Jump to content


Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

I know I'm going to cop a flame for this, but I want to say I actually feel better after watching the Collingwood game than I did at the start of the year after the Port one.

I feel really hopeful and I reckon we're on the right track, as horrible as that may seem right now.

What I saw in that first quarter was nothing short of remarkable. Sylvia laid 5 tackles. The boys played with real intensity. If not for 3 (I think it was 3?) posts, we would have been way in front. I normally don't subscribe to the "what-if" scenarios of hindsight, but in this case, those 3 goals would have made a huge difference. Collingwood looked demoralised, and would have been further had those been on the board.

But the real hope IMHO came in the press conference. Neeld said something that really resonated with me, it was something like "we could have stuck Howe and Trenners on half back and limited the score, but then they wouldn't learn anything." He makes an interesting point. Does it really matter if we loose by 50 points or 90 points? It's a loss either way. The important thing is sticking with the structures and making sure the players actually learn something in the course of the game.

I'm also encouraged a bit when I look at our injury list. We played 3 quarters of the game without Dawes, and we didn't have Clark, Frawley and Grimes. Garland did a great job on Cloke, but his job would have been much easier had Frawley been there, plus Grimes in the centre to help prevent the ball coming back there as often. Clark and Dawes ARE the forward structure. The best teams can cope with the loss of 4 of their best players, but we are in the unfortunate position that we can only replace them with VFL standard players or developing ones. We have no depth, but I'm convinced that our best 22 is much much better than anything we've seen this year.

So the players play as if Clark and Dawes are there, and when they get back, the team will be used to the structure. I'll deal with the losses being larger in the meantime if the result is a team that learns their structure quickly and are ready for when those players slot right back in.

/flameshield on.

edit - spelling

Edited by Choke
  • Like 27

Posted

I know I'm going to cop a flame for this, but I want to say I actually feel better after watching the Collingwood game than I did at the start of the year after the Port one.

I feel really hopeful and I reckon we're on the right track, as horrible as that may seem right now.

What I saw in that first quarter was nothing short of remarkable. Sylvia laid 5 tackles. The boys played with real intensity. If not for 3 (I think it was 3?) posts, we would have been way in front. I normally don't subscribe to the "what-if" scenarios of hindsight, but in this case, those 3 goals would have made a huge difference. Collingwood looked demoralised, and would have been further had those been on the board.

But the real hope IMHO came in the press conference. Neeld said something that really resonated with me, it was something like "we could have stuck Howe and Trenners on half back and limited the score, but then they wouldn't learn anything." He makes an interesting point. Does it really matter if we loose by 50 points or 90 points? It's a loss either way. The important thing is sticking with the structures and making sure the players actually learn something in the course of the game.

I'm also encouraged a bit when I look at our injury list. We played 3 quarters of the game without Dawes, and we didn't have Clark, Frawley and Grimes. Garland did a great job on Cloke, but his job would have been much easier had Frawley been there, plus Grimes in the centre to help prevent the ball coming back there as often. Clark and Dawes ARE the forward structure. The best teams can cope with the loss of 4 of their best players, but we are in the unfortunate position that we can only replace them with VFL standard players or developing ones. We have no depth, but I'm convinced that our best 22 is much much better than anything we've seen this year.

So the players play as if Cloke and Dawes are there, and when they get back, the team will be used to the structure. I'll deal with the losses being larger in the meantime if the result is a team that learns their structure quickly and are ready for when those players slot right back in.

/flameshield on.

You would not get flamed from me, only the posters on here who can't look at things logically

  • Like 1

Posted

as i have said all along, the list isnt bad. We have some damn good players.

Get a proper coach in and we will start winning games.

  • Like 7
Posted

I agree with this but also don't understand how people don't see how much BP and DB stuffed us up?? We have next to no decent 23-25 year olds when really we should have a side full of them. We have no 26+ leaders whatsoever. I don't think anyone could coach this side to more than 4 wins in a season.

  • Like 7
Posted

You would not get flamed from me, only the posters on here who can't look at things logically

......... mmm I think you need to look at things 'logically'

  • Like 1

Posted

Its like looking over a chasm. if we had Swan and Ball, we would be in the hunt. Or is it just their workrate?

Posted

Haha! The only supporters who speak of improvement after the last 6 years are on here.

Admirable but completely delusional.

At halftime we had kicked one goal.

Let us not forget The Filth did not play well.

Past employees and some present ones have completely buggered us up.

I do not blame Neeld. He does not have the experience for what is needed, he is now asking for leniency from the journo vultures. He knows what's coming.

Bring on the cleanout and restructure. Top to Bottom.

Don's fighting speech yesterday left me hollow. He is a good man. Not the leader we so desperately need.

The playing list has potential but will not progress under the present MFC structure.

We do need a "Jeff Kennett" type to run this club, probably 2-3. It's that bad.

Posted

................

But the real hope IMHO came in the press conference. Neeld said something that really resonated with me, it was something like "we could have stuck Howe and Trenners on half back and limited the score, but then they wouldn't learn anything." He makes an interesting point. Does it really matter if we loose by 50 points or 90 points? It's a loss either way. The important thing is sticking with the structures and making sure the players actually learn something in the course of the game.

..................

Thought this really interesting too. There was a bit of the "toughen up" from Neeld at the presser. Nothing to lose, maybe.


Posted

I know I'm going to cop a flame for this, but I want to say I actually feel better after watching the Collingwood game than I did at the start of the year after the Port one.

I feel really hopeful and I reckon we're on the right track, as horrible as that may seem right now.

What I saw in that first quarter was nothing short of remarkable. Sylvia laid 5 tackles. The boys played with real intensity. If not for 3 (I think it was 3?) posts, we would have been way in front. I normally don't subscribe to the "what-if" scenarios of hindsight, but in this case, those 3 goals would have made a huge difference. Collingwood looked demoralised, and would have been further had those been on the board.

But the real hope IMHO came in the press conference. Neeld said something that really resonated with me, it was something like "we could have stuck Howe and Trenners on half back and limited the score, but then they wouldn't learn anything." He makes an interesting point. Does it really matter if we loose by 50 points or 90 points? It's a loss either way. The important thing is sticking with the structures and making sure the players actually learn something in the course of the game.

I'm also encouraged a bit when I look at our injury list. We played 3 quarters of the game without Dawes, and we didn't have Clark, Frawley and Grimes. Garland did a great job on Cloke, but his job would have been much easier had Frawley been there, plus Grimes in the centre to help prevent the ball coming back there as often. Clark and Dawes ARE the forward structure. The best teams can cope with the loss of 4 of their best players, but we are in the unfortunate position that we can only replace them with VFL standard players or developing ones. We have no depth, but I'm convinced that our best 22 is much much better than anything we've seen this year.

So the players play as if Cloke and Dawes are there, and when they get back, the team will be used to the structure. I'll deal with the losses being larger in the meantime if the result is a team that learns their structure quickly and are ready for when those players slot right back in.

/flameshield on.

well done mate, this is exactly it & is how the players will learn to develop. I to was wondering about stemming the bleeding in past matches

by putting extra numbers back, but that just serves the players who want to take the soft way out of the embarrassment,,, instead of working harder in the first place.

the key is for the players to learn to put the opposition back on their own back foot from our pressure.

Neeld is on the right path.

  • Like 3
Posted

well done mate, this is exactly it & is how the players will learn to develop. I to was wondering about stemming the bleeding in past matches

by putting extra numbers back, but that just serves the players who want to take the soft way out of the embarrassment,,, instead of working harder in the first place.

the key is for the players to learn to put the opposition back on their own back foot from our pressure.

Neeld is on the right path.

You are delusional if u think Neeld is on the right track
  • Like 1

Posted

Admire your optimism but we are a long way of the pace. I disagree with Neeld re third quarter as I thought we employed an old fashioned flood in order to limit the damage. The 2 goals we got were almost Pagans paddock like. The last quarter saw a more traditional man on man set up and we got smashed. 28 marks inside 50 good grief if they had kicked straight it would have been like Essendon.

  • Like 1
Posted

Your profile pic proves to me your delusional!

Wow thats all you could come up with? Must be school holidays.. now beat it son!
  • Like 1
Posted

Haha! The only supporters who speak of improvement after the last 6 years are on here.

Admirable but completely delusional.

At halftime we had kicked one goal.

Let us not forget The Filth did not play well.

Past employees and some present ones have completely buggered us up.

I do not blame Neeld. He does not have the experience for what is needed, he is now asking for leniency from the journo vultures. He knows what's coming.

Bring on the cleanout and restructure. Top to Bottom.

Don's fighting speech yesterday left me hollow. He is a good man. Not the leader we so desperately need.

The playing list has potential but will not progress under the present MFC structure.

We do need a "Jeff Kennett" type to run this club, probably 2-3. It's that bad.

How was the 50th? All good?

Posted

I know I'm going to cop a flame for this, but I want to say I actually feel better after watching the Collingwood game than I did at the start of the year after the Port one.

I feel really hopeful and I reckon we're on the right track, as horrible as that may seem right now.

What I saw in that first quarter was nothing short of remarkable. Sylvia laid 5 tackles. The boys played with real intensity. If not for 3 (I think it was 3?) posts, we would have been way in front. I normally don't subscribe to the "what-if" scenarios of hindsight, but in this case, those 3 goals would have made a huge difference. Collingwood looked demoralised, and would have been further had those been on the board.

But the real hope IMHO came in the press conference. Neeld said something that really resonated with me, it was something like "we could have stuck Howe and Trenners on half back and limited the score, but then they wouldn't learn anything." He makes an interesting point. Does it really matter if we loose by 50 points or 90 points? It's a loss either way. The important thing is sticking with the structures and making sure the players actually learn something in the course of the game.

I'm also encouraged a bit when I look at our injury list. We played 3 quarters of the game without Dawes, and we didn't have Clark, Frawley and Grimes. Garland did a great job on Cloke, but his job would have been much easier had Frawley been there, plus Grimes in the centre to help prevent the ball coming back there as often. Clark and Dawes ARE the forward structure. The best teams can cope with the loss of 4 of their best players, but we are in the unfortunate position that we can only replace them with VFL standard players or developing ones. We have no depth, but I'm convinced that our best 22 is much much better than anything we've seen this year.

So the players play as if Cloke and Dawes are there, and when they get back, the team will be used to the structure. I'll deal with the losses being larger in the meantime if the result is a team that learns their structure quickly and are ready for when those players slot right back in.

/flameshield on.

Certainly our injuries to our few strong KPPs - Clark, Dawes, Frawley and until yesterday McDonald - hits us as a struggling club pretty hard, and makes it impossible to develop structures properly. Even the best teams would be in some bother if they were without their best FB, CHB, CHF and FF at the same time.

Add I presume that your last paragraph contains a minor typo, or is it wishful thinking ? :-)

  • Like 2
Posted (edited)

How was the 50th? All good?

All very good JR, thanks.

Espresso maker and about 30 bottles of red. I did well!!

Edited by why you little
  • Like 2
Posted

Wow thats all you could come up with? Must be school holidays.. now beat it son!

That reaction is all I needed :), coming from a 23 yr old - that's rich :)


Posted

Putting our gameplan/coaching aside for a moment to look at the list..

At the moment we have 9 players on the list worthy of being in an AFL side: Clark, Dawes, Frawley, Garland, Grimes, Howe, Jamar, N.Jones, Sylvia (a couple of those are dubious too)

The next rung down are just battlers, some may have a brighter future ahead, but it's not looking great : Bail, Blease, Dunn, Evans, Gawn, Terlich, Jetta, M.Jones, T.McDonald, McKenzie, Nicholson, Strauss, Tapscott, Trengove, Watts (15).

After that we have the kids in Viney, Toumpas, Hogan, Barry and Kent

If we are to get anywhere near becoming a good side we need at least half of these blokes to go up a peg in the very near future

Given our current rate of individual improvement it is impossible to see that happening

Get whomever you like to be coach, they will not get far with these individuals and their deficiencies in skill, heart, athleticism and brains

  • Like 1
Posted

Get whomever you like to be coach, they will not get far with these individuals and their deficiencies in skill, heart, athleticism and brains

Are we off to see the Wizard?

  • Like 2

Posted

There is hope but so far not much improvement. I see that some of the fellas CAN play but Neeld isn't probably the bloke to bring them where they need to be.

Posted

Certainly our injuries to our few strong KPPs - Clark, Dawes, Frawley and until yesterday McDonald - hits us as a struggling club pretty hard, and makes it impossible to develop structures properly. Even the best teams would be in some bother if they were without their best FB, CHB, CHF and FF at the same time.

Add I presume that your last paragraph contains a minor typo, or is it wishful thinking ? :-)

Lol, sorry I'll fix that, thanks.

Good to see some posters share my optimism. I know we're a long way off, but I honestly think it's not as far as the score-lines would indicate.

  • Like 1
Posted

There is hope but so far not much improvement. I see that some of the fellas CAN play but Neeld isn't probably the bloke to bring them where they need to be.

The press conference for me at least indicates that Neeld has the right attitude. He's not bowing to external pressure and he's putting his money where his mouth is when he says he's focussing on development and not the scoreboard.

For me it alleviated some of the doubt, however it still doesn't indicate how good he'll be as a game day coach. I want him to succeed, I really really do.

But let's not have another Neeld thread eh? :P

  • Like 2

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Demonland Forums  

  • Match Previews, Reports & Articles  

    2024 Player Reviews: #36 Kysaiah Pickett

    The Demons’ aggressive small forward who kicks goals and defends the Demons’ ball in the forward arc. When he’s on song, he’s unstoppable but he did blot his copybook with a three week suspension in the final round. Date of Birth: 2 June 2001 Height: 171cm Games MFC 2024: 21 Career Total: 106 Goals MFC 2024: 36 Career Total: 161 Brownlow Medal Votes: 3 Melbourne Football Club: 4th Best & Fairest: 369 votes

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 5

    TRAINING: Friday 15th November 2024

    Demonland Trackwatchers took advantage of the beautiful sunshine to head down to Gosch's Paddock and witness the return of Clayton Oliver to club for his first session in the lead up to the 2025 season. DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Clarry in the house!! Training: JVR, McVee, Windsor, Tholstrup, Woey, Brown, Petty, Adams, Chandler, Turner, Bowey, Seston, Kentfield, Laurie, Sparrow, Viney, Rivers, Jefferson, Hore, Howes, Verrall, AMW, Clarry Tom Campbell is here

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    2024 Player Reviews: #7 Jack Viney

    The tough on baller won his second Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy in a narrow battle with skipper Max Gawn and Alex Neal-Bullen and battled on manfully in the face of a number of injury niggles. Date of Birth: 13 April 1994 Height: 178cm Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 219 Goals MFC 2024: 10 Career Total: 66 Brownlow Medal Votes: 8

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 3

    TRAINING: Wednesday 13th November 2024

    A couple of Demonland Trackwatchers braved the rain and headed down to Gosch's paddock to bring you their observations from the second day of Preseason training for the 1st to 4th Year players. DITCHA'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS I attended some of the training today. Richo spoke to me and said not to believe what is in the media, as we will good this year. Jefferson and Kentfield looked big and strong.  Petty was doing all the training. Adams looked like he was in rehab.  KE

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    2024 Player Reviews: #15 Ed Langdon

    The Demon running machine came back with a vengeance after a leaner than usual year in 2023.  Date of Birth: 1 February 1996 Height: 182cm Games MFC 2024: 22 Career Total: 179 Goals MFC 2024: 9 Career Total: 76 Brownlow Medal Votes: 5 Melbourne Football Club: 5th Best & Fairest: 352 votes

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 8

    2024 Player Reviews: #24 Trent Rivers

    The premiership defender had his best year yet as he was given the opportunity to move into the midfield and made a good fist of it. Date of Birth: 30 July 2001 Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 100 Goals MFC 2024: 2 Career Total:  9 Brownlow Medal Votes: 7 Melbourne Football Club: 6th Best & Fairest: 350 votes

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 2

    TRAINING: Monday 11th November 2024

    Veteran Demonland Trackwatchers Kev Martin, Slartibartfast & Demon Wheels were on hand at Gosch's Paddock to kick off the official first training session for the 1st to 4th year players with a few elder statesmen in attendance as well. KEV MARTIN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Beautiful morning. Joy all round, they look like they want to be there.  21 in the squad. Looks like the leadership group is TMac, Viney Chandler and Petty. They look like they have sli

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports 2

    2024 Player Reviews: #1 Steven May

    The years are rolling by but May continued to be rock solid in a key defensive position despite some injury concerns. He showed great resilience in coming back from a nasty rib injury and is expected to continue in that role for another couple of seasons. Date of Birth: 10 January 1992 Height: 193cm Games MFC 2024: 19 Career Total: 235 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 24 Melbourne Football Club: 9th Best & Fairest: 316 votes

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 3

    2024 Player Reviews: #4 Judd McVee

    It was another strong season from McVee who spent most of his time mainly at half back but he also looked at home on a few occasions when he was moved into the midfield. There could be more of that in 2025. Date of Birth: 7 August 2003 Height: 185cm Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 48 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 1 Brownlow Medal Votes: 1 Melbourne Football Club: 7th Best & Fairest: 347 votes

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 5
  • Tell a friend

    Love Demonland? Tell a friend!

×
×
  • Create New...