Grapeviney

Leaving the politics out of it, dumping and trying to bury all this stuff at once is the best thing to do after a year of bad headlines. The alternative is that each story receives maximum coverage and drags on for as long as possible .. and then just when the air clears, another stink bomb drops. Much prefer to get it all over and done with at once, rather than trickling out one at a time and prolonging the agony.

Football's poet. As I've posted on here numerous times, I will go to my grave arguing that the goal against Richmond at the 1.50 minute mark of this tribute video is up there with the very best of all time. He's out of position in a marking contest in the centre of the ground, effects the spoil and prevents a certain Tigers mark, keeps his feet and is first to the ball, sharks it over an opponent, streams through CHF and dobs it from outside 50m. As Bobby Skilton says in the commentary, it's football at its very best.

Happy days for former Demon Billy Stretch as Glenelg go back-to-back in a classic SANFL Grand Final.

From the Herald Sun's Jon Ralph: Melbourne Demons in the clear over handling of Petracca injury on King’s Birthday Melbourne’s treatment of Christian Petracca’s MCG injury was given a tick of approval by multiple reviews conducted by the AFL and the AFL Doctors’ Association, despite his anger at the club’s treatment of his King’s Birthday accident. The reviews found that while it was regrettable Petracca had been put back on the ground, the actual processes put in place by Melbourne’s doctors had not been flawed. The Demons used the AFL’s emergency clinician at the MCG for a second opinion, with the review finding even initial consultation in hospital was unable to diagnose his spleen concern. It comes with confusion among AFL fans about whether players are able to return to the field while carrying rib injuries after the Petracca incident. The Demons champion was so ill upon his return to the ground even Collingwood players asked him if he should be on the field, with the 28-year-old nearly dying with a lacerated spleen and four broken ribs. AFL Doctors Association boss and Gold Coast club doctor Barry Rigby is also an intensive care doctor. He runs the yearly briefing over rib and internal injuries for AFL and AFLW doctors so they can better diagnose broken ribs or internal trauma. He said on Monday it was almost impossible for club doctors to diagnose whether ribs were bruised or broken without a complex CT scan, with even MRI scans or a simple chest X-ray often not detailed enough. Rigby said the AFL was satisfied with the current procedures for caring with patients with rib damage. “The priority is clinical assessment but it can be quite difficult with blunt force chest trauma. You can have significant pain, but you might not have fractured a rib,” he said. “Chest X-rays are often not that good at picking up chest fractures, and they can miss a small pneumothorax, which is a contusion which causes air to escape from the lungs. “To do a CT scan, which continues a significant amount of radiation, for every player who has a bump to the chest, isn’t a practical approach to the problem. It gets back to the clinical assessment for club doctors and it can be very difficult. “We need to be careful we don’t change the whole landscape which is working pretty well for 99 per cent of the issues. Safety is always our top priority. There is good support from an emergency physician who sits behind the bench if we need assistance,” he said. Rigby has run his emergency care course on assessing players with potential torso chest or abdominal trauma for over five seasons at AFL level. He says the general rule is that if a doctor suspects a player has broken his rib he will not be allowed to return to the field “We have looked at Christian’s circumstances closely and done a constructive critique on what did or didn’t happen. Hindsight is a wonderful gift in some respects. But there was an adequate assessment done. The decision in retrospect (for him to return to the ground) was the wrong one, but we don’t want to criticise the process,” he said. “There was a review done by the AFL and (chief medical officer) Michael Makdissi. The doctors collectively reviewed the whole situation as well. In our professional life we are always reviewing for things we can do better. “All of those boxes were ticked, the process was followed. The emergency physician was involved. The club doctor and hospital were involved. Even in hospital the (damage) wasn’t clear and obvious in the early stages. So I don’t think changing processes would have got us a different outcome.” “There are hundreds of games played every year and the number of people who end up in hospital with rib fractures, you could count on one hand.”

One thing you can say about Max - and it's not true of all premiership captains - is that he truly led us to a flag: * the game-winning goal to secure top spot in the final round * 5 goals in an outrageous Prelim performance * a selfless captain's call late in the 3rd of the GF, a decision which proved pivotal as the game turned. In a career full of achievements, I think his role in leading us to the promised land is his greatest.

Where are you getting these stats from? Champion Data?

Here's the Vic Park game. He gives our current CEO a bath. And yes, Sean Wight kicked the sealer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n-BoYQMSNI

To quote the great Jack Dyer, “he made a great debut last week and an even better one today”.

Indy also made his debut earlier this year and says hello. He's Havanese, and doesn't mind if you spell his name as InDee. For @joeboy and all the other dog-lovers out there, these guys have got a great range of quality MFC gear.

I must be the only one with a negative story about Max. Saw him and his wife one night, and asked for a selfie. He looked like he was going to punch me! So I asked again - very politely - and he got even angrier, started yelling and swearing and said he was going to call the cops. I actually felt threatened for my safety at that point, so I left his house. Just a warning to others that he's not as approachable as he seems.

Read it and weep - governments have spent $450 million spent on AFL grounds and facilities since 2017. From Peter Ryan in The Age ------------- Marvel Stadium will not be used for AFLW matches in 2024 despite recently being upgraded with $225 million of state government funding, in part for “improved facilities to support professional women’s sport”. It’s the biggest single publicly funded upgrade to AFL venues and club training bases since 2017 as state and federal governments have poured $450 million into the code’s facilities. In addition, a further $15 million each has been promised for Hawthorn’s Dingley and Richmond’s Punt Road redevelopments. The Marvel Stadium upgrade, complete with a new-look stadium square featuring new bars, coffee spots and improved spectator amenities, was officially launched last month. The occasion shone a light on the amount of Victorian taxpayer funds directed towards the league and AFL clubs to upgrade their stadiums and high-performance centres as other sporting bodies, including Olympic sports that rely heavily on government funding, battle for scarce dollars in a tight fiscal environment. There were no AFLW games played at the AFL-owned Marvel Stadium in 2023 and two sources who attended a recent planning forum, but who were not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed to this masthead that the league would schedule women’s games at boutique stadiums again next season. The AFL defended its decision, saying the changerooms at Marvel Stadium were used for two sold-out Matildas soccer matches in the past year as well as for female performers at concerts held at the venue since the redevelopment. But AFLW commentator Chyloe Kurdas questioned why the AFL’s own stadium wasn’t being used to support the growth of the women’s game. “It doesn’t make sense that the AFL’s own stadium, that has been so highly invested in through taxpayer dollars and the community, it doesn’t make sense that women will not be able to access it to play Australian rules football,” Kurdas said. “The seating capacity of Marvel offers an opportunity to meet the needs and expectations of the AFLW fan base, particularly in high-value games like the finals, the AFLW finals or the AFLW grand final. It offers a real opportunity to help meet the community’s demand for those big marquee events.” The league said it had been clear in its desire to grow AFLW sustainably and hoped Marvel Stadium would become a marquee venue for the competition in the future. “We anticipate there will be a time in the future where Marvel Stadium will be used for AFLW marquee events, such as a grand final. Ultimately, we would all love the competition to be so big that we have no choice but to host more matches on the regular at the venue, but we must continue to sustainably grow the competition,” an AFL spokesperson said. In January, the AFL also went into partnership with Development Victoria, the government’s property development arm, to discuss the potential redevelopment of the western side of the AFL-owned stadium that is a centrepiece of Docklands. Athletes or stadiums? Respected sports administrator John Wylie, who was the chair of the Australian Sports Commission for eight years, said much of the upgrading of facilities for women’s sport was necessary. But he said the boom came at the expense of Olympic and community sports and widened the gap between sport’s haves and have-nots. “There is increasingly a sense of winner takes all, or winner takes most, economically in sports, and the AFL and the NRL are gapping a lot of other sports,” Wylie said. “The Olympic sports are really facing a challenging future because they depend overwhelmingly on government funding, so it would be nice to see a greater focus on public investment on the sports that actually need the money. “You would hope the public investment in sport wouldn’t reinforce what is increasingly a winner-takes-all economic situation that is emerging.” Wylie was concerned that dominant sports attracted funding because of their blanket coverage, while organisations such as the Victorian Institute of Sport, which provides elite programs for potential Olympians, must fight for funding in this year’s state budget. “It would be nice to see a greater sense of priority of investment towards investing in athletes and participation in sport rather than what seems to be a very strong focus towards investing in stadiums,” Wylie told this masthead. He worries that people are being attracted to elite sport stadiums to consume “burgers and beers” rather than participate. “As a country, we have a health and obesity crisis, and yet the public investment in sport seems to be really focused on the consumption of sport as spectators and as entertainment as opposed to playing and being active.” ‘The bigger sports get bigger’ AFL clubs seem to be winning the hearts of politicians. In Geelong, $142 million was contributed to stage five of the Kardinia Park redevelopment, while about $70 million of state government funds were invested via other mechanisms in a high-performance centre – and now completed – upgrades at Essendon’s Hangar, the Bulldogs’ Whitten Oval and North Melbourne’s Arden Street. A source with knowledge of the process, who wanted to remain anonymous in order to speak freely about how funding decisions are reached, said Geelong’s stadium build should be regarded differently to the other projects as they enjoyed the benefits of being in a marginal and regional seat. Richmond and Hawthorn have also been promised $15 million each from the state government. The Tigers will upgrade Punt Road Oval and facilities supporting the Korin Gamadji Institute’s programs for Indigenous youth, while the Hawks will develop a high-performance centre at Dingley. Collingwood completed an upgrade to their training base, including a sports medicine centre, in 2023 using a federal government grant of $15 million. Its completion so soon after the club withdrew its team from the Super Netball competition caused controversy on social media, but the club said the redevelopment met the funding’s objectives. A feasibility study is also under way to determine whether Caulfield Racecourse is a suitable location for Melbourne to create a high-performance centre. Sports historian Greg Blood, who worked before retirement at the Australian Institute of Sport, said big professional sports have sophisticated lobbying mechanisms that assist them to make their case. He first compiled a list of government funding of big sport in 2019 before updating it in 2024 to keep an eye on how public funding is impacting sport. “The bigger sports get bigger and then the smaller sports are left behind, and they are totally reliant on government funding,” Blood said. However, former Geelong president Colin Carter, who was a key architect of the AFL’s ground rationalisation policy, which resulted in more than 90 AFL games plus finals being played at the MCG and Marvel Stadium each season, takes a different tack. “I have a big belief in stadiums. That is where people gather [and] whether you like it or not, footy plays an enormously important role in society and [it’s] mostly good. It brings people together,” Carter said. “If you want to make the argument that a hospital wing or an infant health centre is more important then you would never build a museum, art gallery or a concert hall. At the end of the day, you have to say, ‘what are the things that add value to a community sense of excitement and belonging?’ Footy stadiums are up there.” Carter said people needed to realise that funding for stadiums comes from a different bucket of money to the one allocated to education and health. Grassroots funding The Victorian government is cognisant of the importance of participation in local sport. As part of the 2018 deal to keep the AFL grand final at the MCG, the government committed $241.6 million to “upgrade facilities at suburban grounds, local clubs and high-performance centres across the state”. Of that pool, $65 million went into the state netball and hockey centre, as well as $10 million to build the Melbourne Victory Football Academy and $12 million towards a rugby league hub that will house the proposed Melbourne Storm women’s team. That left about $110 million for suburban grounds and local clubs around Victoria, with $15 million of that dedicated to building female-friendly facilities. The Victorian government also launched the community sports infrastructure loans scheme in that package, which provided eligible organisations access to low-interest rate loans of between $500,000 and $10 million to help build community sport and recreation infrastructure. “We are supporting high-quality, accessible community sport infrastructure by investing more than $1.9 billion since 2014 to develop and upgrade facilities right across the state,” a Victorian government spokesperson said in a statement. The AFL is also adamant that increasing participation is key to its plans. The commission has locked in funding for community sport as a percentage of revenue for the next 10 years. “We provide 10 per cent of the AFL revenues to community [football], which is an estimated $1 billion invested over the next decade,” Dillon said at the SportNXT conference held in Melbourne earlier this month. Two AFL sources, who wanted to remain anonymous as they were not authorised to speak publicly on the issue, defended the league’s approach, arguing the AFL puts broadcast revenue into community football, rather than seeking levies from participants to fund facilities. They also argue that the AFL leverages its influence to build partnerships at all levels of government with the Australian Football Facilities Fund. “[AFL clubs] understand the power they have in the community, and there is no better way to leverage this by utilising their training facilities for community groups. Each club has a different arrangement, but we have seen in more recent times those facilities being hubs for local community and at times other sports engagement. With all 18 clubs now having both AFL and AFLW programs, the facilities need to best reflect the amenities required for everyone to have the best experience possible,” a league spokesperson said. Victorians are now waiting to see whether the big AFL build translates into a better sporting environment for all or a chance, as Wylie says, for more burgers and beers to be consumed. “The Marvel Stadium redevelopment is delivering a first-class experience for sporting fans, concert-goers, function space users, and the athletes, both men and women who have used the facility over the last 12 months,” the AFL said. But as the debate around government funding for the Tasmania Devils continues, the wait for AFLW games to be played at Marvel Stadium – which will host 43 AFL games in 2024 – continues.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/exdemons-attend-reunion-instigated-by-neale-daniher/news-story/66a1ba13f5fef4d94b9d5d37ad31fe2f Footy great and motor neurone disease (MND) campaigner Neale Daniher has instigated a reunion of some of his beloved players. Daniher, who coached Melbourne from 1998-2007, caught up with stars from his beloved 1998-2000 team including David Neitz, Brad Green, Russell Robertson and Rod Grinter. They had a lunch at Lamaro’s in South Melbourne. “Neale actually planned the lunch, we’re in a group and he calls it ODD — the old dilapidated Demons,’’ Green said. “It was great. He’s still walking around and speaks through a computer generated system. “I can’t remember the last time we all caught up like that with 16 or 17 guys there. Lot of laughs and old stories being told.” Daniher was diagnosed with MND in 2013 and continues to inspire the nation with his determination and Fight MND campaigning.

Show them Rocky IV. The way he beat Drago in Russia is inspirational.

I don't barrack for the Dees either. I'm a professional moderator and this is the only job I could get. But I'm learning lots about Aussie Rules and it seems like a really great game!

From left to right: Binman, Demonland and George on the Outer