Robbie87

Yes. Apart from being a great and revealing read on the 57 years, the running repairs to the forward line at the end of 2023 and the ultimate attrition of key forwards were highly significant. While the media (cue Damian Barrett) largely went for the 'straight sets' pile-on, I thought that our coaching and selection through that period, plus performances of some individuals, to not only win late season games, but ALMOST win two finals, was stellar. The Club and in particular Goody, received almost zero media credit for that. What might have been if Petts, Fritta and Melky have had stayed on the park....

6. Gawn 5. TMac 4. Langdon 3. Lever 2. Chandler 1. May

Apart from the poor execution when we did win the ball, and the brain fades to go along with it, there were a couple of glaring things to me. One was the lack of hunt of the footy at stoppages and centre bounces, until Viney switched on late in the third and the last quarters, and Riv went in the middle. The first three quarters there was hardly any one on the move around or through the contest - lots of trailing their opponents to the ball. Can't afford to let a bloke like Neale get moving and his hands on the ball first. He set them up to exit the contests at speed. The other was why Max was rarely a target down the line except in the last quarter. We persisted in kicking to an outnumber, or worse still, exactly where Harris Andrews was. I know Max spent quite a bit of time on the bench, but there were other periods where he was just motoring around the opposite side of the ground. Further to that JVR looked pretty 'Roo'ted tonite after some longer (?) stints on the ball, and going deeper in to defence. Saw his opponent run past him to receive a couple of times. Maybe Max was a bit banged up, although he certainly was trying to create at stoppage/centre bounces - playing to my point about lack of hunting the footy from mids at same.

Andy MW time? I know he is playing down back atm in VFL, but is a small forward with speed, good skills, vision and finish - tackles hard and can take a grab too. He must be very close to selection in a similar way to Howes' recent elevation.

6. Petracca 5. Gawn 4. McVee 3. May 2. Lever 1. Sparrow

I am a bit surprised by him more so than the Club. Personally, I think he has the skills and class to make something of his spot. It may take some more continuity at the higher level (leaving aside when that opportunity might be there). I was thinking he was likely to do a Bedford and seek greener pastures given who appears to be ahead of him. But kudos to the Club in retaining him as they obviously see something in him going forward.

Source or personal opinion Beetle?

6. Clarrie 5. Trac 4. May 3. Max 2. Billings 1. Chandler

Geez. It's Jay Clark from the SH ... more than likely nothing to see here .......

On Sunday K9 showed a great ability to be where the ball was - bobbing up in deep defence, then deep forward. Composed, executes well, good game sense. Other small forwards would have raised an eyebrow?

Was pretty much how I summed up the day. He is good.

I vote for JVR is the one to watch as forward/ruck. Mobile, good below his knees, good hands, tough, tackles, has some speed - not sure about tank. Impressed with his ability to palm the ball to advantage in his forays into ruck last year. I see some similarities to Luke Jackson, but potentially better in the dual role, particularly up forward. Remember he also played defence in his pre-draft year so could be useful in rucking back half play too. I think BBB stays fwd when JVR rucks for Max, Gawn rests off ground, BB goes to bench when JVR is forward- this will help keep both Max and BBB fresher through the season, and keep JVR more in the game.

Tim Lamb has the runs on the board - I think I will go with his strategy rather than posters' reactive ruminations.

Watched a lot of VFL on the AFL website this year. As others have opined, he is good under the ball, and above his head. Seems to read the ball in flight well and while physically light on atm, seems to be able to maintain focus on the ball despite heavier bodies around him. Good hands, lovely kick. What gives me a lot of hope going forward is his general footy smarts - seems to have a good read on the play, makes good decisions - but lack of fitness and strength diluting his efforts. Bit of a cross between early Fritta (as others have remarked) with maybe a bit of Jack Watts (in that he doesn't appear to have ferocious intent)? Too early to say if he is going to develop into a regular AFL player. Be very interested to see what his second year brings with a solid preseason.

But what was his role? Was he tagging for example?

AFL.com.au reporting Clarrie (not quite right) and Hibbo (kidney injury) outs against GWS.

Max didn't retaliate when Daniels threw him over the boundary line in the 21 Grand Final - that worked out pretty well..

Lovely day in Wonthaggi - not such a common event. Casey welcomed back skipper Mitch White, Harmes (after subbing last night), Melksham, Woewodin(?). Draft hopeful Zane Duursma also. Moniz-Wakefield and Jimmy Munro (still) missing. Scrappy first qtr with Casey having the better of the play, but not converting. Casey pretty much maintained the ascendancy after that. Some casual AFL listed observations/opinions… Melksham most creative and effective fwd, could have finished with 6 or 7 with a bit of straighter shooting - too good for this level. Joel Smith up forward looked lively at times as well as his 3 goal burst in the second - only fwd that came clean in the air at the ball. Still not convinced though. Tmac got a bit of it mostly pushing up the ground, but his ground game and short passing were underwhelming, as was BBBrown, who struggling to have any impact. Wouldn’t think either are looking at senior duties any time soon. Farris-White swapped with Bell in the ruck and was monstered by Meek, but kept at it and had a couple of wins late in the game. Tall lad - looked to be same height as Gawny, who was in attendance along with Lever and Chandler (and Chocco) that I could see. Think Tim English in early days - light build atm. Thought Turner was our most solid defender in the air and on the ground - the defender I would elevate if we needed one. Looks same height as Tomlinson, who had an Ok game but his ground game made me nervous. Deakin Smith played one of his best games that I have seen. - composed, intercepting, attacking. Woewodin moved well, impacts the game - did have a fair of bench time. Howes not prominent but did what he needed to do. Harmes bullocked his way through the game in his usual attacking, crash-through style - with the usual odd caught in possession. Bill Laurie did some nice things but wasn’t prominent. Jed Adams looked the most composed I have seen him - getting the hang of the level, moves well and raking kick. Jefferson was rarely involved, went behind the ball at times, but showed signs of smarts when he did, and kicked a nice set shot - but a long way off. Dunstan went off with a knee mid-game, was hard at it but not his dominant self from the previous week. Sestan bobbed up here and there, snapped a nice goal, looks to be defending better. Zane Duursma looks tallish and a bit lightly built - bit like Howes - moved well but didn’t impact much with his minimum ground time. The Casey lads had their usual hard crack - George Grey probably the best of them. White and Buntine showed poise under pressure. Other highlights were TMac kicking the ball into the camera scissor lift cage above behind the goals, and the footy going over the clubroom roof, and another on the table tennis club roof and getting stuck behind a roof sign. Overall and enjoyable day and a good result.

How did his path up to, and through, the National Draft play out? I have heard he was touted as a very high pick coming up to his draft year, but didn't grow as expected, and so fell down the order - it there any truth in that?

Get onto the Club's recent special Kayo membership offer, save money (its much cheaper than direct Kayo membership I have had for years), and adds another 'membership' to the Club's numbers - a win/win! If you already have Kayo, you just cancel that, and when you join with the Club, you get sent a code to use when 're-joining' as an MFC Kayo member (for 12 months) - has worked flawlessly for me.

I might have missed something obvious, but I didn't see Melksham last Saturday night for the Williamstown game - anyone know what his status was/is?

Hard to beat that last game of the season in 87 and the euphoria out on the outer wing amongst the Demon faithful - the following two weeks were pretty good too, followed by the worst support experience in my Demon watching history in that gut wrenching preliminary final. But last Saturday night was probably the most epic win I have seen given the opposition and circumstances.

Found the 'C'mon Demons' segment very interesting - I did the artwork for the record cover! Back in the day was doing a bit of graphic design for the Club (and did so up until about 2004 - Demon Magazine amongst other stuff). Remember Jimmy coming out to our office to talk through it. Wasn't my finest work but I seem to recall Jim had a fair hand in directing it - seems it was the case with whole project. Connolls is a very funny bloke - did a caricature of him for his retirement featuring bunged up knees. Bumped into him years later and he still had it - organised for myself and a friend to do a bit of a tour of the Olympic Park and MCG Sports Museum - spent a couple of hours with us with was great. Thanks Connolls!