All of the NAB Cup games are a joke and I am quickly losing interest in this pathetic game it has become!

The AFL is an absolute joke!!!! Quit stuffing with the rules & the soft free kicks. Pull your commercial finger out your arse AFL!!!!

It is no wonder my favourite sport is now NFL not AFL!!!

All of the NAB Cup games are a joke and I am quickly losing interest in this pathetic game it has become!

The AFL is an absolute joke!!!! Quit stuffing with the rules & the soft free kicks. Pull your commercial finger out your arse AFL!!!!

It is no wonder my favourite sport is now NFL not AFL!!!

I agree with you 100%.

Leave the game and tradition alone. Its what makes it so unique.

Matthew Bate might well have reinvented himself as a midfielder.

surely you jest? did not do a single positive thing all night, succeeded mostly in gifting the opposition the football

I think on tonight's effort we have shown that we are a very long way to the top.I thought overall we were disappointing.

apparently most here are happy to excuse the effort citing the weather and the nab cup format. miles away from the top, that is clear

Player positive

Bate - I'm not sold on him yet as he might be a NAB cup specialist but he is giving it his all. Couch and Magner. Fitzpatrick showed a bit. Sellar at either end might be handy. Clark will help us. Grimes was great to see back. Tynan started really well. Bail showed his straight line action. Jones was in and under.

Player negative

Bennell had a genuine shocker, no accountability which is usually not a problem for him. Martin and the wet aren't a good combo. I still struggle to watch Brad Green play. Sylvia seemed some what disinterested but I'm not surprised, I hope he's ready come round 2. We're still in need of a gun half back flanker if we can find one.

Team style positive

We'll get what Neeld asked for in contested ball and playing down the line using key forwards. It will work better when we're this boundary line rule is out.

Team style negative

Not enough keeping the ball in the forward line and one on one contests. Besides having a big bloke in there - Clark, Martin or Sellar we lacked the crumbers and the proper structure. I still worry that our midfielders and forwards don't understand the level of effort required.

Everyone was so keen to get a defensive coach

I wasn't.

I would have been happier with a coach with a more attacking game plan.

However, success is the most important thing.

His observation was that some of the Moderaters are immoderate and that there should be a little more freedom of expression here .I explained to him that we are not living in a democracy and that some opinions are more freely expressable than others

Each to their own; I used to post on both forums fairly regularly but got bored of the personal vendettas that I felt sidetracked too many of the Demonology threads.

surely you jest? did not do a single positive thing all night, succeeded mostly in gifting the opposition the football

Was clearly better than that, wasnt amazing but played better than expected, and better than 25 other demons

Ha! This is going to be a funny year on Demonland.

Get used to watching games like that. Everyone was so keen to get a defensive coach, but as soon as they see us playing defensively they are gobsmacked.

We will hug the boundary, focus on stoppages and strangle the opposition. Honest players will play before silky players and we will have low possession numbers and low mark numbers because of our style.

Get used to it.

Yep

Just went to my lifeless suburban Tavern and found another Demon who didn't have Foxtel sitting up close to the flickering TV .

We had a few ales and watched the scrappy game/s and found out we were cricket rivals in our comp .

Anyway ,this guy ,who goes under the name of Stinga in 'ology is a fan of our site here and will join up soon .We might go to a few games together this year .

His observation was that some of the Moderaters are immoderate and that there should be a little more freedom of expression here .I explained to him that we are not living in a democracy and that some opinions are more freely expressable than others .He lived near the Mortons in Richmond and said the Dad has some muscles .So there is hope in that dept .

Nothing more heart warming than a blossoming love affair

Nothing more heart warming than a blossoming love affair

Hahaha!!

Each to their own; I used to post on both forums fairly regularly but got bored of the personal vendettas that I felt sidetracked too many of the Demonology threads.

There seems to be a fair bit of similar nonsense on this site as well unfortunately

Was at the game tonight 1 win and 1 loss in shite conditions. If it wasnt pi##ing down it was as slippery as all hell.

One of the things I noticed was that the Dees kept at it eventhough the ball was like a cake of soap.

Amazing about how negative people are here. Its the first game of 2012. Settle down people.

Davey looked to have his pace again, Watts was better in the 2nd game and the newbies did ok. Having seen the game I feel more confident about the Dees being more dare i say it COMPETITIVE.

Heard Garlo has hurt his lower back, hope its not too bad,

One thing that annoyed the crap out of me apart from the conditions was that after every GC/BL goal they played music and also at the start of each game they had a one min countdown on the score board. Very bloody annoying.

Have faith my fellow Dees supporters we will be better than last season.

Chill out people.

Let's wait until the real stuff starts.

And for all of those complaining that we 'are miles from the top'... Seriously? Of course we are. Did you expect us to make top 4 this year?

And as for suggesting we trade Watts on the strength of one bad night in the bucketing rain in the silly season... Wow.

Ok WTF is with the dumb bombing of the ball to nobody??

believe it or not its part of the new game plan, remember last year we would attack our forward 50 nothing on and look back towards corridor turn it over and get caught on the rebound.

This plan is about kicking it long to the pockets and running it out to regroup for a stoppage and not getting caught on the rebound, I know it looks senseless with that NAB cup rule re out of bounds but this to me is clearly what we will be doing in the season proper and we are working on it, but still some tweaking required

Anyone watch the http://www.afl.com.au highlights? Apparently we had Danny Frawley down back wrestling with Jonathan Brown and Dustin Martin's our second ruckman. Who knew?

We go on to lose to Collingwood next week.

I guess predictable to hear such negativity so early in a season.

It seems Neeld is pleased with our effort....unlike some of the experts here...

http://www.sportsnew...demons-hit-out/

And it seems he'll be able to offer his opinion without being mocked for it. Unlike some of the experts in here.

Team style positive

We'll get what Neeld asked for in contested ball and playing down the line using key forwards. It will work better when we're this boundary line rule is out.

Good point.

As for all the usual MFC easy-to-please crowd who don't like it when anyone's negative about their team, have a read of the posts. Most are constructive, and all are fair enough.

We weren't very good tonight. Everyone can handle that. What they can't handle without piping up is the fact we're still doing some things that league footballers shouldn't do A whole quarter fo footy bombing it long? That sort of stuff just should NOT be an option in their mind. Their first instinct should be to get the ball until it's safe in their hands, and from there do what they can to find a team-mate. It's what everyone else did on the ground, why can't we do it? And it has NOTHING to do with blowing off the cobwebs. It's simple ingrained stuff that even the kids of the AFL in GWS and GC seem to understand.

ANd that's not to say there weren't positives.

Question: what are preseasons for?

Answer: sharpening up your skills for the real thing.

Neeld... What is going on. A whole half (quarter) of every single player bombing it long? Brisbane were at least looking for targets...

Inauspicious start, needleman.

Meh. Preseason. What a joke.

What were our biggest deficiencies in 2011?

I'd say defensive set up around stoppages and limiting the damage when there are turnovers.

The atrocious weather gave us little actual opportunity to practice our skill and ball movement, and fanatically bombing the ball forward without looking to pick out an option seemed to be our directive.

Not necessarily because it's how we'll move the ball forward come round 1, but because it allows us an opportunity to focus on fine tuning certain aspects of our game for round 1.

Coincidentally, the "bomb-at-all-costs" tactic resulted in more of an opportunity to practice our defensive set up at stoppages and limiting the damage from turnovers.

Funnily enough, I think on the whole we did this well.

Just some food for thought.

Where we came unstuck today was fumbling the loose ball and turning it over. Wet slippery ball and wet weather footy; is something the boys are not used to. Not a great worry from todays perspective.

MFC is the hardest to beat side each of our opponents have come up against and that is what Neeld said.

Personally I thought it was a good hit out for us.

Can I put it out there that Neeld is a big video user? Remember that video of him with Pendlebury and his breaking it down? This is the first time he has coached the MFC, and as such I think we need to wait and let him now adjust and do his thing with the players, aided by the assistants.

That said, Bennell better not be given phantom punches.

Watched all 3 games last night, and can honestly say I've NEVER seen (because of conditions, format rules, and player rotations) more meaningless football in terms of what it tells us for the season. The most revealing thing to be seen is that none of our new boys are afraid to go hard and want the ball. For all those hand-wringers and doomsdayers out there, I've think you've got SERIOUS problems with perception and perspective..........WOW!.

Watched all 3 games last night, and can honestly say I've NEVER seen (because of conditions, format rules, and player rotations) more meaningless football in terms of what it tells us for the season. The most revealing thing to be seen is that none of our new boys are afraid to go hard and want the ball. For all those hand-wringers and doomsdayers out there, I've think you've got SERIOUS problems with perception and perspective..........WOW!.

if we'd won both games by 10 goals, you'd be telling us all just how impoertant it was and that we will finish top 4

http://www.afl.com.a...=7872&tab=Recap

Highlights v Bris..If you want a laugh have a listen to the commentary....

Edited February 25, 201213 yr by dandeeman