Demon Dynasty

CoolX have you thought about a name change? Something ending in 'aid' maybe?

The injury cloud could be an issue and club's have been known to tell the odd porky pie over the years (cough cough!) but if there's any truth to the comments from Bucks below he might not be as badly off as some are suggesting. Need to put a caveat on the contract amount & terms regardless though. Is it possible to put some sort performance based / time on ground trigger into the contract?... “He’s put in a good block of form. No one wants to be injured ever and when you’ve had a history of it, you don’t like to re-injure. But the block of work he’s put in will sustain him and will have him in good nick — that’s the positive aspect of it,” Buckley said. “There’s always a worst-case scenario, but that’s going to be a product of the work Billy puts in now and our ability to pull the right levers to continue to have him grow that strength in his whole posterior chain, not just his hammies. “We know how much work he’s put in, so he’ll be rewarded.” Elliott and teammate Darcy Moore flew to Germany last November to see world-renowned doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt to help overcome their hamstring issues. End. Extract courtesy of SEN - May 2019

A very pleasant interview ...the only thing missing was a crackling fire in the background! Said all the right things but in the end it will come down to how well we do at fixing the present list at the trade/draft table. A fair portion just isn't up to competing and holding down a regular spot at AFL level or adding any value in terms of what's needed to fill the gaping holes and lack of depth. Massive cull and turnover needed in the next draft and beyond. Like any "good or great" coach you gotta have the cattle to make finals on a regular basis. Culture and coaching the difference that can take you from just making up the numbers in finals to a GF and possibly a premiership but list management and clever selections/trades also play a huge part. Anyway, here's hoping we do well in the off season in securing the likes of Langdon, Elliot etc and re-signing the likes of Frosty. A big name recruit or two might also help change the negative narrative a little also. Expecting a bounce in 2020 but we really need something more substantial after the horrors of 2019.

On here or at the forum?

I doubt a veteran like Ross would take on a place as toxic as the Crows right now unless they offer him amazing coin. Hard to believe but culture wise they're in a worse state than we are right now. Will take them weeks to go through the appointment phase. Then there's the new coach's style/playing methods and player preferences. He will have little time to assess before the draft. What a shimozlle! Disgruntled players will be leaving like rats out of a burning drain pipe i reckon. A great time to raid them for a few morsels if they fit our bill.

Blight suggesting Pyke might go to Freo.

Pyke gone!

Lots of mixed messages ...not unusual at trade time GM.. ...."When contacted by The Age, Frost's manager Anthony McConville said he was yet to receive a formal contract offer from Melbourne, but he was confident the two parties were having positive discussions." Courtesy of Sam McClure from the Age

The old saying "when you're on a good thing" also applies when you "feel" you aren't Steve. It's no different at any professional club or workplace really. People get attracted to success in sport, or even the smell of it, like bears to a honey pot. The converse can also be true. And it goes without saying that people often do things and make decisions for particular "said" reasons that are a fair way from the truth. Diplomacy is often the path best trodden from a career POV, especially in such a constantly moving feast that is the AFL.

Thank goodness. Hopefully that means we are closer to locking up the Frostmeister. No more defenders until 2020 trade period pls.

I think FITB meant gettable as in someone else getting him AF

This is / was one of the key issues this season plus the fact that we had a forward line pretty much incapable of getting separation on their opponents often enough to present a regular target (incentive to kick to or kick to favoured side where player can run onto the ball). It is a dual edged sword which only works if both sides are sharp and you have clever/classy ball users coming from mid field and beyond to deliver. Outside of Big Maxy, Tracc on odd occasions, Melk and the occasional decent pass from the usual bombing mids, we just don't have many quality ball users outside of 50 who are capable of consistently finding targets or kicking beautifully weighted kicks to the favoured side. Having said that you also need the occasional big pack mark around the hot zone inside 50 from occasional big bombs and/or chaos worm burners to mix it up. However even this wont work as well if other forwards aren't playing their role and leading their defenders away from that zone/contest. How often do we lament other teams doing this against us yet we are often left complaining about how crowded our forward line is. We don't really have that KF pack marking impact option either. Then there's the lack of quality smalls to feed off that latter situation (front and square or out the back) when the pack mark isn't taken and the ball spills free. As many have said and i've said so often over the past year or more, our list is completely out of wack with too much emphasis on slow plodding 'see-ball-get ball' mids. The mix on this list needs a major overhaul. I would anticipate an improvement / bounce back off a very low base next season but might take three to five seasons at the trade table before we start seeing a serious phoenix type rise with regular finals appearances & cred.

Weid and Oscar were both big favs of Macca. Dunn's career (for us) was cut short as a result of the Oscar preference. Hopefully all that nonsense of "the next big thing" (or the earlier classic "youth policy" - Schwab) left with him and those within the FD are now basing their selection decisions on relevant qualitative and quantitative performance measures, game day results and the players' ability to carry out the roles being asked of them. We might get the mix / culture within the FD right at some point ....hopefully sooner than later.

Regardless of how you interpret it (not replacing staff who have left (and they have) and not replacing those who've been chopped (i know of at least one) there have been cuts within MFC's admin post end of season.

Welcome aboard the peace train KD! P.S. apologies for the horrid spelling (*lessens) and incorrect wording (*worm burner) on my last post up there minions ☝?...written in a big rush.

Bump...keeper for all of the above and it will send a terrible signal to the rest of the group when your most improved player in a season doesn't get the respect he should at the contract table. Jnr. Mac ghost will rear it's ugly head if not careful..... "Culture". The Hawks aren't silly. Clarko will play Frostmeister between the arcs and let him launch inside 50. The Hawks, like the Tiges, don't care that much as to how its delivered as long as its a tumble punt work burner "NO bombing" where possible. Lessons the impact of the interceptors like Mcgovern etc. Frost can also go with the likes of Ben Brown where others wont be able to (see Rooeys comments about this on SEN). If we lose him then Ben (and similar types....see Buddy in Rnd 4 where Frosty was praised for his shut down role!) get a free ticket whenever we play them. Don't be silly Goody....lock him away mate.

Never let the facts get in the way of a large paper bag WB. This is Carltank we are talking about.

Probably heading to the Swans. Not saying im interested so no shooting!... https://m.afl.com.au/news/2019-09-11/future-up-in-the-air-as-star-bomber-joe-daniher-considers-options

Bar selling the farm in another 'Lever' type deal i'm happy to disagree on that one Macca. Under a different regime with a recognised respected coach after a few years of playing finals (and success in at least one of those appearances)...sure. At this stage we need to replace about eight to twelve on the current list over the next few years and there's no way we will be able to replace with imported A graders. Even clubs at the top would struggle doing so with that sort of clean out. Need to be realistic and build a camp first, then top up later with the odd A graders where posible. Alot more likely if we can work our way up the ladder and become a half decent destination club. No rediculous sell out required on the trades either.

Macca and yourself have covered this nicely to some extent below. Agree with the first part but Roos is no longer here. We wont be getting A graders (multiple or probably even one under Goodwin). This is the answer but the likes of those five need to come into the team plus two to three more over the period of a few seasons and play 'together' for at least the next 5 or so to make a difference and change the culture permanently. Roos was on the right track. He just never got them all in at once or enough of them, to make a permanent change to the culture. Import B+ graders (wont get better under Goodwin) from clubs with ongoing success based culture until we get to base camp. Base camp = successive and successful finals appearances (two or three) aka Geelong/Hawks/Tigers/Pies/Eagles. Only recruit mature age players still in their prime (24ish to 27ish) B plus from known success based clubs where you know the disciplines/ structures / professionalism and work ethic is already built in. Provided they bring what we need, including AFL level kicking standards as a base minimum and are filling a required role. Once you hit base camp, with present coach or other (i suspect we will need other eg; Lyon or similar respected coach with runs on the board), you then top up with occasional A grader and fill the bottom rungs with clever drafting / strong development to take us to the summit with a mix of A / B plus graders and a few talented rookies. Two of those A graders should be internal IF still there ie; Big M & Clarry (with some adjustments and being well over his two shoulder opps from last season).

The Hawks rarely trade away a loss 39. Whatever they are offering it will more than likely end up being a less than satisfactory tainted morsel past it's use by or a known (but unbeknown to the MFC) NQR option. It won't we Gunston and i doubt they will compensate effectively with picks either. Zero sum loss all the way. Just get him signed and locked away on decent but but not rediculous coin on say a 2 plus 1 (trigger).