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After a tough 2020 who knows what lies ahead for us all in 2021. No matter what, here's wishing you and your families all the best for the coming year. May it be a happy, healthy and prosperous one and maybe, just maybe an end to our long suffering NS curse...please. Happy New Year!

In my view mostly mediocre teams win games with match day decisions. It’s usually the excuse for why an upset occurs. The good to great teams just play their way better for longer, week in week out and have players crystal clear in their role. I would argue Hardwick is not a much better match day coach, he hardly makes any moves unless out of necessity. The team just play their style of footy better for longer. Aside from Cairns we started to have a clearer view of what we wanted to do and started to settle on who did it where. For too long last year we heard we were unsure of our best set up, this lack of confidence to back a set up really hurt us. The year before, injuries and interrupted preseasons robbed us of having fit players to execute our best set up. As others have mentioned we need to be clear how we want to play, put players in the role they are best suited, train them in it and back it in. The quicker its engrained the more chance we have as the list has the quality and maturity to deploy it better for longer more often than not.

We were masacred by pre-season injuries in 2019. We were flying into the finals in 2020 until Cairns. The Demonland podcast gave a good explanation for our first loss there. I'll back Goodwin this year.

Of course he's under the pump. Should've made finals in 2020 and lost two games to bottom of the ladder sides when it counted as well as getting off to a poor start due to being stubborn with player selection. If the team has a poor start to the season he will be struggling to keep.gis job by Queens Birthday and if we miss finals he's gone.

Yes a coach is responsible for motivation and creating the optimal environment that supports a win. And of course selecting the right players. But when it is all said and done, once the game starts it is 95%, maybe more, on the players. And doubts about goody should not obscure the fact that the players selected in those two games failed and let the club and fans down. They have to wear it. I'd hate to see blame disproportionately sheeted to goody rather than where it should go- the players.

I really have no feelings either way about Goodwin because I don't have any data other than our win/loss ratio plus some obvious externals like our injuries in 2019 etc. and who knows how much the players are responsible as soem posters have discussed. Several posters repeatedly say he doesn't listen. What is the actual evidence for that? (genuine question).

I think Tom will surprise a few people this year - in a positive way!! The longer quarters , a decent pre season and less attention as the 2nd or 3rd tall will mean most will be pleased we didn’t trade

We have stars in the midfield and down back and we should be pushing top 4. For those that don’t think this - you’re just trying to make failure more palatable.

At times I have been close to the action on the ground and seen the players' facial expressions and reactions, something which is often missed on the TV coverage. Tom was often obviously frustrated by injuries and his body language and facial expressions reflected this. Because of pain or limitation of movement his body was unable to do what he wanted it to do. Hopefully 2021 will see an injury free Tom and he will get back to his best. Feeling fit and healthy can do wonders for confidence as well.

There is one person that l would like to see do really well and that is Tmac. Has his critics however you see it He is on the list and can play a part in our rise. I will be following his progress this preseason till the start of the season proper with a lot of interest. I just want him to do well because when he is on he is hard to match up. IMV he is a vital part. Don't write him off just yet.

How can anyone “hate” Tom McDonald? Either a poor choice of words, or you may need some help bro. You OK?

And a decent, consistent game plan that is consistently trained and drilled into all players. Not to mention putting players in the positions that maximises their strengths. We have the 5th eldest and 7th most experienced list. A list built under Goodwin's watch. If he doesn't have the cattle he has only himself to blame. Its worth noting that about 10 of Collingwood's 2010 premiership playrs were rookie recruits. Its what a coach does with the cattle that counts.

Agree. The tiger's system, the player's total belief in it and their ability to implement it (which incorporates their commitment to playing their designated role)is why they have been so successful. I am even more pusuaded of this view by an excellent book I am currently reading, Captain class by Sam walker, that aims to answer why the greatest sports team are so great. He looks at the question of how significant the coach is. The short answer is not nearly as much is widely thought. Suggests the Lombardi effect has an outsize influence. Its about the players and he posits in terms of the best of the best specifically the captain.

I believe that Goodwin will improve in a few ways this year. He has a team around him that he just has to listen to. First thing he needs to do is to work out where the players play their best footy and then coach and train them during the pre season to give them the best chance to excel in those positions. Next he needs to do better at selection. Select a team to play to a plan against that week’s opposition. No favourites and no selections on what they did last season. last, plan your game day coaching. Be prepared for a number of eventualities and be flexible and proactive. I can live in hope...... can’t I?

Maybe in the Ammo's

I have personally had a terrible year. Bring on 2021. Let's move on.

Don't you know how it goes, binman? When we win, it's because the team played well. When we lose, it's because the coach is no good.

A high quality side such as Richmond or Geelong simply would've got the job done had they been sent to Cairns to play two pretty damn average sides in Sydney and Freo, no matter the adversity. That's what separates the high quality clubs and high quality coaches from our club and our coach.

As captain of the ship he has final say on game plan, selection and in game switches. The coaching group will provide input but it’s his call ultimately. Why do people say he doesn’t listen? There isn’t a shred of evidence to support this. If he doesn’t listen then Pert has just wasted his time adding Yze and Williams to the ticket. If the review had revealed this in Goodwin then he would have been out the door already. The more I think of it the Freo game will be the perfect barometer of whether the off-field changes have made a difference. If our midfield functions properly and our delivery to our forwards is reasonable we should win. If not, Freo will beat us. Their team isn’t as mature as ours but they are better coached. They won’t fear us. There can be no honorable defeat, no positives or “learnings” to be had. Lose and the jungle drums will start to beat loudly.

He still has to make the final decisions. Let's hope he listens more than in the past.

Sometimes fortune or misfortune is all in the eye of the beholder, there are always two sides, sometimes more sides to every story. To me 2020 started off with very high hopes to complete a lot of personal stuff and to "move on". Footy as well. Then Covid ! Now we are back at square one for many of us, just a wasted year very little achieved for some. So I say as well I hope your 2021 is much better, for everyone. Best wishes and better fortunes to us all. Come on Dees !!

I hope your 2021 is much better, Wrecker. Best wishes and better fortunes to all.

Happy 2021 to everyone. Top 4 beckons. I love beer. And MFC.

The shift will come. And western dynamism will ensure we move on into another, the next, a subsequent imperfect rendering of a progressive society....

I remember Billy Goggin consistently kicking "stabs" through a target on World of Sport. ( Probably mid sixties)

As far as I know the division winners remain as the 1-4 seeds, which means the first match-ups are now 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5. In the NFC, that means the winner of the NFC East (either the 7-9 Football Team or Cowboys, or the 6-10 Giants) will get a home playoff game against, likely, the 11-5 Bucs. I'm not against division winners making the playoffs but I think it would be fairer for the seeding to occur based on all 7 playoff teams' records, not guaranteeing division winners get the 1-4 seeds no matter what.

I feel Goodys comment is not entirely correct or if it is Barlett is not doing his job. To say they spoke at length and Barlett only being supportive sounds odd. Surely Barlett has said, words to the effect. We need and expect results. You are now fully equipped with players and capable coaching staff, we support you, but its time for results.

Our bottom 5 or6 players don't really cut the ice. A marked improvement there will see us competative.

I agree "rjay". It's fabulous that we've imported more footy nous, especially Williams and Yze, but Goody still makes the final decision. If Goodys' stubbornness/ego overrides our assistants good advice, we're in trouble and he'll be out. Does Goody have it in him to listen, learn and delegate etc.?

As a young fella struck with the dreaded 'left foot' dominance, I was fortunate to have my Dad speak to one of his students - Bill Barrot - who turned up at our home on several occasions in the late afternoon to teach me how to drop kick in Central Park, Malvern. That drop kick technique was awesome. It evolved rather rapidly into a pleasing left foot stab pass that, over the succeeding few years, became a 40-50 metre bullet, so I had many opportunities to feed leading full forwards with a variety of teams in the 'local' leagues from then on. The rules were simple: keep your nose over the ball and follow through (1) with the thigh and (2) then with the straightening of the knee, foot rigidly plantar flexed. All I had to do then was to make the whole kick as smooth as possible. Tassy Johnson was the best exponent of the drop kick imaginable and as Demons3031 has iterated, his full back kick out at the 'G always made the centre circle zone or frequently, almost to the CHF zone. Hassa exploited this regularly, moving laterally and then doubling-back to a pre-determined target area. The drop punt, in my mind, ruined it all, including the torp, the place kick and the flick pass. Progress is sometimes a negative but there were compensations from the changes, no doubt.

so what is Goodwins job??

I'm not convinced by this. We saw last season how poor the depth was when we had a few outs. Even when we we had a full team we couldn't get near Richmond, Port or West Coast. Sure we have seven or eight players that are good (Petracca, Oliver, Gawn, May, Langdon, Viney, Lever and Salem). But we easily have more strugglers than the current top four. I doubt any improvement will come from the likes Jetta, Hibberd, Jones, Tomlinson, VDB, M Brown, Melksham or ANB. The hope is the three recruits from 2018 and 2019 come on but I don't think it is enough.

Yep, no other player leaving cut deeper for me. I was 15 at the time and he was one of those players that almost always created a moment every game that made it worth the price of the ticket. Really happy the club has reached out to him, perhaps he’ll be a supplementary rookie. I’m sure he’s a long way off given he hasn’t been drafted but it’s totally worth the effort to have the possibility of Wiz Jnr kicking goals on the MCG for the mighty Dees!

Everyone has an opinion on Tommy! This is just another one writing him off ! No one not even D/Lers can say that Tommy is finished or that he is on our list never to get a Senior game agsin or in 2021! If Tommy Is fit snd Regains his form and undoubted skills ( which I am backing him to) then he will be an irresistible asset to our team. This would put us in the mix for top 4 with many of the others improving due to greater coaching and game plan. That's why we start with an open or blank cheque In selection in our season and it's so exciting waiting for Th e development of the team to gain some honours.

Look, I agree to an extent, but neoliberalism has utterly crippled the Western world. It was always going to end in an ugly fashion. I've always hoped it wouldn't end in fascism, but who knows anymore. It's so successfully hollowed out the Left that leftists think there's no alternative anymore, everyone else thinks centrists are leftists and right wingers are no longer particularly conservative, they're just anti people. It's a ****show that has so successfully hidden itself or rather embedded itself into the fabric of our societies (at the most intimate levels too), that it will take an enormous effort to turn the ship around.

Why? Surely many coaches improve in all sorts of ways, including game day coaching, as they gain experience. Goody has made a point about being a life time learner so I can't see why he can't improve his coaching.

My problem with Goodwin is his match day performance. For 3 years now we have seen him out coached during a game. I don't expect this to change.

Most people forget that Hardwick was without a premiership after 7 years and very little finals but year 8 after recruitment of good players the worm turned and he has won 3 of the last 4. I think that when his defensive coach arrived Justin Leppitsch they became a force, limiting opponents to a losing score. I have a feeling Troy Chaplin is our defencive coach and has taken over from Rawlings and we have improved in that area with Lever and May which makes winning easier when you don't have to kick 100 points+ to win.

I think an important variable is how much goody, if at all, improves as a coach. Much harder to gauge improvement of a coach than a player as so much of their work is largely unseen by fans and the kpis are less black and white (other than wins of course - but how much is on field success down to the players and how much the coach - an age old question).

Of Coarse Simon is under pressure isn.t the coach the first on the chopping block? IMO the list is there and we have the right mix now I am expecting some favourable results in 2021. A 4 year plan with 1 Premiership ? After what we have been through since 64 l would take that. Beggars can't be chooses. The arrow is straightened and aiming for the bulls eye. Don't miss Goody.

Every supporter did. Could have won a premiership with that guy.

Not sure that's true considering the price we pay for him.

With the list we have now even Mark Neeld could get us a flag.

Burns out of the squad. Right call. Warner to replace if fit. If not, Pucovski if fit. If both unfit, Harris gets the spot. If both Warner and Pucovski are both fit, both play, Wade moves down to number 5 and Head gets dropped. Wade's not an opener but has done more than enough to hold his spot (subject to his own fitness - he wasn't running well in the field after his leg injury). There's an argument that even if only one of Warner and Pucovski are fit, Head still goes, with Harris coming in and Wade moving down.

Next Test confirmed to be held in Sydney Are they going to be able to have a crowd?

Can only be a good thing for Sam. I think he’s got the talent to become a really good forward for us, not in the category of Neitz but someone who can kick upwards of 40 goals a year most years. There was one game this year (which I think we actually lost) where he was doing things that I really want him to focus on for the rest of his career and it’s simply being a presence. He has to be able to make an impact even if he’s not kicking goals or taking marks. Would love to say 12 months from now that Brown has been the catalyst to Sam being forward to be feared in the competition.

Sorry, jnrmac, on the day the Demons capitulated a final final's chance in Geelong at the end of 2016 I saw Weidemann take 6 pack marks in a game against Box Hill. He had six goals up by half time.The lad can mark. It's about confidence, and, unfortunately, in our case, [censored] delivery.

Separation from op and running patterns would be fairly essential tools in a key forward's kit bag. It beggars belief that going into his 7th year the club has not provided this (or if it has, not sufficiently) and he feels he needs to seek it out for himself. He said in another interview that he was trying to learn what to do from Steven May which has some merit but not a substitute for good coaching. It all makes me wonder if we had a development plan for Sam or it has been left to chance. One could be forgiven for thinking his development has been collateral damage of not having an experienced forward coach nor a consistent one for most of his time at the club. Its hard to develop confidence if you aren't very sure on what to do or how to do it. Hopefully, this is a turning point for him. And hopefully, his up field teammates learn what Sam's running patterns will be so they can anticipate ball placement.

When Farmer left Melbourne it was the only time I have seriously considered abandoning the Demons. Such a gut punch.

Invited to train with us