La Dee-vina Comedia

I don't wish to sound ungracious to Gold Coast, but the Melbourne that was struggling against PA is nothing like the Gold Coast that has been struggling all the time KK was with them. I don't know if he's ready to play, but if he is, he doesn't have to wait for the rest of the team to find form before he gets picked. It will still be a better team than what he has had to put up with over his career to date.

And the 4th one played Carlton and were not particularly impressive in defeating them. It may be that beating Carlton is not going to be as easy this year as the last few, but until we know more, all we can say is that Richmond didn't seem that impressive in victory and therefore all four preliminary finalists had uninspiring starts to the 2019 season.

I'll take this at face value, but what I really want to know is whether he went into the game with the ankle problem or whether the injury happened during the game. If he went into the game with that injury, and if it was the cause of his poor performance, it is obvious in hindsight that he should not have played. But I wonder whether it should also have been obvious with foresight?

Wow. To use the usual analogy, I assume you would also agree with this logic: all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs. It has been well covered elsewhere that Misson is leaving to travel overseas to accompany his wife who has a new job in Canada.

Is that Maynard, Preuss and Stretch? If so, I can't work out what's going on with player numbers. It's been a bugbear of mine for some time that Melbourne players haven't been using their Melbourne numbers when playing for Casey. It's so much better for the supporters if they use the same numbers. But if I've named the players correctly, it would seem that Maynard and Stretch are in their MFC numbered jumper and Preuss is not. So, what's happening this year? Are the Melbourne players wearing their Melbourne numbers when they're at Casey or not?

Great example of how the father-son rule doesn't always work.

Usually takes half a season for a football team's admin to turn on none another. Demonland got there in a week. If this is any indication, it's going to be a long season at Demonland HQ.

I didn't give ANB votes, but thought about it. He was one of only a few players that consistently applied pressure. And, in my view, it was the lack of pressure across the ground, particularly by the midfielders and the forwards (with some exceptions, ANB being one) that cost us the game.

No footy department would ever publicly admit this, but I wonder if, for the first time in many seasons, we weren't preparing a team for Round 1 but for the Finals. That means accepting the possibility of missing out on early wins for a bigger prize later on. It's not without risk, of course, because you need enough wins to make the Finals, but there is also not much point in making Finals, just to make up the numbers. So, I'm choosing this optimistic scenario, at least for this week. Makes the loss more bearable.

Watts played a woeful first quarter and was good in the next three. He was good because we had inadequate forward and midfield pressure. If anything is a barometer as to how we played it is that Jack Watts was able to execute his sublime skills precisely because there wasn't enough pressure placed on him.

Our defenders weren't good on Saturday, but they weren't the major problem. The lack of forward and midfield pressure was where we came undone. The only forwards who put any pressure on at all were Melksham, ANB (but not without his usual fumbles and poor shots at goal) and, to an extent, Spargo. Only three midfielders did their job (Harmes, Brayshaw and Oliver).Which means all of Jones, Fritsch, Viney, Gawn, Wagner, Petracca, T McDonald and Weideman were somewhere between diabolical and ordinary. I've left Sparrow out of that group because for a first gamer, he was OK. Changing defenders won't do much if we don't worry more about the forwards and midfield. It doesn't necessarily mean wholesale changes, but it's either a question of fitness or psychological. Goodwin's job is to find out which and act accordingly. I'd bring in May. But it's not necessarily a defender that goes out. Hunt could move forward or to the wing and one of Wagner or Sparrow might go out. And if Viney is truly not fit, rather than just rusty, he needs to go out until he's truly ready. Stretch, even with his weaknesses, would be a better proposition than an unfit Viney. In: May, Stretch Out: Wagner, Viney (inj...code for not fully fit)

Interesting turn of phrase under the circumstances.

You're unique. The only person on Demonland who didn't think Salem was our best.

6. Salem 5. Melksham 4. Harmes 3. Brayshaw 2.Oliver 1. Hibberd The first three deserve their votes; the last three I found extremely difficult to find. "Best of a bad lot" is the cliche that comes to mind.

Not necessarily. Plenty of industries have "non-compete" clauses which restrict a person after they cease working with one employer to prevent them working for another for a period of time. There is usually some form of financial compensation involved, although that is sometimes built-in to the contract rather than paid after exit. Having said that, I think the free agency for delisted players is fine as a concept.

As the off-season comes to a close I wanted to say thankyou to all who have been active on Demonland in the off season. As always, it's been informative, entertaining and sometimes maddening. And it's been a decent time-waster, too. Particular thanks to all those who posted training reports which helped us appreciate the work being done as we head into what we all hope will be a successful 2019. Similarly, thanks to the site administrators and moderators who keep this wonderful form of social media going. Go Dees.

Your post is missing a satire emoji.

If I was a Port supporter, I'd be worrying that Ken Hinkley hasn't realised this is Round 1 and is instead picking a team to help him win a game of Scrabble.

Practice match or for points?

Last night I stated that I wasn't ready for football and wondered whether others felt the same way. Clearly, I'm in a minority. The TV ratings have apparently shown that last night's audience was the biggest for the opening match in at least 6 years.

That's surprising. Essendon has an unparalleled recent history of fully understanding the health of all its players with complete confidence in everything the club doctor says.

I don't wish to sound harsh, but if he does "implode" (and I hope that doesn't happen) we may not want him back. We may not want him back anyway, either because we've adequately filled the gap he left behind or we are not interested in taking back a player who needs significant pastoral care which drains resources. I hope he succeeds to a level which makes him and Freo happy. I still doubt it will be enough for Freo to win a Premiership while Ross Lyon is coach, though. Lyon's game style seems to be primarily about not losing, rather than winning.That might get a team all the way to the finals, but the highly disciplined approach and lack of risk-taking which his game style requires will leave the team unable to respond when it really counts in a big game.

I know Rance has his detractors, but I admire him for this: Richmond has had an incredible run of good luck without injuries to key players in recent seasons. Should they lose one more of Martin, Cotchin or Reiwoldt for an extended period, they'll be in big trouble.

Is it just me? But I'm not ready for the season to start. I'll be ready tomorrow. I don't like Thursday night football at the best of times (except on the Thursday before a public holiday, such as Good Friday or ANZAC Day) but starting the season on a Thursday night just feels wrong. Insufficient build up, people having to go to work or school tomorrow, etc. I just think it's the wrong day of the week (irrespective of the teams playing).

I'm reasonably confident the middle one is Yoda.