Nasher

Critique away - even his biggest fan on Demonland (his brother) acknowledges he isn't AFL ready and has things to work on. You didn't offer any insight or constructive criticism at all. It was a cheap shot at a junior player. [edit: retracted stupid comment]

He won't need that. Do a little bit of Googling.

It won't be a hard decision. The condition he presents in as the match approaches will drive it - a ready Hogan will strut in and train at full intensity.

To be honest I reckon ANB was expecting a kick, but I agree all the same. Watching "all the goals", ANB was instrumental in a number of them. I know not everyone loves stats but he lead the team for goal assists and equal second for inside 50s. He was a key link in the chain. Probably never going to be much more than a decent foot soldier, but he has been good for a lot of the year.

I don't envy your position on here. There are always going to be tools on footy forums that want to pot your bloke without knowing anything about him. Just roll your eyes and ignore.

Very interesting to see what other Demon fans think of this place...I have to say I tend to avoid the first couple of hours after a loss. They're spot on. The match day threads on here are nothing short of embarrassing.

Thought this was going to be a topic on why some players don't wear a mouth guard at all. That is something that really has me scratching my head.

Out in front of ANB running at full pace?

Do you think he actively chooses not to impact contests? That seems to be what you're implying. Then again, perhaps it doesn't matter either way whether it's intentional or just a mental habit he can't break - it devalues him either way. (Yes I know you said not to quote you. Oh well.)

Jack Viney started the round second on the ladder for tackles, and had another 11 tackles. What a machine. Unbelievably the leader, Rory Sloane, had 13 to pull further ahead.

Salem for Bugg or Wagner. My preference would be for Bugg, but Wagner may make more sense positionally. Hogan for OMac. TMac back to defence in this scenario. Ruckman for other of Bugg/Wagner. Obviously the latter two changes are subject to availability of Hogan, Gawn and Spencer. I am assuming none of them will be available and it'll just be the one change.

Spoils count as 1%ers, that's why KPDs always feature highly in it. It's something worth counting (so I disagree that it is useless), but you definitely can't use it to compare players in different positions and you can't benchmark it in isolation. It could be used as an input to other metrics though. Shepherds, knock ons and smothers also count.

I am showing forum leadership and considerate restraint by posting this post about not replying instead of posting what I'd like to reply with.

I've already said twice in this thread that I didn't see the first half. Literally all I saw was a complete MFC annihilation. I thought it interesting that the skipper and the coach said the same thing about the first half. I realise Jones generally just regurgitates what Goodwin says - although in this case he was interviewed first - but I've also heard them comment with disappointment. Goodwin for example was clearly seething after the Hawthorn game. Obviously their responses are measured by design, but I have not seen any evidence that they flat out lie. I've watched enough footy to know what it's like to see the red mist when the opposition is kicking goals. It truly does feel like nothing is going right. I know that. So until I watch the whole replay, I am going to take the coach and the skipper on their word that the first half wasn't as dismal a state of affairs as a heap of angry supporters would have me believe.

Was he this good at Essendon? Easily in our top 5 players at present. He looks elite.

Likewise. Engaging with you and WYL is tedious - your response to everything is "scoreboard". I have zero interest in that level of analysis.

Yep! ?

Righto mate. ?

As I said earlier Jane I only saw the second half and jumped on here excited out of my skin! I got a bit of a shock when I accidentally walked in to another Demonland funeral.

Jones and Goodwin both said post match that they felt we were doing a lot right in the first half. I hope WYL didn't hear that, for his dog's sake.

How does he end up standing in the goal square by himself so often? That would infuriate me as an opposition supporter. Third bag of three now for the year and his second in a row. Really starting to look a damaging player now.

Nope. Only the third time in his career in fact.

I only saw the second half. Not sure what you're all complaining about ?

This is exactly why it's pointless comparing the players received with the player picked in the draft. There's nothing to say we'd have picked the same player (and in this case there's evidence we would have selected a different one). To me it's very similar to "if 5 of those behinds had been goals" arguments - it puts you on a completely different course so you can't say what would have happened. The only thing we can objectively ask if trying to measure the success of a trade is if we're happy with the players we got compared to the probability of getting good players with the picks spent. That in my view is too hard to determine from a far, although getting two seniors quality midfielders is a very good result IMO, regardless of whether Tyson gets much love on Demonland or not.

Plapp used the word "dominant" to describe ANB's performance last week, and Harmes the week prior. Melksham's game was described as "AFL level game in the VFL". The pecking order was clear from the report. Billy will be back though.