3183 Dee

It’s interesting looking at the photo gallery from the game on the OS: in all the photos of the centre bounces, you can see how not only Gawn, but Oliver and Petracca are also being held/tackled before they get possession. Goody has every right to make this public - just like Clarko, Chris Scott and David Teague have done. It’s not about getting an armchair ride, it’s about getting a level playing field. As soon as Max gets some parity at his contest, he will towel them up. Also, all sides are trying to get into him off the ball, problem is that it’s hard for him to complain, as captain. May or Viney should get i the umps ear about it.

The article just regurgitates what was said in Gawn’s post March interview and then suggests he’s in doubt for North. Doesn’t give any sort of hard fact or source for this speculation.

I agree with this. Brayshaw’s 3 and 4Q was much better and I couldn’t work out why. Then realised that Viney was off, which I thought must have been due to injury. Couple of minutes later, he pops up and kicks the goal. This would seem a logical place for Viney, to add intense pressure to the forward line, rotating through the midfield as needed. The first half (with Viney in mid) we just bullocked our way forward, like a rugby scrum. Second half, we started to spread out of the contest, which is surely what we are crying out for?

There’s a couple of highlights videos on the OS which show the intent and aggression of 2018 - I’d say that Hibbo has done okay so far this year, but let’s have the old Harmesy back from this evening onwards. Well done to both players, in any case.

or is it that the players have lost Goodwin? Let's hope that none of this eventuates and that SG and these players pull it around and march on to a successful finals campaign.

And on until the end of the season. The ramifications of the Port game are severe, not because of that one performance, but because those performances have now become endemic in our football club over the past years. The team gets a jolt up the [censored], usually plays better the next game, a little less the following game, until the cycle repeats itself. The only way we will see if things have turned, is if the effort and endeavour that we saw in the Hawks game (and mostly v Brisbane) is the minimum achieved for the remainder of the year.

That's a beautiful post. I'm a first generation Demon (since I got off the boat in 2006 - how [censored] is my timing?!) and my boy and youngest daughter are absolute one-eyed Demons, despite having mates who barrack for Tigers, Hawks etc. We can grumble all we like, but the kids don't see all the nonsense that we talk about - all they care about is big Max, Lockhart (my lad), Harmesy (my daughter) and Petracca smashing through to kick a couple of goals!

Hopefully it’s not used as another excuse, if we get rolled.

That’s right - unfortunately, nothing of this will be resolved until the game after N Melb. We will have needed to beat both comfortably, for the FD (and players) to be back on a level playing field. It will be how the form continues after that, which everyone will be looking at. On the flip side - lose one or both of those games and the writing will be on the wall.

I was thinking this last night. How is it that our greatest asset is becoming our greatest liability? Most teams don’t have a ruck that can compete with Max, so they just effectively use him as their ruckman. This works for the good teams (Port, Lions) but not so much for the weaker teams. My question would be two-fold: - How do we get around this? Play Max in a varied role? - Do other teams with superior rucks (Collingwood, West Coast) experience the same issues? I can’t remember seeing this? So, what do they do, that is so different? I don’t actually have any solutions, but, knowing that there are some tactically astute Demonlanders, would be interested to hear what others think.

I was so looking forward to this game - as you say, you’d think that the Brisbane game was going to be the launch pad for great things. Instead, we got that. Almost the exact opposite of what I thought would happen.

Yes - Burgo really oozes a quiet confidence. Although it’s been a weird season, it’s notable that we’ve had no soft tissue injuries yet (touch wood). Also agree with your comment about Ben Gibson - he’s doing a great job of the interviews, not just PR fluff pieces and not afraid to go in-depth with some of the questions.

Great post @DeeSpencer - I hadn’t picked up on that. I’d noticed that, once again, Gawn is constantly hung onto by his direct opponent at a ball-up. Might be interesting to send this into the club?

Too soon - you’ll have to vape ?

Can you co-host and then call in on your cigarette break?

Yes, same here, I’m afraid. I think I shout at the TV either way. I realised last week that I ‘ride’ the team home, if they are winning, much like someone who has bet a $1000 on a horse!

Perfect - I should have added that a croque monsieur to accompany the flat Champagne is also advisable.

Flat champagne is perfectly acceptable with foie gras. Incidentally, a glass of flat champagne before bed is also good as hangover precaution, when you’ve imbibed too much of an evening.

Remember the school blazers? Whenever I see that dreadful Coat of Arms that Schwab cooked up, I feel ill. And the trumpeter before the games?! The club turned into a parody of itself, coinciding with one of the worst lists in history. *Shudders* That ridiculous episode, combined with the emergence of the two franchise clubs set us back about 10 years!

Glad to see Jonesy back, both for the grunt and the leadership. It’s a good sign that the likes of Jonesy, Tomlinson, ANB etc are struggling to get a game. Our depth is starting to grow.

He probably walked!

Yes - I thought this at the time, but when you watch the highlights, you see them all get round him.

I agree - it’s time to move forward, rather than having all these ‘line in the sand’ games. Bring the pressure and the smarts, build on last week’s effort and we should see a win.

I agree - Brown should come in as the more experienced guy. Plus, he is a good lead, so will help to drag the big Hawks defence around.

I know we’re almost onto the Hawks, but I think one of the key factors to this win, was the return of some manic tackling pressure. This has coincided with AVB and also Hannan returning into form. I think the key to our game plan working properly (as we often saw in 2018) is manic pressure on the opposition when they are in possession, but then clean and quick ball movement after effecting the turn over. I think a major problem for us has been a manic pressure, followed by manic, chaotic ball movement, which results in us giving the ball back again (or just lumping it into 50). If we can keep applying the tackling pressure and then get the ball out with clean disposals, we should be heading on the right track.