Lucifers Hero

Just to clarify as I do not want DL being sued for defamation. 'Creepy' is a personal reaction and in no way intended to imply he is anything like Bateman's character. I took BoBo's reference as a bit of light hearted fun which I played along with. Definitely with you on second chances and have no problem with him working in the media again. Fortunately, I don't watch much tv other than ABC and SBS.

I took layzie's ref to 'priors' as relating to the misogynistic behavour that got him sacked from his job. And wanted to mention my reaction was before then. But if @layzie, yourself and other gents on here think of him as a creep/creepy that is a good thing. LOL, cracked up at the ref to Bateman. Wouldn't quite put Morris in that category but yeah, having him around would make many female's skin crawl.

I rarely have a different view from you so this might be a first. I've never seen him in person. Even so as a female he is creepy and thought that long before his priors. So have many footy following females I know. Yes, it might be unfair to judge a book by its cover but I trust my intuition and 'spidey sense'. He is creepy!

My theory is that when Oliver isn't playing Viney becomes 'numero uno' of the inside midfielders and his game lifts accordingly. We saw the same last year when Oliver didn't play. He came 7th in the Brownlow lasty year. Without checking my guess many of them were when Oliver didn't play or when he was playing injured. He will get 3 votes yesterday but deserved many more. Viney's game yesterday was herculean, especially after he had a serious knock to his shoulder in the first quarter. Showing the world the dees aren't done and underestimate us at one's peril.

Damn shame Brisb lost. It let Geel finish in the top 4 and have the double chance. Poor game by the Cats today but they are always a fearsome team and could easily take out the premiership which imv would be a terrible end to the season.

To paraphrase a famous line from the movie Casablanca: 'Sing it again, Alex', next week!

Very good coaching today. Matty Rowell has had a very good year and was BOG last week with 10 coaches votes. Had a few touches today but little impact. I think it was mainly ANB who was on him. Shut down the engine room and control the game! Good to see some experimenting: Fritsch up field a bit, McVee in the middle, etc Talking of Fritsch absolutely loved his loping run, 4 bounces before dropping a pearler in Disco's arms who goaled. And did I note how much I loved Juddy's goal! Also, kudos to Goodwin for letting the players just play with freedom and attacking game. They loved it!! And so did we!!!

And how good was the goal from my boy Juddy! Bettered only by his celebration!! Will need to find a pic of that celebration and make it my new avatar!

Huge, huge win on so many levels. No telling the optimism it will feed to fans, sponsors, players for 2025 Bring that determination and fierceness next week and win, lose or draw, it will be an excellent end to a non-finals season As a bonus how good if we can smash the pies next week!

Alex was massive in the midield the further the game went on. Fabulous that he got his wish to sing the song 🎶 🤞 there is a repeat next week!

WOW!!! Really!!! In recent years he has played while ill, with a broken leg, infected thumb and now with a shattered spleen. Doesn't strike me as someone who will spit the dummy over the role he plays. Other roles eg ANB/Spargo/? are designed so he can be released from the mid-field and go forward. Haven't seen any hint that he is unhappy with that.

...recently engaged ... 😉🙃

While we are out of the running the top 8 is far from set. The biggest loser from since round 18 is Carlton; from second to 9th. Lots of permutations. Even Syd can fall from top spot. Sadly it looks like Geelong will end up top 2. Depending what happens with Hawth and Carlton the possibility raised in the op, of needing 14 games to make the 8 can eventuate. Anyone care to predict the grand finalists ...

dustin-martin-calls-time-on-decorated-afl-career One of the greatest players: elite talent, humble and fair. Classy farewell statement. He will be a much deserved AFL Legend. Travel well Dusty. The article above has been amended to include the retirement of Hawkins. This link is just about Dusty and deservedly so. dustin-martin-retires-calls-time

My guess is most would be disappointed which includes players, coaches and fans. I went to each of those 4 finals and what I saw were players who gave their all in difficult circumstances.

The first para is unfair to all the posters who present well reasoned observations on games and the season(s). And gee whizz they sometimes use stats to back up those observations! 'Myopic' could equally apply to those whose view is thru the narrow lens of looking for 'reasons' however removed from cause and effect those 'reasons' might be. Thankfully, most posters fit between the myopic extremes. For the second para how many people are trying to constantly place blame? It is generalising and imv unfair to most posters. Nonetheless, I 100% agree with you that everyone at the club is constantly looking to improve and we have seen good signs of improvement. The third para. The 'lofty expectations' were set immediately after the final siren of 2021 when our Captain et al openly talked about 'dynasty', win it at the G, for our families, for the fans etc. Therefore, It wasn't unreasonable for fans to adopt those expectations nor is it unreasonable for them to be disappointed and express that. Also few would say that 2022-2024 has been a 'failure' but it would be fair to say we have under performed. There is a difference. 😇

My optimism is over

No 'smarts' or IQ needed - just lateral thinking.

The last line looks more of a diversion than a clue 🙄

No way!! Fans want the team to be ruthless and not have a 'losing' mentality. We are blooding the youth. They will get so much from a final at the G packed with demon fans. And what difference does a few places in the draft order make especially in such an even draft. This is a very even finals race. My hope is to make the 8 and win a final then Que sera sera. If we don't so be it, I'll be happy with the season. Fight the good fight, Demons!!

I agree with you that we can make the 8 and 🤞 about 5th. Not sure many DL's do.

A good summary of where we are at. And agree about our amazing core. I'm just worried about the recent approach of getting only who we can afford and end up with fringe players. imv this approach needs to change asap altho tbh I don't know how; 4 years of (imv) relatively poor trading won't be easy to recover from. I don't want to be too harsh on lamb as list management is a team effort and decisions are made within the context of the FD (Richo/Goodwin) game plan. But TL is the one who finds and sells mfc to the candidates. Until the end of 2020 our trading was handled by Lamb, Todd Viney and Josh Mahoney. I find it difficult to understand how we have not attracted any B+/A level players since they left, while we were the reigning and recent premiers. I feel we are missing the negotiation skills of the latter two and the less tangible gravitas they brought. And perhaps their administration skills when it came to sal cap managment.

Very good pick up😊

This thread has gone very quite so I assume posters think we are out of the running for the 8. My optimism and predictions for last week were way off the mark. Nonetheless we can still make it. A few of the top teams sustained significant injuries last week so I have included some info. Plenty of 8pt games. Top 4 not yet set. Port/Ess could slide out of the 8 with WBD/Dees/Hawks to replace them. Coll almost fully fit but very tough run. Our destiny is still in our hands - lets see how much the team wants it.

I usually share your views but not so much on this. Such prioritising is a risky strategy as a number of those mentioned (Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver) aren't available or not healthy and who knows if they will be. There are also doubts over the ongoing fitness of Viney, Gawn and Salem. All were/are on long-term contracts. Unfortunately they are in our top 10 best players. Their specific injuries/illnesses could not be foreseen but a risk analysis would show say may not play out their contract. Known risks: Salem and thyroid, Brayshaw and concussion , Oliver and ADHD and related issues , Gawn and age. If we can only get fringe players that we can afford that suggests poor sal cap management. The result of such prioritising is a number of our highly paid players aren't fully available and cheap fringe players can't get a game or are subs. Do we even have 30 players that are currently AFL standard to make up a regular 22 (exluding players yet to play a game) when we have the odd injury? So imv our list is unbalanced for age, skill, position and depth. I wouldn't put it all on TL but it is his job to identify trade targets and negotiate them into mfc. Our traded in players in the last few years a rather 'meh'. I'm not using hindsight here as in my experience risk analysis/due diligence are essential parts of any planning. As is a risk based allocation of a $ budget.