Demon Dude

i don't care about their body shapes and wouldn't know what their ideal body weight or skin folds are anyway, but one thing I will say is both Oliver and Brayshaw need to work harder than what they did in R1. both guys were disappointing imo and let their opponents dominate them in the first half when the heat was on, and some of their defensive efforts were pretty bad. I see both guys jogging way too much for my liking when their opponents are sprinting forward and creating overlap run like its a training drill. Brayshaw has been in average form for 18 months now. he especially needs to lift and find some consistency to his efforts or he might find himself out of the side for someone like a Sparrow or AVB instead.

i'd have to say its a pass from me.

I think he can be a good player, but like others have said we have too many injury plagued players on the list as it is. and besides I reckon we could have T.Lockett playing down forward and we'd struggle get 40 goals out of him a year with our dodgy forward structures and poor kicking going inside F50.

i'd start with cutting Bradtke, Brown, and the Wagners, and look to retire Jones, and push medical retirements for AVB and KK, from the list. most are depth we can afford to lose. Jones is about the only one who could get a regular game out of that lot, but it might just be a good time for him to hang up the boots anyway.

we can also afford to lose a younger midfielder type, like one of Dunkley, Sparrow, Spargo or Jordon.

and i'd also cut one of Hunt or Hibberd. one has been on the list a while and still cant find a spot to call his own, and the other is fading fast. i'd probably lean towards cutting Hibberd, purely because of his age I suppose. who knows, maybe Hunt can find form as a defender again without Hibberd down there.

if there was a game next week then I would of gone with;

out- Spargo, Brown, OMac, ANB, 

in- Jones, Weideman, Salem, Jackson

B- Jetta May Hibberd

HB- Harmes Lever Salem

C- Langdon Brayshaw Tomlinson

HF- Petracca TMac Melksham

F- Fritsch Weideman Pickett

R- Gawn Oliver Viney

I- Jones, Jackson, Lockhart, Bedford

EM- Sparrow, Rivers, Hore, ANB

i agree with DeeSpencer, Hibberd needs to stay deep and even play taller if he has too, he has the strength to body spoil a bigger opponent. we cant have him pushing up the ground and kicking inside F50, he sucks at it. if he cant do the job for us anymore then he's of limited value and Hore, Rivers or Smith should probably replace him.

Lever and May have to be the 2 main tall defenders. we pay them both good money, key defender money, so make them bloody earn it. I've seen the 3 tall defence before and I've never been a fan of it. it makes us too slow and we get hurt by the smaller players instead. we have Tomlinson as an option up our sleeve who can go back and help out if needed. we should be utilizing that sort of flexibility instead.

Brown is depth only, and he's not a key forward either. bring back Weideman and play him out of the goal square and let him run and jump at the ball. make it simple for him and just tell him to fly for everything that he can. Let Tmac roam up the ground more from CHF, he cant seem to jump since he did his foot anyway.

Jackson needs to play as a utility. he can back up the ruck if needed and can give us a different look on ball and forward at times, or even throw him out on the wing. the team lacks options atm.

Salem and Jones should also help with the ball use problem a tad as well.

put Oliver and Brayshaw under notice to lift their game and start running hard. i'm not against us pushing either of them out of the centre square, or even dropping them if it teaches them a lesson.

hopefully if this season ever gets going again, we can then have guys like Petty, Rivers, Sparrow, Baker and Hannan pushing others for spots.

and Goodwin needs a forward line specialist coach. i'm afraid the whirlpool aint getting the job done.

19 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

Nice to see a balanced response. I agree. 

I think there is an expectation that the pace of games will go up with shortened quarters, placing less emphasis on the rucks and bigs. There was some evidence of this last night. 

Nonetheless, we rarely if ever went into games previously with 3 tall forwards, so I'm not sure why people are surprised. All they've done is taken Brown or Weideman. Fritsch and Melksham are both very capable in the air particularly in 1v1s. 

We are taking in many more small forwards than usual. I don't mind it, interested to see how it looks. If anything the backline looks short on depth to me... an injury down there and we don't have many to swing through. Lockhart on bench is just about it unless they plan on taking away our newfound strength with Tomlinson back there...

yeah i guess my main concern is i see Brown as more of a Fritsch or Melk type in the way he plays, as he's not really a key forward pack crasher/bring the ball to ground type. more of a mobile 1v1 sort. I think early on in the year big forwards aren't really that much of a threat anyway, as they usually take a couple of games before they start to hold their marks more often, so probably not going to be a huge problem for us. I just hope Kennedy and Darling are a bit rusty themselves.

Gawn can ruck most of the game with these shortened qtrs, so no need for a specific back up ruckman.

also no Jones or Vanders rotating fwd/mid allows us to play a couple of smaller forwards, as our main midfielders can now take a greater % of game time on their own, so we don't really need the extra mid rotations anyway. less inside ball winning bulls needed, and more forward half run and pressure instead. it looked like it was a big focus for us in the pre season games and it seemed to work well, so it makes sense.

also i'm glad Lockhart is in the team. our ground ball gets in the back half really needs to lift and he can help there.

i guess the main question i have is whether TMac, Brown and Fritsch is enough of a threat in the air forward though? we'll find out I suppose.

31 minutes ago, ArtificialWisdom said:

Let's make Rd6 the new round 1. Start the year with Richmond and Melbourne on ANZAC eve. And then create a new 17 game fixture from there

I don't think there's going to be any magic fix by r6 just because we delay the start of the season. there will probably be the same problems at R6 as there are now, only many times worse.

18 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

months? try 18 of em...that's how long current estimates are for them to have a flu jab for it to be good to go to mass market 

yeah I know, I was talking more in relation to the viruses peak in Australia and how it will effect the footy season, rather than a timeline of curing the world of it.

games will inevitably get suspended/cancelled. it's only a matter of time before players start to become infected and isolated.

the only way to predict and plan the season again, would be if they infected all the players and staff now, then pick up the season once again when everyone has fully recovered. but they aren't going to do that.

this could realistically linger on for months with players all getting infected on different timelines. I feel the season will effectively be ruined before we see the end of it.

Vandenbergs foot probably would of been at a high risk of exploding on the hard ground at optus oval anyway in R1. rest him up, he might come in handy as a battering ram later in the season.

he was probably just trying to have a bit of a joke, but he does come across as a bit disrespectful and bigheaded. glad we're rid of him.

suck **** Huddo! 

Hudson tried his best to make a big deal about it when commentating the other night. I bet he was one of those kids who liked to dob on everyone else at school.

with ball winners like Viney, Brayshaw, Oliver and Petracca in the middle its not like we really need a tagger most weeks though do we?

Harmes is not a first start mid, so has to find another position to play in. its not like he can sit on the bench waiting till the 3rd quarter then go into the midfield. Jones is in the same boat too. you need midfield depth but they cant all start in the guts at once.

HB is fine for him. he'll still push up to the back of the contest at times. or be used as a tagger if someone is getting off the leash, or go on ball himself to give the main guys an extended break, or even a run out on the wing. he's versatile enough so that's how he gets a game.

its not like he played badly the other night. was ok in defence then got a run through the guts and did alright there too, so I cant see what the problem is.

1 hour ago, The Jackson 6 said:

I’d go really small and quick against West Coast. Our forward line looked the best it has in a long time when Melk and Frit we’re isolated up there with the ball coming in quick. The game plan needs to revolve around that, not trying to find the ‘right’ big man to be there when we bomb it in (Wet Toast’s backline will towel us up if your entry looks anything like that).

the problem is with no TMac or Weideman, or any big forwards in the team, is that Fritsch and Melk get a couple of big defenders on them, then they'll actually get rag dolled 1v1 in the contest and the defence will be all over them dropping players back in the hole to stop the lead up as well. then how many goals are they going to kick? 

better to have a balanced forward line of all sizes imo. the Hawks went very tall in defence which held TMac and Weideman, but allowed our smaller forwards to get on top. but maybe another week a team might look to go with a smaller defence to counter Fritsch and Melks influence, then TMac and Weideman can then be the ones who get on top of their opponents. 

19 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

Did anyone else think it significant that Fritsch and Melksham kicked 9 goals between them?

Our key forwards in TMac and Weideman were simply mobbed every time they went near the ball - which left Fritsch and Melksham either on there own, or one on one.

And for once we adjusted our game plan to take advantage of this situation.

The Weid and TMac can become decoys every week if we get these sort of results.

yeah TMac and Weid are always gonna draw the stronger defenders. allowed Fritsch and Melk to isolate deep on the weaker ones. it won't work every week but it was a good tactic seeing as Hawks had Hardwick and Impey out of their backline too. they just couldn't seem to find the right match up for Fritsch, and Melk is always a tough match up 1 on 1 for his size.

i'd play both Weideman and Jackson to start the year. just leave Weideman as a forward and let Jackson back up in the ruck. he got pushed around a bit early on, but adjusted and 12 hit outs and some handy follow up around the ball is a great result from Jackson. he really seemed to energise our midfield as he got on top. he can also be used as a forward or run through the midfield which I think helps his chances of getting a game. he offers us something I think most teams don't have.

maybe Tmac was playing a decoy role to clear out the forward 50 for Fritsch and Melk. well at least that's what i'm hoping he was doing, because he was largely unsighted!

Hawks did seem to crowd our F50 a fair bit at times though, and no tall forwards on either team had a good night, so maybe it was just one of those games.

If Gawn plays I wouldn't be surprised if Brown misses out. Weideman can then have a go as a forward and with Fritsch going back in there as well. Jackson another forward option with only 1 game under his belt, while Brown has already played the 2 games.

I also wouldn't mind having another look at Rivers again. he impressed last week. Lockhart deserves another game to press his claims for R1 too if he's uninjured.

the small forward spots are interesting. you'd think Pickett is probably a cert, and Spargo is likely gunning for ANBs spot after his good game last week. plus Bedford put his hand up as well. interesting times, we'll see who can keep performing each week.

don't know how Harley manages to look so ripped when he hasn't been able to do much serious running. he hasn't got an ounce of fat on him. freak specimen.

he's been on the slide for a couple of years now. probably needs a fresh start somewhere else under a new coach if he cant find the form to get games this year. IMO he needs to try and reinvent himself as a solid reliable defender again, like when he first started. I remember at times he showed great courage throwing his body in and spoiling strongly down back, running back with the flight of the ball, playing tight and saving goals. but he seemed to get carried away with the more attacking side of his game then that all fell away, as he become less accountable of his man.

and just look at how that all worked out for Frost.

13 hours ago, RedLegs23 said:

L to R:

Trac, May, Oliver, Jetta, Gawn(?), Viney, AVB, Tom, Goody 

reckon you've nailed it RedLegs

some great early football memories for me there. one of the reasons this WA boy ended up a Demons supporter. he was one of the best balanced players I ever saw. a lot of games back then were played on grounds with poor drainage and were quite heavy underfoot at times, but it didn't matter to him, he was so balanced and light on his feet he could stop and prop, and twist and turn like he was playing on a different surface to everyone else. what a champion.

21 minutes ago, MyFavouriteMartian said:

I believe there is a plateau in the top 8, that clubs get to,  after being down for a while.

A launching pad to fly to the Moon from,  or to blow up on the pad.

 

We've blown up, a few times before.   Because we didn't sit there and practice our drills and strategies.  In short,  we were there too short a time,  fleeting visits,  rather than getting used to the rarified atmosphere.

 

We are building a side/list to see us in finals for the next 10 years.  There's your basis for success.  The launching pad, Top 5.  Building the right Vessel, with the right skill sets.

?‍?

25 minutes ago, one_demon said:

Who's going to replace Frost as our second defender this year?  Please don't say Oscar. 

Lever and May are our two key defenders. case closed. 

25 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Yeah I'm really in the same boat - I'd much rather a win - but as this is an extra practice game, you would expect us to potentially rest more players, trial a few different things and so forth, so that's probably more important than the overall outcome in this instance.

yeah I think the practice game is best used as to working out who's in the best form and likely to step up if needed out of the fringe players that are around the mark, like Sparrow, Lockhart etc. and those that are recognized best 22 that still look a bit short of a decent gallop, like Melk, Harmes etc, that could play half a game or so and it wouldn't do their preparation any harm.