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The Dees are Doing it Again

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in Melbourne Demons

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  On 16/05/2023 at 00:01, A F said:

As @Jaded No More has pointed out, we have a very similar formline to Collingwood. Except Collingwood has had to come back from deficits in most of their games, while we've controlled our games. 

It's interesting that you seem to think Collingwood are the yardstick, and to an extent I agree given their recent record over us, however we're in the top 4 for all major scoring routes and Collingwood are top 4 for scores from stoppages (as are we) and that's it.

Collingwood are far more like us in 2018, but aren't scoring as heavily as us. They play the aggressive, all or nothing press and send extra players to the stoppages, exactly what we were doing in 2018, except we used an anchor/goalkeeper out the back. Collingwood do not, which as @binman highlighted on the podcast last night, leaves them very vulnerable out the back - see last year's final against Geelong.

Begrudgingly admire what Collingwood has been able to achieve in the space of 12 months, but I reckon Collingwood should be using us as the yardstick, not the other way around.

Until we can prove we can continue to do this against genuine top 8 sides, I think (unfortunately) Collingwood are deservedly the yardstick.  We're yet to beat anyone of note and have had two slip-ups.  Collinwood have had one of the same slip ups (though arguably Bris in Bris is just a very tough game)... but they've also beaten 4 sides in the top 8 versus our 1.  I hate collinwood with a passion but they deserve to be the favourites at this point in time in my view.

Still plenty of time for us to improve - I think we can already see that a number of our key deficiencies  from last year are being worked on which should stand us in good stead for the back half of the year - e.g:

  • not taxing our stars more than needed (eg more rotations in centre bounce)
  • playing most in-form key forwards with added emphasis on those that will compete when the ball is in the air AND on the ground
  • rewarding good VFL form and the kids that deserve a crack (JVR, McVee, Chandler).  By extension this means that best 22 players from the 2021 GF are not walk up starts anymore if not 100% and in form.
  • game style flexibility - two wingers and two genuine ruckman mean we are less predictable with what was previously defensive v fat side wing setup.  The setup means we can take the game on more and score easier... but it also means that our defence is under more pressure and will inevitably concede more.  Incidentally all the ppl saying May is off I think are forgetting that the tweaks to our game plan mean that our defence is under more pressure.  I think this is ok if our aggressive attack is able to work against decent sides.

We're about to have our audit!

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      On 16/05/2023 at 00:36, Fork 'em said:

     Collingwood supporters are feeling it brewing.
    Pie mad mate is tipping a biggest ever home and away crowd.
    Regardless whether it is or not, it's gonna be the biggest H&A game we've been involved in that I can remember..... Ever.


     

    Biggest home and away game of my lifetime too. Cannot wait.

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      On 15/05/2023 at 21:58, deelusions from afar said:

    As I said on another thread I hope this kind of commentary is right.... but our (limited) record against sides in contention isn't great so far this season - next 4-6 weeks will give us a proper indication of where we're at.

    All these stats are great but 7 of our first 9 games were against teams in the bottom 9 including 3 against the bottom 3 so of course it's going to look good on paper.

    Big game Friday night v port!

    Let's just get this game (and hopefully win) behind us. We ought to win 3 of the next 4 but the sweetest scalp would be that of Collingwood !!! 

    It is to dream !!

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      On 16/05/2023 at 02:17, YearOfTheDees said:

    Best I can do.

     

    image.thumb.png.dcc1a4411cf5a799af98d2dbbbd0a802.png

    Thanks for posting that. Footy journos have decided to put "sneaky" in front of everything this season. It's hardly a secret our recruiting has been terrific.

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      On 16/05/2023 at 00:01, A F said:

     

    Collingwood are far more like us in 2018, but aren't scoring as heavily as us. They play the aggressive, all or nothing press and send extra players to the stoppages, exactly what we were doing in 2018, except we used an anchor/goalkeeper out the back. Collingwood do not, which as @binman highlighted on the podcast last night, leaves them very vulnerable out the back - see last year's final against Geelong.

    Would you say they are 'all duck or no dinner'?

     

      On 16/05/2023 at 00:03, A F said:

    RC is a republican and a lefty? 

    And I'm a Republican and a lefty, and still refer to Queen's Birthday or King's Birthday as such. What else do you want to call it for ease of clarification? 😄

    Seems all us lefty republicans are okay with using the pronouns by which the day identifies itself.

    Besides, 'The second moonday in the month of the goddess Juno' is a bit of a mouthful.

    I mean, I'm not a Norse-Germanic pagan, but I can also cope with Tyrsday, Odinsday, Thorsday and Freyrsday. Although the confusion about Saturnsday always gets me with that ol' pantheon switcheroo.

    But, we digress.

    I seem to remember that once upon a time our whole purpose as a club was 'to maintain a condition of excellence that allowed us to compete for the premiership every year.' Sounds like the kind of thing people would snort at Goodwin for 'saying nothing again', but it is genuinely what we're operating on.

    Makes for a quietly tense year as we all wonder - who will find their momentum in September this year?

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      On 15/05/2023 at 23:37, John Crow Batty said:

    At this stage kind of reminds me of 2018 when we had a soft draw and beat up on lower sides. We will see where we truly at in a few weeks. Port are hot and this will be as tough a game as going up against Collingwood. 

    The numbers support that we look a bit more like 2018. Which was the last time we were also rated number 1 in the comp for scoring. Our attack and defence averages for scores are actually a lot closer to 2018 than our previous two seasons.

    At the moment in 2023 we are kicking an average of 16.10 107 a game.
    Which is considerably more than:
    2022 12.12 87   (up 20 points per game)
    2021 13.12 90   (up 17 points per game)
    and a lot closer to our 2018 scoring average of 15.13 101. (up 6 points a game)

    Now on defence we are averaging 74 against this year, which was:
    69 in 2022
    64 in 2021
    79 in 2018

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      On 16/05/2023 at 04:27, FritschyBusiness said:

    The numbers support that we look a bit more like 2018. Which was the last time we were also rated number 1 in the comp for scoring. Our attack and defence averages for scores are actually a lot closer to 2018 than our previous two seasons.

    At the moment in 2023 we are kicking an average of 16.10 107 a game.
    Which is considerably more than:
    2022 12.12 87   (up 20 points per game)
    2021 13.12 90   (up 17 points per game)
    and a lot closer to our 2018 scoring average of 15.13 101. (up 6 points a game)

    Now on defence we are averaging 74 against this year, which was:
    69 in 2022
    64 in 2021
    79 in 2018

    Interesting data. Just to clarify, are the previous years' figures for the whole season or up to round 9 in each case?

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    I don’t see the need to compare us to Collingwood right now but we’ve played an easier slate of opponents than them, but have done it with tougher travel and more short breaks. 

    They’re yet to play any of North, West Coast and Hawthorn. We’ve played all three. 

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      On 15/05/2023 at 23:51, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

    It's a good article. I find it both ironic and humorous that the staunch republican and lefty still refers to the second Monday in June as Queen's Birthday.

    Mate, I'm still wondering why we're not playing University at home each season.

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      On 16/05/2023 at 04:50, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

    Interesting data. Just to clarify, are the previous years' figures for the whole season or up to round 9 in each case?

    Happy to clarify! Previous years averages were for the full home and away seasons including finals. 

    I left 2020 out because of reduced quarters. 

    Edited by FritschyBusiness

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    Take away the 3 easy beats and we’re 4-2 with a couple of nice wins and a couple of less impressive ones. 

    2 ordinary losses where we looked slow in the midfield, shaky down back and iffy going forward (and as importantly keeping it there).

    The next month will show a lot more if we are contenders or pretenders. 

    Drawing conclusions about our ‘explosive’ style of play from smashing the Hawks or any other battling side isn’t wise.

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      On 16/05/2023 at 05:35, DeeSpencer said:

    Take away the 3 easy beats and we’re 4-2 with a couple of nice wins and a couple of less impressive ones. 

    2 ordinary losses where we looked slow in the midfield, shaky down back and iffy going forward (and as importantly keeping it there).

    The next month will show a lot more if we are contenders or pretenders. 

    Drawing conclusions about our ‘explosive’ style of play from smashing the Hawks or any other battling side isn’t wise.

    Whilst this isn’t an unreasonable analysis, it’s worth remembering IMO that:

    1. We had no Hibberd or May against Brisbane and lost Gawn 15 minutes in

    2. We had no Hibberd, Lever or Gawn against Essendon on a six day break after a warm game in Perth. 

    Not excuses, just some thoughts. IMO our inability to intercept in both games crippled our scoring ability. This week v Port we should have all of Gawn, May, Hibberd and Lever. 

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    I'm excited to see how we perform over the next month. We've banked some key early wins and have set ourselves up for this middle portion of the season. You can say the Hawks are terrible, and they are, but the attitude and attack on the footy we brought to the first quarter (and the first quarter against North) was ruthless and exactly what I wanted to see. I think the first quarter against Hawthorn was even more impressive than the one against North only we failed to hit the scoreboard. It took them what over half a quarter to get an inside 50? And then their only goal came from a free kick (which was there).

    I think the team will relish having some real opposition on Friday and am eagerly anticipating a tough contest.

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      On 16/05/2023 at 00:03, A F said:

    RC is a republican and a lefty? 

    And I'm a Republican and a lefty, and still refer to Queen's Birthday or King's Birthday as such. What else do you want to call it for ease of clarification? 😄

    Bastille Day

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      On 16/05/2023 at 02:07, YearOfTheDees said:

    Nice little write up in the Hun today about our drafting the past 10 years.  VERDICT Just Brilliant. 

    Can't post it because it is " of course" behind a pay wall. 

    Post link

    12ft

    dot

    io

    is a great new site about very tall APIs

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      On 16/05/2023 at 07:48, titan_uranus said:

    Whilst this isn’t an unreasonable analysis, it’s worth remembering IMO that:

    1. We had no Hibberd or May against Brisbane and lost Gawn 15 minutes in

    2. We had no Hibberd, Lever or Gawn against Essendon on a six day break after a warm game in Perth. 

    Not excuses, just some thoughts. IMO our inability to intercept in both games crippled our scoring ability. This week v Port we should have all of Gawn, May, Hibberd and Lever. 

    Absolutely. And we aren’t going to be at our best every week. I just think we should toss out the 3 junk games. 4-2 is a strong record against some pretty good sides. Sydney and Richmond on the MCG and up and about for big games were pretty solid and spirited contests 

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    Good read, have always liked the work of Rohan C.

    Edited by YesitwasaWin4theAges

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      On 15/05/2023 at 22:59, McQueen said:

    And a Dee’s home game to boot. 
     

    Would it be too fanciful to expect 90K at this game?

    dont we have a reciprocal revenue share arrangement with Filth for KB?

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      On 16/05/2023 at 04:04, Little Goffy said:

    Would you say they are 'all duck or no dinner'?

     

    Seems all us lefty republicans are okay with using the pronouns by which the day identifies itself.

    Besides, 'The second moonday in the month of the goddess Juno' is a bit of a mouthful.

    I mean, I'm not a Norse-Germanic pagan, but I can also cope with Tyrsday, Odinsday, Thorsday and Freyrsday. Although the confusion about Saturnsday always gets me with that ol' pantheon switcheroo.

    But, we digress.

    I seem to remember that once upon a time our whole purpose as a club was 'to maintain a condition of excellence that allowed us to compete for the premiership every year.' Sounds like the kind of thing people would snort at Goodwin for 'saying nothing again', but it is genuinely what we're operating on.

    Makes for a quietly tense year as we all wonder - who will find their momentum in September this year?

    I heard the government was planning to call it Monarchy Day but I’m a long way from home - any truth to that?

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      On 16/05/2023 at 15:36, Anti-Saint said:

    dont we have a reciprocal revenue share arrangement with Filth for KB?

    Petty sure we don"t. The only reciprocal revenue share game I believe is Coll V Ess. That's why the AFL stuffed up in giving Coll the home game rights on QB the same year when Rich have their home game against us. One year no revenue for us but the next year revenue from both games. Much better financially for us to have one big game each year BUT Eddie had to have his demands met for a change.

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      On 15/05/2023 at 23:37, John Crow Batty said:

    At this stage kind of reminds me of 2018 when we had a soft draw and beat up on lower sides. We will see where we truly at in a few weeks. Port are hot and this will be as tough a game as going up against Collingwood. 

    No It won't. 

    Port are a good side nothing more nothing less.  They are under par due to injuries and three wins this year have been by 7 points or less vs Dons Saints and Swans. Meritorious no doubt as we couldn't best Scott's Mob  In gather round. A rare as poor  a performance as against Freo last year at the G. 

    Comparing Port vs Pies is like playing cricket vs India and NewZesland at the moment no Matter where the game is played.

    Dont get me wrong Friday nights blockbuster is a great match up as I think that's about what we are suited in May. Hopefully in June after playing Port Dockers snd Blues on KB  we will be cherry ripe for Pies. 

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      On 16/05/2023 at 15:36, Anti-Saint said:

    dont we have a reciprocal revenue share arrangement with Filth for KB?

    Never have and probably never will.

    What we have is now a rotated home game each June hol or now KB holiday. What we did have with "Eddies permission" about  a dozen QB games from in the naughties to 2018 approx as our home game and money making opportunity and scheduled to help our bottom line. 

    He recently asked the AFL to return to the status quo as he could see we were moving up the ladder in finance and performance and one day might represent a challenge to his Pies.

    Nevertheless  we do owe him some gratitude for his generosity in this matter. 

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