DeeSpencer

That I can agree on. If there’s a player who deserves a HS back page about his poor treatment by the umpires it’s not the Collingwood kid

One goal, plenty of nice short kicks, the number of times he’s run through the centre and hit a leading forward for the year is still under 5. He might be the best player in the comp but there’s still a major limit to his game.

They have to take 4 days. Every club. CBA mandated. The short bye likely explains why our players had a nice dinner during the week. Sensibly getting in some festivities so they don’t overdo it this week.

Out: Turner, M Brown In: May, Hunt Time to mix up the forward line and midfield mix. We don’t have quality talls so there’s no point playing 2 of them. We’re slow down back, we’re slow up forward and we lack midfield rotations. Hunt for some much needed pace across half back (rather than deep), Harmes permanent CHF, Brayshaw in to the midfield/forward rotations.

Still hasn’t learned how to kick, but at least he hasn’t mastered kicking to the opposition like Petracca

Gawn’s the biggest hypocrite though. His podcast is/was so full of put downs to team mates. The Burgo episode last year he literally asked Burgo who’s the worst runner out of May, Hibbo and some Port blokes. He and Gus rubbished Declase last year and we drafted him again a few days later. Max has to own his own behaviour and the role it’s played in this.

Is the drinking whilst concussed really a thing though? He’s 8 days post concussion, he would’ve played on the Saturday a couple of years ago. Getting drunk enough to fight a team mate - even with a 8 day break between games - is the real issue. Our bye week being so short and possibly removing the chance for the boys to have a proper sess next week might be partly to blame here

Every player at the dinner had no problem with May drinking until he got caught. So…. They can’t exactly be emphasising the high standards. Given 2 of our older players were there I wouldn’t be surprised if many others in the leadership group were too.

Very disappointing actions from former captain Jake Melksham. He should receive a lifetime ban

I don’t think we’re loading, I just think we’re mentally and physically spent from training and playing hard every single week. The guys get a longer break this week and then the bye. Post bye it’s a 9 week sprint to finals and each week gets closer to crunch time. Easier to see the finish line once that happens

We could just embrace the idea that they’ll take 15 intercept marks whether we’ve got Brown or no Brown, and go with the best team to score on the other 30-40 inside 50’s. Intercept marks are deflating but not always a bad thing, especially if we’ve got smaller leading forwards open and quick ball movement. I’d rather 5 goals and 5 intercept marks than 10 bombed entries that result in 1 goal 4 behinds

Can you remember how the Weagles covered for Hunter down back? Some combination of Brett Jones, Waters or Chick slotting in at CHB? Or Hansen going back? The issues with Petty as a swing man are our flankers are undersized and/or not very strong defenders. Without Rivers and Hibbo in the team we can’t use flankers as de facto CHB. We don’t have a CHF who can go back, unless Tomlinson takes the forward role. And we don’t have midfielders or forward flankers who slot in nicely down back either. If we had last years team with Gus on a wing and Tommy at CHF then there’s 2 ways to engineer a Petty swing forward and give some cover. With the current set up I think Petty has to start forward with Tomlinson at CHB and swap if it’s not working.

It seems Mrs Brown’s boys just can’t compete, neither can the Weid. Weid never has. Mitch Brown should’ve retired years ago. And Ben can’t get out of a jog. Maybe Benny can come good with some longer breaks and the bye - he did last year, but there might be a time coming when his decline seems inevitable.

The banner squad and crowd in general seemed far more pumped on Saturday than the Freo game. My question is why is/was the old Redlegs section in the Olympic stand no longer packed full of demons. Was disgusting seeing Errol point to swans fans and celebrate. Even with 30k attendance their should be a continuous stretch of red and blue from behind the goals, through the club members and in to the MCC. Should the banner squad relocate to the Olympic stand to beef up their surroundings with fellow demons? I don’t particularly understand why the most passionate fans would be forced in to ordinary seats behind the goals? Sit them on the wing, the club and league can afford it!

There’s 3 things to blame for our scoring woes. 1. Key forwards that can’t clunk ‘em. 2. Midfield that can’t hit up short kicks 3. inability to pressure and create turnovers in dangerous spots, leading to turnover scores. Not much can be done about number 1 for now. Number 2 requires individual improvement but it also needs more corridor and quick ball movement. Hitting up short kicks with 30 players inside D50 is near impossible. Number 3 requires a rethink of our defensive plan IMO. Our drop off defensively zone is excellent once we hold a team up. But when we are attacking quickly we have to make sure we’ve got numbers to the drop of the ball inside 50 and the mids and half backs have covered exits. At the moment we seem scare of getting burnt on transition and so are folding back way too quickly. Thus forfeiting prime scoring chances that come from forward half turnovers. We’ll see how the 8 day break and bye help us but the glaring absence from our game right now looks like a lack of run.

Some of the defensive mistakes last night were baffling. 3rd quarter, Petty comes up to spoil Heeney on the wing. Aggressive move and the right call. Heeney takes a strong mark, good for him. Swans then chip it around, and Tomlinson's guarding the next kick 15m away from Petty! Swans bomb it deep and suddenly Bowey's playing full back defending one on one! Last quarter, game still in the balance, a goal the difference I think, Swans going slow play on the members wing. JJ gets caught forward too much (a common occurence). Gus rushes up from the backline. Salem follows his man up. Swans bomb long to CHF and we're short a defender. May will certainly help a lot of that, but really we had enough experience last night to be more organised and it looked like players were unsure whether to be up or dropping back. And I think a lot of it stems from a lack of confidence in the midfield covering off their opponents. For which the main culprits were definitely Oliver and Petracca. If those guys aren't running and doing the defensive work then we need to roll more numbers through the midfield and find guys who will. Focus on quality rather than quantity of minutes for the 2 big guns.

in: Rivers, May out: Brown, Brown FB: Hunt May Tugboat HB: Salem Lever Rivers C; Brayshaw Petracca Langdon HF: ANB Harmes Spargo FF: Pickett Petty Fritsch Foll: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Jackson, Bowey, Jordon, Sparrow Gus and Lever are both too intercept happy, can’t have both in the same backline. JJ is playing well but he’s so slow to kick and at times looks for the structure too much rather than handing over an opponent or folding back. Use him as 3rd winger and on ball to give more run Time for a complete reset with the key forwards. Harmes can provide run at CHF, rotating with Petracca, Sparrow etc as a smaller line up. Petty forward as the main marking target. Leaves us vulnerable with the tugboat down back but he can’t be much worse than tonight and May should help him.

Which is a step up from Petracca who keeps robbing Brighton houses and selling items to Cash Converters

May and Petty are on their men and Lever reads it perfectly to come across and intercept. The issue is May doesn’t see Lever and stay back with his opponent. If he had his time again May would retreat at the last second or two. No issue with Lever doing his job

Hey, when I go I make plenty of noise. For years the ‘Melbourne clap clap clap’ chant would echo out after goals. I haven’t heard it once this year. I’ll now refer to the group of supporters behind the goals as the ‘banner squad’ because evidently cheering isn’t part of their make up anymore. It’s clear we’ve been spoilt by winning and we’ve become accustomed to it. A passive fan base unwilling to lift to support the team to further heights. That’s all supporters, not just the banner squad.

The finals in 2018 were super loud and it was us clearly being fired up. And I can even remember games like the big Freo comeback when we weren’t a good side that had small but super vocal crowds.

The Freo crowd was a really good number. But it was a really poor quality of crowd. Cheersquad and members need to lift. The second quarter was excellent footy and with a bit more push from the crowd we could’ve nearly finished Freo off. The small Freo crowd were delirious when they made their comeback. You’re official on notice Demon Army. Lift.

He’s a nice natural footballer but I think he’ll need more than 1 interrupted preseason to build strength and fitness to cover for a lack of speed and height at AFL level. As a former midfielder with a neat kick he should develop his attacking game too. If Petty isn’t right and Sydney play 3 talls we might have to pick him, but especially without May for guidance and support it’s best to keep expectations low.

Salem literally said 2 weeks to a reporter last week and was doing basic rehab drills - agility style running drills. I’m not convinced he needs a VFL game but he needs to complete a block of full training sessions and he hasn’t yet. Hopefully we get Langdon and Tom back, but after that it’s Gawn, Petracca, Oliver and Viney playing 4 quarters that will be the biggest ‘in’s’.

Fitness and experience I reckon was the main factor. Casey pretty much used the same 4 on ballers, including White and Grey (who should be half forwards) and Baldi who’s depth down back usually. Big Smith did well in the ruck but tired and started badly mistiming his jumps and Milford wasn’t much of a back up. Buntine went down back once Hibbo was done for the day which took away the 3rd wing. And then the small forwards (both afl and VFL listed) all haven’t played much. Long bomb kick outs rely on the mids and half forwards winning the contests once it hits the ground and our guys seemed pretty spent. Possibly some of the AFL listed guys weren’t 100% as well. Frankston look light on for depth but their midfield has some afl experience and maturity. They got well on top in that area. Was actually nice to see the crowd get fired up