Demonland

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5Melbourne v Brisbane Lions, Casey Fields, 5.05pm AEDTMELBOURNEB: K.Smith 13, M.Clifford 44, C.Phillips 35HB: M.Downie 2, D.Pearce 6, M.Hickey 18C: H.Cordner 21HF: S.Scott 20, E.O'Dea 5, J.Grierson 19F: A.Newman 16, J.Anderson 28, L.Mithen 14FOLL: L.Pearce 15, K.Paxman 4, D.Berry 7INT: E.Humphries 3, S.Jolly 10, L.Duryea 11, S.De Bortoli 23, M.Boyd 25, A.Kemp 36Emergencies: S.Lampard 8, A.Mifsud 9BRISBANE LIONSB: S.Virgo 5, S.Campbell 20, L.Kaslar 11HB: T.Randall 16, K.Lutkins 13, B.Koenen 3C: M.Hunt 6HF: S.Frederick-Traub 14, K.Ashmore 10, K.McCarthy 9F: S.Law 2, T.Harris 7, J.Weutschner 23FOLL: S.Webb 4, E.Bates 1, E.Zielke 8INT: N.Wallace 24, J.Stanton 17, N.Hildebrand 22, S.Goodman 19, B.Gibson 25, A.Anderson 18, J.Ransfield 15, K.Deegan 12**Emergencies: To be named on Friday Other teams here: http://m.afl.com.au/news/2017-02-02/aflw-all-the-round-one-teams

I think it's time to turn in your cape.

demonland is in. Is there a league code?

from http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-01-24/aflw-infographic-all-you-need-to-know

I thought I recognised you.

The order that the players are in has no bearing on anything. The aesthetics of the "poses" and direction they are facing were more a factor in the positions of the final lineup.

If we get a flag I'll change everyones avatar to his face.

Perhaps next year.

Demonland are proud sponsors of Jayden Hunt and Josh Wagner and as such they are both on the banner.

Spoiler Alert. He's not on the banner.

On DEMONLAND that is an impossibility.

The banner is global to all boards.

George on the Outer concludes his "warts and all" analysis of each team's prospects for 2017 WHERE IT CAN ALL GO WRONG - THE WARTS AND ALL ANALYSIS OF EACH TEAM'S PROSPECTS [PART 3] The final group of six clubs; Hawthorn Finally for all football fans the rot has finally set in at Hawthorn. Winning 6 games by less than 10 points in the past season got them into finals, but it probably won’t happen again in 2017. Then to top it off they have dispatched their top 2 players in their B & F, and invested heavily in themarginal Tom Mitchell and an eternally injured O’Meara to replace them. (Not to mention Ty Vickery, who was recruited because….?) We now know that O’Meara won’t be available until Easter, so that plan is working well to date. But even if these 2 are equal in every way to Mitchell and Lewis, then the Hawks can only tread water. With Hodge, Burgoyne and Gibson all on the wrong side of 30, the Hawks are still competitive, but they are no longer the unbeatables. Port Adelaide If this team was a horse, the stewards would be out with the swab every time they make an appearance. They still have 17 players from their 2014 preliminary final side playing, but given back then they couldn’t take the next step, it is likely that those players were never good enough. And now it is 3 years later and we have seen a slow drop down the ladder. With next to zero trading done in the past 2 years and unable to convince others to take on Hartlett and his huge contract, Port will be much the same as last year, and the year before. Western Bulldogs When the team ethos is running into brick walls, there comes a time when the wall just doesn’t give way, like it did for them in 2016. Yes, they are the 2016 champions after coming from nowhere, but Hawthorn in 2008 did exactly the same. The following year the carnage cost the Hawks a place in the finals, and the Bulldogs luck in 2016 that got them through, has a habit of running out eventually. For a team that lost 1/3 of their games in the H & A season, and with Murphy, Boyd and Morris well into their 30’s, the future may not be a bright as they currently think. GWS Giants The AFL’s love child has been brought up on a diet of high draft picks and AFL inspired salary cap generosity. While they made it to a preliminary final this year, the rest of the competition is hoping they will choke again when they get to the big stage. Injuries are what is needed, particularly to their big man in Mumford. We saw what happened in 2016 to Freoand WCE when Sandilands and Natinui went down (we really don’t want anyone injured, but we sure as hell don’t want this made up team winning a GF). Perhaps new recruit Delidio can bring some of the Richmond mentality to the group? Or maybe Steve Johnson can find a new way to de-rail their progress. Adelaide After a stinker for them with the death of their coach in 2015, they continued to perform on-field under new management in 2016 despite of this big drawback. Trouble was, the team from the City of Churches forgot to do any trades or improve their draft picks to entice the talent needed to take that next step. After all holding your breath until you get what you want always works for Nick Xenophon….or maybe they just couldn’t get anyone to move to the place! Rory Sloane is unfortunately a one man band in the middle, and the lack of talent around him was good enough for him to get noticed often by the umpires in Brownlow voting. Emotion and an “us against those nasty people from the east” mentality probably won’t cut it for the coming season. Carlton Now the “forgotten” team of the AFL, their success of previous years was based on cheque-book recruiting. It has taken them years to realise good players are now drafted and with no change to this recruiting method, there seems little chance of them putting together a half-decent side. During the off-season Bryce Gibbs wanted out, so he will be filled with enthusiasm to have to pull on the navy blue jumper during the year. Their recruiting team set about filling the holes with further GWS bottom of the barrel rejects and discards, unlike other clubs who enticed more reasonable prospects to make the leap. The loss of Tuohy leaves their already fragile backline further exposed and without Walker in 2017, the forward line is even more vacant.

George on the Outer concludes his "warts and all" analysis of each team's prospects for 2017 WHERE IT CAN ALL GO WRONG - THE WARTS AND ALL ANALYSIS OF EACH TEAM'S PROSPECTS [PART 3] The final group of six clubs; Hawthorn Finally for all football fans the rot has finally set in at Hawthorn. Winning 6 games by less than 10 points in the past season got them into finals, but it probably won’t happen again in 2017. Then to top it off they have dispatched their top 2 players in their B & F, and invested heavily in themarginal Tom Mitchell and an eternally injured O’Meara to replace them. (Not to mention Ty Vickery, who was recruited because….?) We now know that O’Meara won’t be available until Easter, so that plan is working well to date. But even if these 2 are equal in every way to Mitchell and Lewis, then the Hawks can only tread water. With Hodge, Burgoyne and Gibson all on the wrong side of 30, the Hawks are still competitive, but they are no longer the unbeatables. Port Adelaide If this team was a horse, the stewards would be out with the swab every time they make an appearance. They still have 17 players from their 2014 preliminary final side playing, but given back then they couldn’t take the next step, it is likely that those players were never good enough. And now it is 3 years later and we have seen a slow drop down the ladder. With next to zero trading done in the past 2 years and unable to convince others to take on Hartlett and his huge contract, Port will be much the same as last year, and the year before. Western Bulldogs When the team ethos is running into brick walls, there comes a time when the wall just doesn’t give way, like it did for them in 2016. Yes, they are the 2016 champions after coming from nowhere, but Hawthorn in 2008 did exactly the same. The following year the carnage cost the Hawks a place in the finals, and the Bulldogs luck in 2016 that got them through, has a habit of running out eventually. For a team that lost 1/3 of their games in the H & A season, and with Murphy, Boyd and Morris well into their 30’s, the future may not be a bright as they currently think. GWS Giants The AFL’s love child has been brought up on a diet of high draft picks and AFL inspired salary cap generosity. While they made it to a preliminary final this year, the rest of the competition is hoping they will choke again when they get to the big stage. Injuries are what is needed, particularly to their big man in Mumford. We saw what happened in 2016 to Freoand WCE when Sandilands and Natinui went down (we really don’t want anyone injured, but we sure as hell don’t want this made up team winning a GF). Perhaps new recruit Delidio can bring some of the Richmond mentality to the group? Or maybe Steve Johnson can find a new way to de-rail their progress. Adelaide After a stinker for them with the death of their coach in 2015, they continued to perform on-field under new management in 2016 despite of this big drawback. Trouble was, the team from the City of Churches forgot to do any trades or improve their draft picks to entice the talent needed to take that next step. After all holding your breath until you get what you want always works for Nick Xenophon….or maybe they just couldn’t get anyone to move to the place! Rory Sloane is unfortunately a one man band in the middle, and the lack of talent around him was good enough for him to get noticed often by the umpires in Brownlow voting. Emotion and an “us against those nasty people from the east” mentality probably won’t cut it for the coming season. Carlton Now the “forgotten” team of the AFL, their success of previous years was based on cheque-book recruiting. It has taken them years to realise good players are now drafted and with no change to this recruiting method, there seems little chance of them putting together a half-decent side. During the off-season Bryce Gibbs wanted out, so he will be filled with enthusiasm to have to pull on the navy blue jumper during the year. Their recruiting team set about filling the holes with further GWS bottom of the barrel rejects and discards, unlike other clubs who enticed more reasonable prospects to make the leap. The loss of Tuohy leaves their already fragile backline further exposed and without Walker in 2017, the forward line is even more vacant.

Gysberts was skinnier than I remembered.

Lewis? I'd be lynched if I put up a player who had played 0 games.

George on the Outer continues his "warts and all" analysis of each team's prospects for 2017 ... WHERE IT CAN ALL GO WRONG - THE WARTS AND ALL ANALYSIS OF EACH TEAM'S PROSPECTS [PART 2] The next group of six clubs - all picked at random. Sydney Did the Bulldogs finally show the rest of the competition how to beat the Swans? Is just being more relentless than them the simple answer? We sure as hell hope so, because there aren’t too many weaknesses in this side. They put injured players on the field in the GF, but so did Footscray, and like them, the running into brick walls type of play might have to change as casualties mount. The Swans' lack of a true ruck was exposed on the bigger ground of the MCG, but we are really grasping at straws here. Perhaps a good off-field distraction is needed, like salary cap breaches. Collingwood Nathan Buckley is surely in his last season as coach, having failed since taking over a GF winning side from Mick Malthouse. Desperately throwing everything into the mix to save Eddie's (and his own) bacon from the rabid Pies horde, they only managed to dispose of their two best backmen in Brown and Frost and picked up a Melbourne reject Lynden Dunn as replacement. Go figure! Then to top it off they have signed the eternally injured Daniel Wells on a reported three year contract totaling 1.8M but he has still to make it back to the training track. In 2016 the injuries to Swan and Pendelbury exposed the soft underbelly of their mid-field and now with no Swan at all, and Pendelbury another year older, it sure isn’t going to get any better. Bye bye Nathan and bye bye Pies. (does it get any better than this?) Brisbane After leaking a record setting average of 130 points kicked against them in 2016, the Lions position is just so, so far back, that improvement has to be made over many, many years. The pity is that the loss of decent players in the past couple of years has greatly diminished their chances of taking any significant steps forward. Compounded by off-field problems still, and with the fickle Queensland crowds not attending, the situation is truly dire. Not much need go wrong for the status quo to be maintained. St. Kilda The Saints are building a solid side with plenty of talent. Their old brigade of Reiwoldt and Montagna must be at the end, if not there already, but it is their mid-field of Jack Steven, Jack Steven and Jack Steven that is their biggest gaping hole. And we know that a fair bit of the game is dependant upon the mids being successful. Finally, there is always the ability for the Saints to dig a mighty big hole for themselves, as they have managed to do on a regular basis, with something like dwarf throwing or off-field dalliances and romps with underage girls. Gold Coast Surely this crowd are but a figment of the AFL’s imagination of what a real club should look like? The Suns have yet to receive the same largesse as GWS although that might well come soon. They spent all their loot on one G Ablett Junior who has seen better days and almost did a runner with Prestia and O’Meara (we rarely saw them on the track anyway). Coupled with some doubtful off-season antics from Hanley and their main ruck Nichols getting into too much Chrissy pudding, it has set them back once again. Sadly, the Suns are not going to shine any time soon. At least not until they realise they are a football side and not some form of sideshow or theme park that abounds in that part of the world. North Melbourne Similarly to Richmond, the Kangas throw everything they have available at draft time to pick up players to get them into the finals. And the same happened in 2016 - they were obliterated on the big day and now have decided to retire/retrench a good number of the old stagers that got them there in the first place. Despite a 9 - 0 start, they scraped into the finals by a very small margin. Had Billy Stretch’s kick in round 3 had gone the other side of the goal post, then St.Kilda would have played finals instead of North who are now suffering from previous mediocre finishing positions, whereby they don’t get the top talent from the draft, and don’t win anything along the way. With all the lost talent, and little replaced, a slide out of finals and down the ladder is a certainty. [To be continued ... ]

George on the Outer continues his "warts and all" analysis of each team's prospects for 2017 ... WHERE IT CAN ALL GO WRONG - THE WARTS AND ALL ANALYSIS OF EACH TEAM'S PROSPECTS [PART 2] The next group of six clubs - all picked at random. Sydney Did the Bulldogs finally show the rest of the competition how to beat the Swans? Is just being more relentless than them the simple answer? We sure as hell hope so, because there aren’t too many weaknesses in this side. They put injured players on the field in the GF, but so did Footscray, and like them, the running into brick walls type of play might have to change as casualties mount. The Swans' lack of a true ruck was exposed on the bigger ground of the MCG, but we are really grasping at straws here. Perhaps a good off-field distraction is needed, like salary cap breaches. Collingwood Nathan Buckley is surely in his last season as coach, having failed since taking over a GF winning side from Mick Malthouse. Desperately throwing everything into the mix to save Eddie's (and his own) bacon from the rabid Pies horde, they only managed to dispose of their two best backmen in Brown and Frost and picked up a Melbourne reject Lynden Dunn as replacement. Go figure! Then to top it off they have signed the eternally injured Daniel Wells on a reported three year contract totaling 1.8M but he has still to make it back to the training track. In 2016 the injuries to Swan and Pendelbury exposed the soft underbelly of their mid-field and now with no Swan at all, and Pendelbury another year older, it sure isn’t going to get any better. Bye bye Nathan and bye bye Pies. (does it get any better than this?) Brisbane After leaking a record setting average of 130 points kicked against them in 2016, the Lions position is just so, so far back, that improvement has to be made over many, many years. The pity is that the loss of decent players in the past couple of years has greatly diminished their chances of taking any significant steps forward. Compounded by off-field problems still, and with the fickle Queensland crowds not attending, the situation is truly dire. Not much need go wrong for the status quo to be maintained. St. Kilda The Saints are building a solid side with plenty of talent. Their old brigade of Reiwoldt and Montagna must be at the end, if not there already, but it is their mid-field of Jack Steven, Jack Steven and Jack Steven that is their biggest gaping hole. And we know that a fair bit of the game is dependant upon the mids being successful. Finally, there is always the ability for the Saints to dig a mighty big hole for themselves, as they have managed to do on a regular basis, with something like dwarf throwing or off-field dalliances and romps with underage girls. Gold Coast Surely this crowd are but a figment of the AFL’s imagination of what a real club should look like? The Suns have yet to receive the same largesse as GWS although that might well come soon. They spent all their loot on one G Ablett Junior who has seen better days and almost did a runner with Prestia and O’Meara (we rarely saw them on the track anyway). Coupled with some doubtful off-season antics from Hanley and their main ruck Nichols getting into too much Chrissy pudding, it has set them back once again. Sadly, the Suns are not going to shine any time soon. At least not until they realise they are a football side and not some form of sideshow or theme park that abounds in that part of the world. North Melbourne Similarly to Richmond, the Kangas throw everything they have available at draft time to pick up players to get them into the finals. And the same happened in 2016 - they were obliterated on the big day and now have decided to retire/retrench a good number of the old stagers that got them there in the first place. Despite a 9 - 0 start, they scraped into the finals by a very small margin. Had Billy Stretch’s kick in round 3 had gone the other side of the goal post, then St.Kilda would have played finals instead of North who are now suffering from previous mediocre finishing positions, whereby they don’t get the top talent from the draft, and don’t win anything along the way. With all the lost talent, and little replaced, a slide out of finals and down the ladder is a certainty. [To be continued ... ]

You don't have to guess if you don't want but it has been decided. The process was not democratic.

Who says it has to be based on the B&F?

I can't believe I left Gysberts in.