Demon Dynasty

The FD said he should be right for Rnd 21 so he will definitely be right for Rnd 22 yes!!?? Given their history on this we can now all relax & sleep easy!!

Sports editor must've been desperate for a headline. Anything to give the WA fans some sort of hope to cling on to for 2024 Hilarious stuff from Peter gobbledegook Sumich

6 weeks is a long time in football it seems

Nice win... i told me lil storm cloud and son the Blues were a good chance all week with the Pies coming back from a rare away game (and a biggen at that) plus a filthy lurgy floating about at their dirty lair. They just laughed and thought i was crazy. Usually they're right of course!

Bin???

👍🏻👏🏼

Reckon he was probably one week extra at Casey away from playing. Played well against the burgers but still looked a tad under done imv

Hopefully 22 (Williamson?) isn't there. Have a sneaky suspicion someone in his family (mum or aunty) might be a Toiges fanatic.

I don't think many are suggesting he should replace but your last sentance is on the money. According to the SC/FD, apparantly he's not there for cover though as he still can't get a gig, even with Sparrow out.

That makes sense yes

Can't see how Smith can contimue to be a dynamic sub if he doesn't get the occasional full game to maintain touch, form, match fitness & confidence in them.

Dunstan by a fair way on form atm BBP. Also goes pretty well inside, especially at distributing to players well outside the inner ring by hand which opens up the lanes and looks coming inisde 50. Nice pick up on the May / Lever / Tomo combo. Prior to his knee going against North in 21 that was the go to line up. Just got unlucky imv. Is now back to career best form.

I don't see that as Hollywood. Maybe a reflection of some lost speed in the last few years and is therefore looking to use brute strength to try and evade more often. More through necessity? Gets caught out alot trying the fend off now, even at VFL level.

I agree with that. The FD are probably wanting to bring in Petty though to take Balta. Trouble is he will only be (likely) more effective at that side of the role than Smith if he's at peak fitness. Is he at peak fitness? Pretty sure Smith is.

Haven't seen either of them playing a run with or tagging role at Casey. If they have it must have been a very very loose version as i haven't noticed any serious attention being paid to a particular opponent. Not that there is a huge necessity for the above at VFL level most weeks. In terms of two way running and general ability to get from contest to contest, Harmes probably has the edge. However, in general play, especially in contested, congested play, extraction for first use, clean chains of possessions and accurate distribution to receivers in the clear by hand, Dunstan is a fair way ahead of Harmes (to this point) imv. Both players are about a 50/50 proposition by foot so a neutral outcome there.

Most likely... > Petty as defensive forward on Balta > Hibb for Dusty Dunstan was a monty for Sparrow surely? Love Harmes but the difference between him & Dunstan in the last two matches were chalk & cheese. Then again i might need to visit Spec Savers!

Not the same Harmes we saw up to 2021 and even parts of 2022. Heart & soul player who bleeds red & blue. Appears to have lost some of his former burst speed. His average effective disposals in 2023 (7.7) are down about 50% on his 2021 season (14.4) which is a fair indicator that he's a fair way off his output from then. Hopefully he can reset in the off season and come back to somewhere near his best in 2024.

For any Toiges fans reading this post ....that word means "Cultcha"

Very difficult. Should be ready for a run with Casey from Saturday week but unfortunately they have another bye which means the earliest he'll get on the park is Sunday 13th August vs the Blues at Ikon. Maybe a slim chance provided he has no setbacks from there.

That might be needed Bubs but who knows. Certainly not me lol. Fingers crossed though as you wouldn't want Petty having the same result as he did last time he came straight back In without any Casey lead in.

Correct and if fully fit might be brought in to play that role on Balta this week. Ideally he might need a run at Casey though. Potentially one week (or more?) too early for Harry.

Have no idea if Petty is up to speed or not. Have to assume he is if we decide to bring him in. Surely Tomo has earned his stripes down back. Unless they decide Hibb is raring / ready to go for another Dusty ding dong as a horses for course in/out for Tomo (this week). Looking at the lay of the land including form vs the Crows my gut feel is.... Barring any last minute fitness hic ups, Petty is highly likely to come in for BB and play a defensive forward role on Balta, the league's No.1 intercept marking defender. Smith to stay as Sub or possibly a swap with Melk to give Smith some more serious match time and keep him at the level. Melk managed a tad to also keep him fresh.

You can't just swing a KD forward without training fot it over an extensive period.... most likely off season. May did start off his career in a brief stint as a KF but it's probably too late in his career now and you are robbing Peter to pay Paul taking him out of a Premiership defensive line up. Too small and no g'tee Fritta will return back to full fitness / form in time for finals.

Plenty of upside here. Good signing. Looking forward to seeing his development after another pre-season or two. Some VG signs in his last month or so. Reminds me a bit of the Duke with a much better kicking action. For those too young to remember...

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 19, 2023 vs H&A Season 2022 Three key aspects that if we can sort them we give ourselves a VG chance of making another PF, and who knows from there... 1. The obvious one is getting Clarry back and somewhere near or at his best top line levels. 2. Solve the Steven May mystery. Might only be a mystery outside the four walls and he is just coming off what has been an amazing two years of AA level form, which is unsustainable given his age. Alternatively this issue (ie; age factor) and/or some sort of physical hindrance that us outsiders are unaware of. If it's the latter then IMHO we seriously need to attempt to get him back towards the 21/22 AA levels we saw from the champ by carefully managing him through a fine tuning program vs the likes of North & the Hawks. 3. Decide on who is taking the No.1 KTF role between the likes of BB (reportedly carrying a knee issue), Schache (unlikely as he seems out-of-favour with Goody & the FD even though in VG form at Casey the last few months) and/or (as a huge outside chance) maybe Macca if he can recover and find form/fitness prior to finals. He is due back in terms of full training next week so we shall see. Alternatively if none of those talls are serious medium-term options and/or too risky to plan as regulars coming in to finals, then we need to back in one of either Smith or Petty to play as the quasi Tall-Medium forward. Using the one we aren't selecting in this role as the sub. Tomlinson is in career best form. He can handle the Petty role with ease and may well be the better of the two here right at this moment with Petty coming back from multiple injuries. Between Tomo and Hibb we can manage nicely down back, selecting between either of those each week, depending on the oppo's tall / small mix and match ups. For example it might be Hibb this week to take on the likes of Dusty... albeit i still think Hibb is another week at Casey away from hitting AFL level fitness. An important phase coming up for Goody & Co. in a number of aspects. Fingers crossed and good luck fellas. Not easy! Player 2023 Rating 2023 Rank 2022 Rating % Change vs 2022 2022 Rank Change in Rank vs 2022 C Oliver 5.285 1 5.320 -0.66 1 0 C Petracca 4.644 2 4.456 4.22 2 0 A Brayshaw 3.822 3 3.839 -0.44 5 2 T Rivers < 3.665 4 2.423 51.26 18 14 Jack Viney 3.632 5 3.971 -8.54 3 -2 J Jordon > < 3.569 6 3.164 12.80 9 3 Max Gawn 3.402 7 3.643 -6.62 8 1 Ed Langdon 3.204 8 3.109 3.06 11 3 Steven May 3.169 9 3.971 -20.20 3 -6 B Grundy 3.159 10 - - - - C Salem 3.139 11 3.363 -6.66 7 -4 Jake Lever 3.031 12 2.703 12.13 14 2 A Tomlinson 3.029 13 2.079 45.70 22 9 T Sparrow 2.915 15 2.665 9.38 16 1 L Hunter 2.918 14 - - - - Jake Bowey < 2.875 16 2.856 0.67 13 -3 J Harmes > 2.804 17 3.082 -9.02 12 -5 M Hibberd < 2.589 18 2.613 -0.92 17 -1 H Petty < 2.571 19 2.392 7.48 19 0 A N-Bullen 2.499 20 2.688 -7.03 15 -5 K Chandler < 2.451 21 - - - - K Pickett 2.281 22 2.118 7.70 21 -1 Judd McVee 2.246 23 - - - - B Fritsch 2.230 24 1.936 15.19 27 3 J V Rooyen 2.143 25 - - - - T McDonald 2.054 26 1.967 4.42 26 0 Ben Brown < 1.941 27 1.762 10.16 29 2 C Spargo > < 1.886 28 1.981 -4.80 24 -4 Joel Smith 1.798 29 2.239 -19.70 20 -9 T Woewodin 1.533 30 - - - - J Melksham > 1.407 31 1.947 -27.73 25 -6 J Schache * 1.375 32 - - - - B Laurie < > * 1.300 33 - - - - D Turner < * 1.075 34 - - - - Team Rating 70.65 69.48 1.69 * Played less than two full matches (in total) < Subbed Out at least once or more (player rating could be comprised somewhat) > Subbed In at least once or more (player rating could be comprised somewhat) Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com