titan_uranus

Yes, Ugle-Hagan played brilliantly against us. But that was an exception, not the norm. He kicked 5 against us but then just 3 in his subsequent 5 games. Lobb also played brilliantly against us in Round 11, but then was awful in the later return game. If we back our intercept and midfield defensive pressure game, as a backline we should hopefully be able to stop them getting easy marks inside 50 without necessarily needing to play a fourth tall defender. Plus, as you say, Darcy is being used as a forward because he's not fit enough to run out an entire game, plus Lobb has to give English a ruck chop out. Do you mean we here on Demonland, or the club?

I don't agree. I think the Dogs' best 22 going into 2023 is better than it was in 2022. They've lost Dunkley, which is a major loss, but the Dogs are probably the only side in the league who can lose a midfielder of that quality and cover it - they had over-invested in their midfield in 2022. Their midfield still has Bontempelli, Macrae, Treloar, Smith and Libba whilst they're now working Caleb Daniel and his elite kicking through there too. Their forward line now has height and instead of Josh Bruce as the second tall they've got Lobb and Darcy to spread the load (I don't rate Ugle-Hagan highly but he gets to be a bit of a Fritsch-style forward there). Whilst down back they've added Liam Jones who from all reports continues to be more than capable at AFL level despite his year out. I think there are better sides holistically (Geelong, Brisbane and us) but I think the Dogs are more likely to make top 4 than they are to miss the finals.

Cotchin got a fine for "misconduct". Free to play Round 1. The AFL's protected species.

Anyone can put anyone they want in a list of who they think will be good in the upcoming 2023 season. So sure, put Dusty in the top 10. Come October, let's see if he was in the 10 best players in the league. But if we're talking "power rankings", i.e. who are the best players right now, Dusty's not close to the top 10. Whilst he might be top 10 for the "all time" power rankings, he's not currently one of the 10 best players in the AFL. The ESPN list @poita posted is not too bad on that front, but I wouldn't have Tom Lynch in my top 10. Oliver and Petracca should be in most top 10s, as should Cripps, Andrew Brayshaw, Jeremy Cameron and Miller.

I suppose where I can’t get around this is that we’ve seen very little of Petty forward to have the confidence you have that he’d be a 50 goal forward. That’s a seriously good forward (9 in the entire league last year). Yes he can take a pack mark but you’re assuming he can do that repeatedly, Naughton-esque, for an entire season having not trained there over summer. It’s a much bigger leap to make IMO. Where I find it harder to get around is that we know he is an integral and important part of our defence and if we make the change we have to replace him with Tomlinson (questionable although I’m a fan), Turner (1 AFL game of experience), J Smith (never played more than 4 games in a row due to injury and at any rate not a lockdown defender) or JVR (who hasn’t trained as a defender). So it’s doubly risky.

Haven’t seen the game but I’m loving what I’m reading in this thread. All sounding positive with Viney, Fritsch and Salem all still to work back into the side. Why? Petty’s played 2 years in defence, and done very well at it. Why are so many so obsessed with Petty as a forward? Van Rooyen’s trained all summer as a forward. What makes you recommend him as a defender option?

Our fixture didn't allow us to rest players after the bye. The only real chance we had was in the WC-North fortnight. The back half of our year was top 8 side after top 8 side, 8-point games every week, with our top 4 spot on the line. If we'd rested players we had every chance of slipping down the ladder. Meanwhile how did Dunstan and Weideman do in 2022 when they played senior football? Neither had performed at AFL level all year. You can throw as many "proactive" buzzwords into your post as you want but we saw during the season that players like these precise two weren't able to play at the required level when previously called upon. As others have already pointed out, the evidence in front of the FD at the time meant that rolling the dice with the injured better players was a more than reasonable call.

Correct. But have you ever met someone who likes it? Or read an article which suggests there is someone out there who likes it? Are there actually people out there who go to games because there is music between goals? Or alternatively, are people turning away from football games because there is no music in the 30 seconds between goals?

Just because you're cynical doesn't mean players like Brown and Wood are, too.

I literally do not know a single person who likes music being played after goals. It's the sort of thing that is devised by "consultants" who are tasked with coming up with ideas to get more people to go to the game. It falls within the ridiculous concept of "fan activation". Whoever thinks this is a good idea knows nothing about football and knows nothing about what might actually encourage people to go to games.

Maybe. But this was a practice match and Geelong are notorious for not giving a [censored] about them. Last year they lost to Gold Coast by 4 goals in the pre-season. In 2020 they made the GF after losing both pre-season matches to sides who didn't end up even making the finals.

This is a perfectly written post which captures the core issue, as well as my position. There may well be a way to replace gambling revenue, as I'm sure tobacco revenue was replaced over time, but in the short term it would mean a hit to the league's revenue. And that will disproportionately affect lower-paid players, and likely members too (increased membership costs, for example). Of course, none of that means that taking a stand against it is the wrong thing to do. Maybe, but maybe not. Brown is a very principled person, and it's not without example - Easton Wood is on record as having said he'd have accepted a pay cut if it meant no more gambling advertising.

Thanks - I hadn't seen anything from Rucci or Edmund that wasn't purely linked to Cornes. There are two stories here though, sort of. One is that Pickett doesn't like Melbourne (the city). The other is that Port is interested. There's no surprise about the latter, as you've said. But it's the other story I'm more interested in - whether there's any truth to the rumour that Kozzie doesn't love living here.

I'm not letting this go just yet. I just did a Google search and cannot find anything from any journalists reporting that they'd heard Pickett wants to go to Port, or was considering it, or doesn't like Melbourne, other than articles forming part of the AFL Trade Radio circle jerk (i.e. raising it because it was raised on Trade Radio). Again, I'm not suggesting it's impossible that Port (or any other club for that matter) might be interested, but so far all I can see is that Kane Cornes said it one time on Trade Radio and has been peddling it ever since, and everything seems to be flowing from there. Given his obvious Port link/bias, I'd be interested in seeing any other journalist/media person who claims to have heard the same thing, not just repeating what was on Trade Radio.

Seriously though, can you identify any other smoke? I haven't heard anyone say "I've got mail that Pickett's thinking of leaving" other than Cornes. Doesn't mean there hasn't been anyone else, I just haven't heard it. And it doesn't count if people are just talking about it. I'm of the view that Cornes is making a mountain out of a molehill because it suits him and his Port Adelaide link/bias. He only needs one line (the whole "he doesn't love Melbourne the city" thing) and then just starts talking about it as if it's serious/confirmed/going to happen.

Out of interest, is there anyone in the industry other than Kane Cornes who is discussing the possibility of Pickett leaving us at the end of the year?

This seems right - this link worked for me but the one in the email didn't. Thanks @DemonWorshipper. Disappointing from the club to have sent members the "you should renew now" email and then to have the link wrong anyway.

I am, but also I am not. We all put too much stock into pre-season games. Remember the reaction to our pre-season loss to Carlton last year? Or the pre-season loss to the Dogs in 2021?

I’m excited to see Brown looking more mobile and threatening but the clear issue IMO is maintaining that. He looked great this time last year and Round 1 was arguably his best game for the season. Very keen to know if the tweaks to his pre-season will pay off. Will change us demonstrably if he’s closer to his best.

Such as?

Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys

Some thoughts: 2023 is the 8th consecutive year we've played West Coast in Perth. We haven't played them in Melbourne since 2014 We haven't played Essendon twice in a season since 2005 (18th straight year of only playing them once) We will be playing Geelong in Geelong for the 12th time in the last 15 seasons Only 1 game at Marvel all year - dropping down from 2, which gives us a 13th game at the MCG Yes, 8 interstate games, but only 5 genuine ones (Brisbane, West Coast, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide and Sydney). The other three are our home game in Alice Springs, North in Hobart, and a pure neutral game against Essendon at a ground we play well The most games we play away from the G in a row is three (Rounds 15-17, Geelong then Alice Springs then Marvel). That's a huge improvement on this year's 5-straight stretch Our spread of MCG and interstate games feels like a much better spread. 8 MCG and 5 interstate games pre-bye, then 5 MCG games + Marvel and 3 interstate + Geelong post-bye. Finishing with 5 of our last 7 games at the G is fantastic We get dudded with the bye again - Monday vs Collingwood, then the "bye", then Thursday vs Carlton means we get a 10-day break. That's the same as playing Thursday night one round and Sunday the next round. It's not a bye. Four 6-day breaks and one 5-day break in the 15 rounds scheduled so far. Not sure how that stacks up against other clubs. Feels OK to me Getting North and Hawthorn twice looks like a good draw at this point. Getting Sydney and Brisbane looks tough. Carlton should be good, Richmond should be average, so it's probably a fair slate.

Vikings, Chiefs, Patriots

I can (just) tolerate JVR moving number because he never played in 21. But Smith moving from 44 to 29 grates my gears. Yes, 29 was his dad's number. So what. Make 44 your own, Joel!

Browns, Seahawks, Chiefs