Preview R17: Changes vs. Melbourne Demons

[Mutineer]

What was the key message?

 

[kirky]

Potentially another wet day at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

What was the key message?

"You have to remember that he's in his first year of AFL football"

 

[cmndstab]

"You have to remember that he's in his first year of AFL football"

Yeah, basically said that Draper is solid depth at the moment and that they want to "get him there the right way", basically saying they want him to earn his spot.

Not a whole heap to take from it.

 

[Redleg Crow]

"You have to remember that he's in his first year of AFL football"

tbh, I'm more eager to see Edwards and Ryan given a go. Draper will obv get there - hopefully as much as Curtin is now, but a bit of time in the gym would be worth it first.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Annoyingly, Curtin only got a bunch of games towards the end of last year because we couldn't make finals.

In the wreckage of the season, we scrambled around for some late season positives.

That little block of games he was afforded hasn't taken long to pay dividends. He would have taken feedback, confidence etc into the preseason and it hasn't taken long for us to end up with an impactful player.

Because we're winning now though, does that mean that Draper won't build on his game tally in the back half of the season? Even though we've seen the benefit? Surely we can provide more than two full games in a season for him, especially with Murphy finding a spot

 

[MRB37]

Annoyingly, Curtin only got a bunch of games towards the end of last year because we couldn't make finals.

In the wreckage of the season, we scrambled around for some late season positives.

That little block of games he was afforded hasn't taken long to pay dividends. He would have taken feedback, confidence etc into the preseason and it hasn't taken long for us to end up with an impactful player.

Because we're winning now though, does that mean that Draper won't build on his game tally in the back half of the season? Even though we've seen the benefit? Surely we can provide more than two full games in a season for him, especially with Murphy finding a spot

I think the general vibe is we can gun for a top 4 spot, or we can give games to a few more youngsters, we can't do both. Hence why as the season progresses we get as old as possible.

Same thing we did in 2023 when we got a real sniff after the 1st half of the year. So unless an injury strikes I don't expect we'll see many forced change in our 23 going forward.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Should all team selections be announced on Thursday nights?

Currently Sunday matches are given an extra 24 hours

Would it be better for everyone to announce their final 23 on Thursday but maybe the Sunday teams are afforded an extra emergency that gets trimmed on the Friday?

 

[Betts are off]

Out of interest I looked at the Melbourne team lineup from last week. Their listed starting wingman are Langdon (182cm) and Sparrow (183cm).

I wonder which one of them are putting their hand up to match up on Curtin this week? Can't imagine either are all that excited to give away 14cm+ in the marking contest. Especially on the narrow confines of Adelaide oval.

 

[Slim258]

Should all team selections be announced on Thursday nights?

Currently Sunday matches are given an extra 24 hours

Would it be better for everyone to announce their final 23 on Thursday but maybe the Sunday teams are afforded an extra emergency that gets trimmed on the Friday?

I think its due to most clubs doing their main training sessions on a Thursday for Sunday nights, so allows them a little bit longer to consider the options.

 

[FR0GGY]

Out of interest I looked at the Melbourne team lineup from last week. Their listed starting wingman are Langdon (182cm) and Sparrow (183cm).

I wonder which one of them are putting their hand up to match up on Curtin this week? Can't imagine either are all that excited to give away 14cm+ in the marking contest. Especially on the narrow confines of Adelaide oval.

They'll put Langdon on him who can run all day.




oh yeah Curtin can do that too!

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Out of interest I looked at the Melbourne team lineup from last week. Their listed starting wingman are Langdon (182cm) and Sparrow (183cm).

I wonder which one of them are putting their hand up to match up on Curtin this week? Can't imagine either are all that excited to give away 14cm+ in the marking contest. Especially on the narrow confines of Adelaide oval.

Maybe Daniel Turner pushes up the ground onto him? Is having a decent season and is strong in the air

Though I saw he got injured last game. Is he out?

Judd McVee an option perhaps.

Nice that teams will have to rearrange their structure to try and handle our line up

 

[Betts are off]

Maybe Daniel Turner pushes up the ground onto him? Is having a decent season and is strong in the air

Though I saw he got injured last game. Is he out?

Judd McVee an option perhaps.

Nice that teams will have to rearrange their structure to try and handle our line up

That was always my thought when it came to Curtin. Whether he's mid, wing or HFF. With his size, marking strength, and running capacity, he's a potentially big matchup problem for every team.

IMO we've really just been waiting for his teammates to build enough trust to play through him. And in the last month the rebounding defenders like Hinge, Milera and Worrell seem to all be looking for Curtin as option 1, regardless of if he's free or not.

 

[Betts are off]

They'll put Langdon on him who can run all day.




oh yeah Curtin can do that too!

I really like Langdon as a player. Feel like he's a prototype wingman who can run all day and do a lot of damage.

But if I was a Demons supporter I would not like that match-up for him. I feel like Curtin is fast becoming a prototype buster!

 

[FR0GGY]

I really like Langdon as a player. Feel like he's a prototype wingman who can run all day and do a lot of damage.

But if I was a Demons supporter I would not like that match-up for him. I feel like Curtin is fast becoming a prototype buster!

They sent Langdon to do a tagging job a few weeks ago, on Daicos I think, or maybe it was the bony, trouble is it shut Langdon out of the game as well, think he only had 3 disposals.

 

[Betts are off]

They sent Langdon to do a tagging job a few weeks ago, on Daicos I think, or maybe it was the bony, trouble is it shut Langdon out of the game as well, think he only had 3 disposals.

Yeah he did alright tagging Daicos from memory, kept him to under 20 touches which is no simple feat. However, Daicos is almost the anti-Curtin. A player who took his one and only contested mark in his 81st game of his career. Not what you would call an "aerial threat".

For what it's worth, I don't think any team tags Curtin this season, but if they did tag Curtin, I wouldn't be using Langdon.

 

[Lukes bike Pedlar]

Out of interest I looked at the Melbourne team lineup from last week. Their listed starting wingman are Langdon (182cm) and Sparrow (183cm).

I wonder which one of them are putting their hand up to match up on Curtin this week? Can't imagine either are all that excited to give away 14cm+ in the marking contest. Especially on the narrow confines of Adelaide oval.

they have harvey langford who they have put on the wing. 190cm mid/winger. looks a player to

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

they have harvey langford who they have put on the wing. 190cm mid/winger. looks a player to

This just shows how ridiculous it is to have a guy who is 197cm and can play wing. When a 190cm player is probably still too short to match up on him.

Agree with others that opposition probably aren’t going to worry about Curtin too much this year but give him another year or two and he’ll be giving opposition coaches nightmares.

 

[cmndstab]

I think its due to most clubs doing their main training sessions on a Thursday for Sunday nights, so allows them a little bit longer to consider the options.

This is correct. But also, any time the AFL can stretch out a weekly event over two days, they're going to be happy to do it. This way people are tuning in for selection news on Thursdays and Fridays.

 

[Betts are off]

I don't watch a lot of Demon's footy, but can someone enlighten me as to why Jake Lever

8

Jake Lever

Age

29

Ht

194cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.6

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

4.9

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.3

3star

MG

242.0

4star

D

9.6

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

3.1

2star

M

3.9

4star

T

1.3

2star

MG

145.4

3star

D

16.0

4star

K

11.0

4star

HB

5.0

4star

M

6.6

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

189.8

4star

was omitted last week?

I assume it was form related, but he wouldn't have been omitted a lot on form in his career. Given Petty is concussed he would be an immediate re-call right?

 

[thebirdman 24]

We should be fine this week but next week against the Dogs we have a short break (surprise surprise) and the Dogs have an extra three days rest on us.

We do get dudded a bit with away games especially.

 

[Mutineer]

I don't watch a lot of Demon's footy, but can someone enlighten me as to why Jake Lever was omitted last week?

I assume it was form related, but he wouldn't have been omitted a lot on form in his career. Given Petty is concussed he would be an immediate re-call right?

Goodwin wants Lever confident for Demons return

Melbourne's AFL loss to Gold Coast won't change coach Simon Goodwin's plan to get Jake Lever back loving...

www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au

 

[Doctor B]

I think the general vibe is we can gun for a top 4 spot, or we can give games to a few more youngsters, we can't do both. Hence why as the season progresses we get as old as possible.

Same thing we did in 2023 when we got a real sniff after the 1st half of the year. So unless an injury strikes I don't expect we'll see many forced change in our 23 going forward.

We're getting older as the season goes on.
Last week we were the fourth oldest team.

Our 2025 season average 25.7 years - 97.1 games
The last 10 games average 25.8 years - 99.3 games
The last 5 games average 25.9 - 103.4 games

Last week 26.4 age - 114.5 games

Dogs 26.2 - 109
Melb 25.8 - 115.3
GC 25.7 - 103.7
Haw 25.3 - 98.1
Freo 24.9 - 87.0

 

[fortunatecrow]

Yeah, basically said that Draper is solid depth at the moment and that they want to "get him there the right way", basically saying they want him to earn his spot.

Not a whole heap to take from it.

to my eyes this is what was done with Berry -- make him earn it -- and it has paid off

 

[dylan123]

Should all team selections be announced on Thursday nights?

Currently Sunday matches are given an extra 24 hours

Would it be better for everyone to announce their final 23 on Thursday but maybe the Sunday teams are afforded an extra emergency that gets trimmed on the Friday?

While you're at it, bring it back to the 5pm announcements instead of the 6.25pm news special that they pushed it back for in the first place - only for it to basically be skipped over during the news coverage...