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5 Demons to watch in 2020

JakovichScissorKick
in Melbourne Demons

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1. Harrison Petty - showed some lovely signs when he was moved forward toward the end of the season. At 197cm and a great mark of the footy, he could be the KPF we have been craving.  Too bad he missed the last few games, I feel a bag of 4 or 5 goals was looming

2,.  Christian Petracca -  after a very solid second half of 2019,  Petracca goes into the preseason with his confidence up.  Under the guidance of fitness guru Darren Burgess,  Trac should (and I stress SHOULD) have a breakout season

3. Bayley Fritsch  -   could be on the verge of becoming a star.  Has what it takes to kick 50+ goals and provide plenty of highlights along the way.  Will be a very hard matchup for any defender. Thank god the coaches moved him back to the forward line where he belongs.  Now please lave him there

4. Jay Lockhart -    missed out on an AFL preseason, yet had some fine moments and kicked some crafty goals.  I would give him first crack at the crumbing forward role depending how the preseason shakes out. 

5.  Jack Viney -  after a subpar year, Jack will want to bounce back hard.  He has another level to go to, and the new fitness regime will hopefully get his body right so he can fulfill his potential

 

 

Feel free to list your players to watch

 

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    1. Angus Brayshaw

    How will he respond? What role will he predominantly get? If he's deployed as a tagger again then I see his MFC career at the crossroads in 2020. Has SO much ability & talent, and by all reports a ripper fella, but from an outsider's perspective he doesn't seem to have the right attitude just yet.

    2. Steven May

    All eyes on his offseason I guess. Think the whole fitness thing was a bit oversold, and time trials won't tell us much, but his ability to stay on the park in 2020 will be of massive importance to us. Will provide that "at all costs" type of leadership that is always handy for us.

    3. Jake Lever

    Gone under the radar a bit (externally) as far as expectations go. Some of it is just luck, but also needs to find a way to become less pure interceptor and get a bit more key defender about him for us to progress IMO.

    4. Tom McDonald

    A bit like the club in general, needs to show that 2018 is the benchmark and not just a fluke. Backing him in to come out firing but the foot/feet are still a concern given the lack of mature key forward backup for him.

    5. Sam Weideman

    Has the attitude and tools, lacks the confidence. I like a lot about him and the sight of his face after the Adelaide loss has stuck in my mind this year. He's one bloke I would love to see set loose a bit and told to go out and enjoy his footy.

    Special mention - Joel Smith, vandenBerg, Kolodjashnij, Jetta. How will their injury luck pan out in 2020?

     

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    I can think of 5 players but don't want to name them as I will put the moz on them.

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    1 hour ago, JakovichScissorKick said:

    1. Harrison Petty - showed some lovely signs when he was moved forward toward the end of the season. At 197cm and a great mark of the footy, he could be the KPF we have been craving.  Too bad he missed the last few games, I feel a bag of 4 or 5 goals was looming

    2,.  Christian Petracca -  after a very solid second half of 2019,  Petracca goes into the preseason with his confidence up.  Under the guidance of fitness guru Darren Burgess,  Trac should (and I stress SHOULD) have a breakout season

    3. Bayley Fritsch  -   could be on the verge of becoming a star.  Has what it takes to kick 50+ goals and provide plenty of highlights along the way.  Will be a very hard matchup for any defender. Thank god the coaches moved him back to the forward line where he belongs.  Now please lave him there

    4. Jay Lockhart -    missed out on an AFL preseason, yet had some fine moments and kicked some crafty goals.  I would give him first crack at the crumbing forward role depending how the preseason shakes out. 

    5.  Jack Viney -  after a subpar year, Jack will want to bounce back hard.  He has another level to go to, and the new fitness regime will hopefully get his body right so he can fulfill his potential

     

     

    Feel free to list your players to watch

     

    Looking forward to seeing Fritsch next year too. It only took the coaches about 18 rounds to work out that he is a natural forward. 

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    50 minutes ago, Nelo said:

    Looking forward to seeing Fritsch next year too. It only took the coaches about 18 rounds to work out that he is a natural forward. 

    They knew he was a natural forward, where he played most of 2018.

    He was moved back at the end of 2018, when we needed a sweeper type in defence.

    They left him in that role for most of 2019, which was odd, but they knew damn well he was a forward after they drafted him as one...

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    1. Bailey Fritsch - could be the surprise of the year, has a 40 goal season in him, can create, draw opponents, play tall and small. Everything Jack Martin is and half the price.

    2. Jake Lever - Another sub par year will cement his recruitment as a bust. Is a terrific leader and really hope he gets a good run at it.

    3. Jack Viney - People forgot very quickly about Jack, they started to concentrate on what he cant do, rather than what he can do. The calls to trade him on this site were hard to fathom, but truly believe he can be the player he was a couple years ago.

    4. Angus Brayshaw - Which year was the anomaly? he has mirrored the MFC in the last 2 years. Needs to care more about using the footy and get back to that team first mentality.

    5.Joel Smith - what is he? who is he? can he play? if he can its a bonus and could be the swingman we need. 

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    Mitch Hannan

    Bayley Fritsch

    Steven May

    Christian Petracca

    Ed Langton

    No reasons really, I'd just like to see at least five of our guys have a great year in 2020. Can't think of five from this year!

     

    Go Dees!!!

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    IF... 

    these 5 (6)

    Smith, Kk, Vanders, May, Lever (and Nev) 

    could get 20 games each they would be like new recruits .....

    ADD

    these 7

    Thommo, Langers, Young, Kemp, Martin, Gray

    and you only need 10 more for the 22.. Max, Olly, Melk, Trac, Salem, Tmac, Harmes, Gus, Viney, Fritsch 

    (depth?.... jones, Hibberd, Hore, Weed, ANB, Hannan, petty, Hunt, no.97...that’s 31)..

    and the others...

     

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    1. Fritsch - Snuck under the radar and was experimented with for much of 2019 but despite all that his numbers bear out what watching him would also tell you - he is inside the best 5 drafted in his year (2017).  When finally settled forward he managed two goals a game in the final seven rounds. That's no small achievement in a team that was breaking down so badly inside 50. Also to his credit is great consistency, especially considering how much he was moved around. A smart player with at least 'good' in every area of skill and attitude.

    2. Petracca - The potential beast. Game ripper. His best is as good as any you care to name. Developed some more of that all-important consistency with no real 'dud' games in the second half of the season. to my mind the word lacking from our midfield players for many years has been 'dangerous' - Good Version Petracca makes things happen, kicks goals and creates goals and demands attention at a whole strategic level from opposition coaches. If Petracca is 'on' and you don't have a plan for it, you're in trouble.

    3. Tom McDonald - Like Petracca, when Tom McDonald is at his finest he is a top-level player in his position. How much it ws something about his body or something going on between his ears we can't be sure. But in our five wins this season McDonald kicked 14 goals while barely troubling the scorers the rest of the time. Body right and confidence restored he is just priceless, contribution effectively in every way (even tackles inside 50!) with a huge workrate. His best changes the team.

    4. Angus Brayshaw - "You're better than that, Angus" could sum up his 2019. How many times have we each thought it? (except for those who have written him off) Seeing Brayshaw blindly dink kicks around or thoughtlessly run into trouble, handball to someone in no better position or call for it when he was in no better position, or simply fail to run to anywhere useful at crucial moments - it all hurts because many of us remember him being a smart and accountable player who built his game on being pretty good at everything and pretty alert all game. On the theme of 'pretty good at everything', a comparison of his 2019 to 2018 quickly shows that in 2019 he was a bit worse in every aspect. No single stat suddenly collapses, it was simply that in every area he fell away a bit, from 'generally excellent' to 'yeah alright'. The exception to this also tells the story - his "meters gained" stat dropped away massively in 2019, confirming for everyone what we saw with our own eyes - his disposal just wasn't getting as much done in 2019 as it had in 2018.  Bring back smart, confident Brayshaw and it changes our midfield and is a pleasure to watch as well.

    5. Jake Melksham - The king of goal assists, topping the AFL for goal assists per game for two years running.  And that depsite our forward line getting lost down a mine in 2019.  Even so, he was short of his best - or simply short of opportunities to play his role as someone who rewards the efforts of others. He never stopped taking on the game even as all around became more and more negative. That made him look like an idiot sometimes, but it was after all the fear of looking like an idiot that spooked the minds of so many of our players. If 2020 comes to look like 2018 reloaded with the bonus of some extra contributors on the wings, Melksham will be rolling the dice many many times and it will be fun to watch and potent for the team. I'm not saying he will improve dramatically in 2020 - I'm saying if the team lifts then his efforts will be dramatically better rewarded.

    Fair mention to the host of 'out to injury' and 'mysterious form slump' types, like Jetta, Lever, May, Hibberd, Vandenberg, Smith, and of course Viney.

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    My 5 Demons to watch in 2020 are:

    • Tracca's gluttony for an extra serving of nonna's pasta
    • Angus' slothful running back to defence
    • Jayden Hunt's envy of Ed Langdon's magnificent hair
    • May's wrathful head high bumps
    • The 22's pride in playing a good quarter of footy

    Edited by John Demonic

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    35 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

    My 5 Demons to watch in 2020 are:

    • Tracca's gluttony for an extra serving of nonna's pasta
    • Angus' slothful running back to defence
    • Jayden Hunt's envy of Ed Langdon's magnificent hair
    • May's wrathful head high bumps
    • The 22's pride in playing a good quarter of footy

    To be fair usually a Nonna’s pasta is hard to resist. 

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    If we're going anywhere we need some new names to break out. Even the best teams have renewal every year and we can't expect the clock to turn back and have Jetta, Melksham, Hibberd, get "back to their best". (Not trying to single out, just picking a few names at semi-random.)

    For some of our list, their best is behind them. We just don't know who yet. If new names don't replace them, or others don't find a new level (Fritsch, Tracc, Weed???), I fear we will not "get back to" playing finals.

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    LANGDON: See what his outside run makes a difference.

    T.MCDONALD: Must find 2018 form.

    GAWN: Can he continue to dominate.

    OLIVER: Can he get his kick\handball ratio correct.

    BRAYSHAW: Can he find his 2018 form.

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