Demon Dynasty

Smith looked a fair way off VFL pace let alone AFL on Sunday for mine. Highly unlikely. Same with Harmes. JVR was mostly unsighted. Can't see him coming in this season.

Very similar. I loved that series. Def showing our age. This one's the ABC Radio 3LO version. There's a few ripper retro one's around. Love the old 1970s or was it early 80s Demon the Demon Army has up lately. Looked great on the box agter Kozzy's amazing goal on Sat

HBT i would ask that you restrain yourself from posting such positive things on the veil of negativity thread. P.S. Rhys Stanley also out with an adductor strain

We should only play each other once. Anything more is just for the money. Completely nonsensical to play extra odd games otherwise.

I just watched the first half. We didnt do much wrong other than... Key forwards not playing in front often enough, namely BB. Jackson was better here when forward but both he and BB run under the ball far too often when they do play in front. Fritta does some nice things. Including good pressure inside 50. Then often isn't quite aware or cognisant of the team things after he disposes (eg; shepards) and or staying down when he's coming from behind into a 1 v 1 marking contest for the potential spill. Team stuff pls Fritta especially when you're higher up the ground. The other issue which we keep harping on about. Gettable set shots at goal. Namely... Maxy, LJ & Spargo. Get two of those three we go into the half 20 points up and we have a decent margin without needing the 2 minute maniacal play at the bell ...plus the luck needed to pull off the miraculous win. Watching Max kick from a very slight angle 35 out in the first quarter... His run up is too slow. Too much time to think it over. As he runs in he slowly gathers a bit of momentum and starts to look like he might hit it sweet and he appears like he is almost running at the middle of the goals. But thats where it ends. The momentum seizes up a little on the last few steps. Finally as he plants his left foot to kick off his right...the left foot goes on a 45 degree angle pointing to the left. His body then rotates to follow that foot out to the left as he leans back to try for a little more power off that last step. And guess where he puts the ball? Yep...in the direction the left foot is facing... left (hook!). Someone seriously needs to get hold of Maxy between now and finals and correct the whole method or at least ensure that the last step has him planting that left foot in line with the goals.... not like a duck's foot...out to the left. And running with more momentum over the ball as he kicks through it...not easing/leaning back on the last few steps. Easier said than done of course.

Different interpreting depending on the star level maybe Mr Leg? Bit like the appeal of the appeal 😄

Haha...I would walk in and be thrown out wiithin 30 seconds! Then again, not that different to some of their recent coaches!

Thanks DJ....this is spine tingling sensational stuff. It reminds me very much of the kick after the siren win against the Cats last year for the minor premiership. This just might....just might be the spark that sees us make another GF folks!!

I didnt see the first half so happy to stand corrected, but It didn't seem to help that eight of our regulars appeared to have either fairly ordinary games or worse. Some not as bad as others but they were all off a little it seemed. And Lever was off this year's level as well, which was already well off his 2021 levels! Jackson, JJ, ANB, Lever, Sparrow, Spargo, Ed & Fritta. Plus no Macca. You can cover maybe two, possibly even three having a pretty off game. How the hec we covered eight is a miracle. The break can't come soon enough me thinks. Hope Goody doesn't over work / thrash them on the track this week. Maybe one full hit out then focussing on general skills, pressure inside 50 as well as connection/craft/finishing work around the sticks for the other session/s (including a ban on bombing it to the left pocket!). Big emphasis on quick transistion, switching, then bringing the ball back on the angles to the top of a more open goal square or fat side leads.

Recall the same situation was allowed (once that i saw) in the previous round.

I would normally agree with this Demon and also thought this before watching him closely in the Casey game. He's still a week or so away from handling that role IMV. That's not to say we won't do so but just my view. NQ ready yet. Maybe ANB?

None of that came to pass from what i saw Mr Old. Obviously a bit hard to know where Chandler is at given he didn't play. You were correct though. Better to take a good look first. Having done that i'm now of the view there should be no changes to the present line up.

They're out there don't worry. Some morons let it all hang out (when they feel they're safe doing so). Plenty of closet ones as well or ones that do it with great subtlety in a back handed glib fashion. As if they're unaware that the world has moved on and nothing's changed or gone wrong in any way whatsoever since Capt Cook days! One 50+ lady my other half knows says "it's all part of our Colonialism" and doesn't know what all the fuss is about.

Weighted Average Player & Team Ratings up to & including Rnd 22, 2022 vs H&A Season 2021 Player 2022 Rating 2022 Rank 2021 Rating % Change vs 2021 2021 Rank Change in Rank vs 2021 C Oliver 5.329 1 5.258 1.35 1 0 C Petracca 4.485 2 4.041 10.99 2 0 Jack Viney 4.037 3 3.171 27.31 8 5 Steven May 3.955 4 3.926 0.74 3 -1 A Brayshaw 3.914 5 2.836 38.01 12 7 L Dunstan 3.497 6 - - - - C Salem 3.363 7 3.879 -13.30 4 -3 Max Gawn # 3.230 8 3.439 -6.08 7 -1 J Jordon 3.171 9 2.908 9.04 10 1 Ed Langdon 3.147 10 3.092 1.78 9 -1 L Jackson # 3.066 11 2.355 30.19 21 10 J Harmes 3.063 12 3.520 -12.98 6 -6 Jake Bowey 2.894 13 2.881 0.45 11 -2 Alex N-Bullen 2.695 14 2.388 12.86 19 5 T Sparrow 2.685 15 2.023 32.72 28 13 Jake Lever 2.636 16 3.661 -28.00 5 -11 T Rivers 2.388 17 2.658 -10.16 13 -4 H Petty 2.375 18 2.086 13.85 26 8 Joel Smith 2.239 19 1.375 62.84 32 13 K Pickett 2.081 20 2.378 -12.49 20 0 A Tomlinson 2.079 21 2.475 -16.00 16 -5 T Bedford 2.023 22 - - - - C Spargo 2.007 23 2.068 -2.95 27 4 T McDonald # 1.939 24 2.516 -22.93 15 -9 J Melksham 1.928 25 1.853 4.05 31 6 Bayley Fritsch 1.924 26 2.155 -10.72 25 -1 J Hunt 1.868 27 2.597 -28.07 14 -13 Ben Brown # 1.752 28 1.855 -5.55 30 2 S Weideman # 1.705 29 1.055 61.61 27 -2 Mitch Brown 1.550 30 2.475 -37.37 16 -14 Daniel Turner>*TOG 49% 1.200 31 - - - - Team Rating 68.35 67.23 1.67 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match...not an average rating > Subbed out

Even better than 2018!? Rnds 8, 9 & 10 in particular plus the finals series. Round 9 against the Blues probably his best H&A game that year, at least statistically, and possibly during his time with us (bar finals). Very good Melk on Friday night. If only we could get similar most weeks from here. As you say....wow! Statistically as well.... Weighted Ave Rating vs the Blues > 3.400 H&A Season Ave Ratings / % difference of Friday night's result... 2022 (prior to this match) > 1.718 / +98% 2021 > 1.853 / +83% 2020 > 1.435 / +137% 2019 > 1.931 / +76% 2018 > 2.385 / +43%

The kick to the pocket should only be used at certain points in a game. We overuse it far too often IMV. It's fine if looking to protect a lead or ice a quarter or game. Possibly on occasions if the oppo is on a 3 to 4 goal momentum roll. Outside of that it should never be the 'go to' option. We should be going to the hotspots or fat side wherever possible and getting a small or two (even Fritta) front and square more often. All out attack bar the above exceptions. Anything else is playing right into the oppo's hands and keeping them in the game as its such a low percentage (conversion) play that will result in a low undefendable score against the better clubs. Puts too much emphasis on our defence/defenders holding the line pretty much every game. Just not humanly possible to do this every week, especially against the top 6 to 8 clubs. It's about getting the balance right IMV and at the moment we are way too conservative (with ball placement/method...eg bombing to the pocket) going foward....except when we're behind and the game's on the line! Funny about that.

Surprised you didn't mention White here DS. Thought he had the most impact and probably BOG on the day. Decent second half from the Weid given the conditions and his size but his decision making, finish by foot and at goal is still a fair way off replacing anyone at AFL level IMV. Harmes involved in plenty but (lacking power/drive away from contest ....legs/fitness?) is trying to fend off way too often and ended up getting caught a fair bit. Very difficult conditions for everyone though. Bell didn't play too bad on a few occasions and even big Spencil got involved a few times in the second half! Howes probably the cleanest all day and showing some very good signs. Dunstan's last quarter was very good. Another quarter or two like that and i'd say he would've been a half chance to come in this week. 17 on the trot....crazy good effort from the boys.

Round 22, 2022 MCG - Demons vs Blues Hunt's best statistical result after trolling back all the way through to season 2019! I didn't do this with Melksham for every season as i don't have the luxury of time to go over every season for so many but easily his best game this season and most likely his best since 2018. His best that year (excluding finals) funnily enough was also against the Blues in Round 9 where he clocked up a No.1 rating with a 5.900 May No.1 rating this round and just might be getting back to his best form again. Let's hope so. Some of his highlights included 11 rebounds, 10 intercepts and the most meters gained on the night for both clubs with 736 meters. Team rating a fair way off 2021's average .... 9% in fact. Hopefully a reflection of the nature of the match and fierceness of the opponent rather than an indicator of our present form!? One more big push against Brissy to seal a top four then the week's break to reset. Fingers crossed! Player Rating Rank Steven May 5.175 1 C Oliver 4.600 2 C Petracca 4.075 3 J Hunt 4.025 4 C Salem 3.775 5 A Brayshaw 3.600 6 Jack Viney 3.500 7 J Melksham 3.400 8 Max Gawn # 33 3.325 9 T Rivers 3.300 10 H Petty 2.950 11 M Hibberd 2.900 12 Ben Brown # 5 2.300 13 L Jackson # 19 2.100 14 J Jordon 2.050 15 A N-Bullen 2.050 16 K Pickett 1.950 17 Jake Lever 1.600 18 T Sparrow 1.425 19 C Spargo 1.000 20 Ed Langdon 0.975 21 B Fritsch 0.950 22 Team Score 61.03 Top 6 25.25 Bottom 6 7.90 # Hit outs to advantage not captured (number indicates number of hit outs). Stats Courtesy of footywire.com

Anyone watch Llloydy's critique of Max King's set shot kicking woes this morning on the Footy Show? I hope some of our boys were watching. Basically running in too slow causes you to lean back on the last step searching for power on the kick. But instead the lean causes you to shank left (mostly) and sometimes even right a la Gawny most of the time (and others!). Solution here... https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/news-2022-matthew-lloyd-willing-to-coach-max-king-whacks-st-kilda-coach-brett-rattens-call/79747943-b4ec-4881-bc54-cfe71c470648

Yes probably the only change for mine. Chandler for Spargo might be the other but can't see them bringing Chandler in at this late stage given he hasn't been looked at (seriously) so far. Maybe Smith/JVR for Spargo or ANB ? 🤔 Any experimenting should have been done weeks ago though probably. The Port game and just after (latest) so doubt we'll see these now barring injury.

Think i need a dry spell

I think he is a fair way off his 2021 fitness levels and form. What we win when he's on the ball reading and intercepting we kind of give back on his inability to find a man under heat when needed in clutch momentns amd nullify him as neay as possble. Great example was his decision to run past Silvagni and get to a contested ball drop to spoil/pressure as Silvagan stayed over the ball In the end he didn't make the contest nor

Yes diffferent rules for different teams/ players. Same in a game last week. And pretty sure the player even kicked from outside the line and was still allowed to just play on.

Yes same up the other end in the third when he marked the ball like a cork in the ocean on his back

Only saw the second half... at son's grad. Hunt was clutch for all of it. He was great. He changes the whole dynamic down back and through the middle on the press. Character building win but FCS get Harmes in there. Didn't see the first half so can't say for whom but Sparrow was pretty quite in that part.