rumpole

With a name like Flanders and the fact that Melbourne has such a rich history of players who fought for the country in war, it’s a perfect fit. In Flanders Fields (Poem from WWI) In Flanders fields, the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Checked the results and note that Coburg cannot now displace Casey from the top ten. The only way they miss is if North will all three of their remaining games including tomorrow vs Sandringham, Williamstown win one of their remaining two and Casey lose both. On the other side of the ledger, Casey could still finish in the top six if they win both games. Fingers crossed.

On behalf of your loyal Demonland podcast listeners, we humbly petition you to produce two Demonland podcasts this week. If a 6 point loss is the catalyst for a week’s cancellation then surely an 83 point victory deserves two shows!!!

6. Max Gawn 5. Jack Viney 4. Kysaiah Pickett 3. Christian Petracca 2. Clayton Oliver 1. Bailey Fritsch

6. Kysaiah Pickett 5. Clayton Oliver 4. Christian Petracca 3. Christian Salem 2. Max Gawn 1. Trent Rivers

Hard work 6 Langdon 5 Langford 4 Bowey 3 Oliver 2 Gawn 1 Rivers

Don’t panic - it’s only a question as to whether he trained at this point. Any word on Harry Petty?

Can’t go past the favourites in this Round. Sydney and Collingwood by a clear margin in each of the two games. Hawks did well last year coming off an easy fixture in the last half of the season before they beat the Doggies dealing with some internal issues in the elimination final. They limped out against Port Adelaide in the semi. Giants have been playing below par in the practice matches and while I usually take no notice of practice matches, I can’t see them beating the Pies who have a point to prove. The AFL can slot Brisbane vs Geelong into Round 3 where they both currently have byes. The Gold Coast vs Essendon game will be hard to fit in but who cares?

Does anyone know Tim Lamb?

In any event, it's not hard to disguise an "under the table" transaction by use of payments at discounted rates of property titles to third party trusts or related parties. If you can beat the price of your opponents by say $250k then it's a hell of an advantage from a price perspective, let alone reducing your TPP salary cap figures. Not suggesting that any particular club would be inclined to do such a thing ... but ... meow.

There’s a direct connection between the about to be meteoric rise of the Melbourne Football Club and the forthcoming demise of the Sydney Swans who have been appalling in two of the last three grand finals. Their midfield is about to fall apart with their champion midfielder Chad Warner about to return to WA. Chad has purchased a new residence in Perth and will be off to Fremantle next season as a free agent. I can reveal that today he went haywire at training and got involved in a fight with his brother. With an expensive contract heading Chad’s way, the Dockers won’t be able to offer our Kozzy enough $s to entice him away from home - unless they cough up a couple of players in return like Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong. So it’s looking more and more like we keep Kozzy and the Swans rely on Gulden in their midfield going forward.

Sportsbet Odds 18/1/2025 (chances are you’re about to lose) 7.00 Jagga Smith (Carlton), Levi Ashcroft (Brisbane Lions) 10.00 Finn O'Sullivan (North Melbourne), Josh Smillie (Richmond), Samuel Lalor (Richmond) 13.00 Harvey Langford (Melbourne) 15.00 Sid Draper (Adelaide) 18.00 Nate Caddy (Essendon) 21.00 Bo Allan (West Coast Eagles), Daniel Curtin (Adelaide) 26.00 Isaac Kako (Essendon), Leonardo Lombard (Gold Coast Suns), Tobie Travaglia (St Kilda) 34.00 Xavier Lindsay (Melbourne) 41.00 Archie Roberts (Essendon), Cooper Hynes (Western Bulldogs), Hugo Garcia (St Kilda), Kane McAuliffe (Richmond) 51.00 Alix Tauru (St Kilda), Christian Moraes (Port Adelaide), Harry Armstrong (Richmond), Hugh Boxshall (St Kilda), Jake Rogers (Gold Coast Suns), Joe Berry (Port Adelaide), Koltyn Tholstrup (Melbourne), Murphy Reid (Fremantle), Taj Hotton (Richmond)

A lot to unpack here - THE BIG QUESTIONS – MELBOURNE 2025 SEASON PREVIEW

Yep - the rest are in the gym.

Can you attend a Devil’s Advocate function if you’re on the staff of Pomeroy's Wine Bar? Asking for a friend.

Tairon Ah-Mu deserves an asterisk as well. (Melbourne NGA but not eligible under the usual NGA rules … because, Melbourne) *

Yes but you need to take into account the family situation with Kalani’s mother and brothers still living on the Gold Coast and perhaps not so inclined to move down to Melbourne.

Cogito, ergo sum In the words of the great French philosopher René Descartes, "I think, therefore I am". This is a thought of my own. No inside information whatsoever - just reading a few tea leaves.

I think we might do a trade with the Saints for Tomlinson to help them maintain the best level of compensation for Battle. Player could be Membrey.

Saints apparently no longer in the race for Houston. Does anyone know whether this has prompted a move to remove their president and board and sack the coach?

The umpiring decision that cost Fremantle a finals place.

Yes, the fine reds served at Pomeroy’s Wine Bar was the catalyst along with articles written by fine journalists like Jay Clark and astute observers such as Kane Cornes Esquire.

Now hear me out … After hearing and reading all of the reports from many of the experts in the media, I think one thing is very clear. The Melbourne Football Club has a poor culture, it’s poorly run, badly coached and players are rushing to desert it like rats on a sinking ship. One commentator is even comparing our situation with the time the club sacked Norm Smith which was followed by years in the wilderness. We are cactus. My recommendation on how to solve this is for the AFL to do exactly what it has done in the past to give clubs in distress a leg up in their time of hardship and need. Only this time to be proactive and provide draft relief in advance so the competition won’t have to hold up a perennial basket case for a number of years. A couple of first round draft picks should do the trick. Come on MFC. Make the application for draft relief to maintain a competitive AFL for all clubs!

The likes of Cornes, Morris, Sam McClure are the equivalent in journalism of the American “yellow press” who use eye-catching headlines and sensationalized exaggerations for increased sales. They are characterized by exaggerated headlines, unverified claims, partisan agendas, and a focus on topics like crime, scandal, sports, and violence. In Britain and here, it’s called the “tabloid press” and these days it’s equivalent can also be found on Tik Tok and other social media platforms. These guys are television’s equivalent of clickbait. So yes, they are doing their job but it’s a low grade of journalism that relies on speculation and innuendo, often has little regard for the truth and rarely does any fact checking which is why this story clearly deserves the contempt many here have heaped upon the above trio in this thread. They’re doing their job which is to attract ratings from a mindless public.

They must have been great times to produce so many great men with fantastic work ethics both inside the footy field and in their occupations. Jim Sandral was a true man of the land who liked his sport but also loved his work and the country life in the days before the game was truly professional. The club lost too many of its best players too early because they needed to secure their futures. Vale to Jim Sandral on a life well lived.