Very Jaded

Why is it in crisis? Losing games is not a crisis. It’s not good but it’s also a very normal part of football. Can you elaborate why you think we are in a crisis?

FML

Hot tip: vacate the state if they win

I don’t disagree with that whatsoever. Everyone is entitled to post their opinion without ridicule. But there’s no doubt that there is a lot more angst thrown at those who vent over those who don’t.

I guess that other than Langdon, all the players you brought up have had injury concerns. So it definitely hasn’t helped our cause to have had nearly all our key players battling an injury of some type. Add to that Petty and now Clarry, and Kosi missing through suspension which I believe really mentally impacted him, and you’d be hard pressed to find a key senior player who has had an injury free run this season. Even Grundy is playing catch up from his knee injury.

Adelaide continue to impress, especially at home. Very happy we play them at the MCG. They look very very polished.

I wonder if the Pies going into KB after two easy kills will work against them. I’m probably dreaming

Sidebottom not likely to play KB?

It’s a rare occurrence and makes the journey much much harder. If you luck out with Victorian opponents then you might be a sneaky chance. But it’s definitely the least desirable way to get there for a reason.

They’re looking very good.

They missed heaps in the first half. It was the only reason we were still in the contest at half time.

How good is umpiring…. Said no one ever

On the last line I have no arguments. If we don’t make the top 4 we won’t win the flag.

Now I think you need to have a lie down if you think we are going to miss the 8. Look at our draw post Geelong game. If we don’t make the 8 it will be due to catastrophic injuries. Nothing else.

Because both games are played around the same time of year, and we can’t and won’t be made to travel to the NT twice in as many weeks. It just won’t happen.

We play Alice, we won’t get the Darwin game.

What do you disagree with? Goodwin is not going to face any pressure, nor should he, this season. If we don’t make the 8, then perhaps he might, but we will absolutely make the 8, so it’s a non issue.

The only way Goodwin comes under any real pressure this season is if we don’t make the 8, which we will. Much like in 2020, I think we need to look at the people around him and make some changes. The game has changed significantly since 2021 and fresh eyes could help to get the most out of our list.

And this is equally a problem as you say. I love to read the counterarguments. I love the always positive vibes of some on here like yourself. I think it’s great that you’re trying to come up with rational reasons so to why we are losing, just as much as others (like me), are trying to pinpoint the reasons why we are losing. Neither of these outlooks should be dismissed, so long as they’re done respectfully. The entire point of Demonland is to discuss the game and the team. The differing opinions is what makes this place so engaging, and I think we can all learn from one another. If I wanted a boring one sided discussion I’ll head over to the North Korea supporter forum.

I watched GC last night get throughly destroyed by the umpires. They still won. Yes the umpires were putrid, absolutely terrible. Welcome to every game in 2023.

People can do whatever the hell they like. And other people can find it embarrassing. You really think clapping him was not ridiculous?

I never said we aren’t contenders. I said that in our current form we aren’t contenders and that things need to change if we are to win. In fact in the same post that you quoted I said that we deserve to be a successful club! Your history lesson is a good one. What it shows is that those teams improved dramatically in order to then go on to win the flag. They didn’t just repeat their mediocre form all season and then somehow had a flag fall in their lap. But apparently to suggest that we need to improve in key areas in order to win is being negative and hysterical, not pragmatic or realistic. I love this club, but I’m not blind to its faults. We are seeing our own history from last season repeat itself. We seem to have not improved in the areas that hurt us last season either. To bury your head in the sand and say oh we only lost our last two games by 11 points, is to paper over the cracks in a very convenient way to the narrative that we all so desperately want to believe, which is that things will get better and we will win the flag in 2023. I hope more than anything that you’re right, but without change I can’t see it happening.

We only play 2 current top 8 sides after the bye - Brisbane at the G and the Saints. Of course we also need to play Adelaide, GWS and Sydney and they are by no means given wins. But we also play North and Hawks again.

A forwardline of Ablett, Dunstall and Buddy wouldn’t kick a goal with the sort of forward delivery our talls deal with on most weeks. But also our tall forwards are either physically done or infants. We need to chase a developed tall forward with serious gusto in the off season.

There is also this weird notion here that because we aren’t the laughing stock we once were, we have no right to be annoyed about a loss. After all, we once would lose by 10 goals and finish bottom 4, so we should just be grateful every day that we are not that bad anymore. It’s such a loser mentality. We deserve to be a successful club and we deserve to be contenders. To be happy with anything less than that, is to be happy with mediocrity, which with our current list, is not where we should be.