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5 minutes ago, Glorious Day said:

hang on a minute, Stokesy is single handedly playing another heroic innings to get his lads over the line

As with the Dees, if you don’t take your chances early in the game you can get close late but you leave yourself open to one bit of luck for the opposition stuffing your whole day

 
1 hour ago, Hellofatime said:

Can we  permanently drop Badloss and bring in Williams for the rest of the year?

Choco the kicking expert? he’s doing a ripper job hey?

 

It’s hard, because the effort and endeavour are both there - no question. The defence is looking great - McVee has been a revelation and Salem is getting back to his best. The problem, as I see it is twofold:

1. Our bottom 6 aren’t good enough anymore. In 2021, we prided ourself on the evenness of our squad. Now, the likes of ANB, Chandler, Spargo, Harmes are busting a gut at the contest but offer very little else on a regular basis. (To be fair, Chandler had a great start to the season). There is no impact from them other than contest which means…

2…our forward line is an absolute mess: Kick to the top of the square, two of our blokes fly for the same ball with three of their guys, ball hits the deck, rugby maul, rugby maul, rugby maul, someone has a wild shot, ball goes out for a point. Rinse and repeat. Until we get players that can deliver better ball into 50, better quality forwards working to a smarter plan, all the huff and puff and 1%ers are meaningless.

21 minutes ago, Abyssal said:

“finished 2nd in 2022” ?

Stretching the truth to suit your argument ?

The vast majority will remember 2022 as going out in straight sets and the year being a great disappointment. 

Exactly. And it has gone downhill from there. Loading, bs, bs, bs, bs…………


1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Kingy and Montagna are absolutely spot on with this 

 

 

He's heard the same press conference 30 times because the problem is still the same.

Its been going on for 4 years bar the last 6 weeks of 2021

He's a defensive coach that consistently says 'our method keeps us in games and gives us a chance to win'

He is totally inflexible in his approach and he and Stafford have NFI about how to manage a forward line.

The Casey Demons played the Giants at Casey Fields this afternoon. Their 60 inside 50s to 44 resulted in 34 scoring shots to 18 and a 96-point win.

Later in the day at Alice Springs Melbourne played the Giants. Their 73 inside 50s to 46 gave them 20 scoring shots to 12 and resulted in a 2-point defeat.

At one point in the Eagles vs Saints game today (just before three quarter time) the combined number of inside 50s of both sides was 59 from which WCE had scored 12.2.74 against the Saints’ 9.5.59, a total of 21.7.133. Even allowing for the difference in weather conditions, this is a monumental indication of how poor Melbourne’s forward 50 inefficiency was today. And it’s been only marginally better for four or five weeks before this.

I seem to remember at the beginning of last year, (about 3 rounds in?), King was using our forward line as an example of why we are so dangerous and hard to defend against.

It was footage of essentially our entire forward line in constant motion which stretched out defenders so they couldn't converge on the incoming ball. Options everywhere.

Why did that stop? Now I watch Melbourne and it's majority bomb it 20 meters out with very little movement on the whole.

Maybe get that cracking again? Get one of Bowie/Mcvee/Salem up the ground to allow for better entries to our forwards and for gods sake go back to the method that was lauded at the beginning of last year?



 

 
1 minute ago, Whispering_Jack said:

The Casey Demons played the Giants at Casey Fields this afternoon. Their 60 inside 50s to 44 resulted in 34 scoring shots to 18 and a 96-point win.

Later in the day at Alice Springs Melbourne played the Giants. Their 73 inside 50s to 46 gave them 20 scoring shots to 12 and resulted in a 2-point defeat.

At one point in the Eagles vs Saints game today (just before three quarter time) the combined number of inside 50s of both sides was 59 from which WCE had scored 12.2.74 against the Saints’ 9.5.59, a total of 21.7.133. Even allowing for the difference in weather conditions, this is a monumental indication of how poor Melbourne’s forward 50 inefficiency was today. And it’s been only marginally better for four or five weeks before this.

Not sure the final paragraph makes the argument you're trying to make. The WC-St Kilda stat says a lot more about those clubs' respective defences than their offences.

3 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

The Casey Demons played the Giants at Casey Fields this afternoon. Their 60 inside 50s to 44 resulted in 34 scoring shots to 18 and a 96-point win.

Later in the day at Alice Springs Melbourne played the Giants. Their 73 inside 50s to 46 gave them 20 scoring shots to 12 and resulted in a 2-point defeat.

At one point in the Eagles vs Saints game today (just before three quarter time) the combined number of inside 50s of both sides was 59 from which WCE had scored 12.2.74 against the Saints’ 9.5.59, a total of 21.7.133. Even allowing for the difference in weather conditions, this is a monumental indication of how poor Melbourne’s forward 50 inefficiency was today. And it’s been only marginally better for four or five weeks before this.

WOW.


2 hours ago, DeeMee said:

Watching a sport shouldn’t be this painful. Think I’m too invested in the Dees and have been for decades. Losses like this hurt too much.

Seriously consider going to watch a local game of footy. It is a world away from AFL (a very good thing imo) and can be extremely cathartic. There is a real sense of beauty to grassroots footy, it’s the way the game is meant to be played.

Might I suggest you come down and watch Fish Creek! Never a dull moment and you won’t regret it 😝.

 

Edited by Demon Disciple

4 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Not sure the final paragraph makes the argument you're trying to make. The WC-St Kilda stat says a lot more about those clubs' respective defences than their offences.

Yes - it does say something about the respective teams’ defences but it also shows what you can achieve with better scoring efficiency. The differences really show up our scoring deficiencies of late. 

4 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Where is Kozzy at and why has he regressed aside from the odd chase down attempts & pressure attempts inside 50 where he was doing well here (2nd in the AFL on averages for tackles inside 50) up to about 2 weeks ago?  Havent checked if he's still in the mix here the last few weeks.

Just isn't playing the 101s as a small forward as you would want.

STILL going for the odd pack mark.

Still playing from behind in 1 v 1s far too often.  In the wet today was just silly.

Doesn't get front & square often enough (occasionally due to pack mark attempts) and when he does.... he usually runs straight into the bottom of the pack so he has virtually no chance of crumbing the spill or escaping if he does.

Who's mentoring / teaching him this rubbish lazy / innefective method of small forward play (offensively)?

Chandler is another post altogether.  Completely innefective the last 5 weeks.  Zero goals if i'm correct.

He's gone to absolute water since

1) the bailey smith suspension 

2) signing his contract 

Looks like he cannot be bothered and his lack of focus is self evident. Can't hit a target, can barely possess the footy without fumbling, and just can't seem to make the right decision. All of those things used to be absolute standout features of his game. 

It's been an extremely sad demise. It's weird and counterintuitive, but sometimes when you 'make it' and start getting paid really well to do something you love, it kills your love of it. That's what it looks like to me. He's not having any fun and he's going through the motions entirely. Very sad. 

Weekly post. McVee is wasted in the backline. Any danger of giving him a run thru the middle. If butchers like Harmes, Anb, Petracca are allowed to hit kicks inside 50, maybe let the one guy who actually cares about and is able to  dispose effectively have a go.  Yeh nah, maybe not.  

 

3 hours ago, DubDee said:

good lord that is horrific

It's also wrong. Total 46 shots comprising 12 goals 19 points and 15 misses. Still bloody terrible.


Lot of Kozzie sledging on here, just be aware:

22 goals, behind only Fritsch (29)

Ave 5.9 score involvements, behind only Trac & Clarry

12 goal assists, behind only Trac (20)

22 marks i50, behind only Fritsch (30)

4.5 ave tackles, behind only Viney (5.8), Clarry (5.6), ANB (5). He’s outright first for tackles i50.

He flies for some marks he shouldn’t, takes shots at goal he could pass, sometimes sprays some kicks but he ain’t the problem and anyone who thinks he’s going anywhere near Casey is kidding themselves. 

7 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

Weekly post. McVee is wasted in the backline. Any danger of giving him a run thru the middle. If butchers like Harmes, Anb, Petracca are allowed to hit kicks inside 50, maybe let the one guy who actually cares about and is able to  dispose effectively have a go.  Yeh nah, maybe not.  

 

Agreed. He has the Pendlebury extra second ability and hits targets constantly. Very smart footballer. Give him a crack and who knows, he could be the answer going inside 50 we need.

9 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

Weekly post. McVee is wasted in the backline. Any danger of giving him a run thru the middle. If butchers like Harmes, Anb, Petracca are allowed to hit kicks inside 50, maybe let the one guy who actually cares about and is able to  dispose effectively have a go.  Yeh nah, maybe not.  

 

It's really not that simple, so tiring people say this as soon as someone can kick...'put them in the midfield'. 

In the midfield you generally do not have time to dispose of the ball properly. That's why most midfielders other than the very elite (Merrett, Bont) are considered poor kicks. Plus, all of a sudden you have responsibility for winning contested ball in outnumber situations. That's not Judd's go (yet). It's the same reason Salem doesn't play midfield. He ain't a midfielder 

15 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

He's gone to absolute water since

1) the bailey smith suspension 

2) signing his contract 

Looks like he cannot be bothered and his lack of focus is self evident. Can't hit a target, can barely possess the footy without fumbling, and just can't seem to make the right decision. All of those things used to be absolute standout features of his game. 

It's been an extremely sad demise. It's weird and counterintuitive, but sometimes when you 'make it' and start getting paid really well to do something you love, it kills your love of it. That's what it looks like to me. He's not having any fun and he's going through the motions entirely. Very sad. 

Nailed it

Already peed off about us losing and now watching us spill up the second test. Geez I'm getting cranky


Trying to work out what's worse, our forward entries or the Aussie's half track pies

35 minutes ago, Jjrogan said:

Weekly post. McVee is wasted in the backline. Any danger of giving him a run thru the middle. If butchers like Harmes, Anb, Petracca are allowed to hit kicks inside 50, maybe let the one guy who actually cares about and is able to  dispose effectively have a go.  Yeh nah, maybe not.  

 

our entire gameplan is built around smart ball use from the back half

he's integral to our defensive set-up imo

28 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

It's really not that simple, so tiring people say this as soon as someone can kick...'put them in the midfield'. 

In the midfield you generally do not have time to dispose of the ball properly. That's why most midfielders other than the very elite (Merrett, Bont) are considered poor kicks. Plus, all of a sudden you have responsibility for winning contested ball in outnumber situations. That's not Judd's go (yet). It's the same reason Salem doesn't play midfield. He ain't a midfielder 

Exactly.

Don't go chasing waterfalls.

 
30 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

It's really not that simple, so tiring people say this as soon as someone can kick...'put them in the midfield'. 

In the midfield you generally do not have time to dispose of the ball properly. That's why most midfielders other than the very elite (Merrett, Bont) are considered poor kicks. Plus, all of a sudden you have responsibility for winning contested ball in outnumber situations. That's not Judd's go (yet). It's the same reason Salem doesn't play midfield. He ain't a midfielder 

How do you know it's not that simple. Give him 10 minutes. Change it up. What is stupid is doing the same thing with the same players and expecting different results. 

Clearly our ball use is a problem.  His ball use is one of our best.  I'm not asking to put Jake lever in there.   What exactly would be the worst thing that would happen?  Our whole game plan comes crashing down if he has 2 rotations on ball?  Lol. When something isn't working try something different.. what exactly have the coaches tried that's different

 That's the point. 

12 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

our entire gameplan is built around smart ball use from the back half

he's integral to our defensive set-up imo

Our entire game plan can't buy a goal right now.  He can't be that integral imo, it's his first year and it's not like we don't have other good ball users out of half back. Anyway made my point. See you next week I guess. 


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