Premiership years and the years of disappointment. Melbourne fans could also see (and hold) all 13 (currently) of our Premiership Cups!

With the new TV rights deal with the AFL for a whopping $4.5 billion dollars the Melbourne Football Club needs to take advantage of the significant windfall. I would love the Melbourne Demons to aim to get $100 million dollars from the AFL to help pay for our home base to be built at Gosch's Paddock. We could arrange so it is not just for the AFL team's training but also for the AFLW team's training. The home base should also include our administration as well as state of the art training facilities, a social club and even an Indigenous Centre (similar to Richmond) seeing as we have a connection with Aboriginal communities in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Anyway, hopefully the Melbourne Football Club board aims to try and get some funds to help us from the AFL. I understand it's not that simple but you gotta at least ask the question and develop a worthy proposal. Even if it is a loan from the AFL.

Agree 100%! The number one priority should be investment in grassroots football. If we don't do this then Aussie Rules Football will begin to die. We also need full-time umpires and an AFL Team in Tasmania and eventually Northern Territory. The ACT shouldn't be forsaken too...but that's another story where we missed an opportunity in the early 1980's. Lastly, and this is wishful thinking, but we should ask the AFL for $100 million so we can build a home base. The Melbourne Football Club will be left behind if we don't have state of the art training facilities and and an administration centre built in the near future. Especially with Hawthorn building their new $120+ million home base in Dingley.

It will be absolutely incredible if we win from here! My ideal scenario would be the great Ronald Dale Barassi presenting the Premiership Cup to the victorious Melbourne Demons coach Simon Goodwin and Melbourne Demons captain Max Gawn. This time at a packed MCG filled with many Melbourne Demons supporters. Hopefully this time Simon Goodwin can give a quick speech as well! Especially after being rudely forgotten about by Basil Zempilas last year in 2021. I will then celebrate by singing "It's a Grand Old Flag" until my voice gives out and cry tears of joy with my Dad who I would hopefully be bringing to the AFL Grand Final at the MCG. I will definitely have a few drinks and party hard at the Premiership after party and at the Melbourne Demons family day event the next day! I will also get (more!) photos with another brand new AFL Premiership Cup! Winning a Premiership at the MCG in front all of us loyal Members Demons members and supporters who couldn't make it over to Perth last year would also be extra special. It is definitely time to hold the "holy grail" ,the AFL Premiership Cup, aloft for the Melbourne Football Club at our spiritual home the MCG! GO DEMONS!!! 🔴🔵👹 https://youtu.be/4uT68kkN-aQ

You never know....Melbourne may end up with Hayden Young in a trade deal with Fremantle for Luke Jackson? I am still hanging on to a glimmer of hope that Luke Jackson will stay at the Demons. But that seems more and more doubtful sadly. Nevertheless, if we do lose Luke Jackson to Fremantle (or West Coast) we need to get a fair trade back in return. Remember that Jake Lever cost us 2 first round draft picks at the end of 2017 when he left the Crows for us. You gotta give up quality to get quality as they say!

In a hypothetical scenario if we lose Luke Jackson to West Coast rather than Fremantle we should ask for pick 2# in the 2022 AFL National Draft. Then we split that number 2# pick to whoever can offer us two top 10-15 Draft picks. We then use one of those first round picks to obtain Tim Taranto (who used to barrack for Melbourne) from GWS and use the other pick to then draft a young tall forward. I think if we offered a decent trade over Richmond that we could snare Tim Taranto from GWS. Especially after missing out on Adam Cerra at the end of last year. Either way, we should look to be reasonably aggressive in the AFL trade period. But we will see what happens with our finals campaign first. We certainly need some big young tall forwards to develop alonside Jacob Van Rooyen. Especially any tall forwards around 195cms+ who we can use to eventually replace Ben Brown and Tom McDonald. In the end, the main thing is for the Demons to improve their list just as all 18 AFL Clubs do at the end of each season.

I am not against Christian Petracca playing with a hairline fracture. We are in a cut throat final that we MUST win after all. Desperate times call for desperate measures as they say. Nevertheless, you gotta be mindful of a player's welfare. My only concerns are if this will cause any long-term issues for Christian's leg? Plus will Christian be able to play through the pain? Will he make a significant impact just playing as a forward? I would definitely be giving him pain-killers and seeing if he could wear a shin guard to protect his leg. Knowing Brisbane they will target Christian Petracca and I can imagine thugs like Mitch Robinson or Dayne Zorko "accidentally" falling on Christian's leg. In the end, we need to win this game against the Brisbane Lions no matter what. Fingers crossed Christian Petracca will be fit enough to play! 🤞 GO DEMONS! 🔴🔵👹

Playing a 2nd tall forward would be nice. We desperately need to play a Centre Half Forward. Tom McDonald, Mitch Brown, Sam Weideman, I would even debut Jacob Van Rooyen if we had to.

A few days have gone past since our frustrating and deflating loss to the Sydney Swans in the Qualifying Final. I thought I would have a bit of a look at the statistics from the game last Friday night. While you don't expect to kick every single goal. I still think that inaccurate goal kicking has really affected the Demons this season Both Jake Melksham and Alex Neal-Bullen need to really focus more on their goal kicking for the Demons. Christian Petracca missed a goal too but I am a lot more forgiving for him due to the later discovery of his injuries. Anyway, that's 5 shots at goal that we missed. That could of been the difference between winning and losing against the Swans but I understand there are other factors in the game that need to be taken into account. In contrast it was wonderful that Clayton Oliver kicked 2 goals. That is the final element that he needs to add to his game to really become an AFL superstar. Goal kicking midfielders win you matches. A 30+ possession game is great but a 30+ possession game with 3 goals can be the difference between winning a crucial final. I greatly encourage Clayton Oliver to really focus on kicking more goals for the Melbourne Demons. However, this goes for all our forwards! You gotta hit the scoreboard! We need our forwards to really continue on setting aside as much time as possible on kicking goals from all different angles and in all different situations (e.g. crumbing, set shots, snaps etc etc). Anyway, no excuses for our semi-final against the Brisbane Lions. If we are going to win we MUST kick straight! Fingers crossed the Demons can win on Friday night! 🤞

Would like to see Tom McDonald given a chance to play in the side for the finals. I think we have a more dangerous forward line when we play two tall forwards. Anyway, hopefully Petracca recovers from the massive corkie on his calf in time for the game against the Lions.

It was an incredibly frustrating game against Sydney. The Swans certainly have the wood over us. Funnily enough before the game when it was spitting I was hoping it would rain more. This is because when we last beat the Swans we won a close one in the rain in 2021. Anyway, I agree with others that the Swans outplayed us and definitely outcoached us. The umpiring was pretty ordinary too. Franklin really sucked in the umpires tonight. As for the Melbourne fans. It was quite bizarre some supporters were great barracking loudly while others only cheered when a goal was kicked. There was certainly a weird vibe at the game too. Was a lot different to the finals series in 2018. To be honest the Sydney/old South Melbourne supporters went pretty easy on us after the game. They were jubilant and pleased with their win over us. If we had lost to the scum at Collingwood we would of been made to suffer afterwards and the train ride home would of been a nightmare. Anyway, we still have some fundamental issues we need to rectify with the team and I am hopeful that Tom McDonald gets his chance to get back into the Demons side. The game against Brisbane next week now needs to be the sole priority and hopefully the team is "switched on" and has no further gastro outbreaks. It would also be nice if the bloody MCC actually allowed us to train on the MCG! But I doubt that will happen.

It makes my blood boil with anger this current predicament! 😡 Look what the Western Bulldogs have here: https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1201190/bulldogs-set-for-vu-whitten-oval-surface-and-landscaping-works Look what the Richmond Tigers have here: https://architectureau.com/articles/council-approves-65m-revamp-of-home-of-afl/ What about the Melbourne Demons? We are still football nomads having to travel between Casey Fields (which is wonderful but very far away from me) and Gosch's Paddock. With our offices at AAMI Park which we have to share with others. We deserve a home base just for the Melbourne Football Club and nobody else. The MCC have screwed us for years! They should of built us a home ground in the 1950s or 1960s. At least then we wouldn't have had to worry about the current circumstances we are in. Having the administration and the football department separated has caused numerous problems over the decades. None of us should EVER give up on this goal of a home base being built for the Melbourne Football Club. This is just as important (if not more) as winning more Premierships. From now on, we as Melbourne members and supporters, must demand from the Melbourne Football Club board for this issue of a home base to be rectified! If not in the MCG precinct (ideally), then Caulfield Racecourse or Toorak Park or wherever is an area that is suitable. None of us should rest until our home base is finally built with a wonderful bronze statue of Robbie Flower or David Neitz out the front of it!

What the hell?! What happened to the training base to be built near Gosch's Paddock? Didn't we get the oval expanded for the very reason that we will eventually get a home base built there?! If this isn't the case then I will definitely feel like we have been lied to! I can understand that things will take time...but we need some hope of progress. I hope that many Melbourne members (not just myself) will complain about this at the Melbourne Football Club's next AGM. We cannot simply let this issue linger in limbo forever. Besides winning Premierships our number 1# priority is for the Melbourne Football Club to finally get a home base built. No more excuses! We have been waiting over 50+ years. As much as we want to be in the MCG precinct if that isn't plausible we will need to bite the bullet and look at other alternatives such as the Caulfield Racecourse which is building a massive sports facility there. Every other club in the AFL has a home base. It is time for us to have the same!

I tell you what....Bayley Fritsch was stiff to miss out! He has kicked 50 goals for the season (so far) and was probably one of the most dangerous forwards in the whole AFL. Yet still couldn't claim an All Australian Blazer! Talk about being shafted! 😖 Hope he proves the All Australian selectors wrong and helps bring home another Premiership Cup for the Melbourne Demons! 🔴🔵👹

Well done Hibbo/Pig! That is definitely wonderful to hear that Michael Hibberd will be up to 100 games for the Melbourne Football Club. Hibbo is definitely one of my favourite players. Hope he gets to drink from a brand new Premiership Cup for the Melbourne Demons too! ON YA PIG! 🐷

Fingers crossed Tom McDonald will be fit and firing for a surprise inclusion in the Melbourne side soon! 🤞 They may give him a run at Casey first though. Anyway, I hope they continue to practice their connection into the forward line. I still think that needs further improvement. Lastly, I hope my all time favourite Melbourne Development Coach Mark "Choco" Williams was there imparting his wisdom to the Demons players.

Well I finally got my tickets! Will be in Bay M54. Only took nearly 2 and a half hours due to computer problems. The timer on the Ticketek website for 10 minutes really wasn't for 10 minutes either! Anyway, all sorted. Looking forward to this massive game between the Melbourne Demons and the Sydney Swans in the Qualifying Final. Great to have AFL finals football back at the MCG! Hopefully, there will be a crowd of 80,000+ attending. GO DEMONS!!!