Mental Demons

Sorry, I did not think the demons have been playing much footy. Maybe a few minutes here and there but not enough to win. I am not here for blind faith and if you don't like how I see it, I am more than happy to talk about it. I don't come here to pray on hopes and dreams, I call it how I see it. There is more advantage in not winning another game this year and I hope it is what we do. It is not about the football this year anymore.

Many of the fans on Demonland seem to think we were going to win a lot more than we have. I don't think we have picked a team to win for months.

I was wondering how we were going to lose this game. No surprise, we are going to lose it at selection again, just like the last couple. If you don't pick players who are ready and have earned it, don't expect to win. Should be a funny game to watch as I think both teams will be trying to lose it.

Collingwood will win. Goodwin's comments about testing players for versatility and to see what they have for the future is an admission that we don't wan't or care to win. We will be better of with the high draft pick. It also hides our future potential for when we can put out a better team next year. The Demons have a bit of a record of not being good two years in a row. It has given a chance to have a look at some players who would not have got a look in but for injuries. It has separated a few of the men from the boys. Hore, Petty, Dunkly and Lockhart look to have something to offer. It has also weeded out some of our problems. If we were out to win we would be playing guys who are playing for their careers because their contracts are up. Of this Spargo and O Mac have very misty futures. It has also highlighted our poor drafting and player management. May is an overpriced crock but is the most secure player on our list, more secure than Max, Oliver, Salem, Harmes, Melksham, in fact everybody. May needs to show some value because his return this year has been terrible. May turns up unfit and struggles to stay on the field. Lever is not as much of a problem as he reads play well and has rebounding skills, he just needs a good run at it and his potential will be shown. Our other management problem players are Weideman (is only really a third tall); Vandenberg(has he played a game since we signed him for 3 years so the Swans would not get him?); Kolodjashnij(has not show any value at Casey); Pruess (immobile and overpriced). Pruess was a liability last week and so has not shown we can play him and Max in the same team.To be competitive against the Pies, we need our quickest team out there. If May is out again we probably need Oscar Mac in, no other tall options. JHK did not do enough last week to be kept on the list next year so another small can have a go in the big league. If Leaver is out, bring in Hore. If Tim Smith is fit we should bring him in. Would be good to have a look at Jordon, and/or Bedford. What have we got to lose except pick 2?

It is stupid statement because everyone is paid to be there. Bad coaching brings disunity and Goodwin has taken the team backwards. They are united in failure. For Goodwin, this is his one chance to be a senior coach and we are stuck with him. I don't see him sticking his hand up for a performance based contract. I can't see him turning this around in a hurry, he is not a coach who thinks on his feet.

This is unlikely to happen. We have to get past that "this guy will fix our problem" mentality. If North are willing to trade him I would suspect there is something wrong. Brown has not had a great season and is getting older. I believe he is on a long term contract. I do not believe we are able to trade our first round this season nor is it in our best interest. Matsuo seems to be just seeking attention and has too much time on his hands.

Would a straight swap for May and Oscar Mac get it done?

May's stats speak for themselves. I am not going to parrot them to you, look them up yourself if you know how. You have not even made an opinion apart form it is your opinion I am wrong. You have nothing to say. I do not hate May. I just don't think he is very good, too old and we paid too much for him.

I am just offering an opinion, I don't give a stuff if I convince anyone. You not saying anything anything and not backing your claims convinces me you are a bit of a numpty. What, no more gifs or memes to make your point?

And didn't that work well for him and the team. So what is your point? I know May was professional enough to turn up unfit. He has not done anything here yet, looking better in a crap team is not a yardstick if he was captain or not. He will not be either here and will have to prove himself to get in the leadership group.

All I can see is that you have nothing to back up what you say and have to reply in memes. I will bet May will not be our VC.

Why don't you sing of his successes then? I can't see them.

I am not a troll. I am looking at statistics. He was too old for the price we paid. He might make it to 30 games but I would be surprised if we were successful with him in the best 22. May bullying Frost does not make him a leader. Frost, Hore and Salem have been our best defenders this year. People here bang on about him being a VC at an unsuccessful club as some sort of qualification. This is nonsense, he may have been made VC at the Suns to increase his trade value. The Demons were suckers to go for it. Two ex-Suns players - less than a dozen games out of them in a losing season? Neither have proved their value. May has to get out there and earn some respect if he wants to be successful at the Demons. Making him VC before he does anything here will not help him get there.

Got any reasons why?

May is not leadership material. He is soft and getting softer. He was a very overpriced pick up and seem to be getting more fragile with age. I doubt he will play 20 games or be a part of a successful Demons team. He does not even lead by example with his personal self discipline. We have not even seen how he fits in a competent back line because he has never played in one. He has played one OK game for us.

The 12 months from Jackson 's exit has been bad but it could stretch back to Goodwin's first day as senior coach. Our board maintains "we are experts who are born to rule" attitude that has hampered our team since our last flag. Our drafting and player management has become stupid. No wrist slashing - seen it all before. The AFL will probably need to do another intervention if we don't improve our competitiveness across the franchise.

If the Crows put in a bid for Goodwin they should be drug tested. Roos and Jackson put us on the right path and Goodwin and the board stuffed it again in 12 months.

He was so ineffective you could not tell who he was on or notice how he shut them down. I can not remember him winning a contest and he was only noticed chasing a ball a couple of times. He needs to be dropped to learn how to get more consistency into his game. I suspect his best position is as a forward. Whatever he was meant to do V Eagles was a failure - try someone else.

Not at all. It can function as an extended preseason. Treat it as a learning experience rather than do or die. We can develop players and sort some of the wheat from the chaff. I think we will go flat out and may not do any better at winning anyway. We need to develop another game plan. Other teams have figured us out and some have copied what we did last year and do it better. We are not one of them.

To do that we need better players and and better coaching. The game has changed a lot in 5 years let alone 10. A successful club needs to be good at all aspects of the business, playing, drafting, player development, all of it . We have proved to be noncompetitive in many areas. We will struggle to win any more games this year without trying to lose.

Hibberd has lost a yard and is not getting quicker. His disposal has been worse and he has been struggling to make contests. If he is best 22 next year we will struggle to be successful. He may have some value as depth but he is not the future. Much the same for Jones but he has a little more depth value.

The season is gone. I do not think it is a losers mentality to position the club for better draft choices. There is nothing to gain from winning now. I don't think we need to deliberately go out to lose games this year at any time, we have been playing our hardest. We are rife with injury and our depth is under skilled. We will not have to try to continue these lackluster performances. It is a good time for trying rookies and giving farewell games out. I can see at about ten of our players not being on our list next year.

It seems The Demons have put the cue in the rack for the rest of the season. If we win any more games it will be by accident. Expect to see a lot of rookie tryouts in the seniors and more bad play rewarded with reselection of offenders, we have been doing that for ages. Lewis, Jones and Hibberd will get their farewell games. Gawn will be "injured", others will be "managed" - no tanking here, we will lose it at the selection table and will be unable to blame bad coaching.

Hunt and Hogan do not play the same position. Hogan was an important player for us because he took the best tall defender away from Weid and TomMac. It made our forward line work better than it has for years or since. May has not proved he can be a good player in a successful team and has done nothing to earn his place at the demons, he is a crap leader who was traded out of his leadership. May will be lucky if he gets through his MFC contract. May is not a key position defender he is another intercept zone defender, like Frost, Hore, Lever, Petty, Kielty and Hibberd. Frost has proven his versatility, May has no place telling him what to do. Drafting, list management and coaching are MFC's biggest problems. May is just another who gets a chance to prove himself- I have doubts he will, sorry if you have a problem with that.

"Nathan Jones has described May as one of the best directors of play he has ever played with." - Jones is all but past his use by date in an unsuccessful team and bagging team mates is not a help. May has not learned this. "You don't think development, coaching, resources, culture and more had anything to do with the Suns lack of success? You're blaming it all on May's "attitude"? Gee wiz." At no point did I say May was the only reason for the Suns failures, you made that up. He was not a help and I have heard that he was disliked by his team mates. The Suns back line has performed better without him. "Actually, through his 127 game career he has done just that. Frost has not." He has never been consistent and has done nothing at MFC to be considered a leader or even proved to be a good player. "He was literally a captain of their club." - and they were keen to let him go, not a vote of confidence from an unsuccessful team. "Every single person from the club has praised his "attitude", are you saying they've all lied? Where is your proof?" Nobody wants to admit they made a bad decision getting rid of Hogan for May. They talk him up because they are stuck with it. "Again, where exactly is your proof of this? What deficiencies does he have and whom as he blamed for them?" The proof is that he turned up unfit and has only played 3 games. What May has done at other clubs does not mean anything, he has to earn it at this club and he has not. Frost will play more games for MFC than May will. It is clear that you have little experience of how teams and clubs work and you read the game so badly it is not worth discussing it with you. Feel free to have your opinion but I do not value it. .