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I would love it if they could get Nev Jetta in to present Kolt with his jumper. Both #39 and both WA boys.

This is the major issue and the reason so many fans are frustrated, myself included. There is no consistency to the MRO or the tribunal findings and also the way the media and the AFL questioning is from case to case. 7 months ago Maynard performed one of the more dangerous acts I've seen on a footy field, which resulted in a player retiring and gets nothing. Pretty sure there were still rules around showing a duty of care at that time, so not sure why it wasn't applied in that case. We now find ourselves where an incidental contact, while dumb from Kozzy it wasn't a dirty act and was made with very little force gets a 1 week suspension. In the same weekend Fogarty runs straight at Fyfe and launches himself at him with a clenched fist, misses the ball by a mile and punches him in the throat. This is assessed the same as a glancing blow from Kozzy. Then last week Rivers tackles Rozee, who throws himself to the ground (arms free) and the MRO issue a fine. The next weekend Toby Greene dumps Mac Andrew into the turf and it's nothing to see because - his arm was free. WTF is wrong with this competition and their adjudication. The MRO needs to be a panel of people, not one bloke who has shown himself to be inept. I would also be comfortable if the AFL said, he will have a 3 man panel deciding each incident and there's no tribunal option, their decision is final. It's the AFL's competition they can suspend anyone they want, why does there have to be tribunal involved if they have a panel who can discuss and make decisions.

I see the low impact argument, but I'm OK with koz getting a week, not for the bump, but for raising his elbow. Yes he only glanced his head, but I'm in the factor in the risk of injury camp. If his elbow had, say flushed his temple then some real damage could have been done. But I'm not ok with the hypocrisy of the coverage of what was really an incidental incident compared to the can't miss a grand final for a 'football action' vibe that dominated the coverage of Maynard's hit on Gus. And even more frustratingly, there is zero reflection by the media about that blatant hypocrisy. For god's sake one action ended the football career of a bloke in his mid 20s (at all levels - and I presume Gus can no longer play ANY contact sport, eg basketball). And the other caused NO injury, with the player 'hit' going on to be his team's best player, even getting coached votes. And why? Because whilst koz was silly to put his elbow out, it was fleeting and he realised immediately wrong, and pulled it back. That's to say successfully tried to minimise impact. Maynard did the opposite. No thought at at all to minimise the impact on Gus. His instinct was 100% solely to protect himself. The media should be ashamed of the coverage of the Maynard hit. And ashamed about the white noise it is creating painting koz as a sniper with form.

Five games in and they’ve already named a railroad station after him!

Credit to Goodie in blooding kids.

The fact that Viney is his role model and mentor means I have never been more relaxed about a player's debut. Knock em dead Kolt* *Do not get suspended

Back to the OP, I liked how happy Viney was for Kolt. Viney’s legacy with the younger generation will hold us in good stead for a generation.

#UnleashTheKolt

A group of kids from Herman’s Bay, west of Alice Springs were at training. They got to meet the players for pics etc. First time out of NT for them, and tomorrow night they’ll be at the game. They were extremely shy. I made them feel welcome (and a little scared maybe) and their guide translated for us, mostly smack talk since not one of them barracks for the Dees. 😅 Diehard Crows, Freo, WCE fans and a couple of Lions fans(!) Anyways, this is me with Nicholas (their guide), Joel, Byron, and Leo (the tall boy) who gets to toss the coin tomorrow night. I told him I’ll be watching from the front row and if Maxy doesn’t win the toss, he’ll have me to answer to. 😠 He knew I was kidding… I hope. Note cheeky bugger Byron isn’t wearing the scarf the Club gave him. It was in his hoodie pocket. He’s a passionate Lions fan so that’s where the scarf stayed, even during pic-taking. Gotta love the dedication 😊

Current situation is that Swans have lowballed Hayward as they’re happy for him to be the one that goes. He’s currently on $600k a season and was on the “to be dropped list” about 5 times in 2023, but survived due to injuries. Carlton have been interested for 12 months, the Dees interest is a lot more recent. Swans are very keen to retain Florent, and by pushing Hayward out, they’ll most likely be able to.

MFC Casey players are out now. All rehabbers have joined them, Marty, McAdam, Melky, Bowey, Sestan. Sestan has some left shoulder strapping. McAdam doing well. Accelerating with power and some beautiful shimmies and cutting lines in a handball comp/drill. No, not Marty. Trainers call him out, he wanted to be in the drills, but no. Also, not Bowey. Though they both play in the structural sims. White caps are Sestan and Turner, (no tackling). Hunter doing some instructions when the sims breaks. The squad is looking classy, rarely any errors. McAdam is looking the goods, (in the sim), running hard defensively and when attacking. Schache is playing well. Jefferson gets lost at times, needs more work on his decisions and intention. When he has space, he kills it with skills. Andy Moniz-Wakefield is in the backline.

Hot tip: neither Jed or Harry will be replacing Kosi this week You’ll be fine 😂

I’m only guessing, but he has had a strong start to 2024, and he was particularly good against the Dees in Round Zero, so that may have stimulated their interest. Lever is on the record as saying he’s a very difficult match up as that 3rd/4th tall. I know the Swans were disappointed with him in 2023, but what we’re seeing now is some of those Swans forwards excelling now that Buddy is not hogging the forward line. I think he’s a handy player, but I wouldn’t be over stretching for him just because he’s a free agent.

Good luck young man .

Been trying to keep the lid on, but this kid is a freak, simply going to be an enormous star, and he DOES remind me of Robbie more than anyone. (There, I’ve said it).

Great news for Kolt, the team and us the members. Fantastic to have 2, 18 year olds in thursdays team and to also be 4 and 1 (soon to be 5/1). The FD need to be congratulated in finding these kids that can get into a top four side. Plenty of upside for us going forward.

Kolt is doing drills with the main group. It’s like he’s auditioning coz boy is he giving it everything.

It has definitely crossed my mind that there is more than a hint of racism in all this. Media were at pains to paint Maynard as Mother Teresa, but Kosi is the biggest snipper in the game? Something stinks

Amazing drafting and development from the club

Hopefully he's available. Kolt said he was the reason he wanted the #39 jumper.

No-one in rehab this morning, a Captain's run, 26 players. Laurie, Tomlinson, Tholstrup, Chandler, Woey, and Kossie are out there. Rehabbers are out now. Marty, McAdam, Melky, Bowey, Sestan. As a guess for in and outs, I would say, out Laurie, Tomlinson, and Woey as they were mainly in the yellow vest in the structural sims. Tholstrup was doing plenty off the half-forward. Chandler was running hard, giving the knee a test, no problems. There are group, maybe 20, from the area around Alice Springs (Ntaria). One of them will toss the coin at the game. The indigenous players all made some time for them. All in the MFC colours of their own club. The MFC also handed them some scarves.

We’ve been contending now for 4-5 years and still blooding and developing some exciting young players. It wouldn’t be an easy thing to do, especially where we’ve come from.

Disappointed he isn’t wearing those sunnies…

Agree with all of this except….. small. He is far from small and my god will he crash in and use his size to his advantage. Proper power athlete. Will be a clone to Trac in body size/strength in a few years. Another gem 🕶️

what an insult. langdon would never lie to jim stynes.

Exciting young player. It’s like seeing Oliver and Petracca in their first year and realising that they are special players. Windsor is a lightly built player who will take a lot of physical punishment from opponents. He is going to be physically tested every game. He might be tough but it will take its toll as the season progresses. So I hope that he can be rested and managed from a long term perspective because we don’t want to see his progress impeded by serious injury or simply wear and tear. Let’s hope we can look after him because at this rate he is going to attract the attention of all the big cashed up Victorian Clubs. He will be another Oliver and Petracca.

It’s free, with no ads, is utterly comprehensive, really good-hearted, long enough for a listen on a big drive, long enough to be broken into daily commute or brekky chunks, calls out Demonland community members (which is great for those of us who enjoy the personalised, ‘community’ aspect of Demonland), takes on callers (non-judgementally), and sometimes provides great interviews. Um, really the podcast is just critic-proof.

If you can provide a list of players in the rehab group you will have earned the title of um Demonland Trackwatcher.

$1.5mill ÷ 4 = $370,000 per annum. Is that what you are suggesting? $2 mill ÷ 5 = $400,000 per annum. Is that right? If so, you need to leave the early 2000s and port yourselves into 2024 It would take twice that, or more, to get him to move

Hopefully @kev martin or @Demon Dynastywill be at training this morning. I’m going there but I couldn’t do a training report if my life depended on it. A very good buddy and fellow DL-er said for me not to worry, just look out for certain players as possible replacements for Kozzie. But even that’s a slog. I mean, I still can’t tell Jed and Harry apart. 😭

Purchase from the Demon Shop Melbourne Demons 2024 ANZAC Day Eve Guernsey

I don't get the whole you can't start a debutant as a sub. Particularly now that it is not a medical one. It's a team sport, and it's never been more important that players play their assigned role. If the best thing for the team is for a debutant to start ad sub then so be it. The alternative is what? Selecting them in the starting 22, even though that's not in the best interest of the team? Or not picking them at all, even if Goody has been criticised for playing favourites with selection, with the implication being it comes at the expense of the team I think those criticisms are plain silly. But I understand why people would have an issue with it if he was selectiing favourites, not the best option. Team has to come first. Same argument applies to the selection of a debutant.

Robbie was a great mark, Chook. He could take a ride for a screamer, and dive to take marks or one-handers that nobody else would. Knew to never get involved in a body contest, cos didn’t have the body-work skills of say, Fritta (similar build). I’m resuming my judgment on Caleb’s overhead skills just yet, only cos hasn’t been presented yet. Would complete the picture, no doubt.

We have never debuted a kid as the sub. Doubt we will start now. Also I think his debut was dependant on the result of Kosi's hearing, so not sure how quickly his family can come over given they are some distance away. Hopefully they can make it!

I think he does. He is actually quite similar in size to what Rozee was in his first season.

Not only is that MRO person inept, but corrupt. Didn't he threatened to resign if certain someone was suspended last September?

He has a lot of ability, but he isn't Flower. I had the priviledge to see him play. He baulked, blind turned, evaded and took screamers. He'd run and bounce with his left hand and kick goals with his right foot. He was a fair player and I remember Mark Jackson nearly got killed at training by the rest of the group when he got too physical at training with him.

Time for Tholstrup!

I have similar thoughts but probably for slightly different reasons. Since the evolution of tactics in AFL, from an '18 one on ones' style before the mid-2000s, we now have an ability to refine the gameplan far more to suit the philosophies of the coach and the personnel they have available to them. In that time (last 20 years) pretty much every good team has set that balance of attack and defence in a similar way ... except for us. 2005 Sydney - defensive gameplan with great forwards (Hall, O'Loughlin, Goodes etc) and undersized defenders (Barry and Bolton) 2006 West Coast - attacking gameplan with great defenders (built around Glass and Wirrpanda) with ordinary forwards (Hansen and Lynch) 2000s Geelong - attacking gameplan with great defenders (Scarlett, Enright, Mackie, Milburn, Harley, Taylor/Egan etc) with comparatively ordinary forwards (Mooney, N Ablett, then smalls like Johnson etc) 2000s Hawthorn - defensive gameplan with great forwards (Buddy and Roughy) and undersized/ordinary defenders (Gibson, Gilham, Lake, Spangher etc). 2010s Richmond - defensive gameplan with great forwards (Riewoldt, Dusty, Lynch) and comparitively ordinary defenders (Rance for 2017, but just Astbury, Broad, Grimes, Vlastuin thereafter). 2023 Collingwood - attacking gameplan with great defenders (Moore, Quaynor, Howe, Maynard etc) and a bad forward line (Mihocek, Elliott, McStay). We have been different, with our strength being our amazing defence (May, Lever), ordinary forward line but still going for a defensive gameplan. The reason why this is mismatched is because the marginal gain of May and Lever is small when you set up your team to protect them whilst, at the other end, you're asking JVR and Ben Brown to compete against the odds all game (which they aren't really good enough to do). As an example, Richmond beat Geelong in the 2020 GF because the game was tight and congested, with scoring difficult. At 3/4 time they led 46-44 (7 goals to 6), so it was hard to score. In the last quarter they kicked 5 goals to win it (Prestia, Lynch, Dusty, Riewoldt, Dusty). Between Dusty, Riewoldt and Lynch, they kicked as many goals as Geelong did. Defending was easy with the extra numbers - kicking goals against those extra numbers was hard and that's why Richmond's best players were the ones to do it. Conversely, Collingwood could get relatively easy goals in 2023 (Hill, Elliott, Michocek, Ginnivan, McCreery and Frampton had 19 contested possessions between them - about 3 each on average) because they kept numbers forward and relied on their more talented defenders to win the difficult contests. You don't need to make the job easier for your good players because they're going to win you more of those really important contests (like Dusty against 2 opponents, or May one on one against Curnow), so they don't need as much support. But if you can then use those extra numbers somewhere else to make it easier (like supporting Astbury in defence, or playing an extra forward to allow Ben Brown a 1-on-1 and space to lead) then you're helping them enormously. May and Lever may help a defensive plan reduce the opposition's score by 20 points, but an attacking plan could help our forwards kick 30 extra points because they need that extra help a lot more than May and Lever do. tldr; Teams usually create game plans to add support where they need it most, trusting their best players to play well without support. We've given May and Lever too much support when they don't need it, and I am happy that we're now giving that support to our forwards (who do need it). Also sorry it was so rambling!

We are seeing the confluence of events that is demanding a change in how we play that I hope lasts for the rest of the decade; a change that leads to attractive football as well as winning football. Transition x2 With McQualter coming in there seems to be a real emphasis on something that we have never had a real emphasis on; transitioning the ball from the backline with speed and purpose. (I wrote about this mid last season - that you can read about below - bumped post) Where the ‘confluence’ comes in is the emergence of McVee, Howes, Bowey, and Rivers as the engine of the team. This is where we need to ‘transition’ to this engine, which I will dub - The Transition, and away from the May and Lever driven Defence Only mindset. Now this is already happening and that is great, but it doesn’t mean we are not a contest driven or Defence First team - we will be until further notice, but with this strong in the bow we can now win games in more ways, and avoid being out of games. For the neophytes - last two seasons we have been ‘forward half’ or ‘contest/stoppage driven’ to avoid as much exposure to our backline as possible. This means we kicked long to the boundary (May’s infamous kick out from FB) and progressive movement down the field through stoppage and rushed kick. This means that our forward pressure could kick in and we ‘won territory’ and we ‘won the I50 count’ and we ‘won the expected score’ but we didn’t win the games that matter… Having a transition game and a comfortability with our defence getting footy kicked their way has opened up the ground and has allowed McVee and Rivers in particular to show their value and for our forwards to have space to exploit. Suddenly Fritsch has 1-1s and Brown is leading at the footy in dangerous spots. As an aside, this will aide in JVRs development… So I for one thank Goodwin for his ability to adapt and I welcome… … The Transition. (Demon emoji)

Marty set to go for Anzac eve

ANB not there? That’s a surprise.

All track watchers see things in their own unique way. See insights or chat to players or just report what they feel about the session, each a bit different. this allows the readers to take ideas and reinforce our own perspective. Makes us all feel good, don’t stop ! Much appreciated all views. watching the demons is a bit like bashing your head with a brick, it feels better when you stop, Stuff it, Go Dee’s Start well tomorrow night give them hell !!

So f###ing angry at this suspension. Look at it in real time and it's nothing like the Maynard thug thing. He converges from the side and glances him. The action never had the same potential to do injury as Maynard did, because he wasn't charging straight at him from the polar opposite direction. Our defence was totally valid, he never lined him up, didnt elect to bump the player, the time he has his arm tucked in for a split second and flys across the front of him, barely brushing him. It was low impact and wasn't a bump - please change the thread title accordingly to "Kossy glance on Soligo". From the reporting I've heard of it, the contemptuous way the AFL tribunal dismissed our case against is a disgrace. I bring back the example of Chol from a few weeks back where a 6'10" 95kg giant planted his knee with the monentuum and full weight of his body, right into the back of his opponents head at the point where the spine meets the scull, which is apparently ok, because it wasn't a 'bump'. These people are a joke and I'm sick of our team and our players being their play things and scape goats.

Spoiler Alert. I’ll be reading his post out on the pod anyway.

How many more inexplicable outcomes that seem to favour certain players and clubs (aka Greene, anything Collingwood, Maynard gets off and wins a flag, Cripps gets off & wins brownlow and the Blues in general vs others that aren't in favour in the eyes of the AFL at any particular time) do ppl need to witness before they come to the former conclusion. Noting the AFL's media unit described the Greene tackle as "tough", whereas others doing similar tackles (or even less dangerous ones who aren't on the AFL's protected list) are described as "dangerous". Most of the media, uncluding the AFL, described the Maynard wrecking ball incident as "an unfortunate football act" or that "he had no other choice" or "it was a split second decision he had no time to react" blah blah blah. Yet virtually no one in the generally AFL aligned media says anything to that effect re Kozzy's attempt to smother. The excuses are always variable and any counter arguments (at the tribunal, by HQ reps) trawled out very intentional but change like the wind in order to suit the AFL concocted narrative per their agenda and preferred outcomes depending on player, club or timing (finals, GF vs standard H&A).

Florent’s not getting out of bed for $2 mill over 5 years