Demon Dynasty

I doubt the likes of Balls would be allowed to play anymore Red! We do lack a genuine mongrel heavy hitter though. May is probably about as close as we've got. He might not have seen the incident but wow... i'd be straight at Draper if i had seen it and at him throughout the game thereafter ...on or off the ball.

Disgraceful act that one...accidental coathanger on Draper next time around would be unfortunate Only intent was to cause injury. We lack a hit man that won't take this [censored]. More players need to fly the flag in situations like this IMV. Game may have turned right there had we done so. P.s. bring back Lewis!

I understand Mr Old ... but his form wasn't up to his usual standard imv prior to missing the last few. Possibly due to the reason/s he missed in the first place? He was certainly in our top two at Casey (even no.1) so probably correct re coming back in. My view is i'd like to see the FD prod his competitive spirit a tad more and also see him in tip top shape / form with some real fire in the belly before coming back

100% Dazzle. The Toiges may not have a very full list and bit of an ageing one but they'll always be at the contest giving it eveything and they still have the experience to get a job done on a good day. We also arent the same team unless all of Max, May & Lever are in. Any one (or more) of those missing and we look gettable. The Cats were considered over the hill by many as well and while still a VG team, they probably wouldn't actually get the silver for a while. I was pretty much in that camp after 2021 although i still had an open mind that in any sport, anything's possible and to never / ever underestimate an opponent. Do so at your peril. A mere 5% off or so at this level (in a team sense) you are a chance to lose to most teams imv unless they're also having an off day.

Yes good point. I had a vivid dream about 5/6 years ago that we played off against this mob in a GF. Game up for grabs with 5 minutes to go. Wondering if it will happen (in my lifetime haha). Something i thought was beyond the realm of 'possible' 5 years back (or thereabouts). I laughed it off at the time as complete fantasy and every year since.

Same coach has out smarted us in most games OD. They way he signed after the siren was almost like... "pretty straight forward fellas, nice work". Obviously there's much more to it in the lead up and on game day than that...but you get my drift.

Something to be said about deck chairs however, for a smattering of players their form in the this first five rounds is a fair way off their season 2022 form. That can be turned around in a week or two however. Or... a few changes made might assist. The worry for mine are the differences between our best and worst, especially the two starts against Brisvegas & Essendrug. Goodwin needs to take charge here in a group sense. i can understand one match from five. But to come out seemingly not switched on for the start of 2 out of 5 at season's start!?? There's a potential for a not-so-good pattern to form here and we can't afford 3 in 6 or even 3 in 8 at this level. Time for Goody to do a bit of soul searching before we get deeper into the mire. The old footy trueism "it's 80% above the shoulders" was never more applicable right now for the mighty Demons and its head coach (with input from support crew). A bit of tough love & home truths might need to be handed out to some or all.

Harmes - probably our best but would really love to see him in ripping form / fitness prior to coming back. At least one to two more weeks at Casey might be just the tonic imv. Dunstan - not the prettiest of footballers but doesn't need to be. This bloke is battle hardened and a brute around the ball. Very nice in traffic. Doesn't panic and quite good by hand. Just ok by foot but its his poise, decision making and toughness over the ball that wins the day for me over Sparrow. I'd be bringing him in for at least a block of games starting against the Tiges. Make a great interchange tag team with Viney sharing his role imho. Might also help keep the mids (especially Viney) fresher and add a point of difference. In a style / similarity sense he reminds me (at times) of a poor man's Diesal Williams (no offence intended towards Dunstan... with diesal a hard act for anyone to follow). Schache - looks to be gaining more confidence by the week. Finding his marking form and goal kicking range/accuracy, he's ready for another stint in the big league replacing Melk (for now). We need a jumping jack tall up forward. I'd persevere here and give him a good 4 - 5 weeks to try and find his feet and cohesion with the mids / other forwards. Laurie - in solid form (at this level) and may be ready to take another shot at the big league with Spargo injured. Might be too big a step (for now) but worth rolling the die once more. Bell - While not on our list he's turning into a very accomplished ruck / ruck rover at this level. Was almost the difference today for mine.

After watching the Casey Game In: Dunstan, Laurie, Schache, Lever (assuming he's fully recovered) Out: Sparrow, Spargo (inj), Melk, Tommo Players potentially on the fringe if someone sticks their hand up at Casey / Key player/s return from injury over the coming few weeks. Macca (BBB/Gawn) JVR (BBB/Gawn) McVee / Bowey (Should Hibberd and/or Disco bust the door down in the next few weeks/months) P.S. Harmes could also potentially fill for Spargo. Had a good hit out at Casey but might need a few more weeks to get super cherry ripe & fit?

Weighted Average Ratings up to & including Rnd 5, 2023 vs H&A Season 2022 May a bit of a worry vs his season 2022 form. Bowey, Gus & Viney also dropping away a little, albeit not quite as severe. Haven't watched or seen the results from Casey yet (about to do watch now) but surely it's time to start putting more time into Laurie and/or Moniz (Moniz might be a bit further away) in order to bring them up to the speed & intensity of AFL as Melk's eventual replacement/s? That's not to say Melk shouldn't be played where match ups / circumstances and form suggest. However, it just feels to me like now is the time to start putting more time into alternatives from here. Player 2023 Rating 2023 Rank 2022 Rating % Change vs 2022 2022 Rank Change in Rank vs 2022 C Oliver 5.760 1 5.320 8.27 1 0 C Petracca 4.655 2 4.456 4.47 2 0 Max Gawn # < * 4.125 3 3.215 28.30 8 5 J Jordon > * 4.092 4 3.164 29.33 9 5 T Rivers 4.005 5 2.423 65.29 18 13 K Pickett 3.533 6 2.118 66.81 21 15 B Grundy # 3.505 7 - - - - A Brayshaw 3.475 8 3.839 -9.48 5 -3 Jack Viney 3.456 9 3.971 -12.97 3 -6 Jake Lever 3.369 10 2.703 24.64 14 4 A Tomlinson 3.233 11 2.079 55.51 22 11 Ed Langdon 3.120 12 3.109 0.35 11 -1 Steven May 3.075 13 3.971 -22.56 3 -10 L Hunter 3.025 14 - - - - Alex N-Bullen 2.865 15 2.688 6.58 15 0 H Petty # 2.695 16 2.392 12.67 19 3 T Sparrow 2.690 17 2.665 0.94 16 -1 J V Rooyen # 2.683 18 - - - - Bayley Fritsch 2.563 19 1.936 32.39 27 8 K Chandler 2.545 20 3.128 -18.64 10 -10 Jake Bowey 2.520 21 2.856 -11.76 13 -8 T McDonald # 2.344 22 1.939 20.89 26 4 J Harmes 2.225 23 3.082 -27.81 12 -11 Judd McVee 2.210 24 - - - - Ben Brown # < 2.033 25 1.759 15.58 29 4 C Spargo 1.935 26 1.981 -2.32 24 -2 M Hibberd * 1.788 27 2.613 -31.57 17 -10 J Melksham > 1.437 28 1.947 -26.19 25 -3 B Laurie < * 1.150 29 - - - - Team Rating 73.33 68.89 6.45 * Played less than two full matches (in total) - player rating compromised # Hit outs to advantage not counted < Subbed Out at least once or more > Subbed In at least once or more Stats courtesy of footwire.com

I would say the ratings for Bowey & Tommo were influenced a fair bit by intercepts and rebounds. Some of it made up from effective disposals also. But when you watch effective disposals from the AFL highlights package on individual players, some of these are not all that effective IMO. Some of them just end up somewhere up the field to a 50/50 contest that doesn't always favour the team at all. Aside from that the actual impact of what they brought on the day wasn't the greatest from what i witnessed as well. I had both of them in my bottom rung of players on the day but they had a few mates! Our defenders were under the pump quite a bit sadly. Not many wins in many areas at all.

Sounds like Casey OD... just a meager 1.5 hours over the opposite side

Great to see Harmsey back today. No rush to bring him back. Let him find some form, fitness & confidence here for two to three weeks. Mind you there's probably a spot there for him or Dunstan if they play a bit of a stand out as a plausible replacement for Sparrow. Might be too early for Howes but who knows... Bowey would want to have a decent game against the Toiges if Howes keeps turning up in the next block of Casey matches. Another game similar to last week from Laurie....surely a shoe in for Spargs

Yep ...the biggest offenders were probably Fritta and Kozzy (to a lessor degree?). Fritta has history here though and IMHO Goody needs him to adjust his game a tad. Difficult though as a forward's inherent tendancy is often to just blaze away. Sometimes blazing away is the best option and works but sometimes it obviously isn't. Medium / small forward role very tough area to play i would think. Split second decisions and calls under a fair bit if pressure / traffic alot of the time.

#asmuchasjadedhatesem??

100% this and/or "happy with our lot" complacency. The lack of anything "Team" let alone good/great team today was alarming. Beaten in pretty much every facet of the game by a team with over two seasons less experience (approx) is a real worry for mine. It's time for Goody to make a few swinging substantial ins / outs to send a message through this group or we can kiss this season goodbye earlier than the last one! We also don't want to go through another entire season wondering "what's going on?" with another key player not re-signing within a reasonable time. If said player performs at a very high level then fair enough he's contributing and playing his role to a T. No issues and you play him on on his merits. However, if we are getting a stack of up & down average performances with a lack of application / commitment then Goody needs to make a hard call putting more time into potential alternatives in the second half of the season eg; Moniz (assuming he is in decent form at Casey) in preparation for 2024.

Round 5, 2023 Adelaide Oval - Bombers vs Demons There's so much that could be said about today but hey... it's super easy from here to say a whole lot of stuff. Alot tougher to do than to say. Bottom line though, we seem to be in a wee bit of doggy doo. Hopefully Goody & the boys can scrape the [censored] off our boots and quickly! He might also want to hand out some Grippo to each of the boys. Talk about a case of the fumbles in slippery or wet conditions. That happens to a number of players at times of course, but it seems to be very contagious for so many at the moment. 2 bog ordinary performances out of 5 ....alarm bells should now be ringing at a decent SPL. If they aren't then we can kiss any chance of a prelim in 2023 goodbye! That was too easy for that mob today, way too easy. Clarry & Tracc the only two players to crack the 4.0 plus rating which is roughly the area you need at least 6 or more players to be to have a good chance of winning IMV. Too much left to way too few (again!!). Team rating this week a massive 13.5% off Season 2022's rating (68.89) Player Rating Rank C Oliver 6.050 1 C Petracca 5.375 2 H Petty 3.525 3 Ed Langdon 3.475 4 T Rivers 3.400 5 B Grundy # 3.350 6 Jack Viney 3.350 7 A Tomlinson 3.175 8 J Bowey 3.125 9 L Hunter 2.850 10 B Fritsch 2.750 11 A N-Bullen 2.425 12 Steven May 2.400 13 T Sparrow 2.350 14 A Brayshaw 2.250 15 K Pickett 2.100 16 J V Rooyen # 1.950 17 K Chandler 1.750 18 Judd McVee 1.225 19 J Melksham 1.125 20 J Jordon > 33% 1.025 21 T McDonald # 0.625 22 C Spargo < 38% -0.050 23 Team Score 59.65 Top 6 25.18 Bottom 6 7.70 # Hit outs to advantage not counted < Subbed out / TOG % > Subbed in / TOG % Stats courtesy of footwire.com

Thanks mate.... So Viney is marginal vs 2021 but substantial vs last season (IMO). Tracc's abscence is substantial vs 2022 & slightly more so vs 2021 I disagree re rivers being a point of diff. If he shows he is capable sure. But i've yet to witness it. There's no point having a "point of difference" if he's a much weaker "point of diff". All you're doing is giving the oppo a bit of a break every time he spends a fair chunk of time there. Kozzy's still learning but as an outside option and/or pick pocket with silky skills he is showing something on occasions. Unfortunately today wasn't one of those occasions but worth persevering with (in very small doses) IMV. I'd be seriously considering sending Gus back in there rather than say Rivers or Sparrow. Speaking of Gus, any CBA stats on him for this season + 2022 & 2021 by any chance pls? Wondering if it's worth giving Dunstan a bit of time through the middle as a filler for Viney when he's on the bench (in place of Sparrow)??

Oliver yes. Not sure about the other two Adonski. I'd like to see the CBA of this season (averages) so far vs that of the 2021 season averages. However, 9% & 10% drop off for Tracc and Viney is substantial IMV (vs 2022). Nearly 20% drop off between them. My theory is....its the combination of the CBA plus how many extras you are rolling through there.... and how far the quality of those extra drops away IF you end up rolling one (or maybe more) too many for the sake of looking for extra assists. Quality is fine but if that quality drops away too far and add to that the CBA of say Tracc & Viney dropping off significantly, then that might impact on their form (CB form/effectiveness i mean). Emphasis on might. The absence of Max is also a major factor of course. Lack of continuity (with the main crew) and also his own clearances are no doubt hurting us at times.

Too much tinkering for mine NS. It's only a theory but my view is if you add one too many extras (or thereabouts) rotating through the middle i believe you eventually water down the form (touch/cohesion with ruckman etc) of the main crew and you end up rendering the mid field into an average (or worse) version of its former dominating original set-up. IMHO this is what has happened so far this season and unless/until Goody & Co. wake up to it we are likely to see this season also fritter away slowly before our eyes. Obviously the mid field will be improved by the return of Max, however it will still remain a shadow of itself if the FD continue to water it down with too many lessor lights rotating through there far too often. Ok if you were rotating a stack of VERY high quality replacements this might not be an issue. But the gap between the main 3 to 4 and let's say the 6th or 7th is so wide it ends up costing us.

Too much Mid-Field meddling from Goody & Co. plus the addition of Grundee only (Max out) has stuffed up any cohesion and seen our better mids losing form. As a result the engine room that helps us to win/dominate is spluttering and has almost gone out as a result. Goodwin stick to the basics pls and stop tinkering so much in the middle. Too many passemgers Individual efforts instead of selfless acts Can't play wet weather / slippery footy...GRIPPO for all! Effort can't be switched on and off. We're picking and choosing when to go and it comes back to bite you at this level.... THAT's the Old Melbourne we never want to see or accept again! Some players were found out as being woefully out of form today Goodwin & co. have some serious problems to solve.

Lingers very quiet after half time and the few touches/disposals he's had have been mostly innefective

Fritta's been woeful today

So we've decided to up the pressure around the drop after the game's almost gone....again!???

There is something in this. But we've also been outworked right from the get go