Altona-demon

It's funny you know the tough comment (also in the context of certain people shirtfronting him) - I believe he was an Australian representative boxer I believe? That means definitely no stranger to gut busting training - with a definite hard edge and ability to "play through pain"

Agree - I don't know how many of my friends who have listen to me rant about MFC. But pretty much all of them have the same critique of our team - we butcher the ball and don't have clean disposers. Adding Jack Viney into our team does not make us more efficient entering forward 50 or converting scores, or even making more scores, he reduces all of those key metrics. Arguably he increases our midfield pressure and tackling - but so does James Jordon, while positively impacting our disposal efficiency and composure.

Viney and Jones are sentimental fan favourite picks, the reality is that on form and potential upside to the club players like Jordon, Harmes, Sparrow, Bowey have gone past them. Viney hurts this team in a big way in the way he disposes the ball, makes poor decisions, and also drifts in and out of our defensive shape.

A fantastic milestone game. I love his energy, and he is clearly a leader in that forward half in terms of bringing the right attitude. Very important role model for Spargo and for Kozzie Pickett. Just imagine if Kozzie starts executing the fundamental basics that Nibbler is doing consistently - scary. It's fair to say Nibbler doesn't have the same x-factor of Kozzie but Kozzie could learn a lot from his attitude and approach. I love the way our Junior player are mentored by real men (Gawn - Jackson) (Jordon / Sparrow - Petracca / Oliver) (Rivers/Petty- Lever/May/Hibberd) the balance bodes very very well for our continued success.

Three perhaps unpopular (on DL) things that came out of that game for me: 1. Jake Melksham provided more than a little something in the forward half, and has done enough to get another game. 2. Ben Brown has convincingly shown he is a superior forward now to Sam Weidemann - as if his track record didn't already play this out. He approaches form at the right time. 3. The midfield - looked better without Jack Viney. The difference between Harmes and Viney was even apparent when Harmes showed an ability to pick a target and hit them up on the lead. I can't see Jack doing this. We might be better without Jack.

What's happened to Wallis? He was a quality mid-sized forward for them last year ... we should pick him up lol.

Start of the season one of the more innovative things we did was start Kozzie at centre bounces, and watching the inability of midfielders to evade and hit up short targets in half-forward / inside 50 got me thinking why can't we play Kozzie a bit more through the middle (and why did we stop?). He gives a different look, is fast and threatening has great closing speed and a good disposal off both feet. In the video of the week you can see the way he reads the ball and is decisive in his decision making. Compare this to the lack of decisiveness in players like Harmes and Viney who are limited footballers, its surprising we don't want this star closer to the ball.

A couple of observations - and apologies if these have been raised earlier in the thread - i haven't gone through all pages. 1. Jack Viney is a very limited disposer of the footy. High floating dump kicks - which lack penetration. These kicks are either turned over, or inevitably formed another contest which we lost. He also burnt Petracca very badly at the top of the goal square. I am not convinced his "grunt" makes up for these incessant turnovers on our half forward line (which rebound very quickly). I'm not against Sparrow playing through the midfield - he has a cleaner disposal, more penetrating kick and is a midfielder playing out of position at half-forward at the moment. 2. Clayton and Christian both ball watching and not running two ways - happened at a number of stoppages. The outnumber at the stoppage really hurt us and you could see GWS plan to sit behind our players at stoppage and push players into contests and then hold the outside space for the spread when the ball came out. Kelly in particular carved us up on this tactic. 3. Our ball movement is so predictable it has now become a weakness. The one time we actually used tempo kicking to direct the ball slowly into the forward 50 it was effective because the other team just sets up now for a contest and creates unmarkable balls for TMac (or any other forward for that matter). Let's use some measured entries to reduce our predictability. This includes the short kick across our half-forward line and penetrating into the 30 m out space. Rather than simply relying on crumbing or miracle marks all the time..... 4. Pickett was so quiet it wasn't even funny, I don't even remember him getting it our touching the ball. What is the structural reason for this? Why isn't Pickett getting played through the middle at centre bounce any more? I found this was an effective way to "get him into the game" - he is the sort of player one feels who needs to TOUCH the ball to get into a game. Surprised he isnt getting some minutes through the middle - he is the sort of player we want touching the ball in the middle / half forward area -which leads me to my final point. 5. Is it time for Salo to play through the middle and do what he does off halfback (distribute hit up targets etc) through the middle into the halfforwad/full forward space. No other midfielder has been able to lower their eyes and hit targets in this way. Can we bring in another distributor (is Bowey ready) to play that role for the team, or even shift Sparrow or Rivers into that role?

Sam strikes me as one of those players that everyone wants to come right, but might never do it, and there you go you've gifted 80 games to a player before you realise that while he looked good, looked like he could, and had all the "traits", he just wasn't very good. I've heard arguments that we have done it before (Oscar Mac may be another example) - but this is not an argument for the club doing it again, if anything the reverse is true, we shouldn't make the same mistake. Is there a better KPF talent that we can obtain ? Some thoughts - Carlton in disarray, could we chase a McKay? Gary Rohan out of contract at Geelong - can play bigger and would be a great addition to our forward line? Callum Coleman Jones also OOC. Mitch Wallis at the Dogs - could be a handy mid-sized pressure leading forward. I admire what the Lions and the Doggies have been able to do with Daniher and Bruce respectively to top up their forward lines. Do we need to think about the same thing?

Just a post to share some analysis of the video highlights of Sam on AFL Stats Pro Discover - StatsPro (afl.com.au) Involvements Analysis: 1. 1:19 (1st Quarter): Gently pushed under the ball - but misses a mark he should take. Follows up with second effort to make close proximity tackle (split contest/territory gain) 2. 2 minutes into 2nd Quarter: Ball down the line. TMac goes at the ball, Weid stays back and makes immediate behind tackle once possession is gained by Brisbane player. (territory gain/split contest) 3. Contested possession (although very debateable) 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter. Nice handball to a bursting Max Gawn. Working high up the ground (almost defensive 50) 4. Uncontested mark on transition play off half back - 12 minutes into the 3rd quarter. 5. Contested possession - gets in front of defender and drops (?) mark he maybe should have taken. Second effort to handball to space and advantage of Melb player. 6. Fourth quarter: catches touched kick, explodes and creates separation, then turns the ball over to Lions. 7. Fourth quarter: groundball get and low handball to Sparrow - which Sparrow spills and then kicks an unlikely goal from edge of 50. Summary points: 1. He is working very high up the ground, and also being able to get back into forward 50 and create a contest. That's a tick. 2. Game is suffering from inaccuracy - but he appears to be in the right place at the right time. So promising.

Hi DL'ers hoping to get some help here on best way to get tickets for this Friday's game. I am a GA Member Home and Away, but have about 8 non-member friends and we want to sit together. What's the best approach? Do I just buy all the tickets in my one transaction? I've found ticketek very confusing this year so a bit lost. Is it right that we will have to wait until Wednesday to access tickets?

Would be great to get a huge huge crowd to this and really let them know what sort of hell is coming for their irrelevant booing club.

Yeah Marty Hore? Fritta came through Casey didn't he?

CONS Weidemann couldnt force a contest when it mattered late. Fritsch did his best impersonation of a turnstile - zero pressure. May looks disinterested When Gawn comes back into the defensive 50 and spoils our own players to the advantage of the other team it makes me want to throw my remote across the lounge.... PROS Petty builds his reputation Lever stood up under ENORMOUS personal pressure. Class act. At that level of pressure you quickly can identify where players deficiencies are as they bubble up. Will be an interesting review. Also now we understand that when the game is played like that the maggots keep the whistle in the pocket.

I'm seething. Who wants to get around the rematch and actually give those Crows players a special sort of hell when they come to our home ground. I want to boo Tex so hard that's all he hears for the next week.

I've noticed that a lot of the Dees podcast/media material focusses on Melbourne's own strengths/weaknesses etc. Was wondering what the appetite might be for a thread on "opposition" analysis. I've been tossing up the merits of doing a video podcast focussing specifically on our main opposition (Bulldogs, Richmond, Port etc) with an angle of their strengths/weaknesses vis a vis the Demons. What do people think? Is there enough even to start a small space on DL for this sort of discussion. The reason I've become interested in this sort of thing, as i've noticed that there are some popular narratives around certain teams and the way they play and I want to see whether that stacks up when we look at footage and statistics. And, if it is true, what does it mean for our system and the way that we like to play?

It's a real shame that Jack doesn't look like he will be ready for that Bulldogs game. I think Jacko straight in and Weid out. Will find out soon enough I guess.

Can't kick goals without the ball. Winning the ball at contest is vastly underrated. The Bont looks great because Libba is jet.

This is very much not 2019 or even 2020. If Carlton wants to see what an accelerated trajectory looks like when a list "gels" - they are about to find out on Sunday afternoon.

@Craig Hutchinson- I too am feeling cured. Can testify to feeling nowhere near the same levels of anxiety that I used to feel even when the team gets behind. THis is in contrast to not so distant moments in the past where I thought the sky was falling in when we gave up a lead and went down by two goals or something similar. This must be what opposition team supporters feel like when watching football. It's great!

Wow that Geocities reference took me back - love all that. Yeah I think that CFC supporters are heading towards that somewhat nihilist niche that MFC supporters have occupied for a while. Probably helps you to be even handed.

Oh didn't know about that one @AmDamDemon - Slavs and Glove where do I find that?

Does anyone else find their week increasingly becoming a little bit structured around Melbourne Demons content (leading up to the big game on the weekend)? 1. Monday take in the DeeBrief Podcast - usually good, but a little insular and in-jokey sometimes, but a good humorous take 2. Tuesday DL Podcast - a little bit slower paced - but with some heavier stats analysis so I like it. 3. Wednesday - bit of a deadzone - look at some Melbourne Football content - especially Gus and Gawny, Talking Points, and Injury Report. 4. Thursday - Deeluded - great guests, but a bit light in places. 5. Friday - bit of a deadzone (ideally game day). So on, am I missing anything, I know that some people listen to RSN Podcasts? First time Dad, who love to listen to a podcast while walking the little demon. My personal gripe: 1. Not enough VLOGs 2. Not enough video analysis based around statistics and strategy.

I assume one stands for "syndrome"

Many thanks for the kind words @Demon17 - they are much appreciated!