52 minutes ago, Drunkn167 said:

GENTS!!!!!

I've known about this since yesterday but have had to keep quiet until the official release. 

Over 12 years of blood, sweat and tears has gone into this day. Dec has worked his [censored] off and finally gets his chance, debuting at the glorious MCG. 

I am lost for words. Lets hope he kicks a few goals.

Carn Dec and Carn the Dee's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great news,  'D167'.

 

Please let him know...  low key,  that we are all for him..   no expectations.

And tell him to just go out there enjoy it.    Be kid natural.

 

Good luck to you both...   and your family,  and friends going in to watch him.

.

Edited May 3, 20196 yr by DV8

48 minutes ago, Drunkn167 said:

GENTS!!!!!

I've known about this since yesterday but have had to keep quiet until the official release. 

Over 12 years of blood, sweat and tears has gone into this day. Dec has worked his [censored] off and finally gets his chance, debuting at the glorious MCG. 

I am lost for words. Lets hope he kicks a few goals.

Carn Dec and Carn the Dee's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats to yourself and Dec of course. I had a feeling something was up when you'd gone very quiet, and I saw a few others mention similar.

I really feel like Dec is one of those few players that will improve at the highest level, so based on his already good form, if that happens he'll be there to stay and quickly become a fan favourite.

Good luck to you both. Feel good story of the week.

19 minutes ago, poita said:

Good luck to Declan Keilty, but Tim Smith must be the most fragile footballer on the footballer. The sooner he is off the list the better.

A bit rough.

Radical thinking here, Oscar up forward?

 

 

Good luck to Declan, hopefully he can take a few nice grabs up forward, we have been struggling in that department.

Best of luck to Dec. He's more than earned his chance! I thought he looked good in the JLT this year, showed he's got a great leap and can clunk a mark too. Hopefully he can adjust quickly and make the most of his opportunity. We'd all love for him to establish himself and have an impact!

35 minutes ago, The Stigga said:

Radical thinking here, Oscar up forward?

 

 

I [censored] surely hope not

Good luck to Dec tomorrow for Dec  great thrill for Drunkn and all the family 

1 hour ago, Drunkn167 said:

GENTS!!!!!

I've known about this since yesterday but have had to keep quiet until the official release. 

Over 12 years of blood, sweat and tears has gone into this day. Dec has worked his [censored] off and finally gets his chance, debuting at the glorious MCG. 

I am lost for words. Lets hope he kicks a few goals.

Carn Dec and Carn the Dee's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to Declan, you and the family Drunkn. Demonland has been lucky to follow the journey through your postings in here and his debut this week is a huge milestone.

Here's hoping Dec kicks a big bag!

42 minutes ago, The Stigga said:

Radical thinking here, Oscar up forward?

 

 

He would be the antithesis of a mobile tall forward in the modern game Stigga

21 hours ago, bing181 said:

That's right, because an untested player who's never played a single game at AFL level and is playing OK/consistent footy at VFL level is our saviour.

And because we have inside mids and KPF's just queuing up to get a game.

No one is claiming any player to be our saviour!  We have been there too many times.

Delighted to see that Keilty debuts tomorrow ?

Edited May 3, 20196 yr by Lucifer's Hero

3 hours ago, Drunkn167 said:

I've known about this since yesterday but have had to keep quiet until the official release. 

Congrats to both of you.

Just to clarify, if I may, if this was on the cards yesterday, why was Smith named in the side in the first place?

Congrats @Drunkn167. I’m sure Dec would be first to admit he’s gotten to this point through the support from you and the rest of the family. Well done to you both and best of luck for the game.

Edited May 3, 20196 yr by P-man

1 hour ago, The Swimming Dee said:

 Demonland has been lucky to follow the journey through your postings in here and his debut this week is a huge milestone.

 

I second that. In some ways Dec land feels like an honorary Demonland poster and part of the somewhat dysfunctional Demonland family.

Kudos to you too Drunkn. I really admire how you've gone about posting about your brother's journey. Always even handed and sanguine about the occasional barb he has received from some posters.

I feel for Smith, like his namesake, he can't take a trick with injury. But I actually think Kielty's height and reach makes him a better fit for us. I also suspect he, like another poster has suggested, will take the step up  to  AFL in his stride and I reckon the level will suit him. Huge opportunity to cement a spot.

Edited May 3, 20196 yr by binman

Congratulations to Dec. It has been great to follow his journey. I hope he does well tomorrow. 

I will be most interested to see how he is used. Personally I hope he is given a position and a task and asked to work on it all game with a couple of short stints in the ruck.

ablove all, I hope he enjoys it,

Congratulations Dec and as many have said ..thanks to Drunk'n ... it is a journey shared.

It's worthwhile taking a moment to think about how few players ever really make it at AFL level. That first game is a real milestone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/comments/7iax40/what_percentage_of_afl_players_reach_each_games/

		Game Milestone Number Of Players To Reach Milestone Percentage Of Players To Reach Milestone 10 7715 61.323% 50 3968 31.540% 100 2213 17.590% 150 1143 9.085% 200 560 4.452% 250 234 1.860%

With 666 in play thr forward line is now effectively more crowded from the get go.  Hogan gone meant Weids has been getting the Opp's 2nd string defender vs 3rd last season also.  Neither T-mac (coming in under done?) or Weids seem to have coped well with a less open forward line and probably the extra attention opps have been able to give them with the 3rd stringer effectively freed up.

These changes will see Keilty coming into a bit of a baptism of fire for a tall vs say making a debut last season.  The FD would want to be giving Keilty a decent block of games so he has a chance to adjust to this as well as the step up to AFL level.  If he can clunk a few tomorrow also it would be a huge help given the lack of contested marks inisde 50 so far.

We've had a solid output from Hore at one end and if Keilty & T-Mac can fire a little between them at the other we might finally start to see a little cohesion and connnection going forward.

If the mid field and HBs start to see / feel that as well, plus we can get some decent run and link up play through Salem and Hunt off HB, we might just start to see a circuit breaker from rock bottom last week.

Edited May 3, 20196 yr by Rusty Nails

10 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

 

We've had a solid output from Hore at one end and if Keilty & T-Mac can fire a little between them at the other we might finally start to see a little cohesion and connnection going forward.

If the mid field and HBs start to see / feel that as well, plus we can get some decent run and link up play through Salem and Hunt off HB, we might just start to see a circuit breaker from rock bottom last week.

Agree rusty.

Hopefully goody has them in a good headspace and they play with a little more freedom and a bit more relaxed. They seem to have been afraid of taking risks and trying too hard if that makes sense. Tight.

Also they're almost as slow us so won't hurt us in the spread like the bombers, saints and tigers did.

Edited May 3, 20196 yr by binman

4 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Any theories as to why Tim Smith's back injury and Keilty's promotion were not announced until today? 

The opposition would have put alot of work into home to negate Tim Smith to reduce his impact. The late inclusion of Keilty keeps them guessing. Goodwin is a tactical genius. 

Edited May 3, 20196 yr by chookrat

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

Congrats to both of you.

Just to clarify, if I may, if this was on the cards yesterday, why was Smith named in the side in the first place?

Smith trained well on Wednesday, obviously flared up overnight, maybe thought massage etc would work, obviously not

23 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

With 666 in play thr forward line is now effectively more crowded from the get go.

I heard someone say this today and it's not necessarily true.

The way we set up very definitely crowds our forwards and makes it hard.

I think we need to spread more rather than bunch up to make it easy for defenders.

Jennings is supposed to be a football genius but I can't see his logic here.

46 minutes ago, binman said:

Agree rusty.

Hopefully goody has them in a good headspace and they play with a little more freedom and a bit more relaxed. They seem to have been afraid of taking risks and trying too hard if that makes sense. Tight.

Also they're almost as slow us so won't hurt us in the spread like the bombers, saints and tigers did.

A good description Bin.  I can't recall so many fumbles from so many players.  Outside of Salem and Hore there doesn't seem to be much 'one touch' possession going on this season.

I'll take your word that they are slow.  My main concern is Poppy who seems to have hit a bit of early form.  Not saying he's super quick but most small forwards wouldn't need to be vs our small defenders.  My best guess would be a very out of form Hibb in another lock down role here.

34 minutes ago, rjay said:

I heard someone say this today and it's not necessarily true.

The way we set up very definitely crowds our forwards and makes it hard.

I think we need to spread more rather than bunch up to make it easy for defenders.

Jennings is supposed to be a football genius but I can't see his logic here.

Agree with this. I figured they were going for a 'safety in numbers' approach. Whereby if we didn't take the mark, and couldn't crumb it, there'd be defensive pressure on hand immediately.

Unfortunately it makes it harder to score at the same time through the congestion.

Keilty in.  What a pleasant surprise.  

Go Deez

1 hour ago, Rusty Nails said:

With 666 in play thr forward line is now effectively more crowded from the get go.  Hogan gone meant Weids has been getting the Opp's 2nd string defender vs 3rd last season also.  Neither T-mac (coming in under done?) or Weids seem to have coped well with a less open forward line and probably the extra attention opps have been able to give them with the 3rd stringer effectively freed up.

These changes will see Keilty coming into a bit of a baptism of fire for a tall vs say making a debut last season.  The FD would want to be giving Keilty a decent block of games so he has a chance to adjust to this as well as the step up to AFL level.  If he can clunk a few tomorrow also it would be a huge help given the lack of contested marks inisde 50 so far.

We've had a solid output from Hore at one end and if Keilty & T-Mac can fire a little between them at the other we might finally start to see a little cohesion and connnection going forward.

If the mid field and HBs start to see / feel that as well, plus we can get some decent run and link up play through Salem and Hunt off HB, we might just start to see a circuit breaker from rock bottom last week.

I am just interested in how much support these players are expected to provide for OMac, distracting from their core roles and functions, their direct opponents and the Whoreform game plan. If it is again 'full-on', then it will again fail whereby clearances will be strained and intercepted. Good luck, backline. Sounds like recruit footballers being exploited as face-savers.