John Demonic

I'm also not saying we should do it, but if people (and Goodwin) want Amon, then Hill is the same type of player.

There have been those moments, but you can't just point to them and label the whole 2 seasons shocking. He's also looked fantastic at times, thrived at half forward and on the wing when their mids were actually winning it and using him. 21 disposal average and would be better utilised on an mcg wing with our structures and ball winners.

Does the Hawthorn fallout include Brad Hill looking somewhere else other than North Melbourne? He'd certainly be handy to pair with Langdon's run, Bowey and Salem's ball use. ----- Absolutely not worth the cost unless the Saints payed a massive portion of his salary - Could we get him for a 2nd round pick and 600k a year for 3 seasons? It's comparable to Amons salary offer, however the sticking point is the pick trade difference. I'm still a fan of us taking on Jack Bowes contract, restructuring it and getting that pick 7 from GCS, and playing Gus/Jordan on the wing again.

Not sure if this is a media trolling of the highest order, or Weightman is in play: https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/comments/xltxwy/journos_breaking_news_cody_weightman_likely_to/ Picket + Weightman would be a lethal combination, although the high pick cost would not be worth it. Tomlinson + 2nd rounder please!

The Demonland Sponsors Curse strikes again?

Having Jack Bowes and Jake Bowey in our 22 will be a fun tongue-twister for @binman on the @Demonland podcast! Maybe we could even ask for David Swallow to be thrown in?

Michael Long doesn't really come out of this looking great either. Oddly seemed to be doing a lot of victim blaming of Cyril in the media earlier in the year and downplaying that there was any racism at Hawthorn because other players hadn't said anything. Of course here on DL, we already knew Long was a person of questionable character on the field https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/riolis-racism-row-takes-another-turn-as-afl-great-says-cyril-needs-help/news-story/8a1c8d7be737fcbf3e7a3c191b154958 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/afl/article-10699129/AFL-Indigenous-groundbreaker-Michael-Long-says-nephew-Cyril-Rioli-needs-professional-help.html

Also if it is a Future 1st, I want a swap of Collingwoods future 2nd. Let's tell them to gamble on themselves and their self belief - or will they be too afraid that it will end up early pick 20's if their [censored] falls out from under them next year?

My small victorian team victim complex has really kicked into gear while listening to media pundits (Sam Edmund etc) just say 'it will get done for a 1st round pick' like that's objectively the right/only deal that can occur. They'll never go into bat for us getting a better deal and will try and "will" the best deal possible for Collingwood, into existence.

Our carpet bomb the forward line gameplan still has a major chance of winning us a flag (Or 2) I think, I've come around to this more since Collingwood and Brisbane failed spectacularly on the weekend and the raw emotion of not making a prelim has died down. So Grundy will fit in nicely if the idea to improve on 2022 is to increase the quantity of wins in stoppages, clearances and inside 50's to build bigger leads, whether the forward line is fixed or not. The quality of entries won't have as much to do with Grundy as it will our mids and forwards, when he's rucking. If we do improve the forward line mix, Max and tracc work on their goalkicking. Grundy has an off-season of work on fitness and contested marking, then hopefully everything should culminate in us being at the pointy end next year. The 'learnings' from this year about managing our fitness and injuries should aid in us not burning out so early too.

I reckon our recruitment of Grundy all but confirms that we do plan to do this, but do it far more often from clearances and stoppages than currently we did with LJ. And therefore make up the 2-3 goal margin we are behind all top 4 teams this year Improve goal kicking accuracy and add in a few key forwards and hopefully that adds the 5+ goals that puts us ahead of the pack. The old carpet bombing method. Hoping for a little more tweaking/innovation/positional changes and yes lowering the eyes more!... Or it will probably come back to bite.. again.

Maybe its delusion, born from having memories of having Hogan up forward 5 years back where we won by 60-100 points on the regular, or last years prelim v Geelong or the 3rd and 4ths against the Dogs, but I still dream of a game-plan where we dominate centre clearances, post-clearances contested possessions and pile on goals in almost every quarter of every week with ruthless efficiency, barely letting the opposition touch it. And the rare occasion where we don't score a goal, we pressure the opposition with so much intensity (200?) that they bomb it long or dribble kick it to a 50/50 in the corridor that feeds into our turnover game. And judging by our intention to bring in Grundy for a 1st rounder (?) so does Goodwin. We still have that bull at the gates mindset. The same mindset that Goodwin had pre-666 with the 2 rushing players into the centre bounce. And I still don't think any game style counters that - Not a game based on turnovers from the back half and fast corridor use, if you're too efficient to give them opportunities. Can a club keep it up for enough quarters of every game for an entire season? Or is it too taxing? Well this year might've proved it is/was - Can we get it up and going again and challenge next , or do we need a radical overhaul? Time will tell. I do think the tweaks are that we should be a lot more daring with our ball movement from the back half next year as others have said, and just seeing if we can generate momentum, like the 3 best teams this year were doing - but fundamentally not much will change in that we will back ourselves to get fit enough to execute the same game-plan. Just hope we have the players up forward to deliver that goal kicking efficiency next year!! With the continued improvements of other clubs like the Cats and Swans - I think some kind of middle ground will be reached if we get back to our best - We won't always be able to dominate in our strengths full match, and neither will they - but at least we will be good enough to all be 'level' with one another - a close 'roll of the dice' prelim will be a massive improvement on 2022 at this stage.

I did spot one in the wild last night on DL. Poor bugger thinks its 1992 and state of origin is still a thing and therefore they are legally required to support the Big-V-ictorian team. They could get a gig commentating on channel 7 with that attitude!

Well I did mention goal kicking accuracy wasn't a valid excuse and I think the issue with expected scores is that it doesn't account for how an opposition 'respond' to you kicking a goal instead of a behind at any point - it just decides you should've kicked 3 goals instead of 0. But anyway, fair enough - im still raw after seeing a team that beat us, lose by 70 to the Cats, and then being envious of a team being competitive and losing in a prelim! Probably exaggerates how far off we are. I guess my point right now is that all these variables have to go well for us next year to be 'at the standard' of the other 3 teams - such was the intensity of pressure and quality of footy they've all played. The burden of proof is on us, not them next year. And that's not accounting for any natural improvement from our opponents also - We certainly are not fit anymore to call ourselves the best team in it if x y and z go right. And that's a pretty seismic shift from 4 months ago - And it will remain that way for exactly 1 year. Everything in the regular season will have the shadow of our straight sets over it until we win a prelim - so its a long road ahead. But it wasn't meant to be easy, and if we have the fight, spirit and make the necessary adjustments, then we will be back in it.

Geelong, Sydney, Collingwood Daylight The Dees Freo, Bris, Tigers, Dogs Big off season to get back up into the top echelon and challenge for a premiership. I don't care what anyone says about forward connection, goal kicking accuracy, missing tom McDonald, injuries to our key players or a very hard draw. We had 10-20 minutes less run in our legs than these 3 clubs when it came to the crunch. That's a huge enough discrepancy to need an off-season to get things right again both with fitness and with the game-plan. It would be salty/unsportsmanlike to think we were good enough to win it this year if not for x amount of factors going our way ie the Chris Scott sook. Time to let it go and move onto next year.

Isaac Smith, Bruest, Gunston - The last 3 years have been a merry go round of us being linked to these players and a move not eventuating, so I believe this. Not going to get the hopes up about any one of them. (Add Jamie Elliott to the list too)

... And even Richmond would've put up a better performance than that. Embarrassing end to our season to let this mob into a prelim.

An embarrassing night tonight for the Melbourne Football Club - this contest will be akin to the 2019 GF or maybe even... the 2020 prelim💡 A ridiculous one sided spectacle that will only do nothing more than highlight our poor 2nd half of the season and the 'what could have beens' of an epic prelim clash between a defending premier with the highest ceiling, and the best team of the current season. Of course I'll watch, and I'll hope the Lions win - but it will be with very little fanfare and it will be akin to watching NM try and beat WCE in an away prelim in 2015 - ie a lost cause that will barely last a quarter or two - a story that we all know the ending to, even if it is close for 3 or 4 quarters - one team will always have the other at arms length, ready to flick that switch and win easily by a few goals. And even if the Lions were to get up in a Hail-Mary-Cats-Choke of epic proportions, it will do nothing but fuel even more Coodabeen Champion fantasies on DL Absolute Lose/lose situation. I hope this prelim stings the players.

Good luck to them. All the 'On The Couch' footage of A Carlton zone in shambles with defenders caught in no mans land stopped this year. I wonder why.

Could we get Liam Henry from the Dockers in the Jackson trade? I remember us being into him in his draft year but Freo traded up and swooped in early ? Just hypothetically speaking if Picket was to leave anyway, im sure this is nonsense though

Brown, TMAC, Lobb, JVR, Fritsch & Gawn/Grundy. The old plan of never taking a mark will now be replaced With the new plan of never dropping a mark. (Joking, obviously)

For you or anyone else, does pick 2 ensure we get Cadman? Who do North look at picking up if it isn't a Cadman/A KPF? Are there are no standouts besides Ashcroft who's off to the [censored] Lions?

meh

Any reason why we are not in the frame for Griffin Logue? and/or Lloyd Meek? Or is it a matter of Preferring Grundy on the same 700k bucks + taking a 1st into the draft?

First goal of the 4th quarter too from a contested mark with 2 dogs flying at him. 89-59 looks a lot different than 83-65, if it goes down the other end from a spoil. And we didn't even discuss that mark and goal in the 3rd lol.