MadAsHell

23. Francis Vine, Ray Wartman, Geoff Tunbridge (all premiership players with over 100 games each), plus James McDonald and Bernie Vince. 24. Percy Beames, Ian Ridley, Russell Robertson.

I'm not opposed to the extended seconds competition featuring teams from multiple states. But as others have said, the AFL trying to do it this year with COVID still a thing was naive at best. I mean I get why the Northern States want better 2nd's comp then what the NEAFL was providing, but why it all fell onto Victoria I have no idea??? I do like the idea of every state and territory having a team that players can aspire to play in, so that they can get exposure should they not get drafted as a teenager. However with one of the stand alone Queensland teams (Aspley) already indicating they want out after this season, I think some changes are required. Going forward, I'd ideally like to see the WAFL stay as is. 10 team comp where everyone plays eachother twice. Do it over 19 weeks maybe so everyone has a bye and a 4 week final series with a top 5. Obviously this takes in Fremantle aligned team and West Coast reserves. The SANFL becomes the SANAFL (South Australia, Northern Australia Football League). Keeps the current 10 SANFL teams with Adelaide' s reserves and Poet's alignment. Then add the Brisbane and Gold Coast reserves plus a stand alone Northern Territory team. Makes a 13 team comp which can be played over 22 weeks with every tram getting 2 byes. Four week final series featuring a top 6. Reckon it could work! And finally the VFL becomes the SEAFL. (South East Australian Football League). Keep the 10 aligned and reserves Victorian teams, plus the 6 stand alone VFL teams. Add the reserves for Sydney and GWS and throw in a stand alone team from both the ACT and Tasmania. You then get a 20 competition that can be played over 21 weeks (everyone plays eachother once and one team twice plus 1 bye). Four week final series with a top 10. Could work for me. Every state and territory suddenly have a clear pathway with South Australia picking up some of the burden Victoria were left with. Only areas not really covered and Northern Queensland and WA as a way of creating easier path ways for kids in those areas. But over time that's somewhere both the WAFL and SANAFL could look to expand.

Will be sad to see Jake go, but the move makes sense. He's now a depth player for us only, so he probably wantsto get another 2 or 3 years as opposed to the 1 with us. North and GC are two realistic options, however Jake has a young family, so not sure if he'd want to move interstate? He'd walk into the filth's 22, however they really need to start blooding some kids, so I doubt they'd take him. The of course the handbaggers would see him as an injection of youth! And an upgrade on Rohan. Melksham has actually performed in finals before. Wish him all the best if he goes. But if he stays, he'll be very handy depth for another 12 months.

Anyone else notice/think they celebrated their win in their rooms a little more than us? Dees by 25-35 points!

Not 100% sure which was the first game I went to, but the first I remember was the 1990 Semi Final against West Coast out at Waverly. Best game is a tough one as it's all subjective as to what makes it a great game. But for sense of occasion, it's hard to go past our Elimination Final win over Geelong in 2018. Worst game was Essendon 2013 by the length of the Flemington straight. Never been so angry after a game!

They can have Lachie Neale for him. Make the Cerra trade part of a Neale trade, so we can deal with Brisbane or a different club instead.

My left field suggestion. Hibberd takes Cameron. Yes he's giving up 10cm, but matches him in the kg department. Allows May to Hawkins, Petty to Esava and Lever can zone off from Rohan who doesn't touch it in September anyway.

Pretty sure. We lost to the in a Semi Final in 89' and Elimination Final in 05' before we knocked them off in 18'. From 55' to 60' and 64' we won Semi's straight through to GF's and we didn't face them 61' to 63'. That 54' match shows that Geelong were the better starter, holding an 8 point lead at 1/4 time and 6 points at the half. However a 4 goal to 1 3rd term followed by 3 to 2 in the last saw the Dees home by 17 points. Followed a similar theme for Geelong who were ran over in the 2nd half by Footscray in their Semi. An ageing team perhaps who struggled to run out games??? Here's hoping for something similar on Friday Night.

If and it's a big IF, the Sparrow to Adelaide rumors are true. Brisbane send Neale to Fremantle. Fremantle send Cerra to Melbourne. Melbourne send Sparrow to Adelaide & Future 1st Round Pick to Hawthorn. Adelaide send former top 6 pick Fischer McAsey to Hawthorn and a later pick to Freo. Hawthorn send Tom Mitchell to Brisbane. There would need to be other pick swaps etc involved, but end of the day you end up with; Brisbane: OUT Lachie Neale IN Tom Mitchell Fremantle: OUT Adam Cerra IN: Lachie Neale & late Adelaide pick Melbourne: OUT Tom Sparrow & Future 1st Round Pick IN Adam Cerra Adelaide: OUT Fischer McAsey & late pick IN Tom Sparrow Hawthorn: OUT Tom Mitchell IN Fischer McAsey & Future 1st Round Pick. So Hawthorn will need a little more and we probably have to give up a little more. Otherwise that's reasonably even IMO.

That's great news that we might be in the race for Cerra, but it also makes me nervous about who might be on the trading block. Jackson, Rivers, Brayshaw??? I don't want to lose any of them!

Their 1st Round Pick which we could use to get Mac Andrew. Means there would be a swapping of picks involved no doubt.

My strong recollection of our Melbourne teams only goes back to about 1992, and it's fair to say that this is the best team we've had by some margin. The only team who I think would challenge this team would be our team from 98'. Gawn/Jackson v White/Stynes in the ruck. Midfield of Petracca/Oliver/Viney/Langdon/Brayshaw v Viney/Leoncelli/Rigoni/Yze/Tingay. And our defense of May/Lever/Petty/Salem/Bowey up against Neitz/Schwarz/Farmer/Lyon/Roberson. And while we have the likes of Jones/Hibberd/Melksham in the 2's, they had G. Lovett/S. Smith/Johnstone. This team is much more sound structurally though. Best chance for a premiership in my life time!

I was well off with last night's game. But I nailed the Swans v GWS match!😁

Let me clarify my position/suggestion on this one. I'm not saying that I don't rate Laurie or that he's a spud that we should get rid of. I'm simply making the point that if we want Mac Andrew, we'll need to trade into the top 10, probably top 8. Gold Coast currently have Pick 5 which will turn into Pick 7 and we have a good trading history with them, so they're an obvious potential partner. Now would Weideman and our future 1st Round Pick be enough to get the trade done? Given we're currently top of the ladder, it's fair for Gold Coast to assume our Future 1st Round Pick will be in the 15-20 range. So point is we'll likely need more. Laurie will still have some value from being a late 1st Round Pick from last year, who doesn't hurt us leaving as he's yet to get on the park for us. I did also suggest our Pick 34 could a also be used instead. Laurie was merely one suggestion. It's also of note that we got Laurie by trading away our 1st Round Pick from this year, before the rules changed re the Academy nominations and our ability to get Mac Andrew. Would we have made that trade last year if we knew the rule change was coming? Who knows? All I can tell is that Taylor seems pretty keen on Mac Andrew and I wouldn't be shocked to see the Dees try and manufacture a way to get him. Edit: And yes, players can be traded after only one season. Just rarely happens is all.

If we packaged Weid with our future 1st Round pick and a few other items (potentially the likes of Bailey Laurie, this year's 2nd Round pick etc), what are the chances of getting a hold of Gold Coast's 1st Rounder? Would get us access to Mac Andrew who we should rightfully have access to! Unlikely I know, but I don't want to see us miss out on this kid!

Pretty sure Fitzroy only left Brunswick Street Oval in the 60's because the Cricket Club refused to upgrade the ground and the Footy Club didn't have the means to do it on their own account. Hopefully some 55 years later with Club and government funding we wouldn't have the same issues Fitzroy did back in the 60's.

If only there were a ground close to the city which we could make our own that has room for the facilities we're after!? https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fitzroy+North+VIC+3068/@-37.7890644,144.9814254,17z/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x6ad6433d900971e5:0xe2ded60bf54b72f0

Geelong to defeat Port by 12-20 points GWS to defeat Sydney by less than a kick Melbourne to defeat Brisbane by 25-30 points Bulldogs to defeat Essendon by 30-40 points Port to defeat GWS by 5 goals + Bulldogs defeat Brisbane by less than a kick Melbourne defeat Port by 30-40 points Geelong defeat Bulldogs by 20-25 points Melbourne defeat Geelong by 12-20 points.

Happy to see some games in Tassie, though I'm a little surprised that both games are in Launceston and that Hobart missed out? If we end up hosting Port in the Friday Night Prelim, I expect it to be in Hobart myself.

Well said Macca and I had heard similar things in regards to the Commonwealth Games. For example I think therewon't be any shooting in Birmingham. So it will be interesting to see which sports last or alternate from Comm Games to Comm Games? It's also odd there's no host city for 2026 only 5 years out! I know Hamilton, Canada is looking at bidding for them for 2030 to mark 100 years since the first Comm Games and that regional Victoria are also looking to bid for 2030 with the games spread across the following (Shepparton, Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, Warrnambool, Wodonga, Nagambie, Yarrawonga and Traralgon). So that's comforting, but a host for 2026 would need to be secured soon. I believe it will likely be Shah Alam, Malaysia or Mumbai, India from my understanding. Both Canada and New Zealand have had really good Olympics and GB continue to be strong. So hopefully the standard of competition in Birmingham 2022 will put us in good stead for Paris 2024.

So it seems that while the final few events are wrapping up, the Australian campaign has come to a close with Nicola McDermott claiming our final medal, being a silver in the women's high jump last night. Giving us 17 Gold, 7 Silver & 22 Bronze. Our equal most Gold medals with Athens 2004 and equal 3rd highest total medal haul, equalling the 46 we claimed in Bejing 2008. It's been an incredibly successful Olympics for the country and for Tokyo in pulling it off all things considered. From what I understand the Olympics have been a ratings smash for Channel 7, so the appetite for the Olympics are still there, despite what some say. With Brisbane 2032 on the cards now, it will be interesting to see how that translates to results going forward with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games just around the corner and then into Paris 2024. After Sydney secured the rights for the games back in 1993, we saw Australia claim it's largest medal haul ever at the time of 41 in Atlanta 1996, before transitioning into what were our three most succesful games ever before this year in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Bejing 2008. But as always, funding will no doubt play a big part in it. Highlights for me these games cover a few. Titmus 400m Freestyle win against Ledecke, the Womens 4x100m Freestyle relay world record, the Womens 4.100m Medley Relay on the final day in the pool, Jess Fox breaking through for her win in the C1, the Boomers finally getting that elusive Basketball medal, similar with Melissa Wu in the 10m Platform, Del Solar & Clancy defeating the World Number 1 pair in the Beach Volleyball on their way to claiming a silver medal and probably a string of others that escape me right now that I'll think of later. Areas of concern or things that I think should be looked at. Lack of success this Olympics in the Veledrome as opposed to how we often stack up. How the Opals are going to move forward in a post Cambage world and the Hockeyroos inability to make the medal rounds in the Hockey. But even all three of those had their moments this games as well. It's been a memorable fortnight as it always is.

Here's hoping one of those results can go our way Macca! We've been on the verge for a few days now, so here's hoping for one final bang!

And Nicola McDermott claims Silver in the high jump with an Australian record! That's 46 medals for Australia, equalling our haul from Bejing (bettering it given we've claimed more gold here). What a games this has been for the nation!

The Boomers have finally done it! After 65 years and me watching intently since 92' for them to break through for a medal, the Boomers have finally claimed that elusive Olympic medal with a great Bronze Medal win over Slovenia. Patty Mills you star!!!

Here's hoping we can do it Macca! We're two medals short of equalling our haul of 46 from Bejing and 1 gold short of our best gold haul ever! Hoping for a bolt from the blue, like Chloe Esposito helping us avoid our lowest gold haul since 92' last Olympics.