Dees2014

Nah!

I agree. That is why he will be confined initially to the forward half and do the rucking inside the forward 50. I noticed that on Sunday there were several times the ball went out for a throw in inside the forward 50. Max and Jackson were standing near each other, and it was Max who retreated towards the middle before the throw in. Clearly the team have already decided that Jackson will take the taps inside the forward 50. As Jackson develops and improves his endurance no doubt he will also play more like a patracca role but it also includes ruck work. A great foil for Max! And great for the team. Exciting times ahead l reckon.....

I’m not talking about Jackson as a “chopout” as you put it. I’m talking about him as a genuine mid in the tracca mould, it is just that he is also 197cm. That is the genius of his recruitment. It gives us tremendous flexibility. He is not only big, he is also quick and agile. Bring it on l say...

Good post. I agree on our current forward setup: that is why l have strongly argued for Weid, Jackson AND TMac to be played in the same team, at the expense of one of our running mids, probably Harmes. One of the beauties of Jackson is that he can play key position or mid field. We haven’t had that for many years. It allows our immensely talented mid field to do their own thing!

I know it is early days but l think this team has the potential to be the best dees team in the modern era. It does not really have a weakness plus it has some genuinely champion players on almost every line, plus it is extremely well led and coached. The first rounds draft picks we have picked up over the last five years have produced some genuine champions (Petracca, Gawn, Viney, Oliver and potentially Bennell), some extremely good players (TMac, Omac, , Lever, Jetta, Friscke, Salem, May, Vanders, Weid, Hannan) and brilliant youngsters in Jackson and Kossie. The challenge now is consistency, but all in all l can’t remember being as excited as l am by the potential of a demon team as l am by this one. It is the most skilled team we have had in my lifetime. Who agrees? I know there will be many that will think that l am tempting fate. We will see l guess.....

I would drop Lockhart and put Harmes on the HBF to make room for TMac. Harmes would have to play closer to his opponent than he is used to, but it is not as though his performance has been stellar this year anyway. It may give him a chance to make a case for his retention in the long term aka finals! Personally, as we get our run on game going so well demonstrated at the weekend, Harmes place will be questioned by others performances and his lack of pace may seem superfluous. Rotation of smart opponents on Andrews may well unsettle him, aspecially if max spends some time there. I think the tactics for the Lions is quick ball movement and one on one pressure, both of which are are our DNA when we are at our best. And now at last, we have the list t o deliver on these.. Go Dess! Very exciting!

I think this misses the point that some of us are making about whether we can play both TMAC and Jackson in the one team. Jackson is an unusual big man as he can play in the ruck AND as a key forward AND as an agile mid fielder. Given his obvious skills this makes our side very flexible. TMac is a bullocking high marking and reasonably quick tall forward. In other words an ideal centre half forward, and we have Weid as a very effective full forward. Jackson looks a more effective ruckman than TMAC so there is nothing to stop Jackson from playing ruck when the ball goes into the forward 50. l think the best selection is to play all 3. Gives us great flexibility and skill - and would be difficult to match up on for most sides. TMac is too talented and skilled to be left out and adds considerable grunt and skill to our capabilities.

I like it. Pretty classy lineup ld say.....

We can and should, especially as Jackson was recruited as he can play in the ruck, as a key forward, AND as an agile mid fielder especially as he is quick and agile. Play him as a centre or wing and let TMac and the Weid be the key forwards ably assisted by Fritz. Pretty formidable l reckon, and very difficult to match up on.

How ironic - Essendon postpones a game for medical reasons!

Yes l noticed on the latest MFC podcast where they interviewed both the wingers, when they were asked their favourite positions to play apart from the Wing, he nominated the Ruck. Apparently when the Giants played the WCE previously, when the giant’s ruck an was injured in warmup he stepped in and Rucked all day quite successfully. Could have a hidden talent which could come in handy.

Good point. Previously, he has been a bit of a “dead eye [censored]” so that kicking record last week was a bit of an aberration. I hope he regains his previous form quick smart as l suspect this game is going to be a slug feast in difficult conditions.

I think what a lot of us are missing is the first quarter and a half of last Saturday’s game. We were well and truly back to 2018 form. If we can do it then, we can do it again, and we did it with the players playing last Saturday. I think it would be more constructive to consider how we can consistently recapture that form for four quarters, rather than considering wholesale changes for this week. Having said that though, there are players waiting in the wings who missed that game for a variety of reasons who would make our side even stronger and deliver a better result. For mine l would go with: IN: Weid, Kosie, Hannan OUT: TMAC, Melksham, Neil - Bullen

Yes, the most outstanding example being David Neitz. We all remember when Wayne Carey in his prime described Neita as the best opponent he ever played on. I think sending TMcD back to CHB would maybe run him into form at his best he is our most effective forward, but we can’t let the current situation continue. By the way, what do we think is wrong with Melsham. He was probably our most effective forward in the 2018 final series. It would be nice to have that form back...

I just watched the first half again, and would like to add to my post above. The pleasing part of yesterday, is we for a time achieved our elite form of 2018. I do not recall us doing this at all last year. It shows we can do it, and it is pleasing much of it was exhibited by new recruits. This is a much better position than the one we had in 2019. The challenge is getting our mid range players to step up which should in theory be easier than finding new talent. At its best, there is nothing wrong with our game plan. Essendon is probably a mid list side so should be a bigger challenge than the Blues so if we can overcome them it will set us on our way. All to play for...

The most important thing out of this game is that we won. It could be incredibly important come September/October. There are however a number of things which mystify me: 1. Why are Jones and TMac so seriously out of form? We cannot afford that to happen again, particularly against better opposition. I would drop both of them and bring in Weid and Kossie. 2. Why do we take the accelerator off after the first quarter? This is in stark contrast to 2018 when we buried most sides in the competition. I hate to say it, but l think we seriously miss that competitive beast Jessie Hogan. We also have several of our young midfield stars Brayshaw and Oliver below their best, which has considerably lessened our ability to put away sides. Are they getting too comfortable? 3. When are we going to capitalise on Max’s superiority? See 2 above. We still have the ingredients of a top four side, but we will need to start showing it rapidly so that this short season does not rapidly become yet another wasted year. it is a worry...

I know it was - l just don’t agree with his “logic”!

The fact is the AFL was originally a Victorian game, and Victoria is where the majority of supporter resides. The AFL has done a magnificent job in building a national competition, but the majority of AFL supporters are Victorian. My guess is that more than 50% of the Game’s revenue also comes from Victoria, so why can’t Victoria continue to support 10 clubs? After all, the AFL is by far the wealthiest and most powerful sporting body in the country. It will remain so, but only if it continues with its current structures. It is a winning formula, much to all other sporting bodies annoyance!

It’s not ridiculous: it is sensible and necessary. What do you want the whole competition closed down again? Because that is what you will get if we have another outbreak. We are not dealing with the flu or a cold here: we are dealing with an incredibly infectious deadly epidemic for which there is no cure and currently no vaccine. We are all vulnerable, and l for one am immensely grateful that our state and federal governments are following the science and the medical advice and taking the cautious approach. Obviously we have some Trump disciples in our supporter base. Fortunately sanity prevails....

The outrage on here from my fellow Dees supporters is outrageous. The protocols have been put in place to keep all of us safe for all of society’s good, and we have hugely benefited from this having one of the lowest infection rates in the world. This goes way beyond our parochial AFL interests, this is for the benefit of our whole society and we should be all immensely grateful that our governments have stepped up to the mark in a way the governments of the US and UK have not. The self interest of our football team is minuscule by comparison, but we should all be proud that our club has done the responsible thing and self reported, in spite of several moronic comments on here along the lines “here we go again the MFC being insipid compared to the hard heads of the competition”. Social media is so incredibly stupid sometimes. Our supporters should be proud of our values, but sadly some are not.

I think it is a bit unfair to say these number of changes indicate we don’t know what we are doing. In the main, the players coming in were not available in round one and so their inclusion generally strengthens the side, some outstandingly so such as Bennell assuming he gets through the game. no this side is significantly better than round one.

Jones, Bennell, Rivers, Jackson, Salem all improve disposals, as well as having probably the fastest Demon lineup l can remember which is exciting. I think our biggest weakness is the key forwards. I am yet to be convinced on Jackson as a key forward - l suspect he will be great in a couple of years, but so far at least l don’t think he does much for winning games now. I hope l am wrong.....

I assume this will be held without crowds. I would be nice if we could have at least one Demonlander admitted to provide us with score updates and some narrative. Any volunteers?

Really great gutsy win. Insightful comment by Daisy post match when she said they couldn’t make up their minds about being offensive or defensive until the last quarter when they had no choice. A lesson learnt hopefully. I think that could be ssid about much of the season.Hopefully it will be all out attack in the semi. By the way isn’t Harriet Cordner a smart footballer. Does some really clever things when it comes to the crunch...

Given that logic, where does that leave us in the West in two weeks. They have some serious talent up forward, we will need to be on our game. Is that a better back line than the one which was cleaned up in 2018. If so, where?