DemonWheels

Thank you @Slartibartfast this is an amazing read and so good to hear from someone who has been consistently present at training. All sounding positive which is great to hear.

Feel a few more engaged and happy supporters might need to attend in future to heckle and de-stage these other [censored] - can’t believe some people are allowed a voice just because you’re a paid up member.

A few of my favorite snippets: Re: Waverley: “The ground is pristine, players don’t complain about being there..” “ the region was going to be the centre of Melbourne by now, so you could argue, on that basis, the club would be, eventually, home.” “the Demons would need to swallow their ego to approach the Hawks, as it might initially look as though they are getting a hand-me-down, however it wasn’t a problem when Jordan Lewis arrived.” Is this guy serious? Haha honestly his arguments sound like he’s trying to convince himself that this was an article worth writing. Probably his last piece for the year and he’s just phoned it in!

Anyone read this? Bloody terrible article and opinion piece. Peter Ryan is very condescending throughout, didn’t think he was like that. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/why-not-waverley-demons-should-take-over-hawks-nest-20241216-p5kyqm.html

They’ll sell squillions worth of property from their other (very large, highly lucrative) campuses to get the money. Plus in the nicest way possible, as a generalization the social / religious group they belong to are financially healthy (good at saving) and they have a large constituency / community of highly active and involved members who are prone to trying to get the best for their own such community (if they spend, they spend close to home). Simples.

I’ve been down a fair bit over the last couple of years and my heart is almost always in my mouth with the way some of them attack it during training. For example in full ground drills or match-sim May tears out from full back ready to spoil and happily clean up whoever is in front of him, oncoming or otherwise. Constantly hear the clash of bodies and skin-on-skin slaps as tackles are made. It’s pretty brutal, particularly for the in tight on-ballers. But even all the tackling or evasive drills they all do, if you get caught you are brought to ground the same as will happen in a game. The only difference is that there probably isn’t the unbridled aggression that comes with a true opposition and a proper game. But at the same time these guys are all playing for their spots, particularly now that our squad has had a bit of a reset and looking rather healthy, only adds to the competitiveness.

Managed to make it down to training as well, beautiful day for it. Not a huge amount to report but here are a few of my observations: – No players appeared to be in rehab, although Bowey did appear to spend a bit of time away from the main group during the bigger drills (if I recall correctly). – Jefferson certainly looks a bit stronger, nothing too dramatic but just looks to have filled out a bit across the shoulders and arms. Reckon he'd measure about 2 inches taller if he wasn't so hunched. – The running drills were in groups with the first and fastest featuring only Chandler, McVee and Windsor. – The tall players were all in the last 2 groups and while they were only doing 200m sprints no one really looked too off the pace which was pleasing. Kentfield, Verrall, Adams, Jefferson etc all keeping up. – Was great to see Jonesy back out there, this time in the sky blue coaches t-shirt. He was high-fiving and getting around all the players like he was still one of them. – Great to see the older heads of TMac and Viney out there leading the way. – Fox News was down with their cameras so might have been wanting to catch a glimpse of Trac or Clarry if they had turned up. – Personally I hoped to see McAdam as I'm keen to see a fit version of him pre-Xmas but hopefully he'll appear in the next few sessions. – McVee, Windsor and Turner probably the players that caught my eye the most.

Always surprised to see him listed at 195cm as he moves much more dynamically / sharper / intensely than others of his height, and he therefore appears as though he’s a smaller player than he is. Get the ball into his hands more often and we’ll be better off. Lots to like. Keep building Disco.

Assume all of us as supporters are probably feeling like the dumb boyfriend whose done something wrong but can’t quite figure out what it was we did and exactly how to mend that bridge but just hope to hell their love and feelings for us (as well as their contract) entice / coerce / motivate Christian to stay and continue to see a future together. Hope the understanding between the club and Christian are much clearer, clarified and understood - or we’ll only see him in red and blue for one more season.

Already looking forward to your training reports @kev martin

Hopefully if GWS manage to get Stringer to head up to them it will allow Derksen to move. Stringer would be yet another player ahead of Derksen in that GWS forward line

All just a bit sad really. Sad that our club is in the headlines and that we appear to be somewhat rudderless, sad that we've reached this point with one of our best players (ever), sad that we won't be compensated properly for the trade, sad that the team we're trading to will only get stronger, sad that we only get weaker. Can it be saved from here? Certainly keen to hear exactly whats changed in the last week as Clarry was very happy on the podcast to get stuck into preseason as early as possible and re-join the club/team mates. And all seemed okay in terms of club messaging. All we can do is wait (and click refresh).

Listening to snippets of that podcast Clarry comes across as quite immature - the way he defends or explains our culture as a non-issue because ‘we all have a laugh and eat lunch together’. Maybe the higher-ups have just had enough of dealing with all the issues and still don’t see this young man really growing and maturing into what they thought he could become. Maybe they think it’s time to cut their losses and move forward.

Super happy for Brisbane, Fagan, even Zorko has proved himself a formidable player changing position and taking a spot in the AA team. Lots of great stories coming out of the Lions and you can see they have a big mix of player types which is a huge strength, diversity. Big question marks for Sydney and Longmire - not sure how you keep doing what you’ve done and expect it to get you over the line next time. Find them very vanilla outside of their stars.

Wowsers. I’m currently in Kirra/Coolangatta and am amazed at the traffic and amount of time it takes to go from one end of the Gold Coast to the other, let alone from Byron to Brissie. Not sure of his family / partner situation but if you’re earning good coin and will do for only a few more years, suck it up and live closer by.