Where Demons Dare

I don't think anyone has mentioned it so far, but from what I've seen of the footage I get a real Pendle's vibes from Smillie. The way he is able to get out of heavy traffic with ease and then dispose of the ball to advantage is brilliant. Not the fastest player, but has good evasion skills and footy IQ. I would be happy to take him at pick 9 if we weren't able to get Langford with pick 5. Smillie mentioned he can also play forward or back which is handy, he could rotate with Petracca or Rivers when resting forward or back.

Geelong must have photos/videos of the AFL HQ senior staff... these guys getaway with everything. Not only do they gift farms and other back alley deals to players (including shutting up the media). Now the coach is involved with one of its key sponsors. Talk about conflict of interest.

I mentioned in another thread, but Clanny Dennis would be my pick if he lasted to our pick. Under 18 All Australian CHB this year. May has a couple of years left in him, we need to think about recruiting some tall defenders after delisting Tomlinson. Tmac and May being 32 and 33 respectively, we need some fresh blood in defence.

He's our back up interceptor/ 3rd tall if Lever goes down. We had to keep him after delisting Tommo. Good luck Marty, have a big pre season and stay injury free, we may need to call on you next season.

I'm hoping we can pick up Clancy with our third pick, if we do end up taking one. He is rated around the top 50 mark in the HS. But I feel he could be a really good player in time and with a couple of years of development he could be ready to take over May's position. An All Australian CHB in the under 18's, he would be a steal at pick 50+. Here's what the HS said about him: 50 Clancy Dennis DEFENDER The All-Australian centre-half-back from the national championships can get the job done down back in multiple ways. Club Claremont/Mosman Park State WA Height 195cm DOB 28/12/2006 1 on 1 Defending Intercepting Overhead Marking Mobility A promising tall defender who can contain dangerous key forwards, Dennis was named at centre-half back in the All-Australian team after a strong under-18 national championships campaign for Western Australia in the middle of the year. He finished as the tournament’s No.1 player for intercept marks, averaging 2.3 a game along with 11.3 disposals and 2.3 spoils. Dennis was his state’s best player in its final match against Vic Country, recording 14 disposals, five marks (four intercepts) and two spoils that day. He is an ultra-competitive type who is rarely beaten one-on-one and has good composure with ball in hand. Dennis played a key role in helping Claremont’s Colts side secure the premiership in the WAFL in September, logging 14 disposals, 10 intercept possessions and five spoils in the Grand Final victory over Swan Districts. However, he sat out testing at the draft combine in October due to a sore foot which he sustained during that Grand Final. 2024 WAFL Colts83 ranking points, 15.9 disposals, 6.2 marks, 1.4 intercept marks, 4.4 rebound 50s, 3.4 spoils, 1.0 tackles (10 games) 2024 National Champs68 ranking points, 11.3 disposals, 5.3 marks, 2.3 intercept marks, 3.5 rebound 50s, 2.3 spoils, 1.5 tackles (4 games)

You can thank Joel Selwood for ruining his hand when he kicked it a few years ago. Thankfully Hawkins and Selwood are no longer playing anymore. Dirty, dirty players. I can't wait for the day when they fall off the cliff and spiral down the ladder.

Scoop Manure still trying to push his own agenda alleging Oliver was 'desperate to get out'. This guy is just so desperate to get something right for once, that he'll make up is own story to suit his own narrative. Pathetic. I loved how Lamby shut him down. 👌

I'd imagine Lalor, Smith, Draper or Langford would be one of our first selections at pick 5, each with their own exciting traits that would be a great addition to our team. With pick 9 it gets very interesting... do we go for another mid with forward or defensive skills like Reid or Travaglia or do we go tall and chase Armstrong, Tauru or Trainor? I like the idea of Sam Lalor at pick 5 as a Dusty/Petracca clone. That would be pretty scary for opposition teams. I would love to select Alix Tauru with pick 9. He's been compared to a Sicily/Stewart as an intercepting defender. He'd be an amazing addition for us and with May getting on he'd be a handy replacement.

I just spoke with David Schwarz yesterday at work and he told me that Oliver and Trac are already putting in solid work for a big preseason. Oliver not going anywhere. I said to him to watch out for us in 2025! I feel like Melbourne will make a big statement next year.

My heart goes out to Gus. I could feel his pain and hurt from a career cut short during that speech. The players sitting in the room felt it too... No wonder we had the year that we did. Thank you for your brave words that spoke from the heart Angus. Hopefully Gus will be there to present our next Premiership cup to our team!

I'd rather Pruess over Campbell if they're our only two legitimate options.

I'd say a 3rd or 4th rounder gets it done if we wanted to trade for him. A second round pick offer is for established players only, which he currently isn't.

I'd be happy to get him in. We need an experienced tall forward after losing Brown and Schache and has only turned 30 a few months ago so he still has a good 3 years left in him at least. I believe a poster mentioned last year he was trying to come to Melbourne, but it never eventuated.

Does the AFL need to introduce new rules to limit contracts to be no greater than 3 years? it's hurting clubs in the long run firstly with Gundry and Treloar who the Pies are still paying significant money too and now Melbourne has to pay out the second last and final year of Brayshaw's contract around $1 million over those two years, which means we won't be able to attract a good player for a year or two while trying to manage our salary cap. Then we have Trac doing all he can to break his contract allegedly with 5 years to go. I just don't see how these long contracts benefit the club other than smoothing out the salary cap a little bit.

Fritsch will be 30 in 2026.

Ben Brown, Schache, Brayshaw and Joel Smith - Retired/Forced retirement Hunter is out of contract but I'd imagine he'd get another year. Still only 29, unless people know something I don't. He's handy depth along with Billings behind Langdon and Windsor as our primary wingers. We might also play Langdon at half forward like we did earlier in the year to cover ANB, which means we'll definitely need to retain Hunter's services. Melksham deserves to go around again and depending on Tomo if he requests a trade then we may look to keep Tmac which I hope we do. I'd like to see Adams push for selection next year. Hore is our back up intercepter if Lever is injured, so I'd imagine he stays on. The rookies I can't comment much on as I haven't tracked them closely this year. Sestan needs a huge preseason but I'm hopeful he stays on. AMW and Brown are developing nicely. Verrall I've heard good things and Kenterfield hasn't been given a proper crack at it yet so he deserves a full preseason to show us what he's got. KFW probably goes as I haven't heard much about him this year. In terms of draft and trading I just don't see why we're chasing Houston. I understand he's a very good halfback but he doesn't play midfield, so he's not really a like for like replacement for Brayshaw, which I'm speculating why we are chasing him. With our current pick 7 in the draft I'd like to go after a tall mid in Josh Smillie (Tom Green) but I doubt he'd last to our selection or Harry Armstrong as a key forward who will be around our selection after losing Brown and Schache. Jefferson and Kenterfield are still question marks at this point.

Not entirely... If we lose to GC and the Saints win they could jump us on the ladder and we could potentially land Pick 5 in the Draft! So we absolutely need to keep playing average football.

Brayshaw and Nibbler born on the same day leaving the club in the same year. A little bit eerie.

Garry Lyon mentioned On The Couch on Monday that Clarry's hand "was shot to pieces". Indicating that he is playing admirably like Gawn through severe pain. Our season is done, it's time to rest our champion players and be ready for one last crack next year!

I'll take Chandler everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. Spargo is a neat and crafty player with good vision. Chandler offers so much more to the side with his hardness, pressure, follow up, marking, goal nous and can kick over 50 metres lol.

Our forward pressure was fantastic tonight. Yes... it was another match that got away, but nonetheless there were signs of optimism going forward. The season is well and truly done so let's put Gawn, May, Oliver on ice for the rest of the season and come hunting again next season, hopefully with another top 6 pick recruit! I'll pass on Houston who will cost far too much, when I know we can get another quality player like Windsor in the draft. What I didn't like about the game was our repetitive kicking inside 50 to the top of the square which were repeatedly soaked up by the Port defence. Use some creativity going forward, hit up short leads and lower the eyes instead of bombing it in and hoping for a turnover. Secondly with our forward entries, we should have blitzed Port in the last few minutes of the 3qtr by peppering the forward line with creative entries, but instead we went into defensive mode and held up play. Port were under siege at that point and were about to break. I found myself screaming at the TV telling the players to get it into our F50. We've become so frustrating to watch because we do so many things well until it comes to our scoring or lack there of.

As long as we beat the Pies in our last game of the season I can stomach last nights putrid loss.

Goodwin gambled this season and he lost. He lost it from the very beginning when Brayshaw and Smith were basically forced to retire. He gambled that we had enough talent to get us through to finals with our A grade mids and nothing underneath. Losing our second string mids in Harmes and Jordon (even Dunstan would of been handy this season) have shot us in the foot and we've had to play kids who aren't ready, but have put in a mighty effort. Anyway I have faith in us next year, the talent is there and a new draftee gun Mid plus Noah Yze will help us back to greatness again soon. Similar to our 2019 disaster of a year... it resulted in some great draftees which launched us to the top of the ladder in 21', I see a similar trajectory and we'll be back in the hunt. Stay the course Demon faithful!

Smith and Brayshaw's absence has hampered our season greatly. We'd most likely be top 4 with those players in the side. add to that Brown who can never get on the park and Spargo's ankle we've been 4 players down all season. While it gives opportunities to our younger players like Howes, AMW and Turner we're doing incredibly well to be in the hunt for finals with no Gawn, Pettracca and a NQR Oliver.

Redemption time Dees, let's get a big percentage boosting win today and keep our finals hope alive!