Grapeviney

Max Gawn. I get the feeling he's due for a breakout game.

It's been a massive few days for former MFC skipper Jack Trengove. Won the Keith Sims OAM Medal (the Brownlow equivalent) in the Adelaide Football League on Thursday night. He was then BOG in a premiership victory as his Prince Alfred Old Collegians beat Payneham Norwood Union in the Div 1 Grand Final on the weekend. Said it's the most enjoyable season of football he's ever played. Congrats Trenners!

Anyone checked in on Will Schofield this morning? Poor bloke has probably got a bunch of fresh new mental scars to deal with.

Jones flying home tomorrow morning, according to The Australian newspaper.

Hello everybody, first time poster, but I'm a massive fan of Aussie rules and especially the Melbourne Demons team. I'd really like to go to the play-offs this weekend if you can lend me a membership. I promise to cheer loudly and make sure the ref doesn't cheat for Geelong Cats. Go Melbourne Demons AFL !!

Outside of a handful of Demonlanders, it's not a view shared by anyone in the football world. I've never seen a single criticism by anyone of note that Viney's a limited player, or over-rated, or a one-dimensional 'rugby player'. Not once. I do, however, remember when our preliminary final opponent - ie a good club - tried to poach him not that long ago. He's played under 3 coaches (Neeld for just his debut year) One coach gave him a b&f. The other has him finishing 2nd or 3rd in every year since, bar one when he was injured. That's a lot of people supposedly 'blinded by love'.

Looking at the rules and regulations to get into Perth, and it says military personnel can get an exemption. In completely unrelated news, I've just joined the army!

An interesting insight into Goodwin and the team this year, in particular our ability to reset - within the season, within games, and even quarters. After a standout regular season, Goodwin has preached to his players about the need to reset and start all over when it comes to the finals. As a way of getting his message across to his players, the 44-year-old decided to use tennis star Andre Agassi and NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo as prime examples to motivate and inspire his troops. “The ability to reset, whether it be within games, within weeks, within seasons has been really important,” Goodwin said. “We’ve used a lot of examples in that space, Andre (Agassi) has been one of them, and that happens again this week. “The ability for our club to deal with situations, reset ourselves, whether it be from week to week, in-game or even in-quarter are really important for us." ---------- Agassi, who won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon aged 22 and won his last Grand Slam at the Australian Open when he was 32, had a strong ability to reset himself in tennis as he enjoyed a career at the top for decades. It’s a method that Goodwin is in awe of. “It was a theme that we used and grabbed an example of a player that’s been at the top of his game for a long, long time,” Goodwin said. “How he (Agassi) broke down his opponent, he didn’t have to be the best for that tournament, he needed to be the best on that day and he needed to beat the opponent seven times to be champion. “He broke it down really simply into sets and games and opponents to win championships. -------- Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won his first NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, was cited by Goodwin as a key example of a player that knows how to reset and succeed. More specifically, Goodwin is a fan of the Bucks star’s key trait displayed throughout his young career: “The never being satisfied part of it.” “He’s done a few interviews and talks about the ability to continue to push and stay in the moment and never be satisfied with where he sits,” Goodwin said. “Whether it be from an individual perspective or team perspective. “Our players were really captivated and learnt from those stories and the storytelling involved in those things.”

All-Australian team will be announced this Thursday, and while he's unlikely to get a spot in the final 22, surely Kozzy Pickett deserves to be part of the conversation. Has had the odd quiet patch, but finished 3rd in the league for tackles inside 50, and put 35 goals on the board. Outstanding effort. PS: ANB was #1 in the comp for tackles inside 50. Also outstanding.

Being managed apparently, rather than injury.

May out, Smith in ? That's what I'm hearing, and no, I don't know any more re: May

This is going to sound absolutely nuts, but I foresee a game where we’re 6 goals up in the final quarter, and then the match gets delayed by a freak lightning storm, giving our opponents time to rest and launch a comeback! Probably never happen I guess..

That term is anachronistic at best. More broadly - and i say this knowing that many people don’t punctuate properly online - the word ‘Indigenous’ should always be spelled with a capital I when referring to people. It’s great to see @Colin B. Flaubert, @deanoxand others articulating the case so clearly, and not giving up on the discussion - this is what Eddie Betts is imploring all of us to do as allies. Repeating empty platitudes and saying the right thing isn’t enough; it takes persistence and patience and hard work to change hearts and minds.

Cannot fathom this attitude at all. Think of the many older fans who’ve been waiting a lot longer for a flag than 1990, some of whom might not even be around next year. RDB is getting on, as are the other remaining champions from that era, and the Rev is on borrowed time. Besides, bird in the hand and all that. This is our season and I don’t care if we have to play on the moon to win it.

I think he meant it keeps happening in the game, rather than to Kozzy. Agree with you though - it was hard watching Eddie tonight. He was really hurting, and at times like this, must feel like all his work and words over the years count for nothing.

It's happened again - this time to one of our players, on social media following last night's game. The club has just released this statement. There is no room for racism, ever. The hurt and trauma caused by racism has sadly, once again been at the forefront of our game in recent times. Despite the best efforts of many, we continue to see people subjected to racial abuse on the football field, in the stands and increasingly, on social media. We have heard so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people talk about the pain, the hurt, the exhaustion and the anger inflicted by racism. This is not okay; we must do better. This week Eddie Betts said, “no matter who you are or what you do, when it comes to racism, everyone should be held accountable.” It is not enough to simply condemn racism when it occurs, we must work as a club, an industry and as individuals to be anti-racist, and to educate those around us on how they too can play a proactive role in stamping out racism. We may not be able to silence every person who hides behind their keyboard or a fake profile, but we can utilise our own voices and platforms to proactively and consistently, educate people on and celebrate Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander culture. This week and beyond we ask you to join us in being an active ally for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through education, the amplification of Indigenous voices and in calling out racism whenever you may witness it. As part of the club’s commitment to ongoing education and allyship, our coaches, players and staff will sit down together this week and watch ‘The Ripple Effect’. A powerful documentary primarily centred around St Kilda legend and proud Noongar Nicky Winmar's generation-defining stand against racism at Victoria Park in 1993. We encourage people to join us in watching the documentary here.

Really? I also like @Wadda We Singbut I’m not sure he’s Australian of the Year material.

Given that Nev and Kozzy have already posted about it on social media, I'd say the answer from the players is a resounding 'no'. Which means there's nothing more to discuss.

The Herald Sun is describing the hearing as 'farcical'. "Jack Viney’s tribunal case descended into farce on Tuesday night as the Melbourne ball winner pleaded guilty to serious misconduct without knowing the full wording of his charge and then asked to cancel that plea at the end of the hearing. "Viney pleaded guilty to serious misconduct – but not guilty to the particulars of the charge. In bizarre scenes, tribunal chairman David Jones stood down the hearing as the phone hook-up went off line in the wake of the Demons claiming they had never seen the wording of the charge as they attempted to renege the guilty plea. I'd be interested to hear from @Redlegand other legal eagles on here whether the club might be able to challenge on procedural grounds.

I think the Jones twins are due in September. And Gawn Jnr is due in October if the season is delayed. It's that old saying - 'don't count your AFL players' babies until they've hatched'.

Enough with the politics and media. Most people don't care and this is a thread for footy-related covid news. And yes I'm aware there's lots of politics posts but mods can't be in here all day. Please stick to footy talk.

It's the Pink Lady match this week in support of the BCNA breast cancer cause, which the club has been involved with since 2005 iirc. The connection is personal for the Dees on a couple of levels. Oskar Baker's mum was a breast cancer survivor, who sadly lost her life to bone cancer a few years later. And the ambassador this year is Fraser Rosman's mum Trudy, who was diagnosed just before COVID hit, and whose past year has included 16 rounds of chemotherapy, surgery, 15 rounds of radiation, Fraser finishing year 12 and then him being drafted by the MFC. From the HS article: As Covid hit Melbourne, Fraser waited until after 10pm – once everyone had gone home – to do his running training at a local football ground to keep his immune-compromised mum safe. They spent his 18th birthday together with a supermarket cake at the kitchen table, because Ms Rosman was so sick after chemo. “He was my absolute rock. I had times when I was certainly down, and days where I just didn’t want to go to treatment,” she said. “He would tell me, ‘you got it early, you can do it, you’ll be all right’.” For Fraser, knowing his mum had finished treatment when he fulfilled his football ambition as pick 32 in the AFL draft, helped atone for the tough year. “When my name got called out I was ecstatic. When mum was told she was cancer free, that was spectacular as well,” he said. Ms Rosman said while news of being cancer free didn’t instantly erase the lingering worries and treatment side effects, she was looking forward to turning her attention to Fraser’s football ­career. “I do feel some guilt over the last 12 months and what he’s had to go through. It’s not really fair. He was only 17. It was a lot on him,” she said. “I can’t wait to sit back and see where this footy journey takes him.” You can donate to BCNA here: Pink Lady Match

You're in the Redlegs section (similar vantage point on the opposite flank) so the seats are fine. Ticketek has been grouping Redlegs, Tridents and Legends as one category, and then as each bay is exhausted, you get shuffled to the next area. Now that's OK for Redlegs and Tridents, but Legends really get shafted under this system, as they pay top $ for the very best seats in the ground (a few feet in front of the coaches box). Not sure what happened today because, unlike previously, I wasn't able to select a bay this week - all those seating areas, which are usually highlighted, came up as unavailable, even though i was on there at 1.01pm. Thankfully ended up near my normal seats but can't wait for this hassle to be over. Got a Hawk supporting mate coming with us this week, but he's already promised to sit quietly. To be honest, if I'd seen us win 74 premierships, I'd also be pretty chill.

An extra quarter would be good, too. 5 x 40 min quarters.