PRESEASON TRAINING: Friday 13th December 2024

[old55 23,687]

3 hours ago, stinga said:

Yes average rather than consistently would have been a better word.   I agree you can't kick 15 every week.   Some weeks it will be 10 and others 20.   Thanks for the input.  i agree we'll get across the board other contributors.  I was just hoping the watchers might suggest who the most likely 70 goal other contributor would be.  330 goals is about what you would need to get in the top 8 on last years ladder.

Sydney kicked the most goals in last year's H&A - 326, that's 14.25 goals per game average. Port kicked 284 that's 12.35 average per game.

https://www.finalsiren.com/AFLLadder.asp

MFC kicked 259, that's 11.25 per match. More would definitely be better but we'd have to kick 1/3rd more to get 15 per match.

No team is averaging that many.

Edited December 14 by old55

[fr_ap 2,529]

46 minutes ago, Deestar9 said:

I still felt your post was derogatory, Maybe you take the advice that Binman gave GW. If you don’t agree with her then let it go. Posters can make their own mind up as to what we believe …we don’t need to post our opinions. They are only of interest to yourself ..

Posting opinions is what this site is for. It's what you've done in this post. No one asked you to weigh in. So perhaps take your own advice.

I've nothing to 'let go' here. I've not doubled down. GW and I exchanged DMs - we evidently don't see eye to eye....but that's ok. 

As I said it was never my intention to upset her and I respect her contribution. 

I'm not going to revisit my initial wording, and would suggest you and the others piling on try not to look for something that isn't there.

[DeeZone 10,100]

Our success has been built on keeping the opposition to 60-70 points per game and us scoring 70+ points per game which served us so well in 2021-2023. If we move away from the defensive mind set to a more higher scoring game our opponents will also kick higher scores. Potentially we now have improved forward depth lead by proven performers - Fritsch, Pickett, JvR, Tracc, Chandler Plus Turner, Petty, Johnson, Jefferson & Langford, add in Sparrow, Langdon, Oliver, Viney, Rivers, Windsor, Sharp & Spargo. We now have the depth to kick 300+ goals/ year going forward, supported by a strong Defensive unit. I’m Bullish for ‘25 and beyond.

[Gator 17,449]

''Haters'' ?  I doubt anyone hates another poster on this site.

I don't personally warm to the style of said posts, or the content, or the banter, or the drama, or the excessive emotion.  C'est la vie.  You roll your eyes and move on.

There's one thing though I'm certain of.  Goodwin isn't picking, or guaranteeing, the round one team in December.

[Adam The God 30,406]

3 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Top 8 all scored over 2000 points last year. 2100 seems like a reasonable target.

In 2018, we scored the most points by some margin with 2299 PF.

That year, Hogan kicked 47, TMac 53, Melksham 32, Hannan 22, ANB 27, Fritta 17 (he played some minutes behind the ball from memory), Petracca 19, Garlett 18, Jones 15, Harmes 15, Spargo 14, Gus 14, Gawn 13, Oliver 12, Weideman 10. 

So 72 goals from midfield (Viney contributed 2 goals) that year, and all of our forwards got a "lick of the ice cream" as Goody used to say. This was off the back of hard running, fast ball movement, and extremely central ball movement that often saw a remarkable number of goals kicked by us from within 30m. This interestingly was a hallmark of Collingwood's premiership year too.

The other thing worth noting from that spread of goalkickers in 2018 is that we tended to favour two talls (TMac and Hogan) with support from Melksham, Fritta, Hannan and a young Trac. We seem to love the two permanent talls now, supported by a ruck/forward as that's what worked so well in 2021. I hope we're a bit flexible and experimental with this like we were in early 2023. 

But a forwardline of JVR, Turner with Fritta, Trac, Kozzy and Chandler with support from Melksham, AJ and Jefferson, I'm confident we can generate some strong scoring power again with different ball movement.

I also think it's likely our defensive prowess will suffer slightly in this renewed push to open up our play through the corridor, occasionally exposing us back the other way, but our defensive mix in 2025 will be lightyears ahead of 2018, with a bunch of premiership defenders in their prime. The one question mark is on Lever and what his interrupted pre season will mean for him and our defensive exploits. But it may mean Petty TMac and May are the three headed defensive triangle.

Edited December 14 by Adam The God

[picket fence 17,495]

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

For a small forward he simply doesn't score enough for me. His best tally for a year is 18 which is poor for a small forward that's been in the system for 7 years.

I know goals aren't exactly everything but this is my point about sharing the load in terms of scoring avenues. That's why I listed the smalls for Brisbane and their ability to impact the scoreboard and spread the load.

 

Nailed it Dazz, this defensive forward pressure  is a misnomer to compared  to scoreboard pressure and should be consigned to the bin. 

[picket fence 17,495]

1 hour ago, fr_ap said:

Posting opinions is what this site is for. It's what you've done in this post. No one asked you to weigh in. So perhaps take your own advice.

I've nothing to 'let go' here. I've not doubled down. GW and I exchanged DMs - we evidently don't see eye to eye....but that's ok. 

As I said it was never my intention to upset her and I respect her contribution. 

I'm not going to revisit my initial wording, and would suggest you and the others piling on try not to look for something that isn't there.

Question, how do you know G.W is a her??

[Dingo 1,126]

4 hours ago, Deestar9 said:

If we get a fit Spargo back then a massive plus as far as I’m concerned. I think a few forget his contribution before he went down the very long injury path …

Agree.

And he is a premiership player.

[Ghostwriter 1,798]

2 hours ago, picket fence said:

Question, how do you know G.W is a her??

GW is a her. WCW will confirm. You said you saw WCW at Gosch’s yesterday, right? I was at Gosch’s yesterday. I might’ve seen you but didn’t know it was you. You definitely saw me. 😉

[picket fence 17,495]

3 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

GW is a her. WCW will confirm. You said you saw WCW at Gosch’s yesterday, right? I was at Gosch’s yesterday. I might’ve seen you but didn’t know it was you. You definitely saw me. 😉

Folks, this is seriously X files like stuff!🤣

Edited December 14 by picket fence

[bing181 9,328]

12 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

So many procedures etc. have changed, new personnel, a new mindset, a newfound sense of pride and unity and a hunger not seen for years; the transformation is astounding.

You have to ask yourself if the pressure (curse?) of following up on the premiership has finally been lifted. Perhaps last season was the season we had to have to finally bury it.

Edited December 14 by bing181

[Ghostwriter 1,798]

4 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Folks, this is seriously X files like stuff!🤣

You sound confused PF. 🙃

[Ghostwriter 1,798]

10 minutes ago, bing181 said:

You have to ask yourself if the pressure of following up on the premiership has finally been lifted. Perhaps last season was the season we had to have to finally bury it.

I was saying this to a friend this evening. It’s like we had to fall to such a low in order to start over and climb our way back up. If we had fallen only a little way we’d be tempted to keep patching things up. This way, we’re compelled to make big ballsy changes, which we’ve done, and so far it’s working. Bring on 2025!

Edited December 14 by Ghostwriter
Removed tautology.

[Mel Bourne 4,534]

Good to be back on DL. 

Some classic shyt goin’ on

Love It. 

[Mel Bourne 4,534]

18 hours ago, Webber said:

 

Clarry’s having a great time, back to his best ‘happy hands’ around the stoppage and through traffic. Obviously loving the energy and group intent, to which Nathan Jones is such a brilliant addition - welcome back Chunk. 

And finally - the 3-headed Demonland pod monster does exist. IRL! Can confirm that no only is @binman a real boy, so too are @george_on_the_outer

Hearing word (via here) that Clayton’s hand has finally healed is genuinely exciting. The combination of physical pain and mental drain he endured last season would have been formidable. That handball aspect of his game was, for understandable reasons, completely absent this year. Coupled with lacking fitness, we all knew he was warming a bench while simultaneously out on the ground in ‘24. But he seems in ten times better shape/spirits than he did this time last year.

Both him and CP are looking down the barrel of playing “defining seasons” in ‘25, and I’m very much here for it. 

Edited December 14 by Mel Bourne

[picket fence 17,495]

9 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

You sound confused PF. 🙃

I knew WCW, was WCW from a few of her interactions she wrote about earlier this year from training, as I was also in attendance on at least one occasion. I saw her again on Friday and remembered but as for your good self, I now assume that  you were one of many hovering with her on Friday. Still a touch of X Files about it🤪.Would love her to get back on Demonland, very entertaining commentaries!

Edited December 14 by picket fence

[Slartibartfast 17,598]

10 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

I was saying this to a friend this evening. It’s like we had to fall to such a low in order to start over and climb our way back up. If we had fallen only a little way we’d be tempted to keep patching things up. This way, we’re compelled to make big ballsy changes, which we’ve done, and so far it’s working. Bring on 2025!

GW are you talking about big ballsy changes on friend or off field?  I’ve seen a lot of training over the last few years and every year I’m told of “a new game plan” or at least of significant tweaks but I don’t see them. Training has always been about quick ball movement and using the centre corridor but training is usually something like 14 v 14 with little pressure on the ball carrier allowing this methodology to be practiced. In games of course it’s quite different because the opposition is trying to stop you do what you want. I think we will basically see the same game plan this year but with different players executing from the back half. Windsor back is a clear indication of an intent to quicken us from there and Bowser will be a good addition. The addition of Sharp makes the Windsor move possible. A fit Clarrie and Trac back will make the biggest difference to last year. 
 

If you’re talking about off field then we have made some significant changes which have been initiated by the club. It will be interesting to see if the members have the same resolve to improve us.  We will find out on Tuesday night. 

[D4Life 2,510]

On 14/12/2024 at 10:12, Slartibartfast said:

I'm really surprised by the doubts about our ability to contend, and seriously, in 2025.

Last year we were two wins and percentage out of the 8 and this was without Clarrie having any sort of year and Trac being unavailable for the last half.  Further we lost three games by a total of 9 points against top 8 teams in this period. All in all we won 11 games and lost 13, hardly an uncompetitive season.

In my opinion Clarrie and Trac are the kernel of next season, if they can have 2021 type seasons or close to it we are a genuine chance of a flag.  If they have poor seasons we are a chance for the bottom of the 8 but no more. And of course we need some luck with injury, but that stands for all teams.

It's hard to imagine we won't be significantly better than last year given how young our team is and the prospect of getting some handy players back.  Bowser has been training really well and he was a bigger loss last year than some realise.  Spargo will add depth, Langford and XL class and Windsor and Kolt have come back in great shape and are training really well. Sharp is a nice addition and looks good on the track.

It's a competition of inches and small gains can take you place just as small losses can.  We've got the prospect of some pretty significant gains.

Anyway that's my take.  Clarrie and Trac hold the key and at the moment both look very good.

Look at last few years flag winners:

2024 - Lions great run with injury and lucky Giants choked when 45 points ahead in Qual final. Still GF day won easily!

2023 - Pies lucky with injury, win 3 finals by combined total of 12 points! Snuck a flag!

Still feels like with any luck approaching finals in 2023 we win that flag, Melksham playing best footy of his career goes down last round, Fritsch fractured foot, Brayshaw taken out, any of those three not happen, I feel we win the flag!

2022 - Cats era finished too old, get a great draw, have a dream run with injury, comfortably win flag!

2021 - Demons great run with injury, dominant finals campaign, run away with flag!

Today Demons are seen by many to be finished, but compare favourably to Cats of 22 in age demographic of stars.

May 33 (hopefully better run with injury, should hang on for one more year) Max 33 (with support next year, can look forward to another great year, he is not get any smaller), Viney 30/31 (fingers crossed). 
The rest of our stars Trac and Clarrie both under 30 and seem fully fit!

I rate Kossie and Fritsch as guns in their positions, I’d take Kossie over Charlie Cameron who is seen as best small forward in comp, does so much more defensively, as a mid forward Fritsch stats over last four years match up well with most.

JVR will be even better after another pre season and Turner with a little bit more confidence in that he belongs will have a good year!

But going back to the last four years premiers, luck with injury is #1, leads to having a fit team that can run out games, a good drawer helps with managing older players, luck in games that are close helps, perhaps that will to win is not luck!

Providing our luck holds over preseason and during 2025 we can give it a real crack, top 4 and then onwards! But Lions won from outside top 4 this year - Daniher injury free and holding up in the finals, who would have thought choking Joe starred in the finals! So top 4 a nice to have!

While many have anti AFL sentiments, due to fixture and range of things that skew the competition, that there are probably ten teams that could win next years flag is a testament to the draft and salary cap doing the job pretty well, of providing some levelling of the playing field! Particularly when compared to competitions like EPL, NBA etc.

Demon supporters keeping your fingers, toes and everything crossed for some Lady Luck in 2025!! You just never know what might happen!!!!!!!!!!

Go Demons! 😃

Edited December 14 by D4Life
Got interrupted mid post

[binman 43,734]

15 minutes ago, D4Life said:

Look at last few years flag winners:

2024 - Lions great run with injury and lucky Giants choked when 45 points ahead in Qual final. Still GF day won easily!

2023 - Pies lucky with injury, win 3 finals by combined total of 12 points! Snuck a flag!

2022 - Cats era finished too old, great draw, great run with injury, comfortably win flag!

2021 - Demons great run with injury, dominant finals campaign, run away with flag!

Today Demons are seen by many to be finished, but compare favourably to Cats of 22 in age demographic of stars.

May 33 (hopefully better run with injury, should hang on for one more year) Max 33 (with support this year, can look forward to another great year, he is not get any smaller), Viney 30/31 (fingers crossed). 
The rest of our stars Trac and Clarrie both under 30 and seem fully fit!

I rate Kossie and Fritsch as guns in their positions, I’d take Kossie over Charlie Cameron who is seen as best small forward in comp, does so much more defensively, as a mid forward Fritsch stats over last four years match up well with most.

JVR will be even better after another pre season and Turner with a little bit more confidence in that he belongs will have a good year!

But going back to the last four years premiers, luck with injury is #1, leads to having a fit team that can run out games, a good drawer helps with managing older players, luck in games that are close helps, perhaps that will to win is not luck!

Providing our luck holds over preseason and during 2025 we can give it a real crack, top 4 and then onwards! But Lions won from outside top 4 this year - Daniher injury free and holding up in the finals, who would have thought choking Joe starred in the finals!

Another thing the last four premiership have had in common,  one that intersects with injury, is clearly being the fittest team come Grand Final day.

[D4Life 2,510]

I’d like to add a quick thanks to all the posters who provide training reports, I greatly appreciate all the comments. Helps keep footy and the Demons alive, until the season starts!

[Ghostwriter 1,798]

1 hour ago, Slartibartfast said:

GW are you talking about big ballsy changes on friend or off field?  I’ve seen a lot of training over the last few years and every year I’m told of “a new game plan” or at least of significant tweaks but I don’t see them. Training has always been about quick ball movement and using the centre corridor but training is usually something like 14 v 14 with little pressure on the ball carrier allowing this methodology to be practiced. In games of course it’s quite different because the opposition is trying to stop you do what you want. I think we will basically see the same game plan this year but with different players executing from the back half. Windsor back is a clear indication of an intent to quicken us from there and Bowser will be a good addition. The addition of Sharp makes the Windsor move possible. A fit Clarrie and Trac back will make the biggest difference to last year. 
 

If you’re talking about off field then we have made some significant changes which have been initiated by the club. It will be interesting to see if the members have the same resolve to improve us.  We will find out on Tuesday night. 

I mean the off-field changes. As for on-field, what you say is true: what we see in match sims isn’t necessarily a true representation of what we’ll see on gameday. It can’t be, for the reasons you’ve cited. Besides that, there’s been no sessions at Casey thus far and Casey sessions are where more is revealed, away from prying eyes.

But last year and the year before weren’t anything like this year. It feels as though I’m watching an entirely different Club.

Even small changes, for example: mouth-guards. Pretty sure I didn’t see a single mouth-guard last preseason. Seeing a few this year though. That’s just one of many changes. 

[Ghostwriter 1,798]

3 hours ago, picket fence said:

I knew WCW, was WCW from a few of her interactions she wrote about earlier this year from training, as I was also in attendance on at least one occasion. I saw her again on Friday and remembered but as for your good self, I now assume that  you were one of many hovering with her on Friday. Still a touch of X Files about it🤪.Would love her to get back on Demonland, very entertaining commentaries!

When WCW is at training, so too am I. We’re never apart. You in fact did see me at Gosch’s on Friday, you said so yourself.

Anyways I’d like to think you find my commentaries as entertaining as WCW’s 🤗

[dazzledavey36 55,317]

1 hour ago, D4Life said:

Look at last few years flag winners:

2024 - Lions great run with injury and lucky Giants choked when 45 points ahead in Qual final. Still GF day won easily!

2023 - Pies lucky with injury, win 3 finals by combined total of 12 points! Snuck a flag!

Still feels like with any luck approaching finals in 2023 we win that flag, Melksham playing best footy of his career goes down last round, Fritsch fractured foot, Brayshaw taken out, any of those three not happen, I feel we win the flag!

2022 - Cats era finished too old, get a great draw, have a dream run with injury, comfortably win flag!

2021 - Demons great run with injury, dominant finals campaign, run away with flag!

Today Demons are seen by many to be finished, but compare favourably to Cats of 22 in age demographic of stars.

May 33 (hopefully better run with injury, should hang on for one more year) Max 33 (with support next year, can look forward to another great year, he is not get any smaller), Viney 30/31 (fingers crossed). 
The rest of our stars Trac and Clarrie both under 30 and seem fully fit!

I rate Kossie and Fritsch as guns in their positions, I’d take Kossie over Charlie Cameron who is seen as best small forward in comp, does so much more defensively, as a mid forward Fritsch stats over last four years match up well with most.

JVR will be even better after another pre season and Turner with a little bit more confidence in that he belongs will have a good year!

But going back to the last four years premiers, luck with injury is #1, leads to having a fit team that can run out games, a good drawer helps with managing older players, luck in games that are close helps, perhaps that will to win is not luck!

Providing our luck holds over preseason and during 2025 we can give it a real crack, top 4 and then onwards! But Lions won from outside top 4 this year - Daniher injury free and holding up in the finals, who would have thought choking Joe starred in the finals! So top 4 a nice to have!

While many have anti AFL sentiments, due to fixture and range of things that skew the competition, that there are probably ten teams that could win next years flag is a testament to the draft and salary cap doing the job pretty well, of providing some levelling of the playing field! Particularly when compared to competitions like EPL, NBA etc.

Demon supporters keeping your fingers, toes and everything crossed for some Lady Luck in 2025!! You just never know what might happen!!!!!!!!!!

Go Demons! 😃

Brisbane didn't have much luck with injury as you say they did.

 By round 5 the lions had four ACL injuries to their senior established players in Kiddy Coleman (runner up norm smith 2023), Linc McCarthy, Darcy Gardiner and Tom Dodee. All 4 players would be premiership players had they'd been fit and ready to go.

They lost Brendan Starcevich for 5 weeks with a calf injury, Levi Ashcroft only started playing mid year recovering from an ACL and then their 2nd best tall defender in Jack Payne also missed 6 weeks with a knee injury. On top of that went they went into grand final without their number one ruckman in Oscar McInerney who's a genuine top 5 ruckman in the competition. 

Whilst I agree to win premierships you need an element of luck on the injury front, Brisbane on the other hand had their fair share of adversity when it came to injuries.

What it did for them was unearth talent like Kai Lohmann for instance when McCarthy went down and had to shift Zorko down back to cover Coleman which proved a masterstroke.

The way they were able to plug holes with solid role players is why I admire their grand final more then any other opposition team in the last decade. I am also a massive Chris Fagan fan from a distance. People have knocked his age, but if anything it just shows that experience and being a wise head of the game still has a place in the AFL coaching caper.

[MrReims 322]

21 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

When WCW is at training, so too am I. We’re never apart. You in fact did see me at Gosch’s on Friday, you said so yourself.

Anyways I’d like to think you find my commentaries as entertaining as WCW’s 🤗

I highly doubt the penny is going to drop WCW

[Ghostwriter 1,798]

10 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Hearing word (via here) that Clayton’s hand has finally healed is genuinely exciting. The combination of physical pain and mental drain he endured last season would have been formidable. That handball aspect of his game was, for understandable reasons, completely absent this year. Coupled with lacking fitness, we all knew he was warming a bench while simultaneously out on the ground in ‘24. But he seems in ten times better shape/spirits than he did this time last year.

Both him and CP are looking down the barrel of playing “defining seasons” in ‘25, and I’m very much here for it. 

Great points, MB. Clarrie’s hand being back to what it was pre-injury is huge.

Interestingly, on Friday he commented on how ugly the scar is, first time he’s mentioned the aesthetic of it. I’m not an expert but I took that to mean previously there was more to worry about than how it looks.

I told him scars are great because they’re unique, like fingerprints, no two are the same. Also, that every scar has its own story, be it good or bad, an example of a “good” scar being one that signals cancer has been removed. Lastly, I told him scars are a godsend for people with prosopagnosia (face blindness) since they’re a distinguishing mark which aids in recognising someone.

 I’m quite sure he doesn’t see his scar as so ugly now. I’d know if he did anyways. He’s a permanently open book is our Claz. 

Edited December 15 by Ghostwriter