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I really appreciate the club for doing this. Even though Zoom isn't an ideal platform for something like this, it was good of the club to stick to their word and run this again for members after starting it last year. Credit probably goes to Pert. A few critical observations: Absolutely no mention of Josh Mahoney. That probably isn't too surprising given the news this week but he didn't even get an acknowledgment from the team for over a decade of service. Read into that what you like. On that note, there was no presentation from the football department (Alan Richardson answered a few questions but didn't present a football-specific review). This was handled by Mahoney last year and my assumption is that Pert and Lamb took on most of this in their spiels. But what it meant was that we didn't get too many specifics from someone close to the football side of things about what went right and wrong this year. I mean, Goodwin spoke, but he speaks in such shallow platitudes and cliches that he gives supporters very little insight. In last year's presentation, I thought Mahoney was very candid about where we are at and what went wrong. In his absence, I was hoping Richardson might be the new person to provide some of those football-specific insights that are too low-level for Pert and Bartlett and too intellectual for Goodwin. As for Goodwin, I wish he knew how to give an example! A question was asked during the Q&A about what being ruthless meant to him and he gave a 1 mark answer to a 5 mark question (as a teacher, this is the best analogy I can come up with). He gave a vague definition of what ruthlessness was, but couldn't name a specific example of what that actually tangibly means for the players or coaches. I've always assumed he keeps things close to his chest to not be too revealing, but the more I listen to him I get the sense that he's actually a pretty poor communicator who tries too hard to say the right thing rather than saying anything useful. (And this is coming from someone who likes him) I can only hope there's a different side of him that's specific and clear when talking to the players about his game plan. Pert responded to a question about Melbourne's BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). He outlined his vision for the club, but he seemed more enthused about building the membership base to 75,000 (which he mentioned about 3 times) than winning a premiership (which he mentioned once, but it was contextualised by "if we are making the finals consistently"). I wish the leaders at the club were more explicit about the fact that we want to win a premiership and that is our core goal as an organisation. Even if that's not what Pert's KPI is, I want him to believe that he can and will win a flag and for him to be bold about it. Ditto Bartlett, Goodwin, etc. As long suffering fans, we know that winning a premiership is hard work and probably not going to come for another 100 years. But for God's sake, give us some hope that that's at least what we're aiming for! (And not just because it's in a strategic plan, but because it's a driving force behind the football club and its culture)

Any person who gets onto an AFL list and gets to play senior footy deserves respect - OMac included. He has achieved more than most. Good luck to him.

The scope on Rosman lies somewhere between Koutoufides and Joel Smith.

Was stoked to hear from Richo that Jordan Lewis is in a coaching role over the pre-season. Gotta keep the quality people involved the project....

Caught the last 10 minutes or so as they were going through the Q&A and I have to say - big props and hats off to the club for doing this and engaging the supporters in this way. Thought the Q&A might be a bit awkward and clumsy but it was really quite succinct and professionally managed – I really enjoyed seeing other Dees supporters in front of their screens knowing they were as passionate as me and not complete fruit loops. I’m sure the club carefully selected the questions but they were queries I’ve heard a lot about on this site so they haven’t shied away and it appears they might have made some ‘learnings’ along the way - only time will tell I guess. Love this club and it was nice hearing from the people entrenched within it that they are working as hard as I hope they are. Go Dees.

Thought I'd watch a half and make some notes 39:20 JB - clever tackle to cause turnover that leads to shot on goal (will need to work on strength/technique) 40:30 BL - beautiful step and hands to get out of trouble, then follow up and creative handball (but a little soft) to spring Macrae 42: 10 JB - hunts forward to tackle, play bounces around and back towards him and he doesn't overcommit, snaffles a turnover, wears a tackle and dishes to the runner who misses 42:40 BL - ball goes out of bounds, Laurie attempts a crafty flick over -sign that he's thinking 42: 44 BL - sneaks ahead of his man for an intercept, but fumbles and can't win back the ground ball 46:55 JB - doesn't overly attack the drop of the ball - which seems consistent - but is quick to tackle and force a contest 47:10 JB - misses an incoming kick, possibly confused with a team mate? follows up but quickly tackled 47:25 BL - attempts and fails to push his man under the ball 49:25 BL - ignored by multiple team mates, misses a tackle after the turnover 51: 22 JB - first man to support at a contest on the wing, gets the handball and nicely releases to a team mate in space 53: 05 BL - clever gather and quick hands 54: 05 BL - staying up at a stoppage swoops on to a loose ball but Noah Anderson is already on it! 56: 05 BL - breaks nicely in to space but his team mate doesn't use him 56: 20 BL - protects the drop of the ball nicely but drops a mark ?pushed/ ?sun in his eyes? 56: 55 BL - gets beaten to it by his man at the stoppage (Butler, bulldogs draft pick '19) 57: 02 JB - zooms from the stoppage to half forward but then only forces a fumble, could've won the ball or tapped it on, Laurie comes in to tackle after it bounces around ---------------------- QUARTER TIME 1:07:10 JB - gathers at the stoppage, evades and releases a nice handball under pressure 1:07:50 JB - pushes up to the wing (is playing high HF), marks, steps a tackler to get corridor side, Matty Rowell has snuffed out his plan though and drops back, so he goes outside of the boot and shanks it. 50/50 if he should've taken the easy boundary option first time. After the throw in he zips on to a loose ball and gives the simple hands Bit of chasing and around the ball but nothing significant for both for a while here 1:15:35 BL - pushes up for the backline switch, fluffs the corridor kick but follows back up and gets it back to his man. More scrappy player and JB almost gets a chance, puts on some pressure and tackling 1:20: 20 BL - wins a contest with a nice bump off, steps and gives the little handball under pressure slightly behind JUH who fumbles, BL gets back on it, steps, releases a perfect handball on his left to a mate who should've scored 1:21:28 JB - snags a handball, quick hands, gets it back, quicker longer hands. 1:27:00 JB - uncontested mark, takes his time and goes long with good accuracy to the contest. Gets beat pretty easily by Anderson on the clearing kick out ---------------- HALF TIME Laurie: the step and composure in tight seems legit, he knows how to evade and where his team mates are. Unfortunately not enough of it because he's starting on the bench and deep forward and doesn't get a lot of chances. He's very quick to take off forward, he might have to be a bit less rolling of the dice at AFL level Bowey - sharp hands and knows where to run to receive the ball in space. Not overly convinced he's a forward though, he plays like he wants to be on the wing. Doesn't really hunt the drop of the ball or his tackles, more of a swooper. A few times he annoyed me with the habit of walking after the contest was over, bit of a pet peeve. 0 from 1 on difficult kicks after looking in board but I sense he's willing and able to pull the trigger.

An excuse means you take no responsibility: "It's not our fault we lost those games, bad things happened out of our control, we couldn't help it, it's not fair." Reasons, are contributing factors: "After analysing what happened these things contributed to the situation. We couldn't control them and weren't able to mitigate them. If they didn't happen, we believe the outcome would have been different, but unfortunately we weren't able to manage the process.". By saying nothing, they get slammed for no communication. By giving excuses they are blaming everyone else and not taking responsibility. By saying "we aren't making excuses, but because we know you are interested, here are some of the factors that we identified as contributing factors after our lessons learnt analysis", they are communicating well with their members.

My point form notes doesn’t convey the gist of what he meant. He wasn’t making excuses per se but listed some mitigating factors to give context. I guess other teams, including finals teams, also had mitigating circumstances but of all the teams we probably did it the toughest with all those factors. Some teams barely moved out of their hubs.

No Excuses then lists 4... *2020 *Lost preseason advantage *Cancelled game *Cairns I always find it funny when coaches say this. There are always reasons that can be seen as excuses. When is a reason an excuse and an excuse a reason by the way.

For anyone keen to watch our first rounders face off in last years NAB League prelim, full game is on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlz-qvQ7ph0 Both play reasonably well and end with 17 touches apiece, although Bowey caught my eye more frequently (you might even catch my 5 yo and I watching on from the hill). Also, one year on and the draft has underscored how stacked this Chargers lineup was. Consecutive no 1 selections and 4 top 5 selections in across two drafts.

So, after four seasons, you would have removed Hardwick? What factors other than results can we look to, so that we make sure we're not jumping at shadows? It's true that the head coach has a high level of responsibility but he's not the only influence on results. At risk of overdoing the Richmond comparison, where does the credit for their success lie? If I had to give a percentage, I'd say that less than 50% belongs to the coach. I'm not really here to defend Goodwin, but I do question the idea that he is an 'awful' coach (or a great one for that matter) based on the information presented. Those that want Yze as senior coach equally seem to be making a blind assertion about his ability. On CV alone, you'd take Neeld over Yze at the same point in their careers which is evidence that being sure about a coaches ability without any inside knowledge, is ludicrous. There are some pretty compelling precedence (Geelong and Richmond come to mind) for holding our nerve. Our constant and well demonstrated impatience as a football club could be our greatest weakness.

After last night’s hit telecast of the draft they should also televise the announcement of the fixture. Round by round, 10 minute intervals in between. Ask the captain how they feel about travelling to Perth round 1. Almost Christmas and not a single fixture stuck on the fridge, feels so wrong.

He will wear the number 43.5 then

2020 draft was terrible viewing. 5 mins per bid, apparently the bids were put in quick but held back until 30 seconds to go to build the BS. They need to do a lot better - every bid 2 minutes with each club having 3 ‘extensions’ if a trade for picks is on the table. These guys don’t need the time - they have all the time whilst others are making their bids to sort out any final selections or decide on trade-ups etc. Listening to the ‘experts’ wears thin after 5 minutes, let alone 26 picks in a first round....

Spoke extremely well at the Members' info night. He's mature for his age and quite clearly articulate and intelligent. I was also impressed with the story that he worked incredibly hard on his fitness this year during Covid. If he can make it in football terms he will be a great asset to the club. Could well be a fan favourite!

Surprised Oscar Mcdonald didn't get picked up or rookied. No world beater obviously, but he's unarguably better than many players currently on AFL lists or who got picked up in drafts this week. He held down full back in a team that finished fourth and is still only 24 years old. Feel sorry for him. That's footy I guess!

If Tom McDonald plays down back I reckon there is a very high chance Steve May will punch him. Tom was out the door as a defender, cooked, finished, done if he wasn't re-invented as a forward he wouldn't be on our list. Tomlinson, Petty and Hore are ahead of him as our tall defender with May/Lever

Haha yep pass mark for me would be no games where I text my dad to ask him " why the $#&@ did you make me barrack for this goddamn club!!!"

We have enough tall forwards, he should be training with the backs where we have no depth. Its May then nothing.

Our National recruiting and talent spotters must have had an interesting year and exciting draft night, in that we drafted 2 boys from Sandringham and 1 from Oakleigh. Get rid of the NGA or give us a better zone or whatever before more top end talent destroys the reason for the draft and puts us further behind.

That is really, really poor. I've not been a fan but he deserves public and resounding acknowledgement for his commitment to the club and praise for the professionalism in his work. Hopefully, it was an oversight and it is remedied at the AGM.

Fair enough Deestar. He’s in situ so gotta make the best of it. I genuinely hope he does well. I’ve decided to take a vow of silence on Goodwin until about round 5. No point ranting when pre-season has barely started.

Interestingly burgess, before responding to a question on surgeries returned to a previous question from 'james' about the Cairns schmooze and arriving on the day and with a fair bit of feeling said it was certainly not their choice, it was the afl. And noted the opposition had two days prep in Cairns. Sounded pretty annoyed.

Darren Burgess Tough year on the fitness front in 2020 challenge but they got through well with duress they were under players handled the hub really well challenge for the staff had extremely hard draw with travel on day of games and compressed fixture had to call on medical professionals at short notice to help out in hub shorter preseason period this year which is a good thing 75 rotations and 20 min quarters in 2021 changes in staff - New Head Doctor that worked in our hub this year. appointed new physio guy from the Blues lost phil merrymen from fitness team selwyn griffiths from the lions will be great addition high performance team is as good as any he's worked with offseason program is brutual players have come back in fantastic condition

And a three day growth. He's either starting to loosen up or is living out of his car.

New Demon Q & A Ben Brown Dees were clear stand out for him - Goody, Burgo, Gawn & Viney presented to him Currently in Tassie Can't wait for training in January Hasn't played a lot on the G Excited about playing more on the G Played his first game on the G against the DeeS Won 7 out of 8 against the Dees Has been for a run with Maxy and a few boys already Excited for the new chapter Knee feeling good Burgo has made a big impression on him Will be fit to start in January Feels like he has the level of footy to kick 60 goals again. Looking forward to working with Weid, LJ, Spargo and Fritsch in the Forward line Hair immaculate.

Poor danger won’t be happy, think he knows him and his older teammates can’t run out longer quarters, 16 minutes suited them perfectly

A great by-product of this is that AFLW will no longer have the farcical conference system and will go back to a single ladder.

For those that are unhappy with the first two selections (mostly due to their size) consider the following: 21. Melbourne: Jake Bowey Position: Small midfielder/forward Height: 175cm Weight: 67 kg 22. Melbourne: Bailey Laurie Position: Small forward/midfielder Height: 179cm Weight: 78kg Here are some of the players they have been likened to (at current playing size and weight): Caleb DANIEL (pick 46 in 2014) MEDIUM DEFENDER 24yrs 168cm 72kg Brent DANIELS (pick 27 in 2017) FORWARD 21yrs 170cm 74kg Shai BOLTON (pick 29 in 2016) MEDIUM FORWARD 22yrs 175cm 77kg Lachie NEALE (pick 58 in 2011) MIDFIELDER 27yrs 177cm 85kg Tom PAPLEY (Rookie 2015) MEDIUM FORWARD 24yrs 178cm 76kg

Can't believe we passed up on bringing in an inside midfielder with questionable foot skills!

I hope that post round 6 we will at the very least know when we have home and when we have away games, even if the timeslot and venue are not 100% decided. Not just from a planning perspective for the club, but for supporters too. I plan holidays (which lets be honest, where the hell am I going in 2021 other than my backyard?) around the fixture to make sure I miss the least amount of home games possible. I am sure lots of people are in the same boat, not to mention those that want to travel interstate for matches.

seen a few references to "Big Hairy Audacious Goals", I believe that's the Brown/Jackson combo isn't it?

I'm no expert but he would be easily the least likely out of the 3 to make it

Punt Rd is smaller than the MCG - hasn't seemed to have hurt the Tigers

Thanks for the update Demonland

Pert believes that if we can consistently play finals and win a premiership then we can get 75,000 and be Debt Free. No mention how that happens.

I enjoyed the part where he did an assessment of himself being a difficult match up for opponents on the wing, considering his height, endurance and speed. Verbatim - "put a normal sized winger on me and I'll out mark them, put a bigger guy on me and I'll get them with my running/endurance/speed". Very confident young fella ?

When draftees are born in the 2000s and you own handbags older than that.

Well done to both these posters on getting 2 out of the 3 selections correct. But there can only be ONE WINNER of the @WERRIDEEsigned and framed Best 22 plaque (now includes bonus best 22 for Casey, bringing the grand total to a best 44) The winner is buck_nekkid Like deebug he chose 2 of the 3 draftees correctly, but got the Laurie pick spot on for our second selection deebug a very worthy Runner up

I know nothing about him. Great pick, tho.

People posting as though they have any idea about how this kid plays based on some highlights, his weight and height. Welcome to the MFC, Jake.

What would an umpire say? Holding the man or holding the ball?

That’s not where they keep the hand sanitizer!