Lucifers Hero

Saints are also puzzling. They have picks 3, 57, 61, 63 and somehow they are planning to trade in Hannebery! Their list is going to be a mess next year. While Freo have a few stars and a few in the making both will be on the bottom rungs of the ladder for quite a while. Both Freo and Saints traded are very good examples of future pick trading gone badly wrong.

Not sure Clarkson will concede the clearances!! Concede the hitouts, yes. Concede the clearances, no. In round 4 they thrashed us in clearances. Max won the hitouts hands down (72 to 34) but it was the Hawks who waltzed off with the ball - 56 clearances to 38. They thrashed us with uncontested possessions by kicking/marking rather than handballing so no opportunity for us to tackle/contest. It is the same formula most of the top sides used to beat us during the H&A games. Clarkson knows they can't compete once the ball hits the deck and will do everything possible to control the ball (targetted kicks/mark) and control the tempo. He doesn't want to be dragged into what is being called a 'chaos' style of play. That starts with clearances and he will have a plan to neutralise Max again. We are not the team that lost in round 4 and our coaches won't be experimenting with tricky maneuvers eg no wingmen (a crazy idea that thankfully was ditched after one try), players in unfamiliar positions, Harmes in the ruck, aggressive high press etc. And, Goodwin will be ready for the 'neutralise Max' strategy. So my view is it will be won in the middle. We just need to make sure that if we tag and contain Mitchell the likes of Shiels, Breust and Isaacs don't run rampant and dominate the clearances. If we stop their midfield we win!! Edit: Just saw this article https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-360-the-loss-of-injured-hawk-jaeger-omeara-leaves-a-big-whole-in-hawthorns-midfield/news-story/38d58764dc8e2a2feb5c765669031fa5 Folks here may not rate Brereton but this comment is worth noting: “When Hawthorn play O’Meara and Mitchell — if they get 15 or more clearances, they’re 7-2 in their terms of win-loss ratio in the back half of the year,” Hawks rely on winning the clearances which will be very difficult without O'Meara and Mitchell tagged.

A very moving story. What an incredible character to deal with rehab, studies, losing his father, keeping the family business running. A very resilient young man. It was really good to have Jessie around to support him, to know what he was going through. Vandemon has done an amazing job for us since coming returning from nearly two years out of the game. He only had a few weeks at Casey and came into the seniors raring to go and hasn't blinked. Adds so much to our team by playing his role and the pressure he applies.

Absolutely rapt for you and your family, Sparkle! It would have been tragic to miss the game having gone to see them play all year. Enjoy the game!

Oscar: “I think a key to a good finals team is to have a really settled backline that is willing to do anything to save goals, and defend really hard, so I think that’s what we’re building towards.” And so it was Friday night. They played and defended with purpose and desperation. Look forward to more of that this Friday. And: "Oscar remains out-of-contract but insists a new deal isn’t far away". Probably won't be announce until after our finals run.

It is another click-bait headline! The content doesn't support it! The article is based on the 'Roosy' chant last week to build his story. Robinson then lists everyone involved for the last 10 years and 'concludes' the headline that Goodwin isn't getting the credit. No logic at all! However, he disproves that 'conclusion' by quoting Roos '...we have a bloody good coach and he's doing a bloody good job'. Robinson continues with other Roos' comments lauding Goodwin's player relationships before and after the changeover etc. What Robinson can't see is that Goodwin is getting a lot of media kudos in the 'demons have a game plan that stacks up in September' narratives. What better compliment for a coach! Its a rubbish article.

I would be happy to give you my barcode number to use as I can't get to Perth that weekend. The more demon supporters at 'The Booooooooooooo Stadium' the better. I would think AFL/Ticketmaster release the same number of tickets for the priority member purchase for both teams so you should have no trouble getting tickets. Let's hope we make it!

I think the players did all the media stuff on Monday and different outlets will release stories gradually during the week. It is the media getting ahead of themselves painting a fairytale. It would be a brave (and dumb) media person to run with the 'bathwater'/'mentally weak narrative, a narrative we have proven wrong. Said media person would run high risk of egg on face. I wouldn't worry about too much exposure - the Pies will dominate the limelight soon enough and we can recede into the background a bit. I'm sure inside the club feet are planted firmly on the ground - its all fugazzi to them!

With an ageing midfield North would be crazy not to take that deal, not that I want to lose Tyson. If the fb post is true, maybe our offer was Tyson plus a draft pick and North baulked at that? Just realised Preuss is in contract till end of 2020. So we must really want him to effectively trade him out of his contract, so maybe it is a simple player swap... ...North will want overs...

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-09-11/rawlings-named-vfl-coach-of-year "The Casey Demons senior coach was named head coach of the best 2018 VFL team on Monday night". Congratulations! Great to see more recognition coming to the Demon family. Jade may get a well deserved senior coaching gig in a few years on the back of this and earlier AFL experience. Reckon Roosy would give him a pretty good reference as he is the only pre-Roos coach kept on by Roos. (Mahoney moved into admin which he has also excelled at).

Didn't a poster with generally good info say Sam W would be asking for a trade to Geelong as he couldn't get senior games? The next week Jesse was injured. After Sam was selected the poster reported it was up to Sam to decide if he still wanted to go. Let's hope not. Garry may be barking up the wrong tree (nothing knew for him) for Geelong. As an aside, with Sam's recent performances Geelong don't have enough picks/players to trade for him or Hogan!

Don't really disagree but would like to give an alternative view: Re MFC members: There are many reasons why people can't get to games regularly. Some stories that touched me in the last week are: @Deebymistake who is a member and her story is in the 'First Finals' thread. She can now go to the Semi ?. Then @Neitz the Greatwho lives in Brisbane and buys an Armchair membership just to support the club. Brought his Dad down for the Elim. Finally, the delightful story and video of young Sam (son of @Demon Spofforth) who lives in Queensland. I'm sure there are many, many others who can't get to games but still support the club as best they can. Are you referring more to MCC members who have suddenly come out of the woodwork in droves? A friend expressed sympathy for them as they 'pay all that money for membership' then have to queue up or can't get a seat. I couldn't share the sympathy as they are go to MCG Away games for free, are able to get finals tickets for free or a nominal fee. Whereas paid up MFC members have to buy them at AFL prices. Even paying the $200+ per MFC membership for the Grand Final Guarentee only gives the right to buy a ticket; they still have to pay $xxx to buy the ticket. So after spending something like $400-$500 for a membership with GFG they still have to pay around $300-500 to go to all finals. No Guest passes for them either. Last week in the local Ticketek queue I met a 70+ year old lady whose family had been MFC Trident members for 38 years. That is some coin! But she was there in the queue just like everyone else. The real bandwagoners for me are those that don't buy an MCC or MFC membership of any sort, don't volunteer, don't donate, don't go to games but come out at finals time. Have little time for them. This is a long winded way of saying there are varying degrees of merit for priority purchase of finals tickets. Not sure game attendance is the best one. But I don't know what the answer is, either. Finals ticket purchases will only get worse as our membership increase (Great for the Club Revenue).

I wonder if North have told him there is no room on their list or their are other players ahead of him for senior selection. Then his reason of 'wanting senior games' is fair, especially if he will be their 3rd in line. Why choose us? He will be 2nd fiddle to Max, the best ruckman in the league and the player voted Best Player in the league by coaches. And play for a team that is going places. For us, we need a back up ruckman. Win/Win.

Ticketek allocate tickets Bays to members for the teams eg I have tickets in the Pontsford stand bay N31. So there will be demon bays at the opposite end to our cheer squad. A scan of the last few pages of this thread will indicate where those bays are. I've noticed others on DL are reporting tickets in Ponsford stand Bays, so you may still me among friends. Last week I sat in a predominately Cats stand but there were a few demons around me so it wasn't too bad.

Don't give up Sparkle! I just checked Ticketek website and they have seats. Also, I was able to get extra tickets for last weeks game a few days beforehand. I think the AFL mysteriously finds more tickets to release. I would try Ticketek every few hours/days. And if that fails kindhearted DLers have made spare tickets available in this thread. See @Wells 11post above. Goodluck.

Well done, Deebymistake! Last Friday was awesome, not only because we won but the atmosphere was special - red and blue everywhere. The roar and the noise was huge. Really rapt for you to see us in a final. Enjoy!

Very good points, rjay. As we know the AFL works in mysterious ways. No logic. LOL about assuming Richmond will win the Preim. You are so right - it seems a foregone conclusion in most people's minds. I fell for it as well! As has the scribe at AFL House. From their media release: Auld also said Richmond has been given what could be an extra day's break heading into the Grand Final as a reward for finishing top in the home and away season.

The Cheer Squad will be @ M3. From the Cheer Squads twitter feed:

No email from mfc yet on ticket numbers... This is on Hawks website: ON-SALE TICKETS PER MEMBER TRANSACTION LIMIT Competing Club Members 9am – 1pm, Monday September 10 2 8 General Public 2pm, Monday September 10 N/A 8 AFL Members 9am, Tuesday September 11 2 guest passes per member Level 4 16 The same would apply to us but it would be good to get it directly from the club or mfc website.

His plan is what has put us where we are. He quietly went about implementing it by getting good people into admin and football roles. He delivered on what he promised: Finals in 2017 (we almost got there). Win one in 2018 (nailed that one!) As he said "We've knocked one over and we've got three to go...Anything's possible for this team," So happy the team has had some finals success during his tenure and he can directly participate in it; be the 'face' of it. So richly deserved.

????? Not me. My post was putting some perspective on Saberfang's worry about the run to the GF. I'm a one week at a time person ?

The schedule is set to give Rich the extra day before the GF as reward for finishing on top of the ladder. As for the other Prelim the start time isn't 'locked in': " West Coast v winner of first semi-final (Hawthorn or Melbourne) at Optus Stadium, time tbc ." http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-09-09/who-plays-who-in-week-two-of-finals AFL policy is Grand Finalists be back in their home state by Saturday night of the Prelim. They will start the game in time to ensure that. They may even start at the traditional 2.10pm which is twilight in Vic and players will be home well before midnight. We have a really good 2018 record of winning after difficult road trips: Alice, Darwin, Perth. Lets wait and see what time the game is and if we make it before worrying about turnaround time. Whatever time it is I'm sure the club and players will manage it well, be it the Hawks or Demons.

Incredible artwork. Wouldn't mind Jetta and Tom Mc popping up somewhere as they have also been thru the really tough times and are champs in their own right!

That is what the club website says but it was put up yesterday. Yes it will be on Club website and members will receive an email. Edit 1) Club website has been updated to be the same as AFL,see below. Edit: 2)From AFL Twitter just now: Ticketing sale info: #AFLHawksDees Competing Club Members – 9am–1pm, Monday September 10 General Public – 2pm, Monday September 10 Thankfully, the Pies/GWS tickets don't go on sale until 10.30 which should make it easier on Ticketek website. Hawks/Richmond members could only get one per because of the combined membership/supporter size. Our membership base is relatively small but Fri night showed we have a lot of supporters. So it could be 2 but may be just 1.

Info is starting to trickle thru on AFL website: http://www.afl.com.au/tickets/finals