D4Life

It would be good if Vardy plays, as a reminder of 2018 prelim. Demons should be up for this game: - lock in top 4 - part of run into finals building form - challenging game being in Perth - locked in for 7 days adding to challenge - hopefully mindset won’t slip marginally as has seemed to happen against poorer teams - stick it to Eagles Demons please kick straight!!

I reflect on trade targets and the draft and it’s amazing how much we underrate our own players and overate other teams players. Jack Martin in another thread is a perfect example. Some people wanted to pay him $750k by 4 years!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone goes Geelong had great gets in Cameron, Smith & Higgins, but they were very interested in Viney who many trash on this site, unfortunately! Our list management, trading and drafting has been very good to excellent of recent years: - 1st round trades - Lever & May - 2nd round trades - Brown, Langdon, Tomlinson, Hibberd & Melksham - 1st round draft - Jackson & Pickett - 2nd rounders - Fritsch, Spargo, Petty, Jordan, Rivers, - Bowey looks promising The list strategy from 2018 in filling our deficiencies: - brought in key backs to fill hole (Lever, May) Petty from 2018 prelim - 2019 brought in wings after 6/6/6 rule highlighted importance (Langdon, & Tomlinson, even though He went back) - Small forward with X factor Pickett - Tall (support for Max) with X factor Jackson - Big forward in BBB - Skill & disposal efficiency Spargo, Bowey, Pickett The more you look at it, the more you can only congratulate the list management and recruitment, a gold medal effort. Even on improving coaching getting Yze & Choco has been great. I heard some commentator or journo going Melbourne don’t have premiership star factor, obviously he can’t see the following across the field: Midfield: Gawn, Oliver, Trac (add Bont and you have AA midfield) Backs: May, Lever, Salem(carrying groin hasn’t helped since mid season) Forward: Fritsch (look at stats for goal kicking # 3 forwards) Pickett ( look at pressure stats and goals) We are going to go very close this year, fingers crossed, but regardless club has done a great job in building the playing list and coaches plus high performance team - IF we can find goal kicking solution for next 6-7 matches, we will be exceptionally hard to beat from here on in!

Absolute Gun with a capital G! Not sure his numbers last year but in a 17 game season he was probably on his way to another 400 in a normal season. We are lucky to have Petracca and Oliver together, both stars! Add Maxy, May, Lever, Salem before injury slowed him, and look forward to Pickett and Jackson, our future is bright!!

In effect best 8 players out vs strong Dogs team. Not surprising they won well.

Worked out very well, I think Marvel suits our playing style best of all grounds!

Miracles can happen!

Don’t bring logic into the argument!! Everyone knows Dogs are umps favourites! What’s more umpire 22 hates us!

They were allowed to throw the ball at will in 2016, Giants in PF and Swans in GF got killed by the umpires. Dogs definitely get favoured treatment, I couldn’t believe when one of their players got called for a double handed throw in the /2nd half, umpires normally never call a Dog throw! They should change name from Bulldogs to Throwdogs! Also very very rarely get done for holding the ball or incorrect disposal! 25-11 differential is almost like having an extra player, and the momentum the umpiring decisions kill, makes a big difference!

Malcolm Blight said during the week a 16-6, 15-7 is a great season, the 19-3 or better will continue to be rare as with draft, salary cap etc. comp is getting closer! So if you lose 5 it means you have to lose to someone, good or bad, seems that having beaten other teams in the 8 is more important. Look at Tigers, only year they didn’t win flag they had best home and away season, 18-4. Supposedly we’ve been loading, so hopefully we can be ready for our best again come finals! Can’t say I’m overly confident after last 6 games, but if we can finish top 4, we should be good to give it our best. Also lack of injuries should help. Fingers crossed the strategy works!!

Did you miss his last two goals!

I left out same three and brought in VDB rather than Weideman. Week after I’d give Rivers a rest week and possibly Salem or Langdon, both seemed a little flat, but hopefully no need as they might bounce back next week! Assuming we have been doing the loading, let’s hope we’re nearly finished it and come up ready to roll in the finals. We need to start finding some real form quickly as finals are just over a month away. Re Spargo and Pickett that pocket/half forward role they play just lends itself to some quiet games, look at stats across the league and you will see the variance across 3-4 weeks. Our best is up there with any team, but that’s what we have to bring. We’ve had a great run with injuries, so no excuse not to have a good final series.

There must be a so called physical/rest reason, but personally would much rather try build some momentum and maybe they get two in a row. Then after five mins give a break! Remembering the Jeff Farmer 9 in a half against the Pies, wouldn’t happen today as would be taken off the ground 8 times!

Since Viney has come back in has felt like see ball get ball has been happening again in the middle and around the ground. Just need to re adjust this factor. Personally I’d split Vineys time between mid & forward 50/50, as 4-5 tackles from him in the forward line would lift pressure in the forward half. He is improving each week and will be valuable in the finals.

Out: Jackson (rest) In: Melksham Out: Harmes. In: VDB Out: Jordan (rest) In: Sparrow Melksham helps the forward structure and inside 50 efficiency from ball use and goal kicking. Sparrow for Jordan, like for like but really just giving Jordan a rest. Harmes just seems out of sorts, VDB to add some mongrel. Demons a little passive, not flying flag last night.

Great game Bontempelli agreed. But disagree totally re Petracca, he is in the top 10 players in the league. If you can’t see it, that’s your loss!

Dogs stars and team had a good night. Umpires gave them an armchair ride! Demons relied on half a dozen players, carried a dozen players, looked a little flat, missed opportunities yet still got within 4 points in the last. We’re far from dead yet, but need to pick it up from here, give a few boys a rest, and a couple of others an opportunity!

My God the umpires love the Dogs. Lever virtually tackled round the head going for a mark - play on! Dogs get touched free kick. Dog just drop ball nothing! Frees 8-2 joke on a wet night

Any late changes from Dogs? As they picked a taller team, reminds of one of Demons game in Cairns last year, pelting rain and we had an extra big Preuss in team! Hopefully rain gives Demon an advantage tonight, due to Dogs selection!

Hoping for a win, but loss won’t be end of the world. Between now and end of season, just want to see 3 or more wins, so we finish top 4, and stay injury free. Dogs got lucky winning in 2016 from 7th, played a great final series and were allowed to throw the ball at will!! But odds favour the top 4 and that’s the key! Covid makes it hard to know where finals will be played, so there might not be any home ground advantage, as could end up interstate. Demons just start kicking straighter! Go Demons!!

Our game plan is based on a team defence, so is reliant on the 18 players on the ground doing the right thing. As mentioned by other posters we have a number of players under 50 games and a few of our stars are also under 25yo. This still leads to fluctuations in performance, get up for the big games, but slight mental drop off against the weaker teams. Try win game off own boot vs selfless actions and team first. Look at when Tigers really became successful, Cotchin, Rance, Riewoldt were all 26yo plus and I think Dusty 25/26. Our best is very good, whether we can sustain it is the question! As when we have, Dogs, Lions, Port, Tigers we killed them. In fact had we have kicked straight in all those games, you would have seen margins closer to 45-60 points in each. Give Viney 2-3 more weeks and Bbb 3-4 more weeks, so they both are at full match fitness. I would double down on goal kicking practice for every player on the list and also be tempted to give all the guys under 2 years one game off before finals - ok will defer to Burgess?! But my big two are: - double down on goal kicking practice - make sure from a fitness perspective we are cherry ripe for finals My gut feel is we might just be shy of what is required this year, but as there are no standout teams, if we can stay fit, and improve our goal kicking by 2 accurate shots a game(this would have resulted in only one loss for the season), we might just sneak a flag! Go Demons! seize the day!

100% correct, our game plan does rely on every player, playing their part or it can be picked apart, and last night there were plenty missing. Our best is very solid and exceptionally hard to beat, but our blood y goal kicking is a nightmare. I have visions of losing to Geelong 10.22 to 14.4 or similar to the Dogs and them getting 3-4 soft free kick goals in the finals. Demons just kicking reasonably for goal last night and we kick 14.10 and Hawks never in the game!

Delivery inside 50 was very poor! Kicking for goal very poor! Umpiring terrible, Clarkson obviously didn’t take note of how many Hawks goals came from frees or non marks that were paid! Hawks wanted to win, Demons didn’t which is unacceptable!

Obviously due to our ladder position and how we generally play week to week Demons have significantly improved, over 16 rounds our worst is losses of 1, 9, and 16? Against Crows and Giants kicking straight we win both. What we haven’t seen is an absolute flogging of an opposition team, and while as a long long suffering Demons fan of over 50 years, any win is a good win, it would be terrific to see the Demons put the foot down today and kick straight to deliver a massive victory over the Hawks. If we kicked straight against point, we would have won by over 50 points, so hoping for straight kicking tonight in the pissing rain, which is logical as we can’t kick straight in the dry!

VDB is a bit slow and has ordinary skills, but he makes every other Demon walk taller, and his crunching tackles worry the opposition players, putting added pressure on their ball disposal. In finals and GFs there are always players who get picked for their hardness ahead of other more skilled players. Goodwin likes VDB for this reason!

I had ignored the ignore function until last week, but finally used it to clear out the “sky is falling” posters. Thanks for this function, should have used it years ago!