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In 2024: Carltank will be found out and drop St Kilda will be botton 6 Footscray will implode Jeelong bottom 10 The Filth will do what they always do after they win a flag - crash and burn Brisbane can't win on the MCG in front of 90,000 Port are psychos Steak and Kidney will run on top of the ground on the basis of home town umpiring Essenscum will finish 19th Crows will choke on their own publicity or a chicken wing - whichever comes first Keep GWS safe - they seem tuff Richmond will be relegated to the VFA Meth Coke will be charged with crimes against humanity Heavy Ho will tread water Horeforn will jump up but still 2 or 3 years away GC *ums will rise with the bullet as will Norf. So there you have it. Deez play GC in the granny Maysie runs through the quarter-time huddle and flattens Dimma We win by 17 goals with JVR kicking 9 straight and Trac picking up a second Normie as well as booting 2.7 and 3 OOBOTF. I also predict the Deez will pick-up Goodstart Childcare Centres as our shorts sponsor.

Just go out and play, forget outside noise and stay focused There will be peaks and troughs throughout, but trust the group around you and be team first in everything we do. If we stay fit, perform to our best and see improvement in our 20-50 game players we will be in contention

We should have a good idea sometime around the end of September 2024...

On paper it's a reasonable prediction. Other teams have got stronger over the off-season, where as we're still waiting to see if we've solved our forward connection/forward line issues. We've lost ruck depth and not added any quality tall forward prospects to target. If Petty and Brown were fit, then we'd be on our way in 2024 and possibly would've won the flag last year too. Reality is neither are fit and neither will get through a whole season. We need other options now while we're in our window. That said, I see us challenging again this year and I wouldn't be overly surprised if we won the flag. We were desparely close last year and have been underrated/dismissed by the footy media, most of them being brainless sensationalist pelicans. We do have an ageing list though, now 5th oldest I believe. With guns and leaders like Gawn and May getting on, we need top quality replacements coming through or our drop off begins in the next few years.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1074841/2024-afl-rule-changes-the-brayden-maynard-rule-confirmed-run-down-tackles-in-focus-no-mid-season-trade-period I know there have been other threads but now we have the full list. I wanted to point out a big one that people may miss that is huge for our club - that is that straight arm blocks are once again permitted at a ruck contest. We all know how Max used to use this to his advantage, and how regularly he'd get free kicks against him when they changed the rule, despite him attempting to modify his technique. Now that it's back, I expect to see a quite a bit of Max dominance through the ruck yet again.

Let them

League teams on Thursday nights, "Alves, Wells, Flower".

We have now been up 4 years out of the last 6, the opposition preferred us as the easy beats they don’t expect or want us to keep hanging out with the big boys but I think they are going to have to get used to the reincarnated Demons. We have a really good team great coaching group, a number of new players and a whole bunch of newbies coming through the ranks. Our window is very much open and we will refresh again at the end of 2024.!! Let’s hope we disappoint the hell out of all our doubters Including our own pessimists.

At the start of 2021, few had us as even making the 8. St Kilda were viewed as a more realistic chance of playing and performing in finals. ...just saying.

I see us as the next Geelong. Every year people will be predicting our demise but we will annoy everyone hanging around year after year.

Most of the game day planning has to happen prior to the games these days. It's a completely different sport to when Sheedy would swing players around back 40+ years ago As for your ongoing questioning of Goodwin, it's tiresome and boring. I'm not sure you know much about the modern game at all All you do is whinge & whine when the team doesn't win. We've got a very good list of players and we're very well coached. The club is well run as well You should be grateful that you've got a club that now does a lot right You've joined the ranks of the resident whiners on this site. Only happy when they've got something to whinge about

I think that's a key point... The big match winning moves of yesteryear are very rare in the current game. Structures are seen as more important & they break down quickly if you introduce inconsistencies... It doesn't mean that more subtle moves aren't made. An example would be our supposedly inflexible coach using Oliver to tighten up on Bont in the GF.

They’re going to be mad when we finish 1st, yeah I said it. Bookmark this.

Richmond have ruled Lynch out of round 0 and I wouldn’t be surprised if we do the same with Petty. The extra 10 days is just too valuable over the one game in Sydney

Gawn went into the game injured with a broken toe. Itywasnt a break glass move it was an insurance move with not knowing if Gawn was going to be able to get through the game. Gawn played the game out, Schache didnt get on.

Hugely under-rated is Stan. He probably is under recognised by Demon fans because of the bitter manner of his departure but he was absolutely outstanding. The sight of his dashes along the northern wing was all that kept me going to the G during the early 70s.

Firstly, ‘everyone’ is clearly a tad potentially inflammatory.. However, how many predicted is premiers in 2021? MFC have typically ALWAYS been better when it’s a surprise, to the media anyways! We’ve burned journos 2yrs straight so we have to expect them to jump-off, ala Cats for years even BEFORE their flag.. it’s a tough comp and many journos wanna be THE guy who predicted THAT teams rise or fall, and they want headlines, we fit ALL categories — but as I learned many times recently, ask them to pick for their life, it’d be different! I’ve been wanting to newton a convo between Edmund and Cornes for a while now. A caller dialled up SEN & said “Demons were basically the best form team in finals and if they converted, they’d likely of won the flag & we’re prob the best team”.. now to my astonishment (even though it’s a very true statement clearly) both Corn & Edmund said “well yeah, everyone in footy knows that, therefore it’s a boring point to make” Corn then went on to say that the pies are openly in footy circles very grateful for the dees kicking woes — or thereabouts! This seemingly innocuous statement reveals ALL when it comes to the footy media, ie no one cares about us, esp when we’re good! But ask them with a gin to their head who’s their pick, we’d 💯 be one of their 2-3 without doubt. Im Champing at the bit for this year, loving what we’ve got and done, but I also know how even the Comp is, I know health is your best player, and that you need luck!

Well if Dusty is allowed to do it in general play, why shouldn’t Max be allowed to do it at ruck contests? He has been unfairly discriminated against up until now.

We could potentially improve too! A fit Salem, Fritta and arrival of McAdam should be positives. Could we expect Pickett, Rivers, JvR, Spargo, Chandler, Sparrow, McVee, Woey and the draftees to improve? I think so. People are worried about our talls which is fair enough. We need Gawn to stay injury free. Then there is Clarry...

Agreed. Something to be said for flying under the radar I think. Not that the professional football world of our opposition would be taking any notice of the media noise or lack there of in assessing us, but if it means we don't deal with so much external expectations, I don't think that's a bad thing. In fact I suspect the near misses we've had in recent years, together with the external critisim and questioning of the club/culture will be something of a motivating force behind our players, similar to when the wheels fell off our finals hopes towards the 2020 season.

Why, I was gonna suggest. To sub, or not to sub, that is the question: Whether 'tis Nibler in the mind to suffer The T Macs and Shacks of outrageous fortune, I am clearly bored 😐

Melbourne champion Christian Petracca has leapt to the defence of troubled star teammate Clayton Oliver, as the 26-year-old remains on light duties around the club. Oliver has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reason, including his early exit from the club's training camp at the end of 2023, following intense trade speculation as well as a brief hospital visit. Oliver is yet to return to full club sessions, but it doesn't worry his premiership teammate Petracca on the eve of the 2024 season. "He'll integrate soon," Petracca told media at the Super Bowl launch at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday. "It's really nice to see him back with us boys and being around us. He's been training with the rehab group." Petracca knows that it is not only Oliver in the spotlight, however. The 28-year-old admitted the Demons have tinkered with their game plan in the hopes of righting the wrongs of the two consecutive straight sets exits from the finals. And despite Oliver's fitness now in question without a full pre season under his belt, Petracca is certain the star midfielder will be able to slide right in when he returns. "When you've been away from the club for a few months, obviously there's new things we've improved on and tried to get better at," Petracca said on the Demons' new game plan. "But he's a pretty good player, so I think he'll come up to speed with that (new game plan) when he comes in." But despite Petracca's confidence in Oliver's integration back into the team and ability to pick up the fresh game plan, he remained coy on if the 2021 premiership star would even play a game in 2024. "I'm not too sure," Petracca said. He did however praise Melbourne's management of the difficult Oliver situation over the past few months. "I'm not the one making decisions on whether he's playing or not. But I feel like the club's done a really good job over the last few months managing everything," Petracca said. "There's only so much we can control and as a footy club, we have an incredible culture. We do work hard, we do strive to be the best. "When he comes into the team, he's one of us and we treat him like one of us." The Demons will take on Carlton on February 28 in their first practice match, to be held at IKON Park, where Melbourne will be trying out some changes to their game style. "It goes very quick, 30 days until round zero (opening round). We're playing practice matches next week. It's been really good, everyone is in great shape," Petracca said. "With us, 95 per cent of the stuff we're doing we're doing really well. Contest, defence, offense. There's no doubt we've got to improve in a few things. "We're looking at those things, tinkering with a few things, we're trying to change and adapt. The AFL is constantly evolving, new game styles, we'll work at those. "The last few years have been frustrating. For us, I'm a pretty optimistic person and I see there's only ways to improve and get better. "Only really actions can tell in 30 days time in round zero." Melbourne will take on Sydney at the SCG as part of the AFL's new Opening Round, to be played the week before round one of the 2024 season.

Why am I still looking at this de-railed thread supposedly about training. Bring on this week's training reports so I don't feel tempted to look in here again.

Yes, but some still yearn for the idea of the full back going forward in the last quarter and kicking three goals, or the full forward going in to the middle and crashing the pack to win a clearance.

Personally I think the Schache decision is very easy to understand. The coaches believed that Tmac had more chance of impacting the game than Schache. So although Tmac was having a poor game they thought he was still a better bet than Schache. The game was a slog suiting Tmac. In an open score fest Schache would have been used. It wasn’t so he wasn’t used. I agree with them. Tmac puts his body on the line and competes harder than Schache ever has. He was the better bet and they made the right decision not making the change.

@58er can you please provide some examples of the moves you would’ve implemented during game day? Please don’t say the Shack for T Mac, we know your stance on that. The game is different to what it was 20 years ago, now a whole team moves up the field and a whole team moves back. Of course structures are practiced preseason. One move that was made during our semi loss was Kozzie playing solely out of the square in the second half. I haven’t seen a single second of the game since the final siren, but from memory Kozzie spent the entire second half on the ground and almost won us the game with a couple of goals, a few goal assists and a dozen score involvements. Maybe the game moves way too quick for me these days and I miss what moves should be made during a game.

Excellent post, wwsw Successfully moved T-Mac & Petty forward and stuck with Melksham And at our best he gets a buy-in from the players on how we zone up and our all-over defence. So we're nearly always a chance to win any game of footy We've got some weaknesses especially with how we advance the ball forward but from all accounts, we're working on that issue at training (at least)

That's not an equal comparison. In 2021 you couldn't make a sub unless there was an injury. Sure they could have taken May off late but the sub rule was not the same in 2021 as it was last year. They could have subbed Schache on for TMac in the SF and no one would have batted an eyelid even if he didn't get a possession.

Well said QD and John D. We are not going down in ‘24.

We will drop something on the rest of the competition 💩

I’ve been on the pessimistic side of the ledger since last years finals. I think clubs have worked us out to an extent. We have a great list but unless Petty can get himself 100% right we have the same issue as last year and to me that’s a freakin big if! McAdam appears to be not fully fit so a full season from him appears a pipe dream. Then there’s Billing’s, if we’re expecting much from a Saints discard we’re kidding ourselves albeit he’s good depth when fit. I worry about Gawn and May at 32 a piece. So it’s over to Howes, Woewodin and perhaps Windsor to be the youth coming through. Improved years from Bowey, Spargo, Salem, Langdon and Chandler are a must. We need to get Oliver back to his prime at some stage prior to about Round 15. Personally I think Rivers and Neal Bullen could be the players that lift us, maybe Sparrow will go a level? We know Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Lever, Fritsch will get us close. Then there’s the coach and as the saying goes, you’re only as good as your last game, and folks I’ll say it again, it was a howler. We’ll finish somewhere from top to eleventh. 🤓

Most experts have No idea. Who would have thought GWS would be as good as they were or the Dogs miss the finals. Im glad were flying under the radar.

well at this time of the year every supporter is optimistic and think their team is going to be on the up consequently for every team on the up there has to a team on the down of course nobody really has a clue. just wait until we've had 5 or so rounds and things might look a bit easier to predict

Willy sent me a PM. He believes the unused sub wasn’t an issue.

There always that one person who brings logic to try and destroy a myth Away with you, do you not realise posters on here know otherwise. Unfortunately to many can’t see intricate changes in front of their eyes and wish to fabricate Chinese whispers as gospel

I did not!

That's right and structures that have been practiced and practiced in the leadup can fall to bits if tampered with too much. Are there timer when I wish Goodwin was a bit more of a matchday guru swinging magnets? Yes. However I'd sum up his matchday coaching by saying it's because he's more a system based coach than a poor gameday coach.

The scoreboard is the the ultimate judge 'BBP', they were the best team on the day (night in this case).

Didn't mean to start anything on Schache...my comment actually wasn't in reference to anything that happened last year. What happened happened and couldn't have happened any other way. Rather, I was only hypothesizing on how we can use him this year. We wouldn't like it if the playing group were still fixated on last year. So let's all move forward shall we?

And won a flag albeit of the VFL variety.

The main reason we didn't advance in the finals last year was the decimated forward line and we had the goalkicking yips But Melksham & Petty are good kicks for goal as are Fritsch & T-Mac But neither Petty or Melksham played and Fritsch & T-Mac were both proppy. JVR is also a good kick for goal but he missed the Carlton final as well So the makeshift & replacement forward line was not only not good enough, but they had the goalkicking yips as well It's quite amazing that we went so close in both finals As for Schache, he's not that much of a forward but was an adequate 2nd ruck (in Grundy's absence) So there's no elaborate conspiracy theory, Gawn didn't break down so Schache wasn't needed

In 2021 the sub was for injury replacement only. We didn't suffer any injuries during that game, although Harmes offered to come off to give JJ a run. Can't blame Simon for that.

this whole 'goodwin is inflexible' narrative is clearly incorrect since the premiership year he has: had to try multiple different forward structures with our injuries / loss of players including playing the game's premium ruckman and inspirational skipper max gawn as a deep forward adjusted our midfield mix due to injury to one of the best midfielders ever seen in red and blue rotated brayshaw from wing to half back to midfield rotated pickett from being our best and most defensive small forward into an occasional midfielder rotated rivers our best running half-back flanker into an occasional midfielder rotated petracca our best inside / out midfielder forward to try and get our 'connection' working dropped a two-time all-australian ruckman because his role wasn't working in our side in the year in which he was recruited simmon stubborn? myth!

The simple reason being is usually the top talent is taken by the bottom teams. All of our premierships in the last 60 years have included a first year draftee. You can twist these sorts of stats to suit any argument. David King taught me that. 😉

Richo’s straight from the horse’s mouth injury and recovery report. Provides a fair bit of illumination about where a number of blokes are positioned relative to the start of the season. It should also debunk some of the prophet of doom speculation which has propensity to be trumped about on DL. Credit where credit is due, as the season proper approaches the club has upped the ante on keeping supporters informed.

Mark Robinson is a real piece of work. “This is not a bash Clayton Oliver exercise because to do so without facts and an understanding of the complexities of Oliver's wellbeing, would be plainly wrong.” He then proceeds to mention a number of the many unsubstantiated rumours that have been circulating around the traps about Clarrie in recent times, some of which are totally absurd. Robinson openly says they’re rumours and furthermore tells his readers, “[D]on't believe everything … “ and then, there’s the “but”. There’s always a “but”. Forgive me, but I’m going to add my own “but” here because Robinson has also been conspicuously absent from his work with his own ailments over the past couple of years and I seem to recall that the rumour mill was working overtime about him and his lifestyle, habits and boofhead behaviour. Back then, I didn’t believe everything but I didn’t repeat the rumours even though he's not exactly “Saint Christopher” either. I won’t repeat them now but who knows? I might be tempted if this hypocrite continues to rant on about the subject in the way he has in this article. It’s an example of why we’ve had to take extra care with this and one or two other touchy subjects in the past few months or so. Enough for now, save and except that I’m really happy to see Clarrie back and I hope he kicks a*** on the footy field again this year as he has throughout his career. Clarrie, be well.