Demon Dynasty

They're always boasting about something. Many who did the boasting aren't even members (or weren't until recent times). I recall my son's friend's dad boasting about Judd coming to the 'promised land' and how premierships would shortly follow and the Demons were doomed. Found out shortly after he wasn't even a member. In the same conversation i mentioned to him that i'd just seen the most amazing rookie on the G that i'd seen in years in his third game (or thereabouts) playing against us. Ran across the hallowed grass like a gazelle and showed amazing promise for someone so young. When i mentioned his name this Carlton non-member responded with "Buddy who?"

100% Harmes should now come straight in for either Sparrow or Jordan. Run with on Cripps.

Might not be that easy W4A... better hope the AFL doesn't reinstate the early season version of dissent as a one off just for us. Or worse...the pre-season version against the Blues 🤮

I recall the incident but not the outcome to player... was the player thay ran into him concussed Red?

Anyone think the AFL doesn't set its own agenda anymore? Follow the money trail!

That might be something to do with the form or lack thereof from the likes of Lever & Rivers vs their 2021 form. Rivers to a lessor degree but Lever is a fair way off his 2021 levels. Lever was almost on a par with May last season in commanding that back half with so many intercepts. Last year he was ranked No.1 in the AFL here with 10.3 intercepts per game. While still a VG effort, has dropped nine places this season to No.10 averaging 7.7 Salem's late return, then struggle with form, would have unsettled the backline vs 2021 lineup as well. Until last week, where he seems to have turned the corner and is now back to somewhere like his 2021 form. Getting back to some normality in terms of decent breaks between games/not travelling as often would probably be helping some of the veterans and those returning from issues from here as well, such as Maxy, May, Lever, Hibb, Melk, BB & Salem. Should also help the mids wIth their general soreness/recovery as well. There's alway the goal kicking and pressure issues though especially up forward. Don't seem to have sorted these out in the second half of the season other than the odd match. So these remain a major concern that might kill off our chances of going deep. Time will tell i guess.

Seriously hope we.come to our senses on this. Has Deesaster written allover this one. Picket needs to jump the Fence at the next training session and pay Goody a visit. I'm happy to pass by the Queen Market for the assist...

Would be pretty chuffed if we got 50% for Max with any set shots. Even 20 meters out. He must be running at something like 20% - 30% conversion on his set shots this year! His whole approach screams "Just gonna hit this somewhere on me boot and hope it goes straight!"

These guys teach the same method. Just swap marker with a real person standing the mark https://www.kickingdynamics.com.au/ https://fb.watch/eQ6JMwouHZ/

Max pulled the ball twice to that pocket on Friday night. Its a silly silly strategy that just doesn't pay off often enough unless you bring a manic high press pressure game and lock it in for repeat entries....and convert at a high % from those entries. Our chancez of kicking goals from the FP dump kick are pretty slim and the low percentage nature says this strat should be dumped immediately and we go for the jugular into the hot zone and / or look to kick to leading forwards/players on the fat side. The FP dump is a smelly skunk that's seen us slowly ebb away as a force this season. The pay off (or lack thereof) just doesn't justify this crappy set play. Would much rather see us switch kick around mid field as the Pies did so often, hit a target out wide towards the HFF, then switch it back in again to the hot zone. This is how the Pies hit so many targets either directly in front or close to it on Friday night allowing them to accurately convert on much fewer entries than we had. Bringing the ball inside 50 in straight lines off HB, be it coming from up the line kicks or fat side line kicks (and for us ....we then often FP dump it) aint going to see you connect up forward too often for a relatively easy % conversion angle. Need to change lanes occasionally as well. And not just via a switch kick... a great lateral handball can also sometimes do it. We rarely do.

Thanks for this. Looking at the last set of Quarter by Quarter performace tables, it's clearly our last quarter performances (or lack thereof) that stand out for mine. I could be wrong but from a very simplistic view it would appear we just arent able to maintain the output needed to hold teams off that can go longer into a match than we can. So it is appearing that if we haven't put a team away by 3/4 time (say 6/7 goals up) we are more than likely going to drop games against the high ranked clubs. Assuming it is too late into the season to improve our fitness levels, goal kicking accuracy (for us) then becomes super critical to our success from here.

The only vision ive seen of Choco using that ball from a drill perspective was within an indoor basketball style set up at Casey i believe. Is the indoor part of that drilling part of the problem i wonder? As soon as they get outside in the elements many are at sea as the environment's very different.

Noooo Grundy FCS! A tall contested marking KF should be our biggest priority.

Salem played his best game this season against the Pies Kent. Reckon he was just coming from a long way back after his long lay off. Thought he was one of the better players until three quarter time. Yes a fair way off his best prior to Friday night but good signs. Equal 2nd (statistically) alongside Tracc is no mean feet and i suspect the coaches will be very pleased with his game bar one or two brain snaps (although i'm relying on other D'lander accounts being accurate here as i can't recall at hand everything that went down). Lever is the one i'm watching with more interest. He's been back for quite a while now and 25% doesn't lie vs 2021. He's going 'ok' but still a fair way off his stellar 2021 form IMV.

100% ... solid footballer behind the ball but allows the opp to get back and set up far too often. Usually always stops and props. Old school footy. One of the keys to our success last season was Gus playing wing/HF. Dont mind him in the middle but would let Harmes and Gus work that through between them. Would also bring Dunstan in for a look in these last few matches for Sparrow. Our lack of speed on transistion off HB is playing right into the opp's hands and killing our chances of converting up forward. We aint winning a PF let alone a GF with Saturday's line up.

Freo game might have been the final hoorah (bar injury to BB) for the Weid this season. The game for blooding JVR was against Port and then the following match against Freo. He may not have been ready to hold down a spot but we'll never know now. Opportunity lost. Dissapointing we keep going back to the same inconsistent well to players that aren't quite up to it so often. Chandler should have also been given a chance in the Port game off the bench.

I reckon we have one shot at this but we need to pull some strings....and fast! Call me crazy but.... Aside from big BB, Fritta and a resting Max when he needs the rest, i would go small up forward and rely on BB & Max getting the ball to ground with a mosquito group of three plus the medium in Fritta sitting at the drop. Namely Chandler, Bedford & Kozzie. Those four in particular (mosquito fleet plus Fritta...and not having a go at Fritta he's been ok here at times...always room for improvement though) need to be read the riot act on bringing manic pressure inside 50 as soon as we lose possession. Supported by Max who is also (usually) pretty decent at tackling & pressure acts inside 50. That would mean two out of ANB, Melk & Spargo making way. Probably Melk & ANB given their recent dodgy form? On top of the above we need some manic pressure and better chaos ball with more quick chaos kicks forward rather than the odd extra often unnecessary dinky handball inviting more pressure and an increase in turnovers and the scores that often result from these. The quick chaos kicks forward will only pay off though if the bulk of our forwards play in front and / or work thwor arses off to maintain it as best they can. As Spirit of Norm Smith has highlighted, in some of the losses we've gone handball crazy on occasions. That's not our DNA or certainly wasn't last season. We are in the main a manic pressure / chaos ball team that thrives on the hunt, pressure and preying on our opponents. Forcing the turnover or intercepting from pressure brought up the field then pouncing to punish from those turnovers. This is the way

Yes absolutely agree that averages can often mask what's taking place week to week and totally with you on the over use in some games as you've highlighted NS. The key to this though is solving the 'why' puzzle. Are we inviting this pressure just through over use of handball or what is behind that vs particular teams? Their upped pressure? Eg; Some oppos are just bringing it more than we are on occasions. Credit where credit's due. Our lack of burst speed away from stoppage (fitness and/or mind set)? Structure/ Set up issues... eg; one or two players more than is required getting sucked or pushed into contested ball leaving not enough on the outer rim for the receive or protecting the outlets? Particular players out of form? Lack of pressure on the oppo exiting our 50 meaning we are chasing tail so often (fatiguing more)? Lack of work rate from forwards. Eg; not presenting often enough. Meaning mids & HBs look up and can't see an option & then try to maintain possssion via handball? Forwards not working hard enough to get front position to mark incoming bail out kicks which sees the oppo marking and rebounding quickly (see lack of pressure above = fatigue)? Not quite as fit as last season given a few more injuries and/or late start to the pre-season? Mind set ...hunger/desire ...the want eg; willingness to run and make options by foot, desire as in putting in repeat efforts to burst away from congestion with legs which allows player with ball a little more time to kick vs handball in congestion due to pressure/perceived pressure? Other reason/s?....

Also.... 2021 averages Kicks 219 Handballs 149 2022 Kicks 214 Handballs 158 So we are pretty much on par with last season bar a slight uptick in handballs (on average) but... Why the obvious discrepancies in some of the games you have highlighted NS? The FD would be seeing this and analysing pretty deeply surely?

A good summary. No doubt the better teams aren't falling in to the trap of playing games on our terms any more to a degree. But i also think we haven't been bringing our defensive (in your face) pressure game as we did so often in 2021. This has been well covered in many other threads with examples of zero / low tackle counts from players generally and in particular up forward. If you aren't going to bring that manic in your face pressure in most games such as we did against Freo & Brissy, then teams are going to do as Earl has mentioned and play the game more on their terms. Using the extra time/space to execute etc. Add to this so many missed opportunities in front of goal or coming inside (connecting). You cant expect the defenders and mids to be on top for the entire match. The good teams are going to get things on their terms during parts of a game. If they are better at connecting / converting up forward during those moments vs our time spent doing so, then they are probably more than likely going to knock us off. Provided they're pretty accurate a la the Pies and Doggies (accuracy might also have something to do with our lack of pressure in general and maybe even two way running of some mids? vs 2021*). *Pure conjecture on my part

I think its more that some of our top players & a few of the rookies have ratcheted up their work rate. The rookies off a bit of a low base in some circumstances DZ such as Sparrow & Jackson. Nibbler has upped things but seemingly not at the pointy end (goals!?). Joel Smith's rating is also a bit of an outlier that might be skewing the top 22 rating too positively as well... coming off a very low base the year before and of course not in the team for quite a while. Macca missing in that 22 as well impacts us up forward with scoring ability. Meaning we might look better rating wise but conversion % off vs 2021 as a result? Kozzie, Lever, Harmes (very spasmodic in terms of form & on the park). Tomo in the 22 team figure but shouldn't be seeing as he isn't a regular at the momemt. Many forwards who are regular 22 aren't counted in that top 22 figure either and aren't going at their 2021 levels season wise anyway. Some might have improved of late. Hunt is also in the team and his rating is way off 2021 levels. Ideally i would need to construct an actual 'named / played 22' each week for this to be more relevant. Just putting a top 22 rating together is nice & quick/convenient for me but not a true indication of where/how the actual 22 are going each week. I will attempt to do this from next season. Just the extra time factor involved has kept me from doing so.

Could that really be her!!??? After all these decades i've finally met...

Are we any chance of luring Buddy for a year or two??

Weighted Average Player & Team Ratings up to & including Rnd 21, 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 5.367 1 5.258 2.07 1 0 C Petracca 4.505 2 4.041 11.48 2 0 Jack Viney 4.067 3 3.171 28.26 8 5 A Brayshaw 3.930 4 2.836 38.58 12 8 Steven May 3.883 5 3.926 -1.10 3 -2 L Dunstan 3.497 6 - - - - C Salem 3.317 7 3.879 -14.49 4 -3 Ed Langdon 3.266 8 3.092 5.63 9 1 J Jordon 3.228 9 2.908 11.00 10 1 Max Gawn # 3.225 10 3.439 -6.22 7 -3 L Jackson # 3.119 11 2.355 32.44 21 10 J Harmes 3.063 12 3.520 -12.98 6 -6 Jake Bowey 2.894 13 2.881 0.45 11 -2 T Sparrow 2.751 14 2.023 35.99 28 14 Alex N-Bullen 2.729 15 2.388 14.28 19 4 Jake Lever 2.705 16 3.661 -26.11 5 -11 H Petty 2.334 17 2.086 11.89 26 9 T Rivers 2.323 18 2.658 -12.60 13 -5 Joel Smith 2.239 19 1.375 62.84 32 13 K Pickett 2.088 20 2.378 -12.20 20 0 A Tomlinson 2.079 21 2.475 -16.00 16 -5 C Spargo 2.058 22 2.068 -0.48 27 5 T Bedford 2.023 23 - - - - Bayley Fritsch 1.973 24 2.155 -8.45 25 1 T McDonald # 1.939 25 2.516 -22.93 15 -10 J Melksham 1.718 26 1.853 -7.29 31 5 Ben Brown # 1.715 27 1.855 -7.55 30 3 J Hunt 1.714 28 2.597 -34.00 14 -14 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 68.67 67.23 2.14 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match...not an average rating > Subbed out