10 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

The Captain wasn’t at the B&F??

Strange.

The whole thing had a weird vibe.

Maybe coz the year ended in a sour note.

The Bennell situation.
The bum pinching 
Players being delisted
Missing  finals

Covid , had to live together so they are just all over it.

Others wanting to leave , like TMac.

It was just too soon from seasons end.

Yes he was. It wasn't live.

Just now, binman said:

Yes he was. It wasn't live.

Oh ok , thanks , I must’ve misunderstood 

Great to hear them talk about wanting to make finals. Not just making up the numbers, but wanting and voicing, top of the ladder.

I remember them saying in 2018, that they did not talk about finals. 

 

Goody said, "no fluffing around, accepting close". Heard no fu.k.ng around at first.

 

Thought I heard Oliver say he wanted to thank him "self". He said he wanted to thank Soph.

 

Both made me chuckle. 

 

5 hours ago, kallangurdemon said:

All in all  I thought it was a dead old show .I dont know if this results from the players disappointment in not making the finals or from my disappointment in us not making the finals .I have been to more joyous funerals .It may be just a nervous twitch but Goody has to get rid of that seeming half smirk that appears at the most inappropriate times .Maybe everyone is just tired at the end of an incredibly trying year but the Count did not have an optimistic feel  for next year about it.

I initially thought "why didn't they wait until they're back in Melbourne" but I realise there are so many restrictions that there's no telling when it could happen. I think the flatness comes from the fact that end year ended on such a sour note with finishing 9th again, the inappropriate touching, and the cherry on top being Bennell's COVID breach.

Everyone is over it, and it shows.

I wouldn’t be reading to much into the way people came across.   They would be flat from missing finals, had a couple days on the turps and are probably well and truly over the hub.  Add to the fact it wasn’t your normal B&F. 

I reckon the mood was low. I know we didn’t make finals and cannot accept mediocrity etc etc and need to be ruthless etc etc 

but 

don’t beat yourself up. The footy gods can be tough. The season was crazy and completely disrupted.  As we have said there were plenty of positives and positive signs. Whilst we blew our chance with losses to Freo and swans , perhaps 9th is about right. 

Trac

May

Viney

Langdon

Oliver

Gawn

All showed they are excellent players imo and whilst Gawn ultimately slipped down the B&F, he was playing really well until getting injured.  

Rivers, Jackson and Kozzzzy showed us they were capable and will get better

Salem stepped up a notch and can get better. Hibbo was tough and reliable. Tomlinson serviceable. 

Sure some downturn in Harmes and Brayshaw but they can get back with the right opportunity and positioning. 
 

Sometimes you need to smile.
 

The time for anger and drive is the start of preseason.  
 

 

 

8 hours ago, deanox said:

Mellsham had a terrible year. I have no idea why he kept getting games. He shouldn't have ever been captain.

But I don't know how you can take from this that the other coaches don't rate Melksham, but Goody played favourites so he stayed in. What evidence is there that this decision was his alone?

Do you think the captaincy was soley Goodwin's call and not supported by the other coaches?

If the max number of votes you can get each game is 40, that is a 10 from each coach, and Melksham received such low votes, I would suggest he was not highly rated by the coaches this year. That he kept getting a game, suggests to me that Goodwin was making the final call here. No way does a player so out of form keeps getting a free pass because a line coach is backing him in for 17 rounds. Especially as they moved him from the forwardline to the midfield, so presumably our forward coach was unimpressed. 

I have no idea about the captaincy call, which is why I didn't mention it. How it did not go to May though, is seriously beyond my understand, but then again those are much more complex calls than simply saying "this guy is out of form, he has to go"

We all know Goodwin has a close relationship with Melksham and Hibbo. I was glad they made the call to drop Hibbo, and he has repaid the faith and had an excellent season. If Melksham did well in the votes, I would have thought that maybe he was doing a role that I didn't understand but that the coaches were very happy with and so be it. But clearly the coaches were not happy with his performance, and if you look at other guys who finished around the same mark as him, you can clearly see those guys were not given a free pass at the 22 each week. 

 

On Melksham.  Getting a free pass to play with consistent sub par performances must rub off (negatively) on teammates:  Mids bust a gut getting the ball fwd and he doesn't do the work to get to the ball.  Other fwds see him sit back, not chase or tackle and they either have to cover his lack of work or think 'if he doesn't why should I'. 

He sets a terrible example and silently condones low standards.  As the leader of the fwd line that is inexcusable. 

Edited September 23, 20204 yr by Lucifer's Hero

9 hours ago, DubDee said:

Someone buy Melksham a mirror coz he needs to take a good hard look at himself. 

his BNF result reflects his poor year

Reckon he has some rig reflectors strategically popped around the house ;0

Congratulations to Christian Petracca, a very worthy winner after a consistently excellent season.

That said, I would have been very happy to see Steven May win, if only to break the stranglehold that midfielders have had over the award over the past 18 years. Perhaps we need an award just to recognise our best performing defender each year.

The results of Hibberd, Lever and particularly Melksham show the positive impact that a well managed demotion can have on an underperforming player. Hibberd took his dropping well, worked hard on his game and was a strong contributor when he returned to the team. Melksham was allowed to coast along for an entire season without consequence, and never once came close to performing at an acceptable level.

 

12 hours ago, Cheesy D. Pun said:

This. His speech was the highlight.

I have to agree.

Viney is in no way a crisp public speaker but his speech was very sincere and thoughtful.

He's clearly highly valued by the coaches as he consistently finishes top 3 in the 'Bluey'.

The top 20 highlights the problem with the season.

13-20 in particular.

Too much was left to too few.

I just watched Goodwin's speech before announcing the top 5. I'm left with anything but inspiration. I really wish he had a bit more charisma about him and could do a bit more off the cuff rather than just reading off his piece of paper word for word. 

Has anyone seen the full breakdown of results? Am looking for it so I can score a family tipping comp on the best 22 for the year.

21 minutes ago, Tim said:

Has anyone seen the full breakdown of results? Am looking for it so I can score a family tipping comp on the best 22 for the year.

Final Leaderboard

• 385 – Christian Petracca
• 362 – Steven May
• 311 – Jack Viney
• 296 – Ed Langdon
• 291 – Clayton Oliver
• 234 – Max Gawn
• 208 – Christian Salem
• 186 – Angus Brayshaw
• 179 – Michael Hibberd
• 172 – Sam Weideman
• 165 – Jake Lever
• 154 – Bayley Fritsch
• 119 – Jake Melksham
• 102 – Kysaiah Pickett
• 94 – Trent Rivers
• 92 – Adam Tomlinson
• 90 – Aaron vandenBerg
• 80 – Charlie Spargo
• 79 – Luke Jackson
• 72 – Mitch Hannan

Hope that helps. 

Melksham Fritch AVB have had their performances rightly panned this season but Tomlinson has slipped under the radar. He’s been a major disappointment. 5 years at $500k is a big investment. I want to see a lot more from him next year.

I suggest he’s paired with Steven May this pre-season so he can learn how to turn a bad first season into a successful second.

8 hours ago, Hannibal Inc. said:

The top 20 highlights the problem with the season.

13-20 in particular.

Too much was left to too few.

Agree.

The gap between Fritsch in 12th and Melksham in 13th is 35 points.

The gap between Fritsch in 12th and Brayshaw in 8th is 32 points.

It was relatively even in that 8-12 bracket before falling away.

6 minutes ago, Better days ahead said:

Melksham Fritch AVB have had their performances rightly panned this season but Tomlinson has slipped under the radar. He’s been a major disappointment. 5 years at $500k is a big investment. I want to see a lot more from him next year.

I suggest he’s paired with Steven May this pre-season so he can learn how to turn a bad first season into a successful second.

I think Tomlinson delivered what most of us expected. Was not excited about his recruitment in the slightest. Played alright when moved down back but just like Lever, was a poor list management move.

11 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

As the leader of the fwd line ...

Which is why he kept getting games. We had a bunch of kids up forward, and in the absence of the likes of Jones or Lewis or even Tom Mac, there had to be someone with a bit of experience. The fact that he got the stand-in captain job also says something about how the club - and players - see him.

Also, and in spite of everything, he was still 3rd on our goal kicking. (OK, he played every game, but still ...)

Doesn't excuse poor performances, but the comment here for me is not so much how poor Melksham was, but our lack of depth in maturity and experience.

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Final Leaderboard

• 385 – Christian Petracca
• 362 – Steven May
• 311 – Jack Viney
• 296 – Ed Langdon
• 291 – Clayton Oliver
• 234 – Max Gawn
• 208 – Christian Salem
• 186 – Angus Brayshaw
• 179 – Michael Hibberd
• 172 – Sam Weideman
• 165 – Jake Lever
• 154 – Bayley Fritsch
• 119 – Jake Melksham
• 102 – Kysaiah Pickett
• 94 – Trent Rivers
• 92 – Adam Tomlinson
• 90 – Aaron vandenBerg
• 80 – Charlie Spargo
• 79 – Luke Jackson
• 72 – Mitch Hannan

Hope that helps. 

Thanks, LH. Am actually looking for the full list, but guess our family comp might have to make do with “Results Lite” in keeping with a our COVID reality.

11 hours ago, Watts the matter said:

I think Tomlinson delivered what most of us expected. Was not excited about his recruitment in the slightest. Played alright when moved down back but just like Lever, was a poor list management move.

I didn’t pay enough attention when we recruited him tbh but if this is his level of output then it’s a black mark against our recruitment team for sure.

3 hours ago, Better days ahead said:

I didn’t pay enough attention when we recruited him tbh but if this is his level of output then it’s a black mark against our recruitment team for sure.

I think we were interested in Tomlinson because as a free agent you don’t trade or give up picks. He costs $$ but you give up nothing compared to the General player trade business. 
 

That’s why there’s hot competition for Zac Williams and why he will get very nice $$$$s. 

On 9/23/2020 at 10:54 PM, picket fence said:

Mate I dont have to take a good hard look! ! After supporting heart and soul, and personally knowing former players, and putting my hard earned into the club over many years without success then I reckon I like many on this site are OWED BLOODY BIG TIME!

But over and over and over again this club CONTINUES to tease, torture and ultimately Underachieve time and time again! You want me to take a look? Yeah well the Admin,coaches and many players who OWE us need to take a bigger more introspective look. Dont knock me for passion! If I see underachievement and pizz weak efforts then Ill call it out.Thats MY opinion and as always after all thats what Demonland is about.

So dont friggen tell me to take a good hard look! Vent ur spleen on  a perrenially underachieving non relevant at this stage club!! By the way I never knocked Weeds for his 10th finish,so dont misquote or put words in my mouth!! 

Absolutely agree with the sentiments of this post.

The voting shows the talent that exists in the squad. However it may also show how thin our next tier of players are..

i would have thought Pruess would get some votes for his few games and others who played back up or support roles would also get votes. An even spread i across the whole squad would be interesting. Also the votes being given by coaches may be biased as for instance Pruess might be overvalued due to his stepping up and performing a role in lieu of Max. Voting is subjective and so I'm not going to be critical of any thoughts. 

I do believe there is a lot of underachievement and the coach must address this. The passion of most on Dland is exactly what seems to Be lacking. I understand that to achieve and maintain the passion and skill level to perform week after week is extremely difficult and it is the coaches job to monitor and recognise who is going to perform on the day. It is obvious we got this wrong on too many occasions. The coaches need to take a good hard look at their performance.

When they were counting down the top 5 and read Oliver out first I shook my head.   Underappreciated by his own coaching staff.

 Langdon and Viney,  FMD.

Gawn finishing 6th was bit of a joke too, although he missed 3 games.