The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 22nd July @ 7:30pm. Join George, Binman & I as we analyse the Demonsl oss at Optus Stadium against the Dockers in the Round 19.

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Tank or try?

I am starting to come to terms that, even if we somehow make it to the finals, we are not capable of winning even one game.

I thinks we all agree that our list needs a significant overhaul, couple of players to retire and delist. Have some cap space to use and we could get a top 6 pick.

Get Gawn and Trac fit and ready for season 2025.

Last dance for May, Gawn, TMac and Melksham.

What cost us the game? -32 clearances or score from turnover? 

I believe no matter what gamestyle you play getting belted in clearances like that, it puts you on the back foot in any game, you don't win too many games with that figure.

I will say though that the pressure that Freo brought was off the charts and while we're not the best in executing under pressure, we failed miserably to prevent some of the turnovers that they scored off.

1 minute ago, layzie said:

What cost us the game? -32 clearances or score from turnover?

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

I don't think you can win many games with that clearance and contested ball count, but the score from turnover count was what made a 15 goal loss possible. 

When does reality set in we are not as good as we think we are?

Hi gents, what does Freo know that the other teams haven’t figured out eg why do we play so badly against them?

Second question, can we say our ruck experiment is over & we need to cough up $$$ during the offseason (or get Verral & Fullerton up the learning curve fast)?

Wow, we just had our pants pulled down.  Outworked and outplayed all day.

Can you comment on our new found fragility? Previously our Defence would be in place and we would were hard to score against.  On Sunday, they go so many goals over the back, suggesting we played too high and didnt run back hard enough.  We may have a game that stands up in finals, but playing like that,we have no chance of making it.

Think I might just hit the red bulls and toothpaste tonight after that.

Hi guys. What is it specifically that has turned Fremantle into our Kryptonite? Seem to get the better of us over the last few years. 

Coaching, personnel, plan or are they just too good? As a WA based Dee's fan, I'm very keen for us to get a comfortable win against them. I will, however, happily admit their supporters are much better than the eagles. A much more pleasant game day experience. 

How can it happen twice? 

How do you publicly say throughout the week, "We lost in every facet of the game last time, but contest was the worst part" and then get obliterated in the contest?

I just want to call out Binman for an absolutely amazing job he has done over the last 2 weeks, with your support as well Andy.

ive loved hearing the stats and just wanted to say a big thank you.

id love to get a view on two points

1. why do we see the form of our ever reliable players like Salem, chandler and clarry drop off so much?

2. Of all the young players who do we believe has the most upside? 
 

cheers 

Some Observations:

- Thought Bowey had one of his better games this season. One of the biggest howlers of the umpires was penalising him for going head first into a contest and beating Walters.

- Windsor’s soccer goal from 30m out in the 2nd Qtr. This kid has more footy IQ in his first season than some players have their whole career. 

- Alex Pearce punching Kolt in the kidney that went unnoticed by the umpires. When Kolt responded he gives away a 50m penalty. 

- Why didn’t we put a tag on Hayden Young? He was killing us coming off the half back line into the centre square and helping Freo get clearance time and time again. 

 

1. Were the hitouts really to blame? We got smashed in a similar way last time with Gawn, so is it out our stoppage structure? What specifically is going wrong here?

2. I noticed on a few occacions when fox footy flashed the pressure numbers we were actually on top of them by +20. I dont know what the final game numbers were, but Freo's pressure was 150 mark, which is really pathetic. So how did they get away with it? 

No stats file this week, please. If @binman asserts that Nibbler is one of our best in terms of the player ratings or has ‘x’ number of pressure acts, I’m going to be violently sick. If you need to rely on stats you are not watching the game. If you want to talk stats, tell me about fumbles, short steps before the contest and preferring to tackle rather than having a crack at possessing the ball.

2 hours ago, layzie said:

What cost us the game? -32 clearances or score from turnover? 

I believe no matter what gamestyle you play getting belted in clearances like that, it puts you on the back foot in any game, you don't win too many games with that figure.

I will say though that the pressure that Freo brought was off the charts and while we're not the best in executing under pressure, we failed miserably to prevent some of the turnovers that they scored off.

The effort at contest was pathetic.

The same problems we encountered when playing Freo in the NT resurfaced yesterday. When at their best, the Dockers' midfield is dynamic. It also runs deep. Whilst we might not like to admit it, Brayshaw, Serong, Young, Fyfe, O'Meara plus Jackson and Darcy are superior to our current midfield group. Yes Gawn and Petracca will make a big difference when fit, and Clarry with a full preseason under his belt should result in much better output in 2025, but at the moment our midfield doesn't stack up with the best in the league. Reviewing our engine room over the offseason and adding to our mix will be critical. That also means considering how we replace Rivers at half back to allow him to become a permanent mid. I like the fact that we've been linked to Isaac Cumming (GWS) and Dan Houston (PA) to address that important need. And if we can add to our midfield depth we can also return ANB to half forward where we've really missed his pressure.

Edited July 21, 2024Jul 21 by Swooper Northey

Good to have you back gents.  Whilst good shoukd be commended for the ruck decision against the bombers in the wet.  He also needs to be condemned for 0 rucks against Jackson and Darcy in WA in perfect conditions.  The ball was dry this week so they could use the hit out advantage.

Last week being wet we Gould put a body on or pressure and it would cause a fumble.

Two players I like to know where you think they are at in this stage of their career as the worrie me:  Bowey and Sparrow, Bowie in particular has been very average, missing targets, pulling out of contests and looking lost defensively at times.  What do you guys think?

Question 1. So we lost Jackson and recruited Grundy.  We then traded away Grundy after a short (chickened out)  experiment.   Problem… 2024 why no Plan for a backup ruck to support Gawn or a plan B for when/if Gawn gets injured?  (That’s poor list management. Poor coach management). 
 

Question 2. Other clubs can set midfield defensively when Gawn is a dominant ruckman.  Why couldn’t we? We got smashed. We couldn’t setup to stop them coming out the front through stoppages or from the centre square!!! 
Clearance. Spread. Run. Freo goal  

Question 3. Out the back?  Why did we concede 13 goals from turnovers.  And the 5 goals for Freo by forwards being all alone in forward 50.  Defenders playing 15 metres off their players ??? Why ? How? 
 

Question 4.  Tackling? Why and how did Freo keep breaking tackles or would get handballs away to running players even with two tacklers !!! 

lots to discuss 

Salem. Whats happened to him?

Looks disinterested and has next to no impact on games. Lots of sideways kicking.
 

Has the game gone past him? He has too much class to fade into mediocrity. 
 

How do you think we can use him better?

 

9 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Question 3. Out the back?  Why did we concede 13 goals from turnovers.  And the 5 goals for Freo by forwards being all alone in forward 50.  Defenders playing 15 metres off their players ??? Why ? How?

Off the back of this question, why do we press up so high? A footy ground is much bigger than a basketball court and I don't think we have the fitness to execute this properly. Last line of defence shouldn't be half way up the ground.

1 hour ago, Ben said:

Off the back of this question, why do we press up so high? A footy ground is much bigger than a basketball court and I don't think we have the fitness to execute this properly. Last line of defence shouldn't be half way up the ground.

This.  The old method had us being almost impossible to get the ball past the last 80 m.  teams could burn through +20 inside 50s for no benefit. Now al the back 6 press way up - meaning over the back goals are simple if you run hard the other way against the dees.  May and Lever do not defend well this way - they are so much better when the ball is coming at them.  If everyone presses up and we lose the contest (which we did all day) then a few slick overlap passes, and an easy deep inside 50 entry and goal awaits.

 

This method only works if we dominate contest and dont turn it over in easy spots.

Edited July 21, 2024Jul 21 by buck_nekkid
Spellink

Thanks guys for all your hard work in getting these fabulous podcasts together.  I just love them after a win, of course; less so after a loss.

However I am really looking forward to this one - why does Freo seem to have our number, even previously when we have been playing well?    Is it just their pace, run and link that mesmerises our midfield, and completely destroys our usually solid team defence.  They seemed to just run it out with someone going past then a forward running well deep of our zone, over and over again.

Is their coach some sort of wizard who takes our game plan apart, on a regular basis?

Or, perhaps we are just not as good as we have beleived?  The past fortnight we did seem to be getting it together and I was starting to subscribe to the loading, training, planning for the July, August, September surge, but it now looks more and more despite my usual optimism that the September part will be irrelevant.

When and if September becomes a mathematical impossibility, will we change our plans and drop those who aren't by then committed to 2025 and beyond, and bring in even more young blood?  Kynan Brown had an unbelievable number of tackles at VFL and needs time on ground at AFL level.   

All the youngsters we blooded this year have been more than serviceable.  Windsor of course the standout, Howes looks as if he will make it, Kolt was IMO unlucky to be subbed out and has added just so much energy to the forward line, AMW just fits right in.     Sestan?  Verrall?   Not sure about McAdam and Fullarton though.

Here endeth my ramble.

Andy, you should have remained on holiday!

In all seriousness though, that was a game that no one's ladder predictor would have had us winning. A win next week against the hot and cold Giants and we're back on track

Was this one of those games where we were not fully wound up, to quote @binman? One thing I noticed is their mids were on the move at every stoppage, which would be expected as they were winning all the taps. Not much movement from ours. Would have expected some to try and shark a few, but hardly any.