DemonDave

Jamar had donuts in the kicks column last night. Zero kicks. Its time to make a statement give Spencer and/or Gawn a run (get rid of Sellar and play 2 ruckmen against Cox). Bit disappointing that our top 3 posession getters are all rookie listed so cant play next week. Thanks for the updates as always KC!

He has to go! Case in point- James Frawley. Used to be a good player...terrible now. Aaron Davey...often brilliant previously, now pathetic. Colin Sylvia...mercurial but had regular outstanding games and patches. At what should be the peak of his career he is demoralised and useless. Could go on but won't. Neeld doesn't have the ability to do what he claims he is doing- changing the Demons culture. He is just sucking the lifeblood out of the players. Is Roos available?

no tim smith in either of the sides this week, can you tell us KC if he's injured at the moment?

The match against Port represents the nadir of my Demons supporting life. What a pathetic team. They are incapable of improvement irrespective of changes in the coaching panel or player list. Till this point i have accepted and rationalised one false dawn after another. no more. Here are a few of my grievances: 1. I couldn't understand why we would recruit Pedersen, Byrnes, Gillies and Rodan. Dawes is still an unknown quantity. Why would we pick up players that are incapable of making a superior team's playing list, particularly Rodan & Byrnes who are past their prime? I have been vindicated in my belief they were all mistakes by their abysmal performances. 2. Like many I have been giving Neeld time to create a new culture but the evidence seems to be he is incapable of doing so. His grim demeanour and platitudinous statistical utterings have proven to be hollow and meaningless. There is no evidence of any gameplan and has been none since he arrived. The players play with no flair or verve under his regime. I never thought I would look back fondly to the excesses of the Dean Bailey era but I am! Yes they lost routinely by ten goals but occasionally they would win by a similar amount playing with run and energy. Not under Neeld! His dour world of statistical analysis yields heavy losses without redeeming wins and with joyless and boring football. He is not the saviour! 3. I know it has been regularly commented upon but how can we have transformed a decade of high draft picks into such a mediocre and pedestrian playing list? Where is MFC's Cyril Rioli or Marc Murphy or Patrick Dangerfield or Dustin Martin or Tex Walker? I could have continued for an hour listing young players with leadership, excitement, the X-factor, physicality, speed. Apart from possibly Jack Viney which Demons recruit exhibits any of these qualities? Jack Watts seems to be a terrific guy but growing a bushranger beard does not make you tough. He never looks like imposing himself on a contest and gets brushed aside by 70kg mosquitoes. All the others have similar failings. They are slow, poor decision makers, timid and introverted. What the ***k were our recruiters looking for? The only line breaker in the entire squad is Blease and his delivery and decision making are generally atrocious. I could continue but my point is made. 4. These qualities or lack thereof are endemic through the majority of our list. We are too slow, too timid, too lazy, not tall enough, not physical enough, not tough enough, mentally weak, too introverted, not creative enough, have no X-factor, can't win contested possessions, can't win stoppages, can't kick accurately or long, have no game-plan, not skilled enough, never look like taking a contested mark apart from Clarke and Howe, never go for a mark in the back line, never spread forward of the ball to provide options...I could go on for a month. I have never felt so negative about the MFC. I have supported them painfully now since early childhood for over 45 years and to be honest the investment of passion has not returned any profit whatsoever. I would normally disapprove of supporters boo-ing their players at half time but I understood it completely yesterday. I wished I was there to join in andd register my disgust as well. We have all had enough!

I can't understand how tapscott was selected in the first place. He hardly earned his spot based on his pre-season form -this simply doesn't happen in the good sides, if you're borderline best 22 you have to show some kind of form to warrant inclusion. Can anyone tell me what his optimal position is? His 7 possessions today tells me he isn't a half forward flanker. Other than being solidly built he hasn't shown anything in his career so far, other than laying a few bumps.

toumpas struggled with the pace and intensity for the first three quarters today undoubtedly, but it is ridiculously early to be making drafting assessments. We didn't draft wines as he would have been too similar to viney, our needs were outside mids with pace and skills not more grunts.

so should we have sat there and applauded the players as they came off at the end? Today was disgusting blight on our football club, that kind of performance cannot and should not be tolerated under any circumstances. By not voicing our displeasure at the players, coaches and match committee would only seemingly serve to endorse these ongoing failings.

Will Jnr end up a forward towards the end of his career? He is so balanced and so like his dad was when he did that spin and goal. A true master class tonight to single handedly pull them up to beat the Saints...

Wow, You're saying that the circumstances for our captain, having played about half a VFL game after a 3 month injury layoff last week playing in the VFL come Round 1, are the same as Gysberts who played every game in the NAB Cup/Challenge but did so poorly in the preseason that he wasnt selected for senior consideration? Very astute observation.

Did anyone else hear on tonights commentary, halfway through the second quarter I think it was, Taylor mentioned the Tigers had kicked the last 8 goals of the game. Darcy the dimwit then proclaimed 'the Blues havent kicked a goal this quarter yet!'. Err no Luke, they hadn't.

I didnt think there was such a thing as a 2PM fixture anymore? Theyve shuffled those games to an hour earlier to squeeze in another game before the 730 one

I believe everything I read in the Herald Sun!

This list that was published by the little paper this afternoon paints a far rosier picture, only two players listed (and both at 1 or 2 weeks) http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/supercoach-news/the-barometer-find-out-which-of-your-clubs-stars-are-on-track-to-play-in-round-1/story-fncufbo5-1226605499510 but obviously I'd take the clubs one a bit more accurately. When in previous years have we had (lack of match fitness notwithstanding) such a short list at this time of the year? Also worth noting is the Eagles list, we play them in 2 weeks time, and none of those main players are due back in this timeframe...

did you go to or see any of his preceding games at casey that warranted his inclusion? As he showed real signs of potential stages there.

Such was our armada of invincible youth, Michael Voss warned that we may be the next 'super power' didnt he? The problem was so few of this armada turned into battle-hardened pros.

Looks like he's had a bit of "Soul Glo" in the hair Feel this could be a long trial, good luck Liam!

Based on the pre-season games Ive seen so far: B: Jetta Frawley Garland HB: Watts McDonald Dunn C: Grimes Magner Blease HF: Rodan Dawes Byrnes F: Howe Sellar Viney Foll: Jamar N Jones McKenzie I/C: Gillies, M Jones, Kent Sub: Toumpas Em: Strauss, Nicholson, Davey Assumes that Blease and McDonald are passed fit but Trengove and Clark are not.

Nope, he did take a big hanger, second quarter I think it was, right on the outer wing! A few observations: Dunn's intelligent kicking today was a definite highlight. He was able to use the sheer depth of his kicks as a weapon with the breeze, and smart enough to keep them low and 'steered' to teammates against it. Apart from N Jones easily our best out there today. The classic sneak supergoal a special, someone else hesitantly lining up 55 out with the breeze, gives the handball to Dunn just behind him, who unleashes with the perfect right-left wind bias from 60 out, never looked like missing. The Saints also tried to setup Aaron Siposs with the same thing to no success, he is also a superb long kick. N Jones the spark all day, again. I expect he'll wear a hard tag most games this year as he really is our only decent mid. Magner got better and better as the game went on after a slow start, I think this is a regular thing with him as his lack of pace means the game speed has to come back to his level after quarter time. Nevertheless, he was very effective after that interval today. Jamar killed them, but wily vets such as Del Santo, Hayes and Montagna seemed to read him better than our mids. The backup ruck spot would have to be Sellars right now. Not only is he showing an improved attack on his marking leads, but he seems much more lively than Pederson. I think only one of those two can play in the side at any one time. The free kick count was horribly lopsided. A lot the of ones we gave away were deserved, but tellingly a lot of the 50-50 ones went against us. Our ill-discpline wasn't as bad as the counts suggest. Really like the look of Matt Jones in particular, just looks comfortable at this level. Terlich also impressed as the game wore on in the last line of defence, will be a handy backup midsized/small defender. As mentioned by Allen Jakovich in the first half some of our structures really held up, forcing the Saints into skill errors and numerous out on the fulls against the wind. It's still the short handballs to guys standing still that kills us however, how does this ghastly habit develop? Hogan for the first time at this level had a defender play him very, very tightly all day, always never more than a short distance off his back. I think it was Dempster, who was All-Australian recently. Nevertheless his sheer workrate and determination to get to every contest meant he still contributed positively. Still disappointed in the relative anonymity of Luke Tapscott. He kicked one nice goal very early in the first, then had a couple of noticeable touches in the last quarter, but in between that nothing. No way is he in the side for Round 1. Without looking in great detail, I assume the 'outs' for us today far outweighed St Kildas. A lineup that includes Riewoldt, Milne, Kosi, Hayes, Del Santo, Montagna, Fisher, Gilbert, Jones etc etc is just about as good as they get.

On his left that meant to read

getting slaughtered in midfield no surprise there. jamar has worked tirelessly but their mids are quicker to the contest, he has been leading well to little reward and scrambling at the bottom of packs too so I think jamar has been ok. terlich starting to get a few touches, reminds me of whopper Walsh, no frills but works hard. toumpas struggling, made a couple of basic skill errors that qtr and in one play refused to kick in his when he had pressure on his right side, instead turned full circle and turned it over.

Frawley came back on towards the end of that quarter. looked like he copped one in the stomach. was also good in that qtr to see tiumpas chip a fullblooded kick in the face but managed to dust himself off and get on with it. Matt Jones did well that half. Did anyone mention its hot here?

Both sets of teams hit the sheds at the break due to heat

lynden dunn point kick out torp clears the centre circle and marked by howe. strong breeze we have!

heat policy in effect here at casey meaning no limit on interchanges it has just been announced. strong breeze to the right of your screen if viewing from grandstand side.

Thanks KC! Good to see a demon connection with Cranbourne's coach, Melbournes own Doug Koop. How good was he in the 87 and 88 finals?