15 hours ago, Bowserpower said:

Backline wssnt good enough. Cant be leaking 100 point every week.

Correction WAS good enough for today and with May Lever Judd and Turner ( last half off) it has plenty of room for improvement.

Bowser Howes and Salem all were brilliant solid and handy in that order plus Max helped and Lingers and Rivers back to near his best.

15 hours ago, binman said:

This is something I just don't get.

People want us to play aggressive transition footy with quick ball movement like the best teams currently do.

But the problem, and key weakness, of that game plan is it impossible not to risk giving up goals on the counter.

Can't have our cake and eat it too.

And besides, our bacline was missing two All Australian defenders, the twin pillars of of our backline.

It was a brilliant defensive effort today I thought, particularly in the last quarter when Freo were coming and mutiple defenders made potentially game saving spoils and tackles.

Spot on binman! With Lever and May out and Petty at FF I thought they were very good. Funny how things work out a few years ago we didn't need Tmac. He is the general down there now. We lead all day what do people want.

I have maligned Petty as a fwd all last year and I think most of the time it's been justified .

But today he was a different player.

Heaps of confidence. Lease well. Kicked true. Read the play very well.

It's early days given his efforts last year but he could be the difference.

And if one of Jvr or Fritta could come good. Who knows,?

An emotional rollercoaster!!! Here’s my summary in an emotional format

1st 

☠️Ump. Charity free kick to Brayshaw ! Soft free. Freo goal 

👏Kozzzy magic - pickup and snap goal 

👏Langdon pass to a leading Petty - goal 

👏Riv mark - run - goal from 45 

🤢Gawn !!! Knock down teammate- Freo goal 

🤢Poor tackling. They are getting hands free to get the handball away !! Must lock it in 

👏Petty contest mark - goal 55m kick 

👏Ball movement better and quicker.  Viney. Kozzzy. 

💔💔milkshake miss from 35 metres!! Fullerton miss from 40 metres. 

👏Trac crumb and goal 

🤢Trac lazy lazy pass inside 50 

🤢Oliver turnover. Freo take it coast to coast through the corridor. 

👏Centre clearance Gawn to Trac to Viney sidesteps - goal (wow) - 15 seconds to go 

Wow. 6.1.37 up by 11 points

2nd 

👏Chin goal from 65metres runs it through 

🤢Spargo. Why. Start stop. Turnover. 

👏Chin again on the goal line 

👏handball run & clean hands!! To kozzzy - snap goal Kozzzzzy !!!! 

🤢Windsor knocks over Serong - free kick downfield- freo goal 

💔Spargo clear - kick completely missed Kozzy lead (Spargo ffs)

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮Oliver handball to Bolton Freo goal 

👏👏👏👏👏air kozzzzzy ✈️ mark and goal 

👏Freo panic ! Desperation dees. Petty off the ground in the square goal - last minute if the qtr

👏👏👏👏👏What a great half from the Dees. 12.2.74 up by 21 points 

3rd 

☠️☠️☠️umps !!! Johnson fends off.  Caught holding the ball - 5 metre out from goal. Holding the ball !!!!   Freo rebounds and goal 

☠️ump. Viney picking it up. Brayshaw free!!  

☠️kozzzy around the neck. High !!! Holding the ball 

👏Viney run and kicks 55 to kozzzy run run goal 

💔Langdon 30 metres kick back (was 50 metre out) -why why. Now back to half back. 

☠️umps Freo 50 metre penalty - 70 metres!! 

🤮Oliver guard grass - lazy !! Reid to Bolton goal 

Great play to Spargo who’s clear and 💔💔he misses from 20 metres out (wtf)

👏Sharp to Langford - goal

💔Salem miss

👏Pickett to Trac marks 30 metres out - 💔goes snap kick and misses  (poor from Trac… his goalkicking confidence?)

🤮Lindsay miss tackle !! Freo goal 

👏👍🏻umpire finally. Free to petty. Goal (8 seconds left) 

Tension. Dees 15.5.95. Up by 19 points. Come on !! 

4th 

💔Gawn 🤮miss from 15 metre out. Killer !! 

🤮Oliver fumble. Trac turnover ! Dumb footy - Freo goal 

🤮Freo goal (back to 6 points) 7 minutes left 

👏Langford goal (Gawn gets it out of the ruck) 

💔Gawn miss again 

💔Gawn miss. Sparrow miss from the goal square. Chandler miss.  Let’s seal it?!?!

Dees Hang on !!! 

Dees 16.11.107 

👏👏👏Dees win by 10 ❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙

Just now, leave it to deever said:

I have maligned Petty as a fwd all last year and I think most of the time it's been justified .

But today he was a different player.

Heaps of confidence. Lease well. Kicked true. Read the play very well.

It's early days given his efforts last year but he could be the difference.

And if one of Jvr or Fritta could come good. Who knows,?

Don't hold your breath on the last sentence deever.

14 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

To everyone still critical of our last quarter.

Some perspective please. Not only did we not have Lever and May but we then lost Turner for the 2nd half who was on par with McDonald as our best defender for the day.

We then had to move Howes off Bolton onto a bigger opponent in Amiss.

So we literally came into the 2nd half with 3 strong tall defenders already lost to injuries and were completely under siege due to lack of talls. Thank [censored] for McDonald but who's rated as our best tally defender this year.

Howes also held up his end of the bargain i thought.

It was our highest pressure quarter for the year. Anyone critical of that doesn't understand football

9 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

It was our highest pressure quarter for the year. Anyone critical of that doesn't understand football

The other pleasing thing about the last quarter was they didn’t go onto their shell. They still took risks, they still moved the ball fast and picked their targets. Goal kicking could improve, but our movement of the ball into the forward line was consistent all game.

15 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

It was our highest pressure quarter for the year. Anyone critical of that doesn't understand football

Yep - a patchwork backline (we trained all summer with May, Lever, Petty and McVee, none of whom were available), knowing we had been outscored something like 25 goals to 6 in fourth quarters this year, and against a top 4 contending side with a dynamic forward line and strong midfield. We did incredibly well to hold up IMO, and it came from the thing we could control the most, our effort/pressure.

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

Yep - a patchwork backline (we trained all summer with May, Lever, Petty and McVee, none of whom were available), knowing we had been outscored something like 25 goals to 6 in fourth quarters this year, and against a top 4 contending side with a dynamic forward line and strong midfield. We did incredibly well to hold up IMO, and it came from the thing we could control the most, our effort/pressure.

So why did it take till round 6 to bring the required effort/ pressure

Its hard to understand

Two special moments:

Viney's side step before acing a goal. Great composure.

Kozzie in the goal square with his arm behind him and hand up as if to fend off a Freo player but he knew there was no one there😁. Very cheeky but the crowd loved it.

Edited Saturday at 23:231 day by Lucifers Hero

Talking of the crowd.

Demon fans take a bow: Small in number but gigantic in sound and enthusiasm.

It felt like a packed stadium.

52 minutes ago, 58er said:

Yes maybe Kolt in time can be Angus’s replacement. Let’s not rush but a lot of Angus traits. Does the little things is completely team orientated and is a versatile player who kicks on both feet. And he cares so much about the other players and the Club.

Watched him closely at the ground.

It won't get picked up on tv but especially when we don't have the ball, the focus and enthusiasm he shows setting up zones and directing others is fantastic to see.

16 hours ago, Tom Dyson said:

J Bowey - 3 votes

Incredible start to the year by Bowey. He’s top 10 for intercepts in the league. Considering the other 9 are pretty much key backs/talls including our T Mac at 6, that is some effort.

Edited Saturday at 23:261 day by Dee Zephyr

3 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Talking of the crowd.

Demon fans take a bow: Small in number but gigantic in sound and enthusiasm.

It felt like a packed stadium.

I was actually surprised with the 25k, considering our form and the long weekend I thought we'd be lucky to crack 20k. I bet those who turned up are glad they did.

Edited Saturday at 23:251 day by Dr. Gonzo

6 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Talking of the crowd.

Demon fans take a bow: Small in number but gigantic in sound and enthusiasm.

It felt like a packed stadium.

Quality not quantity LH 😉

9 minutes ago, Kent said:

So why did it take till round 6 to bring the required effort/ pressure

Its hard to understand

Because our players finally threw off all the old habits of an antiquated game style

A question for anyone here ...

When was the last time we won a game playing a game style like we saw yesterday?

• Fast paced offense

• Use of the corridor

• Sharing of the ball as a first option

• Always looking for teammates

• Minimal boundary line hugging

• Very few long bombs to the forward pockets

• Playing as a team

• Handpassing forward as a weapon

Yesterday was a revelation in some ways but of course, we need to continue on the same course

We're also playing catch-up so whether we may revert to old habits remains to be seen

One pointer ... Oliver 5 kicks and 20 handpasses

Edited Saturday at 23:331 day by Macca

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I was actually surprised with the 25k, considering our form and the long weekend I thought we'd be lucky to crack 20k. I bet those who turned up are glad they did.

I reckon a lot of families treated it as a day out.

Met a family on the train in from NZ who had never been to a game and wanted to experience one at the G. The little kids were in demons gear so chatted to them a bit. I was particularly happy for them as the game went on as I was for us all and especially the little ones.

They can go back to school feeling proud again!

9 minutes ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

Watched him closely at the ground.

It won't get picked up on tv but especially when we don't have the ball, the focus and enthusiasm he shows setting up zones and directing others is fantastic to see.

That clarifies why he came straight in without a game at Casey.

17 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Talking of the crowd.

Demon fans take a bow: Small in number but gigantic in sound and enthusiasm.

It felt like a packed stadium.

Yes it did LH. There were more Freo fans than I expected.

I am not sure why people are so critical of things from yesterday. We played with fire and confidence yesterday and lead all day. I will take that every week.

43 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

I have maligned Petty as a fwd all last year and I think most of the time it's been justified .

But today he was a different player.

Heaps of confidence. Lease well. Kicked true. Read the play very well.

It's early days given his efforts last year but he could be the difference.

And if one of Jvr or Fritta could come good. Who knows,?

I've been pondering the turnaround yesterday, especially our f50 entries.

I reckon over the last 20 years we've seen these games where we lose the key components of our forward line through injury or de-selection and we pull out a surprise win.

Just wonder if the complete change, JVR, Fritsch out and Turner back, made the team really think about their delivery forward.

Neither JVR or Fritsch seemed to do too much in the VFL, so a different setup again.

I do love the Kozzy one out alone in the f50. You'd have to back him in to win it 70 percent of the time.

The transformation has me scratching my head though.

Really great to see it turned around and will be interesting to see how we go on Thursday.

44 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

It was our highest pressure quarter for the year. Anyone critical of that doesn't understand football

And we had 11 tackles inside forward 50 in the last quarter - only once since 2020 have we had more in a quarter.

15 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

To everyone still critical of our last quarter.

Some perspective please. Not only did we not have Lever and May but we then lost Turner for the 2nd half who was on par with McDonald as our best defender for the day.

We then had to move Howes off Bolton onto a bigger opponent in Amiss.

So we literally came into the 2nd half with 3 strong tall defenders already lost to injuries and were completely under siege due to lack of talls. Thank [censored] for McDonald but who's rated as our best tally defender this year.

Howes also held up his end of the bargain i thought.

To me this highlights that defence is not really decided by the back 6. It shows that a bit of pressure up the field goes a long long way.

15 minutes ago, Brownie said:

I've been pondering the turnaround yesterday, especially our f50 entries.

I reckon over the last 20 years we've seen these games where we lose the key components of our forward line through injury or de-selection and we pull out a surprise win.

Just wonder if the complete change, JVR, Fritsch out and Turner back, made the team really think about their delivery forward.

Neither JVR or Fritsch seemed to do too much in the VFL, so a different setup again.

I do love the Kozzy one out alone in the f50. You'd have to back him in to win it 70 percent of the time.

The transformation has me scratching my head though.

Really great to see it turned around and will be interesting to see how we go on Thursday.

Yeah that setup was very interesting...giving him total space in F50 to roam free. Only works when the oppo doesnt have a suitable match-up, which most teams wont.