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At the thursday training I noticed that we were working hard on defense. Dean kent and Jay Kennedy-Harris competing in close range. Coaching staff putting ball in between them basketball style. The one who got the ball was instantly tackled, both doing well breaking or sticking the tackle. I thought JKH was a bit stronger and smarter in the contest. Christian Petracca was working very hard in the simulations to pressure the opponents. He won or imposed himself in lots of contest. I think he is ready and I'm hoping he can pull it all together in this big game. At the throw ins to mids they were making sure they got their match ups right. Plenty of communication to cover the opponents. Pick ups, front positions and defending the area were the ball may drop seemed to be emphasized. There were plenty of intercepts, punches of high balls, locking the ball in and finding outlets when under pressure during simulations. Tom Mcdonald was looking very fit and strong (no obvious niggles) and motivated. He will be difficult to defend against (tall, fast, endurance and a rock), hoping we can kick to his advantage and he kicks a bag full. Jake Melksham was delivering beautifully into the forwards during simulations expecting the same thing during game. I think he is mature enough that a few weeks off won't effect his impact too badly. Sam Wiedeman has been doing quite alot of ruck training in the past couple of months. It will be interesting to see how Goodwin uses in the team. He was getting plenty of action on thursday though looking a bit anxious. He is stronger and bigger now, won't be pushed around. Hopefully he sticks a few marks or at least brings the ball down to front and centre. I think Goodwin liked the way Sydney used small kicks to create the overlap or break the lines as he was getting us to do the same thing. Small passes to open players and kicks looping to players at the back of front positioned defenders. I think it is also a strategy that may allow us to clear the opponents pressure area. Wouldn't be surprised if we move the ball more by foot and keep them to under 12 goals. A kind of finals approach to this game. Hard, dour and gut running when we don't have the ball and creative ball use so to find an express lane to goals when we have it.

Our entire season will be judged on these two games. Win one ,and it’s a pass mark as we make finals Win both, and we arrive as a team to be feared. Lose both , and we are flat track bullies, and a failure.

You are such a boring contributor to this site. And you wonder why others have a go at you. Just talk footy for a change rather than baiting people like me.

I’m just waiting for Weid to start sticking his marks. He is our most aggressive and component tall forward in the air, he just needs to start clunking them. He just launches at the ball so well, a really good leap, it would be a shame if they never stick. The coaching staff are really bullish about him becoming an aerial threat in the future. Part of it is fitness and concentration for Weid. He’s one of the most aggressive tacklers on the list, but once he get what tired he stops sticking them. Hopefully he continues to build fitness, as the aggression and technique are already there. Here’s hoping this weekend it starts to come together more consistently.

Blood hell, another expert putting our team down. Personally, I'm finding all this pessimism and negatively surrounding the MFC absolutely nauseating of late. To be honest, I find the media coverage of teams, fickle and mentally week in it's self. One or two good wins and they talk up teams as 'legitimate premiership contenders', lose one or two and all of a sudden the team has these huge fundemental flaws that have been exposed. Hardwick and Bucks were cannon fodder for the last three or four years and now all of a sudden they are the role models for how every struggling coach/team needs to turn things around. I think Goodwin is absolutely right about the fugazi. On the topic of mental fatigue, I'm pretty much in a place where I just want the next two weeks to be over from a footy perspective and either we fizzle and miss again or preferably we dig deep pull out a win or two and STICK IT RIGHT UP THEM and charge into finals with an opertunity to wreak some havoc. I'm glad the team has Goodwin as coach and believe we have a good opertunity to win both games. Proud of the team regardless and with the developing players we have in Oliver, Brayshaw, Harms, Freitch etc, I'm and confident we are building in the right direction. You only have to hear the way some of the improved players like ANB and Brawshaw talk of the confidence the get from Goodwin as a coach to know he is having the right sort of impact and whilst the coach has that sort of impression and suport of the playing group. The next step is really up to the players to take the games by the scruff of the neck, believe and get the job done - there is only so much a coach can do.

In all honesty, that was one of the most biased calls I’ve ever heard in a game of football. Atrocious effort.

What about Nicholls? Any chance he retires any chance soon? I really don’t want to have to go rogue and smash anymore kneecaps...

Yeah he was, but tbh I think the point he wanted to make was that no one, players or coaches, grab the game by the scruff of the neck and drag it with them over the line, hence his calls for sometimes make it 1v1 all over the ground and challenge each player to beat his opponent. Dermie said we have the talent for that to be effective and I agree. Dunstall also made the point now is the time for the coach to stop deflecting the heat from the media away from the team and challenge them, front on, here it is. Take it if you want it.

Derm and Dunstall were pretty good on their take on the Dees. talents there, once we get over the hurdle of not knowing how to be good and ruthless we will be very very good.

No matter what Wallace says, rehashing and glorifying him being assaulted on the field I find incredibly distasteful.

Why have a man bun with 1cm of hair?? just snip it Cale Ffs

Would’ve preferred Garlett than Hannan. Despite having a poor game against the Swans, he was amongst our most dangerous players the week before and was IMO a key reason we beat Adelaide over there. His 2nd/3rd quarter burst set up our win. Hannan has not had any impact on an AFL match in 12 months. Poor selection. The Ins otherwise are all solid choices. Melksham and Hibberd will make a big difference!

Wish Nichols would go

If Petracca wants to be a "Hall of Famer" there is no better place to start than the next 2 weeks. Stand up. Rip the game apart. Create some fear in our opponents. Lead your team mates. The next 6/7 weeks is where reputations are made. Do it.

Its the truth. Probably an uncomfortable one but imo its accurate. Yes, we've improved and yes, we could/ should also have had about 4 more wins this year and be comfortably in the top 4 and eyeing off a flag. But.... we're not. if it happens, missing the finals WILL add enormous pressure to the group and onto Goodwin...and it should. Near enough, almost, unlucky, young or "still developing" have no currency from here on in. Its time our boys were men.

I also think another issue to the impatience and anxiety of supporters league wide is the success of the Western Bulldogs and Richmond out of nowhere, the "why not us" attitude is very prevalent. But even still, this list should be playing finals. But the above just fuels it to astronomical levels.

I am coming to the conclusion that the coaching department is lacking in the game plan department, let alone game day strategy. Watching the replay yet again of last week’s game to compliment being there and seeing the disaster unfold before me I keep coming back to the game plan and it’s limitations. To use a boxing analogy we are the classic slugger/brawler who lacks speed, balance and finesse, we just keep moving forward, hunting the opponent, throwing haymakers, hoping that if we throw enough punches we will overwhelm the opposition. It works against mugs but not against your classic boxers. We are predictable and slow but potentially dangerous. We are the Rocky Balboa of the AFL. Our opponent on Sunday was your classic boxer, think M Ali, fast on his feet, determined to keep his distance and just counter punch and move away, using the full area of the ring to set up angles of attack that negate your attack and maximise his counter punching. And this is what the Swans did, they used the full width of the Gee to work their way forward by foot to then get a shot on goal, often from 40 or 50 m but it worked. Meantime we bombed high forward hoping for a big mark or loose ball inside a 30m arc patrolled by Allir and later Cheney and got nothing. As a footy team we are so predictable in attack but also dangerous because we win so much contested footy and manufacture so many inside 50’s and have some good big forwards to mark the ball coming in. So on paper the game plan makes some sense. However it is not working. Against the best sides we have got close but usually our conversion rate has failed us. On Sunday it reached a new level of ineptitude that was inexplicable! 7 missed set shots from inside 40 metres while the Swans nailed every shot from 50m set shot or on the run.

Umpires Troy Pannell and Justin Schmitt retiring at end of year. Engrave the 2019 Premiership Cup and get your 2019 Demon premiership tattoos now! Discuss what we will do without the opposition being gifted 3 goals from frees every game.

Honestly, that Umpiring was shameful. I didn’t give a rats toss about the game, but the umpiring was perhaps the worst and most blatant I have ever seen. Conspiracy theorists can have a field day. That made the whole comp looked like a rigged shill game.

Just die bummers......just...

I know FC on Monday night mentioned the chance of Prority picks for Carlton, GC and St Kilda. Well Mick Warner on 3AW tonight said other clubs believe Carlton and GC will not only get prority picks but will get picks 1 and 2 as those picks and St Kilda could also get a pick somewhere in the top 20. Well that would just about be it for me for the AFL. Where’s the you need to build and culture and environment around the club, yeah that’s right that’s only if your a minnow and the AFL CEO doesn’t barrack for you. Absolute Rubbish!

Blow hard. Just no need.

This has stuck in my craw all season. We were told it was going to burn in the guts but here we are, in the same position. Was all in our hands but we gassed it. Time is now. By Monday the time will have passed.

Not really 'TGR'... Succesful club, probably the greatest coach in modern times. Nothing ironic. As for moving players on and us taking Lewis. He didn't empty them all out, they still have plenty of experience to draw on. We had no Premiership experience on our list, adding one was a good move I would have thought. How long he holds his spot and the length of his contract is another matter but I don't think you could argue the merits of bringing him into the club.

It's really hard to reconcile your username with that last sentence

We are Nicholls free this weekend. Listed umpires are above.

We need to lower our eyes to beat the Eagles. Leg speed I50 would be an advantage... Bombing it in is Icing on there Cake! ?

Lever, Viney and Hogan are out, and other important players are underdone - Gawn was clearly playing injured last week, while Hibberd and Melksham are straight back in after significant layoffs. ...and yet I still reckon we're a chance of knocking off the #2 team away.

Derm served it up our group! Like him or not....the successful clubs think we are weak in big games and are there for the taking. They are spot on! I hate to hear this but it’s the truth.

To maximise our chances to stay in the 8 we need these results: Rich to defeat Ess. Pies to defeat Port. Freo to defeat Cats Crows to defeat North That will knock Ess, North and Cats out as our competitors as they will be one game and big % behind us guaranteeing us a spot in the 8, regardless of whether we win another game! So time to barrack for the underdogs, folks!

When we get all this noise from the experts and the experts on here I always remember what Blight said at the start of the season. Looks like he was pretty right to me. It's relevant to the discussion on Goody, the players and their mental weaknesses as some like to call. It's all "fugazi"... Too many pushed expectations too soon, we are so close but not quite there. We may well make finals but we're a way off yet and despite wanting us to be contenders we're just not ready. I'm comfortable with where we're at, yes I would like to see us in the top 4 giving it a shake but key injuries along with the list profile made it highly unlikely. This is why we're not quite there yet...I know many won't want to hear it. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/03/06/dees-will-struggle-to-make-the-eight-again-blight/

He lays a strong tackle for a start. He's nothing like the others you've mentioned. He hits the pack hard and is not afraid of getting his hands dirty. As for stepping up now, he's the best option we've got. He will give it his best shot and that's all we can ask even though you would like to seem him morph into the 2nd coming of Carey overnight. I see similarities with Kennedy of the Eagle variety, I think he could get there. Again, unrealistic to expect that level yet.

Swallow my pride and overlook his wastefulness during the year by describing Tyson’s game as: prolific, and valuable

The let down of last weekend has seen me somewhat dejected from the pre Sydney hope that we could have been playing the last two weeks with a finals spot all sewn up. I've also almost been sucked into this whole mentally week chokers thing that so many experts (including many of our own supporters) want to burden us with, so haven't had many expectations during the week and almost accepted a yet to be determined fate that finals are gone for another year. But as I've thought about things over the last day or so, I've remembered a few things: 1. I don't think there is a side in the competition this year that we can't beat; 2. The majority/key of players in our team (Gawn, Oliver, Brayshaw, Jones, Jetta, Harmes, Melksham, Hibbard, Trac, Tommy Mac, Vanders, ANB, Salem, Frost, Lewis...) are hard, agressive, compeditive types. These blokes won't have liked the tags being leveled at them this week and will have fierce determination to right that wrong; 3. The above is also true of Goody's personally and ethos and I recon the boys will pickup and feed off that as well. Against Sydney we dominated play early, but I'm not sure the physical intensity was up there and it seemed like we were on cruise control with the expectation that we would coast to a win against them. Last week would have been a huge wake up call to the team, which I recon will jolt them into action this week. I'm hoping and expecting that the guys come out breathing fire like we did against Richmond earlier in the year and physically take it up to West Coast in a way they really don't want to deal with right now. I'm also remembering the resolve that we showed against Adelaide a few weeks back and the ability to grind their way back into the game and then dominate it after the Crows got off to a flyer. As a supporter I've resolved to not let the disapointments of the recient past cloud my outlook on the challenge we face and looking forward to the ride over the next week and a bit, then hopefully month to come. GO THE MIGHTY DEMONS - TEAR WEST COAST APART.

I will bet it is the same this week as last week with the ball only going less than 10 meters. Sydney got away with it so many times it was unbelievable.

5.12 for the season. That would make him [D Sheil] feel right at home with us ???

Just heard on SEN that Paul Gaff, father of Andrew is in hospital with heart issues. May sway him to move back to VIC and leave WCE.

It's the free agent status that makes it logical to chase Gaff. Your points above are all valid but we have an opportunity to add a proven A grade mid with 170+ games to the team who is in their prime. Stuff the waiting and hypotheticals based around our current list... Let's jack our team full of more stars while we can.

A chance for some heroes to be made on Sunday for the MFC. Win and we will play finals, at long last. The guys must step up and lead us to victory ... how glorious it would be.

the thing I don't get is Freo get little or no advantage from the umps over there. Do WC fans cheer louder? the stats shown a few weeks ago were an absolute disgrace and the media seems to accept the umps would be influenced by fans cheering?!? what is going on, is this professional sport? call what you see. why don't the Tiges have this advantage with 70K at the G each week? blatent cheating

I’ve long been intrigued by statements if this ilk on demonland and other supporter forums. Do you think that Goodwin and the rest of the team are thinking ‘Dave from Perth is cool with it’ so we just won’t try this week? is there some form of after training event where we all get together and give the players hugs and hand out flowers? if not for the fact that they get paid bloody well to play footy, they’ve all grown up being the ‘alpha dog’ in their footy clubs growing up and being used to winning, and the fact that as humans the player don’t want to see themselves on the back page of the paper being the recipient of cheap shots from the media, surely that’s motivation enough. i call BS that the willingness of any football punter to accept mediocrity / demand greatness has anything at all to do with an individual football teams levels of motivation, desire, and general attitude around wanting to win on a weekly basis. For the record, I reckon we’ll beat the Eagles this week. Go dees

Thanks for the comparison TGR with Fraser Anning mate - as an practising member of the Jewish faith i really appreciate the analogy with a white supremacist. Why on earth was this insult deemed suitable by you ? Moron!

Tanks very much, Richmond.

I just want to see the anger on Chris Scott’s face. In fact it’d be almost better than a Dees win. If there is one overrated coach in the AFL its him, inherited a premiership side, topped up every year trying to win another, tried to buy a flag with Dangerflog and now they’re scraping the 8 with an A grade midfield and their best player is 34. They’re in serious trouble in the next few years, Ablett, Danger, Selwood, Taylor and probably Hawkins gone and no kids coming through. Apart from Henry, their list is a shambles.

Been the story all week. Everyone is saying once we turn the corner and get a scalp, we'll be right up there. Believe it when I see it.

Ahh Dermie... Explanatory diarrhoea

Thanks, Wallet. Pop on a little more bronzer next time.

Yes. He was caught by the WA Cultural Police, putting his Woosha poster into the recycling and his WCE scarf into the Salvos bin. And wasn't really banned, he was waterboarded with eastern states beer and forced to confess every free kick he'd ever awarded against the Eagles.