Preview Changes/Preview – Round 17 vs. West Coast

[Demon 16]

Ffs, like I do like Melk but what's the ****ing point? Guys missed a year and is notoriously slow starting. Why?

I would far prefer we gave Brown another go, even if it was as the sub.

I don’t think we needed many changes this week once Petty was ruled out.

 

[Topkent]

Roffey would have you beleive we are Hawthorn, Geelong or Sydney.

In reality, over the last 60 years we are one of the worst performed teams in world sport who happened to have 1 good year.

Which happened to be the COVID year with lots of mitigating and unique circumstances where our fitness seemed to be better than the rest of the comp

 

[Topkent]

I would far prefer we gave Brown another go, even if it was as the sub.

I don’t think we needed many changes this week once Petty was ruled out.

Me too but instead we've dropped him for Salem. 1 step forward, 1 step back

 

[booshboy]

Which happened to be the COVID year with lots of mitigating and unique circumstances where our fitness seemed to be better than the rest of the comp

I can't agree with anything that takes away from the 21' flag but we've got **** all right since then.

 

[Topkent]

I can't agree with anything that takes away from the 21' flag but we've got **** all right since then.

We were still the best team in it because everyone dealt with the same shit but hard to ignore the COVID thing aswell. It's credit to the fitness people and or the club because maybe we handled lockdown training better than any other club but outside of that one year we've been mostly a huge disappointment

 

[Crusty Demon]

How many of those wins were genuinely enjoyable to watch? Goodwin oversaw a stupidly inefficient gameplan that relied on talent to get us over the line which more often than not couldn't get over the line against QUALITY opposition.

Each to their own mate. I've bloody enjoyed finally being contenders for 3-4 years. We've played some solid footy in that time. Finally won a flag and had some genuine superstars to go see live. I'd take that over what was previously everytime.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

 

[mrmonkey]

Surely Melk doesn’t play?

I would have thought a half game then a full game at Casey first, at the least.

He'll get a full minute in the last quarter as sub.

 

[Jamurp]

Do hope we pump the eagles though, how long since we’ve played them at the G? What a joke.

 

[melbun]

Melksham as a swap for Fritsch I could tolerate.

 

[DemonLord]

I would far prefer we gave Brown another go, even if it was as the sub.

I don’t think we needed many changes this week once Petty was ruled out.

I was thinking you meant Ben Brown and thought WTF sort of sub would that be. Then I remembered Kynan. Then I also remembered the sub for Melbourne only plays 3-5 minutes of game time in the last quarter so realised the sub does not matter. Carry on - nothing to see here.

DL.

 

[schmuttt]

Hope Taj gets a full game, sick of him being sub.

 

[Crusty Demon]

Hope Taj gets a full game, sick of him being sub.

Maybe needs some consistent games. Did play a full game against Lions and looked ordinary imo. I do think he's worth persisting with. Not sure where his best footy is at. Wing or a flank.

 

[stEdy]

I enjoyed it too mate.

The problem was there was still 24 other games we played that season.

Some other games in 2023 I enjoyed:

• Smashing Dogs in R1 by 50 - Kozzy kicked 4 and had 19 touches. Also knocked the snot out of Bailey Smith. BBB 4 snags. Fun day out at the G with my Dogs supporting mate
• Smash Sydney in R3 by 50 points - JVR kicks 3 (on debut?) alongside new forward Petty. Move the ball pretty well, kick 134 points on a sunny day at the G
• Beat WCE in R4 by 10 goals by powering away in the 2nd half, Trac kicks 3 and has 29. Even cooked Tmac gets to kick some goals on terrible WCE team.
• Beat Richmond ANZAC day eve in an arm wrestle in R6 by 3 goals - JVR nearly gets subbed but instead kicks 3 late goals to win us the game.
• Beat North by 90 in R7 - game is essentially over at QT even though we let them kick some junk time goals
• Beat Pies on QB by 4 points - Reel in fast starting Pies and hold on despite classic Pies last quarter burst. Defensive and pressure masterclass
• Beat Saints by 21 in R17 - May gives King his annual bath and has 29 touches and 12 marks - Trac also does his annual destruction of St Kilda to break their hearts over McCartin with 4 goals and 20 touches.
• Beat Brisbane by 1 in R18 - already mentioned
• Overrun Tiges by 32 in R20 - Free flowing game, Petty kicks 6 snags straight
• Beat Swans by 21 at SCG in R24 to make the top 4 - Fritsch kicks 5 with a busted foot to win us the game

It really depends on your expectations. I view the club as ultimately a tragic club that will find always new ways to disappoint, even though we won the flag in 2021. I never thought we were destined for multiple flags, but we were a very strong team with genuine stars all over the park that put defense first in an era without a dominant club. I watch a lot of neutral footy and modern football is almost defined by swings in momentum - only 5% of games 1 team dominates 4 quarters of footy. Some of the above games were defined by scrappy play for sections of the game, but a lot of games are.

The 2 finals losses in 2023 definitely hurt, but I think they skewed people's perceptions of 2023 as a year. We beat both grand finalists at the G during the year. 2022 nobody was beating the Cats but we genuinely cooked 2023 as the margins were so small between teams (most finals decided by a goal or two) and we didn't even get a win at the G which we actually had a decent record at for the year.

I'm not coming here telling you how to enjoy or not enjoy our football team, just sharing my perspective that seems to be different to others here that seem to get off on wanting to look like they were right. Betting that the Melbourne Demons will be disappointing isn't as ground-breaking as some people think it is. It's kind of our destiny.

We will be shit and irrelevant again - maybe soon - it was nice to have a period where people genuinely didn't like playing against us.

Did we ruin this team's window with coaching and management decisions? Maybe, maybe not. I guess that's where a lot of the anger at the team comes from.

 

[Topkent]

Meh not about being right, couldn't have the opinion on here that maybe Melbourne weren't shit hot without expected scores, useless top 4 streaks and wow look at the one pre season game our ball movements changed. If you literally need to see us outside the 8 before you realise maybe we aren't the best thing ever then you can eat some humble pie from the people who saw it coming and there were more than a few

 

[booshboy]

If Goodwin took over from Nathan Buckley instead of Craig McCrae I guarantee they dont leave the bottom 4.

 

[PerfectFooty]

Well one team off the list for me. First time i'll be seeing us play the west coast live. Only the crows remain

 

[Lord Nev]

Final team is:

INS – Melksham, Salem, Bowey
OUTS – Petty (inj.), K.Brown, Tomlinson (omitted)

 

[Daemon]

Happy Bowser is back. Not happy that he invariably will be sub over the other two. I like Melky but playing him in the seniors without any VFL after a year off is stupid.

 

[Daemon]

Also Tomo out, Goody's favourite whipping boy. Surely he seeks other opportunities at the end of the year. Constantly being dicked around.

 

[Dancing Potato]

Final team is:

INS – Melksham, Salem, Bowey
OUTS – Petty (inj.), K.Brown, Tomlinson (omitted)

I have absolutely zero expectations of Melk. Would not be surprised at all if he slowly lumbers around to gather 6 disposals and have no impact.

Of course, I hope he smashes it because an in form Melk is one of the few things that might keep my interest in this season alive

 

[ozzy2012]

Hopefully Chandler the sub.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Crazy Goody for the win

 

[jhong]

Melksham to park in the goal square and direct the other forwards. I still don’t understand what “Match simulation “ means . Does that mean Viney crash tackled him for a session?

 

[DemonZombie_001]

I have absolutely zero expectations of Melk. Would not be surprised at all if he slowly lumbers around to gather 6 disposals and have no impact.

Of course, I hope he smashes it because an in form Melk is one of the few things that might keep my interest in this season alive

It's most likely his last season as well so he has that as motivation. I would have thought trying McDonald up front as well as keeping Tomlinson down back would have been worth a shot.