The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 31st March @ the all new time of 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we analyse the Demons loss at the MCG to the Suns in the Round 03.

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id really love to know why the only 4 who have seemed to consistently care from the first 3 games are our 4 draftees the rest would rather be at the f1 like a certain australian cricketer... pathetic from senior players

Bailey Fritsch has been struggling for form for some now. Does anyone on the panel have any insights as to why this is the case other than his foot injury against GWS in Alice Springs?

He couldn’t miss for years and he goes from a 6 goal Grand Final Premiership winner to dropping chest marks and missing the easiest of set shots.

Would we be better off trading him at the end of the season before he becomes a free agent?

Edited March 29Mar 29 by OhMyDees

How many senior players should we be unloading this coming off season? We are truly in a rebuild.

David King mentioned post match that they could have showed footage of Petracca but it would be "cruel". Any idea what this might be? I assume it's off the ball footage we're not able to see on the telecast.

Is Blake Howes being played in the right position? Maybe he's not a backman, but better suited elsewhere?

Think we’re all aware of the players we’re missing at the moment and the talent and skills they can bring. But do we have too many senior players that are oblivious to how poor their skills are? I know you’ve mentioned previously that there are probably a few that are permitted to take the risky inside kick, but I saw Gawn try it at one point rather than hitting up Bowey, resulting in a turnover. Viney and Petracca constantly do it. The game is going past these players very quickly and I think the coaches need to provide them with the reality check ASAP. A related question is what do we do with the problem that is Jack Viney? Where does he belong now? We extended him until 2028 and right now I would rather not see the ball in his hands at all. I can see a role for Petracca in the forward line where his disposal maybe isn’t as important. And Oliver is still smart enough to play in the middle and brings X factor. But I can’t see much value in Jack these days, would much rather Rivers or Langford in the middle

Genuine question—because I’m out of answers. Do you think we can turn this form around without sacking the coach, overhauling the playing group or staff, or heading into a full rebuild? Can we steady the ship this season? I’m not after a detailed plan—just wondering if the panel believes it’s realistically possible.

18 hours ago, OhMyDees said:

Bailey Fritsch has been struggling for form for some now. Does anyone on the panel have any insights as to why this is the case other than his foot injury against GWS in Alice Springs?

He couldn’t miss for years and he goes from a 6 goal Grand Final Premiership winner to dropping chest marks and missing the easiest of set shots.

Would we be better off trading him at the end of the season before he becomes a free agent?

I made a point of watching Fritsch at the game yesterday. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt but he seemed lethargic, disinterested and only going at half pace. I got chatting to a bloke sitting behind me who told me that Fritsch’s contract is up at the end of the season, clubs are sniffing around and in his opinion, Fritsch has ‘checked out’.

What does the panel think?

there is something weird and drastically wrong here, a narrow "honourable" loss followed by two losses which by any measure cannot be explained away just through loss of form...give me a break, a strange cryptic post match interview from Max and not much better from S Goodwin, most of the senior players look totally disinterested, normally I'm pretty upbeat but not this time, thanks boys

4 minutes ago, The Ox said:

there is something weird and drastically wrong here, a narrow "honourable" loss followed by two losses which by any measure cannot be explained away just through loss of form...give me a break, a strange cryptic post match interview from Max and not much better from S Goodwin, most of the senior players look totally disinterested, normally I'm pretty upbeat but not this time, thanks boys

It's funny you should comment on maxy's post match interview.

I literally just watched it and had a similar reaction- strange vibe.

I appreciateit's no doubt tough to do an interview after a loss like that, but I agree that there was a funky vibe.

What has happened to our much vaunted and feared defense? Is it a personnel issue? Is it structure? Confidence? Or is the “whole team defense” breaking down and we just can’t stem the flow. Can we fix it?

3 minutes ago, binman said:

It's funny you should comment on maxy's post match interview.

I literally just watched it and had a similar reaction- strange vibe.

I appreciateit's no doubt tough to do an interview after a loss like that, but I agree that there was a funky vibe.

Can you find this for me so I can clip it and play it on the show.

15 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Can you find this for me so I can clip it and play it on the show.

Yep.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/1742795/rd-3-post-match-interview-max-gawn?videoId=1742795&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1743230614001

given that there's been so much talk both this season and last about changing the gameplan to suit modern football, is the gamplan the problem or those that are trying to execute it the problem?

as a result, how many more issues will be caused if we try to 'revert to type', as we tried (and failed?) to do in 2024?

37 minutes ago, binman said:

I appreciateit's no doubt tough to do an interview after a loss like that, but I agree that there was a funky vibe.

Kept talking about fun and excitement but did not at all look like he was having fun or excited.

Edited March 30Mar 30 by Fromgotowoewodin

I understand that we may not completely understand it and have the game plan down, but what explains our fumbles, and complete lack of fitness at the end of the games? People calling for the coach to go, but surely Chocko and our kicking/skills team need a review first? Re finishing games, it reminds me of efforts during mid-season loading periods. Gawn (and others) says we are fit enough, but watching so many come to the bench in the last completely gassed has me concerned.

Love the show.

Why doesn’t Goodwin give Fullarton a run Seems to be kicking goals in the twos

7 minutes ago, Rhino said:

Why doesn’t Goodwin give Fullarton a run Seems to be kicking goals in the twos

his cards were marked midway thru last year when goodwin tore shreds off him publicly in a press conference regarding his performance in the vfl

i have low expectations tht he'll ever play a game in red and blue

Matt Rowell absolutely towelled us up.

It seemed to me - at least at some points - he was being matched up with Oliver.

Oliver is my favourite and clearly the best player on the team when firing. But he has the wrong body shape to stop a body shape like Rowell.

Surely Viney or Petracca are better suited head to head with this body type?

There seems to be much argument about “the game plan”.

I think we need to seperate is there a distinguishable game plan from our feeling about if that game plan is the right way forward or working.

Either way, it was clear from Goodys presser that the game plan is irrelevant. It’s back to the fundamentals of contest and winning the ball.

What responsibility if any does Nathan Jones as a new midfield coach have on what is happening in the middle the last 2 games?

Something is clearly very wrong behind the scenes. The senior players seem disinterested at best on game days. What’s the cause of this? Coaching? Players? Positioning? Game plan?

Does the panel know if things are different on the training track? I recall the early word from the track watchers last year was that energy, talk and spirits were high. Has that changed?

Moreover, is the Club going to do something about this before season’s end?

Has Simon Goodwin lost the players?

Why aren't the Demons players responding to his instructions?

What is going wrong with the team? To lose to the Gold Coast Suns at the MCG is humiliating!

The one positive, how good was Harvey "The Bison" Langford?! I was very impressed with him.

Lastly, will Xavier Lindsay be alright? We are all hoping that his knee injury isn't an ACL. Fingers crossed! 🤞🏻

5 hours ago, The Ox said:

there is something weird and drastically wrong here, a narrow "honourable" loss followed by two losses which by any measure cannot be explained away just through loss of form...give me a break, a strange cryptic post match interview from Max and not much better from S Goodwin, most of the senior players look totally disinterested, normally I'm pretty upbeat but not this time, thanks boys

"I love adversity....It's fun to try and get back in form"

Sounds like Ben Crowe has burrowed deep into the players' psyche. It's going to be a long year to unravel all the brainwashing

I thought Goodwins press conference after the game summed up the game well, it was a startling reality check. The answers he gave were eerily similar to what we used to hear in the dark days

Its hard listening when a coach referring to a pretty seasoned team says that we were unable to perform the "basics" and "fundemental's" for skill level so early on in a season especially the unforced no pressure mistakes. They have been training for months now consistently to ensure these standards are up to the level for the AFL season. There wasn't any talk of new game plan we're working on, it was about basic execution and fundamentals! I think Max even mentioned in his post game interview that we would be working on executing skills throughout the week. I would have thought that we did this every week at training at least for the main sessions...

As others have noted there's something up with this team at the moment. There's a flatness. Being at the game the most notable thing to me was they weren't running/working hard for each other, either defensively or spreading offensively. That to me is a pretty sure way of knowing a team is not bought in or potentially not committed to the coach and teammates. I found it interesting that Goodwin said something like "Us coaches" need to work to get players back in form which is a tad odd. That to me is sounding a little overprotective but maybe its just because its early in the season and he's holding back with the firm statements for now.

So many things wrong this week. Keen to hear your thoughts fellas.