D4Life

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!

Ignored Users works well!

Coaching [censored] up!

Head high tackles is one problem and not easy to umpire. Gawn getting smacked in the back of the head is another. He gets next to no protection from umpires. If they reviewed matches watching out for how many times he gets hit in the head they wouldn’t know where to look.

Fair call, and Tomo to medi-sub. Re Melksham, thought he was done & dusted, but he played his role, curbed Alir influence in 1st half, pressure with 7 tackles, inc. the great rundown, kicked a goal and contributed to a few others. His disposal also improved 2nd half. Whether there are better alternatives for that last spot in the forward line, that’s the big question going into the finals! I’d like to think so, I’d still rather Weid, JVR, Hunt or Smith, but will trust the FD to get it right.

I recall discussing with a very handy pro Tennis player who played Ivan Lendl, and he commented every one knew where the Lendl forehand was going, but even when you headed in that direction almost before Lendl hit it, it was so good, you couldn’t match it. I posted yesterday about the AA level capability in our team, when combined with our contested ball and defensive strengths make us incredibly hard to beat. The other strength is as Goodwin has said over many years we’re building a system made for finals, and it was proven last year. Your comments about repetition above are spot on, under pressure you got to what you know, and it showed in last years finals. Could we be playing better now, yes we could. But much rather be peaking in September and injury willing with some luck, we will be in great shape come September to defend our flag! Go Demons!

Woe to those who underestimate the Demons! Pies limp over line against North and Crows and are in ripper form? Very very lucky to have only lost 5 games! However I think Pies are on the up, but they are like Demons of 2018 - soft draw, some lucky wins and finish higher than they should! Woe to those who underestimate Demons!

Bruce did nothing last week and will be amazed if he does a lot more this week! When you look at Tomlinson’s progress after coming back, anything close to Bruce’s best will be next season.

Thanks for taking time to respond I get the ball movement and defensive component. He did cover a huge amount of ground on Sunday with significant pressure. Occasionally I would just like to see him take first open option. Reflecting further on ball movement, his kicking falls in line with May kick outs always going long left towards Max, and our forward entry nearly always going into left pocket, based on being able to defend first, and the mantra we’ll win the contest and on it goes.

I look forward to tonight’s podcast as always! Jordan got a lot of it and covered a fair amount of ground, but how long he takes to kick the ball when he gets it after marking - never takes first option, goes back slowly waits then kicks it long down the line. His general ball is doesn’t benefit Demons from what I see. Your thoughts please on Jordan and if we replaced him who would you put on the wing. Many other posters think he was really good on Sunday, perhaps I’m overly focussed on his negatives.

In MID JULY Geelong are the best team. The kings of Kardinia Park! Congrats to Cats for winning their KP GF! Our coach played in two flags for the Crows who had Charlie Walsh as their fitness guru, who prepared them to excel in the finals. Goodwin has consistently said there are two seasons - H&A and Finals! As proven last year he knows how to peak in Finals, Demons were devastating last year, and injury willing will be very very good in this years finals! I look at our team: Backline: Lever May Hibberd all been AA Salem Petty Brayshaw (AA2022) Rivers Langdon. Oliver AA. Jordan ANB. ???????? Fritsch (close AA) Kossie. BBB. Spargo Max (AA). Trac (AA). Viney Jackson. Harmes Sparrow Rivers Melk Emerg: Bowey Tomlinson Hunt Bedford Salem & Langdon should have been AA 2021 Our team know how to play finals football, our style is made for finals, and every Demon player stepped up at some point in the finals last year! We have some fantastic players. A bit soft at CHF but Goody & the coaches will have something working in forward line by finals time! All we need is a bit of luck with injuries and some luck on any given day. Be more than happy to play Geelong in finals with them using same on ball set up as last week, Max, Oliver, Trac, Viney & co will torch them!! We won a flag last year after 57 years and I’m happy to back our Demons to give it a red hot crack again in 2022! We have a little rust at the moment but am expecting Demons to be smoking come finals time! I’ve got plenty of space on my wall for the 2022 flag poster and Goody and co are putting us in a great position to do it again, even if many Demonlanders have little faith or recall! Go back and watch last years finals series and our round 11-18 of last year if you need any reminding how much we improved come finals! Demonlanders have some faith! Go Demons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kozzie was electric, a joy to watch. Backline very solid. May & Salem can both improve. Trac, Viney & Lingers all good. BBB showing positive signs. Spargo did some good things that led to goals. Maxy not great but serviceable and will get better! The two players Demonlanders didn’t want in Bedford almost unsighted and Melksham did a few good things and slowed Alir first half, but he does look slow & fumbly. All in all take a win against Port team that had a crack, a bit frustrating that they kicked last three goals. Still happy to win.