D4Life

No, he did the wrong thing, but with his usual disposal going astray perhaps he was unlucky to flush a punch. Anyway snipping is bad, and he learnt his lesson!

Thanks Vogon Poetry, great insight on the players sitting outside the current team. I thought Kent was gone after a horrible 2017, so terrific to hear he did well and pleased to hear Frost went well, as his speed could be an asset.

Our Demons have a way of letting us down, that is way there is the negativity and nervousness on this site. Fingers crossed, today is the start of something new and we pump the Lions by 10 goals, play four quarters, have 22 players turn up to play, and keep going when we get in front!

Max kicks the goal on Sunday and he would have been a match winner. If you look at Richmond they had still have: Martin (Trac) Rance (Lever) Riewoldt (Hogan) Cotchin (Viney, Oliver) Your correct all of ours listed above are in 20-23 age range, so not quite mature enough in body, games and mind, but over the next few years we should be in the zone! Then add Gawn, Hibberd, who are both only 27! and the Dogs only had: Bontempelli (probably misspelled) and 21 players who put manic pressure around the ground! Our list is no worse than what the Dogs snatched a flag with in 2016! Still let’s win enough games to make finals this year, win a final, then next year & beyond we should be good to have a crack at an elusive flag!

Bugg threw his fist out and caught the guy right on the chin while he was running along, he did the wrong thing, but stiff to hit him flush!

Agree. Thought Brayshaw would come in for Wagner!

6. Gawn 5. Petracca 4. Oliver 3. Hogan 2. OMac 1. Jones

I’ve paid a heap to these guys, I feel like I’m getting something back?

While a flag would be brilliant, finals and winning a final would be a big step. At least we weren’t done for ball tampering and lost our last ten wickets for 50! That’s something to really worry about!

Agree Lever fitting in will take a little time, but we will end up with a stronger defence. We didn’t run in the 2nd quarter and the Cats with time & space are very clean, great foot skills. So very hard for the defence to stop. 2nd half we ran, pressured and tackled, Cats struggled and only kicked two! Would be great to see a four quarter effort next week and a 22 man effort, rather than 10 maybe 11 players giving a four quarter performance.

Wow, I thought we were very ordinary against the Cats, but it’s a little too soon to write off the season just yet. Half the team didn’t turn up and we still only lost by 3 points. Give it till mid season before finishing us off!

People definitely have a diverse range of views, I wonder how much is influenced by where you sit at the ground, vs watching TV and just some players being easier to recognise others! Still I shudder when Wagner gets the ball, reminds me of Matt Jones! Coaching was average, when Geelong skipped away in the 2nd Maynard seemed in at almost every centre bounce and was often joined by one of our 3rd tier mids, as Geelong had Ablett and Selwood in the middle. It was poor coaching. We also seemed to stop running in the 2nd, a Melbourne trait for way too long. I’m still not sure why we seem to have 3-4 guys jump up in a pack going for marks so often and only one player down. Hopefully it was just a bad day, at least 10 if the players had really bad days. If it keeps happening, we need to weed out the guys who play spasmodically, one of which I’m worried about is Hannan, great skill but goes missing a lot. Still after over 50 years I will be cheering on the Dees next week.

I focussed on Wagner today, because I didn’t think he was up to it! Perhaps his pressure & tackling was good in the 2nd half, but he is just awful when he gets the ball, always picks the wrong option. Maynard the same! pick any of the other 4 who missed out from Tyson, Brayshaw, Bugg & Frost and we win today!

Maxy was also good. Pity he missed the last shot. It felt like a lot of the guys were down today, so let’s hope there is a lift in performance next week.

Tackling was poor and kicking was very poor at times into the forward line. We also stopped running and manning up particularly the 2nd quarter. Conversely Geelongs kicking was very good and made the difference! There are a few players who really disappointed today: - Wagner incredibly poor decision maker & disposal, occasionally good aggression but should be playing VFL. Replace Wagner withBrayshaw! - Maynard skills are only VFL standard, got the ball on his own in the last with time, terrible kick goes to Geelong and then they break free and kick a goal. Tyson has the odd butcher ball but is well ahead of Maynard. Replace Maynard with Tyson. - Hannan occasionally does freakish things, but just doesn’t get the ball enough and as previously mentioned playing him in forward line with Fritsch and Garlett not enough pressure. Replace Hannan with Bugg! Garlett, Melksham, Jetta not on today, but have done credits in the bank. The positive was Oliver, Trac, Jones were very good but not enough support. OMac held Hawkins to one. We only lost by 3 points and had a very average day!

Agree, Wagner not even close, Maynard VFL and Hannan doesn’t do enough week in week out. That quarter was atrocious, disposal poor, not running, not tackling. Hopefully it can only get better! Good to see Ablett give the umpire coaching tips at qtr time, he and Selwood get a dream run!

I agree, Maynard doesn’t get it enough and isn’t clean, at least Tyson gets s lot of the ball, his disposal needs to improve, must be his calf and Goodwin being cautious.

Stats are one indicator, but watching the player gives you a clearer indication. Jetta rock solid usually picks right option. Wagner turnover are usually really bad and he often seems to pick wrong option. Ocassionally he just goes and gets it right. But these two are chalk & cheese!

Looking at everyone’s interchange bench before the final four were selected, not one person on Demonland had Wagner in. Hope he has a great game and proves me wrong, but from my seat he turns the ball over to often and generally just takes the wrong option. would love to know why they pick Wagner, I’d rather have Tyson, Brayshaw or Bugg, even Frost ahead of him.

Agree, just one would be a great start, before I croak preferably?

Unfortunately I didn’t get to read article, was there anything else in it aside from: - gave up smoking - disappointment R23

The article I referred to above listed TMac, Petracca, Lever and Hunt as elite in their position. My view is: Gawn Hibberd Viney Lever Oliver Garlett are our elite, and those who may get into that category this year are: Petracca Hogan Hunt Melksham (his 2nd half season was exciting)

Totally agree, we blew yesterday’s game and Freo game with poor kicking for goal a fifty fifty conversion rate would have led to wins and a 6-1 winning season!

I’m guessing none of the above predicted a Dogs 2016 or Tigers 2017 flag, so would feel a lot more confident seeing Demons have at least 8 points and preferably 12 points after winning the first three matches, than worrying about external opinions. Personally I struggle to see how we won’t improve with the age of our list and the extra year into the likes of Hogan, Petracca, Harmes, Viney, OMac, Lever, Hunt, Salem, ANB who are all in the 22 plus minus one year bracket. Missing finals would be a dismal fail. Over the weekend there was a 48 page AFL summary I read from a Sydney paper, David King giving his view and Robbo. Added to the article was a list of elite, above average, par, below average, poor, and a TBD. It was way off in my view, just be interested in a poll on Demonland to judge how our supporters rate our players. Who kicks off a new thread?

Demons will do a much better job covering Viney, TMac, Lewis, Tyson and ANB, than the Cats will do with Dangerfield & Ablett!