Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
3 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Don't worry, Pert is watching closely. 

He said a month ago he goes to training and he is attending football meetings to get a feel for personalities and the dynamics of the group.  Even allowing for injuries, the last month would confirm to him what needs to be done. 

Pert may or may not call for a review but I would be shocked if there wasn't 1) a restructure of the football department and 2) changes in [censored] coaches. 

I have confidence in Pert, Mahoney and Goodwin but as I've often said our structure is flawed and this year has shown up the inexperience and weaknesses of Goodwin's team.

Like Hardwick and Buckley, Goodwin will be better with a better group of assistants. 

Someone should have a conversation with Brad Scott as an assistant. Hard line at the same time a players man.

Posted

3 disgusting quarters then junk time. I've had it with this club.

  • Haha 1
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Pert may or may not call for a review but I would be shocked if there wasn't 1) a restructure of the football department and 2) changes in [censored] coaches. 

I have confidence in Pert, Mahoney and Goodwin but as I've often said our structure is flawed and this year has shown up the inexperience and weaknesses of Goodwin's team.

Like Hardwick and Buckley, Goodwin will be better with a better group of assistants. 

Totally agree.  I'm desperately hoping for a club review.  Something ain't right.

Edited by one_demon
  • Like 2
Posted
13 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Parody account?

Sorry l don't understand your humour. I am not after browny points and  venting only my frustrations. I think like many others there is no pinching someones thunder here.

I was at the game and it was a meek display and got taunted by Giant supporters all two of them.

I can feel Gawn's pain from where l was sitting. Even my cat knows that Preuss should have been playing weeks ago.

  • Like 4
Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, Damo said:

When Watts was leaving he went in his last year from forward to half back. So did Howe. Frawley went from full back to forward pocket.

Ok Brayshaw is now on a wing and looking pretty [censored] unhappy with that change.

Brayshaw has gone from a player who does his best work with head over the ball, at ground level and at the bottom of a pack.  He did very little of that today or in recent weeks.  He actually looks like he is unable to bend down.  He missed most of the pre Xmas pre season for back reasons.  If he has back problems again it would explain his inability to get over the ball, tackle or chase.  It would also explain why he is not in the middle - it is less risky on the wing.

I'll cut Gus some slack on this for a while as he doesn't seem to be the type to spit the dummy for a change of position, especially if the reasons have been explained.

 

Edited by Lucifer's Hero
  • Love 1
Posted (edited)
41 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Those things you list as his traits are all things I’d expect of a good forward. What I think is more likely is he gets outpositioned and outmarked frequently, does nothing whatsoever at ground level and then gets destroyed by defenders running off.

I know I’m probably being over the top in my criticism, but I’m convinced many have allowed romanticism about what Preuss may offer blind them to what he actually does offer. What he offers is a ruckman who can play when Gawn can’t, and to me that’s about it.

You are conveniently missing the magic bullet point again Nasher.  As coach said, no one is saying that but he does offer a hard match up given his height and removes the opp's tallest defender.  In today's case that is most likely Davis...who might "run off" and damage us as you say but he's probably a better chance at outmarking or spoiling a more evenly matched player in height like T-Mac or a Smith vs Pruess.  The opp hardly going to put a medium of small on him who can run off an damage ...badly.  Let's look at your criticisms....

Outpostioned outmarked.....

Contested Marks (averages):  Ranked equal 4th in contested behind Smith, Gawn and just behind T-Mac.  Not too shabby.

Marks i50:  He is equal 5th with T-Smith.  Again not too shabby

does nothing whatsoever at ground level

MFC - average Ground Ball Gets inside 50 rankings to Round 9, 2019.

image.png.379969c473e0c0ade28f1330aeb99a51.png

Looking pretty good here especially given his size ...even outdoing Hunt!

gets destroyed by defenders running off

Most likely but what super tall forward wouldn't such as 2 meter Peter or big Cox at the Pies?

You give up a little to gain in the marking and a bit of goal scoring area plus someone who can bring the ball to ground for smalls and medium smalls to work off and crumb / score from!

And guess who leads the goal scoring averages this year?  One Mr Pruess at 2 per game.  The next closest Hunt averaging 1.22 per match.

Again, is he a magic bullet?  Hell no!  But if i'm tossing up who i bring in on match day and it's a choice between Spargo (or even T-Smith) or Pruess....i know who i'm choosing given our present game style.

Edited by Rusty Nails
  • Like 1
  • Love 1
Posted
6 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

3 disgusting quarters then junk time. I've had it with this club.

 

The season was over as soon as we ran through that 'mean tweets' banner.  One of the most embarrassing moments in the history of the club. 

We may as well have had a banner saying 'This club is still soft as butter and our  players are weak as it gets'.

  • Like 2
Posted
8 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Don't worry, Pert is watching closely. 

He said a month ago he goes to training and he is attending football meetings to get a feel for personalities and the dynamics of the group.  Even allowing for injuries, the last month would confirm to him what needs to be done. 

Pert may or may not call for a review but I would be shocked if there wasn't 1) a restructure of the football department and 2) changes in [censored] coaches. 

I have confidence in Pert, Mahoney and Goodwin but as I've often said our structure is flawed and this year has shown up the inexperience and weaknesses of Goodwin's team.

Like Hardwick and Buckley, Goodwin will be better with a better group of assistants. 

I hope this is true, although 'restructures' scare me because it gives us an excuse to be crap for another 50 years while we get used to the new changes.

Totally agree that Goody can't do this in his own, he needs a smart team around him.

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, —coach— said:

Your happy with the delivery inside 50 then are you?

 

You have a reading or comprehension problem. 

We are missing sitters from everywhere. ie Even our set shots are atrocious.

Posted
54 minutes ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Agree, but think the answers are so obvious it would be a waste of time....

1. Injuries are hurting big time

2. Skills are poor

3. We're too slow, partly the interrupted pre-season, partly (4.) we've not targeted outside pace

4. Our recruiting has been (let's be glass half full...) below average

These are largely independent  

1 needs to improve  over next 3 weeks (to some degree uncontrollable despite the anti-Mission sentiment on DL) 3 and 4 are priority for 2020.

2. Is simply an indictment on the whole Footy Department, not enough focus on skills, particularly kicking, especially goal kicking

This is just wrong. We weren't slow against the Eagles.

It's ball movement that count. The problem is when you turn it over and it flies back the other way which we are world champions at....

  • Like 2
Posted
15 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

3 disgusting quarters then junk time. I've had it with this club.

When the pressure is off we are world beaters. 

When the pressure is on we go to water. 

This has been the case for many seasons and still hasn’t changed much 

  • Like 2
Posted

I had to go to my mother in laws birthday lunch today and was mildly peeved I had to miss watching the game. However after seeing the final scores I was happy I went to the lunch. Now time for an investigation, royal commission, Spanish Inquisition, trial by ordeal, witch dunking, waterboarding or whatever to get to the bottom of WTF has happened.

  • Haha 1
Posted
Just now, jnrmac said:

This is just wrong. We weren't slow against the Eagles.

It's ball movement that count. The problem is when you turn it over and it flies back the other way which we are world champions at....

Were you there today?

When GWS switched it (which could been seen miles away...) Our players couldn't run to cover them. Just way too slow

Posted
19 minutes ago, Nasher said:

If we had have traded for a different type of player or used a draft pick then we wouldn’t have another ruckman on the list. We rolled the dice massively last year with only Max on the list and got away with it. Imagine if last year, if Max had gone down instead of Lever? We’d have been trying to launch a finals campaign with TMac and Weideman as our ruckmen. Going in to this year where we were hoping for another finals campaign - with no backup for Max, you’re one loss away from season derailment, and that’s a completely unacceptable risk. Obviously at the time we weren’t to know the season would be derailed anyway.

If you take it as a given then that we needed another ruck - then why *wouldn’t* we take arguably the best ruckman available? It was just a gift really. The alternative was some 18 year old unknown quantity.

As to why Preuss would have wanted to come here when he knew he’d be behind Max, I was stumped at the time and am none the wiser now. I doubt they promised him that he’d play all the time though, because you quite clearly can’t promise that.

In 2017 our win/loss ratio was the same when max was injured versus when he wasnt.

Posted
16 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Brayshaw has gone from a player who does his best work with head over the ball, at ground level and at the bottom of a pack.  He did very little of that today or in recent weeks.  He actually looks like he is unable to bend down.  He missed most of the pre Xmas pre season for back reasons.  If he has back problems again it would explain his inability to get over the ball, tackle or chase.  It would also explain why he is not in the middle - it is less risky on the wing.

I'll cut Gus some slack on this for a while as he doesn't seem to be the type to spit the dummy for a change of position, especially if the reasons have been explained.

 

He looked totally disillusioned today. I hope he/we sort it out. 

  • Like 1
Posted
5 minutes ago, america de cali said:

I had to go to my mother in laws birthday lunch today and was mildly peeved I had to miss watching the game. However after seeing the final scores I was happy I went to the lunch. Now time for an investigation, royal commission, Spanish Inquisition, trial by ordeal, witch dunking, waterboarding or whatever to get to the bottom of WTF has happened.

If you’re upset at the final score, have a squizz at what it was at 3/4 time. Have your wife film your reaction for us while you do so please ?

  • Like 2
Posted
3 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

When the pressure is off we are world beaters. 

When the pressure is on we go to water. 

This has been the case for many seasons and still hasn’t changed much 

Exactly. The actors have changed, but the script remains exactly the same. 

Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

You are conveniently missing the magic bullet point again Nasher.  As coach said, no one is saying that but he does offer a hard match up given his height and removes the opp's tallest defender.  In today's case that is most likely Davis...who might "run off" and damage us as you say but he's probably a better chance at outmarking or spoiling a more evenly matched player in height like T-Mac or a Smith vs Pruess.  The opp hardly going to put a medium of small on him who can run off an damage ...badly.  Let's look at your criticisms....

Outpostioned outmarked.....

Contested Marks (averages):  Ranked equal 4th in contested behind Smith, Gawn and just behind T-Mac.  Not too shabby.

Marks i50:  He is equal 5th with T-Smith.  Again not too shabby

does nothing whatsoever at ground level

MFC - average Ground Ball Gets inside 50 rankings to Round 9, 2019.

image.png.379969c473e0c0ade28f1330aeb99a51.png

Looking pretty good here especially given his size ...even outdoing Hunt!

gets destroyed by defenders running off

Most likely but what super tall forward wouldn't such as 2 meter Peter or big Cox at the Pies?

You give up a little to gain in the marking and a bit of goal scoring area plus someone who can bring the ball to ground for smalls and medium smalls to work off and crumb / score from!

And guess who leads the goal scoring averages this year?  One Mr Pruess at 2 per game.  The next closest Hunt averaging 1.22 per match.

Again, is he a magic bullet?  Hell no!  But if i'm tossing up who i bring in on match day and it's a choice between Spargo (or even T-Smith) or Pruess....i know who i'm choosing given our present game style.

Amen brother amen ? 

I might add also, you can bet your bottom dollar that a number of our blokes would walk a little taller with that beast on the ground. Not sure Spargo has quite the same effect.

Edited by —coach—
  • Like 2
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Nasher said:

If you’re upset at the final score, have a squizz at what it was at 3/4 time. Video your face while you do it please ?

I thank my mother in law for saving me from this experience and perhaps also saved me from buying a new phone. 

Edited by america de cali
  • Haha 1
Posted

Baker could be one of our best in a year or two. Not racking up possessions yet but it will come. I am a massive fan and just hope we have someone who can relate to his game style and bring the best out of him. Future star.

  • Like 3
Posted (edited)

Oliver ranked 43 out of the 44 players for disposal efficiency. Only Josh Wagner plumbed lower depths. 

Edited by america de cali
Posted
1 minute ago, america de cali said:

Oliver ranked 43 out of the 44 players for disposal efficiency. Only Josh Wagner plumbed lower depths. 

De Boer has many scalps this season tagging, there’s another one. Not that it would have made a difference but why not throw Oliver forward in patches and bring Gus back in the middle. 

  • Like 1
Posted

Skills are a function of a number of things.. Firstly ability and training, but also, crucially, confidence and fitness.

When a player is confident they have a far greater ability to hit kicks they otherwise wouldn’t be able to, the game slows down, they get an extra 10%.

When they’re not fit, they lose 10% control, they start reacting rather than being proactive.

So looking at what’s happening now, for those out there not of VFL standard, we know they have ability because we saw it in 2018 (everyone remember we played in a prelim...). I have absolutely no doubt they are training. So that leaves confidence and fitness.

Fitness is shot because of the preseason. Confidence is shot because of the what has transpired as a result.

It all seems very simple and explainable to me, the wrist slashing is all a bit much.

  • Like 4
Posted
30 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

 

The season was over as soon as we ran through that 'mean tweets' banner.  One of the most embarrassing moments in the history of the club. 

We may as well have had a banner saying 'This club is still soft as butter and our  players are weak as it gets'.

They didn’t run through it. They walked up to it and gently squeezed through.

We have 3/4 of our players out injured or playing injured and replaced by NQR VFL players. What did you expect from this game?

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Nasher said:

Those things you list as his traits are all things I’d expect of a good forward. What I think is more likely is he gets outpositioned and outmarked frequently, does nothing whatsoever at ground level and then gets destroyed by defenders running off.

I know I’m probably being over the top in my criticism, but I’m convinced many have allowed romanticism about what Preuss may offer blind them to what he actually does offer. What he offers is a ruckman who can play when Gawn can’t, and to me that’s about it.

I don’t know what you base your hypothesis on, given he has played 2 games and been pretty serviceable in both before injury. 

He might absolutely suck, but right now I don’t know. I do know however that Spargo, Wagner, ANB, TMac and Garlett are all giving us SFA up forward. 

And on a side note, the more Gawn goes it alone, the greater the chances he gets injured and if he does, we are stuffed. With or without a developed backup (also we are stuffed regardless).

Edited by Jaded
  • 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  

    HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS by Whispering Jack

    Melbourne traveled across the continent to take on the Fremantle Dockers in sweltering conditions at Mandurah south of Perth in a game that delivered the club both its highlight and its lowlight in the first minute.  But first, let’s start by doing away with the usual cliches used in connection with the game. It was just a practice match and the result didn’t matter. Bad kicking is bad football. The game was played in severe heat, the swirly breeze played havoc with both teams resulting in

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Reports 1

    PODCAST: Practice Match vs Fremantle

    Join us LIVE on Monday night at 7:30pm as we break down the Practice Match against the Dockers. As always, your questions are a vital part of the show. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human. Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 21

    PREGAME: Rd 01 vs GWS

    After 6 agonizingly long months the 2025 AFL Premiership Season is almost upon us. The Demons return to the MCG to take on the GWS Giants and will be hoping to get their year off to a flying start.  

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 70

    POSTGAME: Practice Match vs Fremantle

    The Dees were blown out of the water early by the Fremantle Dockers before fighting back and going down by 19 points in their final practice match of the preseason before Round 1. Remember it's only a practice match if you lose.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 234

    GAMEDAY: Practice Match vs Fremantle

    It's Game Day and the Demons have hit the road for their first of 8 interstate trips this season when they take on the Fremantle Dockers in their final practice match before the start of their 2025 Premiership Campaign. GAME: Melbourne Demons vs Fremantle Dockers TIME: 6:10pm AEDT VENUE: Mandurah’s Rushton Park. TEAMS: MELBOURNE B Steven May Jake Lever Blake Howes HB Jake Bowey Trent Rivers Christian Salem C Ed Langdon Christian Petracca Jack Billings  HF Harr

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 470

    TRAINING: Friday 28th February 2025

    A couple of Demonland Trackwatchers headed down to Gosch's Paddock to bring you their observations from today's training session before the Demons head off to Perth for their final Practice Match. KEV MARTIN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Beautiful morning, not much wind, more than a couple of dozen spectators.  The players were up and about, boisterous and having fun. One of their last drills were three teams competing in a hard at it, handball game in a small area. Goody

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Training Reports

    THE ACCIDENTAL DEMONS by The Oracle

    In the space of eight days, the Melbourne Football Club’s plans for the coming year were turned upside down by two season-ending injuries to players who were contending strongly for places in its opening round match against the GWS Giants. Shane McAdam was first player to go down with injury when he ruptured an Achilles tendon at Friday afternoon training, a week before the cut-off date for the AFL’s pre-season supplemental selection period (“SSP”). McAdam was beginning to get some real mom

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Special Features

    PREGAME: Practice Match vs Fremantle

    The Demons hit the road for what will be their first of 8 interstate trips this year when they play their final practice match before the 2025 AFL Premiership Season against the Fremantle Dockers in Perth on Sunday, 2nd March @ 6:10pm (AEDT). 2025 AAMI Community Series Sun Mar 2 Fremantle v Melbourne, Rushton Oval, Mandurah, 3.10pm AWST (6.10pm AEDT)

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 186

    RETURN TO NORMAL by Whispering Jack

    One of my prized possessions is a framed, autographed guernsey bearing the number 31 worn by my childhood hero, Melbourne’s champion six time premiership player Ronald Dale Barassi who passed away on 16 September 2023, aged 87. The former captain who went on to a successful coaching career, mainly with other clubs, came back to the fold in his later years as a staunch Demon supporter who often sat across the way from me in the Northern Stand of the MCG cheering on the team. Barassi died the

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Reports
  • Tell a friend

    Love Demonland? Tell a friend!

×
×
  • Create New...