Demon Dynasty

While i do hope the Weid is able to keep improving as this year progresses, all the constant tooing & froing between who is the better option got me thinking in the last week or so. Plugga aint a young fella of course and this could be his final season. And lets just say for whatever reason Weid doesn't quite make grade over the next while... Where's our next 'Very Talented' medium to tall multiple goal kicking forward coming from? And i don't really see this as Van Rooyen in the next few years given he has only just started his apprenticeship. He is probably at least 3 season's away from having a significant impact. So who do we target? Has to be an existing mature player IMO. While i'm not suggesting this player as he isn't available, i am thinking similar size / skill set and multiple goal kicking capabilities / talent eg; Finlayson Who else might be out there we could make a play at towards the end of this season for 2023?? One of the Norf boys maybe ie; Larkey?

Plugga's value in the team is enhanced by his ability to not just play in defence in an emergency. Yes he could even pinch hit for Lever's intercept role if needed at some point IMV (hopefully only a short term emergency stop gap as we saw earlier this season). But in general, when he is asked to play higher up the ground, he is probably more versatile/capable in terms of reading the play / intercept marking than say the Weid. And thats not to say Weid is abysmal in this area either. Im just not sure he is as capable / reliable here? Purely subjective view on my part so take it with a grain of salt. Jackson coming back in gives us another high leaping option up forward when he isnt giving Max an assist in the middle and he also has the ground ball smarts & ground ball getting ability that say a Weid / Plugga don't have as much of. Jackson covering the chop out role for Max kind of puts Weid as the 2nd stringer back up to Jackson here. So provided plugga is performing to some reasonable standards asked by the FD (i would guess over a block of 3 games or so at least) if Jackson is fit / available and BB is also ripe and fit, Weid is unlikely to get the preferential nod over plugga IMHO. At least for the remainder of this season anyway (assuming all of the above).

10th overall in pressure act averages till now (courtesy of the above site). We will more than likely need to crank the pressure side up (outside of forward 50 pressure which is still strong as you have highlighted) as the year progresses given we are sitting 10th on pressure act averages at the moment vs 5th overall in 2021. Having said that we are not far off in this regard anyway, only averaging approx 7 less pressure acts a game so far. Relatively easy to make up as needed i would think.

Never underestimate the importance of keeping those Ballarat turnstiles clicking over Cyclops

While the (general) tackle stat is one indicator of pressure and sure we are well off our overall position last year, i would not discount that this might be by design vs an actuall drop off. By design i mean the FD may have asked for a certain level / system to be played and met by the boys. Given our results/ladder position we would appear to have well and truly implememted / met the level & methods being asked so far. Some of these aspects being asked might be more critical to efficiency of ball usage and movement out of & away from stoppage/congestion. Including efficiency of transition off HB such as cleaner ball use, utilising space a tad better, presenting to the right places & effective delivery etc. Defensively the FD might be asking a tad less of most players from a general tackle count at this early phase of the season....preferring instead to build and bring the heat slowly as the season progesses, ensuring more players have more left in the tank for some of the bigger matches to come?? Also if the boys are turning the wick up on efricency of ball movement, winning contested at a high level et al then it might also explain the lower general tackle count vs 2021 as we are in possession much more of the time?? The time in possesion stat might be handy here! In a defensive aspect it would appear we are keeping the forward half pressure up by the looks of the inside 50 tackle count vs last season or at least, not very far off our best of last season. Pressure acts inside 50 (averages) and scores from turnovers inside 50 would also be interesting to know vs last season. While it is a fact the general tackle stat is off i would like to think this has more to do with good management and well designed playing styles/methods & executions (uncluding talent) vs a lack of willingness from some (or many) players to bring enough heat till now. It would be interesting to compare the tackle averages pre bye vs roughly 6 to 8 rounds post the bye and see how we sit both individually and in a team averages sense vs the rest of the comp. All up we are leading in so many other key aspects of the game. +20 in stoppage clearances the last two weeks one nice example. No.1 in contested possession averages differential as per 2021. Improved one place in uncontested possessions differential from 7th in 2021 to 6th at the moment. No.1 in meters gained differential as per 2021. Average meters gained is up by 200 meters a game vs 2021. Obviously Sam Mitchell saw this part as a huge asset he needed to try and curb as much as possible which he did successfully last week by locking down Lingers who had only 178 meters gained vs a massive 599 the previous week vs the Tiges. In a team sense we went from 6305 meters to 5960 vs the Hawks. My only concern might be that i am wrong about all of the design aspects above and maybe, just maybe, a few too many players are coasting a little too easy on the pressure front (aside from what happens inside 50!??) and might be leaning a little too much on our amazing defensive linemen & zoning system to always save the day. Hopefully not the latter and would be very surprised if this were the case.

Him & Grey are both pretty solid. Seems like a natural talent with a fair bit of upside. Decent moves with ball in hand. Be surprised if he isn't being looked at as we speak.

100%!!!

Weighted Average Scores up to & including Rnd 7 , 2022 vs H&A Season 2021 Player 2022 Score 2022 Rank 2021 Score % Change vs 2021 2021 Rank Change in Rank vs 2021 C Oliver 4.993 1 5.258 -5.04 1 0 C Petracca 4.546 2 4.041 12.50 2 0 Steven May 4.436 3 3.926 12.99 3 0 A Brayshaw 3.993 4 2.836 40.80 12 8 Jack Viney 3.925 5 3.171 23.78 8 3 J Harmes 3.539 6 3.520 0.54 6 0 Jake Bowey 3.536 7 2.881 22.74 11 4 L Jackson # 3.521 8 2.355 49.51 21 13 Max Gawn # 3.489 9 3.439 1.45 7 -2 H Petty* 3.325 10 2.086 59.40 26 16 Ed Langdon 3.268 11 3.092 5.69 9 -2 L Dunstan 3.238 12 - - - - Alex N-Bullen 3.208 13 2.388 34.34 19 6 T Sparrow 2.946 14 2.023 45.63 28 14 Jake Lever 2.770 15 3.661 -24.34 5 -10 T Rivers 2.675 16 2.658 0.64 13 -3 J Jordon 2.604 17 2.908 -10.45 10 -7 Ben Brown 2.081 18 1.855 12.18 30 12 T Bedford 2.038 19 - - - - Joel Smith 1.957 20 1.375 42.33 32 12 A Tomlinson 1.956 21 2.475 -20.97 16 -5 Jayden Hunt 1.936 22 2.597 -25.45 14 -8 Bayley Fritsch 1.886 23 2.155 -12.48 25 2 J Melksham* 1.825 24 1.853 -1.51 31 7 C Spargo 1.821 25 2.068 -11.94 27 2 T McDonald # 1.738 26 2.516 -30.92 15 -11 S Weideman # 1.710 27 1.055 62.09 27 0 K Pickett 1.375 28 2.378 -42.18 20 -8 Average Team Score - Top 22 69.98 67.23 4.09 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match not an average score Stats courtesy of footywire.com Player Focus (averages from both seasons)... #36 K Pickett 2021 2022 % Change CP 6.00 3.00 -50.0 UP 6.27 5.83 -7.0 ED 7.64 5.33 -30.2 DE% 61.79 67.22 5.4 CM 0.14 0.00 - Mi50 1.09 1.00 -8.3 1% 0.91 0.83 -8.3 CL 1.05 0.17 -84.1 R50 0.36 0.33 -8.3 i50 2.59 1.50 -42.1 T 3.68 3.67 -0.4 Si 5.27 2.67 -49.4 MG 227.05 143.50 -36.8 TO 2.09 2.33 11.6 ITC 1.45 0.50 -65.6 T50 1.64 2.33 42.6 TOG% 77.18 79.00 1.8 G 1.59 1.00 -37.1 #29 J Hunt 2021 2022 % Change CP 4.50 3.14 -30.2 UP 10.44 8.14 -22.0 ED 11.11 8.00 -28.0 DE% 79.31 68.09 -14.1 CM 0.17 0.29 71.4 Mi50 0.06 0.00 - 1% 1.22 4.43 262.3 CL 0.67 0.14 -78.6 R50 2.50 2.29 -8.6 i50 3.11 1.29 -58.7 T 2.72 1.57 -42.3 Si 3.00 2.00 -33.3 MG 327.44 238.57 -27.1 TO 3.17 2.86 -9.8 ITC 4.89 4.57 -6.5 T50 0.06 0.00 - TOG% 82.83 84.57 2.1 G 0.11 0.00 - #6 L Jackson 2021 2022 % Change CP 6.48 8.00 23.5 UP 6.81 7.83 15.0 ED 9.90 12.50 26.2 DE% 73.28 83.93 14.5 CM 0.90 1.67 84.2 Mi50 0.81 0.67 -17.6 1% 1.52 2.00 31.3 CL 1.48 2.17 46.8 R50 0.33 0.83 150.0 i50 1.33 1.67 25.0 T 1.95 2.83 45.1 Si 4.43 5.17 16.7 MG 117.05 145.83 24.6 TO 2.19 1.00 -54.3 ITC 1.38 3.00 117.2 T50 0.67 0.67 0.0 TOG% 75.43 77.17 2.3 G 0.71 0.83 16.7 #26 S Weideman 2021 2022 % Change CP 4.60 5.00 8.7 UP 3.20 3.60 12.5 ED 4.00 5.60 40.0 DE% 55.20 68.38 13.2 CM 1.00 1.40 40.0 Mi50 1.60 1.60 0.0 1% 1.00 0.20 -80.0 CL 0.00 0.20 - R50 0.00 0.20 - i50 0.80 1.00 25.0 T 1.80 1.20 -33.3 Si 3.20 4.00 25.0 MG 103.00 102.80 -0.2 TO 2.20 1.40 -36.4 ITC 0.60 0.80 33.3 T50 0.40 0.40 0.0 TOG% 74.20 74.20 0.0 G 0.60 1.80 200.0

If it is demolished i'm claiming first dibs on the social club's sticky carpets!

A move to Melb for the remainder of the season maybe 640? Plenty have flown the coop interstate, back to the safety of mah & pah's old digs et al so there should be a bit of vacant accommodation about ATM

Reckon solving the second part will hopefully solve the first Deej. I'm with you on the highlighted part. I just don't see enough of the talls leading at the moment. They're mostly (not always but mostly.. BB probably the least guilty here playing quite high at times and working back hard to the goal square) hanging around that 30 meter hot zone calling for players coming off the square to kick it long. Get on your bikes big boys and present! Even if the lead / hit up fails it clears out space for others to work in like Fritta, Kozzie, Toby and even Tracc on occasions (when pushing forward).

Slightly under done it seems and the interruption last week wouldn't have helped. Without Petty is he also being asked not to play as high in order to get back deep and assist the others when needed? This kind of leaves him a little in no man's land on occasions making him appear a bit more "out of sorts". With Petty back in and another week or two under Lever's belt hopefully he'll get back to somewhere near his best intercept / spoiling form from here.

I reckon the former ... the only reason i can think of is he wasn't 110% sure it was the big sticks it was going through.... in the end only plugger knows why though eh. He was lucky it wasn't given a point. I reckon he only just managed to control that before the ball fully crossed the line by a bee's johnson

Round 7, 2022 MCG - Demons vs Hawks Maxy BOG for the second week running for mine with Tracc just nudging him out for the No.1 place on these tables. Would usually add approx 0.75 to Maxy's score as a rough estimate for hit outs to advantage (with that many hit outs anyway). This would bring him up on par with Clarry and just a tad behind Tracc with a score of 5.50 tonight. Tracc's top of the table on here included... 26 effectives @ 83.9% efficiency, 2 marks inside 50, 3 clearances (Maxy the most for us with 9!), 3 rebounds, 8 inside 50s (equal with Clarry...some pretty wasteful entries from both though from memory?), 2 tackles, 10 score involvements, 637 meters gained (second only to Maysie), a moderate 4 turnovers plus a goal. Really loved Bowza's first half tonight and aside from a few too many turnovers afterwards i thought he played another VG game. Shout out to Weid for his third quarter ruck effort in the middle. Some very nice tap work i thought and managed to get more involved after a pretty quiet first half. I also thought plugger Mac really stepped up in the third and showed he still has some value to add. Just wish he had of let the Harmes goal go through. Would have been in the goals of the week for sure. Player Score Rank C Petracca 5.625 1 C Oliver 5.500 2 Max Gawn # 4.750 3 A Brayshaw 4.100 4 Steven May 3.950 5 J Jordon 3.675 6 Jack Viney 3.325 7 Jake Bowey 2.975 8 T McDonald # 2.775 9 Ben Brown 2.750 10 J Harmes 2.500 11 L Dunstan 2.325 12 Jake Lever 2.250 13 T Bedford 2.250 13 T Rivers 2.050 15 B Fritsch 1.900 16 J Melksham 1.825 17 J Hunt 1.625 18 Joel Smith< (59% TOG) 1.625 18 Charlie Spargo 1.550 20 Sam Weideman # 1.500 21 Ed Langdon 1.350 22 K Chandler> (16% TOG) 0.550 23 Team Score 62.18 Top 6 27.60 Bottom 6 9.48 # Hit outs to advantage not captured < Subbed out > Subbed in Stats courtesy of footywire.com

As a fill in i thought he went "ok". The effort was there but the best of Melk a la 2018 is most likely behind him in terms of intensity and finishing off the good work up the field or nearer the goals. However, he's been a VG servant of this club. Most of it through some very dark days. So lets not forget he's played a significant part in our resurgence. Does he have the penetrating finesse kick coming inside 50 like he once did? Not tonight he didn't. He's never been a contested beast so not like we were missing that from him. Would he usually kick that relatively easy goal from 35 out? Sure. Having said that, it's no doubt a bloody tough gig playing at the top level and for Melk to step up a level after so long out and play a role in what is likely a one off against a decent middle of the rung team....i tips me hat. I've seen plenty of worse games from Melk than tonight's performance! Given the circumstances i suspect the coaches may have also given Melk a pass mark here.

Spot on.... this needs some significant work in the next few months. We were a shambles coming inside on that last kick in the last quarter in particular and not just that, our Tall forwards are sitting back far too often IMV and not making leads to the open spaces or at the ball carrier enough. Too often looking for the cheap joe-the-goose or going up from behind with one or two other talls in the contest about 30 to 35 out. Not willing to work up & back a bit more then double back to the carrier for the hit up. I would say BB was probably the hardest worker in this regard tonight though but more playing between high HF and getting back again to lead out of the square. For a big man he has a pretty decent tank when fully fit. He was also taking a few forward half ruck contests on top of this. While i've seen him have better scoreboard days and he quite often got beaten in pack marking contests, he did work his [censored] off in these other areas tonight. There's a few up the field tonight that need to learn to place that last kick alot better and with some more finesse. Also get it in quicker at times. The slow play makes no sense when you have three talls one on one waiting waiting. That extra three to five seconds is enough to kill off their chances with the opp able to get numbers back and cover opponents and the gaps. Great effort tonight from most though and rapt to beat that mob. Can't stand em. Just need to work on the craft forward of center big time. Get that right and we would be smashing some of these pretenders more often and making our life a tad easier at times.

Our last kick inside this quarter has been shizen....shoukd have put them away already. They now have a sniff

Plugger, Toby, Dunstan, Maysie & the Weid (in the ruck) were super that quarter

First time we've won a 2nd quarter all year yes?

Lever looks spent already unfortunately. Might need to get the rotations up here

Weid looks the bomb playing the ruck !!

Spargo a bit quiet or tagging maybe?

Hard to stop that but Smith looks a little out of his league at this level for mine

BB/Maxy to share CHF role pls. Teams dont use this aspect enough when they have the opportunity with big marking fellas like this. Sets the cat amongst the pigeons and opens up the game behind for others to lead in to/crumb as well

He called for the ball long rather than lead up and still fluffed the opportunity.... still not sure about the Weid. He often goes for the contested mark from behind but doesnt have the height or leap. A 3 tall forward line when Maxy goes down there is ok but looks a little unbalanced. We need a medium tall maybe Tracc/Melk to spend a bit more time in the danger zones IMO. The talls are mostly waiting back then heading to the same contest once the kick comes inside. Looks a little lazy for mine. Bb is getting slightly blocked from leading by Frost but to be fair he's leaving his leads far too late and not working Frosty back hard enough (at all so far!??) for the double lead. Very predictable & too easy for Frosty to run with.