Demon Dynasty

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.

Mostly agree aside from Bedford and JVR. Bedford could play a role and may well eclipse ANB. Bedford probably should come in for ANB but is it too late in the season? These moves shouldve been trialled months ago. JVR is still a kid and not far off taking on a stint in the big league. Is the time right for this to happen now? Probably not. Again though, probably should have given him a small look at it a few months ago. All these possible VFL options./ inclusions are looking highly unlikely timing wise. Macca might be the only serious one who just might jump in over Melk after that performance. Goody is a big Melk fan boy though. Bowey in for Salem who was a mile off the level tonight. Weid in as second ruck / TF for Jackson who was shizen? Kozzie was awful as well but can't see him being dropped.

Our whole tall forward set up this season and our forward play in general (aside from the odd individual cameos) has been piece meal at best since Macca went down. The lack of structure, the constant bombing and/or kicking it to the pocket has never truly been corrected. When you still have one of your key forwards screaming at two senior players in front to move out of the leading lane at this stage of the season .... well ....nuff said. The present forward set up/system/methods/cohesion with mids/execution and in some cases individual player form/ability & consistency just isn't reliable enough to kick a winning score against the top line opponents. We've seen / witnessed this pretty much all season aside from against Brissy.

It is out home ground but we have no training / familiarity advantage there. It's a neutral ground for us. See above Ben. Spargo is VERY clever with ball in hand but i watched him carefully without the ball tonight. He could have worked harder to present on occasions to provide the next link / hit up for our defenders off HB but preferred to just coast. There was even plenty of space to run into for the next hit up but on at least two occasions he chose not to take it and instead mossied his way towards an opponent (when we had the ball). He was burnt on at least one occasion by Maxy in the first quarter when Max (on a 44 degree just outside the arc) decided to kick it to the left pocket instead of hitting up Spargo 15 meters in the clear directly in front. I think Maxy might have even kicked that weird brain snap attempt at a pass OOTF?

It's not a genuine 'home deck' or any real advantage for us as we aren't allowed to train there thanks to the MCC DHs (since they kicked us out in 1986). Jackson was nowhere tonight. Has his head moved out west already? If so it's time to ask the hard question. Honestly i reckon Weid would have done better as a 2nd ruck tonight Dogga was that bad in the middle and generally. No prescence whatsoever. Took one or.gwo grabs and that was about it. BB is a part time decoy forward at best who is ok at bringing the ball to ground on occasions. Not our worst forward but far from dangerous. But even when he does bring it to ground, where's our small / medium forward crumbers front & square on occasions. Too seldom do they present. Instead it was the Swans backmen positioning and reading the crumbs / clearing quite often!??? There was a significant difference between their forward pressure and ours tonight. Aside from Clarry (who isn't a forward) and Fritta, i didn't see too many genuine forwards bringing the heat on the Swannies exits from our 50. Melk out for Macca (if he's 90% right to go and no foot issues). Bowey in for Salem who was completely off being close to AFL level let alone the step up to finals. Gus back to the wing. Harmes through the middle & stimts at HF changing up with Kozzy. Bedford for ANB

Sorry but Salem is completely lost out there tomight. Tracc having a mare

Need something from Tracc, Kozzy, ANB & Viney. Way too quiet

Kozzy almost unsighted apart from the early goal. Golly

Yes... Macca would usually be hitting those lanes on occasions and taking the odd clunker.

Salem?

ANB getting caught alot. Kozzie into the middle to get some zip on the ball. Harmes forward. Gus to the wing?

Does anyone think Gus is a fail so far in the middle? Send him back to the wing and bring Harmes in for a stint or is Harmes doing too well there?

All five were well off the pace in that first half. Never seen Viney lose his feet so often. ANB doing ok or? Havent been watching closely but what do ppl think of Sparrow's game?

The Swan talls are double teaming Maxy much of the time and starting to win the aerial battle. Get BB playing higher up the ground a little more often to help out. Instruct the smalls and the mediums around the drop to stay out, crumb, feed and run it back in to a more open forward line with Fritta, Melk & Kozzie lurking.

Amature mistake from Lingers there. You must stay way outside the line and make it an 'outside 5' call so you can cover the player running inside the field for the angled shot at goal or pressure the kick across to the fat side

Corky....not ankle?

Hope Trac pulled up ok

Great change up entry from Spargoat! Thats the kick that just might throw them out down back. With so many kicks to the right pocket / BB ....that area & BB draws an extra player or two leaving the leading lanes open on better angles for the likes of Fritsch. This is what Spargoat brings.