Demon Jack

A revelation up forward with his uncanny ability to crumb the ball and snap a goal within seconds. I'd love to see a compilation of the countless times he did that during the season. He goes missing a bit during games but a very encouraging debut season. He missed a good chunk of the pre-season with a shoulder injury, so with any luck, he'll only get better with a full one under his belt.

If the whispers are true, I'd be absolutely guttered to see Watts go, but a fresh start might be best for both parties.

So Pick 10 & Watts for Lever and maybe a second/third round pick?

Add Watts who turned 26 at the start of the year to that list as well, but point taken. Our recruiting between 2008 and 2010 has really set us back in this department. Former players like Jordan Gysberts, Luke Tapscott, Addam Maric, James Strauss and Sam Blease (all first round draft picks) are now all in that 26-27 year old age bracket that we desperately lack.

Plenty to like about Billy in my opinion. Shame that he couldn't find a consistent spot in the team this year, but I saw plenty in his first two seasons to suggest that he'll be a player. For what its worth, It's been reported multiple times that he's one of the most professional players at the club. When Clayton Oliver won his AFLCA Best Young Player award, he said that he was told by the coaches to select one player to look up towards, and he picked Billy Stretch.

Great piece of writing here from Tomas Bugg where he opens up on 'that' incident. Tom Bugg: I'm Not Who You Think I Am

Gus was one of our best players when he returned in our second win against the Saints. Surprised me with how well he did playing half-back. Still an enormous amount to like. Hopefully he can have a full preseason and play 22 games in 2018 as he makes us such a better team

We would not have delisted Spencer if we intended to trade Gawn. Our ruck stocks are slim enough as is. Who would ruck for us next year? Max King?

Exciting player with a lot of room for improvement. I'd say yes at this stage. Would a third round pick get it done? Still young and I don't think hes even played 50 games yet.

If memory serves me right, I think Trenners was doing work experience as an accountant a year or two ago.

Lachie Whitfield has apparently just signed for two years with the Giants.

Jesse only missed three games between 2015 and 2016. Also, aside from the obvious, I think you'll find that Jesse only missed two to three games this year because of injury.

Kudos to West Coast. Incredible win. Adelaide will be a fun place to be around tonight.

Essendon getting absolutely pounded at the moment. What a tragedy for them...

Agree. Look at Hipwood from Brisbane. The guy is almost the skinniest key forward I've ever seen but that doesn't stop him from crashing packs, clunking marks and kicking goals. I hope Weed works on his one-on-one work and his tank more than anything.

I technologied.

I think Gaff would be a good pick-up for us. Outside run and class, plus he has 150 plus games under his belt and only just turned 25. He could very well reach a new level with us. Its amazing what a new, fresh environment can do for players. Look at Hibberd for example.

The coach speaks. https://twitter.com/melbournefc/status/904966545419276290 EDIT: Unsure of how to embed Twitter posts in the new Demonland update. Just click the link.

Not sure if this has been posted anywhere, but a video popped up on Facebook today featuring Max Gawn and his post-season reflections.

Clarry's 2017 might be one of the best seasons ever from a Demon, and we're talking nearly 160 years worth of players. And now for everyone's favourite stat.....he only just turned 20.

Vickery was every bit as bad as Mayne was for Collingwood this year. These guys were recruited on contracts with some serious coin attached. I think both are on at least $500k a season. Combined, they only played nine games in 2017 and booted a whopping four goals. When looking at these blunders, I certainly feel incredibly thankful for our recruiting staff and the superb job they've done rebuilding the club by getting these type of picks right. Guys like Hibberd (2017 All-Australian), Melksham (20+ goal second half of the season), Lewis (leadership and guidance), Vince (2015 Best & Fairest) and even someone like Daniel Cross (see Lewis) from a few years ago have been fantastic pick-ups for our club.

Has some x-factor but as mentioned in an earlier post, his defensive pressure is a serious concern. I'd prefer getting more games into Hannan. Maybe even Fritsch if we draft him.

Forgot about this one. Absolute ripper. Definitely deserves a mention.

Not a big year on the marking front. Hopefully Joel Smith comes on next year!

I could actually make a case for all four of these. We've had some cracking goals this year For pure emotion, I'd have to go Watt's goal on QB. For sheer epicness, definitely McDonald's goal to sink the Eagles at Domain. For unbelievable flukiness, it's hard to go past Oliver's goal from the boundary in Adelaide. For perfect execution, it 100% has to be Jayden's torpedo at 3 quarter time in Darwin. Honorable mentions to Pederson's running goal against the Lion's and Hannan's collection of mouth-watering crumbs.