Leaderboard

Maybe it's just me but I think Petracca's 2018 season was very underrated by DL posters. I'd rate his season as good as he averaged 20 possessions a game playing predominately half forward. He had over 40 shots at goal but was inaccurate compared to his previous year but all his major stats were up. He came with a lot of expectation and I understand some are disappointed he isn't yet a superstar but it's only his fourth season in the AFL with his first ruined by injury. What I find more disappointing is people questioning his attitude when the reality is I doubt many know and are just guessing. Questioning someone's attitude by guessing is poor form. As for Lyon's view - I couldn't care less.

I think a pass mark is top four finish in the regular season and then to make a prelim. B Making the Grand Final. A Winning the Grand Final. A+

Tyson wasnt a reject. That is being quite unkind to a bloke who agreed to come to us when we were a laughing stock, and played some very good football for us. Agreed he would not to fit into our best side now and his shortcomings are obvious to most, but to include him in your list is extremely unfair to him. He is well above every other name in that list.

Personally, I think booing should be reserved for umpires and anyone associated with Collingwood.

Speaking about his goal kicking I think Trac seemed to lose confidence in front of goal. He seemed to always look to give it off when in range.

MELBOURNE champion Garry Lyon has implored Christian Petracca to return to training early, urging the hybrid Demons forward to replicate Max Gawn’s off-season example in order to get the best out of himself.

Pick 53

I miss looking at the scoreboard and seeing: A 1.7 B 2.5 Then going through the record to find out who the hell A & B are.

We'll be airing the interview on Wednesday Night 14/11 @ 8:30pm.

Take a look at his 2017 goals... Compare them to many of his goals from this year, where he was often looking to dish off, or played on to kick around his body. Also, in 2017 he kicked 26 goals, 6 behinds. In 2018 he kicked 19 goals, 23 behinds. It's confidence.

The past is often imagined to be better. Looked at objectively the players were far less athletic the skills generally poor the facilities were rubbish and the behaviour of spectators and players crude and often loutish. There were no tactics and little structure apart from "get on your man". Coaching was something else. The torpedo has disappeared apparently but frost hunt and dunne disagree and on the evidence it has a place. Drop kicks are gone but drop punts are much more reliable. New forms of goal kicking have evolved in the banana round the corner and the dribbler. We of a certain age hark back to the 60s and 70's more generally we live better longer and safer. I miss seeing league teams and the replay after the game but i couldnt record the game see highlights on youtube or see interviews with favourite players and so much more Sorry to rain on the nostalgia parade!

And on Harmes, I'm hoping he doesn't take his foot off the pedal either and re-doubles his efforts to improve even further. If he gets to A grade, with a fit Viney, we'll have the best midfield in the competition (if we don't already).

I think it had more to do with Max turning things around from being lazy/making poor choices, whereas Jones, ANB and Stretch have always trained hard from the start. Gaz just making a point that CP can turn it around like Max if he wants to.

If this photo doesn't cut at Trac, then we might as well trade him. And to go even further, if Maxy's arms were a bit longer, then next in line for the group hug would be Harmes. That, too, should be motivation enough for Trac to have a cracking preseason.

Best Bets for Emirates (so far) Flemington Race 2 No.5 Lucky For All $2.80 Flemington Race 5 Number 7 Jaameh $4.80 Flemington Race 8 No. 9 Extra Brut. $9.50 With odds boost i got 141/1. See how we go. Good luck punters

Best bet: Flemington Race 8 No. 9 Extra Brut. $9.50 Weir said it can back up, and no weight on its back.

Agreed. He might not be starring now, but Tyson played some quality football for us and has played over 100 games. In 2014 he finished second in the BnF to Jones in his first year with us at age 20-21. He was a bees [censored] away from winning it off Jones, and would have been a worthy winner after a stellar season. Knee injury 2015. Finished fourth in our BnF in 2016 against some quality players in a team playing well for patches and just missing the 8. 2017 he was limited by a knee injury. 2018 he struggled. The way he's been spoken about and criticised on here this year has been unwarranted IMO. I wish him well at North, as he's a good bloke who played some good footy for us and chose to come when we were basket case. Here's a bit of a discussion point; Tyson was better than Petracca at the same age! Regarding DFAs, doesn't seem like we'll pick anyone up. I'm a bit surprised we moved so many players, as our list appears like it will come short? Perhaps we will re-rookie some like Bugg?

Best Bet Flemington Race 2 No.5 Lucky For All $2.80 (Win)

I agree about the saturation issue. I'm no fan of Thursday night football (unless it's a special occasion, such as the night before Good Friday or ANZAC Eve) as it has the effect of diluting the weekend. I'm also not psychologically ready for it. It's the same with cricket. Why we're playing international cricket in Australia in November makes no sense to me. Clearly the Australian public isn't ready for that, either.

Booing a guy who wanted to go home after he survived cancer and had his dad pass away from the same disease with within a few months? Cool.

Best Bet. Flemington Race 5 Number 7 Jaameh $4.80

Petracca is a natural ball-sport player: basketball, footy etc... come easy to him because his instincts and reactions are amazing. He has all the skills, great vision, incredible eye-hand co-ordination. His goal kicking is probably a mental thing and when he gets it right, look out. I also think he has trained very hard since being at the Dees. I remember the photos from his first training sessions when he realised how far he had to go to work alongside Nathan Jones and Bernie Vince. Like Max, I don't reckon he has to work harder, he has to work smarter, and change the way he trains. Less gym, more longer distance running, rowing, boxing. I have to admit to being a fan, and his 2018 season was very, very good. His influence and goal assists were breathtaking at times. Even if he doesn't improve any further he is a wonderful footballer and I love what he brings. However, with his skills and smarts he could become anything. If he can train smarter, change his body shape slightly, run more, then the sky is the limit.

Amazing, we have bemoaned the lack of professionalism and dedication of our players for the last 10+ years. There is a Tracc thread which leans this way at the moment. The dedication sounds amazing BUT you hope he can balance his own expectations and life to make sure he doesn't burn himself out.

Everybody should be replicating Gawn's fitness regime he's close to the best player in the AFL.

A pass mark is to make the finals, that's for every team. Realistically we should be aiming for the grand final.

Some of the criticisms are a little cover the top. Can he improve? Absolutely. Will he improve?. Probably. Have another a look a the semi final against Hawthorn to see what influence he can have on the team.

Complacency is our biggest opponent this year; I would hate to think our guys thought they had achieved anything last season. Lewis will earn his pay this off season I reckon

His numbers are traccing as good as Jordan De Goey's, he just needs to kick more goals and take more marks as it's a noticeably large difference. I wonder how much of that can be attributed to playing more midfield time than JDG though, as he's definitely not the focal point of our forward line like he is theirs. It was spoken about on another thread, but Tracc is 5cm shorter and 5kg heavier according to those stats. So maybe Lyon just wants him to lose a bit of weight in the off and become a more aerobic player to give him an extra yard of elusive pace. Footywire comparison

I watch Garry Lyon train in the old days and he never pushed himself either so he knows what a waste of talent is when you think you can just turn up and perform. One of the great athletes of all time Carl Lewis used to have a saying 'when you are number 1 you have to train like number 2' also Jesse Owens had a saying 'that people say I am lucky but the harder I train the luckier I get' the saying's are basically true but lazy sportsmen blame other things for their failure to get to the top of the heap.

The bit where Garry Lyon says that he might train hard and hard, but doesn't realise he can go up a level if he really wanted to is absolutely spot on. I believe Garry Ablett Jnr and Bernie Vince are on record to say that they thought they were training hard until their leaders sat them down and told them training hard just wasn't enough. I would be surprised if Jordan Lewis and Nathan Jones haven't had this conversation already with Petracca.

100% agree with this.

Leave the jumpers alone. Our home jumper is easily the best in the league. Our royal blue clash is the best alternate jumper we have ever had and i cant think of a better idea. At least its red and blue. No white rubbish like in previous years. Our two jumpers should never change again from now on imo.

4 best bets in so far ... paying 20-1 (non boosted) French Ligue 1 Sunday at 03:00 Guingamp v Lyon Lyon Win/Over 1.5 goals $1.95 EPL Sunday at 04:30 Crystal Palace v Tottenham Tottenham Win/Over 1.5 goals $2.15 Italian Serie A Sunday 1.00am Torino (win) & +2.5 Goals Match Score $2.30 vs Parma Italian Serie A Sunday 6.30am Genoa vs Napoli (win) & +2.5 Goals Match Score $2.10

Best Bets Italian Serie A Sunday 1.00am Torino (win) & +2.5 Goals Match Score $2.30 vs Parma Italian Serie A Sunday 6.30am Genoa vs Napoli (win) & +2.5 Goals Match Score $2.10

Excuses are the meat of a lie wrapped in the skin of reason

Tyson has almost zero peripheral vision and spacial/situational awareness, and it will always be his limiting factor as a player, in addition to hit and miss kicking. That said, his inside game is quite good. I was hoping he would go to Gold Coast, as he would have added value to their list. Looks like we wont sign a dfa. Meh. With the swapping of picks for an upgrade, looks like Taylor has his sights on a particular player. With his current strike rate, I am very excited about that.

Don't know what I'd do without you. Thanks

This?

Trac doesn't seem to have an attitude problem. He clearly loves the club and is hungry for success. He does go missing too often though - I suspect it's absolutely confidence-related/mental etc. Anyone know what his GPS stats are (on average) per game? He could probably work on his aerobic capacity a bit.

We have a particularly hard draw (assuming other teams perform as well as they did this year in 2019). If we make the finals again we will have done well hopefully top 4 then who knows. If we make finals next year given our draw we will have certainly earned it and will have consistently beaten some of this years finalists to get there. If we drop a couple games we should win (a habit that seems hard to break) things may get a bit tough

1997 Prelim Crows/Dogs was on Fox the other day and the goal umpires were still wearing ties.

Watch what the Weid does next year. His kicking action, pack crashing and contested marks are far superior to Hogans and I reckon he's gonna rip it apart in 2019. His body is ready, and the supply from the midfield will be as good as its been in decades I reckon with Kolo in the frame. Sure, he'll never be able to cover ground like Hogan did but who cares, he's a true KPF. Someone else can run the park. Top 4 regular finish and playing a GF is my pass mark (and why not, we've been upwardly trending for years now, no reason that cant or wont continue just cause we're at the pointy end now)

Sounds very Tom Scullylike so my hope is that GWS Giants draft him and they pick Shane Mumford as his mentor.

Today's VRC Oaks & Tuesday's Melbourne Cup

The field legs certainly provided some value Macca. It’s a method I’ve used before and managed to get a few collects on quaddies. Nothing huge though. Aristia never crossed my mind even though it was the second pick. Live and learn indeed, it’s worth it even for the smaller percentage. Bleu Roche was tough in the win, managed to watch the race on one of my breaks. El Magnificence running at Flemington Saturday, up against one of our previous bests in ‘Eurack’. You never know, currently $19.

Flag

Still not as bad as the Super Amart logo on the Bombers jumper.

I looked at the pics and wondered why the jumpers looked so good. I pine for the days before marketing, advertising and entertainment.

I was 14 when he was drafted which was really about the time I started to follow the Demons passionately.

At risk of sounding like an old fart, it hadn’t occurred to me that there would be adults on Demonland still young enough for Colin Sylvia to have been included in their idols growing up set. His era feels too recent as the years fly by. It adds another dimension to the club’s collective grief that I hadn’t considered. Condolences to yourself and others out there in that boat.