spirit of norm smith

Already looking to the end of 2025 New coach … highly likely Retirements… Melksham, Tmcd, Billings Delist… McAdam, Kentfield, Spargo, Laurie, Hore, Sestan & maybe Woey jnr That 10 to replace. Dees need to identify young, hard working, athletic, skilled players.

Key forwards are hard to find. Never a truer statement for the Melbourne footy club. In recent memory, we have had Ben Brown before his knees crippled him, a glimpse of the talent from Jesse Hogan, and prior to that we had Neitz, Schwartz, Lyon and a cameo from Jakovich. But there have been some failures and unfortunate outcomes. Weideman. Dawes. Mitch Clark. Lucas Cook. James Cook. Liam Hulett. Jack Fitzpatrick. Whilst not a key forward, the brief but exciting Liam Jurrah gave us at least 2 years of joy. Cameron Pedersen tried his best. Mitch Brown offerred a plug in service. We have put our faith now in youngsters JVR and Jefferson. Both are yet to show the forward craft and ability but have raw talent to persist. Turner is a backman that we are trying to turn into a quasi forward. He’s not a key forward. Johnson is a crasher. Kentfield is a big battler. Petty is better as a key back. Currently it’s a mixed bag.

Umps love ❤️Collingwood Commentators love ❤️Collingwood Makes me sick 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

Dees standards versus any of what we see from the cats,crows, pies or swans… we are so far behind in transition , pace, forward craft, defensive pressure, tackling efficiency… wow how we did get so far behind.

30c tomorrow and 21c overnight. Perfect for high marking forwards. But Goody always knows best !!!

Calm. I am calm.

Love Damo the sewer rat Barrett Here’s is his latest journalism contribution MELBOURNE IF ...the previous CEO announced his resignation last October ... THEN ...it's staggering the Demons are yet to find Gary Pert's replacement. Myriad issues, on and off field, at this club. Someone needs to properly plot a path through the problems.

Team changes … Goodwin explains his decision to Fullarton !’n

Need to give McVee and Throlstrup a run for Casey next weekend. Both should be ready to play. Not sure about Kentfield. I think he also will be available. Hopefully Casey also gets to add Spargo to the team next week.

22 Nathan Williamson. He’s a shocker. Always gives Dees a bad run. We can only hope this changes this weekend!!

the mystery continues

If we lose… Goodwin is to blame …

Win a premiership… in the window 2022 and 2023. Instead of being a destination club, we continue to lose players and go backwards in terms of recruiting any quality players from other clubs. Forget the salary cap excuse. Thats BS. Other clubs have done it consistently better than us in the last 3 years.

Pathetic from the selectors and Goodwin Virtually no changes at all Spargo - does nothing and still gets a game (negative 2 in SuperCoach) JVR - needs to go back and get confidence Melksham needs a game at Casey Ins Lindsay, Fullarton, and either Kynan Brown-or-jnr Woey Why is Turner dropped ? Our forward line is a mosquito fleet !!! wtf. IS GOODWIN HELL BENT ON DESTRUCTION OF OUR TEAM???

Nailed it. Goody talks about learnings and connection into forward 50. He’s been talking about focusing on an improvement needed for 3+ years. So what’s been done ? Nil. Poor strategy. Poorer coaching. Other clubs rarely mention it. Hardly surprising. The Dees are the masters of finding ways to turnover the footy. That last kick or that last poor handball or that fumbles and slip over. We astonish ourselves with ways to give up the footy and then have to defend as the opposition rebounds. Forward pressure is seemingly now also non existent. Forward tackles are now at an all time low. That is a definite disappointment.

The eminently sensible Phil Davis Thoughts on the Christian Petracca and his emotional reaction after the Dees loss. Davis says It’s a non event … move on the constant media show pick up this and running different agendas on what Trac is thinking and what it means without really knowing and thinking the worst Trac clearly wants the club to be better Footy is an emotional game so what’s the issue. He’s clearly disappointed Davis says the most important things is for Gawn and Dees teammates is to check on Trac and ask “ Are you ok”. Davis is an intelligent commentator who thinks then talks and has interesting non sensationalist insights. 👏👏👏👏😊

12 players are already under academy programs , out of 28 youngsters. This year will be another big lift for the northern teams Swans, Suns, Lions & Giants. They need to be gifted some of the very best elite youngsters… don’t they? Ffs.

3aw. Lloyd’s callout to have Goodwin make a statement this week and drop Fritsch. So Jacqui Felgate simply asks who they’ll replace him with as a goalkicker. Lloyd’s reply (as unprepared and uneducated as ever) was … “someone from Casey”. Well that’s a bold claim. He has no answer He offers no understanding of the who and how. He simply says oh well “Ross Lyon dropped Milne and Desanto once” !!! What a tool!!!

In. Fullarton Out. JVR Fullarton needs to be rewarded for his VFL form. Our team needs a player who can mark the footy plus gives Gawn a relief in the ruck. Fullarton deserves a go. If he fails (must get at least 2 games), then at least we gave him a shot. JVR sadly is lacking any confidence. His oven mitt hands and trampoline chest have dropped too many marks. Get him to go to Casey and clunk 10 marks and kick 3-5 goals per game over the next two games. He needs to be carefully managed and he’s really gone backwards in the last 12-15 games.

it’s probably a No from me. I’m still prioritizing players who can hit a target.

Crowe preaches the Love mantra. It is deficient in the sports team performance. Let’s cut the Love. Bring back the Respect and Hard work ethos. Winning breeds Fun. Enjoy the winning is the goal.

Agree with the comment that last week we saw a cowardly coaching style 3 clear boring defensive tactics v Cats GOODY. Zone defence - guard the grass. THAT didn’t work as the Cats controlled the play with uncontested marks and working the ball easily, with zero pressure. Man up and apply pressure should be a non negotiable. GOODY. Stand back the 5-8 metre after they take a mark or a free kick. THAT backpedaling style allowed the cats to compose or run or mark decisions with again zero pressure. It was so evident that when I watched other games, it stood out that the Dees used this non pressing style. GOODY. Use Sparrow on Holmes and also get an extra to the contest. Allow the Cats two players behind the ball. THAT created no room in our forward50 as the cats sat back and waited for our errors and turnovers. Zac Guthrie 17 marks. O’Sullivan 13 marks. Often uncontested. 50 inside50s for 6 goals. 12% conversion from an inept game plan. It’s frustrating as we are Watching other teams run and create and move the footy with positive clean handling and decision making. Watching other teams pressure and stick tackles and man up to squeeze their opposition. Goody. Less love. Move smart tactics. Get the excitement back. We lose. We are boring. Give us run and run and quick movement and give us pressure and tackling to stop movement. FFS this week if possible.

Jay Clark suggested that “Fritsch tunneling” was “extremely dangerous and could have put Stewart in a wheelchair. He takes out his legs and flips him”. Tiger Riewoldt calls it outrageous and says Fritsch should be suspended for 2 or 3 weeks. Typical media bashing of anything to do with the Dees. Now Fritsch was frustrated and should have tried to contest albeit too late given the shallow kick. But he didn’t take Stewart legs out, nor did he flip him, nor did Stewart land on his neck or head. Fine was warranted and Fritsch will do better in the future. It’s another “Ridiculous oversensational” talk from footy journos behaving as blood thirsty vampires.

Just to confirm. I am not 💩Tom Morris💩. McClure. Morris. Barrett. And now add JayClark. All are Gutter merchants !!!