Jump to content

Featured Replies

 

Draft picks are hit and miss. While there is a chance of getting a gun pick, watts the point if we dont have a strong team. We need to win every game we can and help the memberships for next year as well.

 

The win tasted good, more please!


6 or 7 wins to finish off this year will have:

* our membership numbers up and about for 2020

* potential trade targets licking their lips

* the current list in a heightened state of excitement. 

 

I'm going to go with higher draft picks....

 

WIN at all costs. Build a Culture that accepts nothing less

We used to think that way. 

Norm Smith mentored John Kennedy Snr. and look what happened. 

A draft pick can be injured in one Quarter

A Winning Culture is a state of mind...

5 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

WIN at all costs. Build a Culture that accepts nothing less

We used to think that way. 

Norm Smith mentored John Kennedy Snr. and look what happened. 

A draft pick can be injured in one Quarter

A Winning Culture is a state of mind...

Good post.  I have changed my view. Now it is win, win, win, draft picks can take care of themselves.


Building a winning culture - one of delivering right here, right now - is paramount.

1 minute ago, Redleg said:

Good post.  I have changed my view. Now it is win, win, win, draft picks can take care of themselves.

Yes. Sadly it is the mistake that was made 10 years ago. We must never think that way again. 

Whorethorn have plateaued right now, but in 2-3 years they will return to September. They do not accept losing. 

This isn't a serious question is it?

Momentum, positivity and around about pick 7-8.

Heads down, negativity and around pick 3-4.

Not exactly a hard decision.

 

We’re two wins behind 15th place. In an ideal world we win 5 of the last 9 and still get pick 3 or 4.


Wins and strong performance and presenting ourselves as a united and purposeful club.

Sure, it might make a few places difference in draft order.

But that handful of slots in the order is instantly balanced by the better hand we've dealt ourselves when it comes to having a choice of trade targets and of players keen to join us.

And all of that evaporates in comparison to even one quality free agent deciding they prefer us.

It is one of those impossible to know probability things; if we get six more wins for the season, instead of three, does that make Lachie Whitfield pause and think 'I'll hold off signing with GWS a little longer, see how Melbourne go next year, because I know I would be a super-valuable player there and it could all come together perfectly.'

I'd happily move from, say, 4th to 8th in the draft, just to keep alive the possibility of getting Whitfield as a free agent!

Plus, paradoxically, a team performing well has an easier time re-signing players at lower salaries.

14 minutes ago, jumbo returns said:

Can we still make the 8?

Mathematically, Carlton can still finish 1st.

My brother is a Blue and also an analytical genius. Would you believe that Carlton-to-1st scenario actually requires every club to win 11 games exactly?

 

31 minutes ago, W I S E said:

We’re two wins behind 15th place. In an ideal world we win 5 of the last 9 and still get pick 3 or 4.

In an ideal world we pinch a spot in the 8


Both. 

The next 5 weeks is:
Bris
Carl
Bulldogs
Eagles
St Kilda

No reason not to be competitive and try to win as many of those games as possible. Win 5 straight or even 4 of 5 we'll be in finals contention, win 3 or less and our draft position probably won't have changed all that much. With our percentage we could win 3 of 5 and still be at best 13th.

Then we have a couple of big home games against Richmond and Collingwood. Would be lovely to knock them off as they go in to September. We're unlikely to win those games unless our form is massively improved, so it's unlikely to be an issue. But beating teams in flag contention (yet to see where Richmond is by then) in front of big crowds would be really important for the players and club.

The last two weeks against Sydney and North might be time to put the cue in the rack and focus on next year. I know our history with tanking but there's still a strong argument for having our cake and eating it too. Again, if we're drastically improved things will be looking good, if we're not it's the time of year to try a few things for next season as well as getting all the surgeries and niggles fixed. If North and Sydney are in similar spots on the ladder and we're looking at pick 5 or pick 8 then just for the last 2 weeks I'd be thinking the results aren't that important. Of course we'd have to give our all and if we win that's good too but there's a way for the players to give their all but the club to make some strategic decisions.

When are people going to get it through their heads that the abolition of the priority pick effectively ended tanking as a strategy? 

Throwing games for pick 3 & 21 instead of winning as many remaining fixtures as you can and having picks 8 & 26 is not only close to pointless but extremely dangerous in terms of damaging the fabric of the club, as others have stated and as both the MFC and Carlton in particular have found out the hard way.

Most likely you are going to get a decent to very good player in the top ten picks in the draft. Stars can emerge from any one of those ten picks. Maybe it’s weighted a fraction in favour of the top three but generally it’s a raffle at the pointy end.

Summary: Having a slightly better chance at winning that raffle gets trumped every time by doing all you can to build a winning culture and instil confidence and self-belief in the team. 

Win. Win. Win. End of discussion.

 

 

Win of course!

And ….. hopefully..... [censored] up another team's chance to make the finals or top four.

Then we can be wonderfully spiteful and wallow in their unhappiness. Good fun.

OP is a young fella who can’t remember what happened last time, I’m guessing.

Park players who won’t be here next year (as we have with Lewis) so the work done this year is all relevant to next year, but beyond that, go as hard as possible. I’d love to see us come storming home.


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...

Featured Content

  • REPORT: Hawthorn

    There was a time during the current Melbourne cycle that goes back to before the premiership when the club was the toughest to beat in the fourth quarter. The Demons were not only hard to beat at any time but it was virtually impossible to get the better them when scores were close at three quarter time. It was only three or four years ago but they were fit, strong and resilient in body and mind. Sadly, those days are over. This has been the case since the club fell off its pedestal about 12 months ago after it beat Geelong and then lost to Carlton. In both instances, Melbourne put together strong, stirring final quarters, one that resulted in victory, the other, in defeat. Since then, the drop off has been dramatic to the point where it can neither pull off victory in close matches, nor can it even go down in defeat  gallantly.

      • Clap
      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • CASEY: Footscray

    At twenty-four minutes into the third term of the game between the Casey Demons and Footscray VFL at Whitten Oval, the visitors were coasting. They were winning all over the ground, had the ascendancy in the ruck battles and held a 26 point lead on a day perfect for football. What could go wrong? Everything. The Bulldogs moved into overdrive in the last five minutes of the term and booted three straight goals to reduce the margin to a highly retrievable eight points at the last break. Bouyed by that effort, their confidence was on a high level during the interval and they ran all over the despondent Demons and kicked another five goals to lead by a comfortable margin of four goals deep into the final term before Paddy Cross kicked a couple of too late goals for a despondent Casey. A testament to their lack of pressure in the latter stages of the game was the fact that Footscray’s last ten scoring shots were nine goals and one rushed behind. Things might have been different for the Demons who went into the game after last week’s bye with 12 AFL listed players. Blake Howes was held over for the AFL game but two others, Jack Billings and Taj Woewodin (not officially listed as injured) were also missing and they could have been handy at the end. Another mystery of the current VFL system.

      • Thanks
    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • PREGAME: Brisbane

    The Demons head back out on the road in Round 10 when they travel to Queensland to take on the reigning Premiers and the top of the table Lions who look very formidable. Can the Dees cause a massive upset? Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 123 replies
    Demonland
  • PODCAST: Hawthorn

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 12th May @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Demons loss to the Hawks. Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on 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.

      • Clap
      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 52 replies
    Demonland
  • POSTGAME: Hawthorn

    Wayward kicking for goal, dump kicks inside 50 and some baffling umpiring all contributed to the Dees not getting out to an an early lead that may have impacted the result. At the end of the day the Demons were just not good enough and let the Hawks run away with their first win against the Demons in 7 years.

      • Clap
      • Love
      • Like
    • 354 replies
    Demonland
  • VOTES: Hawthorn

    After 3 fantastic week Max Gawn has a massive lead in the Demonland Player of the Year award from Jake Bowey, Christian Petracca, Kade Chandler and Ed Langdon who round out the Top Five. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

      • Thanks
    • 34 replies
    Demonland