Dappa Dan

Go demons... any recording? maybe of the team song again?

Oh my gaaawd... I liked most of what I read... Well, most of it was fairly non committal... But he says he liked what he saw from Jamar... God help us.

Go DEMONS!! I can already hear you singing the song from halfway round the world!!!!

:D Rhino tells it how he sees it... not how it is. But you're right... demonland has a reputation for rose-coloured glasses that is well deserved. In this case though, what did people expect? A 10 goal victory?

That's a pretty sound post TSJ... Yes, that's certainly what I meant when I said we won't improve enough... that we won't be any kind of threat this year... There are two fields of thought. One is that we still suck, the other is that this wasn't a true indication of where we are. The only thing agreed on by EVERYONE is that this is probably the best match we've had in a LONG time for encouraging debuts... People have spoken highly about at least 6 players that aren't in the 22, and a few of them haven't even played a senior game until yesterday. When was the last time that happened? I can't even think of a time in the last few years where we had that many young players play that well... I think people are getting a bit emotional about it actually. Yes we were up against it, and yes we really had very little chance of winning the game given the odds against us, but I think it shows us where we really are looking to the next 3 years. We were beaten by the best team in the land on a good day for them... and we were beaten by 12 goals. This is not a good thing... But it is fair that the MAIN THING we all should have been looking for... before winning, before highlights and before injury worries... was that the young guys get some games and we see the embryonic stages of something good from them. That was first and foremost in everyone's minds... and in DB's it seems. It's good to see he can stay the course despite 4 quarters of morale killing rubbish. We certainly didn't see anything MORE than those few exciting glimpses, but at least we got to see them. The glass-half-full types are excited by Buckley, Valenti, McNamara and Martin, and the glass-half-empty guys are preaching doom and gloom at the older guys being so crap... I think the truth of it is somewhere in the middle.

We have a winner.

Que? Not EXACTLY sure what your point is... I hink RobbieF over at 'ology had a good point. We'll improve a lot from that. So will the Cats. But we'll improve more in terms of percentage. We have so many more reasons why we should have been thumped. Stupidly young and green list, most of the heavy hitters out, away from home, new coach and coaching department AND game-plan... The main thing to come out of this? We have a lot of work to do. No reason to slit our wrists just yet... but the work is there to be done. There isn't a single area in the game we couldn't improve on.

Might have spoken too soon. 4 goals, one super in the opening minutes of the last... I'll cop the rap for that one.

Go demons... There's some much-needed respect. Given the way their midfield has been playing it's remarkable that in the second and third quarters we have actually won the game, at least going by the scoreboard. What's great is that the ones that have been doing the work are not the ones who should be. Yze is doing what he does best... But Buckley, Jones, Martin, Sylvia, Valenti. They're playing games beyond what they should be at this stage in their careers.

Changing the subject now... Has Jamar beenplaying the whole game in the ruck? Or has there been other guys?

I'm not so certain about that. Perhaps if all the players we've left out were to come back at once, we could leave in guys like Buckley, Valenti (assuming someone's on the long-term list), Meesen and Yze (assuming he wasn't in your 22). But even then it's still a huge list of very young guys. We'll improve, no doubt, but not enough. Last season we were never beaten by 100 points were we?

Someone on 'ology made a big call... Buckley played 5 minutes that were Judd-like.

Yeeeeeah... I think what he was trying to say was that even if your grandma was on debut, she'd do better than this... We've got oodles of improvement left. All these new tactics and the new coach and everything... it's not going to get settled for months yet... the point is, we have to improve all that way just to be competitive...

Buckley with a supergoal...

Remember this feeling everyone? You go into a game allowing all the youthful exuberance on demonland and in the media to convince you your side is capable of beating quality opposition... then by quarter time you're down by 6 goals, and there is simply NO way you can possibly rally? Then someone in red and blue kicks a goal and you have a faint glimmer... and then the opposition slams another on. Ling - 14 touches and only a few minutes into the second quarter. Our leading possession getter, Jones with 9. As it stands... They have six players in double figures for poss... we have none.

Wow... just logged on and we're getting smashed by 6 goals in the first quarter.

Thanks guys... bub, are you talking foxsports tv? Or foxsports.com?

How would one get them from overseas, on a computer with no speakers? I used to use the afl.com game-tracker thing, with the graph of the ground and score updates as well as stats... but there isn't one up one the site... Is here any other sites that would be better? I'd prefer not to tune in to demonland for quarterly score updates, and random quotes like "NEWTON SCREAMER!" and "DAVEY TACKLE!"

There's something that makes me worry about this: Brock has, for probably approaching something lke 2 years now, been seen as Neitz's successor. How easy must he think it is? He's STILL the favourite, I think in his heart he knows he works harder, plays better and leads more vocally than most of his younger team-mates, and the media certainly has him installed as their darling. So he has the ego to feel he has one hand on the captaincy already... And he still does these things. He's not trying to impress anyone, I think maybe he thinks the job is already done? What kind of club are we that we can't even offer him a bit of competition from within the list for the job? If he gets it next year or the year after, it'll seem like he had it all along... He must feel like it was the easiet thing in the world...

Canberra? not for me... They tried it with a truly national sport like cricket, and it failed miserably... I can't see a football team workng there... and even if it did, I can't see the McGuire's of the league allowing it to become financilly strong...

Long term injury list... that's a good point. Hadn't thought of that. I wonder... maybe someone should start a new thread on the topic. Which players do we want to promote first etc etc...

Rubbish. Byron was hard, yes, and made his team walk a bit taller, but he was the LAST player you'd call the heart and soul of the MFC side in 2006. JMac won the Bluey for good reason. He was the league's leading tackler and IS the heart and soul of the MFC list. Just behind him was Clint Bartram who in 22 rounds was way upthere in the tackling stats... Byron was nowhere near them in that statistic. I reckon he was a good player for us in 2006, particularly from about round 3-16ish... But the TEAM won the tackling title, led by JMac and Clint. ANd to suggest Byron was a leader is just plain absurd.

Disagree with the 3 positives... 1 and 2 mnoreso than 3... I'd say our list is VERY young. The mature players we're going to be leaning on heavily have shown a propensity to go missing and/or injured... dome for long stretches. IMO, our list's strengths lie in the outgoing veterans and the guys too young to win finals all by themselves. I like our midfield, but as good as Jones and Brock are they are still quite young, and Jones hasn't reached his peak yet... JMac is a wonderful player, but nowhere near the top-10 midfielders in the game and White is showing signs of age. I do applaud your enthusiasm though. I think with a decent ruckman, our midfield will come into its own in about 3 years, and as far as I'm concerned, it;'s their future that makes me happy to have them. For right now, there are better midfields going round, but for 2008, I think we're just off the pace. And point 3 a agree with somewhat. I just hope the age doesn't catch up with them. They didn't have mcuh help last year, but I did think we had structural difficulties with Miller and Neitz particularly. Miller because he has his faults, and Neitz because when he wasn;t there, they were a touch lost. No disrespect though Jarka... each to their own... Positives: 1: The unknown. Last year we had maybe a few players that could come into the side and improve dramatically on 2006... As it stands right now there are older players who were injured and out, or injured and played (Neitz, Yze, Wheatley, Davey), young players in their 3rd and 4th seasons that are yet to cement a spot (Sylvia, CJ, PJ, Newton, Buckley, Dunn, Bode to name a few) and young sparks, new to the club, that will be super keen to get that last spot in the 22 and will work hard every second they're on the ground (Maric, Morton, Meesen). Now I'm not naive enough to think it'll magically come together and we'll win a flag, but with a new coach, a list that's a mystery to EVERYONE, and a new footy department... There are going to be times when people will be stunned at the dees this coming season. There'll be bumps, there always are... but there'll be some thrills... 2: Defensive stability. We're a way off... Let me make that clear. And this paragraph only applies to our STARTING defense. But you wouldn't have to do a lot to improve on last year. Frawley being bigger, Rivers back older and wiser, Bell our little-big-man, Petterd the class, and a bunch of pinch-hitters and embryonic defenders that will have learnt valuable lessons last year that they MUST improve on this year. It certainly couldn't get any worse. I loved Doggy, and I even had a soft spot for Ward, but their kicking will no longer be a problem. We can see the team look up the guts instead of the wing for their target. Now when we come out of defence, we can watch the ball meet the boot with much more confidence. THAT in itself is going to be a joy. I'm looking forward to seeing if Bailey's run and carry model has had the effect on the players that we hope it will... If what they're saying is true, they've learnt how to exploit it, unlike under ND. 3: Tackling/hard stuff: Including hardball gets. I don't have the numbers, and I doubt they're much good... But the young midfielders and defenders are one thing before anything else. Hard. These are the years when Brock and Jones will develop their reputations as being hard-nuts regardless of how the game is going. We were a string tackling side last year, and even better in 2006, and from all accounts Bailey has applied some focus on this area. And we have the league's leading tackler for the last 2 years. There is some truth to the fact that we're good at this because we're secind to the ball, but I think it's a positive. Hitting players hard makes them doubt themselves the next time they go in. The Aaron Davey rule... Negatives: 1: Ruck. Spot on Jarka. There's going to be a big step to take here that won't come for a long time. Jamar will not be at MFC in 2009, PJ is a good young player, but a long wa from being a dominant ruckman... Meesen and a very lucky Jeff White are our only hope. I worry. 2: Injury. Another one nicked from Jarka... I've seen nothing to convince me our chronic problems are gone yet. Maybe the game-plan will safeguard players... who knows. I'm worried about it, but hoping my doubts are proven wrong. 3: Defnsive depth. As above, I reckon our starting defenders are good players, if young... But it's our depth I have concerns over. I think it's probably true that apart from in the guts, you are more exposed early in your career with a slim body in defence, where you need to be able to apply physical pressure. There will be games where the young VERY green KP defeders wil be called upon, and it will be only a matter of time before they are beaten in the tussles. It's ok though... everyone is beaten early in their careers... But it doesn't bode well for 2008.

I reckon it's pretty simple... There are ALWAYS one or two (sometimes three or four) teams that are LEAGUES ahead of the opposition. They have a good list, settled coach and footy department and they're mature. Geelong were this, West Coast and Sydney peaked at the same time, and if you look through the history books, it always seems to go this way. You get a team, or sometimes two that are the REAL ones fighting it out to win the flag. There's always a mediocre team on the way up (Port '07) or down (W.C. '07) that has an EXCEPTIONAL season and somehow cracks the top-4, and every so often the GF. Roos last year are another example, we nearly did it the year before... and in 2000 we nearly went all the way, but were a long way behind the eventual premiers on the day. Then on the other end of the spectrum, there's always one ppor team team has to put up with the worst. Not only are they crap, but they have an ugly year with injuries. Among them there's usually a side or two that are a LONG way off the pace... Richmond are a clear example, and the Blues obviously have been crap for years. Apart from these two groups, there is the other mediocre ones in between... Now... My point is this... Injuries will have a say in how we go this year, and will probably determine whether or not we are successful in any immediate way. I think at our absolute BEST, we are a mediocre team that could do what the Roos or Port did last year. We could smash teams with enough luck, and could go a long LONG way. But I just can't see us winning a flag. Bad injury run? ANd it's 14t again I fear, though I don't think we'll get the spoon. We actually do have a really good list I reckon... So that's a long email for little substance, you may say. But I think ultimately it's how every team will be defined. Geelong, should it have a crisis of KP injuries, or midfield loss... they could tumble to the bottom half of the 8... in other words... mediocrity. A team like, say, Freo could get it together with injuries like they did a couple of seasons ago and do what Geelong did last year... make a GF. I just reckon that with the right injury run, the 8 is out of reach for NO-ONE. The top 4? Maybe that's out of reach for the Blues and Tigers... But it's within reach for everyone else...

:o Wow.... If you'd asked me to guess I would have said 50-75 games and about 30-40 goals... That's a shock. I seem to have so many memories (14 memories perhaps?) of him streaming out of the guts and smashing through a couple of big ones in succession. Like he did in the Geelong game (I think) in round 1 last year... Our first 2 gals from memory... Interesting... Still... He has a big kick on him, and while the stats suggest he gets intercepted, I'd probably be a bit nervous as an opposition supporter when Beamer has it in his hands with a bit of space to run into.