... we'll have finished somewhere from 9th to 18th?

I won’t be shocked. The competition is ridiculously even, last years premiership team didn’t make finals this year. Sure their list demographic was different but it won’t take much to go wrong for us or most teams that made finals this year to miss. 

McQualter takes over and we go into a new era. 2024 is not a do or die situation. Just another disappointing year. 

… the meltdown on Demonland will truly be epic.

Edited November 27, 20231 yr by Tarax Club

I’ll be in a parallel universe cos it just won’t happen 

I’ll go back to living in France. 

9 hours ago, deva5610 said:

Sure and what do the stats say gives you the best chance going into finals? Finishing top 4. As we have done. 3 years running.

Fat lot of good it has done us the past 2 years. We have clearly indicated over the past 2 years that we aren’t good enough to simply flick the switch. Our dour game style is so indoctrinated, we struggle to freely switch to an all out attacking style when needed.

September has shown us to not be worthy of finishing top 4, which is farcical imo.

3 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

Fat lot of good it has done us the past 2 years. We have clearly indicated over the past 2 years that we aren’t good enough to simply flick the switch. Our dour game style is so indoctrinated, we struggle to freely switch to an all out attacking style when needed.

September has shown us to not be worthy of finishing top 4, which is farcical imo.

sorry you cant say we arent worthy to be top 4 because we didnt win 1 game of football. theres 23 rounds that need to be contested to be in a position to have 2 shots at winning a final. every team strives to do that.

 

This year our forward line was completely shot leading up to finals, JVR gets reported and we lose our 2nd final which we should not of lost, If we were a full strength team we win, simple as that.

12 hours ago, dl4e said:

Who knows what is really going on at the club. There is a real chance we could drop out of the 8 as there is we could go close to winning it. 

I really wonder what happened with the girls side. Relevant to the men at all or not ?????

Not

17 hours ago, kallangurdemon said:

if we miss out on finals next year (we wont) then I expect that will mark the end of our era.

What era? 1 Premiership can hardly be called an era!

Edited November 27, 20231 yr by picket fence

18 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

You’ve said this a few times now. When we speak of Top 4 it’s always been about the end of the H & A season. We haven’t failed to finish top 4 the last two seasons. Position after finals is irrelevant.

Not irrelevant according to the draft, HS this morning stating Carlton finished third, who's right ? We didn't finish top 4 in my opinion.

Well i look at it this way i dont shed Crocodile tears over our losses, I  look at what happened, firstly BBB is out JVR is out (and no action from club) Melks out, Pets out and  not to mention the around 23 touches we missed from the the legal it seems, head high shirt front on Brays and still only miss out by a kick.  

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 20231 yr by demons123452000

Peds, Surely not talking about Cam?.

A Collingwood supporters honest (not trash talk or trolling) assessment of Melbourne that I came across on another forum.

5th to 8th with a chance of dropping out. Also sees parallels between Collingwood's fall from grace after 2010 and a potentially Melbourne's from 2021.  

 

That’s the nature of a very even league. As a Collingwood fan who depressingly watched the 2010 team unravel over the following years, I can’t help but draw several comparisons to the Melbourne premiership team of 2021.

Both teams were absolutely red hot on route to winning a flag and near unbeatable for a long time - the Pies won 32/35 games at one stage and Melbourne won 17 on the trot over two seasons including their premiership win. Pies 2011 and Melbourne 2022 started on fire but at some stage, the invincibility aura wore off, and culminated in unsuccessful finals runs. Pies 2012 and Melbourne 23 were similar too - still carrying much of the core and class of their premiership sides, the depth had dropped off, and the teams were just not at the level of the competing grand final teams anymore. In 2013, the Magpies went 13-9 to secure sixth but bombed out in the first week of finals. My realistic expectation of Melbourne for 2024 is probably a 5th-8th finish but my bullish feeling is that due to an unbalanced 23 and skinny depth, Melbourne could drop out.

The forward line is still a serious concern and intercept defenders will likely continue to hurt the Dees. Is there too much expectation placed on Petty to glue the forward line together based on his 6 goal game against Richmond? I think so. A pass mark for he and JVR would be 65 goals between them. Realistically both are in their infancy as forwards at this level and it’s not going to be easy.

I really like the Billings acquisition and if Windsor kicks on immediately, the Demons will have elite outside run and better connection with their forwards. McAdam at best breaks even with Melksham’s output I think. Trading Grundy was obviously the right move, but a back up as unreliable as Fullarton is not good. You can’t afford to have Gawn miss games IMO.

Then there’s the behind the scenes factor. I don’t have a read on Melbourne’s plying chemistry, but history suggests when you’ve got a number of loose units at one club, it eventually catches up and hurts on field results. Smith looks suspended, Oliver very close to blowing football and (I edited player out per DL rules) by way of rumour has some real issues. There’s likely some other culprits too that are better at covering their tracks (as would be at any club).

Melbourne undoubtedly still have a really good playing group but I think their days of seriously contending are gone unless there is change

Bevo, Clarko, Hinkley etc all missed finals multiple times with premiership quality lists. two of which after winning flags

its not as missing finals, it’s the 3-5 year outlook which still looks very good. 

there are 16 good teams in the league and it only take injuries bad form and bad luck to go on a bad run

I have yet to think my way through how we will go next year.  A lot has happened to the game style overall in the AFL.  How we create a method that does the Demon DNA but steps into the new breakneck process, and our ability to go between the two, will say a lot about our outcome.  Having some forwards there regularly could also help….

top 4 for mine.

40 minutes ago, loges said:

Not irrelevant according to the draft, HS this morning stating Carlton finished third, who's right ? We didn't finish top 4 in my opinion.

I’m not talking about the draft, I’m fully aware finish after finals confirms draft position. 
To me, Top 4 has always been after the regular season finishes. 

17 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

I'd say the opposite. Ladder position is irrelevant. Finals is the real stuff and when the proper season starts. We have a finals system to determine the winners and placers. Minor premiers are meaningless. We have failed to finish top four two seasons running. We've [censored] the bed and are wasting our premiership window.

If we fail again next year, I expect significant changes to senior coaches and onfield personnel and leaders. Otherwise we become Port Adelaide who keep resigning Hinkley as coach and never achieve any success.

Spot on. 
we have finished 6th the last two Seasons 

Get your ship together Goodwin….

19 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

I’m not talking about the draft, I’m fully aware finish after finals confirms draft position. 
To me, Top 4 has always been after the regular season finishes. 

I guess it depends if you're happy to still say top 4 after going out in straight sets, I'm not, in my opinion other sides went passed us in the way I look at things. Sure top 4 gave us double chance but what did we do with it ?

I think we're 50/50 to play finals in 2024, and considerably less than that in 2025. Our depth in key areas is almost non-existent and we are very heavily reliant on Gawn and May to play full seasons, which is unlikely given their ages.

The age profile of our list says that our fall, when it inevitably comes, will be pretty brutal. I doubt the coach and the list manager will survive.

22 minutes ago, loges said:

I guess it depends if you're happy to still say top 4 after going out in straight sets, I'm not, in my opinion other sides went passed us in the way I look at things. Sure top 4 gave us double chance but what did we do with it ?

I think my irrelevant comment has been misunderstood.
I’m not sugarcoating or excusing our last two finals campaigns and I was disappointed as everyone else.

When Top 4 comes up in conversation at a pub or at home I’ve always associated it with the end of the H & A and not after finals. That was the point I was trying to make. 

Edited November 28, 20231 yr by Dee Zephyr

Yikes, it doesn't take much for the Chicken Little Melbourne supporters to come out from under their doonas, does it???

I think we look at our list changes in isolation and give us a tick

in reality it’s our list changes and list development relative to the competition that we should consider 

I’m not that clear on how improved other key contenders are

JT has said that we went tall in past drafts and those investments won’t see returns straight away cause taller players take time

I’m concerned we don’t have the tall defenders for 2024 we need they are still “developing” 

Edited November 28, 20231 yr by dino rover
Typo

The club will be asking whether we are more likely to win a flag with our current set-up, or are we more likely to win a flag with a different set-up? They are leaning to the former. At the moment.

4 minutes ago, dino rover said:

I’m concerned we don’t have the tall defenders for 2024 we need they are still “developing” 

I think that's one area I'm comfortable with going into 2024.

May, Tomlinson and Lever as our three taller defenders, with T Mac (some may disagree), Turner and Hore as back ups.