middleagedemon

I've posted my thoughts in multiple threads! The Goodwin one and the Dan Houston one I believe. You're welcome. I must be on your mind @Demonsterative! Hope I'm not giving you nightmares!

I'm quite content with having the ability to express an individual view on our club, no matter whether it gels with others or not. Something that can't be said about you. And like dazzler said, it seems I live rent free in your head! Happy to do so! Catch.

Regardless of the validity of the reporting, only good things can come of this imv No damage done, as long as the correct changes are made, none of this will be remembered come round 1 next year and we'll be on our way.

Errytime.

Andy, I didn't know you had this kind of meme type humour in you! Very good!

I was quoting a part of your post, which was in reference to the media not criticising clubs in Essendon and Collingwood the same way they do with Melbourne. Which is just blatantly untrue. That is victim talk.

Testing one two, I believe my posts are now being 'monitored'. Good to see freedom of speech is alive and kicking on demonland!

It's a pleasure having you cast an eye over my every post. Please continue.

I'm going to try and be my most respectful everyone! But here, in all its glory, is the quintessential biased Melbourne supporter. It's the constant 'we are the victim' talk. You are so caught up in the victimisation talk that you have clearly missed the media scrutiny put on both Collingwood during the Treloar/Stephenson fiasco a few years back And the start of this year when they were under-performing and the constant media attention on Essendon's continued woes, list and game plan issues and underperforming. Widen that perspective my brother.

The only conclusion I can come to is that you're a relative of Saty. I'd actually genuinely love to hear an opinion of yours regarding our list, game-plan, observations on what's needed/not needed. Just anything really? Some thoughts of your own?

My friend, you're talking to the wrong poster. Your mate in the cheer squad is the one throwing around words like 'moron' so who is being the more disrespectful here? I'm sorry if I caused any offence to you, let us both rejoice in the news that Petracca isn't happy with the direction of the club and welcome the change that's needed eh?

Glad you're on board my friend. Agree, top post.

@mods? Hows this for a post? Surely ban-worthy?

Sticking fat, supporting and being galvanised doesn't equate to having one's head in the sand. And many on here continually have their head in the sand and don't want to hear a bad word about the club, ever. Period. If that is the kind of support and 'sticking fat' you're talking about, we may as well shut up shop. Being blissfully ignorant is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike and won't get the club anywhere. I make those remarks because I find it hilarious that despite all of the evidence, the cheers-squad type supporters just refuse to bat an eyelid, either calling it all BS or saying it's actually Trac that's the problem! Or not only that, it's about anything but what's going on behind closed doors. 'injury, loading, stats stats stats backing up the theory that we're injured, we're loading'. Rinse and repeat. People just don't want to dig deep enough or hear anything that might pop their lala land bubble. Why? Because it feels uncomfortable and 'negative'. Again I think that says more about them then anything else. Obviously we all want the club to succeed. Those of us who have seen some worrying signs now have wondered if there are some things going on behind the scenes and it turns out that we're correct. And now the cheer-squad parade are worried that it'll ruin demonland when they should actually be feeling positive about the outcomes/changes that might come from this admission! So you can have both! Accept and understand that not everything is just peaches and roses, but know that out of this will come new growth, opportunity, change and good times again! Trac's not happy with the direction of the club. [censored] ay! What a relief, somebody said it within our club! Now to get to get to work, whatever that entails. We should welcome it all.

One can only laugh at the demonland cheer squad brigade who will continue to defend the club at all costs. Watch them now blame Petracca in all of this haha. Some supports really need to wake up. I'm sure that some of this will be to do with the type of footy we are playing as well.

I can't say I'm surprised if true.

They have unique advantages that clubs like us do not have. The obvious one being the 'lifestyle' card they can play to attract trades and free agents which has worked a treat for them, Bailey Smith being another who will likely join to get out of the Melbourne footy bubble. They've also had Wells as their list manager for an eternity although he's now head of recruitment I believe. He's been without doubt the most successful and best list/recruitment manager over the past 20 years, consistently nailing picks both in the ND and RD. They have eyes all over leagues across the Bellarine Peninsula which is basically their own recruiting 'zone' or 'academy'. I mean, they plucked Tom Stewart from the clouds. They have an genuine home-ground advantage compared to us whenever they play their which is a huge reason they continue to win so many h/a games. Compare their home-ground advantage to us, it's chalk and cheese. Those four points alone have given them a huge advantage, tie that in with the types of leaders they had during their premiership years, Selwood alone, the culture they have built and maintained, Chris Scott as a coach and it's no wonder they've been able to 'overcome' the normal 'rebuild' that most clubs go through post flag years.

We're to be believing a big footy poster about this? Surely not.

And Oscar McDonald! Don't forget him!

Goodwin has one more chance next year to turn it around imv. We built a list to play a brand of footy that won us a flag. And much of that core had certain attributes suited to the type of game we wanted to play. We were all happy about the flag and celebrated it, Goody will forever be thanked and appreciated for that. However, the AFL is a forward moving beast and we can't continue to live in the past and especially not in the space of 'our list is good enough if we don't get injuries'. That won't cut it so I think supporters need to drop that line of thinking. It's clear that whilst that brand of footy keeps you competitive in a finals environment, it's not sustainable throughout an entire home and away campaign and certainly not against sides who play a more Offensively-minded, risk taking brand of footy when finals-like nerves and pressure are not there. I think our recalibration has been slow and our list management to date has been poor and if calls for an end of year review are true, I think it'll be welcome. This year has been a shocker on many fronts but I remain bullish about where we can be next year like many. As longgggg as the club make some difficult calls over the off-season. Without having a dig at the die-hards on here who would refuse to entertain a trade of any sort involving one of our premiership players, I think it might be needed if we're going to see serious improvement and evolution to this side. As others have pointed out, the AFL is a competition that is embedded in the entertainment industry and if we want to continue to 'grow' our club and inch closer to a 'big' club like many hoped post Grand Final, we're going to need to seriously look at how we want to play as a side. 16,000 and 17,000 supporters to home games in consecutive weeks is reflective of the type of football we play. It is boring as bat-[censored] and whilst some supporters might be happy with our game against Port, I see it as nothing more than a desperate damage control effort from Goody and co. Nobody wants to watch that [censored] and I can almost guarantee that our high-end kids and stars don't want to play in games like that. Petracca has said as much publicly. Unfortunately, this is where we see ourselves after investing so heavily in players with attributes that suited a game-plan that Goody believed would stand the test of time. And from this, the demonlanders who delve into stats come up with all sorts of statistics that will justify their views about why we're performing the way we are. I've said it all before but it's down to list imbalance completely and wholly. With a game-plan now in transition and some key personnel out, all is being revealed and the cracks that have been there for so long are now gaping holes. Posters can hold me to this, but I sense we will lose next week by 50+ given what I've outlined above. Gold Coast are a highly skilled side and I think we got ourselves up for some faux 'pride back in the jumper' type of stuff against Port. I think our levels of enthusiasm and interest are dropping off big time. Hard calls need to be made in the off-season, it can't come quickly enough and we need a serious look at how we want to grow this club going forward. I think we're on the edge of needing to move a Fritsch, Viney, Oliver (perhaps not based off of this year's form) on for some fresh air, youth, enthusiasm, new life. I think supporters need to take a long-term view of this club. Footy should be fun. For players and supporters alike. You want to come and watch exciting football. The MFC are anything but that and we haven't seen it since the 21 finals series which should tell us all something. I still think we have a capable core with some serious weapons but we absolutely need a serious change up over the off-season with an injection of skill, composure and a new found love of actually playing the game. Goodwin has got to get the memo that spitting out the same words at pressers and to the players is just soul destroying and just sucks all the life out of the supporters and players. We need to reshuffle our coaches/ bring a couple of fresh voices and ideas in. We need another injection of high end talent from the draft that will help inspire our older stars just as Windsor and Tholstrup have done at times this year. We need to address our game-plan and list imbalances and explore the options of off-loading an experienced player for a player that will help correct some of our execution downfalls. A courageous but necessary inquiry if you ask me. All is not lost. But this joint needs a whack around the ears. Otherwise we are at risk of more than just missing out again next year. We'll be at risk of stars wanting to leave, supporters dropping off even more which will have huge implications for any growth model we've set. Still without a home base whilst every other club seems to be upgrading the million doller facilities they've had for years. We will be left behind, make no mistake. If supporters think this is hyperbole, you're living on planet X. The competition is constantly evolving and we better get with the picture next year or watch this space.

Best not read it then? 🤷

'Attack' is a bit strong my old mate, but point taken. The constant goal post shifting and finding any excuse possible outside of pointing the finger at our list and coaching becomes tiresome though, it's got to be acknowledged. It's head in the sand kind of stuff! I made a long post in a thread last week regarding where I think we need to put our energy and attention as a club, I can't remember the thread. Could be the trade targets one? I take your point, will tone down and target posters less.

When you see Clayton Oliver named at number 3 for pressure acts, you know you should no longer be following champion data.. Stats files need to chill.

Either way, it's embarrassing. Some of his around the corner scrap kicks are just unbelievable. That one that resulted in the Butters goal. Unforgivable. That's nothing to do with conditioning. That is completely between the eyes, just no care taken. And as for some of his tackling efforts, compare them to an exhausted Jack Viney or even ANB.. It's honestly alarming. Clarry is just out there taking the [censored] right now and it's sad to see.

Using a champion data statistic to try and convince posters that he's an elite kick is actually the silly mistake and my response was about that but thanks for involving yourself. The conversation can actually go anywhere we like and you've got no idea whether or not we're head-hunting him nor what we'd be prepared to give up. The talk is that he wants to come home to vic. Not that the MFC have gone hard after him, maybe you need to read up on that? I'll continue to post my thoughts on his overrated kicking skills though that I think we'd be making one of the biggest list management blunders in the last decade if we gave up what is being reported.