FarNorthernD

So according to LH's and I.T's excellent info and table we hit our current total sometime in week 4 of January this year and early March the year before. It will be interesting to see if we end up with significantly more members or people are just renewing earlier. Either way there is a fair bit of excitement out there for the 2017 Demons

Pedersen is the biggest surprise of that lot. Good lesson in the value of persistence.

Agree, a Brayshaw and a ruck

Handy for the others that someone has helpfully written Dions' nickname on the back (or is that the front?) of his cap.

I watched quite a few Essendon matches throughout the year mainly because I liked watching them lose. As others have said Oliver probably has a higher ceiling than Parish but the young Bomber did show an AFL maturity that belied his age and statue. He was disappointingly good.

I think there were some years in the Tour de France you would need to scroll down to the 79th placed rider to find a clean athlete. In AFL terms you would end up having Simon Godfrey wearing the yellow jersey

I didn't realise they only had an 18 round competition back then. When I was growing up the 12 teams played 22 games through the year. When did it change? How did they work out the draw as you didn't play everyone twice? Funny that if they had Demonland back in the 50's I'm sure they would have been talking about the inequalities of the fixture then too. The more things change...........

I am no great fan of Lumumba's but I think he is being underrated by most here. He played some good footy for the first half of 2015 and given his natural willingness to take the game on he may slot well back into the side. For years he has been played the type of footy that we aspire to. He averaged 20 games a year for Collingwood over eight seasons, won a flag and in his last year with them placed highly in the B & F. If he had those sort of stats with us I think we would not so easily dismiss him

I don't think too many on here would disagree that both Jetta and Garlett are automatic selections when playing at their best. Jetta came 9th in the B & F, one vote behind Hogan and only the third non mid (to T.Mc and Hogan). There were numerous occasions during games that he held the backline together. Time and time again he puts his body on the line and he is a reliable disposer of the pill. When playing at his best Nev's name can reasonably be mentioned in the same sentence as AA squad selection. Garlett's best is very bloody good indeed and I love it when the footy is in his hands. Fun stuff can happen. Unfortunately the gap between his best and worst is huge. If he can't find that consistency next season then his spot could be taken by a less talented but more reliable player. At their best however I can't see either being replaced.

Do you think Toms disposal has improved?

I thought TMc's disposal improved quite a bit this year particularly considering the new riskier "take the game on" approach. I still think he has the ability and drive to become one of the top two or the KPD in the comp

Last three rounds at the G could be huge - Saints, Lions and the Pies to finish off. I like that

I just watched that replay. All four quarters- Melb V Hawks Rnd 20 - are on YouTube. It is fantastic although I still got a bit nervous. Weirdly I was barracking for Lewis to do good things. Watts's full range of sublime kicking skills are on display, favourite was his kick to Tyson from the centre towards the end of the last. Clarkson said Gawns last half was the most dominant ruck performance he had seen. Your man Viney had a lazy 39 possessions. I may watch it again

I sort of like this fixture. Nothing like facing your 'demons' first up. First game is only worth four points but all pre-season the focus will be on being as fast and as fit as they have ever been to compete with the Saints at Etihad round 1. Could set us up for the season.

Same. He is a brilliant writer, full of humour and with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the club.

I respectfully disagree. There are better players in our team but none more valuable than Jetta. First picked each week for me

Make that 3 good players as one of them is foofing off to GWS today. When he was saying the good list thing I was waiting for Dion to throw his hands in the air and say "I can't do this" like Mal Maninga did when he had his 30 second (literally) political career

It may actually be the harshest thing Saty has ever said about a Melbourne listed player

Lewis said Hogan signing played a part in him coming to the Dees. Saty has made a joke

I've said this before but it feels good to write, it wouldn't take a lot to go wrong for Hawthorn next year to fall off a Freo sized cliff. They were 18th in the league this year for contested possessions and have lost their two best contested ball winners. Sure they don't play the contested game like we do or the Dogs but you have to get the ball at some time. O'Meara could be a key for them. If he fulfills his potential he could be one of the top 5 players in the league but personally I think it more likely for him to have ongoing injury issues. And then next year they will go to the draft having already given away their first pick to the Saints. Time to vacate the 'family' bandwagon I think

That's ok, I always thought O'Connor was an overrated hack (well since I read he chose the Cats)

Got a senior guernsey over way more experienced teammates because he showed he could play the type of backline footy the coaches wanted

3 years is a bit. I want Lewis to come to us but if that is true I hope there are some significant trigger clauses; top ten B & F, no. of senior games etc.

Hawthorn were 18th for contested possessions Lewis was their No. 1 contested ball winner Mitchell was their No. 2 contested ball winner Now I know that the Hawks don't rely on contested possessions as much as other teams and they are getting the Sydney Mitchell but it isn't too difficult to envisage a scenario where they Freo like fall off the twig next year and then go into next years draft without a first round pick as they just gave that to the Saints That would be a shame

If anyone is feeling slightly cynical and jaded with trade week then pop over to the MFC site and check out the Elise O'Dea interview. If there is a happier person on this planet at the moment I would be surprised. Just wants to play football, just wants to play for Melbourne, can't wipe the smile from her face. Love to see footy bringing such unadulterated joy.