durango

The trend is to have 185+ midfielders but if you are good enough, quick good ball disposal and agile then height is only a factor in marking duels when the ball is delivered very high, like Gawns 5 goal.

I watched Gawn's and Jackson's progression this year from ruckman to midfielders which I think it was Gawn's desire to keep up with Jackson in that area and Jackson has become a ruckman to keep up with Gawn.

They have challanged each other to become better and the team is benefiting from their work his goal on the run is an example of their improved work at the stopages.

I am so happy that this lad has got over his injuries which spoiled his 2020 year and has not only fulfilled his potential but in my opinion has exceeded it.

I think he has got more confidence in his ablity and now knows he belongs at this level.

I met John Beckwith when I was young and he is a true gentleman in every sense of the word.

It would be a great result if Jack won the Norm Smith Medal and won a Premiership this year his Father and Uncle would be over the moon.

The players like Gawn, Petracca and Oliver would be very happy for him and the Team.

Jack has been a great player but injury has made his journey to 150 games a very long process the last player who lost lots of games due to injury and was an exceptional player was Glen Lovett who played over 100 games in the same period as Jimmy Stynes  but never seemed to string games together.

Gawn when he was made captain who ever made the decision got more than they expected when he took his game to another level and that is what captain do in finals and clutch moments of a game like his goal at Geelong in round 23.

Maybe he will win the Rising Star Medal next year since he will be under the age limit and games limit.

His games have been excellent for his age and the fact that he played virtually no football last year but probably has been helped by Mark Williams and the fact that he was slowly brought along at Casey and not rushed into the team to fill holes in the team.

Most times young players get games gifted because they are high draft picks and rushed into the team before they are ready al la Jack Watts.

Petracca is the closest player to the great Ronald Dale Barassi Jr who was my favorite player from the first time I saw him play in 1953 till he retired from the MFC in 1964.

Petracca is his clone and both being of Italian heritage.

I am not Italian by the way. 

This win is a reminder of the teams of the 1950's where MFC was a great team and a Premiership team with 5 premierships in 6 years and 7 grand fianl appearances from 1954 to 1960.

This team is good but will it be great will depend on whether it can convert appearances in Grand Finals to Premierships. 

I was 8 years old and MFC Supporter from 1952, an 8 year old school friend who was a Footscray Support had a spare Grand Final ticket.

I was invited with him and his dad to the 1954 GF match.

I guess that was also the beginning of the best years but at the time after the match I felt betrayed by the team for losing by 51 points which was one of the worst feeling a little boy could have travelling back with supporters of the winning team and questioning my support of the MFC and they asked me to support Footscray.

I was a person who came from Europe in 1949 with my parents and lived in Thornbury for 4 months where every man and his dog barracked for Collingwood who won the 1953 GF, we at that stage lived in Caulfield and as tradition would have it Europeans used to barrack for the teams in their home town which was Melbourne.

My best feeling came in the next 3 years before another disappointment in 1958.

The worst day was when the short sighted people running the MFC sacked Norm Smith and we went out to Coburg to watch NM beat the MFC in 1965.

The irony is we have played in 2 preliminary finals in the last 10 years and both will be decided at the Optus Oval Perth.

I believe we are a better chance this time than 2018 because we were top 4 this time and won our way to the final quite well and we have no injuries that we know of and a week to over come some niggles.

A better defence and a midfield with an additional player in Langdon, the key players have more experience this time along with some fantastic 1st and 2nd year players.

I have always held the belief that a opportunity like this has to be taken because next year may bring new injuries and form lost.

We have had a great run with few or negligable injuries and some players like Gawn Oliver Petracca Harmes Langdon Neal-Bullen Brown Jackson Fritsch Sparrow and Rivers striking exceptional form at the right time.

We need Tom McDonald Spargo Pickett Hunt Bowey and Petty at their best and then we have it in the bag.

We can and should win it but fate may have a say in the result.

I just read that of the 8 teams that played in the last weekend the MFC has the youngest average age and the second lowest average games experience.

This points to us being in the premiership window for at least the next 4 to 5 years, that assumes we don't recruit more genuine stars of the game.

He has played as a forward for all of the last 2 years and played as a Half-Back, Wing where as the last 2 years he played in the forward pocket and his goals output has increase whenever Ben Brown played which means he has developed the synergy required to be the 3rd/4th tall on the forward line.

He is averaging 2 tackles per game which also helps with the small forwards pressure.

He has played 83 games so far has missed only 4 senior games in 4 seasons of football and is learning more about how Ben Brown plays with each match so maybe they might carry us to the Ultimate Glory this season?

I have seen the teams from the 1950's and 1960's so this team is much better than the 1964 team which had Graeme Wise as the only ruckman.

The parallels of the 1964 and 2021 side is defence but the onballers in this side are much better.

This side must win premierships first before comparing them to the teams of the 1955, 1956, 1957 1959 and 1960 who all had great defences and great onballers.

I was reading some comments on the MFC website where it was stated that the team was the 2nd youngest fielded on the weekend making the win even more remarkable.

I see the prediction have been made pre-season by so called experts who never played football at the highest level and some I doubt played football at school.

There crystal ball is made of glass and has one major factor which they never take into account.

Players drive the clubs and have to buy into a game style, as well as injuries where the clubs depth is questioned, pre-season I said that a good team has to have most of its best 22 available and the bottom 5 or 6 players decide how weill the club is going to go in the season.

Richmond was all the rage but injuries and players getting older have contributed to their onfield lack of success in 2021 who knows how the players who missed games due to injury will get over the disappointment of the year.

Some supporters cannot remember the first player to wear the number 13 was Wayne Gordon who died of cancer and the current 13 hopefully will win the ultimate individual prize.

In the past the number 13 was considered unlucky but maybe Clayton will change that with the Charlie and the Norm Smith Medals.

I have followed the MFC from 1952 and spent 10 years as a trainer at the club and the 1950's sides and 2021 have parallels that they were never out of a game even when the played poorly during periods of the game.

At this stage of the season the MFC has bigger fish to fry before they turn their attention to recuiting players from other clubs.

The recruiter would never mention player they wish to recruit because it may distract the playing group from the job at hand.

As a long time supporter I watch Kozzie and marvel what a player he could be his stats are not only impressive they make for great reading.

His 2 seasons have been sensational for such a young player, 35 goals and 27 behinds means he had 62 opportunities to score meaning he had nearly 3 scoring shots per game as a small forward.

His tackle stats are elite.

I reckon he may have gone very close to winning the award but I would rather he just played in the 2021 premiership side along with others and emulated other indigenous players like Cyril Rioli, Daniel Rioli and Chris Johnson who are all 3 times premiership players.

Jeff White's son plays like Luke Jackson, tall and agile

There is an old saying "you need fire and heat to make the best steel".

The win on the weekend there was fire and heat, the players dug deep and eventually won.

No matter what the victory was impressive and maybe this was the catalyst they need to believe they can go all the way.

The Demons of the late 1930's, 1948, 1950's and 1964 all had the belief that anything is possible if you play as a team and are disiplined enough as a group the premierships will come.

Hopefully this group have that belief and I think the weekend showed they are a group that can go all the way but last week is over and they must not dwell in the past and grab the opportunity that has presented it self to this group.

They need 3 more wins to make this group a MFC immortal and the start of a dynasty where premierships are the norm not the exception.

The age of this team is very young but very talented.

I was 18 years 1 month and 1 day, the cup was not presented to the winner like it is today.

I was thinking that 6 premierships in 10 seasons is pretty good but it went pairshaped from there.

I knew Stan Alves who started in 1965 and had to leave the MFC to get premiership glory.

I really don't care how many wins we have in the season so long as we win the Grand Final in 2021 and the players can say the played in the 13th premiership team for the MFC. 

The big selling point is this area is a catchment for McKinnon Secondary College which is one of the elite State School.