Undeeterred

Almost every time we've lost it, it's because we're taking too long to get rid of it.

They've worked us out, unfortunately, and they'll run over us from here.

Kennedy will be having a few weeks in the wind at Casey

How was that not a mark to Petracca?/

They're looking stronger than us this quarter.

Just now, KingDingAling said:

Riewoldt tunneled Viney - nothing. Kennedy gets pushed in the back (without the ball) - nothing.

Surprise surprise.

Forward pressure is sensational - just need to keep it in.

And Leigh Matthews - wow, Watts seems to be in the ruck. That's a first for him!

Should murder this rabble, if we can tidy up the ball use. And Watts is playing an absolute blinder.

Grimes!! FF....

2 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Frost out (ill).  Wagner in.

 

Interesting that O-Mac and Wagner are back there, and both might be underdone. Against Riewoldt, Membrey and Bruce, who are in pretty good touch.

Could be a real shoot out as their defence is rubbish too...

HAVE to win in the middle.

10 minutes ago, america de cali said:

Don't know what planet you recently arrived from but they are currently back to back three times premiers. Speaking of worst top of ladder teams, how about Freo last season? Or us in 2004 when we hit top spot after round 18 coincidently beating a rabble Hawthorn and then took a spectacular dive? I remember well the back slapping and high fives at the time we beat them. Luck may snag a flag every now and then but not three going on to possibly four on the trot. 

Think he was talking about this year....

4 minutes ago, SaberFang said:

It doesn't surprise me. Who really enjoys their job? Even when you get a job doing something you enjoy, eventually it morphs into something you hate.

That's a fairly fatalist view of life!

4 hours ago, tappysquads said:

My mate plays for Saints. Said the plan during the week is Gilbert to Hogan, Dempster to Watts. Might have to slap some $$$ on Hoges for most goals

1 hour ago, tappysquads said:

not really. He hates footy, really doesn't care. It's just a job.  Plus I'm sure the saints couldn't care less about someone mentioning a rumour on a Melbourne fan forum

1 hour ago, tappysquads said:

His contract tells a different storey. He's a good player, so he will play as long as he wants, would just rather play local football with his mates away from the pressure

Probably the most interesting little run of posts I've ever read on Demonland...

4 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Clarkson sits comfortably alongside Smith and McHale as one of the best coaches of all time. Comparing Roos to that standard is a bit unfair.

I wasn't the one who brought him up, I was just responding to the discussion of someone else.

38 minutes ago, stuie said:

Baffles me how people say selection doesn't matter when Roos himself has talked about how much of an influence it has had this year.

 

I think he's just giving the players cover. 

Do you really think he believes what he's saying?

Or is it just easier to say 'I'd rather play an 80% fit Stretch than a 100% fit Pedersen' (just using the Dogs/extra tall game as an example and making up names - can't remember specifics. But my point is the same.

Ie, Port game - better to stick with the players I've got, even if not fit, than bring in Grimes/Newton/ANB whoever. Again, can't remember specific details, just making the point.

But he can't admit that!!!

On 5/18/2016 at 4:38 PM, Forest Demon said:

Not saying I agree, but I think one of Garland and Dunn will be left out of the team from mid way through the season and won't get a look in for the rest of the year, and then be delisted at year's end. In the same way Jamar was last year. I get the feeling it might be Dunn.

On 5/18/2016 at 4:40 PM, Forest Demon said:

Potentially Grimes could be in the same boat as above also.

And although he is carving it up in the VFL, if Ben Newton gets a couple of games and doesn't impress, he could be in danger also (I am assuming he is out of contract at year's end, but could be wrong).

Interesting posts in hindsight....

10 minutes ago, praha said:

He's not our best ever, but, like Neeld, he recognised a damning rift between the club and the rest of the league. We don't know how other coaches would have delt with it, but don't underestimate just how bad the list and club more broadly was when Roos arrived. Some coaches would have made bandaid moves, others may have just stuck with the current crew. We could have ended up like Richmond where we topped up, finished mid table, made finals and then dropped again. Roos was literally given the flexibility to build from the ground up. Clarkson didn't make the finals until his third season and he had a much better squad in 2005 than Roos did in 2014. We are on the edge of finals and should [censored] it in in 2017. Arguably, Clarkson would have taken just as long to take a team to finals that had a guy like D Terlich finish high in the B&F in the year before he arrived.

Don't worry mate, I don't. I've been sitting through the last 10 years as well.

My point is that he was given that flexibility by the support structures that, let's face it, the AFL started by bringing in PJ, and PJ then implemented.

My personal view is that he's not a particularly amazing coach. BUT, I don't dispute he's been a fantastic person to come in, say 'everyone just chill the F out, we'll sort out this mess', then get on with driving a team of coaches, recruiters and administrators to get it done.

You're also right that Clarkson might have taken as long to fix the complete shambles we were. But I reckon Clarkson, for example, might have squeezed out a couple more wins along the way, because he's a better coach.

Edit: To be fair, it's also worth noting that Roos was probably the only available person in the football world who has the swingers big enough to stare down the football world while this resurrection has been going on, and keep the wolves from the door while it gathered pace.

On 7/14/2016 at 3:19 PM, hemingway said:

You and everyone else nut, except for Ron and a few other lonely souls now coming out of the woodwork to pronounce their greatness.

I'm one, for the record.

On 7/12/2016 at 10:42 PM, Wrecker45 said:

It looks like we are getting carried away but we have had 3 rising star nominations this year (Oliver, Harmes, Petracca). Hunt has had a better year than all of them. 

 

Excellent point.

Just now, Sir Why You Little said:

I still say Roosy was the man to do the job that had to be done post 2013...

Sure. And I still say that as a coach, particularly on match day, he's no better than average to good, and certainly not our best ever.

1 minute ago, praha said:

Coaching is not merely about win-loss record. If it was, Malthouse, Sheedy, Eade, Williams would still all have a job. 

The Scott brothers are bordering on unproven because neither have even attempted a rebuild. Longmire inherited Roos' squad and benefited from that. Simpson is overrated. Beveridge again benefited from spectacular drafting and development before him.

Roos had none of this. Literally. He came to a club that was arguably the worst list of the past 50 years. How he has turned it over and made it competitive is amazing. His coaching style has at times been at odds with the club P Jackson has wanted to build, and it's clear that Goodwin is driving a lot of it now, but it's working and improving a lot on the pieces he has added.

Jetta, Pederson, Hunt, Wagner, Watts, Gawn, M Jones, the way these guys have improved is amazing..

Agreed, but I reckon it's more of a team effort than is generally recognised. It doesn't all come back to Roos. He has a sensational support team in place, now. Remember the heady days where Brian Royal was the midfield coach?

Roos definitely does provide the gravitas to allow all that to happen, though.

13 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

But were they the people to Revive a club that was Dead at the end of 2013?

who else would have got the ship upright and stopped the bleeding. 

That is where we are right now. If the players believe we are still a chance to play September '16

Clarkson did it at Hawthorn. Beveridge did it. They definitely have runs on the board over anything Roos has done as a coach.

What he HAS done, which is unarguable, is draw tons of heat from the media, deflecting it from other parts of the club (including the players).

I don't believe for a second that all the guff about 'woops we made a mistake again this week at selection' and the like is anything but drawing attention away from the players, and giving them time to develop without that scrutiny, because the media don't question Roos when he puts that stuff out there.

Northey by streets.

For all the good The Reverend did, and no matter how much we love him, we've arguably never recovered from the damage he did towards the end of his tenure.

Edit: Not necessarily suggesting that the abysmal club management etc post 2006 was Daniher's fault, but he left a list in tatters and we've not been able to repair it until we nailed top picks in the last 3-4 years.

1 hour ago, binman said:

That makes no sense at all as a strategy. None. hypothetically lets say they did what you suggest and waited on Kent and other players coming out contract in order to maximise the chances of retaining Hogan. What happens if the strategy fails and in addtion to losing Hogan, other like Kent also leave because they get the club has shown no faith or loyalty to them. Glad you don't have Josh's job.

Not what I said. Read it again.

19 minutes ago, Ricky P said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how they do contracts. Josh Mahoney yells from his office, "First in, best dressed fellas - get em' while they're hot".

What they might have been planning, given they really wanted to keep Hogan, was to keep bucketloads of cap room for him to sign up, then work out what's left. Or, they could decide that the risk of losing some of the players they are holding off on is bigger than the risk of not having enough left in the cap to pay Hogan what he demands, should he eventually decide to stay.

Not that difficult to comprehend, especially given that earlier in the year they were in discussions with Hogan, and now they're not.