spirit of norm smith

One young VFL player to watch Hugo Hall-Kahan, 22 year old, 188cms tall midfielder Sandringham Dragons 2021 Picked up by the Swans in MSD2022 pick 11 Despite strong VFL form, unlucky not to get a game at Sydney over 18 months, stuck behind their powerful midfield group His last 2 years at Sandy and Williamstown, he has developed himself into one of the VFLs best performers using his run and his footskill. He has opened 2026 with two excellent performances, 30+ possessions as midfielder running type.

Great to see Harmesy 🏆at the game and saying Hi to the teammates. He’s a Demon man for life 💙❤️

Gus Kennedy. Captain this year of the Dandenong Stingrays. Best on ground v Geelong last week. Kennedy is a classic ball running mid who can play inside or outside. Reminds me a little of Angus Brayshaw as a junior. He’d be perfect into our young midfield alongside Windsor, Langford & Kozzzzy.

@Demonland third game in a row that the opposition have jumped the Dees. Slow starts are a problem and would be too hard to recover from against better teams. How do we get the team pressure and creative run going right from the start ??

6 Kozzzzy -the match winner, he’s electric when given space to run 5 Gawn -the warrior - pushed the ball to our advantage - 55 hitouts and scragged without rewards all afternoon 4 Sparrow -one of his very best games- fitted into inside mid role and finally had one touch footy- one who brought us back into the contest 3 Lever - renewed faith after a poor round 1- he showed more energy and contest at the footy - repelling attacks all day - used the footy really well 2 Fritsch- 4 crucial goals - missed two others that would have seen up further up the votes- love his eye for goal -4th quarter swinging goal was magic 1 Steele - battle hardened leader in the midfield- 16 tackles- so lucky to have him in red & blue Apologies to Windsor - ran and ran and ran / disposals again let him down but hero’s going and creating Langford - crucial goals and getting more feel for the midfield Chin - again crucial goals and forward pressure kept the ball in the score zone Howes - super composed and used the footy really smartly Langdon - just so vital now to bring experience and run Kolt - did his job & can feel him settling in now as part of the team

Corey definitely one youngster to keep an eye on for the future

I said after last week “I want more from Kozzzzy!!!” Today he delivered Love ya Kozzzzzzy ❤️💙

Cripps, Walsh, Smith, Hewett V Steele, Windsor, Kozzy, Sparrow God help us all !! Thankfully MFC has the GOAT Max Gawn

Flagmantle Facebook post … Unbelievable. Trent Rivers dropped after 21 touches, 10 marks, 7 score involvements, 6 rebound 50’s & 501 metres gained against us last week… 👀 Back in September I said we should’ve been targeting him instead of McVee… New coach’s whipping boy? Hopefully he comes home to play with his East Freo brothers! 🤪 Let’s Go Dockers.

Ouch. Flanders is costing Saints $750,000 a year for an average player. Ouch to them. 🤣🤣🤣

Riv getting dropped. Thats a tough call. He wasn’t the best … but wasn’t the worst. Yes perhaps the costly fumble and costly missed tackle resulted in two Freo goals. But others also made a few turnovers and mistakes. Riv’s role is also getting confused. Do they want him in the midfield? He only attended 3 centre ball plays which is extremely low. Was King pushing him back. Riv had 21 disposals and 501 metres gained, the 6th best of both teams. Thats good. Yes a few mistakes were costly but to get dropped is a real kick in the pants. Riv will respond and be back soon.

Super pumped to see Paddy Cross get his list spot and now his debut. But … To get promoted after a 11 disposal game , 1 goal, 5 tackles game v Dogs VFL. I watched the game and Paddy did 1-2 nice things but didn’t stand out as a player due for promotion. Also he is another small half forward. We already have a few (perhaps too many) already in the team. He can snag a goal do again perhaps King looking more from his small goal kickers. Chin, Latrelle & Sparrow lucky to stay in.

Couldn’t see how Latrelle stays in ahead of Riv. Cross is a good story but … another half forward!!! We need stronger onball talent

Dees options for kick ins … Salem and Lindsay. We do miss Bowsa for this role as well as his running and rebounding.

So we recruited McAdam for a 2nd round pick (that we ended getting back for ANB). He’d played 50 games in 5 years at the crows. Then he plays 3 games in 2024 before getting injured and missing the season. Misses the full 2025 season with a knee injury. Now it’s his Achilles. At age 30, that is typically a tough recovery. And we know an Achilles is serious. Spargo missed a year with an Achilles.

318 pages. I’m not sure other clubs footy fans have to endure such drama as “where is our home base ever going to be “. Our players are like children of a divorced couple, sharing time between mum and dad’s house (Goschs/AAMI. & Casey far out east Fields). Really? Our admin needs to do something and get it sorted out with a plan. I really hope Caulfield comes to fruition, as it will be a key for our future.

I’m glad Baker has continued his AFL career. His speed was a definite asset. Good bloke who was unlucky to be at the Dees behind Langdon and Brayshaw.

Yes I heard that. Not sure if it’s true but he’d be a good buy for the Roos I’m a YES for Sam Marshall as long as the Lions were reasonable either way their asking price.

“Under this move, clubs with top-five selections at the draft which are pushed back at least one position would be awarded an end-of-first-round pick as compensation for losing their primary draft spot”. If you’re pick 5, and get pushed back to pick 7, then you get an extra compensation pick. So if you are pick 6, and get pushed back to pick 10, then it’s tough luck. AFL rules continue to be made up on the run. How about allocating the points differential and locate that pick equivalent. AI could work that out in nano-seconds.

Thanks @Demonland Yes agree Gawn had another excellent game and obviously King & Longmuir agreed too. Bolton was their best and he destroyed us. He must have had a virus because no Demon went near him all night Interesting that Nick thought only Butts was worthy of votes in his Crows game. They lost by a goal, to an amazing Oskar Baker 💙❤️goal.

Dogs are a powerful unit and had nearly a full strength team (squad only missing Weightman & Vandermeer). And at home are always very tough. Forwards. Casey really missed “the talls”. AJ, Jeffo & Kentfield (not sure also why young Ah-mu wasnt playing , assume also injured). The lack of a quality tall target inside 50 was noticeable. Bowden & Pipicelli are new to the level and were competing but not threatening. Goals were created often through smart play or running opportunities. Cross, Matthews and Craven crafted goals but often the dogs repelled our attack with intercept marks. Tall defence was an issue. Adams can negate but he seemingly didn’t spend much time in the gym over summer. There is a big doubt that he’ll be an answer as an AFL key defender. With May retiring and Tmcd on his final year, hard to see why they didn’t bring in a key defender as the SSP signing. Of course the ridiculous fixture had us playing this week (when MFC goes to Perth) and a bye week 2 when MFC play Carlton in Melbourne. Tmcd as a travelling emergency would have been a big presence for Casey, either back or forward. So he might have to wait until April to get a game now. Midfield. Also the Dees and Casey have recruited in a lot of half forwards and “flamkers”. Laurie was the only experienced midfielder in the team with Onley very raw (and building after last years injury) and D’Angelo a young suburban player coming up. Stanley is more of a wingman (he looked good in patches and will be an asset). Lual Is also an outside type who was a little disappointing given his AFL experience . Henderson battled on but again back after an injury so will get better. Cheffers looked good with the footy and is one youngster to keep an eye on. Our standouts were clearly Bonner, ANW and Heath. Bonner won the footy and ran hard to create and overlap. His left foot is still AFL quality. AMW return was excellent. He’s super competitive. He hit targets. Another few games and he’ll be promoted. Heath is strong and despite being grabbed and pulled by his opponent, he won the ruck dual (no help from the umps). It’s tempting to have him v blues to support Max (and keep Petty & JVR away from 2nd ruck duties) Box Hill Hawks in a fortnight. Another very tough assignment coming up.

He’s the one to definitely target.

Poor management by the Suns medical team Suns coaches will visit Trac every day and call him every hour to make sure he feels special & loved whilst he’s not playing I like Trac but hey … he’s ditched us!!!

@binman Please discuss. Is Trent Rivers a midfielder? He will develop more with more time. However not sure he’s that natural midfielder type. he missed a few crucial tackles to lock the ball in and allowed Freo mids to get disposals away. He was such an excellent half back , as a competitor, good mark and tough running rebounder.

ANW and Bonner were clearly our best two players. Heath also had an impact , although was dragged and pulled at every ruck contest with the umps ignoring it and letting the Dogs ruck interfere in must contests. XT was okay and you could see signs of his future role as a steady half back. Berry was quite good. Could see him competing hard and trying to create run Tommy Matthews energy and goal sense will be an asset in his future. You could see a Papley like player in his future.