Lucifers Hero

From an article on AFL website: Nathan Schmook reports from Essendon training earlier this morning: ESSENDON'S five-day turnaround has already claimed three scalps, with James Kelly, Matthew Leuenberger and Aaron Francis rested. So how will the rest of the 22 from Anzac Day fare? And will the Bombers make any more changes for their Sunday clash against Melbourne, with James Stewart, Kyle Langford and Conor McKenna named on the extended bench? One thing is for sure, the Bombers are protecting their prized assets, with Zach Merrett, Brendon Goddard and Michael Hurley on light duties during yesterday's session in Tullamarine. The trio walked laps while the rest of the squad got into drills during a light session, with the Bombers taking no risks on a short five-day turnaround. The game may be a lot closer than some pundits think

Report from AFL site: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-04-28/late-mail-live-all-the-round-six-whispers Extract: MELBOURNE young gun Christian Petracca is set to play against Essendon after his sore left knee held up at training this morning. With his left knee heavily taped up, Petracca tested it out at the start of training with a series of run throughs and towards the end of the session with rehab coach Daniel Cross where he challenged himself to jump with full force off the ground to mark the ball on the lead. Petracca then joined in the rest of main training, which was a good sign for his availability. Oscar McDonald, Tom Bugg and Mitch Hannan are all chances to come in to replace Hogan after training with the senior squad on Friday. Sam Weideman was not out on the track with the team on Friday and looks likely to play for the Casey Demons against Geelong's VFL team at Simonds Stadium on Saturday afternoon. In the report there is a video of Petracca training (but I don't know how to copy it). He wasn't going fast nor running smoothly but I guess we don't have much choice but to play him. There is also a really good report by @Deespicablein the 'Team Selection' thread...post #161

The Carlton doctors probably put in one of their 'special' medical reports to 'help' the Tribunal give the 'correct' penalty. BTW the guy who hit Gus got 1 week - accidental clash of heads bit a bit late.

Goodwin gives a club perspective of what has happened around Jesse in recent times. http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/melbourne-demons/melbourne-coach-simon-goodwin-says-some-of-the-criticism-aimed-at-jesse-hogan-has-been-unfair/news-story/933070384a2d0ac4720f3ab93d6c1a9b "Goodwin said he would have liked to have defended Hogan, who was criticised for uncharacteristically lashing out and striking Carlton’s Sam Rowe off the ball in their round-two clash and then photographed smoking while on the two-game ban...Obviously there’s been a bit of heat on Jesse for a number of different things over the last four or five weeks that have probably been unfair in a lot of ways with what he’s going through and what he’s dealing with". Kudos to the club for keeping Jesse's predicament out of the media despite all the hue and cry. I read yesterday that Jesse had learnt of his father's critical condition in the days before the Carlton game which explained his frustration at Rowe. I was cranky at the Carlton doctor's at the time of the MRP for the 2 weeks. If they embellished their medical report in any way I hope they have learnt their lesson and hang their heads in shame. Given the sequence of events, Jesse's family must have come to Melbourne with him. How hard must have Monday night been for Jesse and how proud would he have been to have his dad watching him play. The trip across must have been physically and emotionally challenging for the family especially Tony Hogan. It speaks volumes for their bond, support and pride in their son.

Not sure who started it. But somehow he got the free for what, who knows.. Someone rang SEN yesterday about the incident saying Reiwoldt and Prestia who were on the bench at the time, were holding Viney (Cotchin's opponent at the time) down and wrestling, stopping him going after Cotchin and as we know the play ended in a goal. And as Cotchin said it changed the coures of the game. Both Wallace and Bartlett agreed they were on the bench and were surprised no action was taken as they thought it was illegal. I think they were going to follow up the rules. Hope the club complained to the umpiring department about it. The incident aside, I do think our players need to stop getting taunted into aggressive behaviour and still play on the edge. Edit: @Pates Checked the MRP report and yes Cotchin was charged with instigating the melee. That makes the free to him all the more baffling. It makes his gloating about the incident after the game even more unpalatable.

In your own way you are a champion, Mark. I know what you mean. I lost my mum to cancer while living in the USA when I was not much older than Jessie. I made it home in time to spend some time with her and will be eternally grateful for that. Your avatar of your little guy running out with Jessie in the JLT is one of my favourite on Demonland. Stay strong. God bless.

Firstly, congratulations 'Adam Farr'! Secondly, you are a very lucky man to have a lady that is ok with you going to the footy the day after the wedding. Best wishes for the wedding and Go Dees for Sunday.

Yes, would love to have him on board but I suspect the younger Toby failed the NDH test. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Roos over the next year or 2 of his time at the club etc. He obviously still cares enough to go to our games when he isn't foxtelling other games so his insights would be quite interesting.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2017-04-27/injury-update-david-misson Misson update on Angus: He had a few symptoms early this week so had his first run today and felt really good. It is expected to have a normal training week next week and play the following weekend. From past Plapp reports he has some things to work on but look forward to him getting back to the seniors and consolidate his spot.

As do a few people on this site.

This may sound sacrilegious - lets treat this like a preseason game to test a new game plan (without a ruckman) and rest everyone who is injured or has serious niggles, especially Petracca. And if Jones, Vince or Viney are playing injured rest them as well. Don't even think of bringing Weideman back in - let his knee rest. Not in any suggesting we not try to win but it is a very long season with some key people already out for a long time. It may be a chance to give someone in the wings another go. We just can't afford to risk more serious injuries. After all it is at Eithad - no place for anyone carrying an injury. Then regroup and make a fresh start vs Hawthorn the following weak.

https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/jesse-hogan-mourns-the-death-of-father-tony-hogan-ng-b88457839z Very, very sad. Very, very sad for the young man. He has had a lot on his young shoulders. Hopefully, people will back off on him and recent performances. Hope Jesse got there in the last few days. A tough time awaits him. Hope he takes all the time he needs. Football matters not in these circumstances. Edit: A very moving update: Jesse's family were in Melbourne for the ANZAC Eve game and his father passed away in Melbourne. "The family had been in Melbourne for several weeks and Tony saw his son play on Monday night against Richmond, before Tony took a bad turn on Anzac Day". http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/jesse-hogans-father-tony-passes-away-20170427-gvtg9p.html Wonderful support by the club to keep that quiet so the family could enjoy some time without cameras and journos all over the place.

This article could be posted in any number of current threads. As it talks to how we play without ruckmen and without a 3rd man up option thought I would post it here http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-04-27/the-rule-change-causing-a-demons-dilemma Selection/game plan options: Sam Frost might get the job with Watts acting as back-up, as happened on Monday night. Watts has been good but he will be cooked if he takes on the ruck for the next six weeks. In any event, his class is needed elsewhere. Frost is a competitor who has speed and can jump, but he is just 194cm. Cam Pedersen is another option after a reasonable game in the VFL, however he may be needed as a forward to replace Tim Smith...while Oscar McDonald could go down back to replace Frost. Another option is to leave out Pedersen and use Watts as a second forward/ruckman and have Lewis pinch-hit in the ruck too. Lewis has shown he has a leap so he might be deployed occasionally at boundary throw-ins, mixing and matching midfielders as the nominated ruckman to confuse the opposition and the opposing ruckman. ...the other imperative for the Demons, particularly on a fast deck such as Etihad Stadium, will be to get numbers around the ball to stifle the opposition. It is something Melbourne is good at however its players will have to use the ball well when exiting stoppages because it will be outnumbered in other areas of the ground. Alternatively it could put numbers behind the ball, conceding the stoppage to some extent and use pace and guile to rebound hard against the opposition, creating scoring chances in open space. It's a tough ask but a good challenge for Goodwin and his team's desire to play fearless football. The last line says it all. Hopefully we can pull it off - Certainly plenty of motivation having 3 ex EFC coaches and 2 ex EFC players and a team full of players who were embarrassed by EFC last year. It has certainly become a baptism of fire for Goodwin.

In what way do you think WCE might have recruited differently? It is certainly a rule that has restricted the flexibilty of a list and of weekly team selections. WCE experience and our current predicament puts a strong case for the AFL to announce rule changes before the trade/draft period.

Did anyone notice this comment by Cotchin. "Cotchin fired an extra shot later on, noting the fatigued Dees got too caught up in attempting to make their presence felt, rather than focusing on the game at hand...“For whatever reason, the momentum swung after that moment,” Cotchin said on Triple M Radio...“It seemed as though they were worried about fighting rather than winning the footy.” http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/jack-viney-comes-under-fire-for-focusing-on-flying-the-flag-while-his-individual-form-is-down/news-story/90b6a23ea402d26051a8e567d45701a8 Arrogant sod! A few wins against weak or decimated teams and they get all cocky. Can't wait to see them brought down a few pegs.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-04-26/team-of-the-week-r5-did-we-get-it-right Michael Hibberd makes TOTW. First game after 18 months and after lots of challenges. Sensational performance! Great encouragement.

When Brayshaw is well again I think he is a much better option in the middle than Tyson. Gus can do all the things Dom can plus some.

Just having a laugh od. No I don't think we shouldn't have kept Fitzy. I think the point ManDee was making was lack of depth with only 2 ruckman because we didn't replace him with another 3/4 tier ruckman. In my mind that was exacerbated by not having a ruck/forward.

Cryptically ironic, od...

Pity

@GawnWithTheWind Would you consider deleting this thread? I haven't seen the video but based on comments/strong innuedno above, which may be totally untrue, it has shades of the Bennell in Tas hotel and Carlisle in the states stories and they both ended very badly for player and club. Jesse and the club certainly don't need the distraction. Journo's are more likely to get wind of a story on DL than on less well moderated forums. Your call GWTW

Pining, no. Practical, yes. The reigning premiers took him for a very good reason. Third/4th tier insurance. Last year he got them into the top 4. Read earlier posts and you'll see that the most of last year's top 6 clubs had ruckman depth that went 3/4 deep. The lower teams including us don't have that depth. It was high risk. It didn't pay off. No hindsight required. If we had recruited another ruckman I suggest he would have been second tier to Max rather than third tier to Gawn and Spencer. I agree those three would probably not look at us but there were other ruckman available as FA's perhaps not as good, that would get a game before Spencer. If we had recruited a ruck/forward he would be playing on a regular basis. Very few teams go into a game without 2 ruckman or 1 ruckman with 1 ruck/forward. Especially when one or two of the tall forwards each week have played < 5 games. We are using Watts as our ruck/forward but it is a game of 'rob peter to pay paul' and that selection strategy has cost us two games.

Good to see the proceeds go to 'Reach' and he is furthering Stynes' legacy on and off the field.

Lewis brings on field 'footy smarts' the lack of has cost us dearly the last three weeks. And his role is to pass on his experience to our young players. So I am rapt we have him. Both our co-capts went into their 'leadership shells' while he wasn't playing. And I didn't see signs of co-capts communicating very much on field in recent weeks when the game was on the line. So we are very reliant on Lewis playing. But what happens in a year or two when Lewis plays less and less? It doesn't worry me that Jones lacks them if Viney had them. Viney is a champ and a bull and he will make better decisions with experience but I don't think 'footy smarts' can be taught. So who do we have with 'footy smarts' that can step up when Lewis stops playing. For mine (no order): Watts, Salem, Hunt and potentially Brayshaw. The most likely to step up I think is Hunt. He made a brilliant, articulate and humble speech at our B & F - leader stamped all over him. He is inspirational in how he plays and will lead from the front - fights to the last minute. He has footy smarts and understands the state of play: last week in the last minutes asked Jones for a defensive structure at the stoppage but Jones decided to set up to go direct to goal. Don't know if it would have changed the result but it was the right idea. He is a thinking player who makes no excuses - have a read of this interview on our website. He desperately wants to win and won't settle for less. Have I convinced anyone yet? So Lewis is an asset and when he stops playing I would be delighted to see Hunt become a Vice Cap then a Co Cap with Viney. A formidable pair. The yin and the yan.

Agreed. It seems we don't have a List Manager per se. The closest is Viney whose title is Manager - Player Personnel. Might be the same thing... As I mentioned in an earlier post player List Management is a team effort, Trade decisions for short/medium needs are driven by the Coach. Drafting decisions (especially at the pointy end) are driven by Recruiting for long term list balance. I recall Goodwin saying that Roos had allowed him to make the List Management decisions. I assume this started for the trade/drafting period at end of 2015 as Roos wasn't there for the 2016 decisions. I would conclude that not getting a 'ready to go' ruckman in 2015 or 2016 was a coaches call. It fits the game plan in that we want to play a fast attacking style and one less ruckman equates to one more 'on-baller'. That would be a reasonable call but it is high risk and it has backfired.