D4Life

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!

Dogs should be renamed Throwdogs, get away with more than any other team. I don’t know why!

The term “drink your own bath water” certainly applies to: BT Brayshaw Darcy Ling Brereton Eddie Commentary team I would prefer: - Anthony Hudson - Daisy - Leppitsch - Hodge

Great result for Demons! Agree with comment above, 5% off and if opposition bring their best, easy to lose. Look at Crows, Pies & Giants probably all played their best games against us!

Number 1 focus at training should be goalkicking! We may still win against a top team kicking 4.10 in 2nd half, but will never forget GF in 90s North dominated against Crows in first half but kicked 2.9 or thereabouts and instead of being 5-6 goals in front was maybe a kick in it! Then game turned and Crows rolled over top of North! Demons we’re great against Port but we kick 14.12 or 16.10 and Port wouldn’t have got within 9 points in 2nd half. Better goal kicking this year and we would be 15-1 and % of 150%! Im still delighted with our season, but wish for better goal kicking.

When the Demons bring their best, we look like a flag contender. That’s was a 4.7 flogging against a team that is five goals better at home team! massive victory go Dees

100% correct, number of times in a close game, he comes through with a clutch goal or three is a real lose for them.

Scenario One - what I’m hoping happens: BBB to kick two goals and because of his presence in the forward line, one of Spargo, Pickett or ANB get an extra crumbing goal, Fritsch & TMac also get an extra due to getting 2nd & 3rd defender, and a little less attention! Gives us 4 more for the game, makes the difference. Scenario Two - optimistic view Hopefully Port is one of those teams BBB likes playing, as shown by his 10 goals for North in another thread. If he could kick three plus tonight, would be great for the team and him!

Just play with same intensity we brought against the Dogs. Harmes tag Wines! A little more run & go, we’ve become to static!

3 simple ways to increase pressure: - kick straighter (scoreboard pressure, also no way we can win 3 finals if this doesn’t improve), also we win Giants & Crows game - run & chase, we didn’t raise a gallop against Pies for 90% of the game, not great against Giants in this area - go hard, VDB & Viney when playing well, generate pressure and make players worry, can see difference Mumford makes to Giants! One other factor is over the season all teams have off games, so you drop the odd game! 1st to 14th is a concerning stat, needs to lift. However I’ll take a 5-10% increase in accuracy first! I think playing BBB will help and also have a positive influence on other players re kicking for goal. Why, poor goal kicking seems to accelerate with each missed shot and having a dead eye who slots a few under pressure will help stop the pressure building.

I’m going we lose to Port , because I picked against us vs Dogs & Lions. conversely thought we would beat Crows and Pies easily, and defeat Giants by 20-30! So am hoping can get it wrong again. Am really keen to see BBB given 5 matches! A few people have crapped on Hunt but really nothing to kick to all day up forward, other than a few Fritsch cameos!Have BBb stay in the50 arc provide an option, other than if he has to man up his opponent!

Same as DOF one change Lever 3 Gawn 2

Very disappointed with the Demons but haven’t given up all hope yet. We killed the wonderDogz at their home ground, and tore Brisbane apart after giving them a 3/4 goal start! Yes we’ve dropped off in form, but our best has proven to be good enough. To me BbB has to be given 4-5 weeks, at least we will kick straighter and hunt could only run 40 meters then kick it towards Brown, rather than having nothing to kick towards!

Jackson Rivers Sparrow Kozzie Jordan Petty all played under 30 games, form will vary and don’t have multiple seasons and pre-seasons into their bodies. Looking at forward line, really seem to be missing a Hawkins, Cameron, Lynch, Naughton or Dixon type. Teams that win grand finals usually have some very hard or outright dirty players. Hawks think Lewis/Mitchell/Hodge (Clarkson) Tigers Nankervis/Cotchin and most of the team are dirty (Hardwick coached taught by Sheedy). Looking at these three categories, ins and outs for me: In: VDB hard as nails, skills ordinary, but some players make teammates walk taller, e.g. Giants are a much better team when Mumford plays. In: BBB give him 4 -5 weeks, at least he kicks straight, will earn some frees, take some heat of TMac & Fritsch, will bring ball down for crumbers. At least with a 4-5 game stint it’s enough of a crack to know. In: Melksham drives me nuts but has the skills for inside 50 connections, good kick for goal, sounds like had a crack in twos last week, and 5 tackles last night. Out: Kozzie lost his zip/sparkle give him two weeks out one off one at Casey Out: Sparrow let him keep building this year, Casey games won’t hurt him. Out: Viney running up and down on the spot, a week out or at Casey. He just needs to build over the next 3-4 weeks. For all the arm flapping and end of the world types that thrive when the Demons lose, we are close, we’re only three straight kicks off 14-1. But to win finals and a GF, it feels like we must have: - extra tall in forward line - extreme hardness in a VDB ( I still can’t believe I’m selecting him, as skills are big ordinary) - not too many youngsters and freshen up ones who can make a diffference, e.g. Kossi - kick straighter, that’s why I’d have BBB & Melksham in team.

Totally agree: - provides target - contesting marks will help with spills for smalls - TMac gets number 2 defender & Fritsch #3 - will kick straight - good at earning frees