Rodney (Balls) Grinter

@stevethemanjordan regards your opening line, let's face it - our whole team has gone from a shambles to strength in the last four years. ... and Fing god (actually Roosy, Viney, Taylor and Co) for that!!

Hey Man, I'll agree that May is a good addition to our side, but I think your looking through some pretty rosey coloured glasses of him in a few respects. You make out like he is some kind of messiah and to borrow a well worn quote from Monty Python: "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy" Admittedly I didn't pay super close attention to May this season, but the impression I got was that he was somewhat ordanary on the whole and was somewhat playing on his reputation from seasons gone by. I watched his game against us at the Gabba on replay again the other week and he really didn't do anything special that game (except for a 55m goal from the boundary). Sure he took a few cheap marks as a loose man on the last line of defense, but didn't really impact in his main role as the No.1 key defender on the ground - Tommy Mac and Jesse ran a mock that game. I can give May a bit of a break for that game in the sense that he was playing after coming back injured to an extent, but I'm not sure that our own supporters sometimes cut O Mac or Frost that kind of slack for their poorer games (everyone points to Oscar's last Qtr Vs Geelong, but with delivery to Hawkins that good, who really would have stopped him?). I'm also happy to accept that the team environment and performance at the Suns has been some kind of influence on May. I think a true leader may have shone above it, but also that all people are human. I am encouraged that in his interview presently up on the MFC website May acknowledges that he became complacent and needs to lift his game (how refreshing that a player comming to the MFC knows they need to be at peak performance to fit in!). I think you are stretching it though to suggest that May is as quick as Frost. I have no doubts that May is a better all rounded footballer, but I will be mightily impressed if he has the pace and acceleration of Frost. I actually find the assumptions and notions that either of Oscar and Frost being relegated to obscurity pretty uninsightful. Both these players had games in season 2018 that they would rather forget and both also had bloody rippers of games and streaks of form. Oscar started well and somewhat tapped off and Frost was ordanary early and finished like a house on fire. Going forward Oscar will get only stronger and capable of running out the whole season and unlike many, I'm not putting a ceiling on Frost or his capability to learn new tricks. Reality is that even with May, I think we still need one other key back and having competition between Oscar and Frost can't be a bad thing. However the key position spots play out though, I think Lever, Hibbard, Salem, Jetta, Lewis and perhaps Lewis, J Smith and or possibly even Hunt will have a ball playing around them. Like I think we all are, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing our quality back six hit the park together in 2019. GO DEMONS!!

On ballance, it is definitely a pretty ordanary standard. My recollection of the games last year is that there is probably half a dozen 'star' players in every side that can actually do all the things you'd expect a footballer to be able to do with any reasonable proficiency. It's very frustrating to watch players have set shots from 15m out and completely shank every second shot. Kate Hore, Daisy Pearce and a few others are the exception to that rule. If Katie gets it with 30m, you can back her in as better than 50/50 to nail the shot. All of this really pisses me off with respects to the moaning to pay all players fully professional wages. That all said, I can still find it entertaining enough to watch (just like I can low grade footy) and I think it is getting slowly better year on year (expansion to more teams doesn't help that though). I do think it's important to support the woman's game moving forward for a variety of reasons, probably one of the most important of which being the significant increase in participation at the grass roots level. I think this increased participation will actually improve the standard at the top level over the next 4 - 5 years. When I played division 4 EDFL footy going back a number of years, we had a 'chicks team' and it considerably improved the social life and viability of the club overall.

Where there is smoke there is fire. AFL trade whispers: Young Fremantle players could be circuit-breakers for Jesse Hogan deal https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-trade-whispers-young-fremantle-players-could-be-circuitbreakers-for-jesse-hogan-deal/news-story/6d5dbe87393d2fb06af54e56b7e89861 Top sports journalists like Tom Morris don't write this sort of article if there isn't any truth behind the story.

Regards the May be a forward thing, my take is that whilst he has been recruited to play primarily back and that's where he will most likely spend most game time, it certainly doesn't hurt to have some flexibility either in game or within a season to shuffle guys around if things are not going to plan.

The thing where I recon Pruess will be happy to play second fiddle is that he wasn't even that at North last season. I recon he's been told by Goodwin and Co that provided his form is up to it, there will be games where we will: 1. Play two rucks; 2. Rest Max and give him a whole crack; and 3. Possibly see how he goes as a forward option if the Weid is either injured or out of form. Like I say, any of is more that he was getting at North, where I'm guessing that Daw and perhaps others were in front of him for similar roles. Plus he gets to learn from Max and Greg.

Of our current playing group, Frost is the one which most reminds me of Sean. Brilliant athletisim, which he often uses to close in on an opponent and spoil the ball away with a late dive.

Well, until he is a Demon anyway 100% we should do this. Personally I am filthy for Freo about the way they acted with Jessy. I understand there will always be some pull for players to return to their home state and family, but to me Freo were so focused and persistent in white anting out Jessy from the start. I also understand that with the compeditive nature of the league, clubs will always have an interest in getting good players from other teams, but to me, there is a line between trying to attract outside tallent and underhanded poaching. Time to bring Andrew Brayshaw home - I want revenge.

How about Robbie?

Just going through the list again and thinking it through - in retrospect we kinda stuffed up our first draft pick in 2008, but perhaps we could fix that by drafting Nick Nat as a FA?

I'd actually say the biggest (most important) FA we landed was Daniel Cross. I do agree with the notion of picking up good players through FA, if we can, rather than having to trade for them. As people have pointed out, not really much available next year, but might be in a year or two and we should have a pretty decient premiership window where a FA would be of value. The best FAs for us to get would be those like Frawley was for us/Hawks - good players in poor sides, that would like to cross over on modest cash, so they can have a chance at sucess. May could have been that FA for us had we not lost Hogan.

Andrew certainly didn't mind a bit of rough and tumble with big brother when we played them. Made a tackle stick pretty good on Gus, which is a decient effort. Had a bit of a tussle with that bloke from West Coast, Andrew Gaff too I seem to recall.

So Vs the Hawks: "Dougy to Chuck, intercepted by Scully who has Chunks all over him as he lies there on the ground"

Thead title is a bit of an oxymoron.

Sick him Rex ... I mean Josh. Make brother Drew a Demon.

I like the idea of Vanders in 12 or 23. Both numbers with a good tough nut tradition.

Sorry, but I don't understand where you are comming from with either of these statements. Jessy's performance for a guy of his age would be top 5% in the league for a key forward. He had practically one season out of 4 or 5 where he had a stuffed back and a dog of a year last year (but still played 10 games). Asides from that he has played around 20 out of 22 games per season. Personally I'm just disappointed that he isn't performing for us in it as both he and the team hit peak maturity and performance.

I recon Weid deserves a higher jumper number of his choosing. Also sends a bit of a message that 'you da man'! I'd be reluctant to give him 1 though, unless he had his heart set on it.

I've got no real issues with giving No.1 to the right player, but alternatively, we could put it to one side and say to Jessy "we will just leave this waiting here for you when you get sick of Perth and loosing every week"

Or 12

Also worth noting that Hawthorn lost to the Lyons twice and North, that kind of offsets the advantage of their weaker draw. The other key factor is that they got over St Kilda and Sydney by a few goals or less in the run home, where we lost to those same sides by similar margins. The respective results Vs Geelong are probably part of the same story. It's a game of inches sometimes and that's probably where our lack of experience and in ability to close out the close games probably hurt us get that top 4 spot.

Good teams don't make excuses and/or rely on the draw to finish in a good position. I think it can artificially help poorer ones, but doesn't make much difference to good teams that put together a dominant season overall. Look at Richmond and to a certain extent West Coast. It could influence the make up of the rest of the final 8 and lower part of the ladder to a certain extent though and that's more I think was more my puropse in posting it. If we have the sort of quality team we think we have, do ok with injuries and manage the team well thoughout the year, then the mindset shold be that we make our own destiny and let the rest sort it's self around us. I'm probably just parroting Goodwin here, but I think it's the right attitude. Draw should be meaningless to us. Easier said than done, because I bet that Richmond, West Coast, Collingwood and perhaps one or two other teams would probably also think they are in this position.

Agreed. Many comentators and media have us as finishing 1st/grand finalists or top 4 as the base 'expectation'. I personally the most optermistic predictions are somewhat unrealistic to have as an expectation. Was a point that PJ made pretty well in his exclusive Demonland interview that there could be speed bumps. Geelong and GWS were a few of the examples he put up.

I could have been wrong. Demon Wiki actually has us finishing 3rd at the end of 2000 home and away (an abortion for the MFC post 64). I can also find a few 4th place finishes between 1989 and 1991, but from recollection they were also the days of top 5/6 and so finishing 4th was of no real advantage. Has been the story of the MFC in my lifetime. Good sides, but could never put together an entire season to set our selves up properly for a genuine crack at a flag. This is the one thing I'm hoping Goodwin does better at.

I think this article is interesting in the present context. AFL fixture 2019: How weighted fixture helped Collingwood, North Melbourne in 2018 and who it will impact most in 2019 https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-fixture-2019-how-weighted-fixture-helped-collingwood-north-melbourne-in-2018-and-who-it-will-impact-most-in-2019/news-story/d61d171a77108a94459b7f31d3efb9f8 Honestly though, I think the draw is only important to the weaker teams. If we are a good side, then we should relish the opportunity to play top teams, because we give our selves a better than even chance of beating them. I think it is also a double edge sword in that respect, in so far as playing other top sides gives you an opportunity to deny them a win and push them down the ladder. I don't think a tough draw did Richmond any disservice this season. Biggest thing to be gained with an easy draw is having a bit more tolerance in the case of form slumps and injuries etc.