pantaloons

3. Yze Magic - Always looks to shock, very amusing and a highlight of the site. 2. Biffinator - I always enjoy his posts - love his sense of humor. 1. Rhino Richards - I generally agree with most of his posts, and stay quiet when I don't!!

I'm afraid I couldn't disagree with you more, deanox. Here's why: The old finals system had massive flaws. In fact, that system generated one of the most farcical premierships of all time in 1998. Adelaide finished fifth, were dacked by the higher-finishing Melbourne in week 1, but yet the only reward for the Demons for winning that game was a home final in week 2. The Crws still progress to the exact same round but just played away. Essentialy, the 4 v 5 game was a dead rubber for elimination purposes. the second problem for me is that the loser of 1v4 ans 2v3 get a home final round 2. how does that work? you already get a double chance, why should you be rewarded with a home final for losing? the team that finished in the bottom four and own should get the home final... The answer to this is clear. There is no way it could be considered fair that a team that finishes third, plays away in the first week and loses, only to have to play away again in the second week. That would mean that the team finishing thid would play two away finals whereas the fifth or sixth team would get two home finals. The new system is vastly fairer. The top 4 teams are guaraneed survival. The top two are guaranteed two home finals. Teams 3-6 each get a home final. Teams 7-8 have easier elimination finals. No dead rubbers. The AFL was flooded with complaints about the McIntyre system when it was in place, saw the light and changed to a vastly superior model.

Perhaps the right dangleberry this time, Yze?

Footscray won their last and only flag in 1954.

Indeed. He's a future captain of the Lions, and was justly rewarded for a terrific season.

Thanks KrazyJay. Anyone who puts themselves through repeated doses of KG and Cornesy for the benefit of the Demonland readership is worthy of a pat on the back. Top job.

Yes they have - 2004 Prelim. 2005 Semi. They are so far in front of the rest that it would be massive if they choked.

I just don't see how Geelong could not win the flag this year. If any other side won the flag, they would be the worst premiers since 1998. The Kangas are not Premiership material, Hawthorn, Port and Collingwood are still a year or two off peaking, while West Coast and Sydney would be laughing if they won it given their injuries. Adelaide is starting from too far down the ladder to win four finals. It would take a monumental choke of, well, Geelong proportions for the Cats to blow this one.

I should also add that after the month he's just had, Andrew Dimitriou really could have done without giving Tom Williams two votes. If he truly thought that Williams was worthy of two votes and didn't just get his secretary to blindly fill out his voting form while he was on the toilet, then he should stand down immediately citing severe lack of football knowledge as the cause.

Well done to the Jones boy. I expected him to come third, and would have been disappointed in the journalists if he came any lower. My pre-count belief that interstate journalists know very little about football outside their own states was proven correct. Robert Walls' status as a moron has been enhanced. That third place for Jones will sit nicely alongside the Bluey he will be winning in October.

Good stuff. I thought at the time he might be in a bit of trouble given the inconsistency of the tribunal. I'm glad he doesn't have to go into 2008 with that hanging over his head.

Nicely done.

The voting system is an absolute farce. Then again, I'm not sure how much better it would be if it was decided by media "experts" either. Subjective awards are always cause for controversy though. For me, Newton is the clear mark of the year. Fletcher's goal in Round 4 was the third best goal. For the round! Yze's was an absolute cracker that defied the laws of physics. My vote goes to ashley Hansen's goal at Subi. Incredible.

Fantastic news. Well done to the MFC for the way in which they've gone about their off-field business of late. Having someone of Connolly's experience in the position will be terrific. Bring on 2008!

I wish I could remember it more clearly, I wasn't actually at the game and listened to it on the radio. I was only 8 at the time, and my only memory of the game was jumping up and down on my bed with a mate after the final siren (we'll be going along to the footy together today). I seem to remember having the back page of the Sun stuck on my wall for the next year - a picture of some Melbourne players celebrating, and the headline reading "IT'S THE DEMONS!" Great stuff.

Bloody excellent. The two Carlton players I have in my Dreamteam. I despise Carlton.

Looking at Carlton's outs, this is probably the end of the road for Jason Saddington too. Miller at CHB - I wonder if we'll be seeing more of that next year, or not at all?

What an exciting day. Despite the news not breaking as the MFC had planned, I'm rapt at Bailey's appointment and optimistically loking forward to next year and beyond. I would love to have been a fly on the wall during Bailey's presentations. It sounds like he was very impressive. All the best to Dean in what will hopefully be a long and successful stint at the Melbourne Football Club.

Melbourne don't need a ruckman who is not capable of being a number one ruckman. We need a youngster who can take Jeff White's mantle when he retires. Darren Jolly sits comfortably alongside Mark Jamar and Paul Johnson, and is definitely not what we need.

Are you going? Of course Crowd? 29,813 Who will win? Melbourne by 83 points Which camp are you in - Winning or tanking Tanking

I'm torn as to how warmly to clap Byron off to the bench on Sunday evening. He had a stellar career, but for the most part his two seasons with Melbourne were forgettable. I still think the MFC was correct in trading for him, looking for that extra bit of toughness that might have contributed to a premierhsip. Unfortunately, Byron let himself and the club down.

I just realised there is a thread on Nathan Jones and SEN. If the mods want to chuck this in there, that's fine. Cheers. Given the depressing nature of the season, I've lately been trying to look for the positives in an otherwise bleak campaign. They've been few and far between, but Nathan Jones has been a standout. He'll be lucky to miss out on the Bluey this year, and this from a player in just his second season with only 8 games to his name in his debut season. I've been very surprised that in the talk I've heard on likely Rising Star winners for the season, Jones hasn't figured more prominently. I realise it's quite typical of pople on club message boards to pump up the tyres of their own players, but I think Jones has a case for the award, or at the least a top 3 position. I'll go through some of the likely chances and no-hopers from the Rising Star crop of 2007 below. Thus far this season, there have been 21 Rising Star nominees. By process of elimination, I'll start getting rid of some names of players who won't win the award due to a lack of games played in 2007. If we use Marc Murphy's 13 games as a guide that you can't win the award playing so few games, I'll be generous and use 15 games as a minimum for qualification. This counts out 11 of the 21 (Goldsack, Boak, Williams, Westhoff, McMahon, Clarke, Gray, Clark, Petterd, Wood and Hawkins. The remaining ten are comprised of Jones, LeCras, Gilbert, Hurn, Gibbs, Higgins, J Smith, J Selwood, Ryder and Pendlebury. That's a pretty handy list right there. Of those 10 remaining players, only Scott Pendlebury has amassed more possessions than Jones this year, although the Magpie surprisingly has quite a few more tackles to his name than the Demon. I wouldn't have the two Eagles at the top of my list. Hurn has had quite a bit of the ball, but has a pretty handy midfield alongside him to deflect attention away from himself. LeCras has kicked over 30 goals, but averages under ten disposals a game. Ryder has improved vastly, but wouldn't be ahead of the top four or five, neither would Gibbs. Similarly, I've liked Gilbert's season, but it hasn't been enough to warrant receiving the award. Smith would be in the same boat. That leaves me with Jones, Pendlebury, Selwood and Higgins. I can see the award going to Selwood or Pendlebury, but I don't know that Jones has had the same media buzz about his performances this year. Whether or not he takes home the Bluey or the Rising star, we look like we have a fair player on our hands.

Thanks to Brown and Bizzell for their service to the club, I wish them all the best in their future endeavours. I don't believe either of them could have gotten any more out of themselves - well done, lads. Their retirement adds a bit of substance to an otherwise unsavoury occasion on Sunday.

Welcome to Demonland, Curis! From the look of old Hoppy at Neitz's 300th, at least if we had 10 Hopgoods running around then getting brushed off the ball wouldn't be an issue!

Daniel Wells for Ward, Godrey and Neville. We don't need another injury-prone, overrated player gobbling up cap space on our team.