DeeSpencer

Don't think Riv plays back. Don't think we change plans and suddenly start Langdon wing. Doubt we'll see any total shocks like Jed Adams over Howes. Still not sure on 3 talls (AJ or Jeffo), Langford or neither. Woey, Jack Henderson and perhaps would we pick Spargo out of the blue again (surely not right? right?). FB: Howes May Petty HB: Salem Lever Windsor C; Billings Rivers Lindsay HF: Sparrow Turner Tracc FF: Fritsch JVR Chandler Foll: Gawn Oliver Langdon Int: Bowey, Viney, Sharp, AJ/Langford S: Woey E: Henderson, Jeffo, AJ/Langford That might be the 26 man squad and we won't know exactly who's in until we see conditions on Sunday.

I would never have recruited Billings because I do somewhat agree that every player in a good side should have pressure and physicality. But hard runners on the wing present options for your backline to clear the ball quickly and avoid the negative outcomes that come when your backline are dump kicking or indecisive. Windsor had some excellent games mixed with very quiet games where he looked tired. Battled through for nearly the whole year which was a great effort. But you don't have a plan for speed off half back if he's not back there. And we need that to break down zones and create attacking opportunities. This is nonsense. Nothing beats unselfish team footy. There's moments for superstars to step up and do special things but passing inside 50 has been a really poor part of our game in recent years and it's well and truly time we see more players dish it off to guys in better spots. Billings will be on the wing if he's in the side, it will be rare that he'll be the one receiving these passes. Bayley Fritsch - known competitive beast. That's a new one. If you don't like Billings' intensity wait til you watch Fritsch play when there's not a goal on offer. Spargo cooks his team mates more than anyone inside 40 and spits the dummy when he isn't used when open (which I actually don't mind). Complete nonsense if you think he's not goal happy and shuts his mouth. No idea what Chandler did to get this criticism. If nothing else he's excellent at the role player aspects of his position.

Jeffo and Langford in white jumpers. Sharp and Taj in blue, from the clips shown on Instagram Not that it necessarily means anything

Can you dial down the font size and desperation? 1. We need fresh wings. a)We have no raw speed down back and if we want to speed up our game plan it requires it. Windsor is also a repeat burst speed player more than pure endurance. Half back suits him. b) we absolute need fresh run in the midfield. Sparrow has just about failed as a mid, doesn’t accumulate the footy and uses it terribly. Viney is getting old and slowing down. Clarry isn’t at full fitness. Tracc is hardly a gut runner. Someone has to provide the run if we want to run the ball through the middle. 2. We definitely need speed in the forward line especially without Pickett. Hence Sharp starting there. Sharp is also a bad decision making and ball user, plus a relatively low possession player. He’s more use trying to kick a goal than making decisions up the field. 3. Billings IS noticeably fitter and stronger this preseason. Plus is coming off a full year of footy where as he’d had a stack of set backs at St Kilda the 2 years prior. I share you concerns about his lack of physicality in his game but he’s playing wing not CHF. And you’re totally right he can’t kick for goal to save himself. Mostly the other options for the wing are Lindsay and Taj. I hope they both claim the spots but I’m fine with accepting Billings has a better tank and more experience in the role so might start the year.

I think they might, but it's worth noting GWS kicked a big score with Cadman (5 touches, 1 goal), Gruzewski (9 touches, 2 goals) and Callum Brown (7 touches, 2 goals) and those goal totals outweigh their actual impact on the game.. We kicked 11 goals 24 playing a similar style in a lot of the Freo game. It's a trend across the league now to get your deep fowards as deep as possible to draw defenders and for the scoring to come from the half forwards. In which case we don't need to keep trying key forwards, we need our half forwards to be more dangerous and finish better.

Do we try to run with GWS? Or do we create an extra back by dropping Rivers from the middle in to a back 7 or sweeper role. Rolling an extra mid on ball and living with 5 v 6 at our end (knowing scoring will be very hard). I suspect we’ll start out trying to play with them. Not sure how long it will last.

He’s never done anything at Casey to look like he deserves a game and has spent a good chunk of the summer recovering from a hamstring. If he plays well at Casey then I agree, sometimes you got to chuck a guy in and see what happens. But you don’t pick a guy when others have trained more often and better all summer. That’s just asking for a miracle.

I’m pretty sure it was the form on the wing that saw him get drafted, rather than some traits as a forward. We’ve often played him as a lockdown back pocket due to lack of other options which might not suit. But he’s hardly demanded to play as a half back, yet alone anywhere else. And back is the easiest place on the ground to win the ball and rack up disposals. If he can’t do that part where it’s easy I struggle to see how he makes any impact forward.

Very strange that we all got used to hands in the back then it changed. Either to boost scoring or boost Tom Hawkins! Not sure which

Cameron was only trying to brace but with his size and momentum Briggs was shifted forward. Left him in a terrible spot. There’s been no penalty for any of them this year, they won’t start with a pies player. But they probably need to go back to hands in the back. Use your forearms if you want to hold space.

FB: Petty May Adams HB: Windsor Lever Salem C; Lindsay Tracc ??? HF: Langford Disco Sparrow FF: Fritsch JVR Jeffo Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Bowey, Chandler, Langdon Rivers? Billings? Sharp in the seconds, replaced by a third tall in Jeffo. Adams in the 1’s as part of a 4 tall backline and Howes out for Petty (although there’s Petty’s in both sides) the changes from the Freo game. Could we play 4 talls down back? Maybe, but it would probably be designed around May getting the Toby Greene match up. I still expect pace and pressure in the forward line with Sharp in especially if he was a strong performer for the grey/whites.

Roos did a very good job for us but if we can change from 14/15 we can change from now. We were 61 and 72 points per game back there. Now scoring is lower and we were still 78 points per game.

Collingwood pushed really high but kept at least one defender (generally Moore but sometimes Quaynor and Murphy) back and would often get bailed out of 1 on 2 or 2 on 3 because they'd be sitting deep and have a clear run at the footy So often we'd bomb it long to Moore and have a guy running free in the forward pocket. Their pressure dropped just a smidge and teams started to find that spare guy last year. Geelong are always staying at home. Brisbane fairly at home too. Both of those sides use kicking to make the ground big once they turn the ball over and slow suck up forwards and midfielders to chase down uncontested kicks. Then go forward in to open forwards lines by spacing their forwards out. I reckon with Hipwood/Morris and Neale/Cameron they've both started to hit leading CHF's in their ball movement too which is something that went way out of the game. Skills are a factor, but neither Geelong nor Brisbane have amazingly skilled backlines. What both teams do have is midfields and forwards that are drilled like soccer teams and know how to move off the ball for each other to create spaces in the zones. Both teams as failed in finals for multiple years because they mucked around with the footy, weren't direct enough and would turn it over in high pressure moments. A big question is whether our bash and crash big 3 mids are willing to add smart unrewarded off ball running to their games after they've had years of getting to the feet of the long down the line kick.

We didn't have the key backs or a deep 2 way running midfield but Goody took over from the most uninspiring Paul Roos footy and built a very strong attacking side in 16, 17, 18. I don't think that was ever the plan as the finished product but our attack was building really well. And in 2021 whilst we were more boundary focused it was always quick movement. We seemed to regress in 2022 as everyone got tired. But 2023 had flashes of change and last year they absolutely tried to change but didn't have any players to adapt. The big factor this year is whether we have the players to adapt. We've certainly moved magnets but there's some old dog, new trick guys that concern me. Mostly in midfield skill and backline run. As well as the bandaid that is Max Gawn that holds us back at times (not blaming Max, just our players know he's there).

I think it’s 90% psychological but I also think he has an across the body motion where as Choco coaches everyone in straight lines. I’d be training Jack to allow him to swing out more

He’s spent all preseason on the wing. Rotated at half forward because we had Taj and Lindsay fit for the first preseason game and not a lot of half forward depth. Did the same in the last quarter v Freo when Taj was subbed on. Obviously wingers do have shots at goal but it won’t be expected to be a major part of his game.

Absolutely, even if it contradicts my desire for a fired up run out song and the demon time button. No flashing lights or music between goals and especially quiet time at quarter and half time breaks. It’s break, you’re there to catch up with friends not have [censored] pumped in via the speakers

Ahhh I knew something had changed but couldn’t pick it. Time to change or even change back

Love it, the club should do more to reward the most loyal of members.

Stress reactions are pretty common, clubs have a good guide on how long they take. The big issue is he’s done the easy part of the rehab - sitting around doing non or low weight bearing stuff. The next month as he builds back up to full loads is the time where things could be really straightforward or face set backs.

So given we're in a bit of a holding pattern this week with only the 2 games now and the Demons hopefully out of the headlines I thought we should put the Demonland brains trust to use to see if anyone can come up or improve on some half baked ideas (no matter how big or small) to improve the club. The idea is a rip from Bill Simmons pod where he brings on Kevin Wildes to discuss random ideas. It's pretty self explanatory. Feel free to add your own, no bad ideas! 1. Demon Time (bash boost button rip off). The big bash this year had kids come on the boundary and smash a button when teams took the batting powerplay. Not all that exciting when you've seen it 25 times but nice for the kids who get a great moment. Obviously footy has the auskick kids and the kids running through the banner, but why not make the day for 2 more kids by having them on the boundary at the end of half time? 3rd quarter is always the premiership quarter, so let's just rebrand that demon time. So they smash a light up button, bit of noise, bit of lights and animation on the scoreboard saying 'Demon Time'. Costs next to nothing but it's a great moment for 2 kids. 2. A Tracc MFC tiktok collab. I know there's probably still some mending of relationships going on here but it remains that Tracc has 390k and the Demons 90k follows. It's frankly embarrassing. We've got a club nutritionist who could go round to Tracc's and cook with him. We've got 45 hungry players and coaches. It seems crazy that we haven't leveraged this additional social media power. Hawthorn 290k and they turned their entire club in to a freaking tiktok machine that plays footy every now and then, Collingwood 270k by the way. Tracc has them both covered. 3. New run out song. So we run out to Hells Bells right? Before switching to the grand old flag. And don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool, fits with the demon theme. But sometimes you need to try something different. I've recently discovered this song: Wolf Totem by Mongolian folk metal band The HU and to me the combination of heavy and traditional instruments and throat singing, it's what we need. The other team aren't messing with wolf totem.

JVR is a good set shot too. But really I’m suspect on expected score from non set shots, especially when it’s wild kicks under pressure.

It’s not a surprise that we’ve pushed Pickett, Riv and Langdon on ball, put Windsor to half back and drafted Lindsay. Half forward class is probably the missing piece. A healthy Spargo, see what Kolt and Langford can do and, hopefully Jack Henderson offers something. But it seems wishful thinking.

Not for me, I maintain our issue is we prioritise volume of inside 50’s over quality. How many marks in the big scoring zones (inside 20 or inside the corridor within 40) do we get per game? How many runs in to an open goal plays do we get? We need half backs who kick to space and run, we need mids who find the footy in space and we need to use the corridor and diagonal plays using half forwards to get deeper entries. We have to attack in a way the good sides do to trouble our backline.

Congrats on waking from the coma that you were in during 2022 and 2023