Lucifers Hero

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.

Cox and May incidents virtually identical. May gets a week at the Tribunal. Cox gets off...downgraded to a fine... We should be so lucky!

I've resigned myself to not having our best 22 available till after the bye (barring no other injuries). Can't wait for the day when our best 22 actually get to play together.

It will take Jones to relinquish co-cap to create a vacancy. Then Max steps up as co-capt (with Viney) Max is smart with the media and is great for our marketing. But, imv we currently lack footy IQ and on-field leadership. So I reckon Lever as a vice-capt (with Jetta). Other contenders for vice-capt haven't stood up in these areas this year.

I know that Hawks have some runs on the board but their performance this week was just as bad as ours! Also, he only went after us; no mention of Ess starting flat. Not saying Wallace is wrong and I don't mind commentators saying it as they see it. There have been umpteen articles and reports on the subject but far more balanced. All he did was whinge, adding nothing to what we already know. As I said, click bait from Mr Irrelevant.

More click bait - just like Cornes last week. Hawks went to the AFL first thing yesterday to seek clarification complain about three frees against them. No mention of that by Wallace. Hawks were 5 goals up at 3/4 time and lost by 3+ goals; 9 goal turnaround in 30 minutes! Does'n mention that either! Oh right, we know who he played for. Always whinge, whinge, whinge about us. Does he offer any original thought? No! Does he offer any ideas or insights? No! Does he give any credit for the improvement from last week or after qtr time this week? No! He is irrelevant!

Would love to hear Cornes go after the Hawks for 'seeking clarification' for 3 dubious free kicks: Unhappy Hawks who waste no time going to the AFL (remember the Clarkson coffee with Gil last year) even tho in the past they had a lot of leeway for their 'unsociable' football.

Not sure when he was off but I don't think he was off for a full quarter. I would like to think a fit Viney would play more time especially when we have our back to the wall, a situation he thrives in. I didn't see if he was limping, he had the ice pack during a post game interview.

Viney had his foot iced post Sautrday's game having played for 3 qtrs. (His game time is being managed; played a bit over 2.5 qtrs vs Port). There is an interview with Mahoney on club website where it is mentioned Viney wasn't at recovery yesterday. No reason was given so his absence may not be football related. Mahoney did say he will be fine to play Friday night. Friday is a must win game so I guess he has to play. But I will be a lot more confident in his durability when he can consistently play 4 qtrs. I just hope that in our desperation we don't push it too far and risk him being out for parts of the season.

Cheers, What do you think happened to Salem's game week to week?

Re the AFLCA votes, I'm intrigued by the 3 votes to (J) Kolodjashni. He didn't stand out on tv, stats not too flash and didn't feature in the 'Best' player lists that I saw. So I reckon they were from Scott for doing the job assigned to him. And, the job was? Earlier in this thread I asked what happened to Salem this week? No theories were forthcoming and I don't think his game falls away that badly in a week or 'was found out'. I reckon Scott noticed he was our play maker last week and made him #1 target to work on/over (while everyone thought it would be Max). So, he had JK tag Salem? If my hunch is correct, it worked brilliantly and JK got the 3 votes as a reward. Scott is incredibly shrewd - doesn't worry too much about the big names, he identifies the key play maker at the time and works to take him out of the game. For us it was Salem and whatever Scott did to take him out of the game, it worked and that tactic has gone under the radar. Anyone notice JK during the game?

AFLCA votes: 10 Patrick Dangerfield (GEEL) 8 Tim Kelly (GEEL) 4 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 3 Jake Kolodjashnij (GEEL) 2 Luke Dahlhaus (GEEL) 2 Tom Stewart (GEEL) 1 Mitch Duncan (GEEL) Well done to Clayton and very well deserved. I'm guessing Goodwin: 3 and Scott: 1.

Great that he caught the eye of the coaches, scoring 4 votes: 10 Patrick Dangerfield (GEEL) 8 Tim Kelly (GEEL) 4 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 3 Jake Kolodjashnij (GEEL) 2 Luke Dahlhaus (GEEL) 2 Tom Stewart (GEEL) 1 Mitch Duncan (GEEL) From the other votes I'm guessing Goodwin: 3 and Scott: 1. The other 3 votes went to Kolodjashni who didn't stand out to me on the telecast so I reckon they were from Scott for doing the job assigned to him.

Not yet od. If we go 2-3 after round 5 bottom of the 8 is doable. Otherwise, I reckon 9-11. Need to get AVB, Hannan and Lever back but they are unlikely for a few months. Season may be over by the time they are all back. If so, then it is tanking time??and yeah, think bottom 4!!? but Goodwin won't let that happen?.

Someone has ?. WJ knew what was going to happen this year and got in early!!

Therefore, you are saying we will make finals after a 0-5 start or not making finals is acceptable to you. If the former tell me how given our fixture. If the latter, well I just don't know what to say. Anyway, I can't see too much pessimism, panic or losing the plot, except at Tullamarine ?