It's hard to know until we form our new coaching group. New ideas and coaching goes a long way.

We certainly should be making finals next year.

56 minutes ago, Damo said:

Im on the bus. At least it will be better than this shithouse year.

I'm willing to join the Magical Mystery Tour.? Roll on season 2020.

Edited August 25, 20195 yr by Dame Gaga
.

Yep! Making the finals and you are a chance even from 8th spot it is better than finishing with 5 wins and second last .

A good number 2 pick would get you a ready made 18 yo that will play from game one. I am sure that the recruiters have something up their sleeve for an outside mid this time and maybe a forward, who knows as l don't want to speculate. 

It will certainly rejuvenate the list .  Regardless the 8 is not a pipe dream in 2020. 

24 minutes ago, nosoupforme said:

 I am sure that the recruiters have something up their sleeve for an outside mid this time and maybe a forward, who knows as l don't want to speculate. 

 

 

48 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Making finals is a low bar.  You might be satisfied to simply make finals.  Most won't. 

And, the club cannot afford to simply 'make finals'. 

Well, my expectation is to win a final and anything less will be a failure by the club.  And the off-field staff changes that are to happen will also have failed. 

I didn't say it wasn't a low bar. 

Again, I said we will make finals. That is all, a d not in the sense that it's all we can or should do. 

I reckon we're a 5th to 10th side at heart. This year we hit the death spiral but as pointed out earlier in the thread we were in a lot of games but lacked the finishing skills.

I'm not sold that if we narrowly miss next year Goodwin has to go but have no doubt that's what will happen.

3 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

Ahh, but you see, we've twisted the system and have created an opening here. Every club was looking to improve in 2019, but we broke with convention.

Now, everyone else has to try to improve all over again, while all we have to do is look to get back to where we already were!

If only it were that simple.

Where we already were won't be good enough if others have improved since 2018. We're in a spot of trouble here.

I watched yesterdays game with Brisbane and Richmond thinking we never looked close to matching it with the best team in the league in 2018 and never once looked as composed, skilled and as fluid with ball in hand as the Lions after quarter time when the heat was really on. We have not only been leapfrogged by 13 more clubs this year, but the teams in the top 8 have played better footy this year than we ever did. Essendon probably line ball on that, and like us, their maximum is probably two good finals, not that they'll beat WCE.
 
So to get back into the finals is going to be a very tough ask, especially if we're overhauling a game plan to keep up to date with this years trends.

I'll be cautiously optimistic about next year, but the expectations are very low and any whiff of stagnation early on will be met with a ten fold increase in anger on this year.

Edited August 25, 20195 yr by John Demonic

22 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

I watched yesterdays game with Brisbane and Richmond thinking we never looked close to matching it with the best team in the league in 2018 and never once looked as composed, skilled and as fluid with ball in hand as the Lions after quarter time when the heat was really on. We have not only been leapfrogged by 13 more clubs this year, but the teams in the top 8 have played better footy this year than we ever did. Essendon probably line ball on that, and like us, their maximum is probably two good finals, not that they'll beat WCE.
 
So to get back into the finals is going to be a very tough ask, especially if we're overhauling a game plan to keep up to date with this years trends.

I'll be cautiously optimistic about next year, but the expectations are very low and any whiff of stagnation early on will be met with a ten fold increase in anger on this year.

It’s the game plan as such which is the issue it is our complete lack of fundamental skills, nous and decision making at a micro level which is what needs to improve.

This is one area this year where the coaches completely dropped the ball.

We need to get the basics right before any talk of finals can even be considered.

10 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

I'll let everyone else argue the point, but I'm already heading in to next year with a modicum of optimism.

I won't convince those on the opposite side to think otherwise, but to those who do, then I'm with you all the way.  Even if there is only one other person in that group.  

Bring on the review, bring on the tough decisions and bring on finals in 2020.

Book it.

I think we can now explain Wiseblood’s recent unusual absence from Demonland and his newfound optimism that we are dead set making the 8 next year .... stick with me folks .... 

during the bye , off the back of some uncomfortable negative thoughts around Goody’s gameplan and forward structures exposed so openly by the filth on Queens Birthday , Wiseblood decided to go for a long walk to gather his thoughts and reset back to a more positive growth mindset , along the way he took a wrong turn , and stumbled across a silly old coot wearing a Melbourne scarf sitting on the bonnet of what looked like an early 80s model delorean with MFC number plates. The old   coot handed Wise the keys and told him to take his car for a spin and “ram it up to 88”. Wise was confused however he happily obliged as it was a welcome escape from trying to positively spin a 4-7 win loss record. What he found on that drive was simply amazing, he has travelled into the future and seen the Norm Smith curse end and Max Gawn holding up the premiership cup, and now has returned back and is only letting out little snippets of the future to keep us all going during the off season . Importantly when returning back to 2019 he instead set the time to return for the end of the season ( as seriously who would want to live through the last 11 rounds of footy). 

Thanks Wise keep up the good work ! 

P.s can you please tell us if the bummers and filth will get smashed in the finals this year though? After this no more questions about the future I promise 

I’m optimistic that if we can get a full list on the field early in pre-season and through the year we will roll and build some powerful momentum. 

 We have added Lever and May, Kollorjazne, and will add more this draft, and we’re yet to yield a benefit from these recruits due to injuries to them and others. 

1 hour ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

I think we can now explain Wiseblood’s recent unusual absence from Demonland and his newfound optimism that we are dead set making the 8 next year .... stick with me folks .... 

during the bye , off the back of some uncomfortable negative thoughts around Goody’s gameplan and forward structures exposed so openly by the filth on Queens Birthday , Wiseblood decided to go for a long walk to gather his thoughts and reset back to a more positive growth mindset , along the way he took a wrong turn , and stumbled across a silly old coot wearing a Melbourne scarf sitting on the bonnet of what looked like an early 80s model delorean with MFC number plates. The old   coot handed Wise the keys and told him to take his car for a spin and “ram it up to 88”. Wise was confused however he happily obliged as it was a welcome escape from trying to positively spin a 4-7 win loss record. What he found on that drive was simply amazing, he has travelled into the future and seen the Norm Smith curse end and Max Gawn holding up the premiership cup, and now has returned back and is only letting out little snippets of the future to keep us all going during the off season . Importantly when returning back to 2019 he instead set the time to return for the end of the season ( as seriously who would want to live through the last 11 rounds of footy). 

Thanks Wise keep up the good work ! 

P.s can you please tell us if the bummers and filth will get smashed in the finals this year though? After this no more questions about the future I promise 

You've got too much time on your hands.

But yes, the drug cheats and the scum get smashed in finals this year.  You didn't hear that from me though...

12 hours ago, Fanatique Demon said:

This might be obvious, but every other team will be looking to improve in 2020. To make the finals, at least one of this year's top 8 would have to drop out and we'd have to improve more than 8 other clubs. Big job. 

I'm with Wiseblood on this. 

Each season generally 3 teams drop out of the 8, and 3 new  ones go in. 2019 - demons, hawks and swans out

Lions bombers and dogs in for example. Doesn't happen each year but reliable predictor

There will be opportunities next year. 

Ball's in clubs court though. Skipper, fitness, game day coaching, strategy, list clean up, skills etc.....

 

12 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

For us to make finals we need the following:

- Majority of our whole list to have injury free pre seasons.

-  The Tom McDonald form of 2018

- Jake Lever and Steven May to play 22 games.

- Petracca to play big midfield minutes

- McDonald, Weideman, Melksham and Fritsch to all finally play together in the forward line.

- Oliver, Brayshaw, Harmes to take their game to another level. They're the key to our midfield.

- Pick 2 to make a Jesse Hogan/Jayden Stephenson first year impact.

It absolutely can happen. But we need a lot of things to get right.

Agree.

I'd add one more. We need to bring in  2 or 3 very good to elite kicks. No small order i know, but critical.

Our first pick should be one you'd assume. Maybe our pick 20? And a player we trade in?

12 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

I'll let everyone else argue the point, but I'm already heading in to next year with a modicum of optimism.

I won't convince those on the opposite side to think otherwise, but to those who do, then I'm with you all the way.  Even if there is only one other person in that group.  

Bring on the review, bring on the tough decisions and bring on finals in 2020.

Book it.

I must have been crazy to think we'd finish top 2 on the back of 2018 so I guess this isn't that crazy.

12 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Get on quickly.  

I'm putting dibs on half your winnings when we make it! 

You will need the money sooner than that Wise.

You can send my membership as soon as they are available. A reserved seat package  will be fine.

Add Anderson, Langdon, maybe Tom Cutler and a half reasonable, experienced 3rd KPF (not Patton)......

Get our current team fit and relatively injury free over summer, partic spine of May, Lever, Weid and Tmac.....

Get AVB back on the track and fit......

Upgrade replacements for Garlett, Stretch, JKH, ANB......

Add further to depth (not the above)......

Have our 2nd and 3rd year players (Petty, Spargo, Hore, Sparrow) continue to step up.....

Tell Jones he will play some games at Casey in 2020 as Lewis did this year....

Preuss to develop a tank.....

A better 'fixture' in 2020......

 

Not too much to ask for, is it? ?

7 hours ago, Demonland said:

I must have been crazy to think we'd finish top 2 on the back of 2018 so I guess this isn't that crazy.

Did you by chance see the /r/afl reddit pre season round by round prediction results? Richmond ended up 21W/1L and Melbourne were 20/2 - The majority weren't predicting that ladder, but the ladder was more a result of there only being 1 circumstance that a 50+% amount of pollers could see Richmond lose one of the games and Melbourne two. I think Richmond and WCE at Perth were our losses. So not alone there.

Edited August 26, 20195 yr by John Demonic

7 hours ago, Demon17 said:

I'm with Wiseblood on this. 

Each season generally 3 teams drop out of the 8, and 3 new  ones go in. 2019 - demons, hawks and swans out

Lions bombers and dogs in for example. Doesn't happen each year but reliable predictor

There will be opportunities next year. 

Ball's in clubs court though. Skipper, fitness, game day coaching, strategy, list clean up, skills etc.....

 

This is good news. All we have to do is show up each year, and eventually, by the law of averages, we're finalists!

2020 Wishlist

Game Plan

- in the guts - don’t all jump in after the ball, have someone wait outside to receive who can run and has skills. Run both ways, particularly hard when the opposition gets it. Max once a quarter just belt it 20 meters forward in the ruck!

- out back - don’t all jump up to mark or punch, have a few stay down for the crumbs, someone mind the goalsquare, at ball ups & throw ins someone stay goal side to block opposition rovers small forwards! Hold the line in place rather than all going in one half of the ground!

- up forward - clean fast delivery, too forwards who lead(not just to the boundary line), take the shots for goal, especially if you mark inside 50, kick straight, crumbers get some snaps!

Players

- No off season ops

- Injury free pre season, where they run a lot, with ball in hand so working on skills

- Need - two quick wingman, two quick small forwards, one quick small back

Good fortune from poop season

- Very good draw

- #2 or #3 pick in draft plus an early 20 pick

- Salary cap extra space

- longer  pre season

- Burgess meant to be very good

- Richardson will be a VG assistant as he was previously and will have learned a lot in six years as coach, also as St Kilda opened Melbourne up, really understands our weaknesses

Farewell to another shocking season, we’ve suffered a lot of them, 53 personally, but it builds resilience! Bring on 2020, we live in hope!