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As we get ready to see in the New Year let's hope we can realise the promise that was shown in 2018 and bring home the big one. ...but more importantly here's wishing a happy and healthy New Year to you all. Cheers, Rjay

THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS - 2018 by Whispering Jack Melbourne atoned for the heartbreak of its frustrating finish to the 2017 season by, at long last, making the finals and then disposed of two highly credentialed and experienced teams in Geelong and Hawthorn before it capitulated meekly to eventual premier West Coast in the Preliminary Final in Perth. The club’s progression has been forward and upward since it finished 2013 with two wins and appointed Paul Roos as coach. The number has increased to four, seven, 10, 12, and now 14 games. The Demons made the finals for the first time in a dozen years and are now tracking for their first premiership in five and a half decades. In the women’s game, the club’s second season of AFLW competition was dogged throughout by inaccuracy in front of goal causing it to again just miss out on grand final honours finishing third after losing 4.7.31 to 5.3.33 to rivals and eventual premiers, the Western Bulldogs in the final round. The Demons were well led by Daisy Pearce and had a star player in Karen Paxman. They will miss their skipper Pearce, who will be out of the forthcoming season on maternity leave - a first for the womens competition. The Demons started their men’s campaign with a win in their section of the novelty AFLX competition, then won their two JLT Community Series games against North Melbourne in Hobart and St Kilda at Casey Fields, the latter in unconvincing fashion after building a big lead early. The opening round AFL match against Geelong resulted in a disappointing loss after a missed shot from Max Gawn in the final thirty seconds ceded a 3 point loss. The club won its next two matches, again unconvincingly although their round 3 win against North Melbourne broke a long run of defeats going back over more than a decade. A poor game against Hawthorn and a final term collapse on Anzac Day Eve against the Tigers had Melbourne down with a 2 - 3 record. The revival began against Essendon and continued over the ensuing weeks as the Demons stretched their winning run to six games culminating with big wins against Carlton and Adelaide at Alice Springs and a solid victory over the Bulldogs. At the halfway mark of the season they were challenging for a top four spot on 8 wins and 3 defeats. The improvement had come from the return of injured pair Tom McDonald and Angus Brayshaw, the dominance of Max Gawn in the ruck and the strong form of Clayton Oliver and the young midfield. Jesse Hogan was consistently in the goals. Jake Lever who had taken a while to get his bearings but was solid during the six game winning spree sustained an ACL injury in round 11 and it took a while for the defence to recover from his loss, regroup and consolidate. In the interim, the experimentation in this area was partly the reason for a poor month that saw a three-game losing streak including a disappointing loss to lowly St. Kilda. Earlier defeats to Collingwood on Queens Birthday and away to Port Adelaide might have been expected but the loss to the Saints hit hard and possibly cost the team the coveted double chance. Melbourne might have lost its star recruit, Lever, in midseason but the club did unearth two young players in Bailey Fritsch and Charlie Spargo who were both drafted in the 30s and established themselves as regulars for much of the year although they understandably ran out of steam a little at the end of the season. The Demons regrouped after the slump. The back line steadied when Sam Frost returned to help the improving Oscar McDonald in a key defensive role but, after returning to the winning list against the Dockers in Darwin and the Bulldogs at the MCG, they suffered some disappointing losses involving an after-the-siren goal to Zach Tuohy in the return game against Geelong and a home upset against Sydney after some shocking inaccuracy in the first quarter and a half kept the Swans in the game. The injuries were mounting and the loss of Hogan at that point in time appeared devastating to a team that had yet to record a win against a top eight side. All that changed dramatically over the next four games starting with the Eagles in Perth and followed with a big win over the Giants that saw Melbourne finish in fifth place with a percentage of 131%. Then followed the emotion of a return to finals football and sound victories against seasoned playoff teams in Geelong and Hawthorn in front of crowds that gave majority support to the perennial underdog buoyed by the return from injury of co-skipper Jack Viney and the emergence at last of young key forward Sam Weideman who more than amply filled Hogan’s shoes. Not for the first time in the modern history of the club, the wall was hit out west. The Demons looked spent in the early moments of their preliminary final in Perth against West Coast and much like last year’s lapse at the final hurdle against Collingwood, this one game is likely to inhabit the players’ collective memory over the summer and into the new season. Many players excelled and grew in 2018 and the depth of the club revealed itself when injuries struck. Max Gawn won the ‘Bluey’ Truscott’ medal and led an emerging midfield including the co-skippers Nathan Jones and Viney, a resurgent Angus Brayshaw (3rd in the Brownlow), Christian Petracca and Christian Salem and the incredibly improved James Harmes who stepped up several levels in the course of a season. The forward line was the best in the competition as many avenues were opened up to goals, breaking down only in that last final. The disappointment of that performance will surely act as a spur for even further improvement in 2019. That improvement is expected to come from a defence bolstered by the recruitment of former Gold Coast skipper Steven May and the expected return of Jake Lever in the first month or so of the season. They join some solid performers in defence including Michael Hibberd and the indefatigable Neville Jetta - a star both on and off the field. The Demons also picked up a handy defender from the Suns in Kade Kolodjashnij and a big ruck back up for All-Australian ruckman Gawn in Braydon Preuss. The club drafted a bevy of youngsters who will all take time to develop at Casey. Melbourne farewelled Jesse Hogan, Dom Tyson and Dean Kent to other clubs via trades and Tom Bugg found a new home through the draft. Former club champion Bernie Vince retired late in the season after a meritorious 100 game career at his second club. Vince will not be entirely lost to the Demons as he has returned to the club in a part-time leadership and ambassadorial role for 2019. The loss that will hurt deeply is that of retiring CEO Peter Jackson who has overseen the six year progression from a team that won only two games in 2013 to become a preliminary finalist in 2018. Gary Pert has stepped into the breach to finish the task of leading the club to the promised land and a premiership.

Next year is the year we break a 55 year drought. It will be unbelievable.

cheers, rjay. and the same happy and healthy 2019 to you and your loved ones. Lets hope we can all work further toward our Demons ultimate goals. Happy New 2019... Demonlanders.

Happy New Year to all Demonlanders! Enjoy Auld Lang Syne with with friends and family tonight, and may we all join together in jubilation to belt out the same tune (with different lyrics) on the last Saturday in September!

Happy New to all, particularly the guys who run the site. You do a fine job, even if the odd post gets silently deleted!! 2019 New Season. We Can win it, i don’t want to hear about 2020 or 21 We can win number 13 in 2019 if things go our way and the team is seriously hungry Have a great and safe night Demons

Very happy new year to all on Demonland

Just reflecting on the statement the title of this thread. As a MFC supporter, I think the logic it completely wrong. It should be: "17 other teams are there for the Demons to beat" I think that's more the mentality that Goody will be priming his troops with. No matter how good our list suposedly might be, its still one game at a time, aim to make every post a winner. As others have stated, it's probably other factors which will make it or break it for us, like with the further maturity we developed in 2018, hopefully we don't drop as many losses like the ones to St Kilda, Geelong (X2), Hawthorn and Sydney. Will still need to keep developing that maturity and game sense though as there will no doubt be a different challenge next year being more the hunted than the hunter.

Incredible isn’t it? Skipping the proofreading for pavlovas.

Makes some interesting reading. https://www.zerohanger.com/champion-data-reveal-best-worst-kicks-2017-14091/ Has Hunt in the best 10 kicks of 2017 based on a variance between the difficulty of the attempted kick and the % of those kicks then hit. Proves you can make stats support almost any outcome.

It’s been common knowledge that the Suns medical team capabilities and rehab programs were far from effective. Take the knee issues O’meara, Prestia, Swallow and Lynch for example. All but Swallow has pulled the pin on the place which I found surprising but not so much surprising now that his older brother is part of the Suns FD. Hall rubbished the place soon after he got to North and IIRC made special mention of their inability to rehab the players properly. KK is another prime example of the Suns injury mismanagement given the final identification of the root cause took them eons to discover. Professional players look for success, get home sick or get fed up with being injured and not properly rehabbed. This is why I’m particularly confident that KK will be a fantastic inclusion to the team and a lock for Round 1.

Just can’t manage a silver! Gratz to all the winners and again thanks for the effort of running it Macca!!!

And we have a winner in the tipping comp for the 2018 season! Congratulations go out to @DeeSpencer ... well played and well done! DeeSpencer scored heavily in the 2nd half of the season and even missed a couple of weeks so is a worthy winner. Hard luck to former winners in @Clintosaurus & @Dappa Dan in coming equal 2nd on points gained ... it came down to the very last game to decide things so the whole comp couldn't have been scripted better. Another former winner in @Gorgoroth shared 3rd place on points along with @Dee Zephyr and yours truly. Commiserations go out to @JV7 & @Dr. Gonzo who both led the Comp for a long period there and then both got passed in the last week. That's tipping for you! We might have to start calling you 'Schillaci' JV! As for @layzie @titan_uranus @Go the Biff & @DemonDave - there's always the Post Season tipping comp for the 2nd chance! But thanks to all for participating. It's been a lot of fun for me this season with a dozen people involved and for a while there I thought we were going to have multiple winners. But fair play to all in the way that you've participated - my task in running the comp has been made quite easy because of that. Hope to see you all for the post season tipping comp! Final Tally in the Tipping Comp 9 - DeeSpencer 8 - Clintosaurus, Dappa Dan 7 - Gorgoroth, Dee Zephyr, Macca ---------------------------------------------------------- 6 - JV7, Dr. Gonzo, layzie, titan_uranus 4 - Go the Biff 3 - DemonDave But to the winner goes the spoils

Yes thats wrong. We were 79.5 points against including finals. Not sure how journos can be so clueless. There were 4 of them writing this article.

And that's useful once in a career. Football in the modern era is made up of 1%ers done repeatedly over the entire year, not some fluke long kick. The 1970s rang and asked you to beam yourself back.

Anybody who thinks Hunt is a poor kick has nfi about football. He can kick 70m torpedos with short legs.

On Ya Max! Wonder if Demonland4276 receives an invite to the wedding?

Twin ruckman now please

Hi V B+h... It might be time soon to update your monika, ol matey. Unless you know Crocodile Dundee.

Congrats on your fiancee letting you wear those sunnies alongside a backwards-facing pink cap Gawny. The odds were definitely against you there...

I guess it goes to show how in AFL these days players are only a dozen or so games from being a superstar to an ordanary player - at least in the eyes of the media and some supporters (myself included). When he was at his peak, KK was a player that I really thought, gee there's a player I'd like to have at Melbourne, but those few seasons or so of concussion and average form have just put that question mark over him that can he get back to his best. Really looking forward to see what he can do for the MFC.

There's one where he's wearing a Dockers jumper. An act of rash stupidity that a number of young men these days unfortunately indulge in.

CD says we have a good list. I think we know that. Not reading a lot more into it. I'm going to be intrigued as to how the new rule changes apply in 2019, as much as it's significant that you have a good list, I think coaching will play a bigger part in the outcome for 2019. Steve Hocking indicated that he knew of several clubs that had recruited particularly with the rules about playing on from a behind in mind. The ability to play on immediately from a 50 even prior to the meters being marked out, 6-6-6, the hands in the back and having strong players who can defend the space where the ball drops. I think they are small things in isolation, but the game will be quicker, it will be more open and there will be a lot more running.

Comparing Jayden Hunt to Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan is the stupidest thing I've read on Land ever.

Hunt is a conundrum. He does have genuine AFL attributes. He's like a cricketer who needs to hone his game and remove the errors. It's a coaching and development challenge, but I like what Hunt offers and can see him still being an important part of the team. There's no reason he still can't improve.

If you wanted someone across our halfback line to pinpoint a sharp kick to a leading forward, I'd rather it be KK, Salem, May, Jetta or Lever rather than Hunt.

It would be great if that was the mentality and message that Goodwin emphasises to the players, and I am sure that is what has underlined his statements in the media, so far. We know it is a game by game proposition but the increasing diversity and depth augers well for this to be a clear victory pathway for 2019; provided: Gus is fit and remains fit Lever does not break down again, nor Viney, nor Harmes and Hunt Those with promise continue to develop, not falling off the bandwagon across the season, heralding a unique yet dominant footy gameplan with added talents, not just talents that can be accommodated (holding their heads above water) within the side Frosty is the No. 1 CHB and OMac ain't.

Snap. I've always maintained that Hunt was nowhere remotely near as poor a kick as what he is made out to be on here - based partly on - and I can't be bothered going back and retrieving old posts - my conviction that the footy department were encouraging him to break the lines by run and by foot. Some shockers, sure - but in my mind he had been asked to execute much higher degrees of kicking difficulty - with the full support and expectation of Goody. Wasn't dropped for his disposal, but lack of confidence and getting his hands on the ball. Build that back up and he'll be one of the first selected.

Browns could have run the ball at least once in the final drive. They had 2 timeouts I think.

As was mentioned by a few posters here during the season in defense of our often lamented supposed lack of defense: Points against: 2018: 1749 2017: 1934 2016: 1991 2015: 2024 A cursory glance at the ladder shows that at least nine teams conceded more points than us during the regular season. Maths says no.

Interesting call but a lot of these sorts of calls fall under the 'Unwritten Rule' category DZ. Seen it happen before where the team with nothing to gain apart from the 'Win' endeavours to win by getting a TD rather than a 3 pointer. Therefore, I wasn't surprised by the call. Their own fans might have wanted to try for the TD too (or at least get closer to the uprights and then go for the field goal if time is running out)

Champion data may well assess the potential and the quality of the teams but one thing that never varies is the high quality of the Melbourne supporter. Take that to the bank.

Oh man, a little a bit of faith in the kicker, around a 57 yarder was it for the Browns should they have attempted the FG?

Did Klink finally send you to the Russian Front...??

They say on dark nights ... just like that one ... about 3am on the Freo foreshore, when the DJ has packed up his gear and gone home and the night is still and quiet, you can hear the sound of a power forward ralphing into the lapping waves below

Head in the lap of a pretty girl. Good on him.

Hogan, Hogan, Hogan! You were better of knowing nothing, Schultz.

Congrats to both Gawny and Jessica. Wonderful news. Hopefully any babies aren’t conceived this time of year, potentially arriving around grand final time.

I hope that I'm wrong, but i can't see Hunt as being more than depth in 2019. Has speed and competitive desire, but his vision and disposal have always been poor. Disposal is hard to improve in this stage in a player's career. I love the idea of KK recieving a handball and spearing off a pass into the forward 50. That's also why Salem will be important in 2019. I rate footy smarts and disposal skills above pure foot pace any day. Better players have pace and skill/vision. Hunt has foot pace, I hope he shows us his new and improved smarts and pinpoint kicking in 2019. I won't be holding my breath though.

If the weed has a good year and doesn't re sign during the year watch out for McGuire and the filth throw everything at him. Must re sign him during the season.

1. Full season from Viney 2. Trac has a breakout 3. Lever's full recovery 4. Weid build's on Geelong EF and signs early 5. Hunt and Kola get back to previous promise. 6. The Gawn/Preuss double delivers 7. TMac outscores the bloke that went west 8. May proves he is the gorilla tamer we have desperately needed

Totally agree 'Macca', it's not reserved for any one generation.

Agreed. As you said, there’s no point farting nails (I really hope this saying catches on).

Best wishes to all for the Festive Season, and the forthcoming New Year. I little elf told me, as a Dees supporter, that our great big Christmas gift and wishes arrive next September.

Pedo was, and presumably is still, a top bloke. But his AFL days had come to an end. He will always be held in the highest regard by everyone associated with MFC.

I just recieved a completely different family's 4 membership packs. Will be phoning the club and dropping the memberships off at the correct address this afternoon. I have to go past there anyway. I just hope my membership isn't being sent elsewhere as well

saffers captain du plessis has had 2 ball tampering incidents against him. i don't remember the same outrage and he's certainly still the captain. not saying its exactly the same or ok, but are there some double standards going on here? smith, warner and anyone else involved should get suspensions from ca, but not necessarily over the top as some are calling for