2 hours ago, Dees2014 said:

Good post.

I agree on our current forward setup: that is why l have strongly argued for Weid, Jackson AND TMac to be played in the same team, at the expense of one of our running mids, probably Harmes. One of the beauties of Jackson is that he can play key position or mid field. We haven’t had that for many years. It allows our immensely talented mid field to do their own thing!

He's not ready for significant midfield time yet and Max hardly needs a chop out. Happy to be proved wrong, but I think playing all three will be too tall. 

The tough call is to drop Jackson for Tommy but I think it's the right one.

2 hours ago, Nasher said:

The higher you are on the ladder, the more you tend to beat teams below you.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m far more bullish about our chances after the last couple of weeks (team selections have played a big role) but let’s just cool our jets for the moment.

"The Dees are gonna be something!!!!"  -  Bruce McAvaney,  close enough to 10 years ago to the day

Edited July 22, 20204 yr by Pickett2Jackson

5 hours ago, Cheesy D. Pun said:

He's not ready for significant midfield time yet and Max hardly needs a chop out. Happy to be proved wrong, but I think playing all three will be too tall. 

The tough call is to drop Jackson for Tommy but I think it's the right one.

I’m not talking about Jackson as a “chopout” as you put it. I’m talking about him as a genuine mid in the tracca mould, it is just that he is also 197cm. That is the genius of his recruitment. It gives us tremendous flexibility. He is not only big, he is also quick and agile. 
 

Bring it on l say...

18 minutes ago, Dees2014 said:

I’m not talking about Jackson as a “chopout” as you put it. I’m talking about him as a genuine mid in the tracca mould, it is just that he is also 197cm. That is the genius of his recruitment. It gives us tremendous flexibility. He is not only big, he is also quick and agile. 
 

Bring it on l say...

Yeah, it's exciting no doubt but he's a couple of years away from having the tank for midfield time.

9 hours ago, deelusions from afar said:

That happened too but there was something from Matthews or Voss on a different occasion.  So many false and premature dawns!

Yeah, it was Voss after we flogged the Lions at the MCG...

20 hours ago, Cheesy D. Pun said:

Yeah, it's exciting no doubt but he's a couple of years away from having the tank for midfield time.

I agree. That is why he will be confined initially to the forward half and do the rucking inside the forward 50. I noticed that on Sunday there were several times  the ball went out for a throw in inside the forward 50.  Max and Jackson were standing near each other, and it was Max who retreated towards the middle before the throw in. Clearly the team have already decided that Jackson will take the taps inside the forward 50.

As Jackson develops and improves his endurance no doubt he will also play more like a patracca role but it also includes ruck work. A great foil for Max! And great for the team. Exciting times ahead l reckon.....
 

 

Edited July 23, 20204 yr by Dees2014

On 7/21/2020 at 11:51 PM, Dees2014 said:

I know it is early days but l think this team has the potential to be the best dees team in the modern era. It does not really have a weakness plus it has some genuinely champion players on almost every line, plus it is extremely well led and coached. 

The first rounds draft picks we have picked up over the last five years have produced some genuine champions (Petracca, Gawn, Viney, Oliver and potentially Bennell), some extremely good players (TMac, Omac, , Lever, Jetta, Friscke, Salem, May, Vanders, Weid, Hannan) and brilliant youngsters  in Jackson and Kossie. 
 

The challenge now is consistency, but all in all l can’t remember being as excited as l am by the potential of a demon team as l am by this one. It is the most skilled team we have had in my lifetime.

Who agrees? I know there will be many that will think that l am tempting fate. We will see l guess.....
 

 

Dees i respect your right to get a little excited but i have heard many false dawn announcements (roughly about 5) in the last 50 years and not just from supporters.

The ones i'm referring to were ex players jumping on the media after we've won a block of games and moved into the top five (back in the day) or the top eight that we have now.  Usually involving some romantic reminiscing of glory days gone by and comparisons of this team vs that great era team etc.

Unfortunately nothing came of it and instead, after any such announcement (publicly via media interview / statement), the club would generally start to nose dive into a death spiral shortly thereafter.

Edited July 23, 20204 yr by Rusty Nails

On 7/22/2020 at 12:13 AM, Mel Bourne said:

I like the optimism! And I don't see any reason to strongly disagree when you lay it out like that, BUT, I do think we are lacking the kind of forward line that rivals the the top teams for now. As it stands, we are pinning our hopes on Weid, Fritsch, Kozzie and perhaps Jackson and Sparrow to be that forward line and those targets we are so genuinely lacking right now.  It's a big ask of such a young group, and there are no guarantees they'll all rise to the task. We hope like nothing else they will though.

Oh come on! How many goals did Tom McD kick in about 16 matches in 2018? Truly, he remains the key to the forward line doesnt he?And now there is another key forward playing the pressure on him will reduce. He may well  find his form

incidentally, going to be wet, slippery on Sunday. I would play Tom, not Jackson. And I would play Jones.Experience vital in the wet

I think it's "Current Team Potentially Best in 50 days"

On 7/23/2020 at 12:13 AM, Cheesy D. Pun said:

Yeah, it's exciting no doubt but he's a couple of years away from having the tank for midfield time.

Who says ? Too many are putting limitations on Jacko.

Let him get experience and he will develop before our eyes and do those X factor things as others do normal footy practices 

He will be a 15/20 possession player in the ruck around the ground and up forward with skills to burn and the 2nd and 3rd follow ups that others don't do  so our team will benefit greatly in general play and finishing.

In other words a David McKay Nic Nat with mids ability to win the ball and the game at the same time. He is smooth and has another sense in traffic already that others don't.

Skys the limit for Jacko. 

On 7/22/2020 at 8:00 PM, Pickett2Jackson said:

"The Dees are gonna be something!!!!"  -  Bruce McAvaney,  close enough to 10 years ago to the day

Geez P2J, that's coincidental. For some unknown reason, I started to look at a Liam Jurrah highlights reel and an article from the Age a few years later. Yours was the first comment on Demonland that I read after it. From memory, Jurrah was part of the reason Bruce made the comment:

Anyway - 

And: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/inside-the-world-of-liam-jurrah-20140530-zrtim.html

Makes me want to cry.

 

It was only five days ago that the sky was falling in, five minutes into Sunday's game day thread.

I can recall doing a similar analysis at the beginning of 2019 that determined that we had few weaknesses in personnel compared to other teams and other eras.

In the end 2019 was a flop for the same reasons as many seasons are a flop - too many injuries and too meek coaching initiatives.

Correct these two issues and we do have serious potential to go far. Let's wait and see and be patient, again.

 

   On 7/21/2020 at 11:51 PM,  Dees2014 said: 

I know it is early days but l think this team has the potential to be the best dees team in the modern era. It does not really have a weakness plus it has some genuinely champion players on almost every line, plus it is extremely well led and coached. 

The first rounds draft picks we have picked up over the last five years have produced some genuine champions (Petracca, Gawn, Viney, Oliver and potentially Bennell), some extremely good players (TMac, Omac, , Lever, Jetta, Friscke, Salem, May, Vanders, Weid, Hannan) and brilliant youngsters  in Jackson and Kossie. 
 

The challenge now is consistency, but all in all l can’t remember being as excited as l am by the potential of a demon team as l am by this one. It is the most skilled team we have had in my lifetime.

Who agrees? I know there will be many that will think that l am tempting fate. We will see l guess.....

13 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

Dees i respect your right to get a little excited but i have heard many false dawn announcements (roughly about 5) in the last 50 years and not just from supporters.

The ones i'm referring to were ex players jumping on the media after we've won a block of games and moved into the top five (back in the day) or the top eight that we have now.  Usually involving some romantic reminiscing of glory days gone by and comparisons of this team vs that great era team etc.

Unfortunately nothing came of it and instead, after any such announcement (publicly via media interview / statement), the club would generally start to nose dive into a death spiral shortly thereafter.

I must say when l wrote the above post l expected the usual deluge on here of self righteousness indignation. In fact it has been relatively mild. I guess the Rusty Nails post might be the start of it, since this sort of indignation usually comes in copycat waves...

Or alternatively, maybe, just maybe there may be more substance in the original post than some of those in the past. Let’s hope so anyway. We will see soon enough....
 

Edited July 24, 20204 yr by Dees2014

we've had so many players /half stars over the last 50 years that for some reason or another never lived up to the hype 

I will hold my judgement till we hold some little cup up

we have all heard this before , melbourne could be this , could be that . I don't want words anymore , i want to see actions , wins , premierships , simple as that 

22 hours ago, Farmer said:

Oh come on! How many goals did Tom McD kick in about 16 matches in 2018? Truly, he remains the key to the forward line doesnt he?And now there is another key forward playing the pressure on him will reduce. He may well  find his form

incidentally, going to be wet, slippery on Sunday. I would play Tom, not Jackson. And I would play Jones.Experience vital in the wet

Sorry if it wasn’t clear, was specifically referring to the younger players/future of the club’s forward line. 

I'm gonna say no but nice try! 94 had the best KPPs I think that would edge it. 

But this team does have potential to go places. Then again so did that 2010 one before it completely fell to pieces. 

On 7/21/2020 at 11:51 PM, Dees2014 said:

I know it is early days but l think this team has the potential to be the best dees team in the modern era. It does not really have a weakness plus it has some genuinely champion players on almost every line, plus it is extremely well led and coached. 

The first rounds draft picks we have picked up over the last five years have produced some genuine champions (Petracca, Gawn, Viney, Oliver and potentially Bennell), some extremely good players (TMac, Omac, , Lever, Jetta, Friscke, Salem, May, Vanders, Weid, Hannan) and brilliant youngsters  in Jackson and Kossie. 
 

The challenge now is consistency, but all in all l can’t remember being as excited as l am by the potential of a demon team as l am by this one. It is the most skilled team we have had in my lifetime.

Who agrees? I know there will be many that will think that l am tempting fate. We will see l guess.....
 

 

You are right.   Its all going to come down to Goodwin and his support staff how far we go.    The talent is there.  It is an abundance of elite young talent, and now Weid has arrived the cherry is on the top.

Frightening to think what LJ and Pickett will be doing in a few years.