Jump to content

Aaron vandenBerg

Bobby McKenzie
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

30 minutes ago, demoniac said:

We're a better team when he is on the park but he ain't on the park often enough.

Offering him a 3 year deal to ward off the Swans was always going to come with risk that his foot/ankle problems would continue to prevent him being consistently available.  Has to be risk that he will be unable to complete workload required to get to level of fitness required to play AFL.

AFL clubs do consistently re contract chronically injured players who go on to be chronically injured over term of that contract.

 

Giving him a 3 year deal was really poor list management. I hope the club and him come to an agreement if he can't get it together over summer.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
     
    38 minutes ago, demoniac said:

    We're a better team when he is on the park but he ain't on the park often enough.

    Offering him a 3 year deal to ward off the Swans was always going to come with risk that his foot/ankle problems would continue to prevent him being consistently available.  Has to be risk that he will be unable to complete workload required to get to level of fitness required to play AFL.

    AFL clubs do consistently re contract chronically injured players who go on to be chronically injured over term of that contract.

     

     

    5 minutes ago, samcantstandya said:

    Giving him a 3 year deal was really poor list management. I hope the club and him come to an agreement if he can't get it together over summer.

    Not every chronically injured player stays that way for the whole of their career. Wasn't Max Gawn late to start because of knee reconstructions? James Hird played his best football after the best part of two years out with foot problems and David Shwartz played excellent football after returning from three (is that the right number?) ACLs.

    I agree that club's can't keep too many "injury-prone" players on their list, but it's a classic risk versus reward conundrum with every player. VandenBurg's upside was clearly enough for the club to agree to take that risk.

    Edited by La Dee-vina Comedia
    Second para added

  • Quote
    20 hours ago, Smokey said:

    Reflecting on AVB as an "important player" and on how much of a better place we'd be in this season with him is probably the most damning assessment of our year to date. He's 28 and has played less games than the average 21 year old on our list. Add the fact he is horribly injury prone - in what way does this fit the profile of an important player? The bloke can't stay on the park to save himself, he's as unreliable as anyone on our list. 

    I like him as a player, and he's in my best 22 right now if he were fit - but christ how the mighty have fallen if this is the bloke we reckon could've been the difference in any substantial way this year ...  

    This is the post of the week. We cant hang our hat on AVB, but the club is in such a state that a bloke who has played 7 games out of a possible 82 i think i read is almost being putin the messiah category, that he has been the difference or at least will be the difference. 

    Its such a shame that he has had such problems, because he is a complimentary player and a protective player, bashed and crashed and made space, haven't really seen many others do that for us.

     And i imagine in R1 when a kid playing his first game got into our most important and best player at half time and there was such little and feeble attempts to stand up for Max, AVB may have been the one to really stand up. If any one is looking for something to indicate when it might be a long year ahead or something wasn't quite right it was the moment, R1 after 1 hour of footy, our season was cooked. 

  • Quote
    •  
    20 minutes ago, Demon3 said:

     And i imagine in R1 when a kid playing his first game got into our most important and best player at half time and there was such little and feeble attempts to stand up for Max, AVB may have been the one to really stand up. If any one is looking for something to indicate when it might be a long year ahead or something wasn't quite right it was the moment, R1 after 1 hour of footy, our season was cooked. 

    Just out of interest what was Viney and Jones's reaction after those 18 year old rat bags targeted Gawn?

  • Quote
    1 minute ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

    Just out of interest what was Viney and Jones's reaction after those 18 year old rat bags targeted Gawn?

    From memory BBP, it was a forerunner to how they have led all year, meek and mildly and with little fight. I think if i remember right Nev Jetta was the only one that went to the Port Players and it wasnt even to remonstrate it was to just push them away.

    It was the first really  low moment in a really low year in my opinion.

  • Quote

    8 hours ago, Laughing Goat said:

    one again, ANB signed for 2 years

    Has he?  I know there was a twitter link earlier in the year saying he was close, but since then I haven't heard whether he's actually signed.

  • Quote
    • 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...
    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • PREVIEW: Gold Coast

      The Gold Coast Suns find themselves outside of the top eight for the first time since Round 1 with pressure is mounting on the entire organisation. Their coach Damien Hardwick expressed his frustration at his team’s condition last week by making a middle-finger gesture on television that earned him a fine for his troubles. He showed his desperation by claiming that Fox should pick up the tab.  There’s little doubt the Suns have shown improvement in 2025, and their position on the ladder is influenced to some extent by having played fewer games than their rivals for a playoff role at the end of the season, courtesy of the disruption caused by Cyclone Alfred in March.  However, they are following the same trajectory that hindered the club in past years whenever they appeared to be nearing their potential. As a consequence, that Hardwick gesture should be considered as more than a mere behavioral lapse. It’s a distress signal that does not bode well for the Queenslanders. While the Suns are eager to remain in contention with the top eight, Melbourne faces its own crisis, which is similarly deep-seated but in a much different way. After recovering from a disappointing start to the season and nearing a return to respectability among its peer clubs, the Demons have experienced a decline in status, driven by the fact that while their form has been reasonable (see their performance against the ladder leader in the Kings Birthday match), their conversion in front of goal is poor enough to rank last in the competition. Furthermore, their opponents find them exceptionally easy to score against. As a result, they have effectively eliminated themselves from the finals race and are again positioned to finish in the bottom half of the ladder.

      • 1 reply
      Demonland

    • NON-MFC: Round 15

      As the Demons head into their Bye Round, it's time to turn our attention to the other matches being played. Which teams are you tipping this week? And which results would be most favourable for the Demons if we can manage to turn our season around? Follow all the non-Melbourne games here and join the conversation as the ladder continues to take shape.

      • 276 replies
      Demonland

    • REPORT: Port Adelaide

      Of course, it’s not the backline, you might argue and you would probably be right. It’s the boot studder (do they still have them?), the midfield, the recruiting staff, the forward line, the kicking coach, the Board, the interchange bench, the supporters, the folk at Casey, the head coach and the club psychologist  It’s all of them and all of us for having expectations that were sufficiently high to have believed three weeks ago that a restoration of the Melbourne team to a position where we might still be in contention for a finals berth when the time for the midseason bye arrived. Now let’s look at what happened over the period of time since Melbourne overwhelmed the Sydney Swans at the MCG in late May when it kicked 8.2 to 5.3 in the final quarter (and that was after scoring 3.8 to two straight goals in the second term). 

      • 3 replies
      Demonland

    • CASEY: Essendon

      Casey’s unbeaten run was extended for at least another fortnight after the Demons overran a persistent Essendon line up by 29 points at ETU Stadium in Port Melbourne last night. After conceding the first goal of the evening, Casey went on a scoring spree from about ten minutes in, with five unanswered majors with its fleet of midsized runners headed by the much improved Paddy Cross who kicked two in quick succession and livewire Ricky Mentha who also kicked an early goal. Leading the charge was recruit of the year, Riley Bonner while Bailey Laurie continued his impressive vein of form. With Tom Campbell missing from the lineup, Will Verrall stepped up to the plate demonstrating his improvement under the veteran ruckman’s tutelage. The Demons were looking comfortable for much of the second quarter and held a 25-point lead until the Bombers struck back with two goals in the shadows of half time. On the other side of the main break their revival continued with first three goals of the half. Harry Sharp, who had been quiet scrambled in the Demons’ first score of the third term to bring the margin back to a single point at the 17 minute mark and the game became an arm-wrestle for the remainder of the quarter and into the final moments of the last.

      • 0 replies
      Demonland

    • PREGAME: Gold Coast

      The Demons have the Bye next week but then are on the road once again when they come up against the Gold Coast Suns on the Gold Coast in what could be a last ditch effort to salvage their season. Who comes in and who comes out?

        • Like
      • 147 replies
      Demonland

    • PODCAST: Port Adelaide

      The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 16th June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing loss to the Power.
      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.
      Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

        • Thanks
        • Like
      • 33 replies
      Demonland
    View All