Jump to content

Featured Replies

1 hour ago, P-man said:

Not gonna lie. Bennell would make these lineups look a lot sexier.

Sure would, but given he's probably only 50% chance of joining us, then has to get through preseason to get on the park he'd be about 1% chance of being out there in round 1. 

If we have 1 of 3 of Vanders, KK and Bennell out there and playing well it would be a good result.

 

In recent years we have matched up and performed well at Optus.

Its has been out efficiency that has let us down (Here and the whole season).

Should be cracker first game of the year.

Presumably all fit excluding Vandenburg , KK and Joel Smith. 

Jetta May Lever

Hibberd Petty Salem

Langdon Viney Brayshaw 

Petracca Tmcd Melksham 

Fritsch Weideman Hannan

Gawn Harmes Oliver

Tomlinson NJones ANB Hore 

emerg. Preuss, Hunt JWagner 

depth. Omcd Baker Spargo Sparrow Nietschke Bedford Jordan 

rookies Chandler Dunkley Cwagner Lockhart bradtke 

thats 40 - depth looks thin given the recent delistings and retirements 

still 6 more to add which I think should be 3 DFA/state league recruits and 3 youngsters through the national draft 

 

If we end up with Young and Murray as a DFA, we'll have stocked up on left footers.

Of the likely left footers for Round 1, we'd have:

May, Hibberd, Salem, Young, Murray, Fritsch, Viney, Hannan and maybe even Hore as well.

9 in your 22 is unusually high. The Bulldogs could argue they could have 10 in their best 22, otherwise really only North, St Kilda and Collingwood are anywhere near that number - they could probably field 6-8 players in their best 22 who are left footers. 

Does this mean anything? Probably not, but a tidbit nevertheless.


15 hours ago, A F said:

If we end up with Young and Murray as a DFA, we'll have stocked up on left footers.

Of the likely left footers for Round 1, we'd have:

May, Hibberd, Salem, Young, Murray, Fritsch, Viney, Hannan and maybe even Hore as well.

9 in your 22 is unusually high. The Bulldogs could argue they could have 10 in their best 22, otherwise really only North, St Kilda and Collingwood are anywhere near that number - they could probably field 6-8 players in their best 22 who are left footers. 

Does this mean anything? Probably not, but a tidbit nevertheless.

Having left footers is the biggest myth towards being a balanced side i have ever seen.

1) most players can kick with either foot

2) if they can't kick with the left, which all of them can, they would just handball, if they can't, they would just turn back in and get a kick on the right foot anyway.

3) the idea that left footers are better kicks is like believing left hand golfers are better.

This isn't cricket where they can bowl to your non preferred side.

7 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

Having left footers is the biggest myth towards being a balanced side i have ever seen.

1) most players can kick with either foot

2) if they can't kick with the left, which all of them can, they would just handball, if they can't, they would just turn back in and get a kick on the right foot anyway.

3) the idea that left footers are better kicks is like believing left hand golfers are better.

This isn't cricket where they can bowl to your non preferred side.

I didn't talk about balance at all. I called it a tidbit.

B) Jetta   May  Lever

HB) Hibberd Petty  Harmes

C) Langdon   Brayshaw  Tomlinson

HF) Petracca Weideman Melksham

F) Fritsch   T Mac     Hunt

Foll) Gawn  Oliver  Viney

Int) N Jones, Hannan, Lockhart, Salem

I would have Smith and VDB in the side but who knows with their injuries??

 

 
On 11/5/2019 at 11:54 AM, A F said:

I didn't talk about balance at all. I called it a tidbit.

Far too many assumptions by wrecker45 in his non preferred foot analysis. In an ideal world (theory) yes most options could be done but I estimate about 40/50% cannot kick on their non preferred foot reasonably and as for turning back into trouble as an outlet it is happening less and less especially in heavy traffic.

Think of Melbourne as an example and we are not blessed with genuine players who are adequate.

What I will say is I believe that Left footers are more likely to succeed without a reasonable right foot than their opposite numbers are with a left.

Perhaps this Left foot surplus at the Dees does give some small advantage. Hawks always appeared to have it in those 2007/2016 years with their kicking game.

 

4 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

B) Jetta   May  Lever

HB) Hibberd Petty  Harmes

C) Langdon   Brayshaw  Tomlinson

HF) Petracca Weideman Melksham

F) Fritsch   T Mac     Hunt

Foll) Gawn  Oliver  Viney

Int) N Jones, Hannan, Lockhart, Salem

I would have Smith and VDB in the side but who knows with their injuries??

 

Not sure why, but our best 22 looks so weak to me. How similar is this to 2018 finals, because we've only added players (and I rate may, Langdon, tomlinson) but it just looks like a poor squad. Petty chb? Harmes is a mid, hunt up forward? Maybe the negativity of 2019 has scarred me


24 minutes ago, tappysquads said:

Not sure why, but our best 22 looks so weak to me. How similar is this to 2018 finals, because we've only added players (and I rate may, Langdon, tomlinson) but it just looks like a poor squad. Petty chb? Harmes is a mid, hunt up forward? Maybe the negativity of 2019 has scarred me

My side is specific for round 1, not necessarily our official best 22.

1) Petty might not necessarily be in our best 22 but he may be needed to counter West Coast’s tall forward line, seeing as though we’ve lost Frost.

2) Agreed, Harmes is more of a mid, but on paper Viney, Brayshaw and Oliver get first dibs as inside mids. Plus Harmes looked quite good in defence in rd 23.

3) Hunt, Hannan and Lockhart in my side highlight our dire need for a small forward. We may end up sacrificing best available by drafting a small fwd at pick 8. This also leads to me think  Garlett’s departure was more of a retirement than a delisting, as I feel we still need his services.

Furthermore, I think we miss the goal kicking nous of Watts, Kent and Garlett but they ain’t coming back.

4) I strongly believe VDB and J Smith would greatly improve this 22, by adding a bit of X-factor to our fwd line. Hope they’re available round 1.

5) I agree, it’s not a great 22. Some years it’s hard to do a 22 because if feels as though we’ve had good depth. Next year’s 22 feels the opposite - hard to do a 22 as there’s players with question marks - Petty, Lockhart, Hannan, Weed, Hunt, Tomlinson and even Salem (who I don’t rate as much as others. Great at the 25 mtr stab passes, but what else?

Edited by Bring-Back-Powell

4 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

My side is specific for round 1, not necessarily our official best 22.

1) Petty might not necessarily be in our best 22 but he may be needed to counter West Coast’s tall forward line, seeing as though we’ve lost Frost.

2) Agreed, Harmes is more of a mid, but on paper Viney, Brayshaw and Oliver get first dibs as inside mids. Plus Harmes looked quite good in defence in rd 23.

3) Hunt, Hannan and Lockhart in my side highlight our dire need for a small forward. We may end up sacrificing best available by drafting a small fwd at pick 8. This also leads to me think  Garlett’s departure was more of a retirement than a delisting, as I feel we still need his services.

Furthermore, I think we miss the goal kicking nous of Watts, Kent and Garlett but they ain’t coming back.

4) I strongly believe VDB and J Smith would greatly improve this 22, by adding a bit of X-factor to our fwd line. Hope they’re available round 1.

5) I agree, it’s not a great 22. Some years it’s hard to do a 22 because if feels as though we’ve had good depth. Next year’s 22 feels the opposite - hard to do a 22 as there’s players with question marks - Petty, Lockhart, Hannan, Weed, Hunt, Tomlinson and even Salem (who I don’t rate as much as others. Great at the 25 mtr stab passes, but what else?

After a poor season, either our players are not as good as we thought, or shot on confidence and at best not up to scratch on fitness - we probably had close to worst record for 4th quarters in the AFL highlighting lack of fitness! These probably combine to us rating many players a level below their actual capability.

It felt difficult last year fitting in players for round one, so let’s hope last years form was an aberration and we see a lift across the whole team in 2020. Hopefully we can find a small forward in the draft who can make the grade in 2020, that would help as this seems to be the one area we haven’t addressed at all, but a lot of improvement has to come from within, a much better run with injuries will help. Improved fitness and more run via Langdon and Tomlinson should certainly help the Demons in 2020!

 

8 hours ago, tappysquads said:

Not sure why, but our best 22 looks so weak to me. How similar is this to 2018 finals, because we've only added players (and I rate may, Langdon, tomlinson) but it just looks like a poor squad. Petty chb? Harmes is a mid, hunt up forward? Maybe the negativity of 2019 has scarred me

 

Our list as it stands is very average.

Hitting a home run with picks 3 and 8, and getting Bennell up and running,  would change that instantly.

9 hours ago, JakovichScissorKick said:

 

Our list as it stands is very average.

Hitting a home run with picks 3 and 8, and getting Bennell up and running,  would change that instantly.

Yep, seems like we spent years building, then all of a sudden the list stinks again. Can't be the case. 

I guess from last year's horror you can pretty much add these players as recruits- Hannan (contributed 2018),  TMac (played injured all 2019), Jetta (hardly played), Lever (8 games,never got going), Langdon, Tomlinson, pick 3, pick 8, Bennel, Smith, AVB and we only got a broken up half a year out of Weed, Melksham and May.

That's the positive view

Surprised no one has pick 97 in there best 22. 


FB:   Jetta.  May.   Hibberd.  

HB:   Young.  Lever.   Salem

Mid.  Langdon.  Viney.  Tomlison

HF.  Petracca.   Weid.   Melksham 

FF.  Fritsch.  T Mac.  Bennell

R:  Gawn.  Oliver.  Brayshaw 

Int:   Harmes, Hunt, Jones, P8

It’s actually a fairly strong 22 if in form but there are some fair dinkum “what if’s” in this squad that it’s still worrying.

Will Viney, Jetta and Hibberd get back in form? And we’re our forwards in TMac and Weid one hit wonders?

Will Young (assuming) become a Nick Haynes or a James Strauss?

We’ve seen what nearly every player in this squad can/has done so if we’re fit and not a top 6 team this year I’ll be asking serious questions

 

18 hours ago, tappysquads said:

Yep, seems like we spent years building, then all of a sudden the list stinks again. Can't be the case. 

I guess from last year's horror you can pretty much add these players as recruits- Hannan (contributed 2018),  TMac (played injured all 2019), Jetta (hardly played), Lever (8 games,never got going), Langdon, Tomlinson, pick 3, pick 8, Bennel, Smith, AVB and we only got a broken up half a year out of Weed, Melksham and May.

That's the positive view

Not sure I would be counting Hannan or AVB in the team. I somehow think their injuries could be career ending. Joel Smith could easily join that pair. Wiederman also may not recover his 4 game form. So I would agree  we are still thin on talent to make a really competitive 22.

16 hours ago, Deeko2 said:

And we’re our forwards in TMac and Weid one hit wonders?

If that's the case, we're not winning more than 5 games next year.

We don't have any other established key forwards which is concerning. 

Those JLT games or whatever they call the comp will have some real meaning next year.

As I have mentioned on other posts I see the first two rounds as one game selection wise with it being essential that we deliver one win.

I'd be guided by the weather forecast. If it's 35 degrees or the like predicted for Perth make the selections accordingly.

The list is really flakey on so many counts particularly up forward.

FB: Jetta - May - Lever

HB: Salem - McDonald - Hibberd 

MID: Langdon - Viney - Tomlinson 

HF: Petracca - McDonald - Bennell

FF: Melksham - Weideman - Fritsch 

R: Gawn - Oliver - Harmes 

INT: Brayshaw - Petty - Young - Hunt

 

Depth: Sparrow - Lockhart - Pruess - Baker - Smith - Vandenberg - Hannah - Pick 8 - preseason draft pick 2  

 

With all the doom and gloom that came with the 2019 season, I genuinely think that this club can take a huge step forward this year if we have a solid pre season with a healthy list. 

Ive been a bit optimistic with my 22 (including Bennell and young before they’ve been picked up and weideman still unproven). This was just to show how good our side can look with a bit of luck and good health. It’s easy to forget how well a lot of these players played in 2018. I am very excited for this season. 

 

 


On 11/11/2019 at 9:34 PM, Deeko2 said:

...........

Will Viney, Jetta and Hibberd get back in form? And we’re our forwards in TMac and Weid one hit wonders?

Will Young (assuming) become a Nick Haynes or a James Strauss?

We’ve seen what nearly every player in this squad can/has done so if we’re fit and not a top 6 team this year I’ll be asking serious questions

 

One out of two. 

Most years round one throws up a surprise selection or 2.

My 2 surprise inclusions; Dunkley and OMac.

Obviously it is just a dream team at the moment and VDB, Smith and Bennell would have a lot of work to do.

But if fit, they are all very worthy first-22 members.

KK is almost in same boat.

Happy with trial of Harmes as defender because we need a right-footer with pace coming out, but suspect he will be needed in midfield after a few weeks. 

FB: Lever - May - Salem

HB: Harmes - Smith - Hibberd 

MID: Langdon - Vandenberg - Bennell 

HF: Petracca - Petty - Hunt

FF: Melksham - T.Mac - Fritsch 

R: Gawn - Oliver - Viney 

INT: Brayshaw - Tomlinson - Jetta - ANB

Depth: Jones - Sparrow - Lockhart - Pruess - Baker - Hannan - Dunkley - KK - Weideman - two high picks  

 

Looking at the teams suggested above reinforces my view that we will miss Frost. 

I don't see Lever as a CHB. Just not big enough for the Darling/Kennedy types and that type of role diminishes his intercept/run ability.

Petty? He has size and potential but is still unproven - a big ask.

Oscar? Well … Oscar is Oscar. Played some good footy in 2018 but not worth a cracker this year. Which one  will turn up in 2020?

Who else might fill that slot?

I look at Lever and am reminded of Warren Dean, a very good wing or half back but he was played in the spine and although tall enough his body wasnt cut out for it and injuries claimed him.


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • CASEY: Collingwood

    It was freezing cold at Mission Whitten Stadium where only the brave came out in the rain to watch a game that turned out to be as miserable as the weather.
    The Casey Demons secured their third consecutive victory, earning the four premiership points and credit for defeating a highly regarded Collingwood side, but achieved little else. Apart perhaps from setting the scene for Monday’s big game at the MCG and the Ice Challenge that precedes it.
    Neither team showcased significant skill in the bleak and greasy conditions, at a location that was far from either’s home territory. Even the field umpires forgot where they were and experienced a challenging evening, but no further comment is necessary.

      • Thanks
    • 4 replies
  • NON-MFC: Round 13

    Follow all the action from every Round 13 clash excluding the Dees as the 2025 AFL Premiership Season rolls on. With Melbourne playing in the final match of the round on King's Birthday, all eyes turn to the rest of the competition. Who are you tipping to win? And more importantly, which results best serve the Demons’ finals aspirations? Join the discussion and keep track of the matches that could shape the ladder and impact our run to September.

      • Thanks
    • 216 replies
  • PREVIEW: Collingwood

    Having convincingly defeated last year’s premier and decisively outplayed the runner-up with 8.2 in the final quarter, nothing epitomized the Melbourne Football Club’s performance more than its 1.12 final half, particularly the eight consecutive behinds in the last term, against a struggling St Kilda team in the midst of a dismal losing streak. Just when stability and consistency were anticipated within the Demon ranks, they delivered a quintessential performance marked by instability and ill-conceived decisions, with the most striking aspect being their inaccuracy in kicking for goal, which suggested a lack of preparation (instead of sleeping in their hotel in Alice, were they having a night on the turps) rather than a well-rested team. Let’s face it - this kicking disease that makes them look like raw amateurs is becoming a millstone around the team’s neck.

      • Thanks
    • 1 reply
  • CASEY: Sydney

    The Casey Demons were always expected to emerge victorious in their matchup against the lowly-ranked Sydney Swans at picturesque Tramway Oval, situated in the shadows of the SCG in Moore Park. They dominated the proceedings in the opening two and a half quarters of the game but had little to show for it. This was primarily due to their own sloppy errors in a low-standard game that produced a number of crowded mauls reminiscent of the rugby game popular in old Sydney Town. However, when the Swans tired, as teams often do when they turn games into ugly defensive contests, Casey lifted the standard of its own play and … it was off to the races. Not to nearby Randwick but to a different race with an objective of piling on goal after goal on the way to a mammoth victory. At the 25-minute mark of the third quarter, the Demons held a slender 14-point lead over the Swans, who are ahead on the ladder of only the previous week's opposition, the ailing Bullants. Forty minutes later, they had more than fully compensated for the sloppiness of their earlier play with a decisive 94-point victory, that culminated in a rousing finish which yielded thirteen unanswered goals. Kicks hit their targets, the ball found itself going through the middle and every player made a contribution.

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 1 reply
  • REPORT: St. Kilda

    Hands up if you thought, like me, at half-time in yesterday’s game at TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs that Melbourne’s disposal around the ground and, in particular, its kicking inaccuracy in front of the goals couldn’t get any worse. Well, it did. And what’s even more damning for the Melbourne Football Club is that the game against St Kilda and its resurgence from the bottomless pit of its miserable start to the season wasn’t just lost through poor conversion for goal but rather in the 15 minutes when the entire team went into a slumber and was mugged by the out-of-form Saints. Their six goals two behinds (one goal less than the Demons managed for the whole game) weaved a path of destruction from which they were unable to recover. Ross Lyon’s astute use of pressure to contain the situation once they had asserted their grip on the game, and Melbourne’s self-destructive wastefulness, assured that outcome. The old adage about the insanity of repeatedly doing something and expecting a different result, was out there. Two years ago, the score line in Melbourne’s loss to the Giants at this same ground was 5 goals 15 behinds - a ratio of one goal per four scoring shots - was perfectly replicated with yesterday’s 7 goals 21 behinds. 
    This has been going on for a while and opens up a number of questions. I’ll put forward a few that come to mind from this performance. The obvious first question is whether the club can find a suitable coach to instruct players on proper kicking techniques or is this a skill that can no longer be developed at this stage of the development of our playing group? Another concern is the team's ability to counter an opponent's dominance during a run on as exemplified by the Saints in the first quarter. Did the Demons underestimate their opponents, considering St Kilda's goals during this period were scored by relatively unknown forwards? Furthermore, given the modest attendance of 6,721 at TIO Traeger Park and the team's poor past performances at this venue, is it prudent to prioritize financial gain over potentially sacrificing valuable premiership points by relinquishing home ground advantage, notwithstanding the cultural significance of the team's connection to the Red Centre? 

      • Thanks
    • 4 replies
  • PREGAME: Collingwood

    After a disappointing loss in Alice Springs the Demons return to the MCG to take on the Magpies in the annual King's Birthday Big Freeze for MND game. Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Thanks
    • 528 replies