In The Guardian this morning. Thoughts? 

Good article, sums up my feelings and thoughts perfectly. 

I think the article is pretty spot on. 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/30/fear-of-another-false-dawn-lingers-at-melbourne-after-demons-loss-in-alice

Sums us up pretty well I think, but the defensive horror remains a longer term concern. 

Classic line

The man they really missed this week was Clayton Oliver.... His ability to stand in traffic and dodge tacklers like Neo avoiding bullets in The Matrix until the right option appears would have added much needed calm to a side who responded to Port’s pressure like they were evacuating a burning building.

Not a bad article. This Adam Woolcock can write, for one, and he's put his finger on some troublesome areas for us. Is he the headline right? I hope not, but we'll know at the end of the year.

26 minutes ago, Webber said:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/30/fear-of-another-false-dawn-lingers-at-melbourne-after-demons-loss-in-alice

Sums us up pretty well I think, but the defensive horror remains a longer term concern. 

get rid of the DIAMOND D and It will be a quick fix!

Nothing wrong with his analysis. Unusual for a journo. Must be a long suffering melbourne supporter..............

Our defence is a massive worry for mine.

it's not another false dawn in any way shape and form, we've been steadily improving for the last three years. 

we are inconsistent because it's a new game plan and we have the youngest and most inexperienced 22 in the comp.. our best is very good, our worst is very average that's just what happens with young teams, look at the Saints, they look like world beaters one week and get belted the next, we're definitely ahead of them but the point stands. 

Our defense looks bad because they players are still working out how to implement it in game, combined with the lack of experience at AFL level making a 2 way transition running game plan very difficult for such a young team to deliver week in week out in any case, then you throw in the interchange cap, the conditions in Alice and the lack of changes it makes for a difficult day at the office, i said in the game day thread if we didn't jump out of the blocks we would really struggle over four quarters.

in the last four years we've gone 2 wins, 4wins, 7 wins and now 5 already, there is definitely an upward trend there but we're just going to have to accept that with a list the age of ours we're going to have down weeks, but we'll also have up weeks, i wouldn't be surprised if we beat or seriously push the Hawks on the weekend.

1 minute ago, jnrmac said:

Nothing wrong with his analysis. Unusual for a journo. Must be a long suffering melbourne supporter..............

Our defence is a massive worry for mine.

didn't we focus on defence for the first 2 years to get it right, then move on to offence this year? seems we didn't get it right or we threw it away

2 minutes ago, Abe said:

it's not another false dawn in any way shape and form, we've been steadily improving for the last three years. 

we are inconsistent because it's a new game plan and we have the youngest and most inexperienced 22 in the comp.. our best is very good, our worst is very average that's just what happens with young teams, look at the Saints, they look like world beaters one week and get belted the next, we're definitely ahead of them but the point stands. 

Our defense looks bad because they players are still working out how to implement it in game, combined with the lack of experience at AFL level making a 2 way transition running game plan very difficult for such a young team to deliver week in week out in any case, then you throw in the interchange cap, the conditions in Alice and the lack of changes it makes for a difficult day at the office, i said in the game day thread if we didn't jump out of the blocks we would really struggle over four quarters.

in the last four years we've gone 2 wins, 4wins, 7 wins and now 5 already, there is definitely an upward trend there but we're just going to have to accept that with a list the age of ours we're going to have down weeks, but we'll also have up weeks, i wouldn't be surprised if we beat or seriously push the Hawks on the weekend.

We're inconsistent because it's a $hit game plan. Where is Roos' defensive game plan? Why has all defence gone out the window with the switch to a more attacking style of play? Where is the strong tackling that is needed?

Nope.

We're building a very good list. Young, inconsistent, frustrating, inexperienced... But very, very talented.

We haven't played two terrible matches in a row this year- let's see how this weekend plays out.

Supporters get sick of excuses, but there are valid reasons.  We're regularly putting out the youngest and least experienced team in the AFL.  Naturally, inconsistency follows.  Have a look at the age and games experience of most premiership teams.

Add the fact that we're missing experienced older bodies in Dawes/Pedersen, Trengove, Lumumba, vandenBerg, and top notch young talent in Oliver and Brayshaw and we're not at our best.

With Viney, Vince and Tyson not contributing it was a minor miracle we were within 17 points at 3/4 time.

 

I think it was written by Adam the Demonblog author.  Similar writing styles. 

Nothing article...

 

if we win this week we will be the best thing since sliced bread and the media will be back to saying we have a premiership list etc.....

13 minutes ago, Abe said:

it's not another false dawn in any way shape and form, we've been steadily improving for the last three years. 

we are inconsistent because it's a new game plan and we have the youngest and most inexperienced 22 in the comp.. our best is very good, our worst is very average that's just what happens with young teams, look at the Saints, they look like world beaters one week and get belted the next, we're definitely ahead of them but the point stands. 

Our defense looks bad because they players are still working out how to implement it in game, combined with the lack of experience at AFL level making a 2 way transition running game plan very difficult for such a young team to deliver week in week out in any case, then you throw in the interchange cap, the conditions in Alice and the lack of changes it makes for a difficult day at the office, i said in the game day thread if we didn't jump out of the blocks we would really struggle over four quarters.

in the last four years we've gone 2 wins, 4wins, 7 wins and now 5 already, there is definitely an upward trend there but we're just going to have to accept that with a list the age of ours we're going to have down weeks, but we'll also have up weeks, i wouldn't be surprised if we beat or seriously push the Hawks on the weekend.

I like your optimism Abe, and agree with much, but the point the article makes and what we can all see every week, but particularly in games like Saturday's, is that we are horrifically easy to expose on transition. The stat about oppo goals scored from inside 30 metres illustrates the point. Along with many on here, I don't think this comes down to age or experience (which much of our fragility does), but is instead a fundamental tactical flaw. I'm all for tactical innovation and progress, but this diamond defence, or whatever you want to call it, seems destined for the bin. And I think without Jack Viney this Saturday, our most important player, our clearance and contested possession king, an almighty flogging at the hands of the best ball users in the AFL might just speed up that process. 

1 minute ago, daisycutter said:

didn't we focus on defence for the first 2 years to get it right, then move on to offence this year? seems we didn't get it right or we threw it away

Apparently we did focus on it. Not that you'd know...

I was brought to my attention that we have a significant number of new players from 3 years ago when Roos started but seriously we have a system that is not working as it should. Is it personel? Is it the midfield not winning? Is it effort falling away?

There is no question that we have a fragile defence. Wagner is new - promising but turns it over a lot (not Terlich-esq but enough to worry); Hunt is new, Salem is still learning defence, Oscar Mac is new and not yet up to it, Tom Mac has a two significant flaws in his game with disposal and decision making, Garland is not up to it, Dunn it would seem is out of favour. We have no rock down there. And the game plan doesn't seem to allow for one on one defending meaning that too often we have Jetta defending against Reiwoldt etc.

58 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Nothing wrong with his analysis. Unusual for a journo. Must be a long suffering melbourne supporter..............

Our defence is a massive worry for mine.

Yes he is a Dees supporter.  'Adam Woolcock is a Melbourne sport writer. He is a Melbourne Demons obsessive and operates demonwiki.org '  He probably posts on DL.

However, the Guardian article has been edited today (note it was published yesterday).  The original article had a bit of emotive language and hyperbole.  He crossed the line with this about the Viney/Ebert incident:  ‘Only on Monday, one was found guilty of murder. No, the scale is not nearly the same, and yes, the rules are different on the football ground. But they are not suspended altogether. By ever so few degrees, the sight of one footballer belting another in the head legitimises the act more broadly’. 

For a 'journalist' to draw a comparison with murder (I assume he means where a 'king hit' was involved) was I thought, appalling. 

Fortunately, his editors saw the light and have removed that very offensive paragraph in today's version.

Edited May 31, 20169 yr by Lucifer's Hero

We are still far too reliant on our best 6 - 8 players to be a decent side, because our bottom 6- 8 players do not consistently play at AFL standard. On the weekend Viney, Vince, Garlett and McDonald had zero influence, hence we lost badly.

The likes of Harmes and Kent come to play once a month, and until those guys become consistent footballers, or we find guys who can stand up consistently, we will remain an average side.

The thing that bothers me about season 2016 is that our five wins have been against sides we beat last year, and our five losses have been against sides we lost to last year. We are playing a different style of football, but our results show to me that we haven't improved on last year (yet).

1 hour ago, Demonised said:

Not a bad article. This Adam Woolcock can write, for one, and he's put his finger on some troublesome areas for us. Is he the headline right? I hope not, but we'll know at the end of the year.

Didn't realise this was the same Adam who writes Every Day Is Like Sunday

On 5/31/2016 at 9:31 AM, Diamond said:

We're inconsistent because it's a $hit game plan. Where is Roos' defensive game plan? Why has all defence gone out the window with the switch to a more attacking style of play? Where is the strong tackling that is needed?

Ah well, 10 rounds in and Diamond doesn't like it, better scrap it and start a re-build? 

if we win next week the port game will be forgotten. 

we are working on the balance between defense and attack and i am certain when we get that right you'll see much better defensive set up and effort.

45 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

didn't we focus on defence for the first 2 years to get it right, then move on to offence this year? seems we didn't get it right or we threw it away

Sorry for quoting yours specifically, DC, but here's something that we need to consider...

After Round 10, 2015, we stood at 3 wins, 7 losses, points for 701, points against 971.

After Round 10, 2015, we stand at 5 wins, 5 losses, points for 1054, points against 982.

Have we really gone backwards with our defence?  What has happened is that when the opposition score goals, they score them a lot easier, which makes our defence look terrible.  However, compared to last year, the amount of goals/points that we are leaking is basically no different (just on 1 point per game), yet our own scoring has increased around 6 goals a game.

We have to be on the right track, especially as this is the first year where we have seen significant evidence of the defensive side of our game.

Another false dawn?

Yeah... nah....

6 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Didn't realise this was the same Adam who writes Every Day Is Like Sunday

And I didn't know until you just pointed it out. Well, I never ...

1 minute ago, Demonised said:

And I didn't know until you just pointed it out. Well, I never ...

Only because it said he runs demonwiki (a great website for those who have some minutes or hours to kill)