Demon Dynasty

Nice... from ANB as well.

Yes to up the middle if the opportunity arises Kev but depends on who's doing the passing. I don't think Max should be attempting those too often, especially around HB. Inside 50 maybe a diff matter.

Agreed but for whatever reason it doesn't end up in his hands all that often CD. We need one or two other VG ball users to be doing this. One of them used to be Melk on occasions when he played a more HHF role. Nowadays it appears like he's staying inside 50 more than not. Also when he does get it higher up ive noticed his passing isn't quite what it once was. Which might explain why he's a fair chunk more time deeper?

Yes same as last week from 9 to 11. Wouldnt call it training though. Its more for the fans and the boys to fine tune a bit i guess. They do a little dozy doeing at goal, handball drills etc. Nonetheless its a fun morning if Melb puts on a decent day weather wise. Highly recommended

Kev, any chance you could drive a few tractors onto the Casey oval and prevent any sort of serious match simulation hit out tomorrow!?

Referring to time spent in the D50 W11 not acts carried out while in there like rebounds. No doubt he spent some time in there hence the average of 1.4 rebounds per match in 2021. Just going by Champion data off Fox Footy. A month or so back they claimed Gus had only spent 9% of his playing time in our D 50 in 2021 vs approx 80% this season prior to his move into the middle. No doubt covering off for Salem being out. From memory i think Fox said his split in 2021 was roughly 80% between the arcs, 11% inside our F50 and 9% in our D50. The point im trying to make is if you had the opportunity to re-set Gus back to a wing/HF where he was so successful in 2021 (and so was the team obviously) now that Salem is back and the back 6 are pretty set, why wouldn't you take it? There could of course be many reasons Goody is doing so. As an outsider we are pretty much flying blind to what drives these decisions so who knows. Maybe it will all click this week, Gus will play a blinder and i'll be eating my hat.

Jake was kicking most of his set shots at training SD. Unfortunately for whatever reason not quite as accurate on Sat night. Tracc seemed to be going at about 50% - 60% at training. Does Tracc lean back a little too much? Some training vids i've seen suggest your body needs to be more upright/vertical when connecting with the ball. Clarry suprised me a little at training converting about 50% - 70% and really taking his time with very deliberate method/action. Obviously appeared to work on Sat night. I did notice that most of the set shots being take were from around 35 - 40 meters. Didnt seem to be much variation in the distance or the angles (maybe one slight change) in which the boys were taking their shots. In the end i think whether it's going to work or not is obciously much to do with routine / technique and then a % is above the shoulders and this probably varies from player to player and their ability to stick to the routine/execute under heat on the big stage. Easy for us to critique from our lounge rooms of course! The little master talks about the mental factor and how he prepared himself mentally to take a bit of the pressure off and make it more about routine, method and executing (see start of his tutorial below). No doubt with a ton of practice behind all that. What a master he was and beautiful to watch in full flight...

IMHO we dont need him to play a HB role at all now that the back 6 are set and we have Salem. Bowey on the sidelines as a Salem replacement. We won the premiership with him playing a roughly 80/20 Wing/Forward role last season and what a season it was for Gus. He spent virtually no time in our defensive 50 last season. The mid field experiment worked for one game and has been a progressive fail ever since, culminating in his worst performance this season (possibly his last two seasons!) on Sat night. Time to push him back to the wing/HF role of last year and move Harmes back in as his replacement, playing the Mid / HF role that he mostly played last season with pretty good effect also. Gus doesn't have the upper body strength and leg power (drive out of congestion/away from oppponent/tagger) to play more than a very brief cameo on odd occasions through the middle IMV. Would much rather see Harmes back in with brief cameos from Kozzy and/or Bedford (if he happened to be picked) to add some speed and provide the oppo with a diff look / match up conundrum on game day. Why would you want to take away one of your biggest strengths from 2021 and make things that much easier for the oppo unless absolutely necessary or the mid-field experiment was a great success? Makes no sense at all.

Ticketek having a lend with members vs general. As others have stated, you're more often than not disadvantaged as a member (unless you are wanting to by tickets en masse!). Last week on the Tuesday i clicked on M4 level one. It clearly offered me those and i ordered 6 tickets. It then did a gateway error 404 on me after i entered Cc details & hit the 'purchase' button. So i figured i'd been unsuccessful and went to try again. However, i then thought "hang on...better check Ticketek account just in case the error wasn't an error". After logging on to my account...low and behold there's my 6 tickets. Haha you beauty Newc i thought! But wait... hang on a mini... why does it say bay M50 Level 4 Olympic Stand!?? 🤔 So instead of allocating me my Level 1 M4 bay seats right next to cheer squad (as selected)... it hopped me into Lvl Olympic 4 up with the seaguls during the supposed gateway error! After a long winded episode filling out a refund form and chasing what appeared to be a dodgy contact who had English spelling / grammer issues representing Ticketek... i finally got my refund on the Thurs. Then re-purchsed the correct 6 tickets after more Ticketek errors on the Friday. I seriously figured these tickets would be incorrect also but with a sigh of relief they got this second attempt right. All up i think i spent 2 hours getting on (twice), filling in details, filling in refund forms, correspondence back & forth between Ticketek contact etc. What a shocking process / system they're running here. What year is this again ....1992?

Exactly. Can't hurt to use the pocket option 'occasionally' but once it's happened a few times in a row and the oppo is drifiting their expecting us to go there again, surely there are gaps and the odd player in front or on the fat side we could hit up or kick to advantage. Remember the Harmes 'steal' and great vision in the GF where he spotted Fritta out the back, kicked it to his advantage (beautifully) and hit him lace out leading to the fat side for that subsequent much needed goal! A goal that started the come back and consequent avalanche and ultimately lead to this team breaking a 57 year drought. We have a huge opportunity to tweak aspects and methods here and go back to back. Let's hope we do so vs going back into our shells and hitting that pocket / bombing so often. It's a non thinking easy 'get out of jail' card for players. Maxy one of the biggest offenders of late. Wakey wakey ...time to lead by example pls Maxy and change things up a little son! Alter course and let's bring home the bacon....again! Let's be more daring with our ball use and disposal coming inside 50! A little more finesse wouldn't hurt either!! Dare to dream....dare to win!

He's a lead / mark forward. With a few classy ball users coming inside i reckon he would do quite well at AFL level offensively. Not sure about his defensive work though. Ground level he appears 'ok' as well. The best of the KFs at Casey of late. JVR not far behind.

You don't think winning the ultimate after a 57 year drought has some genuis to it IRW? There's always room for improvement but he's also done a stirling job in following up with a 2nd spot and the double chance this season IMV. Albeit we would really need to make a Prelim for that to mean anything. Having said that i would like to have seen a bit more 'daring' in terms of tweaking the game style away from the usual, managing some of the older and/or banged up fellas during and around the Norf match and, lastly, giving a few more chances to those who appeared to be likely types (and have earned a stint) at Casey.

Maybe in another life QD 😄

Ditto Mr Fence

Four to Six turnovers in a match is pretty standard in most matches, especially mid-fielders and on ballers. Nothing unusual or game changing about that. It's the top three here that killed us. The top two in particular. To put the top three turnover kings in to some sort of context, Clarry, who had the most effective disposals of any player on the the night with 24, had only 1 turnover! Turnovers A Brayshaw 11 Jack Viney 9 Max Gawn 7 C Petracca 5 Ed Langdon 5 J Harmes 5 Steven May 5 C Salem 4 Jake Lever 3 J Hunt 3 B Fritsch 2 Ben Brown 2 J Melksham 2 L Jackson 2 M Hibberd 2 T Rivers 2 A N-Bullen 1 C Spargo 1 C Oliver 1 H Petty 1 K Pickett 1 T Sparrow 1

A young wet Amos kicking goals in a final in his second game. A super wet Darcy has kicked a goal for the Dogs in a final. No reason why we can't play JVR this week for Melk. Roll the die Goody!

We went from one of our best conversion / efficiency games inside 50 the match before against the Lions to one of our worst results, if not the worst, for the entire season reverting back to this horrible method against the Swans. Surely the coaches / players can see the massive chasm of what happens when you play one way vs the other? Yes pressure around the ball and up the field is a factor but there is no way Sydney are that much better than Brissy, nor do the oppo force us in to playing this way so often. It's a choice / default option by too many in our team, including some very experienced players. Needs to be stamped out ASAP other than when we are needing to ice a match or a quarter. Goody & Co. can't be blind to this. Surely it will be on the table as a major concern that needs fixing this week?

FCS wake up Goody and Co. Stop the boys from playing this insane strategy method! We are losing far too often as a result and when we don't do it so often eg; the match prior against the Lions, we win by a massive margin and have our best efficiency / conversion rate inside 50 for the entire season! It's a mind numbing strategy with opponents now easily setting up their numbers and often a plus one to hit that area, kill any chance of connecting with a forward and even if we do, the chances of converting are super slim. Please watch the match against the Lions where this was a minor option and most of our entries went to dangerous parts of the 50 either in front or on occasions to the fat side where the opp wasn't set up and couldn't counter / get numbers to the drop as easily. Also if the mids / HBs are under severe heat coming inside could they at least chaos the ball in low and fast to help get the ball to ground so our smalls/mediums have a decent chance to mop up and score!? Could our small forwards also please get front and square more often if we are bombing it in!?? Also can those playing higher inside 50 make sure they are keeping out of and away from the leading lanes of some of our key lead up forwards like Fritsch?? Why does he have to ask this of them 'in game'!?? Amature stuff for mine as they were experienced players blocking his lane, and why is this happening so late in the season in a final!? Should not be happening. Lastly if the ball is kicked OOTF anywhere from about HB and forward, can we please make sure the player on the mark does NOT take the mark/line and instead stays outside 5 so he has a better chance of stopping player taking the free kick from connecting or switching into the corridor and/or easily running around the man stuck on the line, as we saw with Langdon last night, and making up the meters to kick a goal from 50 from an OOTF free kick! Again, amature stuff, especially this late in the season in a critical final!

I have half a bottle of Makers Mark left & almost a whole bottle of Russel's Reserve Single Barrel. I'll be sipping those slowly but continuously over my week off and asking bro to join me while watching the replay over and over and spending up big on club merch. Following that i will have a one week dry spell while waiting for merch and visit Dan's for another single barrel. That will be followed by a further week off once the merch arrives to organise framing and mounting of club merch, then putting away the second single barrel while watching the last three finals on repeat. After that three week hiatus i might need to consider getting back to work, that's assuming the war office hasn't filed for divorce by then.

Qualifying Final, 2022 MCG - Demons vs Swans Melbourne Demons Clarry Clarry Clarry oi oi oi! Amazing rating here and one of his best in the red & the blue and his second best for the season. Only bettered in Rnd 10 vs North with a 7.675 What a game and what a stunning result on such a big occasion. A genuine champion! Let's take a look... 24 effective disposals @ 82.8%, 3 one percenters, 8 clearances (Luke Parker the most on the night, just, with 9), 2 Rebounds, 4 inside 50s, 8 tackles (3 inside 50), 10 score involvements, 5 intercepts, 420 Meters gained, 2 goals and only 1 miserly turnover. Steven May what can you say! One of the great games by our champion FB on one of the games great forwards, Buddy Franklin. Some of his highlights on the night... 18 effective disposals @ 78.3%, 5 contested marks (most on the night), 8 one percenters (note: McCartin had a massive 17!), 11 Rebounds (most on the might) and a massive 16 intercepts (most on the night with the next best Harmes on 8). So looking at these results it was really too much left to to few with the top 5 player ratings being Clarry, May, Harmes, Petty & Sparrow. Followed by a very good (genuine forward) rating from Fritta of 2.775 .... and, let's be honest, daylight the rest! And what was that game from GUS!? I can't recall a worse rating from him since i've been compiling. Some of his lowlights included ... only 9 effectives @ 45% and a massive 11 turnovers! But he wasn't alone here... combined between them, Max (7), Viney (9) and Gus (11) clocked up a massive and disastrous outcome on the night of 27 turnovers! You won't win too many games, including H&A, with three of your best bringing such a horror performance. Obviously finals are played at a different level but our Team Rating was also significantly off. Even if it was just by a smidgen, our worst result for the season and down on our season average rating by a massive 19.5%! That's a statistical outlier sub-par performance from our boys and i have to wonder if gastro may have gotten hold of a number of players that we were unaware of and the club were just forced to soldier on?? I very much doubt we will beat the Lions if we produce anything close to last night next week. It will be lights out for season 2022. A massive turnaround ahead for this club on the track if we're to get up against the Lions and make a consecutive PF. Player Rating Rank C Oliver 7.300 1 S May 5.300 2 J Harmes 3.800 3 H Petty 3.575 4 T Sparrow 3.125 5 B Fritsch 2.775 6 C Petracca 2.675 7 A N-Bullen 2.625 8 C Spargo 2.600 9 Max Gawn # 30 2.375 10 J Hunt 2.175 11 Jack Viney 2.150 12 Ed Langdon 2.075 13 T Rivers 1.900 14 M Hibberd 1.875 15 C Salem 1.825 16 Jake Lever 1.700 17 L Jackson # 13 1.300 18 B Brown # 1 1.100 19 K Pickett 0.875 20 J Melksham 0.650 21 A Brayshaw 0.350 22 Team Score 54.13 Top 6 25.88 Bottom 6 5.98 # Hit outs to advantage not captured (number indicates number of hit outs) Stats Courtesy of footywire.com

Do all teams use the marking bag in the pre-match? I didn't see the Fritsch incident but at one stage Melk slipped coming off the bag and landed awkwardly. Looked a little proppy as he got up.

The forward line needs better balance. One genuine tall just doesn't cut it at this level, especially if your smalls go missing. T-Mac in if he's pulled up from his match against the Swans without any issues for Melk. If Macca aint ready i would roll the die on JVR. He's in VG form & ready to go and couldn't do any worse than Melk last night. Regardless of whether it's Macca or JVR... BBB needs to play a high role more often if we're to win. Did so on a few occasions in the 2nd half and we looked alot better but robbing Peter to pay Paul as there's then no tall genuine forward option on offer. Same balance issue in the middle. Too many dour plodders. I'd be getting Bedford in for ANB. Sharing a mid/HF role with Kozzy. Why Goody did not move Kozzy in to the middle when he was clearly getting beaten by his opponent all night, even for 10 minutes, is beyond me. Kozzy's willingness to run / chase down last night was also missing. That's a mindset issue for the youngster but unacceptable at this level, let alone a final. One of the key strengths / weakness differentials last night was the Swan's pressure and hustle inside 50 vs ours. There's no way you're winning a final against a top four opponent with such a stark difference between the two teams inside 50. In fact i doubt we'd beat many top 8 teams bringing that unless they were also relatively poor here. If you want one major/key reason (and no it isn't solely this but it's pretty bloody significant) as to why we're slightly off this season vs 2021 ...this is it. If we can't / don't bring the heat in this area from here we'll be out in straight sets. Clarry (not a designated forward) and Fritta about the only two that were bringing decent heat here last night. Bowey a must in for Salem as stated earlier.

Bowey should be straight in for Salem. He was a mile off it last night. You aint making that ground up in one week IMV as he's coming from too far back after his interrupted pre-season and late arrival.

Mitch has tended to struggle with the step up but he's presently the in form forward for Casey that's for sure. Who comes out? Also you have to deliver the ball better for a Mitch Brown 'In' to pay off IMV. Tracc, Viney, Lingers need to lower their vision more often to have any chance of our forwards kicking a winning score regardless of who's in. Lingers & Spargoat hit Fritta up last night with two nice short passes. More of this pls. The Gus experiment through the middle worked once and that was it. Agree he should be straight back to the wing. Dunstan or Bedford in for ANB? We lack speed and receive / break away ability around the contest IMHO and Dunstan doesn't really offer that. He is elite by hand though which might help distribute and can also kick the odd goal.

Was pretty bland against the Swans from what i witnessed. Kicked one reasonable 'on the end of a chain' goal but certainly didn't impress or look a likely dangerous forward. JVR was better on Sunday and has shown more signs (on occasions) of being a viable forward option at some point next season & onwards. He might even be ready (just) for a short stint at AFL level now. Not in a final though for mine. The forward at Casey that actually looks the most dangerous (in a form / goal kicking / accuracy) sense right now is, weirdly enough, Mitch Brown. Would he get picked? Highly doubt it.