Demon Dynasty

It won't be. We are far too often the bunnies, i mean the lucky recipients, of such rules of the week / fortnight while others seemingly get the rub of the green both on match day and in the weeks / months following. I still remember the pre-season praccy against the baggers where the umps paid a record 12 descent frees against us (or thereabouts) and continued to do so (to a lessor degree) early in the season proper. Before seeing it pretty much disappear off the radar about half way through the season or so.

I'd be interested to hear from Bin if he was sitting in his oft usual spot top of the Ponsford (kudos if he did in that weather!) as to whether we are (were) still pushing too high up the ground to try and lock the ball in during red time and got caught again out the back on the rebound!?? If so, something i feel has been an issue for us for quite some time now and we are often paying the penalty as a result with teams coming from behind far too often for the narrow come back win.

Coaching. Left Maxy and Claz on the bench for 3 to 5 mins too long in the last quarter. Couldn't organise numbers behind the ball with only a few minutes to go..... AGAIN! It's been the same redline play book under Simon since 2022. Ie, a losing more often than not. Unable to protect a small lead or not winning enough close ones coming from behind. Subbed Langford for Howes when it was clear that Chin was our worst player all day. Yes Howes was beaten also but at least had a defensive run with mindset on Toby. After taking him off, Toby got off the leash and pretty much won the match for them single handedly in the final term, with a few cameos from others such as Tom Greene. Max was solid but boy he played some dumb footy in between and to think he is going to kick every one of those big roosts from 50+!? Especially late in a match. Windsor asking for the give on at least two occasions but Max wouldn't when that probably gives us at least a fair option coming inside given he's a decent ball user and / or goal kicker inside the paint. Viney Involved but disposals mostly up & under or scrubby hacks / handballs to no one. Great effort from T-Mac to cover off for May. Hendo looked at home. Jeffo played his role. AJ looked out of sorts at times in the ruck chop out role but gave us something up forward. Roohey looks to be a mile off it at times. Other times involved in getting ball to ground and giving some assists plus his opportune goal off the ground was nice. But STILL running under the ball far too often for mine and pretty ordinary at ground level. The weak links for mine are Chandler, Fritsch (since 2024), Roohey (today not a great day for talls but just looks too far off it even so) & Howes. The sooner we get Melky, Kozzy (2 weeks to go) & knuckles back the better. Can't see us higher than about 9th/10th with those last three coming in and staying in. With the likes of Melk & Kozzy out that forward line continues to serve us up a dog's breakfast. I'd consider bringing in big Campbell for Roohey at this point (not on days like today obviously) and having him cover off the chop out role for Max. Then swapping TC and AJ up forward at other times to really test the oppo's tall defensive capabilities. This would allow a few more breaks for Max also, hopefully keeping him more fresh for a big second half finish.

Me thinks you might be living on the good ship lollipop 640

I believe he's running late

Myki CEO after 5 years of contactless payment trials

Ah ok thanks Picket

Hasn't Baldi played with Casey before? Or was that another Baldi?

This team just has the ploddy feels about it without Kozzy and AMW in. Yes i realise Moniz wasn'y / isn't a stalwart regular to this point but he did show some serious zip in the lead ups and in patches last season. We are also devoid of ground ball getting ability inside 50 and the same with pressure i50 it seems. I hope im proven wrong but i think we'll be chasing tail all day and watching a fair bit of the oppo's rear ends as they waltz the ball from our forward 50 into theirs with relative ease. I know there's more to footy than just the few aspects mentioned above. Including areas like team defence, effort, how you set up behind the ball etc but i dunno. Just feels like there's a few too many holes to take the chocolates this week against a pretty formidable Giants outfit.

You have my vote Dub

I'll eat my Akubra if Goody seriously has Jeffo "in the mix" for the opening round. Maybe he meant as in later rounds depending on how he fares at VFL level / on the track but wouldn't be in there this week surely.

It better be a good deal and hoping we hold our nerve. Gut feel says this is his last year so we absolutely MUST get something super special in return.

All the media nonsense is just click bait guys. Barring injury, Claz has set himself for a big year. The media chimps are just chumps. The champ is back and chomping at the bit!

The Maroon years! I'm sure Schwab was a closet Fitzroy supporter. Almost that whole era (2008 - 2013) of scarves went in the bin alongside Cam's white board.

BN i felt a fair chunk of that was to do with a combo of... > Some poor / mostly shallow entries i50. Many of our attacking forays inside were kicks from mid field falling in the 40 - 50 meter zones. To me that's a groundhog issue from recent years that was on show yet again in the praccy. Old habbits die hard it seems. > Lack of pressure on the ball carrier i50. This is also an issue due to a lack of pace in general amongst most of our forwards, bar Kozzy (when played there) and to a lessor degree Chin. Chin also having little to no impact in any facet of the game last night was disappointing. Sharp might be able to add something here and i'd be seriously looking to progress him into the 22 as a mid who pushes up into a medium - small forward role at times to add some zest and pressure when Kozzy is spending time at CBs (in preference to Chandler). This is another reason i am all for Kozzy playing the bulk of time in a small forward goal sneak / pressure role. He's our best pressure & small forward and by a fair margin. Take him out for big chunks of time and you are robbing Peter. > Some absolute butchering of the ball coming inside by both hand and foot. In some cases with little to no pressure at all. Some horrid turnovers that left everyone out of position forward of the ball, exposing us to the sling shot. Regardless of whether it was Freo, most teams would've punished us here. Yes Kozzy coming out of the middle to help curb the inside 50 delivery prob is handy, but surely we can find at least two others to bring some sort of return here. Or maybe not! But if we could this would allow us the luxury of playing Kozzy in a mostly small forward / pressure role where his assets should have more impact in terms of scores from turnover inside our forward half. > Lastly a lack of genuine contested or big marking options up forward with JVR out. AJ was admirable but we look all at sea here without Roo and there ain't alot of danger elsewhere in the short term unless Disco has a pretty big year or AJ finds some serious mojo.

Edit: Forgot to add Salem as one of the positives. Thought he was solid for the majority.

I'd rather see Rivers in the middle and Lingers back to his wing for Billings Stinga. Rivers has show something through there in patches last season. Need to persevere. His upside is bigger than Lingers through there imho. Bowey hasn't been the same since his return from the LTI problem but certainly deserves a fair stab at getting his mojo back. He may need to try and find that mojo again at Casey however.

FWIW after one praccy and noting that it's just one pre-season warm up so not casting anyone in the bin at this point. Comments purely relate to this game in isolation... POSITIVES: Clarry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tracc ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Big M ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Windsor but more dangerous and effective when he pushed higher up the ground. Back to the wing for mine. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ AJ - Early jitters but improved as the match went on. I like ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Kozzy - only one quarter to go by but electrifying from the get go. Needs to play 80 / 20 Small Forward / CBAs (or thereabouts) once he returns though imo. We need his goal kicking smarts and ability to convert. Our constant inaccuracy is a momentum / coach killer. Sparrow ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - has shown VG early pre-season and in-seaaon form before though. Needs to bring this level or so most weeks. PASS MARK Langdon but like others i feel he needs to get back to the wing pronto for Billings NQRS THAT WEREN'T AT THE LEVEL Billings Howes Bowey Chandler Woe - albeit with limited TOG. Needs a bigger hit out to see where he's really at. Looks slow both across the ground and with decision making though and will need to start showing off other assets this season if he's to gain some traction and a regular spot in the 22.

How's Jeffo looking? These are the sort of matches he needs to be showing 'Something' and putting his hand up

DZ it's great to see you using a nic name i can relate to and get. I was beginning to think the King of England had joined in at training from GW's (& others) earlier reports.

Was Roy an option here? Can't recall seeing much of Hendo and what he brings. Roy is magic and just needs to get to AFL levels of fitness or close to it surely? Is he still an option somehow?

Oh well. Poor old Smacca can't take a break though eh

I'm somewhat perplexed at how the club came to the conclusion that one sole attendee, Mr P. Fence, is considered an entire family!? And which players are signing his autograph book??

Well after that little doozy, i'm gonna do what no one's had the courage to do here so far and call out your nemesis sir. Be afraid, be VERY afraid for what's about to follow... Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!