The 'It's my opinion and I'll crack it if I want to' Mid-Season Review

[Wiseblood 24,637]

Afternoon fellow Demonlanders!

With the bye well and truly upon us, and a poor performance in our back pocket alongside 6 rippers, it's time to reflect on where we are at.  Here are some questions that I thought might be worth answering and I'd be interested to see what people think.  Try and look at the season as a whole - it would be easy to let yesterday cloud our judgement, or even the six games before it, so take a deep breath and look at the whole 12 rounds so far.

Here are the questions to answer:

 

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

Which player has impressed you the most?

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

What has been our best win to date?

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

 

Remember - it's your opinion, so knock yourself out.  Fancy us to still finish Top 2?  Reckon we'll fall at the last hurdle again?  Let us know.  Positive or negative I think it's a good time to reflect on the year so far, so if you have the time to answer the questions I think it would be great to see what everybody thinks.  Enjoy!

[dimmy 1,308]

Performance Rating 7/10

McDonalds.,Brayshaw, Oliver & Jetta. ( Marginal players stepped up a cog in team game i.e. Neale-Bullen, Harmes, Hannan)

Improvement in Brayshaw (at last he has been able to have a run at it) and Fritsch

Morally Geelong.  Status : Adelaide

Salem & Petracca (consistency) Both supply outside mids.

vs Hawthorn

12 wins 6th

[SFebes 4,884]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

7/10. Have put away sides like we haven't in the past so that's a real positive, however against good sides we still struggle. Haw, Geel, Coll, Rich.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Tom McDonald and Nev Jetta.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Bayley Fritsch.

What has been our best win to date?

v Adelaide in Alice.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Christian Petracca by a mile.....then followed by Jones, Salem, Vince, Lewis.

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Collingwood. 2nd spot on the line at the bye, Neale Daniher/MND day and big stage and crowd, succumbed to pressure against the side that stopped us from playing finals in 2017.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

6-8th. 13-9

Fancy us to still finish Top 2? 

Not now. Clearly still a middle of the road side who beats up weak opponents and struggles against top sides.

Reckon we'll fall at the last hurdle again? 

Will be close. Need to beat the weak sides again and get an upset or two from Port, Adel, WCE or Syd. We need to beat these sides to consider ourselves a chance of stealing a flag.

Edited June 12, 2018 by SFebey

[DeleteUser 638]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

> 6/10. Cons: Cracking under pressure with no remediation - Tigers, Hawks, Pies. Missing a sitter (Cats). Pros: Flogging with no mercy (Blues, Crows) and 6 on trot. Breaking North hoodoo.

Which player has impressed you the most?

> Tmac, closely followed by Fritsch.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

> Lever. Both negative (knee) and positive (pre-knee)

What has been our best win to date?

> Adelaide.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

> Petracca, Viney (caveat foot), Salem, Lewis, Vince, Garlett (obviously, so he can get picked),  I am sure there are others.

What has been our most disappointing performance?

> Equally - Hawks - Cats - Pies.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

>  9th, 13 wins. Ironically missing on %.

[Demon3 2,541]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

6 out of 10. Beaten sides we should very well. Losses to better sides have every time exposed our weakness of losing  at the source, we  lose the game against good sides.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Hogan, Oliver & t-Mac

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Fritsch. looks a natural football.

What has been our best win to date?

Adelaide in Alice. Can only beat who you play against but we crushed them with impressive non relenting 4 qtrs of brutal footy.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Petracca. Jones. Viney. Garlett - Key to our game, we get so many INside 50s a firing Garlett gives crumb goals.

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Hawthorn.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

8th. Just.

Edited June 12, 2018 by Demon3

[DubDee 26,008]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

based on preseason expectations Id say 7.5/10. We have improved on last season, developed new players. The thing that has impressed me the most is a new level of consistency (6 in a row) and developing a killer instinct when on top. Losing to the good teams though has been tough to take

Which player has impressed you the most?

T Mac. he has turned into top 3 forwards in the game! 25 goals in 7 games. he would be on track for 75+ goals over a full season!

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Fritsch

What has been our best win to date?

no stand out really. the best is yet to come. beating Crows by 91 was good.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Tyson, Hunt and Trac. We need to develop our potential stars further and give them confidence to become game changers.  I was disappointed that no-one did anything to change the course of the game yesterday

What has been our most disappointing performance?

The Hawks game by a mile. 1 goal in the second half. pantsed by an average team and went into our shell. horrible to watch

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

7th. 14 wins.  I expect a couple of big wins in the run home

[Jibroni 5,004]

 

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

 

7.5, we have made some improvements but inability to be competitive against the good teams is a concern (in comparison to last year).

 

Which player has impressed you the most?

 

Angus Brayshaw, Tom MacDonald

 

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

 

Fritz

 

What has been our best win to date?

 

Adelaide

 

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

 

Petracca, Jones & Vince

 

What has been our most disappointing performance?

 

QB

 

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

 

Will win 14 games and make the Prelim, you can bookmark it. Still hold faith things will come good in the end.

   

[DeeSpencer 25,790]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?
6/10. We've gone 7 wins 0 losses against bottom sides, that's 10 out of 10. 1 win 4 losses against the good sides drags it right back.

Even in wins the forward pressure has been average, the defensive one on ones just ok. And the midfield clearances up and down. Get better at those 3 things and we'll be a more sustainable good side.

Which player has impressed you the most?
Tommy Mc. Showed signs of a good forward last year but has got better off an injury interrupted preseason.

Oliver maybe next. Fritsch. Throw back N Jones in the guts. The best games of Harmes and Melksham. 

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?
Charlie Spargo. Fritsch probably the best and most consistent but Spargo really has given us what we needed across half forward. 

What has been our best win to date?
Surprisingly it's the North game. Gave them a 4 goal lead and then dominated, should've won by more with good finishing and smarter ball use inside 50.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?
Track-daddy. 
Hibbo has to find consistency
Forwards all have to sort their pressure out.

What has been our most disappointing performance?
The Hawthorn game was a team disliking the rain and almost giving up. Richmond game ok. Pies game smashed early and flaws exposed.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position
13-9 and 8th.

[Dee Zephyr 19,267]

Rating: 7/10.  Failed twice on the big stage this year but the wins have been very good, something we couldn’t do last year was killing teams off.

Most Impressive: T Mac. Thought he was a good forward last year but has gone to a whole new level which I wasn’t expecting after missing 5-6 weeks with injury. Incredible numbers.

Draftee with Biggest Impact: Lever. Does he count as a draftee?  The backline got rolling when he did and he’s just a competitive beast.

Best Win: Adelaide. Four quarters of pure pleasure. 

Players that need to improve: Petracca and Viney.

Most disappointing performance: Collingwood for me. Massive stage and failed again. The games against Hawks and Tigers should have taught us a few things about not having the game played on our terms. I saw nothing yesterday to stem the flow. Are the days of throwing a Garry Lyon in the centre to change momentum gone?

Anything would have done yesterday, Lewis with his experience to the middle for centre bounces to try and nullify some of the dominance by Collingwood mids. Trac loose man in the back for a while, Bernie to half forward so he can spot someone up. Even Pedersen to crash into Cox with Smith going forward to use his leap and try and mark the ball. Something...anything.

Win/Loss : 14-8 Wherever that gets us, 4th-6th?

 

[layzie 33,894]

Excellent time to reflect.

 

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

I’d go with a 7/10 and I think that’s more than fair. Haven’t beaten anyone amazing but I have to take into account getting the job done against sides we should beat. I think this is a step forward considering we would have fluffed a few of those games last year. Credit where its due.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Clarry. The stuff this guy is doing week in week out under 50 games is nothing short of amazing. Jesse needs a mention too as he’s really stepped it up.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Bayley Fritsch. Had a great feeling about the guy and was stoked when he fell to us in the draft. Looks a natural.

What has been our best win to date?

Has to be the Adelaide game. We were really on and looked like a side. 4 quarters of great footy.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Christian Petracca.

What has been our most disappointing performance?

The Hawks game. No contest.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

13 wins, maybe 7^th or 8^th.

Fancy us to still finish Top 2? 

No I really don’t and haven’t at any point this year. We are a good footy side and I see us around the 6^th to 8^th mark as a solid final 8 team but I really don’t think we mix it with the big boys yet

 Reckon we'll fall at the last hurdle again? 

My head says we’ll make the 8. I think we’ll have the points in the bank to avoid the heartbreak again. But my heart and my guts are questioning why as a Melbourne fan I would think that.

[Young Blood 2,632]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

7.5/10 - This team is still learning. We have finally been able to put away weaker sides with confidence. There is more belief and trust in the group then I've seen since Roos started. We just need to get more comfortable when we play the better sides in dealing with the pressure and getting it back on our own terms.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Angus Brayshaw - I always knew he could play to this standard but I'm just so glad he finally got the chance.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Has to be Bailey. His spacial awareness and reading of the ball/play comes so easily to him. Can't wait to see him develop his body/tank more which can only give him more confidence.

What has been our best win to date?

Most enjoyable would have to be Adelaide

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Tyson needs to learn to play a different role which I believe he can do so successfully. Hunt and Garlett obviously as well.

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Hawthorn. The other three losses against good sides were because we didn't cope well with the pressure. The effort was there. Against Hawthorn we fell away with our effort.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

I think we are a top 8 side. I see us hopefully finishing around 6/7th.

@Wiseblood Good thread. Would be keen to see how you think we're going with your answers.

Edited June 12, 2018 by Yung Blood

[drdrake 3,183]

Interesting that most have Adelaide as our best win, only one so far has the North win, I would have thought considering Norths form line this year that was a much better win than an undermanned Adelaide that are struggling.

Great to do this, but essentially we haven't achieved anything as yet except have a healthy win/loss.  The next 10 weeks will define the season, we can either show we have improved or show we haven't

[640MD 3,401]

1 hour ago, SFebey said:

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

7/10. Have put away sides like we haven't in the past so that's a real positive, however against good sides we still struggle. Haw, Geel, Coll, Rich.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Tom McDonald and Nev Jetta.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Bayley Fritsch.

What has been our best win to date?

v Adelaide in Alice.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Christian Petracca by a mile.....then followed by Jones, Salem, Vince, Lewis.

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Collingwood. 2nd spot on the line at the bye, Neale Daniher/MND day and big stage and crowd, succumbed to pressure against the side that stopped us from playing finals in 2017.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

6-8th. 13-9

Fancy us to still finish Top 2? 

Not now. Clearly still a middle of the road side who beats up weak opponents and struggles against top sides.

Reckon we'll fall at the last hurdle again? 

Will be close. Need to beat the weak sides again and get an upset or two from Port, Adel, WCE or Syd. We need to beat these sides to consider ourselves a chance of stealing a flag.

Not sure I could have come up with anything different 

[640MD 3,401]

This is a great thread. Positive stuff but not too over the top

keep it going

[deelete my account 1,194]

I'd rate our season an 8/12   Tmac/Lever. Fritsch. Adelaide. Petracca, Collingwood, 5-8, No, Nah we'll make it.

Edited June 12, 2018 by John Demonic

[WERRIDEE 5,486]

2 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Here are the questions to answer:

 

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

Which player has impressed you the most?

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

What has been our best win to date?

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

I rate our performance 7\10 due to playing no one and the Pies dinting our flag hopes.

Tom.McDonald has impressed me the most coming off his serious injury.

Fritsch is the draftee that has had the biggest impact.

Adelaide has been our best win.

Petracca needs to improve in the second half of the season.

Collingwood has been our most disappointing performance.

Call me crazy but I still think we can finish top 2 but we have to play a hell of a lot better than we did against the Pies.

Win\loss record 18\4

2 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

 

 

 

[Pates 9,660]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

6.5, I see us as the downhill skiers of the competition so far the year. Beat the teams below us easily but seem crumble under pressure. Very much like Port last year. That said when things click we look like a very good footy team.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Tom McDonald, to come back from his foot injury and have an immediate impact has been incredible and heartening to watch. He did his job yesterday, one of a very few.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Spargo for me, he’s got a great energy about him and really suits our style.

What has been our best win to date?

V Adelaide, hard to go past beating last year’s Grand Finalists by 90 points.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Petracca has been really disappointing this year, he just seems to be going at half pace and going to the wrong spots. We need him to have a big second half of the year.

What has been our most disappointing performance? 

Queens Birthday for me. Hawthorn was bad but QB we must have been setting ourselves for it, finals like atmosphere and we got found out as pretenders. Particularly to give up so many goals in the first quarter showed we were overawed by the occasion.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

6th 14W 8L we’ve got about 5 “should win” games and the others are 50/50 or tougher. I feel we can/will get 6 wins from the back end of the season, but the loss yesterday needs to be handled by the playing group well. They can’t dwell on it but they have to learn from it. We are still well placed to have a good year.

[Go the Biff 3,438]

2 hours ago, drdrake said:

Interesting that most have Adelaide as our best win, only one so far has the North win, I would have thought considering Norths form line this year that was a much better win than an undermanned Adelaide that are struggling.............

Agreed. Our bogey side and we gave them a five goal start and a beating. In previous years that would have got ugly

[Young Blood 2,632]

I thought North only started to find real form after we played them....

[nosoupforme 3,085]

Our performances up to now has been very good considering the loss we had against Collwd. 8 is a good score and l believe that is a fair assessment where we stand at the moment with an 8/4 win loss so far.

TMAC is in outstanding form and there are many others that have helped to put us in this position like a Brayshaw.

Charlie Spargo a first year draftee has the smarts and will be a valuable asset and reminds me  of a Brent Harvey type.

The  Adelaide win was a 4 quarter display of powerhouse football by far our best display against a Grand finalist side.

The most disappointing loss was against Hawthorn as l believe the first quarter we played some unbelievable footy which looked unbeatable and then to capitulate l was gobsmacked, Words could not describe my feelings. 

There are several players that need to improve to have a say in atleast this year going deep into the finals, however the one person that  has to have a good look at himself is Dom Tyson who is talented enough to reach elite status for his age and experience.

Where do we finish is a good question, l believe that 15 plus games is a possibility thinking with up the top and not with my heart. Furthermore the Friday week game will be a big one against the Power and we have to be more focused from now on. We are good enough.  We can finish in the Top 4.

[Wiseblood 24,637]

2 hours ago, Yung Blood said:

 

@Wiseblood Good thread. Would be keen to see how you think we're going with your answers.

Cheers for asking!  I thought I'd let others put their thoughts forward before I did the same!

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

I'd give us about a 7.5 at the moment, almost an 8.  It would be around an 8.5 if not for the disappointing loss yesterday.  To be 8-4 is a great position to be in and we've played some excellent football.  In the past we have struggled to put sides at our level or below a way and we've improved greatly in this area.  Our next task is to bridge the gap with those sides that play quicker, higher pressured football.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Jesse Hogan.  I could easily have gone with Tom McDonald, Angus Brayshaw or Clayton Oliver, but apart from an off day against the Pies, Jesse has been terrific.  Has 30 goals playing both deep forward and as a midfielder and has improved out of sight after a tough 2017.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Has to be Fritsch.  Spargo has been awesome as well, and has far exceeded my expectations, but Fritsch has been consistently good for longer.

What has been our best win to date?

It sounds strange but the Carlton win is our best to date.  I know they stink, but to smash them by a record 109 points at the G was amazing to watch.  It might help that I absolutely detest the Blues and love seeing them struggle, but everything about that win was awesome.  Crows a close second.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Petracca is the first that comes to mind.  I love the bloke but he needs to do more, and he has struggled since his finger injury.  Does a few good things a game but is yet to impose himself on a game this season.  Hibberd could also improve, but I think his role has changed slightly.

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Has to be the Hawks game, although yesterday wasn't great either.  We made a super start against the Hawks and then got smashed for the rest of the game.  

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

I see us finishing in 6th position with 14 wins and 8 losses.  I think we can win at least 3 of our next 4 before snagging a few in the final rounds to secure our place.

[Lord Travis 10,759]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?
6.5/10. Our win rate so far this season is 66%, so 6.5/10 is the equivelant rating. We've had huge wins against poor teams that in the past we probably would have stuffed up. Unfortunately we've also had huge losses against most decent teams we've played. Statistically we've improved from last year, but our actual win/loss results aren't too different. 

Which player has impressed you the most?
TMac has been brilliant. If only he was available to play all season! He's genuinely one of the best key forwards in the league now, comfortably. He can kick a bag, clunk contested marks, cover heaps of ground and play a variety of roles. He's a star and it's great he's signed a new contract with us. 

Brayshaw has also been good once he was finally played in the middle. He's always had the talent, and it's good to see him getting past the lingering injury side-effects to start becoming the player we know he can be.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?
Fritsch has been better than I expected. He's a seriously skilled player who takes marks he has no right to. Hopefully he can continue building strength in his body and cement his place longer term.

What has been our best win to date?
Adelaide game in Alice Springs was a ripping win. The style, structures and intensity we played with that day was everything we aspire to.

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?
Petracca has been the biggest disappointment of the season thus far. After a good season last year, his improved fitness and vaunted move into the midfield have been a failure. He's gone backwards. As a forward, he's kicking less than a goal a game. As a midfielder, he's not wining enough ball or even getting to enough contests to have an impact. His first few matches were decent-good, since then he's been poor.

I'd also list Hunt here, but he's now injured. I was bullish he'd be All Australian half back flank this year, but unfortunately he lost his mojo and is now injured. 

What has been our most disappointing performance?
The Hawthorn game was probably the worst, followed by Collingwood match. Our inability to play the MCG is a big worry. It's at the point now where I back us to win nearly every match away from the G, but pencil in home games at the G as a loss. For whatever reason, our zone gets way too high up the ground at the G, and teams stream forward with all the space in the world to utilise. We won't go anywhere until we can learn to play our home ground again.

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position
13-9 record finish in 8th place. We won't be top 4, and we could realistically finish 9th again unfortunately.

[Roost It 1,434]

Beat Port our season is 8.5/10

lose to Port it’s a 2/10

[deelete my account 1,194]

10 minutes ago, Roost It said:

Beat Port our season is 8.5/10

lose to Port it’s a 2/10

Would be slightly more accurate if it was an MCG game. Port did just beat Richmond...

Edited June 12, 2018 by John Demonic

[titan_uranus 25,020]

What do you rate our performance out of 10 to this point?  Why?

7.5, but the Port game will either turn that into an 8.5 or a 6.5.

Which player has impressed you the most?

Tom McDonald. I wasn't sure if his form as a forward in 2017 was something he could muster permanently. It appears it was, and it is.

Which draftee has made the biggest impact?

Fritsch, without any competition.

What has been our best win to date?

With the benefit of hindsight, the North win. We aren't getting enough credit for that performance. They've beaten Hawthorn, Sydney on the road, GWS and have a win in Perth to their name, and both Richmond and Geelong (in Geelong) struggled to put them away. But after giving up a four goal head start, we pretty much weren't troubled for the remaining 3 quarters. 

The Adelaide game was the best win at the time of the win, though. 

Which player(s) needs to improve in the second half of the year?

Petracca. 

What has been our most disappointing performance?

Geelong. Not our worst performance (that's the Hawthorn game), but the most disappointing. We won 3 quarters and had more than 20 inside 50s more than they did. We never should have needed Gawn's goal to win the game, we should have had it in the bag well before then. 

Where do you see us finishing?  Give a win/loss and finishing position

We should beat St Kilda, Fremantle, the Dogs and GC, so that gets us to 12 wins. How many more will we get? The Port game will give us some more insight but on what we have showed to date, I'm not confident in us winning any more than two of the six harder games (Port, Geelong, Adelaide, Sydney, WC, GWS).

I'll go with 14-8 but if we are as bad against Port as we were against Collingwood, I won't be confident about that.