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Alright, here we go, here's how it would, could, might, in theory happen - Hawks aren't actually that good, they haven't beaten anyone impressive. The four days off trick will work and we will come in with a calmer mind and better focused on what needs to be done. Disposal efficiency climbs, workrate at least reaches adequate. Win number 2 goes on the board. We're 2-5 after 7 rounds. Suns just barely scraped their three wins against highly variable opposition and have had a bit of luck. They were exposed by an Adelaide side that still isn't really hitting great heights of their own. Their confidence will be down after being belted in Perth by an angry Eagles side. We go 3-5, and start to believe. I wont make any pretences about our chances against the Eagles at this stage. 3-6 after nine rounds and we are still right on the edge of season over. But just maybe we turn up with some fight and at least show we're still a meaningful team - part of the healing, redeption process. The Giants are still up and down and massively rely on a few stars to make them potent. Simon Goodwin pulls his first ever genius positional move and somehow matches the right players to lock down on Coniglio and Whitfield. Demons finally rediscover their forward connection and just barely come through in a low-margin shootout game for the ages. We are 4-6 and starting to believe. Round 11, we return to the Northern Territory to hunt Crows, and just like last season this is the game where things really turn. Just like last season, Adelaide wilts under the weight of lost contests and clearances. Not like last season's hammering, but an important win. We are 5-6 and looking like a menace. Queens Birthday at the MCG. We've begun to get some players back from injury, even if not stars, May, Smith, Vandenberg and Hannan have all been trickling back into the team and giving us a deeper team capable of holding their end up while the stars do their thing. Headlines start reading "Where were these Demons at the start of the year" and players respond with "we will never be caught napping in pre-season again". Incredibly, we are 6-6 at the halfway point of the season. With Lever coming back after the long break and the team finding a new solidarity and commitment, and the coaches having learnt a valuable lesson in flexibility and tactical initiative, the pieces come together and the Demons are now a team to take seriously for the second half of the season. Before you know it, we've knock over four quick wins against the unreliable Dockers, tiring Lions and Blues, and ever-stumbling Bulldogs. We are 10-6 and now the ONLY team in the competition that has managed a consistent run of wins. Suddenly, it is possible to speculate about our chances against in the Eagles, back up in the NT. It is like a whole new reality has dawned in ten weeks. So, there it is, each small delusion builds into the next. Each one only a moderate madness in itself, but when you get to the end you look back and go... naaaah, that is just total, absolute madness. If it happens, I expect not only to be given an award for my prediction, but to actually be given credit for the whole thing happening and installed as an assistant coach responsible for miracles.

Not too upset by the loss but I don't like it when we punch the ball through their points so late in the game. It was avoidable I believe. Of the MFC based players Had the following thaughts. Sparrow. Thaught he was our best player. Got the pill and disposed of it quite well. Played well from centre bounces. Petty. Solid game although not outstanding. Oscar. Played okay but got badly beaten by letinted one in 3rd quarter. Kielty. Played a good game. Must be close to a senior call up. Chandler. Very good player in 1st half but much quieter in the second. Jordan. Good game today. Got the ball a bit down back and disposed of it very well. Baker. Very poor game until 3/4 time then did some really nice things in the last quarter. He is one reason we got back in the match in the last. Josh Wagner. Very good game today. Chad Wagner. A bit quiet today. Spargo. Got heaps of the ball then wasted it with poor kicking. A casey player that I think played a really good game was Wales-Buxton. Keep an eye on him. For a side that has so many injuries it was not a bad performance. Good to see some of the young MFC players contribute well. Alas there were too many stupid Richmond supporters at the game. I am convinced they steal their torn clothing from Dimmeys.

I’m here at the game in my regular viewing spot on the balcony for the first time this year I’ll try to update as much as possible but I’ve just come off night shift and might not be much good by the time the game starts

It took me until the Essendon game but really even before round 1 I had this feeling things were not going to go well for us this year. I had us as flag contenders up until a couple of weeks before the season. The Brisbane pre-season game was a bad sign. I just thought a lot of other teams had made significant improvements whereas we had gone backwards if anything losing Hogan and relying on Weid too much. Anyway I'm viewing this year as one long pre-season for 2020. If things don't turn next year I'll start questioning my life choices.

Quarter time Casey 3 goals to Tigers 1 Goal scorers Keilty, Chandler and White Tiges had the dominance through the centre but we fought well and managed to get a few good runs to finish in scores

Would be a high risk, low reward. Completely pointless. Wouldn't be worth anywhere between pick 1-10 on what he's shown. Clubs are hesitant to trade on potential anymore. Would rather keep him and hope he has that breakout season we all know he's capable of.

Gees everyone is really looking behind every door to find someone to blame. Roos built a game on hard nosed, contested football which stands up in finals. I constantly remember him using Fremantle at their best pre Melbourne of having "big bodied mids of Fye/Mundy/Barlow" which we similarly went down that path with Oliver & Brayshaw. Most premiership sides & final sides are good contested teams which we were last year. As we all know Roos taught us how to defend first before slowly adding in how to attack & defend. We had the right balance towards the end of last year & during the finals we were tougher to score against but could also score heavily. For whatever reason we first lost our defensive mindset & it was costing us, now we've had to focus on defend because we were just bleeding goals so we saw Wednesday night how our attacking & scoring was effected. We wont know without been inside the club what has turned for us to fall away but it could be a combination of the off season surgeries, slight tinker with the game plan, poor player mindset, 6-6-6, sides doing more homework on us, all these little things add up to the perfect storm. Roos left 2 and bit seasons ago, a lot has changed since. He isn't the reason we are in this current state. We will ride this out & I have faith Goodwin & this group will turn it around if not by seasons end then next year

Screamer - he’s a chance for a debut next week so get better.

Qtr Time: Casey Demons 3.0.18 to Richmond VFL Goals Chandler Keilty White Disposals Sparrow 7 Munro 6 McDonald Quigley 5

Mark to Keilty 40 metres out and he nails it 6 points down

Actually, he is at present having his worst season for us, so this is actually as bad as it gets! He also, for what it is worth, is managing to average a goal assist per game, which is elite level especially when considering our overall scoring dysfunction. Between his goal assists and his goals, he's had a direct hand in close to 20% of our scoring this season. If you piece together the statistical picture of goals, goal assists, score involvements, contested marks, tackles inside 50 and marks inside 50, Petracca is second only to Melksham as our most effective forward. And our forward line is basically those two and fresh (perhaps foul) air. He is also playing close to 90% game time, a level normally only reserved for stay-at-home key defenders, so maybe he looks a bit slow at times because he is picking up slack while a bunch of kids and most of our midfield is getting a full 15 minutes extra rest each game? The more I dig, the more I feel that for all his highly visible fumbles and moments of apparent lethargy, he is actually playing a really important roel and is far from being a liability. In the time it took me to look things up properly since starting this reply, I've shifted my opinion. CHRISTIAN PETRACCA IS ACTUALLY AMONG OUR BEST PLAYERS THIS SEASON HE IS BEING HUNG OUT TO DRY BECAUSE HE HAPPENS TO BE HIGHLY VISIBLE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WASTELAND CAUSED BY OTHER'S IMPLODING AROUND HIM That's right, bold and caps lock. I'm on the warpath. Lay off Petracca, he is being a trooper out there, wading through swamps that others wont go near for fear of being picked out for criticism in exactly the way we are currently picking out Petracca.

I hope the Club is smart about this now and doesnt rush May,Lever,Vanders, Jetta etc back. The season is shot, just quietly manage the rest of the season trying younger players in different positions planning for a real assault on 2020 and beyond. Get 2-3 low picks, use them on speed and quality ball users.

Really? Do we need reminding of the state of the football club just prior to Roos taking over? We had just gone through two failed rebuilds, had come off a season where we won 2 games with a percentage of 50%, were getting absolutely belted week in week out, had very little talent on the list, had been right down the bottom for 7 years (save for some flashes of good footy in 2010 and 2011), were considered a basket case on and off the field and even the most loyal fans were struggling to have any hope for the future. The culture was a mess, no one wanted to play for us, good players wanted to leave...it was an out-and-out shambles. Five years later we have improved every year and got within one game of a Grand Final last year with a young and talented list. If anyone was offered that during the 2013 pre-season they would have grabbed it before finishing the sentence. We may be struggling at the moment but surely it's fairer to look at the incremental improvement over 5 years from 2014-2018 than a 6-round sample size. I shudder to think where we would be as a club without the input of Roos, PJ and others from 2014 onwards. Would we even have a club to support? This thread is nit-picking at its finest. Of course there may have been the odd decision-making error along the way, but that happens at all clubs. Looking at it in its entirety, Roos did an absolutely sensational job of steering this club away from extinction and onto the path towards being a respected team in the competition.

Geez thats a nice reality check. And to think I'm only on stage 1. Havent even gotten angry yet. Lord have mercy

Fun thread.

Wow this thread is incredible. What the actual f**k. Do you have any idea about shoulders, medicine, or surgery? We should just send players in for surgery because it sounds like a good idea? I don't put a huge amount of stock into what Tom Browne says but his use of the phrase "avoided surgery" surely means something along the lines of "there's no need for surgery to this injury". It's like if he rolled his ankle. A minor sprain doesn't need surgery, but damaged ligaments/bones might. If he had just a minor sprain, you'd be advocating to just chuck him under the knife for no reason? I often don't find myself agreeing with you, TGR, but on this I do. I have no idea what poita and At the break of Gawn are on about. He copped a hospital handpass, Stack was able to line him up, and Viney had no option but to wear it. What I can't stand about Demonland is when people have ample material to constructively criticise someone but take something completely innocent and rant about that instead. If you're unhappy with Viney, let's talk about his poor kicking or his too frequent tendency to try to take a tackler on only to get caught, instead of this hit.

Can the mods get rid of these school kids like Elegt who continue to berate and spew negative [censored] on every single thread about the same [censored] topic. It is tiresome reading through every thread and seeing that [censored] constant negative drivel.

How the hell could you tell that about bedford yet.

there was about 90 seconds left and Casey did take the ball forward but could not get clean possession. It was the right play

Doesn’t sound like the right thing to do given the scores and the time. But sounds very OMac

Hutchins wins a free kick deep in the pocket and it's marked by Buxton who goals !! 5 points down

Half Time Casey leads by 8 points 4.1.25 to 2.5.17 Goals Buxton-Wales Chandler Keilty White Disposals McDonald 14, Gent 11, Munro 11, J Wagner 11, Freeman 9

the colour of the seats?

Petracca needs to do what Billings did last preseason, and many more have done before him. Walk the walk, put in the effort, and take control of his own destiny when it comes to getting the best out of yourself. If he isn’t prepared to do that by the time this upcoming offseason rolls around, then move him on. It’s time to be a man who stands on his own 2 feet.

I would have zero faith in our recruiters drafting a player better than Petracca with picks 10-20. Not that I rate Petracca terribly highly, just no faith and too risky. Better the devil you know.

The strangest thing is the number of posters on here who have just skipped straight to 7. There's the usual suspects at 2 - some of those who have managed to blend their 2 with the comfort of 7 - a very low-level all-pervasive 5, a few nut-jobs at 4 who feel guilty for some self-bathwater fan-influence notion and project that onto the players, and then the majority who are stationed somewhere between 6 & 7. Technically, 'blame' falls under anger and bargaining, but I believe casting for culprits, or searching randomly for answers (is it you God?) deserves its own grief stage, and that it's otherwise a step toward acceptance. As for me: a mix of denial and acceptance without any of the interim stages.

This will be the last post I read each and every night before sleep leading into the Hawthorn game.

Three first round picks in the last draft! Looks like it’s transformed the team. I also note how well their no name backline played because they are organised and work as a unit. And we coughed up 3 first rounders for 2 key backs who can’t get on the park. Just an observation.

Mate do you even watch some of these players or do you just put their names up for the sake of it? Zac Jones is what you call a typical ball butcher of the highest order. He is not skilled.

Maybe we should sack Roos! Oh, wait... I can't believe people are revisiting his tenure. A few facts: Most of our list have been recruited under Goodwin's watch (Roos let him have a major say in 2015 and he wasn't there for 2016, 2017, 2018) or were on the list pre-Roos. I count 12 players on our list recruited during Roos time and most of them played in the Prelim and are currently best 22. None of them slow, in fact include our fastest: Hunt, Frost and Gartlett Goodwin has hand picked his assistant coaching staff. Roos didn't single handedly choose Goodwin. Roos had hardly heard of him -Viney brought him into the club. Roos' hand-picked choice was Dew. Our current game plan of high zones, forward half etc are nothing like Roos' defence first/back shoulder game plan. I'm not saying one is better just saying we can't hold Roos responsible for how we currently play. There were good reasons for letting Howe and Dunn go like there were for letting Hogan and Watts go. Anyway, Goodwin was part of the decision making to let Howe and Dunn go. Who has Goodwin recruited with speed? If folks want to complain about the list maybe look at Todd Viney and to a lesser extent Jason Taylor. I see a lot more players in the image of TV/SG contested beasts. We aren't travelling well but as supporters we need to stop dredging up all sorts of history that means nothing now and blaming anyone who has been at the club.

Seriously? Here are the 2018 draft picks in the 30's As none of them have played a game yet I would argue that he is equal to the best in that group. Please engage brain before typing you may look less of a goose. 30 Adelaide Will Hamill Adelaide 0 2 31 West Coast Luke Foley West Coast 0 2 32 Fremantle Luke Valente Fremantle 0 2 33 Melbourne James Jordan Melbourne 0 2 34 GWS Kieren Briggs A GWS 0 2 35 West Coast Bailey Williams West Coast 0 2 36 Brisbane Thomas Berry Brisbane 0 2 37 Western Bulldogs Laitham Vandermeer Western Bulldogs 0 2 38 Essendon Irving Mosquito A Essendon 0 2 39 West Coast Jarrod Cameron A West Coast 0

FFS he’s been at club 6 months

Unlike him - usually it’s the other way around with very few possessions but good decision making. Probably lacking confidence. Still think he will be ok long term. He needs to develop some upper body strength to be able to stick tackles

I know he should have taken possession been caught holding the ball and then Richmond could have won by six points

I had to go home coz I got the flu, was Keilty’s mark good?

Hoping it’s more of this.

I’ve never been an Omac knocker Always thought he needed time to improve But after watching first half of Casey’s game The only reason he’s been played ahead of Kielty is because he’s Toms brother Kielty has it all over him in every aspect as a player

Has bitten

Some solid analysis there cheers.

You’re always overreacting to posters comments.

Terribly overrated by the AFL community based on current output. The type of player who all of us put our hopes in for a top 4 finish, and his work matches our current last place on the ladder. For a top 10 pick, hell yes, but no other club is that stupid.

I think the problem is our player development- too many have not come on.

Yes, we’ve got such a great history of trading. Let him join the likes of Howe, Dunn, Hogan, Kent, Watts etc. No problem.

The crystal ball glows strong in this one, young Jedi...

I'm not sure if I envy or pitty those who think finals is still a possibility. I checked out half way through the Geelong game, writing was on the wall

Our main problem has bee an inability to get the ball between the two bigger sticks at the end of the ground. Our forwards have been abysmal, as has the delivery to them.

Aaaand ... we’re last. Feels like we just returned home after an overseas adventure.

I think we should throw everything at Paton... I mean just what we need is another big money recruit who can't get on the park.

Disagree. We came begging. Credit to Roos in that he was/is a man of his word, unlike Malthouse. The club and the supporters knew exactly where he was at. Irony was that some on here wanted Goody to take over before Roos was out the door!

And hes barely 18. Writing him off now is absurd.