Fanatique Demon

Thanks again, Andy. Another winner. @binmanmentioned AFL provision. Could someone point me to that, please?

This is a very strange way to make a prediction, Monsieur Tox. I’m not sure why every factor you mentioned is weighted the same. Ie, 1. And as for the Swans love beating us on the MCG as a factor, I could easily counter with the Demons love beating the Swans on the MCG. And add, the Demons are desperate to stay on top of the ladder. Now you may be right, but this is a strange way to figure it.

Spot on. And it’s not just Petracca. Have you noticed how many players - not just Demons - are playing on to the right side of the mark (right footers) when shooting for goal and then missing? They’d be better just going back and using their regular goal-kicking routine.

It's stipulated in Melks contract that he's only to receive pats on the head, and not taps on the shoulder from Goody I am neither pro or anti Melksham, but I am anti prejudice and injustice. My first impression was that he was quite good today so I watched the game again. It’s really interesting doing that after reading what people think of players’ performances. For those with the knives out for Melksham, I suggest you take a second look and see how many times he delivered the ball beautifully in the forward line, presenting opportunities for Brown, ANB, Gawn, Kozzy. Not every one of them was gobbled up, but that said more about the receivers than Melksham. For example, Max tried to mark on his chest instead of with outstretched hands. Melksham was directly involved (twice) in one of Kozzy’s goals that went coast to coast. He missed a tackle or two, kicked out on the full and was caught with the ball. But the same could be said of Kozzy, Jones and Brayshaw. But as they say, haters gonna hate.

Fine. I knew my post would draw a response and I am happy not to agree on everything. But while we’re at it, there is a lot of bias on this forum that is not backed up by facts. People don’t like Melksham and actively look for things he does wrong or doesn’t do at all. So, some facts from today’s game: Spargo 10 disposals, 2 tackles and 7 pressure acts. Jones 14 disposals, 2 tackles, 11 pressure acts. Melksham 17 disposals, 3 tackles and 18 pressure acts.

6 Fritch 5 Pickett 4 Oliver 3 Jackson 2 Langdon 1 Salem

Hey Chook, you’ve got all three 2019 draft picks in there. That’s great!

There is a lot of talk about Melksham. Separately there is a lot of talk about playing one’s role... Everyone is in the team to play their role. Melksham’s role is delivery to a player who can kick a goal or kick goals himself. Yes, it would be better if he tackled more ferociously. But that is not his primary role. Drop him for not finding a target or kicking goals? Sure, that makes sense. But dropping Melksham for not tackling well or often enough would be like dropping Frisch for not taking intercept marks.

Right. Only Brown’s first game so cut him some slack. Also if he had not played, Fritch would have had a better opponent and probably would not have kicked 6 goals.

The more games we play, the higher the margins have to be to keep it as high Ok, here goes... I forget what our percentage before the game was, but let’s say it was 160. That means we have kicked, on average, 60% more than the opposition. (For every 100 kicked against us, we’ve scored 160.) To maintain that percentage, we have to continue to kick 60% more than the opposition. Today we kicked 103 to 73. The percentage from today’s game is 103/73x 100. That’s 141.1% for today ‘s game. Now because that is less than the going-in percentage of 160, the overall percentage must come down. QED.

Ok. My mistake. Still, something about the place doesn’t get the best out of many a player.

I’m not worried. I just did the Ladder Predictor on the AFL website. We beat North and go on to win the premiership.

Didn’t get the best out of Col Sylvia. (RIP, Col)

Great to see Angus having an impact. He was often criticised last year for not bringing enough defensive effort. Go Angus!

Weed would have to be a target for Collingwood, surely.

Was just thinking the same thing. Maybe we’re both crazy?

Hmmm. Bedford is a little selfish around the goals, IMO.

Would be great to know who you are, monsieur Brussels. I just had the birthday milestone you mentioned. Maybe we know each other from another place and time.

Sorry, Binman.

I really enjoyed the podcast (thanks gentlemen). It’s great to hear from guys with passion and knowledge, especially for me, living so far from Melbourne and having absolutely no one here who even follows the game, let alone the Demons. So again... a big THANK YOU. Interesting discussion about tactical analysis. Yes, the media has a long way to go, although we’re now hearing more than in the past. We don’t have the population or budgets to support multiple stat companies so we’re stuck with Champion Data. The post clearance possession and contest differential was discussed regularly On the Couch the last couple of years. (And in those years, Melbourne was criticised for getting the clearance then giving the ball up.) Thankfully we’ve fixed that this year. As for making sense of the stats, I am sure every club has a full subscription to all the Champion Data statistics and enough expertise to interpret what they see. We’re just not seeing it ourselves and Birman is right... we fans would really benefit from the education. Daniel Horne is on the right track. It’s just too bad that the show is hosted by David King. Keep up the great podcasts. Love them!

Foie gras pour moi.

It’s not my fault I live in France, have three cars and support Melbourne. Or that it snows here!

Look at Power, Dogs and Demons on that list. The top three sides so far this year are amongst the lowest. Love it. Wonder how the AFL feels about it?

That and better will do.

Melbourne 13 - 14 - 92. defeated North 5 - 5 - 35