Demon Dynasty

Now that might just work!

No match winner and has limitations but experience counts and Dunny has that in spades and never says die. One of the few players who was able to stand up in the ugly years of Demon horribilis and hold his head up. A dour stay at home defender that can neutralise a sluggish but strong bodied opponent and occasionally drift forward for the odd goal or two with the occasional brain fade (see above). Didnt mind Dunny against the right match up and in a balanced team with quick counter attack runners around him. Certainly a better option than Garland who was unable to do either of these roles/tasks very well under any amount of heat. One of them is still with us so go figure.

Should avoid Casey if possible. Chanel 7 will rarely cover a match out there LIVE due to the terrible facilities. If the women can keep winning I reckon we'll have a bigger say in where they play more often and chanel 7 will also be pushing for them to play at ikon etc.

Nice win. Numbers at the ball and cleaner quicker disposal, quicker across the ground. Clearance work rate slowly improved as the game went on also. The Pies will be lucky to win a match I reckon. Apart from one or 2 players they are horribly top heavy and slow across the ground and apart from that first half, with significant umpiring assistance from No.5, they were terribly scrappy/unco and fumbled too often with ball in hand. Similar to last week but this week managed to put a quarter of footy together early, as well as finding Mo one on one a few times.

yes and apart from Daisey too many slooooow decision makers with poor disposal skills. Allowing pie players to close down space and put even more pressure on their disposals. Too many handballs too. I suspect the Pies are under done though fitness wise and look a little too heavy over the ground for a Women's team for mine. Not enough quick runners across the ground. If the Demons can clean up and quicken up their disposals I reckon they get pretty close here

Isn't that Guernsey the one that Daisey and the girls wear? ? ? ? ? ??

How did Maxey go Chief? I heard he had a few shots on goal but....

Chris what's your going rate to sit on the rules committee? You just solved the congestion problem in 2 paragraphs. How much coin is Gil on again? ?

The AFLW maybe ?

I believe that may have been one of his fatal torps. Although some also resulted In end to end goals, bosses often only remember (and highlight/exaggerate) the negatives, especially the most recent. I liked Lynden Dunn as a person and player even though he was limited in talent with ball in hand he did play the percentages ok (when we were playing the boundary under Neeld more often anyway) and his huge kicks could sometimes catch opponent's presses unawares and get us the odd goal out the back. Not a great talent by any means but a great club man who got himself into AFL level playing condition (body/mind) and could hold his own on some occasions in a 50/50 defensive role against selective KPFs. Ok, so at other times maybe not so great but he also flew the flag on occasions as well when no one else was during the dark days, albeit sometimes for no good apparent reason ? Could also go forward and kick the odd super goal from outside 50 or just on the paint. I wish him much success (not too much against us though) in his new role at pie park. Thank you Lynden and good luck mate!

Then I salute you DD!

May not have been a great on field performer for the most part, but his off field presence, professionalism towards training and his effort/voice and leadership on the park (when he did make it) helped turn the culture of the club around from the dark years following 186. I can't recall too many, other than the flash in his prime, running down/chasing/pressuring opponent defenders in our forward line pre Dawesy. I recall one particular speech post match day where he jumped in and cut Neeldy off on the "effort" comment saying that "coaches shouldn't have to coach effort, that's on the players" as being one of the rare noteworthy moments in the horrible year that was 2012. I would attribute him and Crossy as being significant in pointing our culture compass In a northerly direction on the huge J curve that was the (ugly) 'pre-Roos' MFC. A big thank you to this bloke (and any others eg, Crossy) for choosing to come over to what was then a complete basket case and helping turn the culture around. Crossy had much more impact on the field of course and was on it far more often, but I tips me hat to both these fellas and any other reasonable players (eg, Dunny) who stayed the course over this period and gave it their all (regardless of talent/injury woes). Thank you Chris. I wish you and family all the very best in life and all future pursuits outside of AFL (or in it if you land a contract) from here. Hopefully you remain at the MFC in some professional capacity off the field (if no contract is offered).

Tippet and Dawson? Seriously no

Yes some mud and sweat on the guernsey wld have been more fitting for our boy Lewis

Deal done. Hope we did our due diligence. Apart from Peter Moore and Mr Vince i cant recall too many big names coming to us in the past without a pre-existing prob. If he's clean im loving this trade though!

Diamond you may wish to add a few words at the end of that sentence ...... "face/jaw, from behind or when they weren't looking"

Not to be too picky and i tend to agree on the above. Just not sure if he runs back the other way quite as well at this point

Damn , i was kind of enjoying the panic room soap opera! Does that contract have a kicking coach somewhere in the fine print?

That is exactly correct. This is where the Club lives and dies by what is put in place to support the players. Starting with the President, the administration and the Coach. Then the recruiting dept and list management. Then the support staff including assistants, doctors, trainers etc and last but not least the facilities. I believe we have all of the above in place with the exception of 3 things..... You need a great man manager Coach. We had that in Roos but we won't know whether Goody is this until we know. The list still needs some serious work and IMO we are still 2 drafts away (approx 8 to 10 very solid 'experienced' recruits) from turning into a consistent finals challenger. We do not have a Space/Place for the Melbourne faithful, players/officials and potential supporters (who might visit to use the facilities to hang out in and come together on a regular basis nor on a big occasion like a GF appearance for those who can't get a ticket!). Ie., there's no home ground/club rooms/social facility that we associate with being a part of and essence of what it is to be the MFC. Pretty much all other clubs have this that i can think of immediately. On point No. 3 you can laugh and joke if you wish, but i think this is a crucial factor towards our short and long-term success and towards becoming a serious AFL club in the hunt for silverware and regular finals appearances. Having such a facility/space/place/club would allow for the players and the club to bring out their best. It might help towards making the players/FD etc feel as if they 'owe' it to give something back to an all round great club with a great vibe, feel and facilities. Their family/friends are also welcome and frequent there. They see them and regular supporters there. In doing so, they will feel some sort of 'weight' to perform to their very best and also feel some sort of connection/loyalty effect, to some degree, with the genuine supporters/members regularly present and close up, showing their faces around the club. Not just a distant noisy throng of faces that you see once every other week or so at the G and the odd 'Saty' loyal type who can make a training session on a working day. A bit easy come, easy go without a genuine club venue/facility IMO. At this point we do not have and never have had this facility/area/space/genuine social facility that makes the MFC feel like a genuine 'real' footy club with a cross section of real people, both officials and others, mixing together under the one roof. I hark back to my visit to the Dog Kennel on a work assignment last year. I posted this on the 20th August 2015.... ..... "I'm sitting in the Barkers Cafe at the Whitten, oddly enough on a work assignment, watching how vibrant and "together" this place feels ... our old boy Lukey Beveridge standing around happily chatting to some eager patrons/supporters hanging off his every word. I often wondered why we never had a place for our supporters to truly hang out together with clubmen and players just floating around. I guess that's because we've never been a truly "local" club that ppl can associate with and just "hang out" together with officials and players alike...as one. Im not saying by any means this is the answer to all our woes either. And the Doggies hardly have a proud record to bark about. But gee I'd kill for a place like this that actually feels like a real footy club. A place where ppl can come and "belong" and feel a part of. Oh well. Maybe in my next lifetime eh "..... end. The only time i have ever felt that the MFC came close to feeling like a Doggy, Hawks, Blues or a Cats type club set up and feel was the Northy years. Swooper new the importance of creating a 'club' type feel both to encourage the supporters into the club (both in numbers, passion/atmosphere and hopefully conversion to additional memberships with success) and the players to have some sort of connection to the supporters. He opened the club up a little to the supporters and allowed them some limited space and time (in the rooms before and after a game) to mix it with the players. Although it's only a small part of what is really needed, it was better than nothing at all. I hope i am wrong but my personal view is, that unless we address Point No.3 we may never get our hands on another piece of AFL silverware. If i had some say in the future of the MFC i would be seriously looking at all options to fix this ASAP, including the potential of leasing Waverly Park, once the Hawks move out (as one option). I can't think of any other serious alternatives at this stage that are easily accessible out east which fit in with our push into the outer Easter (Casey) region and alignment with Casey. It may not be ideal but it sure offers us an oval, training facilities and a few nice food/bev and fitness venues inside, where members, players and friends/family/officials and the public can hang out. A place that the MFC can truly call home and it actually feels like (and is!!) a real club! They may have outgrown the venue now after so much success but Waverly certainly hasn't hindered the Hawks in any way!

Finally justice prevails. Maybe there is a footy God!!? Without doubt that's the best finals campaign I've ever seen at VFL/AFL level. So glad GWS got booted and there was no pee and poo running around out there today. What a refreshing change! Did we help The Cats and the Doggies out when we beat the Hawks first up after their 9 in a row? Was it the Demons who showed them the way and gave them a little sniff, some hope, the extra belief and what needed to be done to put the Dawks away? Boyd or Picken were BOG/Normy for mine though. JJ's second half was better but missed too many targets in the first half IMO.

Jaded I'm wondering who you have hope for as I'm almost certain we've had a bit of help over the years from the AFL. Should I be worried?

What you talkin' bout Mr Leg... The Toump was blisteringly fast!

Pretty accurate call by AJ. Matt was ok when receiving the ball well in the clear and on the move going forward. In other words he looked better on the run coming i50. Couldnt hit the scoreboard very well when he had the opp himself though. In a 50/50 contest he quite often froze and just took the tackle rather than using other alternatives such as agility/skills or quick reflexes and decision making to release the ball to someone in a better position (or loose) with hand ball or by foot. He did this on occasions and when he did he showed signs but was just unable to do it often enough or to a high enough standard to cut the mustard. If caught down back he would also suffer a little too often from poor decision making if the heat was on (which it usually is down back of course). Some of the above negatives were on show again last week. I think the fact it was VFL level only, sealed his fate. Showed glimpses and a decent servant. Good luck to him wherever he goes from here.

A must get IMO for all the above reasons. You left out one aspect Dazzle..... He's a dead eye dick in front of goal! Something you can't buy in today's game where most players are about 50/50 and many others extremely unreliable (i wont point any fingers!). If you want some reward on the end of all our hard work....plus all of the above, Tim Smith is a must. However, no point if his heart isn't in it. Has to obviously want the challenge and be willing to work his ass off pre season. The step up is pretty harsh. In addition he would be a nice fit in the salary cap. How he is not on a list yet but many others (who shall remain nameless) are, is astounding.