Jump to content

Tackling Down

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

18 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

Another thing of note, though I don’t have stats, is reduction of boundary throw ins. The Pies vs Dogs match had one boundary thrown in I saw. One.

For us, less stoppages, less contest, and less opportunity to capitalize on the most dominant tap ruckman in the league.

If we're being honest with ourselves, we haven't capitalized on Gawn's tap dominance for quite some time. Probably not since 2018. Gawn is more valuable around the ground than he is at stoppages at the moment. Which is why I'd like to see him spend more time at FF while BB and Weed are out. 

  • Quote
    • Like 1
     
    22 hours ago, Smokey said:

    If we're being honest with ourselves, we haven't capitalized on Gawn's tap dominance for quite some time. Probably not since 2018. Gawn is more valuable around the ground than he is at stoppages at the moment. Which is why I'd like to see him spend more time at FF while BB and Weed are out. 

    Smokey I don't accept the premise of Gawns tap dominance. If Gawn truly was dominant he would tap to advantage. He seems to get his hand on the ball and guides it to the ground or the opposition which is close to useless. Gawn needs to control his taps and punch a few out for variety.

  • Quote
    • Like 3
    18 minutes ago, ManDee said:

    Smokey I don't accept the premise of Gawns tap dominance. If Gawn truly was dominant he would tap to advantage. He seems to get his hand on the ball and guides it to the ground or the opposition which is close to useless. Gawn needs to control his taps and punch a few out for variety.

    Possible, or maybe our midfield are constantly not getting to the correct spot and Gawn is executing set plays perfectly? It's hard to say with any authority as outsiders looking in. 

  • Quote
    •  
    On 3/22/2021 at 3:45 PM, Unleash Hell said:

    Interestingly we did quite poorly at clearance this weekend. Not sure if this is a product of the rule changes or a new mantra fro Yze/Goodwin. Will be interesting to watch.

    With less stoppages in the game have we gone away from a purely contested side?

    I agree with the skills comment though. We are not skillful enough team to be a real threat this year. But I like our core group of youngesters I think there is definite potential along with development of our senior core.

    binman has argued in other threads a change of strategy at the centre bounce, I'll keep an eye on it this weekend against St Kilda. 

    I;m not sure if other DL posters agree, but watching the Carlton/Richmond game, and then the Dogs/Pies game the skill disparity between those games and our game was noticeable.  I think we could be on a hiding to nothing if these stats play out and the game is more flowing and open - with less stoppages etc. 

     

     

  • Quote
    On 3/23/2021 at 8:25 AM, Demonland said:

    If we’re ever fortunate enough to win a flag people will complain that the cup isn’t shiny enough. 

    Or we only won by 90 points instead of breaking Geelong's record margin.

  • Quote

    2 hours ago, Smokey said:

    Possible, or maybe our midfield are constantly not getting to the correct spot and Gawn is executing set plays perfectly? It's hard to say with any authority as outsiders looking in. 

    I think the midfielders as well as Gawn are responsible to get it right.   It seems to me that quite simply the oppositions midfield work harder/smarter than ours, particularly at centre bounces.  We are slightly better at stoppages around the ground, as we have more players around the contest,so we are not always outnumbered on the outside.

    In the midfield though you got generally Clayton/Gawn then take your pick out of Harmes/Brayshaw/Viney/Sparrow.

    Clayton is doing his job and some.  Gawn is not thinking where to tap to advantage....he hits to the outside often enough and nobody is even there.  We basically need our other onballers at least negating that by one of them always being on the outside, if not both.

    It is really upto Harmes/Viney/Brayshaw/Sparrow and even Petracca to work harder to get to the outside and balance out the contests.  They need to be far more disciplined and trust Clayton to win the ball if tapped to him in close and have options on the outside.  They all get sucked into the contest way too easily and is one of the reasons we win the taps but lose clearances so often.  There is no balance, and none of them are sacrificing their natural games so we can actually get the ball out with some type of regularity.

  • Quote
    On 3/22/2021 at 3:53 PM, Roost it far said:

    I called to trade Max 2 years ago and was condemned. Rucks aren’t important and nor is first clearance. Just ask Richmond. He needs to adjust his game and be able to play deep forward and deep back. Let Jackson run around with the ball as another mid

    I'm not sure I would trade Gawn, but I certainly wouldn't have given him a four year extension on huge money on top of his existing deal. This club is very good at failing to read the tea leaves.

    Max's ruck work on Saturday was quite poor, as evidenced by the goal he gifted Andrew Brayshaw at the end of the third quarter. He definitely needs to lift this week.

  • Quote
    Just now, poita said:

    I'm not sure I would trade Gawn, but I certainly wouldn't have given him a four year extension on huge money on top of his existing deal. This club is very good at failing to read the tea leaves.

    Max's ruck work on Saturday was quite poor, as evidenced by the goal he gifted Andrew Brayshaw at the end of the third quarter. He definitely needs to lift this week.

    Two weeks in a row Max will be playing on basically nobody.

    Last week he was playing on a debutante and this week he's playing on a SANFL journeyman with a sprinkling of Shaun McKernan. I'll be disappointed if he goes 0/2 to start the season against far inferior opposition.

  • Quote
    •  

    I wonder if we will see tackling down but the overall 'pressure acts' category up if the ball continues to be moved more through the corridor? Fewer actual stoppages but more rushing under pressure.  Certainly that feeds nicely into the smart interceptors we have in our defence, so I'm not too upset about it. It could also mean that well-timed tackles that cause turnovers become even more valuable.

    As for the ruck impact - Gawn is not always the best ruck at stoppages, but he is unmatched when it comes to getting around the ground to offer an escape target, or cover the long bomb.  Even some of that will be diminished by the new rule and it will be important to get the contibution from him up forward at times.  BUT fewer boundary throw ins and stoppages means less of the jogging 40m to take a hitout and then jogging another 40m to get where you need to be structurally.  A dozen fewer of those each game works out to almost a kilometer less running, and with Gawn being as fit as he is, with a bit of smart positioning he could be barely coming to the bench.

    Did some checking - Gawn was on the field for 92.5% of game time in round one.  In previous seasons with full-length games he was at most around the 85% mark.

    Further to that, these changes only add to the appeal of a truly versatile ruck-tall and it may just be that Luke Jackson turns out to be the ideal young ruckman to have right now.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    9 hours ago, Altona-demon said:

    binman has argued in other threads a change of strategy at the centre bounce, I'll keep an eye on it this weekend against St Kilda. 

    I;m not sure if other DL posters agree, but watching the Carlton/Richmond game, and then the Dogs/Pies game the skill disparity between those games and our game was noticeable.  I think we could be on a hiding to nothing if these stats play out and the game is more flowing and open - with less stoppages etc. 

     

     

    We are one week in so without intimate knowledge its hard to know exactly what's going on but I personally think there is a shift, i think its a natural assumption with a new coach and new ideas for this to happen Its not rocket surgery

    Anyway as for how the game is played there are multiple layers, i think defensively is one of our strong points, this weekend is going to eb interesting to see how we go against a very quick team with likley few stoppages

     

  • Quote

    • 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...
    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • 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
      • 29 replies
      Demonland

    • 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
      Demonland

    • 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
      Demonland

    • 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
      Demonland

    • 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
      • 240 replies
      Demonland

    • PODCAST: St. Kilda

      The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 2nd June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we have a chat with former Demon ruckman Jeff White about his YouTube channel First Use where he dissects ruck setups and contests. We'll then discuss the Dees disappointing loss to the Saints in Alice Springs.
      Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show.
      Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

        • Thanks
      • 47 replies
      Demonland
    View All