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Analysis of the Demon’s Forward Line


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4 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Excellent article

Weideman got off lightly and no discussion of Meldrum. It also failed to discuss our pocket tendency

Agree that it was an excellent article. 

The player analysis was spot on. If Goody and the match committee were aware of the cracks, they did little to address them by way of team changes.

Article clearly showed ANB's decline in form. It also debunks the notion by many on here that Spargo is elite when it comes to inside 50 connections. His numbers and percentage are less than Sparrow, who gets canned for his disposal. 

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Also fails to mention BBB playing on half a leg, Gawn battling through multiple injuries, LJ putting the cue in the rack, Trac playing with a broken leg and the midfield running out of puff after a reduced preseason. Easy to look at TMacs injury as the trigger but that is grossly oversimplifying a year that full was of many issues both on and off the field. 

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2 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Also fails to mention BBB playing on half a leg, Gawn battling through multiple injuries, LJ putting the cue in the rack, Trac playing with a broken leg and the midfield running out of puff after a reduced preseason. Easy to look at TMacs injury as the trigger but that is grossly oversimplifying a year that full was of many issues both on and off the field. 

Tmac was a big loss and IMO would/could have got us to the GF I suspect but we never would have beaten the Cats  in that shoot out. 

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26 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

Yep: post the Broken foot, we were out-Macdonalded. The late season fade-outs due to players not fully fit contributed to that dramatic fade out.

Ironically, and I'm only making the comment after watching the replay of the Richmond game, McDonald might well be staring into an exit Edenhope-way, I.E, into the setting sun. BBB is not far behind him, much as I love them both. Then again, we have Van R, Schache, the new order is on its way...

 

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Ed's an excellent writer. Has a real way with words. His analysis though can be summarised down to losing TMac as well as an inefficient ANB and Tracc.

I'm not sure I agree. To me the speed and quality of the ball that came into the forwardline was the big difference in the second half of 2022. That Salem struggled and Bowey wasn't in form were factors. Also, Lever had an injury interrupted year and his lack of intercepting and rebounding was crucial. Somehow we got the ball into the forwardline but tended to sit it on top of BBB and Fritta's head.

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According to some our team was crippled by injury yet we finished 2nd behind Geelong the highest we've finished in decades (except 2021). We beat a fired up Lions at the Gabba in the last round.

I think the huge second half of the fixture ran us out of puff in Sept. We had injuries but so do other sides.

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1 hour ago, mo64 said:

Agree that it was an excellent article. 

The player analysis was spot on. If Goody and the match committee were aware of the cracks, they did little to address them by way of team changes.

Article clearly showed ANB's decline in form. It also debunks the notion by many on here that Spargo is elite when it comes to inside 50 connections. His numbers and percentage are less than Sparrow, who gets canned for his disposal. 

I preferred to listen to TMac’s interview on the “Tossers” podcast where he stated that the two most important players in the team were Nibbler & Spargo. His summation of their roles was very interesting and I guess not many of us would have known that . 

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10 minutes ago, dl4e said:

I have huge questions over BBB and McDonald. Petty to chf and JVR to ff ?????. Can we Make a Gawn and Grundy rotation at ff ???

Agree that BBB is on his last leg, but Tommy has a lot left to offer provided (as it seems so far 🤞) his foot has fully recovered.  
I do think that JVR is an excellent  prospect as a KPF but relying on “resting” ruck men as FFs may be stretching optimism a bit far. That said few would have thought that ruckman Paul Salmon would end up as a top FF. If one of the rookie ruckmen come on in a couple of years it is not beyond belief that Max could spend a year or two at FF in his twilight years. 

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14 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Excellent article

Weideman got off lightly and no discussion of Meldrum *. It also failed to discuss our pocket tendency

* apologies... Melksham

Should have done himself a favour and researched a bit more.  

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1 hour ago, the mollusc said:

Could anyone put zero hanger article by Ed carmine about demons on demonland please

 

Cheers all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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23 hours ago, Deebauched said:

According to some our team was crippled by injury yet we finished 2nd behind Geelong the highest we've finished in decades (except 2021). We beat a fired up Lions at the Gabba in the last round.

I think the huge second half of the fixture ran us out of puff in Sept. We had injuries but so do other sides.

Far too dismissive of the depth of injury situation of ours against other teams. It got progressively worse each week depending upon our footsteps half. Results show that and it is right little was done to change the situation. 
That's the reason if we have a fit list all through the year and don't play underdone and not severely injured players we have a great chance in 2023.

The addition of Hunter and Brody plus improvement of some and greater  fitness of others especially some younger players and also a couple or more Flag heroes will make a big difference. Tmac alone will be a big help.

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On 3/9/2023 at 6:20 PM, Monbon said:

Yep: post the Broken foot, we were out-Macdonalded. The late season fade-outs due to players not fully fit contributed to that dramatic fade out.

Ironically, and I'm only making the comment after watching the replay of the Richmond game, McDonald might well be staring into an exit Edenhope-way, I.E, into the setting sun. BBB is not far behind him, much as I love them both. Then again, we have Van R, Schache, the new order is on its way...

 

Not sure i agree here, Tom is presenting and contesting in what he has done so far this year, and has obviously stripped a much fitter and tougher forward.

Van R is a little concerning in view from what i have seen, but give things a little time and think about how he is thinking for example, 

, am i going to get in the first game and i think the answer to that is no.  BB and Schache for a week/ month in the future,

Speculating prior to the start of the season proper is pretty hard, especially in view of us going through  structural  change on the way we will be entering the forward  areas holistically.

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2 hours ago, Willmoy1947 said:

Not sure i agree here, Tom is presenting and contesting in what he has done so far this year, and has obviously stripped a much fitter and tougher forward.

Van R is a little concerning in view from what i have seen, but give things a little time and think about how he is thinking for example, 

, am i going to get in the first game and i think the answer to that is no.  BB and Schache for a week/ month in the future,

Speculating prior to the start of the season proper is pretty hard, especially in view of us going through  structural  change on the way we will be entering the forward  areas holistically.

Agree entirely. Love your profile. World Peace? Impossible until a certain warmongering country is 'pacified'. Not likely to happen : its economy depends on war, that's why it gave the rest to China who they now wanna make war on. Never mind the Scomeo/Albo solution, Billions of dosh on subs which won't be ready for twenty years will fix that, spelt with an u instead of I., by which time they'll be absolutely obsolete anyway. Nothing surer than Grapeviney will ban me for months for this , any money?

Edited by Monbon
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On 3/9/2023 at 8:01 PM, Deebauched said:

According to some our team was crippled by injury yet we finished 2nd behind Geelong the highest we've finished in decades (except 2021). We beat a fired up Lions at the Gabba in the last round.

I think the huge second half of the fixture ran us out of puff in Sept. We had injuries but so do other sides.

Yeah I’m a subscriber to the epically tough second half of the season we had in terms of quality of opponent and excessive travel for a Victorian side: Adelaide-Geelong-Alice Springs-Docklands-Perth in the space of 5 weeks. These factors may have left us mentally and physically fatigued come finals.

I’m particular pleased this year that 6 of our last 8 games are in Melbourne this year.

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When emotions were high in the immediate aftermath of our limp and inglorious straight sets exit, I repeated the same view I’d shared for 2 months prior.  PICK. A SECOND. KEY. FORWARD.

We got what we deserved in the second half of 2022 and that blame lies squarely with Thursday night match committee.  Whether they were gun shy to blood a raw Van Rooyen or truely believed the 6’1 Melksham could fill the Tmac role, only they will know.  

Structurally, Frisch at 188cm as your 2nd forward target will get monstered by opposition key defenders and instead of halving some contests for predicability of crumbs to small forwards or allow them to pressure opposition D50 exits creating turnovers or limiting slingshot goals against, we started to slow our forward entries, limiting our efficiency and looking toothless in attack.

The blueprint to success is clear, in 2021 we played Brown, Tmac, Fritsch, ANB, Spargo & Kozzy with Dogga or Gawny rotating through the F50.  This year remember the blueprint to success, Grundy replaces Dogga and if there is form or injury impacts for Brown or Tmac, play Van Rooyen.  It works.

Don’t and we’ll get what we deserve.  Again.

#GoDees

 

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I think our forward half will benefit from:

BBB and TMac being healthy.  Although we have others waiting in the wings, these are our ‘1 woods’.

Schache - might be an x-factor that has slipped under the radar. 

Better delivery and a focus on better target selection (including kicking to the hot spot 30 m out straight in front.  Ed, Hunter, ANB, Kossie, Spargo and even TMac can make a big improvement to us here.

Resting midfielders kicking more goals.  Rotating Trac, Kossie, Viney, Sparrow and even Oliver down the front end should help with pressure, clearance and scoring.  Having the 3 princes always in the middle robbed us of this offensive threat.

Faster ball movement that breaks the lines, rather than puddling along Ed’s wing all game.  This will help our forwards get better position.

4th umpire:  proper free kicks to Big Bald Benny Brown.

Improved goal kicking craft

I believe this is an area we have significant upside, and based upon f50 entries, increasing efficiency by only 10% will lead to massive changes in scoreboard outcomes.

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