Lucifers Hero

Its a worry that our coaches saw fit to change our fundamental game plan midseason! And supporters want to blame the players! Fundamental game plan change is for the preseason and not when we are in contention for the top half of the 8! The coaches have a lot to answer for in our failed season!

WOW...Melbourne has exited the race...? IF, IF true it could only mean the club has found a bigger fish or Lever's price/trade deal got too high. Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

I'm delighted Sam has re-signed. ...I'm just wondering if he is really fast after the first 5 metres. I recall him being run down HTB quite a few times...Not knocking him just checking perceptions. His re-signing certainly ensures a lot of competition for spots in the back half!

We are more like investors: Vote in the Board, Go to AGM's, Buy shares (sort of) via memberships; Get Financial Statements and have a vested interest in their fortunes. Clients buy a service once or more and then walk away.

Crows probably will but I think it is bit of a myth to say that they have to. They can play hard ball like GCS did with O'Meara, forcing Hawkes to sell their 2018 1st pick cheaply to the Saints. Crows have shown they won't just play the game in past deals; they fight for what they want and don't fold lightly. And, Jake may be seduced by the $$$ North might offer...It wouldn't be the first time a player has been diverted to another club: Clarke, Tippett and to a lesser extent Buddy. My initial point was a deal isn't done until its done.

Agreed. Can't see why a player would go there. But my concern is North interest/effort will push up the contract price and/or the Crow's trade request.

North have $2m+ to splash around. Watch them come and trump MFC offer. They are desperate to get an 'in-demand' player. They also have better picks to offer the Crows. Crows have shown they will play hard ball with trades in recent years. Lots of water to go under the bridge still.

Their 'early second round pick' will be around pick 28-30, after AFL compensation picks are issued for FA's and Academy picks get used. Pick 28-30 in a not too deep draft plus a later pick is absolute rubbish!

Yes, he will and he should. But there are two drawbacks of that: 1. It will be about 6 weeks after we unceremoniously surrendered our position in the 8. The b&f will be too formal, too little, and far too late. 2. Not many of the 42,000 members go to the b&f and fewer will look at the website, especially if still angry/hurting. Even fewer will watch the speeches. I wonder where is their plan to connect with and shore up the support of members the club desperately needs again next year? How many of the 8,000 additional members in 2016/2017 will be having second thoughts? It all smacks of the club taking members for granted.

Cryptic? She is an MFC employee... ...I get your point...have Deb rev up the men so that they turn up for the 1st quarter...

Perhaps they are waiting for the 'proper' AFLW season. Or else they are all lazy like me and watching it from my comfortable warm couch, rather than confront the freezing Melbourne winter/spring...

Very, very poor promotion by the AFL. Free entry but no one knew it was on!

Crikey, Saty what can be done about it! Critical if we are to go anywhere.

That is exactly what Lewis said about last Saturday's pre game mood vs Pies! Mood must be contagious!

Does he have mail? It sounds like he is making out he does to cover himself in case it happens: "...There’s people at Melbourne whispering to other people that they believe that Lever may have had a verbal commitment to join Melbourne,” Robinson said...That’s just speculation..." Doesn't sound convincing! Maybe he is listening to the same Melbourne people who thought we were in the finals...

Thanks for posting that 'Steve'. We let you down in the end this season: At least somebody gets it! Jones is a champ in so many ways. He really feels the pain. But how does his heartfelt message reach all members and fans? It is on twitter (and might make it to the club website or fb). But thousands of dee fans would not access those forums very often, so Nathan's message isn't being heard by the faithful. If only the club had emailed something like that to members last Monday morning - much heartache would have been saved. It isn't too late for the club to come out and make its own statement directly to all members. Better late than never.

The AFL are pumping up their tyres. (Gil chairs the Rising Star Selection Committee) Ess aslo have 5 current or ex players in the final 22 AA team, 3 of whom were suspended; one of whom (Daniher) is a dubious selection (in front of Ben Brown) and Zac Merrett in before Kennedy? Not saying they are all undeserved but their is a definite selection bias toward Ess from the AFL.

@steve_f I don't think @Nasher was referring to you. I think he was referring to 'stevethemanjordan' Would be sad to see you go, having been a member since 2005.

You could still send it back to the club...

Agreed. I would think a short email along the lines of: Hi.... Our whole club is very disappointed with how our season ended. Our captain Nathan Jones had a press conference today sharing that disappointment with you. It can be viewed at .......... In due course our coach Simon Goodwin will talk to you about the season and our future. You will receive a booklet on finals tickets which was sent out prior to round 23 to all clubs in contention to ensure that if we made the finals you would have every opportunity to share it with us. Unfortunately we didn't get there so we ask you to recycle it or return it to the club. Thank you for your support this year. How is that bb? Not that hard is it? I've worked with organisations who would have gone into 'damage control' mode: At 6.00pm last Saturday developed a communication plan to customers (in our case members) and press releases to the media, in case WCE won. At 8.00pm on Sunday it would have been activated in time to be in the Monday morning newspapers and in member's email boxes when they woke up. It would have stopped many of the angry phone calls and emails to staff. Not stopped all but a lot of them. The club could then control the public narrative. There is no doubt the Jones press conf was a reaction to the sh...t storm that they got Monday morning. Not one iota of pro activeness! They could have managed it properly and stopped the whole debacle! Not that hard is it!

Yes! This is another example of reverting to 'comfort zones' and selfish/self preservation play. Rather than take the tackle, players are randomly hand balling it. It is pre Roos stuff. Better to take the tackle, get a ball up than turn the ball over and give the opps an easy run thru our zone defence because our players are still 'at the contest'. That first quarter was real hands off football. Didn't want to tackle, didn't want to take tackles. So Collingwood walked the ball thru our defence to kick 6.3 in the first quarter from turnovers. We gifted it to them on a silver platter!

I am really surprised the club has not made direct contact with members this week leaving them in limbo. Possible news with/from the club: A member has called/emailed them first then received a response. the Jones press conf on the website - how many members saw it? (Not sure about other media like twitter or fb). Did anyone receive an email, sms telling them it was there? Other info sources: Fan forums like this one. Newspaper/radio/TV reports (mainly ridicule) There are 42,000 of us! How many of those members have not accessed one of the above: 20,000? 30,000? They have been left in limbo. Without Demonland to keep me informed, I would have gone spare. I have been waiting for an email from the club all week. Nothing. Have other members received anything from the club (aside from finals ticket booklet)? Rightly or wrongly I am now feeling let down by the club itself. The club has missed the opportunity to get on the front foot and get its own message to members. I can only think they are still in a state of shock and have no idea what to do. The silence is deafening.

Not a delisting and not about a player but Sam McClure is reporting Collingwood is making a big play for Craig Jennings. I think he is still contracted to us but is very highly regarded in the industry. He was hand picked by Goodwin and McCartney so I sure hope Jennings stays the distance with us!

I wonder about that. Could it be that our players aren't in the position they are supposed to be. Hawthorn were brilliant at making position and it looked easy. Sometimes it his kicking but often I think it is because our players are not disciplined enough or work hard enough to get to the designated spot and keep the space open and it looks like the kicker's problem.

Sorry to ask but are you really a Demon fan? Is it an accident that this thread is on the 'General' Board not the Main Board? What Demon fan gives a damn about the finals let alone think about those questions? We were the 'dark horse'!!! To paraphrase Marlon Brando I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody. We let it slip. It hurts. It hurts really bad. Sorry about the rant to a newcomer to Demonland. But, its all a bit too raw right now. Time might heal but the trust has been broken once too often. I will get back on the Demon bandwagon but it will take a while, long after the finals are over.