Jump to content

  • IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

    The Demonland Terms of Service, which you have all recently agreed to, strictly prohibit discussions of ongoing legal matters, whether criminal or civil. Please ensure that all discussions on this forum remain focused solely on on-field & football related topics.


Recommended Posts

Posted

Nice.

Let's not be too uncharitable. It's hard to assess how much blame should be apportioned to Royal when one considers the cattle he had to work with.

He was unable to do much with the stock he had at Footscray, Richmond or St Kilda either.

Posted

When Ratten was at MFC our midfield looked to be improving.

Even when Scott West was midfield coach there were signs of life and improvement.

During Royal's second stint there have been diminishing skills, lack of grunt, and being killed at stoppages. I am so glad he is gone.

  • Like 2
Posted

Agreed...I liken Royal's task in coaching our midfield to that wonderful line from the film Christine - "you cant polish a turd".

Roos was always going to bring his own people in. Does Roos know how good BR is or isnt in the two days he has been with us ? I suspect he has asked people with knowledge prior to his in the club if there are any coaches that are really worth keeping hence it looks like Rawlings is the only one who is staying.

If anyone outside the inner sanctum would like to judge our assistants coaches - every one of them including Rawling should go and Viney as well for the complete lack of development. Lets get rid of the new recruiter as well because Toumpas hasnt done as well as Wines. Misson certainly has to go. Glad Craig is goingto after our last two seasons.

I find it amusing that we stick the boots into Royal but we give respect to Craig as he comes across as a good bloke - but the main reason Craig was brought in was to mentor, council and and help mould the first time coach in Neeld - how did he do with that task ? From an outsiders perspective Craig was as epic a fail as Royal was.

I think we have little insight to these things and if Roos wants them to stay thats good and if he wants them gone thats also good - but I won't slag off any of the departing.

Actually you can. I watched it done on 'Mythbusters'.

  • Like 1
Posted

I am rejoicing though as we finally have some genuine football people running the club who know what it takes to compete at AFL level. Roos in particular. Didn't win a GF by identifying and employing 2nd or 3rd bananas in critical roles throughout the Swans' FD.

It's finally happening and if I was 20 years younger I'd be attempting cartwheels right now!!

I'm as happy as anyone that we have Roos, but we heard this when Bailey and Neeld were hired.

Posted

Royal was a very, very good midfielder in a time when he was called a rover and rested in the forward pocket. He had a distinctive kicking action, wasn't a long kick but was a very good kick. Often playing on muddy grounds he could go all day, and seemed to run across the mud easily. He was a bit yappy - we might call him a sledger .

  • Like 3
Posted

What was Royal like as a player back in the day?

A bloody good one. Rover.....back when such things existed

Some pretty graceless comments on here. He's tries to run a midfield with only one midfielder up to scratch & predictably got poor results. I doubt he was trying to fail and I'm sure he gave his best efforts for the MFC ! For some hero on here to describe him as a disease is a [censored] disgrace.

  • Like 13
Posted

Shame but it had to happen. The players he has currently are pretty average but it was his responsibility to make them better than they currently are.

Good luck in the future Brian. You have had 6 years at the club so you will always be welcome back.

Posted

Brian Royal and Dale Weightman were unstoppable as rovers, changing in a pocket, for Victoria in the mid 80's.

Very good player. Spectacular mullet too.

Would I be overreaching suggesting similar to Marc Murphy ?

Posted

Brian Royal and Dale Weightman were unstoppable as rovers, changing in a pocket, for Victoria in the mid 80's.

Very good player. Spectacular mullet too.

Dale Weightman was a great rover and also a vindictive fellow - didnt matter how big you were, he would hit you ( behind play)

Posted

A bloody good one. Rover.....back when such things existed

Some pretty graceless comments on here. He's tries to run a midfield with only one midfielder up to scratch & predictably got poor results. I doubt he was trying to fail and I'm sure he gave his best efforts for the MFC ! For some hero on here to describe him as a disease is a [censored] disgrace.

Agreed. A change is what was needed, clearly, but some of the comments are well out of line.

  • Like 3
Posted

the guy is a disease....dont know how he has lasted so long.....

his had 3 years and his deparment is where we lack the most

common sense prevails.....

BTW - happy with our delistings

A pity it does not prevail in your witch hunt.

Posted

Nice.

Let's not be too uncharitable. It's hard to assess how much blame should be apportioned to Royal when one considers the cattle he had to work with.

Agree. But it won't stop those that haven't a clue proceed to pot him.

Posted

When Ratten was at MFC our midfield looked to be improving.

Even when Scott West was midfield coach there were signs of life and improvement.

During Royal's second stint there have been diminishing skills, lack of grunt, and being killed at stoppages. I am so glad he is gone.

Ratten had Thompson in the midfield and good outside mids around Thommo. He also had Jeff White in AA form. It's a lot easier when you have the cattle.

Scott West was moved on as I recall and he too was blighted by the lack of class and quality in the midfield. Great player but his results are marginal at best.

And in respect to Royal the criticisms labelled at him could be labelled at the whole side. In the past 2 years there has been a definite reason why MFC went backwards...and they have left the building.

  • Like 1
Posted

Agree. But it won't stop those that haven't a clue proceed to pot him.

Me too RR

The guy had a miserable lot to work with.

Not sure JC could have done much more with this lot.

  • Like 1
Posted

Me too RR

The guy had a miserable lot to work with.

Not sure JC could have done much more with this lot.

I don't know to what extent the failure of the MFC and the midfield is the fault of Royal. There are so many factors at play in that assessment that the average supporter is not aware of.

From where I sit at the games (like most others), I can't possibly determine whether assistant coaches are or are not doing their jobs well.

But what I am sure is that the assistant coach critics certainly can't tell either.

  • Like 1
Posted

I don't know to what extent the failure of the MFC and the midfield is the fault of Royal. There are so many factors at play in that assessment that the average supporter is not aware of.

From where I sit at the games (like most others), I can't possibly determine whether assistant coaches are or are not doing their jobs well.

But what I am sure is that the assistant coach critics certainly can't tell either.

Me too

Posted

Genuine gun. One of the best rovers of his era. Regular state player for Victoria. Won a B&F. Made AA.

I agree with that assessment and I think it's fair to say that he was a better footballer than a midfield coach.

In his early days as an assistant coach, he was often in the running for a senior coach's gig but he never quite made it.

His capacity to show that he was a capable assistant coach would not have been helped by the fact that had not much cattle to work with and he was an assistant to Bailey and Neeld.

We'll forever be asking ourselves whether it was the chicken or the egg but I reckon we got scrambled in the end.

  • Like 1

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  

    THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS: 2024

    Whichever way you look at it, the Melbourne Football Club’s 2024 season can only be characterized as the year of its fall from grace. Whispering Jack looks back at the season from hell that was. After its 2021 benchmark premiership triumph, the men’s team still managed top four finishes in the next two seasons but straight sets finals losses consigned them to sixth place in both years. The big fall came in 2024 with a collapse into the bottom six and a 14th placing. At Casey, the 2022 VFL p

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Special Features

    MATCH SIM: Friday 31st January 2025

    Veteran Demonland Trackwatcher Picket Fence ventured down to Casey Fields to bring you his observations from Friday's Match Simulation. Greetings Demonlanders, beautiful Day at training and the boys were hard at it, here is my report. NO SHOWS: Luker Kentfield (recovering from pneumonia in WA), also not sure I noticed Melky (Hamstring) or Will Verrall?? MODIFIED DUTIES (No Contact): Sparrow, McVee (foot), Tracc (ribs), Chandler, (AC Joint), Fullarton Noticeable events (I’ll s

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports 2

    TRAINING: Wednesday 29th January 2025

    A number of Demonland Trackwatchers swooped on Gosch's Paddock to bring you their observations from this morning's Preseason Training Session. DEMON JACK'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Beautiful morning at Gosch's Paddock. Very healthy crowd so far.  REHAB: Fullerton, Spargo, Tholstrup, McVee Viney running laps. EDIT: JV looks to be back with the main group. Trac, Sparrow, Chandler and Verrell also training away from the main group. Currently kicking to each other ins

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports 1

    TRAINING: Wednesday 22nd January 2025

    Demonland Trackwatchers were out in force for training at Gosch's Paddock on Wednesday morning for the MFC's School Holidays Open Training Session. DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS REHAB: TMac, Chandler, McVee, Tholstrup, Brown, Spargo Brown might have passed his fitness test as he’s back out with the main group.  Sparrow not present. Kozzy not present either.  Mini Rehab group has broken off from the match sim (contact) group: Max, Trac, Lever, Fullarton

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Monday 20th January 2025

    Demonland Trackwatcher Gator attended training out at Casey Fields to bring you the following observations from Preseason Training. GATOR'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS There were 5 in the main rehab group, namely Gawn, Petracca, Fullarton, Woewodin and Lever.  Laurie was running laps by himself, as was Jefferson.  Chandler, as has been reported, had his arm in a sling.  Lindsay did a bit of lap running later on. Some of the ''rehab 5'' participated in non contact drills and b

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Wednesday 15th January 2025

    There were a number of Demonland Trackwatchers at Gosch's Paddock this morning to bring you their observations from Preseason Training. KEV MARTIN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS They were going hard at each other. The sims were in two 15 minute blocks. The second block finished a few minutes early, they gathered and had another 7 minutes at it. I think they were asked to compete, as they would play against an opposition. There was plenty of niggle, between some of them. At the end o

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Monday 13th January 2025

    Better late than never … and quite frankly, there’s very little to report other than that training took place at Casey Fields this morning, that Tracc was there nursing his rib injury and that some photographs are on the club’s social media including this one of Clarrie in Raging Bull stance that gives rise for confidence. The other news is that the club has a new train on player in 185cm Dandenong Stingrays midfielder Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves (love the hyphenated name which is just so fitti

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Thursday 9th January 2025

    Welcome back to Demonland for those like me who have been on vacation. I’m posting this with some trepidation because of a certain amount of uncertainty surrounding the return of preseason training in 2025 after a flurry of weddings including those of our coach, one of our superstar players and a former premiership champion player and bloke, not to mention the recent mysterious incident that occurred on the Mornington Peninsula.  I believe that the team reassembles this morning at Casey Fie

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    TRAINING: Wednesday 18th December 2024

    It was the final session of 2024 before the Christmas/New Years break and the Demonland Trackwatchers were out in force to bring you the following preseason training observations from Wednesday's session at Gosch's Paddock. DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS TRAINING: Petracca, Oliver, Melksham, Woewodin, Langdon, Rivers, Billings, Sestan, Viney, Fullarton, Adams, Langford, Lever, Petty, Spargo, Fritsch, Bowey, Laurie, Kozzy, Mentha, George, May, Gawn, Turner Tholstrup, Kentfi

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports
  • Tell a friend

    Love Demonland? Tell a friend!

×
×
  • Create New...