Reality Check

[white stallion 0]

A not too subtle reminder to some of our "supporters" :

I understand the emotion of football that causes you to denigrate the club and its players at a time like this. However, I am very strongly of the view that too many are jumping off us too soon.

We have yet to be beaten when at full strength. We have keys players out.

We are winding up to peak at the right time, we are not anywhere close to peak fitness yet.

On Saturday, we had one telling injury early and another one after the game was lost.

We did not play at our best. We would have more to complain about if we were beaten by Hawthorn and we played to our full potential.

We were playing a team that were roundly castigated in the press after a woeful performance, were close to full strength and had a 100% crack, as if their football lives depended on it. They won.

This week, our football lives depend on a win. We will win.

Do not turn on our team, turn on the other supporters. Defend our team. It is us against them. Be one of us, the alternative is got a good one.

[Jarka 767]

WS, I like your passion and it takes guts to post something here on demonland that goes against the grain but I have to disagree with your attitude towards injuries, both St.Kilda and Hawthorn had their fair share of injuries as well, you just can't use that as an excuse, nor a reason.

Other than that good work

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

We were playing a team that were roundly castigated in the press after a woeful performance, were close to full strength and had a 100% crack, as if their football lives depended on it. They won.

We were also roundly castigated as well after our 'woeful' performance against St.kilda, but we didn't have a 100% crack - Hawthorn clearly did. Thats why we're so angry at the club at the moment.

I along with many other Demonlanders will start being positive when some of our higher profile players play games as if their football lives depend on it, and when we actually show up for 4 quarters.

If we have a good solid 4 quarter performance and come up short by a couple of goals against Geelong, then I'll start to be more positive....considering our injury list. Thats all we can ask for at this stage.

[deezzz 0]

This week, our football lives depend on a win. We will win.

this comment is as idealistic as it gets! reality check needed by you i think

[beelzebub 23,383]

A reality check ?

wholeheartedly agee

About 15 players and a coach need one for sure !!

[white stallion 0]

WS, I like your passion and it takes guts to post something here on demonland that goes against the grain but I have to disagree with your attitude towards injuries, both St.Kilda and Hawthorn had their fair share of injuries as well, you just can't use that as an excuse, nor a reason.

Other than that good work

Hawthorn had no Vandenberg (would he make our team), Smith (possibly would, just) and Roughead (dropped). Would they have beaten us by more if they played? It is fair to say they had no injuries.

[Real Demon 232]

I will always support the club, and very rarely have a crack at the players and coach, but there is NO excuse for how we have played for the first two games.

It isn't the losses, but the way we lost. Just garbage football in both games.

How can a team like Adelaide, after getting rolled by the Bombers at home, back up interstate and take down the in form, full strength Bulldogs?

It's attitude / coaching / pride / culture all rolled into one!

Adelaide........no Riciutto (Captain), Hentschel, Biglands, McGregor, Johncock (injured early in game).....all the excuses in the world not to play well........and they come out and win, and win well!

Somehow, we always need the stars to align for us to win!

[Guest dee'viator]

A not too subtle reminder to some of our "supporters" :

I understand the emotion of football that causes you to denigrate the club and its players at a time like this. However, I am very strongly of the view that too many are jumping off us too soon.

We have yet to be beaten when at full strength. We have keys players out.

We are winding up to peak at the right time, we are not anywhere close to peak fitness yet.

On Saturday, we had one telling injury early and another one after the game was lost.

We did not play at our best. We would have more to complain about if we were beaten by Hawthorn and we played to our full potential.

We were playing a team that were roundly castigated in the press after a woeful performance, were close to full strength and had a 100% crack, as if their football lives depended on it. They won.

This week, our football lives depend on a win. We will win.

Do not turn on our team, turn on the other supporters. Defend our team. It is us against them. Be one of us, the alternative is got a good one.

it's good to see your courage & conviction & posting what you believe in but I for one have not jumped off as you put it. I believe we'll still make the 8. What I'm [censored] off about & saying so is not about this season afresh, but the fact that my eyes can see that it's just more of the same roundabout on a different day. The same problems re lack of hard running, 1%ers, team things like blocking & sheperding, hard tackling & genuine LEADERSHIP from our 25 to 28 year olds.

WE NEED A CHANGE, IT'S SO OBVIOUS YOU CAN TASTE THE BITTER SWEET!

[white stallion 0]

it's good to see your courage & conviction & posting what you believe in but I for one have not jumped off as you put it. I believe we'll still make the 8. What I'm [censored] off about & saying so is not about this season afresh, but the fact that my eyes can see that it's just more of the same roundabout on a different day. The same problems re lack of hard running, 1%ers, team things like blocking & sheperding, hard tackling & genuine LEADERSHIP from our 25 to 28 year olds.

WE NEED A CHANGE, IT'S SO OBVIOUS YOU CAN TASTE THE BITTER SWEET!

Yes, but there is a difference between you and others. You can state what it is you are disappointed about and identitfy areas that require varying degrees of improvement. I am not so naive, nor stupid, that I think we are perfect.

Some posters note the problems, suggest and discuss solutions, understand that no one involved in the club is happy and have some faith that the players and coaches are doing everything they can to address the situation.

Others just abuse the players, the coach, the waterboys without being objective. They would throw the baby out with the bath water.

[Real Demon 232]

same problems re lack of hard running, 1%ers, team things like blocking & sheperding, hard tackling & genuine LEADERSHIP from our 25 to 28 year olds.

WE NEED A CHANGE, IT'S SO OBVIOUS YOU CAN TASTE THE BITTER SWEET!

Spot on!

[Pepe Dee Pew 0]

Well the reality is that with so many good players out it will be real test for those currently out of form and the new players who come in.

If we bring in some young players then they get an early chance to prove themselves.

[Yze_Magic 3]

I KNOW WHO YOU ARE WHITE STALLION

[Demon15 0]

How can a team like Adelaide, after getting rolled by the Bombers at home, back up interstate and take down the in form, full strength Bulldogs?

Adelaide........no Riciutto (Captain), Hentschel, Biglands, McGregor, Johncock (injured early in game).....all the excuses in the world not to play well........and they come out and win, and win well!

It's called planning , stupid.

Craig's a master.

Even Buckley said on SEN last night that he didnt mind which players were on the field, what he did mind was that those 22 selected carried out the plan to instructions, and the rest takes care of itself.

Plan is more important than personnel.

[Real Demon 232]

It's called planning , stupid.

Craig's a master.

Even Buckley said on SEN last night that he didnt mind which players were on the field, what he did mind was that those 22 selected carried out the plan to instructions, and the rest takes care of itself.

Plan is more important than personnel.

I'll ignore the stupid comment.

Planning is critical........I couldn't agree more.

I don't subscibe to turning the list over in an attempt to bring success.

I do think we can get a lot more out of the players we have, and with some fine tuning, could be a very strong team.

[beelzebub 23,383]

I think possibly the biggest lesson we have yet to learn is that some players whom we thought still had yards in them have actually peaked.. and are being overtaken. Some have surprised me...some just plain dissapoint

[occo 2]

I think melb will come bottom 4. Kangas to take the spoon and us to come 15th. Want to be serious and thats what i seriously recon. Injuries have recked us and i feel we have little leaders to get us out of this rut. I wouldnt be unhappy with 15th tho as i think its a failure to come outside the 4 (something which is already written with a perminant marker for us).

[dees64 104]

A not too subtle reminder to some of our "supporters" :

I understand the emotion of football that causes you to denigrate the club and its players at a time like this. However, I am very strongly of the view that too many are jumping off us too soon.

We have yet to be beaten when at full strength. We have keys players out.

We are winding up to peak at the right time, we are not anywhere close to peak fitness yet.

On Saturday, we had one telling injury early and another one after the game was lost.

We did not play at our best. We would have more to complain about if we were beaten by Hawthorn and we played to our full potential.

We were playing a team that were roundly castigated in the press after a woeful performance, were close to full strength and had a 100% crack, as if their football lives depended on it. They won.

This week, our football lives depend on a win. We will win.

Do not turn on our team, turn on the other supporters. Defend our team. It is us against them. Be one of us, the alternative is got a good one.

I respect your passon for the club but I along with many other members are fed up in watching the crap style of football that gets played under Daniher for the last 10yrs.Our so called leaders go missing all the time when things get tough. Iam tired of the potential we show and dont deliver and always fail at the last hurdle!

[white stallion 0]

I respect your passon for the club but I along with many other members are fed up in watching the crap style of football that gets played under Daniher for the last 10yrs.Our so called leaders go missing all the time when things get tough. Iam tired of the potential we show and dont deliver and always fail at the last hurdle!

That's fine and I see where you are coming from. Round 2, however, is not the time to jump off and create disunity. Spend the effort reviewing each player and his strengths and weaknesses, decide if he there is a place in the team (coaches included) and do something at the end of the season.

Round 2 is not the time. We can do nothing about changing the cattle, they can improve their attack on the ball, their fitness and their skills. This will happen. we will win more than we lose this year, just be patient.

Hawthorn were on the bottom of the ladder last week, now they are in the 8. We will turn it around.

[Lord Travis 10,763]

Round 2, however, is not the time to jump off and create disunity...

We will win more than we lose this year, just be patient.

Correct. Been a poor start to the season with bad form and injuries, but it is only Round 2 after all. I'd be seriously surprised if we didn't win more games than we lose this year. We'll still make the 8 and play finals. Our list it too good not to.

We must have patience. Only 2 matches done, and people on here are talking about finishing near the bottom of the ladder and having a complete clean out of our list and coaching staff. Now we may not be doing that well currently, but we've played finals footy for 3 years running. That's the most consistent footy I can remember our beloved MFC playing in many years. Someone wanna tell me when the last time was we played finals 3 years running was?

Well make that 4, because we'll be playing finals footy again this year. To quote the great Van Wilder, "...write that down B) "

[white stallion 0]

Correct. Been a poor start to the season with bad form and injuries, but it is only Round 2 after all. I'd be seriously surprised if we didn't win more games than we lose this year. We'll still make the 8 and play finals. Our list it too good not to.

We must have patience. Only 2 matches done, and people on here are talking about finishing near the bottom of the ladder and having a complete clean out of our list and coaching staff. Now we may not be doing that well currently, but we've played finals footy for 3 years running. That's the most consistent footy I can remember our beloved MFC playing in many years. Someone wanna tell me when the last time was we played finals 3 years running was?

Well make that 4, because we'll be playing finals footy again this year. To quote the great Van Wilder, "...write that down B) "

Finally another person who understands footy.

I think we are also forgetting how little difference there is across all theteams now that the AFL's socialism policy is taking effect. With lists of ~38 it is very hard to cover injuries to stars and all clubs face the same problem.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

To those who think we'll win more than we lose this year, have a look at the fixture.

We play Geelong and Freo (top 6 teams) with Neitz, Robbo and McLean out,

Head up to Sydney (tough ask),

Play the Dogs at the Dome where we never win

And play the Eagles at Subiaco where nobody wins.

So a realist would say we're looking at 3-5 after round 8 - at the extreme best.

And then we play most of our interstate games in the second half of the year.

I honestly can't see us winning more than 9 game this year.

I like to be realistic so I don't set myself up for disappointment.

[Guest dee'viator]

I respect your passon for the club but I along with many other members are fed up in watching the crap style of football that gets played under Daniher for the last 10yrs.Our so called leaders go missing all the time when things get tough. Iam tired of the potential we show and dont deliver and always fail at the last hurdle!

I along with many other members are fed up in watching the crap

I think your spot on, & thinking back to last monday @ the 'G', the hush that hung over the Demons supporters throughout most of the game on reflection I believe speaks louder than any words. It must have been the sound of our enthusiasm escaping out of our collective balloon.

[dees64 104]

Correct. Been a poor start to the season with bad form and injuries, but it is only Round 2 after all. I'd be seriously surprised if we didn't win more games than we lose this year. We'll still make the 8 and play finals. Our list it too good not to.

We must have patience. Only 2 matches done, and people on here are talking about finishing near the bottom of the ladder and having a complete clean out of our list and coaching staff. Now we may not be doing that well currently, but we've played finals footy for 3 years running. That's the most consistent footy I can remember our beloved MFC playing in many years. Someone wanna tell me when the last time was we played finals 3 years running was?

Well make that 4, because we'll be playing finals footy again this year. To quote the great Van Wilder, "...write that down B) "

I hope nothing more than the team to turn it around and play finals footy but just playing finals is not good enough! Both the players & coach need to be held accounatble and Danihers record of teams fading out and up & down seasons is poor. Daniher has had 10yrs and the lack of mental toughness continues to be present amongst the leadership group. We need changes to our list by putting up a few good names to trade.(collingwood traded Tarrant).A new coach to bring a different gameplan. He will have no relatonship with current list to be able to make some tough decisions. The alternative is to continue with the status quo and have players demand larger contracts and get the current results. Ask yourself how many of our leadership group(we know who they are) would get a game at Westcoast,Swans,Crows, even Brisbane??