Demon Dynasty

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.

I think what we saw on the day was their potential or lack thereof in many cases bj. In a GF you get to see where your team is truly at, warts and all, regardless of the standard of the Comp. They are either up to the task or they aren't and that includes their ability to handle the heat of a big match day, above the shoulders. If you then move that heat and intensity up another notch (or maybe not dissimilar in intensity) into say a big match day at AFL level or even a final, then that probably tells you how capable many on the list are, or not, as the case may be. Too many so called seasoned players went missing and looked super slow with with both decision making and execution in most cases. Many just hit the panic button far too often offf HB and in the few center contests which we won, bombing it to an unmanned doggie sweeper sitting off the press or the loose man across HB. We didn't have enough run or ability to escape the tackler in enough 50/50 contests which were won and there weren't many of those which were won! The doggies out tackled us and we were the best tackling team all year. That means we were too slow to spread and escape the congestion quickly enough or cleanly enough (skills) vs our opponent and possibly over hand balled due to that inability to escape after getting first use. A similar scenario to the Swans match earlier in the season at AFL level? And lets give the Doggies a big tick, they performed in this area to a much higher standard and consistency on clearance work and spread. It would also seem Plapp had one game style with no defensive plan B to halt a run on; ie., even a basic one like stack/flood the backline or go man on man from the center down to the backline. Add an extra number at the contest and at least force the dogs into more potential turnovers under increased pressure around the ball for a short time and see whether this changes things. Our rucks also got slaughtered which didn't help matters. As someone said here earlier Minson took front position in most of the around the ground rucking contests and gained a big advantage for himself and the team as a result. I though Dunn was stellar in 50/50 contests given the amount of ball coming in. However, he lets himself and the team down far too often with blind bombing to a contest or anywhere in some cases and an inability (or lack of presenting by fellow players on the lead?...maybe combo of both) to hit short targets who can then clear the ball well beyond the paint/danger of 50 odd meters. I would say the only pass marks or decent players on the day were Weeds (in the first half only...no tank yet), Ben Ken's first half, Clarry for most of the day (although even he bombed a little too often for my liking and also gave a few handballs straight to the opposition) and Dunn in 50/50 contests where he slaughtered his opponent/s. Joel Smith was just ok IMO and a slim pass. Tim Smith presented and competed well along with his 3 goals. Hullett not bad in the first half but his finish really let him and team down. Newton tried hard in the first half and went missing along with most others in the second. For me that was about it and i would only see Joel Smith (not as optimistic as some on here though), Weed and Clarry (obviously) as potential AFL options going forward from that match (Clarry a cert of course). I have seen something in McInerny before the GF game (a glimmer only at this point!) but he is still 2 pre-seasons away (at least) from impacting or being able to show what he's got. It's fair to say that there's probably only a handfull of players outside of our regular 22 that are serious contenders for a regular seniors berth. We will need to recruit extremely well in the next 2 years to have any show of making finals on a regular basis in the next decade. Having said that, if all goes well injury wise next year we might scrape in but we will need as much luck as this year on that front to do so and some better second halfs from the likes of Bernie and a more consistent output from fringe players like Jeffy, Wagner, Vanders, Pedo and Ben Ken to name a few. Remembering that we are also likely lose the likes of top up type players like H and Dawes. Other old regulars (pre 2016) like Matty, Garland, Dunn, Trenners (injury ridden limited opp i realise) and Grimesy have either already gone or unlikely to be in our 22 on anything other than a last resort basis. We are putting some big bets on many youngsters to continue on the improvement ladder next year to have any show of a finals berth in 2017. List needs a major injection of speed, skills and clever (experienced) decision makers under pressure to take that next step IMO. We have Malk and possibly Hibb as possible additions here but we won't know what they'll bring till the season's well under way assuming theyre's both in and fully fit.

Sylvia this match is THE match. If you are outscored in the premiership quarter by your opponent 8 to zip and you don't think you have problems then as a club....you have problems. You could play this match with the same lists 10 times and The Doggies would win it 10 times. List still needs a major clean up if the seniors are ever to impact and make finals We had very few injuries this year. Our depth wasn't tested much so we felt reasonably comfortable with what we did see at AFL level at times.

Hey don't bring our Womens team into this comparison! Doing ok, although even they got beaten by the Doggies

Yep, if you can't find the run and spread as well as the inside clearances you are toast at both AFL and VFL level. Been that way for a few years now. Doggies have a great balance here. Minson has killed Spencil. McInerny isn't up to this level to help out either. Our 3 talls in Spencil, McInerny and Weeds (first half excluded) have been unable to impact. Their talls have had a say.

I don't think they were ever got close enough often enough Akum

Can't hit targets by foot often enough either....too many hackers

Casey have no run at all. Hand balling too often to stationary players only a meter away then stop prop hand ball to another stationary target.

And there goes the Cup

Doggies have run em ragged....game has probably gone

Getting smashed in the middle.....wonder what the clearances are

Havent seen Keilty much ....Matty Jones ....still can't impact a 50/50, even at this level

touched...horrible umpiring