Mel Bourne

Fair enough response. Thanks. But I have to say I disagree about the “very insulting” nature of questioning an AFL coach’s integrity. Surely a coach’s integrity is wrapped-up in the judgement and decision-making that you mention. The lines are very blurred between these things, anyway. I don’t mean to assert that the move to play a sore Gawn against the Crows, was solely to ensure Goodwin’s safety. But the guy is only human, and any suggestion this didn’t play a part in the decision made, either consciously or subconsciously, is hard to swallow. I also think his strategy of playing the best team at all times is inherently flawed, especially if it means we lack members of said best team in clashes against in-form teams, because we cooked them playing against the minor threats.

If he didn’t play and we lost, it would tell you that we are stupidly reliant on one player. Taking no chances and playing our best players - whether they needed a rest or not - to beat a club as pyss-poor as Adelaide are, tells you how little confidence we have at our club right now. Those saying words to the effect of “it was crucial we didn’t lose to Adelaide, and everybody had to step up”, man, how embarrassing for us to find ourselves in such a position. I think this next game is the most important game of our season, and winning it, our biggest challenge. The top six teams have had our way with us so far. We lose this and that’s the top seven, and any talk that we might be anything resembling serious contenders goes out the door for the season. For this reason it obviously would have been ideal to have Gawn in the team, but if we don’t it’s because we cooked him defending our honour against a basket-case team. That just sounds like poor player-management in the face of fear, to me.

I'm curious to know then, why you think he wasn't rested. I already posed an admittedly-cynical question; that it was to shore-up as much of a guarantee as possible that we wouldn't go down to a club who are in an astonishing amount of disarray, and go to unnecessary lengths to prevent the humiliation of our team and the future of our coach. Some here seemingly thought the question was preposterous and insulting to the integrity of our coach, which I find a tad oversensitive. We can't ask these kinds of questions? Goodwin is above criticism of his integrity? If we lost that game, there's a very, very good chance that talk of his removal would be no longer talk. Tell me I'm wrong. So I don't think my asking of that question was out of line. Those who do, must have momentarily-forgotten that we are supporters of the most unsuccessful club in the AFL, and no question is too cynical.

Ok, just had to check. Cheers.

Am I being overly cynical thinking that the reason Gawn wasn’t rested against Adelaide, was due to Goodwin being scared witless of losing that match and having his coaching career thrown into certain doubt?

Yeah, after seeing the off-the-ball footage I’ve changed my tune a bit.

For the record, I wasn’t one of those people. Something I’d like to see dropped however, are your tedious and utterly pointless contributions to this forum.

VDB for Bennell Jones for Viney TMac for Gawn Rivers for Lockhart This game will make or break us. It was very telling in the last quarter, with the commentators riffing hard about how we haven’t beaten anybody who’s much chop, how we don’t have a serious forward line and how we struggle for accuracy. And all this while holding a fifty-point lead, mind you. Say what you will about commentators’ opinions, but the points they made were all valid and I think reflect the general attitude of the footy community - that we’re still not a side to be taken seriously this year. Should we be taken seriously? Next week’s result is your answer.

Good win. It’s a concern that our diet consists exclusively of low-hanging fruit, but at least we’re not going hungry, I guess.

David King had a crack at Goodwin last night for going into this at the press conference. Agreed, it's unnecessary. If there is an issue with Gawn's treatment (which while I don't doubt there is), don't have a sook to whoever will listen. If Goodwin had been asked directly about this, maybe fair enough, but the journalist merely asked a question about Max's soreness and his ability to hold-up through last night's game. You're not going to do the guy any favours having a whinge about it, Simon. If anything, you're inviting more attention. Dumb. And boy, did he not help things when he uttered the sentence "Yeah look, I think this season we've been ok". Another thing which David King had a less-than-subtle dig at.

That was a fantastic game of suburban footy. Could almost hear car horns after every goal.

My genuine apologies for making you have to re-live this! Wasn’t visiting that thread (one can only take in so many!) so I obviously missed some pretty comprehensive discussion about this already. I guess I was going by seeing Omac standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Georgiades in the square immediately following that goal (then watching the vision of him finding that space so easily, and watching Omac lose him in the process) and assuming he was his man at the time. If it wasn’t his man at the time, he paired up very quickly with him after, which if you’re adamant wasn’t the case, must have been down to a very prompt coaching move. Seeing that goal kicked and with such a minimum of fuss in the creation of it, immediately gave me a vibe that we were going to take a bath. Nonetheless, very appreciative for the considered response! Edit: and it’s funny how our bias towards certain players can occasionally get in the way of the true picture. Everybody seems to pick a player early on in their career, and decides to almost sponsor them from afar throughout. I think it’s funny little quirk to following the game - a pastime within a pastime or something. Mine is Jay Lockhart. His first few games were pretty exciting to watch and I was super-impressed by his adaptability to the big league. Showed moments of class and skill that point to something possibly bigger. Watching him bugger it up a couple of times against the Lions and seeing him get lightly roasted here was almost a personal attack! How could I be so wrong? Nope, I’m not wrong! All a bit silly, but that’s what we are. Anyway I think it’s possible your guy in this story is Omac and I will do my utmost to support you through it!

Will also force our players to look for (and hopefully find) other contested mark options. And Stephen May will have to spend the week considering who else to kick out to.

@binman I noticed a chuckle at this, and am pretty sure it wasn’t a genuine one. I know you’re a staunch defender of Omac, and believe me, I’m not one of the ones who pile on the guy, but maybe you can set me straight; I saw two very clear incidents where Georgiades deftly gave Omac the slip and found plenty of space. The first, resulting in the first goal of the match. If you look at the replay of that mark, one can very clearly see an Omac not knowing where his opponent is or where he himself should be, until the ball was marked. I get that good forwards do this to defenders regularly, but an 18-year old? C’mon. What am I missing here?

If Omac makes the team, he is on watch. He was completely owned by an 18 year old kid in the first quarter of that last game.

Bennell motivated himself. Goodwin and others around him have done their best to facilitate his comeback, and they’ve done a great job of that, but I don’t attribute one shred of Bennell’s actual motivation to succeed to Goodwin, rather than his deeply personal ones. And sure, a pryck of a coach would have made the task a very difficult one, but I don’t think not being a pryck is something a coach needs praise for.

The team that played tonight doesn’t deserve to play finals. It was an insipid performance, and it hasn’t been this embarrassing to call yourself a Demons supporter for a while.

2019 wins - Carlton, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Sydney and Fremantle 2020 wins - Carlton, Gold Coast, Hawthorn....... Here’s hoping we don’t go backwards this season.

When’s the team announce? Or is it a new “surprise!” system?

People do forget, don’t they. And in the space of a year, at the tender age of 20 years old, the guy becomes the most torched player on this forum. Would love to see him turn last year’s performance around. Both for the sake of the team, and the quality reading on Demonland.

Reading the OP’s description of the play, the first thing I thought was how confusing the umpire’s directions would have been for two people who are both called “Bailey”.

That’s gonna get pretty boring in, I dunno, ten minutes ago.

Not a great game for Mitch Hannan, but he hasn’t been trending that way. He’s been good for us the past two matches. I’m not a fan of punishing players who have an off-game. Also mistakes made in the dying minutes shouldn’t cop more heat than any other mistakes made by other players.

I don’t know, if you’re not going to play Kosi you should probably keep in Pickett. Just for balance.

If the recipients of his pretty friggin’ exquisite tap-outs cleared more effectively, “ineffective” would not have been a word you’d attach to him.