Swooper1987

One of the coaches agreed with us!

https://www.zerohanger.com/demons-ruckman-under-injury-cloud-119973/ Obvious to anyone at the ground that he was troubled by injury yesterday.

I reckon Gawn played hurt in the second half. Hardly anytime on ball and a lot of the last quarter on the pine. Was riding the bike a bit too. Might be a good time to let him sit one out. He's got a big few weeks coming up.

Our draw wasn't easy at the start of the year when it was first announced. From last year 2nd, 16th, 8th, 3rd, 6th, 12th and 14th in the first 7 games. When you finish first you aren't going to play anyone above you. 4 out of last years top 8 in the first 5 rounds was about as difficult as anyone preseason. Degree of difficulty of draws ebbs and flows throughout the season - form, availability, incentive at different times all come into it. Just take them as they come and the ladder looks after itself. There are a standout top 3 and we are in that group, and as was stated earlier in this thread we all play each other twice. It couldn't be fairer than that.

Dew was a long time assistant at Sydney. Probably proves that Longmire hasn't changed much over the years since Dew left.

1. Swooper - he was quite remarkable. Finals for 5 consecutive years, winning at least one final every year between 1987 and 1991. Broke a 23 year finals drought and had more success against Hawthorn in their golden era than any other side. 2. Goodwin - he's a premiership coach 3. Danners - he did well considering the third world conditions he operated with compared to most other clubs. 4. RDB - 5 years of toil which introduced a group of players who were constantly competitive under Northey. 5. Balme - he was very unlucky with injury from 1995. 1993 we were stiff not to make finals, 1994 we made the prelim. The planets just never aligned for him. Roos did his job and was clearly a great club and culture builder.

I coached him junior cricket at Frankston YCW. He played in back to back premierships in under 14's. Was a decent medium pacer and a gun slips fielder. Footy was always his go though. A very clever small forward. He's doing great at Casey this year. Pleased to see him doing so well.

He is impressive isn't he? As much as I respected Clarkson, it's hard to argue they made the wrong decision.

https://shows.acast.com/7afl/episodes/the-al-lingy-show-round-7 Go to the 3 minute mark. Big praise for MG!

Mandy Nicholson who did the 2016-17 design's is Ky-ya's mum. They are fantastic artists, and a great family. Had both Ky-ya and her sister Dharna in my school. Jumper looks great.

They are a very good team and were probably the biggest threat to us last season. They are better again this year although I still think they concede too many big scores. I like Freo defensively. They need Fyfe up forward and kicking straight.

It might, but the AFLCA votes have the same top 5 Demons as Demonland (Petracca, Oliver, Gawn, May, Langdon). That might change a little after this round but I think it'll be similar. Current AFLCA votes for Melbourne players (to round 6): 31 Oliver 28 Petracca 20 May 18 Gawn 12 Langdon 9 Brayshaw 6 Brown 6 Jackson 5 Viney 4 Weidemann 4 Jordon 4 Harmes 2 Spargo 1 Sparrow

Craig Jennings rated him the best in the game 2 years ago. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/08/06/does-max-gawn-have-as-much-impact-as-some-of-the-games-greats/

In the pre season poll the media do with the the coaching panels Max got 4 votes as the best player in the game. That was more than Oliver (0) and Petracca (1) from memory. I think the opposition understand how good Max is. he's definitely not underrated by them.

Concur. Was a Gawn epic

Correct. Goody fairly bristled when a journo suggested Petracca had been below his best. I think it was obvious to everyone else at the ground that Petracca was below his best but there you go. I guess even below his best he still had some influence, although like most here I thought Gawn's influence over the whole game was far greater.

Kane Cornes has named his seven best effort players in the competition right now. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/04/24/greatest-effort-player-the-game-has-ever-seen-cornes-top-seven-maximum/ This is the list and a great acknowledgement for Gawn who through sheer effort has made himself a champion. Kane Cornes’ top seven effort players in the competition below 7. Max Gawn (Melbourne) “Watched him last night diving over boots, getting back in the hole, taking contested marks, he’s turned himself obviously into a star player, but the inspiration he provides and the effort for his team…” 6. Jacob Weitering (Carlton) “I wanted to give the key position players some love. Jacob Weitering is a great trier.” “One-on-one, never gets beaten. “He’s running back, he’s out of position, gets a hand in, gets a glove in and brings the ball to ground.” 5. Brayden Maynard (Collingwood) “Just a good trier.” 4. Toby Greene (GWS Giants) “Just watch him. Watch the effort that he provides. Tagged every week, players hanging off him … he falls to the ground, gets back up.” 3. Ben Keays (Adelaide) “He just gives incredible effort each and every week.” 2. Touk Miller (Gold Coast) 1. Joel Selwood (Geelong)

coaches went: Oliver 10 (5/5) Langdon 7 (4/3) Vlastuin 6 (4/2) May 3 (3/-) Petracca 2 (2/-) Brayshaw 1 (1/-) Sparrow 1 (1/-) Goodwin definitely voted for Petracca if you listen to his post game presser. Which means he thought Vlastuin was second best and therefore Hardwick gave May 3. So well done to the very few Demonlanders who had Tracc in the votes!!

I've always looked at 12 wins as the first marker. That pretty much guarantees finals. We are halfway there. Win 4 more than that and you are very unlucky to miss top 4. So I'd be happy with 16-6 and even happier with 17 or 18 wins which should get you to top 2.

or pay attention to the coaches votes. Everyone has an opinion. This is a forum to express it.

I don't think any other specialist forwards have appeared in the votes. But anyway, it's all in the eye of the beholder. The only votes that matter at all are the coaches. It's nice we all get a chance to have an opinion on Demonland and sometimes it's similar to the coaching panel, or the media and often it isn't.

Gawn wasn't listed in the best in the Age last week either and got 8 coaches votes. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the Ronny Lerner's (HS) and Courtney Walsh's (the Age) of the world.

He was ok. Not vote worthy in my opinion but he played alright. He went at 63% DE from 9 kicks and 18 handballs. 14 contested possessions. His misses on goal were poor for a specialist forward and some of turnovers (9) were very poor.

Just got home and haven't seen a replay so going off my recall of the game and the ringing in my ears of the Tiger fans around me. 6. Oliver 5. Gawn 4. Langdon 3. May 2. Petty 1. Bowey The Tiger fans were most appreciative of Oliver and Gawn - apparently there is no kryptonite for either, although Nankervis tried very hard. They were ecstatic that Tracc had not much influence.

You've summed it up well. When Salem ( mid small) got injured in round 1, McDonald (a tall) was moved back to cover. I reckon they count Smith as a hybrid so he in effect becomes the fourth small. McDonald, May and Petty give us our preferred structure and Brayshaw takes Viney's place in the midfield rotations.