Leaderboard

I went to training on Wednesday for a couple of hours. Just a couple of observations. Dawes was back training with the main group and was a welcome return. There was a distinct lift in comraderie. He is a natural leader and was very happy helping Weidemann, Oscar, Hulett and King with their positioning etc. Hogan was very happy to have him part of training. You could see that Hogan is just a kid and having a big senior player there was good for him. I think Dawes may be important in the next 12 to 18 months for the development of our forward line. If we replace Frost with Dawes in the forward line doing a lot of leading up the ground it will take away a bit of pressure from Hogan and Watts can become the third tall again. Watts and Hoges were bordering on non-functional on the weekend and Dawes may help restore the balance. Hulett was marking everything. He held his own against some of the senior players in man on man wrestling and out-marked the young King everytime. He continues to develop well. Trengove was looking good. He did a drill where you had to do a series of quick steps, then push off to one of three cones placed left, right and centre. He showed no effects of his injury and was quick and strong. He is another natural leader who likes to help with positioning and general teaching in drills. He and Dawes come across as pretty intelligent people. They aren't ever involved in joking or mucking around and Trengove really appears focused and determined.The addition of Dawes and Trengove to the team will add much needed senior leadership when they get back. Tyson was impressive. He was better on the weekend and continues to improve on the track. He is another who you can see wants to improve and develop his game and hopefully now he is fully fit he will build into the year.

Very interested to hear that Wayne Carey will spend some time with Jesse Hogan over the coming weeks. I believe Goodwin is behind it and its very much a Football mentoring role.. some instructional work.. forward line movement. I think its a good move, a bit unlike Melbourne, but its Goodwin again on the front foot.

His selection has zero to do with Petracca or Trengove.

oh look, another smart alec.. we don't have enough of these!

You're an idiot

Form at Casey doesn't mean flicking the switch after one good showing in a VFL practice match! Otherwise Petracca and Trengove would be in the team before ANB. He is a promising young player who is on the comeback trail after an interrupted pre-season. He will get his chance. Next....

Arrived 45 minutes late, stayed for an hour... steady rain throughout! Oliver trains with the same intensity he shows in the real thing. He is eye-catching, even in a training drill. Needless to say, it was very wet under foot. I was impressed by the intensity shown by all. Jeffy G was walking the boundary and seemed really sore, possibly left leg/ankle. Didn't notice Garland, Lumumba or Max King. Spencil walked around, Brayshaw, Vandenberg & Viney were on reduced duties, mainly kicking routines with Crossy. Brayshaw had one ankle bandaged. I was pleasantly surprised to see Newton do full training, as well as Dawes, who seemed ok in one on one contested stuff. Great to see Petracca and Trengove do everything. Both impressed with their footy smarts. Dunn looked fit and trained in his normal, full throated manner. I watched him slot a 45 metre goal effortlessly (while Hogan settled for several of the 35 metre variety) and was reminded of his ability to play forward. With Oscar seemingly fully fit, could Dunn be a CHF option? He certainly can score from outside 50, and can also pin-point a leading player by foot. Stretch's breakaway speed was good. ANB reminded selectors of his prowess in the packs. Mitch King was the only opponent for big Max in the ruck contests and he struggled. During this session I was reminded of the worth of White, Grimes and Terlich, particularly in the heavy going. Another who seems to have the size and speed to play senior footy is Wagner. I left with renewed confidence in our ability to rebound from Saturday's debacle. We have depth and it is being developed by a very good group of coaches. The main objective should be to keep this group together. I am sure we are looking at a climb up the ladder on the back of the current list and coaching panel. It will probably take longer than we had hoped. No predictions on how long, but Bernie was right when he said "We know where we are as a team and we're sure we are on the right track"!

And im not surprised its you nip picking at people queries about this selection. Fool. And for your information i like Wager as a player and hope he becomes a successful playet but his Nab challange was pretty average and he didn't look ready. Hopefully he's improved since then.

Was prepared for the disappointment of ANB not being named. Why would a rubbish team need a player who had 36 possessions and kicked 2 goals? We have James Harmes. Garland gets made part of the leadership group. Dropped by Round 3. It's verging on a comedy act, really.

Wtf, no ANB again. What a joke. Has he asked to move back to SA or something?

There's a difference between writing someone off and having doubts over whether they're ready to play AFL... Based on his NAB Challenge form he doesn't look ready, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Great to hear Jack T doing so well. He was a good co-captain at a very difficult time and has always been one of the few who showed really good leadership on the field (talking, instructing, encouraging) something we still lack greatly. Watching him play it seemed he had a really good grasp of the game and what was happening on the field at any time and was able to react. If his foot holds up and he can be a regular 22 again I can see him being part of the Leadership Group in a couple of years. At the start of 2018 he will still be only 25. Whether or not he becomes part of the LG, he will be a really good on-field leader again and with so much character building experience behind him he will be a great asset and role model for the team. Little steps still but it seems he is on the verge of making some giant strides. His first game back will be iconic.

The saints NAB challenge game was our best 4 quarter effort of our game plan. We defended and attacked very well with good balance. Defending: The forwards and midfield suck towards the player with the ball to trap them in their half and the backline push up and corridor side of their opponents. The risk is an opposition wingman can get free with a really good switch but if the side is awake as they were for a lot of the saints game they can spread over and cover that player and force the next kick to a contest. Attacking: Turning the ball over in good places leads to instant attack. If you get the ball in the forward half then kick it straight to a forward. If you get the ball at half back there should be space to attack, generally out the other side before the other team is in place. Watts was receiving a tonne of switches in that Saints game getting out to the open wing/forward flank. GWS opened us up from a lot of set plays. Particularly kick outs where they would stack one side of the field then run down the lines with run and carry. We simply weren't fast, smart or worked hard enough to counter this game plan. In some ways I wasn't too upset because GWS are a fantastic side at this plan. Their issue is plan B. Essendon smashed us everywhere. They ran rings around us on the ground. Dominate the air up forward (Daniher) and stacked numbers behind the ball when we attacked slowly. They overloaded the switch and we just didn't have nearly enough numbers for it. They also then always had our switches walled off with an extra man. I'm hoping this was mostly just really poor effort. Otherwise some of it will be teething pains. When you spend 4 years (2 Neeld, 2 Roos) playing very uncreative football it's going to be hard to be bold and aim to open the game up. My major concerns with our attacking game plan is: 1. We don't create by hand enough yet. There's simply not enough players who can get on the end of handballs and link up to move the ball that way. So that means we'll be kicking a bit and we still aren't good at that. We need to work much harder to have options so a kick can be followed up by another quick kick before space closes up. 2. Our forwards seem so keen to get the ball running back inside 50 and sitting deep when I'd love to see more leading up. Even if they start leading back to goal if they can turn and lead sideways or back to the ball carrier Otherwise it's work rate and skill that will cause the issues more than game plan. We simply have to cut out the unforced errors like long kicks down the line that go to a little guy instead of to Gawn or another talls advantage. The lack of mental application is staggering.

This could possibly turn out to be the longest ever running thread on Demonland. Let's hope so.

The guy who sits behind me thinks we should just kick it?

What has Harmes, a player the same age as Neal-Bullen, done in the first two weeks to hold his spot?

He didn't say that at all and you know it. I'm in the same boat about not being sure - not because I've written him off, but because I'm not totally sold on the fact that he's ready. I hope like hell that I'm wrong, but it's certainly an interesting selection. And all the best to him on his elevation. Let's hope he can make a positive contribution on Sunday.

We're all passionate dees supporters here, stop trying to elevate yourself, it's tedious

Yeah not sure about this.. Good luck to the lad.

This is what I think of when I watch Jesse run in for a shot on goal. Jesse Hogan runup

Such a great finals series and run in. Rnd 21 - 52k at the G to watch us beat the Swans to make the finals - plugger kicks his 100th. Rnd 22 - 76k at the G to watch us beat the tigers by 76 points. Farmer takes a screamer on Garry's head. Qualifying final - 60k at the G to watch us beat Adelaide - farmer kicks 7 or 8 on McLeod. Semi final - 88k (second biggest crowd of the season) to see us [censored] the Saints. Prelim - 73 k to see us lose to North. Too good in the wind and it was a bit wet as well wasn't it? Farmer screamer in the first minute - the crowd noise then was absolutely amazing. Malcolm Blight says after the Grand Final "Melbourne were the team we were really worried about".

Yes.

Its Jack Watts' fault

if we play like we have in the first 2 rounds (aside from one quarter) we'll get hammered, regardless of who is the 2nd tall fwd or who is down back the issue is the midfield and ball movement and [censored] putting in for 4 quarters. just name 22 fit guys who want to out their head over the ball and know the game plan (whatever the fk it is)

So 6 changes to last weeks team Two teenage debutantes who have both barely played the last 18 months A guy who hasnt played in 2 years Thats a blueprint to lose by well over 100

Biggest thing that stood out for me today, aside from the rubbish Weather, is i think a lot of people have forgotten just how good a player Jack Trengove is, he looks starting 18 at least on training form, and clearly played well for Casey! he has the class, smarts and skills we're desperately lacking.

Josh Wagner to debut for Demons on Sunday. I've liked the look of him for some time, "Another who seems to have the size and speed to play senior footy is Wagner" - from my training report on Wednesday. I'm pleased to say he has been sitting on the bench in my Dreamteam!

I like ANB but the 35 disposals doesn't really interest me all that much. Any and all of Harmes, Kent, Kennedy, Bugg, Salem, Tyson, Oliver, Michie etc etc can get 30+ touches playing as an inside mid at VFL level. ANB showed some really positive traits when he played last year but his disposal and tackling needed a lot of work. If that's still the case then let him work on it a bit more at Casey before he comes in to the AFL team whilst the guys who were picked ahead of him for a number of reasons get another chance. That way when he comes in to the team he's got a solid bank of form to be confident about and he can hold his spot for a while. We have to get rid of this up and down cycle.

In terms of Demonland selection, can we please drop picket from the line up? I think he's carrying a 'head' injury...

Cut the crap. Garland hasn't beaten an opponent one-on-one for over a year. He's even worse playing in a zone defense, when he actually has to read the game. A long overdue omission, and may it be permanent. Agree on Kent. Been saying for a while that he's overrated. Lives in the glory of the odd good chase down and tackle, but does little else for the rest of the game.

Club clearly see a future for Wags and it is the right time to blood him. Good luck to the guy and I hope he has a solid start to his a AFL career with steady hands, sure decisions and good disposal. Hope he strings many games together ☺

Well, there you go. I've defended him in the past, as many would know, but I can't defend him being dropped. I'll cop that on the chin. Edit - I think Kent and Harmes are very lucky as well. They aren't named on the bench so they'll play on Sunday, but I haven't been impressed with their start to the season. Hopefully they can improve this weekend.

I am very torn on Dawes. To me he offers leadership, structure, bringing the ball to ground, opening up the way for the crumbers, really good at the 1%'s but his core business is to take marks and kick goals and he has not done that at all well. You rarely saw him last year get in the way of Hogan - to the contrary - he led outwards to make space for Hogan. As a forward you need to do all the little things that he does well but you also take a mark and kick a goal and he does not get a pass mark based on the most basic of criteria.

My eldest Brother was on the Hawthorn senior list with Matthews for 3 years. I don't think they spoke a word off the training track.

I'd just like to see us kick 100 points

Probably won't be drafted until about 2034 but we've already got a picture of the young lad.

Really like this.

It's only round 2 and I haven't wanted any piece of footy this week (except on here) - haven't wanted to watch any of the footy shows, 360, Footy Classified, On The Couch, Open Mike haven't wanted to read any of the papers, none of it. Just the thought of it is turning my stomach.

Hopefully our rebuild will be coming together just in time for him to play in our next premiership

Exactly, this is doing my head in. We have seen the Dogs, Port, now Carlton and dare we say The Bombers be able to get their sides playing to an obvious game plan within 3 months. Yes with various degrees of success but at least you can see what they are trying to do. what at are we doing? I have seen our system at training it looks like it could work but come game day I have no idea what we are trying to do. Win the centre clearance and bomb it high into the forward line, press forward and clutter our forward half, then get caught when the opposition get possession and kick over our press and run forward? Alternatively if we get a turn over in our back half let's switch play To the opposite side but then we have no one on that flank so we have to hold the ball looking for other options. I just don't see the plan in action. Are our guys just dumb or is it our coaches!

Finally we have someone to look forward to

I'm not a believer in Roos' game plan. Other sides with similar lists have catapulted up the ladder in a shorter time frame. The current defensive game plan is that it essentially revolves around putting constant defensive pressure on the opposition. This then results on turnovers. The issue with this is that it requires the players to be on their game all the time. If they aren't then the game plan falls away. No player is 'on' every minute of every game. im not too sure what or offensive plan is however if there is one then it's not obvious. Alister clarkson has totally changed the game. He is a genius and will go down as one of the greatest coaches in history. All the successful sides: dogs, Eagles, GWS even the tigers are all coached by his assistant. Its essentislly a game of keepings off (predominately by foot) which results in tiring out the opposition. Melbourne run around like headless chooks and these other sides wait for a Lois man and spread. Leaving us for dead. Lets hope Goodwin has his own plan, initiative and isn't a clone of Roos.

I am still angry.

We have a game plan? Can someone please tell the players? Because they were running around on the weekend like we didn't have one. Come to think of it it's Roos' 3rd year. You reckon we might have something by now. Bolton looks to have made early inroads at Carlton. Simpson did pretty well in one summer at the Weagles. Beveridge has been a revelation in one summer but our boys, well its a bit complicated for them. We need to teach them defence first. Then we move on to handballing. Then to kicking and marking. We have years to go before our game plan is settled. Of course the world will have moved on but we'll be ready to go in 2025...

And Trenners kicks his first goal in 2 years !!

Hes fecked off beck to unzud eh bro.

Having not reach finals in four years, Matthews retired in 2008, leaving a club in significant disarray and with a divided culture. Having returned his club to finals in 2010, after the one and only season out of finals under his tenure in 2009, Roos handed over the coaching position according to a long-established succession plan and with a list and culture that set the club for continued success to this day. It is also worth noting that Matthew's coaching career had already accumulated ten years before 1995. Matthews was one of the great coaches of his era, but he remains of his era. More pertinent to this conversation, Matthews is a bone-lazy commentator who constantly goes off half-cocked in the hope everyone will forget the dumb things he says and just remember the times he turned out to be right.

Im still extremely angry.

I get sick of this attitude. Clarkson is one of the most authoritarian coaches going around at the moment. Gen yers seem to respond to him alright.

Same hairdo as his/her old man.