The heart beats true

Why don’t you take your wife. I’m sure she’d love to go.

Or they figured that holding it at any of these clubs would isolate 50% of the audience and it would therefore be inappropriate- yet it’s somehow ok to do the same thing to a different 50% of the audience. It’s poor form, and I’ll be letting the club know we expect better.

I’m guessing you’re not a woman and therefore unable to attend this event to hear senior officials from the club speak? Its not hyperbole. It’s an outdated, inappropriate venue. Are you really trying to defend the decision to hold this event at a club like this?

Gross. These clubs are surely on the way out. Who would think this is a good idea, or even relevant in 2021? It’s lame, and as supporters we should expect more.

Are you saying Steve O’Dwyer wasn’t good looking? How dare you.

All of those accolades, plus he’s fighting it out with Strawbs Odwyer as the best looking ginger to ever pull on the Red and Blue. There’s nothing he can’t do.

Robbie Flower played in some truly terrible sides, was as thin as a rake, and played with no protection. He was the most courageous and skilful player I’ve ever seen - and he retired when I was 9. I love Max, but he’s no Robbie.

Sorry, I’m confused. You’re personally offended because he got fired, but the ‘left’ have a victim mentality. ?

Nope, not even close. Made a massive misstep with Goodes, oversaw a club that was proven to be racist after that, and then called it ‘a proud day’. He has lost his ability to read the room. They had no choice but to push him out.

I pay for Kayo. I literally start my subscription on the day the regular season starts, and cancel it to end after the Grand Final. That way I end up paying for maybe 7 months of service, I never have to worry about missing out on seeing a game in the current environment where schedules and access are changing, and if I want to watch some Fox footy shows I can. It helped keep me sane in 2020. I also can cast it to any TV if I’m travelling. I hate watching games on the phone. It’s hard to swear at the umpire and hold the phone at the same time.

I feel sorry for any club having to decide on leadership positions and groups. All it usually amounts to these days is if you were in a leadership group and now you aren’t then your name gets flung around by the slot fillers on draft radio. I say name a captain and VC so there’s less to get offended next year.

For sure. I agree with you. I’m more venting my frustration at how confusing this makes mental health issues for the general public, when they don’t hear about it except in these circumstances. You’ve got to wonder what the point of it being reported on actually is anyway. It’s certainly no good for him if it’s true, so why is it all over the papers? It just adds to the public cynicism.

I’ve had my fair share of mental health problems. I take meds everyday that really work for me, but I’ve also ended up in hospital from being in some fairly scary places inside my own head. I’m very upfront about it to anybody, as aside from being a Melbourne supporter, I appear to be a fairly well adjusted, well mannered and ‘in control’ person. I absolutely loathe the confusion that these kind of situations create for the general pubic around mental health issues. It really does come across, as others have noted, as a ‘card played’. I know for a fact that this has been the case in the AFL in regards to recreational drug issues in the passed. If it truly is the case that a player is having a mental health crisis then the AFLPA needs to have an agreement with the media that it doesn’t get reported on. It’s a better outcome for the player involved, and much better for the community - who can understand mental health problems as diverse and unique, but not feel like they are just a PR stunt.

They look like they are having a great time.

I believe it revolves around inter-office relationships.

Gees the off-season makes some get carried away. It’s like the further we get from our last loss the more the optimism grows. We just need the kid to keep improving. Nothing more.

Brett Lovett was an incredible footballer. He was skilful, determined and extremely consistent. He was a gun. I literally can’t say enough great things about him.

One of the things that’s very noticeable watching these highlights is the sort of ‘wave running’ style of the under 18’s comp. The pressure at the coal face is nothing like the intensity of the AFL (which is totally understandable given the age profile). Even the tackling pressure tends to be individual, where in the AFL you have much more team directional and front on pressure. It’s a huge gap to overcome, and it really speaks volumes of the guys who can step into the AFL system at 19 and have an impact. It looks like the under 18’s play a different sport.

He’s on with his wife. She’s reading him comments from Demonland so he can figure out who to take next.

Thanks for such an interesting and in-depth response Ron. I really hope he is the missing piece. ?

Why is there so much love for this bloke? I feel like he’s been telling the Dusty story to anyone who’ll listen for 6 years. I also think he benefits greatly from an association with Richmond when he actually wasn’t there when they came good. It’s very hard to tell from the outside what impact player development roles have. He might be amazing, or maybe Dustin Martin, the 3rd pick in the AFL draft, was always going to be a great footballer. Hope to be proven wrong, just find it really interesting that theres such a lovefest for him in such a nondescript role. Maybe I missed something?

It’s interesting to note the tone of the Mahoney thread in the context of the Williams thread. I think Josh was held in very high esteem until Bartlett brought Pert over. Then he became some what of a whipping boy until his role was diminished after this season, making his staying at the club virtually untenable. I think Josh worked very hard for the club, but the chips fell differently around him and it forced him out. Let’s see what happens with Williams. I sometimes feel like Demonland in the off-season is wildly optimistic simply because it’s been so long since we’ve seen the team lose, and fresh blood doesn’t bare the blame of past losses. Time will tell.

Melbourne supporters are eternally optimistic.

Kids these days.

It’s a strange time to be evaluating players. The players would argue that they never got a shot at it due to the lack of VFL. You could also counter argue that 1-2 of them wouldn’t have shown much at that level and would have been let go. It’s football purgatory, and we’ve decided it’s better the devil you know.