deelusions from afar

Definitely - Lever was already at the club but had done his knee so (from memory) we were relying on Frost / O Mac as our key defensive posts who did a great job in most matches. We had a young talented midfield but hadn't structured the game plan to suit our list. 2019 was a disaster in terms of lots of players needing surgery in the off season and so we didn't have a great pre-season. As we know our game plan was structured around contest and defence - when you have Track, Oliver and Gawn in the middle and May / Lever in defence it makes sense. But we didn't evolve in '22 and so have been found out ever since (despite being bloody close last year even with significant injuries).

I think the trickiest part will be in the adopting the changes to the game plan - from what we know, it looks like we will look to attack quick off the backline, playing on from marks, more agressive in our kicks forward etc which leads to more gettable shots at goal but also open to the counter attack when it doesn't come off. I feel like we were trying to do some of this early last year but basically didn't have the cattle / fitness. It took us around 2 years (2019/2020) to learn our 2021 premiership system. I feel like we have a better basis to work from (eg better defence etc) so maybe we can adopt this shift a bit quicker?

The quality of the questions was well below what the Demonland community could come up with. Could we somehow address this next year - eg people with genuine questions write them on here and then the ones with the most likes / votes get asked?

Given it's December... can we just say we have elite pressure?

Not sure if that would be possible if you gave your left leg? In all seriousness though, thanks to you and everyone for braving the heat and providing these reports!

Does he have his father's pace / agility?

Not sure what you meant by "are we?". My point was that we had a number of losses where we were absolutely smashed which is a change from the previous 3 season00s where we were almost in every game. This year we had Freo x2, Bris at the MCG and obviously a few late in the season eg Dogs where looked miles off it. The compeition is very even so even the best teams haved a howler or two. For us, it was more than one or two. You take away our early wins to the dogs and hawks (before they got going) and what was our record against the top 8 like - despite being not far off it in terms of wins, we finished 14th for a reason. Had we somehow made the 8, we wouldn't have troubled anyone in the finals. I'm hoping it is the combination of a number of things that have been (hopefully) resolved since the season finished - disunity, instability off field, injuries etc

I'm optimistic (it's December!) but then I think of the two beltings Freo (who did not make the finals) gave us where we were about as competitive as we were in '97, '08 or '13!

Interested to see how this guy goes - to finish 2nd (only to Sharp) in the 2km time trial as a second year player is a decent effort. Shows he has the enurance to go with speed. You know he will always give 110% and will get the most out of himself. I think he may be more special than most people here realise.

Yes I agree - Petty was disappointing last year but was coming back from a significant injury. And right from the start his accuracy was not there (which was a strength for him in 2023) Having said that, he was still 11th in the league for contested marks in 2024 and played less games than everyone ahead of him other than Charlie Dixon. I think another big body is needed around JVR - not sure if Disco or Jefferson are there yet? Maybe AJ is the answer? For this reason I think they will want to use Petty as a utility - if May, TMac, Lever hold up then he is not needed in defence.

I kind of agree - but thought they revealed a bit about Lindsay eg what JT thinks he can do as a clubman / leader, has to work on his groundball consistency but is good at centre bounces (reading of the play / timing), good skills, good speed, great competitior, big game player. Even though we've heard most of this it is interesting hearing which qualities they go to first. Would have been good to see the equivalent for AJ

I was thinking the idea to play him in defence is odd... but then I think of a player like Max Holmes who I think started on the wing and now has spent time at half back, in the midfield and i think even at half forward? Basically wherever they need the spark. Maybe they think Windsor could do this for us? With Sharp in the team we have another winger already - though it will be interesting to see if they persist with Langdon as a high half forward and/or if any others such as Lindsay or Spargo are ear marked to be part of the wing rotation

We've all got our opinions but I wouldn't not be excited by this - both could end up champions but to me it would be silly to go with both. Despite being decent kicks, I'm not sure how much they will help us with ball movement / forward connection and not sure if we have space for both playing similar roles (HFF / pinch hitting in midfield to begin with). Given JT's comments, i reckon they'll likely to go one mid and then another small / half forward / midfielder who has is known for running and foot skills - maybe Linsdsay / Berry ?

For those that know / remember last years draft, how would you rate Langford compared with Durrsma also a tall midfielder who is good overhead?

Don't think that's quite right - Gulden was tied to the swans via their academy. We picked Bowey / Laurie (apparently wanted Holmes). JT said to Goody (on the video MFC released) "we got the best 2 kicks in the draft". What he meant was the "best 2 available kicks in the draft" as Gulden was known to be a bit of a freak with his ball use even at that age. We would have picked him for sure if we could have.