Maldonboy38

Jones in for Lockhart. Lockhart is ok, but when he makes a blunder it seems always to result in a opposition score. Brisbane are very good at keeping the ball locked in their forward half of the ground. Jones' steady head could be required in defence.

How good is it to be able to sit, watch the entire game without extended periods of gut-wrencing mistakes, and win 4 quarters!?!? The start of the 3rd quarter showed our worst, but we rallied and picked it up again. A lot of positives, especially from some young guns. Gawn, Trac, Langdon, Weid... thanks for giving me a positive Monday. And it's amazing how good our game plan looks when we hit our targets.

I both teams play near their best, we are a 3-4 goal better team. Within this context I have 2 concerns: We can be flaky, and give up 4-5 goals in a row without responding. Clarkson is possible the best coach I have seen. He could coach any team to a win, and is rarely beaten in game-day coaching. I am looking forward to Jackson and Weideman playing together, with Kozzie at their feet, and Melksham, Hannan and Fritsch being creative around them.

He has played so little football at the top level, it is difficult to see where he fits. To me he doesn't really look like he fits anywhere yet. Traditionally, you start your career in the backline if your place in the game is still developing. The only thing that stands out is he flies for the ball in the air, often without thinking of how this impacts the team mates around him. For this quality alone, it shouts out that he is a forward, but we have a good 10 players on our list who I would put forward before him. So no place in our starting 22 just yet.

Difficult to reconcile 2 competing ideas. We are hungry for success and cannot gift games to anyone, club legend or not. We must honour our champs. The Junior debacle will stay long in our memories Jones is not a star of the competition. He is a MFC icon. He stands as a symbol of tenacity and hope during an era where we were a disgrace, where behind the scenes we even tried "the benefits of losing". Game by game, he fought, led, played with dignity and passion, and bled red-and-blue. But he is also an underrated footballer who plays the game at a high level, The image I most want to see is Jones standing on MCG fence facing the Demon Army at the Punt Rd end, holding a Premiership cup with his trade mark long jawed scream and tattoos pulsing. Sadly, I am fairly sure I won't get to see this. Just one more bloody grief for a Dees supporter. For mine, he remains in our best 25, and should be given a contract next year. Many reasons, including injuries, can see a club using 35+ players in a season so let's work at getting him to 300. No gifted games, but earned games. I might not see him lift the cup, but surely he is worth every effort to run through his 300 banner.

People are going early about Rankine. How many great debuts have we seen over the years - some even in red and blue - that have NOT led to great careers? Granted, he looked good, but the gushing is a bit too much. Anyway, back to the Dees... Long term, not sure what to expect from Bennell, but having the ball in his hands makes me feel very, very calm.

Absolute no to dropping him. He isn't in the best form (to put it mildly) but he is not worthy of bring dropped. A few others in front of him who cause our structure and man-ups more concern than Gus.

If TMac misses, I would bring in Jackson. I know he looks unready, but for me, Brown is a backstop for when all else has failed. I eally want to see Jackson and Weideman on the park together.

A very pleasing, if imperfect, win. Some of our good was great. Attack on the footy was excellent. There was a lot of just basic, good ordinary football skills, and all of a sudden the gameplan looks ok. Some bad skills and decision making continue to frustrate, especially when under no pressure. Add the lack of composure kicking. The Weed and OMac exclusions to date are mind-boggling. Neither were match winners or match savers but of boy, the difference they made. And I hate to say it, but I think Nev has lost his edge. I am a massive fan, and for a long time believe he and Max to be first picked. His response time is.5 of a second too slow and the young guns are running past him. But I got to hear the team song - with Max!

OMac - glad he is back in. He looks clumsy and makes howlers at times, but he adds s fair bit to the system and structure of the backline. Weid - we need a forward line built around 2 talls. I love the way he goes for it in the air, even if he is under it or has concrete hands. I can't wait to see Kozzie hanging around his feet. Jetta - Good decision, but the Gold Coast youngs will test his nouse and maturity. Bennell - still feels like trying to hit a 220 metre approach shot with a 2 iron, onto a green above my eye line surrounded by water. Huge risk, but it will be amazing if it works. I want to see it work but my expectations are low.

Not sure where we go from here. Board has endorsed Goodwin for the foreseeable future. Our best players should be making up an elite midfield, but there basic skills are untrustworthy. Our new skipper is busting his gut but see very little leadership from anywhere else. Our recruiting of Lever, Tomlinson and Langdon - which looked to be such good planning and team building - is looking like the worst trade/recruit waste in a long time. Little development of younger players. The messages from the Footy department and coaches gives the supporters nothing - no hope, no energy, no new thinking. We are stuck. The way out could be long and painful... again.

For the most part, the effort was there. But skills - appalling. No excuses. Especially for that late kick by Oliver. No pressure, 15 metre pass missing by 5 metres when we had all the momentum. Sums up our day actually. So often over the last 20 years, our skills have murdered us.

Perfect kick to TMac - easily outmarked. Oliver is getting a heap of the ball and I don't reckon 1 kick has spun like a drop punt. And he simply cannot hit a target by foot. Not sure what has happened to Fritsch, but he looks sub-AFL We can't take a mark inside 50, ans when we do our skills and decision making are horrendous. I am so disappointed... again... or is it still

same old - can't hit a target forward of centre and can't finish

Our defence actually does a good job keeping opposition from getting big scores. Our midfield is getting plenty of ball. So, fix 2 things and we win. Stop the dysfunctional handball patterns through the midfield and the horrendous decision making that is the final act of those patterns Don't feed the Richmond defence intercept marking and spoiling.

Like many other Demonlanders, I am a long time footy tragic and Demon follower. I loved playing footy, watching footy, talking footy. A few weeks back, I found myself turning over to watch some house-flip show from the USA rather than the footy. That's how far footy has dropped as a spectacle. Although I like ideas such as 16 players on the ground, returning to player substitution in preference to interchange (except for certain things well highlighted by others), incentives for higher scoring, etc... I don't think that is where the problem lies. There has been a fundamental attitude shift over 4 decades, which began when our coaches began introducing ideas from other sports. Keeping possession is now the number 1. Everything else is a slave to it. So we "switch", do endless short kicks only to end up where we began 6 kicks ago, hand ball in "patterns" until a loose man is created, kick backwards and sidewards, and yes, even have no forwards who become "pressing up midfielders". Why? So there are numbers around the ball so we don't lose a contest and therefore keep possession. In basketball they throw it around the key until they create an opening. As they do in hockey, soccer, netball and many other rectangle court/arena sports. In our great game, it is this padding, this slowly creating, this strategic cat-and-mouse that is the mind-numbing boredom that exists for 60% of the time. The AFL can shuffle the deckchairs if they like, but until coaching emphasises the one-on-one contested nature of the game, in which we take risks by hand and foot and trust our teammates down the line in the next context, then our game is stuffed. Most of us will remember playing or even having kick-to-kick as kids. We wanted to kick, mark and do fancy footed crap around our friends, all with the risk of being tackled and bumped. Maybe delighting in these simple pursuits would remove the slow strategic strangulating chess game it has become. If I have to watch another USA house flip show I really am going to puke.

I thought at the time he was a great acquisition. But he is appalling at the moment.

Confused inside 50 "Deer-in-the-headlights" decision making If they have a system, it is impossible to recognise. And the MFC standard - handballing to a stationary team mate.

That was an atrocious game of footy in terms of spectacle. I had to really focus to stay watching. But, some really good signs. Tomlinson and Langdon add that missing link of outside run and ball delivery to our power at the contested ball. They were super impressive. Jack Viney showed why he is not irrelevant or a liability. As did Nathan Jones, who could be a surprise influence across half forward. Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, and Viney make a formidable midfield if we can get a lot of games with them playing together. I forgot how good Clarry's hands are. For a so-called "elite" kick, Steven May really worries me. Some absolute howlers tonight. Our mid and small forwards look strong and we have a few to choose from. Our tall forwards looked lost and incompetent. Hibberd looked OK later in the game, but was fumbly and mistake ridden for large parts of the game.

Max as captain will mean a huge increase in quality of media interviews and PR that AFL skippers have to do. He is natural, funny, direct, uncompromising and most importantly - he can think on his feet. I am yet to see how his on-field leadership will go. He has massive boots to fill after Jones and Viney, whose on-field actions were often inspiring and ferocious. Both are warriors. I know they can continue to do it without the title of captain, but can Max do it? The first 8 rounds of the regular season will be very interesting to see how he develops.

Win one final.

Poor Vanders. I reckon it just isn't going to work for him. I hope I'm wrong because the whole team plays differently with him around which is a big statement but true. And I agree about Tingay. He was an absolute gun ruined by injury. He may have played 192 games, but he could easily have played 300. And half of those 192 were under an injury cloud, returning from injury, or after an interrupted pre-season.

This was my immediate response. Northey as a coach had the lot, but the Balme/Daniher list (1994 - 2000) was the best Dees list I have ever seen. But to separate them I will take the Northey era, after years of watching others get into finals, and then to finally attend and WIN many.

Very, very good coach with a capacity to learn, bring in systems from other sports, encourage and inspire his players, and he is also an absolute nutcase. Although I understand Sheedy's brilliance, I loathe him for his thuggery in 2000 GF and refuse to move past it until we hold aloft a premiership cup of our own. From his era, there is an genuine belief among ex-footballers that champions only come from Premiership teams. Therefore Robbie Flower, Gary Wilson, Bob Skilton, Bernie Quinlan etc... are considered great players but never "best ever".

This is really difficult. A lot of our injury management, trading and drafting means we have almost an entire list to choose from, and it even looks like a lot of the young kids could play if required. So maybe not best 22, but what I would like to see: B: Jetta OMac Hibberd HB: Salem May Lever ? Langdon Oliver Tomlinson HF: Petracca Weideman Melksham F: Fritsch TMac Jones R: Gawn Viney Brayshaw Int: Preuss Harmes Petty Hunt Emerg: Hannan vandenBerg KK Hore Notes: Back 6 might need an injection of pace so definite opportunity for another player to break into the backline We have a lot of forward options. Very hard for Hannan to miss out. Jones as a small-ish forward works for me, but if not then he might miss out on best 22. Bedford or Pickett most likely to replace him I reckon the Gawn/Preuss rotation through the forward line and bench could become a weapon if Preuss can run out 4 full quarters