Demon Dynasty

This is all about The Rev and the Big Freeze on Monday DD and nothing to do with us, other than the connection of the Rev having coached us admirably. We are now completely irrellevant in an AFL context other than in our own bath time. I'm afraid our Football dept has officially lost the plot and if i was to select between a car crash and a competitive effort on Monday i'll be definitely selecting the former. Jetta, Watts & Bail had 0...i repeat ZERO tackles in a losing (thrashed) side last week. Grimes in our top 10. Spencer not the worst (had 6 tackles....3rd only behind Brayshaw & Vince) and yet we see only one of the former getting dropped and a few of the better players (out of a bad bunch last week) getting punished. What a moral sapper for the core group of players who generally go "ok" most of the time. There will be nothing standing in the way of the pies and a 100 point plus massacre on Monday. In fact they could and probably will end up calling this the "Monday Massacre" match after Monday. I can only think of 2 reasons for the bizarre changes/non-changes this week. 1. Roos has already made his mind up on certain players, regardless of how badly or reasonable they play; OR 2. KEN Roos has gone..........

Song you of all people should know that D'landers are so starved of seeing any quality AFL talent that even young very good "ordinary" footballers are always considered our next "superstar savior' before they've even played a match!!

About the only bird we might kill on Monday Dee is a sparrow from another mis directed Dunny torp!

There might be a few extra with The Rev's Big Freeze walk from Fed Square on OD. I'm having trouble getting motivated to watch us as well but i'll go along (with some family in tow) to support the Rev and watch us massacre the Pies... "cough"

I personally think this was our best opp as well with the list above. And as my bro kindly reminded me last night, the turning point late in the season, was the loss of Jackovich in Rnd 17. One man doesn't make a GF appearance but he sure was a huge out. The following stats can't be ignored when considering he was there for the bulk of the season, albeit not able to take the park in all matches leading up to Rnd 17. 51 Goals in 13 matches to round 17 4th in the AFL goal kicking averages, averaging just under 4 goals a match Only bettered by 3 other greats that year in Ablett (3rd) with an average of 5.2, Dunstall (2nd) with an average of 5.3 and Lockett (No.1) with an average of 5.60 per game. He beat 3 other goal kicking power forwards that year in the goal averages including, Modra, Sticks Kernahan and the King himself, Wayne Carey. He was our leading goal kicker on 8 of the 13 matches he played to Rnd 17, kicking 8 goals in the opening round against the Cats which we won by over 10 goals and another 8 goals (to 3/4 time!!) against the Hawks in our win over them at their home ground (Princess Park) in Round 17, before leaving the ground injured never to play another game for the Demons! We also had one other player in the top 10 goal kicking averages that year, Gazza, sitting on 10th with 78 goals at 3.3 goals a match over 23 games. The Ox also had a pretty amazing year kicking 60 goals in 25 matches. There's always many "if & buts" involved in any season but to me this was the season that looked like we could go all the way with a lethal goal kicking forward line up i had never seen before that year. We were capable of beating almost any opponent with the big bull Jacko on the park and firing.

Seeing is believing fellas....

R&B i have it on good authority that the AFL hired Meatloaf in order to erase this great legacy from an earlier GF (spot the late greats!).....

Yep. He is lost starting through mid field. Excellent in his natural role as a HBFer. Play him here and watch him blossom again. Loves to see the paddock and play unfolding in front of him rather than around him using his pace and break away spead to run the lines and kick balls into our 50 on the rebound. Currently rank him about middle of the pack so far this year so room for improvement IF Roos plays him where he performs best.

no but i suspect will probably be using a megaphone from here on!

True but PR has cred and has given them some respect/rope from day one until now (nearly 2 years). MN had none and hung most of em out to dry from the moment he set foot in the door.

Jimmy showed "something" in that game and deserves some further match time to find his place, confidence and the pace of AFL. Only his 3rd season and last year was interrupted. At least another 2 pre seasons away (and a good 5 to 10kg) from potentially having a significant impact at this level on a consistent basis. Let's hope he makes it.

You can talk all the "line in the sand" talk u like. If you're carrying soft cok passengers in the team... even just 1 or 2... forget it. You need everyone on board with a kill or be killed approach and "showing it" with their actions for this to be effective. If Roos keeps playing the same present line up there will be no "line in the sand" moment for us THIS season. Just more losses/beltings by most from 12 to 5 and a few massacres against the top 3/4 if they decide to put their foot on our throat.

Agreed OD. But the difference is you bring in NQRs who arent soft at the contest and just go hard at it no matter where we are in the game. The ability to crack in and have a dip is more inspiring than watching a few pretty boys running around on the outside waiting to be given the ball... and then in many cases still choosing the wrong options/fluffing their disposals. The other NQRs will still fluff and choose poor options. Difference is you want NQRs who dont throw the towel in when the heat is on and will go back with 2nd 3rd efforts to try & rectify their own clangers. The few real foorballers (and up and coming ones) we have in the team that have to play with them, will be more inspired by the latter than the soft cok NQRs who dont go when they need to and choose when they want to have a dip. Nothing more demoralising. And its something that a few of the decent players we have are also starting to display at times. It becomes catchy. And once it catches on amongst your better players... we are looking at a potential 186 revisited against the top 3 or 4.

To avoid being totally massacred (12 goals or more)... OUT: Soft Cox & the bottom end of the NQRs IN: Tough nuts & other marginally better NQRs (even if they have less perceived talent than the soft cok NQRs)

Too many soft cox/NQRs in this list RP who "choose" when its their turn to go or just arent up to AFL standard. Roos is paying the price of backing them for too long. Needs to smack this lot around and toughen up on the lot of em and move on from NQR soft cox to start. Then build decent depth through the mid field ASAP to support Jones, Vince, Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw and Vanders. He will need to bring in other NQRs to replace the soft cox but the morale in the team will be better for it. Similar skills/talent or lack thereof but guys having a dip can inspire. Soft Cox do the reverse and their pathetic non efforts are there for all to see and can spread through the group like wildfire if left in the team. This leads to the lack of trust u were referring to. Then everyone starts to go into self preservation mode. There's only one person to blame for playing soft cox for too long so far this year and that's PR himself. All other teams kno we run shallow thru the mid with Jones the only player in the top 100 AFL ranked players. Put a hard lock down on Jones... game over. When we finally get rid of the NQRs/Soft cox and import 2 to 3 B grade mid fielders... we will start winning more than 1 game in a row against clubs from 8ish down. Until then sit back and enjoy being regularly massacred. P.S. We will still get beaten by most teams outside the bottom 6 in most cases even if he drops the NQRs & soft cox THIS SEASON...just not massacred (excluding the top 4 or so).

Don't you mean Jack Bruce. I would've used Cam Watts but .....nah

Biff please show OD more respect. He is a stalwart of D'land and should be given all the freedoms he wants on here!

Dee last time I saw Gawn play forward he couldn't hit the side of a barn door other than within about 15 out directly in front. If he has to be in the team as a swap for Fitz then has to be as back up for Spence only when he is rested for short stints surely? Im not sure why people want players who cant kick straight to rest or play a forward role. I thought the days of resting ruckman in the forward line was from a bygone era anyway. The exception might be Sandilands & Nic Nat but they are both exceptional in these alternate roles.

On a serious note I am going to 2nd this. My only change would be the Toump starting or playing through the mid at this point in his career (maybe at any point!). Viney has to start in the middle to bolster and avoid any early blow out. The Pies will be looking to wipe us off the map out of the middle early and have the game wrapped up at half time with an unassailable lead (like last year...the year before that etc) so we need to at least be within cooee of them at half time to avoid a massacre and give ourselves an inkling of a sniff & hope. If I see any sign of Bail, Fitz or Watts in this line up then I will know for sure that Roosey has caught the same bug as many Demon coaches before him and....gone completely nutz!

Gold!

Lol OD I'm not sure how I would handle us winning more than the odd game every month or 2. Its become so ingrained in the Demon culture. Im starting to think even the players themselves cant get over the mental hurdle of more than one win at a time. Roos might be well advised to employ the services of a hypnotist!

As u know P, a journalist never reveals his sources! Let me just say that there were others at the ground that night other than the crowd and they weren't there playing tiddly winks. That Goodes went along with the "Ape" line surely Is a sign that he has a heart and was willing to assist those involved in order to take the spotlight and redicule/heat off the 13yo as much as possible. More forgiveness and understanding of.the situation than many have judged and given him credit for. Albeit I realise most are none the wiser as this is what the press were lead to believe and reported. Unfortunately the attemp to protect her has now apparently back fired with many judging Goodes as over reacting to what "appears" to most as a girl just calling him a name that reflects her view of his "appearance" rather than race.

Ever heard of google?

The word ape/monkey was never used Pman. Was much worse than that to the degree to that the "words" used are unrepeatable on here. Goodes was obviously so shocked at what WAS said at the time that he made a spur of the moment instinctive reaction to point her out in the crowd. What happened after they (and Goodes) realised how young she was resulted in a different version of said rant being touted to the media. Anyone putting forward an argument against Goodes using the Ape/Monkey line needs to think again as this wasn't what he reacted to!