DemonWheels

More niggles / injuries for Essendon on a short break please (nothing major of course) - we need to win next week.

If you've got a General Admission MFC membership and want a confirmed seat, call the club and ask to purchase a 'Guest Pass' for the 'Demons Seats'. You can sit anywhere within the M14 Bay on Level 1 Great Southern Stand once you have the pass and only costs $18 (on top of the cost of your GA membership or GA ticket). Bought one for my folks yesterday avo. Note: sometimes people manage to sneak in and sit there as it's never even 25% full – so give that a go as well.

If Weid can get enough of a run up when the ball comes inside F50 his job is to make a contest and bring it to ground - something we’ve missed since Rd 1. I hope he’s given a license to run through whoever is in his way because he’s a pretty big unit and he’ll make the Tigers think twice next time. Get the ball to ground and we’ve got a stack of small forward options who need to position themselves correctly to rove off the packs and put the score on the scoreboard.

Quite enjoying North playing well against the Hawks. North playing with intensity and aggression. Ben Brown is a ripper. Frawley also not having a great day which is enjoyable to watch.

How could you possibly train all summer with the same game plan and not have someone (like maybe one of the MANY coaches on our payroll!) test it out aggressively in opposition to try and break through it? (He could actually test it out himself - he’s had 6 months with 40 players at his disposal). If this had been done it would be clear once the game plan has been ‘defeated’ (to an extent) you move on to Plan B. It took 1 hour to implement any real change on Sunday - way too long, game was already over. Goodwin is either super arrogant AND stubborn believing no one will penetrate his cunning plan (Think ‘Gargamel’ from The Smurfs) OR he’s ridiculously naive (which I fail to believe given his playing history and ability to reach a top AFL job). Very nervous for this week (and what follows if we have a repeat performance).

It’s raining non-stop here now at the G. Hope we can play with that in mind and just move the ball forward. Let’s be clever Dees!

Adelaide were terrible. Weren’t willing to tackle all night and as many commentators suggested pre-match they went in too tall with their forward line. I watched a fair bit of the game and the ball hardly ever got past Adelaide’s half forward line. Good on Collingwood for taking the win. Will be interesting to watch over the next few weeks how they go and how we both measure up by the time we meet on Queens Birthday Monday.

We can’t afford to give them a sniff today - we need to jump them in the first quarter and apply intense pressure for four full quarters. If we let them in the game or they get in front at any point they know we’ll be battling against them as well as our own heads.

Terrible game to watch. Still can’t believe these two teams trouble us - we look a lot better than them - shouldn’t be getting Friday nights. We’re 10 goals better than both of them.

Thanks Lewis and Wagner

3 more quarters of this please

Goodwin better be making some changes this week. We may have only lost by a few points but the reality is we need to focus on how the team functions and not just the result. There are a number of areas we can improve in from the Geelong game and some of them can be instantly improved by bringing in the right players.

I tend to think a very important part of our game plan went out the window – switching and changing angles. Based on pre-season training and when we were at our best last year we used to broaden our vision and switch. Even just a short kick slightly backwards and out of congestion from the back flank and we'd be away. That was where we could run with a few players and handball to link up and get a much cleaner forward 50 entry on the 'fat' side. Not sure if it was Geelong's setup that stopped us from doing it or if it was our players taking the conservative approach but we consistently kicked it to a contest within an already congested area.

Hope the rain stays away - would love a clean game where we can utilize our improved kicking skills. Feeling pretty nervous about this one as we’ve got some questions about our squad still to be answered: - Can Pedersen continue his good form from late last year and fill TMac’s role? - Will we look a little slow with Vince, Lewis and Jones all seemingly lined up across the half-back and centre lines? - Is Clarry 100%? - And the big one - Has the group matured and grown from last year enough so that we don’t have patches or whole quarters where the opposition gets a run on? And if it starts to happen do we have the leadership to stand up and do something about it? We have had a very positive summer so I hope we see a huge effort from the boys today and take home a win. Go Dees!

Geeez Collingwood are very rusty. They’re doing what we used to do and produce such low quality football that the opposition team starts nuffing it up too. Good to see Jeremy Howe still loves bombing it to no one off one step from the back line in a panic - only to see it come straight back!

This is brilliant, thank you

Agree with those that suggest the final Rd1 team reflects the fittest available - not necessarily a ‘best 22’. After watching last nights game I can understand why - given the intensity of the match. But at the same time we’ve kept in 2 players that probably need the extra time and ‘step’ with the footy more than most in our squad. They both might get there one day but they lack the experience and in some ways, natural ability of those left out. Interesting call but I hope it pays off. Don’t really trust either of them with ball in hand so the final selections have made me a little worried!

He’ll get there, just going to take some (more) time. The club knew at the time of drafting him that he would need a few years of development – hopefully we start to see a few more signs this year. After seeing him at training this preseason he is looking physically more ready.

Where are these so-called ‘leaders’?

Spot on. We’re a world away from where we’ve been in the past - which consumed us all with constant ‘hoping’ that certain players would take the next step and develop / progress / grow into our next important players. I’m not saying we’ve got them yet but this batch is the first in a long time (probably ten bloody years) that as a core group is developing together and showing signs of consistent improvement. And from what I can tell they’re demanding that improvement from each other to grow and get better - a real sign of maturity for a young group.

Liked what I saw. Clinical by foot in windy conditions speaks volumes about where this team is at compared with 3 seasons ago. The list is looking very balanced and if we stay injury free over the next month the Rd 1 team will be a ripper and so will Casey’s.

Wonder if the club has ever seriously considered Albert Park. There are about 7 or 8 footy ovals that go mostly unused throughout the week (other than Junction Oval). And if we’re serious about using such a small piece of land on the edge of Punt Road I’m sure we could make a similar size development work by redeveloping one of the current club houses or car parks to run as it already normally does for the local teams as well as house the MFC and their administration.

I often find the games super stressful and don’t like to be overly social when I’m at the ground. I like to watch intently and listen to the commentary through headphones. If my mates are considering coming to a game and they’re a 50/50 chance of going, I’ll often tell them I’m not able to make it so then they don’t go. Then I go anyway so I can soak all it in without having to chat!

I popped down briefly. Not a huge amount to report. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing and went about their business. But I was watching Weideman pretty closely as he was doing his run-throughs / sprints in front of me, lead some of the time by Crossy. He's looking a lot fitter and much more 'AFL ready' compared to last year. I saw him at a similar stage last year and thought he really seemed to look quite heavily running across the ground – almost trudging – but today he really glided along and ran swiftly for a big bloke. Wouldn't want to be standing in his way. Obviously he's still got another couple of years before we see the best of him but I think we might see some exciting glimpses this year. He couldn't be too far away from joining the main group as he looked pretty comfortable running at pace.

Dropped into training for a quick 20 minutes, my observations: – Piping hot in the sun but it looked like the players were well looked after with refuge in the shade at fairly regular intervals – Clarry with a full face of Zinc cream – I was really impressed with the clinical skills on show – most kicks hitting their target with players kicking very quickly after receiving the ball and kicking to players leading all over the place, both towards the kicker and away into space and with the opposition player on most occasions given no chance to intercept. The quality of our skills are miles and miles ahead of where we were a few years ago. – Very impressed by Petty. For a tall defender he moves really quickly, has some hustle and bustle about him and reads the ball well. Looked really intent and his skills were looking good. – Thought Tyson looked to be a step quicker than the last two years. Might have just been wishful thinking on my behalf but if he finally is completely niggle free then I think he’s set for a big year. – Jones and Garlett doing sprints and looking fresh – same with Tim Smith albeit at a different pace. – Overall I came away thinking that the list is in a very very good place, particularly with the inclusion of the quicker skinnier types such as Fritsch and Baker (as well as Hannan) who add the balance we need to mix with our core group of stronger burst and endurance players.