Wiseblood

If we're complaining about the type of letter we get in our membership pack then we are really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Get your membership card? Good. Supporting the club? Great. The rest is totally meaningless.

EFA.

Everyone has at some point. It's the nature of the beast. We're the best at constantly bringing it up, though.

I'm in again DV! Team name is 'Van Buren Boys'. Thanks in advance for your time and effort in getting this all organised for another year!

Will we have the coin to pursue another free agent this year? We do have plenty of players coming out of contract this year that could create space, but after nabbing Lever I can see us potentially being a little quieter come this off season. That does depend on many factors, though, so I could be way off the mark.

It's been a while since I purchased a new Demons guernsey, but I have a feeling that's about to change very quickly with this one. I reckon it's an absolute ripper.

Can't link to the post on Instagram, but the royal blue looks good. Means we don't deviate from our current jumper much at all which can only be a good thing.

Picket's glass has been empty for a long time.

Great move by the club. We were outgrowing Luna Park and being able to have it back at the 'G can only be a good thing!

Great post @dazzledavey36! The thing that excites me the most about the club moving forward is the quality of people we are getting in. Of course football talent and ability comes first, but we seem to have not only drafted players who have that in spades, but also guys who bring so much leadership and maturity to the table as well. They are level headed blokes who will train professionally and uphold the high standards that we expect of our playing group. It's exciting to see!

I know exactly what will happen: Watts is capable of good games of footy, and when he plays one there will be posters on here who will cry foul about the trade immediately. Hell, it doesn't even need to be that good of a game. He might snag 3 goals, 2 of which are 'Joe the Goose' style, and they'll yell from the rafters that we should never have let him go, the trade is a disaster, Goodwin is an idiot and so forth. Then he'll go missing for a few games. So will those posters. Then he'll play another decent game and out of the woodwork they come again to get stuck into the trade. It will be the same as the boot camp stuff. The moment we lose a game, a team kicks a few goals in a row etc. we will get the smarmy comments about not doing the boot camp, we're soft, we're no good, it's been the same way for 54 years etc. Then we play well and, funnily enough, they go quiet. Until they feel the need to pipe up again.

Well said mate. I also like the fact that, if they do get a run in the seniors, that they have the proper leadership and support around them to succeed.

I'm just excited that we've got some terrific young talls on our list who can develop over the next 2-3 years and potentially play plenty of games together in our backline. It's bloody great stuff!

Does that really need answering? He is a terrific scout from his armchair.

Out? We still have picks from the second round onwards. You are putting too much emphasis on the draft. You can improve your list in a myriad of ways that doesn't focus on first round picks.

I would have thought, with the recent success of some smaller players, that we wouldn't be so negative towards a players height. Let's give the kid a chance and a few pre-seasons before we start judging him purely on how tall or short he is.

Who would you have taken then oh wondrous talent scout? Taylor must have no idea. You should apply for his job with all your knowledge.

I think we did well to get him in the 40s. As @Deeoldfart mentioned above, he is clearly a bloke who has worked extremely hard to get himself back into draft contention and he has pace to burn. I don't expect him to play much next year but he has time to develop a bigger tank so he can involve himself with more consistency.

Good selection. Outside of Lever you could argue our other tall defenders (T Mac not included) are still projects as well, and selecting Petty not only gives us insurance but also gives him time to develop as well.

They commentators described him as the most competitive player in this years draft. For the moment, that sounds good enough to me.

What I liked the most about the small highlight package was the last goal - he ran from the back of the square through the middle and got the ball before getting round a couple of players and slotting the goal. Showed all the things you mentioned above as well as a willingness to run hard to position and not just look for the cheap possession. I wouldn't be disappointed if he fell to us at #30!

Username checks out.

No, it doesn't. Of course he is going to say something very positive about a coach who has given him a lifeline. He'll do anything to stay in the good books. Absolutely spot on. He played with Trenners for 8 years and saw how hard the bloke worked to get his body right again, and even that wasn't enough. I don't think that will change now.

I'm basing this on nothing but assumption, but something tells me we would have tested the waters with Kent to see what we could get for him during this trade period. After some promising signs you could argue he has regressed over the past couple of years - when he is on he is a very damaging player, but his tank is poor and he goes missing too often when we need him. We wouldn't have got so much as a nibble on him though so he will see out his contract with us. I think Vanders is more of a required player, but if he can't get his body right then his time at our club will be over at season's end. I hope that doesn't end up being the case.

Vanders still concerns me a little. Doesn't sound like he is making the progress they had hoped he would at this stage in his recovery. There is a long way to go, so hopefully that turns around as the pre-season continues.