D4Life

Port couldn’t beat a team in the 8 last year, aside from Sydney early on when they had a lot of players out injured. I just don’t get how they become a super team even with Watts and the other two gun recruits! I like Watts but would be surprised to see him kick 6 in a real game with pressure! Last years Port list wasn’t a young team, so where is the natural improvement coming from.

We need to make finals this year and win at least one. For me that would at least partially make up for missing finals last year. We were cooked last year and would have got flogged in the finals, so finals and a win is a must! Even listening to a few of our injuries, think we are better placed to cover them, and make finals!

This team looks really good, any changes would be minor. Jones looks a little out of sorts, but maybe back in the guts is best way for him to come good, and would like to see Hunt on a wing at some point during the season. When Viney comes back, the onball brigade will be great.

Looking at most people’s round 1 team, the above team, plus minus a player or two is pretty close to the mark. What I like most is the improvement on nearly every line from last year. Backs - OMac bigger, Stronger more composed Hibberd coming in fit from round 1 HBs - Lever positive addition Salem fitter, stronger Centre - Oliver, Brayshaw and particularly Petracca look fitter stronger and a full preseason for all of them CHF - Melksham ready to fly and I would definitely play Hogan at CHF and he looks really good to go after a full preseason FF - whether it’s Fritsch who brings something new and highly skilled, Hannan, ANB or Harmes all look to have advanced significantly on last year Rucks - Max fully fit, Tyson fully fit is positive Interchange - Just looks a lot stronger whoever is in, Vince fully fit after toe injury last year You bring Viney back in and we have to drop a solid player. When I look at the overall improvement the team seems much stronger and players will be under pressure to perform week in week out. Sitting outside the 22 above are Bugg, Frost, Pedersen, J Smith, & Weideman. This should lead to less of the bad loses. While I’m a glass half full supporter, the Demons look ready for a breakout season!

Garlett definite, Hannan and Bugg due to Viney missing. Fritsch will get his opportunities during the year.

I like it, only change for me is OMac in for Frost!

A season too late!

Fortunately I didn’t see the third quarter, only 1st, 4th and start of 2nd, but what stood out to me: Melksham - looks strong, tough, sharpshooter Petracca - very strong, skilled, ready to break out like the HULK Max - fit, smart in the ruck, marking improved across game Oliver - gun, love to see him kick it Hogan - fit, has vision, will be great at CHF Lever - give him 5-6 games for Demons and will be a gun Brayshaw - on the up, give him another 10 games to build his confidence and will be really strong Replace - Wagner, Stretch, Pedersen, Maynard, Frost, Fritsch (who are all solid sitting just outside the 22 as depth) with Ins - Viney (if 100% fit), TMac, ANB, Harmes & Lewis and we look really solid across all lines. We look a lot stronger than last year! From what I read went with Salem & Maynard in guts in Q3, and also from seeing Saint goals perhaps stopped running. Probably missed Viney & Lewis Leadership. Will be good to see where we are after round 6, as season doesn’t depend on round one! Not withstanding, will be very happy if we beat the Cats!

I reflect on going into last season and hoped with everything going right we would make the eight, meaning: - not too many injuries, instead we lost our key forward Hogan, #1 Ruck Gawn, #1 midfielder Viney, then Jones, Hibberd missed about 5 each, some poorly timed suspensions of Lewis, Vince & Hogan - beat most of the weaker teams, as has been mentioned often, we coughed up 5 bad losses North*2, Hawks, Freo & Pies - rack up wins very early because younger teams statistically fall away as the season continues, then we fell of a cliff from round 15 v Swans and the 3 * 6 day break games Going into this year: - fair drawer - positive pre season, most key players in good shape, hopefully Viney comes good, last season he didn’t have a great season either - You can see a lot of the young guys have improved like ANB, Harmes, OMac, Salem etc and have another pre season behind them - Max, Hibberd, Hogan, Petracca all strong pre seasons - Depth looks better, try pick your best 22, it’s much harder Going into the season we have no excuses and should do very well, and win at least one final!

One of the big things on teams improving and particularly young teams or players, is the gap between best and worst performances closes. If Demons can take this step and I’m confident they will, the losses to the bottom six teams should rarely happen. Even looking at JLT we didn’t rely on any standout performances, just a really solid team effort. We have 26-28 players in the mix for round one, that helps ensure players won’t be able to drop off in performance every other week, because they will be replaced. Even in JLT against North we had Viney, Garlett, & Tyson missing, Frost just outside the 22, putting pressure on the guys who got a game. Our best, think Crows in Adelaide winning from 4 goals down in the 2nd quarter is bloody good, if we lift our worst performances by 2-3 goals, we beat North twice, Hawthorn, Freo last year. I’m looking forward to having to stay in Melbourne this September to watch the Dees!

We will get to see the Viney slam during the season, but did you get the beer bounce on video?

It’s fun to speculate, but I can’t recall anyone predicting the Dogs in 16 and Tigers in 17 to win flags. Champion Data love the Magpies but Reid & Cox as key forwards and Dunn & Moore as the key backs, doesn’t sound to flash for me! To date pre season seems to have gone well, AFLX just a bit of fun, JLT beating North was positive, but best of all is the improvement of Melksham, Harmes, ANB, OMac and Salem to name a few, then pretty clear pre seasons for Max, Hogan, Hibberd and Brayshaw. Lever obviously a strong addition and Fritsch showing great signs. Even Viney & Jones preseasons really not much different to last year. Tyson preseason still ether than last year. It feels like we have at least a dozen players who have improved or are better prepared than going into round 1 last year and trying to pick the team for Geelong isn’t easy. Should be a great year! Hopefully finishing between 3-6!!

I only watched the last 15 minutes of the game, but looked like the umpires were trying to help Brisbane back in the game. Another Brisbane girl was tackled between point and goal post, threw ball up one handed no free, a number of blatant Demons frees disregarded, then a 50/50 would go Lions way. It would have been an injustice to see the Demons lose. If the girls kicked straight, umpiring would not have come into it. Freo game was one they kicked away!

Must be a different Hogan to the rising star winner and a player who has dominated a number of games that I’ve seen. Usually has to get the ball for himself rather than via clean passes from upfield! Fit and ready to fire, he will have a big year in tandem with TMac.

If Lever is getting $750k it’s probably $200k over the odds. But that’s what you have to do unless you have a huge geographic advantage like Geelong with a Dangerfield going back to Moggs Creek or Ablett heading home, Gibbs going back to Adelaide. The Melbourne based teams are always facing multiple teams to pick up a player, even with a come home factor, interstate clubs likely only one, Geelong have a few points of difference that really give them a significant benefit for recruitment. Lever makes our team better, it’s a worthwhile deal. TMac into forward line will be exciting to watch. Adelaide we’re very dirty to lose him. Anyway time will tell on Lever.

Your hard to please Hot as Hell. How about we sign Tom, then independently sign Oscar for free!

Obvious two for one deal. Sign Tom and Oscar comes free!

The other positive this preseason is guys like: Petracca, Brayshaw, Salem, Hogan have all had a full preseason compared to previous years. Viney is struggling but seems like his preseason isn’t much different to his last two, when he still managed to play well. l look at our playing group and we have more talent than in the last 50 years, yes I’ve been watching the Dees for that long! No holidays for me this September! Will be watching the Dees play finals.

Just try to pick our best 22 and you can see our depth is much better and we have a lot of players who will hopefully be headed for breakout years. It looms as an exciting year. Petracca Salem Brayshaw Hogan Max All seemingly had good preseasons, am feeling optimistic about 2018!

Could OMac become our LRT at CHB and Frost become the 2018 Demon version of Sean Wight, sprinting out from FB, with either Lewis or Lever shouting at them what to do with the ball when they get it!

That is a very balanced response, are you sure your on the right site!

After all the great vision, time to pick AFLX team and round 1 team. AFLX - who cares, anyone not in top 25 Round One Jetta. O Mac. Lever Hibberd Frost. Lewis Salem. Oliver Hunt Melksham. Hogan. Petracca Garlett. T Mac ANB Max. Jones. Viney Tyson. Brayshaw. Hannan J Smith Almost: Stretch Pedo. Maynard. Vince

I’m happy to be a one eyed Dees supporter and fully understand AFL’s remit to maximise revenue, but disagree with small clubs get fairly compensated. As a potential sponsor who would you take this year Carlton with 6 Friday night games, no Geelong trip or Melb with Anzac Eve & Easter Monday? But of course, Friday night games are given on performance, cough cough! The draft and salary cap combined, provide a way to get access to best young players and stop top clubs paying over the odds every time. Salary cap gets rorted with outside 3rd party deals, but it would be much worse without it, just think Man City - EPL, Barcelona, PSG, & Bayern to see what happens with no draft or cap. Who has the money to pump into FDs, the wealthiest clubs. Which area of the AFL do you work in?

Tigers and Dogs winning the flag is great for the AFL, means anyone who has few injuries, good draw, bit of luck and can put together a very good last 6-8 weeks is in with a chance for the flag. Demons best players still seem better suited to 2019/2020 for a tilt at the flag, but finish top 4 this year and you never know! 2018 shapes up as an exciting year, just a little luck and we are finals bound, and our best will get us in the top 4, go Dees!

Well said. If you just look at Carlton getting 6 Friday night games this year, it is a major revenue raiser, assists with finding a sponsor and many other benefits. Am looking forward to seeing the Blues pumped in the majority of their Friday night games. AFL provide a fixture to maximise their revenue, TV deal etc and attendances, the smaller clubs suffer, Melbourne and a few other smaller clubs should get compensated by the AFL every year for this imbalance. We get screwed royally every year. The salary cap and the draft are the two key items that level the playing field for the 18 teams, the fixture doesn’t!