leave it to deever

Thanks precious stone Jim . ( By the way, I've always been meaning to ask if you are related to our non shellfish eating friend Joe?). My wife doesn't appreciate footy donations so merch purchases work as does direct deposit. Shared c card. Oh what a tangled web,

Not a fan of PayPal that's all. I'll check for other options. I didn't check if I could donate re c card. I think I can buy a subscription so there's that. When it gets colder some merch like a hoodie perhaps . Not befitting for my age but that's the point. At a certain age a man starts to wear anything he wants to wear and no mercy for the fool who tries to tell him otherwise.

This new look and interface is much better. Is it possible to donate with direct deposit from a bank account? Demonland 's....Bsb and account number? Tx.

Thanks JVAM. Clearly your the person for the job for JV. Hopefully I will be more positive on the day. I think the Gws game was hugely disappointing because we were the better team and lost it in the proverbial last minutes. Great to see so many young players perform for us. Plus Giants are a top notch team. And we will see how North fare in a few months but it's the fumbles , poor tackles , low intensity , poor i50s delivery, inaccuracy, injuriesl...etc. They do seem have some gun ball getters and their ruck is a beast that humbled poor Max So it will be an interesting match one way or another . Another loss though will be hard to take and if it happens wait and hear for the noise in the media. It ont just be Demonland calling for Goodys blood. So let's hope we win. Big time.

This gave me a chuckle. I've been guilty of the odd angry post but I sometimes wonder if it's a prerequisite to be all riled up at some poor sod to be allowed here. Luckily as Demon's supporters, we are a pretty thick skinned bunch.

I think if we are all honest it's a little difficult to get excited about this game. Only two games in and we have unceremoniously lost both home games and are staring down the barrel of another one. It's a big call but not a stretch to say if we lose this, then our season is done and dusted. Huge response required and we will ultimately see what this club is made of and who are the players that are committed to the club. Go Dees. That's the most motivation I can muster. Hope the players can do more. Regardless we need as many supporters to this one as possible. It's one thing to get demolished by North Melbourne on our home turf but to get bested by GCS will be a disaster. I think that's fair. I fear what will happen if we turn up against a contender with the same mindset and skill level we had last Sunday. Alas everything is on the line now. And sure it's early days but these are games we have all foolishly it appears, pencilled in as wins. Well I did at least Silly me.

Thsnks DD. I think if we didn't have the ability to be a dynasty club ( gee I loved that show... probably beyond your time) we must have gone very, very close. And it was the perfect storm with most of our marque players circa 25 yo. I think you hit your prime at 25 to 27 as an AFL player and sustain it for three or four years. As such we our now seeing several players declining. However I think you maintain a lot of your skills and don't change too much to the age of 30. Then you do start to decline although in this day and age not as much . But of course the injuries hit. Look at May and Lever. I wonder if the game is faster and more taxing now? This would be a great thread. Players are protected a lot more today and not straining themselves as builders labourers on weekdays. But players are more focused on diet and fitness than yesteryear with a multitude of things and people to help them. As such they get to play longer than before . ( Fletcher at Essendon defied modern science). I also think they are more motivated too with the game being much more lucrative. Gone are the days when the bloke who unblocked your dunny was the same one you cheered on from the stands the next day. It's a million dollar a year job with some pretty good holiday weeks and perks. Last time I checked, I didn't get an os all paid for trip. Some even have token jobs in a business that just has their name in the lobby. And the sponsorships are a tad more lucrative than a packet of Footy franks on the occasional football show. Although as devil's advocate, I could say they'll need that cash for a rainy day and maybe l dodgy hip, knee, rotator cuff and ankle that comes apart every four years. So there's that. I do wonder if the temptation of offers and subsequent changes are hindrance to the dynasties we used to see? Again another thread perhaps. Loyalty although expensive, is available to be bought. (Hopefully that is as ironic as I meant it). Sadly for reasons I won't discuss, I think we have seen a few toy with the idea of leaving. Not a great thing for dynasties and especially for one's own club morale and motivation. But yea I think we had on this ( that included the three horseman of a generational All Australian Ruckmen and two of the best mids this club has ever seen) a chance to be one. And for reasons I mentioned here in other posts, we blew it. Plain and sadly, simple. Cheers DD. Ps I enjoy your posts.

The talent on our 2020, 21, 22 and 23 is extremely high. Probably one of the best for decade. The trio of Max, Oliver and Tracca in their best form was rightly the envy of the land. Our back line had a similar trio in Lever, May and Petty. Our fwd line had Tmac, BBB and Fritta. Our smalls in Snb, Spargo and Kozzie all managed over 30 goals each in 21. Halfbacks like Gus. In and under ball magnets like Viney. Our flanks were graced by players like Langdon. It's pretty damn good. I mean the talent was evidenced by almost two flags. It was just our fwd line letting us down. We just haven't had the fwd cattle to cover poor form and injuries. 23 saw no improvement on our failing fwd line. Last year saw our midfield fall apart. On Sunday we saw North Melbourne smash our once best defence in competition. Maybe your referring to a different time in which case please ignore this rant. Cheers DD.

He's definitely a lump of a bloke. Just over two inches taller than our Petty, he's just shy of 40 pounds in bulk than Harrison is. Interestingly that has not really translated to success at goal scoring. 2021 was an outstanding year for the man mountain but other than that he's really only averaged two goals per game and he's had a consistent number of them each seasons ( goals that is). Having said that with our lackluster bombing in delivery, I think someone like him would have at least helped the ball get to ground for our team of crumbers in Spargo, Anb Kozzie and Chin. As it's been, the opposition has often just put marked us there. Although Sparticus has fallen off for two years and Nibbler had gone so that's not good. Kozzie is often sidelined. At least Chin unusually showed up on Sunday . So all that is another problem of it's own. When we trialled Petty it showed how defenders don't easily become fwds. Defenders instincts are to spoil first rather than mark so it's easier for fwds to defend than the other way around. And as mentioned Petty just doesn't have the mass. Isaac Newton was no stooge if I do say so myself. As skilled as Fritta is, a decent gust can move him out of position. And Jvr while getting stronger is more your athletic type leading fwd and is better at chf than ff. That and the fact that we often play the poor bloke in the middle. What has the club been thinking? Grundy and Jackson left ages ago and we are still using one of our only two fwds to ruck. COMPLACENCY.

I think when you are talking about multiple flags you have to accept our club is different. To be clear,I think multiple flags was something we should have achieved. And we came exceptionally close in two seasons. In 23 but for losing one player, I think we would have done it. I do believe that after 56 years of no chocolates than it creates negativity and havoc that is hard to break. I mean we even had stock in the club being cursed. As silly as it sounds there have been seasoned supporters and probably people inside the club that believed we couldn't win a flag because some coach was unceremoniously removed decades ago. There is a saying that success is its own enemy in that it creates complacency. Or something like that. I do believe the club has been very complacent and not done the right amount of recruiting. Our current fwd line issues are not new. Anyway given that we broke one of the longest Afl droughts, we must applaud that. But we did for too long and while we competed hard all year in 21 so as to win two chances, our fwd line troops or lack of thereof and game plan ( complacency) let us down in those two critical games. 2023 SAW US AS CLOSE TO ANOTHER FLAG AS POSSIBLE. I mean we lost to those maggots by less than a goal not just because of Gus being knocked out but not having a suitable fwd to replace an aging Milkshake. COMPLACENCY. And then a few points to the Blues when we had a over dozen more scoring shots. How long was/ has inaccuracy been an issue? COMPLACENCY. So while we did have success, on balance we also failed probably more. ( How's that for a balanced answer). I mean club has been woeful in its recruitment of fwds. Even now we are still waiting for that same bloke in Melksham to return. Are we going to be pushing.poor Jake the snake out in his wheelchair in 56 years time to bolster our forward line? What is it going to take for the club to stop saying we have done all we can and looked everywhere? Have they? When does the proverbial penny drop and we say that the club failed to fix an issue? I believe that while great things were done, history could quite possibly say that the MFC let it's members down by not getting more than one flag from this list. And it's getting smaller each week. Just one decent big fwd recruited 4 years ago would have probably seen us with as much as three premierships. I think we all agree that the club has failed here. So ultimately who is the one to blame or how many? I don't know . I'm not trying to be a sa but I do genuinely think we have missed at least two golden opportunities and I want blood. I'm as mad as hell and I'll probably still take it., 😉 It's Melbourne. The greatest football club in the world. Well one decent 111 kg and six foot six tall forward type away from. And at least I don't follow Sydney. So there's that.

Yep this. And to make matters stranger we don't even have a big unit like the Crows have to stand strong in a pack to even take a mark. I mean if we had a big Tex down there that can put up his dukes in the middle of a pack and clunk a few thrn maybe we could look the other way sometimes. My kingdom for a another David Schwarz in our midst.

I fully agree that the delivery into our forward line is well below par. Has been for a long time now. We lost some finals where our i50 count was higher than our opponents. But our accuracy in kicking has been woeful too. We know who the main offenders are. Unfortunately Fritta used to be one of our most reliable set shots. But I think he's a real confidence player. He is not a traditional fwd. He's not a Tony Lockett example of brute force and he's not a small speedy Gonzales. He's got a good leap and he's great at timing his bumps so his small frame often accounts for moving larger ones. One on one in space, he is a defenders nightmare because he can turn on a dime and needs but a few milliseconds to get the ball onto his boot. He's often in the process of kicking while still turning. He has a great sense of where the goals are and he can often kick freakish goals from the boundary line. He also has great recovery skills after he goes for a mark. He has cat like skills to land on his feet and stay in contention. A perfect example was that gf goal when he and Max went up for the same grab. Fritta is a master of out the back goals. Problem is, as you alluded to, is our delivery. That example I just referenced was one where there was lots of space. Due to the nature of our game plan, teams now have plenty of time to flood our fwd line and therefore nullify Frittata's skills . I will watch him closer now that you have mentioned this. I hadn't noticed it. The big issue for me regarding Fritta is his lack of chasing and tackling. It's not a good look and he just doesn't seem to be giving his all. But the calls to trade him are wrong. He just needs to find his mojo. He has been our leading goal kicker for a while now and even though he hasn't heights of a Coleman, he's gone close in one season. And that's not bad given the way the ball has "delivered" into our fwd line.

I didn't want Tracc to go but now I'm of the mind that if any player doesn't want to be at this great club than adios. But let's trade as hard as can. No favors for anyone who doesn't want to win another flag for this club. Thanks for the memories but how do I say this....ummm... oh... yea....get lost. (Unless it's Max. Not saying is is though. Just saying. ....I love the bloke).

I think it's fair to assume after two games that we are not going to win a flag this year. I thought we played really well against a very good team in the Giants but Sunday's game was a fiasco. What then will determine if Goody will be around next year? Does failure to make finals justify removing him? Goody did a remarkable job helping this club win a flag. It was 56 years of misery and pain ended by a coach where so many other coaches failed. A flag comes from a combination of many things. Obviously it takes a great collection of great players. And we certainly did have that. In spades. We came so close to winning another in 23. So Goody has been an exceptional coach. And while he's not perfect it has to be recognised that it's a very difficult job. Now we find that many of those players have had injuries ,have left or other issues. Goody doesn't have a great list anymore. I mention all this because I don't want to see the man unceremoniously removed from the job. In today's footy age, coaches resign, get pushed out or sacked in a whirlwind of media judging. These things often have a force and momentum of their own. I have a feeling that Goody won't be coaching at Melbourne next year. The question isn't really should Goody be removed, it's really a question of when and how. Perhaps the club should find a new coach ASAP with the view to let Goody bow out gracefully and the with the respect and kudos he deserves. He certainly warrants leaving the club in a dignified manner . He achieved the ultimate prize that a plethora of other coaches couldn't achieve. He should not be in the centre of s#t storm media prophecy calling for his blood week in and out until it comes to fulfill itself as they always do. And as much as I don't like the word, it is time for a rebuild and as such getting a new coach would help with that. We have often used the term premiership window with the 21 crop of players. For a combination of reasons, this window is well and truly closed. Time to start making a new one. And along with it, time for a new coach.

Tx 58er. Although do you think he is strong enough and has the right body type to succeed as a classic in and under ball getter? I see him more as a wing type player.

Tx for the PC. Another insightful one in times when many of us are baffled. The scary summation for me is the observation about how our backline is failing us. First the fwd line, then the MF and now this. Despite my calls before this game of possibly moving May fwd....scrap this....we are in trouble in our defence department. Mays's absence was very much obvious. I thought Petty played well but he seemed alone. Maybe Bowey a little better than he's been but he needed to be. The real issue is Lever and May both being injury prone. They are getting on in years. With having to move Disco fwd we are struggling everywhere. And back to our forward line, it's no different. In the PC , someone briefing touched on Max spending more time fwd. Just no for me. If he's not rucking he should be resting. And I'm sorry but he is just a terrible set shot. Up there with Tracca. The p.c. was right about the form of Jvr. It's gone south further than Macquarie island so with him joining the company of Fritta, our backline struggling and our mids all over the shop, we are in for a good deal more pain.

There you go #demoncat At around about 0ne hour and 15 minutes.... I think it was George on the outer that sums up your concern about Ed Langdon's change quite succinctly. Not in these words but probably similar.... Ed Langdon is not a ball magnet...he's more of a ball mover. Not to say he doesn't get his fair share of disposals but rather his strength lies in his speed and skill rather than his strength.( If that makes sense.) I think in the p.c. they allude to the fact that Ed is not your typical strong mf who gets in under packs like Viney and wins the ball in tight comps. For me, the mids are there to get the ball to Langdon type players who use their speed and silky skills to move the ball down the ground. So yea not a great move.

The same can be said about the move of Petty to the fwd line last year. From memory, he played an absolute pearler against the tigers and booted a bag of sausage rolls but sadly, that's pretty much where the experiment ended. I mean he showed the occasional glimpses of good work but he's just not a fwd . For reasons beyond my limited comprehension, defenders don't convert well to being fwds like fwds can become defenders Tmac is one of the exceptions to this rule as he became one of our best fwds after years of defending and pretty much set up a lot of our wins in 2021 to put us in flag contention. Maybe he was originally a fwd in his salad years. I'm not sure he could play fwd again given the injuries he's had and plus he's doing a bang up job in his old role. Although I do wonder why we haven't tried him again. Maybe we are worried he will get injured. But back to Langdon....you are spot on in calling this change out. It didn't work. And while one could rightly argue that more time is needed than just one game, we don't really have that luxury. And yea it's early days but I foresee hard times and trouble ahead. I know Jbr and Fritta are struggling but if one of those were injured, then oh boy. But back to Langdon. We need Langdon in the position he has absolutely dominated in. And done so many a time. I'll hold off on giving Goody a serve because I feel he's doing the best he can with limited options. He's also been quite flexible and open minded with some of these decisions. I used to think he was quite stuck in his ways. Not anymore at least. But back to Langdon... When he's in top gear, he is a weapon and then some. Let's hope we see him reaching those cogs this year. And in his true position. In fact if we look at our 2021 list and see who is playing in their respective "lower gears", there are quite a few. Fritta Jvr Lever Spargo Bowey And on Sunday we saw The Three horseman of Max, Tracca and Oliver struggle at times. Yes Oliver had a very high possession count, he used the pill poorly more than once. In fact they all did. Last year after that infamous Freo game last year they did so as well. Well Tracca was injured. But that's part of it. With that tremendous talented trio below par or injured or out, it's very noticable. We had May and Kozzie out. Also since 21 Anb and Jackson and BBB have gone That's a lot of stardom out of form, missing or injured for sure. In footy dollars it's a mountain of moola. If you had all the blokes mentioned above playing their best , then you could fill the other spots with unknowns and still come out on top. So there are clearly a lot of problems. But back to Langdon. He's not alone.

May used to be a fwd and if your happy to try Petty there, then why not. Well mainly because we tried Petty there and it simply didn't work. I think I'm fair it calling that out. I'm sure most would agree he didn't do well playing fwd. And as for Turner, I said well maybe. I was non committal because I saw my own double standard. But again mainly because of Petty not doing well there. He averaged less than a goal a game and why he played the odd good game, they were well and truly far and few between. May is different to those two. He is much stronger and unlikely to get moved out of position. I believe we need someone that can take a few pack marks given the way we bomb it in. i wasn't having a go at you. Apologies if it seemed gruff. Cheers.

After Sunday's tripe, please let me vent 74.

He won't be sacked. Not during the season. If we continue to stack up more losses like Sundays, he may retire. If we finish 14th again then I can't see him coaching us next year though. And if it gets to that would probably be for the best. And yea he's a premiership coach but like the players, you still have to keep performing. And if we have two years of no finals after two outs in straight sets, even after a flag, surely that's the breaking point. The North outcome strangely feels like the game we lost against Freo last year. At least we have time to turn it around but zim really not hopeful. And zi try to be. It's just Sundays game really exposed some deep core issues and it's not something a new coach could turn around promptly.

I had to quote you because there's no pull your head in emoji. Pyhi.

Kinda of like not doing anything to fix a dodgy forward line for three years. Yep the cubs shown some significant signs of craziness.

Changing coaches is not going to change the negligence of the club's poor drafting in regards to a decent hand for Max who could also help our fwd line. The club wasn't off course with the Grundy experience except for two small details... Grundy doesn't mark and he's no fwd. I mean other than that it was a brilliant move. Also it's not going to reverse the bad form of our only TWO tall/ fwds in Fritta and Jvr. ( Disco and Jeffo don't count as yet). Or produce another key fwd somehow. I mean it's not like Goody can put a rocket up these two by dropping them. We don't have anyone to fill their place. So there's that. However, I'll go to my grave yelling Goody cost us a flag with the five game part timer in Laurie as the sub when Gus was almost decapitated. Sure just one player but we were effectively one man down because of it in a game that went down to the wire. And while Goody couldn't predict the sub would be needed for the whole game, that's kinda of the point. Laurie was so far out of his depth in a normal game not to mention a final in front of 80 odd thousand. My goodness Simon, what were you thinking? I know, I know, it's history. But how often do you get a double chance in this game? And this is why he gets the benefit of any doubt. Flags are just so rare, you have to hang on with both arms to any coach that delivers one. But one thing for sure, complacency is a success killer in this game, so it's a fine line. In any event, these things have a momentum all of their own. A couple more performances like Sundays and the noise around Goody will get very loud. And while I'm sure the club will keep him all year, failure to make finals again will produce a cacophony of coach killing calls, that the decision will be made for it. Just saying.