Deeoldfart

Definitely not much thought gone into that prediction ... maybe its our most experienced team but a fair stretch from our best, especially in the light of statements about a youth lead revival. None of Garland, Bennell, Jetta, Cheney or the '09 draftees definitely make you wonder!

Thanks WJ. Always great to get some positives on the injury front, perhaps even more so at this time of year!

Sorry Jack, but I disagree on each of your points. In particular, stating that Garry 'never achieved anything as a footballer' is utter nonsence. 226 games; 426 goals; 7 years as captain of the Dees; regular State representative and 3 times selected as All Australian ...... and all this amounts to achieving nothing? wow!

he may play a bit this year but if he's in our best 22 in a couple of years time it's because we haven't developed the likes of Strauss and Bennell I don't rate him

Dunn came off before the end of the intra-club game at Casey, and I'm pretty certain he received treatment for a hand or finger injury. That may account for his absence over the last two weeks.

Can't disagree with that hoopla, it could be interpreted that way.

Probably slightly 'nit-picking' given the context in which they are shown, but I understand what you mean Hoopla. I can live with it until the real action starts in a few weeks, by which time I expect the AFL will have moved on from showing last year's stats.

Not a bad team Flag, but given their limited preparations, I very much doubt that we would want to go into the first round with all of Garland, Bruce, Bate, Watts and Wonna. Maybe just a couple of them at most. Also, I don't know what the situation is with Dunn. He's not listed as injured, but if he's not, it's hard to fathom why we havn't seen him over the last two weeks. I saw him getting treatment for some sort of hand / finger injury at the intra-club game at Casey a couple of weeks ago.

I'm really glad that Garry has moved to end the unhealthy speculation that he was heir apparent to take over as senior coach at Melbourne. On the other hand, its great to hear him say that he will always be available to help out in other roles, should he be invited to do so.

Presumably you are 'keeping faith' only if Brad is not playing against the Tigers

Agree completely two sheds, and being part of an inexperienced and (currently) ordinary team, must make it all the more difficult for the youngsters..

Exactly Rusty!

Great stuff mordja. Thanks for sharing.

Following tweet from DemonsHQ: "the reason is that Col plays with his socks down so we thought that would be appropriate".

Exactly ... just plain bloody boring! No more, no less!

I know the feeling Stalwart, I'm guessing that I've been around a bit longer than you, and ipso facto, my window is probably even shorter ......... but don't despair, I have never been more confident that a return to the glory days is just around the corner! ......... and as for 2010, I'll be disappointed if we can't beat the Tiges, but a second win from the first 6 rounds wouldn't surprise me. However, I think the last 8 rounds is when we will start to show some real signs that will have the general football public sitting up and taking notice of the Demons for the first time in a long time. Notwithstanding the comments of those who have written us off on the basis of two pre-season losses, I reckon we can win 8 games in 2010, and head into 2011 brim full of confidence.

Great to hear! Its snippets like this make Demonland such a fantastic forum, especially for those of us who have the misfortune to live away from the heart of football.

Agree .... particularly the fact that we can build on it from year to year. Already installed it as my pc wallpaper.

CULTURE = another word. IMO it is even more important than confidence, but they clearly go 'hand in glove'. We need to develop a winning culture so that we don't need special motivation to fire us up. This needs to be the norm with only rare exceptions, rather than vice versa. Such a culture is elusive and multi-faceted, but it's one of the reasons that the best teams can have a bad day or even a longer-term form slump, but still prevail over the opposition. Clearly a team needs to start winning games regularly to develop a winning culture, but what are the key factors necessary to develop such a culture? Talent and experience are a couple of obvious ones, and team depth to seamlessly cover injuries and ensure stiff competition for places in the senior team is another. Others include excellent coaching and off-field support and facilities; strong on-field leadership and widely held respect for the leaders; pride in individual and team performance including preparedness to sacrifice individual accolades for the good of the team; comraderie amongst the playing group; etc, etc. Most of us around here would acknowledge that the Melbourne Footy Club is currently well down the 'learning curve' in many or most of these areas. When you start from a very low base like Melbourne has, the qualities mentioned above take time to develop. That's why patience is critical. However, for the first time in many years, I have every confidence that our patience will be rewarded.

I love Dean's quiet self-assuredness expressed in the very last sentence of the article. When the players develop this type of self-belief, both individually and as a team, we will be on the way. It will take time, but it will happen.

Exactly ..... on all counts!

1) Definitely! I find his interviews enjoyable and informative. Yesterday for example, was the first time I had heard about Max Gawn's progress on the track. 2) IYO.

With very few exceptions, you will only see "average players become good, and good players become great" when those average and good players are part of a good or great team. We needed the high draft picks, to develop into a good or great team.

Great response. I knew we fielded a young and inexperienced team, but the numbers bring it into stark perspective. Bailey has talked repeatedly about the need to get games into the kids. Games will bring confidence. Confidence, combined with the talent we know we have, will bring success.