On 04/04/2024 at 15:15, FireInTheBennelly said:

The Tex mark over Clarry, where May was being held out of the contest? Doesn't the player at least have to pretend he's going to mark the ball?

2 umpires staring at it?

The group really looks galvanized, don't they? 

There is a sense of 21' with their outward celebration of 1%ers and unselfishness. 

The injection of Windsor has been immense, what a wonderful start to his career. He's clearly been told to back himself and take the game on, but he also has the ability to 'check' his kicks and go to the right option, not blazing away. Very mature young fella with incredible potential. 

Players like Windsor and Howes would have struggled to perform so early in previous Demon teams, so, credit to the boys and the coaching staff / on-field leaders who have made their introduction into the AFL seamless. 

 

  On 04/04/2024 at 13:30, Whispering_Jack said:

There’s one thing about winning a game when you also finish with a free kick count of 21 to 9 against you.

You can be really magnanimous about beating a team that has four maggots playing for them on top of 23 of their own, knowing they robbed us but we still won.

 

The AFL prides itself on integrity and officiating games is probably one of, if not the most important aspect of that integrity.

We all know everyone makes mistakes, but tonight wasn’t about mistakes, it was about blatant inconsistent officiating and I will be gracious and say it was probably caused by trying to appease a fanatical crowd.

If that happens regularly, the game is in trouble.

If you asked an ex umpire to review that performance, I am convinced he would mark it poorly.

On the commentary, barracking for one side is just so pathetic.

Well done boys, you overcame some big hurdles.

Steven May, just WOW.

  On 04/04/2024 at 20:11, jnrmac said:

Didn't touch the ball in the 1st half and his efforts were lame but when he's on he's on 

They might look lame, but i don't think they are. You're not getting a game at the MFC if your efforts are lame.

  On 04/04/2024 at 16:35, Brownie said:

I reckon Max had an arm wrapped around him at 80 percent of ruck contests tonight. He was held consistently at rucks. Yet, there were two holding free kicks paid to forwards (one to us and one to them) for lesser holds.

It does my head in how he's allowed to be scragged week in week out.

It was Rivers that was shoved in the back for that mark. They didn't even have the guts to show a replay of the mark and goal to Adelaide.

Funny that, the only goal not repeated on the TV broadcast.

  On 04/04/2024 at 20:42, jnrmac said:

Sparrow played a really good game. 98% midfield,  huge pressure stats and a brilliant desperate smother resulting in the Tracc goal

Key grunt worker

He is selfless and does what he is asked to do, but isn't it lovely to have another mid in the rotation who can step up and deliver when one of our A+ graders is struggling with injury or illness (like Clarry and Viney were last night).

His defensive work is fantastic, really underrated, and his ability to impact the scoreboard is second only behind Trac... who would have 40 goals a year if he could kick straight.

  On 04/04/2024 at 20:43, jnrmac said:

Missed tackles were infuriating.  

Billings just doesn't look strong enough through the core, at the contest / over the ball imv.  Physically he is a fair way off this level imho.

The missed tackles is a coach killer.

To justify his spot he needs to be kicking the two gimme goals (at least) and hitting a few targets by foot coming inside or at least around the arc.

He did very little of the latter last night unfortunately.

The missed goals of Petty, Kozzy, Max and the two from Billings left the door open.  Kick just one of those (and we should have) and the game was pretty much beyond doubt at 3/4 time.

As much as i love Max and i felt he played a VG game, will he ever learn to aim for the right hand post from 30 odd out?

Petty is slowly improving but it's a hard climb back from an interrupted pre-season.  Slowly getting there.

Smacca should be ready post the bye. Looking forward to seeing what he brings.

BBB did a few good things and helps with structure but will probably also benefit from the 7 day break to Brisvegas and the bye the folllowong week.

No doubt plenty of sore bods after that mammoth effort.

The win even more amazing given Vins was just back from a dose of the squirts and Clarry with one hand behind his back.

 

Tracca, Max and May were huge.

How goods Caleb Windsor?

Good luck Lachie Hunter.

May with busted ribs and Oliver with one hand are the epitome of this teams toughness.

We'll miss Kozzy next week but after a good rest and back at our other home ground we should account for the lions easily.

  On 04/04/2024 at 21:30, Redleg said:

Funny that, the only goal not repeated on the TV broadcast.

Not even a mention.

Then you have Whately on the SEN broadcast literally barracking and booing against the Rivers non-HTB decision.  Did he say a word with the Rivers push in the back?  Bet he didn't.  Weak as [censored] Whately.

The entire AFL is such an inbred incestuous circus.  Hard to believe but it's even worse during gather round where there's home town barracking now from supposedly impartial broadcasters.  BT / Chanel 7 & FOX (Kingy in particular) included.  Kingy couldn't help himself after the win... still highlighting that in his view we are under achievers if we don't win another flag.  Couldn't just speak about the great win and had to drag that out lol.

Pathetic the lot of em.  No wonder Carey bags the [censored] out of them.  Anyone who speaks their mind doesn't last long as a commentator on any stations / tv shows.  Jordan Lewis & Richo examples of that.

Chanel 7 also now has the blandest special comments ppl going.  Talk about a snooze fest.  Selwood...bah!!

  On 04/04/2024 at 21:23, Redleg said:

The AFL prides itself on integrity and officiating games is probably one of, if not the most important aspect of that integrity.

You are joking aren’t you. 

  On 04/04/2024 at 22:03, Watson11 said:

You are joking aren’t you. 

Unfortunately no!

  On 04/04/2024 at 20:56, Whispering_Jack said:

Much appreciated but I was thinking of the advertisement that they’ve been playing constantly during breaks in the footy where a woman boasts about having been part of an iconic girl band but nobody recognizes her. It’s very off putting and makes me very happy that next week, I can actually enjoy the game in person and not have to watch it on television because, thanks to the AFL, my team has played three of the first five games of the season in another state, including twice within five days. There should be a law against this.

Gotcha.

The Telstra footy ad drives me a bit mad.

If.... The footy bus with all the players breaks down and they call the pub for help. Wouldn't you just organise another bus to pick them up rather than get another bus load of players?

I guess it's a typical Telstra / AFL move. With no clear logic applied.

  On 04/04/2024 at 13:37, dee-tox said:

As bad as Taylor is, (he is unbelievably bad) I was pleasantly surprised with Daisy Thomas and Selwood as special comments. Certainly an improvement on the likes of Ling and Hodge.

And I like that when Selwood gets something wrong, he goes back and corrects himself rather than shrugging it off. What made him a good player - wants to work hard and get better each time. 

Team looking great even when it gets tough.  Love Windsor he is such a great pickup, what a star!  

Billings looked good a few games ago but last night looked out of his depth, but he was the only weak link I saw, reckon McAdam needs to get that spot when he's fit.

Liked all the others, love what BBB brings but he looks like he needs a bit of a break to keep him in good shape.  

May incredible!

Looking forward to seeing McAdam get up and Petty start kicking a bit straighter.  Would have loved to see the Kolt or AMW instead of Billings last night, Billings can be good though.  Surely get one of them in for Kozzie next week, let's get the Kolt going!

  On 04/04/2024 at 20:26, titan_uranus said:

Interestingly though, in his presser Goody said we need to improve and the only star he cited as example of why is inside 50s - he said we have lost that count a few times this year and we aren’t going to keep winning if we keep losing on the inside 50 count. 

He did say that, but I suspect we will lose inside 50s, or just break even, most weeks with the change to our method (though I predict come finals we will start winning i50s ahain as transition footy is not as effective in big pressure games).

As Binmans PA noted, we are setting our defence deep, and almost inviting inside 50s - as opposed to say Port, whose d presses up high and works to prevent the oppo going inside their 50 (leaving space and out the back goal opportunities inside 50 if their last defensive line is broken - eg fritters first goal against them).

That model only works because we are so brilliant at zoning and absorbing pressure.

When we do win it back we then have space ahead of us to utilise on transition, which we have been terrific at taking advantage of with handball chains and short hits on the 45.

The crows were just about the best at moving the ball fast from the back half, last year, but we've gone past them, as evidenced by this data (note: the season number is our average against scores, not the crows average. The match against is how many points the crows scored last night from their back half).

Points from defensive half

For		Against
Match	Season	Match	Season *
42	29.8	22	22.6

  On 04/04/2024 at 12:05, Dr. Gonzo said:

 

I could watch that all day.  An all time smother. love how everyone goes straight to Sparrow and not Trac.

  On 04/04/2024 at 21:23, Redleg said:

The AFL prides itself on integrity and officiating games is probably one of, if not the most important aspect of that integrity.

We all know everyone makes mistakes, but tonight wasn’t about mistakes, it was about blatant inconsistent officiating and I will be gracious and say it was probably caused by trying to appease a fanatical crowd.

 

I do think that Umpires are influenced by the crowd and their own observers when officiating matches. Umpiring is a tough gig and I would hate to be one but when supporters boo decisions (at all grounds) that are actually correct it does not help their cause. And some rules (stand, 50m pen, hands in the back) are simply ridiculous and should be amended to make the umpires job easier. 

Edited April 4, 20241 yr by Jibroni

  On 04/04/2024 at 21:55, Demon Dynasty said:

The entire AFL is such an inbred incestuous circus.

I love your turn of phrase and I agree.

  On 04/04/2024 at 21:23, Redleg said:

The AFL prides itself on integrity and officiating games is probably one of, if not the most important aspect of that integrity.

We all know everyone makes mistakes, but tonight wasn’t about mistakes, it was about blatant inconsistent officiating and I will be gracious and say it was probably caused by trying to appease a fanatical crowd.

If that happens regularly, the game is in trouble.

If you asked an ex umpire to review that performance, I am convinced he would mark it poorly.

On the commentary, barracking for one side is just so pathetic.

Well done boys, you overcame some big hurdles.

Steven May, just WOW.

It was a classic young/lesser umpires on the road game where the free kick count is always going to skew to the home side.

But we got the Fritsch 50 (undoubtably a free), got away with a well disguised  BBB block and a dissent 50 for the Roo goal and Petty got a couple inside 50 too.

If we lost by under a kick I’d want a royal commission in to that Dawson shove on Rivers but otherwise I don’t think it was as unfair on

One thing that hurt us a lot is our refusal to dump players in tackles and the umps not paying quicker holding the balls. Very frustrating when we do the right thing to avoid sling tackle suspensions and injuries and get punished for it. But we were also heavy legged and didn’t have the same tackle pressure as our best footy. (Or I hope that was the case)

Loved:

• The improvement of our second tier/new draftee players. Chin played a blinder last night. Love Juddy McVee; Blake Howes and Caleb Windsor have only played how many games?
• Trac seems to always get a kick away with 2-3 opponents hanging off him. So strong, always holds his feet.
• Spaz's smother in the forward line
• Roo's one handed contested mark holding off his opponent. Bloke turns 21 the week after next. Ridiculous.
• Fritta and Roo's kicking for goal. Put the glasses down, they just don't miss.
• TMac reborn in the backline, and fit and firing.
• Maysie's/Ricky's interface marking. I've got to stop yelling "punch it" at the telly.
• Clarry's turnover and hit up kick to Fritta in the 2nd.

Liked:

• Trac's goal after Spaz's smother

Hated

• The umpiring.
• The booing. What a bunch of morons.

  On 04/04/2024 at 22:56, binman said:

He did say that, but I suspect we will lose inside 50s, or just break even, most weeks with the change to our method (though I predict come finals we will start winning i50s ahain as transition footy is not as effective in big pressure games).

As Binmans PA noted, we are setting our defence deep, and almost inviting inside 50s - as opposed to say Port, whose d presses up high and works to prevent the oppo going inside their 50 (leaving space and out the back goal opportunities inside 50 if their last defensive line is broken - eg fritters first goal against them).

That model only works because we are so brilliant at zoning and absorbing pressure.

When we do win it back we then have space ahead of us to utilise on transition, which we have been terrific at taking advantage of with handball chains and short hits on the 45.

The crows were just about the best at moving the ball fast from the back half, last year, but we've gone past them, as evidenced by this data (note: the season number is our average against scores, not the crows average. The match against is how many points the crows scored last night from their back half).

Points from defensive half

For		Against
Match	Season	Match	Season *
42	29.8	22	22.6

I doubt we are trying to change our approach that much from last year.

We are kicking a fractionally more centrally through centre half forward and less to the pocket inside attacking 50, which reduces the chances of re-entry

I think our forward pressure has been down due to Ben Brown and Petty coming into the forward line.

We have lost centre clearance by -5 in the last two games. Clarry is a liability in the centre bounce at the moment due to injury.

The inside 50 count was also lost against Port in part due to our accuracy (no repeat entries after a goal). We also kicked well to outperform expected score against Hawthorn and Bulldogs.

 

 

  On 04/04/2024 at 23:29, In Harmes Way said:

Loved:

• The improvement of our second tier/new draftee players. Chin played a blinder last night. Love Juddy McVee; Blake Howes and Caleb Windsor have only played how many games?
• Trac seems to always get a kick away with 2-3 opponents hanging off him. So strong, always holds his feet.
• Spaz's smother in the forward line
• Roo's one handed contested mark holding off his opponent. Bloke turns 21 the week after next. Ridiculous.
• Fritta and Roo's kicking for goal. Put the glasses down, they just don't miss.
• TMac reborn in the backline, and fit and firing.
• Maysie's/Ricky's interface marking. I've got to stop yelling "punch it" at the telly.
• Clarry's turnover and hit up kick to Fritta in the 2nd.

Liked:

• Trac's goal after Spaz's smother

Hated

• The umpiring.
• The booing. What a bunch of morons.

Speaking of, Rick had a great punch last night, gave it some real violence. 

  On 04/04/2024 at 12:46, dee-tox said:

Not on TV. Was on screen on multiple occasions.

Saw it twice only on Foxtel

  On 04/04/2024 at 20:26, titan_uranus said:

Interestingly though, in his presser Goody said we need to improve and the only star he cited as example of why is inside 50s - he said we have lost that count a few times this year and we aren’t going to keep winning if we keep losing on the inside 50 count. 

Obviously they need to improve;  its looking like a red hot season and no weaknesses can be allowed