Go the mighty Dees

I'm stunned we're not playing it against Geelong. We are, after all, the two oldest remaining clubs.

being the two oldest clubs, we play the, I think it is called, History Round, later in the year.

Am about to go to Europe for 2 months. Beautiful timing just as the team is clicking into gear but what can you do. Fully realising this is a long shot, but does anyone know of places/ex-pat pubs to watch the footy in say London, Paris or Berlin? 2 months without at least a small fix will be tough.

Take your PC and watch each match online together with commentary on "demonland"

Hi all,

I'm a bit worried about the possibility of Ricky going to the Gold Coast. He has put off contract talks with the club, and comments between he and Jeff White on twitter recently did nothing to ease my concern. The general gist of the exchange between Jeff and Ricky on twitter was:

Ricky - Absolutely cooked! early morning in gods country tomoro!

Jeff - @Rickypetterd15 Gold Coast?

Ricky - @JeffWhite34..yeh great place..hahah

Now feel free to lay into me if I'm reading too much into something so innocuous on twitter! But is anybody else worried about the delayed contract talks and the fact that Ricky is originally from Queensland? Hopefully the club can sort it out soon and we can keep one of our future stars!

Also, please don't judge the numbers at the end of my username - I would much rather Brad Miller go back to Qld than Petterd hahaha

Think it is a bit of a furphy. Ricky will make a far more considered decision than that. If he wants to go, he wants to go. There is nothing we can do about it. But we are a long way from that.

Let's enjoy the current ride, and Ricky is an enormously enjoyable part of that.

I agree that $$$ to be made at GC17 should see him heading there. Many of these rumours are started by player managers who know suggesting several relocations for a player makes for better bargaining leverage with the actual preferred destination.

I still advocate however for the right price and assuming James McDonald retires at year end he would be a handy 3 year addition to the team. $$$ and value aside.

Surely if he refused to resign a second round pick and a fill player would get the deal done anyway.

I personally hope junior will be there next year, maybe the year later as well. He is in the best form of his career, and is an inspiration to our young guys.

Go junior

I think it also reflects how happy the club is with our defense as opposed to our attack.

Our back 6 has looked airtight the last 4 matches.

Our attack has managed to kick a lot more goals than I envisaged, but Sylvia was a very handy addition.

I admit Rivers could play up forward, but it'd be a foreign position for him and I'm not sure how successful I think he'd be in that role.

For me, Garland to the forward line, Rivers down back, Drop Bennel

I'm about as confident winning this game as I was before the Collingwood game.

For some reason, we always bring out the best in North Melbourne, and they bring out the worst in us. How the hell can a mediocre ruckman in Todd Goldstein kick 5 goals against us in a game?? How the hell can North go on a 9 game losing streak and then beat us by 10 goals late last year.

They have made us look inept since 2007 and have been even harder to beat than Geelong. Would really like to see the trend change on Saturday and I'm interested to see how we perform away from the G.

I think we might have a slip up this week. I believe recent history is always a good form guide in predicting a winner. We have no form against North and we have no form away from the MCG

there is always a first time. A lot of our young guns have no history about this. there is no limit on their thinking and expectations and experience against NM. I think man for man we are superior to them and should win. We have in the past played well at the Dome there is no reason we shouln't again. NM are mid list at best....

What I'm getting at is...

Cale goes in >>> Who goes out?

Looking at the rest, it'd be a tough decision.

I think Bruce is one of the contenders and it's because he's not one of the hard-at-it players like Beamer, Jones or McKenzie.

I think it would be Cale for Bennel and would play Hff.

What I'm getting at is...

Cale goes in >>> Who goes out?

Looking at the rest, it'd be a tough decision.

I think Bruce is one of the contenders and it's because he's not one of the hard-at-it players like Beamer, Jones or McKenzie.

I think it would be Cale for Bennel and would play Hff.

I saw Sam Blease at the game on Saturday and he appeared to have a bit of a limp, I may be wrong but he just looked a bit proppy.

yes i was there too. After the game he and wonna were walking just in frnt of us and he was very proppy and seemed to wince as he was walking. As it was his first game for more than a year I guess you would expect him to be a little bit sore but he did look to be in pain. Let's hope it was nothing more serious than mild cramp or something. I seem to remember that the club in their review of the game reported he played a half but pulled up a little bit sore afterwards.

Cale Morton was interviewed on ABC before the Brisbane game and said the club has had him for months on a strict fitness regime including daily weight sessions. You would expect him to come back with a much more mature and bigger body. I agree with the last post I think he is one of our most talented players and especially when he is fully fit and bigger will fit into the forward line perfectly and be a real plus for us. It is all good.

One of the weekend Papers had Paul Johnson as the best for the Scorpions, which apparently was wrong.

This had excited me as I believe that if Dunn, Jamar and Bartram can come from a long way back, so too can PJ.

I thought Martins' was the most encouraging game I had witnessed from him, but I reckon PJ has something still left to reveal.

A good mate who follows Sydney closely reckons he is the exact type Sydney look for in a tall.

He does believe that Roos can get water from a stone, though

I hope he gets another chance, but then I picked Maric for Most Improved this year...

I saw the game a Ballarat. I thought PJ was next best of the Melbourne list after Rivers. What I like about him is that he is big, mobile and really has a go, particular defensively, and is a good tap ruckman. Personally I think he is better at the moment than Martin. For mine Martin competed in the forward line, but didn't take a grab and does not as yet have good ball skills. He may do in the future, and I think is a potential leader at the club as he is apparently a natural leader and very smart intellectually, but he does need to earn his stripes like JW. For me i'd play Martin at Casey for the time being. I just think PJ gives us more at this stage. We also need some big bodies when our opposition come at us as they inevitably will. The kids need protection.

i have thought of this comparison over the last year.. was hawkins ment to be the next tony lockett!? maybe the hype has got into his head. though it is a complete joke how the media hype up these young kids before they have played a game!

Not sure it was the media. I think the fans had a lot to do with it and still do. The media only reflects the market, and clearly a lot of people are interested in the success or otherwise of Jack Watts. Understandably

The challenge though for the clubs and its fans is to get the best out of jack, and that means giving him space to develop and improve. He will not get a game in the seniors until he earns it. we are no longer giving specy places away if we want to be a serious finals contender. And we do, and we can be.

The team is flying along nicely now so we dont need young jack. we will when he hits his straps, and i like you do not mind if that is next year. Let him be BOG at Casey a couple of times to get his confidence sky high, and then make an impact when he comes. the last thing we want is for him to come in, make little impact, then go back to the 2s.

He will be a star. let's just give him time

Keep an eye out for this kid. A year or two of development a la Jack Watts and he will be a gun! 

I agree. He is most impressive. Hope he gets a run in the Casey seniors next week. He is doing everything asked of him and deserves a chance to show his wares on a bigger stage (as long as GC don't try and pinch him in view of next week's game venue!!!)

Dayne Beams selects his best 22 on afl.com.au, among them

Brad Miller

Born in Tasmania but moved to Queensland where he was drafted to Melbourne from Mt Gravatt Football Club. He is a good lead with a great set of hands. Miller has good endurance and is one of the leaders at the Demons.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/92959/default.aspx

I understand there is fair bit of Mt. Gravatt Love going on, but I don't think many people in the football world would be selecting Brad in their Best 22 at this stage. Good call/bad call?

I think this team is the best Queensland raised players. Miller may well be one of the best Queensland players, along with Petterd, Riewolt etc

On Bigfooty they say he'll be in the 2012 draft. Can't find much more info than that. I also don't know if the father-son rule will trump the draft concessions of GWS. What happens if they name him as a 17yo that they want? Will we still be able to nominate him?

As for whether he's a lock to come to Melbourne, assuming we offer to FS him and GWS can't pinch him from under us, I believe it's up to him whether he accepts our offer or goes to the draft.

My understanding is father/son trumps all preferencial draft choice eg if jack trengove was the son of an ex magpie player with 50+ games then they would have first call on him as long as the kid agrees. That applies to GWS as well.

If the tiger with number one draft pick in 2012 pick him then we could trump them under father/son. Not a bad deal. I imagine he would be a bit like maloney. A great pick up. just think - Viney, scully, trengove, watts, grimes, morton, jurrah, petterd, frawley - all superb young guns. Very exciting.Who will be able to match us in an expanded competition?

In - Rivers

Out - Bruce

B - Garland Frawley Warnock

HB - Grimes Rivers MacDonald

C - Davey Moloney Trengove

HF - Scully Green Bate

F - Petterd Sylvia Martin

R - Jamar McDonald Jones

IC - Bartram Bennell Dunn McKenzie

It won't happen.....and it shouldn't happen. Bruce is too important in a number of ways, not least cos of his on field leadership and his consistent blanketing of key forwards

14 touches is hardly 'tearing the game apart'. He had a service-able game.

Yes he was heavily tagged for thwe first three quarters til he broke free in the last. it will be something he and Tenners will have to live with from now on. Anyway, it means that the opposition if they are tagging two of our young guns they won't be able to match our "highway" in the corridor. As the commentary said "Demons - the transition kings".

I would bck our tow in any case to out run any tagger, especialy Scully.

It is looking good

There's really only 1 game this week that has little to no significance or excitement:

Western Bulldogs vs. St Kilda Etihad Stadium

North Melbourne vs. Melbourne Etihad Stadium

Adelaide Crows vs. Port Adelaide AAMI Stadium

Essendon vs. Hawthorn MCG

Sydney Swans vs. Brisbane Lions SCG

Geelong Cats vs. Richmond Skilled Stadium

Carlton vs. Collingwood MCG

West Coast Eagles vs. Fremantle Subiaco Oval

The derby, the showdown, three matches between massive rivals, us vs North which is all of a sudden not such a dull encounter, and Sydney vs Brisbane, two teams with 1 loss each.

Then of course there's the slaughterfest at Geelong (well, at least you'd think so).

But overall, this is going to be a massive round of football. Big crowds, you'd expect.

Let's hope the Dogs and the Saints have a relentlessly running, bruising close encounter, for us to destroy them the week after. The kangas wont be easy though.

Its always going to be a close competition at round 5.

MFC next 7 games, I see a possible 3-4 wins there. By this stage we will know how well MFC will be traveling. I feel that MFC have great depth in the list and will be pushing right up the ladder come next season (fingers crossed for this season). As I have mentioned elsewhere, MFC to become what they will, will need to beat the top sides or put in a real fight. And so far they have proved this against Collin-Fail & the Lions.

NORTH MELBOURNE Etihad (A)

WESTERN BULLDOGS MCG (H)

WEST COAST EAGLES MCG (H)

PORT ADELAIDE TIO (A)

GEELONG CATS Skilled (A)

CARLTON MCG (A)

COLLINGWOOD MCG (H)

I reckon we can win 6 of the next seven, with some key players such as Morton, Wonna and Rivers coming back over the next four weeks.

But the way the Blues played today they seem to have taken a leaf out of our playbook although if the Cats had have kicked straight it may well have been a different story. The Blues though in my book still lack in some key areas where we excel eg their mid field is not excessively quick, they go round the flanks instead of the corridor and they rank mid list in terms of tackling. They are beatable.

Bruce continues to get more than his share of possessions, and has an influence on most games. His disposal is not good and appears to be getting worse with age. 1 in 4 kicks is a shank, and 1 in 3 handballs seem to miss the target by 1 metre plus. He's still one of my favourite players of the last decade without doubt, he's clearly not the player he was, and that's probably where most of the criticism comes from. If you look at his performances obvjectively, he's still playing some good footy and is in our best 22 for sure. He's still regularly getting 20+ possies and staying involved in the game which is most of the hard part.

Bate is the type of player who will take a month to find his feet so I was never concerned about his slow start to the year. He'll kick on from last night.

Bruce, along with Junior, Greeny, Maloney and Davey provide vital on field leadership to a very young but brilliant team. I suggest without all of them stepping up over the last couple of weeks since the first round, both from a playing and leading perspective, we would still be cellar dwellers. A lot of our improvement has come from the commitment from these guys, and all credit to them. They will be vital in providing onfield guidance especially when some of the better teams take a close look at our winning game plan (and make no mistake they all will examine it with a fine tooth comb, as well as take a close look at how to cambat our younger brigade)) and try and knock us off our game by targeting our brilliant youngsters. Tom Scully was reasonably quiet for the first three quarters on saturday because he attracted a strong tag, which he eventually broke and played a blinder in the final quarter. This will only get worse, and be applied to Trengove as well. The likes of Warnock and Jamar will be important in the protection of the young. I notice on a couple of ocassions over the last couple of weeks Jamar has stepped up when the likes of Brown, Fevola and Mcleod have tried that one.

Whilst this sort of thread is, I hope, tongue in cheek, apart from being childish it is wrong.

If Judd (and perhaps Warnock, Davey and Prismall as well)had joined Melbourne when they the chance we wouldn't have Scully and Trengove (and perhaps Strauss as well as whatever we'd have had to give to Judd (Morton and Maric?). Things happen for a reason.

Enjoy why we are here and recognize that if Judd had joined Melbourne he would have denied us the list we have.

Personally I'll thank him if I ever see him.

Very good point, and we wouldn't be improving as quickly as we are. How fast has the Blues improved since his arrival and what is their upside. I'd say they have peaked, and their internal culture is still as disfunctional as ever.

We'll win a flag before them.

He hasn't shown that pace during games, that's why he looks a little slow at times.

Occasionally, Tenners looked slow on Saturday, but that was more due to tiredness than anything else particularly towards the end of the third quarter. He had played blinder up until then and continued to do so in the last quarter. His skills are sublime.

Anyone look at the replay of one of the best passages of play all night when Chip ran through a Fav tackle on the outer half back flank, handpassed to Bruce and via a series of quick handpasses eventually ended with tenners on the wing who did a superb look away 30m handpass to davey who ran onto the 50m line handpassed to a running Sylvia who slotted it through from 40 on an angle. IMO the best play of the night and left the commentary box shouting "the Demons - the transition kings".

We are in for some exciting times

Teaching young blokes that they don't have to earn thier game in the seniors sets a dangerous precedent.

Totally agree. I saw the game on Saturday at Ballarat, and IMO JW is nowhere near ready for a senior recall. He is an immensely talented raw recruit. We are now finals contenders and we have no room in the real stuff for players to learn on the job. Let him settle in to casey, gain confidence, and have two or three BOGs for Casey and earn his recall. He is a long way from that now.

If we were struggling in the one's then perhaps a speculative recall could be justified for the future.we are not in that position. In fact, totally the opposite. There is intense competition for places, and each has to be earnt. Jack's time will come but I suggest not in the first half of the year.

d

If Ricky is injured I'd move Garland forward and bring in Rivers.

Dunn is unfairly maligned at times (other times fairly) but I think he did a good job on Brennan.

Still, not sure he has a matchup against the Roos.

100% agree with your post enforcer. Rivers is in scintillating form at Casey and Garland would provide a terrific additional target up forward. I think it is important that if players show great form in the 2s that they can be rewarded with promotion. Rivers has done that and is a proven performer on the big stage.

This only applies of course if ricky is out, otherwise no change for mine. Unfortunately no room for Bail.

Did Mcgrath have a blatant dig at Bennell during the match? Didn't see it, but SEN this morning reported that Ashleigh McGrath had a go at Bennell for Bennys' effort in the 3rd Q against Collingwood when he supposedly wimped out of a contested mark.

SEN indicated that McGrath walked up to Bennell and pretended to cower in front of him. Anyone pick it up?

McGrath should be more concerned with his own performance. Brisbane fans at the ground were giving it to him for turning the ball over several times.

Yes it was clearly highlighted and replayed on television at the time. Tony Shaw in commentary (also a legendary sledger) said at the time that mcgrath may regret this by the end of the match In view of the current score. He suggested that bennel might like to go up to him at the final siren and point to the scoreboard. Unfortunately they didn't capture that!!!

Not as good as growing up in the 50,s i can assure you

it will be, and on a national stage