spirit of norm smith

(Hold your fire) I’m not seeing MFC attracting any of the free agent players or having much draft capital to entice a key player trade So look for bargains in young players who are being overlooked at their clubs (not bringing in 28,29,30+ aged players) Jaxon Binns. Running midfielder. Drafted pick 32 in 2022 draft. Now in 3rd year. Had 3 games in 2024. Getting constantly overlooked by Blues (behind Cerra,Acres, Hollands & Cottrell). Why I think he’s gettable and adds something? He has good pace. Wins the footy. Very good skills. Dominates VFL. Fits the modern running and transition game. I think he’s out of contract at end of 2025. Dees should offer him a deal and offer Blues peanuts. They ignore him. Just one player to think about.

@Demon Dynasty ”Spargs you know what you get. Moments of brilliance and solid fierce tackling inside 50”. Ummm. I cannot see that. He gives us missed tackles. Missed shots from 25 metre out. Kicks that barely 30 metres. You get zero goals. Zero crumbing. Compared to other small FORWARDS, he delivers very little. Ok pressure acts, but that’s correling more than tackling. Maybe a goal assist or if we are lucky two effective tackles. He had to do more. Much more. Every week he is barely satisfactory. When he has a good game, it’s actually just satisfactory. I’m looking at years end to bring in another small forward to partner Chandler. A goalkicking small forward. Just my view.

Thanks @dazzledavey36 I remember calling out Morris during the 2023 year as a potential draftee. Reminded me in 2023 under18s as a Larkey style player in his natural forward craft , good mark and his kicking reliability. Some questioned his 191cm height. I thought he’d be a 2nd or 3rd forward which has proven to be.

Listened to the podcast last night. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Informative. Entertaining. Engaging. Confusing. Range of thoughts. Loved the positive talk. Bowsa 👏👏 Maxy 👏👏Langdon 👏👏Chin 👏👏Sparrow 👏👏 keep it up Agree Fullarton and Fritta were actually very very disappointing. Yes the Umps were pathetic for both teams. Have to clarify though Dees cannot afford to rest Gawn for 3-4 games. They can’t afford to rest him for 8 minutes if the last quarter was any indication. Yes I agree he getting physically hit each week, but he’s a warrior. Max didn’t want to rest and itching to get back on. Certainly not to rest him this week. Tom Campbell had just got back from injury and played 3/4 qtrs for Casey. Was good but is break glass in case of emergency player imv. Hopper had 23 possessions (not 4!) for Tigers and was in their best 5-6 players. He went head to head with Clarry. He didn’t tag Clarry. Clarry had a poor 1st half (very poor) but like a champion, responded with a dynamic 3rd qtr. Clarry has work to do but showed glimpses of his best. Amiss doesn’t play for Tigers. Why was he mentioned? Strange. Like the proposed changes … in- Turner JVR & AJ outs-Fullarton, Sharp and we’ll agree Fritta (Kolt as the sub) Zero tackles. Guards grass. Burned Spargo!! But honestly do we think Goody will drop Fritsch. Two opportunitist goals. Probably keeps his spot unless we say Managed (fatherhood duties ). @binman love the stats especially the pressure stats but seemed like overall it was too too much. Maybe more game talk and keep stats to 10 minutes max (certainly no more chat-GPT talk on loading!!) Last thought - new segment … WHAT I LOVED … let’s go through the positives because in the last fortnight, there has been plenty for the MFC GO DEES

XL20 👏👏👏well deserved. Has the skill and poise that the Dees needed. I called him out early as a MFC potential 2024 draftee and so pleased that he landed at the Dees. He is outside player for now as an 18yo rookie player. But we will see him develop after 3-4 years to be inside/outside type who can win the footy, run and distribute. Mature kid with leadership potential. One to enjoy in the red and blue for many more years.

Was Cameron Schwab a diehard Dees supporter ? I always thought he was too corporate to align himself to a club. Whiteboard Wednesday!! (aka the BS report) Salary cap breaches and Dees penalties!!! The Neeld appointment!!! Player upheaval!! MFC to Casey relocation!!! Just a few disasters during his tenure!!!

❌ experience in AFL club/environment ❌ experience as CEO in another sports organisation ❌ MFC member/supporter/diehard ✅ CEO with business ties to assist sponsorship and club direction to new home base 1 out of 4 meets requirements We had two strong CEOs previously. Peter Jackson had nearly 18 years in leadership at Essendon and the AFL. Had 5 years at the Dees. Gary Pert had 10 years as Collingwood CEO prior to joining the Dees. Had 6 1/2 years at the Dees. Guerra is a massive Bombers supporter and coterie person by all early reports. Well connected no doubt. We wish Guerra the best and good luck

No love for Tmcd or for Viney!! They again showed renewed vitality

And the winner is Melbourne have appointed Victorian businessman Paul Guerra as their CEO after a protracted search to replace Gary Pert. Guerra has been the CEO of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for five years and a director at Racing Victoria. From the Motorola implosion to private consultants world to the Queen Vic market to the Royal Show to the chamber of commerce … a compelling candidate

Dees will have to look to value picks in this years draft. We’ll use picks for Sinnema and hopefully Kalani White. Whilst we will look at how to get that gun tall forward or energetic goalkicking small forward, I’m still wanting to get players with skills and kicking efficiency. Whilst perhaps not in the top 50 listings at this stage, I watched Oakleigh Chargers and Aaron Sharkie looks a good player who can run and run and kick with efficiency. One to pencil down and see if he gets a place in the Vic Metro team.

Probably still working through the thousands of Applications !!!

Wow. Peter Walsh was one of the bravest and most courageous players for the Dees. One of the best rookie picks we’ve seen. He was part of our successful teams in the early 2000s. If young Archie has his Dad’s spirit and determination, Dees would have to keep monitoring him.

Another strong performance v Suns. Sinemma had 23 possessions and stood out for the Stingrays. Suns won by 10 goals such is the footy factory being run in the coast now. Both sides were missing key players but the Suns were super impressive.

Yes he’s looking okay for the 2026 draft. Small but quick and clever.

Of course Harmes was a considered a liability , banished to Casey and told to seek opportunities elsewhere. After signing with the Dogs … “I felt like I could really belong to this club and feel like they really believed in me. They do believe in me that I can be a really good AFL footballer”. Traded to Dogs in exchange for a future third-round pick (which the Dees used with future 1st in a 4 pick bundle to get higher draft pick in 2024 draft) 3/4 time Dogs v Giants Harmes 4 goals 15 possessions, 80% disposal efficiency, 10 score involvements

Dees have no mid year draft pick at this stage so little focus on this game. But I’d like to see young Yze developing and see him still as a potential rookie chance at the end of the year.

Great start by Langford after a strange start. Sub then dropped. Strange by Goody. Love his composure. Love his tackling. Love his sense of a goal. Dont make him too selfless. We need midfielders that eye the goals and kick them. Just one tip for the youngster. Kick through the footy. A few chip style kicks that needed distance to clear the zone and push into forward half.

Remember 2024 v Eagles … Waterman kicked 5 last year. Like to see Turner back and assigned to Waterman.

Would love a key forward like Treacy at the Dees. It think the Dees should have pushed harder to get him in the Jackson trade.

Jye Menzie is the sub!!! He starred against us !!!

Surely Dees v Blues, Hawks and Pies will be either a Friday or Saturday night game at the MCG. The games v suns, Kangas, eagles, saints, dogs and crows are likely to be all afternoon games. Eagles and Kangas home games likely to be graveyard games at Sunday 1.10pm start times. Our draw this year is a horror for crowd sizes. Only big games v Tigers and Pies are our lock in event games (Anzac Eve and Kings Birthday). Need to create another event game somehow.

Great summary in the Fox Sports article. I like the comment around ball use. It’s still badly needed in our team so Sinnema would be a handy pickup imv “Melbourne NGA member Toby Sinnema had a team-high 20 touches for Country in game one, showcasing his ability to run and carry with pinpoint ball use”.

Under 18 rep trials … Dandenong Stingrays’ Tairon Ah-Mu performed strongly in game one, booting six majors as the dominant forward on the ground. Ah-Mu booted 22 goals in eleven matches for the Rays last year and is covering the ground well this season after working on his fitness over summer. A powerful mark who can also play in the ruck, he has plenty of tools to succeed at the highest level. “His fundamentals are unbelievable, he’s clean for a big bloke and he’s learning to be better up the ground. It was exciting to see him do that at a pretty good level,” Cox said. Cox believes Ah-Mu, who clubs believe could also be thrown into the backline, will thrive in a full-time system. “I know this is big, but Riley Thilthorpe is similar in a way. Big bloke who marks ball in goal square and commands the footy. Obviously, he was a bit raw when he came in, but he’s turning into a mammoth man now.”

Missed another one left. 109 goals. 108 behinds in his career. Max knows he has goalkicking yips at times and says nothing can replicate game time pressure in kicking for goal. He definitely hooks left when he misses. It’s obvious in my run up and movement. I assume he now aims for the right hand post but seemingly not. Work to do Maxy All I know is Max is a CHAMPION. A true great. I’d say definitely the best Ruckman that I’ve seen in 50 years of watching the Dees (he’s ahead of the great Stynes and White) Gawn’s goal v cats to win the minor premiership is epic and one of my best demon memories. As well as his 5 goals v cats in the preliminary final. Maxy 👏👏👏👏👏👏

@La Dee-vina Comedia I am puzzled why anyone would give Charlie Spargo a vote. Amazed. I would not even have Spargo in my top 18 contributors last night to be honest. Sharp contributed as much and perhaps even more in his 1/4 versus Spargo’s full 100 minutes. Spargo had 3 clear missed tackles where he was pushed aside. Not good enough. Metres gained 96!! 7 possessions. 2 clangers. No pace. No crumbing. No scoreboard impact. He is somehow getting a game!! Chandler is our best small forward by a mile. We need to add another crumbing pacy goalkicking small forward in this years recruiting.