Demon17

Agree. I just felt TGR needed to fully describe the act, rather than tell us how good Stack is. Viney getting up off the canvas was more meaningful to me character-wise than taking cheap shots like Stack.

You forget to add Cowardly, as are many 'famous' hits in AFL. e.g. Mark Yates on Brereton. In years to come when more is known about concussion long term, your attitude will be ranked with those climate change deniers and others of similiar ilk.,

In April 2019 the Roar predicted the final 8 and had only one place correct. They correctly tipped 6 of the 8 finalists although those 6 picked themselves and had this gem of a prognostication about the Dees. I loved the nothing had happened in pre-season comment. Melbourne tops the ladder with at least 17 wins And here we go. This column has already covered its feelings towards the Dees, and nothing that happened in the preseason has changed its mind. Melbourne will start the year with a couple of its key pieces on the sidelines, but it won’t matter given the strength of its midfield, and the aggressiveness of coach Simon Goodwin and his crew’s strategies.

Agree. Its how we perform in the first 2 games that counts. Close losses will make everyone afraid, and the team could/should easily go to 3 - 2 up(Freo, saints, Gold Coast) and then onward and upward

Sure has. Brett Lovett.

One thing we know is that all of these Top 8 predictions on membership will be wrong as they ignore historical trend of at least 2 and usually 3 changes each year. Again, journalists and others looking at history with little thought. (a la Champion Data) Cam Mooney's prediction of the Dees as Premiers is at least based on past lived experience and evaluation of potential, not looking at 2019 in isolation. David King will be closest to the pin with 2 changes, but clearly Dees will take Roos entrance

Priceless comment.!

I think this is his major weakness, apart from kicking to position. He doesn't have the tricks, despite his speed to evade an oncoming tackler.

I call him Splinters. Always sitting on the fence and predicting a no change to the 8 regardless of historical trends is an example. Cornes has admitted he was wrong on a number of occasions and is aggressively opinionated which is more than most in the media. Doesn't' see himself as part of the club like Dal Santo.

interestingly this is in line with historical trends with around 3 changes to the Final 8 each season. Based on his commentary and effusive praise of Melb this morning I think he is clearly Believer.

At the Pies game you could only get food etc inside the Holden centre and the queues were so long I gave up . Nothing available around the ground, but likely a sales strategy by Eddie. North may be more working class and actually look after the fans??

Good point LDVC on the 2 year term requirement by Petracca - perfectly understandable. But the huge upside for the club in this deal , is that he will absolutely pull out all stops to have a stellar few seasons to 2022, then at the age of 26- ish and a huge payday, deservedly, beckons. I suspect that won't be the key motivation next to team success and camaraderie, but all incentives help. And if the club has to pay him a Mill. from 2023 imagine what he will have done to deserve this! This player could be the highlight for supporters this season.

I think Jack will show what he thinks when he crunches his first tackle in the first minute of the first game this season. He knows no other way and this minor setback - if he sees it as such - will be the making of him.

A beautiful set of reminiscences Moonshadow. I reckon I saw all of these. Good luck to Frost , and " Frostball", although coined last year was maybe said in just, just didn't fit the modern game and the team's objectives. I think there is still hope for Oscar and his kicking is underrated.

Absolutely DG. The story is Max and the non-leadership group thing as explained by Goodwin. Anything else would have been a distraction for the lazy journos in the room. I also felt the interviews showed out a solid relationship between Goodwin and Gawn which is important. Albeit on a number of occasions whist Max was speaking it was all Goodwin could do to hide a smile and not look too amused by Max's utterings. Lots of air time coming up this season which the club and the AFL will love. I also suspect most journos will take a press opportunity with Max than most or any other skippers around.

Another quality off-season call by the club. Having seen the Ep 3 of the series to hell and Back, they'll all lead at times during the course of a game IMO.

Excellent observation by Brown. Garbage comment by Fagan from whom I expected more. Should have qualified his statement at the time, thus rendering it meaningless

Disagree on field kicking. One of our poorest IMO. And it is football after all

Can someone give a short summary of vanders game. I was unable to see any of the match.

Good Point. Missed that lengthy preamble. So you put him in the team, even though he wasn't selected, because... Anyway, I must admit also at the game the round arm looked serious to me at the time and started a blue from memory so interesting to hear that It may well have been soft. Strawbs did seem confident when coming off after the game that he would be exonerated. This was reflected by comments to me from his father whom I worked with at the time. hard done by is the family version. Go Dees

saw most of his games live. All I will remember of him is the killer torp in the Hawks finals match in 2019 at the 5 minute mark of the 1st 1/4. We wouldn't have improved if he kept getting a game with us. Good luck to him at the hawks though, but gee they are a seriously good outfit disposal quality- wise and I just cant see it for him there.

Very good point here MD Champion Data are interesting in- season because the data is as close to real time as you can get. In 2018, I found David King's insights using this data interesting and he never lost the faith because of the what he saw the indicators doing inside the Dees. However, they don't produce forecasting material. Just predictions based on history and now have rated our list as poor, when in fact a non-existent pre-season for last season was the issue and doesn't translate to a 2020 forecast. Burgess and other factors need to be factored which they don't do. Just stats collectors really and should be seen as such.

The descriptor on Nicky D was a joke, right? Very much a fence sitter but looks good on the tele.

It could. That's why its $26 to $1. Theres a reason for that. But making finals is another thing. What are those odds??

You would think they could afford a topline web designer and web master. Disgrace for a large corp like the AFL but theyre' not alone sadly.