Jump to content

Featured Replies

2 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Thanks - do you know what day/time? Not an easy find on our site 

11am start.

Casey practice match at 2pm - which will be worth watching I reckon as there will be plenty of AFL listed players running around for casey who will want to impress, and push their case to be considered for senior selection.

 
On 15/02/2025 at 14:29, dazzledavey36 said:

 

This has nothing to being isolated or left out. He was well supported by everyone at the club including the coaches.

This was never in question.

But at the time Clarrie was his own worse enemy. A training block or a stint in the seconds simply wasn’t an option. The Olivers are lovely people but oftentimes their version of events and Clarrie’s version of the same events differs. 

13 minutes ago, binman said:

11am start.

Casey practice match at 2pm - which will be worth watching I reckon as there will be plenty of AFL listed players running around for casey who will want to impress, and push their case to be considered for senior selection.

It would be great if people stuck around for the Casey praccy. I daresay North supporters will turn up in large numbers and hang around for the second match. Yes, 37 degrees is not ideal but slip, slop, slap, seek and slide and your good to go 👍🏽

 
31 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Thanks - do you know what day/time? Not an easy find on our site 

11am

11 hours ago, Roost it far said:

Yes he’s likely a bust in the cruel light of day but pick 28 rarely gets you a 200 game player.

Projecting much?

But seeing as you has raised this the number of players to hit 200 games drafted at 28 or worse is high.


43 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Projecting much?

But seeing as you has raised this the number of players to hit 200 games drafted at 28 or worse is high.

I don’t understand your response. Plus I was talking about guys recruited from other clubs at picks in the late 20’s re number of games. Anyway, I just don’t see this as a massive mistake by the club. We rolled the dice and lost and that happens. 

9 hours ago, DubDee said:

Watching the 2021 PF against the Cats as you do

My word we were ferocious 

Spargo was amazing too. Can’t wait to get him back

Miss Gus though. He could do everything

Yes it's the ferociousness above all else which has been missing the last couple of years. We've seen it in bits and pieces but not consistently across the season like in '21.

11 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yes it's the ferociousness above all else which has been missing the last couple of years. We've seen it in bits and pieces but not consistently across the season like in '21.

It’s also when players are “in sync” with each other and the game plan. Things start to get on a roll and in that  finals series we were “in the groove”

 
44 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

It’s also when players are “in sync” with each other and the game plan. Things start to get on a roll and in that  finals series we were “in the groove”

And fitness early has an impact on our ability to maintain the level on a consistent basis

19 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

Am I obnoxious because I pointed out that a lot of posters are well meaning but clueless ?

Oh the sheer arrogance…


On 16/02/2025 at 08:19, 58er said:

After saying so many times before please quote these and inform us of your opinion. Dont generalise back up with facts.

Awaiting your response. 

I find it odd how touchy people get about any criticism of the club on this site but since you asked.

Some examples from just last year:

Spargo round 0, returning from an achilles injury had done very little conditioning and no match fitness immediately re injured it and has still not recovered.

Oliver has basically been mishandled since he did his hammy in mid 2023. Admittedly some of this is Oliver's fault but rushing him back to play in the early part of the season last year when he'd [censored] away his entire pre-season basically set him up to fail. We then played him through a broken hand for most of the year.

People can say that Petracca coming back on on KB was ticked off all they like. Within 30 seconds of him being out there it was obvious to anyone with eyeballs he was not right and he stayed out for over 20 minutes.

Other notable examples off the top of my head:

Joel Smith getting injured in a practice match in 2019, coming back on and not playing a single game for the rest of the year.

Goodwin screaming at a Doctor over the phone about pushing a concussed Brayshaw through his comfort-zone because he had been at Chadstone a few days prior.

Fritsch coming back from a broken foot to play a meaningless game to close out the season in 2023, which he then reinjured and was affected by in the QF two weeks later.

 

29 minutes ago, KozzyCan said:

I find it odd how touchy people get about any criticism of the club on this site but since you asked.

Some examples from just last year:

Spargo round 0, returning from an achilles injury had done very little conditioning and no match fitness immediately re injured it and has still not recovered.

Oliver has basically been mishandled since he did his hammy in mid 2023. Admittedly some of this is Oliver's fault but rushing him back to play in the early part of the season last year when he'd [censored] away his entire pre-season basically set him up to fail. We then played him through a broken hand for most of the year.

People can say that Petracca coming back on on KB was ticked off all they like. Within 30 seconds of him being out there it was obvious to anyone with eyeballs he was not right and he stayed out for over 20 minutes.

Other notable examples off the top of my head:

Joel Smith getting injured in a practice match in 2019, coming back on and not playing a single game for the rest of the year.

Goodwin screaming at a Doctor over the phone about pushing a concussed Brayshaw through his comfort-zone because he had been at Chadstone a few days prior.

Fritsch coming back from a broken foot to play a meaningless game to close out the season in 2023, which he then reinjured and was affected by in the QF two weeks later.

 

Thats 5 examples in 5 years, so we’re averaging one mistake with an injured player per year. Now let’s look at each case. Spargo was determined not to have surgery on his Achilles and play the season. In mine and the clubs eyes he’s best 22 so he played. It did absolutely no further damage to his existing injury, none . So now we’re down to 4 in 5 years. 
To claim Oliver was mishandled without knowing what the club did with regard to his injury and state of mind is erroneous. Not to mention he was basically best on ground in round 1 so that kinda puts a hole in your theory. So we’re down to 3 in 5. That’s so low that I can’t even be bothered explaining the rest.

34 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

Thats 5 examples in 5 years, so we’re averaging one mistake with an injured player per year. Now let’s look at each case. Spargo was determined not to have surgery on his Achilles and play the season. In mine and the clubs eyes he’s best 22 so he played. It did absolutely no further damage to his existing injury, none . So now we’re down to 4 in 5 years. 
To claim Oliver was mishandled without knowing what the club did with regard to his injury and state of mind is erroneous. Not to mention he was basically best on ground in round 1 so that kinda puts a hole in your theory. So we’re down to 3 in 5. That’s so low that I can’t even be bothered explaining the rest.

As I said, these are examples I pulled off the top of my head. Particularly egregious ones at that. Trying to find an average out of that is pretty disingenous.

Spargo had just recovered from an achillies injury prior to the season then reinjured the achillies, so yes I think that constitutes further damage. 

Oliver went alright for a couple of weeks but his lack of fitness quickly caught up with him and when he broke his hand he was pretty oridinary for the rest of the year, even shirking contests at times which I'd never seen him do before. He was a liability for many games and only got put on ice once we were well and truly out of the finals race. So no, I won't accept that he was handled well last year either. The notion that the club played him when they shouldn't have because they were concerned about the state of his mind is absurd. That's an insane level of special treatment, not to mention the club is basically hamstringing themselves playing a guy who they know shouldn't be out there.

My view is that we have not handled injuries well in the past, embracing a philosophy of pushing players to play through injuries to our own detriment. We have gotten away with it at times but I think the negatives of doing so outweigh the positives.

13 hours ago, DubDee said:

you don’t think we should do what’s best for our players and the team?

Or are you just trying to vent about your own life? Us ‘normal’ people don’t kick a ball for a living 

There is probably a 9-5 middle class workers forum out there to rant on 

Do you even think about what you write, that is the dumbest post I have ever read full stop and we are only 2 months in.

16 hours ago, Fuscias said:

Mate if you were better than 99.5% of the People in your chosen field, as AFL players are, you probably would be on the same wage and entitlements!  People are quick to forget this fact, even the last player on a list is better than 99% of the players in other leagues

(And to quote the great G Lyon, you've been "Mated")

Jesus another one who cannot understand posts....


1 minute ago, demon3165 said:

Do you even think about what you write, that is the dumbest post I have ever read full stop and we are only 2 months in.

After what has gone down over the last 2-3 years, i was a little surprised that the Club has given the players more time away from the Club, i am not saying it’s right or wrong, i am just genuinely surprised 

I hope it’s the right decision and the players stay fully focused. 

34 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

After what has gone down over the last 2-3 years, i was a little surprised that the Club has given the players more time away from the Club, i am not saying it’s right or wrong, i am just genuinely surprised 

I hope it’s the right decision and the players stay fully focused. 

I do not begrudge anyone getting time off or what they are paid, and it is only an extremely small number of people who can play at that level. However, for people to say how hard it is for players who have only a limited time in the game is true, but they know that going into the system is no more important than Joe Blow down the street doing his or her job. After all, it is only a sport for supporters to watch, no more and no less.

16 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

I do not begrudge anyone getting time off or what they are paid, and it is only an extremely small number of people who can play at that level. However, for people to say how hard it is for players who have only a limited time in the game is true, but they know that going into the system is no more important than Joe Blow down the street doing his or her job. After all, it is only a sport for supporters to watch, no more and no less.

Yes, it is entertainment basically. But for the Club, it is a $Multi Million business 

How to manage the number one asset, would be a tough job, as every player has a different background 

22 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

Yeah I forgot the followers again. Do it all the time.

B: Lever, May, Bowey

HB: Salem, Petty, Windsor
C: Sharp, Rivers, Langdon

HF: Petracca, Turner, Langford

F: Fritsch, van Rooyen, Chandler

FOLL: Gawn, Oliver, Viney

IC: Howes, Sparrow, Lindsay, Billings

SUB: Laurie

You have one job, Werridee. 

6 hours ago, Roost it far said:

Thats 5 examples in 5 years, so we’re averaging one mistake with an injured player per year. Now let’s look at each case. Spargo was determined not to have surgery on his Achilles and play the season. In mine and the clubs eyes he’s best 22 so he played. It did absolutely no further damage to his existing injury, none . So now we’re down to 4 in 5 years. 
To claim Oliver was mishandled without knowing what the club did with regard to his injury and state of mind is erroneous. Not to mention he was basically best on ground in round 1 so that kinda puts a hole in your theory. So we’re down to 3 in 5. That’s so low that I can’t even be bothered explaining the rest.

One mistake a year - assuming you count the examples given as 'mistakes'.

But as you suggest, the implication was the examples given were indisputably mistakes, which is just complete nonsense. 

It never ceases to amaze me how people make definitive statements about medical stuff when, one they almost never have any relevant qualifications and two, don't have access to the players medical history, rehabilitation plans or any of the relevant data.   

I mean, it's not unreasonable to have as a starting point that highly paid professional medical and high-performance teams with access to all the relevant info and data are likely to be making informed decisions about the management of players with injuries. 

Take Spargo - it seems to be accepted as fact that playing him in round one did more damage and was a factor in him being out for the season. Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn't. The point is we are making guesses either way. Correlation doesn’t imply causation and all that. 

What we can say with certainty is the medical and high-performance team, based on the information and data available to them at the time (info not available to us) made what they thought was the right decision for Spargs at the time. 

An interesting parallel to the decision to play Spargs was the almost identical decision to play Tmac in round one just two weeks after ankle surgery. Played, and i don't think missed a game for the whole season?    

Edited by binman


20 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Hindsight Bias, are you serious??

If you buy a 2nd hand car, do you study its history, finding out as much as you can? Or are you a fingers crossed “hope it will be ok” kinda guy…??

Pick 28 is 2nd Round, pretty good players have been secured at 28  

McAdam was in the “Give him a chance category” or should have been 

 

Can you please stop! Shane’s a person not a second hand car! How about showing even a modicum of sensitivity?

And you’ve made your point over and over and over, again and again and again with monotonous regularity. This isn’t breaching DL rules but PLEASE know that it’s annoying as [censored], it’s mind-numbingly tedious and above all else THIS IS IN MY EVER SO HUMBLE [censored] OPINION.

1 minute ago, Ghostwriter said:

Can you please stop! Shane’s a person not a second hand car! How about showing even a modicum of sensitivity?

And you’ve made your point over and over and over, again and again and again with monotonous regularity. This isn’t breaching DL rules but PLEASE know that it’s annoying as [censored], it’s mind-numbingly tedious and above all else THIS IS IN MY EVER SO HUMBLE [censored] OPINION.

Sorry that opinion is different to yours….

Just now, Sir Why You Little said:

Sorry that opinion is different to yours….

If you really are sorry… don’t be sorry for a differing opinion. Be sorry for repeating the same opinion over and over again because THAT’S the excruciatingly exasperating aspect here. 

 
4 hours ago, Roost it far said:

Thats 5 examples in 5 years, so we’re averaging one mistake with an injured player per year. Now let’s look at each case. Spargo was determined not to have surgery on his Achilles and play the season. In mine and the clubs eyes he’s best 22 so he played. It did absolutely no further damage to his existing injury, none . So now we’re down to 4 in 5 years. 
To claim Oliver was mishandled without knowing what the club did with regard to his injury and state of mind is erroneous. Not to mention he was basically best on ground in round 1 so that kinda puts a hole in your theory. So we’re down to 3 in 5. That’s so low that I can’t even be bothered explaining the rest.

Sprsgo did have surgery on his Achilles. 

5 hours ago, KozzyCan said:

I find it odd how touchy people get about any criticism of the club on this site but since you asked.

Some examples from just last year:

Spargo round 0, returning from an achilles injury had done very little conditioning and no match fitness immediately re injured it and has still not recovered.

Oliver has basically been mishandled since he did his hammy in mid 2023. Admittedly some of this is Oliver's fault but rushing him back to play in the early part of the season last year when he'd [censored] away his entire pre-season basically set him up to fail. We then played him through a broken hand for most of the year.

People can say that Petracca coming back on on KB was ticked off all they like. Within 30 seconds of him being out there it was obvious to anyone with eyeballs he was not right and he stayed out for over 20 minutes.

Other notable examples off the top of my head:

Joel Smith getting injured in a practice match in 2019, coming back on and not playing a single game for the rest of the year.

Goodwin screaming at a Doctor over the phone about pushing a concussed Brayshaw through his comfort-zone because he had been at Chadstone a few days prior.

Fritsch coming back from a broken foot to play a meaningless game to close out the season in 2023, which he then reinjured and was affected by in the QF two weeks later.

 

Fritsch’s game before the final was a hit bout after weeks on the side. It wasn’t meaningless it secured a double chance for us. 

I agree with most of the others and thank you for your efforts.

Goody has been responsible I reckon on at least a couple of occasions. 


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • PODCAST: Essendon

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 14th April @ the all new time of 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect another Demons loss at Kardinia Park to the Cats in the Round 04. Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human.

      • Like
    • 12 replies
    Demonland
  • PREGAME: Fremantle

    The Demons return home to the MCG in search of their first win for the 2025 Premiership season when they take on the Fremantle Dockers on Saturday afternoon. Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Like
    • 34 replies
    Demonland
  • VOTES: Essendon

    Max Gawn leads the Demonland Player of the Year ahead of Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Kade Chandler and Jake Bowey. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

      • Like
    • 20 replies
    Demonland
  • POSTGAME: Essendon

    Despite a spirited third quarter surge, the Demons have slumped to their worst start to a season since 2012, remaining winless and second last on the ladder after a 39-point defeat to Essendon at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round.

      • Vomit
      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 222 replies
    Demonland
  • GAMEDAY: Essendon

    It’s Game Day, and the Demons are staring down the barrel of an 0-5 start for the first time since 2012 as they take on Essendon at Adelaide Oval for Gather Round. In that forgettable season, Melbourne finally broke their drought by toppling the Bombers. Can lightning strike twice? Will the Dees turn their nightmare start around and breathe life back into 2025?

      • Clap
      • Like
    • 723 replies
    Demonland
  • PREVIEW: Essendon

    As the focus of the AFL moves exclusively to South Australia for Gather Round, the question is raised as to what are we going to get from the  Melbourne Football Club this weekend? Will it be a repeat of the slop fest of the last three weeks that have seen the team score a measly 174 points and concede 310 or will a return to the City of Churches and the scene where they performed at their best in 2024 act as a wakeup call and bring them out of their early season reverie?  Or will the sleepy Dees treat their fans to a reenactment of their lazy effort from the first Gather Round of two years ago when they allowed the Bombers to trample all over them on a soggy and wet Adelaide Oval? The two examples from above tell us how fickle form can be in football. Last year, a committed group of players turned up in Adelaide with a businesslike mindset. They had a plan, went in confidently and hard for the football and kicked winning scores against both home teams in a difficult environment for visitors. And they repeated that sort of effort later in the season when they played Essendon at the MCG.

    • 0 replies
    Demonland