D4Life

Dogs never get pinged for throwing

Dogs get a dream run with umpires

Bl..Dy Geelong - umpires come through in the end!!

Go Power - did I really write that? Yes, I hate the Cats!!

Not for me. But you’d be looking at Pies wearing 30/40% of his deal!

Fingers & everything crossed Weid watches some video of his Grandad playing & wrestling and brings some grunt tonight. Good luck young fella!

Only seen 5-10 mins but seems like it’s Demons free zone. Dogs get a dream run with frees in maggoos as well!

3 of the games we lost, mid-game we lost 2-3 of our key talls, and Trac was crook so a man down. Then we stopped to a walk in the last quarter in each of those games due to loading. Swans got us with 2 free gift goals in the last 5 mins and 5 free goals for the match, and Pies got away in last 5 mins. Freo ripped us in 2nd half using height mismatch. Geelong got us in their GF at Kardinia Park! While probably only a qtr against Giants and Saints and most of Lions match, we’ve showed something approaching our best. Don’t underestimate last weeks win against Port. We have another gear to find, but we aren’t that far off clicking. When you listen to Goodwin and Yze they are very confident we are on the right track. Dogs might get us tonight, as this is one of the most important games of the season for them, but no Daniels or Duryea, seems like a big advantage to us. Pity BBB missing, but chance for one of our other forwards to step up. Still expecting us to win off the back of much superior defence and better midfield! Go Demons!!

Port were 8-3 prior to last week and had one of their strongest line ups all season, so off the back of a solid Demon win, Dogs one win against flakey Saints and we’re struggling with Petty & Oliver coming back in! Demons to do the business against the Dogs tonight!

Wouldn’t you love to have Jakovich and Lyon/Neitz or the young Schwartz pre knee ops in our team!!

Spoke to Mr Ed. Our stallions don’t like the nags we’re playing against and are going to get home with a little tune ‘freed from desire’ playing in the background. Demons by a very long neck!

Bowey debuted round 19/20 last year 😃

If by strange side you mean line up, it would be surprising if we line up like what was printed. Otherwise Melksham in for TMac and Jordan for Bowser are only changes, plus medi sub from last years GF team. Demons had a good win last week, so did Dogs but they are front runners, don’t put pressure on them and away they go. Dogs injured in Caleb D & Duryea are major outs, Daniels has hurt Demons big time in a number of matches and Duryea is very good and Dogs best at minimising small forwards influence. Bruce just back and not in form only helps their structure, but he has a way to go! Their defence is still ordinary, forward line not much better than last year and midfield the same. I’m confident Demons winning margin closer to 35 points!

Melksham did fumble a couple in first half but was more assured with ball in 2nd half. He obviously did what the FD wanted last week in playing his role, and gets picked again as his reward. Also was much more team focussed with his ball distribution. Personally the more commentary I see and hear on our Forward structure, would be great to see JVR given a crack at it!

And possibly an extra 50 or 100K per annum. If Your in the shoes of Gus with concussion history a longer term deal would be high on wanted list. Going to another Vic team, he might get midfield and a bit more cash, but walks away from his leadership position at Demons, friendships, relationships, success, then has to restart at a new club.

Weid is a tall when it comes to height, but doesn’t play with busting pack aggression or presence, that’s why TMac was preferred. Sounds like JVR plays with aggression and has great hands, might be worth a try. Looks promising from the snippets I’ve seen of the VFL. Re loading, could FD be holding JVR back until loading finished and he comes up fresh round 20 similar to Bowey last year. Brereton wasn’t a tall CHF but was great competitor, aggressive and smart - hoping JVR can be similar! Smith brings something else, not quite big enough, but pretty quick, and his defensive side has improved, so he might be able to offer some of what TMac did. Also his odd brain fade won’t cost a goal in forward line. Agree with your prior comments on Melksham, played role well last week, but we need the 3rd tall for balance! Helps BBB and frees up Fritsch.

While keeping Jackson would be preferable, Hawks after losing Franklin, and Cats - Ablett, managed to win flags and Cats having renewed a list that has made top 4 majority of last 15 years Cats do have a number of massive benefits due to their location that helps with managing list)! If it’s Freo, I’d take Lobb, best ruck/forward replacement, want a first pick this year and next year for our second. Why Lobb, if Jackson leaves you go Max then no Jackson or Daw, so must bring in AFL ready replacement. The two firsts are obvious, to give Taylor enough flexibility to draft or trade for additional forward power! If Freo are paying 1.3m per year, means Demons would have been paying 900k - $1M, so opens up $$$ for Gus, Kossie etc. It is a pity, as LJ, Kossie, Rivers, in 2019 draft were the next generation after Trac/Oliver, but hopefully Taylor can pull a rabbit out of a hat with picks we get for Jackson!

Agree. Called balanced risk for 2 of best 5 players we’ve had in last 50 years, paying slightly unders to each for long term certainty!

100% correct. If he wants to pick a life changing deal & go home good luck to him. Hopefully Demons can offer something pretty good - Grundy is a lesson for the future - our list managers have been great to date!! If it happens we just need to get a fair deal - look at Cameron age 28, Tim Kelly age 26, 3 1st rounders or 2 and a decent player seems in the ballpark.

Cats have a few massive advantages: 1. Come live down at Geelong rather than paying $2 - $4M for a house, you get the same thing for $1 - $2M. Over 5 years is a $200K - $400K benefit per annum. Yes, you could look at it differently on savings, but still a massive annual advantage. 2. Cats have done a very good job having players want to be part of successful club, and take slightly less salary. 3. Geelong area & surrounding districts produce many good junior players and fair go home factor. 4. Lifestyle on coast. This combined means they probably have 10-20% salary cap benefit! Other benefits Cats get: - Massive govt support re stadium - Huge home ground advantage, plus don’t have to really travel to get it (interstate clubs have huge home ground advantage but all away games have to fly) - Home ground typically only get 500-1000 opposition supporters, so crowd influence umpires vs at MCG, Geelong can have 40-50k supportive turn up - Home ground advantage different shape during H&A - Soft cap advantage due to above points 1-4 The one disadvantage they have is come finals, they don’t play at Kardinia park, which means their style of play gets shown up! Still they are a strong team, have improved from last year, but being best team June, July - August doesn’t mean you win the flag.

I want another flag and LJ can help, so whether he stays or goes, want him part of 2022flag. If he goes, it will be for a life changing deal! Simply up to Demons to get best deal possible, and hopefully is two firsts and a decent player! Would be great to get this out of way and also Brayshaw. Ideally both stay, but what will be will be!

Agree we have some significant upside in our players. There are a few other things that would be good to see: - team settled with few changes, that is Goody’s approach as it just builds consistency that is critical under final’s pressure - the last 3-4 weeks just build form as we did heading into finals last year - someone to step up into that last key forward position, TMac form wasn’t great in finals but played the role and enabled Fritsch, Kossie, & BBB to shine in the finals. Don’t care if it’s Smith( though his durability worries me), Weid, JVR even Petty with Tomlinson down back! - Hunt our medi sub as provides flexibility

Just heard Daisy on SEN this morning with Whateley responding to Rex etc. and she is all class. Always considered, thoughtful, balanced, empathetic, she really is a star!! Managed to put Rex, Dermie and co. in their box, as out of date, comfortable living in the past with their mates. Managed to do it an an inoffensive way, made me think of pen mightier than the sword. Followed by Gerard highlighting how many modern players pay zero attention to older players as they are so out of tune with modern day. Go Daisy!!

Seems likely: - Petty in Tomlinson out unless Lever doesn’t come up. - Oliver in for one of Bedford or Melksham. Bedford for me as he has done very little last two games. possibilities: - Weid or JVR in for Melksham Medi-sub one of Tomlinson, Hunt, Bedford Handy for Demons Caleb Daniel is out - he with Bont have hurt us in the past!

Listening to Rex on the radio was shocking, you’d have no idea about the score or even who had the ball, was all about bluster, BS, and nicknames. It was terrible when no other stations were calling and you had to listen to him. BT is the modern day equivalent, really embarrassingly bad, but some people must like him, and it takes all types. Carey & Dermie are very good when talking about playing as a forward, but don’t provide much insight on current day strategy. Daisy is a star, articulate, explains what’s happening and why. This would be to complex for Rex to understand and why he doesn’t like her! If she added in an Abletttttttt or Yibbydeeeyabbydee, he would appreciate her more!