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Props to Demonland's trackwatcher Kev Martin for providing us with the early mail on Petty in the Forward line. I thought it was a masterstroke particularly with JVR debuting. It really took some pressure off Rooey because having Petty up forward required a decent defender. If you would have told me that we would be without TMac and then lose Ben Brown by half time and still kicked over 130 points I would have called you crazy. I don't think we've seen the last of TMac or BBB but I'm not worried about the future of our forward particularly because I see young Matt Jefferson kicked 3 in the twos. All hail Jason Taylor.

It will be interesting to see if Tom McDonald lines up for Casey. Word is his foot has come up sore after each match. Not sure why the club aren't just being honest with supporters if this is the case. Rumours that May will be a late out too.

We didn't adapt to the slippery slick ball and we were fumbling it all night. Conversely the Lions didn't seem to have the same problems with the conditions. Perhaps they are used to playing and training in these conditions. My question is why don't we train to the conditions? I'm not suggesting water logging Goschs or Casey but surely knowing that we might be playing in humid conditions why not lather up the ball with soap or oil at training? Why not train more at night in the lead up to night games? Am I being silly?

Players Definitely on the Flight to Brisbane. May, Harmes, Petracca, Grundy, Viney, Lever, Spargo, Brayshaw, Gawn, Hunter, Oliver, Hibberd, Langdon, Bowey, Melksham, Tomlinson, Jordon, Rivers, McDonald, Smith, Neal-Bullen, Fritsch, Sparrow, Petty, Chandler, McVee, Brown

I didn’t eyeball every player but Chandler is here and I didn’t see Laurie.

Bayley Fritsch & Steven May are here

James Jordon in the house.

Interestingly Joel Smith is here too.

Judd McVee here too so will be interesting to see whether Hibberd plays.

Tomlinson here. No sign of May. TMac here too.

Viney and Hibberd are in the lounge on the way to Brisbane.

This one’s gold too

I didn't make this. I don't condone it. The kid is a premiership player afterall and I will be forever grateful yadda yadda yadda. Having said that I did get a chuckle when I saw this on social media this morning. There may have been some coffee spat.

There was a lot of fear pregame on Demonland about the prospect of coming up against the 4 talls in the Bulldogs forward line especially with May sidelined. Nobody was expecting Tomlinson to get the nod. Many of Demonland, including the panel on this podcast, had penciled in Disco Turner as the next cab off the rack. I thought Tommo did an excellent job? Feel for him as it’s a LIFO situation upon May’s return.

Tomlinson?

How do all the teams that don’t have Steven May in them cope without him playing each week?

Rise - Adelaide Fall - Tigers Who will be our defender who takes the oppositions dangerous small forward? The Papleys, the Stengles, the Camerons etc. Judd McVee looks set to debut in Rd 1. Is Hibberd done? I don't think we should write him off just yet but I feel that a big statement was made not playing him in the praccy matches.

It is just conjecture and probably not true at all. Probably.

There is a good possibility that there was a bait and switch employed here. Perhaps this was intentional so there wouldn't be any track watchers watching from behind the fence at Casey. It's relatively simple to pull off. Advertise an Open Session at one venue, have the rubes turn up at that venue and then bait and switch so no interlopers at a tactical session. Bloody genius move by the club. Not very nice to the fans but we all want to win a flag afterall.

What a strange thing to organise well after the premiership particularly after it was earlier revealed that there are members of the team felt isolated (perhaps too strong a word) by not being a part of it. Less focus on bling and more focus on wins Dees.

Were the panel at all surprised by the Best and Fairest results? Not necessarily the Top 5 but some of the other results. I thought. ANB and Spargo were high and Harry Petty was low. James Jordon was in the Top 5 just prior to him being dropped. Leaderboard 608 – Clayton Oliver 553 – Christian Petracca 473 – Steven May 471 – Jack Viney 446 – Angus Brayshaw 430 – Max Gawn 395 – Bayley Fritsch 391 – Kysaiah Pickett 384 – Alex Neal-Bullen 367 – Ed Langdon 360 – Tom Sparrow 358 – James Jordon 349 – Charlie Spargo 332 – Luke Jackson 322 – Harry Petty 313 – James Harmes 237 – Jayden Hunt 236 – Ben Brown 236 – Jake Lever 220 – Jake Bowey

You would think after winning a flag players would be lining up to join the Demons. I have not heard one player be linked to us with the exception of Grundy and he is only linked to us because Collingwood are desperate to unload some dollars on a player who is injury prone and not in their best 22 anymore and we are in desperate need of a backup ruckmen with LJ leaving us high and dry. LJ leaves after 3 years. Kozzy has one foot out the door and might be gone at the end of next year. Are players not attracted to the Dees because we don't have the dollars to spend? What is it about our club that doesn't attract players if there aren't big bucks on the table?

Harmes had 35 possessions for Casey on the weekend and he's been the unused sub for the past 2 weeks. Can you see him getting a call up this week and if so who makes way for him?