Mel Bourne

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.

Could have done with a better delivery though.

Brayshaw has the intensity of a defeated passenger who wants to be somewhere else. Getting very tired of this club carrying him through whatever the [censored] it is that’s wrong with him, by naming him week after week.

Don't think we'll win this. The Lions are in the kind of form we are merely aspiring to be in right now. Will be happy with a gutsy, tight and close game (and would of course be elated with a win!). The only thing that would upset me is seeing any kind of regression and a low-effort performance.

I hope you’re not including the goal where he should’ve been awarded a HTB free for his tackle in the goal square.

Sorry if it wasn’t clear, was specifically referring to the younger players/future of the club’s forward line.

With the unfortunate need to fill the gap of AVB, the most obvious attempt at a like-for-like sub would be Tomlinson. Curious though, have folks basically committed The Nibbler to the too-hard basket? He doesn’t get mentioned around these parts very often lately, but he’s our best two-way runner in the team. Not enough perhaps?

He probably didn’t tell anybody he had a busted cheekbone with blood dripping down his throat till yesterday. Agree with all the comments here saying how much psychological edge he brings to the team on game day. He’s our modern day Rodney “Balls” Grinter, with a slightly better haircut.

I like the optimism! And I don't see any reason to strongly disagree when you lay it out like that, BUT, I do think we are lacking the kind of forward line that rivals the the top teams for now. As it stands, we are pinning our hopes on Weid, Fritsch, Kozzie and perhaps Jackson and Sparrow to be that forward line and those targets we are so genuinely lacking right now. It's a big ask of such a young group, and there are no guarantees they'll all rise to the task. We hope like nothing else they will though.

I’m pretty stoked about having the option of watching a game every night.

I’d say the best coaches of the game have all been of the “emotional” persuasion. You could hardly call Barassi, Matthews, Malthouse, Jeans, Whitten et al “whingers”.

Putting my faith and trust in the selectors this week. I’d say no changes, unless players genuinely need a rest (hopefully this doesn’t include Harley). This next game is huge. A lot of folks praising Goodwin as a tactical genius now, a mere two wins later from one of the more emphatic collective blow-torchings I’ve seen on DL. Of course I took immense pleasure watching yesterday’s match (twice), but Hawthorn are a club out to sea right now, and Gold Coast could have beaten us with the mere inclusion of a guy playing his 5th ever game of AFL. If the Dees can provide the same connection and cohesion against the Lions (a club who know how to play us) then I’ll be genuinely excited for the first time since 2018, but these last two wins aren’t enough to solidify my faith.

Not sure if you’re serious, but I’m thinking AFL coaches don’t help other coaches win games!

God that was great to watch twice. Gawn was ridiculous. Petracca has officially arrived. We can use the term “elite” now Langdon, Viney, Oliver Crucial players. Hannan dropped off a little, but his first quarter really steadied the ship. We need him game in, game out. Weid, playing with confidence, makes TMac instantly depth. I don’t think we had any particularly poor performers today. Brayshaw perhaps. But watching the second time, it was interesting to see how many times he was the victim of questionable delivery. He does need to lift though. AVB needs to work on his disposal by foot. Kozzie and Jackson are contributing to the team like second-year players already. Particularly Koz. Great signs. Omac playing with composure and poise which is great to see. Theres more to say but I am lockdown-sozzled. Watching Goodwin slam his hand down in rage when we were 38 points up in the last quarter with only five minutes to go gave me a very unexpected feeling of hope. I like seeing such obvious signs that he’s expecting a standard to be upheld, no matter if the game is effectively won. Essendon are holding our rightful place in the eight right now. When are we going to get to play this missing game of ours and smack those bomber-pretenders? The only thing better than beating Hawthorn is beating Essendon. And vice versa.

Anybody else get nervous when there’s still two minutes to go and we’re only up by 48 points?

Well, we could have had both! Let’s hope Luke Jackson is also talked about for the next ten years. In a good way, of course.