Adam The God

Our senior mids were the culprits. Trac, Viney and Clarry. They all dump kicked repeatedly inside. Now they're learning to give the hands or go shorter.

It just depends how flakey spots 3 to 4 are. I don't expect the Suns or Crows to be in the top 4 come the end of 2025, but I guess we'll see.

Suns lost to Freo today on their own deck. Definitely not a lock for mine.

I'm not watching it, but can anyone tell me, are we trying to play the same style as the AFL team? Surely...

Haha, plenty of spots up for grabs nonetheless.

Okay, so leading into another important game tomorrow, a win against the Saints will have us right amongst the 8. Win tomorrow and it starts to put the pressure on those shaky teams above. Namely Hawthorn and Freo. But even the Suns and the Crows have a history of choking and it's hard to get a good read on the Bulldogs and Geelong. In other words, there are plenty of spots up for grabs. Our percentage is the real watch and although if we keep improving this will take care of itself, we know as Melbourne supporters that a percentage point here or there could mean a 9th finish versus 8th (see 2017). In a strong 2-3 week block, 89.3 can turn very quickly to 100 and we're back amongst it percentage-wise. Just as GWS' 109.9 and Hawthorn's 110.2 can turn south towards 100 if they have a few slips, and Hawthorn definitely have the yips at the moment. Brisbane and Collingwood are the only rational locks for the 8, but I reckon the rest of the spots from 3rd-8th to Round 12 are up for grabs. And like scoreboard pressure within games, keeping the heat on those above us by winning games puts pressure on those with spots in the 8. We will lose games, that's a fact. I hope we don't drop tomorrow though. It is a danger game.

This post should be pinned to the top of most threads.

I don't care about other teams. That's why I just listen to the Demonland podders.

🤣 the perfect. Can come on and kick 3 against the Pies. Or even more romantically, he can kick 3 in the final quarter against his old mob the Lions. We can dream.

If Laurie does well, he has the spot for 6 weeks IMO.

Sharp is a much better sub idea than Laurie. Laurie needs a whole game to.impact and warm into it. Sharp has good assets for a sub.

The most surprising thing in this thread is that people have been bothering to listen to a footy podcast produced by The Age.

We should have given him a 10 year deal! Meanwhile, Essendon are no better than 2015. 👏 Gotta love it.

And then I'd argue won us the final against Hawthorn in 2018.

Bloody St Kilda inflating wages all over the shop.

Completely agree with the cheaper Derksen (and Aleer), and I'd also hope we're targeting a midfielder with good ball use. We don't need to spend big on a KPF IMO.

This is a huge factor in our performances Rounds 2-5. Against GWS in Round 1 it was wet and windy day, and thus bombing from our mids was less of an issue as interceptors couldn't mark the ball as easily. It got it inside and we put on adequate pressure to lock it in. But from Rounds 2-5, we bombed the ball repeatedly on turnover. We would create numerous turnovers over and over again and hand the ball back to the other side. Think that third quarter against North, where Viney and Trac, but particularly Viney, kept bombing it to the opposition outnumber. We created more than enough turnovers to be ahead at 3/4 time in that game. (it didn't help that we lost Jefferson early as it allowed them a taller extra behind the ball) Against the Suns we were smashed at stoppage and our pressure was nowhere, but when we did get it, it was long and predictable. Aside from some chipping it around at the back, although we stopped pretty quickly doing this in that game. The long bombing continued for this entire period and Jack Viney was a major culprit. Trac and Clarry didn't help in this department either. But when Viney got the defensive role against Freo, we started to think our way through things better and it helped thar we brought pressure and had a lot of space in our forwardline created by pressing our forwards up the ground. This is the thing that cannot be stressed enough. We are going to lose games this season and some of it may not be pretty, but less baby out with the bathwater stuff would be nice.

You said we had a fundamental change in our method in one week, when evidence like aggressive forward handballing and faster transition was evident from Round 1. Let's just admit you [censored] the bed on this one and move on.

The data does support this. We've been one of the top transition sides all year. Now we're better at scoring from transition chains.

I reckon our stars learned to be team players in 2020, and because they got a flag ajd 3 straight top 4 finishes doing it, when Goody asks them to do it again, they nod.

Maybe I am.

I'm not convinced on Laurie's tank. I reckon Demonlanders undervalue Charlie's tank to a massive extent. I think it's a no brainer. If Viney is ready, he comes in. If he's not, save him for KB.

$1 mill, because he's more than a ruckman, but I think you'll find Max has taken unders to keep this group together.

The thing that is almost banned on here is discussion around fitness. Reversing the fitness program as posited by @binman on the podders, is very likely a large factor that is not seemingly taken into account vis a vis our first 5 rounds. In game one, where we were full of new players and exuberance for the new season, we showed our game style that is now a more regular sight. Aggressive forward handball, scores from stoppage, fast transition, mixed with keepings off uncontested chipping at the back. We then ran out of puff in the last, although still should have won in the dying moments. Round 2 against North was the strangest result IMO and points most clearly in retrospect to a heaving load management block. We looked sluggish but still should have been in front at 3/4 and dropped our bundle in the 4th. Rounds 3 and 4 were even more sluggish. Round 5, aside from the 3rd quarter where we lifted our pressure rating and started to score, was another case of lethargy. If you take this into account and add it to the context of trying to implement a new game style, it's got a high degree of difficulty. The next fortnight IMV, will tell us whether Selwyn has got the program right and I need to create a new thread apologising to him.

Congrats to Tom McCarthy who went at #1 in the mid season draft today. A massive Dees fan.