Mel Bourne

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.

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.