Maldonboy38

Strauss or Tappy in to replace Blease.

Yep, spring in the step this morning. It's a good feeling that I have missed.

For so long, poor Fitzy looked like a camel recovering from knee surgery. Totally unco, and on top of this he could not kick at all. But he has come on in leaps and bounds this year. Has earned his spot and has earned the right to keep it for a few weeks. His kicking now is really good, he can take a contested mark, and is the quickest at the club over 20m, 50m and 100m. If it was up to me, leave him one-on-one inside 50 with his opponent and play him like Pagan's paddock. He is seriously quick and could cause a lot of damage given space to run.

I watched most of the match on ABC tv yesterday. Very impressed with a number of the Dees boys. Tappy was wonderful. His first half was just ok but 2nd half was excellent. His attack on the ball, 2nd and 3rd efforts, and physical presence was brutal at times. Magner. A really good game (bone crunching tackle/bump on young Buckley) but I don't reckon his kicking efficiency would be good. Couch. A stoppage machine who keeps going like a duracell battery but he misses easy targets far too often. Strauss. I still prefer him over Dunn in the Dees team. His run and carry was outstanding and his kicking stood out on a day when there was a fair bit of bad kicking. Jetta. When involved in the play he looked good but wasn't in the play enough. Taggert. Like Jetta, looked good when involved but it didn't seem to be his day. Has a decent crack at it though. Tynan. I liked his game. He looked steady and sure. Faded out of the game a few times. Hogan. He is as good a contested mark that I have ever seen at 18 yo. Just magnificent. Barry. Super quick off the mark but two pre-seasons away from being big enough to handle the physical nature of AFL. Davis. This bloke is a good footballer. Reads the play really well and at times his skills are fine. But when his skills let him down they are often howlers. But he gets a heap of the ball and is a big, big boy.

I am choking on humble pie today. I was a big fan of his for so long even when he was playing poorly. About round 6 or 7 I jumped off - and concluded it in print here on Demonland - that "Jack will not make it". I am only too happy to say how wrong I was. He isn't a world beater yet but what I am seeing now he is looking very much at home. Please, please, please keep him in the forward line. As for the future forward line: Option 1. Clark, Watts, Dawes and Hogan Option 2. (if Clark does not make it back) Watts, Dawes Hogan and Fitzy.

I love the English language, and enjoy a bit of grammar, but please.... we just won a game for goodness sake.

thanks, Chook. If our forward press worked, and it has rarely worked all year, how bad were the Doggies in the first three quarters?

Getting that much ball at 83% efficiency is an amazing result. Great recruiting. Remind me very much of Martin Pike - 4 flags for him would be good!

I didn't see the game tonight and have had only a passing look at the stats. Where did we actually win the game, if we got flogged at centre bounces? It sounds like Dawes, Watts and Fitzy did well - was this where we won it?

We won!!! At last. Almost threw my phone through the wall in the last 10 mins - the AFL app was the only access I had tonight. But we won!!!!

I agree those things were really good and have posted about it before. But they fooled me into thinking that the management team were doing a good job across the board, when really almost everything else was dysfunctional.

A charismatic and capable President. Let PJ complete his razor-gang work on our management structure and business model Roos or Choco for coach 1 (maybe 2 if possible) quality mid fielders. Daisy Thomas but I don't reckon he will come near us. Sign Watts, and Gawn. Work butt off to sign Frawley when the time comes. Book a huge venue and put out lots of chairs for the next AGM because all hell could break loose. Get ready for the anger and frustration of hundreds, maybe thousands of members.

How messy and dysfunctional does our football department structure sound in the middle of all this? Lots of little chiefs with great titles sharing roles with each other causing horrendous and clumsy overlap, with no-one quite sure where the boundaries of their job meets with the next bloke. On top of this, a reporting structure that reminds me of all the muppet characters asking Kermit questions at the same time, expecting clarity and decision making. And on top of this, as the layers are unfolded, we see our most recent CEO being revealed as a management dunder-head. I was really sucked in. I thought with our moving to Aami park, venture into Darwin, initiative into Casey to build a new supporter base, that our management were making good decisions, but the more PJ reveals the more angry and astounded I get. It all seems like a cross between the Goodies, Yes Minister, the Marx brothers and Sponge-bob Square Pants. What a debacle. 2013 is gone for me. Wimbledon tennis and the Ashes cricket will have to do me until next year. Shame, MFC, shame.

I don't know what to think and feel today. My emotional responses and my rational ability to discern seem to be so worn down by the amount of turmoil in season 2013 that I've got nothing left. Are we a chance today - absolutely. Can we get beaten by 70 points again - absolutely. Can Watts, Trenners and Blease fire - yes please. Can Dunn, Nicho, Terlich and Tom McDonald turn it over 100 times - oh yes they can. One thing is for sure - I reckon players like Blease, Watts and Syvlia - possibly others - might sense a shift and feel released to attack and take the game on, take some risks and attack with flair. But that is about the best I can do with my battered expectations.

Love the banner. Everything around us is changing (hopefully for the better) so a fresh banner makes sense. Three remaining places I am thinking Toumpas, Viney and ??? I cannot believe the vitriol directed toward Garry Lyon. Granted, his work helping appoint the last two coaches reeks of nepotism and inability, but no-one should ever forget his role in helping the Dees emerge through the late 80's early 90's into a team that was a serious challenger. He bleeds red and blue. He simply does not want to get involved in a position at the club. Why is everyone so miffed at him for this? Have you ever thought that the reason he does not take on a role is because he would be poor at it, as indicated by being the swingman who came in a couple of times to help Jimmy out? Look how that has worked out!

I like the collar on the jumper and the logo. It's being a pathetic club that loses all the time that I hate. How about we fix that first?!?!

Roos would be great, but I just can't see it happening. Money is the ultimate carrot to those who have none. To those who have money or success, the challenge and the fire in the gut is the greater appeal. If we can get him - well done PJ. But Choko or Eade have a fire in the belly and WANT to coach. Aren't these ingredients as vital as experience and influence?

Hawks of the 80's, Lions of 2000's, Cats of recent years are the three best I have seen. I rate the Lions as the best of these. Incredible skill, serious aggressive grunt and the best captain I have ever seen in Voss.

Choko, I feel a bit like you. Both coaches set about doing exactly what they told the board they would do, and when it got too much to handle in the public arena, they were sacked. But with Neeld, I reckon even the board were surprised that we are still losing by 10+ goals almost every week. The clean out - check. Moving aside leaders - check (but done really clumsily). Recruit for the future - check (Toumpas, Hogan, Barry) But surely some success could be expected by now, or at least improvement. The club as an entity was beginning to fade as a participating force and everything had to give, including Neeld. The Board, over the past 5 years in particular, needs to be held to full account for all this.

The argument for "no rookie coaches ever again" is really dumb. All premiership coaches were rookies at some time or another. We need the right person. We need experience now, because we need to unite behind a name and get some immediate confidence.But Roos, Clarkson, Worsfold, Longmire are all great recent coaches who came into a club as a 1st time senior coach and became premiers. Don't just feel stuff... think!!!

Roos, Matthews and Clarkson all look set in what they are doing. Can PJ stimulate some interest and shake one of them out of their current place of success - I don't reckon. Try hard though, try and get one of them. Choco Williams or Gary Ayres for me. Williams - he is passionate, takes no prisoners, success follows him, he is young-ish and the football brand he likes is tough and quick. On the downside he is not known for his people skills and we could get another Neeld/Beamer situation. Gary Ayres - unfinished business. He got burnt fingers from the Adelaide crowd for not being a South Australian and they turned on him. He walked out because the board would not honour the final year of his contract - 2005. Great people skills, magnificent footy brain, has done a remarkable job with a heap of young players at Port, and commands respect. Downside - can he transfer the Port success into the professional AFL environment? This is unproven and speculative.

I loved Beamer as a player and an disappointed he is gone. But that Instagram post is an absolute shocker. Adolescent at best; boorish, petty, mean-spirited, nasty and childish at worst. Goodness, when are some of the AFL players going to grow up? Lots of us THINK stuff but we don't have to say it or publish it. Today is really starting to turn my guts. Some good news about the Dees, from the Dees, would be really good about now but I might have to wait a while.

I am so sick of typing the same names in various threads I thought of the 1st two delistings and then just put in an etc...

Mixture of relief and sadness for me. It could not continue waiting, waiting, waiting for something to click when it became apparent that Neeld could not produce that click. I am a bit surprised that Craig was picked for the interim - I probably would have chosen Rawlings. I just want one week in which we win a game, and the media is not reporting on "poor struggling Melbourne". I hope this is the beginning of change we have been waiting 7 years for. I feel a deep sadness for Mark Neeld. Looking at all the factors leading up to his appointment and the culture of our club at present, it had "failure" written all over it (the Board, Schwab and Connolly, poor fitness etc...), even though I was a real fan of his initial appointment. Totally disagree about major changes to our list. We need two quality midfielders and then delist dead wood like Dunn. Gillies, etc... but I see quality in defense and attack.

What about Beverley O'Connor? First female President (not including the interim woman from Geelong), articulate, passionate Dees supporter, well connected to business, media and football communities. Could she unite and lead?