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I still believe Gus can get back to his 2018 form and beyond, if he does then he could enter elite territory. Oliver could (and I think should) get there to be an elite player but he's got to stop rushing things, he's quicker than he gives himself credit for and he really needs to be able to take that little pause to sum up kicks rather than blazing away. Too early to pin Kozzie and Jacko into the elite potential category, they both have the talent to be anything but with our track record of developing players...who knows. Bennell if he's able to get fit is definitely in elite territory, but getting and staying fit is his biggest challenge. We may be biased but I really do feel like Gawn is elite in his role. Just as you'd say Dusty is elite in his role, it's what you just him on and who you judge him against. If you put Max up against the best ruckmen to have played the game he would stack up if not beat them, and I personally still hold the ruck position as an important part of team balance.

That is massive if he's able to stay fit. Should they go ahead with the carnival style season where it's more regular games I think we will have to accept he can't keep up with that and may need to miss the mid-week games. I imagine the fact that there hasn't been any footy has made him temper his rehab a bit to make sure he doesn't rush anything, it could end up being the best thing for him (and hopefully us!).

This was a really tough one for me, I went for Jonesy but only just. They are arguably very similar players in their background and both worked their butts off to get where they are. They also have the respect of the competition for digging their heels in and being leaders when no one else wanted to stand up and be counted. I was glad to hear on the Dee-brief podcast the Junior doesn't hold ill will towards the club, I think most fans weren't happy about how things went down with him being push out, particularly given our lack of experience and leaders at the time. The only way I can rationalise it is that we had quite a few older players limp to the end of their careers and the club didn't want to have that happen in him as well. The irony being they ended up doing something far worse by pushing him to another club (and GWS at that! ?).

Really happy for him, like Bennell he could be someone that actually benefits from this lockdown.

I suspect the coronavirus is going to give the world all sorts of opportunities to almost reboot things the way they see fit. Rather than the old soft changeover period companies (and sports) could well take the chance to enforce sudden change on the back or reviews due to the virus. I can see the AFL putting in significant rule changes such as less players out of the field, shorter quarters being a permanent change, less players on the main list, perhaps midweek fixtures similar to soccer, and those are the first ones off the top of my head. The world we come back to in footy alone could be quite different, let alone what governments will change.

Yep sorry, I hate losing to the Saints (there's one friend I have that just can't help but be smug about it), that one cut extremely deep for the pure stupidity of it.

The Saint's when we kicked that goal to be in front with 30 seconds to go, Maxxy did perfect tap straight down the throat of the Saints on ballers, long ball, goes out the back of the pack and takes a 90 degree bounce straight into the path of Montagna. Can't remember what year it was but we didn't flood the defense (back when you could do that), in fact I think it took to when the ball was being bounced that the forwards realised they didn't need to be there.

Love Jimmy, poor Leoncelli never had a chance! That said that winner against Adelaide at the death is one of my favourite memories as a Dees fan. Shame this video doesn't have any build up to it, Schwartz's thumping ruck work was huge.

I was initially a bit skeptical about any footy being worth it this year, but I have to say even if this were an asterisk year I feel the fans would get behind the idea of a lightening premiership style tournament/season to have something to look forward to. Maybe it won't be held in the same regard as regular years but at the same time the team that's able to raise the premiership trophy at the end of all this madness will be able to say that they were able to rise above it all.

With a reduction in list numbers and perhaps the thoughts of the AFL becoming separate from the VFL, maybe another option as a feeder competition is a reduced format of the game at reserve level. Shorter quarters, less players out on the field (incidentally a rule change I would not be against for the AFL), something closer to a scratch match to keep the players match fit.

We were doing that for a long time between 2007 and 2013 (arguably before that as well). I remember there were years that we were firmly down the bottom of the ladder, looking like we'd be beaten by VFL teams and still paying 100% of the cap.

I'd very much like to see a return to the reserves competition but I don't know how that will happen given everything that has gone on with the coronavirus and tightening of the screws. Carlton dumping their VFL team so unceremoniously (and frankly with a lot of disrespect) could be the first domino to fall in the AFL no longer having VFL/WAFL/SANFL affiliates, but I was really please that Melbourne actually went to opposite direction and said they would be sticking by Casey. I think a reserves/2nds competition is needed, nothing can truly simulate playing in match conditions against players that are quite happy to smash their opponent into the ground. How this happens post COVID-19 will be anyone's guess.

We’ve thrown a lifeline to Harley, given KK a chance, kept persisting with AvB. We can’t keep on recruiting players with bodies that need fixing. I wish him all the best, can’t help but be a little concerned for him though. He’s got his whole life ahead of him.

Gawn easily, but I reckon Moloney could’ve been a great for us. I look back at the way the club shot itself in the foot in the Bailey/Neeld period and I can’t help but think about how many careers were adversely affected by it.

While I definitely feel like that period we shot ourselves in the foot plenty of times against lower teams it was also a classic case of missing that ingredient you can’t actually plan/prepare for: luck. We seemed to always lose players towards the end of the season that we were critical to our chances. We definitely choked on a golden chance to finish top 4 that year though.

I'm a Furphy fan, it's not a special beer but it goes back easy enough and doesn't break the bank. I'm happy they've got on board and the club should be congratulated for continuing to bring in support.

His 100th goal turned the momentum, I was young but I definitely remember Hawthorn responded the better from it. I also remember the emotions coming from a lot of people, as I said I was young so I don't think I fully understood what was happening but I could feel it for sure. Best Melbourne games I can remember are the 2000 Carlton prelim final and the 2002 Adelaide final (which I still have trouble figuring out how we lost). EDIT I just had a quick flick through the youtube video turns out our boys came back a bit after it! Ah the memories of a 10 year old back then! ?

Watching Hotter Than Hell right now, Craig Smoker. That's pretty obscure! ?

Watching Hotter Than Hell right now and something than I've found interesting is the way the boys sang the song post match, a lot slower and clearer! I don't know whether it was a product of 2018 being the first time the team was belting out the song on a (semi) regular basis but they sure sang it a lot faster. ?‍♂️

Matty Lloyd and Ross Lyon went through players who could possible benefit from the Coronavirus lock down and delay of the season, Daniher was the first one they mentioned but they talked at length about Bennell. Lyon mentioned that they’d been in touch and that the word from him was he was getting good distance into his legs. Always want to take these sorts of things with a grain of salt but that’s really great to hear. Lyon also said he was in regular contact with him which I think is great, can only be a good thing having another friendly face (or voice at the moment) in Melbourne.

If done with intent it could well work, if the idea is to get the ball in quickly to a certain location within the forward line and the forward structure matched that then yes I think it could be a workable tactic (not one I’d personally go for but yes a deliberate tactic). If the tactics are to look for and hit up leads then our midfield is barely even coming close to doing that.

I get what you're saying and I'm very much on board with the attitude of "let's focus on making us the best we can be". But I would hope that if/when we get there we remember where we came from and how we were when we were struggling. The Hawks fans and power brokers have forgotten that they were not all that long ago in history in a difficult place, well done to them for coming out the other side and they have created a dynasty on the back of probably the best modern day coach and some excellent teams. But they have also created an arrogance that rivals some of the worst Essendon and Carlton periods, they have an almost insatiable entitlement for being up the top out of that dynasty, and Kennett himself is just as bad (maybe even worse) as Eddie in him constantly changing the narrative to suit his and Hawthorn's position. So yeah, if I had a choice of us being up the top and having to be up there with the Hawks, fine and dandy. But I think Kennett and the Hawks are due for a little humble pie.

It’s interesting that Lewis has said all this, for one I think there was a perception that it was the “softer” maybe younger players leading the call for the cancellation. I think there was also the belief that most of the leadership group was on board with it, and at least a 50/50 split in the larger playing group. Seems like those perceptions were wrong, probably the biggest error was that the players didn’t voice their opinions earlier or the coaching staff not hearing their hesitations about it.

Jeez Kennett makes me want to vomit sometimes, might also have something to do with the disgusting colours of his club. Would love nothing more than to see the Hawks bottom out for a good 4 years, and perhaps little side of being caught in some kind of controversy just to really give people a chance to sink the boots in.

If I had to guess where part of this disconnect has come from it might be 6-6-6. In 2018 when we were winning clearances we had players coming from behind the ball so there was an instinct to look at who was behind to take the extra pause and sum up the leads. Now if we win clearances we blaze away and bomb without looking. Now if that what the instruction is then the forwards need to hold their leads to judge where the ball is coming. Having said that we have even more entries that aren’t from centre bounces that end in the same way, Hibberd and Langdon were our worst offenders against WC.