Join @george_on_the_outer, @binman & I on the Demonland Podcast Monday night 12th September LIVE @ 8:30pm for breakdown of the Semi Final loss to Brisbane.

Listen & Chat LIVE: https://demonland.com/podcast

Call: 03 9016 3666

Skype: Demonland31

Feel free to post your questions for the panel here.

If you would like to call and leave a voice message please call 03 9016 3666 and let it ring out and leave your message or question for the panel. Don't worry no one answers.

Look forward to tuning in despite our season being over, its still hard to comprehend.

Some observations on why there were no selection changes would be great.

Edited September 11, 20222 yr by Jibroni

At what moment/incident in the game did you think we were in trouble? That is, how early was it?

Still can’t believe brisbane beat us.

Would love some discussion on why the G is such a bogey ground for us against good teams. Since Goody has been coach we have had 4 wins and 21 losses against sides that finished top 6 that year.

Is it psychological, or is our game plan fundamentally flawed and too easy to pick apart by the best teams on the wider ground?

PS Please don’t roll out the myth that we play Optus well and it’s the same width because it isn’t (it’s 130m wide versus the G’s 141m). 
https://optusstadium.com.au/the-stadium/fact-sheets/afl-fact-sheet

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Demonised said:

At what moment/incident in the game did you think we were in trouble? That is, how early was it?

As soon as they kicked the goal with 17 seconds to go before half time reducing our 28 point lead to 22 points and giving them momentum going into half time.

I’m gonna tune in tomorrow night as I do every week but not sure I’ll make it to the end. It’s still too raw. I’ll take the advice I’ve been given so many times on DL and just leave (the podcast, not DL. Wouldn’t wanna give the haters the pleasure 😉).

PS: Even a coroner lets a body grow cold before beginning a post-mortem.

This will turn into a season review pod because the game was the epitome of our second half of the season against good teams; started well, got scores from repeat entries, opposition adjusts and recovers, we get pulverised in the second half, and can’t move the ball from D50 if our season depended on it.

Or is this the season review pod?

In which case, it would good to collect the aspects that contributed most to our (hopefully singular) year of malaise. Injuries, forward pressure, transition issues, outside run, etc

Then the 3 or 5 biggest changes that need to be made or explored.

What does binman think about his loading theory?  We consistently looked cooked after halftime in the second half of the season, yet goody insisted in his post game presser that our players were fit.

Is our problem psychological? 

24 minutes ago, KLV said:

What does binman think about his loading theory?  We consistently looked cooked after halftime in the second half of the season, yet goody insisted in his post game presser that our players were fit.

Is our problem psychological? 

Good questions - to which I will respond (assuming Andy asks me!)

Why is Goodwin playing out of form players? There are players playing for Cassey that should have been in a month ago..

2 hours ago, Demonised said:

At what moment/incident in the game did you think we were in trouble? That is, how early was it?

The very moment that Tracca started limping again.

In 2021, we had a dream run of injuries aside from Tommo’s knee, Viney’s foot and Langdon being concussed. 2022 has been a total nightmare by comparison.

According to the AFL Tables website - only Brayshaw, Fritsch, Petracca, Spargo and Jordon played in all 23 Rounds from 33 players used. 

To what extent did injuries to key players and those carrying injuries contribute towards our end of season fade outs and/or a lack of cohesion among the playing group? 

Edited September 11, 20222 yr by OhMyDees

I’d like to hear your thoughts on our depth.

Are our 15th - 25th players good enough?

We have had a lot of strong reasons to bring guys in through the back half of the year - So Goody must not think so 

If you were Goody, what would be 3 changes you would make to a) the game plan and b) the personnel?

No question from me but just wanted to pass on immense gratitude to everyone involved in making the podcast, it’s been brilliant again this season.

What can we do about our forwardline issues in the off season? Is it time to bite the bullet and hire a full time forward coach who actually played in the forward line and understands forward craft and leading patterns?

I expect the full Peter Finch in Network from Andy to start the show tonight. 😆
 

 

For the panel:

In your opinion, the most glaring issue with our forward line is:

-    Personnel 
-    Structure 
-    Strategy 

Don’t want to add too much because I’m keen to hear your instant reactions to these but some quick examples. Personnel – eg lack of a key forward that can contest and bring the ball to ground regularly. Structure – eg Selection and the mix of players that make up the forward group on a given week. Strategy – eg Our setup at forward 50 stoppages, our delivery into the 50 etc.

I've narrowed it down to these 3 things but feel free to add if another comes to mind. 
 

17 hours ago, rpfc said:

This will turn into a season review pod because the game was the epitome of our second half of the season against good teams; started well, got scores from repeat entries, opposition adjusts and recovers, we get pulverised in the second half, and can’t move the ball from D50 if our season depended on it.

Or is this the season review pod?

In which case, it would good to collect the aspects that contributed most to our (hopefully singular) year of malaise. Injuries, forward pressure, transition issues, outside run, etc

Then the 3 or 5 biggest changes that need to be made or explored.

It might turn into a Season review pod in some respects because we repeated some of the same mistakes this week as we have in previous weeks but I would still like to do a Season Review pod in a few weeks when the dust has settled and I'm not so emotional.

Andy, George and Binman, commiserations on our finals results, I would normally say unreservedly I am looking forward to the podcast however if others feel like I do I wonder what you are in for by way of contributions and questions. I am sure your reasoned and balanced views will prevail again.

I have refrained from knee jerk reaction and some 60 hours after the result have tempered my thoughts or tried to. However my disappointment and anger does not want subside no matter how I try to rationalise this semi final result.

Football is an important fabric of this city, it has grown from tribal/municipal roots into a national game. Trust is a key component in relationships, right down to the seemingly benign football club football member/supporter relationship. We would all like to barrack for, support or belong to(be a member of) a team we trust to consistently put in good effort week on week.

It took a long time to begin to trust my team and club again after the Barassi exit and the Smith sacking but gradually that trust retuned in the Northey years, waned again in the up/down Daniher years and returned again in the middle part of the magnificent 2021 season culminating in the never forgotten finals campaign and the glorious premiership.

The Goodwin years showed an alternating mix of good promise only to be dashed by games like the 2018 prelim. The following year (2019)as some sort of internal rationalising/cleansing I referred to the coach as Simon Badloss, it was fitting.

In the early Covid years I was not convinced by his game style nor his media appearances(which as uninformed members and supporters was all we had to judge the team and club by) and of course each weeks game and results. While 2020 saw improvement the finish to the season was unsatisfactory and dispiriting.

The 2021 wonderful and uplifting finals series was followed by players and staff expressing a strong and united desire to repeat the effort in front of members and supporters on the MCG in 2022. The manner of our dismissal from this finals series left me angry and disillusioned.

Maybe the signs were there and I refused to remove the blinkers; the first 10 wins of the year I thought the coach/team had applied the handbrake once we got in front - why. The Steven May restaurant incident had me flip flopping between “boys will be boys” and “is there some disquiet within”. After the R22 Carlton game I posed the question, “did anyone see what I thought I saw” many of our top liners walking with peculiar gaits, ie not moving freely and looking injured. Wasn’t seen in play but walking off and back on at half time, 3/4 time etc. and away from the ball in game time.

The very issue that stamped our authority in 2021, competitiveness, coming from behind to win and running out games disappeared in the second half this season.

Along with many others I had faith(blind faith?)that we would come good when we needed to, not even the qualifying loss to Sydney and the manner of it interrupted my blind faith.

So now this 60 year MCC/MFC member is back to being a doubter and my trust in the team, if not the club as well, is back where it has been most of my supporting life. Does that make me fickle or a new realist, I have the off-season to work it out.

On any judgement the last half of this season does not sit well alongside the previous season and a half. I feel the club owes its members and supporters a briefing on the results of a fact finding report on what went wrong and what will be in place to ensure 2021 was not a one year wonder. That might go some way to restoring trust.

Now let’s get something out of this season and barrack home our Casey team next week, hopefully re-discovering team spirit and resolve and unearthing some solid up and comers for next year in the process.

I do of course look forward to the analysis and discussion tonight.

Hi Demonland, first time poster and love your work!!

I have no doubt there will be many different theories for our VERY disappointing end to 2022, many which will have 'some' merit. However, surely it all just comes back to fitness and the fact that we weren't fit enough to be able to execute our game plan that won us a flag last year. Keen to get your thoughts?

I heard one commentator say on the weekend that it took opposing teams about 1.5 quarters to work out that they couldnt long bomb it to our key backs, therefore went short and at angles which is why we kept getting overun. To me that is the biggest load of rubbish i have ever heard. Instead, in my opinion it took 1.5 quarters for melbourne to tire and no longer apply the pressure and overlap run to carry out our gamplan and that is the main reason why we kept giving up not just leads but decent one's against quality teams at that. Also keen to get your though on that?

This season to me proved that our best is still probably the best however we need to be one of, if not the fittest team in the comp to carry out our gamplean for the whole season. I believe the combination of a premiership hangover (not doing that extra 5%), a botched fitness program and injuries (especially carrying banged up players) is why we struggled so much towards the end of the year.

Silver lining is thay are all easily fixed (with a bit of luck with injuries) and some smart recruiting/trading and we'll back us in to raise the cup at the G in 2023.

 

 

15 minutes ago, EverDee said:

Hi Demonland, first time poster and love your work!!

I have no doubt there will be many different theories for our VERY disappointing end to 2022, many which will have 'some' merit. However, surely it all just comes back to fitness and the fact that we weren't fit enough to be able to execute our game plan that won us a flag last year. Keen to get your thoughts?

I heard one commentator say on the weekend that it took opposing teams about 1.5 quarters to work out that they couldnt long bomb it to our key backs, therefore went short and at angles which is why we kept getting overun. To me that is the biggest load of rubbish i have ever heard. Instead, in my opinion it took 1.5 quarters for melbourne to tire and no longer apply the pressure and overlap run to carry out our gamplan and that is the main reason why we kept giving up not just leads but decent one's against quality teams at that. Also keen to get your though on that?

This season to me proved that our best is still probably the best however we need to be one of, if not the fittest team in the comp to carry out our gamplean for the whole season. I believe the combination of a premiership hangover (not doing that extra 5%), a botched fitness program and injuries (especially carrying banged up players) is why we struggled so much towards the end of the year.

Silver lining is thay are all easily fixed (with a bit of luck with injuries) and some smart recruiting/trading and we'll back us in to raise the cup at the G in 2023.

 

 

Andy, i promise Ever Dee is not me!

ED you took the words right out of my mouth.

21 hours ago, 3183 Dee said:

If you were Goody, what would be 3 changes you would make to a) the game plan and b) the personnel?

(a)

• more running to make space and required fitness increases
• more central corridor entering forward line and tandem entries/ghosting
• lock in improved foot passing/goalkicking skills

(There are more to add than 3)

(b)

• JVR for BBB (Swap AFL/VFL)
• Joel Smith for an ageing Hibberd or re-injured TMac
• Bedford for Spargo (re-train Spargs at Casey)

Not a question, but I want to acknowledge the huge amount of work that Andy, George and Bin have put into running the pod each week over the season.  Whether or not I agree with the points of view, I value the different perspectives, and love the ‘Demon banter’ that goes with them.

Thanks from me guys, and I expect I also speak for the vast majority of Demonlanders!