Little Goffy

We have been scewed, definately. 5 home games against interstate teams. Bulldogs and North at home. No night time home games of any kind, let alone friday night. Just three in total, and two of those are in Queensland. No Hawthorn or Ess What I wouldn't give for North's 2009 fixture... Just 3 home games against interstate teams. And look at that run from round 3 to 6. Four major drawing teams, two at night, and each bigger than the last. Can you imagine a better way to get your membership and supporter momentum going. Add to that not having to leave Victoria until after round 12 (again, huge gift for building momentum), throw in the friday night game against Carlton late in the season. If North can't make a substantial profit this year, they are jokers. Even Collingwood would be stoked to get the draw North got this year. Is this the AFL saying ' here's your last chance, we've stacked the table in your favour, make it work or that's the end of the support'? As for us, if we can turn a profit in 2009, then this new administration is second to none in the AFL. Period. Roll up your sleeves, this year is going to be the hardest work in our history, but if we get through it, we're back on the up.

I say, to salvage the crowd, we declare the official 'Jeff Kennet is a bastard' game. He's slagged off at us plenty, and recently let North and the dogs know that the reason they didn't win the premiership was because their staff didn't work hard enough, so the match-up is legit. Think of the crowd - everyone who's ever been shat on by Jeff Kennett. It would break the home-and-away record at the 'G.

Bye bye Williams. Gotta say, from where I sat it looked a lot like you were boringly mediocre, and in your time took our bright young midfield backwards in the key area they looked promising in - on-ball toughness and clearance work, and defensive tackling and effort. Still, not exactly a lucky run with the talent, and a tough time and place to be coaching. But that's all the slack you're getting from me. Who knows, maybe at the Bulldogs, where front-running has been developed to a successful gameplan, you might be the extra edge they need.

Too true. According to various real estate sites and transport guides (yes, I looked it up) the main freeways get you from CBD to Cranbourne in just over 30 minutes. Rail takes 50. 50 minutes is a bit much, so I guess the players who live near Spencer st and catch the train to Cranbourne, then walk to Casey Fields, will get a little bummed out. But so long as a given player lives east of the city in that vast wide band of pleasant leafy suburbs Melbourne has to offer, they won't have a trouble in the world by car. Beats the hell out of having to go to three different venues for a single day's schedule of weights, skills, meetings etc.. That would've added up and given people the right ----s in no time, and the players won't miss it at all. The coaches even less so.

I don't know about you but idle speculation helps keep the suspense from killing me. I have assumed that Carroll is delisted successfully, and Wonaeamirri promoted, or that Carroll is not delisted and as a consequence Wona stays on the rookie list until round one, whereupon Carroll is declared long-term $#$% and Wona gets promoted then. Either way, six picks total in this year's draft. My preferences, with a little luck going our way, but fairly realistic. 1. Jack Watts. Talked about so much I don't thing I'll add more here. Bankable Key Forward. 17. This is the one I've struggled with - Shaun McKernan would be great if he dropped this far, which sounds very unlikely. Mobile, reasonably tall (196cm) - kind of a second Paul Johnson? Aaron Cornelius mostly ditto, and somewhat more realistically available at pick 17, but is a little shorter and I'm keen on some full-size forwards. Jordan Lisle is mentioned mostly as a defender, but descriptions of him as disciplined and athletic (also 196cm) makes me think of what we currently lack a bit of up forward. If Lisle is what is left, maybe take O'Keefe here and then Lisle at 19, as he is mostly tipped as a mid-late 20s selection. 19. Rhyse O'Keefe - 'Cos we couldn't afford the other 'ROK'. The words 'run' and 'kicking' keep getting mentioned in his strengths, as does footy smarts. Generally tipped to go early-mid 20s, so 19 should do the job. 35. Kade Klemke - comments made on him are along the lines of tough, smart, skillful, and does team things. ALL of the phantom drafts have him going in the late 30s early 40s. 51. Anyone's guess. But may I suggest a pure ruckman? They are scattered all over the place this draft, with a lot being mentioned only as speculative very late picks. Even if we get McKernan at 17, a pure ruckman for the future is a must. We will use this pick to get whichever of those speculative ruckmen we prefer. 67. Pass (to reserve for PSD) PSD - 1. Steven Armstrong. Hey, he's a premiership player, and at some point someone or other on Demonland has tagged most of our list with 'we'll never win a premiership with x in our team', so clearly Arma is a superior player... or 1. A low-profile player with a good attitude, smart and with the core athletic ability and attitude to succeed, who we have taken the extra time to identify during the gap between ND and PSD. eg. Stefan Martin.

Rod Butterrs decided it was still his business to undermine the St. Kilda football in the Herald Sun today. Herlad Sun article I still think he's a tool but it is a worry that the Saint's are making such a substantial loss when they have several high-profile players, 13 wins and finals, plus pre-season cup win, and a ridiculously kind fixture for exposure and crowds - 5 friday night games (3 home) and 8 saturday night games (3 home). They are also supposed to have around twice as many supporters as Melbourne. All the things we complain about not having, they have, but they still make a substantial loss? I get this creeping feeling that the Saint's could actually be in danger in the next few years, with a number of veterans retiring (Hudgton, Harvey, Milne, Hayes and King all played at least 22 games this year) and the draft pool being drained by the Gold Coast. Would they have the strength to trade players like Riewolt, Ball or Dal Santo to get those high picks? How hard would the backlash from dumping these players hit them?

Yze, Neitz, White, Holland, Bode, Weetra. = ND 1, 17, 19, 35, 51. PSD 1. Carroll goes? Wonaeamirri gets promoted. Carroll doesn't go? Wonaeamirri stays on rookie list, but gets promoted in round 1 to replace Carroll who gets placed on the 'long-term boofhead' list. And guys... pick 67? Don't wet yourself with excitement. For what it's worth, all teams get two extra rookie list spots this draft, and we've cut two veterans which means two more rookie list spots appear, and if Wonaeamirri is promoted then add one more. Five rookie list spots really should handle any late speculative picks we want - remember that in reality rookie pick 1 will only be about 10-20 spots behind ND 67. (2007 draft - 75 (-6 passes) picks, plus 8 pre-season picks) = 77 (2006 draft - 89 (-9) picks, plus 9 PSD) = 89 (2005 draft - 76 (-9) picks, plus 10 PSD) = 77

Is there a short list of candidates for the Captaincy, and how will the leadership group be selected? And when.

Hang on; the horse's mouth is telling us to recruit the horse's arse? I'm confused.

Geelong are asking him to not nominate for the draft, as the scholarship arrangement is that Geelong may automatically rookie list him if both parties agree. If he decides that rookie listing isn't his thing, then into the draft he goes and anyone can grab him. No idea where he'd go, though - the past hype has been about 'such a promising scholarship player', which is a whole other world from 'Tac cup star'. I have a soft spot in me 'ol heart for Sri Lanka, so I'd be stoked.

What counter arguments can there possibly be to 'You're an arse bum face smelly stinker'. ??

Oh, and off the field - We need to improve our income (from any and all sources) by about $500,000 on 2008. Reduced costs in player payments and 'CEO replacing' expenditure, plus reduced debt servicing, plus a few other simple cuts have shaved off about a million dollars (after factoring in increased footy dept. expenditure, which appears to be occuring). It's more than do-able. Obviously the big issue is replacing the major sponsor, but remember that Primus is still on board on a reduced commitment. It cans till work out in our favour (fingers tightly crossed - Goooooo Schwabby)

Actually, in a statistically quirky way we'll have a more experienced team on the field next year than this year. Remember that all the guys who played this year will start next year with the extra season's experience. (well duh) BUT, also note that of those experience players who have now left, only White (13) and Robbo (10) played even a vaguely substantial number of games. Neitz, Yze, Holland and Carroll barely played ten between them. So the team that actually lines up on match day will be considerably more experienced next year than it was this year. And of course, next year the injuries will clear up... how many years can we go on saying 'It can't be as bad as last year'? Still... Mclean and Rivers in particular would be handy to have back as far as on-field maturity goes.

Exactly. Each of those is very different, but a fair indication of what will be gained from a mid-teens draft pick. Of course, there were other structural, cultural or salary motivations for trading Woey, Johnstone and even Jolly. I guess that's the key factor - if Green didn't want to be at Melbourne then 16 is fantastic, if he recommitted properly then 16 becomes a quite debatable return (even if it's considered a fair 'price', there is a difference between price and real value)

Remember that our picks in the teens have been about the average - Bate, Jones, Dunn, Frawley, Smith, throw in Molan (and obviously still wait and see with Grimes). Use that as a fair base for your guess at what the next pick from that range might be like. Compare that expectation with what we might expect from Green over the remainder of his career. Now you have your own answer. My answer is - Green came 5th, 4th and 3rd in the last three best and fairests (or was it 5,5,3), is not injury prone, not particularly old, and is versatile enough to slot into a range of positions where needed. Just three full seasons from Green, continuing to perform consistently in the top-ten of the B&F, would surpass the career results from three quarters of mid-teen draft picks. An extra two servicable seasons, taking him to 32 before retiring, would consolidate that margin in his favour. And there is no count-down clock - what if he's still there at 34? Neitz copped four seasons worth of heavy injury in the second half of his career, still made it to 33. McDonald just signed up for another year at 32, and he's in a high wear and tear environment. Personally, I think Brad Green will be the one player on the Demons list still there from the 2000 Grand Final when we make it to our next one.

Seriously, what's with bagging Wonaeamirri? Rookie listed, first year player, kicks a bunch of goals, has a couple of really good games, fades out a bit towards the end of the year. Sounds fine to me. You gotta find a bit worse than that before you can legitimately toss out a teenager.

Better to have a full week of frantic activity now and keep it somewhat contained, than give not enough time now and have these things spilling out over the rest of the season (it's bad enough as is) But yeah, the week itself stinks thoroughly. I hate that the information is so sketchy and so many non-stories get thrown around.

Gee. For all we know this could be perfectly true. It's a shame the credibility is zero. Bad case of the boy who cried 'you all suck'.

I think the best option is to have the 'wait' rule restored for rushed behinds only. Essentially, the main advantage of the rushed behind - taking the pressure off the ball carrier - is nullified, to an extent. Just think - if Geelong had had time to get a zone in place to inhibit the kick ins from those 11 rushed behinds, and a couple fewer had become Hawthorn inside 50s and one or two had been intercepted by Geelong and turned into goals... it would have turned into a very, very tight game. Certainly the risk wouldn't be worth the constant rushing of behinds that we saw on GF day.

Come to think of it, has anyone actually seen Nathan Jones' hair? What if he's been lying to the club all this time? I can't bear the thought. Worse than Didak/Shaw.

Well, that's just a rubbish statement. Check stats before quoting them, moron. Try 'AFL tables', 'Footywire', or, you know, the Melbourne Football Club website also has some stats. Had a few games this year with a dozen posessions, 20+ hit outs, and half a dozen tackles (he gets the most tackles of any AFL ruckman, for what it is worth) Oddly enough, the good stats came when White was out. Jamar is far from a champion, but I get tired of the random, unbacked abuse thrown at players here.

from ABC.net.au - The suspense is killing me. Don't forget that Paul Williams' contract term expires end of this year. Given that on Demonland at least, many people see Williams as the weakest link in our coaching staff, and see Todd Viney as not only a favourite son but an exceptional coach with the approach to the game we want to see at our club... Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I'd say this is a bit of a blow to the Hawks. To find out in the same week that Viney is leaving but Kennet isn't, that'd be pretty crushing.

Ah yes. I too have determined the entire career path of young Mr. Watts, based on youtube evidence. He won't be a key forward at AFL, he'll be specialist veterinarian for Andean Camelids. I'll give a little more credence to the guy who has been watching him a few years. Soft is a tricky one. Hard to know exactly what will happen as he matures. An argument for Captain Brock over Green or Bruce? Not because the others squib or don't go when it's their turn, but because Mclean lives and breathes hardness and would demand it from everyone as the main currency of respect. Also an argument for getting Todd Viney around the place.

With any luck there will be quite the extravaganza of young talent at the Demons next year. Remembering that Grimes barely played, Maric was on managed duties to complete yr 12, Petterd basically didn't play for much of the year, Martin has only been playing footy in any form for 2 years, Morton obviously will benefit from another pre-season and a more mature body, ditto Womaeamirri. Colin Sylvia started to show what he can do late this year, and will be lining up for (touch wood) his first full pre-season. Do we expect Bate, Davey and Jones to rebound from poor years? Will Dunn, Frawley and Newton step up? Will McLean, Rivers and Moloney break their injury curses? Where to next for Colin Garland? Robbo is jogging now, and should do a pretty full pre-season, can he recapture some form? Will Whelan finally get an injury free season? And who from the 3 picks under 20 will play right away? And who will be there at number 1 in the pre-season draft? Farren Ray? Seaby? Prismall? Will Warnock fall through to us? Or some random kid with decent prospects? With so many players hurt or developed 'conservatively' this year, the 'swell' next year could be great fun to watch. Even when we're losing, there will be competition for spots amongst a bunch of kids looking to establish a place and get some experience. Ooohh... I've just entered the magical twilight zone of pre-season optimism. That WAS quick!

Also very interesting stuff in the detail - Brad Green receives the Leadership Award, as well as coming third in the Best & Fairest. Clearly he's doing things for the club and the young players which somehow aren't been reported at Demonland.