Bump.

There was an interview with Tom on Ch9 on Sunday and he was asked about his contract and said his injury has delayed talks as he hasn’t been able to see (and show the club) how he goes as permanent forward.  Nonetheless he has put an offer to the club and they have come back with one so talks are continuing.  

Last time he put off contract talks to see how much we improved.  In Sunday's interview, there was no hint of him looking elsewhere or delaying contract talks.

Said he expects to play forward this season unless a key back is injured or in short bursts down back if needed.

 

As an aside he said he expects to play this weekend but not sure if VFL or AFL...we will find out in a few hours.

 

Edit:  could mods add a question mark to the title please.  I can no longer edit it.

Oscar been putting in the shift for Tom this time around. How the tables have turned.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-30/dees-moving-to-lock-away-free-agent-utility

Getting closer! 

"Maybe the next few weeks we'll see more action."

"I'd love to get a contract done to stay with the Demons," McDonald said.

  On 30/04/2018 at 10:08, Lucifer's Hero said:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-30/dees-moving-to-lock-away-free-agent-utility

Getting closer! 

"Maybe the next few weeks we'll see more action."

"I'd love to get a contract done to stay with the Demons," McDonald said.

These articles usually come out and then it’s done within the week. 

Fingers crossed!

We look so much better with big Tom in the side, loved his curling snap for goal in the last quarter

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:02, sisso said:

We look so much better with big Tom in the side, loved his curling snap for goal in the last quarter

It was intelligent play with a dose of luck. Just waited down while his man went second-up on Hogan, and the ball landed in his lap. Was so good - you’d be infuriated if it happened against you!

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:08, Nasher said:

It was intelligent play with a dose of luck. Just waited down while his man went second-up on Hogan, and the ball landed in his lap. Was so good - you’d be infuriated if it happened against you!

He's a surprisingly smart forward for someone who played 100 games in the backline and only recently shifted. Was a CHF as a junior though wasn't he?

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:08, Nasher said:

you’d be infuriated if it happened against you!

It does happen to us Nasher. How many times a game do we have all our players go up, none stay down, and the ball easily gets taken away by their man that stayed down.

It's simple football, yet we find it sooooo difficult to put it into action.

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:12, Demon Disciple said:

It does happen to us Nasher. How many times a game do we have all our players go up, none stay down, and the ball easily gets taken away by their man that stayed down.

It's simple football, yet we find it sooooo difficult to put it into action.

Yes, that last line was for irony purposes.

 

A few other things that normally happen to us that we finally employed this week were:

1. Blocking the man on the mark (to really good effect on kick-outs)

2. The defender (dees) pushing up his chest and legs under the man in front trying to mark! (created contests around the ground)

Loved seeing them both happening and especially without a whistle blowing! - gotta hand it to them, the umpires were very balanced this weekend overall...

He is so much better forward.  

I cringe when he's down back and feel utterly at ease when he's forward.

And the guy has this knack of the ball following him, which is great when he's in the forward 50 and stuff of nightmares when he's in the defensive 50..  

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:13, Nasher said:

Yes, that last line was for irony purposes.

Too hot to handle, eh?......

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:37, ProDee said:

He is so much better forward.  

I cringe when he's down back and feel utterly at ease when he's forward.

And the guy has this knack of the ball following him, which is great when he's in the forward 50 and stuff of nightmares when he's in the defensive 50..  

I agree with the first sentence, but thought there is merit in the idea of him being a ‘good old fashioned swing man’ as discussed by G Lyon on the couch. They call him a ‘utility’ after all , why not utilise as required? 

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:53, Deemented Are Go! said:

I agree with the first sentence, but thought there is merit in the idea of him being a ‘good old fashioned swing man’ as discussed by G Lyon on the couch. They call him a ‘utility’ after all , why not utilise as required? 

He's definitely the mister fixit of the team, so I'm sure I'll get to have heart palpitations soon.

  On 30/04/2018 at 10:08, Lucifer's Hero said:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-30/dees-moving-to-lock-away-free-agent-utility

Getting closer! 

"Maybe the next few weeks we'll see more action."

"I'd love to get a contract done to stay with the Demons," McDonald said.

Tmc's marking and surprisingly his goal kicking ha become a key for us. he uses his bulk thru the mid ground really well and is highly influential for us.

We play better thru the midfield arcs when TMc is in there.

His marking throughout the midfield has been sorely missed.

 

He's more impacting for us, than Gawny is currently.

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:53, Deemented Are Go! said:

I agree with the first sentence, but thought there is merit in the idea of him being a ‘good old fashioned swing man’ as discussed by G Lyon on the couch. They call him a ‘utility’ after all , why not utilise as required? 

Not sure I rate Gary's football intellect too highly though. I think it's a terrible idea as he's a turnover merchant back there, but a gun up the other end.

I'm now at the stage of viewing it as akin to playing Hogan back. The guy is one of the straightest kicks for goal I can remember since moving forward. Why not play him there the whole time?

  On 30/04/2018 at 12:52, A F said:

Not sure I rate Gary's football intellect too highly though. I think it's a terrible idea as he's a turnover merchant back there, but a gun up the other end.

I'm now at the stage of viewing it as akin to playing Hogan back. The guy is one of the straightest kicks for goal I can remember since moving forward. Why not play him there the whole time?

Again, I agree Toms best footy is played forward. But surely it’s a handy weapon to be able to swing him back if the [censored] hitting the fan for whatever reason, structural, injury or otherwise. 

I know old Gaz isn’t much chop, just found the concept interesting.

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:37, ProDee said:

He is so much better forward.  

I cringe when he's down back and feel utterly at ease when he's forward.

And the guy has this knack of the ball following him, which is great when he's in the forward 50 and stuff of nightmares when he's in the defensive 50..  

He also seems to win pleanty of free kicks as a forward that so many of our other players seem not to.  Probably become old, cunning and whilely having had so many paid against him as a backman - now he is getting it back the other way.  I'd say that it's probably also because he's a pretty big and threatening unit in the air that backman also give away stupid free kicks trying to stop him.

I'd actually go as far as saying that I think T Mac is a better, more effective forward/player than Hogan right at the moment (without intending it as any sort of criticism of Hogan).

Tom plays well forward, because he knows what it takes to defeat defender.  He's had over 100 games of learning first hand how to play as a quality forward - he's played on some of the best in that time.

  On 01/05/2018 at 00:10, The Chazz said:

Tom plays well forward, because he knows what it takes to defeat defender.  He's had over 100 games of learning first hand how to play as a quality forward - he's played on some of the best in that time.

The same progression worked for David Neitz, and he went OK.

Super important to our team, and I hope both he and Oscar are signed up sooner rather than later.

Tom can play FB, CHB, FF, CHF and ruck. How many players can do that in the game, and fill all those positions relatively well? 

Will be very happy to see us signing the Big Macs for several years. Vital cogs in our best 22.

  On 01/05/2018 at 00:15, Allus Monk said:

The same progression worked for David Neitz, and he went OK.

Spoke to him at the game in the last quarter on Sunday and he was pretty happy with the boys.

  On 30/04/2018 at 12:48, DV8 said:

Tmc's marking and surprisingly his goal kicking ha become a key for us. he uses his bulk thru the mid ground really well and is highly influential for us.

We play better thru the midfield arcs when TMc is in there.

His marking throughout the midfield has been sorely missed.

 

He's more impacting for us, than Gawny is currently.

So you think a player who has played 64% of one game is impacting more for us than the guy who's played all six games and is coming third in the Coaches' Votes and leads the (admittedly pretty pointless) Supercoach points? You're hard to please.