Skuit

Weideman is not only taking up space at present but quite often gets in the way. He also lacks confidence in himself around goals - or at least the necessary desire to kick them. He may have a handful of assists (5 for the year) but for most of them should have taken the shot himself. The last players who I recall being continually excused for their limited input due to their 'role' hitting packs and bringing the ball to ground were Dawes and before him Howe. We may need to get games into Sam, but if his role is just to smash into a contest then he can learn that at Casey or in the park. Also - Pedo is/would be better at that role regardless, and even takes pack marks on occasion. The other issue we have - Garlett has never performed at Casey so won't make it back in the team on form - such that the coaching dept will have to live with the hypocrisy to bring him back in. Now is the time. He has way too much finishing class to be left out. With Viney back, I think Trac should spend some more minutes finding his mojo again as a forward target. Out: Weid Spargo In: Viney Garlett

I still think he has depth-perception issues. Maybe we can shift one on the o's on Ooscar's $50,000 contract offer and he won't pick it up?

I initially read quarter final vs WCE last year and was disappointed all over again.

I still back us in on the trade to bring him in - because he showed he was on the up when he first joined us and by previous exposure was good in many of the areas he is now critisised for. But something has happened since - he's lost penetration, accuracy and breakaway speed from the pack - whether through injuries I'm not sure. The one upside; he's still young - but I'm not so confident he'll suddenly start to improve again, although I agree we currently need his experience in the middle.

'We have looked at the game as an opportunity to improve all all aspects of how we go about things, including how we can better communicate key messages to our players when the opposition gets a run on. It is easy to forget how young our list is and we have two key leaders in TMac and Jack out so this week we are going to have Macca, who is definitely in no way disaffected and is really happy about the move and he and Goody get on better than ever and have a fantastic working relationship, you could even say a personal relationship, if you consider that time Macca went round to Goody's house for a BBQ, go back to his role that he played so brilliantly for the last 3 years as a key person communicating directly to players on the bench and conveying messages from the box. Which he is happy about.

Was vaguely concerned after reading the general thrust of this thread. Not so now. Thanks for sharing Cards. While there may be a kernel of truth somewhere in the story, it's a shame modern journos feel the need to sensationalise - whether it be internal media pressure, pandering to a mindless audience, or plain simple ego to break something big. I'll be taking a grain of salt with that kernel. And if there are a few minor internal problems, it's clear then that the club is moving to address them. A modern workplace.

I've been mostly concerned over the past couple years re. his capacity to gain clean possession off the deck. The weekend wasn't a time to judge but was again his biggest problem. Got to the right spots but fumbled or overran.

I'm certainly no expert, but assuming there's no further set-backs or especial caution I would expect players of Viney and Tmac's ilk to be available within the month.

I don't condone violence in any shape or form. Except where it concerns a five-foot football recruit in their first outing for our club and then it makes me smile.

I'm rather disappointed to hear he'll miss our first two premierships but maybe we can squeeze him in for our third?

I'm usually too absorbed in the ruck contest to register our ground set-up on TV or who's even present at our breakdowns - like the umpire is some magician distracting me with the ball - but I did notice this a couple times last year. Usually it spelled trouble though. A vast paddock opening up after a tight contest - Geelong and Hawthorn in the last quarters spring to mind.

This would appear the most logical deduction. Our kick to handball ratio has improved and we're probably clearing it a bit quicker from the breakdowns with less handballs around the pack - two of the biggest gripes on here last season. It may be the Goody quietly addressed the tackled numbers in the off-season - which would certainly add to fatigue within a game and additional wear across the season - and while it's difficult to quantify among other measures, we seem to be closing out games fairly well. Goody also strikes me as a man of deep statistics. I made the point in the post-match thread of Lewis's curious post-match on-field interview, where he somehow already knew the match stats for contested and centre-clearance differentials. Obviously a focus to win these numbers to the point where our leaders are being constantly updated.

A variety of sources wherever I can find them - which still sometimes requires some extra digging to navigate the sites. Primarily afl.com, afltables and footy-wire. Would love to know of any others. Always appreciate @Rafiki's subscriber Telstra additions, and I think the Hun may print some unique ones. I imagine the betting agencies might have some obscure stats on occasion as well. The ones above are all pretty surface - so hoping others can dig out some more curious figures.

This always turns my brain around as well - like a double-negative through connotation. To clarify; we're the seventh-most tackled team. 2016 we were the most tackled team and last year we were on track for one of the top-most. Curious as to what has caused this drop? Also, I'd love if someone knew where to find the attempted and broken tackle stats to see if there's any variation.

We held our stat-line quite well for a good portion of last year until the injuries began to bite and the midfield figures and then scoring dried up (as a rough and ready figure; we scored above 100 points 7 out of the first 12 matches until we played West Coast. Only once thereafter). I think we'd be pretty short odds to end up top-four for contested and centre clearances this year and so then inside-50s as well - though we have a fairly young midfield brigade still which might fade a fraction.

The home of statistics and discussion thereof. As of the end of round 3; Scoring for and against Demons 1st in points scored. 1st in inside-50s 1st in least opposition inside-50s Thus 1st in inside-50 differential by a huge margin. 3rd in assists and marks inside-50 Last for rebound-50s and second-last for opponent rebound 50s. Intensity 2nd in total contested possessions – 1st for contested possession differential and the only team at 3-0 for contested wins. 4th clearances (3rd centre/7th stoppages) 4th for tackles 7th for tackles against (this is a huge improvement on recent years) Possession for and against 16th marks – but 3rd in least opponent marks per game. Also 9th contested marks. 1st in least opponent kicks 4th in least opponent disposals 12th for clangers Summary: I think for the most part the early statistics are bearing out what we're seeing with our eyes - inefficiency. But perhaps the frustration of this inefficiency is blinding us a fraction to our absolute dominance in a couple of areas, namely the contested battle and sheer volume of ball moving forward. We're also perhaps the one mobile clearance specialist short to really step it up (JV). The stats are however fairly similar to the early part of last year. But there's some subtle differences re. the nature of disposals for and against. We're kicking more and being kicked and tackled against less - areas which should help with endurance. We're also (to my surprise) not getting completely completely hammered in the marking and are a bit cleaner in our disposal. Basically, we're playing contested footy, but also shutting down space and forcing the opposition to do the same. Together, it all bodes super-well if we can clean up just a fraction up front or get a smidgen tighter down back - the latter which we should be able to do considering we have three AA-level defenders currently out of form or learning to gel (as well as a potential top-line rebounder in Hunt), while as to the former we're still fiddling with in the unexpected absence of Tomald. Lastly, it's just three rounds, and we've played two likely bottom-four teams - but I think we tend to play as well or as poorly despite the opposition and that most of these stats will hold. Add your own obscure statistics or whatever you think are pertinent and let's monitor where we stack up as the season progresses. Go Dees!

Those walking sticks come in pretty handy as well when leaning over to repeatedly push a button begins to make the pokies feel like a bit of a chore. Hopefully the club will now invest in some prodies for those of us who prefer our hobbies to be little less action-packed.

They initially thought Lewis had taken Mathieson's head clean off during an attempted tackle. Luckily their doctor found it hidden inside his jumper.

The point is is that we are having our way with teams at times. And if we extended these leads by a couple more goals I'm pretty certain most teams would roll over.

Is it too early in the season to dust off this old thread? Again, that mysterious barrier around the 40 point mark . . .

Being squeezed out on every line. Hasn't shown much at all at half-forward to justify a rotating spot there ahead of our HF medium fleet, a fair way down the order in the primary mid category, and at half back, where I think he will settle and is his most natural spot, we're looking for consistency in personnel and plugging the rotations with our seniors to make up for the already current immaturity of the group. Like ProDee, he was the first squeezed from my on-field 22 (not necessarily our best 22 players) - followed by the other 'surprise' omissions from round 1. Also had an absolute shocker against Collingwood - so may need to rebuild trust.

I thought it would have been nice to have had more players taking contested marks and applying forward tackling pressure. I.e - not Jack.

I was just out running some errands Jumbo.

I'm staggered by this. There are actually two people named La Comedia who support Melbourne? What are the odds?

I still hate our club for not picking him and I'm not even related to Ollie.