Demon Dynasty

Ah yeh, forgot about that one OD. They also took Petterd though so you never know

Well said Jaded. One of my Idols on the field and has now cemented his place in Demon history as the great revivalist of this club. That win against the Hawks showed we are capable of playing premiership football over 4 quarters. Now we just need to beef things up a little and fill a few holes to bring that level most weeks. Boys will still have to up the ante though to get there. To think 3 years ago we were on the verge of oblivion. What an effort dragging us away from the precipice and setting us on course again. We are still a fair way off being a good team but we aren't that far away either. He has set up a great culture and also for the first time in a long time, shown that this club can attract decent players from other clubs as well as finally develop the youngsters into decent competitors/footballers that play with grunt, flair, skills and determination. They play for each other and the club (occasionaly they don't but at least seem to hurt), something i hadn't seen since the Swooper years.. Once again we have a football team that competes and plays footy the way you would expect any team to do at this level most weeks.. Like all very good coaches it was more about man management and philosophy than other factors like teaching tactics, skills etc. Plenty of assistants/specialists who are doing all that. Thank you Mr Roos. Sorry to see you go

Dub didn't anyone ever tell you about lightning? Oh wait, it is the Toiges i guess

Lol started my own vote thread on the main board no realising this was here My personal view is their timing on Petrie, Firrito and Dal Santo is probably about right from a list management perspective but they should have waited until their season was over before announcing. A pretty horrible PR decision no matter how you look at it. As for Boomer, he was BOG last week against the league's top of the table Swans. He was probably the difference between our Rnd 3 win/loss which in the end has also proven to be the difference between us making finals this year (along with the notorious Bombers match). Boomer is also super creative, usually involved in about 30% or more of North's scoring chains and is very accurate in front of goal either on the run or a set shot. That accuracy alone is worth something in today's game, which often sees players (even some of the best rated) missing from 25 or so out, sometimes directly in front, due to fatigue issues or the player just not being that accurate even though he may have decent/excellent skills in other aspects of his game up the field. In addition this bloke is very hardy, he rarely misses a match. But he is old as footballers go obviously and would need to be 'managed' well. IMO he would need regular 'rest' options throughout the year in order to get the best out of him. Something North failed to do miserably this season IMO, and not just with Boomer. He might need to miss 2 to 3 rounds or so in order to keep him up and about and allow his aging bod some decent recovery time from general soreness. However, if he is on the park he is usually "on". He rarely has a poor game. He is also an extremely tricky player to try and match up on and not many clubs, including us this year, are able to find a match that will keep him quiet. How many times have we worked our way off HB this year and through the middle through a hard press/zone only to look up and find no one inside 50 to give it to!? Boomer knows when and where to run and reads the play better than most and would probably be able to take advantage of these situations quite often. No point doing all that good work if you don't get enough chances of scoring up the other end! That's not to say we haven't been successful here, i've seen us kick a number of joe-the-goose goals. But why not add even more firepower and finish? I have also been harping all year that this list, being the most inexperienced in the AFL every week, was way too skewed towards players under 100/50 games, exposing us to teams who have the edge in tight games (experience wise). IMO we need to balance out our list a little at the top end, where in most weeks we are lucky if we have 3 to 4 players with over 100 games experience. With 430 games experience we automatically gain about one season's worth of games (on average per player) across the team. A huge boost and one that might get us over the line in a few matches eg., against North (5 points!!!). Might be the difference between playing finals next year and not. Also a reasonable insurance policy. What if that one or two games that we needed to win were against a team that picks Boomer up and he makes a significant impact on the day? It's a big YES from me to a one year contract on moderate coin.

Have North stuffed up by not offering Boomer a year's extension? My personal view is their timing on Petrie, Firrito and Dal Santo is probably about right from a list management perspective but they should have waited until their season was over before announcing. A pretty horrible PR decision no matter how you look at it. As for Boomer, he was BOG last week against the league's top of the table Swans. He was probably the difference between our Rnd 3 win/loss which in the end has also proven to be the difference between us making finals this year (along with the notorious Bombers match). Boomer is also super creative, usually involved in about 30% or more of North's scoring chains and is very accurate in front of goal either on the run or a set shot. That accuracy alone is worth something in today's game, which often sees players (even some of the best rated) missing from 25 or so out, sometimes directly in front, due to fatigue issues or the player just not being that accurate even though he may have decent/excellent skills in other aspects of his game up the field. In addition this bloke is very hardy, he rarely misses a match. But he is old as footballers go obviously and would need to be 'managed' well. IMO he would need regular 'rest' options throughout the year in order to get the best out of him. Something North failed to do miserably this season IMO, and not just with Boomer. He might need to miss 2 to 3 rounds or so in order to keep him up and about and allow his aging bod some decent recovery time from general soreness. However, if he is on the park he is usually "on". He rarely has a poor game. He is also an extremely tricky player to try and match up on and not many clubs, including us this year, are able to find a match that will keep him quiet. How many times have we worked our way off HB this year and through the middle through a hard press/zone only to look up and find no one inside 50 to give it to!? Boomer knows when and where to run and reads the play better than most and would probably be able to take advantage of these situations quite often. No point doing all that good work if you don't get enough chances of scoring up the other end! That's not to say we haven't been successful here, i've seen us kick a number of joe-the-goose goals. But why not add even more firepower and finish? I have also been harping all year that this list, being the most inexperienced in the AFL every week, was way too skewed towards players under 100/50 games, exposing us to teams who have the edge in tight games (experience wise). IMO we need to balance out our list a little at the top end, where in most weeks we are lucky if we have 3 to 4 players with over 100 games experience. With 430 games experience we automatically gain about one season's worth of games (on average per player) across the team. A huge boost and one that might get us over the line in a few matches eg., against North (5 points!!!). Might be the difference between playing finals next year and not. Also a reasonable insurance policy. What if that one or two games that we needed to win were against a team that picks Boomer up and he makes a significant impact on the day? It's a big YES from me to a one year contract on moderate coin. What do you guys feel?

The harm could be that he doesn't play much at either level and takes up a spot plus coin for somoene who might be able to hit the ground running at either level. The FD and Dawesy will no doubt be in discussions/tests etc as we speak. Dawesy seems like one of the most honest blokes you could meet. Doubt he would go on unless he felt he could add to the club's/team's future improvements going forward.

Also think the bear wins here. More reliable (less injury prone), better results generally, competitive beast and able to play multiple roles including ruck chop outs. Dawesy rarely rucks and is unfortunately, for various reasons, limited to playing a forward role only. Do we consider Petrie or is that a fry pan option? Is Petrie fried?

I'm not sure that's possible Adz. Have the feeling his injury woes have finally caught up with him, not just physically either. He might be forced to make the call himself at season's end

Also agree, the professionalism and finish on a one year contract would be very handy. Not sure about this year but Boomer was the player with the most involvement in the Roos scoring chains of play in 2015 running at about 35%. If he remains fit he is a great addition, goal assist, goal sneak, finisher in front of goals and takes a very solid defender away from the rest of our smalls/medium smalls, allowing them to instead play on a 2nd/3rd fiddle and develop under a little less pressure (when Boomer's fit and on the park anyways). Was the difference earlier this year in our 5 point loss to them. Would be great to have him batting on our side in our next match against them in 2017. Might be the difference between making finals or not.

Guys come on. A bit of respect please. This bloke came to an absolute basket case of a club on its knees and being bailed out by the AFL. He may not have been able to walk the walk as much as we were hoping but his talk, his professionalism and his leadership both on and off the field has been exemplary and second to none. He has also had his moments on the field in some matches/patches. Yes he is on pretty good coin but we needed an injection of premiership/finals experience around the club where there was none (on the field). He has provided us (off and on through injury & form woes) with a target up forward and allowed the FD to at least structure up a very inexperienced forward line while it developed from embyronic phases. His effort and attack on the man and footy (forward pressure/2nd efforts) have been first class and early on he was pretty much doing this in a void up forward. Yesterday I watched him do a few run through at Gosch's with a fitness (physio/PT?) watching on probably testing that dodgy knee again. Let's just say he wasn't pulling up like a young Colt. He is not alone in carrying injuries at AFL level but the passion, effort and mentoring this bloke has provided the club should be applauded and appreciated. We are not long of this earth guys. Everyone is blessed with certain assets and others with less. I saw one who was very much gifted today in Exhibition St going about his business. Old Neita looking as big as as ever but showing his age a little as we all do eventually. Does Dawesy have the talent/skills of a Neita? We all know the answer. But does he care any less, try any less or is he any less professional? I highly doubt it. My gut feel is that Dawesy is a great bloke and a great servant/clubman of the MFC. He surely deserves better than what some are dishing up to him in this thread. This old saying is just as appropriate now as it was centuries ago.... "Be to his virtues very kind, Be to his faults a little blind"

Yeh i was in the forward pocket that day and watched Gazza kick a torp goal from just outside 50 on a mud patch. One of the best goals i've ever seen live and a memorable win

We have made solid progress Nasher but are still a mile off becoming a solid finals contender subject to the draft. 3 to 4 very solid mature bodied senior players needed. No more kids unless it's a likely Cyril/Nic Nat/Fyfe/Judd/Danger type please. We won't improve next year unless we balance the age/experience of this list up at the top end.

Enough time for some quality reds to have aged and mellowed

Nonsense just keep playing more kids... one day, maybe in my next lifetime, it will eventually pay off

You mean it isn't!??

Neighbor just said he saw the culprits making a quick getaway and they all had blue socks on! Bloody blue baggers

Haha! Touche'

Y'all Suck!!!

The idiots who think we're all skiing have probably misheard what we usually say after a loss..... "I'm gonna go hit the [censored]" with Piste! Mostly too drunk to stand up let alone ski

I sincerely hope you receive a letter from the Queen Tony....might be a while yet

He is probably preferring to play higher up the ground due to the lack of confidence in his kicking de cali. Pedo would have straitened us up IMO and offered a target for the mids, seeing them play more direct wet weather footy instead of chipping it around, hesitating so much and over using the pill due to not enough targets/structure up forward. Watts has had 2 pretty ordinary matches as well at the wrong end of the season which hasn't helped. Would play Hogan off HB from here until/unless he changes/improves his kicking action. Sucks the life out of the whole team IMO when you miss that many chances. Cloke a good example. By playing him off HB you are still saying he has value ....but that kicking! Fix it or you're backman. Rest Frost who has had two very tired/ordinary games now and bring in Pedo (AGAIN lol)

Hogan and an early pick for Fyfe (provided he passes all the fitness tests)?

Bernie needed a week off. Could see that in last week's match