D4Life

6 Petracca 5. Oliver 4. Gawn 3. Rivers 2. Hunt 1. Langdon

Cripps got one, I think the other 4 came from crumbing type efforts, hopefully Lockhart is fit and can play next week, as need someone willing to play small defender role!

Missing small defender who will stay down. Lockhardt to play, OMac to play full back, Lever back pocket! May CHB, Rivers HBF, raffle out of Salem poor, Jettaterrible, Harmes ordinary, Smith shocker, Blues zero goals at half time with one true small defender for the Demons! Number of times we had 3-4 go up for punch in backline just unbelievable! Jones also very poor! Bennell promising, skills elite! Hunt was good! Team stopped running during 2nd quarter and didn’t start again!! Give most of them another week or two, see how they pick up or replace them!

Panic In the 2nd half! Defence jumping into one another, leaving crumbers down. Demons lucky tonight, but will take it! Stopped running and attacking in the2nd half. Rivers looked good. Jackson okay. Lockhardt in for Smith!

A win still counts for four points Defenders jumping against one another

Rivers & Jackson must have trained the house down to get picked! At our abysmal worst still managed to beat the Blues last year. Hopefully with a fit list to choose from you we can do it again!!

A big Tiger fan Friend who is a footy head, said that Rance also copped a lot of flack from Tiger fans in his first 3-4 years. Agree 100% on getting a settled backline is key. Tiger structure always holds up! A lot of it simple stuff: - don’t all jump up and go for punch - don’t all race to the ball - 6 defenders stay in their half of the ground - someone guards the goalsquare - at boundary throwing have someone covering the goal side to stop the opposition crumbers Oscar is better at the structure stuff than most of the Demon defenders and is a very good kick and generally at picking the right option with his disposal. That’s a few of the reasons he is liked by the coaching panel!

Successful AFL teams don’t chop and change coaches constantly! Clarkson first two years were bad and he was criticised, got a flag ahead of schedule in 2008, then another three! Hardwick after 7 seasons a lot of fans and a supporter group tried overthrow the board, win premiership the next season. Geelong Bomber Thompson under pressure with coaching review end of 2006 season, goes onto win the 2007 flag. West Coast Adam Simpson under pressure goes onto win a flag soon after! Buckley while not winning a flag, had taken Collingwood progressively backwards for 6 years, then gets within one kick of winning a flag, and their likely to be a contender again this year. admittedly all are big clubs, except Geelong who get one of the best fixtures every year, and also have a salary cap advantage over the 9 other Victorian clubs, plus a major home ground benefit, playing and financial wise! Goodwin needs sufficient time and the right coaching team around him, Richardson will help. This year may end up being one of the most unpredictable years ever, so progress harder to judge, by end of next season we will see how good he is as a coach. While winning a flag is the ultimate success, and having supported the Demons for nearly 60 years I’m impatient for a flag, being in position to win a flag for the next 5 years, is the measure of being a good coach, then with a little luck we should win that elusive flag!

Reading all the views on Demonland always Provides some entertainment! without any AFL been getting some of my sport hit by watching Sunderland Til I die series on Netflix. You get to see the season after they were relegated from Premier League to Championship. Early dialogue is on some players don’t want to be here, club is virtually broke, the owner has just stopped pouring millions into the club to by players, and they have a new coach. After 1st match one of the better players out on the town and under the weather gets video taped on a phone naming a few players who aren’t trying and don’t give a stuff! Huge help to the coach! SUpporters initially go we don’t have the players going to be A very tough season, and haven’t been able to buy any players in the transfer window, only been able to get loan or cast off players, as other clubs are spending big money. Nearly 3 months in things going badly as predicted, supporters up in arms going sack the coach! Coach/Manager gets sacked, players confidence shot. New coach with big reputation comes in, loses their only two strikers in the January transfer window and struggle to get any real replacement. Be a miracle if they stay up, hard to win games without strikers. Demonland is very similar, everything is the coaches fault, players injured, not enough star players, players kick badly, or miss any easy shot after the siren, if we don’t win the flag it’s a failed season! Many on Demonland would have sacked Hardwick and Richmond would be rebuilding rather than having two flags! 2019 was a crap year, but surgeries pre season and injuries during the season, killed any opportunity. Let’s wait and see what happens in 2020 rather than write off the season after one round! Richardson stated , great getting Melbourne early on last year, as all their midfield group unfit, couldn’t run! Some of the positives he mentioned: - elite midfield (Viney actually fit, Petracca much fitter) - Finally having May & Lever in the field together, excellent communicators - Kossie going to be a player - Rivers kicking and progress - Run of Tomlinson & Langdon - Potential of Bennell - Potential of Smith - lots to be optimistic about Go Demons, we start the year seemingly very fit, so no excuses, let’s see how we go! If badly then Goodwin will be in the spotlight!

The league provides equalisation payments! However when you look how the teams with larger supporter numbers get preferential treatment from the AFLthrough Matches televised, blockbusters, on top of the natural advantage they have through supporter numbers, so larger crowds and sponsorships the equalisation funds provided aren’t anywhere sufficient to provide a level playing field. You need two decades of success to jump from where Melbourne is today to being a power club!!

Bennell on bench Fritta in pocket Melksham on flank OMac full back May CHB Lever back pocket or half back Hibberd - bench or Lockhart Jackson - out

Hunt has never recovered from when he knocked himself out running into the Crows ruckman hip at speed! Hasn't ever got back to his form pre that knock!

Highlight reel makes you remember how good he was, two good knees and he’s a superstar! What a pity!

Yes, he was a gun, pity only for a few years. He was just electric in that game, and so often would just go get the ball, rarely put on a plate for him. It would be brilliant to find another player like him!!

Other than playing every team twice, playing each team once is the most balanced draw since the AFL commenced! Also you could argue with all Teams having the 3-5 month break, the teams start from effectively the same position re preparation. So do I want the flag, YESssssssssssssssss!

Unusually was in a Corp box that day! Managed to drink my way through the loss!! Deadened the pain!!

Thanks for responding. How did Langdon, Hibberd, & Spargo go during training, we’re they executing successfully, or do they just not have the skills? I’ve read they were the major culprits Re poor disposal into the forward line in round one.

Thank you, I’m sure the forward line at training is very open at present! As probably only allowed two players on each end of the ground! Rephrasing my question to get a more definitive response! Not that I don’t appreciate your creativity! Over preseason did any of the track watchers (K Martin, Saty etc.) notice what we were practicing in regards to improving entry to the forward line!

I’m still interested to hear from someone who goes to training on what they practice, and level of execution?

We get some great training reports from a few track watchers. After poor delivery of the ball into the forward line against the Weagles, I’m interested to know what they do at training to improve this aspect of our game, and does it look like it’s working when they practice it? If we improve this one aspect 10-20 percent we should increase number of goals kicked per game by 2.5 - 6 plus, if we’re averaging 50-60 entries, that’s 5-6 extra shots at 10% and 10-12 shots at 20%.

Hope your info is correct. Would be great to have a fit and healthy Hogan back at the Demons! Ignore the negative feedback, just part of the fun on Demonland (some posters vitriol is hilarious if you can view it the way that a lot of social media should be treated!)

Following on from my post above, you then listen to Craig Williams speak on the radio about Coronavirus! Massive difference, caring about his whole industry and community, and to be seen as a challenge faced by everyone together. The big difference is Craig’s 41, married, 4 kids, lived in other countries, has a lot of worldly experiences to put things in perspective. Our footballers just don’t!

I remember hearing a Richmond player back in 2017 say beating Melbourne Anzac eve after being down at 3/4 time was a big turning point in building their belief. I remember the game really well as Melbourne was 2 or 3 goals up going into the last, with 3 or 4 players sitting injured on the bench, and 3 minutes into the last quarter could see the Demons had no run, as a few players had been off injured since 1st and 2nd quarter. Beating the 9th team with players injured on the bench was the win that gave the Tigers belief!!!! All I hope for is that a win like that builds the belief for the Demons! Remember Richmond we’re hammered for no leaders, failed under pressure etc etc. Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, May and our top 16 players aren’t that far away! Something that builds belief and that X factor that gets the ball being delivered well into the forward line could make the difference for the Demons.

Don’t be to harsh on the players, majority are 25 & under, so haven’t lived through difficult times and are still maturing as people. I’ve seen it over last 15 years running a company bringing on 10-20 grads a year, they are still young and have a lot to learn about life in general! But large majority are really good people, if perhaps living with great expectations. AFL players live in a bubble, not many really seem to understand the day to day world most people live in! Over the next 3,6 maybe 18 months they will! It’s better we band together and support one another in this time of crisis, and perhaps help educate the AFL players who don’t get it, rather than crucify them!

17 rounds, play each team once, when aside from limited home away benefit due to lack of crowd involvement influencing the result & particularly umpires, actually gives the fairest top 8 in any year of the AFL! If we then go onto win a flag, would actually be the best to win! Go Demons!