P-man

It continues to amuse me how every player in the AFL is described in mainstream media as an “AFL star”. Even the first year rookies are “stars”.

Merry Christmas one and all. Hope everyone’s noose, uh, membership scarf, arrived in time for the festive season.

It's mainly about the functionality and potency of the forwardline for me. I have confidence in the other lines to get their [censored] together when you look at the personnel we have in there, but a heavy reliance on T Mac still raises concerns for me, keeping in mind that it looks like we are moving our best goalkicker from last season into the midfield. I expect Fritta to have a career best year, and Kozzie/Jacko could be surprise packets, but the level that the likes of Petty and Weid can achieve, along with Melky's ability to stay on the field will play a key role in the success of the season. I think Brown is a really smart acquisition. He may not be a gorilla type but he provides some much needed depth in experience and brings some mobility and smarts in the forward half. Why Essendon let him go is a mystery but I'm glad we have him. Clarry also needs to improve his delivery to the forwards. From memory he is statistically speaking one of the worst in the league. He's too good a player to be coughing the ball up as regularly as he does at present. He creates time for himself so he needs to use it to the full extent when disposing by foot because he is a very good kick when he takes time to settle. Overall I am confident we will move back into the 8. We absolutely have the talent to do so, so if we can't, there are other questions that need to be asked.

It’s always chugged along just fine until this one year where people kept whining about there not being a template.

A template is too restrictive. You predict whatever you want. That’s the point ?

#brownymyths Anyone who can apply genuine pressure for spots is a good get. Welcome aboard Browny.

Like the majority, I’m not a fan of co- captains. It worked for the Swans. Good for them. Why WE need to persist with trying it I’m not entirely sure. Having that one strong leader the whole group can get behind appeals far more. My preference is Gawn as sole captain but if not then just go with Viney and back him in. For the record, the way Goodwin was talking on SEN, I think Viney is a lock and Gawn likely to be co-captain alongside him. We seem wedded to this stupid co-captain thing.

Dan Houston is also a very good up and coming player in his own right. Quite the quartet of comparisons.

We’re back again boys and girls. Time to rub your balls and lay down your predictions for 2020. For those who aren’t too scarred after last year. Team or player. Good or bad. Coke or Pepsi. The ball gazer closest to the pin with their quality and/or quantity of accurate predictions will win the heralded Demonland Crystal Ball. Previous DCB winners 2019 - Demon Dude 2018 - Skuit 2017 - ding 2016 - wretched.sylph

Comments I’ve seen on Facebook have shown pretty much unanimous support for Max as sole captain. Unsurprisingly. Get it done. Enough of this co captaincy malarkey.

Agree with this, although as much as the recruitment of skills coaches provide some appeasement, I tend to take them with a grain of salt. Ben Dixon was one of the most accurate goal kickers of the modern era and has had seemingly no positive effect as a goal kicking coach at St Kilda. Their forwards still can’t hit the side of a barn or several barns put together. Sadly, Lewis can’t go out there and kick it for them, however at this stage I’ll take any help we get. It’s an area where we have been far too poor for far too long.

Maybe I don’t watch enough Eagles games but I had to triple check that he had listed Lewis Jetta as an A grader.

Not gonna lie. Bennell would make these lineups look a lot sexier.

If the Suns’ recruiters are doing their job they will be talking to one or both of Trengove and Stretch.

He’s an intriguing player. For all the criticism he receives for not living up to the initial hype, he continues to produce stats that both surprise and point to his continued development. I’m keen to see what level he can go to next year.

For sure. But if you’re gonna do it, at least go through some of his high possession games. Hell. Ask a Freo fan which were his best games/moments. Anyway, minor gripe.

Yeah sure. I just don’t consider joe the goose goals as “highlights”. It seems like these highlights packages are basically every goal a player has ever kicked and the odd mark and tackle thrown in for good measure.

Seriously, why are 75% of the highlights the goals he’s kicked. We’re acquiring him for his run and carry. I have no want or need to watch him kicking a goal that my grandmother could kick from half a metre out. I wanna watch him darting down the wing and hitting up teammates on the [censored]. Stuff like this annoys me. There is more to the game than kicking goals ffs. Maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old man.

Regarding criticism of the fans for not being passionate enough, I’d be interested to know what Kornes thinks “tearing the place down” actually entails. Protesting outside the club? We don’t even have a club house to protest outside of. Contacting the club? Does Kornes somehow think the supporters haven’t done this? And how would he know how many have or haven’t done this? Cancelling membership? Is that “tearing the place down”? Anyone doing that could just as easily be accused of having a lack of passion or dedication. Phoning up talkback? I dare say plenty of Melbourne supporters have vented over the airwaves this year. It just seems to be an empty criticism based on cliches about fanbases rather than anything real.

I don’t disagree with all of that, but if you are trying to suggest our skill execution this year was the same as it was last year, I can’t agree. There was clearly a drop in confidence and team cohesion. That isn’t to say that list improvements don’t need to be made, but a healthy list with a bit more confidence in themselves and one another will go a long away.

Well, that’s what he said. In fairness, the end to end ball movement last season was at times good to watch. It wasn’t all chaos balls and bombing in hope. You don’t make a prelim final by turning over the ball repeatedly.

I’m not sure which part you find hard to believe. I’m just reporting what was said at the time. Dixon had no reason to lie about it. To me it just highlights the difference between this season and last. The training reports this year were far from glowing.

Boo hoo. Moving on.

I remember someone in the media, I think it might have been Ben Dixon, attended a training session in 2018 and commented that if you wanted to watch a team move the ball with precision, go watch Melbourne train. So basically the exact opposite of what you’re describing. So between 2018 and 2019, confidence levels and/or understanding of what they’re meant to be doing has dropped significantly. It’s not as though they’ve forgotten how to kick in the space of one season. Let’s hope they can rectify it quickly. A good start to the season is crucial. Both for the team and for Goodwin if he wants to keep his job beyond 2020. And on topic, a goal kicking coach is clearly overdue, although it would be foolish to think it will be a miracle cure.

I remember this well. Three weeks was a farcical penalty. He was/is a nuggety little bastard. When I met him (while drunk off my [censored]) I was struck by just how solid he is. Pretty amusing seeing him fling someone of Danger's size like a ragdoll.