28 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Yeah the Fritta pile on is ridiculous. So he burnt a teammate. He is also our most reliable goal kicker and regularly kicks a lot more goals than he’s entitled to given his height and how often he’s triple teamed and dragged down in contests. 
I rather he goes for goals he reasonably thinks he can kick than we keep stuffing around with the ball inside 50 and make a meal of it. 
He is an elite medium forward and had like 10 score involvements yesterday. 
But let’s drop him so we can have an even more dysfunction forwardline 🙄

Its not ridiculous.

He has been burning team mates for some time now and its a cancer within a team that prides itself on selflessness.

Its why Gus goes back to help put the defence, why Spargo runs 100m to open up the fwd line, why ANB makes repeat efforts to keep a ball in the fwd pockets.

He is a bighead and it needs deflating. Our success relies on a team game.

 

 

13 hours ago, adonski said:

I think the reality is if he had another midfielder with any form of upside in the reserves (I exclude first year players & known journeymen such as Dunstan), they'd be playing ahead of Sparrow

Is that the undefeated Casey Demons you're referring to? Must be a few mids doing something right down there!

Im worried about Gawn. I hope he hasnt come back too soon and its just some cobwebs. But after the replay, he was well below his average game - let alone his best. 

Would there be so much noise about Fritta if he had kicked the goals. Kevin “Hungry” Bartlett made a career out of burning players. Yes it look bad but equating it to to the demise of our season (as per David King) is ridiculous. The best thing out of the weekend is just how quickly the pundits are burning us. Cats are evidently unbeatable even though we played poorly and were within a kick of them deep in the last quarter at Cat park. Goodwin must be loving it. First crack had us on the same level as Collingwood. People seem to underestimate we have the best full back; intercept mark; midfield, ruck duo and crumbing forward in comp. Cats are having a dream run with injuries so a lot can happen before finals. I guarantee our boys will peak when it matters. Yes Dees have a tough run home but nothing will battle harden a team more. Despite the piffle if we have a decent run with injuries and play to our potential no one can go with us. The fact that our recent form has been patchy has blinded many to the multiple levels of class in this team. 

8 hours ago, HarpenDee said:

Loved everything about the win apart from Fritta burning a team mate AGAIN, and Lever doing his AC.

I am worried about Fritta as this is the fourth week in a row he has done it and id be amazed if it hadnt already been addressed. 

Have a look at every play Fritta had. He is Class.

 

16 hours ago, Kent said:

lbourne Match Statistics (Sorted by Disposals) Coach: Simon Goodwin

Player K HB D M G B T HO GA I50 CL CG R50 FF FA AF SC Christian Petracca 17 13 30 7 0 0 2 0 3 7 10 4 4 0 2 100 141 Jack Viney 18 10 28 6 0 0 3 0 1 2 3 8 2 3 1 104 71 Ed Langdon 16 8 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 5 0 0 88 98 Angus Brayshaw 13 6 19 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 0 1 69 77 James Jordon 13 6 19 6 0 0 3 0 0 7 0 4 2 0 0 81 71 Steven May 16 2 18 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 6 1 0 69 89 Tom Sparrow 12 6 18 6 0 0 6 0 1 4 1 5 1 0 1 87 68 James Harmes 6 11 17 1 0 0 8 0 0 2 3 2 0 0 0 75 76 Charlie Spargo 10 7 17 6 0 0 1 0 0 5 0 2 1 1 0 67 54 Max Gawn 8 8 16 6 0 0 0 18 0 2 3 3 0 2 1 75 50 Christian Salem 11 5 16 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 4 1 1 57 63 Adam Tomlinson 7 8 15 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 58 81 Bayley Fritsch 9 6 15 5 2 2 2 0 3 1 0 0 0 2 0 78 101 Michael Hibberd 12 2 14 8 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 76 74 Ben Brown 9 5 14 8 2 1 2 1 0 1 0 3 0 1 2 78 97 Alex N-Bullen 7 7 14 4 0 0 3 0 0 4 2 1 0 0 0 59 62 Kysaiah Pickett 13 1 14 2 6 1 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 1 1 82 110 Luke Jackson 5 8 13 3 1 1 5 13 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 78 94 Trent Rivers 4 7 11 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 35 31 Jake Lever 4 3 7 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 26 30 Jake Melksham 4 2 6 3 1 0 7 0 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 60 61 Toby Bedford 2 3 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 1

I had to look at those figures again.

Jake Melksham - 7 tackles.  

Must be his greatest tally ever.  

(also his best game of his few this year)

12 minutes ago, Bimbo said:

I had to look at those figures again.

Jake Melksham - 7 tackles.  

Must be his greatest tally ever.  

(also his best game of his few this year)

And Bedford couldnt get near it

It’s been mentioned already but warrants being mentioned again: how cool was it to see Liam Jurrah at the match yesterday. It’s difficult to gauge from 10 seconds of footage but he looked happy. I hope with all my heart that life is being kind to him. 💖

We are second on the ladder with only percentage between us and top. We have only played one game this year close to our top. With Tmac out for the rest of the season it would appear we have a second rate forward line that would not win a flag barring miracles. I seriously doubt we can win the flag in 2022 but we will play finals and I may have to accept that is our lot this year. What this year has shown me is that we are seriously short of KPF's and a back up ruckman. We also have a few shorter forwards that are not up to the mark when the likes of Tmac /Brown are not at 100%.

Still this is way better than a few years back when we looked like North Melbourne.

Please someone beat the Cats!

18 hours ago, ding said:

What a grinding win that was.

Kossie, you are a little ripper. 3 Votes for you.

Forward connection still a problem. Thank heavens for our backline.

Melk.... your chase/rundown was something i didnt think you had in you.

I'll take that.

I reckon there was a split second at the start where he was about to give up. Then he heard Goody's voice inside his head reminding him that everyone needs to put in that extra effort for the team.

59 minutes ago, old dee said:

Please someone beat the Cats!

Nah!  They have an easy run.  Let them win all 5 and be minor premiers thinking they are fantastic when in fact they may need a really good work out against some good teams before the finals.

Then hope someone beats them in the first week of the finals.

I'm happy for us to finish second or even third or fourth,

Edited July 18, 20222 yr by Lucifers Hero

8 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Nah!  They have an easy run.  Let them win all 5 and be minor premiers thinking they are fantastic when in fact they may good a really good work out against some good teams before the finals.

Then hope someone beats them in the first week of the finals.

I'm happy for us to finish second or even third or fourth,

Not 3rd will have to go to Perth 

14 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Nah!  They have an easy run.  Let them win all 5 and be minor premiers thinking they are fantastic when in fact they may good a really good work out against some good teams before the finals.

Then hope someone beats them in the first week of the finals.

I'm happy for us to finish second or even third or fourth,

I was meaning in the finals LH

50 minutes ago, old dee said:

We are second on the ladder with only percentage between us and top. We have only played one game this year close to our top. With Tmac out for the rest of the season it would appear we have a second rate forward line that would not win a flag barring miracles. I seriously doubt we can win the flag in 2022 but we will play finals and I may have to accept that is our lot this year. What this year has shown me is that we are seriously short of KPF's and a back up ruckman. We also have a few shorter forwards that are not up to the mark when the likes of Tmac /Brown are not at 100%.

Still this is way better than a few years back when we looked like North Melbourne.

Please someone beat the Cats!

I agree with you OD but it's amazing how things change so quickly as the season unfolds.

At the start of this year, I thought if anything our list was too big with surplus key position and ruck depth.

18 weeks later we've all put a line through Weid, JVR is still too young, Majak gone, TMac out for the year, Jackson looks to be gone as well.

A very sad state of affairs in the big man department (other than JVR).  

1 hour ago, Bimbo said:

I had to look at those figures again.

Jake Melksham - 7 tackles.  

Must be his greatest tally ever.  

(also his best game of his few this year)

Melk look like he went back to his 2018 role in tagging the intercept defender.  I remember him doing some really solid jobs on Sicily, Stewart and McGovern stopping them grabbing every ordinary entry in site.  

I thought this week would be a dream for Aliir Aliir and he would have been licking his lips.  Melk kept him accountable well sneaking out to different areas.

Without knowing for sure - I'm guessing it's these selfless roles that don't impact that stat sheet that keep him getting looks in the ones.

25 minutes ago, loges said:

Not 3rd will have to go to Perth 

Not if Sydney knock them out of the top 4 which is quite possible.

Edited July 18, 20222 yr by Lucifers Hero

1 hour ago, low flying Robbo said:

I reckon there was a split second at the start where he was about to give up. Then he heard Goody's voice inside his head reminding him that everyone needs to put in that extra effort for the team.

Yes it seemed like that to me.  But maybe he was just luring his opponent into a false sense of security.

37 minutes ago, loges said:

Not 3rd will have to go to Perth 

Ah Perth, good memories 

1 hour ago, Deesprate said:

Would there be so much noise about Fritta if he had kicked the goals. Kevin “Hungry” Bartlett made a career out of burning players. Yes it look bad but equating it to to the demise of our season (as per David King) is ridiculous. The best thing out of the weekend is just how quickly the pundits are burning us. Cats are evidently unbeatable even though we played poorly and were within a kick of them deep in the last quarter at Cat park. Goodwin must be loving it. First crack had us on the same level as Collingwood. People seem to underestimate we have the best full back; intercept mark; midfield, ruck duo and crumbing forward in comp. Cats are having a dream run with injuries so a lot can happen before finals. I guarantee our boys will peak when it matters. Yes Dees have a tough run home but nothing will battle harden a team more. Despite the piffle if we have a decent run with injuries and play to our potential no one can go with us. The fact that our recent form has been patchy has blinded many to the multiple levels of class in this team. 

He didn't kick it that's the point everyone is making here.

He burnt Tracc in Geelong with an easy handball running into an open goal, Burnt Spargo in the goalsquare by himself it has got to stop.

I love the guy but someone needs to have a word it needs to be addressed now.

Will agree with that everyone is a little iffy on us which is perfect for us.

I hope they are drinking their own wee with delight down at cat land and shower themselves in it and they feel really good about themselves just before finals.

 

15 hours ago, bobby1554 said:

Yes, good to be in this position. BUT, our losses have been against teams currently 1st, 6th 4th and 5th, 3 of them at our HOME ground. Massive 5 weeks coming up, eh!

Not sure what your point is here. Doesn't the fact that we've lost to higher-placed teams show that our form isn't all bad? The MCG is also Collingwood's home ground, so we've lost 2 home games, one at Geelong (a large away disadvantage) and one at a neutral venue. Yes, we have a massive 5 weeks because our Draw this year has turned out to be truly horrible, essentially due to Fremantle & Collingwood having totally outperformed in 2022 compared to their ladder positions in 2021.

14 hours ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Never rated us all last year until 4th qtr of the grand final. Reigning premier this year and still doesn’t rate us.

It's OK for posters to criticise poor performance, but it seems there's a tendency to lose perspective.

14 hours ago, Nasher said:

Did my usual “dodge Demonland after a poor loss for my own mental health” trick  this week, and glad I did if this the mood after a grinding win!

Agreed. I did the same. I'm a relative newcomer to Demonland but I hate to think what the posts were like in the bad years post-2006.

12 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

We're still a tall forward short IMO. We don't need all of Pickett, Spargo, ANB, Bedford and Melksham.

Well, I think the intention was never to have all 5 of these in beyond this week. Oliver comes back and I assume Melksham goes out. I'd be surprised if we continued the small forward line experiment going forwards. 

11 hours ago, The heart beats true said:

I don’t think you can argue we didn’t try to score differently in that game. We tried to get out the back more so than I’ve seen us do for 3 months. It wasn’t all long, high and slow to the pocket.

I thought we cut down on the overuse of handball, put more speed on the ball, and I agree we definitely left space to run into for our small forwards.

After watching the replay, I'm still baffled by calls for Tom Sparrow to be dropped. He was in everything yesterday, so don't be surprised if he gets coach's votes. Yes, some of his kicks and handballs were misdirected, but no more or less than others. He is a tackling machine which more than makes up for some errand disposals. He's only 22 years old, but he's building a tank that will be elite after another preseason. This kid has the potential to be anything.

Edited July 18, 20222 yr by djr

3 hours ago, faultydet said:

Selling Melk short there.

Some are looking at this as great because it's something he would not normally do, but it's even better than that. It would have been a fantastic chase down even if one of our best defenders did it.

Kudos Jake. Thats how you go about playing in finals and shutting certain mouths about being a "reserves player"

Yes, it was hard not to go to that ‘reserves player’ comment a couple times yesterday. Good on Melksham for keeping the fight up.

So to speak…

In MID JULY Geelong are the best team. The kings of Kardinia Park! Congrats to Cats for winning their KP GF!

Our coach played in two flags for the Crows who had Charlie Walsh as their fitness guru, who prepared them to excel in the finals.

Goodwin has consistently said there are two seasons - H&A and Finals!

As proven last year he knows how to peak in Finals, Demons were devastating last year, and injury willing will be very very good in this years finals!

I look at our team:

Backline:

Lever May Hibberd all been AA

Salem Petty Brayshaw (AA2022)    Rivers

Langdon.   Oliver AA.    Jordan

ANB.       ????????       Fritsch (close AA)

Kossie.     BBB.           Spargo

Max (AA). Trac (AA).   Viney

Jackson.  Harmes  Sparrow  Rivers Melk

Emerg: Bowey Tomlinson Hunt   Bedford 

Salem & Langdon should have been AA 2021

Our team know how to play finals football, our style is made for finals, and every Demon player stepped up at some point in the finals last year!

We have some fantastic players. A bit soft at CHF but Goody & the coaches will have something working in forward line  by finals time!

 All we need is a bit of luck with injuries and some luck on any given day. Be more than happy to play Geelong in finals with them using same on ball set up as last week, Max, Oliver, Trac, Viney & co will torch them!!

We won a flag last year after 57 years and I’m happy to back our Demons to give it a red hot crack again in 2022! We have a little rust at the moment but am expecting Demons to be smoking come finals time!

I’ve got plenty of space on my wall for the 2022 flag poster and Goody and co are putting us in a great position to do it again, even if many Demonlanders have little faith or recall! Go back and watch last years finals series and our round 11-18 of last year if you need any reminding how much we improved come finals!

Demonlanders have some faith!

Go Demons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Edited July 18, 20222 yr by D4Life
Extra comment.

20 hours ago, AmDamDemon said:

When we were  a crap team it never occurred to me that our supporter trauma would be most on display after we'd become successful. 

 

Welcome to the real world.

1 hour ago, djr said:

After watching the replay, I'm still baffled by calls for Tom Sparrow to be dropped. He was in everything yesterday, so don't be surprised if he gets coach's votes. Yes, some of his kicks and handballs were misdirected, but no more or less than others. He is a tackling machine which more than makes up for some errand disposals. He's only 22 years old, but he's building a tank that will be elite after another preseason. This kid has the potential to be anything.

Glad someone else saw this, couldn't believe the posts after the game yesterday.

1 hour ago, D4Life said:

In MID JULY Geelong are the best team. The kings of Kardinia Park! Congrats to Cats for winning their KP GF!

Our coach played in two flags for the Crows who had Charlie Walsh as their fitness guru, who prepared them to excel in the finals.

Goodwin has consistently said there are two seasons - H&A and Finals!

As proven last year he knows how to peak in Finals, Demons were devastating last year, and injury willing will be very very good in this years finals!

I look at our team:

Backline:

Lever May Hibberd all been AA

Salem Petty Brayshaw (AA2022)    Rivers

Langdon.   Oliver AA.    Jordan

ANB.       ????????       Fritsch (close AA)

Kossie.     BBB.           Spargo

Max (AA). Trac (AA).   Viney

Jackson.  Harmes  Sparrow  Rivers Melk

Emerg: Bowey Tomlinson Hunt   Bedford 

Salem & Langdon should have been AA 2021

Our team know how to play finals football, our style is made for finals, and every Demon player stepped up at some point in the finals last year!

We have some fantastic players. A bit soft at CHF but Goody & the coaches will have something working in forward line  by finals time!

 All we need is a bit of luck with injuries and some luck on any given day. Be more than happy to play Geelong in finals with them using same on ball set up as last week, Max, Oliver, Trac, Viney & co will torch them!!

We won a flag last year after 57 years and I’m happy to back our Demons to give it a red hot crack again in 2022! We have a little rust at the moment but am expecting Demons to be smoking come finals time!

I’ve got plenty of space on my wall for the 2022 flag poster and Goody and co are putting us in a great position to do it again, even if many Demonlanders have little faith or recall! Go back and watch last years finals series and our round 11-18 of last year if you need any reminding how much we improved come finals!

Demonlanders have some faith!

Go Demons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great post, DJR, especially the Charlie Walsh comment above.

I heard Blight speak at a function in 1999 and he talked about His apporach to planning, using a clock for the 97 and 98 finals series.

The GF is played at 5 minutes to midnight he said.

Everything in the club  is primed to peak then, not 30 minutes to midnight.  Charlie Walsh was part of that overall philosophy.

Goody will know this intimately IMO.