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The Ox says the Dees in danger ....

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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I'd say we had a few injuries to key players last year as well . . . AND . . . moved up the ladder.

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    This seems like an 'I'm still annoyed about them trading Watts' type of comment from the Ox.  It's strange.  He says we'll go south if we get injuries to Hogan, Weideman and Lever - any side that loses some of it's important key forward and defensive players will struggle, but he fails to recognise how we battled plenty of injuries last season and were still competitive throughout.

    Weird stuff from the Ox.

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    It's somehow comforting, in a weird kind of a way, to see that MFCSS extends beyond the firewall of Demonland. If nothing else, this does prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Ox IS one of us!

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    That is one to watch out for, Ox. Thanks for the reminders.

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    12 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

    Thought he was gonna mention Viney and TMac instead creates phantom injuries to Hogan and Lever :laugh:

    It really is strange stuff, Doc.  We had so many injuries to key players such as Gawn, Hogan, Viney and Jones, yet we seemed to manage okay.  We might have run out of steam in the latter stages of the year, but we still managed to beat some pretty good sides.  Why he feels this will change next year, and why we are different to others in terms of how the injuries will affect us, has me baffled.

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    We basically lost our 2 most important players for most of the season in gawn and hogan yet still improved.

    if Richmond lost riewoldt and rance with dusty missing as much as jones or viney did then not only do they not win the flag they probably don’t play finals, that’s how fine a line it is to win a flag need a massive dose of luck

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    That was a waste of 5 minutes. 

    I expect better from the Ox. Any side will fall if your best 3 are out long term

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    Everybody in the football media think that they are Nostradamus.

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    I do like the guy, but the Ox ain't the sharpest tool in the shed.

    Did he also say if Martin, Riewoldt and Rance were injured the Tigers may drop off a bit too?

    Hawkins, Selwood and Dangerfield could effect Geelong?

     

     

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    Guys, the Ox works in the media. It's the off season. He has to talk about something.

    There is so much demand for anything AFL related in Australia that the media cant keep our appetite sated. This is why the journalists are unhappy with the amount of access they have to the players. They are forced to come up with attention grabbing stories or squeeze a subject completely dry as there is not enough to talk about.

    In this case the Ox spoke about it for a couple of minutes and someone made an article about it. All he really said was that he was worried that we had a lot of injuries last year and that it could continue. He goes on to say that clubs with a good run do well. Not rocket science, and hardly worth writing an article about it either.

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    The subtext in Ox's obvious observation is all about avoiding complacency ie improvement is not a given and will need to be fought hard for, more so if there's any adversity on the injury front.   Just messaging for the young bucks in the playing group....from that wise old owl the Ox!

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    19 minutes ago, BAMF said:

    Guys, the Ox works in the media. It's the off season. He has to talk about something.

    There is so much demand for anything AFL related in Australia that the media cant keep our appetite sated. This is why the journalists are unhappy with the amount of access they have to the players. They are forced to come up with attention grabbing stories or squeeze a subject completely dry as there is not enough to talk about.

    In this case the Ox spoke about it for a couple of minutes and someone made an article about it. All he really said was that he was worried that we had a lot of injuries last year and that it could continue. He goes on to say that clubs with a good run do well. Not rocket science, and hardly worth writing an article about it either.

    so much demand or too many reporters/commentators?

    real end user demand or fake media generated demand - push or pull?

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    We added a top 5 player and didn't lose one in the top 12-15, so we have become a little more strengthened against injuries...

    Now, you cannot replace your best players and we won't be able to replace Viney et al but every team has that problem.

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    1 hour ago, BAMF said:

    Guys, the Ox works in the media. It's the off season. He has to talk about something.

    Good point. SEN have been bragging that they will still be talking about AFL over the summer. (As if they were ever not going to.)

    It amounts to counselling. Don't worry, listeners, don't let all this horse racing, cricket, tennis, soc ... s ... you know, the S game! ... and other alarming and worrisome non-AFL activity get you down and lead to self harm. We'll still be talking about AFL all summer! Whew!

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    I don't think what he says is wrong.

    Neither team is at a point yet where if a KPP goes down, we can successfully cover them unequivocally without ruining structure. We're continuing to develop our ruck division, Omac is clearly being developed as a reliable depth player, and Weeds needs to be our Roughead equivalent. But we're not at a point yet where losing a Lever or Hogan allows us to bring someone straight into the role with similar efficiency. We got lucky with Hogan and Gawn this year but we were arguably a 4-5 win better side with them playing every game.

    We need to be in a position where losing Gawn doesn't force us to go small, or losing Hogan forces a complete restructure of the line and structure of the team. We're too vulnerable. 

    Make no mistake that if lever, gawn and hogan stay healthy this year, so long as we aren't decimated in the middle like we were for a patch this year, we'll be top 4.

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    WE are not as vulnerable as 75 percent of the sides in the AFL injuries or not. We had our fair share and cost us some crucial games. I would like to see a Richmond with injuries to crucial guns. Rance, Cotchin, just the two, they would crumble. No protection for Martin in 2018 he cannot get any better.  We can only be better In cricket terms, for once we bat very deep. 

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    Gawn is important but we can restructure with the Tommy Mc/Pedersen ruck combination.

    Hogan is important but we've won games without him and again Pedersen/Tommy Mc isn't a bad key forward pairing and if not those 2 Weeds is hopefully available.

    Lever might prove vital, the Crows sure were a better team with him playing well (bit of chicken and egg there), but Frost and Oscar can at least do a job some weeks and Hunt and Hibberd can intercept and drive from half back.

    Viney might be our most important player but then again his absence might see more midfield time for Jones and Petracca and then it comes down to finding guys to play wing and half forward.

    The biggest factors with injuries are:
    - In game injuries that leave you down 2 players early
    - Injuries to multiple players from the same position group
    - injuries to groups of players at the same time that leave you short handed and also struggling to get recovered players back in to the team at the same time.

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    Weidemann? I think Ox got it wrong, Viney is our most important player, he's a born leader and pulled us across the line against the Eagles. If we lose him for an extended stretch of time we're rooted. 

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