Demon Dynasty

My kingdom for a genuine CHF... 2022 2023 & ?

Howes, May, Lever and Tomo doing ok

The Roo & Shack forward .... so far 🤮 Admittedly the delivery has been putrid also Shack has competed well up the ground

Anywhere near or inside 50 is a dog's breakfast and full panic mode. No composure from anyone

So far this is 22 / 23 on rinse and repeat

Spargo & Chin before Billings 🤮

Roo, the Shack & Big Maxy all went up there. Terrible

Spargo around goal 🤮 Fritta playing on instead of doing the team thing and taking the alloted time so our press could set up and players recover. As a rookie i'd get it... but for an experienced player that's a shocker and SG should make sure he never does that again. All players should be on notice here not just Fritta. Has to be a team rule unless only a few minutes of match time to go and we need a very quick goal.

Welcome back big boy!

He looked more physical (coming off a low base though) than i've seen before at any level last week. Lets hope he can bring the same intensity or better! If so i reckon he might bag 4+ goals

Demons by 12 goals. Clarry BOG Max to win the Chas

I reckon they'll be looking for a bit of extra mid time from Bill vs Spargo to make up for the loss of Gus as part of our usual mid rotations Bin. Spargo does play HHF yes but not sure he handles the mid moments as well nor plays there all that often vs Bill/Kozzy. We also have Billings now who imho can play a role a little similar to Charlie but with potentially more impact at goal from various distances. Spargo limited to close range goals only. Billings also potentially more dynamic than Spargo playing very minor cameo mid time if needed? There def isn't room for so many small forwards/HHFs (with minor mid time from some) once Kozzy returns. The FD will have a hard call in the coming weeks, albeit it's quite a luxury to have. Kozzy's obviously a lock. The two Bills seem a bit more versatile than Chandler in most aspects and Billings more dangerous from anywhere up to 50. Chin limited to about 40ish? Spargo hasn't been quite the same since his concussion imv and has the goal scoring limitation of only within about 30 meters. It'll be interesting to see how he butters up this season when he gets the opportunity.

Chandler me thinks. Bill's inside work on occasions last week was sublime.

OD is usually all over this!

Have to give a shout out to Nibbler for his outstanding performance in this praccy. Hoping that form relays into similar early season stuff from him. I also loved the handball from Trac to Clarry to Bullet (Windsor). Anyone that can get a handball off to a player in the stands 60 meters away, who then whips it 75 meters over the top to a running player for a goal has me very excited indeed! (ty Bin!)

Noice analysis. Lets hope we can keep this up quite often and reduce the 22/23 'bomb it to the pocket' or 'on top of the forwards heads' alternatives. Note that i'm not saying we should never choose the pocket option either. Obviously if you can't do the former, the pocket option (if player can get it there) is better than a shallow up and under kick directly in front (around the arc). A fair chance it will be rebounded quickly through the corridor resulting in quick goal to the oppo.

Career averages eerily close!

Robbie was mercurial. A very nice start in the praccy though. Reminds me a little of a young Isaac Smith.

Yes... he was unfairly targeted with this stupid rule prior to this season imho. I almost felt like they were under instruction to ping Max as much as possible to try and curb the huge advantage he had over many opponents. His dominance at CBs last night was off the charts.

He also has more potential upside with set shots as it would appear his range from a fair way out is a little longer vs say Spargo, Chin and Koz at similar distances.

And you may well be right Mr Fence. No doubt showing some good signs. I just feel he's still a little ways off the pace. It was only a brief cameo though. Looking forward to seeing more of him as the season progresses.

I'm with you Praha. Season starting way too early and goes too long for mine. I'd be happy with 18 rounds plus the bye! Everyone plays each other once. That's 19 weeks. Plus 5 weeks of finals including the first week as a bye yes? 24 weekends or effectively almost 6 months of footy! The only reason we go another 6 rounds is the almighty $$. Makes no sense to have a fixture where some teams end up playing each other twice, potentially 3 or 4 times if you include finals.

So many show ponies with many faux pas assists from the umps that kept bringing them back from a smashing. Nice hit out. Out of the younger fellas i particularly liked the games of Sparrow & Bullet (Windsor). Viney & Max immense. Best shape ive seen Max in coming into a season aside from 2021. Kozzy in everything. Loved the hit on Saad towards the end. Just needs to work on set shots, avoid any urge for the speckie & keep his feet for the ground ball contests. Which he appeared to do in this match to great effect. His mid minutes also pretty effective. Chin went ok but still think he's fringe and will need to be performing at a pretty high level (consistently) to justify his place once Spargo & McAdam are ready to go and with Billings chipping away. Billings went ok but looked a little off the pace at times as well. Having said that, many players might still be a bit off the pace as they return from injuries or cranking up their loads etc coming into the early phase of the season so probably best to wait until rounds 6 to 8 before making any genuine asssessments. The dual between Acres & Lingers was interesting. Thought Acres had the better of him in patches during the first half with Lingers getting more involved & effective as the match wore on. Reasonable hit out for Verral but appears to be a fair way off the pace. Early days of course and only a rookie. Laurie could alao be counted as a maturing rookie. Showed glimpses of upside but for mine he remains a big work in progress with more time needed at Casey. Clarry in for him seems like the most likely change for next week. Scache's best game in the red & blues so far. And while i'd need more convincing and plenty of room for improvement, it was the type of game you would want to see from the big fella more often. Looks like he's put a few kilos on as well. ANB & Fritta also. Thought Fritta went ok apart from the kicking, which he'll no doubt get to work on on the track. A different game (away) at another level next week will give us a somewhat better read on form / game style effectiveness etc

Hardly inspiring 74. Especially given that we know one of our achilles heels for the last two seasons has been our forward stakes. What i would give for a genuinely dynamic power CHF and/or FF. Hopefully Roo can step up a notch or two but without the likes of Petty, McAdam & Melk we are looking decidely thin on quality during the opening rounds. Possibly longer, depending on the diagnosis of McAdam & Petty. Petty may well be done for the entire season. There is of course Kozzy & Fritta but we would need stand out years from both imv if we're to make any inroads and go deep into finals. Even IF Petty makes it back at some point, the odds of being fiercely competitive and getting into some sort of top end form are stacked against with effectively no pre-season under his belt. Ditto with Melk, BB and to a lessor extent T-Mac. Although it would appear the FD were grooming Tom for a return to a defensive role. Lord knows what for. Makes no sense for mine after bringing Marty back and with Tomo & Turner (prior to injury) also being an option. Im usually very positive prior to a season starting but have to say im already preparing for some substantial slippage in 2024. Can only hope Clarry stays on track and returns as early as round 2 or 3 in fabulous nic. If not i fear we may be in for a pretty rugged 2024 with yet another season of "many learnings" ahead.