Bring-Back-Powell

Spot on. I raised this point that the opposition’s accuracy was killing us as much as our own poor footy. Not sure if it was coincidence or to do with our lack of fitness. Check out this for a crazy 6 week period between rounds 7-12 which ultimately killed off our season. Melbourne - 53.80 (average 9.13.67) Opposition total. 76.45 (average 13.7.85) That’s basically an 18 point loss but 2 more scoring shots a a game. Hawthorn, GC and Collingwood combined a total of 12.0 in the last quarters of those three games. That’s surely just bad luck. (Ironically we won two of those games but that’s beside the point. The above mentioned opposition accuracy conversion of 63% over 6 weeks is a complete anomaly and would be unlikely to be repeated again this year.

I'm not sure if you can blame 2019 on mental issues as you've stated above but this sentence I've quoted carries some merit. It seems to me that the club has been very aggressive in using injuries and an interrupted pre season as the sole reason we had a garbage 5 win season. And keep in mind we had a full complement of mids all year - supposedly our strongest department. I hope the club has identified other issues that went wrong as it can't be solely injuries/surgeries. I can't accept the fact that ONLY injuries/surgeries were the reason we lost 9 more home and away games in 2019 compared to 2018, and got schooled by mediocre mid-low table sides such as St Kilda and Sydney on our home turf.

Any chance we can get this freak of a player out of retirement? We could do with another option up forward. He was the definition of natural talent.

It is iffy. His use of the footy in the Geelong final was extremely poor to the point where people were discussing him as an outside chance of being dropped. However, he’s clear best 22 and offers things to the side others can’t; eg - tackling, big brute of a bloke, contested mark inside 50; known goal kicker.

Leigh Matthews

Brilliant read! Mr Demonblog is a seriously funny and talented writer. Only at Melbourne can you have three 90 point wins (in 2011) and end the season in crisis.

Round 14 2017. The night he played a game the likes of Fyfe, Dangerfield and Martin dominate, as we had one of the all time great wins of this club. Would be amazing if he can return to that kind of form after a (touchwood) finally strong pre season.

I suspect you’re correct in that Kardinia Park wouldn’t work for our supporter base. We’d be lucky to get 6,000 against an interstate side down there. I was just wondering if we or another VIC side would get a guaranteed cheque for hosting a game for the city of Geelong. GMHBA stadium is expected to have a 40,000 stadium so you’d think there’s opportunity to play more AFL games there than just Geelong’s 9 a year.

And yet some people around here wouldn’t even have him in our best 22. Would walk into anyone’s best 22 with his crisp kicking and goal kicking nous. Players that would feature in other best 22’s. Gawn - obviously. Melksham - as mentioned above. May - one of the better full backs in the league. T Mac - 50 odd goals despite missing the first 5 games of the year gets you a gig. Oliver - one of the best young mids in the game. Does things others can’t. Maybe: Brayshaw - 25 odd Brownlow votes gets you a gig but I’m hoping he’s not going to live off that achievement for the rest of his career. Very good midfielder who once had a 37 possession 3 goal game. Poor 2019. Salem - has a good shoe but tends to fade late in seasons. Lever - A former All Aust 40 squad member who’s an excellent interceptor of the pill. Hasn’t shown anything near elite in his time with us. Fritsch - This season will prove whether he’s the real deal as a full time fwd presumably. Needs to kick 40 to be considered a gig with the big boys. Apparently Richmond and Collingwood have kept an eye on him if your believe rumours. Petracca - Has elite traits but just goes missing after playing a blinding quarter. Will 2019 be his year?

Complete hypothetical here, but if we were to transfer a home game or 2 to Kardinia Park and/or Casey Fields would we make a guaranteed profit on the game? Might be heading that way if we make a series of losses.

MCG home games: Gws - 30/70 FRE - 80/20 Rich - 20/80 Port - 60/40 WB - 50/50 Coll - 30/70 GC - 90/10 St k - 50/50 Syd - 60/40 Carlt - 70/30 I say we go 6-4 in our home MCG games. Need to then beat dons and hawks as away games. 8-5 at the G. Need to then beat Saints at Marvel and then win 4 of 7 interstate to guarantee finals

The club (and us supporters) will surely be asking question of Weid this time next year if he’s had another injury and form riddled year. Big concerns if he’s still needing Casey to re-boot on multiple occasions. As for the draft, it will be interesting to see how Georgiades turns out. I guess it’s a little disappointing the club didn’t get what they truly wanted.

He's faded badly in seasons 2017 and 2019. Will obviously start next year in the best 22, but needs to work on his consistency for the entire year.

I'd have Mitch Brown and possible even Petty ahead of him. I'd have more confidence in those 2 contributing more.

The second poster in the off season to suggest Melksham isn't good enough to make the best 22. Unless you guys are predicting a sudden downturn in form next year, Melksham would be one of the first picked. Infact, I'd go as far to say Melksham is the best kick at the club. Seen those inside 50 bullets he's capable of and the classy goals he kicks. We sorely missed him last year as we slumped to a 2-8 record without him.

Let's start the improvement by beating perennial mediocre sides such as North and St Kilda, as well as avoiding 9 goal losses to bottom 4 sides under lights at the G. Once we can achieve the above objectives I will contemplate the possibility of finals.

Be interesting to see how Petty goes up forward as the number 3 key fwd behind T mac and Weid/M Brown. Remember the games he played up forward he only had Preuss, Smith or O Mac as support - none of which are (were) any good as forwards.

Could not possibly agree any more. The Carlton game this year completely summed up our reliance on T Mac. An in form T Mac kicks 6 goals to 3 quarter time and we're flying with a 30 point lead. He then gets injured, misses the last quarter and we get outscored 5.4 to 1.3 and almost lose the game. Then of course we lose the remaining 7 games in his absence. Excellent balanced report. Certainly a lot more critical than the other reports but that's fine.

I doubt anyone around here needs apologies for providing us Demon tragics with MFC related entertainment.

Mr Demonland can you please prepare the 2010-2019 ladder for Kardina Park/GMHBA. I'd say we'd be equal top with one win.

Yes exactly. McCartney implied (in a recent SEN interview) that the coaching staff thought we were poor on the most part against Hawthorn in the semi and the writing was on the wall after the game. I doubt however that they predicted we’d amass a half time prelim score of 0.6.6.

Agree with both delistings, however both can consider themselves a littler unlucky considering Josh Wagner received an extension. Could have easily re-signed one of the two and delisted Wagner.

I wonder if it was a genuine de-listing or a mutual parting of ways. Still reckon he had a little left in the tank and at worst would've been handy depth for our small forwards.

Was that the side that lost by 58 point in their one and only final and didn't get an ounce of scrutiny from the media. Meanwhile the year before we lost a final by only 8 more points (despite winning 2 earlier finals) in hostile territory and extreme heat, and the media portrayed that loss as a crime to humanity.

I wonder who the four poor buggers are? If Buckenara's on the payroll he'd have Harmes as poor and Josh Wagner above average.