Demon Dynasty

Giants are up and about. Tough ask to get over the filth at home but they have nothing to lose and will go in as rank underdogs. But a stack of belief and a fantastically balanced side that's set for finals footy. Can only hope the filth go in super cocky.

Devastated. What a horror weekend. My late dad was a Blues man but his favourite player was Ron at Melb and he was thrilled when he came over. Played a year behind Ron in the Preston scouts. Or mighr have been the other way around! A long time ago now. Much admired and very much revered by everyone at Preston. Dad always said he was leaps & bounds ahead of anyone else he saw playing at the time and super fierce. Dad and a few mates met RDB at Princes park. They (pretty sure it was dad) carried his gladstone bag from his car to the Carlton rooms where he gave his intro speech to the players. The old Preston boys weren't allowed in and could only listen within earshot from outside. Dad stayed in touch through the social club there and even beat the great man in a social club table tennis tournament GF one evening. Ron wasn't happy, competitive beast in all areas. We still have dad's tiny pewter trophy from that night many decades ago. My mum will be upset with this also. He always remembered her flaming red hair when i met him in the street, at his pub or on one of our best & fairest nights when he was coaching us back in the day. Always very amiable and seemed down to earth / cheery. Mum took this studio photo of him in 1963 prior to some sort of OS trip (mum says to the U.S.). Courtesy of the Australian Sports Museum website. The tribute last night probably no coincidence? R.I.P. Ron and commiserations to family and friends.

To be fair i haven't read everything here but with regards to Yze being forward coach if he stays. Yes it's an upgrade to Stafford imv but tbh he's been out of the modern game as a player for some time. I'd much rather see a more recent forward come in and show them the ropes / set things up differently in terms of methods, craft and cohesion. For mine (if he's available) i'd be desperately aiming for Ablett Jnr! His kicking skills and knowledge of forward craft from both sides (as a small forward and as a mid) would be second to none imho. If you want to be the best.... get the best!

They had the opportunity to do same with Shack but ignored it for some reason. However, you have to ask did they ever intend to bring Shacky on at all from the get go? It's just the weirdest sub choice and outcome. A huge question mark on this that i'd be asking as President. We were already effectively one player down in the first half. Then a fresh player in the second. Has to be the worst coaching performance (sub management) i've witnessed so far although i caveat that with the fact i don't follow every single game of AFL so there may well be a worse example somewhere since its inception. Happy to be corrected.

Not really a bad i idea as such but only if Max needed the break and volunteered it. The better option for mine assuming he wants to continue with it... Rick as Co-Captain Vices Viney & May Takes some of the pressure off Maxy and Rick is def a natural leader. May needs some recognition imv assuming he was interested. Stonewall down back and rarely lets the team down. Fabulous in both finals and stands up under heat and in big games almost every time

Was very hard to watch last night. The desire & effort was still there. Has the heart of a great competitor but just couldn't make many of the contests he needed to and was then asked to play time in the middle for Max which is just not his gig. As to why we didn't bring Shack on for T-Mac in the 2nd half to relieve Max in the middle and at least provide a target at FF and ruck duties there (or put Max there while Shack took the CB ruck duties) is mind boggling. The next logical question is, why was he ever sub in the first place? At a number of ball ups inside 50 in the second half we had either no designated ruck or Tracc going up against Pit lol.

I hear you but Grundy rarely marks inside 50. Gawn a slight improvement but not that much better either. I'm not sure why anyone ever thought, or still believes, that Grundy (or even Max) was going to offer up a marking target as a forward or part-time forward. He just wasn't or isn't a forward in any sense of the role and was a fair way off LJ's ability here as well (if that's what Goody & Co. were hoping to replace). In fact all three are not that impressive when played up forward as a part-timer but Jackson def has the edge. Player averages this season... Marks Inside 50 Gawn 0.7 Grundy 0.4 Jackson 1.1 Contested Marks Gawn 2.3 Grundy 0.8 Jackson 1.2 Marks on a lead Gawn 0.3 Grundy 0.2 Jackson 0.6

Yep but we also tried (and failed) to turn him into a HHF / quasi tall mid instead of letting him hone his skills as a KTF. We were also unlucky with him in 2018 as he was injured just before the finals and pretty sure he missed it all. I'm not sure us cursing him for his body language was the reason he left though. It was pretty shizen at times. That's just a fact. The same thing went on with Richo for years and he just stuck it out, kept fronting up and continued to hit the scoreboard (still the most goals in total at the G by any player i think?)

That should've happened last year. Instead we went after a post injury (no longer AA) Grundy Terrible decision and not said in hindsight. Disliked it from day 1 A waste of a list space and ultimately an entire season of experimenting "in the hope that he might solve this or that".... The club also seriously needs a decent sports psychologist. It STILL doesn't get up and win often enough when the expectations are high or in big games facing a pretty hostile crowd. It's either a soft underbelly and/or poor coaching / game style as witnessed by four consecutive losses in finals at the G. Possibly a bit of both! We are STILL also a very ordinary team in wet or greasy conditions. That needs fixing in the off season... not ignoring and continuing on as if all is fine. We also traded out or watched on as most of our speedy players left the club which resulted in a pretty sluggish team (foot speed to get the pill to the outside or get to the loose ball/oppo on the outside) become even more bogged down and sluggish. THIS ONE WAS SUPER COSTLY IMHO and now needs solving as it has impacted any ability we had to transistion the ball with speed into the 50 and give our forwards a fighting chance more often. Hunt was a big part of our 2021 success in this area prior to his unfortunate injury which was covered off by the intercept work & clever ball use of Bowey during finals. Having said that we were certainly cruelled up forward with injuries in the second half and you always need some luck in this regard to get through to a PF let alone a GF. However that does not explain away four losses on the trot.

FCS get a new forward line coach. Been calling this since half way through 2022. Would Gary Ablet Jnr be available? That's if he'd be willing. The lack of method, craft. leading and the number of poor deliveries is laughable. Whatever Choco's doing with his goal kicking academy isn't working. How Kozzy can't split the middle from 30 meters out directly in front is mind boggling. Often struggles to make the distance even from there. His approach / method has not changed one iota this season under Choco. No penetration and rarely converts. Ditto Spargo and Chandler. Our other smalls / small - mediums rarely hit the scoreboard either. Same with our mids. We just aren't getting the return from the above in front of goal.

And his accuracy from set shots.

Imagine having a dopple ganger of May up forward who could kick straight... ughh

Shocking first three quarters. A complete liability. Thought he turned things around a little in the 4th. Can't recall sighting Sparrow much in the first half either. And what's happened to Viney!!?? Three of his last four finals appearances have been ordinary to say the least. And the other was barely 'ok' compared to his usual H&A standards. He had an amazing 2021 finals series and has pretty much turned to crud since.

Forward craft, forward pressure and ground ball gets inside 50 and at CBs. Getting severely beaten at CB clearances much of the time now. All need addressing. The way we bring the ball into the forward line. Continuing to attempt to play smalls & small mediums in Key Positions. Having it fail time and time again. Yet continuing to persist with it as if at some point it's going to pay off. Well guess what Simon, it hasn't worked all season and didn't work AGAIN tonight with Kozzy. Mind you some of the delivery too him was just ridiculously stupid with a few exceptions. Goal kicking and the ability to choose the correct method! Example, some players using their burst speed to escape congestion 40 meters out 'directly in front' (or thereabouts) but instead of continuing on, steadying and kicking it from straight in front with a straight leg kick, we take a few steps and try and hack it around the corner and miss!! (Kozzy & Lingers last week from the advantage, Tracc tonight in the 2nd quarter). Another ordinary game from Chandler for mine. Far too many in the back half to keep holding his place. AMW a chance next season but even then i'm not sure he'll make the grade. Seriously should have kept Bedford. Did we consider matching GWS's offer or were we just happy to let him go without a fight? Gave away any speed we had in Baker (probably the right call), Hunt (fair enough to a degree as he had a shocking 2022) but to also seemingly not fight all that hard for Bedford? Our last really zippy small on the list outside of Kozzy & AMW that had showed he had potential with his few limited entries as sub, then straight back to Casey. Now we need some speed, class and finish in in the middle (outside mid), we probably need a player to fight for Linger's spot. Terrible for most of the night and hasn't been anywhere near his 2021 form (consistently) since. Maybe Howes at some point can take on this role. Or Woe who has played in this posi quite a bit at Casey although i still think he'll be a better outside mid at some point. No neither of them have the tank right now but if we can get them up to speed a little more in the off-season. Their ball skills and strength at the contest will be a big step up on that of Lingers imv. And we simply have to land a Tall Power Forward who can take clutch grabs and kick clutch goals. Very draining and frustrating watching this team blow so many gettable chances for two seasons now. How good was May tonight though? Worried about how long he'll have left as well. Also thought Spargo was very good on his return. Smith did ok up forward in the 2nd & 3rd i thought. McVee VG until his rookie mistake towards the end. There were others who tried their guts out such as Hunter & Max but still didn't impact much. Can't think of too many others who stood up but after such a harrowing exit 2 years running i'm probably not noticing a whole lot either. The decision to sub Schache 👎🏼 The decision to sub Scache then leave him on the bench when Macca had had a mare in the 1st half (after a shocker the week before) 🤷‍♂️👎🏼 The club has also just created a finals flopper rod for its back. There'll be so much pressure now just to win even one final as all eyes will be on us expecting us to fail and all clubs will reckon they're a chance as we have proven it to be fact now. Good luck with that going forward.

To the [censored] Demon supporter behind me (we were just back of the main cheer squad in M4) who complained about me behind my back .... "He's not even part of the cheer squad and he's screaming all night" Firstly i wished i'd heard that directly and not 2nd hand after i'd left the ground. Secondly, i am part of the CS (paid up member more than three years). And maybe you could join in next time instead of whining all night about ppl in front standing up. Other than that, losing another very winnable final, wondering why we picked Schache and then didn't use him, had so many horrid disposals and forward entries, crappy forward craft most of the night and missing too many set shots, i enjoyed the rest of the night.

Just cant win enough centre clearances

Good effort to get in front but so much wastage. Tracc & Viney coming inside bah. They have a spare in defence you cant kick to the top of the square! Find a man or go over to the fat side, Why are we not using the snap on tight angle shots? Our forward craft is just rediculously bad. Not great at ground level inside 50 bar Kozzy on a few occasions and Fritta's crumb further out in that quarter.

Is it time to go Neuclear..... Schache on to take over a fair wack of the CBs? Max to take anything forward of center and also push forward? Scache takes the defensive half contests. Getting smashed at CBs anyway. What's to lose?

If he hadn't checked out ....but also Ruckmen rarely make it as sub. Can't recall one?

Didnt book tickets through the D.A. but sitting right in the throng haha

Love to see Goody start the match in the box tonight. Make sure the boys are playing the game in the shape / style he's expecting first. If all's well then he heads down as per normal after the first 15 mins or so or from 2nd quarter onwards

Good luck to all our boys. Let's go Demons! Bring the heat!!

Make of it what you will.... Ye olde Barassi pub in Richmond, Mt View, usually flies the two club's flags and almost always both flags are on show. The Demons flag is in full flight While the Blues one is tangled around the pole and not on show

Fellow Minions and beloved d'landers attending the game tonight ... yes that's you.... Please ask yourself, are we just supporters or can we add to this match as barrackers, just as we did on QB against the filth! ....I EMPLORE EVERY ONE OF YOU....TO STAND TOGETHER AS ONE MIGHTY DEMON ARMY TONIGHT. I KNOW MANY ON HERE ARE ALREADY GREAT BARRACKERS AND NEED NO ENCOURAGEMENT BUT LET'S LIFT THE ROOF OFF. AS GREAT AS THEY ARE (and i'm sure there are plemty on here...i'm also one of them albeit nothing like the full on serious players that lead them like Ryan, WC etc) DON'T LEAVE TOO MUCH OF THE HEAVY LIFTING TO THE OFFICIAL D.A. BE EXTRA LOUD TONIGHT NO MATTER WHERE YOU'RE SITTING (EVEN THE MCC) RIGHT FROM THE OPENING BOUNCE!!!! LET'S GIVE THE BOYS A HUGE LIFT AS THE 19TH MAN AND BRING EM HOME NO QUARTER TILL THE FINAL SIREN! CARN THE MIGHTY DEMONS!

He should be but his performances in his last three matches or so, including the small entre' he played at senior level were bog ordinary. I'm not sure why he was re-signed and the non-selection of late confirms that the FD have zero confidence in what he might bring on the day. There was even the talk of looking to play Disco forward, that's how bare the cupboard is. Maybe those performances were post the re-sign? Hope he turns it around but not good signs at the end of the Casey season.