Demonised

Can't agree with the naysayers who declare that we aren't top 4 material. We were. Indisputably. Take a look where we finished.

Can't help feeling that we'll look back on 2018 as a chance we've let slip. Crucial losses (St Kilda!) cost us a top two finish in a wide open year. The flag could have been ours.

There are worse stereotypes. Excuse me while I dust the snow off my Range Rover with my tartan blanket before getting my manservant to register a few dozen barcodes I've somehow managed to accumulate.

Because their success has had no humility with it, no grace and no modesty.

I hope it stays up longer than Tomas Bugg's ...

My plane trip home was almost a perfect blackout - left Cairns at 7 pm, arrived in Melbourne at 10.10 to find that Demons were up by 30 with four minutes to play. Still wasn't confident.

Would get twelve weeks these days. Deservedly.

Was Steven King even reported for kicking Jeff White's face in?

Max, for lots of reasons, just ahead of Clayton.

I want to draw attention to Oscar Mac's first kick, the one that ended up in our opening goal. Precise, attacking, audacious, skimming just over a giant and into Jordan Lewis's hands. Deserves accolades.

Kicks well, too.

Nice point, but note that most style guides insist on a space before an ellipsis ...

To the privileged, equality feels like oppression. If you've always lived with outrageously favourable umpiring, fair umpiring seems incredibly unjust.

He's become one of our most important players.

Imagine if he'd played in a team that won regularly ...

Sunday's match is season defining game No. 8 for us ...

All true, but it's even more demoralising when l) the dinky pass goes astray or m) the player who marks the dinky pass misses a complete sitter of a set shot.

Oh yeah. Last week, f'rinstance, Salem had a good head of steam, crossed fifty, and then looked for a dinky pass. On one of Hunt's few dashes down the ground, same. Bang it home, son!

Interesting. All our players on the list are midfielders. No key position players.

A bit of a surprise packet in this, especially in the second half of this year, seems to be James Harmes. When we're down, he consistently seems to dig in and try to break lines, throwing himself at tackles etc. Not always successfully, probably due to a ceiling on his skill level, but he does have a go. Tried hard on Sunday.

I anticipate another bout of crowd sourced decision making.

It's a sign that we're a team in transition, the way our players so often are caught between team rules and their natural instincts. How often did one of our guys storm past the 50 metre line and then think 'Oh no, that's right, I have to lower my eyes and give it off' instead of just banging it home? More experience, more confidence and they'll get it right.

That's a fair point. Just wondering how our game structures and systems are falling apart because players are going into games while hampered.

Bizarre free kicks paid is one thing, but what's incredibly frustrating is the blatant free kicks NOT paid, all in the name of 'keeping the game moving'. A free kick given quickly and diligent enforcing of the man on the mark will make the game flow better than the stumbling maul it often becomes now.