Lucifers Hero

Firstly to clarify: #16 for McHenry was from Carlton in the McGovern trade. It started life as Sydney's first round pick (#13) and slid to #16 because of matching bids beforehand. Our 2018 first round pick (slid to #19) Adelaide traded to Carlton during the live trade period for Carlton's 2019 first round pick, likely to be in the top 5. Effectively, Lever cost us a top 5 pick (2019) and a top 10 pick (2017). So, imv he is looking very expensive! So, as it stands I don't see our recruiting looking so great. Edit: Adelaide gave Carlton their 2019 first round pick in return for its first. Even so, Lever still looks expensive.

Good feedback, thanks. Would be interested in your thoughts why do they do a jekyll and hyde from training to game day? Also have you noticed changes in set-ups at training for the new rules?

There is no shortage of clubs looking for a KPH: Hawks need to replace Roughead. Reported over the weekend they are looking at Patton, despite his injury as they have proven to have great medical staff (O'Meara, Scully, Burgoyne). Geelong need to replace Hawkins. A poster here late last year reported their very keen interest in Sam which he was considering. Pies have only Cox as a tall forward. They would love the Weideman name back on their list. Essendon have only Daniher, sometimes. So let's not get to cocky - we must sign him and his management know it. All parties know the interest in Sam from other clubs. If we don't contract him sooner than later and our poor form continues he may ask for a trade! Then where will be be?

I was a bit surprised we took Lockhart with our last pick. It was a golden opportunity to recruit someone with speed, especially as there had been a few practice games to test our game plan and watch others' with the new rules in play. That is not a knock on Lockhart, he will probably be a good player but speed doesn't seem to be his strength. I can only conclude the coaches/recruiters think we don't need speed or that someone is already on our list. If the former I'm worried. If the latter I would love to see him play. Gift him games if necessary. But with speed the person needs to have very good disposal skills. You can tell by my avatar I'm a huge Hunt fan but I'm not sure he is the answer. He has the speed but hasn't developed the composure to complement it.

That is what is scary. For so long we have had potential but haven't managed to extract the talent, nor recruit a team with a balanced set of skills/talent. I'm holding firm in trust of Goodwin and the club to do so with the current group plus a few more. Not sure my trust extends to assistant coaches. If we can't quickly convert the potential to talent this time then we will tread water or go back to being underachievers. Too sad too contemplate...

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.