Demon17

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

AFL WEBSITE - Sarah probably is not a Dees supporter or even watched Saturday night !!! Very optimistic 

 

Melbourne

52 points (13 wins, five losses) 128.8 per cent
Melbourne now slips four points adrift of top spot after its loss to the Western Bulldogs, with Brisbane's win and Fremantle's draw meaning its hold on top four is tenuous. The clash against the Dockers has suddenly become even more vital to the Dees' second-chance aspirations. Melbourne should have the firepower to see off Collingwood, Carlton and Brisbane, but stranger things have happened, particularly in clashes against the Pies - Sarah Black

This quote from an AFL site commentary is laughable.

Firepower - are you kidding?  Clearly never watched a Dees game this year.

13 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

The biggest problem is we continually get out to 20-30 point leads and then decide that’s enough and lose all desperation.

This is the conundrum.

In our key losses we have been ahead by up to 5 goals well into the game. Freo, Swans, Dogs.

Then its over and we fall away.

For this reason, although not confident, we can still make the 8, there is reason to at least hope given there have been no beltings and the talent is still on the ground. Dogs must win 2 games, we must win one more game. Otherwise we're out on percentage.

But on Friday, getting 27 points up some players seemed to behave as if its all good and game over.  Sort of ".. we've got this..."

The dogs to their coaching and team credit didn't see it that way.

The recent Brisbane game tells me we still have it, but the talent has to perform all over the ground. The whole season I have been watching the team survive on 20-30 minutes of brilliance then relax (sort of) - Saints game was the best example of this year. Absolotely brilliant and powerful first half, then nothing much after half time. Not a top 4 attitude.

I hope Goody and leadership group address this.  I know Clarry will be.

Jackson is a distraction internally, and realistically won't be resolved unless the team at least internally know the score. This will be Freo's demise if the purported deal proceeeds and I'm not fussed . Our keys are locked away, not on potentail which hasn't been on display this year in Jackson, but on hard results and history - Clarry, Trac, Viney,  ......

1 hour ago, CYB said:

By what logic is it a 5 day break? If your logic is based on days between games, then we have another one against Freo this week. 

I call this a 5 day break too.

Finish last night at 10pm. Asleep maybe 2.00am sunday

Break days Sunday to thurs only as at least a day lost travelling to Perth. Only a clear 5 rest days.

Dockers played friday and home next day. No travel before the game.

In what universe is this fair?

We lose this I see the dogs taking our spot in the 8.

Mandatory  win one more game to ensure finals.

Right now that looks tough.

6 hours ago, HarpenDee said:

Anyone feel like we didnt play that well (as per the past 11 pages), got smashed in the [censored] count, the 9th best team played out of their skins, and that 9 times out of 10 we win that game (and nearly still did today). And we are 3rd. It's not all that bad, is it?

I agree we have to lift a fair bit if we are going to win it (I watched Geelong's last quarter today and their pressure is far superior to ours) but I'm not willing to put a line through 2022 just yet.

I feel this way also.

Playing terrible 2nd half yet ahead with 4 minutes to go.

The first 1/2 commentary was all effusive about the Dees and we saw glimpses of what's achievable despite holes and players down on form.

There's enough to work on but the game goes for 4 quarters , not 2.

Sadly Weid didn't take the chance offered him.

Clarry is a star going in as hard as ever with courage.  He just shows up what Luke is really worth by comparison.  Not nearly as  much, and on potential only, he sure isn't doing it now.

 Clarry was at the same age.

Interesting few weeks.

34 minutes ago, The Jackson 6 said:

The premiership cup spent the morning at an Auskick in the heart of Doggies territory, Seddon.

All the kids in Dees jumpers also linked arms and sang Freed From Desire. I’m calling it an omen.

If this is a joke  - its brilliant.

If its true - then also brilliant. Thanks

10 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Clarrie to celebrate his birthday in style!

🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

Great pickup .  Only 25 yesterday. We have 7 to 8 years at least of watching him play.

A bit of trivia when looking this date up.

In 2016 the Dees have 4 Rising Star nominations.

Oliver , Harmes, Trac and OMac.

3 go on to be premiership players.

Who would have thought back in Roosey's last year this was the future for these young men.

1 hour ago, Demongirl35 said:

I’ve been a Weid knocker but I hope he absolutely smashes it today. Only a few games till finals. This is his chance to keep his spot. 

Spot on D35.  This could be Weid's  Jayden Hunt/Jake Bowey moment like 2021.

Hunt injured same time last year ,sort of. Bowey in and makes it impossible for the MC to drop him in remaining games and finals.

This is Weid's last chance and will get him into finals glory or at least contention if he can keep contributing - but not if today doesn't work.

I hope he understands the opportunity the football gods (and BBB's knee) has given him for tonight.

DON'T WASTE THIS SAM - FOR ALL OUR SAKES.

1 hour ago, Mel Bourne said:

Unlike Jackson, Gus very much has a life in Melbourne. Between the club, his partner Danielle and the Frawley family, it’s very hard to see him leaving. 

Leaving Melbourne  - yes,  staying in Melb but leaving the Dees - very real threat.

56 minutes ago, Bates Mate said:

Go watch last year's Grand final if you think he's easily replaceable. Bloke is heart and soul

Wev'e got '..heart and soul..."  as you say in spades. The GF had 22 players with it last year.

Gus is one of them . He can stay part of this culture , - or not.

He'll stay.

In a Bombers jumper - ?  

Give me a break.

56 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

If anybody think Gus is leaving because he wants to play midfield is kidding themselves.   The only reason he leaves is for $$$$$

Thats it for sure D11.

Angus' best position for the TEAM is in defence as shown by the AA talk about him in that role this year.

Goodwin sees this and good on him for sticking with that approach.

I hate Geelong like many on here, but they have the consistent history of their dynasty in players staying for less but reaping the team-first flags as a reward. I admire them for that and it sprang from the Costa style and approach in those times .

Simply really.

But Godfather offers will always lure some and that's business and  who can blame the odd one moving.

But apart from AblettJnr who did it for family reasons,  no-one walked out.

We have the mighty Oliver, Trac, Gawn , Viney.....  and jason taylor.   It'll work out fine.

12 hours ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Having just listened to David King and Joey Montagna on Fox Footy, the Bulldogs are certainties this week. In fact, according to King, the Dogs exposed us in Rd 1 and it was only luck we won. This bloke is a complete tool. He flips his opinion weekly. Can’t stand him

He is for sure.

Kane Cornes admits the media, and included himself, suffer from '..currency bias..'

They agree with the last thing they saw. King is a master at this. Not an original thinker on football, Joey is his apprentice . Both have found their role/personality/brand in the media to stay relevant and working.

The match summary courtesy of the AFL website after the game was a follows:

"....A good win for the reigning premiers who dominated post-clearance ground balls (75-55) as well as contested marks (16-6). The Demons were also far more effective at generating midfield intercepts (55-41) and their advantage at scoring from these (53-27) was equal to the final margin...."

No mention of luck. Not to mention the chaos in second  quarter caused by Salem's injury and the way the Dees righted the ship and dealt with the Dogs   8 golas 5   to 3 goals 2 after half time.

12 hours ago, picket fence said:

Alright alright settle down.... Maybe I overeacted a tad but..... I dont like losing PREMIERSHIP players for Money....

I say to my clients... If you love what you do, and work for great employers, then not only will you be well looked after but you will Lurve being around ur mates in a great workplace...

I'll leave it there

Great post here picket.

Summed up well in that Luke leaves for a life changing  figure and best wishes to him , but an absurd, amount and leaves behind a club with great culture and leadership to lets face it to a club that will always come second to the behemoth that is the eagles in Perth.

I would be mortified if LJ was offered more or even equal to proven elites in Trac and Oliver around whom the club brand is building nicely.

38 minutes ago, rjay said:

 

Too early to call Geelong then daylight...this is the same King that called us at our best 5 goals better than any other team a week or 2 back.

He was wrong then as he is wrong now.

I think they are a definite contender, the kid at full back gives them a lot more flexibility as does a fit Cameron.

...but the ageing list still has a lot of footy to play and there's a bit of water to flow under the bridge yet...

His was referring to current form now. A fair comment.

But meaningless come finals time given multiple pf failures by the cats. 

Should they fail again this year their response will be fascinating 

1 hour ago, D4Life said:

In MID JULY Geelong are the best team. The kings of Kardinia Park! Congrats to Cats for winning their KP GF!

Our coach played in two flags for the Crows who had Charlie Walsh as their fitness guru, who prepared them to excel in the finals.

Goodwin has consistently said there are two seasons - H&A and Finals!

As proven last year he knows how to peak in Finals, Demons were devastating last year, and injury willing will be very very good in this years finals!

I look at our team:

Backline:

Lever May Hibberd all been AA

Salem Petty Brayshaw (AA2022)    Rivers

Langdon.   Oliver AA.    Jordan

ANB.       ????????       Fritsch (close AA)

Kossie.     BBB.           Spargo

Max (AA). Trac (AA).   Viney

Jackson.  Harmes  Sparrow  Rivers Melk

Emerg: Bowey Tomlinson Hunt   Bedford 

Salem & Langdon should have been AA 2021

Our team know how to play finals football, our style is made for finals, and every Demon player stepped up at some point in the finals last year!

We have some fantastic players. A bit soft at CHF but Goody & the coaches will have something working in forward line  by finals time!

 All we need is a bit of luck with injuries and some luck on any given day. Be more than happy to play Geelong in finals with them using same on ball set up as last week, Max, Oliver, Trac, Viney & co will torch them!!

We won a flag last year after 57 years and I’m happy to back our Demons to give it a red hot crack again in 2022! We have a little rust at the moment but am expecting Demons to be smoking come finals time!

I’ve got plenty of space on my wall for the 2022 flag poster and Goody and co are putting us in a great position to do it again, even if many Demonlanders have little faith or recall! Go back and watch last years finals series and our round 11-18 of last year if you need any reminding how much we improved come finals!

Demonlanders have some faith!

Go Demons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great post, DJR, especially the Charlie Walsh comment above.

I heard Blight speak at a function in 1999 and he talked about His apporach to planning, using a clock for the 97 and 98 finals series.

The GF is played at 5 minutes to midnight he said.

Everything in the club  is primed to peak then, not 30 minutes to midnight.  Charlie Walsh was part of that overall philosophy.

Goody will know this intimately IMO.

1 hour ago, brendan said:

Cats are on an 8 game winning streak they will slip up at some point, I still think they have peaked too early same with Collingwood 

David King this morning on SEN was emphatic. on Geelong.

They have done nothing special until they prove themselves in September. Nothing has changed about them till then. They are a very good home and away team.

He said they play  "..tight.."  in finals and this is Scott's challenge.

He has - on current form and potential to improve -  Geelong No. 1 PF seed,  daylight, then Dees. Followed by Pies and swans.

Doesn't see Freo or Lions and Blues now a threat to the top 4. Freo's defence now not finals standard.

Just passing this on for what its worth.

21 minutes ago, CYB said:

He also had Sparrow running in (square to his position) about 30m in front in a truck load of space. 

I know he was persecuted for the burn in the Lions game, however ill say that 99/100 forwards would have done the same thing. You could equally mount an argument that Trac should have provided the sheppard on Gardiner rather than just running off him as Fritta clearly didnt know he had someone on his heels.  But i get that is probably an unpopular take on it.  

The one against the Cats was the poorest of all 3. That was lazy & selfish, undefendable. 

But the concern for me is that after the Cats howler, he did it again yesterday, twice I think.

Big chat with him today.

He's a highly intelligent footballer (footy-wise)  so why is this problem persisting?

32 minutes ago, CYB said:

Would love for that to happen, but we are at the wrong end of the ladder. Unless we pull a Malthouse/Buckley or Clarkson/Mitchell move, which would be incredibly destabilising, cannot see it happening. Goodwin has another 4-5 years before he reaches the 10 year milestone, which would be the logical point of a coach change. Yze will not wait around that long unfortunately. 

Fully agree, and for Yze to head off could only help him return at a later stage much more rounded for a senior role.

I worry about losing his strategic nous right now though.

I credit Yze for a small but vital part in the overall Premiership last year.

With Goody on the boundary and knowing Yze is up in the box I suspect they were a powerful combination (including others also in coaching, but Yze in particular given his Clarkson background). Filled me with confidence all 2021.

Going elsewhere only will strengthen him for an eventual return to the Dees as head coach.  

But I couldn't be more pleased for a favourite son if he gets a senior gig anywhere.  He can't do anymore CV - wise to prepare himself for the role.

6 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Actually scratch that. We should make a statement. Fritsch has burnt 3 players now. If our culture is selflessness and team-first, he needs to have a spell. 

Petty Oliver in for Lever and Fritsch. 

might hurt in the short term but we can’t let that stuff slide

Fritsch's selfish efforts were shown up today by others doing the right thing. We need him at his best , but...

I would be astounded if the Riot Act isn't read to him unless there are extenuating circumstances. "..sorry Goody,  I didn't see Charlie over there..."   (replace Charlie with any other player)

Tomlinson was good enough today  to risk giving Lever the week if  necessary to help get him right. Petty back will facilitate this.

45 minutes ago, Mr Steve said:

This makes our current form look not as bad as I thought.

Thats what t reckon.

Played poorly yet still with the cats 10 minutes to go.

And at Kardinia park little league ground. 

We'll await them at the G

22 hours ago, PaulRB said:

To my view, we are in a similar spot to where we were last year, but the critical difference is this year we know (from last year) that we have, and can find, another gear as we ramp into September.

And knowing is more powerful than hoping.

So we are better placed to win this years GF than last years...

Q.E.D

;)

Your comments abobe are spot on IMO.

Only 3 weeks ago we found the gear and demolished a supposed contender in the Lions. The media had us all back as flag favourites.

The belief this season will be real, whilst last year given lack of finals experience it was more of hoping - probably for fans and maybe the team as well. Except for Goody of course - he'd seen it all before.

They can now visualise success in Spetmember. last year they couldn't.

36 minutes ago, PaulRB said:

Given what we did when Jesse left... landed May. If Luke was to leave, rather than focus on picks, who would we be targeting to bring in, i.e. a 23-27 yr old key forward at a club thats languishing..? 

What do we need to find that would make losing Luke a win for the MFC?

I don't know.

But I'll bet you Jason Taylor and Tim Lamb do and they know who the targets are.

Much more relaxed over this issue than the Hogan years.

45 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

 

In: Melksham 🤞Tomlinson✅️, Rivers🤔

Out: Oliver 👎🏻, Petty😷, Bowey🥶

Melksham. Hmmm. I thought Dunstan would be in to help the clearances issue which really was poor last week. And without Clarry, need another strong body to compete with Wines, Boak and SPP . Maybe we are worried about pace and their run in Rozee, Butters, Amon and Houston. 

Tomlinson  ok.  In obviously with Petty out , he’s needed given Power play 3 talls and we need Lever in intercept role  

Rivers - he’s got the pace and intensity to match some of Ports runners  but hmmmm Hunt might have also been handy  

unlucky - Dunstan Chandler Hunt JVR/Weid

lucky Bedford Sparrow

very lucky Spargo 

 

THIS IS A FULL STRENGTH PORT POWER TEAM. Only miss Lycett.  It’s still a very very good team.  They were nearly our GF opponents last year   It’s a neutral venue   We have the ruck advantage but also there’s No Oliver   No Tmcd  No Petty  
 

It’s 50/50 game imv $1.90 each. Absolutely a must win   Lose this game, and our top 4 chances hang on a knife edge. 

 

Absolutely its a 50/50 game Norm.

Could also be a watershed game for the season for players and the team.

Win and finals secured and we can be on a roll in last 5 games 9esp then with Oliver and Petty back in).

Lose and Final 8 then under threat and heroics required.

Some players can cement their spot going into end of season on tomorrow's performance, others may be on a last chance.

37 minutes ago, Demon3 said:

Interesting report in on MMM Perth this morning with Lachy Reid (demon man) who says Freo are clearing the decks for the arrival of Jackson, Acres and Logue and Lobb all getting substantially less in terms of contracts than ithey should. Says Demons not interested in Players and it could take 3 first round picks for Jackson.

Sadly he also said Angus Brayshaw is Freo bound as well.

We should brace ourselves.

I stopped reading this post at "...MMM..."

24 minutes ago, drysdale demon said:

You are

I hope your'e right too.  But I still see Jackson has being average in general this

year with some brilliant cameos. Granted the Jackson/Gawn fuutre could be awesome though.

I hated losing Hogan, but I don't see jackson as that developed as yet.

We did it to Freo, re: Ed langdon,  and he still gets booed over there as a result so that move hurt them.

Swings and roundabouts.

Clarry and partners in crime which are the dynasty backbone are locked away ( as Gus will be I'm sure) so I see jackson as just a 'doing business' type of issue.

In Taylor I trust.