Its Time for Another

It's clear from the Dons and Norf and parts of the Pies games that if we don't attack the ball with our maximum competitiveness we get beaten. It seems to start and finish there. You can't do much about a Game Plan if you don't have the ball. I have also noticed that we are getting way better at our defensive running. PIes had a couple of big breaks down the ground and we had enough numbers gut running back to stop them scoring. That's the other big step forward.

20/4/16 - 36,682 20/4/11 - 34,548 so we are running about 2,100 ahead of the record year at the same time and it went up about another 2,200 from now to the end. So we look like we are tracking to end up on 39,000. Our results in the first 6 rounds that year were DWLWWL. We started the year drawing with the Swans. It's possible we could be 4/2 in 2 games time. Wonder what that would do for memberships. Then again we could be 2/4.

"We feel like every week, we have the game plan that stacks up," Watts said. Wattsy's comment got me thinking on a number of levels about Game Plans. Firstly, seems to me Roosy has been taking a bit of a bum rap over what he's done with the Game Plan since he arrived. He made it pretty clear the first year was about fixing the defence and stopping the whopping loses. The second year was about fixing the midfield and clearly it follows that the third year was about fixing the final stage of the attack. Many commentators seem to only see the ultra defensive first year and are now only crediting Goodwin with the fast ball movement and improved attack in the third year. Lets not forget Roosy is still the Head Coach and ultimately he sets the Game Plan. Assistants in many Clubs are responsible for different parts of the Game Plan but you don't hear commentators saying it's their doing not the Head Coaches. It's Roosy's vision and he's put people in place to execute it. From what I've been reading Jennings sounds like a massive secret weapon with our ball movement and understanding how to stop the oppositions. Secondly I wonder how often a playing group as a whole decide a coach's Game Plan is a dud and is never going to work and they give up. Is this part of a coach losing the playing group. I spoke to Flash at the 2011 B & F and he told me that Bailey was trying to get them to play a Game Plan they couldn't execute. (By the way, this was essentially two way running. So probably the right Game Plan, he just didnt' have the players to execute it.) Roh Bail in a conversation with me after Neeld had left the building (a membership drive call) agreed that the players as a group probably were going into games thinking that they weren't going to win executing the Game Plan Neeld was getting them to play. So how refreshing to hear the players now believe in the Game Plan. And its working. Thirdly, the Pies and the Toigs both seem to be still playing Game Plans that are about getting possession and slowing the game down while other teams like us have moved on to getting the ball and doing very fast transitions into attack. I wonder if the playing groups at those Clubs have also lost confidence in their Game Plans and therefore their coaches. Fyfe mentioned Freo is struggling with a new Game Plan. Perhaps Lyon has them going through a transition to a more attacking Game Plan. That would run against the grain of what they've been doing since he arrived there.

That'd be the 193cm Oxley?

I mentioned how Cox was attributed with changing the game because he was the first ruckman to start accumulating possessions like a midfielder, around 18 a game. My 17 yr old son corrected me. He said do you realise Jimmy Stynes averaged over 25 (25.6) possessions per game in his Brownlow year 1991. He also averaged 23.4 in '92 & 22.2 in '93. His career average was 18.9. Unbelievable. However, lets not forget his primary role was as a ruckman and at only 199cm's he only averaged 10.7 hitouts in his Brownlow year and only 11.8 for his career average. As we've discussed Gawny got 63 on the weekend and 25 to advantage. He is going to be a weapon of rare impact in the ruck but he's still getting possessions around the ground that only a very select group of elite ruckman have achieved. He is undoubtedly on his way to becoming the greatest ruckman of all time. Please, oh please, Norm Smith and the other footy gods leave him alone.

To coin your phrase "Yeh nah." and "Yeh nah." You on the happy pills Debbie Downer. Ah hem! Sorry what's the position he plays again. Oh that's right RUCKMAN. 63 to 38 hit outs against the top ruckman in the league. 25 to 9 hit outs to advantage. And you say people saying he killed Gawny is saying "...such ridiculous things...." You've got this the wrong way around. Goldstein plays the highest game time of any ruckman in the league. He would have rested less than Gawn which means a reasonable amount of his hit outs were against ah hem, Frost. Whereas they would have rested Gawn when Goldy was resting. Plus 3 of Goldsteins goals were from howling umpiring mistakes. Gawny got 18 possessions v 19 against the best mobile ruckman in the comp. When Cox started getting 18 possessions in a game it was regarded as a revolution and all the experts were calling him the greatest ruckman of all time getting unprecedented possessions. Cheer up, there's something positive going on at the moment. Come on you can do it. BE POSITIVE! Try it, you might like it.

This is about a 7% increase on last week. If they keep increasing by this amount he'll be thereabouts with typical midfielders in another two weeks. Brayshaw looks fit enough now but Petracca looks 2-3 away judging by the Casey game. A lot of jogging not a lot of sprinting. I'm guessing gut running defensively is a bit beyond his fitness just yet. Shame about Trengove's concussion. Will set him back 2-3 weeks. His fitness looked ahead of CP5's. It's very exciting to see that it looks like he's made a full recovery from his foot. He will be a valuable in. The way the games going, players with elite endurance over speed are becoming very valuable. Plus our list doesn't have enough players with elite skills. And he will bring that. Can't wait to see all of them out there. Looks like in about 4 weeks time we could have CP5, Brayshaw, Trengove. Plus I hate to say it but on the strength of the first 3 rounds you'd have to have Dawes ahead of Pedersen and Frost for CHF. That'll make a big difference structurally to at least Watts who seems to be playing as the 2nd forward instead of 3rd. Should also help JH.

Seems the later you leave it the better the tickets. I was going to book a couple of weeks earlier but they didnt' know if I'd end up in Bay 15 or anywhere to Bay 21. I didn't want 15 so I left it for a few weeks. When I went back to them they confirmed it was in Bay 21. At least that was on the wing. But as you say being down the scoring end was probably a better option. The seats were so low even though I was in row 4 and the ground had a natural gradient going higher in the midddle, that I was about at calf height to the players. No hope of seeing what was going on the other side of the ground. I guess the Club kept applying for tickets outside their allocation as people applied very late and the Ponting Stand was where they ended up. But as you say, great to be surrounded with Dees supporters. Very funny, whenever HL got the ball everyone around me was yelling out as a chorus "Kick it." Memories of doing too much and bombing it for a turnover. Must admit he his line breaking runs mostly worked and he seemed to be kicking with much more direction.

Thanks Biff, but you can keep your map of Tassie to yourself. Had a great time down there and was oh so close to going home with an unexpected win.

8/4/16 - 36,157 9/4/15 - 33,301 14/4/14 - 33,175 Already only 780 away from the all time record of 36,937 in 2011. I still reckon it'll end up around 39,000. We need a few surprise upsets, like Nth on Sunday to boost memberships, retain certain KPF's and attract certain OOC midfielders.

Thanks

You've done very well. I got tickets in the initial allocation and they were only available in the first 4 rows on the Hill. No stand and too close for my usual preference.

Anyone interested in catching up for a jar or two and a bite to eat and a bit of Demonland banter face to face. Nasher lives down there but unfortunately will be working but he suggested starting off at Customs House for a beer. Apparently it's on the waterfront. Before heading off somewhere for dinner. I'm flying down from Sydney and meeting up with my cousin who's flying in from Melbourne. Would be great to catch up with any interested Demonlanders. Haven't really done a DL face to face catch up before. Any Tassie DL's interested and have suggestions for where to drink and eat. demoniac suggested Gary Baker's Rockwall Bar & Grill. The Club's $150 a head drinks party is going on there upstairs. A bit outside my budget but definitely up for droping in downstairs for a drink and perhaps a bite. Anyone else got suggestions for where to drink and eat. If we get enough replies and make a decision I'm happy to make a booking somewhere.

I know what you mean. I sat next to a stranger at the 2005 GF who with 2 minutes to go and less than a kick in it started to hyper ventilate and told me he had heart problems. I was praying he'd hold on until after the siren. Thankfully he calmed down and I got to see the end of the game. Certainly added a bit of spice to those last couple of minutes. The DL game day thread would make for hilarious reading after the event.

I'll never forget Dunn's first 6 games when he came in and played at CHF. Took some Schwartz like contested grabs in packs but then came back the next year and wasn't the same and from there got used everywhere from backline to a midfield tagger. Sill think he'll be better served in the backline this week with those 3 big forwards. I understand Frost needs a lot of development but jeez Pedersen is disappointing. He has the skills but never seems to be able to play for 4 quarters and meaningfully impact a game. I'm afraid that at this stage of his career what we've got is about all we're going to get from him. Like others I had Dawes as probably behind these two but after two rounds I'm beginning to think he's 4 quarter efforts are worth more than Pedersen's superior ability to hold a mark but only every now and then.

Yeh, from a Melbourne point of view 100 points would be great but from the point of view of the pain inflicted on the old enemy on the way to a win, I can't get past that 1 point after the siren win.

You're right of course on both counts. Unfortunately I have to be back in Sydney Sunday night and can't spend 5 or 6 hours flying back.

I've got a rental car. I'm flying back to Sydney straight after the game. Ridiculously the only direct flight leaves at 4.30pm and the game finishes at around 3.50pm. So I'm likely to have to miss part of the last quarter. It's beyond bloody belief. Public transport is therefore out of the question. So I really need to park very close to the ground and bolt right on the end or very close to. So any suggestions on parking would be greatly appreciated. Also wondering if any other Demonlanders are interested in getting together on Saturday night in Hobart for a jar or two and a nosh and a chat. I'd need to leave it to a few of the locals to make suggestions on venues etc.

I'd take beating them by 1 point from a goal after the siren, preferably in a GF, than a 100 point win any time. In fact this would pretty much be my ultimate footy fantasy.

There's no greater pleasure than being proven wrong on players you want to get rid of as duds that prove you wrong. I was screaming at the end of last year to get rid of Jones. Couldn't believe he'd been given the contract extension and we were stuck with him. So far this year, I've been very happily proven very wrong. May that continue for the rest of the season. He's always had a big ready made body, height and run. Just shocking decision making and disposals. Some how or other over the NAB and first couple of rounds he's showing that the coaches have gone a long way to improving his decision making and disposal. In his case probably the same thing. Agree with you on Terlich. Papley was apparently the last player taken on their list and for very little money as they had minimal left in their cap. Oh well. Given he was one of the last players drafted by any club in all drafts, 17 others got this one wrong.

Just 1,020 away from the all time record. So looks like we'll end up around 39,000. Inching closer. Saturday won't have helped. But a few surprise wins starting on Sunday will make a big difference.

26/3/16 - 35,117 26/3/15 - 31,035 28/3/14 - 32,324 4,000 ahead of this time last year. If we maintain that difference to the end we'll be on or just a few hundred off cracking 40,000. As I understand it that was the total before we won. Bring it on.

Interesting question. It raises a more general one. What positions on our list do we most need to recruit to fill. I think we have 3 difficiencies left. 1. A second key forwad. However, it looks like we've got one on the list, the Weid, who will take another 3 years to fill out. Hurley's not a key forward anyway. I watched the praci game on Friday, he was delivering what I'd seen in his highlights package. Is a master at marking the ball at its highest point, out in front, arms fully extended. Impossible to defend when all of that happens together. He's supposedly already heavier than Wattsy but you wouldn't know it if you stand next to them. I don't think we need to go recruiting someone to fill this role, we're just going to have to be patient. One or more of Dawes, Frost or Pedersen will have to fill the role till he's ready. 2. Speed. It was pretty evident from the GWS game that they have a lot more faster players than we do. If the weekends round was the way footy is heading we may have an issue with lack of speed. Teams are burst sprinting now on transition from defence. We couldn't keep up with GWS. The list build under Roos has been based around footy slowing down and becoming more contested which requires big bodies and speed is secondary. Hope he's right. If not speed better become a priority going forward. 3. Skill. We are a lot better than we used to be but I went to the Cats v Hawks game and the level of skill in that game was on another level to us. We're bringing it in but we still need more.

So Clint maybe we should set up a Demonland catch up somewhere in Hobart. I'll be there with my cousin also a lifelong Dees supporter. Both of us just before the last Premiership. The Club are doing a Cocktail party at $150 a head at Gary Baker's Bar/Restaurant. That's over our budget. But interested in catching up for a beer and a feed if others aren't going to that.

Good news Clint.... I might PM you closer to the time and catch up for a drink at the ground or before. Good to meet other Demonlanders in the flesh.