Accepting Mediocrity

For all the horrible list management decisions we made around the Bailey/ Neeld era, most of the players we willingly let go never played well elsewhere. Martin was the exception - I never understood why we let him walk at the time, and it looks like an even worse decision in hindsight. He's been a seriously underrated player for a long time.

I know this is is a direct quote from Carey, but I find it a weird one. He did once manage 31 disposals, 15 marks and 11 goals lined up on Neitz. I can only assume the other duels were tougher. Loved Neita, but it's probably fair to say that Jakovich had him covered as the best CHB of the era. CHF/ FF are probably the hardest positions to play on the ground. Key position forwards have always been much harder to find than key position defenders. Plenty of forwards are capable defenders, but not so much vice-versa. Fortunately for us, apparently North weren't aware of this during last years trade period.

Hard to draw anything from this statistic as it is highly dependent on game style and involves trade-offs. The most important thing is not conceding scores from kick-ins, which the eye test says we are doing well. Moving the ball quickly from defence through the corridor will increase the rate of inside 50's from kick-ins, but also results in a higher risk of conceding goals from turnovers. Our strength lies in our contested game, so it makes much more sense to force a stoppage on the flank/ wing rather than take risks through the corridor coming out of defence.

OcDonald and TcDonald actually has a nice ring to it. Lucky Jack Viney doesn't have a brother named William...

I have so much of my identity tied up with supporting an incompetent football club. I am seriously rattled.

Richmond recruited Lynch, who would command a significantly higher salary than Merrett on the open market, without losing any key players on the back of a flag. Ditto Hawthorn and Lake, Geelong and Dangerfield, etc. Free agents change clubs to chase success, not money. It would be nice to be on the other end of this for a change. Get it done.

I've been a fan from year 1, but statistically, his improvement has been massive this year. He's laying 3 times as many tackles per game compared to last year (4.5 vs 1.5), which is probably his main KPI. The effort and competitiveness have always been there - no doubt he's benefitting from a couple of pre-seasons. It's still such a novel concept seeing promising young footballers actually develop into consistent senior players at this club.

Yep - no doubt that's our biggest area of improvement. Our forwardline is effectively laying twice as many tackles as last year - even allowing for the longer quarters, that is huge. Tackles per game: 2020 2021 TMac 1.7 3.2 Kosi 2.5 3.8 ANB 2.3 3.8 Spargo 1.5 4.5 Fritsch 1.1 2 LJ 1.3 1.8 The disposal efficiency stat is pretty misleading though. On the weekend we went at 63.8%; Geelong went at 69.3%. Disposal efficiency is always going to be much lower in the attacking half of the ground. Don't read too much into it.

Bump. Only 4 rounds into 2021, but so far: AFL Ladder Inside 50 Differential Ranking 1) Bulldogs 1) Bulldogs 2) Melbourne 2) Melbourne 3) Sydney 3) Port Adelaide 4) Port Adelaide 4) Swans Above all else, the territory battle is what decides games. The fact that we are beginning to capitalize on our midfield dominance, despite missing our best 2 key position forwards is immensely encouraging.

No doubt Melksham was a defensive liability last year, but at his best his defensive game is actually a strength. One of his career best games was the round 22 win against West Coast in Perth to lock in finals. From memory he played as a defensive forward against McGovern and kicked 4. Side note - I've found him a tough player to like, even when he was playing well. I'm not even sure why - I blamed it on the ex Essendon factor, but that hasn't seemed to taint Hibberd. Bottom line is he's a frustrating player but we're a better side when he's playing well.

Only Pell and his alleged victim(s) know for sure if he's guilty or not. But the fact is that he was found guilty by a jury. Rightly or wrongly, he got off in the end because he had the financial backing to go through every possible avenue of appeal.

Good post. Kick ins seem to have been a weakness of ours for decades. One aspect of the rule changes that has been underappreciated is the premium it has placed on having a gun key defender like Steven May. All the talk has been around the return of key forwards kicking bags, but obviously teams with a big, strong 1v1 defender (and there aren't many going around) are much better placed to curb their influence. The fact that he's also such a good ball user coming out of defense makes him close to our most important player. Brown and May at opposite ends of the ground makes for exciting times.

Don't get me wrong, Salem is a gun and may well give the AA squad a shake this year. But he's by no means a marquee player, and not the sort of player that you can build a midfield around like Oliver or Petracca. I'd very much doubt he'll be receiving godfather type offers that we can't match. Certainly, rival clubs will make enquiries, but I'm not worried about re-signing him at this stage.

Revisit in 5 years time. I've been burned too many times by promising youth. Tomlinson and Langdon are already good players, but Jackson, Kosi and Rivers have shown just as much as Trengove, Grimes and Jurrah had at the same stage.

I might be wrong, but I'm not particularly worried about losing Salem. He strikes me as a fairly low-key individual, and not the type to shop himself around on the market (pure speculation here, I've never met the bloke). He also doesn't have the star factor that commands ridiculous offers from rival clubs. Obviously, this all depends on us continuing to win games - historically, successful clubs don't lose players like Salem in their prime.

Salem's just about our most underrated player IMO. He's rarely in the votes, but almost never plays a bad game. We don't really have anyone else with his skillset on our list - behind Gawn and May, you could make a case that he is the hardest player to replace in the 22. I expect him to be signed up with minimal fuss.

I'm big believer that you don't drop someone after one bad game. Jetta has been solid the first couple of weeks of the season, in a defense that is operating as well as I've ever seen at the dees. He'd be stiff to be dropped, but I'd understand if he makes way for Hibberd. I think Jones has done more than enough to keep his place in the side. I've long given up hope that TMac will get back to his 2018 form. However, he showed in the first 2 weeks that he's starting to rediscover some touch. Last night, it almost appeared as though he put himself under too much pressure to perform, knowing that his career hangs in the balance with Weideman and Brown returning. In my opinion it's hard to have too many good talls in the 22. West Coast probably have the best forward line in the league and they find a way to include Kennedy, Darling and Allen in the same side. I hope the coaches make it clear to TMac that his place in the team doesn't hinge on the availability of Jackson, Weideman and Brown.

What's to explain? Flip a coin enough times and you'll also get some strange patterns; that's just the nature of statistics. Good umpiring doesn't mean an even free kick count. 2 rounds in, it's hardly surprising that there are a couple of outliers. It's only when patterns emerge over time (e.g., West Coast having a positive free kick differential every year since the Triassic era), that claims of umpiring bias have any validity.

Sure, in the rare instance when the shot is after the siren. In most cases though, the split second between the goal kicker running off the line, the umpire calling play on, and the defender having time to react means that the defender is obsolete. From watching the games so far, forwards are taking marks on the 50, and kicking from about 52. It becomes even more pronounced when a forward takes a mark next to the behind post. They can basically kick it from the top of the goal square, which doesn't sit right with me.

It hasn't been the 50 metre penalty fest that I thought it would be, but I stand by my comments. My problem with the rule itself is that it adds yet more grey area into umpiring decisions. And to me, it's pretty stupid that you no longer have to kick over the man on the mark when kicking for goal - you can simply kick it around them. My major gripe wasn't necessarily with the rule itself, but that it was introduced without any trials in state leagues first. I also think that the pretext for the rule change, that more goals equals better football, is largely a myth.

Give it time, Demonstone.

How quickly perceptions change. 12 months ago most dees fans had Steven May penciled in as a botched trade that cost us a shot at drafting Ben King. As an aside, MFC have been blessed with some insanely tough Indigenous footballers. May, Jetta, Whelan and Pickett x 2 could not be further from the stereotype that Indigenous footballers need to be fast, evasive small forwards that rely on natural talent rather than hard work to make it in the AFL.

Too right. He turned 21 at the end of last year. I suspect he'll be one of those players that never draws many accolades, but quietly plays a role each week and before you know it he's carved out a 10 year career. Can't think of anyone in the team I'd rather have delivering the ball inside 50 tbh.

This post aged exceptionally well.

Demonland logic: Round 1 2020: 26 point loss in Perth = season over, we are terrible Round 1 2021: 22 point win at the G = season over, we are still terrible. Not perfect, but plenty of positives.