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https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/01/18/sheedy-hird-should-never-have-coached-without-prior-experience/ I rarely agree with Sheedy but I do this time when he says Hird '...should never have been allowed to coach without having acquired experience as an assistant beforehand.' Shame he said the exact opposite when Hird was appointed. If he had spoken up back then he could have saved everyone a lot of grief! On SEN Sheedy was rewriting history, again!

It's his first full preseason at the Dees. Every other year he's missed a chunk of early training. He should bounce back to his best in 2017.

How good is this write up for Viney! Love the kid and his intensity and passion for the club! "Jack Viney Jack had a slow start to the pre-season, due to injury. But the first day he got back, you could hear the whack in the contest. The contest area had a real intensity about it when Jack was back in there, so he’s been managed a bit. He’s a high talent and has a high love of the club. The way he spoke about the club – and the people in it – after winning last year’s best and fairest sums up Jack the person. Through the family connection, there is no player more invested and committed to driving Melbourne up the ladder than Jack."

Seriously though, I don't the club sees it that way. We're just lucky that a player of his talent and experience fell into our laps for virtually nothing. That rarely happens in this day and age.

Anyone still remember Goody as a player? Looking through his record i was amazed that he was a.. 5x All Australian 3x Best and fairest winner 2x Premiership player 1x Pre season Premiership player and Michael Tuck medalist Retired in 2010, i felt maybe because he was playing interstate that he was underrated back in the Melbourne footy bubble. If he was playing for a big melbourne club then im sure we would have been all saying what a superstar he was. Remember watching a few adelaide games over the years and thinking what a gun he was. Always dominated against the Dees and was a hard player to stop when in full flight.

I feel it's worth pointing out at this point that Lamumba waited until after the trade and draft period to officially retire, thus denying us the opportunity to bring in another player to replace him. I'm pretty annoyed about that.

Dunno. Utility ? Maybe use him like the Hawks use Burgoyne, i.e. everywhere. He can play on ball, occasionally help out down back and even switch with Petracca from a forward flank.

You don't have to guess if you don't want but it has been decided. The process was not democratic.

A gun. Pure and simple

Love that Lewis is teaching the players how to kick better (and while we knew we needed it, its still a bit startling to hear it from a player). Lewis seems a humble guy with no airs and graces which (could have come from his 4 premiership medals). McDonald says: "He picks his places when he wants to talk, he doesn't want to be overbearing and feel like he's pushing himself on to other guys..." Can't wait to see him as an on-field general (along with Jones) marshalling the troops. I can see Lewis being the one who looks for potential momentum changes, has a quick word to Jonesy and nipping them in the bud - the lack of which cost us a few games last year. I can also see him keeping the players to structures and playing to team rules; again something we fell down on last year. Lewis and Jones will make a fine pair of generals, along with their apostles, Maxy and Viney For years we have yearned for a playing coach and to think that Lewis literally just fell into our lap!

That's exactly how I'd like to see him used. He's best on the ball IMO, but he can be very effective in bursts marshalling the play from defence and can easily kick a goal on the run from 55m at HFF.

It is currently on SBS on demand. Watched it again a month or so ago. So many great lines

Agree on all points. In some ways the game plan the Crows employed in that era had elements of the modern game plan - hard running, big bodied mid fielders, a large group of players who could run through the midfield, rebound off the hb and an emphasis on skilled players who hit targets. Blight was his coach in his first couple of years and his attacking style no doubt has had a big influence on Goody, who i think i've read knew he wanted to coach whilst still playing and was preparing for the role in the latter part of his career.

Really Dazzle ... you had no idea about him!! I am absolutely gobsmacked by this. He was (and is) one of the all time greats of the league. Super player from the minute he joined the big league. We are absolutely blessed to have him on board. Not only talented but worked his bum off to get there as well! He was mentored to the minute by Ricciuto in his early days. Deadset Gun.

Winning multiple B&F as a midfielder when Mark Ricciuto and Andrew McLeod are running around in the same team for your whole career, that's impressive! I hope Dom Tyson is taking notes.

Sure do. Went to high school with him. Pretty much gave up playing after watching him.

Swapping Him for the Prince seems like an exceedingly good deal to me.

The only sides that I think cant make it this year are the Roos and the lions. Every other team walks into the season with finals expectations imo. People write off Freo at their own peril I reckon. Bennell back and fit, Fyfe and Sandllands the same, then add in Mc Cartney. Theyre retty handy ins. In the same way, if we're excited about Melksham and Hibbard coming in and and about the impact they could make..then the bombers have 10 of these and bigger names than that. Its going to be a full on dog fight. I expect no more than 2 games between 6 and 14th. So In a year like this we just HAVE to win the close ones. whoever does better in the clutches will make it.

I think some people have forgotten how close we were before we dropped our bundle last year. If Macca reckons they're focused on building mental toughness + focusing on skills (kicking both sides) + some good recruiting + more experience for the young guns now, I'd be disappointed if we're not in the 8 next September

I'd have Daisy. No brainer. Demonland has a Women's Football Board and she is the face of Women's Football, as well as a great ambassador of the MFC. Gawn is the other obvious one.

George on the Outer continues his "warts and all" analysis of each team's prospects for 2017 ... WHERE IT CAN ALL GO WRONG - THE WARTS AND ALL ANALYSIS OF EACH TEAM'S PROSPECTS [PART 2] The next group of six clubs - all picked at random. Sydney Did the Bulldogs finally show the rest of the competition how to beat the Swans? Is just being more relentless than them the simple answer? We sure as hell hope so, because there aren’t too many weaknesses in this side. They put injured players on the field in the GF, but so did Footscray, and like them, the running into brick walls type of play might have to change as casualties mount. The Swans' lack of a true ruck was exposed on the bigger ground of the MCG, but we are really grasping at straws here. Perhaps a good off-field distraction is needed, like salary cap breaches. Collingwood Nathan Buckley is surely in his last season as coach, having failed since taking over a GF winning side from Mick Malthouse. Desperately throwing everything into the mix to save Eddie's (and his own) bacon from the rabid Pies horde, they only managed to dispose of their two best backmen in Brown and Frost and picked up a Melbourne reject Lynden Dunn as replacement. Go figure! Then to top it off they have signed the eternally injured Daniel Wells on a reported three year contract totaling 1.8M but he has still to make it back to the training track. In 2016 the injuries to Swan and Pendelbury exposed the soft underbelly of their mid-field and now with no Swan at all, and Pendelbury another year older, it sure isn’t going to get any better. Bye bye Nathan and bye bye Pies. (does it get any better than this?) Brisbane After leaking a record setting average of 130 points kicked against them in 2016, the Lions position is just so, so far back, that improvement has to be made over many, many years. The pity is that the loss of decent players in the past couple of years has greatly diminished their chances of taking any significant steps forward. Compounded by off-field problems still, and with the fickle Queensland crowds not attending, the situation is truly dire. Not much need go wrong for the status quo to be maintained. St. Kilda The Saints are building a solid side with plenty of talent. Their old brigade of Reiwoldt and Montagna must be at the end, if not there already, but it is their mid-field of Jack Steven, Jack Steven and Jack Steven that is their biggest gaping hole. And we know that a fair bit of the game is dependant upon the mids being successful. Finally, there is always the ability for the Saints to dig a mighty big hole for themselves, as they have managed to do on a regular basis, with something like dwarf throwing or off-field dalliances and romps with underage girls. Gold Coast Surely this crowd are but a figment of the AFL’s imagination of what a real club should look like? The Suns have yet to receive the same largesse as GWS although that might well come soon. They spent all their loot on one G Ablett Junior who has seen better days and almost did a runner with Prestia and O’Meara (we rarely saw them on the track anyway). Coupled with some doubtful off-season antics from Hanley and their main ruck Nichols getting into too much Chrissy pudding, it has set them back once again. Sadly, the Suns are not going to shine any time soon. At least not until they realise they are a football side and not some form of sideshow or theme park that abounds in that part of the world. North Melbourne Similarly to Richmond, the Kangas throw everything they have available at draft time to pick up players to get them into the finals. And the same happened in 2016 - they were obliterated on the big day and now have decided to retire/retrench a good number of the old stagers that got them there in the first place. Despite a 9 - 0 start, they scraped into the finals by a very small margin. Had Billy Stretch’s kick in round 3 had gone the other side of the goal post, then St.Kilda would have played finals instead of North who are now suffering from previous mediocre finishing positions, whereby they don’t get the top talent from the draft, and don’t win anything along the way. With all the lost talent, and little replaced, a slide out of finals and down the ladder is a certainty. [To be continued ... ]

Sorry to keep beating a dead horse, but this should read "had the umpires not gifted them six goals from incorrect free kicks..."

I would be... Jones is the Captain, Lewis is a natural leader around the club with no reason to give him a title.

Beat me to it. He played in a side with some legitimate legends. It's easy to overlook him with those guys getting all of the attention. You could probably throw Bickley in there as well. He was the guy who stepped in after the legends left the building. That is nothing against him, but he will always be a bit in their shadow.

I think if you look at guys like Buckley, hird and voss as great players who became senior coaches, Goodwin has far more experience as an assistant coach than all three combined and at multiple clubs. Been involved with several premiership senior coaches as well so I am very excited to see how we go this season.

absolute freak! Won an all Australian as a forward, a mid and As a half back.

I think the fact Ricuitto Mcleod and Hart were in that side effects the way people remember him. I recall him as a strong runner with a penetrating left foot. Him and Tyson Edwards were the next rung of gun players behind the other 3 in that side

No one could stop him getting the ball, and like Robert Harvey was still going at 100% energy late in games. A natural footballer with ridiculous areobic capacity for running. I was a huge fan of the Crows premiership teams ( even though I hated 1998) they had grunt, pace, flair and efficiency everywhere. Perhaps the most noticeable thing was they were full of stars but played brilliantly as a team. I hope that is the flavour Goodwin produces as coach.

Isn't Lumumba's contract included in our SC despite coming to an agreement with the club to retire?

Thats just the first thing I want.....

Salem gets called sarge apparently ever since the military boot camp they did when he knocked himself out with a brick falling from his backpack and hitting him in the back of the head. Harmes they call the nut no idea why and the cp5 thing for petracca he calls himself because he's copied it from Kevin Durant calling himself KD8, he goes for okc in the NBA but now kd plays for golden state.

Been saying for a while that Dom is a similar type player to Joey Kennedy. Looks like Macca thinks he can move up to that level, good news for us. A very important part of our midfield mix...our strongest player over the ball, gets things moving and can kick a goal.

Just a reminder for posters to play the ball and not the man. You can disagree with each other without resorting to insulting each other. You want to insult each other you will be banned. You bait to get a rise out of a poster, you may be banned too.

Not just fell... He 'headhunted' us. Quite bizarre really.

Saints can finish anywhere up to 5th in my opinion. Played some great footy and getting towards being unbeatable at Etihad again. its amazing how many Dee's supporters underrate a team we Haven't beaten in 10 years.

Only James Hird probably thought the sun flew too close to him ...

I've been privileged to hear some celestial whispers of late. They generally coincide with the imbibing of a nice drop of Bowmore's Black Rock single malt. I take this as a sign the big fella approves of my vice and uses it as a means of entering my consciousness. It's a very pleasant method of communication. Far better than getting down on one's creaking knees.

I think this is possibly the most overused term going around in footy atm. Most of our youngsters who are entrenched in our best 22 will be in their third to fourth years. The dogs won the granny from 7th and had to travel to Perth to beat West Coast, played the reigning premiers in Hawthorn at the G, beat the running machine that is GWS in Sydney and then beat arguably the most hardened and finals-tough side in the Swans to lift the cup. The dogs have an abundance of youth in comparison to sides like Sydney, Hawthorn and even West Coast. Add in the travel and the brutality of finals football and the fact that they won the Grand Final goes completely against the "young players tiring" mantra. Sure young players tire. But with all other variables in motion, it is completely ridiculous to suggest young players tiring is the reason any team loses a game. Anything is possible, the game is completely between the ears and is down to perfect execution of the fundamentals on gameday. Some players do it better than others under extreme fatigue. And that's the way it goes.

To make top 4, a team has to be seriously good. To make the finals, just more than average, or with a bit of luck. Hawthorn in 2016 made finals based on winning 6 games by less than 10 points. They scraped into top 4 after beating a miserable Collingwood by a lucky kick in the dying seconds by Jack Fitzpatrick. North scraped into finals by winning just 2 more games than they lost. If a Billy Stretch kick had gone to the other side of the goal post, the Saints would have been playing in lieu of North. Now good teams win the close games, but the margin between making it or not can come down to that luck/fortune factor. We were in the race for September but for 2 appalling losses against Carlton and Essendon. We weren't lucky against North, we were against GC the second time. Without changing all that much, or improving just that fraction, we should be playing finals in 2017. We now have the talent and importantly the work ethic to win games. Like North, Hawthorn and even WB in 2016, winning just a couple of those tight games will get us there. Injuries....well that's another story. Particularly if our AA ruckman gets hurt.

George on the Outer has prepared a "warts and all" analysis of each opposition team's prospects for 2017 ... WHERE IT CAN ALL GO WRONG - THE WARTS AND ALL ANALYSIS OF EACH TEAM'S PROSPECTS [PART 1] With all of the summertime hype in the football news at this time of the year, I thought it was appropriate to temper the high expectations of the fans (not that any of that would happen on Demonland) with some truly deep analysis of the opposition going into season 2017. What I discovered was that, as is customary, every team is “training the house down” and not a single club is dissatisfied with its trades and signings. So I decided to have a look at the real story of what can and should go wrong for each of the sides in 2017. The teams have been selected at random and here are the first five:- Geelong Dangerfield and Selwood. They alone got the pussies across the line in at least six games last year. Without that contribution they would surely have inhabited the lower reaches of the ladder. The Premiership years have now passed by the Cats and whilst they spent up big to lure Dangerfield back to his home territory (who wouldn’t?) the plan didn’t quite get them up last year. I can't see it sustaining them as their list goes into decline and with the likes of Lachie Henderson trying to hold the backline together, it simply isn’t the Geelong of old. Essendon Despite the AFL handing out more of their largesse, in the form of access to additional players and essentially first pick in the draft to the Bombers in last year's draft, so avoiding a collapse following the suspensions for drug taking offenses, few true fans of the game will be hoping for anything good for this club. With an ageing side with a good number of their players sidelined from the game for more than 12 months, they are coming from a long way back. A full forward who can’t find the goals, a captain who can’t find a Brownlow medal, and a club that can’t find its records, they most likely won't find a way to win too many games either. At least Worsfold had all the excuses in the world for poor performances last year but in 2017 there will be nowhere to hide and we might well discover why he was sacked by the West Coast Eagles. West Coast Speaking of the Eagles, I suspect that with the collapse of the WA mining boom, the same downward trend will also affect afflict West Coast. Despite a 16-6 record and a home final in 2016, the Eagles were thrown out in week 1. Probably the loss of Nic Natanui in Round 21 affected them the most his absence for most of season 2017 will continue to hurst. While he is next to useless around the ground, his height and leap give his mids plenty of the ball, so without that, how will an aging Priddis and an aged new recruit Sam Mitchell fare? With a good number of their home games against top 2016 sides, they won’t enjoy the easy ride they have had in years past. And maybe, just maybe the competition can afford to pay for eastern state umpires to control their home games. It will help the locals to understand the rules of the game, which is currently beyond them. Fremantle Oh how the mighty have fallen! The Dockers had been slated as probably Grand Finalists before the season began having made it to the big dance in 2015. But they finished with only 4 wins in 2016! It all went to pieces in Round 3 with the demise of Aaron Sandilands. Without the dominant ruckman (a beanpole of 211cm) the Dockers simply couldn’t get the ball. And it got worse in Round 5 as Nate Fyfe broke his leg again and sat out the season. Mundy also was injured and saw the writing on the wall, along with Ballantyne as they offered their services to anyone who would take them during the trade period. No takers, so they are stuck with Ross Lyon and his coaching plan of stopping the opposition at all cost, without being able to score themselves. Shane Yarran wasn’t keen to stay around either, and dumped on the club as he exited prior to Christmas. It must be a wonderful workplace although in Yarran's case who knows whether his next workplace is going to be much better. No Pavlich in 2017, and with an ageing/old list, there is little cause for redemption. Richmond The Toiyges never fail to disappoint. Despite making three finals series and getting bundled out without progressing any further, they still didn’t recruit the right types to help them take the next step, if there ever was one. Over the years they had built a list around half a dozen capable players, and then imported the likes of Houli, Grigg, Maric and Chaplin to enable them to reach finals. But they stopped building 3 years ago, and all that has happened is every one of these players is just older and slower, or not there anymore. They threw everything at Chris Yarran and Dion Prestia to keep the feral fans happy, but Yarran never made it to the field and Prestia is still running laps in late January. [To be continued ... ]

Intentional or not, it ended up being a pun. As in, you found his nickname 'killer', in the vernacular sense, ergo you would enjoy reading post 15 which also claimed to enjoy several lame nicknames. Clear as mud? Aside from KillaWatts I think it's Gerald Healy who quite painfully refers to Watts as 'High Voltage'. Cringe

All I want to do is beat the saints round one!

Top 5 GWS - imo should finish top and hurt from last year s prelim loss. They are strong everywhere inside ball winners outside run and polish. Numerous tall forward options and classy players at ground level. They aren't shabby down back either and use the ball well off hb. Mummy is very important but not the key ingredient he was 2 years ago. They should win it but Prelim & GF anything can happen Dogs, Swans and Crows to make up the 4 for mine. Swans did well to get games into young players. Dogs put together a great September when everything went right but they deserved that considering the horror run through the year with injury. Crows are exciting and plenty of players to throw through the middle, lacked really good pace last season but some of the younger players on the list have good pace Meth Coast are still going to be strong Mitchell is all class and the influence he will have freeing up Priddis and Shuey should be huge. Sheed being fit provides some more size and composure around the stoppages. Josh Kennedy may struggle with Mitchell coming in and delivering the ball to his chest which will be foreign to him but I think he'll flourish. 1 on 1 is his weakness but on a lead he is almost unbeatable. Petrie I think will be ok as an out and out ruckman. They wont drop many at Subi and only need to pinch 3 or 4 away to be pushing top 4. Of the rest of the 8 from 2016 North Slide - big turnover on the list and rebuilding Cats unsure could hold or slide but IMO wont improve - to reliant on Danger and Selwood. May have a good run with the older players and give it one more good crack but a lot of big holes to shore up Hawks slide -been the benchmark but the signs were there for all to see the end was coming. Gibson getting more work put in to him Hodge close to done. Mitchell and Lewis absolute A graders who are almost impossible to replace The improvers Saints - like what they have yes Roo and Joey are still important but the kids they have are quality team/culture makers like Dunstan Ross & Gresham. Carlisle imo is a gun CHB and Steven has taken big steps to become almost A grade Dees - end of season I was worried about the boys thinking it will just happen. The inclusions of Lewis and Hibberd are huge to provide more experienced heads and assist Brendan Macartney Goodwin and Vrossy with setting the culture and standards along with Chunk and Viney. Gus Trac and Hoges all coming back in good nick shows the boys know what is required. We can finish anywhere from 5th to 13th but anything but finals should be a disappointment Suns - love their spine it is potentially elite. No longer reliant on Ablett and certainly due a good run with injury. Ainsworth will step in straight away and be very damaging at the feet of Lynch and Wright Freo - can't go much lower got games into younger players last year and a fit Fyfe is huge. They will push finals and shape the 8 with their home form but the younger players will tire in the second half of the season Bombers - Merrett Parish Danniher Francis and Hartley all get a really good chop out from some really good quality players. Hard for them not to improve. I expect Heppell to have a huge season

Falcons 35 - Packers 34 Genuinely can't believe I'm tipping us to make a SB. If I wasn't a Falcons fan I'd have the scores swapped around. Doing a dodgey at work Monday gotta be home to watch this live Patriots 27 - Steelers 24

Tyson is in the rehab group, Kent did some laps with Hulett and a bit of handball, didn't ask, get nothing anyway, club hasn't bothered ANB and Hannan the only other two in rehab, but they may as well be in main group Crossy works them over, another two hours of 'rehab' covering everything Frost all defensive craft no surprise Bugg midfield craft no surprise Highlight for me today Pedo testing his shoulder out late in the session with a bit of one on one with Crossy he survived Forwards heaps of goalkicking practice, including the worst ever effort I have seen from Watts, went sideways, to everybody's amusement, including his, of course he nailed every one after that And on that JKH again lined one up at about 45deg angle 55 out, through the middle, hit the netting behind the goal about half way up, Dion Johnstone then followed same result competition is a wonderful thing pics on Instagram next half hour

I think 5-15 is going to be the most competitive it's been for some time. Even those presumed to be down the bottom could bounce up and bother ostensibly 'good' sides.

I think a lot of people underestimate St Kilda. They're developing with a good midfield and forward line, and even when Riewoldt and Montagna retire they'll still be very dangerous.

Beautiful

Woo! That's the spirit!

So I had a dream last night; two dreams if you count my date with a young Farrah Fawcett in Main Street, Mornington (we had paella). The second had newby Dion Johnstone as a reincarnation of Aaron Davey with manic forward pressure and a whole lot of mongrel and we became a desperate outfit. Disregard my previously cautious post. We'll come home with a wet sail in 2017.