I'm flying back home and there's a few great Melbourne players on our flight.

Harry Kewell and Archie Thompson for starters!!!

Started as new topic on this already however being new to posting on demondland I have the bug. Regardless of the negatives that will come from a teams first hit out of the season (made worse by conditions mind you) I came away with a sense of pride in my team for no other reason that u felt that I was finally watching a team of MEN, not boys as in past years, put there bodies in & under and having a crack. That's all I expected from yesturday's game and that's exactly what I got....happy demon right here!!

P.S As I mentioned in my first post, you boys have been great to follow these past couple of seasons. Made the working week and off-seasons that little more bearable

The Good: Grimes returns, Magner and the thought of having Mitch clark all year.

The Bad: Umpiring was poor and confusing, Would liked to have seen Watts one out in the goal square not stef martin.

The Ugly: The mad panic on demonland is beyond me.

Side note: Warnock looked ok last night i think he will be a regular for Gold coast.

Last nights footy was really ugly and absolutely meaningless. The modified rules are incredibly stupid. I'm sure any game plan was thrown out of the window due to the conditions. Good to see big bodies go in hard though. A reasonable first hit up but want to see us in something that resembles a real game before I can see any real indicators to how we are traveling.

A bit of perspective:

1. Yes it was wet...hard to make much fo the games as the likelihood anyone plays in conditions like that is probably 4-5 times throughout their AFL career.

2. Tynan, Magner, Couch, Sellar, Bate could push for selection.

3. Due to our game plan and the silly out of bounds rule, meant a lot of out plays turned into turnovers as we were hugging the boundary line.

4. Its so good to see that we got through unscathed injury wise.

5. The teams that played either game were no where near 100% full strength. Therefore to read how good/bad we are is quite silly as in most team sports: you are only as good as your weakest link.

If anything this makes picking the best 22 for round 1 harder for me. After now pencilling in Magner and Bate... I'm really not sure who's getting a gig.

Enjoyed Magners game in particular. He had about 4 clearances in the space of 2 minutes and a couple of inside 50's in the same period. We must elevate this guy for round one. I would take him over all other rookies at this stage.

What's with all the bad hair cuts? With the number changes and newbies it took a few seconds to work out who's who in the zoo. Was there a bulk discount at just cuts early in the week???

The OOB rule really hurt us tonight.

Positives:

Bate: Ran in straight lines at the pill and cleared space. On that performance could be a great move to hang onto him, credit to Bater as well.

Tynan: Super hard and not afraid to have a crack.

Grimes: When it was there to be won he was in the thick of it. Great to see him back.

Our hardness was terrific.

Negatives:

May have just been the weather and the fact it's brand new, but I'm a little concerned the game plan is too simple. Definatly not having a heart attack like some other people on here who love to sensationalise. they did look a lot better when switching the play more in the 2nd half against Brisbane. The OOB rule was a huge liability for our style of play last night as well. Looking forward to seeing how we go about it next week.

Watts: I'm a big fan but he couldn't get into it last night. Was working hard defensively in the Brissy game I noticed so not concerned its an effort thing.

One team last night had trained in the wet once since Christmas .The other two teams have been regularly training in last nights conditions.It makes a difference-32 marks to 1! Our next game will give a more reliable indication of where we are at.

Did we win the night overall or not?

Did we win the night overall or not?

GCS +3 -2 = +1

MFC +3 -3 = 0

BRL +2 -3 = -1

Edited February 25, 201213 yr by daisycutter

Thought we were the better than Hc bar the last ten minutes of the first half. Dunn's set shot and Martin's attempts were cringe worthy. Although at least Martin created a contest and tried his heart out. Couldn't watch Bartrams set shot at goal, kicked truly tho so maybe the result of some off-season focus, we shell see...

GC*****

GCS +3 -2 = +1

MFC +3 -3 = 0

BRL +3 -3 = 0

Brisbane were -1

I thought Davey was a big positive, he had that goal sneak look to him that I hadn't seen for five or so years.

Brisbane were -1

duh....fixed...thanks

Agree about Davey however I did notice him pull out of a contest at one point which was an all too familiar sight. His arms looked massive....but still has some pace about him.

My main take out from the night is what a pick Aaron Hall is likely to be.

Was he on our radar? What pick did the Suns pick him up with?

Super impressive first game.

How about we play a dry game of footy before everyone loses their heads? Every game of football that is played in weather like that is

mainly long kicks to congestion so I don't know why people think we weren't executing our skills.

If it weren't for that stupid boundary rule, I think we would have been a lot better off as we were smashing teams with our contested ball work

and getting yardage from kicks, but unfortunately they were going out of bounds and it resulted in a turnover.

There will always be a few skill errors early on but from that hit out I found the following positives:

1 - No injuries! (A blessing for us)

2 - Mitch Clark sure does have an aura about him and god is he agile for a big guy

4 - Sellar did some good things. Spoiled well and kicked a nice goal. Will be good to see him in dry weather also.

3 - We had a hard edge to us. We were always first to/on/over the ball. Even if we made the odd turnover, the positive is we were winning the

ball first.

Can't wait for the collingwood game !

Edited February 26, 201213 yr by stevethemanjordan

How about we play a dry game of footy before everyone lose their heads? Every game of football that is played in weather like that is

mainly long kicks to congestion so I don't know why people think we weren't executing our skills.

If it weren't for that stupid boundary rule, I think we would have been a lot better off as we were smashing teams with our contested ball work

and getting yardage from kicks, but unfortunately they were going out of bounds and it resulted in a turnover.

There will always be a few skill errors early on but from that hit I found the following positives:

1 - No injuries! (A blessing for us)

2 - Mitch Clark sure does have an aura about him and god is he agile for a big guy

4 - Sellar did some good things. Spoiled well and kicked a nice goal. Will be good to see him in dry weather also.

3 - We had a hard edge to us. We were always first to/on/over the ball. Even if we made the odd turnover, the positive is we were winning the

ball first.

Can't wait for the collingwood game !

A sensible post with some good points indeed. Agree 100%

Your 3rd point in particular is spot on and exactly how I felt after last nights games. The mrs is a magpie supporter and I am very much looking forward to seeing her face as we start crashing into some of there players for a change and winning the contested ball. I know it's back to two teams and 4 quarters but are the quarters still shortened for the remaining NAB rounds?

I thought bail did some good things. I reckon he is massively underrated

I thought bail did some good things. I reckon he is massively underrated

I concur. See the Rohan Bail thread. Huge fan!

Hardly noticed bail last night, did he have a number change? Contions didn't suit same as Watts

I haven't seen the video of the game yet. Got to hear the first one on radio.

So i ask one question. Were we a HARD TEAM last night, or at least heading in that direction??

Edited February 26, 201213 yr by why you little