bing181

Sure the TMac situation is disappointing - but he's not the only one. And therein lies the rub. When you have so many in the team underdone, then it becomes a downward spiral that sucks everyone into it. If TMac had come into the season underdone, but was part of a functioning and efficient forward line, at the front end of a functioning and efficient midfield delivering the ball to them as it should be, then I doubt we'd be having this discussion. In Tom's position, he might only get a dozen or so chances in a game to really have an impact, and with so few opportunities, it can be very hard to turn things around if you're underperforming, which then impacts self-confidence, decision-making etc.

No, just no. You can never make up for a lack of pre-season loading while you're playing games each week. Nor can you make up for the lack of time spent training *together*. There's a reason teams start pre-season early November.

Of course you don't.

Except that: - that's pretty well all he did - he offers next to nothing around the ground (11 disposals, 4 marks 2 weeks back; 9 disposals, 3 marks last week) - he offers next to nothing up forward (total score for the last 2 VFL matches is 1 point. Also, see above) - we have a ruckman - he would be given the runaround/run off his feet in the firsts against AFL-standard rucks - North Melbourne didn't get rid of him for nothing

Suspect at least one of those will miss. Maybe Hore won't overcome the calf - though he was taken to Darwin, so must have been touch and go there, presumably right this week. And Lever has been basically off legs for a week, so that can't have helped his return either. Fingers crossed, though imagine that at the very least, both May and Salem will be straight in.

If anything, you're just proving the opposite of your point - given how many great players there are, that's a tiny list. In reality, very very few great players go on to be great coaches.

Oscar will be fine. He was 12th in the B&F last year, is only 23 (young for a big bloke), and is playing in a team that's out of sorts, so as last line of defence, he's always going to be where the buck stops. Though if you want to see what a season looks like when you don't start full training till mid-January, look no further than Oscar. Having said that, we didn't draft Steven May for nothing. https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tr-melbourne-demons?year=2019&rt=TA&st=1P

I know this is not the way it's done on Demonland, but you can both point out a player's shortcomings AND appreciate their strengths. I like Sam a lot and what he brings - especially the fact that he's a tall who turns into a small once the ball hits the ground, it's almost like having an extra player in the backline. Would be surprised if he's top 6 in the B&F, but would be great to see, all power to Sam.

TACKLE Using physical contact to prevent an opponent in possession of the ball from getting an effective disposal. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-12-28/stats-glossary-every-stat-explained

This is what confirmation bias looks like.

A "below average" effort? Here are the forward tackles for Sunday: Garlett: 3 Spargo, Weideman, Smith, Petracca: 2 Hunt, Hannan: 1 So, total tackles by those 7 forwards is 13, which means that the average tackles per player is 1.86. Spargo with 2 is actually above average. Also, *both* Hunt and Hannan laid fewer tackles than Spargo, while only one player laid more.

That's odd, because on Saturday's form, Spargo is thereabouts in relation to our other forwards e.g., second for goal assists, equal second marks I50, and laid more tackles than any of them except Geoffy.

Have you seen who we're putting on the park? We're not a strong club, not on the field anyway. I find this whole discussion ... well, absurd is probably a safe bet. It's as if you can just throw a VFL-level team out there and when they lose you're "making excuses". You take out your entire first-call back line, you're more likely to lose than win. You play a bunch of 20-gamers in your forward line, you're more likely to lose than win. Not rocket science.

... who's entering the twilight of his career. Walker's underperformance didn't have much to do with Frost, who for all his athleticism etc. is the worst one-on-one defender we have.

It's called experience. Nothing that another 100 games won't fix.

Sigh. Go back and look at the Gameday thread when it was announced that first Hore, and then Salem were out. The discussion wasn't whether we were going to lose or not, but by how much. About the only time in the last 24 hours that collective Demonland has displayed any objectivity.

And while you're at it, go through last night's side and tell us all the players who have 150 - 200+ games, for those with less experience/development to play alongside. Have a look at how many players Geelong are putting on the park each week who have over 200 games experience. It's around 25% of their team. We're managing 1 (Nate Jones).

No, no suprises. Number of players who ran out on Saturday with over 100 games: Geelong - 13 Melbourne - 6 Or ... Players on Saturday with over 200 games: Geelong - 5 Melbourne - 1 How about over 150 games?: Geelong - 8 Melbourne - 3 What part of this are people not getting?

Just not sure what people expected. We lost arguably our two best players just before the match, leaving us with a car boot sale back line. Our forward line - such as it is - is built around players with a handful of games. What you see with the goalkicking under pressure is exactly what you’d expect from inexperienced players. The only thing that surprises me is that we were even in a position to win in the first place.

Makeshift backline could be our undoing here. The question is going to be if we can kick a big enough score to overcome the goals we're going to leak up the other end. Still, at least we're kicking goals and looking like a decent team. Next week with More, Salem, May and Lever in ... look out.

Only tiny positives is that JKH and Weideman get a chance. Though not sure how much of the ball they're going to see up their end of the ground ...

Misson's fault (obvs).

I'm surprised we don't just forfeit.

Not if they don't have the skills to execute, or the time playing together for it to click.

Yes, his two possessions in a half of footy in the twos are going to make a real difference in the AFL.