Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Jones was really just starting the bloody obvious.  Hardly see this as him throwing Bernie under the bus.

If anything, the language Jone used gave the media a ready made quote they then used as a cheap headline, but honestly no big deal.  I can't see Bernie loosing any sleep over Jones's media comments per say, other than he will be hoping like hell that we beat Port and or North.

And for the record I have a lot of man love for Bernie.  Generally love the way he goes about his football (including some of the unsociable aspects), has been a fantastic servant to the MFC during a hard period and seems like an all round top clubman/ top bloke off the feild as well.  His snipe at Betts was just plain dumb though and I think even Bernie would admit that.

Whilst he probably won't be 'match fit' just yet, his body should be pretty fresh compared to many players this time of year, so hopefully that helps.  We could certainly use a player with his talent and physic in the run home.

1 hour ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Bernie is the furthest thing from tough imo.

Anyone who consistently commits the pointless and spine-less acts that he does with throwing an arm or elbow out is a team-killer. Especially given the talent he has and what he can offer the team at his best.

Dunstall was alluding to the young Hawks of that time. Vince is supposed to be a leader and is a veteran.

Would love for someone to count the amount of times he's been charged/booked for similar acts since his time with us. Would have to be up there with the most of any player over the last three years. 

Bernie is tough.  He copes it back as hard as he dishes it up and dosen't flinch.  Dished it out against North, copped it back sweet from Cunnington and got back out there.   Lives by the sword and dies by the sword to some extent.  He does dish out a few cheap ones, but a lot of footballers do and have done more so in the past.  I don't know if I'm quite putting him up with Leigh Mathews, but by your standard, Leigh wouldn't be tough either.

Difference is that when he dishes out he gets suspended, when he cops it, no suspension.

22 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Douglas put his head over the ball. Vince was a fraction late and went the man. Tends to do that a fair bit, does our Bernie 

Vince hardly went the man in this incident.  Slow motion makes everything look ten times worse than it is.  If you look at the video, I recon Bernie actually drops his body a bit as well, which saved him opening him right up.  Two players going hard at the ball, one arrives a fraction later than the other and probably cops him a bit high, with medium to low impact.  Free kick, end of story.  Players also have a responsibility to protect themselves to an extent by turning side on to contests and not going all out camakazi like Angus Brashaw has done on many occasions.  There is brave and there is crazy brave too.

I'm far happier we're being accused of playing on the edge and sometimes stepping over than being taunted with playing bruse free.

Completely [censored] off with the lack of consistency, particularly when compared to Scofield and also Ben Cunnington (he only hit Burnie hard enough in the guts to make him vomit, but I guess it was an accident), but I'm trying to look at this glass half full; Bernie could probably do with a few weeks rest to freshen up for the final run home.

Had my shoulder dislocated playing suburban footy.  I was waiting hours in casualty at the local hospital.  When one of the nurses/doctors came to see me they were rude enough to tell me to "get a new sport"... didn't happen.

I must say, that people have different pain responses to this kind of injury.  Personally I've had more painful injuries than a dislocated shoulder.  When I did it, it was more of a constant nagging pain than something excruciating.  Just felt super tired like I'd been carying a tonne of bricks around pulling on my arm for hours on end.  The female doctor that put it back in simply lifted and rolled the sholder back, then without me even realising, it was back in.  I had been expecting the full Mel Gibson, Leathel Weapon shoulder slamming the wall type thing, but it was all pretty uneventful in the end.

I'm sure there would have been no shortage of pain killers for Kent if he really needed them.

31 minutes ago, dee-tox said:

Is it possible that Melksham's goal was from longer out? Hunt's looked 60 out. Melksham's 65, albeit dribbled the last 10 or 15. 

Possibly,  but it's a bit different bouncing it through to clearing a pack waiting in the square.

Trac has bounced a fair few from outside 50 this year and again on Saturday night.  Pretty good wepon to have in todays footy I recon.

5 hours ago, jnrmac said:

4 goals in time on in the first qtr and a few junk goals in the last.

We were surprisingly in touch most of the night despite their easy transition goals and more frustratingly our own mistakes. Can't tally the number of dropped marks and fumbles at critical times.

Adelaide don't scare me as a side. They might win a home final but won't likely win the flag.

Not to mention missing 3 or 4 sitters of goals.

14 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Max Gawn A grade ruckman Kent Like Clark NQR He aint no superman!

Besides, who's to say that Kent might not be the next A grade/AA small forward?  Max spent a fair few years as a nobody before he became a superstar.

Kent has had a few superman moments, just not so many this year.  I remember he played an absolute ripper against Essendon in the days when they were fully chemicaly enhanced and was a big part of a win that never should have been.  Look it up on YouTube.  Goody's challenge is to get him playing that sort of footy again.

4 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Max Gawn A grade ruckman Kent Like Clark NQR He aint no superman!

We are all a bit NQR in our own way Picket (myself included), so I'm not about to hold that against the bloke.

8 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

What was the Humidity in Darwin last night?

In Melbs it was close to Zero

Players would lose up to 5kg's during a full game in Darwin. Midfielders maybe more. 

That is a massive disadvantage for next week. 

A $20-25 levy on all Memberships next year would cover the $1 Mill, make it a selling point. 

Mark Fine said the same in closing this morning on SEN. Now we are contending for finals it is time to stop this deal. 

The Crowd was 2:1 Adelaide. 

Hogan would have got some frees if we had played in Melbourne

I can definitely see where you are comming from on this one Sir and really like your thinking in many senses, but actually not sure abandoning the NT would be the right move.

We might be up and about at the moment and perhaps we could squeeze that extra $1M out of MFC membership, but:

1. If we can squeeze that exta out in the better times, we need to bank it for thexample leaner times;

2.  Slightly different propersition I know, but case in point, even strong Vic teams like Hawthorn didn't abandon their interstate relationships/sponsorship deals during the good times;

3.  The geographic proximity of Adelaide and WC to the NT in terms of airline routes means that more often or not I think we will end up playing one of those sides in the NT and their supporters will out number ours due to the economics of air travel, size of supporter base etc.  To some extent, the whole propersition needs our opponents supporters to turn out on mass as well for it to make sense financially for the NT gov to come to the party as well 

I'm guesing that somewhat, the reality is there are a disproportionate number of teams from Vic and that until one or more fold/relocate perminantly, then these sales of interstate games to the smaller states are a necessary survival mechanism for the lesser power/supporter base Vic clubs.

Asides from all that I'm actually considering how watching the mighty Demons in the NT could work in well with a bit of a holiday there myself with the old man!

7 hours ago, grazman said:

Looking beyond the current season I think there were a number of pleasing signs for us.  

Firstly add any two of the missing Jones, Viney, Watts, Tyson and Salem and I think the outcome of last night looks a damn sight closer, which is something to consider because Adelaide are a genuine top 4 side.

How good is Petracca, His awareness and delivery is unbelievable, while he's not getting a heap of the ball at the moment he will in future years and he's absolutely going to tear games apart.  Add him to Jones, Viney, Tyson, Oliver and that's a very good contested ball bunch in the middle.  

I thought JKH for the first time didn't look out of place last night.  We are really starting to bat deep now with genuine AFL players. (although its difficult to replace your best 6 at any stage when injured)  Obviously while they are young and need games, ANB, Smith, Hannan, and Wagner are all going to push hard for selection with a full list.  You can add Brayshaw and Stretch to that list as well.

Finally on a side note - Lever looked to have injured his Hamstring again last night.  That would be a concern for any team wanting to throw money at him.  Everytime I see Sydney win and Zak Jones sing the song I think to myself he's the one we should be pitching for.

With you on this Gman.  When you refer to Track combining with Jones in the future I'd love that to be Z.Jones.  Love Chunk, but I'm just not sure he can hang in there at his current level that much longer.  Can't say I've seen heaps of his little bro, but from what I have seen, he looks just like a younger clone of our illustrious, most senior captain.  Really hoping that our recuitment team can get a good deal done with Sydney, because I just don't see another up and comming mid we have to step up and take Chunk's role.

Was a great goal, got my blood well and truely pumping at the time.  Wasn't quite to win the game, but it could have been a bit of a momentum shifter.  Put us back within 21 points or so, and had we kicked the first of the last, it would have been back to 15, the Crows were looking a bit like they were running out of steam, low on rotations with Lever and Slone both off and the energy sapping humidity.

Alas it wasn't quite enough to turn the game in our favor, but it was a great goal and capped off a real return to top form from Jayden, who I've thought had been ok, without being exceptional of late.

3 hours ago, jnrmac said:

 

D Bennett Prices Park

Haha, great goal at the might G

1 minute ago, McQueen said:

Kent/we deserved a free kick from that contest. Crows player landed square into his back.

The thing is that it happened after he crossed the boundary though.  I actually think that is a bit of a deficiency in the rules at present Re what can occur and doesn't count once the boundary is crossed.

2 hours ago, Pates said:

I wasn't able to catch the game but the result was more or less what I expected. The fact we were in the game at 3 quarter time is pleasing, looks like Kent might've blown his chance though, he's been given plenty of games but has failed to make a place for himself which is really disappointing. 

Question for those who watched, is it worth me trying to watch the replay? Do I confine my viewing to a single positive quarter? Or should I just move on to next week?

Kent dislocated his shoulder and might be lucky to make it back onto a footy field of any description this year.  I'll probably be howled down for this, but I actually think he showed enough until the point he got injured to earn a game next week and build some form/continuity in the senior side.  No one has been down on Gawn for not getting back to his best yet, but many seem quick to judge and condem Kent this season.  Kent is a hard at it, agressive player amd when he's on his game, he can be a damaging player which could complement the likes of Hannan, Track, Garlett, Hunt, Harms etc nicely.

8 hours ago, Chook said:

No. I have us beating Brisbane, North Melbourne, and Collingwood. Pessimistic perhaps, but more likely realistic based on our performances recently. And as we all know, beating North Melbourne may even be a bridge too far for us.

I know where you are comming from, but I can also see us beating St Kilda, which given their relative position on the ladder is a huge 8 point game.  I actually can see us beating most sides above us (GWS included) once/IF we get our on ball brigade back together and if we can't do that, then we are only making up number in the finals anyway.  Still I guessential regardless, I'm hoping we can make it, as much as a demonstration/validation of our improvement and potential for the years ahead.

I think beating Port next week is a bit of a long shot and wouldn't be counting on us to win it at all, but I'm not writing it off either, mostly due to Port's yo yo form at times this season and our improved ability to scrap out wins that we shouldn't.

8 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

6 Hunt  

100% heart, great goal, ran all night 

5 Lewis

got the pill, battled in, needs support

4 Frost

beat everyone he was on, quietened Walker, ran hard

3 Melksham 

Kicked the goals, battled hard, setup 2 chances both fuc&@$ed up by Garlett 

2 Hibberd

Smart, ran hard, cleared the footy out of the 50 about 20 times 

1 petracca

always does the right option, battled in, classy goal

Apologies to no one 

Then others were down... 16 strugglers & passengers.  Very very disappointing.  

 

Frost had one of his worst games for the year.  Tried hard and dared to take the game on as always, but a bit like Tom McDonald last night, almost every time they tried to get around an opponent, they got caught and turned it over, he also fumbled and couldn't control the slipery ball very well.

To say that we had passengers is laughable.  Their system and ball movement was clearly better than ours and they hurt us far more when they had the ball at times, but that doesn't make the other guys that pulled on the boots for us passengers.  Despite what the players and coachest will say, I really do think we are missing our A team on ball side badley.  Take Dangerfeild, Selwood and Duncan out of Geelong and they would have been beaten as badly or worse against the Crows last night.  That we were almost in the game for patches last night is a credit to ALL the guys that run out on the park for us.

6.  Hunt.

5. Lewis

4. Oscar

3. Melkshem 

2. ANB

1. Vince

Honorable mentions to JKH, Hibbard, Jetta, Hogan, Frost, Smith and Kent for effort and endevor.  Although he didn't get a heap of the pill or use it very well when he did, I did thought Kent's running and tackling were pretty good, typified by his tackle that ended Slone's night (not because it ended his night, but the ferocity og the tackle).  It's a really pitty that Kent got injured, because he might just have been starting to find form.  I find the malign on this forum at present somewhat difficult to understand, he was injured in the off season and has struggled to find his top form, but at his best, Kent can be a pretty good player for us.  I think it's somewhat of a reality that not all players can be in form all the time, so I'm not about to pay out on them for one bad season.

20 minutes ago, Chook said:

Just did a ladder predictor. Had us scraping into 8th spot only to play a red hot Sydney on their home deck. My lord we need our players back. The last couple of months have been an exciting ride but we're running on fumes now.

On the positive side, it was nice to see Jesse Hogan working his way into some good form. But please can we get rid of our Darwin fixture as soon as financially possible. I love Darwin. I was born there. But I love the Demons more and this is like seeing an abusive parent (Darwin) beating up your first love (Melbourne).

Do you have us beating Port next week to get that result Chook?

I'm still hoping we can make finals, but we really need some of those A graders back fast.

1 minute ago, Diamond said:

He kicked into the man on the mark. As usual.

He wasn't the only one that did that.  They handled the slippery conditions much better than us, though that's not suprising given they operated in more space and under less pressure than us today.  I'm also not convinced our high paced attacking in close, risk taking game style stands up that well in wet conditions.

Was a disapointing last 15mins, because before that I thought we preserved and fought hard.  To get back to within 21 points early in the last I though showed some fair fight, for a side that is down three if it's best on ballers and three or four that you'd expect to be there.

Some really bad misses from AFL footballers today, Kent, Hogan Pedersen missed shorts from with 10 - 20m, minimal angle, that's really bad.  I'll give a bit of grace due to it being so slipery.

We miss Jack Watts and Salems entries into the forward 50 big time.

Signs a new contract and plays his best game for the year.  We need to get the whole 22 for the game against Port new contracts.

Loved that torpe after the siren at the end of the third.

@Danelska, I'm generally ok with what you are saying.  I don't think it's a big ask to be polite and respectful of other contributors to the forum and it's personally my modus operandi on this forum, as it is in life.  That said, I do also quite like a bit of good spirited banter, but if someone bites hard, I am going to bite back.  I also think the moderators do a pretty well of what is a tough job and I wouldn't want to make that harder by introducing the pretty hard core approach your initial post suggested.

The mental heath/depression issue is sadly and frighteningly real though as you say and it is something we should all be mindful of.  In this respect, I was pretty proud of the Demonland community rallyed round, when an individual contributor admitted they were in a bad place in a post sometime in the past 12 months or so.