1 hour ago, everythingsablur said:

First time poster, long time listener. Love the pod!

Question I'd love your thoughts on that's driving me crazy... 

What is it about the MCG this year? It cannot be a coincidence we win almost every away game and feels like we've lost almost every home game at the G (the Carlton win was hardly convincing). Is it the Melbourne weather given nearly all the MCG games have been cold & drizzly which leads to the frustrating fumbling we keep seeing? Do we need the warmer conditions to execute cleaner?

Keep up the good work & go dees!

We should be asking to play our home finals at Optus Stadium.

My question relates to Angus Brayshaw.

Has Brayshaw’s recent move into the middle as an inside mid come at the cost of the grunt he gives us along the non-Langdon wing or down back? 

Thanks for everything you do with the podcast!

Edited September 5, 20222 yr by OhMyDees

9 minutes ago, OhMyDees said:

My question relates to Andrew Brayshaw.

Has Brayshaw’s recent move into the middle as an inside mid come at the cost of the grunt he gives us along the non-Langdon wing or down back? 

Thanks for everything you do with the podcast!

I assume you mean Angus?

14 hours ago, Watson11 said:

It’s been bugging me since round 7 that we suddenly became a lot easier to score against.  We have had all sorts of semi logical reasons thrown up such as loading, lack of forward pressure, injuries etc etc.  All have some merit. But last Friday none of these were a factor, May was unbelievable with 16 intercepts, and yet we still conceded scores from 42% of Sydney inside 50s versus our average of 31% in finals last year.

Any ideas why?  Are we missing Brayshaw as that defensive winger getting back into D50?  Max has had 33% fewer spoils this year than last. Do we need him back doing 80% ruck work in the defensive role to help out in D50 and rest him on the bench instead of up forward? Do we need Bowey in for defensive ground balls that cost us against Sydney?  Look forward to the podcast.

It's the pressure up the ground. Our half forwards and mids didn't do enough to ensure Sydney's entries were dirty or wide. They went pretty centrally because there wasn't enough pressure on the ball carrier.

I'd love to know our post clearance pressure ratings over the last two months.

Edited September 5, 20222 yr by A F

6 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I assume you mean Angus?

Whoops! Yes, I meant Gus. Just had a Swallow/Sparrow moment 😂

Edited September 5, 20222 yr by OhMyDees

If Petracca is not fit to play this week who should come in (mid or forward)?

26 minutes ago, OhMyDees said:

Whoops! Yes, I meant Gus. Just had a Swallow/Sparrow moment 😂

Better than a Pagan Fagan moment!

Given we tore Brisbane apart a few week back, what do we think they will change up to try and counter us?

I don't want to suggest they are a one-man side, although they are about as close as it comes

Last time we played the Lions we chose no to tag Lachie Neale and instead put a bit of time into Zac Bailey. We know how that Neale gets a lot of the footy particularly in finals. Do you think we might spend a little bit of time on him?

5 hours ago, binman said:

Better than a Pagan Fagan moment!

No doubt there's been a few of these for the Brissy coach in the last week. He's been burning sage, sipping cacao and paying homage to every tree/goal post god he can to try and dispel his team's Demons.

On 9/4/2022 at 9:44 AM, Deeminion said:

I couldn't make the trek down from Brisbane last Friday. Knowing we had the double chance I wanted to get to Melbourne for either the Semi or the Prelim (and hopefully a Granny).

In Round 23 I was able to watch us live at the Gabba and we played with a totally different strategy going forward. We seemed to revert to a kick it to the pocket strategy or just bomb it in this week.

Can any of you explain to me why that was as it was difficult to ascertain that from watching on the telly?

This is the key question/issue for me.  AFL's All Access Areas (AAA) had some good vision of us continuingly bombing it to the pocket during the Swans game but, as Deeminion points out, we seemed to use a very different approach when our top 4 spot was on the line in round 23.  Did we underestimate the Swans and opt to keep our powder dry for the PF in terms of our a forward entry strategies?  As AAA suggested, do we need to take more risk going forward if we want to secure a winning score? And does the low risk but taxing long bomb approach expose us on the rebound and/or mentally drain the team when we don't manage to score?

9 hours ago, Xecutioner said:

I have a comment on last year's finals series.

 

We played Brisbane, Geelong and Western bulldogs. All teams who couldn't apply much pressure and didn't play man on man footy.

This year our hardest games have been against teams playing high pressure man on man, like Sydney, Collingwood and Carlton.

 

my question is: can the demons find a way to play against the man on man style and kick away again? It seems to me like our model stands up against certain teams but not others.

Really thought provoking comment Xecutioner.  Our game plan/system is kryptonite for team's like Brisbane (as is Tiger's, hence their close match this round) as well as the pre-2022 version of the Cats game plan.  But it does seem like we struggle against teams like Sydney and Collingwood. It's one of the reasons I was not as confident that we could repeat round 23 against other teams in the finals.  I still think our best can beat the likes of the Swans, but just focusing on our respective strategies/systems, does the esteemed panel think our system can beat the systems/strategies of the Pies, the new Geelong, and the Swans like it can beat the Lions, Dogs, (that is, thrash them)?  Or should we and the team prepare for closer, more hard fought games? 

P.S. I know our system requires a high level of fitness, but I'd be curious for you to discuss system vs system.  That is, assume we have adequate fitness to play our system and they have adequate fitness to play their system, e.g., we're not unduly effected by loading and they are not unduly effected by end of season fading out.

7 hours ago, OhMyDees said:

My question relates to Angus Brayshaw.

Has Brayshaw’s recent move into the middle as an inside mid come at the cost of the grunt he gives us along the non-Langdon wing or down back? 

Thanks for everything you do with the podcast!

IMHO we dont need him to play a HB role at all now that the back 6 are set and we have Salem.  Bowey on the sidelines as a Salem replacement.

We won the premiership with him playing a roughly 80/20 Wing/Forward role last season and what a season it was for Gus.

He spent virtually no time in our defensive 50 last season.

The mid field experiment worked for one game and has been a progressive fail ever since, culminating in his worst performance this season (possibly his last two seasons!) on Sat night.

Time to push him back to the wing/HF role of last year and move Harmes back in as his replacement, playing the Mid / HF role that he mostly played last season with pretty good effect also.

Gus doesn't have the upper body strength and leg power (drive out of congestion/away from oppponent/tagger) to play more than a very brief cameo on odd occasions through the middle IMV.

Would much rather see Harmes back in with brief cameos from Kozzy and/or Bedford (if he happened to be picked) to add some speed and provide the oppo with a diff look / match up conundrum on game day.

Why would you want to take away one of your biggest strengths from 2021 and make things that much easier for the oppo unless absolutely necessary or the mid-field experiment was a great success?  Makes no sense at all.

Edited September 5, 20222 yr by Demon Dynasty

Shouldn't we be fully loaded by now Binman?

Great Pod lads! 

 

12 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

We won the premiership with him playing a roughly 80/20 Wing/Forward role last season and what a season it was for Gus.

He spent virtually no time in our defensive 50 last season.

Time to push him back to the wing/HF role of last year and move Harmes back in as his replacement, playing the Mid / HF role that he mostly played last season with pretty good effect also.

I agree it would be good for him to go back to the wing. But in 2021 he kicked only 3 goals, had 35 defensive 50 rebounds, and 123 intercepts which suggests he spent some time in defensive 50. 

17 minutes ago, Watson11 said:

I agree it would be good for him to go back to the wing. But in 2021 he kicked only 3 goals, had 35 defensive 50 rebounds, and 123 intercepts which suggests he spent some time in defensive 50. 

He played as a genuine winger in 2021, who would run back and help in defence, then hold his position, rather than clog up our 50 when we were attacking.

Played next to no time or games as a genuine half-back flanker in 2021, despite running back to help in that part of the ground. 
 

Missed this live, will play back today and report back!

Thank you to @Bigfoot, @CYB, @Deeminion, @buck_nekkid, @layzie, @At the break of Gawn, @Kelpien, @Watson11, @John Demonic, @Deetective Sgt. Taggert, @Xecutioner, @everythingsablur, @OhMyDees, @Demonised, @Rab D Nesbitt, @Jibroni, @Gouga, @YesitwasaWin4theAges, @DemonWA, @Doug Reemer, @DeezNuts, @Singa, @Demon Dynasty.

Thank you to our caller Kieran from Canberra for calling in again.

Thank you to our voicemailer Matt for leaving us a message.

Thank you to my cohosts @george_on_the_outer & @binman.

And thank you to our loyal listeners.

Another great show! In particular, I was pleased with the fact that you guys were still pretty upbeat and optimistic. Even you, Andy!

Another enjoyable and informative pod.  The prep and effort you guys go to week in, week out is amazing.  Thank you!

4 hours ago, Watson11 said:

I agree it would be good for him to go back to the wing. But in 2021 he kicked only 3 goals, had 35 defensive 50 rebounds, and 123 intercepts which suggests he spent some time in defensive 50. 

Referring to time spent in the D50 W11 not acts carried out while in there like rebounds.  No doubt he spent some time in there hence the average of 1.4 rebounds per match in 2021.

Just going by Champion data off Fox Footy.  A month or so back they claimed Gus had only spent 9% of his playing time in our D 50 in 2021 vs approx 80% this season prior to his move into the middle.  No doubt covering off for Salem being out.  From memory i think Fox said his split in 2021 was roughly 80% between the arcs, 11% inside our F50 and 9% in our D50.

The point im trying to make is if you had the opportunity to re-set Gus back to a wing/HF where he was so successful in 2021 (and so was the team obviously) now that Salem is back and the back 6 are pretty set, why wouldn't you take it?

There could of course be many reasons Goody is doing so.  As an outsider we are pretty much flying blind to what drives these decisions so who knows.  Maybe it will all click this week, Gus will play a blinder and i'll be eating my hat.

Edited September 6, 20222 yr by Demon Dynasty

16 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Just going by Champion data off Fox Footy.  A month or so back they claimed Gus had only spent 10% of his playing time in our D 50 in 2021 vs approx 80% this season prior to his move into the middle.  No doubt covering off for Salem being out.

The point im trying to make is if you had the opportunity to re-set Gus back to a wing/HF where he was so successful in 2021 (and so was the team obviously) now that Salem is back and the back 6 are pretty set, why wouldn't you take it?

There could of course be many reasons Goody is doing so.  As an outsider we are pretty much flying blind to what drives these decisions so who knows.  Maybe it will all click this week, Gus will play a blinder and i'll be eating my hat.

We both want Gus back on the wing but maybe we view how he played the role a bit differently (I view it as a wing with a defensive focus).

I think fox footy have the numbers wrong.
You can look up every players heat maps here https://dfsaustralia.com/afl-player-heat-maps/

Last year he spent more time in defensive half in 19/25 games. In games against top 8 it was 10/12, with 22% of game time in D50 and 60% in the defensive half.  Some games he probably spent more time in D50 than Salem. For example our round 12 against Brisbane (38%) and prelim final (39%).  He has a great feel for the game and knows when to push back and help out and I think we agree it’s hurting our defending now that we don’t have that. 

I didn't listen. But generally interested in knowing if the loading topic was discussed? And if not, why the silence?