Demon Dynasty

Ugle Hagen what a mark. Talk about class. Love to have him at the redlegs

Im not sure why the FD would name Fullo. Unless there's a last minute out like Petty or JVR he won't be playing. Last week was the perfect set up to bring him in and all he got was an emergency and no game time since the Match against the Blues which seems like an eternity now. He should play for Casey this week at least but barring more injury to KFs i can't see him getting a game this season now unless he had two or three outstanding games, kicked about 9 to 10 goals and had a big ruck chop out game/s on top. Agree on Hunter's games so far at Casey. Not inspiring at all and doesn't look to have built a tank yet for VFL level let alone AFL. Can't believe we're looking to bring back another player from injury too early who is miles off being up to playing at the level. He would also make our slow transition game of late, slower. Which is saying something.

Plausible 55

Not just that, who's playing the 1.5 intercept role of Lever? Neither Tommo or T- Mac are really up to that.

My ideal changes vs the Saints... Outs: Lever (inj), Billings, BBB, Bowey In: JVR*, Langdon, Fullarton*, Woe Petty to Lever's role (won't happen but should). Replaced by JVR. Fullo for BBB (won't happen but should) Langdon for Billings (will happen) Woey for Bowey (should happen but probably won't). I'm not sure Simon's fixation with Petty forward is such a great thing. When a key player is out sometimes you have to be like water. Formless. Water can flow or it can crash. With Lever's replacement... be water Simon. It's ok... Petry can go back for a few games. Sestan as the sub adding a HF / Mid tactical option if Chandler or Sparrow bomb out or a medium - small forward or mid get injured (won't happen). Sestan is probably a good 4 to 6 weeks away from having an AFL tank that would see him cope with even three quarters let alone four, as mentioned by SG already. But...he can impact at AFL for a quarter or two and hit the scoreboard. As a tactical sub from roughly any time mid way through the third quarter he would be a great addition. Ok so if someone goes down early it's a risk but not a huge one imho. Simon just needs to get into Ollie's ear before he runs out and tell him... "you in the big leagues now, they watchin' you now, this is where you make it, this is where you make it, this is where you make it.... Permanent!

Could this have something to do with work rate, ability to get from contest to contest (fitness), ability to play a mid field role effectively (experience factor) and (as far as i understand from more expert track watchers) our coaches almost always playing a +1 in defence (a kick behind the ball) and allowing most of our oppo's a +1 (or more in some cases apparently) at stoppage? In terms of work rate / experience / fitness, I’m not including Tracc so much as he is often pushing forward a fair bit and having to use energy / effort to try and score. But then there's the remainder. Clarry... off to a slow start but in two of the last three weeks has started showing signs of getting back to somewhere near his usual rating levels. Let's hope that continues as that would be a great outcome to build on in the back half. Viney... Started off beautifully. However, ever since Rnd 4 vs the Crows his form has slowly ebbed away. possibly copping a heavy tag or maybe the stinger issue flaring up? Here's Viney's average stats and Ratings from Rnds 0 to 4 vs Rnds 5 to 9. He has improved on the tackling side and clearances but dropped away significantly in almost all other areas. In particular his two way running (rebounds & inside 50s both down), intercepts, one percenters and score involvements. Turnovers also up substantially since Rnd 4. His player rating down a whopping 28% vs the first five rounds. #7 J Viney Rnds 0 - 4 Rnds 5 - 9 % Change Contested Poss 10.8 9.0 -16.7 Uncontested Poss 12.2 11.2 -8.2 Effective Disposals* 14.8 12.6 -14.9 Disposal Effeciency % 67.9 65.8 -2.1 Contested Marks* 0.2 0.0 -100.0 Marks inside 50* 0.2 0.2 0.0 One Percenters* 2.8 1.6 -42.9 Clearances* 4.2 5.0 19.0 Rebound 50s* 2.6 2.0 -23.1 Inside 50s* 4.8 4.2 -12.5 Tackles* 5.0 7.2 44.0 Score Involvements* 5.2 2.8 -46.2 Meters Gained 377.6 382.6 1.3 Turnovers* 4.2 5.8 38.1 Intercepts* 4.0 1.2 -70.0 Tackles Inside 50* 1.0 1.2 20.0 Time On Ground % 81.6 76.0 -5.6 Goals* 0.6 0.0 -100.0 Hit Outs to Adv* 0.0 0.0 - *DD's Player Rating 3.9 2.8 -28.4 Sparrow...Usually the next in line through the middle (last season and beyond) behind Clarry, Tracc & Viney (sometimes Gus also) but this year is starting to be overlooked on a few occasions (zero CBAs vs Dogs & Eagles) and played elsewhere. I'd love to know in what role as he just isn't the same when not being played through the middle imho. After chatting to him at training about what role he was playing when not in the middle, he indicated he wasn’t exactly sure. He did state that he enjoyed going through the middle the most however and that statement was after a decent performance through the middle (possibly in the second half) of a match that escapes me. ANB... worked very well against the Blues (and Eagles?). However are we potentially giving up too much of his usual two way running to cover off for Tracc & Clarry in the pocket role on the fat side of stoppages or is he still playing this role post 666? Picket... As per ANB. A very handy addition but again are we potentially giving up some serious goal opportunities and pressure inside 50 due to time / energy spent through the middle. I'm not saying don't play Kozzy in the middle either. Just questioning the amount of time spent and getting the balance right between mid v forward minutes. Are we recouping the amount of time spent through the middle in terms of the extra score involvements, goal assists (hitting targets inside 50) and effective clearances?

That rating is from the last two years DZ. So effectively he never dropped away, at least in this aspect anyway. We should never forget some of the mammoth efforts from the champ over many years now to either keep us in games, nearly drag us over the line on his own back or even change the course of a match to help win them with pretty much no drop off except for a number of rounds so far this season. And we should also remember that when Clarry is on he is at another level to most mids, even some of the greats we have come to know over the last 6 to 8 years. There are a number that have come on in the last 18 months of course that are now matching those feats in certain matches. And as we witnessed over the weekend, a rampaging Reid has now announced his arrival and will (most likely) be something else altogether.

100% ... to not consider tags or coolers on the likes of Cripps, Walsh, DeGoey, ND, Butters, JHF & Reid is just pure coaching insanity of the highest order. Goodwin is not alone either as the theory goes "you will upset the team defence". Well so what. If you don't you are more than likely going to lose anyway.

Yep and we also (STILL) don't deal with expectations very well it seems. I'd love to see the W L ratio in games where we are odds on fav to win like Sunday. I doubt it would be very pretty. There's still a problem in the upstairs dept alot of the time. That shows in the way we open matches too. Far too meek and mild. There's no manic white line fever across the board of late with this group bar a few usual exceptions that comtinue to fly the flag. The hunger for the attack and manic pressure for four quarters (across the board) is no longer happening for whatever reason. A fair amount of complacency appears to have set in to this group so far this season which is a real worry. Possibly the lack of depth on this list and pressure for positions in general? Re-signing the likes of Schache, the failed Grundy experiment i(nstead of going after another quality mid) and extending fairly lengthy contracts to those who are barely just fringe players couldn't have helped surely. To be fair we were cruelled with late season injuries in 2023 which derailed our finals campaign. However the ruthlessness Goodwin preached (that was needed throughout the club) at the end of 2020 and became apparent through 21 and much of 22 & 23 doesn't feel all that apparent in 2024 for mine. Not across the board anyway and for four quarters anyway.

There are supposedly remnants of the Borealis storm still smacking into the atmosphere. This can cause a temporary disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere and is known to effect the cognitive ability and clarity of its inhabitants. I would therefore take no notice of any ramblings and rantings from usually sane D'land contributors this week as the G scale levels are no doubt off the charts. This would also help explain the loss on Sunday. The boys were obviously showing the effects of the solar storms, not unlike a bad case of sun stroke. This solar syndrome is commonly referred to by scientists as a 'G stroke'.

He could if he turns it over as often as he does at Casey when playing through the middle. Possibly worse given the additional pace and pressure around the ball at AFL level. Also he would not effectively be replacing Sparrow's mid field role (this week anyway) as Sparrow did not play any minutes starting as a mid (at CBs) on Sunday.

He played as a forward with GWS for a few years early on and never really established himself here. I'm not adverse to the 'idea' Deevs but i reckon that experiment would need to be trialled via Casey for a good block of games first. See how he fares and go from there.

I must have missed something here. Clarry is now Clarice?

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2024/05/21/who-are-the-afls-most-clutch-players-champion-data-names-the-top-15/

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 9, 2024 vs H&A Season 2023 Player 2024 Rating 2024 Rank 2023 Rating % Change vs 2023 2023 Rank Change in Rank vs 2023 C Petracca 4.470 1 4.707 -5.0 2 1 Max Gawn 4.118 2 3.350 22.9 7 5 Steven May 3.743 3 3.213 16.5 8 5 C Oliver 3.693 4 5.002 -26.2 1 -3 Jake Lever < 3.681 5 3.131 17.6 9 4 Jack Viney 3.398 6 3.707 -8.3 4 -2 A Tomlinson* 3.175 7 2.915 8.9 14 7 Ed Langdon 3.106 8 3.057 1.6 10 2 T Rivers 3.095 9 3.696 -16.3 5 -4 C Salem < 3.093 10 2.993 3.3 12 2 Judd McVee 2.980 11 2.320 28.4 22 11 A N-Bullen 2.915 12 2.532 15.1 20 8 T McDonald 2.869 13 2.054 39.7 27 14 T Woewodin < > 2.658 14 1.406 89.0 34 20 T Sparrow 2.623 15 2.811 -6.7 16 1 J Bowey < 2.615 16 2.820 -7.3 15 -1 B Howes 2.463 17 - - - - C Windsor < 2.385 18 - - - - M Hore 2.273 19 - - - - J Billings > < 2.268 20 - - - - K Pickett 2.253 21 2.101 7.2 26 5 K Chandler 2.130 22 2.265 -6.0 23 1 B Fritsch 1.963 23 2.324 -15.5 21 -2 J V Rooyen 1.875 24 2.170 -13.6 25 1 S McAdam* 1.675 25 - - - - B Laurie* < > 1.463 26 2.235 -34.5 24 -2 D Turner 1.425 27 1.825 -21.9 31 4 Ben Brown < 1.391 28 1.941 -28.3 28 0 H Petty 1.228 29 2.718 -54.8 19 -10 C Spargo* 1.200 30 1.886 -36.4 29 -1 K Tholstrup* 1.100 31 - - - - J Schache* 0.700 32 1.525 -54.1 33 1 L Hunter - - 2.939 - 13 - J Melksham - - 1.599 - 32 - Team Rating 66.00 69.86 -5.5 Top 6 23.10 24.43 -5.4 Bottom 6 13.77 15.17 -9.2 * Played less than two full matches (in total) < Subbed out at least once or more (player rating could be somewhat comprised) > Subbed in at least once or more (player rating could be somewhat comprised) Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Round 9, 2024 Optus - Eagles vs Demons *Update to the earlier Round 9 Ratings post which had the previous round (Rnd 8 against the Blues) as the header. Mods if you are able to fix the earlier post's header by any chance then feel free to delete THIS duplicate & thanks. Player Rating Rank 2023 Season Rating % Change vs 2023 C Oliver 4.700 1 5.002 -6.0 Max Gawn 4.075 2 3.350 21.6 C Petracca 4.025 3 4.707 -14.5 C Salem 3.675 4 2.993 22.8 A N-Bullen 3.275 5 2.532 29.3 T Rivers 3.025 6 3.696 -18.2 J Bowey 2.825 7 2.820 0.2 Jack Viney 2.775 8 3.707 -25.1 K Pickett 2.650 9 2.101 26.1 J McVee 2.625 10 2.320 13.1 B Howes 2.400 11 - - T Woewodin > 61% 2.400 11 1.406 70.7 B Fritsch 2.175 13 2.324 -6.4 J Billings 2.125 14 - - S McAdam 1.675 15 - - K Chandler 1.650 16 2.265 -27.2 T McDonald 1.475 17 2.054 -28.2 T Sparrow 1.275 18 2.811 -54.6 C Windsor 1.100 19 - - H Petty 0.925 20 2.718 -66.0 B Brown 0.850 21 1.941 -56.2 S May 0.750 22 3.213 -76.7 Jake Lever < 7% 0.200 23 3.131 -93.6 Team Score 52.45 69.86 -24.9 Top 6 22.78 24.43 -6.8 Bottom 6 6.38 15.17 -58.0 < Subbed out TOG > Subbed in TOG Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Reckon there's been a dusting off of a round table and a good Powwow a happening somewhere. There's no way SG would leave that result on the table and festering. Some honest open discussions / reviews had today me thinks. Expect to see a number of changes this week. That was an unacceptable performance.

Yes for Bowsa or even Billings to assist with transition chains and the last kick coming inside 50. Kolt in to share the 4th mid role with Sparrow as the tactical sub for a block of 4 to 6 matches to see how he handles it? Although Sparrow didn't attend any CBs vs the Eagles so what is his role at these times? Run with cooler on someome post bounce or a medium HF role shared with someone else like McAdam? If so i'm not sure that's working either. So if the FD decides "no Sparrow at CBs" this week for whatever reason... just bring Kolt in for Sparrow to attend a fair % of CBs and Sparrow plays the tactical sub?

You might be on to something there DZ. Not necessarily all but maybe a fair percentage? Covid is supposedly running amok in Melb at present from what i hear on the grapevine. Probably unlikely but who knows. Stranger things have happened.

Round 8, 2024 MCG - Blues vs Demons The last time we had a Team Rating worse than this was Rnd 10, 2023 vs port in Adelaide with a 51.85 That was also during the indigenous "Narrm" rounds . I’m not sure that means anything but a pattern is starting to emerge when we play under that name. The bottom 6 rated players in this match were a mile off the 2023 average rating, down a massive 58%. I point this out as many scribes often say you're only as good as your bottom six. Clarry finishing in the No.1 spot is some sort of positive yes? That's two weeks from three where he has lifted substantially following a relatively poor start to the season (for him). Woey also on limited sub game time of only 61% coming in equal 11th spot! For such a young inexperienced player in a losing team this is a fabulous result and an indication that he is starting to find his feet. After finishing in second spot last week vs the Blues, May uncharacteristically posted his worst rating in some time, down 77% on his 2023 rating. He wasn't alone with a number having some very poor to ordinary results including Petty (-66% vs 2023), Brown (-56%), Sparrow (-55%), T-Mac (-28%), Chandler (-27%), Viney (-25%), Rivers (-18%) and Tracc (-14%). Our KFs have been an ongoing problematic theme for a long time now. We are obviously thin through the middle without Gus. All good if all the key guns are firing on all cylinders but so far this season we have only seen that happen in roughly four of the first five rounds. Something i would like to address further in response to a post by Watson 11 above which i will attempt to get to later if i can find the time. Player Rating Rank 2023 Season Rating % Change vs 2023 C Oliver 4.700 1 5.002 -6.0 Max Gawn 4.075 2 3.350 21.6 C Petracca 4.025 3 4.707 -14.5 C Salem 3.675 4 2.993 22.8 A N-Bullen 3.275 5 2.532 29.3 T Rivers 3.025 6 3.696 -18.2 J Bowey 2.825 7 2.820 0.2 Jack Viney 2.775 8 3.707 -25.1 K Pickett 2.650 9 2.101 26.1 J McVee 2.625 10 2.320 13.1 B Howes 2.400 11 - - T Woewodin > 61% 2.400 11 1.406 70.7 B Fritsch 2.175 13 2.324 -6.4 J Billings 2.125 14 - - S McAdam 1.675 15 - - K Chandler 1.650 16 2.265 -27.2 T McDonald 1.475 17 2.054 -28.2 T Sparrow 1.275 18 2.811 -54.6 C Windsor 1.100 19 - - H Petty 0.925 20 2.718 -66.0 B Brown 0.850 21 1.941 -56.2 S May 0.750 22 3.213 -76.7 Jake Lever < 7% 0.200 23 3.131 -93.6 Team Score 52.45 69.86 -24.9 Top 6 22.78 24.43 -6.8 Bottom 6 6.38 15.17 -58.0 < Subbed out TOG > Subbed in TOG Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Narrm strikes again! Are we sure it really means Melbourne and not some sort of word that results in subject matter being cursed with bad luck etc!?

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Laurie still turning the ball over too often through the middle at VFL level. Sometimes under very little pressure too. Hits the panic button and clangers it straight back to the oppo. Has some serious work to do here before you'd reconsider bringing him back in imho. If we were going to trial anyone from Casey i'd rather Kolt for a block of matches before Laurie (at this point). The guy at least has some wheels, white line fever and hits in hard once the ball bounces.

The kick - mark game is ok at times when you need to slow play for momentum purposes to cool an oppo run on or to ice a quarter or match winning lead in red time. To start the match (and continue it for lengthy periods throughout) playing this method is going to slowly cost you on the scoreboard both offensively and defensively. And lose you alot of matches againat the top liners and occasionaly against lessor likes as we witnessed yesterday. Especially as the game progresses, fatigue starts to set in & skills drop off slowly or in some cases depending on the player and where he's at (eg; fitness / form / coming back from injury too early ... eg; Bowsa) ... dramatically. It also doesn't work well when forwards don't play in front a kick up the field and/or don't work hard enough (or are unable to for whatever reason) to present as the next outlet for those coming off HB or through the middle under pressure. To see our lack of forward craft in general still persisting this far down the track post 2021 is infuriating and super frustrating. Especially when you watch many other clubs do it better, a number of which were well behind us (in general) in their development in 2021. To move away from the kick - mark rubbiah you would probably need to switch out a few players whose DNA is based on playing a mostly short / possession game such as Salo and Bowsa. T-Mac has also had this side trained into him in the off season probably because he couldn't be trusted with longer passes (say 30+ meters). We are overweight these players now and lack serious running power off HB. Aside from Rivers, who tends to go on a solo and hang on to the pill for too long too often and McVee, if he feels confident in working off his opponent up the field a little. The only options i can think of to replace the likes of those two at present (via Casey) are Woey (comes in from Sub) and Moniz. Moniz would definitely give us more running power off HB vs say Bowsa and personally i think he'd bring a better game at ground level plus a little more pressure around stoppage. Salo is a work in progress through the middle but TBH im not sure it's a project worth persisting with at this point. I'd much rather see Salo moved into the Billings role and use his kicking skills to try and find targets with the last kick inside 50. He can also kick the odd goal on the run (rarely but it does happen). I'd also look to bring in Kolt from here and just blood him through the middle for the rest of the season with a view to seeing IF he can play this role in place of the likes of Sparrow or Salo. Both of whom just don't add enough value here for mine. At least trial it for four to six weeks and go from there. So to change the above plus try & fix some of our forward woes you are looking at... Out: Bowsa, Billings & Sparrow (sub), BBB, Petty In: Moniz, Kolt, Woe, Fullarton & JVR Sparrow as sub, Salo into the Billings role. Moniz takes the Bowsa role. Kolt takes the Sparrow role and potentially Sparrow tactically subbed in. In the first few matches you would probably need to ease Kolt into the Sparrow role by initially playing him as sub first. The other option is to also bring in Sestan to replace Salo but probably a tad early in terms of his tank / knowing the role / second efforts. I'd experiment with it though against the likes of the Kangas & Tigers to see what he can bring to the table playing the Billings role vs Salo and at least find out where his development (want) is at and go from there. We also desperately need to get Clarry back to peak fitness / form but i'd say that horse has probably bolted for season 2024 now. Bottom line though.... if we continue on this current path we'll be lucky to make the eight let alone thinking of a prelim so you may as well try / trial things to see where the list amd certain players are at in orfer to prep yourself for the trade period and off season, hopefully setting ourselves up for a tilt at 2025.

Agree but again he is presently struggling to play out 4 quarters at a high level for Casey. He also seems to lack the white line manic attack at the ball to take the next step. Might find it as the year goes on but will need to imv if he's to get the call up. Always looks better playing inside 50. Pretty good by foot as well. Is he a possibility to replace Billings? Kicked four goals yesterday but very quiet after half time.