Accepting Mediocrity

Funny, I thought the exact same thing watching him yesterday. White (195cm) was probably slightly undersized for a ruckman as well. A much better comparison than Grundy IMO.

I think percentage is a much better stat than number of wins to get a gauge of how a team's season went overall. 2019 Demons Percentage: 78.6 2016 Richmond Percentage: 79.5 When it turns, it can turn quickly.

The way the competition is set up makes it extremely difficult for us to play finals if we drop even a single game against an expansion side (and % is likely to be important too). We're playing good footy though - I'll back us in. Go dees!

Geelong's success that year had very little to do with Selwood or Hawkins (although Selwood was very good for a first year player). They dominated the comp on the back of their obscenely talented 22-26 year- old core group getting their sh*t together (Bartel, Ablett, Scarlett, Enright, Johnson, Corey, Chapman, Ling et al). We have nowhere near the talent of that Geelong side, but if guys like Brayshaw, Weideman, Petracca, TMac, Melksham, Lever, May and Oliver improve on their 2019 form (not a big ask), that's a lot of scope for drastic improvement in 2020. I'm hoping Mooney's accuracy has improved since his playing days

Melbourne and Freo are the only 2 teams that could possibly manage to get bent over by Gold Coast in a trade! (haven't given up on May FWIW).

Based on 2019, I'm not sure which MFC players you'd replace those guys with. They need to field over 50 players, and not all players are available for selection. There were always going to be some lesser names make the cut. Incidentally, I would take any of Gresham, Moore (uninjured version) or Saad at the dees in a heartbeat. They're all very good footballers.

If they picked the side 12 months ago, I think TMac would have been a shoo-in - he was the leading goalkicker from Victoria in 2018 (not that it matters of course!)

Gresham's nowhere near as good as Oliver, but he is a better forward - it wouldn't make sense to stack the interchange with midfielders. Oliver would have been on the cusp of the team - but I don't think we can claim he was robbed on 2019 form.

Possibly true, but for perspective it's worth remembering that Gawn, Oliver, TMac, May and Lever would probably be pushing for selection if they weren't coming off injury ravaged/ career-worst seasons.

To be fair, I don't think any reasonably-minded person gets irked by statements such as "the menstrual cycle is probably a significant factor for female athletes regarding injury and performance". People justifiably roll their eyes when 'expert' blokes explain that this is somehow a reason that women shouldn't play elite sport.

Agree to an extent, but there aren't too many clubs who could easily cover their 2 best ruckman going down. Actually, we're probably better placed than most, having Jackson, Tomlinson or Weideman potentially form part of a makeshift ruck rotation. I share your concern with key position depth - if May or TMac miss big chunks of the year, we're in big trouble if others don't show significant improvement (although I haven't given up on Weideman just yet).

I'm excited by Kossie, but he'd need to develop remarkably quickly to make an impact at AFL level this year IMO. He's obviously a high impact per possession player, but he simply couldn't find the footy at the national champs last year. I reckon he'll show glimpses, but it might be a few years before he makes much impact. I seem to remember JKH turning it on as a small forward in his first ever preseason match and convincing us he was the Wiz 2.0. Still, I'm keen to see how they go. Agree, if these 3 all play good footy for us this year it will make a huge difference (especially Vanders - he'd be one of our first picked if he wasn't always injured).

Nothing against Champion Data, I just don't think Aussie Rules lends itself to meaningful statistical analysis very well. In a sport like basketball, metrics like rebounds and assists are reliably and highly correlated with success. In AFL, there's simply too many variables (check the stats sheet for our match against Geelong last year). Take any AFL stats analysis with a bucket of salt.

I agree, that team was unquestionably better than our current list and should have achieved more than they did. Lots of very good players, but never really clicked all at once. Also had some truly terrible seasons between the relatively successful years in the 90's. I don't think our list is overrated as such - I think we've got a number of key players with a huge differential between their best and worst. A lot hinges on May and Lever showing the form they've shown at previous clubs, and guys like Brayshaw, Melksham and TMac playing something near their best. The only teams that I believe are clearly ahead of us talent-wise are Richmond, Collingwood and the Giants. I think we've got the cattle to mix it with most sides - the rest is up to the game plan and mental side of things (in other words, we're screwed).

I don't buy the "We're coming from a long way back" mantra. We didn't start 2019 with an advantage because we were coming off a prelim. We're starting the 2020 season at the same place every other club is: 0-0. We showed incremental improvement every year before 2019. Given that we didn't have a bunch of older players start to decline, that's enough evidence for me that 2019 was simply a year from hell. If we don't play finals, heads should roll. We all overrate our own players, but I genuinely believe that, on paper at least, our list is good enough to be top 4. We're as well-placed now to pinch a flag as any time since 1998 IMO. For me, the pass mark is entering the finals with genuine hope that we can go all the way.

I think people forget how good Barry Hall was - most neutrals would rate him much higher than Gary Lyon. A thug of the highest order, but he did kick over 300 goals more than Lyon. Hall's finals record was actually pretty good overall too. Not to downplay how good Lyon was - probably the most natural footballer I've seen in my time supporting the Dees (too young to have seen Flower play unfortunately!)

Surprised the AFL didn't go with a gambling company TBH

A couple of points. A lot of commentary seems to be along the lines of "finally - we've taken a risk on elite talent instead of always taking the safe option". I disagree with this for 2 reasons. Firstly, I think we've taken our fair share of left-field recruiting gambles in recent years (e.g., Jurrah, Wonnaeamirri, Clark, Oliver) - they just mostly haven't worked out for one reason or another. Secondly, I can't see how recruiting Bennell is a particularly big risk - we haven't invested anything other than a rookie spot, so it's a classic low risk/ potentially high reward situation IMO. That's just astute recruiting. Let's be honest - if barracking for a footy club was purely about winning games and premierships, we all would have called it quits a long time ago. Players that defy the odds, comeback stories, redemption stories - they're the stories that capture our imagination and make footy great. Both us and Harley are due for some luck in this department - fingers crossed he plays some good footy for us (ideally in September, but no pressure!)

I couldn't give a stuff who plays the season opener TBH (though it's BS that it isn't rotated). I'd much rather see the Dees play the season closing game

Like Tom Boyd walking away from the remaining $1.5 million in his contract? I get what you are saying - very occasionally, no doubt the 'mental health' line is probably used by clubs when there are also other problems going on. We've come a long way, but there's still a stigma surrounding mental health, particularly for men. Trivializing mental health issues is incredibly damaging (for athletes or for anyone).

Sounds like a classic p*ss take to me. Does your contact have a sick sense of humour DD?

I think that's pretty much the point mate - he doesn't deserve 'special treatment', but he deserves the same basic understanding/ empathy you'd give anyone else in his situation. Not having a go at you, obviously you don't wish him any ill will. It just seems a bit cold-hearted to be patting ourselves on the back for trading him when the bloke's well-being is at stake.

Not wanting to get all high and mighty, but comments like this are in bad taste I reckon. Whether were right/ wrong to trade him is irrelevant now. The bloke is clearly going through hell. All the best to him.

Credit where it's due. This tournament he took down # 8 seed Berrettini, #12 seed Fognini, former #11 Sam Querrey, and took the GOAT to 5. For a bloke ranked #100 in the world, that's a fair run.

Sandgren now down a break in the 5th after having 7 match points in the 4th set. This guy is our spirit animal. If Bennell's calf doesn't come good, sign him up!