deespicable me

Purcell was interviewed after the match and spoke so well. Balanced, intelligent and praising of others, along with Hore, Hanks and others I just love these leaders. Really liked the effort of no. 20 Mahoney, she was in everything down forward, her tackling a highlight and with a few more games under her belt she should be one to score a lot of goals. I encourage other Demons to get on board as I think they are a good team, well worth watching and hopefully we can give it a shake. Go Dees

I don't know or care much for boards and their machinations but I do think Green is doing a good job and next year I expect he will have all his men in place to take us forward. What I do concentrate on is the team and how it is going and while I have been perplexed by the variety of performances thrown up by this group in the last 18 plus months I am quite happy / not unhappy that we have let Goodwin go. The main reason being is that they (in my opinion) became comfortable. Complacent even. And that attitude if it is seen or perceived to be seen is a black mark against any coach. People talk of losing the players, well that is definitely not the case with Goody, in fact it was closer to the opposite. He became too close to his players and consequently couldn't give them a "bollocking". And while Goodwin was probably turning our fortunes around the "will to win", the desperation to get over the line, the intangible team ethos that gets wins from anywhere, was missing and is still missing as evidenced in the game against the Dogs just gone. This is where a new voice from a new coach can have some impact. And Goodwin must know that.

Best one-two punch in the league, so I think we need at least 3 talls in case one goes down or gets towelled up and one extra to intercept or come over the top to help spoil. English likes to go forward as well, that's 3 towering forwards. Scary

I love this highbrow stuff from Demonland. Well done BoBo, however your nickname is more that of a chimpanzee than that of a scholar. Please no offence intended

Creepy bloke . All the assistants and PA's will have to have a large set of Bazookas. I hope thats cryptic enough

Ok. This is the perfect time to introduce Clarry to the role of Captain/Coach. You beauty. Go Clarry.

Geez, it's not hard to jump on the dissapointing Demons bandwagon after that loss last week. If she was in a gang she'd be the first one in with the boots when someone goes down. It reads to me like an example of slective writing, taking every opportunity to be negative. Balanced? [censored] off.

Yes, Captain. Now you're getting it.

I agree. It's as if he's reading from Salo's playbook. Stay under notice, give out minimums and bank the cheque each week. Bit harsh I know but I also think it's a valid criticism of many players, not just from Melbourne. You don't see it at the good clubs though who are well coached. At Collingwood they consistently play as if it's the last game they'll play. Hunger is such an under-rated team trait. I don't think Collingwood are necessarily that good on paper. But boy they bring it on game day. That's one of the big criticisms of Melbourne. In 2021 we were hungry. Now it's like we Just Don't Care.

Make Clarry Captain. Sounds ridiculous. Well yes but... This would be the making of him as a footballer and a person. He craves respect and this will give him respect. He will put everything into his health and fitness. There are other bad boy Captains in the league, Toby Greene and Tex Walker (was). Clarry is well liked in the club and I think they will rally around him. Not putting Max down but clearly the connection with the coach is now more damaging than positive with the softness that has enveloped the playing group. 3 or 4 times best and fairest and one of the most loved Demons of all time. I'd love to see him given the Captaincy.

He needs to grow up and take responsibility. Has really good talent but is poorly coached. Takes the easy option far too often. Isn't ruthless for a back pocket like pig was. Kicks backwards to a safe out all the time. Passes on the responsibility of finding an option upfield, which he would probably be good at. Needs to be challenged. I've been waiting for the last 10 weeks for some indication that someone in the coaching department is guiding him but nada. Makes me think they don't care, he doesn't care, he's leaving at years end.

It's hard to tell coz I'm so biased and invested in Melbourne but I thought they weren't playing honest football. What's honest football? Well I spose it's when everyone is trying and invested and we all push together in the same direction. I watched Freo, Saints on Sunday and really enjoyed the game, I think the Saints are coming on quite well. I don't see any of those signs with Melbourne.

I reckon Gill's advice to Dill would have been don't, whatever you do, go near umpiring. It's such a can of worms Dill, stick your head in the sand for 5 years, take your money and let the next bloke fix it.

People are so scared of change and things they don't fully understand. The Tasmanian naysayers don't like "mainlanders" and think this is a bulldozing job by said "mainlanders" to ruin their state They are generally bigotted people who turn themselves into victims. They will protest the whole way through the project for reasons they forget. They are similar to the "save Albert Park" mob. Then when the team is up and running they will sit in the stands and complain that every free kick against them is some sort of conspiracy that they are just fodder to the big Victorian clubs. I really hope these negative nancies don't win and a magnificent stadium gets built and Tassie gets a team. It will be a massive boon for their economy, my only concern being that it will be booked out all the time with its very limited capacity. It will be like getting finals tickets, but overall I'm really looking forward to getting down there.

Well I for one aren't going to let a little black armband ruin a good story.

Firstly I think if you ask a lot of the other coaches out there if they could re-invent and re-invigorate many of our players the answer would be yes. If you believe this and I do, then already other clubs are starting their approaches to get hold of our players. Take Fritsch for example who has lost all confidence or Viney, who has become a turn-over merchant under Goodwin. Oliver who has lost his speed and couldn't keep up with Danger on Friday night but is still about 5 years his junior and still has a lot to offer (most likely with another team). Petracca who is frustrated and believes it is everyone else's fault. Kossie who is a simple genius and doesn't want to deal with all this negative introspection. All these players and more are ready to listen to the sweet dealings of other suitors. Under Goodwin we will be a year or two behind Richmond in a short time and with Tassie on the horizon it is not a time to be sinking to the bottom of the ladder and with Melbourne's inability to hold off the evils of the media we will be preyed upon very quickly. This will already be happening and it may be too late to change our ill fortunes. But we do need to act quickly. Whether you are a glued on fan of Goodwin or not the situation has moved beyond him. The club I think needs to change. It needs to turn a leaf. We are mired in such a funk that if we continue there is no avoiding a full blown bottoming out and possibly years in the bottom four. We need someone new to re-establish the faith. The incumbents have had their chance and their story has become our reality. I would be approaching Longmire with the biggest selling point being our home ground is the MCG a ground that was a stumbling block to his ambitions as a coach. I think he would love to master the MCG. Melbourne might be that club.

Great summary as always Binman. I think GWS will be up there at the pointy end of the season so a win is hard to envisage even for the optimistic like yourself. Beyond the win/loss result of today's match I do hope the debutants show something and they are not 1. Overawed or 2. Injured. If we see positive signs from the youngsters in the team that will be enough when we are "building into the season" as Goody says. Go Dees

SSShhh! Keep it quiet Binman. We don't want Roost it Far to get wind of this. All hell will break loose. You know what he's like when a training report isn't on time!

Nice! Nice! That would be like heaven on Earth. Oh please, please, let me live in that Universe.

He looks like Petraccas little brother. And a jealous little brother too. Also his bed in the back of shot! You expect his mum to come in half way through the video "Mum, I told you not to interrupt when I'm doing my AFL preview video" He really would get bullied at school.

Do we assume that if Jagga Smith hadn't done his knee as well this wouldn't have happened. Either way it's good news as he has been showing good signs over pre-season and deserves a chance.

I have liked Aiden Johnson as a recruit. He can be a role player for us. What role and where on the ground I'm not sure. I didn't see him much in the sim but I haven't got used to how he looks so not so sure how he went. Jeffo. I purposely didn't comment on Jeffo because at this stage I'm not too positive on him. But in his defence it is still a small sample. I think he may be a frustrating footballer for us for a number of years as we see signs that get us excited only for him to have a no impact game the next week. I don't even know if he'll start in the Casey or the AFL side.

I went down to training on Wednesday and came home in a fairly buoyant mood. I will just put out a few of my thoughts and opinions as to how I think we are going as we approach the pointy end of the pre-season. Firstly they were doing different things to what I normally see. The full ground drill was a pleasure to watch as they practised giving with a short kick and receiving by hand then hitting a target on the run. Some of the 40-50 metre passes where the receiver didn't break stride were a thing of beauty and made a lot of sense to a fast transition game. Then in the sim Goody actually came out, stopped play and told them all what he wanted to see. I've not seen him do this before. It was good. He wanted them to, when the oppo is coming out of defence, crowd the corridoor and push them wide. Made it very hard to hit targets from the backline for both sides. Then on turnover switch and move quick with short passing. I think we were trying something like this last year and it mostly didn't work so will be interesting to see if we can take this new style into the early season. Players to impress Oliver. Didn't miss a target and had Pendelberry type poise. Baulked, feinted switched hands then always hit his target by hand or foot. Was a joy to watch. Howes. Had half a season last year before getting injured and struggling to get back in the side. Has had a very good pre-season as a distributor off the backline. May is confident using him and some of his passes, not all, were lazer like 40+ metre bullets. He'll make mistakes but has a touch of class. Langdon. As everyone has already said he looks terrific, especially for a first year player. Reads the play well and knew when to drop into the forward 50 and received two lovely passes in space. Both kicks were 40 odd metres out and sailed through. He should be a top 5 rising star but given our love affair with the media he'd have to be an absolute stand out to win the rising star, and then he still probably won't. But he's ours and a great get. X or Lindsey. Saw his class in the sim and he will have elite disposal and vision but is severely underdone. As a poster mentioned in the running he blew up badly and you could see his lack of body strength. He should be handled well in his first year I think and maybe only play 15 games or so whether in the ones or twos. I think he will have real trouble running out a full AFL game. I might be wrong but he can't be a Windsor mark 2. Turner Love the look of this guy. As do many. I think he will have a break-out year this year, well I hope so anyway. He is getting taller and stronger and was the best most classy forward out there apart from Fritsch who chimed in for a couple of classy left footers. Laurie. This is the first pre-season where I reckon he might make it. He is obviously back-up to Viney and it looks like Langdon is now ahead of him but he has grown up now and was beating Viney a couple of times. Is a good accumulator and should rack up possessions at VFL level while he waits his turn. Downer JVR. Didn't enjoy the fast pace of the sim at all. His one wood is getting out the back and taking a speccy with a pack mark. He will get plenty of that when the games start but pattern running and leading he is like a chook with his head cut off. Defended well but had very little connection to the myriad of ball users kicking inside 50. He is an undoubted talent but he still looks like he needs a lot more coaching. Hopefully Chapman can get him going. Just my opinion, by the way. Finally I think we have the best squad in a number of years. I think depth is good and we look a balanced and fit squad. We look to be training with good purpose and I'm looking forward with hope to the new season

I think Geelongs interest in Oliver was more about trying to buy cheap. Moneyball. I'm glad we held out with both Trac and Clayton (obviously) as given the situation we would have been lowballed for sure. I don't think either will go now at the end of this year, but if they do we should get reasonable compensation. This also makes me less nervous about any Kozzie trade. We have shown we won't be bent over when a contracted player aks for out. By the time these contracts run out there is no doubt circumstances will be quite different and there is every chance the player will be happier to continue with us. Also I thought the club handled the Neil Bullen trade with a lot of class. Against what many in the media would have us believe I think we've had a great off season, given we have moved on our former President and CEO. To have all the upheaval dealt with before Christmas and move into the New Year with a stable club was no mean feat. I say well done MFC.