rpfc

Well I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have our first round pick next year, won’t have to worry about burning a high pick on the kid. The clubs rarely screw each other over in these instances. They know they will get karma and right quick.

There are different types of ‘big years’ needed, and some overlap: big career year, big comeback year, big year for Dees to succeed, big developmental leap year, etc.

Big years for their career

Howes - with Petty (presumably) coming back, it makes it even harder for Blake to cement a spot but I hope we can keep him around as I think he has a bit to him.

Petty - injuries have ruined him lately but needs to return to form quickly for the sake of his mind not just his body. 

Comeback

Oliver - what is he for the rest of his career? He might never recapture his manic ability to win the footy and distribute and power out of stoppage but can he get back to some sort of form.

Developmental Year

JVR - has the opportunity to make a leap being the focal point. Still won’t have protection from the number 1 defender but maybe our gameplan can make it easier for him to succeed.

Chandler - I hope he can take the leap to being one of the first picked in the forward line in the absence of ANB. He has the talent and the desire, does he have the discipline and the confidence?

Sparrow - now or never Tom. Trent made the leap past you in the middle. Perhaps the door is shut with the influx of midfielders into the frame for 2025…

Big for the Dees

Oliver | Petty | JVR - already mentioned.

Petracca - our best player needs to get back to his best for us to get a sniff to be top 4 again

Gawn - he is the eternal flame, god help us when it gets dark.

May - Petty back will take some pressure off but he is needed to have another great year.

Rivers - is he a better mid than Oliver? If he is then he will be massively important to our fortunes.

Pickett - can he continue a banner year with another? And stay on the park?

Lever - can he help us modernise our gameplan? And get us going?

Its no surprise that these are the best players, but it does get one excited about the possibilities.

3 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Pragmatist:  somebody's going to have to wash that bloody glass you know.

Nihilist: what’s the point of drinking anything

14 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

I hear ya rpfc but it is the silly season so if someone wants to make a pantomime villain out of a sports personality that's been a bit of a tw@t I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. 

Sure, but here on the forum dedicated to this team we all love - we like to keep good players at club yeah? Some on here lost sleep over who we took with the 3rd last pick in the draft…

Pantomime is a participatory type of theatre so we have our part to play don’t we…

43 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Whichever way you lean regarding BP5, voicing that opinion on here is hardly going to affect his decision making or demeanour regarding the MFC. I mean, if you had his content & media manager would you spend any time on here? 

Ok, again, I am not trying to argue against voicing that opinion on Demonland, I am trying to argue against that opinion wherever it is voiced.

Presumably, I am reaching people that live in the real world? That might impact even in a small way the proliferation of the toxic and tedious environment that has been created…

21 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Did you get your mum back on tracc? 

I asked her if she could name the number he wore on his back, and left the conversation with that silence.

Just now, rpfc said:

Cue the meme 

Found it:

I just wanted to use that meme 

1 minute ago, Gorgoroth said:

If anyone is missing, its not Clarry, But Kate Hore.

Cue the meme 

38 minutes ago, demoncat said:

Fair points, but just on the relationship between Trac and his fans - I’m not saying I was personally effected by it

Moreso that his lack of attempts to display anything other than a cursory commitment to the club this year suggests that positive fan sentiment was not a priority for him, and some of the reporting that came out around his intentions of why he wanted to leave also suggests this 

Just like we can’t control whether he goes, we also can’t control if he stays, and I don’t think a few stray comments on a forum will be the difference for him, so let’s not get too caught up in it 🤷‍♂️

Yeah, I don’t care what DemonBro69 says on here - I just see Demonland as the precursor to underlying sentiment of Dees fans. And that permeates through to game day, interactions on the street, and general ‘conversation’ in footy media (talking about thirsty little men).

Even my ‘hardly follow the footy’ mother told me last week that “we’re off Petracca” with a look like she just ate a lemon. 

I just think we, as fans, can be the beggars to our own demise in this story or we can move past it and help to tell a new one.

1 minute ago, demoncat said:

m8 if Trac cared what the fans think he wouldn’t have kept us in the dark for two weeks and done so little to reaffirm his love and commitment to the club since 😭

Not that he owes us anything - it’s entirely his prerogative and I don’t think it’s healthy for us to get into parasocial relationships with athletes no matter how much we love them on the field 

But by the same token people can make a few jokes and observations based on his behaviour - it’s a two way street 

I’m not saying you can’t do it, m8. Only that this underlying sentiment will be felt and will impact. What is said at open training sessions, on social media, at the games in the tunnel, and yes even fan forums are discussed amongst circles around players if not the players themselves, has an effect especially if it is so targeted at a player and his motivation.

Finally, you talk unhealthy para-social relationships but you talk of ‘being kept in the dark’ over the issues that CP5 was tackling. You, and others, intimate he doesn’t care about the club, fans, fans reaction. Everyone cares. No matter what ivory tower one creates; look at Elon Musk - the worlds richest man as the worlds thirstiest little man.

I am just alluding to the reality we can create for ourselves where we can help the club support someone to stick around and be a part of the Demon family.

We are going to drive him out of the club aren’t we? We are going to self-fulfil this prophecy…

Petulance begets petulance.

And what do you guys think the above is?

On 21/11/2024 at 19:51, 4_Kent_Watts said:

I was thinking Langford might get 12. Had 2 at Dandy, 22 for Vic Co. Think he likes a 2 on his jumper. Not that I have any clue. 

44 minutes ago, Elwood 3184 said:

Announced at Mansfield today

19 Langford 

20 Lindsay

Magic!

1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

I'd be surprised if Windsor played anywhere other than wing. Turner is miles ahead of Jefferson who's more miles ahead of AJ. Lindsay has HBF written all over him and I think we'll see Trac forward and Rivers in the middle more and more this year. Fingers crossed Petty plays back.

Jefferson is ‘miles ahead of AJ’…

One is a proven VFL player trying to step up to AFL. The other is a kid that is trying to step up to VFL.

People are too worried about how someone enters the AFL system. 

James Magner had a better career than Jordan Gysberts even though Jordan was ND11.

1 hour ago, Bowserpower said:

A lot of people are saying this and I don't know why.

Coz they think he is going to ‘crack skulls’ 

40 minutes ago, Deemac said:

I feel sorry for whoever gets this role no one appreciates it and when you make a mistake it’s easy to pile on 

Yes, and plenty will say ‘boy wowee, how did Petracca get that much space?! I not gonna boo him now - coz he got that space you see! Oh and look at where Chandler/Woey/INSERT is?! You lost mate? You lost are you?! Come up here with me mate! Forwards play in the FORWARD line mate! Ur hopeless m8!’

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

 We don't need a replacement nor do we need a specific type of player to do the role. 

Our issues is our players have been programmed to be too defensive minded sucking the absolute flair and offence from the players themselves. 

Let our smalls just do their thing.

ANB was doing this ‘defensive minded flair suck’ in 2021…

There’s nuance here; we can be less robotic with ball movement (although I’d argue it’s further up the ground where the robots live), but we can also value a similar type of role that ANB employed.

1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

The first question is:  Do we need someone to play that role? 

Methinks not!  After all our game plan is changing, new players, new coaches etc.

This role is not really a ‘gameplan’ thing - it’s not like we are going to play 6 forwards inside the 50. There is going to some measure of ‘box-to-box’ play from a forward. Same with the work to release Petracca. These are near-universal tactics - work up the ground, and make sure you help your best players.

ANB doesn’t have a monopoly on this role in the AFL and we should be able to have someone replicate his output and impact.

1 minute ago, Ouch! said:

I'm confused, does it though?  If Brayshaw's payout means that we have the full TPP available for the rest of the players, it's not going to look better in coming years, it will just look normal again? 

13 hours ago, rpfc said:

I think that the ‘accounting’ side, and the ‘real FY payment’ side, and the ‘amorphous AFL rules that will be reversed in 2 years time’ are confusing the issue here.

9 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I'm surprised we couldn't amortise Gus's salary over the years of his contract. Maybe we decided to eat it all this year? Or would it not have been an option?

I think that the ‘accounting’ side, and the ‘real FY payment’ side, and the ‘amorphous AFL rules that will be reversed in 2 years time’ are confusing the issue here.

1 hour ago, Adam The God said:

AJ playing second ruck and still being mobile, will allow JVR and Turner to focus on marking and kicking goals. I really like this pick.

With Petty taking TMac's spot, the flow on effect with JVR in his fourth year is going to be noticeable IMO.

That must be the plan for 2025. Allows JVR to only go into the ruck should they want him to get involved up there.

I do feel for ‘The Petty Forward Clinic Experiment’ but we have to move on, we can wait for him to get out of rehab.

You won’t find this type of writing anywhere else people…

Slightly misleading (or more than that) with Angus’ payout having to be written off this FY.

It would be about a fifth of the $3.1m this year?

Keeping us in the black in real terms.

2 hours ago, Roost it far said:

Has this guy got a bit of the Mumford vibe about him?

He does look like a little lion man

12 minutes ago, binman said:

Chandler and/or Sharp is my guess. 

But Langdon might be a left field option as he is the only player who could match nibblas aerobic capacity, ability to cover the ground at speed and repeat sprints.

Chandler would be ideal as he is a better forward than ANB and that was my only issue with ANB in his incredibly important role. 

Then Langdon to do it and slide up Bowey or the new kid.

One point to reiterate - the role includes having to release CP5 (mainly) to drift forward through blocking in contests and following his opponent into the backline so discipline and footy smarts will be crucial.

4 hours ago, Pink Freud said:

I came across a poster on bigfooty who I think also posts here GoodoilBartul who has taken a swipe at Melbourne’s drafting and given it his lowest grade. 

This was partly based on his assessment of XL as follows -

“I'm not a huge fan of the pick at a basic level. He's a very good player bursting from stoppage but I worry about his distribution and ability to stand up in the heat of the contest as an inside mid and think his play as a free-wheeling player is over-rated. Happy to be proven wrong, but the Dees could be left with a mediocre receiver type or an inside mid who is too slight for the role.”

This runs counter to everything I saw of him in the National Championships, his disposal was neat, he attacked the ball strongly, got plenty of contested ball and in the deciding game of the series, there was no sign that he shirked any issues. His first quarter was superb. 

Any thoughts?

Yeeeaaaahhhh. Best to just leave it for a bit.

1 hour ago, old55 said:

Agree, a Kako bid at 5 was probably a real consideration for us at trade time, ultimately we preferred to go with Langford. If Essendon hadn't made the trade, things could have turned out very differently.

Yes, counter factuals are just tiresome to debate but if the MFC could have brought in two top 15 talents like Essendon ‘could’ have, had they not done that trade - this place would be abominable.

Just insufferable.