demoncat

They’re 100% a contender and clearly have the best form and profile right now What’s more is they’re playing a game style that will stand up to the pressure of finals football On that basis, they’re every chance to give the “can’t win it from outside the four” theory a real shake, particularly given the evenness of the comp this year But a month is a long time in football, and without finishing top four they’re every chance to play an interstate semi or prelim final, which will be tough for any side overcome Long story short - if they manage to win the flag from here, it would be one of the most impressive Premiership runs in history But we could just as well be sitting here in a month watching them flame out after an admittedly very impressive few months Time will tell

To me 2021 was the first year that we could have won the Premiership - 2018 was way too soon and were shown up by the actual contenders at the pointy end and 2019 was a total write off given the injuries. 2020 is an interesting one as we’ll never know for sure how much COVID impacted our season, but I think a lot of what we developed that year - fitness and defensive game plan - came to the fore the following season, along with our shrewd recruiting of Ben Brown to nail down what would become our Premiership 22. So in my view we’re in our third year of genuinely contending and we should have at least another few seasons with this core performing at their peak (with strong recruiting and development potentially extending that for years to come)

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-news-2023-round-22-report-card-highlights-grades-analysis-every-club-reviewed-best-and-worst-video-stats/news-story/0ad390e9061b54e386e6e3c312c97c21 The Carlton love-in is well and truly on They got an A+ for a game they should have lost, while we got a B for a game we should have won and DID win on expected score Footy media is an absolute joke

Thanks for all your hard work on the pod fellas A question on our forward line - with our tall forward options being limited, do you think that a shorter forward line of JVR, Fritta, Melksham, Trac, Kozzy and Chandler (with Nibbler and Spargo as those high half forwards Binman has discussed) would work come finals? Or is maintaining our two tall structure more important even if it means playing a not quite right TMac or Ben Brown (no disrespect to either as they are both champions of our club whose bodies have unfortunately let them down this year)? And where does Grundy fit into either set up - if at all? Thanks fellas and looking forward to tuning in!

We’re not even having this conversation if Petty doesn’t get injured last week

I can’t remember which reporter it was but they suggested that Goody would be doing his presser on Friday Will edit post if I can dig it up

Now we just need to hope Essendon pays McKay what he’s worth and doesn’t offer him a contract that triggers band 1 compo 🤞

It wouldn’t be the first time 🤷‍♂️

Any more info on this @Dannyz? Is it possible to have a Lisfranc injury that can be played through within 5 weeks?

First final would be just under 5 weeks away - so touch wood he could be available but more likely to see him either in a PF or Semi Either way 5 weeks is a massive win considering what the injury could have been Win our next three and bed down our forward structure - either someone performs or we have Petty come back in and keep tearing it up Go Dees

I’m almost of the opinion that he’s worth it even if we do sell the farm 👀 Elite talent wins you flags and if Reid is truly a cut above the rest of the draft crop, I’d rather go all in on trying to get pick 1 than trying to nab multiple players who - albeit may be very good - are less likely to be that next Dusty, Trac, Bont type of player that contenders are built around All depends how JT rates him though!

Fair enough regarding pick 1 but surely pushing up the draft order in what will be a highly compromised draft can only be good for us? There could be 4 top 10 talents all taken via NGAs if Sanders is included and I would personally like to see us get up as high as possible to our picks don’t get diluted

Great news for our pick 1 chances if true - although likely opens the door for them to receive Sanders

Unless Goody is playing ducks and drakes it sounds like Brodie won’t be playing this week either in the forward line or as a second ruck to give Max a chop out In fact Goody almost intimated that he won’t be seen again unless there is an “opportunity” in the forward line - i.e. injury or loss of form to current lineup We all know not to take Goody’s pressers at face value, but jeez you wouldn’t be feeling too confident hearing that if you were Grundy

It’s okay everyone - we’ll either get pick 4 from Freo or we’ll trade GC for it. Easy done… In all seriousness why couldn’t have Geelong just done their job? Even in a loss I hate them

It would be a sham if they were to end up with both pick 3 and Sanders More than happy for them to receive one to assist them (Dees fans can’t talk when it comes to receiving priority picks) but to receive both would be overkill in an already heavily compromised draft My sense is the AFL understand the ire that it would create and will only give them one of the two - i.e. if the McKay trade is in band 1 and they receive pick 3, they won’t get access to Sanders, but if it’s an end of first round pick instead they would get access to him

So I guess if Barrett says he’s going he’s definitely staying then?

Agree that North may be the wild card in this and that securing pick 2 via a trade could all but guarantee us a trade with WC for pick 1 A lot will depend on what compensation the AFL gives them for McKay leaving and whether they gain access to Sanders via a pre listing They may be willing to trade down for pick 4 (and potentially the Suns pick if we were to make that trade) pending their compensation Right now it’s line ball whether Curtin would make it to pick 4 given both North and Hawks plethora of mids and lack of defenders, so there may be one or two other trades involved to get us to a position where we could trade for pick 1 (assuming JT and co are so inclined)

Happy to sell the farm to get this kid if WC are willing to trade with us As others have pointed out this might be the only draft for years to come that we’re going to have access to elite talent - not to mention one that is being spoken about as the best draft prospect in years If we pull it off it could be the move that extends our premiership window beyond the next three to five years - particularly if Reid lives up to the hype and becomes a 10+ year player for us Another factor is our fellow competitors - all of Collingwood (Daicos), Brisbane (Ashcroft) and Port (JHF as well as Rozee and Butters) have drafted elite young talent that are not only having huge impact now, but will keep their teams at the pointy end for years to come Yes every draftee is a risk, but if JT thinks he’s worth giving up our trade hand for then I’m am all aboard the Reid train

The Curtin factor will be key. Presuming we finish with pick 4 and looked to trade for pick 1, WC would have to know that both North and Hawks would skip over him in order for them to make the deal. At this stage it’s line ball - Reid and Walters are probably the only two who would definitely be above him, with McKercher, Sanders, Duursma and Watson all likely to fall around that 3-6 range. North may end up being the preferred trading partner if they have enough capital from the McKay compensation (not that he should be worth any thing more than an end of first round pick mind you) But North need picks too and them trading out multiple picks at this stage of their (never ending) rebuild would be a big call Whatever happens, very excited for this trade and draft period! In JT and Tim Lamb we trust

Am I correct that there is an option to buy tickets to this game in the designated ‘opposition member bays’? A very helpful Demonlander sent me a link to purchase these tickets for our game at GMHBA last year - was hoping that if this is still the case someone may have access to that link as I can’t for the life of me find anything about it online!

I’m out in Werribee @binman - very frustrating as it was probably the one Casey game this year that would have been convenient for us in the west to get to!

Following on from this - I'd love some discussion on @Watson11's brilliant post from the 'Why are we continuously being beaten in clearances?' thread, which touches on the same point as above with some clear examples of where our stoppage game let us down on Friday night:

I’m in the same boat as you @The heart beats true Putting aside everything else that made us great in 2021 - the one thing that gave me belief above everything else was our ability to match it with and beat the best sides Every team we beat in our finals campaign we had beaten during the H&A season - and it was that fact that gave me the ultimate belief that no matter what position we were in in a match, that we could never be counted out (19 points down in a GF, anyone?) However, ever since then we’ve been making up the numbers against other contenders I’m personally at a point now where I’m treating matches against anyone who’s not a contender as fugazi - not that they don’t matter, but that they’re not going to tell us anything substantive about how we will go in a finals campaign A win against Collingwood on King’s Birthday is now a non-negotiable if we’re going to be a legitimate premiership threat - lose that, and we will have lost to them, Brisbane and Port, arguably the three most likely teams to win the flag Come on Dees, give us that belief again!

Do we need to reevaluate our stoppage set up? I understand that we go -1 at the stoppage to set up an extra number behind the ball to intercept and spoil, but teams are getting better and better at winning the stoppage clearance, gaining territory and bringing the ball to ground in our defensive 50. This problem is compounded by the fact that our midfield is not winning enough contests. The set up works when our midfield wins contests but our “star studded midfield” seem to be getting beaten every week by young stars like Anderson and Butters who are hitting the ball at speed and leaving our players out paced and outnumbered. Long story short - is there any value in equalling or outnumbering at the stoppage to ensure we are winning more contests, winning more clearances and gaining more territory with out star studded midfield? For a team that is built on contest and territory, we aren’t winning either against the better sides Love the pod fellas and hope you can bring some frustrated Dees fans a bit of hope that we’ll get this aspect of our game right sooner rather than later!