Gday Demonlandists.

For those who use Demonology, you are probably aware that I write Season previews/reviews each year.

This year, I have uploaded my 2008 Preview up on wordpress as Demonology is currently being re-written.

Feel feel to add any questions or comments here or at the following link:

http://hihathawkins.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/mfc2008/

Hope you all enjoy it,

Kevin Hawkins

Thats quite weird really.

Brad Green elite.....LOL

Brad Green elite.....LOL

The reason I considered him to be 'elite' is that, bar McDonald, he is probably the most consistent of the Demons. He may not dominate games, but he always seems to be in our top 5 or 6 performers each game - hi B+f finishes exempplify that; he has been top 6 or 7 for the past 5 or 6 years and each year he has gradually increased his position.

I actually had a lot of trouble determining who are the 'elite' Demons - initially I could only choose Jmac. Lets hope that in a few years, that will be a much easier task.

I actually had a lot of trouble determining who are the 'elite' Demons - initially I could only choose Jmac. Lets hope that in a few years, that will be a much easier task.

there is a very simple reason for that !!! and its not pretty !!!

Yeah i would be more inclined to call that "A-Graders", elite is a bit of a stretch unfortunately. And one other point i might make is that i would've had another column: experience.

In there i would've had:

White

Macca

Neitz

Robbo

Neitz isn't quite depth yet, depth means that you are only used if required. Plus a fit Whelan puts him in Core at least.

But other than that i thought it was well thought out and well presented.

Nice read but i agree with the word 'elite' being stretched a bit. Even A graders are a stretch atm.

I would've left it blank altogether and lumped them in the core.

I stole the 'Elite, Core, Depth, Fringe, etc.' model from the Herald Sun reviews a few years back, but perhaps you guys are right.. I'll start using it again once we truly do have 'elite' players as such.

For those that are interested, here are my basic defintions for each category :

Elite - The best few Demons who have consistently produced quality performances in recent times (while Bruce and McLean were not fantastic last year, they showed plenty in 05-06 to warrant staying in that category - players like Davey,White,Rivers,Moloney,Rivers and Robbo missed out due to lack of consistency or significant injuries)

Core - Reliable players who are generally definite starters in the 22 - are capable of winning games but that is not their core responsibility or their expectation.

Depth - Players either on the rise or decline that have not cemented their position in the team. Some of those would probably be considered 'core' if it wasn't for such a recent bad run of injuries.

Fringe - Players that have not proven themselves yet, and need to if they want to stay on the list in 2009. (I included Meesen there because I have yet to see him play.)

Youth - Players eligible for Rising Star in 08

Rookies - Couldn't be more self explanatory...

The reason I put Neitz in the depth is because he simply isn't a player we can rely on anymore. Sure, on his day he is brilliant, but how many of those 'days' did we see in 07, and how many are we going to see in 2008? I'm not discounting the fact that he is a club legend, I am simply stating that he is past his prime, and has significantly fell beneath other players. It wouldn't surprise me if Newton replaced him at FF sometime during the year.

Thanks very much to the 214 Demonlandists that viewed my preview at Wordpress!