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McVee is more likely to be vice captain than be on the bench.

No mention of Turner which I find surprising. I predict a strong year from him.

I still can’t see how Kozzie got weeks, for a contest, that at worst, would have been a bump to a 200cm player’s stomach, until the very last split second, when the taller player went to ground, at a time when the smaller player couldn’t pull out of the contest. I think it was a pathetic decision and when contrasted with the Maynard bump on Gus, knocking him out early in a final and the resultant lack of any penalty is just bewildering, other than the fact that the Tribunal Chairman and MRO are admitted Pies supporters. Neither of them should have officiated in either case.

The Herald Sun’s take on where 2025 will take the Melbourne Football Club. Predictions, best 23: Rebound or rebuild? Dees’ writing on the wall Melbourne’s best 23 according to Callum Dick FB: Petty, May, Salem HB: Windsor, Lever, Rivers C: Sharp, Oliver, Langdon HF: Pickett, Fritsch, Chandler FF: Tholstrup, Van Rooyen, Johnson FOLL: Gawn, Petracca, Viney INT: McDonald, Bowey, Harvey Langford, McVee, Sparrow

Players deserve protection from grotesque injuries. You do not need to jam your knee into an opposition players side to spoil or take a mark. It should always be a vertical motion as opposed to horizontal. Just watch how Jeremy Cameron marks high balls. Moore drives his knee into players week in week out. He’s caused several really significant injuries and the fact the AFL isn’t discussing this just shows how asleep at the wheel they are…..Oh but Kozz gets 3 weeks….give me a break. It’s laughable.

We can win the flag. Media don't want us to.

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If we have a good run with injuries I'm confident we'll finish top 4 and have another tilt at a flag. I couldn't care less where anyone else finishes although Pies and Blues missing finals would be nice I guess.

Definitely a rebound year if we avoid serious injuries. Reasons? 1. If Oliver and Trac are fit and in the right frame of mind, the positive effect will be enormous. 2. Langford an excellent draft pick. Looks AFL ready. 3. Johnson has point to prove and could provide much-needed relief for the overworked Max. 4. Further improvement likely from Turner, Windsor, McVee, Van Rooyen and Tholstrup. 5. Petty back where he belongs. 6. Viney still going strong. 7. Pickett provides the X-factor every team needs. 8. Little mention of Harry Sharp so far, but if his all-round skills improve he could just develop into a surprise replacement for ANB. At 22, he has outstanding speed, Langdon-like aerobic capacity and his best years ahead. I accept that we still lack a truly dominant key forward and that some of the predictions above may come unstuck. Still, what is there right now not to be optimistic about?

'The Demons still think they're in the premiership window, but missed the top eight last year'..... This is what [censored] me about the media.... quick to go on about our straight sets and missing last year but fawning over the pies and cats after they both missed the finals directly after the wins... we missed the 8 so are bad - pies missed the eight and are one of the favourites for the flag.... [censored]

Depends what you mean by "between".

I REALLY believe Dees could finish anywhere between 1st and last

Demons won 11 games with majority of our best 6 players out, with a better draw and some fit players, expecting us definitely to make the 8 and not surprised if we are top 4! Go Demons!

Re-arrange. They chafed last year and produced a nasty rash

The author’s living up to his surname. 🤭

I argued the angle issue at the time but was dismissed by not a few. I'm still convinced that a knee horizontally " planted" doesn't produce any further lift. But in full disclosure I'm obviously not a body movement expert or whatever the name of that guys position was bought in by cwood for the defence of Maynard. Certainly we need to be careful so as not to jeopardize the occurrence of the specky but we need to protect players from career ending injuries too. I can't say I've watched enough of Moore to claim he has form but I certainly won't agree that his knee action was a natural reaction to help facilitate a mark. So in agreeing that the action was not a natural football act in helping Moore achieve elevation, one has to wonder what his motivation was Perhaps there was none. Maybe he gets the benefit of doubt in that it's just a protection habit done out of muscle memory over the years. That said, it's not something one wants to see happen on a regular basis because it could have ended Trac's career and or someone elses. But as mentioned with a bob each way, it would be tricky to outlaw given the sanctity of the specky. But perhaps it should be examined. Like Maynard's so called smother, the old knee in the spleen routine to reach new heights, could in the feet of some, be used for "moore" sinister purposes if the magpies playbook so requires. I wouldn't be surprised if he did have form though. Not necessarily because he's not a good bloke but the rather due to the whole culture of thuggery celebrated by pies supporters as evidenced by their cheering when por Gus was lying prostrate in the middle of hallowed turf of the MCG. Sorry to be so negative during these times of festive holidays but a good deal of them are simply just dogs. In fact I take that back. That's an afront to the entire canine population.

You can take the boy out of the West (briefly) but you can't take the West out of the boy! Thanks, Lachie. Hope you get a '200' banner in that Newport game 😉

So from that ABC kicking article in 2023 (note it was drawing on the last three seasons, not 2024), our kicking efficiency was roughly the same as the Swans but the key difference was the Swans retention per kick was quite high (and we did not generally retain the ball...). Interesting! We can only improve upwards, at least! That being said, retention is not the be all and end all, when you look at some of the high retention teams eg Essendon. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-01/afl-what-makes-a-good-kick-in-2023/102420562

…2nd ruck….or we have the same problem as last year….killing JVR.

The Hawks are my sliders for this season. They surprised everybody this year, but now teams know what they are about and will be digging into their gameplan. They won't get the unexpected wins against teams that underestimated them again. I expect them to drop out of the 8. 2026 will tell us whether their team and gameplan are the real deal or not. Also, I can't see us missing the 8 unless we suffer more major injuries. The media pile-on fails to acknowledge that we were essentially playing without three of our best mids. Trac was gone for half the season, Oliver was a shadow of his usual self without a real pre-season, plus playing injured, and of course the loss of Gus not only cost us on-field, but was a massive psychological hit to the team. While we don't get Gus back, the other two are in full flight and training well. Having them both fit and firing, plus natural improvement from the young mids, we'll see a different team next year.

No I think Goody is signed until end of ‘26, so don’t think he is going anywhere but then I am pro Goody.😁

No it's not the point. So much rewriting of history. #demonland myths As I have noted several times recently, we tried to implement a different, more transition based game plan last season. We faced several barriers to doing so successfully, in short: - it takes time to implement a new game plan (particularly one so different to the one drilled into the team over the previous 5 seasons) - injury meant we almost never had our best 23 play together - we didn't have enough of the right type of players, in particular enough elite kicks who could be relied on to hit high risk kicks (exacerbated by injury to our best players) - and perhaps of most significance, we were clearly not fit enough, for any game plan, particularly one that demands so much all team running We could only be ‘in games when we played an unwatchable, unsustainable to win big games, style'? That's just not true. There was really only one game where we reverted to a defence first method in a big game to maximise our chance of winning - our heartbreaking two point loss to port late in the season. Two rounds prior we came out firing, with exciting all out attack against the Giants, up nearly 5 goals at the end of the first quarter before running out of puff in the second half to lose by two points. In another big game, our round 16 match against the ultimate premiers, we blitzed them in the second quarter, kicking 8 goals. Very watchable. Another heartbreaking loss ensued after once again running out of gas in the second half. Another big game was our early season win over Port at a sold out Adelaide Oval where we beat Port at their own transition game (coming on the heels of smashing the dogs - our third highest score of the season - and hawks with a fast, exciting, transition game). Not a big game given we couldn't make finals, and our opponents were woeful, but our highest score of the season came in round 23 when we played a fast, exciting transition game to smash the Suns. Yes we were often low scoring and terrible to watch. And we got hammered more often than we had in the previous four seasons combined. But not because of an 'unwatchable, unsustainable' game plan - we just couldn't consistently implement the new game plan we were working on, or defend against that game plan when used effectively against us (hence the number of big losses). Ironically, we would have likely won more games last season, albeit not enough, and certainly not have been opened up as often, if we had stuck to our previous defence first method.

Agree with that, we have the the potential to improve all 3 parts of the ground in 2025, got a good group of youngsters too which is where a lot of it'll come from Mids: Clarry back to a version which closer resembles his previous self Rivers is an explosive goal kicking midfielder in the waiting, will take his game to the next level in 25' Agree re Langford, looks plug & play Backs: Petty back Salem not injured by 28.12.24 - world record? If we get a full year out of him (wishful thinking) our ball movement will improve a lot Windsor and potentially even Xavier Lindsay off half back give us a lot more speed Forwards: Disco Turner the break out tip for 2025, only played 18 career games, will surprise a few Another pre-season into JVR, Kolt helps As a Jefferson believer reckon he may surprise a couple too

Stranded on 199 games 😭 We have a few milestones in the first few rounds next season: Currently: Fritta 149 games Knuckles 48 Spargo 98 Spaz 95 Providing they all play, that is

Agree with this. But, they (the AFL) aren’t asleep at the wheel. They’re just too scared to do anything that will make Collingwood upset or angry.

Riffing on the season, 'tis re-birth?

Love the opening paragraph: 'think'! 2019, 2020 and 2021 say hullo.

Re-plumb? Re-tool?

I'm not sure the tribunal and MRO being Pies supporters was the factor in the Maynard case though, because if my memory those people actually initially handed down a reasonable (yet possibly still slightly lenient in hindsight) penalty. I lay the blame more so with Collingwood for taking it to court to challenge what was clear to everyone else in the game an action that shouldn't be accepted and the AFL for not having the gumption to counter challenge Collingwoods legal action or threaten Collingwood into submission before it went to court in the first place by whatever means. The fact the AFL changed rule in the off season was an admission of guilt that they had essentially Fffed up. As for the McGuire behaviour after Maynard got off - don't even get me started. AFL Power club politics at its best.

I didn't include time on, but I adjusted the minutes of each player. (It is really the percentages that matter.) Oliver has historically played 80-90% game time. I am not sure if he will be able to do this as he ages but who knows what a full preseason could yield. I think Langford will be a centre square midfielder. Hopefully he can play well as a forward and his marking becomes an asset, but it is not easy to win the ball as a forward in the AFL as you are often outnumbered. I look at Ryley Sanders season this year, who showed AFL qualities as a midfielder but got squeezed out by the Dog's midfield depth and could not play another role. I think Rivers is an A-grade half back and a B-grade midfielder. His ball use was much better at half back this season because he had more time. He will develop his midfield game but I doubt he will ever reach Brownlow contention level. I am also not sure he offers a massive point of difference to Oliver, Petracca and Viney as a midfielder. I am not against the trial of Rivers in the middle, but my expectation is that we will get more from Rivers playing at half back.

That's rubbish. The players that can actually get elevation to take screamers do so because they get most of there momentum going up and not forward into the players back. If you can't do that, don't go for the mark in that way and don't raise your knees into their back. What Moore did was like an unrealistic attempt with neglect for the players welfare. Similarly poorly executed attempts like Chol on May should be looked at. Again massive knee raise. From memory it was Chol or someone similar that almost took out someone's head/kneck in the next week. Can't have the head being sacrosanct whe you bump, but then have it being OK to make full contact with a knee during a controlled action. People also say that Maynard was within the rules and do you want to take out players committing to the contest. I think it's all about players playing with an extent more control and being aware that they can't just be human wrecking balls out on the field, but that that still leaves plenty of room to play the game it should be played. It use to be more of the 6' and less athletic types that could actually jump they flew for this sort of mark and now they have given licence to every man and his dog to go for them. Similarly, I don't think players would have got away with jumping straight into someone's back like Chol and Moore way back when, because there would have been an even-upper.

Aidan Johnson ahead of Disco Might be time to bring back public executions for the author

I guarantee you we will finish somewhere between 1st and last

I Remember Round 1 2005 The Sky was Red and Blue that evening before Sunset I shall never forget that moment Broadie #20

I’m more concerned about his actions that cost us kozzy for the start of the year. Went to ground and put his head hip high. If koz went only ball instead of going for contact he would have been taken below the knees. I can see why he’s collingwoods captain. When his career ends I’ll talk about him in a different way. But as it stands right now he’s a [censored] of the highest order.

Served us pretty well in 2023 on the wing as it allowed Brayshaw to play defence and midfield that year. Did some underrated things in the Carlton final. The less said about this year the better.

Not sure about this #demonland myths trope. I was one to see and applaud the opening up last year of our game plan. And we had success early in the year, as the better teams showed up and as the season wore on the moments where we reverted to type became quarters and halves and subsumed senior players. That was my point and I don’t think it was a ‘myth’, maybe a difference of opinion… Regardless, moving forward into 2025 I hope we have one group buy in to one gameplan and we can begin to go in one direction. And the reversions become infrequent and irrelevant; that would be a step in the right direction.

Yes i have always wished i had taken photos of that night sky. As i have never seen it so vivid again, it really was such a surreal moment

I think Sydney, dogs and possible Port to drop out of the 8 next year. Possibly replaced with crows, Dees and Freo.

We have been unwatchable many times during 23/24 Seasons. I know this because i was the one who turned the TV off Each week “connection” was talked about by the coach in the aftermatch. But each week we played the same style… Kicking to a congested Forward Pocket

I was sitting behind a set shot goal he kicked against Essendon in maybe 2022 - 45 to 50 out on a tricky angle. The noise it made off the boot was pornographic.

Swap the Bulldogs and Hawthorn around and I think it could be pretty close.

My second team are the Casey Demons.

Possibly the worst stat among a huge field of contenders. Zach Merrett is comfortably one of the best 10 kicks I've seen in the last 20 years. Ed Langdon is easily one of the 10 worst. Their disposal efficiency stats are almost identical.

I am as one eyed as the next person but Darcy Moore did absolutely nothing wrong. If you are trying to take this out of the game, then no players can fly for marks

Genuine question why have a second team. I don't have one and never will. I don't understand how people can follow a team like say Fitzroy/South Melbourne then follow them to Brisbane/Sydney. I sometimes have a sofy spot for ex- Melbourne players who've been traded but that's it.

It’s less about which kicks are effective and more about which kicks each player takes (mostly based around where they take them from). A defender will either kick long to a contest in slow play or cop the ball short to an open player. Both are very easy kicks to make. A midfielder kicks often from stoppage, under pressure where kicks are often intercepted or don’t go far enough to be considered a long kick to a 50/50. Forward mostly kick to situations where the defenders far outnumber the forwards, so effective kicking is very difficult. For 2024, the top 10 players for disposal efficiency (10 game min) are all key defenders, except Luke Ryan who is a third defender. In fact the highest ranked non-defender is Karl Amon, who is ranked 51st. By comparison, the 21 lowest ranked players for disposal efficiency were forwards or rucks. Disposal efficiency doesn’t measure kicking skill, it just tells us the situations in which they are being asked to kick. Are we to believe that Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is the worst kick in the league whilst Ben McKay is the third best? Disposal efficiency is a truly terrible statistic for measuring the ability to kick.

Yes, sure, but this was really a unique injury. Not everyone with a knee to the ribs needs to taken to hospital stat. Remember how long it took at Epworth for this to be recognized too. Hopefully they will learn that a non contrast CT is not enough in a trauma situation. I heard from an impeccable source that it took a very astute Demon fan surgeon to get things properly investigated and transferred That said I am sure that the club and the AFL has had some “learnings”.