JTR

I thought Fritsch showed a bit down back. Couple of decent marks and laser passes out of defensive 50. Could be handy.

Same. His first half on the weekend was pretty average. Fumbles, dodgy disposal.. etc. Second half he was a different player and was excellent. I'd nothing more than him to become the gun we all know he can be, but a good half of football is a bit too early to make the call, for mine.

Egg on the face of a lot of people who bagged the [censored] out of him here too....

I was standing next to Mark Stevens about this time last year during a training session and he was dead set trying to turn players leaving the field to get a rub down into some newsworthy injury. "Zoom in on <player> over there <cameraman>, I reckon he's done a hammy. Yep, yep, he has. He just touched it. Get a close shot please" Nek minnit... Player runs back on and resumes training.....

Balic took several leave of absences didn't he, citing homesickness? Maybe the one year contract is simply the club not overcommitting incase there is more to it?

Happy with the trade for a known quantity. To those upset with what we handed over, would suggest waiting till the end of the trade period before giving your final assessment. You only need to go back as far as 2015 to see why. Remember that trade period when we handed over 25 very early in the trade period for Melksham? Remember how ropable everyone was at the time? Subsequent schrewd moves after that turned our first round pick into two first round picks which we used to get Oliver & Weideman In Mahoney I trust!

Zing?

As a side note, something else Mahoney said (which we probably already know but I haven't heard it from myself from the club) is that Lever would help form part of a strong backline with Jetta, Hibberd, Hunt, Frost & OMac. Didn't mention TMac, which I think signals quite clearly their intentions for him next season.

Also said that Jakes exit interview with the club was far from pleasant.

Mahoney on SEN now. Said our offer to Adelaide involves our 1st & 2nd round picks Edit - and one of those would potentially be a future pick. Adelaide want 2 x 1st rounders

Levers manager was on SEN this morning. On the question of "what if another club can offer Adelaide something better than what Melbourne can put up for trade" he said "Jake will only be dealing with Melbourne. He wont sign off on anything from any other club" Welcome to the MFC Jake Lever!

Especially if they are AA players...

Agreed. What about Dangerfield though? Or Hurley? Or Judd? Or any of the other big name players who have been thrown up over the years that we all get ourselves into a lather over? Dont get me wrong, I see it all as a bit of fun, and quote enjoy reading all the threads, but I wouldn't deem the club to have failed if these fantasy trades dont eventuate, because many are just that. Fantasy.

That's cause many of the 'big trade' discussions are here on Demonland, and Demonland alone, based on "inside words" from sometimes less than credible sources. Like the Gaff one for instance. That was mentioned where? Once on twitter? And now we have run with it to the point where some have probably accepted it as something that is actually happening, and would consider it a failure if it didn't eventuate, even though it may never have been on the clubs radar.

I don't know a thing about this twitter account (if credible..etc), but the following was posted a couple of days ago...

Yep. And if he doesn't we look a bit silly. Speaking of which... my little finals tickets booklet arrived on Friday...

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-09-03/hibberd-excited-by-potential-lever-swoop

I really like Frost, but my main concern with losing him is that it would give us less flexibility to allow TMac to float and/or play forward, especially when the backs start getting injured. 'Decent' KPP's, of which I think it is fair to say Frost certainly is, don't grow on trees. Would much rather cough up a player type that is absolutely surplus to our requirements and can be covered even in the event of multiple injuries. Guys like Spencil for example. That said, I am fully aware that we 'gotta give something to get something'.... just wish it wasn't Frost!

Your link links to this thread ?

His name escapes me, but the news breaker guy on SEN this morning who is usually pretty good said categorically that the meeting happened.

Who are the actual, genuine gorillas? Tex Walker, Ben Brown, Lynch, Patton maybe.... any more? Do we really need a player to specifically try and counter three or four players in the league, or should we get someone that would be better for the other 20 or so games of the season? And maybe just try and develop a better way of playing against the gorilla types with what we have, on the few occasions we face them? We had no ruckman of note for a big chunk of this season, and as it turned out it wasn't the end of the world. We found a way.

Not sure if serious... I hope you are stirring 'cause I already have enough people on my 'propensity to make stuff up/misinterpret/embellish' list

Agreed... though last week seemed particularly bad to me, when almost every turnover seemed to end up with a crows goal.

I think though, if we have enough guys around the ball putting the pressure on there is a good chance we'll get the turnover right back. We did that particularly well vs the Bulldogs where we had our share of turnovers but were almost immediately all over the Bulldogs players receiving the ball and most of the time got it back pretty quickly. Last week that manic pressure was missing, making the errors from the likes of Frost much more costly. They've said bringing that manic pressure back has been a focus this week, plus we've obviously had a few guns come back, so maybe the errors won't turn out to be so catostrophic if and when they occur?

You can see at the very end after ANB took the mark that Lewis started talking to him almost straight away, telling him what to do. ANB then went from watching the clock to looking out the corner of his eye to make sure Lewis was still in space. The percentage move for Demons of old would be to go for the goal. Obvious risk is that if they missed, they then give the opposition 30 seconds to get up the other end for a goal. Percentage move now is what Lewis orchestrated last night. Remove all doubt, and guarantee victory. Thats experience, and you can't teach that. #lewisfan