Demon Dynasty

Neeld and Craig wouldn't be so naive to show the opposition key aspects of what we've been seriously trialing in the off season in any NAB game IMO. But yeh, the Pies game would be a decent "indicator" of parts thereof, given that Neeld has a pretty 'personal' interest in the outcome (psychologically) being first time up against his old comrade (competition) at his former stomping ground.

Might be something to this. Victoria isn't doing so well in the economic stakes versus some of the mining based states atm. And besides, lets face it, we've never been one of the well-to-do clubs out there $$ wise in the past. Even when we've had a little success. Always bemuses me when other supporters call us silver spooners, snow goers etc. We have our % share of well-to-do members/supporters like other clubs, but nothing like the numbers existing in the top 4 to 5 clubs from what i've seen in my travels. So many opposition supporters travelling around with personalised number plates...Bombers, Pies, Saints, Richmond and Hawks in their beamers, audi's, Caprices etc. We have em too sure, but dwarfed in comparison i reckon. Jimma's spirit is now well embedded and infused both in and outside the club. Even more so now obviously. And with extra efforts from existing members to purchase extra memberships where they can afford and other people donating some to Reach people etc etc, It's only going to grow from here. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict 45,000+ members by close off this year. This club is about to launch like never before. We're about to witness an amazing dynasty, both on and off the field over a number of decades which will cement this club to its rightful place as one of the powerhouses of the AFL. I certainly don't expect this to take place 'on field' in one season either. But the beginnings will be clearly visible by year's end. Mighty Demons Forever! B)

Wow. I was thinking exactly those thoughts and words this morning Juzz as i was contemplating the loss and thinking of the positives to take from his life and efforts. Nice post

Read the warning last night but still shocked. What an inspiration to so many. Only met once but feel very privileged to have had that opportunity now. Ty for so many memories and your amazing efforts on the field. Hall of Fame Legend not far away big Jimma Condolences to family and close friends

Good info re other teams having "true" crumbing forwards. Although some of them i'd see as mid sized forwards rather than "small" crumbers as per the banner. I don't see Jurrah in this role for us though. Sorry but i'm still not convinced about Jurrah producing on a consistent basis most weeks let alone trying to play a small crumber's role. I agree, we definitely need a fast small crumber like Stokes/Betts to feed of the clunkers like Clarke and our other "many" mid sized forwards that rotate through there IMO. It's not a choice of class mids versus a small crumber either. We desperately need both and will probably need to give away some decent players (Sylvia, Martin, others?) and maybe a few draft picks to get them.

Thanks Macca. As you've no doubt already realised, there was no scientific basis for any of the points i put forward lol. I hear what your saying though re just hitting the track and sweating it out and going hard. No doubt Neeld and the boys will be on top of all the fitness/conditioning side etc. Will be very interesting watching the next few years unfold that’s for sure.

Yep. That's a decent alternative. My only issue with that song is the main message. Not that we haven't been there many times already!

Yeh....that's the one Hell Cheers

Interesting Macca. Kind of a "spend versus results/return" issue. I'm sure there would be specialist studies showing that you get a certain amount of bang for your buck, up to a point in a team sport sense. Then after that point, your return on the spend (ie., improved ladder position over a rollling 3 year comparative period or whatever) starts to deminish percentage wise. I don't know about it not being effective though. I still think if you spend enough $, and use it wisely, it will pay off at some stage. A bit like a formula 1 race team. And this is just a hypothetical....don't hold me to any of these numbers please lol. The mininum spend is (or was) something like $25 mil per annum to get a team on the track and racing....but possibly finishing somewhere near bottom during the year, say around 10th to 12th (team wise). However, say by spending only another $5 mil to make the total spend $30 mil, your team should be able to match it with teams around 6th to 8th (improvement wise) assuming you have 2 reasonably qualified and skilled drivers. An improvement of at least 2 positions on the prior position for $5 mil spent. However afterwards, any 1 second gain per lap, and approximately 1 step up in position on the team's finishing position for the year, again costs another $5 mil (or something disproportionate when compared to the initial spend versus amount gained). In other words, to reach the pinacle (ie., GF and hopefully a cup), dissproportionate amounts of $$ need to be spent versus.... The base minimum required to get the team on the park (and keep them there) and maybe a small increase on this initial base amount, which still only sees your team move up from the bottom into the middle or lower middle rungs. So we would need a massive spend, maybe double (or something around the Pies $70 mil budget), to see our team make the GF in say 5 years? Just speculating. I really have no idea of course. Just extending on your subject matter.

You read just like another poster on here last year......what was his name? Had a chimp icon...nick name escapes me...anyone?

It wasn't just creative use of proxy votes. It was how they derived them as well If my memory serves me correct. At a late stage, just prior to the vote, there was talk of one or more board members handing out free memberships to staff members at their work place (who weren't even MFC supporters) on the privoso they voted for the merger by proxy. Seem to recall this happened in a rush, just prior to the official close off of memberships. Probably only talking a small number but every little bit helps when votes are in the balance. I'm sure those who received them are still with us, supporting the club through thick & thin!

Yeh i heard Cam interviewed late in the week on this. He was definite that you have to, at the very least, find some sort of form coming into the last full hit out before the real deal. The one positive to take from this game for me is that in our last 14 trips there we've lost by an average of 55 points. At least we bettered it this time. So the emphasis on a new defensive strategy is working then eh!

Not sure Cam has anything to do with the trumpeter playing or not but i agree. The only time i wish to hear that style of playing is when a bugler belts out the last post on Anzac day. Sad, somber but nonetheless fitting for the occasion. However, Cam does have a say into the "style" and "direction" of our off and on field marketing Part of the off field marketing material says.... "Hard Work, Hard Minds, Hardcore Demons". We are Demons yes? And we sure as hell need to fire up....especially for the start of our matches It's time to fire up before the match and get the supporters goin! It's time for some Hard Rock and a little theatre to go with the rest of the hardness message Cam AC/DC - "HELLS BELLS" for mine..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maaweWsN7I4&feature=related After all, Demons are quite at home....in HELL! Picture this pre match at our home games.... Two minor demon minions (maybe female ones...cough) slowly wheel a black gothic bell onto the arena...a fully kitted winged Demon (or similar) awaits. But he hasn't felt the bells' presence just yet. He kneels on the ground holding his trident. Deep in contemplation. As the bell gets closer, he slowly rises to his full height, turns and faces the bell. Using the blunt end of his trident he begins to gong the bell as the song commences. Raising his fist as the first few bars of legendary Ozy guitarist Angus Young spills out into the arena! Let our opponents Fear us....It's our G. This is our ground, our heritage. Lets make it their worst nightmare! A place they will fear to come to and dread to play on! Maybe our new home ground anthem!

I think our club is doing everything it can to improve itself "on field". More so than i've witnessed at any other time during the time i've followed it anyway. But turning a leaky rusty boat into a super hardened top liner overnight just isn't plausible. It's a long drawn out process that'll require lots of sweat, hard work, time, plenty more of the green folding stuff PLUS some very hard trade decisions in the coming years, in order to right this vessel. Much time, patience, trial and error and sorting out needed prior to seeing the light i reckon.

Thanks WYL....

Don't take too much from it. Only the NAB. Besides, it's gonna take Neeld and team a whole year and a half to sort out this lot (and build them up physically/mentally) after the last few years and the debacle that Bailey left behind. He'll need at least 3 years to turn them into a consistantly competative unit that can take on the top 5 on any given week and then challenge for the big one therafter IMO. Much patience needed fellow demonoids.

Dr. your sources are excellent mate. This badge is spot on! The club was quite correct issuing this. It shows a very full, satisfied and bulked up Beamer having eaten Cale Morton for breakfast. Although the club did forget to add the the caption underneath which would have read ... "Pffft....anymore where that came from fellas?" P.S. The club's not being "completely" honest when it tells you that Morton's out injured!

You mean to say the coach would allow this sort of thing if the rules allowed? Player: .... "So what if i got nothin from that great piece of play coach. As you know, i'm a huge kick, so i just thought i'd take a mighty long run up....you know.....50 yards back of the goal square where i marked it....just to be sure i had a good chance of gettin meself 9 points instead of that certain 6 points i had directly in front of goal. Only a [censored] wld kick it from directly in front!" Coach: .... "anyone seen Todd around?"

Whoa boys! Eeezy now! Gettin a lil ahead of ourselves maybe? Where's Old Dee?

Not telling anyone anything new here, but obviously each club has it's own methods of trialing and testing different players in many varied positions during the NAB, and obviously trialing out alot more options and methods than when the season proper commences and real points are up for grabs. This makes it a little risky to try and measure any performance by IMO. The thing is, we know what the Pies and Blues are capable of in very recent times. The results were there for all to see at the end of last season. As were our results to that point Yes it's a new season, but the core group of players within most of the more senior 'developed' top sides doesn't change that much from last year to the beginning of this year. Or looking at it alternatively, one could argue a higher percentage of their playing group is already very mature or very close to it in terms of relative experience (games played/Finals played). As for us, our group and it's development is changing fairly rapidly by the month apart from a smaller (percentage wise) core group of more senior players. So IMO we're more of an unknown quantity going into the season proper when compared to the likes of the Blues and the Pies. We truly have no idea how we might perform once the real deal begins. So yeh, i'm with RPFC here. Not taking too much notice of results from the NAB cup. Sorry bout that last line Steve lol. If history is anything to go by (and yes i realise this is so far in the past it doesn't have much, if any, bearing on today's situation), about the only time i'd sit up and take "SOME" notice of our form in the NAB is if we made it to the GF and win it. We won in 87 and scraped into 5th in the real season. We won in 1989 against the Cats and finished the real deal in 4th, one rung below them. We also had the worst percentage of the top 5 teams that year. I haven't looked at the outcome of other teams who've won the night GF over many years though, so maybe a case could be made to argue that winning it is a fair indicator (but still not a great one) of form going into the real season (supporting my view), or maybe it isn't and it's a shoddy indicator. But i'll leave that little doozy for someone else on here to look into! Any takers?

Ok. I thought it was where you took the kick from, but no doubt you're correct as no one blinked an eye. Rule seems a little dodgy to me. Like if you want to kick from outside whether it's a free or mark, or in general play, what's the difference? You still kicked it from outside 50

Yep. I noticed that too. I looked at it again on the replay and it isn't 100% conclusive that he missed stepping on the 50 arc so who knows. Maybe he did step over it slightly. Surprised no one said anything on or off the field though.

Not that it effected the outcome but just curious. Can anyone please explain to me why Dunn was only awared 6 points for his super goal (yes he kicked it from a metre or so outside 50) with about 8 minutes to go in the last?

After last year's debacle, it shouldn't be too hard to improve in most aspects of the on field performance this year. Not expecting anything spectacular this year though. Other than the usual improvements that we all want to see eg., hardness at the ball, more 2nd & 3rd efforts (fitness and conditioning, including the mental side), accuracy of delivery inside 50, the press starting to work in our favour instead of most other teams we play, less players being played (ie., less injuries) etc. One aspect of last year i would really love to see illiminated is less of the 'big win / big loss' ups and downs from week to week (ie., which team is gonna turn up this week...the real Demons or?). Neeldy needs this year just to sort the wheat from the chaff and discover who the real deal is and what holes need to be filled to get us to the ultimate prize (or at least a realistic go at it) in a few years time. In addition the players will also need time to find "their" place and role and carry out the instructions under a new coach, game plan, strategies etc. Like some others here, I can see him as potentially being our next Red Fox, but he is only human after all and he (and his team) won't truly know where we're at until a good way through the season proper. Regardless of who is at the helm, i think we're at least one more pre season away from matching it with middle of rung teams on a consistant basis just from a pure physical/fitness/size point of view . My guess is a 10th or 11th (give or take a rung) finish this year. Of course i wont say no to any improvement on that lol. This all points to something more substantial in 2013. Eg., a likely bottom 8 finals birth. Good luck to Neeld and all the boys. Lets hope we can do ourselves (and especially Jimmy) real proud. MIGHTY DEMONS FOREVA!

My understanding Daisy, and confirmed by Wiki (not that it's the be all or the ultimate reliable source lol) is that we were originally often referred to as the Melbourne redlegs sometime during the 1870's as a result of the following..... ..."The name "Redlegs" was coined after a Melbourne official returned from a trip to England with one set of red and another of blue woollen socks. Melbourne wore the red set while the blue set were, allegedly, given to theCarlton Football Club. This may be the source of Carlton's nickname, 'The Blueboys'." To me there should be some reference to us as the mighty redlegs in the song ....somewhere. I wouldn't be adverse to the song's lyrics being tweaked somehow to include it. Although in reality a totally new version would probably have to be recorded. Having said that, i prefer the original fable singers version of our song by a country mile. When the newer version was released (whenever it was struck, as i don't believe there was ever any formal announcement, asking of members' opinions or launch of the song.....it just appeared) i could pick it straight up. It's a slightly more up tempo smaltzy 'auto tuned' (or is it an auto vibrato?) attempt at a modern day "fable" copy. S.E.N. use it all the time unfortunately. It completely sucks versus the old gutsy and real fable voice version....without the fake (GAY!!) vibrato!!