10-1 (should be 11-0 except for some rubbish umpiring)

11 Rounds played…..10 wins….. 40 points in the premiership bank. A game clear at the top of the ladder.

Be still my pounding head….. Monday morning hangover and the blame for my condition can be laid directly at the feet of the mighty Demons. A Friday night win over the top of the ladder to take over top spot a game clear meant for a stress-free weekend during the footy season. Good weather in my part of the world and a couple of friends over for lunch yesterday a few (too many) good wines and Bob’s ya uncle….. Monday morning slowness and headache.

Watched the game and saw a very good team win. We looked very focused and composed both when we had the ball and when we wanted the ball. Excellent decision making and pressure all over the ground. Did not give them an inch. So different to the Adelaide game. A very tight back six that worked off each other well. Play like that week in week out and we will go deep into the finals.

And so, to the Round 12 encounter with the Lions on Friday night to be played somewhere. This is going to be a big game no matter where it is played. The Lions are in good form with an excellent hard-working midfield and a lot of forward potential. Last week they had 13 different goal scorers for 19 goals so we will need the defence to perform well as well as our midfield to make sure they are held accountable for their roles in defence.

The facts:

We are coming off an excellent win at Marvel against quality opposition – Advantage us

They are coming off a big win against a depleted Giants team – Advantage them

We have one day extra rest – Advantage Us

We are playing at ??? – Advantage Channel 7

As long as we play at a neutral ground there is not a lot of advantage either way.

Problem areas of the game for us. Covering the loss of Langdon may cause a problem or two.

1^st Vs 3^rd at this time of the season just has to be the match of the round. Two very good sides in form with quality players across the ground. I think it will all come down to which side maintains their structure the best.

Our defence is back to being water tight once again and that back 6 just looks so composed, tight and competent, do not change a thing back there just do more of the same. Another test this week with Big Joe and Hipwood as the leading talls. There are a lot of scoring options if we allow them to dictate terms in the middle. I will back our defence to do the job and keep the Lions to a small score. Nothing like the 34 scoring shots they had last week.

A bit to sort out in the Lions midfield. Zorko and Lyon are their best clearance chances with Matherson also putting in for a few. Harmes to Zorko? Similar sort of job as he did on Libba would be nice. I can see us asserting ourselves in the middle but without Langdon we might find ourselves a bit exposed on the outside. It will be interesting to see how we play Robinson. He looks to be in a great run of form at the moment. Gus as his direct opponent? My tip for the players is to make sure that dead head Matherson does not suck them into anything distracting or silly. I love our pressure.

Max was good again last week and is working back into some excellent form. I can see he and Jackson tag teaming McInerney and I think we will win the hitouts easily. Last week McInerney looks to have rucked by himself most of the day with Joe taking a few of the forward rucks.

Now for the forwards…….

The good; We kicked a winning score last week….. Never gets boring….

The bad; Some of Weid’s marking attempts

The ugly; Looking in the mirror this morning…..

Well, it all worked pretty well at the pointy end last week against a quality defence. We had talls doing their job and not getting in each other’s way too much. Looked to be much more space in the forward 50. We had smalls at the base of the contests and managed to snag a few. Looks like the plan is coming together…… maybe….

Langdon out will not do us a lot of good. Baker to slot in? Seems the most likely. The way selections are going this season we look to be trying to disrupt the structures as little as possible that is why I cannot see them robbing the back zone to move one of them on to the wing. Like for like as much as possible.

Bathwater Express is back to purring along like the potent animal it is. Barrelling along singing the song and letting the world know we are on the way. We acquired a pet bulldog along the way. Ugly beast but as timid as they come and loves to be on the leash. Any suggestions for a name? Loser?

Now for the prediction…. Don’t worry…… We got this one. There will be a spark from them in the first quarter but then it will be all us the rest of the way.

Dees by 4 goals going away.

Another Friday night game, woo-hoo!

Happy with this floating fixture, if they set it preseason, we would be at our usual Sunday game.

This will be a challenge and will need to shift gears.

The lions won't be falling over when we bring the pressure or our defensive structures. Unlike the other teams who we have made to look ordinary, my guess is the lions will fight through it.

Hoping and expecting some classy football, not just our bread and butter approach. Our structures and systems are good, but we will need more.

The next gear please Dees:

Clean gets and disposals, we have been good this season, maintain it.

 Keep working for each other. They share the load and are genuinely happy for and with each other. 

Our fitness and gut runs have been remarkable, it is like we have extra players.

 Get the ball or cause them to rush their plays.

Hoping for more quick ball movement.

From the contest we have to have some outside runners, we have been generally busting through the middle, Lions won't let us do that.

The forwards need to find separation and space on their leads, perhaps have some decoys, and don't get in each others way. Work for each other, do the 1 percenters. 

Oliver has been beating all his tags, Tracc is too strong to be matched. My guess, is that there will plenty of off the ball or around the contest, holding, scragging and cheap shots. Lions are a tough team and we better be ready for their muscle. Hope the umpires are up to it.

It will be a cracker, we have turned up for most of the quarters this year, but we need a 4 quarter, full participation and with a strong work ethic, to win this one.

This will test our best game.

Go Dees.

 

Edited May 31, 20213 yr by kev martin

Just keep doin' what ya doin' boys.
Strangle these fools like the rest.
I'm lovin' it.

Mathieson will try and get under the skin of Clarry I’m tipping. It would be great to see somebody run through him early. Steve May has a prior conviction for flattening Lions players but maybe we keep that option for GF day! Pity Viney isn’t playing as he would be the man to sort Mathieson out perhaps. 

McLuggage, Lyons and Zorko are the danger players. In particular McLuggage who is having a great season and would be my player to tag. Brisbane are very strong forward. Daniher and Hipwood are taller than May and Lever and if they choose to throw McStay forward too that will create a headache with Cameron and McCarthy very good smalls in support.

Brisbane’s defence is their Achilles heel (apart from Andrews) and we can really stretch them there. Whomever gets picked up by Andrews needs to drag him as wide as possible in an attempt to negate his outstanding defensive capabilities in contested high ball situations.

Langdon is a massive out and I would be inclined to swing Hunt to the wing as cover and perhaps bring in Mitch Brown or Jay Lockhart to help out in defence depending on the perceived match ups. Baker is not the player for the task IMV.

I hope it’s a dry track which makes for a better spectacle.

Lions style is very slow and methodical from defence. Very few turnovers there. Once in the middle they become much more adventurous backing in their talls to win contests.

cameron in good form. Daniher plays high helping wth transition. 

Will be a good game 

 

dees by 14

I despise Mathieson

9 hours ago, CHF said:

We acquired a pet bulldog along the way. Ugly beast but as timid as they come and loves to be on the leash. Any suggestions for a name?

Flat-track!

9 hours ago, CHF said:

10-1 (should be 11-0 except for some rubbish umpiring)

11 Rounds played…..10 wins….. 40 points in the premiership bank. A game clear at the top of the ladder.

Be still my pounding head….. Monday morning hangover and the blame for my condition can be laid directly at the feet of the mighty Demons. A Friday night win over the top of the ladder to take over top spot a game clear meant for a stress-free weekend during the footy season. Good weather in my part of the world and a couple of friends over for lunch yesterday a few (too many) good wines and Bob’s ya uncle….. Monday morning slowness and headache.

Watched the game and saw a very good team win. We looked very focused and composed both when we had the ball and when we wanted the ball. Excellent decision making and pressure all over the ground. Did not give them an inch. So different to the Adelaide game. A very tight back six that worked off each other well. Play like that week in week out and we will go deep into the finals.

And so, to the Round 12 encounter with the Lions on Friday night to be played somewhere. This is going to be a big game no matter where it is played. The Lions are in good form with an excellent hard-working midfield and a lot of forward potential. Last week they had 13 different goal scorers for 19 goals so we will need the defence to perform well as well as our midfield to make sure they are held accountable for their roles in defence.

The facts:

We are coming off an excellent win at Marvel against quality opposition – Advantage us

They are coming off a big win against a depleted Giants team – Advantage them

We have one day extra rest – Advantage Us

We are playing at ??? – Advantage Channel 7

As long as we play at a neutral ground there is not a lot of advantage either way.

Problem areas of the game for us. Covering the loss of Langdon may cause a problem or two.

1^st Vs 3^rd at this time of the season just has to be the match of the round. Two very good sides in form with quality players across the ground. I think it will all come down to which side maintains their structure the best.

Our defence is back to being water tight once again and that back 6 just looks so composed, tight and competent, do not change a thing back there just do more of the same. Another test this week with Big Joe and Hipwood as the leading talls. There are a lot of scoring options if we allow them to dictate terms in the middle. I will back our defence to do the job and keep the Lions to a small score. Nothing like the 34 scoring shots they had last week.

A bit to sort out in the Lions midfield. Zorko and Lyon are their best clearance chances with Matherson also putting in for a few. Harmes to Zorko? Similar sort of job as he did on Libba would be nice. I can see us asserting ourselves in the middle but without Langdon we might find ourselves a bit exposed on the outside. It will be interesting to see how we play Robinson. He looks to be in a great run of form at the moment. Gus as his direct opponent? My tip for the players is to make sure that dead head Matherson does not suck them into anything distracting or silly. I love our pressure.

Max was good again last week and is working back into some excellent form. I can see he and Jackson tag teaming McInerney and I think we will win the hitouts easily. Last week McInerney looks to have rucked by himself most of the day with Joe taking a few of the forward rucks.

Now for the forwards…….

The good; We kicked a winning score last week….. Never gets boring….

The bad; Some of Weid’s marking attempts

The ugly; Looking in the mirror this morning…..

Well, it all worked pretty well at the pointy end last week against a quality defence. We had talls doing their job and not getting in each other’s way too much. Looked to be much more space in the forward 50. We had smalls at the base of the contests and managed to snag a few. Looks like the plan is coming together…… maybe….

Langdon out will not do us a lot of good. Baker to slot in? Seems the most likely. The way selections are going this season we look to be trying to disrupt the structures as little as possible that is why I cannot see them robbing the back zone to move one of them on to the wing. Like for like as much as possible.

Bathwater Express is back to purring along like the potent animal it is. Barrelling along singing the song and letting the world know we are on the way. We acquired a pet bulldog along the way. Ugly beast but as timid as they come and loves to be on the leash. Any suggestions for a name? Loser?

Now for the prediction…. Don’t worry…… We got this one. There will be a spark from them in the first quarter but then it will be all us the rest of the way.

Dees by 4 goals going away.

I can;t wait to see Hibberd out his snout in the troff again and give Cameron a flogging!

7 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

Just keep doin' what ya doin' boys.
Strangle these fools like the rest.
I'm lovin' it.

The Dees Squeeze lives.

4 hours ago, bingers said:

I despise Mathieson

He won't play if neale gets up

9 hours ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

Flat-track!

Flat-track it is!

These two are possibly the flag favourites at the moment.

Dogs peaked early and with that loss against us, will fail the second half of the season, IMO.

We haven't had to fight a serious game for a while now. That ability to hang in there and come from behind for a win, which we did early in the season, is so good for our confidence and self belief.

I predict a see-sawing game. Hoping we can come back at them if they get a run on.

Leading into the break, this is a danger game. Win it, and we are all smiles, lose, and we have to continue the build.

Will need some enforcers, get a few on the angry pills.

Win this game and there can be no doubt whatsoever that we are going to be hardpressed not to be faves to win the flag if we are not already.

I would like to see us win by a at least eight goals and serve extra notice to all that this club is in a different class to all the others. 

If Bb or Sw can step up and cement a spot by kicking at least thrre goals a game it will make big difference.

9 hours ago, kev martin said:

Dogs peaked early and with that loss against us, will fail the second half of the season, IMO.

 

Our win IMO confirmed the dog's weaknesses exposed by the Tiges earlier in th eseason.

Pressure, no outlets, Josh Bruce (problematic when manned by A grade defenders), short defence.

Others will catch on and I suspect the Cats will also do a similiar job on them.

Dees by 10. close game to the end, but we will strangle them 

6 minutes ago, Dwight Schrute said:

Dees by 10. close game to the end, but we will strangle them 

That's a bit ambitious Dwight, I'm thinking around the range of 9 goals.

1 minute ago, Nelo said:

That's a bit ambitious Dwight, I'm thinking around the range of 9 goals.

My bad. Dees by 186, Fagan Sacked, Bulldogs still somehow flag favourites. 

Remember Mitch Robinson’s comments about us a few years back “Softest team in the comp”

Lets see what he thinks of us 2021 style

Wish it was at the Gabba so we could [censored] them on their own dung heap

14 minutes ago, Billy said:

Remember Mitch Robinson’s comments about us a few years back “Softest team in the comp”

Lets see what he thinks of us 2021 style

Wish it was at the Gabba so we could [censored] them on their own dung heap

"Bruise free" 

Not that you could see bruised on that inked up moron.

This always made me laugh about Robinson for some reason....

On 6/1/2021 at 7:17 AM, ProperDee said:

Langdon is a massive out and I would be inclined to swing Hunt to the wing as cover and perhaps bring in Mitch Brown or Jay Lockhart to help out in defence depending on the perceived match ups. Baker is not the player for the task IMV.

I hope it’s a dry track which makes for a better spectacle.

Why? and no he isn't Langdon or Gus but he is clearly the 3rd winger in the same way Petty was the replacement for Tomlinson.

Our rock solid defence trumps their forward threat

Dees by 20 points

3 hours ago, Billy said:

Remember Mitch Robinson’s comments about us a few years back “Softest team in the comp”

Lets see what he thinks of us 2021 style

Wish it was at the Gabba so we could [censored] them on their own dung heap

"The Dees play bruise free footy" i remember it well circa 2011, i hope someone lines him up in a legitimate tackle or bump.

Is Hunt good enough to play lockdown on Cameron? Will we be giving up his run off half back (especially with Langdon out) in doing so? I think Cameron will be too quick and agile for Hibberd

10 hours ago, Win4theAges said:

"The Dees play bruise free footy" i remember it well circa 2011, i hope someone lines him up in a legitimate tackle or bump.

I was quite angry with Robinson for that comment, mostly because what he said was true.

I've since come to admire his footballing ability and gutsy play but wouldn't be unhappy to see the above scenario.