Lucifers Hero

There is a big difference between encouraging violence and suggesting argy bargy and legal aggro ala the Hawks game I referred to. As Goodwin said a while back - he wants us to play 'grumpy', some call it 'unsoiciable' 'football or a hard edge. It is not encouraging violence to play aggressively within the rules. Lots of things could have been different in the last that caused us to lose. But we played the game without a hard edge and were timid in last quarter in every sense. A bit more legal aggro or 'grumpiness' was called for. We didn't show it for Smith or Gawn, nor in the immediate aftermath of those events against the perpetrators. It certainly worked vs the Hawks.

In the Hawks game we got back into it when Hunt started the argy bargy with Sicily. It set off a chain of aggro and it really fired up the team. And the aggro was all legal. Can't help but think had the someone done the same after the Smith incident it would have fired the team up. We may have even won. There was no sting in our game vs WCE so when the low life Vardy went for Max most players did nothing - in fact it was the 'juniors' who stood up for him. Wouldn't have minded Jones, Viney or Harmes putting some physicality into Vardy at the next center bounce or two or lay a few heavy tackles and fall over him by accident.

Save your breath, binman. Some posters have a near pathological dislike for a player. Sadly, Oscar is one. In nearly every thread they find a way to abuse their particular whipping boy. Then all the cohorts jump in. The same posters with the same comments. Thread after thread, week after week, ad nauseam. They get some weird joy from cracking their whip at every opportunity. Its sad and sick. I just hope they aren't using the player's personal twitter, instagram etc to voice their vitriol.

I was surprised by Hurn's 9. He had an excellent final term but thought he was relatively quiet before that. Yeo was outstanding. They received 4/5 from each coach and Max 3/3 from each coach. As you say it tells the story. 9 Shannon Hurn (WCE) 9 Elliot Yeo (WCE) 6 Max Gawn (MELB) 2 Jeremy McGovern (WCE) 2 Jayden Hunt (MELB) 1 James Harmes (MELB) 1 Andrew Gaff (WCE) I was really pleased to see Hunt get 2 votes (both from one coach). He has been very good in many games this year and the votes are worthy recognition.

Mumford gets off for a malicious knee into the torso of a defenceless player but Daisy gets sent straight to the Tribunal for giving a Boundary Umpire a spray! Daisy Directly to Tribunal Christian has completely lost the plot! Last week the AFL gives Rampe a $10,000 fine for telling an umpire he speaks quietly. I get they want to protect umpires but this is the AFL gone mad!

Thanks to the Australian voters a number of clubs won't get their 'promised' $15-$20 million Federal funding. eg Hawks, Cats, Bulldogs.

Quote below is the best I could find. Midseason Draft Players selected in the Mid-Season Rookie Draft will be able to negotiate terms of a new contract beyond 2019, just like any other listed player. Meantime, it is also believed that any player selected in the Mid-Season Rookie Draft that is not retained by their club, or selected by any other club at the end of 2019, will receive a financial sum of around $20,000. Re yr second question: Yes, a club can select as many players as it has list vacancies.

Are umpire stats published anywhere? Wouldn't mind seeing who pays what free kicks and how many each game. Would make for interesting reading.

Not just inferred, Simpson directly said it: "I think when he saw him on the ground, he took an opportunity to give him some feedback which I think 'Vards' was getting most of the night" Simpson on Vardy act Some posters have praised Simpson for calling Vardy's act not a 'good look'. Does anyone really think Simpson told Vardy off when he 'talked to him'? Simpson's comments were not a good look! He virtually said it is ok to shove/man handle someone on the ground who looked dazed, for giving some lip. Simpson should have condemned Vardy outright with no justification. That Max is saying he didn't give Vardy any lip makes Simpson's version worse. Max isn't the type to lie about not giving Vardy lip, he is more likely to have a laugh about it as typical on-field chat if it was true.

It looks like Carlton, North, Gold Coast and maybe Sydney will be below us for the draft. From what I can tell so far interest is: Sam Lowson: North, Carlton, Sydney and Melbourne Kyle Dunkley: Sydney, Carlton, Gold Coast and Richmond Cody Hirst: Sydney, Carlton, Melbourne and Richmond. Would love to beat GWS next week than have an earlier pick in this draft. But if we lose we will be below Sydney and wouldn't mind a % age below GCS's but just for this week! Optimistically, given how badly Carlton were smashed in the middle yesterday they could do with Dunkley. North can then take Lowson and hopefully GCS have their eyes on someone else and Hirst slips thru to us. ? Pessimistically, he is gone before our pick? This draft will be more interesting than I had thought to see if 'we get our man'!

Petty is 11 cm taller than Lewis and they are different types of players so I expect Lewis to get his spot back when fit, especially as Goodwin values his leadership. And, I predict Hore to be Lewis' permanent replacement when he retires. Hore is imv leading the race for that spot. Frost, Lever, May, OMac and Petty are between 193cm and 197cm. I reckon we can only play 3 talls at most in a game. When all our first choice defenders return or in 2020 Petty could easily replace Frost and OMac, so hopefully Petty gets more games while our other talls are out. I can see our back 6 in 2020 as: Lever, May, Petty, Jetta, Hibberd and Hore freeing Salem and Fritsch to play further up the field. One thing is for sure there will be plenty of competition for the back 6 especially if Baker, Sparrow, J.Smith start making an impact.

The red boomerang is a nice nod to our usually design. Simple and understated in a stylish way. Really like it.

What a difference a year makes, eh! Really liked his game. A number of reports today are saying he touched the ball that was declared an 'umpires call' goal. Just wish he had ranted and raved to show he had touched it to put some doubt into the umpires mind. As BT said if the player touching the ball doesn't indicate such it is a pretty good sign that he didn't and the umpires use it as a guide. Imagine the hullabaloo if it had been McGovern or Hurn saying they touched it even if they didn't! A little learning for a newbie. He will be a valuable member of our team.

How can you call out Garlett and Petracca but accept McDonalds performance. He also sprayed a few last night and has very few to show for the year. He should be our main goal kicker! If folks are going to criticise players it would be good to at least be consistent about it. Otherwise it sounds like the whips are out for the whipping boys?

Salem has had a number of concussion episodes. Desperately hope this one isn't serious.

I know how tackles are counted but if that is all you can see in Yeo's and Shuey's games then you have missed a key factor. And, how many on here wax lyrical when Oliver has huge tackle numbers. It has to work both ways. Sure if we had kicked straight we may have won and some non-decisions by umpires cost us. Nonethelss, the score was 7 goals to 1 from the last few minutes of the 3rd quarter and in the last qtr they took 27 to 14 marks and ramped up their attacking game but we didn't ramp up our defence. imv that is where we lost but each to their own opinion. We were well beaten, from the 25 min mark of the 3rd.

He played only 69% of the game so he is still being managed. It is now 2 years of managing his injuries by not playing or managed game time. Will he ever consistently play 75-80% like other mids? I now wonder whether he will ever get to anywhere near his best or his potential. And, at the risk of being shot down, I sometimes wonder if his name wasn't Viney whether he would be co-capt at such an early age and whether posters would cut him so much slack in his poor performances which sadly are becoming more frequent.

I foreshadowed in the Pre Game thread that we needed to control Yeo and Shuey who are the supply lines to their fwds. Instead, they stopped us dead in our tracks with 16 and 12 tackles respectively! What's more we let them have a free run at the ball with 10 and 11 uncontested possessions, respectively. WCE momentum in the last was built on Yeo and Shuey's work. We were 3 goals up in a very low scoring game just before 3/4 time. We needed to shut them down then and there to help protect our lead. We didn't. Paid the price. 6 goals to 1 in the last qtr says it all! Yes, a couple were from frees not paid but imv we should have gone ultra defensive in the last which would have stopped some of their easy ball movement to goals.

A bit surprised so many on here are bagging so many of our players for mistakes. It was a fast, high pressure game and mistakes will happen. And, how many players did we have with more than 100 games experience? 3 maybe 4. With a bit more experience, Petty would have been animated that he touched the ball, giving the umpire enough doubt to not call it a goal straight off. With a bit more experience, Smith may have played on and kicked the goal rather than stand there waiting. With a bit more experience... you get my drift. But we aren't experienced so lets factor that into our reactions. Each and every one of our players played their hearts out for four full quarters! That is enough for me to look forward to games and enjoy the rest of the season. We won't make finals but by golly we will have a big say in the shape of the final 8. Go Dees!

There is still time for a very late change for a player who is sore/injured during the warm-up eg Oscar if he is sore from last week. It really can't be Petty as it wouldn't be fair to select him and drop him at the last minute. The thing is it was just so obvious WCE would bring in Hickey at the last minute. If Preuss doesn't come in Goodwin has a good reason. If we don't bring in Preuss and WCE tag and work Max over again I hope Goodwin has a very big flack jacket as fans (DL's) will have mega meltdowns be they warranted or not.

A new name to put in the mix: Cody Hirst in Demon's sights "Returning to the Ranges as a 19-year-old has been hugely beneficial for the ex-Lilydale junior, who supports the Demons and lists Nathan Jones as his favourite player. Champion Data rates Hirst elite for uncontested possessions and above average for ranking points, disposals, contested possessions, goals, score assists and tackles in 2019. He’s been used on a wing this season, where the clever 180cm prospect has been his team’s most influential player on at least two occasions already and among the best in three other matches. But insiders say he’s far more likely to be drafted as an agile forward-flanker rather than an out-and-out midfielder. He’s got a lot of tricks, he’s a very smart player, he’s been able to build a bit of a tank to be able to play up the ground,” Eastern coach Darren Bewick told the Herald Sun recently. “He’s just very smart with his footy knowledge and his ability to use the ball by foot.” Not sure we need another contested type but I like that he is a demon supporter, has good footy IQ, has above average or elite rating this season, plays on the wing and has ability to use the ball by foot. On paper he sound better than the other prospects we have been linked to. The four clubs interested are: Sydney, Richmond, Melbourne and Carlton.

Beveridge on Tom's Retirement "He lashed out at the media for the scrutiny over Boyd’s seven-year contract and $1 million-per-year salary, with a particular reference one journalist, who he chose not to name. That will never be forgiven by anyone at our football club...” Anyone know who he is referring to? Can't help but wonder whether the Bulldogs themselves contributed to Boyd's unhappiness and mental struggles. Didn't Boyd have a dust up with a team mate over his salary a few years ago? And by some accounts 2017 was not a good time at the Kennel with some high profile players falling out of favour with the coach; some since traded. A huge amount of inferred pressure (from internal sources) on someone in Boyd's position who for various reasons struggled to play many games let alone perform at the level of a $1m a year player. Really feel for the guy.

Can't see 16.5 or the like, happening B-BP. The first three were when we played our 2018 'brand' and before we reverted to 'defence first' game style. Since then teams have found it harder to score against us. The last 2 were more goals to pts but at much lower level and in both cases we won the games...just ?

1) I edited Hickey for Lycett 10 minutes ago. 2) Comment was about a new look, rather than worry for Simpson. 3) My key point was the need to neutralise Shuey and Yeo less so who and how. 4) For mine Preuss is in only if Hickey comes in.

Chris Scott has made a mockery of selections by changing his line up an hour before the game or during the warm ups for nearly every game last season and last week's Selwood last minute in then out selection were a joke. If Hickey is a late in and Oscar is carrying an injury I would be all for Goodwin pulling a Scott like stunt and bringing Preuss in at the last minute. On a different note, I like that we have a few new faces (Hore, Lockhart, Petty, Baker) since the prelim so it gives us a different look and Simpson something to think about. Also, our style of play has changed. For mine their dangerous players are Yeo and Shuey. Neutralise them and it cuts off supply to the fwd line. So, Harmes to Shuey and ? to Yeo. Have really looked fwd to this game to see our strategies against them. Great experience and challenge for the coaching panel. Goodwin won't be caught by surprise again. Even with the new faces, I still think we can win!