Pinball Wizard

An additional player and a little change as a result of the outstanding 4 goal performance of Harry Sharp, rivalled by Harvey Langford’s good form with Xavier Lindsay not far behind. I have the field as follows - 1. Harvey Langford 2. Harry Sharp 3. Xavier Lindsay 4 (eq). Jack Henderson, Aidan Johnson 6. Matt Jefferson 7 (eq). Tom Campbell, Jai Culley 9. Jed Adams 10. Oliver Sestan 11. Tom Fullarton 12. Will Verrall 13. Ricky Mentha Jnr 14. Luker Kentfield

Well, we now have 13 with the signing of Jack Henderson and I’ve put him on equal footing next to his Werribee mate AJ. It’s a case of sight unseen but I put him there because of our small forward shortage in the absence of Kozzie, McAdam and the slow pace of Spargo returning to full fitness. Don’t know if Henderson trains today but next Saturday should be of interest. 1. Harvey Langford 2. Xavier Lindsay 3. Harry Sharp 4 (eq). Jack Henderson, Aidan Johnson 6. Matt Jefferson 7. Tom Campbell 8. Tom Fullarton 9. Oliver Sestan 10. Jed Adams 11. Will Verrall 12. Ricky Mentha Jnr 13. Luker Kentfield

Melbourne currently has twelve players on its list who have yet to play an AFL game for the club. This is how I rank them in terms of readiness to make their MFC debut in the coming season — 1. Harvey Langford 2. Xavier Lindsay 3. Harry Sharp 4. Aidan Johnson 5. Matt Jefferson 6. Tom Campbell 7. Tom Fullarton 8. Oliver Sestan 9. Jed Adams 10. Will Verrall 11. Ricky Mentha Jnr 12. Luker Kentfield Your views?

The AFL aren’t mugs either. In order to have a player put on the inactive list, you have to have medical evidence that the player will not be able to play for the whole of the season. It won’t happen.

If he’s back training now then there is absolutely no way in the world that he can be put on a long term injury or inactive list. End of story.

Congratulations on the wedding. In the absence of any reports from Casey Fields, could Demonland please send a camera crew to the city to cover the ceremony?

Van Dam is training at North Melbourne VFL.

We celebrate our players - that’s a given and should never be underestimated. There are, however, many other heroes of the Melbourne Football Club.

And the winner of the Demonland Original Post for 2024 is ...

High flying KPP. I believe he’s signed on with the Casey Demons for 2025 in the hope of getting a list spot at Melbourne in the SSP if a position opens up.

The MRC has always opposed the grounds inside the track having buildings like change rooms that affect the line of sight of the racing public to the track. I understand this isn't a concern to our bid because the proposed MFC lease area and buildings in the plans are outside the track.

The hit on Trainor and the impressive number of 8 tackles suggests that he’s not afraid of physical contact.

And Port Adelaide weren't being arrogant when they initially demanded two first round picks for Houston?

You don't want to know. We already have Fullarton and he's better.

Oh sure. The perception of how the club's travelling off field is pretty low at the moment. I know that club supporting sites aren't necessarily good indicators but you look at Demonland and see Goody's got to go, Lamb's got to go, Pert's got to go, Roffey gawn, Joe having a whack and the next step is that Robbo, Warner and Caro will be sticking the boots in - I don't think it inspires our recruiting process. In fact it's counterproductive. I agree we're our own worst enemy.

Thank you Kate 🙏

Yeah, nah. Now you’re gaslighting on an industrial scale making assertions without proof. Peak gaslighting and conflating individual instances to tailor your story. Excuses that don’t present for other clubs? Do they present for Essendon that hasn’t won a final since Methuselah was a boy? Do they present for St Kilda? What about Geelong? Bundled out of the finals after winning a premiership. Same thing with Collingwood - both have had issues too like Stengle at the Cats and Ginnivan at Collingwood plus their racism issues. Perhaps the problem’s not so much with the club but with some toxic supporters?

More gaslighting as far as I'm concerned. We were never going to beat Brisbane in 2022 as we were so banged up with so many players injured and/or out. We were centimetres away and a split second Maynard decision from a preliminary final in 2023 and it would be irrational to blame the board, the football department, the leadership group or the players for being semi professional in all of that. This year, I say that absent the Darcy Moore crash into Petracca's back, we win three more games, make the finals and CP5 isn't cooking pasta on the beach at Noosa in July/August. In hindsight, we're all mugs for not seeing that crash coming. How did you not pick that or Maysie and Clarries broken bones at the end of the year?

Let's get this straight. We're talking about the player who wore #31 for Gold Coast vs Melbourne in Round 23?

Sorry but the season's over.

View Gazza in conjunction with WJ’s match report Red Faced if you really want to take the grin off the faces of the so-called experts. Although I reckon they’re already moving on elsewhere to say Flagmantle or Brizvegas especially if they lose again this week.

6. Jacob van Rooyen 5. Steven May 4. Judd McVee 3. Trent Rivers 2. Harry Petty 1. Ed Langdon Close - J. Billings

Oh, and I heard an interesting statistic on one of the football shows on tv last night. The match winning percentage of teams that win the hit outs is 49%. We don’t necessarily have to win the hit outs to win the game.

Goodwin should be spending much of his time this week watching vision of the Dockers to get an insight on how they turned his team into a bumbling rabble on that fateful day in Alice Springs. He will probably notice that their midfield destroyed us. Players like Serong, Brayshaw, Young, O’Meara, Fyfe and Clark helped them win the clearance count by more than double, 48 to 23. This was despite the fact that thanks to Max, the Dees won the hit outs by 35 to 32. The Fremantle defence was awesome that day and didn’t let the wind get through let alone any of the Melbourne forwards. The lesson from the day was to be switched on, more desperate and get your hands on the pill first. That’s the tale in a nutshell. That could be easier said than done but it might be also be worthwhile for Goody to cast an eye over the tape of Freo’s game on Saturday in Tassie where the young Hawks plugged away and got the W in the end.

6. Kozzie Pickett 5. Jack Viney 4. Clayton Oliver 3. Jacob van Rooyen 2. Harrison Petty 1. Trent Rivers