At the break of Gawn

Well I was dead wrong. The Saints aren’t the bees knees, but they play a really simple and effective game style. Tore us to pieces in the middle and their transition from defence is very good and no nonsense.

The only 4 we’ll be worrying about this year is the bottom 4.

Saints have overachieved so far this year and sitting pretty after a very soft draw while also running into teams at the right time (Essendon as a shambles, Hawks on one leg).

The headline tonight will be “Dees give Saints a reality check”.

Melbourne by +30pts

3 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

In: Lewis, Jetta

out: Omac, Stretch

Disappointed that Garlett or Lockhart didn’t get a look in.

2 hours ago, BrisbaneDemon said:

I am of the opinion we will make a bit of a statement in this game and have an easy win...

If Gawn gives silver service to our mids, good luck with the run on the outside Saints.

 

Dee's by 42

I also have the same feeling. But mind you, I also had the same feeling going into the Bombers game. 

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

On the dates from last week:

• May has blown out from 2 - 3 to 2 - 4.
• vandenBerg and Smith are still listed as the dreaded 4 to 6.
• Lever and Hannan have "improved" from 6 - 8 to just 6.
• Kennedy-Harris is in from 10 - 12 to 8 - 10.

 

I thought groin injuries were usually a 4 week injury. It’s already been 4 and Smith is a 4-6 which means he’s potentially going to miss half the season with a groin injury???

This is pretty frivolous, but it was my birthday recently and I didn’t receive an email with an offer for a 20% discount at the demon shop (I’ve got a premium membership). A friend of mine (who’s a 3 game member) got an email for this offer for his birthday in March. 

I msged the club on twitter and they confirmed it was an oversight and they did have my d.o.b in the system. They said they’d send me an email with the discount but it’s been a couple of weeks and nothing. Have since followed them up and waiting to hear back.

1 hour ago, bandicoot said:

Any update re his injury... couldn’t seem to lift his right shoulder after the match 

Goody said in the post-match he’ll be fine for this week.

Probably our most frustrating game of the season last year. However, the FD took some vital lessons from that game and it was the last time a team kicked a big score on us in 2018 before the PF (although Geelong scored 100pts exactly against us thanks to Tuohy's last kick).  

Saints are rubbish. Have beaten Gold Coast by 1pt, Essendon when they were a shambles, lost to Freo and beat the Hawks on one leg. 

If we bring the same defensive mindset and contested footy, we should beat them easily. 

I’m not sure if we lose tonight we’ll be absolutely done, given our history at the SCG and our history against the Swans. It may bee too insurmountable. 

However, if we don’t beat the Saints next week then it’ll be absolutely done. I see next week as our most season defining game.

1 hour ago, DubDee said:

No idea why he is still co-captain.  this year was the obvious year for him to step down and let Viney take over imo.

now it becomes more awkward and obvious that he is playing poorly and looks very slow. I still think he is in the 22 most weeks but he is no longer an on-field leader.

play him in the guts more or half back or not at all

(I love Jonesy and always will)

He could always step down as co-captain. Just like how Hannebery stepped down from the leadership team to work on his recovery. Jones could do the same to just focus on his game. 

Just finished watching ‘on the couch’. My god our defence is a shambles. The footage was laughable. Some of the decisions made by Froscar, Fritsch etc on when to leave your man and go is just horrific. It’s just too complicated I feel. 

Lets just go back to a much more simpler structure and the only time you need to leave your man is if your team mate has basically lost the contest and the opposition is running towards you.

6 minutes ago, Jaded said:

And yet despite their poor standards and lack of training expectations, they have won 2 games and we have won 0. 

Perhaps the “Gold Coast standards” was just an easy excuse for a player that just has a bad attitude around keeping in shape over the off season.

Can we do a straight swap for Gold Coast’s defence or employ their defensive coach?

Pretty interesting stat regarding Lewis.

Watched the second qtr replay on Fox. The only reason we got back in the game and looked better at repelling our defence was due to Essendon’s poor entry from stoppages purely from skill level (mainly from Dylan Shiel). They weren’t even pressured kicks. After the poor entries we were good at transitioning back (we kicked 6 goals straight from the back half). We’re a forward half team so it wasn’t even our brand, but we were just fortunate Shiel can’t kick. 

Hence, our defence was just as diabolical as ever in that second qtr but it was masked by unforced error entries from Essendon. The defensive positioning of our midfielders at stoppages and even in general play is a complete shambles.

Goody is chatting to SEN at 12.

I still recall PJ’s strong comments on ‘inside Melbourne ‘ after we lost to Hawthorn. It was clear that he knew exactly that it was unacceptable and not what we stood for. We’ve heard nothing from Pert so far.

Brisbane are currently the same odds as us to win the flag this year now.

Who was our defensive coach under Roos? 

In: Rawlings

out: Chaplin

5 minutes ago, Scoop Junior said:

Our defensive problem is two-fold.

One, we play a high press reliant on keeping the ball inside our forward half and forcing any opposition exits to be rushed. Hence we take aggressive defensive positions to chop off the rushed exit. But when you're not dominating the contest/clearances and not applying enough forward pressure, the opposition exit cleanly and then it's game over. Once they're out, our lack of leg speed means we aren't going to catch them and the high press and aggressive defensive positions means the opposition have loose men streaming inside their forward 50. With no pressure on the ball carrier it's just handball-chip kick all the way to an easy mark inside 50.

The joke was this was happening in the first 5 minutes of the game! In the first quarter alone they constantly had loose options inside 50. The worst thing you can do when you play a low-on-confidence side is give them easy goals to get their adrenalin flowing. Guess what - we did just that in conceding 6 goals in the first quarter.

The question is how can your structure be so easily dismantled by an ordinary side in the first quarter of a game? It's mind boggling.

The problem was there for all to see last year. It happened enough times to be worrying. But our contest work and inside 50 pressure was so good that it masked the problem. So far this year we haven't reached anywhere near those levels in our contest work and inside 50 pressure work so the problem of our defensive structure rears its ugly head.

I just find it astonishing that we've seemingly been happy to move into season 2019 without any tinkering to this area both in terms of structure and personnel (other than the recruitment of May). It's just unrealistic to expect to dominate the contest every single week. We needed to find a way of absorbing pressure when the opposition gets on top, when we lose the clearances and contested ball, when we can't retain the ball in our forward half. But we are so easy to transition and score against and not only is it giving the opposition confidence but it's deflating ours as well.

The second problem with our defence is that when we are finally able to get a one-on-one or a legitimate contest, we have a combination of horrible one-on-one defenders and out-of-form defenders.

20 goals against a previously-struggling Essendon is putrid stuff. This after 20 goals last week in wet conditions. We will not go anywhere unless we can limit the scoreboard damage when the game is not on our terms.

This absolutely nails it.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-premiership-kryptonite-afl-greats-bake-for-dees-duo/news-story/ac8f64114d748d9834cabc82fdca69b5

David King has nailed it with this term. Surely just have to reset the key pillars and drop them.

Our attack was ok tonight. Tmac hindered it at times, just can’t take a grab anymore and looks as slow as Ben Holland.

Worst defence in the league right now. It’s just a numbers game for the opposition. Just get it in 50 times and you’ll have about 30 shots on goal. Pretty much will always win a game of footy.

Out Omac and Frost. I don’t care who else. Season is cooked anyway.