Demon Dynasty

If you don't understand the link between an Ape/Monkey or the related "accusation" of same word mis reported as part of the deemed words that were used as a racist slur against Goodes by the young girl some time back (which started the Goodes/racist rant controversy) then you are dumber than I originally thought. And I thought dumb & dumber was about as dumb as it gets!

He wasn't called an ape mate. Need to get your facts right before mouthing off like a bird brain. That's what Goodes/The Swans/Eddie everywhere agreed to tell the press in order to protect the young girl. What she ranted was not even close and would be considered racist in anyone's language.

Yes they actually hit in harder than I've seen this year. Looks like they weren't behind Mick for quite a while. Not comparing MM to MN but the lack of fight this year reminded me of 2012/2013 under him. MM has really left them in a pickle though. I got the impression he wanted to replicate another mini Collingwood with their heavy combative style and up the line play with the aim to extract and move up the field from each consecutive stoppage. In the process he seemed happy to let go of many of their outside runners and playmakers up forward. I would hate to be a new coach taking this list over as he didnt manage to create an effective MM style mid field and now they dont have their outside/forward playmakers/runners either. Having said that, I'm sure they will eventually resurrect themselves from the mire within a decade or so. Im not as confident that we will unless we replace our NQRs with real AFL footballers.

94 was certainly an anti climax to what was, until then, a great season Gonzo. But it paled into comparison to the pain of the 87 prelim so in some ways you got lucky! The AFL had a large part to play that year in the sense it was the 2nd home finals game for the Weagles. Until then no interstate club had hosted a prelim final as none of the interstate clubs had a ground capable of handling a prelim crowd. And this was still the case in 94 with a max capacity of only 30 odd thousand at the WACA (excluding standing room) Of course the AFL went against all of that logic and previous history and gave them their 2nd final of the 94 series. In many ways a result of our lack of success over many decades prior. Can you imagine them hosting the Pies/Bombers/Blues back then with a capacity of only 30,000ish !!?

And there's the rub hogan. You can't afford to have even 1 player in the team who "chooses" when it's his time to go or not to go HH, let alone more than one. Each player has to look each other in the eye in the change rooms before a match and commit to the oath of giving everything to the contest on the day. I can only imagine what it would be like to know even one of you is probably not going to commit when it's his turn at this level and will likely let the team down in a clutch 50/50 contest by hanging back. And once you have one who is sitting back waiting for others to do the grunt work when it's required.....guess what happens? It's like a severe strain of the flu but with a massive incubation period. It might not catch on at first....but eventually everyone is catching it! Recipe for disaster if left to fester! I can only hope Roos applies an antidote before it turns septic. If not i fear we will also lose the next lot of Roos anointed recruits to this ugly strain as well! And if that's the case you can forget about any Roos (or Goodwin) lead turnaround. We will be in the wilderness for decades to come. In my opinion this is Roos biggest challenge this year. If he lets it spread we are gawn as a club.

6. Cross 5. Hogan 4. Dunn 3. Brayshaw 2. Vince 1. Grimes

Some have highlighted Watts on here having zero tackles. He wasn't alone. Jetta, Bail and T-Mac also. You would expect most players in this day and age to at least stick one tackle a quarter if serious about defending. That's around 80 tackles for the match if everyone does this and it's not out of question either as we had 88 against the doggies and look at the result. That's 31 more tackles than we laid against Port (57). We only had 7 players who laid 4 or more tackles for the match.... Brayshaw (8) Vince (7) Garland (6) Spencil (6) H (5) N Jones (5) Vanders (4) Contrast this to last week where we had 11 who laid 4 or more and where every player had at least 1 tackle or more for the match!! One word that sums up the huge turnaround from last week....... EFFORT!!!

Guys i have it on good authority that Goodes actually went along with a "playing down" of that young Girl's racism rant/incident to assist her in not being on the receiving end of OTT retribution from all and sundry at such a young age were the real truth of what was said to come out. The "official" line from those involved, including Goodes in response to alot of press questioning, was that she called him a big ape. According to what i heard from someone involved at the ground It was much worse than that! The Hawks boo him for no obvious reason, which might possibly be racism but might also be their mis guided view of his reaction to the "offocial" ape line that was trolled to the media. I wonder if the booing that goes on would be so wide spread if they new what was really said. Whatever the reason, some people then expect him to lay low in the indigenous round and not give a yelp! As far as i'm concerned the indigenous community had a big role in developing this game to where it is, they live and breathe it in many areas of Australia and are amazing to watch at the highest level. I admire their courage at being able to bridge the massive cultural divide between the western way of life and their's in an everyday sense, let alone play footy in front of so many at the highest level and cop the crap that they must cop (and have been for decades....Winmar!). If Goodes wants to do a tribal dance in honor of his indigenous mates then bring it on! The game can do with a bit of cultural injection and dance anyways! The all blacks do this before every game and as part of ceremony. I hold Adam Goodes in the highest regard and admire him as a great footballer of our day who gives 100% effort pretty much every time. I only wish we had of had this great player in our team for the duration of his career. The culture and value he would add to any club is invaluable, not to mention his ability to turn/win matches off his own boot, gut running and inspirational 2nd & 3rd efforts. Love or loathe him he will be seen as one of the greats of the game when he finally hangs up his boots.

That's exactly what it was used for. We sent our opponents a very strong message by leaving one of our 2 strongest mid fielders on the bench until they got their mojo back while leaving a giraffe on the park to run around looking like a lost Giraffe! Well done Roos & Co!

1. No champions in the team (A graders wateva u wanna call em) to take a game by scruff of the neck and turn things around off their own effort/boot when the going gets tough and things aren't going our way (some players do step up occasionally and lead but it's usually against other bottom 6 clubs only). We only have 1 B grader in Jones and the rest are either up and coming Cs who occasionally put in a B grade standard or just NQR Cs & Ds. 2. Continuously playing (or in our case...having to play) around 6 to 8 NQR D grade players who aren't up to AFL standard but are given regular guernseys throughout the season. Most of these would not get a look in, even in the other bottom 6 clubs. For as long as we are playing them we will continue to get smashed by anyone outside the bottom 6. We might catch the odd team in the top 12 on a low while we are on a longer break or something and cause an upset at home (or get closer than anyone figured) ..but I wouldn't be putting any hard earned on these upsets. 3. Outside of a young rising star in the Hulk and occasional cameo from Garlett, we don't have a forward line that really worries the opposition on the scoreboard nor is it able to pressure the opponents defence effectively inside our own 50. Last time I looked We were ranked either last or 17th on pressure acts/tackles/opposition turnovers i50. 4. Our midfield is presently bottom 2 or 3 material but not necessarily the worst on any given day IF they all put in and play their ass off AND we have a fully fit mid field rotational line up eg, a fully match fit Viney. We need at least 2 more fully fledged B grade mids (preferably A but I'm trying to keep things realistic) to assist Jones while Vince, Tyson, Brayshaw and Vanders develop their game.

I think most reasonable supporters recognise there will be inconsistencies and a few ups and downs during a season in a relatively inexperienced line up (relative to the opposition) like we saw today. However, it's the way in which we lose that bothers me Gonzo. It's all or nothing. No shade of grey in between. For a team to only kick a few goals from late in the 2nd and allow its opponent to kick 16 is beyond reason even for a somewhat inexperienced list. If it was up against one of the top 3 in form power houses I would be in agreement. If it was only every 3rd or 4th week I would understand. But it wasn't and isn't. The fact we can rarely string more than 1 win together, especially on the road, is a huge sign that many within the present list are psychologically beyond repair or not capable of playing the game at AFL standard (or both!). We have to sort them out ASAP and move them on smartly or we will continue to wallow at the bottom of the ladder for decades to come.

You only DONT send the extra man to their loose man IF u don't back your defensive capabilities to defend when they get it Akum (ie, man to man defensive skills). Roos would be one of the few of the so called "rated" coaches who doesn't seem to counter this move with extras up forward. Seems to work well for the clubs who follow this rule. Not sure why we aren't following their lead here. It's not like its a new strategy either. Been around for many moons now.

I suspect no one really wants Dank to be called before a statutory authority and "spill the beans" Chris. Especially the AFL & the EFC. Quite happy for him to move on and brush the dirt under the carpet. Easier to avoid an AFL lead investigation where he couldn't be called upon or forced to give evidence than be caught up in a civil prosecution if he aired any dirty laundry against the AFL/EFC to the press. No doubt he was made well aware of the possible financial implications if he did (spill) by those with the most to lose.

And we will stay there for as long as we have so many spuds running around for this club....which i fear will be a mighty long time yet.

Ease up. Still practicing the cable tie tackle drill from last week

I'm glad you said to 3/4 time. Even the US Stock market recovered after the great depression within about 3 to 4 years. Unfortunately we've been stuck in our own depression for 9 years now.

Jetta "in" was a poor option. As was retaining Fitzy. Doesn't add any value to our mid field and made us too top heavy (with the addition of an extra "tall" spud). Riley and Viney were a much needed addition to the rotations through the mid field. Even Newton would have been a decent option over Jetta. Our defence is not the issue it's the mid field and too many talls versus a Port who has so many solid extractors through the middle.

Start of Match.... Port - Very Low in confidence coming off 3 losses Demons - solid win against an in form club, some confidence building. Now Port - Confidence oozing, back on the winning list (most likely) Demons - Confidence/Execution shot (most likely another loss...yet again unable to string 2 wins together)

You mean he got near a contest? Usually allows his opponents to just take the ball away. Only at the MFC do sub par footballers like this clock up 100+ games...and keep getting them . Just isn't enough talent to push them out of the team/list.

Grimes doing ok this quarter

Wow a free. When was the last freee for us i wonder?

Boak is killing us in the air

If we didn't have so many spud pea hearts in the team i would be quietly confident we would give it a decent go chook and not let this game slip. But this is the MFC and we always have at least half a dozen or so running around every week. No different this week to the last 8 seasons really. And also one of the worst teams ever playing interstate/away.

I agree the timing and decision was woeful and not sure why he does it, except if the game is beyond losing and he can spot a 2 on 1 advantage or something up the middle. But.... our midfield is the problem yet again. Just can't get their hands on the footy and hang onto it once the momentum shifts. Nothing out of the middle for us in the second half of that 2nd quarter to help stop their momentum. The mechano man does the odd torp too but he doesn't get lambasted for it as Essendrug's midfield rarely allows such massive momentum shifts (by losing the midfield contest so abysmally for 10 minutes plus at a time). Apart from Viney, who is mostly always injured or coming back from injury, and Jonesy (our only player ranked in the top 100 in the AFL ratings) we just don't have enough quality/animal extractors (yet) to prevent a turnaround massacre in the midfield. Not saying some wont become that (Vanders/Vince/Brayshaw) but at this point we are way off most teams (outside of the bottom 4) in this critical part of the ground.