binman

2 minutes ago, No. 31 said:

Well it is for 1 game (mandated by the AFL) and Traeger Park (by choice) for another home game.

As for Carlton & Essendon, they have two home stadiums, MCG & Marvel.

Next season the Blues have 6 MCG home games and 5 Marvel home games. I expect MCG games to increase in the future because Carlton have capacity issues at Marvel, it is too small for some games.

Failing to make the 8 next season and in 2026 will fix that problem.

4 hours ago, DubDee said:

I don’t know about you all but I want to win a flag so i’m very happy with that fixture!

Me too.

I'll take Sunday arvo games over night games every day of the week.

Well, Sunday.

Add a couple of 1:20pm sat games with a red sherrin and the lions at the gabba at 3.20pm (not nearly as slippery as the night games and much better in terms of the impact of travel, ie no red eye) and it will do me nicely.

And I don't mins marvel - I'm on the west side of town and by pt door to gaye one 'm there in 45 mins.

On 28/09/2019 at 13:05, Nasher said:

Why does everyone want to palm their garbage off to Tasmania? What have we done to deserve that?

Well, you did choose to separate from the mainland.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If that’s the case, then we’ve apparently got our first 3 games in Melbourne with North at Marvel and GC at the G, if you believe the Herald Sun.

Expect a lot of travel between say round 4 and 10 to catch up on our obligatory 8 road trips.

GWS play in OR. Hopefully it's stinking hot and humid.

Meanwhile we are in Melbourne chillin.

If we can beat GWS, playing North then Suns at the G creates an opportunity for a positive start to the season.

5 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

A camel is a horse designed by committee. 

Who designed the horse?

9 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I just saw this: https://www.afl.com.au/news/1255357

Sunday night games in 9 of the first 15 weeks, not all of which will be before public holidays. 

These are almost as hard to attend for fans as Thursday night games. 

Thankfully doesn't seem like we'll cop one. 

2 hours ago, Satyriconhome said:

Oh sorry, didn't realise I was communicating with the only poster on Demonland who understands footy. As if.

Gameplan, you have 6 forwards in the game and one on the bench, how different do you want that to be?

How would you, the expert, have changed it, personnel? please explain.

Same with the midfield, you need a lot of rotations through there these days, unfortunately due to injury etc we had to rotate 'rookies' in experience,  through there, how would you have changed it, please explain.

How has the game moved forward, there are no contests now, yet the recruiters are salivating on the next draft crop, because the top end is full of contested ball beasts, sorry I don't understand that, please explain.

 

Saty, it's good that you are back posting.

But, respectfully, it'd be great if you give the conflict a rest.

I get your frustration with various silly comments. But much of that is just people trolling looking for someone to bite.

And you often bite.

Which of course is your perogrative. But to be honest it becomes tedious when the back and forth clog up threads - and it obscures the interesting things you post.

I've seen this movie before.

Last time I asked you a variation of above you responded along the lines that you will continue to bite. And if I don't like it dont read it.

I responded that sure, that is your right, but that doing so is really just another type of trolling ie winding up the trolls and giving them oxygen.

Ultimately I took your advice and put you on ignore because who can bothered with reading grown adults bickering. 

I took you off ignore, and hope to continue to do so because I enjoy your footy focused posts. 

38 minutes ago, SthSea22 said:

Hearing McAdam is about to call it quits

Not quite sure why you added a laugh emoji to whatsaywhat's post - your record with mail is worse than Tom Morris’s!

47 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

Got down to Gosch's for an hour before the rain set in. Kev has offered some excellent observations so only a few things I can add. I'm usually very positive in general about all things MFC, so excuse me if I note a few negatives on the way through. I was looking for improvement. On that scale, I was impressed with Jefferson's movement, pace and marking up forward. Roo looked good, but regularly ran to a spot on the spread (which was a focus of forward patterns) that was ignored by the incoming ball carrier. Verrall looked good in the ball movement exercises from the backline, agile and clean by hand and foot. Key backs were McDonald (who looked fit and sharp), Howes (who gathered cleanly and created change of direction), Hore (injury free and fit), Judd (Rolls Royce, who was also used further up ground), AMW (I have him in my starting 23 in 2025) & Verrall (on occasions). Woewodin looks fit and balanced with ball movement. 

Things that disappointed (because they were evident during 2024 season)

Tholstrup occasionally gets into trouble with a fumble that allows defender to close him down and tackle.

Brown sometimes holds on to it for too long, kicks under pressure and misses targets.

Bowey seems in two minds with the ball, slows down flow and misses target enough to put the receiver under unnecessary pressure.

Set shots, when taken, were still 50/50 proposition.

Things that excited... 

Windsor continued on his merry way

Rivers looked composed and strong (at one point he ran down Viney and tackled him to the ground in a face plant. No 7 was surprised but not impressed!).

Sparrow is trim and looks to have added a little speed to his movement.

 

 

Good to hear Sparrow looks in good shape.

A real crossroads year for Captain Jack I reckon.

After our flag, whilst i never pegged him as an out and our star, I thought he would go up a couple of levels and be a key member of the team.

The roles he has been asked to play probably haven't helped, but he has really plateaued in the last couple of seasons I reckon.

Hopefully he can still go up a couple of levels. If he can't he mind find himself out of the team.

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

I was going to head down this morning but alas this weather. Hopefully Friday is nicer.

The reason we have only won one flag in the last 60 years is soft supporters like you.

14 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

It doesn't matter if it is pick 79 or 83. 

Then there will be a couple of rookie draft picks which are taken after this..... we will be selecting at the absolute dregs end of the draft. 

We only have 2 decent picks, no way to build for the future.

Good thing we don't have to then.

22 minutes ago, WiseDeeMan said:

It’s a great advantage for us to not play in opening round in my view.

6 weeks extra preparation over Sydney & Brisbane,

5 weeks - Geelong

4 weeks - GWS, Hawthorn & Port 

And to a lesser extent, 2 weeks more than dogs and Carlton.

In terms of base from a conditioning, as well as from a psychological perspective, this is a HUGE advantage over last years 8 best teams.  
 

Agree.

And as Fat Tony notes, not having to play in the heat and humidity of qld or NSW in early March can only be a positive.

12 hours ago, Colm said:

100% agree with where are needs are Binners. If we are asking Santa for everything we want with two players I’d probably add in contested marking and leadership. 
We have a few who can clunk them but not enough IMO. We still rely on Max for most of our contested marks and he won’t be around for much longer. Having someone on the middle of the park who can take a good grab would hopefully stop us turning it over as much. 

Yeah, that's a really good point. 

Those players who can take marks around the ground are super important, both in terms of as you say not turning it over as much, but also being able to control the tempo. 

The lions use that strategy well.

In 2021, 2023 and 2023 tmac played that role, ditto benny Brown (and Jackson on 2021).

But Tmac playing back and Brown out of the side meant we struggled to cover that role, particularly with petts a long way from his best.

Hopefully if petts can hit the season fit and injury free he can push up the ground and clunk marks.

And I think turner will play that role too.

13 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

I think the second bye is an advantage, but playing an away game in the humid Northern states in March is the biggest problem with being in Opening Round.

Hard to say if a second bye is an advantage I reckon.

Given how much historical data the high performance team must have about how to plan around one bye, having two to plan around must be tricky.

And the weird thing about the OR byes were they were staggered over mutiple weeks.

I think we were lucky to have ours last, or close to it, because at least we had a good block of games before that first bye. Another block of games then the mid season bye.

The two grand finalists both played in the OR. So.it didn't hurt them. 

Did any of the other 6 teams make the finals?

But you make a really good point about having to play in the early March northern states humidity and heat. Nuts.

It's just a completely ridiculous idea.

Embarrassing for a supposedly elite competition to basically trial something that with no way of knowing what the unintended consequences will be. 

The AFL infuriate me.

17 hours ago, Demonland said:

Opening Round 2025

Blimey, tough start to the year for the Cats, Hawks, Dons and Pies.

Breaks my heart. 

2 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Um re Jeffo ah no, he's not exclusively lead and mark. If you check his goal highlights package he takes pack marks, crumbs, and has a crafty, element to his goal gets.

Um, did I say he was 'exclusively lead and mark'? 

Wouldn't be much chop as a key forward if all he could do was take a mark on a lead, particularly in modern footy with the lack of space to lead into. 

By pure I meant, a traditional lead up from the goal square forward in the Dunstall mold.

I say this every off season - I'm amazed how much knowledge people have about the players in the draft.

And I enjoy reading people's thoughts on who we should take

I dont have any knowledge about the juniors, and not much to offer in terms of which players we should pick.

But in terms of needs I'd go:

Pick 5:

- Tallish hard at it mid with elite foot skills, great tank, reasonable leg speed, can get forward and kick goals (not necessarily a hybrid in the tracc mold, like say kolt) and is ready to play AFL footy in 2025

Comparison players: Zac Bailey, Bont, Jarrod Berry.

Pick 9:

- Outside mid, half back flanker, wing with proven super elite foot skills, speed and x factor. Left footer a bonus.

Comparison players: Warner, Nick Daicos, Judd McVee, Gulden, Kiddy Coleman.

IMHO, we don't need another tall forward - and i don't think we'll use 5 or 9 on one.

We have used draft capital on Roo and Jeffo in recent times. I think JVR is just about the most underated player in the AFL - and he's rated pretty highly.

Kid is a gun and will become a star of the competition. Still two years away from his best, i cant wait to see what he does in 2025.

Given Jeffo hasnt played senior footy yet he's obviously got question marks on him. Much depends on his fitness i think. But he is an old school, pure leading forward and they'll back him in.

Turner is our real tall, and I reckon he'll go up a couple of levels next season, particularly if he is injury free (easy to forget he had a nasty injury last season which really derailed the first half of his season). 

And we have petts as a swingman option and Special K as a wild card key forward.

So, I just don't think key forwards are a priority atm.

Elite ball users who can open up zones and not turn the pill over are the priority.

15 minutes ago, 3183 Dee said:

The Duursmas have done it again. If Willem gets drafted, that'll be the 4 kids playing top flight footy - incredible.

How big is Willem?

If the smallest of the boys, I wonder if they call him Wee Willem?

28 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  I'm inclined to think the former.

100% a good thing I reckon.

For one thing they don't have to worry about a second bye.

And we start a week later tha last year.

Givn we didn't make finals we have a full month longer break between seasons than we did at the start of the 2024 season.

For a team that looked tired, physically and psychologically, that can only be a good thing.

38 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

just don't let them be misunderstood...

Oh lord....

47 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

Dali running laps. 

Surreal.

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I'm interested in why you see McVee as a future leader. What's the evidence for this? I see a great on-field talent, but that doesn't always translate to being leadership material. You could put together a great team of players none of whom had any leadership interest or capability. Players such as Gary Ablett Sr, Bruce Doull, Buddy Franklin and Dustin Martin were all greats of the game, but none were leaders. 

Reasonable question.

I see him as a future leader too.

A big reason is arguably the most common trait of leaders is they leave no stone unturned in terms of realising their potential.

Judd was on the rookie list, so not some uber talented, highly rated high draft pick.

My understanding is he was no lock to stay on the rookie list, let alone the senior list. He was at the crossroads.

During the 2023 preseason break Judd took it on himself to do extra work to get AFL fit, build his tank and increase his acceleration.

On the back of that work he was a shock 2023 round one selection. 

He has been a best 22 lock since.

Another big tick in terms of leadership is IIRC he wasn't a defender as a junior or at Casey.

Yet that is where he was selected round one 2023 (and since).

We needed a half back flanker with good kicking skills, they identified Judd as having the right attributes and defensive discipline and he stepped up and made the role his own.

Makes sense.

Lost a real leader with Hunter's retirement.

3 hours ago, adonski said:

Kick ball to player in space

Do not kick ball to pack of 20

And if there is no space, kick to the forwards advantage - not on his head or as is often the case, his opponents advantage.

Does my head in.

10 hours ago, John Demonic said:

They said he was highly rated, well that was just a lie

He aint never coached a flag and he aint no friend of mine

He never played for the dogs.