Little Goffy

For a young gun kid to cope adequately with a hard tag all day, and nail a few goals as well, is a really big step. Learning to deal with tags without having to go through too much of the experience of being successfully shut down would be a big confidence boost that lasts a career. Also, I've kind of given up on TV commentary, I run the radio through the laptop if I'm watching a game on TV. That way I even have a choice of about three or four commentators. None exceptional but all better than the TV hoopla-razzle-dazzle-[censored]fest. I'm also really happy for Picket Fence, who finally got to see the club draft a player with the exact specifications he has longed for over many years, AND then see that player be an absolute gun right from the start.

I'm going to propose a whole new concept in keeping with the modern times of flair and excitment. A series of four high-intensity short games (approximately 30 minutes) played over a saturday afternoon, where the final winner is decided based on aggregate scoring across all four games. But I'm just being silly, the AFL would never go for it... unless... you could arrange for separate ticketing for each of the four 'games'.

That was the hardest part of last week. Just as I began thinking 'yes, finally, a game where we will really romp it in' the players started thinking it too. I just want to see us dish out one good thumping, just for the refreshment, and as a bit of punctuation to this long slow story of recovery.

In the end the main thing that matters is whole-game effort, which is mostly between the ears so very hard to select for. I'm agreeing more and more with the 'Frost in' comments, an extra, very mobile tall is needed. Hopefully that resets the defensive roles to get the most out of Lever. Lots of mids and sort-of-mids who aren't quite delivering. Vince has a question mark on him for sure. With Melksham playing his role so well, I don't see a need for Bugg even if he were in ok form. My overall feeling is that a couple of underperforming mid-flankers need to be dropped to allow an extra 'true' mid (that'd be Brayshaw, to my mind) to come in. Bit of a shuffle really - one extra right int he middle and someone falls off the side of the boat. Oliver is being a beast in there but after Jones there isn't enough support. Bugg, Vince out. Frost, Brayshaw in.

1. Unlike other times where we have dozed off mid-game, this time when we woke up again we actually hit back instead of merely rebalancing. 2. Hogan has now played one good and one very good game to start the season, and is getting rewarded for work rate. 3. When we are at full intensity, we seem to be incredibly hard to score against and very capable of cutting off play and rebounding decisively. Honorable mention to Garlett for being the proverbial 'small forward you need to have' when nothing is coming easy.

Yes but 'needs to get the hormonal glands in his neck right' just doesn't sound very decisive!

The coaches weren't kidding when they said our team had to be all about versatility. At this rate, Weideman will be our only forward who is just a forward. It is kind of funny though - we spent almost a decade trying to find a replacement for Neitz, we finally get someone capable of being the potent target in attack, and we begin rotating them through the midfield!

I'll be in again. Same name, different team name. Coach name: Chris Team name: Inflorescent Carcasses

Can anyone help me clear this up once and for all - Is Charlie Spargo in any way related to former board member, vice-president, acting president, acting CEO and Foundation Heroes organiser Peter Spargo?

Apparently earlier today I was in a 'sel-harm' mood and instead of calling lifeline I went through with it and watched the last quarter of the final game against Collingwood. Jack Watts absolutely stank it up that quarter. From failing to cover his opponent (cost a goal) to spectating and then failing to lay an effective tackle or smother in the goalsquare (cost a goal), to spectating and then arriving too late to affect a contest just outside the square (cost a point, luckily) to fluffing a forward run, to a whole string of really poor body language, it was terrible. I don't have a personal problem with Jack Watts the way some people seem to, but rewatching his last quarter for us has left me with a much better understanding of why he had to be moved on. Wishing him all the best (up to a certain point) at Port, and also confident we made the best decision possible at the time.

Demons Top-4 Finish. Build on 'good' first 2/3rds of the year and then a win streak going into finals, a bit like 2000, actually. Multiple All-Australian selections in defence, with Lever, Hibberd and Jetta all making the 40-player squad. Describing our group of midfielders/forwards as "difficult to match up on" becomes one of the top cliches of the season. Hogan on the one hand proves himself the team player doing hard work to create links and disrupt defences, but on the other hand there are a few occassions, just here and there, where he takes personal control and smashes games off his own boot. Weidemann will be in and out of the team in bursts until late in the season when things will start to click. Wont set the world on fire but will be a competent tall forward. Our new recruits will mostly be at Casey (bold prediction I know) but a couple will get a really promising taste of AFL in their first year. "Melbourne's Depth is becoming amazing" will be another cliche we hear a lot. Non-MFC; Lever and Gibbs will be the 'recruits of the year' from trades, Port will continue to levitate in the 'also attended finals' category without really scaring anyone. Overall, the top end of the ladder hosts a set of really exciting teams and the dominant game style is shaped by rigorous defence combined with a scattering of stars that break games open. There are going to be a LOT of clubs just doing 'ok' without really mattering.

Not having first round picks fro a while, and having traded out a lot of early second round picks too, does feel a bit weird. But with Hibberd's effort and Melksham's improvement we seem to be getting good value for those picks. Lever's progress will be fascinating to watch but there's no doubt he was worth a first rounder plus a downgrade, just a question of whether the downgrade amount was too much. If we end up with 2 All-Australian defenders in our list thanks to trades, I wont complain about a shortage of draft picks. Especially when we seem to have a recruiting team with a talent for finding respectable late-pick players.

I heard he was going to star as the lead in a remake of 'Robin Hood: Men in tights'. That'll hurt us.

Better transport infrastructure between the CBD and South-East, as well as linking the different parts of the south east.

I'm in a mood for speed this draft season. But... There's multiple speedy youngsters in this draft at a few different sizes and roles, and with more 'upside' as far as actually having a real impact with that speed. Surpised Hartung hasn't retired from the neck strains of watching the ball go right back over his head. Though, the soreness would explain why he only manages 4 contested possessions and just over a tackle a game. A young Isaac Smith, he ain't.

https://www.weekendnotes.com/cherry-farms-victoria/

I liked Balic as an option back in his draft year, but our picks were too high or too low to be a sensible match. Interesting that we keep on cycling through these fringe midfielder options, and mostly in the midfield-forward slot - Kennedy, Bugg, Kent, Melksham, Harmes, Neal-Bullen, Kennedy-Harris, Jones, Newton, Michie. I guess the club see it is a role that can be filled by non-star players, and where depth is important. Of those ten we've cycled through in just a few years, you'd only say Neal-Bullen and Melksham are convincingly in our best 22, but a couple of others are still prospects.

If we're comparing Lever to Rance, it is only fair to point out that Weidman is tracking about the same as Matthew Lloyd after the same number of games... we definitely should be anticipating a big round 1!

Is it just my impression or has this thread moved along at close to a post a minute? Incredible. Can a mod put a 'sticky' on the first page to update any actual news, just so nobody feels a need to slide through dozens of pages?

Spectacular! Now I can picture a time when I can go all-out and watch four Demon games in a single weekend.

Taking a moment to confirm Redleg's background is law, not medicine. I mean, obviously you're thinking of the remarkably similar treatment for tinnitus.

The joy of the disposal efficiency topic is that is has enough grey area for everyone to be right. Defenders have good disposal efficiency -> good disposal efficiency is a benchmark for defenders everywhere anyway -> the efficiency is a product of the circumstances getting it (open spaces, marks, defenders outnumbering forwards) -> good disposal efficiency is a product of the work rate of players running to present options -> we shouldn't look at DE% anyway, clangers are more important... Round and round we can go. And we do! From what I've observed, the biggest 'whipping boys' for disposal among the Demons are the McDonald brothers and Dom Tyson, and the three of them share the feature of sometimes delivering really terrible clangers, the kind of totally unnecessary turnover which catches everyone by surprise and turns a rebound into a panic scramble. These clangers have a big impact and, more than anything else, are highly memorable. The couple of times a game that Tom McDonald mysteriously, absurdly, manages to kick directly to an opposition player on their own are the single factor preventing him from being an elite defender, but with them he is definitely not one. That's how much they matter and while I don't like the vitriol, the cause is reasonable.

There were too Ajaxes (Ajaxs? Ajaxi?) in The Iliad. Couple of Burly Brutes, Ajax the Greater was physically the mightiest of the Achaeans. Ajax the Lesser was really only 'lesser' next to Ajax the Greater. Sucks to be him, I guess. Bit like being Alexander the Pretty Good. Also, I support Whispering Jack's sentiment - I've had an embarrassing kick around or two on quiet afternoons at Brunswick Street Oval and it really is quite picturesque. And you can always visit the little bourgeois-ironic shopping nearby. (Oh, I'm so poor, all I can afford is this old desk lamp from the 80s which I paid $40 for. #bargainhuntwins #authentic)

When your forward line has an average games (or games-at-club) tally of about 25, it would actually be pretty impressive if one of them had 100 goals to their name! But it does put into perspective some of our problems with converting inside-50s into good scoring opportunities. That extra edge of experience, confidence and game sense can make all the difference close to goal, where you just need a couple of things in a row to go right and where every step of advantage is a big deal. A good veteran key position player, at either end of the ground, is very hard to replace. Just ask the queue of players the Demons tried to turn into a successor for Neitz. I want more success now, I feel like we are underperforming right now, but any time I look at the list my mind goes to what should be a 6-8 year period where we don't have to think too hard about how we will replace this or that essential role, and can watch as maturity grows, especially in the habitually slow-burning key position roles.

Straight swap for Melksham. If the Swans try to play hardball about it, we can throw in Lamumba.