jnrmac

What a good thing. Not many people had heard of IG before this sponsorship...they have done well...

We were 18th in one on one defending in 2017. 14th I recall in 2018. You can believe what you want.

Interesting in the above are Adelaide and Richmond. The Crows were beset by injuries and a dodgy pre-season camp and finished 12th. CD suggest they are the second best team in 2019. Richmond won the flag in 2017 and were ranked 12th for 2018 yet they finished 2018 on top of the ladder after the H&A. Regardless of what measurements CD uses there are still a huge amount of variables including the draw - which I believe they don't use in this particular ranking.

I am shocked to read this. According to 'Land we have the best defence over the last 2 years by a country mile.

2017 CD rankings FWIW and where they finished on the ladder at H&A GWS (7) Sydney (6) West Coast (2) Hawthorn (4) Western Bulldogs (13) Adelaide (12) Port Adelaide (10) Collingwood (3) Geelong (8) St Kilda (16) Melbourne (5) Richmond (1) North Melbourne (9) Fremantle (14) Essendon (11) Gold Coast (17) Carlton (18) Brisbane (15)

It was Coll as the #1 midfield as well a Melb as the #18th best midfield that had everyone scoffing.

Well we all know they said we had the worst midfield in 2017..so it's a turnaround for them i guess..... https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/champion-data-ranks-every-afl-clubs-list-for-2019-season/news-story/bbf9675e7653e4c21dedd9a8bade9684 "The Demons boast the league’s second-best backline, fifth-best forward line and No.1 midfield."

Jason Taylor said in the recent Draft update that they are watching and speaking to Kobe. The Wiz is very keen for him to come to the Dees. But he is barely 16yo and so there is a lot of water to go under the bridge

But Bugg can't be a victim? I think he was alluding to the differing narratives....

Both Grand Finalists played with two talls - we struggled against them.

The pies won 14 of their games against the bottom 10 sides. That unequivocally assisted them to a top 4 berth and a GF spot. Sure they didn't win it but 2019 will test the pies as their draw is significantly harder.

@DeeSpencer is right with the use of Gawn. It's self evident the club thought our defence needed bolstering. You are welcome to your view. I don't buy it.

Fair enough. I would say that the footy dept doesn't entirely agree with you. The damning stat is that we are very poor in defending one on ones. This is not related to a lace out pass from a mid but a genuine 50/50 ball between fwd and defender. And we were 9th this year in defence as well as being around 14th for scores once the ball went inside our def 50. The mids are very important but we still need to be able to stop teams scoring when the ball goes down there. Hence Lever and May. May is structurally important because it means Lever, Hibberd, Jetta and OMac/Frost can play their roles while the oppo's key scorer is being held.

I assume you mean Blind Freddy...in any case it's not that obvious to some around here. We have a superstar backline. No need for May or Lever....

Our defence is our weakest point. We were 9th for defence this year. We have recruited Lever and May in the last two trade periods. I think the club understands that we need better defensive than we get from Frost and OMac if we are going to be a strong side. May won't be going forward.

I didn't say that. You have trouble reading by the sounds of things. Jesse is a great player but he will never reach the upper echelon IMO because he doesn't appear to have the character traits and drive required. Other things are seemingly more important in his life. It just an opinion but he will never reach the heights of a Matthew Pavlich.

Yeah, I didn't say that. But there is a difference between those who have natural talent and those with the drive that go along with it. Jesse is a great player as I said but I have the feeling he will never reach the upper echelon - which he could given his talent - because other things are more important to him.

Did we get one picture of him smiling during his 5 years at the Dees? There was always something about Hogan for mine. Don't think he ever put in the really hard yards to be the best he could be. Like Brayshaw doing his 100x100m sprints on Xmas day. Or Gawn or Oliver's transformation. He seems a bit Watts like although not as bad. Footy isn't everything to Jesse. Fair enough I guess. It's interesting how a lot of supremely talented juniors don't necessarily have the drive to be elite. Hogan IMO is a terrific player but won't ever reach his 'ceiling'. I suspect the club aren't unhappy with his departure given we have used it to fix some holes on the list..

Came 2nd in the B&F in his second year as well...

Spoke to a very keen Nth Melb guy at lunch today who was saying the Pruess was a great pick up. Very tough, talented a little loose with his elbows but hard as nails. Very sad to see him go and thought he would do very good things for the Dees. Couldn't understand why he would go to Melb to be second fiddle though....

I know you have been lamenting our backline for a the past few years as I have. Our additions are an absolute game changer. Added to that we have serious grunt and hurt factor. May, Viney, Vanders, Hibberd and Jetta are contested beasts. Oppositions will know they have been tackled and that actual and preceived pressure will be a great bonus for us.

I am no Doctor but from what I have read his concussions have been neck related rather than 'head' related. Club was confident that this had been sorted out...

Anyone else notice how we are building quite a team of left footers.... May, KK, Salem, Hibberd, Fritsch, Viney, Lewis, Hannan, Wagner.... Have I missed any?

Pong....for the youngies its an arcade game from 1972 where an automated ping pong bats just keeps hitting the ball back into play....

I think he was too open earlier in the week about: a) what we wanted for Hogan and b) the fact we couldn't get May without Hogan going. It painted us into a corner. But I guess that is his style and clubs generally have dealt well with us. GC were pretty patient its just that short statured person from Freo that was a complete muppet