Demon Dynasty

A little perplexed by the fuss. Maxy up-front followed by Jack as VC seems like a bit of a no brainer. Allows the youngsters to just play without any of the extra pressure & nonsense that comes with being part of an extended leadership group.

5 stars Andy for referencing "THE DEMONS" at least 5 times in this wrap up. Nice work mate?? I notice the club / Perty finally referencing "the Demons" in some of their marketing/PR work of late. A few messages from some of the fan forums and surveys finally getting through to the top brass?

Haven't watched it. I assume it's complete clap trap probably pushed on to us by a youngster or two within the club.....somewhere. Maybe one Mr Baggins of Bag End influenced the production crew into this uninspiring title. How about Scully and Mulder? Looking at the headline.... we are supposedly Demons yes? But are we? So assuming we still are, then why would we want to come back from Hell? Surely that's our nirvana and we would much rather remain. But then we might not be Demons anymore. Does this mean we can no longer handle Hell and instead prefer to bask and back slap simple things like minor improvements on the track or the the odd win here and there in the season proper as nice Melbournians? The truth is out there somewhere but i suspect it probably aint in this vid.

Name a game

The turnover/clanger missed goal factor also gives the opposition coaching panel and its team a bit of an out in the sense that if they know a player isn't very damaging with ball in hand then his direct opponent can be given a bit more licence. Thereby offering more time, space & freedom to play forward of the ball or away from a stoppage as an additional outlet / spread player. Off the leash if you like. Allocate a very good player as the match up also and all of a sudden a player like ANB has a big task on his hands not only trying to counter that disrespect / positioning factor (space/time) but also the improved finishing opportunities now given to an already highly talented opponent. Double whammy. As good a run with / tackle athlete as ANB might be, and he is elite in this regard, that will end up being a major component of his role in most matches ie; running his butt off all day trying to keep opponent's output/impact to as little as possible. Too stuffed to finish off his own good work or that of others in a chain much of the time and often handing it straight back or just selling a player into trouble instead of finishing off the good work at the end of a chain himself (major fatigue factor>finishing/decision making eroded>confidence down of both individual & team). If his skills aren't that clean to begin with then we are talking major issues with ball in hand. Whether the regular chain busting or goal inaccuracy is coming from say an ANB, Gus, Harmes or Billy Blogs is irrelevant, the spin off effect right through the team can be a potential morale and momentum killer. The key is to minimise the weak side of a player like ANB imho. His running and pressure factor side is not an issue. We all know he is at the top of the game here. And this is what separates an ok/good coach from a very good to elite one imo. The latter see these weaknesses in players and, where possible, allows them to work on it big time. Maybe focussing a little less time/effort on the exisiting strengths to do so if necessary. Ensuring that they don't let up until improvements are made and the balance of elite running plus AFL average to good (or better) decision making and disposal is added to a player's arsenal. Turning him from fringe/borderline to AFL standard, quality or even top end in some cases. Of course even after all that the player might have his/her own limitations and might not improve much at all. But assuming a quality coach, support staff, facilities and a number of pre-seasons he/she will at least be given every opportunity to do so.

Even a top VFL club would probaly have performed as well or better if there was a relegation model in place. Coming from a very long way back were we and some of those skeletons probably resurfaced a little at times this season imv (mentally). Hopefully we can exorcise a few more of those skellies in 2020. Going to be a very interesting and a telling one for this club.

Sometimes change is good, sometimes it's completely useless, unecessary and done for the sake of doing or to follow the heard. Co-Captain nonsense falls into the latter. The old Captain / VC model was working fine. Max walks the walk and talks the talk. The easiest selection (Max) and decision (scrapping the Co-Captain rubbish) Goody will probably ever have to make.

The Weapon was also present at the Cattery at the start of the 2007 season SW. Any sightings of Charters in the NT lately?

Good find by both! Anyone know the whereabouts of Yencks? Got his man in the end....11 years later

I know there's plenty of misses with the draft but you have to wonder how the hell someone selects a Cale Morton over pretty much anyone, especially up against a Danger type.

Extra mid field time incentive?

May end up becoming a fight between Petty and Weid for the 3rd tall (depth posi or when needed) as the season progresses me thinks. That's not to say those latter two won't be given an early decent stab at the 2nd KF posi, as opposed to Brown, but they would want to perform solidly early on as Brown will come straight over the top and might be hard to budge afterwards. While i'm not in anyway suggesting Brown will be the panacea to our 2nd tall forward needs, i think he is nonetheless a very handy pick up and will certainly put the pressure on the other two which has to be a good thing plus extra depth also handy. A bit like DS i'm still a tad worried about our outside line breaking capability on the non-Langdon wing but less so if Bennell gets up and running by about the half way mark. If he doesn't we might regret not picking up someone like a Taylor or Stephens in the draft. Overall though i don't mind the move here on the part of Goody, Lamb & Co. Nothing's a gtee in footy as we know however, and there's 17 other clubs all looking to improve, all tweaking their line ups as well. Only time will tell if it will work out as a good move or not but on the surface i'm giving it a tentative thumbs up.

As i have said for the last 49 years.... Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Finals appearance with at least one win feels like about par given 17 18 & 19. Anything less a bogey. Anything more a birdie etc. 2021/22 premiership window should be well open (subject to injuries and 2020 coaching /player efforts/performance).

Absolute gold

There is only one person that should ever post a 'best 22' on D'land ever. Whatwhat you are clearly in breach of D'land code, Section 5, sub section 3.1 I expect your apology letter to be on my desk in the morning, which i will duly CC to Werridee pronto!

Deorre's draft ratings... https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/28184505/afl-draft-every-club-draft-haul-rated

Won't know how we went for years but giving JT an A+ for this impressive don't argue....

Or a bloody tight pair of shorts!

That's what i saw in him when running along the wing at one point in the replays Swooper. That would be a nice outcome if he does.

Iirc many of the successful coaches have said they generally adapt a game plan more to take advantage of some of the major strengths and general nature of the core/key players in the team and the general strengths of team as a whole, rather than the other way round LD.

Furious might have posted this one a tad early FND.

Onya Kozzy!

Correct....he was always going lower once we didn't bid. It was up to us to bid and force their hand with pick 4 LT taking that free hit out of the top 5 or 10. Once we didn't they used it as a bonus to nab Ash and the rest is history. Any bid once they used their pick 4 was pointless given their next picks started at 40.

All good 58er. A pretty good off season but as you say alot is riding on players recovery, full pre-seasons and some youngens being trialled in their 2nd/3rd & 4th years, especially up forward. The recruits so far look exciting but like all young fellas they will need a few years to find their feet at this level....IF they do. The step up must be massive which is why a fair chunk don't make it. Fingers crossed we've brought in some significant talent that are able to transition. Will be interesting to see how chunk goes in his now / old HF role this year as well, especially with a full pre-season in. Having Fritta &'Melk back should also improve things up forward. Forward line, particularly the talls still a work in progress though at this stage it seems. Can't be worse than this season though surely and we should see significant improvement. Looking forward to seeing what Langdon brings and lets hope we get Harley up and running in the 2nd half to add a little pedigree / magic into the mix.