CHF

Who was he playing for?

Finally got a bit of time on my hands to see what is happening in the Demon world. Been a busy time for me playing in the sandpit with the grownups. Had a watch of the Crows game and a couple of things really caught my eye. In defence, Tomlinson looked very good and his game was pivotal with May looking a bit off colour. Also think that Rivers game was excellent. I would not be surprised to see him more time in the midfield next season than in defence. He may even pop up on a wing for a bit of time. He has the smarts and speed to burn. I like the way that the midfield is being managed in the game by the coaching staff. A lot of flexibility and a lot of variables to keep the opposition looking both ways wondering what might happen. I also noted the game of JVR when he was relieving ruck, he did not look out of place there and it might be that as much as anything that is keeping Grundy at Casey at the moment. Jackson Mark II? The forward area is its usual mystery box. Fristch goes down and we bring in Melksham and the change looks seamless. No Grundy on the ground and Gawn bobs up and kicks a couple. Chandler a couple and Kossie great in the middle and a couple of goals. If ever we get some consistent games out of a tall forward combination we will have found the magic dust. After a couple of close games this game against Richmond gives us a little pressure release which could be dangerous. I am aware that we are a well structured mature side but we still need to have our collective minds on the game and not let any complacency to slip in. Tough being a selector at Melbourne these days as we have a lot of good options in all areas of the ground and a lot of players putting their hands up. Defence is a solid unit and performing. Tomlinson deserves this game and to continue as long as he holds form. I would start McVee on Martin in the forward line initially and trust the mids to hinder delivery into the forward space. Martin is half a pace slower than he used to be and it would be good for the development of McVee to beat him. Petty for Brown is ok, I would have given Brown one more run there to see if he could get on the end of a few but understand the thinking. We need to get a bit of time for Petty there prior to the finals to see what we can see. it will be interesting to see what will happen when Fritsch gets back. While I would start Oliver every single game that he is fit for, I have feeling that his prolonged absence will be good for us in the longer term as it is giving our other mids a chance to move into some different possibilities. in a lot of ways it has forced the coaches hands to look at different setups. Who would have thought that in Oliver's absence we would move Petracca forward more and have Brayshaw, Pickett, Sparrow and Rivers spending more time there along with Jordon. Speaking of Jordon, with Sparrow out injured, I am looking forward to seeing his game this week. Smith as sub again this week and I would still love to see the coaches game enough to put the trigger when required rather than 5 mins into the final quarter. I feel a good win coming up. Dees by 5 ........ goals

Some people on this site only see the mistakes and the negatives in a game without appreciating the big picture. I watched the game and saw a willing close contest with the ebb and flow of momentum. All the players made mistakes, some under pressure and others without pressure. It happens in a game of footy. What I see is that we have a few rounds to go in the season and we are in forth place on the ladder a couple of games and percentage clear of 5th. We have been playing the last 8/9 weeks without one of the top 5 mids in the competition and without one of the leagues top goalkicking forwards. Add to that Petty injured and I think it is commendable that we are winning matches under those circumstances. We also have players like Grundy and Spargo playing for Casey ready to step up when required. Melksham has been great cover for Fristch and Tomlinson has been a seamless replacement for Petty. A great position to be in. We do not have to rush anyone back into the team. We have the time and space to allow them to be 100% when they come back into the team. Good wins over the last two weeks and a good position to be in. I will state for the record that the Demons team in the '21 Grand Final played the best footy I have every seem a team play. As close to perfect as you will see. EDIT: forgot Hibberd who is also worthy of a team spot.

Melksham, Jordan, Rivers and Laurie on the bench with Smith a Sub for me. I would like to see a more aggressive use of the sub. if a player is down then sub him out sooner rather than later. I know that you run the risk of an injury coming and then being one man down on the rotations but, if a player is clearly not performing then you are already handicapping yourself by not using the sub early.

Another interesting week for selections. Petty needs a rest. shame that they played him last week. Give him a week or two to rest and recover. Spargo not looking sparkly and might be in line to step back to Casey. Defence: Tomlinson replaces Petty in like for like. we know what is the best structure for our defence and having Petty/Tomlinson there with Lever and May is the way to go. besides, May looked a bit proppy last week and we may need cover for him with a tall. Smith as Sub to cover as many places a possible. Rest of the defence a is. I liked the way that Rivers got a bit of a run on the ball and I would look at rotating McVee on to a wing if the opportunity arose just to see what we might see. Mids: Lost their way a bit in the middle two quarters but overall I liked the performance without Oliver around. I think that this extended period without Oliver able to play might well be a good thing in the mid to longer term. Viney has really stepped up and knows what he is still capable of. Has taken a lot of responsibility as have a few of the mids the next step below. I like the way Sparrow has played as well as Jordon. Like Brayshaw playing more time in the middle a well. with the depth and experience we are developing in this area it might mean that Oliver and Petracca can spend a bit more time forward and/or resting. Forwards: A better balance this week without Grundy resting forward and with Brown and JVR as tall targets. I like the way they are using JVR now. A role very similar to the one Jackson played. I would give Spargo a run at Casey as he is not as effective a he has been in the past. in his place I would bring in Harmes. I like to have a good number of mids rotating through and I like the hard body he brings. I am sure the selectors will do what they believe is the correct thing and disregard what I think...... they probably think they know better than I do.

Smith to sub on for Pickett

At least there is some method to their madness.

Out: Fristch (injured), Chandler, Smith, Harmes (omitted) In: Jordon, Spargo, Woewodin and Melksham IMO this is a much better balanced side than we have had for the last 5 games. Much more run and rotations available for the mids and a good mix in the forward 50. Brown did a reasonable job last week given the conditions and I expect him to do well under the roof. I think we will see Gawn/Grundy resting mainly forward to pair with Brown a the tall. I could even see Petty moving forward if the defence is well on top. Good variation and flexibility available with these selection. We will win this one by 2 goals or 12 points.

Good one. Well done Taj. It is good to see a bit of new blood come through.

Drop Gawn or Grundy. Bring in JVR to play a Jackson role to whoever is first ruck. Brown and Petty and JVR (rotating from the ruck) as talls in the forward 50. Kossie on last chance to to turn around his form ANB and one of Spargo or Chandler in there as well. If Oliver comes back in then Rotate Jordon, Petracca and Sparrow through the forward 50 at times to help cover the loss of Fristch. Ahhh Hell! it is all like moving the deck chairs. The forward line has been rubbish for the last 4 or 5 seasons and the club ha done nothing to remedy the situation. Love to see some of the younger guys from Casey given a run. It must be disheartening for them to see the rubbish being dished up by the senior team and see that not opportunities are opening up for them. The team at the moment really do look like a bunch of plodders.

Lost that game at selection and with inaccurate kicking for goal. I will get kicked for this but I would drop either Gawn or Grundy and bring in JVR to play a Jackson like role. drop Chandler and Pickett and look to get more running rotations into the midfield/forwards. Give Brown another run at it as I thought hi was not bad given the conditions. we need to do something different to what we have been doing for the last six weeks. It should not take our coaching team his long to react.

Of the 8 named for the interchange two are key forwards in JVR and Brown, Two are small forwards in Spargo and Pickett with Pickett able to rotate into the mids if required ( he does not seem to have been required there much recently). The other four are Bowey, small defender, Tomlinson, tall defender, Petty swing either key forward or back and Melksham who has only been used recently as a HF. So no runners for midfield rotation. I think this is a mistake.

Either Laurie or Jordon as I believe that we have to few rotations for the midfield. This is the team I would put out against GWS. B: Bowey May Lever HB: Salem Petty/Tomlinson McVee C: Langdon Viney Hunter HF: ANB Petty/Brown Pickett F: Fritsch Van Rooyen Grundy R: Gawn Petracca Sparrow Int: Rivers Laurie Jordon Brayshaw Sub: Melksham

Yep. you are right.... 8 tackles inside 50 in the last four and a total of 17 tackles in the same period. I like Chandler and think he has done well this season but I see him as out of form and I would prefer to see him gain form at Casey.

Last word on this AF. I have done a bit more digging into the stats. I know that they can really tell you whatever you want them to but in the last 4 games we have laid 57 tackles in our forward 50. Of those 57 Chandler has laid 5 and Spargo 3. For reference, in the same 4 games JVR laid 6 tackles, ANB 8 and Fristch 4.

At least we agree on Spargo... on Chandler we can agree to disagree. I just do not think he has done enough over the last 4 weeks to justify selection this week.

OK. As far as tackles go, Chandler has done ok in the last 4 games with 17 tackles overall but Spargo has only 7 tackles in the last 4 games. The combined output with goals and tackles with these two does not, to my mind, justify their inclusion in the team until they improve their form. Also note that between them they have had a total of 2 goal assists in the same period. Both to Spargo. In those last 4 games, 2 losses and 2 wins, we have kicked a total of 34 goals and 58 behinds. Chandler and Spargo have been responsible for 1 goal 10 behinds of that total. Yeah. Sure...lets go into the next game with exactly the same setup in the forward line and hope that we get a different result. These guys are out of form and we need to try something else.

In the last four games we have got exactly one goal out of Spargo and zero goals,out of Chandler. Not an acceptable return for a couple of small forwards. Jordon can at least give us some time in the middle.

Brown in for Smith Bowey in for Hibberd Laurie in for Chandler Jordon in for Spargo and Melksham in as sub

I do hope that we get back to basics at the selection table this week. My team for the Alice match below. B: Bowey May Lever HB: Salem Petty/Tomlinson McVee C: Langdon Viney Hunter HF: ANB Petty/Brown Pickett F: Fritsch Van Rooyen Grundy R: Gawn Petracca Sparrow Int: Rivers Laurie Jordon Brayshaw Sub: Melksham

That performance was a major disappointment. e hear all the time that the team has the ability to reset during the game and work hard to get the basics right. We were not able to do that properly on Thursday night. Coaching failure? I just don't know. What I do know is that we need the selectors to reset and get back to basics. In defence we know what works. we have a good structure to the game plan back there and we have to players to execute. For the last two weeks we had a good team within a team back there and then they drop Tomlinson and bring in Petty back there who has not played for 5 weeks. When they selected him I thought that they would play him forward and, on a wet night rely on a smaller defence to clean up the ground balls. I was wrong. Midfield still lacks rotations and run. As far as I am concerned we need to have 12 mids in the 22 including a ruck, 2 wings and 9 rotations of mids. We do not have that. we have 2 genuine rucks and a whole bunch of small forwards that, either cannot play midfield or are not used there. Bloody Hell! Don't get me started on the forward 50 steaming mess. I got potted by on here some weeks ago for saying that our forward line was a shambles that needed to be fixed. Nah, says a bunch of people.... we have the most points scored in the competition.... Now it is more of a mess than it was. Back to basics.... Two talls, a medium, an inbetweener (one that can play either medium or small) and a couple of smalls. Is that too much to ask?

We improved that quarter and upped the pressure. I expect us to step up a bit more this next quarter. We will have to if we are to overcome the rubbish umpire's decisions. This quarter is ours.

Good time Charlie as the sub is what I expected. Could be some interesting moves made by Goodwin this evening and it will, of course depend on the circumstances of the game. Petty could play forward or back and will be effective at both ends of the ground as required. Something from left field I would like to see is Smith given a center bounce as an attending mid. might be something that would throw the cats.

Good morning DemonWorld........and what a fine morning it it’s in my part of the world.... woke up this morning (always a good way to start the day given my age), have showered, shaved and done the other thing. Had a healthy breakfast and just now sipping coffee and savouring the prospect of a great win in the offing. We will declaw the cats in t’the third after spending the first quarter seeing what they bring to the table and then upping our pressure to take the game away from them and leave their season in a smouldering heap of ashes. so, as you see, I am feeling confident. Damn! It’s good to be alive and a Demon supporter. Dees to win.

Interesting selection and it looks like the coaching team are going to be working to a bit of a different Plan A with a different Plan B as well. Bringing Petty back for this game will keep the Cats guessing exactly how we might use him. It is going to be a wet one from all BOM reports so I do not mind a smaller back 6 with Tomlinson being dropped. It is not ideal after his great performance last week but it looks to be a horses for courses selection and I would expect him to come in to balance the defence when required. He may even be a late in if there are any key positions players that do not come up. Brown named as an Emergency a well as Spargo and Woewodin. looks like Spargo will get the nod as Sub. Strong looking team with an interesting mix shown on the bench. I know that it is unlikely that the 18 named in the team will be the starting lineup... Petracca, Viney and Hunter at the first bounce???? ..... JVR and Petty on the bench can rotate into the forwards as required and Hibberd and Petty can rotate into defence as required. Jordon covers wing and inside mids. Plenty of flexibility and I can see us playing a similar way to the way we played the Pies. Strong, driving drfence and smothering corridor defence giving the Cats no space inwhich to work. this will force them to kick long into their forward 50 on a wet night so that we can run it out of defence with our agile running backs. Go Dees! a 20 point win coming up