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On 10/14/2020 at 10:57 PM, titan_uranus said:

The prospect of going to a game at the MCG excites me most.

It might not happen straight away, or at all (depending on your level of optimism/pessimism about the world), but that excites me more than anything else right now.

After I have had a working vaccine shot I agree but I feel it will be 2022 at the earliest.

 
On 10/23/2020 at 10:37 AM, spirit of norm smith said:

2021 

A Demons premiership 

and 

A covid-19 vaccine 

BRING IT ON 

 

I am confident both can be achieved 

 
33 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

I am confident both can be achieved 

Trump told me one is only weeks away. 

3 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Trump told me one is only weeks away. 

Was that in April?


Just now, gs77 said:

Was that in April?

Yeah. Same time he told me Covid is going to go away. Only 81,000 new infections today. So close to flattening that curve. 

IMV

Lockhart May Lever

Hibberd Tomlinson Salem

Langdon Viney ******

Melksham Brown Harmes

Fritsch Weideman Pickett 

Gawn Petracca Oliver

Brayshaw Rivers Jackson Sparrow 

I’d be confident with the right strategy, physical development, intensity and footy IQ, this team can match any going ahead. With a few smart additions, MFC certainly have the talent to get that elusive premiership  

2021 ins 
+4 in trade/FA.    +3 in draft 

Foot soldiers: 

Hunt Vandenburg Petty Hore Anb Jetta Jones Jordan Baker Bedford Spargo Smith

Nietschke (r) Bradtke (r) kk (x)

OUTS  

- Bennell Chandler Cwagner jwagner Dunkley
- trade OMc Tmc hannan Preuss 

 

Oliver came equal winner in our b&f last season and top 10 in the Brownlow this one. We all know he can do better.

Daisy Pearce to win the best player in the women's and have the award named after her.

Our recruiting staff not to miss the best player of a generation 


50 minutes ago, Half forward flank said:

Coach and Club to look at the GF, acknowlege we are a long long way of in so many areas. 

HFF.  Tigers finished 13th in 2016 with only 8 wins. Lost the round 22 clash to Sydney by 20 goals.  From the round 22 team, 19 players played in their 2017 GF and yesterday still had 14 of those players in that side that played in the 2020 GF.  
 

They won 2017 premiership in a huge turnaround.  
How? 
It wasn’t huge personnel changes.  Things are key standouts.
1- Injury free run 2- skills skills skills 3- intensity 4- strategy and 5- Dusty is an absolute mega Star

9 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

IMV

Lockhart May Lever

Hibberd Tomlinson Salem

Langdon Viney ******

Melksham Brown Harmes

Fritsch Weideman Pickett 

Gawn Petracca Oliver

Brayshaw Rivers Jackson Sparrow 

I’d be confident with the right strategy, physical development, intensity and footy IQ, this team can match any going ahead. With a few smart additions, MFC certainly have the talent to get that elusive premiership  

2021 ins 
+4 in trade/FA.    +3 in draft 

Foot soldiers: 

Hunt Vandenburg Petty Hore Anb Jetta Jones Jordan Baker Bedford Spargo Smith

Nietschke (r) Bradtke (r) kk (x)

OUTS  

- Bennell Chandler Cwagner jwagner Dunkley
- trade OMc Tmc hannan Preuss 

Foot soldiers worry me Most except Petty (inj) and Spargo Baker and Hunt had a Largely inconsistent ( promising at times) season. The others had their worst seasons ever snd are all lucky if they are not delisted (Jordan and Hore excepted).

Need at least 3 good AFL players for forward wing and small running roles plus 4 draft players in addition with good running and disposal skills.
 
Plus great improvement in Gus Harmes Melksham and development of Locky Jacko Kossie and Riv and Tommo Weid and Smith is a given.Oh and add a decent game plan with forward and mids connection on all levels.

Then we should be in the line for Finals In 2021.

55 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

HFF.  Tigers finished 13th in 2016 with only 8 wins. Lost the round 22 clash to Sydney by 20 goals.  From the round 22 team, 19 players played in their 2017 GF and yesterday still had 14 of those players in that side that played in the 2020 GF.  
 

They won 2017 premiership in a huge turnaround.  
How? 
It wasn’t huge personnel changes.  Things are key standouts.
1- Injury free run 2- skills skills skills 3- intensity 4- strategy and 5- Dusty is an absolute mega Star

Agree with your standouts, but intensity or pressure from all players is the biggest, it just wore the Cats down last night, overwhelming them in the last. Dusty just does it when it matters most.

Makes me look at Demons and go what do we need:

 - FF Ben B fits the bill

- Wing Phillips from Pies, can bring run and pressure

- Forward Higgins from Tigers

- Small defender not sure but someone relentless in tackling pressure

Looking at majority of team below, reinforces  the above changes to me. Melksham misses due to lack of pressure, Ben Brown FF instead of ex Bomber Brown, Weideman to CHF.

10 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

IMV

Lockhart May Lever

Hibberd Tomlinson Salem

Langdon Viney ******

Melksham Brown Harmes

Fritsch Weideman Pickett 

Gawn Petracca Oliver

Brayshaw Rivers Jackson Sparrow 

I’d be confident with the right strategy, physical development, intensity and footy IQ, this team can match any going ahead. With a few smart additions, MFC certainly have the talent to get that elusive premiership  

2021 ins 
+4 in trade/FA.    +3 in draft 

Foot soldiers: 

Hunt Vandenburg Petty Hore Anb Jetta Jones Jordan Baker Bedford Spargo Smith

Nietschke (r) Bradtke (r) kk (x)

OUTS  

- Bennell Chandler Cwagner jwagner Dunkley
- trade OMc Tmc hannan Preuss 

 Add relentless pressure, Petracca lifts one extra cog for big games, Oliver the same, we can be not that far away!

Strategy - Tigers are about holding defensive structure and relentless pressure. Structure dropped and pressure while getting stabilised with Vlaustin missing and Tigers vulnerable, reset at half time and the pressure squeezed the life out of Geelong.

Demons, have the core of what is required, just a few missing pieces to be filled, and a lift in intensity can propel us into a top 4 position!

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

HFF.  Tigers finished 13th in 2016 with only 8 wins. Lost the round 22 clash to Sydney by 20 goals.  From the round 22 team, 19 players played in their 2017 GF and yesterday still had 14 of those players in that side that played in the 2020 GF.  
 

They won 2017 premiership in a huge turnaround.  
How? 
It wasn’t huge personnel changes.  Things are key standouts.
1- Injury free run 2- skills skills skills 3- intensity 4- strategy and 5- Dusty is an absolute mega Star

We have holes in our list ..  who are our forwards to kick goals vs Reivoldt, Lynch, Martin


11 minutes ago, D4Life said:

Agree with your standouts, but intensity or pressure from all players is the biggest, it just wore the Cats down last night, overwhelming them in the last. Dusty just does it when it matters most.

Makes me look at Demons and go what do we need:

 - FF Ben B fits the bill

- Wing Phillips from Pies, can bring run and pressure

- Forward Higgins from Tigers

- Small defender not sure but someone relentless in tackling pressure

Looking at majority of team below, reinforces  the above changes to me. Melksham misses due to lack of pressure, Ben Brown FF instead of ex Bomber Brown, Weideman to CHF.

 Add relentless pressure, Petracca lifts one extra cog for big games, Oliver the same, we can be not that far away!

Strategy - Tigers are about holding defensive structure and relentless pressure. Structure dropped and pressure while getting stabilised with Vlaustin missing and Tigers vulnerable, reset at half time and the pressure squeezed the life out of Geelong.

Demons, have the core of what is required, just a few missing pieces to be filled, and a lift in intensity can propel us into a top 4 position!

All well and good where has the intensity been recently. We have habitual drops in intensity that the coaching staff seem incapable of remedying

The Dees dont seem interested in improving

10 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

IMV

Lockhart May Lever

Hibberd Tomlinson Salem

Langdon Viney ******

Melksham Brown Harmes

Fritsch Weideman Pickett 

Gawn Petracca Oliver

Brayshaw Rivers Jackson Sparrow 

I’d be confident with the right strategy, physical development, intensity and footy IQ, this team can match any going ahead. With a few smart additions, MFC certainly have the talent to get that elusive premiership  

2021 ins 
+4 in trade/FA.    +3 in draft 

Foot soldiers: 

Hunt Vandenburg Petty Hore Anb Jetta Jones Jordan Baker Bedford Spargo Smith

Nietschke (r) Bradtke (r) kk (x)

OUTS  

- Bennell Chandler Cwagner jwagner Dunkley
- trade OMc Tmc hannan Preuss 

We aren’t winning many games with that forward line.

2021 Demon premiership and a covid 19 / micro chip vaccine . Ben Brown kicks 100 goals for us.

17 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

We aren’t winning many games with that forward line.

Replace Brown with Ben Brown and replace Melksham with someone like Higgins from Richmond, and get Harmes to tag best opposition defensive playmaker and it’s a different dynamic, with Petracca spending 40%- 60% forward like Dusty and it’s a Totally different Forward line. 


1 hour ago, Hogan2014 said:

We have holes in our list ..  who are our forwards to kick goals vs Reivoldt, Lynch, Martin

Ben Brown, Weiderman and Petracca

55 minutes ago, Kent said:

All well and good where has the intensity been recently. We have habitual drops in intensity that the coaching staff seem incapable of remedying

The Dees dont seem interested in improving

There are a few players who you can’t play, as you could see Tigers intensity and backline structure faultered with Vlaustin missing in the first half, they regrouped at half time and their defensive wall was back, big part of their forward defensive structure being so successful is implied pressure from Martin, defenders panic a bit, also he makes them pay, then you get Lynch & Riewoldt tackling pressure plus their other forwards and midfield.

You only need 1-2 players in the team not maintaining pressure and it falls apart. Melbourne Carried Melksham almost zero pressure, Jones limited pressure due to being slow, defence needs a small lockdown defensive player. Also young guys in Pickett & Jackson will be better pressure wise another year on. Fritsch can do it, but needs to target a player as he fix last two rounds. Brayshaw needs to lift his intensity.

The other factor is Demons need to rotate midfield more, so they can keep defensive intensity up!

I liked Melksham one on one ability back half 2018 and parts 2019, but watching Tigers last night can see if you don’t bring defensive intensity, creates huge holes, so would drop Melksham until he does it. 

 

I'm not 'excited' by our prospects in 2021. 

It's not that I'm pessimistic about the talent and quality of our list, coaching etc, but as a support I think I'm over the whole excitement of anticipation of a potentially sucessful year.

That all said, I'm cautiously optimistic that we do have the core of a side that could click and start regularly beating the best sides.  Our home and away performances against the two sides that played in the grand final were fairly respectable and if we can just address a few deficiencies in our game, I think we would have beaten both sides.  I also think it's partially in our heads that we are good enough and do the right things to beat these top teams with greater regularly and it could be as simple as something clicking and we are away.

What I'm looking for next season is a side which takes a step up in maturity that sees us do all the things necessary to put ourselves in a position to genuinely challenge for a premiership, which in my mind is:

* Regularly win against the best sides;

* Start the season with 4, 2 win/loss or better;

*  Be well established inside the top 8 at the half way point of the season;

* Finish the home and away season inside the top 4.

 

If we can do all that, then the excitement will build for me throughout the season, but until then, I just want the team to be focused, hungry and to do all the right things to hit the ground running at the start of the season.

 

The faint possibility MFC listen to me and get on the phone to Gary Ablett tomorrow. Gary was lauded for the timne and help he gave to a Tiger player in the outer quarantine bubble. he willingly shared his knowlege and offered encouragement to an opposing player. Tell him we would love him to give, say, 6 sessions of midfield skill, not structures or game plans to our mids including Oliver, Trac, Viney, brayshaw and Co. Pay a fair $$$ but appeal to his generous spirit and love for the game.

Edited by Half forward flank


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