Pates

His first year was an unmitigated disaster and he knows it, I get the sense he's a very proud person and wants to prove himself to be every bit the big recruit we expect him to be. I'm not sure if him being at the club got us over the line with Harley but having him and Langdon can't have hurt.

I understand the talk from the club wanting to sell hope, it's a fine line between selling hope and just beating your own drums until everyone is deaf. The pre-season doco isn't a new concept by any stretch, sporting clubs have been doing it for the last few years and it gives people an insight into how things work behind the scene. The title "To Hell and Back" maybe a touch on the nose for the fans given everything we've been through. Living in the UK it's hard to know but I feel like we haven't exactly been front and centre every week on the news/papers? Bennell has probably been our biggest off season story (and Gawn giving the collective supporter base a heart attack!).

This is the really damaging and potentially dangerous thing about those footy journalists proclaiming what they had heard from the cousin of the best mate of the Freo boot studder. Whether or not there is truth to it we are dealing with a young man who is struggling with mental health issues and has recognised he needs to take time out to get himself right. As I said earlier, broadcasting these claims (whether they happened or not) to the world before Jesse and his family have had the chance to sit down and discuss it with the club does nothing but bad things for his mental health. It's disgusting disregard from Hagdon to not consider the person before starting down this path. He might well have played his last game of footy, and you know what I would completely understand that decision after this latest garbage from the media.

Probably also the ones who had massive hard on for Jack Martin despite him not wanting to come to us and showing very little to justify his price tag.

I think your better one to look at would be seeing if you can punt on how many games he'll feature in this year. I still doubt we're going to see much of him in the first half of the year.

Very well deserved, onya Jonesy!

I know he lives in a footy bubble city but I really wish the press would give it a rest, as I'm pretty sure they did with Buddy. No matter how much he's trying to block out the media he will still get these stories and if these are matters yet to be discussed by himself and the club this will do nothing but bad things for his mental well being. Whatever is going on with him is personal and he should be given the time a space to deal with it. One day the media's pushing will go too far and lead to something really bad happening.

I can't remember Hunt's shot, I'd actually blocked out Weid's miss last year (though like Max not after the siren). Sam's miss there just typified how putrid and depressing our season really was.

For those that can see past the pay wall, how many times have we had the opportunity to win it after the siren? I'm sure it hasn't happened in the entire time I've followed the Dees, though we've had some close ones like with Maxy in 2018 ?.

Absolutely, Geelong in particular were very keen to get him while he also met with Sydney, these are clubs that you would easily have in the category of desireable or destination clubs, but we won out with getting him to the Dees. It would be a sensational good news story for us if he gets out onto the MCG and I can imagine there would not only be extra media attention but probably an increase in crowd. If he manages to kick his first goal in front of the Demons faithful I reckon there'll be an almighty cheer! But as you said the good news it has already generated is a positive for the club.

I hope the Demon faithful continue to get behind our womens team this year, the game has a long way to develop but you've got to start somewhere. Just on this conference style, the AFL have to be very careful that they don't differentiate the way the game and season is played between the mens and womens game otherwise I fear it could go a similar way to AFLX. I think it was a massive mistake by the AFL to expand the amount of teams, much better to have less teams, with a proper season of playing each other, and a more concentrated pool of talent than to expand and create this weird conference system that just seems to have unfair written all over it.

I've never been a fan of the Calrton vs Richmond opening to the season, particularly during the years the Carlton were some of the purest [censored] the AFL has seen for a while (and they're still not good). Richmond brings a big and raucous crowd every time so I don't have as much of an issue with them being there. A grand final replay is too potentially problematic with some of the fixed games through the season. I partially agree with the OP that Melbourne should be opening the AFLW every season with the Doggies as the other team. We were the trailblazers of the competition and it's in no small part because of Daisy Pearce and the way she promoted the womens game prior to its inception that we're here today.

Best of luck to him, could end up being one of the best gets for the club, but if he doesn't end up playing many (or any) games then ultimately what have we lost?

It might well be that his definition of full training could be a little different, could be more full rehab training as compared to competitive training involving drills. As you said there hasn't been much of an indication that he would be joining the main group any time soon.

I liked Frost, but my personal description of his would be fast, unpredictable, and (with the ball) unreliable. In a contest he was good but he got caught out of position several times due to his "Frost Ball" style. I'll say this though, it was a damn sight better to watch than others in the team seemingly going through the motions.

Knock on wood that is really good news, I'm not expecting to see him until the second half of the season at best. I suspect should we give him a contract (which appears close to certain now) it will be a very slow burn in giving him game time to get him used to the nature of match fitness. But it sounds like they have a plan for him and all he can keep doing is putting his best foot (or calf) forward!

It's funny you say this, I remember Max Gawn being described in a similar way and when he did put the hard yards in to become who he is today he certainly did bring others along for the ride. I think Petracca will always be a bit of a big kid in being energetic and a bit of a lampoon at times, but if he puts the right attitude in at the right times then I think he will reach some of the hights we all hoped for him (and will hopefully bring a few others up as well). I noted that in his interview he mentioned two trips, one with Salem and one with Clarry. Two guys that you would argue are big futures for our club and it sounds like they didn't just sat back knocking down beers.

Petracca's name has definitely been popping up a lot in the pre-season training conversation, whatever happens in the season proper he's giving himself the best opportunity to show what he's capable of.

That video on the Dees FB page of him kicking it right through the big sticks from outside the boundary is reason enough for us to give him a rookie spot. He just looked at the camera as if to say, “so what”. Think about the impact Vanders had at the end of 2018, if that’s the time Bennell gets fit and we are in contention. What a weapon to unleash!

Agreed, he’s been put through the ringer in just about every way possible.

Sad to hear he’s still struggling, gotta wonder about that mini underage draft and whether it was the best thing for those players. I know at that age lads want to act tough and be excited but I can’t help but feel him being away from home at 17 and the pressures that came with it hasn’t helped him mentally. Hope he’s able to get things right on and off the park.

So given how close he was to beating Federer, does this mean we are going to get to the finals and lose by a kick after the siren?

As Sue touched on, yes I feel it's possible for a team to overachieve. Things clicked at the right time to make our overall year look a little better than what I had us at and certain players gain confidence at the right times to play above their normal output. I had our gradual progression having us finish at about 5th-6th that year, not making the prelim. Riding a wave of confidence and a bit of luck in the final vs Hawthorn (I still think on the balance of the game we were better), we made it to a prelim where we can into a brick wall rather painfully. The bulldogs winning the premiership is probably an example I would have of a team overachieving (in the biggest way possible) getting so many elements clicking just perfectly at the right time. Were they the best team that year? Probably not. But they still have the premiership in the cabinet.

Very good write up, I think it sums up where things are at, what needs to change, and asked important questions. Main question comes at the end though, what was the abberation? 2018 or 2019? My thoughts (simply) are that we overachieved in 2018 and quite clearly underachieved in 2019. We need things to click for us, and if we get an injury run like what the Tigers got in 2017 I think we can do some serious damage.

Definitely keen to know what the go with Brayshaw’s arm is.