JTR

We could have lost everything by waiting. What do you think every other guy on the short-list would have done once they figured out it was Buckley's job if he wanted it, but they were going to get dicked around till the end of the month to find out? We'd have been left with no one except Buckley, who would probably still have half an eye on Tasmania anyway. Then come his GF timeline (and after more time for the AFL to get their hooks in) what if he turned it down? We'd be back to square one. Probably even worse than square one cause who from our short list would want to come back, having already been told we didn't want them? We have made the right call.

Until that "dud" is a D'Ambrosio or Voss or Martin or whoever and they play well in their new location? Then what, we revert back to the "MFC is asleep at the wheel" angle?

Buckley spoke about participating in the process and didn't seem to have any issue with this. He actually sounded quite interested in going through the process as he has never done it before himself, having simply being handed the keys last time

I especially like when dot point # 1 and # 2 are the same person a few days apart and dot point # 3 is a work colleague

You're correct. Absolutely NOTHING to do with it. But hey, if you don't know just speculate right? 🙄

This cannot be accurate. The Demonland brains trust and this very thread says so.

If you're drawing the line at the end of the 2023 season I'd agree with you. Any earlier - as I have outlined - and you are plain wrong

After the premiership year we finished top 4 in both 2022 and 2023 and never left the 8 the entire time. We were the only team to do that and as a premiership team that everyone was trying to find ways to stop that is an incredible effort. Obviously the finals in both seasons were disasters and there were a number of reasons for why each of those campaigns turned out the way they did. Some of which was 100% coaching (and selection), but there was a LOT that had absolutely nothing to do with that. It delusional at best and wilfully ignorant at worst to pretend those two H&A seasons never happened and say that Goodwins record (and by extension the teams record) has been abysmal since 25/09/2021.

You must forget all the outrage here about how they were no good and we paid too much them... 🤣 And gems like this piece... https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-steven-may-trade-to-melbourne-ben-king-gold-coast-suns-afl-draft-jake-lever-adelaide/news-story/8e637f7fd21a66c35c2ea6fb9230e030 Dual premiership Kangaroo David King, in particular, remains flabbergasted as to why Melbourne has apportioned such a large percentage of their salary cap to defenders May and Lever when other clubs – and even other teams in other sports – would usually pay big bucks for stars that impact the scoreboard. “If you’re going to spend the bulk of your salary cap behind centre – so in the back-half – no other team does that in their competition and no other team in any code does that around the world,” King told Fox Footy’s The First Crack. “You spend money on strikers, guys that can hit the scoreboard, full-forwards, centre half-forwards or gun midfielders. “They’ve gone May and Lever as part of their big spend, who are very good players, but what influence can they really have on winning games of football?” David King - July 7th, 2020

He is 100& (2 out of 2) since he started kicking around the corner for marks inside 50. Just saying....

The filth will be looking for a win to get top 4 and a healthy percentage boost to stay ahead of GC & Hawthorn. Even if we can't win, I hope we can at least deny them the %

Yes

Confidence is the big one imo. Zorko really got into his head and since then it doesn't seem to take much to get him rattled. Effort I cannot question though. Been to plenty of games over last few seasons where I've seen him putting in as much as anyone. Lots of long runs (sometimes sprints) back and forth between forward line and wing and they often go unrewarded. Reminds me a lot of Jack Watts in that regard.

Demonland in a nutshell

As an aside, it was great to see our AFLW girls pairing off and helping out with the auskick games at half time on the weekend. Kids seemed to love it. Harris was in the game right in front of us and seemed to be moving ok.

Are you the philosopher guy who a few weeks back posted a similar thesis about how Chandler is at the core of our various issues? Or do we now have a second person who has a particularly 'curious' take on young Kade?

Yes, I don't get it either. WC supporters main issue seems to be his pace, but it doesn't seem that bad at all, especially the first few steps off the mark when he actually looks pretty quick. What they were saying in Perf when Culley was delisted "If a club can fit in a midfielder who is slower than your average ruckman then go for it" "Culley won't make it as a midfielder. He's too slow and doesn't read the play very well" "Would've given him another year myself, after the ACL. Probably could find a spot as a defensive mid but doesn't have the breakaway pace to be the main man" "Tough, great work ethic and can play forward but has no pace" "I remember watching him and thinking he made Will Setterfield look speedy" "Just too slow I’m afraid. Looks a gun at training but when intensity and speed picks up he gets found out" And if anyone feels like a longer read, here is his entire "Welcome to WC in mid season 2022, through to end of 2024 when he was delisted

Quality human, who given a bit more time and experience, will also grow into the quality player that some of us can already see he will be. (he's just turned 20yo and played a whopping 18 games FFS) I'll look forward to digging up this thread in a couple of years time 🙂

It's all well and good to say we should have brought in xxxx players to replace those we have lost, but what is rarely addressed is how we would have actually done that, and with what? We don't have a production line of father-sons like the Filth, Brisbane and now Carlton. We don't have unlimited parcels of land or hobby farms to offer players down on the Bellarine. We don't have the constant stream of quality academy players like Sydney or Gold Coast. Our only option has been to throw the farm at someone like Houston and keep playing for the now, or take our picks to the draft and hope that keeps us going in the future. The problem in my view isn't the players we have brought in, but the simultaneous decline of guys like Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Sparrow, Petty and Lever who we were trying to build the side around.

It's disappointing how quickly some of our supporters forget that we made the top 4 in 2022 and 2023 and were never outside the top 8 during that entire time. That's no mean feat, particularly in the seasons immediately following a premiership when you become the hunted and everyone is zeroing in on ways to try and beat you. 2024 there were plenty of reasons outside of coaching that contributed to where we ended up. No Brayshaw, losing Petracca mid-season, Oliver playing injured, parting ways with Harmes/Jordan before we knew we'd lost Brayshaw and a bunch of kids doing their best to plug the gaps in the meantime. 2024/2025 off season was a shambles and this season hasn't been good at all, but there are still "reasons", the most significant of which (besides poor form of some key senior players at the same time as we are trying to transition to a new game style), was the huge loss of ANB. It can't be overstated how massive the losses of ANB and Brayshaw have been, both culturally and with their on-field leadership. You can't replace guys like that during the trade and draft period. Anyway, I'm sure I'll get howled down by the regular crew, but I personally think Goodwin had done more than enough to deserve the opportunity to see out his tenure and finish what had been started.

I don't think it can be overstated how much we miss ANB

Because most people don't know what they are talking about (other than looking at VFL stat sheets) and just want change for the sake of change. And if they don't get the change they ask for, then obviously they know better than our football department and ~gOoDwIn Is pLaYiNg fAvOuRiTeS~ Remember last season, when selection threads were full of outrage about not giving Fullarton a go, simply because his VFL stats were good and his surname wasn't Petty? How'd that work out? Same thing now.

Haven't you sad sacks got enough threads to stain with your pearls of wisdom? Thought you'd have a go at this one too?

That video is well over 12 months old. It is not something he has filmed and then posted since our loss to Carlton last week. Hope that helps.

Seriously mate, who the [censored] do you think you are? I'm not going to come on here to defend Goodwin because its not posisble. I will defend the "happy clappers" though, cause I'm sick to death of hearing from people like you that I/we are part of the problem, simply because I/we choose not to be a tiresome [censored] sad sacks when things don't go our way. If I don't want to wallow in negativity, I won't, so with all due respect, shove your self righteous BS up your [censored].