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Roughead to score the first goal via a free kick (that wasn’t there).

Hawks embarrassed by massive loss. Kennet resigns, Clarkson stood down.

100% correct, from my own experience watching/ caring for my wife as she had terminal cancer , she passed 18 months ago no one understands how anyone feels about this, we knew and had warnings but not a day goes by that its not on your mind, even now after time , it doesn't stop . I draw strength from this with my own treatment now. but i still we go on everyday. try to be normal Jesse is a very strong Young man and has proven this with his determination and chats we have had. I and glad to see him flying and hope soon we will see him holding up a cup .......

There's one minor anomaly in the bomb-it-long for the crumbers theory that makes me think it's also tactically a percentages thing; the extra numbers off half-back. I recall reading last year that Goody was a student of all sports, and I think he's been drawing from rugby with his set-up. Win the break-downs, kick for territory, and drive forward with numbers behind the ball to force the opposition to work their way out. Unfortunately, like rugby, when the opposition break the lines they're a pretty good chance of scoring. It would probably work better if it was a non-designated spot and we just fired in low, wonky chaos balls. In saying that, we're currently the highest scoring team in the league. I've also detected a strange rugby element in our in-tight handball movement since the start of 2016. Possibly just because we have the the extra numbers coming from the rear for the receive, but it seems like it's something more in the angles and lines. I wonder if we keep the first receiver running a tight straight line to the pack for a quick little flick - difficult for the opposition to quickly adjust to if we break through - but should there be a turnover error the ball remains close to the pack for another attempted stoppage. ? The other method in the madness may be that Goodwin recognises our poor relatively foot-skills across the group and has simply set up differently to capitalise on what we're best at?

I was at the game. Weideman's goals were mostly all hard fought, including some contested marks, and were mainly all scored in the first half when Coburg were more competitive. Hi s ruck work was good. Not to be critical, but if anybody scored 'easy goals' in the main it was most definitely Balic.

Look at who kicked our goals on the weekend.... Bugg 4, Kent, Garlett 3, Oliver 2, Hogan, Petracca, Vince, Fritsch, Lewis, Jones 12 from the small crumbers....and you can argue about the remainder. The fact is there are few contested marks taken in the forward line these days, simply because defences are set up to spoil. That is where the value lies....getting hold of the ball when it hits the ground. So kicking it long into the forward line does 2 things. It puts the ball over the top and behind the press. If you try to run it through, you will get caught ala Richmond and Dogs. It then creates the chances for the smalls to gather when the ball hits the ground, as it inevitably does. In other situation e.g. quick turnovers then a one-on-one can arise, so a directed ball is the best option. But that doesn't happen often enough.

Frosty fined for the sling tackle and nothing to see here for Nev’s bump on Brown. Happy days, both available for Sunday i also notice that the MRP didn’t cite Umpire 26 for bringing the game into disrepute

Not yet but he was good don't can him because all you saw was 30 seconds of play. I have seldom see a better opening game by a recruit.

Bernie had a great game and I don't believe he deserves to be dropped Plus, he's too handsome to be playing out in the sticks somewhere

Rode my bike past Gosch’s this morning expecting they would be training. No training wasn’t on for the team but noticed the rehab group was in action over on the Punt Road side of the oval. Viney, TMac and AVB under the watchful eye of Crossy and several other assistant coaches/physio’s. Tom and Jack were doing repeated timed 20 meter sprints but we’re actually running at least 100 metres if that makes sense. They were running about 100m but only being timed between 2 cones about 20m apart I guess as Tom was registering a consistent 4.2 sec as yelled out by the timer on each run, Jack was somewhat slower. AVB was doing a lot of agility work, silly walks, running on the spot, not much with the ball. I wandered over to look at the Rebels in training which was very entertaining, they got smashed on the weekend in the second half and I think the coach told the players to bring their mouth guards as they were doing a match simulation with two teams and it was full on stuff. Big boys hitting each other hard but they don’t look fit compared to AFL players but then the game is not about endurance but short, explosive play and battering ram stuff. I kept an eye on the rehab group and Tom and Jack were kicking short balls at each other, then doing a lot of leading and long kicking to Crossy and each other. Later they were doing goal kicking practice. When I left the boys were again running sprints with Crossy. AVB had left for AAMI by then with no ball use, I think he is a long way off although he looks to be in no way hindered in his movements. But that is the same for Jack and Tom they looked fine and unhindered on their movements so it must be so frustrating having these types of injuries!

We are playing a style of footy designed to work in finals. Running into space and chipping it to leading forwards inside 50 require space to work in and time to make decisions/execute. When the pressure is at its highest (like a GF) the decision making is at its most difficult. So you need to develop the easiest possible workable game plan that will hold up under the most intense pressure. This is almost the entire reason why Richmond won last year. Their game plan was basic, revolved around applying and absorbing the most intense pressure, and meant that relatively talentless hacks were able to execute the game plan on the biggest stage and become premiership players. Adelaide, despite being vastly more talented, lost because their plan didn’t work when you took away the time and space required to make more complex decisions. We are trying to develop a style of play that is very difficult to break down and easy to execute for even the least talented players in our team.

I have not been a fan but he did all that was asked of him on Sunday. He spent more time up the ground in the second half so a bit hard to kick goals when you are contesting centre ball ups. Yes the opposition was ordinary but you can only beat the team on the day. I need to see similar against a better team but his first game of 2018 was easily the best I have seen from him.

You are allowed to take your eyes off the ball, as long as you don't interfere with your opponent. (Sometimes the umpires preempt this and make mistakes.) Lever looked away, then copped an elbow/forearm to the bonce. Free to Lever, for me.

I’m so sick of being mentioned in the same sentence as them all the time.

No,,, it would be a little bit like watts ; if we elevated him on one reasonable game. Let him form a real foundation of top-form first. If he played and got burnt this week,,, it may have a very bad effect on the kid. When he's put together a lot of games of topline footy, & in the ruck; Maybe them will be the time... because if it goes sour, he has the memory banks full of proof that he's on the right pathway.

We are equal first for quarters won. Stats say dees, Sportsbet say dees, MFCSS says Hawks

From what I observed PD he moved well. I might have even posted during the match that he crumbed a ball of the deck and instinctively used his left foot and hit a teammate in the goal square with a 40 metre bullet of a pass. If he possesses traits like this he might just develop nicely.

Ok he seemed to be playing with purpose which I had not seen before. In the past he seemed to have no presence on the ground. Seemed to be keeping up with the play, he does not have the speed of Baltic or Hannah but for KPF I don't expect him too. As I have said I could not fault his game on Sunday. He played the Ruckman / KPF well. He moves way faster than King who is IMO a tap Ruckman with nothing much else to offer.

50/50 game in my opinion. Max should hit the ball away from Mitchell at stoppages.

5 points down 30 seconds to go Gawn marks at the 45, Frawley runs into the protected area, 50 mt penalty. Max runs down the clock. Bam 1 point win, karma.

I can live with young players showing inconsistency too but Sam can get game time, learn his craft (inc ruck work) and develop a tank down in Casey. Unless the match committee believe Sam is ready to hold his own at AFL level he can continue to improve at the lower level. No more gifted games..

There'll be two or three rotating through Mitchell He'll still get 30-40 touches - that's the nature of the beast. He's a darn good player

I saw that after the first quarter, the attempted torpedo from the middle or wing. This aligns to the chaos ball. The torp can pass the defensive line providing opportities for easy marks or run on goals for the faster forwards. If the kick is not well-connected then it has a randomness that our forwards should be bringing to ground for the front and centre rovers. I don't mind the tactic as long as our players are set up for it. The challenge is that the kicker needs to read the play just as well. On a similar note, the kick to the top of the square is being defended quite well by most teams. Looking at variations, kicking to 25 out could provide run out goals for the defensive team. Chaos ball is probably best option after exhausting short pass, and handball to running receiver.

You think? Big men don't get smaller as the game goes on. It's no co-incidence that whenever Gawn has been resting or injured other sides get their run on. Sure you can win without a gun ruck, but only a fool wouldn't want one.

Also 2 of the first 4 goals shouldn’t have happened. Salem’s tackle was fine, shouldn’t have been a free. And Lever was elbowed in the head, didn’t know blocking with your face was a thing.

The home of statistics and discussion thereof. As of the end of round 3; Scoring for and against Demons 1st in points scored. 1st in inside-50s 1st in least opposition inside-50s Thus 1st in inside-50 differential by a huge margin. 3rd in assists and marks inside-50 Last for rebound-50s and second-last for opponent rebound 50s. Intensity 2nd in total contested possessions – 1st for contested possession differential and the only team at 3-0 for contested wins. 4th clearances (3rd centre/7th stoppages) 4th for tackles 7th for tackles against (this is a huge improvement on recent years) Possession for and against 16th marks – but 3rd in least opponent marks per game. Also 9th contested marks. 1st in least opponent kicks 4th in least opponent disposals 12th for clangers Summary: I think for the most part the early statistics are bearing out what we're seeing with our eyes - inefficiency. But perhaps the frustration of this inefficiency is blinding us a fraction to our absolute dominance in a couple of areas, namely the contested battle and sheer volume of ball moving forward. We're also perhaps the one mobile clearance specialist short to really step it up (JV). The stats are however fairly similar to the early part of last year. But there's some subtle differences re. the nature of disposals for and against. We're kicking more and being kicked and tackled against less - areas which should help with endurance. We're also (to my surprise) not getting completely completely hammered in the marking and are a bit cleaner in our disposal. Basically, we're playing contested footy, but also shutting down space and forcing the opposition to do the same. Together, it all bodes super-well if we can clean up just a fraction up front or get a smidgen tighter down back - the latter which we should be able to do considering we have three AA-level defenders currently out of form or learning to gel (as well as a potential top-line rebounder in Hunt), while as to the former we're still fiddling with in the unexpected absence of Tomald. Lastly, it's just three rounds, and we've played two likely bottom-four teams - but I think we tend to play as well or as poorly despite the opposition and that most of these stats will hold. Add your own obscure statistics or whatever you think are pertinent and let's monitor where we stack up as the season progresses. Go Dees!

Start with Trac, Clarry, Hogan and Gawn in the centre bounce. little man mitchell wont get near it as hes a foot shorter than everyone else

Melksham did make a bad blue when he had a shot on goal rather than centre the ball to Kent I think it was. Hasn't been the goal scorer that he was last year but he does have good endurance and can win one on ones. I think he would only be in the gun if Goody wanted to bring in a tall but I would probably drop ANB first. His missed marks were crucial forays forward that he fluffed. I read elsewhere that he heard footsteps and if these are the incidents they are referring to I don't buy it. He just had a bad day.

They should gaffer tape a couple of IPhones to the posts, much better clarity than the crap they use now.

Ben Brown getting votes. Should have given those to the umps. 3 of his goals were their doing!

given the weid comes on, i could see that tmac becomes a permanent swing man, playing back or forward depending how any game starts to play out. this would be cream for us

Tom MacDonald is the other Tall and one of the best contested marks we have Weideman may end up Full forward with Hogan running around like Reiwoldt did

No it hasn’t, if you take your eyes off the ball, and THEN make body contact blocking an opponent from the marking contest then it’s a free for blocking. The only part of Lever’s body to make contact with his opponent is his head, with his opponents elbow. It has to be a high free to Lever, high contact is not allowed in marking contests, if the umpire missed the contact between Lever’s head and Goldstein’s elbow then it is play on as there is no other contact to constitute blocking. The only option it can’t be is free kick North, which of course the pathetic excuse for an umpire payed. You are implying you can’t look at your opponent in a marking contest, that is totally wrong, you can look at them as long as you then go for the ball. If you look at your opponent and then mark the ball, or punch the ball away it’s totally fine, if you look at your opponent and then both miss the ball and don’t make contact with each other, play on. The only way it’s a free is if you take your eyes off the ball then impede your opponents ability to contest the mark.

Bernie may get to go on Mitchell.

I also think that you need to mix it up. Bomb long, hit up leading forwards. feed it wide. If you are unpredictable it keeps defenders in two minds as to what to do. Bomb long too often and defenders sit back and spoil or mark. Against Richmond we need to be very mindful as Rance just loves the long ball coming in regularly. He needs to be made accountable and run around.

Thoroughly agree with this. And many times it's not possible to do anything BUT "bomb it long". Where there's no leads forthcoming, or crowding inside the arc, it still gets an inside 50 with about a 40-50% chance to score. And a chance to lock it in. NOT "bombing it long" can lead to a tackle or a turn-over further up the ground through pressure or hesitation on the ball carrier getting caught looking for options. And a shorter distance back to the opposition goal. I put the mantra of "don't bomb it long" in the same category as "just kick it". Both meaningless without qualification.

I agree with that too. It was a knee-jerk reaction by the AFL over the Lindsay Thomas/Garry Rohan incident. Now there's a disincentive to attack the contest and attack the footy. I hate it.

Where in the rule book does it say you can't take your eyes off the ball as you're trying to position yourself ? In fact, where do eyes get mentioned in the rule book ?

We must be playing hawthorn this week

Nothing wrong with "bombing" it long to the froward line, but you must have three things: Key forwards who can mark, contest or bring the ball to ground Small forwards to crumb if the ball comes to ground Not allow a loose player in defence Last week in the first quarter we bombed it long but allowed Daw to play loose and Hogan was our only genuine marking target.

at the match I made the comment that Pedersen was impressing me more than Weid. Pro Dee queried me as an apologist for Pedersen or similar. Your point DS is what I was trying to say... while the Weid was getting the goals it was not necessarily by imposing himself upon the other players. It was a good game but Coburg lacked big body tall players. I noticed two Coburg players on Weid while he was in the forward line. They were both at least a head shorter than him. Good game but like the Frankston practice game the week before it was a mismatch. (Remember that Frankston beat Coburg in a practice game.) Must admit from my position behind the goals I cannot really comment on his round the ground ruck work but the sheer weight of numbers in the talls available to Casey certainly assisted that dominance. The next three games are Werribee, Richmond and Geelong (followed by another ill timed bye before they play the Hawks.) Not suggesting we wait the full five weeks but one or two more would be advisable perhaps.

Maybe they went to the gardens to look for some mayblooms.

This guy seems to have gone to another level this year. He seems to be really enjoying his footy and the freedom that had come from playing further up the ground and being allowed to play his natural game rather than sitting in the goal square with defenders hanging off him. His body language has improved exponentially and he is in career best form. This is a credit to a young man who endured a year of hell in 2017. I look forward to watching the rest of his season and career play out, he will be a key piece to our 13th flag when we finally get there.

How great is it not being mentioned in the same terms as Richmond anymore! Glad we finally rid ourselves of that.

Oh @skuit, you are a man/woman after my own heart... love these KPIs you have mentioned. What is the UPs situation - we are 10th but with 217 a game and that is definitely in the region of diminishing returns, especially considering we get it forward so often. Really hope we take this aggressiveness to the Hawks and not go back into our shells, they would prefer us in our shells; they want to prepare behind the footy and switch and snap the rubber band. Clarkson is an excellent coach but he has more and more also rans in that team and we need to expose their best players to our best players and I don't think they will cope.

The AFL has been very accommodative because ANZAC Day falls on a Wednesday We play Tuesday night and then on the following Sunday. Coll and Ess play on the Wed and then the four teams involved in ANZAC day/Eve games switch over and play each other on the Sunday. Pretty fair solution and one that allows us to cement the ANZAC eve game into our fixture.

Still plenty of room for improvement, hopefully we can consistently see it over the next four weeks. If so, then it will set our season up beautifully. Looking forward to Viney and T.mac getting back to match fitness. Adding T.Mac’s aerobic capacity and marking power to Hogan’s current form could prove to be a nightmare scenario for our opposition.

Bugg kicks 4 and you want to drop him? You need to take out that “pro” part of your name.