Lord Travis

Also correctly posted 13 of the top 15 based on what a source at the club advised we and other clubs were doing. The leaks are an unfortunate fact now. A shame, but it doesn’t impact our onfield performance, and onfield is what matters. Regarding Jackson and Kossie, I still think both were the wrong choice at their respective picks, but they’re in red and blue now so they have my support.

People keep saying the club is great at preventing leaks. That was true when Jackson was CEO, but since he left we’ve been leaking again. I was able to get draft and trade info weeks in advance with minimal effort (and posted in draft thread as proof). We are nowhere near as tight as we were 2-3 years ago. The leaks have returned, let’s just hope our good form returns too!

2019 was a pretty average season from Viney despite him playing the most games in a season yet. He barely had an impact in any games and had his worst statical season in 5-6 years. Hopefully with more time on the park over the coming years we can see a return of the 2016-2017 Viney that won more ball, laid more tackles, kicked a few more goals and made all his teammates walk taller. He was pushing towards elite across those seasons and was having a huge impact on games. The game away against West Coast in 2017 was a prime example of him bringing full intensity, notching up 39 disposals (despite missing a quarter with injury) and laying out their captain with a huge hit. Same in the Hawthorn game where he got 30+ disposals, but more importantly 15 tackles to set the tone and setup the win. If we see more of that 2017 Viney, it'll help immensely with our poor infield leadership and to help our midfield become dominant again.

Dunkley already played a few games last year, so with a full pre-season he might be able to establish himself. Personally I saw nothing to suggest he'll make the grade, but the coaches obviously rated him. Rivers I can see pushing for a spot early. He's got all the tools to make it as an AFL player, starting off half back as a rebounding player and then potentially pushing into the midfield over time. He's got good pace, good aggression, good kicking skills, good decision making, good intercepter too. He'll likely be the best of our three 2019 draftees early in their careers. He'll make it IMO.

Interesting we were trying to trade up to get Robertson but didn’t have any currency to get it done. We also thought Rivers would be gone too. It was always going to be Jackson and Kozzie with our first picks it seems!

Good riddance. He's a rubbish bloke who consistently got away with dirty tactics, yet was lauded for being a fair player. He was a good footballer, but very overrated by media and clueless football pundits. He's nowhere near the best defenders like Scarlett, Fletcher etc. He's not even the best defender in his team - Grimes takes that honor. Good luck to him door-knocking for the sky wizard.

Horrible news for the kid. Best of luck to him for his recovery.

Melbourne predictions Demons finish 10th due to a standard Melbourne late season capitulation after hovering around 6th for most of the second half of the year BnF - Clayton Oliver, who also makes All Australian team Leading goal-kicker - Fritsch, kicks 45 goals as a stay at home forward Langdon to surprise and finish top 5 in our BnF Petracca to make All Australian squad, but not team. He plays mostly midfield but is named as a forward. He also finishes top 5 in our BnF. Gawn again the dominant ruckman, but misses a few weeks with injury and thus misses out on AA team Rivers our best first year player Jones and Hibberd retire, both spending time in the VFL as the season progresses TMac struggles for goal-kicking form again, despite playing whole year up forward Other predictions Premiers - Richmond Wooden Spoon - Gold Coast Brownlow - Marcus Bontempelli Coleman - Tom Lynch (Richmond) Rising Star - Matt Rowell

They’ll likely shorten matches next year too the f*ckwits.

Geelong are the most successful club of the decade in terms of win & loss, with Hawthorn and Sydney just trailing. Successful clubs put the spotlight on failure so the necessary people can take responsibility, learn from the experience, and use it as an opportunity to improve. Weak clubs mollycoddle everyone, especially the players. We didn't review our 2018 ending, we didn't learn, grow or adapt. We may have had a rough run in 2019 due to injuries regardless, but this is an ongoing trend that is unarguable. We are the 3rd worst club of the decade, below even Carlton! We are a weak club, and we will continue to be until we get serious and start acting more like the Geelongs and Hawthorns of the league.

I knew we were bad, but I didn’t think we’d be worse than Carlton. That’s pretty damning. When will we finally come good?! It’s been 50+ years! 2020 is a fresh start. Here’s hoping we show some improvement for [censored] sake.

He struggled 2018-2019 with deaths in his family and subsequent motivation to invest energy into his football. Completely understandable. He’s scores more goals than any Demon this decade, and I’m thankful he came across to the red and blue when we were still a [censored] team. Definitely provided a spark and consistent goal scoring option, which we are now sorely lacking. Best of luck Jeff!

100% this. It’s literally player data from the previous season summarized. Most of our players were shithouse, so it’s hardly surprising that statistically our rating dropped. Again, this is data on what happened last year, not some sort of magical prediction. Gawn the only elite player is about right. I love Clarry, but his impact on games last season was down. Dinky handballs, less goals, he was above average but not elite. To those saying how did Bulldogs get ranked second, they finished 7th, played finals, had players like Dunkley, Bont and Macrae crank out elite seasons, and have added players like Keath and Bruce over the offseason which will have bumped up their rankings.

Cyril was a top 10 prospect who slid due to interviewing poorly (pretended to be asleep in meeting with Port so he wouldn’t have to move to Adelaide). They’re not comparable players on output thus far. Hopefully Kozzie proves worthy of the first round selection and tears it up in red n blue.

Going by data, it shows Jackson at 4 was actually pretty bang on, but Kozzie was a big reach (rated 42nd best player). Rivers was around the mark, and I reckon had he not missed pre-season with glandular fever he would've been a first rounder. Quietly confident we've struck gold there.

Template of required questions?

Hope Pickett lines him up and knocks him into next year. Soft and overrated. He's a master thief as well! $750,000?!! Time to close this thread unless it's to add a clip of a Melbourne player lining him up ?

Sokol is 24 and kicked 60 goals 35 behinds in the WAFL this year, including 6.3 in the grand final. Brown is 30 next season and just had his best year kicking 21.13 in a team where he was the main target with Daniher out and Hooker swinging back and forward. We'd get 1-2 years out of Brown at most, and the best we could hope for is probably 25 goals or so. We'd get 5+ years out of Sokol and potentially far more goals and flexibility than Brown. I'd be taking Sokol ahead of Brown.

Upgrade Lockhart and rookie Bennell and Sokol would be ideal IMO.

Can we delist a rookie or something to pick him up? He’s better than 5-6 on our list already IMO.

I’m excited by his potential as well, but saying he’ll be better than Enright is a ridiculous call. Enright was one of the best HBFs of the game and a future hall of famer.

B+ for Draft. I think there were better players available with our top two picks, but not unhappy with how it turned out. Rivers with our second rounder was a steal and he’ll be good long term back flanker. All players drafted have tools that give them a higher than average chance of making it, so decent draft period. Trade/Free Agency period I’d give a B. We missed out on our main target Jamie Elliott who would’ve come free of trading. We sold the farm pick-wise to get Pickett. We gained Langdon, who I’m a big wrap for, but needlessly swapped second rounder as part of that trade. Tomlinson in is average. Bennell as potential rookie is a winner, as he’s obviously a huge talent and high risk high reward. The ins are decent, but like previous Mahoney years I think we overpaid. Overall I’d give us a B+.

Third-fourth round. He’s a speculative prospect.

Great get for us and will be nice to see a Rivers across halfback in red and blue again. He’s a good size to mop up in the back half and has a neat kick on him. Welcome to the club Trent!

Are Robertson and Bianco still there??