deanox

Depending on how his contract was structured, future 3rd could be a good deal.

28 minutes ago, Demon Jack said:

I'm surprised we never tried playing Harmes as more of a forward over the last couple of years. 

He's always been a good mark overhead and has a knack of finding the goals. 

I generally agree and think that's his best spot (despite inaccuracy in front of goals late this season). But in reality Sparrow held that forward/midfield rotation position and was in better form than Harmes.

He can't play ANB or Pickett's roles. He doesn't play Fritsch or Melkshams role. And he doesn't play Petty, Brown or TMacs role. And ultimately they went with Spargo, Woewodin or Laurie ahead of him at times as the 7th option.

It's a surprisingly tough forward line to crack!

If both Melbourne and Brisbane keep winning, that last round match between us could be playing for a $1 million.

35 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Do people genuinely believe we’re a better side than Collingwood?

Like honestly believe that 7 times out of 10 we’d beat them, right here, right now.

Yes.

We beat them during the year.

And we should have beat them in the first final. I think we win that game more than half the time as well.

I think Pickett's high rating from the coaches should be a good indication that he is under instructions to fly for marks in the forward line.

It's a defensive tactic designed to bring the ball to ground and prevent an intercept mark, and he does it consistently well, rarely giving away a free kick.

16 minutes ago, smiFFy said:

At 40 votes per game maximum (4 coaches each give a rating for each player out of 10), there was only one game between 3rd and 10th this year. Unbelievably even season.

8 minutes ago, Demon Jack said:

Yes

'15, '17, '19 and now '23 to go alongside a win in '16

2023 2nd

2022 4th

2021 16th

2020 3rd

2019 2nd (Gawn/Oliver = 1st)

2018 17th

2017 2nd

2016 1st

2015 2nd

2014 11th

There is the full set (I can't find 2013 though)

Adding in a 3rd and a 4th, it's a pretty good run. 7 top 4 finishes in 10 years. In 2018 he only played 10 games.

Is that Vineys 4th 2nd place?

I never understood the decision to move Harmes to the HBF as I thought he played his best footy in the Tom Sparrow HFF/mid-rotation role.

He has reasonable hands overhead for his size and I felt he was always a chance to cause trouble drifting around the flank. He did this a couple of times, but not consistently.

But I never thought he had the kicking skills or defensive accountability to play HBF.

17 hours ago, godees said:

Sidebottom 33y 8m

Pendlebury 35y 8m

Mitchell 30y 3m

Mihocek 30y 8m

Adams 30y

Howe 33y 8m

Cox 32y 6m

Elliot 31y 1m

Crisp 30y in a couple of days

Hoskin Elliott 30y

 

They are the new Geelong.

I came here to say this. All 10 of the 30+ crew played big roles in the season and the GF (except due to injury eg Taylor Adams).

Daicos led their disposals yesterday with 29. The next 6 players (every other player with more than 17 disposals, except Bobby Hill) was in that list of over 30s.

I'm not saying they'll fall in a hole next year, but it's a very short window that could close very quickly. And is very reliant on a couple of young guns.

Contrast that with our list, we only have a few players over 28 in our best 22. Sure May and Gawn are big holes to fill, but Viney is the only other consistent best 22 aged 28+ that we'll be hard pressed to replace in the next 4 years with what isn't already on the list.

And we were a dice roll away from it all coming together this year.

It means we are drafting and trading to improve our position, not cover our losses. And we have lots of cap space becoming available with TMac, Brown, and potentially Harmes, Jordan, Melksham, etc.

On 9/29/2023 at 4:04 PM, WalkingCivilWar said:

Not blowing our own trumpet here (well, maybe a little bit) but in case anyone wonders where the DA sits in terms of other clubs’ opinions, here’s two examples from this past week alone. The first is from the Suns and the second is from Hawthorn (we received a similar message from Essendon last season)…

 

 

We go alright, huh. 😁

Congrats WCW on the amazing culture the demon army has been able to foster!

8 hours ago, rjay said:

I would stick with Campbell at the moment. Form has been good and a big reason Pearce has been playing good footy...

 

Fair. It's a tough call either way. 

Campbell stuff, she's been great. But I can understand Colvin ahead of her as a senior member of the team.

3 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

The team has been fantastic - don't get me wrong - but looking at the four games played and the opposition in those games, it would be fair to say that we haven't really beaten a quality team. Two opponents have yet to win a game this year and the other two have one win each. Geelong is really the team's first real challenge for the current season.

So, we shouldn't get too carried away ... just yet.

While I agree with not getting carried away, our record over the last 13 games is pretty incredible, including lack of opposition goals in second halves and in particular last quarters.

It extends further back than 4 wins this year.

100% we need to beat the top teams over the next 4-5 weeks, and until then we should be circumspect. But I don't think this is "they haven't beaten anyone yet" territory.

Future picks that must be traded for players is the best possible assistance a poor performing club can get. I like that it's a future draft giving them two years to trade it: they aren't held to ransom as easily.

Other benefits better than early picks and more kids include some salary cap concessions, to help them attract players.

You could also give them alternate FA rules: no offset of FA in and FA out for bottom 4 sides. It means they can recruit FAs without diluting a band 1 or 2 compo.

An extra 2 list spots means they can bring in AFL ready journeymen to play now without losing the spots needed for development of juniors.

6 hours ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

Honestly, I'd be happy enough to see him come in as depth, but he's not worth chasing from what I can see.  A late bloomer, mediocre averages in most areas and kicks a little under two goals a game.  At 28 he's not likely to improve much on his existing numbers.  Will he be good enough to win a regular spot in our side?  

This year Fritsch averaged 2.2, Pickett 1.6 and Melksham 1.5.

In 2022 Fritsch averaged 2.3, Pickett 1.8 and Brown 1.6.

In 2021 Fritsch averaged 2.5, Pickett 1.6, McDonalnd 1.3 (special mention to Brown who averaged 1.9 from only games).

The last 3 years McAdam has averaged 1.7, 1.5, 1.7. From his limited games.

I don't think his goals per game average is a problem, it's a strength.

At the end of the day he is replacing Melksham in the forward line for a few years as a defensive forward who can kick goals the other way (he played on Lever when we played them trying to disrupt his intercepting).

We aren't paying a lot for him. But he has a spot as a role player over the next few years if he can keep form.

30 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

i don't understand why we have such a restrictive blood rule these days. the hiv days hysteria is surely passe

the nrl is much bloodier, yet they don't send players off for just a drop of blood

While it started as a HIV scare, as a player, I never particularly wanted to get someone else's blood all over me.

Playing rugby union, and having an opposition prop bleeding from the face ahead of a scrum was not a particularly comfortable experience.

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

I have said numerous times our game plan is a) very taxing, b) keeps oppositions in the game and c) very predictable.

Our fwd half issues are at least 5 years old and we have an old ruckman as our fwd coach. Really?

The game plan to beat Melbourne us well known but most teams are unable to compete for longer. Its patently obvious that good teams can compete for long enough as the do in finals. We do about 90% right  but the 10% sees us lose.

We made some changes around the edges this year but its time to completely re-design how we play. 

I reckon if you want a complete re-design, you'll be disappointed.

Our game plan has been the most successful in the comp over the last 4 years. We haven't had a consistent rival in that time (Brisbane the closest with a significant home ground advantage).

This year we lost only one game by more than 10 points. And all stat indicators (leading to xScore) pointed to us winning the majority of those games (including 3/4 finals that we lost. The other final against Sydney was a <3 point loss on xScore).

In 2022 we had significant injury and fitness issue that saw us fall into a hole at the end of the season, cooked. Some injuries can't be helped but we also had a new fitness lead. We made major changes to our conditioning and injury management programs in 2023 for significant improvement.

In 2023 we have again battled some key inuries (everyone has them but ours were often particularly key players like Gawn and Oliver). The injuries were almost entirely concentrated on tall and medium forwards. That part of our structure never settled, yet we still probably should've won both finals.

We'll make further, incremental changes to the game plan, recruit some players and try to solve the forward issue with the players available to us.

But wholesale changes aren't on the cards.

Turns out football is really predictable except for the whole goal kicking accuracy thing, which is often a random number generator in the equations.

Premierships aren't easy to win.

1 hour ago, Craig T said:

And we haven't conceded a single last quarter goal in any of those twelve matches.......

And only 7 second half goals in those 12 matches (3 of which were 3rd quarter with the wind today).

If you're judging the coach because of he is a "monotone bore" when he talks to the media, then you probably don't get it, and won't.

20 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

I’be been thinking who we can shop around for draft picks and pkayers

 The list in my mind is Salem, Langdon, Grundy and Sparrow. I love Tom but if we could get a really clean user for him, with some outside pace I’d be interested.

Grundy is gone. And I think with Bowey and Rivers, Salem isn't as critical as he was in 2021, so could have currency. We'll get something for JJ (as a free agent, or as a trade if St Kilda don't want to dilute their FA). And Harmes might be on the way out too.

But Sparrow is going nowhere. He is a goal kicking mid. Seriously strong. Great kick. No way will we trade him out. Particularly with Viney 30 at the start of next year.

We can be disappointed, and feel we have underachieved, while noting that a major factor (and possibly THE major factor) in our underachievement has been a share of bad luck in injuries (in both 2022 and 2023) and also in accuracy. Even score reviews against the Blues in season.

As @Webberhas said, add any number of Petty, Melksham, JVR or a fit TMac or BBB back into that finals series and we probably have a different result.

The only thing I think that appears a stand out problem that our football department truly had influence on is the Gawn/Grundy experiment. It didn't work. We didn't make it work. That is on the footy department.

Everything else has actually been pretty good, and got us in the position where we were a genuine top 3 competitor this year.

20 minutes ago, Gunna’s said:

Goody in his press conference mentioned that the club will look at ways to be better. What is your take on this?

At least that should stop the usual suspects claiming he won't review it!

Don't do it to yourselves lads.

Make sure a large chunk is AFLW focused, just for your mental health :)