Demon Dynasty

Jury's out on whether Turner will make it as a forward or defender. Some will say jury is out alltogether but i still think he's a better prospect of making it as either as the guy has a decent leap and vice like hands when he's on. He can also kick quite accurately. He does go missing quite a bit but young fellas do that and he is not supposed to be our No.1 forward. JVR should be up there somewhat and taking the heat off Turner but in his first two games has not fired a shot, which makes life hard for everyone else. Fritta has also gone AWOL for quite sometime now which creates another hole for Goody to fill. Hopefully AJ and / or Melk will come in and perform here to make up for the loss of Fritta. I'd persist with Turner up forward (for now but a block of games proposition!) and if he doesn't come on well then there's always the other end he could attempt again. I prefer him to Howes down back IF our forward line wasn't so shizen. JVR will need to have a break out year during the remainder of this season. As we sit here now though, he's just too immobile and very poor once the ball hits the deck to be a damaging KF. 2025 is his make or break season imho. Having said that you have to forgive JVR a tad for the amazing delivery he is on the end of much of the time. Nice work boys 😆

I would not be surprised if Claz returns to somewhere near his best this season. That's not to say he won't have a few ups and downs early. No g'tees but Sunday's output was a great sign that he may be back to somewhere near his best anyway. Kozzy will be back week after next vs Puddy Cats. Whether he stays or not we just want to see him hit full throttle and not take his foot off in any match / quarter he plays for rest of the season without further indiscretions. If he leaves at year's end, and i suspect that's already in train and many of the boys know / suspect it as being so, so be it. Reckon you might be underestimating Tracc's competitive spirit and professionalism. Is he under done after not training fully (contact wise) with the main group for most of the pre-season and may not hit his straps in most quarters / matches as a result? Early days but he was off his 2024 levels by about 27% last week and about 52% on Sunday which does not augur well. Can he turn that around? If im Simon looking at those numbers and his two results so far, i'd be pulling him aside and having a chat over a coffee and asking him realistically where he feels he's at. Can he get back as he stands now or do we cut him a bit of slack for a few weeks, get a mini pre-season into him on the track over the next 4 weeks or so with a view to bringing him back once his KPI's, GPS numbers and track form / fitness warrant? Of course if he's playing you could and probably should assume the FD are fully across this side and he's right to go. I'm probably way off the mark there. No harm in pontificating though. We also have another problem and have since last season's drama and that's who are our designated extractors? Our one wood prior to last season was extraction / clearance which was, in the main, left to Viney, Claz and Maxy in that order. Viney to me looks to be a tad burnt out after last season where he pretty much carried the entire extraction load himself. Is Clarry back and supporting him again here or just mostly skirting on the outside for the give and go? For us to get back to our best footy (old Goodwin version crash / bash / chaos style) or even get things going under any new style that Simon & the boys are trying to implement, we're going to have to correct this at some stage. Maybe it's a Langford but that feels a mile away in terms of seriously competitive / effective. Who else could we bring in to CBs / stoppages as an extractor right now? Is there anyone else? Is Chin and option? Too small and his pressure needed inside 50 and forward half yes? For as long as that situation is not resolved and / or Viney / Clazz combined are no longer cutting it up here, we are pretty much gonna get pummelled by oppo that is better at extracting and first use as we witnessed on Sunday. A younger Viney would and probably did take this on to great effect in the past. In short bursts now...sure he is probably still 'ok' without being at the peak of his powers a few years back. But can't expect this from him for as long as we once may have. He needs back up and that used to be Claz, Maxy pre 2024. And in 2021 it was also LJ a little. At this point, we don't have the speed by foot or experience from some of our rookies to sit on the outside and close down our opponents when they're winning more extractions and first use at CB and around ground stoppages.

Not worth it if the coach can't motivate and inspire and have the ability change things up a little in game though. Would need to be someone who brings the game style plus that for mine. There isn't an abundance of that just waiting in the wings but I'd be seriously considering horse as that option.

We are already in their sights BZ. Your second line is spot on as to why the heat is low....for now. In addition we are slowly but surely becoming the irrelevant club that we were prior to 2021. That will play out in memberships, the fixture days and timelslots, lack of prime time matches etc if we continue on this route for much longer. Losing eventually results in a loss of previous gains etc. As they say in the classics, winners are grinners

The score source tells the tale. We did not win on any count from turnovers or territory. Whatever Simon is attempting it got smashed outta the park against a good (but not great) up-and-coming team yesterday. The MFC's FD is on fire. Maybe not burning down yet but it's seriously ablaze and i hope Simon called the fire brigade to attend at today's review to start the long arduous task of putting it out.

Round 2, 2025 Marvel - Kangaroos vs Demons Haven't seen a team score (against us) at that level ever i think. So either we were terrible or they were (are?) presently playing like this season's premiers!? Maybe both! Even in 2021 we did not crack a Team Score as high as North in this match. Closest we got was round 20 vs the Suns with a 71.78 Our Team Score 13% off our 2024 average. And nearly 16% off our team's average in 2021 (67.23) Clarry back to his previous best statistically! Only one match however so will have to wait and see if that's sustainable. Bested everyone on the day!! Chandler had a day out. Is that also sustainable or something similar? One can only hope. Sparrow off to a flyer but his disposals are pretty hard to watch at times. Same can be said of so many here as well eg., Viney, Tracc, Rivers, Bowey etc. Tracc in free fall. Fritta barely registering a shot. Simon should seriously consider making some statements here if one or both of AJ and Melk are available. If both available then should we consider omitting Jeffo & Fritta for AJ & Melk? Jeffo might be out inj anyway of course. Team Stats Kangaroos Demons Disposals PerGoal 21.21 39.00 % In50s Goal 35.80 16.10 Conversion % 63.30 42.90 Ave Attributes North Melb Attribute Melbourne 186.7cm Height 186.7cm 84.1kg Weight 85.5kg 25yr 4mth Age 25yr 9mth 101.6 Games 103.3 Total Players By Games North Melb Games Played Melbourne 8 Less than 50 8 4 50 to 99 5 4 100 to 149 1 4 150 to 200 6 3 200 or more 3 Demons Player Rating Rank 2024 Season Rating % Change vs 2024 C Oliver 6.400 1 3.364 90.25 K Chandler 5.100 2 2.223 129.42 C Salem 4.525 3 3.421 32.27 X Lindsay 4.025 4 - 0.00 T Sparrow 3.850 5 2.517 52.96 J Bowey 3.500 6 2.755 27.04 Ed Langdon 3.175 7 3.089 2.78 J Viney 3.050 8 3.178 -4.03 J Henderson 2.700 9 - 0.00 Max Gawn 2.400 10 4.132 -41.92 B Howes 2.175 11 2.341 -7.09 C Petracca 2.150 12 4.476 -51.97 J Lever 2.075 13 3.103 -33.13 H Petty 2.000 14 1.701 17.58 J V Rooyen 1.950 15 2.026 -3.75 T McDonald 1.625 16 2.967 -45.23 T Woewodin > 56% 1.600 17 2.052 -22.03 C Spargo (vs 2023 Rating) 1.550 18 1.950 -20.51 D Turner 1.375 19 1.393 -1.29 T Rivers 1.275 20 3.391 -62.40 H Sharp 1.175 21 - 0.00 B Fritsch 0.450 22 1.746 -74.23 M Jefferson < 22% 0.000 23 - 0.00 Team Score 56.75 65.17 -12.92 Top 6 20.53 22.53 -8.90 Bottom 6 7.35 14.04 -47.65 < Subbed out TOG % > Subbed in TOG % Kangaroos Player Rating Rank T Powell 6.150 1 T Xerri 6.075 2 Jy Simpkin 5.175 3 L D-Uniacke 5.025 4 L Parker 4.250 5 C Daniel 4.225 6 P Curtis 3.975 7 C Comben 3.825 8 J Darling 3.550 9 A Corr 3.425 10 H Sheezel 3.325 11 C Zurhaar 3.250 12 L McDonald 3.025 13 B Scott 2.650 14 D Tucker 2.350 15 T Pink 2.300 16 F O'Sullivan 2.150 17 W Phillips < 56% 2.150 17 R Hansen 2.000 19 N Larkey 1.875 20 C McKercher 1.725 21 J Konstanty 1.150 22 Dy Stephens > 24% 1.075 23 Team Score 73.63 Top 6 30.90 Bottom 6 11.05 Combined Player Rating Rank C Oliver 6.400 1 T Powell 6.150 2 T Xerri 6.075 3 Jy Simpkin 5.175 4 K Chandler 5.100 5 L D-Uniacke 5.025 6 C Salem 4.525 7 L Parker 4.250 8 C Daniel 4.225 9 X Lindsay 4.025 10 P Curtis 3.975 11 T Sparrow 3.850 12 C Comben 3.825 13 J Darling 3.550 14 J Bowey 3.500 15 A Corr 3.425 16 H Sheezel 3.325 17 C Zurhaar 3.250 18 Ed Langdon 3.175 19 J Viney 3.050 20 L McDonald 3.025 21 J Henderson 2.700 22 B Scott 2.650 23 Max Gawn 2.400 24 D Tucker 2.350 25 T Pink 2.300 26 B Howes 2.175 27 F O'Sullivan 2.150 28 W Phillips < 56% 2.150 28 C Petracca 2.150 28 J Lever 2.075 31 H Petty 2.000 32 R Hansen 2.000 32 J V Rooyen 1.950 34 N Larkey 1.875 35 C McKercher 1.725 36 T McDonald 1.625 37 T Woewodin > 56% 1.600 38 C Spargo 1.550 39 D Turner 1.375 40 T Rivers 1.275 41 H Sharp 1.175 42 J Konstanty 1.150 43 Dy Stephens > 24% 1.075 44 B Fritsch 0.450 45 M Jefferson < 22% 0.000 46 Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Spot on. A full pre-season plus 3 to 6 matches to implement. Same goes for other aspects of any significant game plan change ups. Those who can't execute don't get the call up and can play at Casey till whenever. Simon needs to walk the walk of ruthlessness as he said he would bring to the club at the end of 2020. Too much talk since 2021 from both players and coach.

Of course they are. I was responding to someone who said just that FG That's also a no win response on your part. If i named you'd say shame on you for naming said player. What hard evidence do you have!?? Etc etc. Sorry but you can't have your cake etc.

While i respect that you are somewhat closer to some of the players and their mums (families) than many here GW, along with your view that all's well in the last few seasons, that is not entirely correct. I know of one premiership player (who shall remain nameless) that decided to move on after not seeing eye to eye with Simon (either in part or mostly as a result of) Sure, no doubt that happens at clubland from time to time and player / coach part ways. It also doesn't mean he's lost all of them either. However, your assumption that 'all's well inside the fall walls' and everyone's 100% on the Simon train may or may not be accurate as we sit here today. It certainly didn't appear that way yesterday from alot of them. Many looked like they didn't even want to be out there. And it's only a gut feel but Kozzy is most likely already going at year's end regardless. Whether that has anything to do with his relationship with Simon or not, who knows.

Or the delivery into it. Hasn't changed one iota and, bar a few kicks from Spargo, was on show again for all to see yesterday against 'ok' opposition. Probably the biggest fail (forward line up / method of it and method coming into it) in our game style that Simon has not been able to fix across three seasons now and counting. Most professional coaches in other sports would not survive dishing that up for one season, let alone three plus!

Yes but they can drill them and motivate them to never dish up the drosh we saw yesterday. The way we play, is to a large part on the players but it's also on the coach and FD. PATHETIC WAP AMATEUR PERFORMANCE from almost everyone concerned yesterday and completely unacceptable from a so called professional club at this level. That includes 'effort' and 'team work' which, aside from a few individuals, was disgusting and embarrassing to watch. How many tackles at the 15 minute mark of the third quarter? 2 .... [censored] two! Sorry but that performance is beyond a joke. Who played for the jumper? Not enough! We have some serious players 'hopefully / supposedly' due back in the next few weeks. I'd be giving Simon & this list till Rnd 8 - 10 to turn this around in a significant way before putting every option up for discussion, including where the entire list and coaching crew are at and how we can improve in all facets. No one is sacred in this business and you're only as good as your recent record. Which is fast becoming abysmal.

What game plan are they learning though Macca? We have gone nowhere and not improved for 3 years now. Instead we are heading south and just got our [censored] handed to us by a bottom four club from the previous season. Norf are on the improve no doubt but that was as bad a performance we've seen since 2019 out there today. And in all that i could not decipher any semblance of us trying to implement something different and special that will see us turn things around and potentially play finals in 2025. Just more of the same garbage we've seen since about Rnd 11, 2022.

Yes but they still struggle to match / win against reasonable to quality oppo. We showed that we're a long way from even reasonable today. We might improve somewhat with the return of some key outs but we aren't gonna trouble many, if any, of the top liners and we certainly ain't finals bound. Likely we'll be bottom five again or worse.

We've been saying that for a few years now but have not progressed. In fact we've seriously dropped off. So much so that we are now being passed by teams that finished in the bottom four last season ie; The Crows & Norf. We can actually get worse in a relative sense vs 2024 and could well end up lower than 14th! Personally i love what Simon brought to the table that lead us to the 2021 Flag but he has probably extracted about as much as he can from this group now. I'm happy to wait till Rnd 8 or thereabouts but subject to an immense turnaround between now and then, his days as head coach appear to be numbered.

Viney doing the Viney inside 50 thing....AGAIN Too many Brain dead Zombies out there. Season 2025 is dead and buried with em

I'd switch Rooh down back for Petty

Don't kid yourselves folks. As bad as Norf are, they want it more than we do. That's on the entire playing group and the Coach

2 tackles in 15 minutes of footy... laughable

Rooh having another mare so far. Although shizen kicks like that one from Jack don't help. Any chance Jack could find a target coming inside?

He's only elite over about 25 meters. That's why he rarely tries on those longer kicks. Even then, i have no idea who he was trying to hit up.

Tracc forward & chin into the middle. Had to try something there

Embarrassing from Bowey there. High school stuff

Why would you play on there Rivers? Then cant hit a target 17 meters away. Just Putrid smarts and skills No strength among most over the ball or when trying to stick tackles. Panic footy from pretty much everyone inside 50 whenever they get their hands on it. Bar Sparrow, Chin, Viney, Spargy and a few other occasional cameos, where's the intent and ferocity at the loose ball and ball carrier in a team sense?

Very selfish. They're mostly playing individual footy with only a sprinkling of players truly invested. The confidence, spirit, flair, selfless team work and skill of the 2021 premiership team is a distant memory now.

Can't stick tackles Can't chain the ball by hand, instead handballing to the feet or missing all together too often. Struggle to hit targets by foot. Continue to play in straight lines out of the middle (666) without finding targets Can't shut down transitions off HB Can't transition quickly or slickly enough often enough ourselves to worry the oppo and give our forwards better looks coming i50 Continue to miss simple set shots from various angles not far out Our only KTF can't take a grab Our skipper can't kick straight at goal almost ever No apparent method or 'Effective' game plan or the semblance of a change in plan to one that works Conclusion... All we have (seemingly) ...is mostly just crash and bash I'll give it 5 to 6 more weeks for a few of the calvary to come back (namely May, McVee, Melky & Kozzy) but i'm about 70% convinced what needs to happen already. The writing's on the wall.