Tom Dyson

He is our barometer. If he's playing well, then you can just about bet that the team is up and about. He brings a physicality that just isn't matched by anyone else on the team, his importance can not be understated. Vandenberg's run down crunching tackle on murdoch in the 1st quarter of the elim final 2018 says it all, he is simply a beast who won't give up. We all love the Vandemonberg!

We always get stitched up with 100km gusts as well, fair dinkum, and coming off a three/four day break. Arguably, north do play that ground better than any other team so its not an amazing result fixture wise for us. Would have loved to get them anywhere else but i guess the boys will just make it work for them.

I'd actually like to see T'mac get some form and confidence in a scratch match or two before returning, and Jackson didn't do anything to lose his spot either in fact I think at the moment, he provides more than t'mac. I'm not sure whether I give the benefit of the doubt to Lockhart or not, I'd like to see Jonesy come back into the team but I'm just not that sure. Rivers is also a possibility but again i think in a winning team, Lockhart gets the benefit of the doubt for another week. all in all then, no changes for me.

It was very Chris Scott esque, quite alarming honestly. I do agree, it was great to see some real passion! How good was seeing Clarko with his head in his hands tho, that was priceless. Up the mighty demons!

6. Gawn 5. Petracca 4. Viney 3. Oliver 2. Weideman 1. O'mac

Can someone shut down that weightman is better than kozzy thread ASAP. Everytime kossy gets his hands on the ball i wet myself. He offers so much more than weightman, i'm really glad we picked him up. The great legacy of the 36 lives on!!!

I still hate port Adelaide

I do consider myself an optimist but i'm slightly worried today. every club that has had heavy media scrutiny throughout a given week has so far this year responded with a strong win against their oppo's. Richmond, collingwood, melbourne, west-coast, hawthorn have all responded to media criticism. (there might be more but i can't think of them) Hawthorn have gone through the ringer this week in the press and in the media and i think it might be cause for concern. as we did against gold coast, they could come out really hard and pull our pants down. Clarkson rarely lets them lose badly two times in a row. in saying all that, i still think we have picked close to our best team and we look to be finding some form.

I said this in an earlier thread and I know we only have one real game to base his form on this year but I think the benefits of O'mac and Lever in the same team is undeniably true. "The first 6 or so rounds of 2018 when Lever had just come in to the team, O'mac shut down hawkins in round 1, he shut down Hipwood in round 2, he nullified ben brown in round 3, he didn't have a great game against hawthorn but he kept riewoldt out of it in round 5, he kept daniher goaless in round 6, he kept patty mccartin to 2 points in round 7 (which was the same round that lever got injured) and while he was alright for the rest of the season he was never as dominant." So far people have said O'mac relies on Lever or Lever relies on O'mac but i think it's safe to say that they rely on each other to both perform well. 2016 Round 1 (two point win over GWS), O'mac injured his ankle i think in the third quarter deep in our defensive fifty, it was three on one and even though he was limping about, he still tried his best to defend. I don't know about you but someone that has that much endeavour is someone I want on my team. He's always been one of my favourite players, keep shutting em down O'mac.

Theres glass half full and theres glass overflowing, i never thought i'd encounter such a demonlander but here we are. I love the optimism i really do, and as a fellow optimist myself i would love to predict the exact same. However, to quote goody of 2017, "let's just take it one week at a time." the game against gold coast will be very telling of whether we have improved our structure forward of centre. if the same issues remain, I'm not sure i can see us getting there but fair play to you for the prediction.

Tomlinson quite stiff to miss but he hasn't been anywhere near where I think we expected him to be. Could O'mac coming in possibly mean my prediction/desire to see Steven May in the forward line come true?

You raise a good point in your last paragraph but you're analogy is fallacious. Of course moving Melksham into the ruck wouldn't work and of course salem at FF wouldn't work, neither are tall enough to compete in those positions and that's also not what i proposed. You can manipulate the circumstances of your analogy to suit your argument but it doesn't help your case nor engage with the initial idea. All i wanted was to see how a 6 foot 2 95kg player who has a history of being a forward goes in the forward line for half a game. I'm not sure how you can be so confident that it won't work. In terms of your last paragraph, use either one or both of the macdonald brothers to cover the backline, and if it doesn't work then go back to how it was. I don't think moving one player will threaten the ability of the backline to function especially if you bring in a similar player (o'mac) to cover may momentarily, and if it does move him back. our forward line isn't working, we are not kicking goals, simple.

Do you accept though that if we don't try we won't know either way, the result of moving him. If we move him and he doesn't help the forward line and the backline leaks goals, then i'll put my hand up to say i was wrong. however if the converse is true and he benefits the forward line without detracting from the defence, is that not a gamble worth taking at least for half a game just to see how it pans out?

I'd agree to give Jacko, Weid and Brown a go first but I would be very surprised if any one of them suddenly provided the answers to our conversion and scoring issues. If one of them does kick heaps of goals than thats great but otherwise, i think trying may in the forward line even just for a half of a game could be a worthwhile experiment. Swinging T'mac forward was a masterstroke at least for a year and a half. I'm not sure how much stock you put in shane crawford's opinion but he suggested swinging may forward at least to bring the ball to ground more to give kossi and bennell a go. I agree that theres issues with supply but too often melky and hannan and fritsch would just get outbodied by bigger defenders (I think balta had 6 or so intercept marks yesterday). I'm not sure if moving may around would have much of an impact on the back six, but until its tried we won't know either way.

If this is a repeat of an old thread then feel free to merge. After pondering Kingy and Derm's post game comments, one interesting thing lept out, that being, we have heavily infested in two key defenders (May and Lever) who, while both being superb back-men, don't offer a solution to our biggest problem that being translating all of our forward fifty entries to goals. To win games you have to kick goals, it's as simple as that. Fritsch and Hannan offer something, Hunt bobs up every now an again, Kossi looks dangerous but isnt quite there yet, TMAC as well all know has been well off his best for a while. in short we don't have a weapon in our foward line. we don't have someone who we expect to kick four goals a game and be a real target going inside 50. It is indicative that we haven't posted a score above 55 this season and were horrible on the scoring front last season. this begs the question, with no real fire power waiting in the wings (brown and weid aren't going to resolve the issue imo), can we swing may forward and then use either of the macdonald brothers in the backline. let's remind ourselves, Steven May kicked 40 goals in 8 games in his year 12 APS season for Melbourne Grammar (average of 5 goals a game). he was drafted as a forward to gold coast, but was quickly transformed into a key defender at the request of some random gold coast coach. he's shown himself to be very damaging in the forward i think there's real potential for May to go forward, not only to offer a real target up forward but actually take a contested mark or two and slot a few goals. i think the solution has been under our nose the whole time but goody is too scared to possibly change anything and just coast along instead. but i hear you all say, surely if we move May back then we will only leak goals instead but this is where i think keeping o'mac is really going to benefit the club. The first 6 or so rounds of 2018 when Lever had just come in to the team, O'mac shut down hawkins in round 1, he shut down Hipwood in round 2, he nullified ben brown in round 3, he didnt have a great game against hawthorn but he kept riewoldt out of it in round 5, he kept daniher goaless in round 6, he kept patty mccartin to 2 points in round 7 (which was the same round that lever got injured) and while he was alright for the rest of the season he was never as dominant for the rest of the season. now i know a lot of you have issues with o'mac and i'd agree that he's had some shockers over the journey but he has shown that he can nullify some of the best forwards in the game so i don't see why he can't do it again. In short, try May up forward and replace him with O'mac in the backline (drop joel smith to open up a spot) and see if that might provide a solution to our scoring woes. after all, if you want to be inventive, this is the season to trial things. Thoughts?

Love reading these post-game forums after a close loss, the demonlanders never fail to disappoint. yeah it stings but there was a lot to like. Tmac showed glimpses, kossi looks really dangerous, backline largely performed well, Maxy went off yet again, joel smith wasn't completely putrid, tomlinson was good, harmes and viney battled away all day. clarry and gus were magnets. put it in perspective, we're watching our favourite team play live at the G. its not like the boys or goody want to lose, we'll be back. gotta keep the glass half full, onto next week. up the demons!

they tested positive in 2014, it was inevitable they would test positive again. #whateverittakes

Definitely would bring bedford in (if he's fit/ uninjured) for the melkshake. Hibbo in for Smith, no questions asked. would like to see o'mac come in but not quite sure who to drop for him and Essendon don't have a particularly tall forward line so having o'mac, may and lever probably isn't the best choice. Kosi in for ANB maybe. though ANB showed a bit so would be a bit stiff to get dropped. would definitely bring in mitch brown for jackson. jackson was good but didnt do heaps and i think brown offers something more especially against his old team. what i really want to see, out: 1 quarter performance, in: 4 quarter performance come on dees!

might be a bit late on the trend, but just watched the video and am literally crying. that hug with steven may was so pure, just so wholesome. so happy for him. can't wait to see him in the red and blue on Saturday. up the fückin demons!!!!!

Don't blame for their lack of defensive transition, they were just practicing the proper social distancing (but they read the government directions as 15 metres not 1.5)

red and blue beats [censored] and poo, did we expect anything else? Hopefully vanders injury is not serious, i really want him to have a good year, because i think he lifts the whole team with his physicality. and fritta should never be put into the backline again. he has been and will always be a genuine forward. super excited for round 1, come on demons !!

without the pressure of captaincy, i think Jack can work on being a bull and might also be able to get a better run with injuries if he does not feel compelled to play each week (as he might have when he was one of the co-captains). i think the captaincy decision will be a blessing in disguise for Jack, at least i hope so anyway. big fan of him and what he has done so i think he can easily get back to bull like form of 2017 and 2018. imagine a fit and firing vandemonberg and Vines reaping havoc on opposing teams and sending players to the hospital, thats enough to get me out of bed in the morning. Go Dees !

Pickett Dunkley Jackson Kolojashnij Spargo

jarred rivers has aged well looks like a really good pick, welcome to club trent

this might have already been answered on this thread, but what if anything would we get in return for frost leaving. also imo, him leaving just does not sit comfortably with me considering our track record with defenders (howe and dunne for example) leaving and becoming really good footballers. anyway, thanks for your service frosty and good luck at hawthorn.