Lucifers Hero

In addition to his on-field work there were some great off-field things. Two I vividly recall: 1. Immediately after we beat Geelong in the 2018 Elim final, when the player excitement would have been right up there, he took them aside with no coaches and no staff present and told them 'you've achieved nothing yet'. They went on to beat his Hawks in the next final only to fall in the Prelim. In 2021 they got it!!. 2. He helped instill in the players a sense of selflessness, in an off-field sense, by saying the Hawks were successful because players forfeited the big $ for the ultimate prize. The signing of our star players last year is testament that they were paying attention. Regarding what the players thought. I doubt the club would have kept him as a (part-time) development coach if players weren't happy with him. Not sure if he is still.

Huge news that we have already passed our last year's July 31 record of 53,188. Now a few days on from the 54,164 we will have passed last year's final record of 54,495 a full 5 months earlier!! I would expect to see a big announcement about the new record from the club any day now. A huge effort by dees fans. And, a very proud time for our beloved club. Very happy to say this post will not age well: Sky's the limit!

Wrapped around his left leg

They will be revved up and perhaps come out all guns blazing but not many have shown a bit of aggro/physicality in the past: Stringer and maybe McGrath or Heppell. Certainly not the medieval page boy! Whatever fire they bring will peter out by half time. I recall after this match last year Goodwin was asked about the possessions racked up by Merret and Parish. His response was along the lines of they were mostly centre/back of centre. Translate as they can't hurt us from there. Not sure they have the skill to weave thru our defence, the courage to kick long to our def talls nor the stamina to charge our def as Adelaide did last year.

Last year Goodwin said Petracca doesn't do a lot of training on Mondays because of knee soreness. His whole left leg was in bandages in the Monday training pics so he may be in worse shape than usual. Not sure if it was his right or left knee that had the ACL injury. Edit: From training gallery: Just noticed he is wearing a white training top whereas others are red or blue. Not sure I've noticed a white top at training before but guess it means something 🤔 Not worried😟 .

Glad to hear it is sorted. It is a crazy set up with AFL memberships and ticket sales:. Ticketmaster: Used for Club membership payments but nothing to do with tickets at the G. Ticketek: the sole ticket seller contractor to the MCG. Follow these instructions from the club to get into the ground: https://membership.melbournefc.com.au/member-hub/mobile-ticketing If you have difficulty with the app or scanning the barcodes at the ground there is a club booth between Gates 3 and 4 to help.

Not sure I can help but will try. Some suggestions: Log into your Ticketek account. It should show what tickets you have. Assuming you are the account holder for all 6 memberships, check if the barcodes for this week's game have appeared in your mfc app? As an side, If you have General Admission mfc memberships you only need to go to Ticketek to upgrade for a 'Reserved' seat for a small sum for each. The GA membership gives entry to the ground and then find seats available.

Very good point. They need someone who is exciting to watch, will draw a crowd and keep the Swans in the news. Jackson will fit the bill in a couple of years. While Jackson's name wasn't mentioned commentators were talking about the next Sydney drawcard. Heeney is a star and the most likely but they said he isn't 'big' with a commanding presence. Will any of their 'big' guys develop a commanding presence; it was thought unlikely. But then what would commentators know. Nonetheless, Jackson would fit their bill. On the verge of being a superstar. You now have me worried. I had no fear of the WA clubs but Sydney are a different kettle of fish. Buddy is likely to play at least another year. A 5 year contract for Jackson to his RFA year now seems much more preferable than just 2 or 3 years. It will keep all clubs at bay.

Frawley was out the door after round 2 of his last year. He was played up fwd thereafter. Howe priced himself (or his manager did) out of contention. Declined to be traded to GCS (don't blame him there) and found a spot with his childhood hero, FIGJAM, reportedly at the same $ we had offered, in the role we had offered. In return we got Brayshaw and later replaced Howe with Lever. Frawley got his premiership medal, Howe is a bit of a hero at the Pies. We got Brayshaw and later got Lever. Brayshaw and Lever have their premiership medals. Howe is still hoping. Very happy with the outcome.

Agreed. We seemed to centralise the ball in our fwd 50 a lot more in the second half of the year and go much deeper into the fwd 50. Not sure what was happening with the tap downs in our defensive half last week. We would usually go for the OOB but against GCS they didn't appear to want that and chose to tap down to a player directly in front. Maybe they were experimenting. To me it didn't look effective as it often resulted in a turnover. Would prefer the OOB option or tap down to our own player...

Ben. He was competing for marks with other dees in our fwd 50.

They are infatuated with their 'Baby Bombers' label and its a handy excuse when things go wrong.

I wouldn't mind if Max, TMac and Brown didn't compete for the same mark as they often did vs GCS. Also, Max and Jackson were regularly doing two-handed tap downs instead of marking only for the ball to go straight to a GCS player who spun around and went fwd. This was often in our def half; a dangerous spot for a turnover. No idea where our mids were. Overall not sure the communications were up to scratch last week. Changing the above by our talls will reduce the turnovers, help us keep control and get more direct shots for goal.

Thanks DIO. Not much advantage for us then. Maybe the Home crowd will get our dees over the line. And 🤞Freo do the Crows.

Oops! Missed the key word!

Agreed. Being The Hunted, many clubs will see their game vs the dees as their GF so will be capable of anything on the day. Coaches will plan more intently than usual and gee up their players to 'take on the best'. Last year it was the lower teams that got us and with they added 'this is our chance to shine' incentive, they can get us again.

If it is we can give a recruiter's job based in WA 😃

He did, in round 1. It was awesome how the team got around him.

Ralph is assuming we have sal cap issues. He may be right. But it won't stop us signing Jackson (and Oliver) and I would guess they would follow the lead set by others and be reasonable. The club will contract other players in order of priority. If need be they won't renew contracts for Hibberd, Melksham and others. And maybe trade out a few: Harmes (2yrs to go on contract), Hunt ☹️(OOC this year) etc. Some players may go for lack of opportunity. The club would have planned for this several years ago. Hope that is reassuring.

Agreed the coach that gave him 1 vote, short changed him. I wonder if it was Drew, if he thought Miller didn't fulfill his role as required? I guess we will never know.

It had to be him. He excelled. No other contenders even came close. As i mentioned earlier today, continue like this and he can't be ignored at the end of the year to be The 2022 Rising Star. Jackson won it in his second year so not impossible. @DemonlandCan we change the title to show RS #2?

We won two finals before crashing out in the Ptelim; they crashed out immediately. It will take them much longer than it took us to make a GF let alone win it.

Correct 2020. Lost track of time. No biggy re the subsequent complimentary point that was being made. I'll edit it so no one else is tempted to post it was 2020.

Guess at Coaches split: 5/5 Petracca 3/3 Jackson 4/1 Bowey and Miller 2/2 Oliver The rankings look correct but the differing views of Bowey and Miller are a bit of a surprise.

Well! That's the last time I do a 'What they are saying...' thread. 😉