Dee-monic

Forget all this gloom and doom ---- if that thumping doesn't motivate the girls, nothing will. I'm backing them to bounce back with three wins in a row. They have the talent and a wily coach who will address today's shortcomings. Better to have an off day now than in a grand final.

The fixture list is always going to throw up challenges. If we are good enough, we'll win the flag. If not, we won't. That's all that matters, not who we play, where or when.

Melbourne + finals = injury woes. It seems the men's team have passed on their 2023 jinx to the ladies.

Despite the rising tide of venom aimed at him, Goody remains afloat. And from what I have seen, his relationship with the players remains strong. I still believe that if our stock of forwards had not been depleted at the worst possible time we would have been hard to beat in the finals. Like the board, I'm backing Goody against the media hype.

If money is the big attraction, we hold the whip hand. At the end of 2025 Petty will be a restricted free agent. Depending on how highly the Demons rate him, we could choose to match any offer by Adelaide or seek draft compensation. The balance is tipping too far these days towards player power when, unlike their clubs, they can effectively refuse to honour their contracts to chase bigger bucks. But none of us on the outside know Petty's true motivation at this stage for any move. I hope the club will do everything it can to encourage him to stay long-term.

Petty will be not a restricted free agent until the end of the 2025 season. If so, we would then have the chance to match any offer Adelaide put to him. If the Crows dangle a ridiculously excessive contract, we would hopefully get an appropriately high compensation pick. If he stays fit and continues to be a key player for us, the time for sentiment is over. The club is a business organisation and must play hard ball on its own rights. Increasing player power and movement are undermining the whole purpose of the draft system, which is to designed to give struggling clubs high draft choices that provide them with long-term quality players. All the time and effort spent in developing Petty into a top-class AFL player can't be done just for the benefit of another club. Petty knew perfectly well when he signed his current contract that he would be based in Melbourne until the end of 2025.

Petty is 23, is already at elite level at either end of the field and has his best years ahead of him. I know his current lisfranc problem is worrying but every AFL player runs the ever-present risk of injury. I am sure the club will be doing its best to tie him to a long-term contract by the end of next season. And if he has an outstanding season in 2024 he can stay with us and still demand the big bucks. Like any other outsider, I have no inside knowledge of his personal thoughts but I really hope he decides to become a one-club player. We missed him badly in the finals.

I may be in the minority here but I think Sydney outmanoeuvred us in the Grundy deal. I expect he will show us next season that he is still an elite ruckman worth far more than they gave in return.

Max might seem indestructible, given all the constant roughing-up he handles so well, but he will be 32 at the start of next season. That's an age at which even niggling injuries start to take more time to heal, and we have no other back-up if Grundy leaves. If Sydney won't part with a high second-round pick, I would rather we kept Grundy, who remains one of the best ruckmen in the AFL. It's not his fault that his experimental role didn't work out. Imagine our regret if Grundy goes for pick 46 and Max is injured in round one.

Well, at least one thing could have been worse than our straight-sets exit this year ---- losing by a point in a preliminary final. That will haunt the Giants for years to come. I think I'll just pretend that no grand final was played this year.

I suspect that Jordon is not motivated by money but simply the desire to play regularly. The only way that can happen at Melbourne is if we get a spate of injuries. It must be very disheartening to be an often under-used substitute, which means not even getting a VFL run that week. If he goes, he is replaceable.

The greatest Demon of them all. Devastating news for his family and for the entire AFL community. May he rest in peace.

Calm down, Jack. It wasn't Goody who missed 17 shots at goal. With Petty, JVR and Melksham out, our forward line probably qualifies as the least accurate goalkickers in the AFL. And Viney has been a midfield tiger all season. With Kozzie, you get magic moments mixed with dumb mistakes. That's the way he will always be.

Not to mention the absence of Brayshaw and JVR (in the second case self-inflicted). But maybe it says something about our lack of depth, because every club has to cope with injuries and suspensions.

Some reflections: Time for McDonald to retire and Jordon to move on. Another woeful display of kicking for goal. We desperately need a dominant, goalkicking full forward (and it's not JVR, at least for now). This was NOT the fault of Goody or the umpires. We wasted enough good opportunities to have won by six goals, and blame for that falls squarely on players who faltered under pressure. Bowey a good defender but a dangerous liability when left one-on-one with a tall forward. Petracca will never be another Dusty unless and until his goalkicking accuracy improves. Oliver's injury proved a huge setback. He wasn't anywhere near his best after he returned to action. Roll on the draft and trade periods. We have holes to fill. Nothing very exciting coming from Casey at the moment. Laurie and Woewoedin couldn't take their chances this season.

6 May - kept Curnow quiet all night. 5 Gawn - another top effort. 4 Petracca - powerful bursts but he still can't kick straight. 3 Lever - some key intercepts early. 2 Smith - better than Fritsch on the night. 1 Oliver - but nowhere near his best. Please say goodbye: McDonald and Jordon.

No, our forwards were Carlton's best asset.

Criminally wasteful goalkicking. You can't blame Goody or the umpires for that. We HAVE to get a dominant full forward. Van Rooyen is not the answer, either.

It's not the umpires' fault we are behind. It's our wayward forward line yet again. In an arm wrestle, the winner is always the side that converts its chances.

At one stage Spargo was a regular choice, based on his ability to find space and his intelligent, accurate ball use. He's gone off the boil this year but that could be partly because he doesn't fit in with Goodwin's blind faith in bombing it long into a static and crowded forward line. Our woeful conversion rate against Collingwood cried out for a change of tactics that never came. I supported the decision to keep Chandler ahead of Bedford, but on reflection I might just go the other way based on this season's performances. Bedford has made a lot of progress lately.

If Maynard is cleared it sends a loud message to the mothers of Australia: don't let your sons or daughters play Aussie Rules, the code that couldn't care less if they get their head smashed and hides behind legal technicalities to protect offenders.

If Viney did something similar, I would say he deserved a suspension. But I doubt that he would because he is generally a ferocious but fair competitor whose sole aim is to win the ball. Let's say this had been a Collingwood training session and the kicker was Nick Daicos. Does anyone think for one moment that Maynard would have launched himself as recklessly as he did?

The Dutch referee, Charles Corver, was widely and rightly condemned world-wide at the time. His weak excuse was that he was watching the flight of the ball and didn't see the collision. No such excuse for an AFL player under the scrutiny of multiple umpires and TV cameras. The similarity between Schumacher's violent challenge and Maynard's is striking.

It can NEVER be a legitimate football action to launch yourself, airborne and at full speed, directly at another player, leading with your shoulder at head height. Anyone who did that off the field and knocked someone out would be liable to a criminal charge of causing grievous bodily harm.

Has always played his heart out for the team. Pity his body can't take another season because he is definitely still in our best 22 when fully fit. Every Demons fan will wish him well.