Deeoldfart

Jordie is a hard nut who puts his body on the line and plays his guts out every time he takes the field. He is the ultimate team player who thrives on hard work . He's a footballer's footballer. I know these are all overused cliches, but for me they sum up perfectly the way Jordie plays his footy, and why he is held in such high esteem around the Club and amongst Dees supporters. It's easy to understand why he won his second successive Coaches Award and the Players Award for his efforts in 2011. These were great achievenents, especially as he missed a large part of the pre-season and some early rounds with groin problems. Well done Jordie ........ I wish we had a few more with your attitude.

If you are selected and take up either of those appointments, nobody around here will ever communicate with you again. It might just be the biggest decision you will ever have to make. Weigh it up carefully!

Col is the gun we need to fire on a consistent basis. On his day he can be a game-breaker, but on any other day he seems sullen and disinterested. He is fast, strong, a beautiful long kick and has great hands. In short, he has the talent to be a top-liner, but he seems content with mediocrity. No doubt the new coaches will be searching for the right buttons to push to get Col up and about on a weekly basis. If they succeed (said more in hope than expectation) he could take the competition by storm. If they fail, he will continue to frustrate.

Until the season just past, I was on the 'give Cale time' bandwagon, but the wheels have all but fallen off for me. 34th place in the Bluey (26 votes) is way short of what we should reasonably expect from a #4 draft pick in his fourth season. I can accept slow progress (within reason) but If anything Cale seems to have gone backwards. His decision making, his thirst for the contest and all too frequently his skill execution, continue to let him and his team-mates down. He seems totally bereft of confidence, and I can only hope that the new coaching staff can work with him to restore his faltering career. I hope he surprises in 2012 as much as he disappointed in 2011.

Trenners is a smart and hard-working footballer. He's as hard as nails with courage to match, has very solid skills (especially overhead marking) and shows maturity beyond his years and experience. He's a ripper and we are very lucky to have him. His loyalty is an added bonus. Fifth placing in the Bluey in only his second year was an exellent achievement. If he continues to develop as I expect, he will be a star and a leader at our Club.

The Craig interview is outstanding imo. What he has to say about our Club, and the direction we are heading, fills me with enormous confidence about the future.

No bloody wonder they are so expensive here! Give 'em away in Melbourne, add a premium to the price in Canberra, retailers maintain their overall profit margins, and the good citizens of Canberra suffer. I'm envious, and I blame the damn pollies!

You guys are onto a bargain if you can get them for $10:00! $11.39 a KG at Coles, Woolies (Safeway?) and the local fruit and veg. markets where I live. Another good reason to move to Melbourne, but I'd be leaving the 'other half' behind, so I guess I'll be sticking around here, and restricting myself to the usual half dozen games a season, plus finals.

The posters ahead of me have said it all. Barring injury (heaven forbid!), Chippa will be the cornerstone of our defence for a decade, and a regular contender for AA honours. I really like Lutz's 'our Scarlett' comparison.

Jamie seems to have most of the attributes to be a very damaging player off HB or wing. His ball handling skills and pace are near the elite level. The problem is that we only see occasional cameos, and he then 'goes missing' for a quarter or more. I have no idea why this has become the norm with Jamie. Is it lack of desire / willingness to impose himself on the game(?), poor endurance (?), lack of confidence (?), the absence of a settled role within the team (?). Who knows? If Mark Neeld and his team can identify and address the problem(s), I think we will have a star on our hands, if they don't, then Jamie is in danger of falling by the wayside. 2012 is a very important year for him. Edit: Spelling

Early on in his AFL career, Bater seemed to have a strong future at Melbourne, but that has become a distant memory over the last two years. He had a great season at Casey in 2011 (and he must be commended for that), but apart from a couple of late season games where he played a bit in the mid-field, he failed to have any influence when playing for Melbourne. I'd love to see him reinvent himself as a midfielder or HB flanker, but I just don't think it will happen. IMO he is not well equipped for the modern game.

I'm most of the way through my first case, and will be ordering another. I'm not sure whether it's Rufus Stone under a different label, but it's certainly a lovely drop and excellent value. The emblem and the story of the emblem on the back of the bottle, make a nice conversation piece when entertaining fellow AFL fans. The description on the bottle says: 'The Heatcote Shiraz is rich and powerful, being sourced from an ancient strip of Cambrian soil said to give these wines their unique structure. We hope you enjoy this wine over the next few seasons.' A few of my Demon mates will be getting a bottle in their Christmas stockings.

One thing that Neeldy mentioned was that the TAC coaches come out of an outstanding learning environment. The TAC is fully funded by the AFL, and no expense is spared in developing the best young football talent in the land. If that's the AFL's approach, it stands to reason that they would want the best available coaches to develop the youngsters. I'd be surprised if a lot of AFL dollars aren't put into developing the coaches as well.

I agree with all that Redleg, especially your point that some of the 'locals' think we we can offer up a stale prawn and catch a lobster. I was wrong to suggest that Neeld could be used as bait, but maybe he could be used as 'berley' if we go after a contracted player who has to agree to be traded.

I think Mark Neeld has said that they are hoping to sign one of the TAC Cup coaches, which will make all three deputy line coaches from the TAC/VFL environment.

Geez Redleg, you are a hard man. I think I sort of know exactly what I was trying to say, why don't you? (lol) My point is that I enjoy the anticipation of Trade Week, but I almost always feel let down at the end because we don't land a decent fish. This year might be different. I have a gut feeling that we will land a decent fish, because we will be using fresh bait ie. Neeld, a revamped Footy Dept. and the increased professionalism around the place. Do you fish Redleg? If you do you should never take bananas out on the boat. It's awfully bad luck! If you don't believe me, Google it.

I think Red is commenting on my post old dee. I reckon you had better go back to bed and surface again on Tuesday! (lol)

Senior Forward Coach with Slatterly as his deputy.

Great pick-up IMO. Wouldn't be coming to Melbourne if Mark Neeld hadn't been impressed with what he's seen.

The key points Mark Neeld made were: Jack will be a 'beauty'; he is 'showing all the signs of being a hard-at-it inside mid-fielder, with skills'; 'Like his old man, he has the tenacity to hunt the footy'; He (Neeld) is 'very much looking forward to being part of Jack's development as a footballer'. watched him play in the TAC GF where he had 34 posessions, etc, etc, and 'probably clashed heads with every opposition player out there' (meaning that he was on the bottom of every pack)

I'm sure we'll have some we won't want to forget before you and I are d&b.

Jack started the year slowly, blossomed mid-season and tapered off a bit towards the end (I suspect, as a heavy workload started to take its toll on his immature body). Apart from his footy smarts and silky skills (which we have known about for a while), the 2011 highlights for me were his gut running, some strong pack marking and early signs that he might be adding a bit of mongrel to his repetoire. Jack is really starting to show why he was selected at #1. If he has the will to do it, I reckon he can become one of the stars of the competition in 2 or 3 years. The next steps are a bigger, stronger body to assist him in marking contests, increased consistency and 40 odd goals a season.

I really like what I've seen of Gys in 2010 /2011, but unfortunately we have only seen glimpses. He has a great deal of upside if he can get his body right and keep it that way. Build his body and endurance, and improve his disposal a tad, and we have a potential gun midfielder who wins a mountain of ball, and is extremely difficult to match up on. We now have some of the best fitness and conditioning staff in the AFL, and I reckon they will be spending a lot of one-on-one time with Gys over the Summer.

At least they would have entertained the five and unders!

And a huge THANKS to you for establishing and overseeing far and away the the best footy site in the AFL. I'm sure I can speak for all of the Demon faithful who read and contribute to Demonland. We owe you big-time.