Lucifers Hero

I was wondering the same thing after Richmond lost by 8 goals. Like us they were missing their first choice defenders (Rance, Houli, Grimes). Certainly they and our Lever, May, Lewis are greatly missed but one would think a solid game plan should still stand up, albeit not as well as with those guys playing. So, I'm thinking with 6-6-6 and longer space to kick in hurt the 'chaos' game plan as its harder to create congestion in the center and harder to trap the ball into your i50. As a result there are a lot less stoppages in which to create congestion and ground balls, important requirements for 'chaos' football. Chris Scott on Thursday: New Rules Help With fewer players floating in the defensive area, the new regulation also appears to have afforded veteran superstar Gary Ablett renewed freedom at half-forward. "Our observation is, with the new rules in particular, there's a few more one-on-one battles in the forward half," "Some of the good players were getting clamped by plus two or three, behind the ball at centre bounces. Given that Scott has done a brilliant job of changing their game plan and recruiting for the new rules, it is worth listening to what he says. It will be interesting to watch the Bulldogs as they also won a GF with 'choas' style. Haven't watched Bulldog's games so don't know to what extent Beveridge has adapted. If they start to struggle like Demons and Tigers then it is time to really worry about our game plan. Goodwin seems very committed to our style but he is very astute and will quickly realise where changes need to be made. Nothing major can happen in season but small things can. Certainly we seem to be behind other teams in adapting to the new rules. From what I've seen Geelong and Lions are the front runners so far in adapting to the new rules. (WCE, Hawks, Pies already had 'control' style game plans that work well with the new rules). Port also seem to have done a good job of adjusting and moving to control and possession.

Can't believe people think extending Goodwin's contract was a bad idea. Imagine the media outcry if he was uncontracted and 0-3. The media would be baying for blood and the pressure immense. They just love sticking the boots into mfc; any excuse will do. They would pressure the CEO not on when the contract would be renewed but if. We would have the usual media circus waiting for the death knell comment: He has the full support of the Board. I've heard that far too many times at mfc this decade and tbh I never want to hear it again. Remember the instability caused by coaches being out of contract and uncertainty among players' current and prospective? No, I don't want my beloved club to go back to those dark, dark days. I'm delighted Goodwin's contract was renewed. At least he and the players can get to work to improve without worrying about his tenure.

In his pre-game press conf two days ago Goodwin wouldn't buy into May's fitness on arrival at the club. Change of tune now: Goodwin on SEN today: “He certainly won’t be coming back to pre-season in that nick again, that’s for sure,” Goodwin throws down the gauntlet to May Happy for Goodwin to give a senior player a bit of a public bake.

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Not sure what you mean by crook but it wasn't Demetriou who created this. It was Andrew Anderson who decided to investigate while Demetrious was overseas. Had AD been here the case would never have got off the ground. He knew where all the skeletons were in the media and at the clubs so would have shut it down quick smart. But Anderson decided to make a name for himself as he was being touted as AD's successor. Instead, the investigation cost him his job at the AFL.

Jake Niall's article above states the reasons: the parlous state of the club Melbourne lawyered up and disputed the charges. Their resistance, which ended in negotiation, discouraged a "tanking'' conviction, which isn't as easy to prove as the all-purpose, "bringing the game into disrepute''. the problem of the AFL's and Melbourne's relationship with gambling. Arguably, a conviction for tanking would cause fall-out with betting agencies, with whom the AFL was increasingly enmeshed. could impact on Melbourne's own lucrative gaming operations there was a widespread view that the Demons weren't the only club that had tied one hand behind their back in an effort to minimise victories Glad someone printed the last item. That article should be sent to Warner so he can see how to present the facts and write a balanced story.

Is that recent? I ask only that Daniher is out there and I thought he wasn't training for a while. Could be wrong. If it is recent why would Daniher be doing training drills if he isn't playing tonight. It would make sense to have the selected forwards train their drills...

A bit of Captain Obvious in McQuane's commentary. No amount of words matter two hoots if we don't start winning. I and most others on here have no doubt we can fix some things. The questions for many of us are: 1. Can we fix them fast enough to give us a fighting chance of making finals ie win several games in the next few weeks, starting with tonight. 2. Can we play at a higher level consistently enough to make finals. Of course, we won't know this for a month or two. Tonight is a must win game. Coming back from 0-3 with a terrible percentage and our very difficult fixture will make it near impossible to make finals. The time to fix things is now. Tonight!

Our preseason is now irrelevant! Players have had 3-5 matches (practice/JLT/H&A) so should be match fit. But what about overall fitness and endurance? In mid-late 2017 Lewis (AFL 360) said something like 'some players weren't doing enough in match preparation/recovery especially when away from the club'. Could some players have reverted to old (bad) habits? Could some complacency have crept in over summer and players took their foot off the fitness pedal a tad? We have tired late in quarters in the last two weeks. Lack of fitness can cause tiredness and resultant skill errors, lack of form and lack of confidence but 3 weeks into the season, surgery and short preseason are no longer the reason for most of the team performing well below par. Regardless of the score tonight, how we run out quarters will give an indication of how hard the players worked at and away from the club, over the summer and between games ie the teams overall fitness.

Disappointed Garlett is playing VFL when we are crying out for a small forward. Players with lots of pre-seasons behind them come straight back in. Numerous examples of this around the league. Doesn't compute.

That's how they look to me at a macro level. Of course there will be variations in tactics at the micro level and for different opponents etc. I recall Scott saying late last year that they would revisit their man-on-man style which they have (more 'controlled'), so yeah, will be interesting to watch. Footnote: I don't think anyone plays the pure man-on-man style any longer -(ie the Roos style at Sydney). Longmire has adapted with the times. Even Lyon is now moving away from it.

Its not often that teams with a 'control and possession' game plan play each other, when both are in form. WCE have excelled at that style for a while and the Pies seem to have ramped their version of it, up a few notches since the GF. So the WCE vs Pies tactics will be fascinating. Those of us who play the more manic 'chaos' style might learn how to beat them.

Video on this page https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2019-04-04/media-conference-simon-goodwin I like that he is strong in his message; strong in tone and demeanor. Strong in defence of May (conditioning), Jones (role) and Petracca (form). Thankfully, I get more urgency from Goodwin than all our players in the media this week, put together! Didn't sense great confidence/belief in a win this week.

Not sure how you draw that conclusion. My point was having our entire leadership team (plus a recent member) on the airways this week; a week I see as critical to our season.

I'm all for players doing media work but this week Jones, Viney, McD, Jetta and Gawn have had podcasts, tv shows and other media stuff. Surely that is distracting to a certain extent. This is a week when the sole focus of our co-capts and vice-capts should be on a critical game and preparing the team for it and not risk the distraction of media work (except for Reach). We have bigger fish to fry. I notice no interviews from Ess players this week. Edit: Just saw these stories: I wonder which clubs are 'stonewalling' media access to players: Player Access Jamie Elliot says I can't be bothered when asked for an interview. Maybe clubs are trying to keep the players focused and avoid saying silly things that just create headlines. I have to wonder if Toms lack of confidence in our ability to turn things around gives Ess a bit of a mental edge.

You have written stuff about my post that has no relevance to what I wrote. Re-read my post. I didn't disagree with Tom; more perturbed that he would so readily disclose the lack of confidence in our ability to turn things around quickly and concerned we may not have the time he is looking for. And, I don't care how imperfect or how ugly games are so not sure why you even raise those. To me this is a must win game regardless of what happens in the next few weeks because a loss makes a comeback (to finals) from the bottom of the ladder with a lousy percentage and a tough draw extremely difficult. Sure we will build consistency and start winning games but it may be too late to make finals. That is what I care about; not how we get there. So some urgency from the players when talking to the media would be welcome.

Tom Mc isn't filling me with confidence for this week: "We know where we need to get better. It's not going to happen in one week or one quarter, it'll take a little while, but I think we understand what we need to do and it's about using each other a little more and bringing others into the game without thinking you've always got to kick it long to a contest all the time." Um we don't have much time; lose this week and finals start looking doubtful ? And, would prefer if we didn't flag our lack of confidence to turn our game around to this week's pposition! I'm a fair way off the mark.

Agree, tipsters are underestimating how quickly Ess can bounce back when their backs are to the wall as they proved last year. Also, they dismantled us in round 2, 2016 by playing 'control and possession' football: switched wide at ease, moved the ball quickly down the wings and got behind our zone for easy run into open goals. Most of our big defeats in the last year or two have been to clubs who play that style. We have won some games with 'chaos' football games against the 'control and possession' style teams but not many. Worsfold will remind them of that 21016 game, that they can do it. They will be ready and hopefully we are two.

The message is a bit distorted: Demons to run through 'Mean Tweet' banner....which have been directed at them. It is what the club said but not what the real message is ie bullying in the AFL and Reach Foundation.. Other headlines would help the cause more: Demons banner Against Bullying; Demon's banner to Support Reach Foundation. And, say it is to raise funds for Reach and given the donation contact details. Can just see the likes of Cornes and Wallace use that headline to push their 'Demons should stop complaining' narrative. Edit: Perhaps, the club could have chosen a better twitter caption than 'negative tweets aimed at our players over their careers' to 'negative tweets to AFL/W players' - a broader agenda.

Fantastic initiative, especially as it continues Stynes connection with the club and Reach. I think Max is now an ambassador for Reach so he can continue Jimmy's legacy, a legacy he feels a strong connection to as he does for the number 11.

Good point. Hutchy said they could start the VFLW season earlier. I guess that then leads to the problem of the AFLW players playing a very long season to go straight into an AFLW comp. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all. Still, some creative thinking is required by the AFL to not make it into a 'mickey mouse' comp.

I recall that but I got the impression the coaches reviewed it very thoroughly. Being the last game meant there wasn't a chance to get the players together and to me it doesn't seem productive to start their preseason reviewing it. Hopefully the coaches went thru it with the leadership team. Then hopefully the reviews generated changes to player development/training programs/drills/education and hopefully to their own game plan and strategies. In support of your second point, in a recent interview on Fox, Roos asked Goodwin about game plan changes for the new rules. Goodwin said something like 'not much, we will continue to play our way'. After two games, like you, I'm beginning to think we haven't changed much for either the Prelim Final learnings nor the new rules. Or the players have a long way to go to learn what changes have been put in place. Certainly we are not using the new rules to our advantage.

The way it looks to me: WCE, Pies, Hawks, Cats: Control and Possession football: Use the width of the ground, stretch the defence. Precision kick/ mark to move the ball downfield. Zone and man-to-man defence. Need great disposal skills and discipline to follow the game plan/positioning/leading etc. Richmond, Bulldogs, Demons: Chaos football: Get the ball to ground, move it forward as fast as possible in any way possible. Predominately zone defence. Highly dependent on winning contests. Adelaide: don't know but looks like a hybrid. Ess, Carlton, Freo, GCS, Saints, North: no discernible system that looks like either of the top two. Port, Sydney, Brisbane, Giants are more like the first group but not as refined/skilled at it.

We will never know if Smith playing out the game worsened the injury. But I am quite confidant him playing in the last few weeks would not have given us wins. There are bigger issues in our forward line structure and tactics than him not being available. What the Smith injury shows is how shallow our forward line depth is. For all their faults, we have given up Watts, Hogan and Kent. No complaints about those moves but we simply don't have the depth to cover their collective absence, yet. It will take time.

Yes, Adelaide are a great team. Seamlessly went from one coach to another this year. Well done to them. The AFL added to the finals farce by not using the Sat afternoon time slot they deliberately left 'empty' for the AFLW grand final. It was fantastic that 53,000 went Adelaide Oval but the AFL could have had a much greater tv audience, sponsor exposure etc on the Saturday afternoon than the Sunday when it was up against several AFL games. Hutchy on FC suggested the AFLW comp run July to Sept in the 'empty' time slots around the AFL games. And there are a lot of 'empty' slots in September for its finals. Afterall, aussie rules is a winter sport. Certainly, the great turn out in Adelaide tells the AFL the demand is there and they need to take the comp seriously with a proper fixture that showcases the best teams in finals.