Jump to content

Featured Replies

  On 16/05/2023 at 22:48, leave it to deever said:

Sorry FT, where do they each play?

Is Bbb or whoever comes in,  at Ff and Jvr at Chf?

I see Jvr as someone with a lot of pace and stamina and see him playing at Chf better. 

 

We don't really play a full forward and centre half forward. We play 2x tall forwards, 1x forward ruck, Fritsch and 3 speed forwards. One of the tall forwards often plays a defensive role to keep the oppositions best intercept marker away from the play. And we actually want Fritsch to be the deepest forward because of his accuracy.

We are going to plan our forward structure and entries around Aliir, who is a key for them.

Brown has also excellent endurance and often covers the most distance in a game.

 
  On 16/05/2023 at 13:23, WERRIDEE said:

Ben Brown will be in this week but no doubt Petty was ahead of him. Time to step up Big Ben.

I actually reckon it will be TMac.  I think they will be concerned that if one of May / Lever goes down we wouldn't have anyone else that can be shifted back with Petty out.

Or would they give Smith a go given he can (apparently) play at both ends.

  On 17/05/2023 at 00:04, deelusions from afar said:

I actually reckon it will be TMac.  I think they will be concerned that if one of May / Lever goes down we wouldn't have anyone else that can be shifted back with Petty out.

Or would they give Smith a go given he can (apparently) play at both ends.

It's an interesting perspective.  Do we play who is more likely to be the most effective in their designated role or do we choose for contingencies? I would prefer Brown but I think the club will pick Tmac given he was named as an emergency not long ago. Also the conditions I believe are for rain and not conducive to marking. As such Tmac's natural defensive traits in  punching the ball will help get him across the line. It won't be Smith or Schache. 

 
  On 16/05/2023 at 07:09, Young Blood said:

Its pretty strange isn't it. Although I think the media's questions have more been around whether Goodwin is starting to feel settled with what his best forward set up looks like, I still get a feeling around the AFL that people believe our forward line isn't fully functioning yet, maybe they are just looking at it more in a traditional sense where our talls are leading our scoring (ala Geelong) which is silly obviously. But I also don't know why Collingwood whose forwards have scored 10-20 less goals then our forward aren't getting similar queries.

The below showing the inside 50 differentials between the top teams isn't overly significant. But the amount of goals we're scoring is. Our accuracy is outstanding (especially if you take out the Hawthorn game where I thought we were just a bit casual with our shot attempts).

 

image.png.3c0b32b1919e1e668795177fb6d26de3.png

I am a little wary of reading too much into this as yet, as we have played the three worst teams in the league, so I think the samples are not quite comparable.

I thought the game where we had the most pressure on our entries into the forward line (Gold Coast) resulted in more defensive intercepts than we have seen in the rest of the games (perhaps with the exception of the losses). I think Friday will be a good test of whether we have made significant progress from last year with sorting out our forward line challenges (assuming Port's bring the pressure). I think too many have not given enough credit to Petty's defensive work in our forward line, and I think its still work in progress. 

  On 17/05/2023 at 01:36, spalding said:

I think too many have not given enough credit to Petty's defensive work in our forward line, and I think its still work in progress. 

Petty = The barometer ☝️🙌🏼


Tmac for Petty for me as well.

If May or Lever are injured mid game we are screwed, so Tmac gives us the best flexibility to replace Petty

  On 16/05/2023 at 23:59, Fat Tony said:

We don't really play a full forward and centre half forward. We play 2x tall forwards, 1x forward ruck, Fritsch and 3 speed forwards. One of the tall forwards often plays a defensive role to keep the oppositions best intercept marker away from the play. And we actually want Fritsch to be the deepest forward because of his accuracy.

We are going to plan our forward structure and entries around Aliir, who is a key for them.

Brown has also excellent endurance and often covers the most distance in a game.

It's more the ground ball IMO that we need to worry about.

  On 17/05/2023 at 01:58, Jaded No More said:

Tmac for Petty for me as well.

If May or Lever are injured mid game we are screwed, so Tmac gives us the best flexibility to replace Petty

And if that happens and TMac goes back, we are screwed in the forward line.

 
  On 17/05/2023 at 02:31, AzzKikA said:

And if that happens and TMac goes back, we are screwed in the forward line.

Imagine if we didn't fight for Jvr.

Ben Brown was in great form before injury and I expect him to return to replace Petty up forward.

No Dixon or Marshall means their tall forwards aren't as much of a threat. Port have just been manufacturing goals from everywhere instead of relying on tall forwards to contest and score. That works against TMac for his flexibility.


  On 17/05/2023 at 03:24, Lord Travis said:

Ben Brown was in great form before injury and I expect him to return to replace Petty up forward.

No Dixon or Marshall means their tall forwards aren't as much of a threat. Port have just been manufacturing goals from everywhere instead of relying on tall forwards to contest and score. That works against TMac for his flexibility.

No Georgiades either - I feel like he plays well against us every time we play them.

They have Finlayson and a 21-year old called Ollie Lord (197cm). But they are currently using both of them to chop out their inexperienced ruck, Teakle (last week Teakle took 26 centre bounces, Finlayson 5 and Lord 2).

I don't know if they can play Lycett and Teakle in the same side but Essendon had success with two rucks against us (albeit we didn't have Gawn) so I wonder whether they will bring Lycett back, which will allow Finlayson to be a permanent forward.

Assumes of course that Dixon isn't fit; if he's fit, he comes back and they will have Dixon, Lord and Finlayson up forward (with Finlayson in the ruck half the game).

I think with Gawn floating back if needed, May/Lever/Hibberd is enough to cover their forward line, but if they do bring Dixon back we might be a bit short.

Personally though, I'd rather back our system and defence in and pick the best forward than pick TMac just for his flexibility if he otherwise wouldn't be first choice. 

2 days to go!!

Should be a cracker!

  On 17/05/2023 at 02:31, AzzKikA said:

And if that happens and TMac goes back, we are screwed in the forward line.

No we are not, we can throw Gawn or Grundy at FF. We are getting much more output from our small forwards anyway. 

I think we need to pick the best 22 players and use our sub for the type of cover we need. The team is clearly very fit based on final quarter performance, so I don’t we’d be at a disadvantage to have Turner or TMac as sub. Gawn and Grundy offer us some flexibility in terms of attacking and defensive cover. 
 

If it’s dry and Brown plays I can see him getting some good looks leading back to goal. Port attack quickly and if we get our typical strong amount points from turnover, he will be given the type of space he thrives in. 


  On 17/05/2023 at 03:56, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Dixon is more likely than unlikely to be playing according to Hinkley.

 

Smoke and mirrors. I hear he didn’t train Even if he does play, it’ll be a major roll of the dice that they would be silly to take such a risk during round 10. 

They will have a small forwardline if Dixon doesn’t get up, so the TMAC argument covering injuries in our backline isn’t valid IMO. I think BB fresh is a different player. I think 3-4 hard games and his knees are shot.

BB to kick 5 first up from a spell.. 

Jordon and Brown (or T.Mac )- to play.Melsham as sub.

  On 16/05/2023 at 02:19, Dannyz said:

I think Salem will play AFL

Something is telling me the same.

If Salem has had a 4 week mini preseason then I'd play him. Let him get game time the next 2-3 weeks and have him cherry ripe for the Pies. Also when we play the Pies I'd play Kickett on Daicos and tell him to play him close close close and then run off him everytime we get the ball and watch him flounder like a carp in a dried out summer river.


  On 17/05/2023 at 02:26, A F said:

It's more the ground ball IMO that we need to worry about.

We were a lot better at this with Spargo in the team.  The pressure from him and Nibbler is amazing to watch.

  On 17/05/2023 at 04:57, Stu said:

I think we need to pick the best 22 players and use our sub for the type of cover we need. The team is clearly very fit based on final quarter performance, so I don’t we’d be at a disadvantage to have Turner or TMac as sub. Gawn and Grundy offer us some flexibility in terms of attacking and defensive cover. 
 

If it’s dry and Brown plays I can see him getting some good looks leading back to goal. Port attack quickly and if we get our typical strong amount points from turnover, he will be given the type of space he thrives in. 

I think Turner is on the injury list for 4-6 unfortunately.  We definitely need another tall up forward to alleviate pressure for JVR / Grawny / Fritter.  Really wouldn't mind if it was Smith as he can play the defensive forward well and apply excellent pressure

  On 17/05/2023 at 08:04, D Rev said:

I think Turner is on the injury list for 4-6 unfortunately.  We definitely need another tall up forward to alleviate pressure for JVR / Grawny / Fritter.  Really wouldn't mind if it was Smith as he can play the defensive forward well and apply excellent pressure

I believe that’s Kye Turner, our SSP from this year. Daniel is uninjured I believe. 

 
  On 17/05/2023 at 08:04, D Rev said:

 Really wouldn't mind if it was Smith as he can play the defensive forward well and apply excellent pressure

Me too. And thought it might happen.

But based on comments by goody in a presser (or 360?) it is unlikely.

Asked who might come in for petty he mentioned bb, tmac and melk.

No mention of Smith, or schache for that matter.

Maybe he's foxing.

:goody2:

Edited by binman

  On 17/05/2023 at 01:58, Jaded No More said:

Tmac for Petty for me as well.

If May or Lever are injured mid game we are screwed, so Tmac gives us the best flexibility to replace Petty

You are kidding if that happened who is he going to pick up, he can only run in a straight line and has slowed down due to injuries, bit like Buddy at the swans, club needs to move forward.


Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

Featured Content

  • REPORT: Essendon

    What were they thinking? I mean by “they” the coaching panel and team selectors who chose the team to play against an opponent who, like Melbourne, had made a poor start to the season and who they appeared perfectly capable of beating in what was possibly the last chance to turn the season around.It’s no secret that the Demons’ forward line is totally dysfunctional, having opened the season barely able to average sixty points per game which means there has been no semblance of any system from the team going forward into attack. Nevertheless, on Saturday night at the Adelaide Oval in one of the Gather Round showcase games, Melbourne, with Max Gawn dominating the hit outs against a depleted Essendon ruck resulting from Nick Bryan’s early exit, finished just ahead in clearances won and found itself inside the 50 metre arc 51 times to 43. The end result was a final score that had the Bombers winning 15.6 (96) to 8.9 (57). On balance, one could expect this to result in a two or three goal win, but in this case, it translated into a six and a half goal defeat because they only managed to convert eight times or 11.68% of their entries. The Bombers more than doubled that. On Thursday night at the same ground, the losing team Adelaide managed to score 100 points from almost the same number of times inside 50.

    • 0 replies
    Demonland
  • PODCAST: Essendon

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 14th April @ the all new time of 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect another Demons loss at Kardinia Park to the Cats in the Round 04. 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. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human.

      • Clap
    • 38 replies
    Demonland
  • PREGAME: Fremantle

    The Demons return home to the MCG in search of their first win for the 2025 Premiership season when they take on the Fremantle Dockers on Saturday afternoon. Who comes in and who goes out?

      • Angry
      • Clap
      • Love
      • Like
    • 121 replies
    Demonland
  • VOTES: Essendon

    Max Gawn leads the Demonland Player of the Year ahead of Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Kade Chandler and Jake Bowey. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

      • Like
    • 24 replies
    Demonland
  • POSTGAME: Essendon

    Despite a spirited third quarter surge, the Demons have slumped to their worst start to a season since 2012, remaining winless and second last on the ladder after a 39-point defeat to Essendon at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round.

      • Clap
      • Love
      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 271 replies
    Demonland
  • GAMEDAY: Essendon

    It’s Game Day, and the Demons are staring down the barrel of an 0-5 start for the first time since 2012 as they take on Essendon at Adelaide Oval for Gather Round. In that forgettable season, Melbourne finally broke their drought by toppling the Bombers. Can lightning strike twice? Will the Dees turn their nightmare start around and breathe life back into 2025?

      • Like
    • 723 replies
    Demonland