rpfc

And we are on this board… 

FMD.

Big game this Thursday for Kate Hore and her Demon Queens.

I know there is a ‘AFL Womens League’ board but I don’t want to talk about that - I want to talk about the Melbourne Demons on the Melbourne Demons board.

The dominant, amazing, and humble team that deserves eternal hellfire and idol devotion.

Also, no one goes to that board and there wasn’t even a match thread…

Viney with 24 votes. Should have been AA.

2 hours ago, old55 said:

We're not going to change our game style approach under Simon Goodwin, although at times during the year we did use the ball more creatively going inside 50 - e.g. the Carlton SF was better than the Collingwood QF.  But it's still within the same approach of a contest/territory game and weight of numbers of i50s.  And we're not going to trade Max, Clarrie, Christian or Jack for "better users".

Given all that, I'm in the "we need better finishers forward" camp, and as @rpfc predicts - if we have them then delivery will also improve as a result - I think that was borne out when Petty was operating at his peak. It's the least disruptive change and we weren't far off.

McAdam sounds like a good acquisition.  Petty, JVR, Fritsch McAdam, Kossie, and we all know ANB will be in there. Another elite finishing small would be good but they're hard to acquire, maybe adding McAdam and getting full seasons out of Petty and Fritsch is enough.

We can get some organic improvement too.  I think Chandler is a good player who ran out of steam as the season progressed, maybe with another pre-season he can improve further.  Laurie has some very nice skills and vision, and if he can get really fit over summer, like McVee did, then he could be a contributor. AMW shows some promise at Casey. I think Woey is a bit vanilla for the forward role and fits in the midfield depth roster in place of JJ and Harmes.  If I was Spargo I'd be looking at my options elsewhere.

Yeah, you play to your cattle - every FD knows their players best - our fwd line need healthy, ‘forwards’, in their prime, and in form. A lot of that will come from Kozzie getting older and wiser, Petty and Fritsch coming back, and hopefully Chandler showing more consistency and aggression with the footy (love the fact he cares about the zone, but mate, pointing doesn’t get you kicks). I would love another tall and a small but it’s a hard game. JVR is about to enter his third season as a KPF possible back up ruck - he is gravy - we can’t expect he holds up a post in flag contending team.

3 hours ago, Hawk the Demon said:

My goodness, you are fired up, late on a Sunday night.

But your fundamental point is that the "Great and the Good" shall choose our Board, and those deplorable members should hand over their dosh; shout their lungs out, but otherwise stay well away. 

Not how a members' Club should work my friend.

Im not your friend, pal.

I have said this before and you choose not to get it to move on with your life - ‘administrations’ should be just that. They should get who they want for what they want and then they can get turfed out when they get turfed out. Democracy needs that to function - your ideal of elections of ‘diverse opinions’ of mates of yours just destabilise the board and cause issues. So you can stay in your naive little fairyland if you want to but there is no flag, no 70k members, and no stable club without this admin being able to be a unified group - and yes, unified enough to knife a bad egg trying to ruin a coach and deal with the consequences in court that you love to hang them with.

14 minutes ago, Hawk the Demon said:

So how are those Board appointments going? Some being sued for defamation, some not? Internecine squabbles - hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs. Lost a case in the Supreme Court. Lost a costs request in Perth? The Club belongs to its members - let them choose the Board rather than the Putinesque way it is done at the moment.

Sued for defamation by a person that by now you know @Demonland will not let anyone mention. A person whose own ego is driving a vendetta against your coach. And by extension your club. To drive home a point that humans are in fact human. That we are defined by the empathy we show or we don’t. 
 

And here you are pontificating and posturing with that person’s activities and proclivities as the damnation of the board. But memory and history are the same on this; that person was removed and then the club unified and galvanised. But those with little to say but plenty to whine about have to yell something don’t they?

Oh, and my god you’re an easy bite. I kiss you and throw you back - I have had my fun. Have a good swim.

Like with Board appointments, FMD I am glad fans have little say with appointing Yze’s replacement. 

By and large - NFI.

2 hours ago, Binmans PA said:

Maybe, although in footy terms, Hannibal/PD/Gator are pretty much always spot on IMO.

Perhaps, but his ego never allowed him to have a meaningful discussion without descent into personal jibes or irrelevant musings into another poster proclivities. So he came and went like the tide.

It would be an enticing position as you are practically the game day coach of the team with Goodwin downstairs. 

Yze was obviously very good but our ball movement was really quite poor and our skill execution and decision making also under enormous pressure because of our ‘defence first and defence last’ game style. I hope we get someone to release the shackles and that will make for a happier and less boring team.

No idea who that would be but we will get someone good - that’s what good clubs do. 

Probably good timing for us.

5 hours ago, old55 said:

No, the reason it failed was not to do with Grundy. It was because the FD and Max thought that Max could play an effective role forward, which he couldn’t do. Grundy was there to fill the ruck hole effectively. That's it.

Yes, the shade being given to Brodie is rich considering he had NO FORWARD CRAFT before we recruited him. Goodwin and co thought Gawn was ready for his next and finals phase of his career but he wasn’t and maybe never will be - I fear Max will go out of the game in the blink of an eye and a turn of the knee and not gracefully from a forward pocket years later…

17 minutes ago, old55 said:

I'm going for a different solution - acquire more elite forward talent. We have the draft hand and salary cap space to do it. It's a simpler fix IMHO.

I think if we get that elite talent, it will force the issue and we will adjust our game style.

2 hours ago, old55 said:

Yes I'm a slow learner, but I think it's finally dawned on me. I thought "Defence and contest" - that must mean we need the best defenders and mids available.

But no, they do have to be very good, but it actually means we need the best forwards available because it's so hard to score goals with 30 players in your F50. They'll get an absolute heap of nearly opportunities.

Yes, it’s why I ran through in some random thread a few months ago how I hope we leverage our backline strength, not have such a high press and be more of a counter attacking and fast movement team - I also think that will play into the strengths of our two best mids who are ‘hoofers’ of the highest order. I would much prefer they ‘just effing kick it’ as the masses say, to grass for Pickett, Chandler, McAdam, and Fritsch to run on to. But we have to build that space forward of centre. 

But again, it depends on who we get in October.

Love those videos!

2 hours ago, old55 said:

Great analysis.  But the point is that pressure goes up in finals and our accuracy goes down.  The Melbourne/Goodwin mantra is that we play a contested, territory winning, defensive style because that's what wins finals and I think that's reasonable, but when we get in inside crowded 50 as a result, we need a gun forward line to convert hard opportunities.

Teams that play a more rebounding open style get more defensive one-on-ones and actually don't need absolute maximum class forward, but our game style results in congestion inside 50 and we're playing against the best defences - we need better converters under maximum pressure.

Now that’s great analysis. 

Couldn’t agree more. I’m biased being a forward and a former forwards coach - I have never been comfortable with how we have leveraged our forward players to supplement our defence. And it really does impact how ‘easy’ it is for us to kick goals and get favourable match ups.

I assume this will be addressed by the FD over the summer.

Too many things up in the air with our draft capital and forward line predicament.

Also coaching appointments may mean we are more attacking off HB, or with the wing position…

4 hours ago, von said:

Tune in next year to find out 

That’s the answer dear listeners.

This kind of ‘pile on’ was always coming once we went out is straight sets the way we did. 

14 minutes ago, 58er said:

That's what happens when you lose games you should win. 

People go crazy? 

People be starting threads on anything these days…

7 hours ago, jnrmac said:

So now if max goes down we will ruck with ????.?

This week? Probably go in with Briggs against Coll.

Those of you trying to placate your own Dees bias is a bit rich; we knew what we were getting. A ruck who struggles forward coming to a team with the worst situation imaginable for that player; a better ruck and a dearth of healthy forwards to enable Grundy to play a small role in our forward line.

It was a mistake from the point they spoke to Grundy last year. We may not be too adversely impacted from a long term or draft capital POV but I would have much preferred we spent $650k on forwards who might have been a chance to play the last two weeks

Its ok, mistakes get made but can we just admit that and move on - some of you are contorting yourselves to avoid that admission.

21 hours ago, gs77 said:

On that, wouldn't the AFL be relishing the boon a QLD or NSW team's success would have for the growth of the game up there? Particularly a maiden GWS flag? 

Personally I'd love nothing more than seeing the Pies and blues fall short next weekend.

Yes, the AFL would love to see two northern state teams battling it out. All they care about is money and attention and that would bring both to markets that they need exposure in.

Maybe someone should start a thread about trading James Jordon… for whom we should trade him for… how much he is WORTH in a TRADE. You know, simple thread about the simple concept of trading an OUT OF CONTRACT, UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT

Go Orange Team!!