Demon Dynasty

Best you save any stomping for the grapes CHF Have a great birthday

BA i agree to a point here but when you see the young fella (JVR) up and about like last week and looking VERY ready for a (probable) short stint at the big league AND he out plays his older opponent (for that spot) in Melk in a tough encounter under trying conditions away at the Cattery. Mate i must be very out of touch with things at AFL level but from my amature seat i would've rolled the die and given JVR a shot this week. We've seen some very solid performances from Melk over the years and he's a great servant of the club. But based on recent form at Casey my eyes tell me JVR is now at or above his level (in short stints!) and more than ready. I doubt we'll see him make his debut at senior level this year now though so these are just musings from lowly old me and subjective opinion.

That boat's sailed i think Red. If he didn't get picked after last week's results, Seniors and Casey, i doubt he'll get a look in this season unless we have a few injuries to taller forwards. Played a solid game last week & unlucky not to be in for Spargo or Bedford.

See above Steve....added a 'post' post comment. Not many teams (to this point) are using the Doggy's outside five method in general play. I havent seen many occurances, if any, of other teams (beside the Doggies) using the outside five for OOTFs before this evening. Maybe i haven't been watching carefully enough though and have just missed it. Some players might be (individual preference) or have to as they cant get to the mark in time (ie: incidendal & unintended).

I would have to rewatch. Maybe some players learning quicker than others as i havent seen any of our boys doing it this year. I just rewatched. CP was a fair way off the OOTF when it happened and directed away from coming up to the line by the ump (ie; telling him "outside five" as he was approaching). Think that was more circumstance than design TBH. Not fully convinced on "intent" here.

Nice work off HB there by the Swanies. As much as i hate the celebration Papley is one helluva small forward

Yeh very strong allover the field the [censored]. Hard to find a weak area. Maybe the ruck but usually that isnt a huge factor. Certainly well organised, maintain their structure and strong over the ball. They attack the ball carrier straight away ...no hesitation at all. The opp is always under frontal pressure. Freo might be a team to counter this frontal pressure as they prefer to fold back and then counter vs the attacking forward style of the Blues. Where do we sit here i wonder?

When we speak of learnings i hope our club has learned not to stand the line when marking an OOTF. The Doggies clever. Started using the outside 5 rule to protect the inside play on or kick from this situation a fair while back. Cats & the Blues have now learnt and are also doing this tonight. As of last week we were still standing the line.

Pickering said there's no way he'll be leaving the Swans even for $100/$250k more. He'll finish up with a one year contract there it seems.

Very evenly matched these two. Cats maybe just a touch more class and hold their structure a bit better? Great to hear Chunk on the special comments.

Roooos! That was a gutsy win and probably the upset of the year given who they were playing and what was at stake. Although you have to wonder where that's been aside from last week against the Pies. Many of them saying this one's for Noble so you have to take that on face value as fair dinkum. Zurhaar ... this bloke really punches above his weight when he's on. Goldy was also super in that last quarter or so. That No.1 draft pick did ok as well eh! In the end you can have all the systems and styles you like. To win these tight games against very good teams you have to bring the most important element for most of the four quarters.... great effort.

Whatever the issues, which may in part lie with Stafford, if our forward line was humming we would be an unstoppable powerhouse and storming into the finals well clear on top of the table right now. The fact that we arent and are now back in the mix with so many other teams tells the tale IMV. Our forward line hasn't fired consistently all year and remains our biggest weakness and the reason why most teams don't fear us and rate their chances highly when coming into their matches against us.

Yes there's a good reason Tracc has been playing more time forward of late. A much trickier match up for the oppo up forward vs Melk i would imagine. The alternative is Melk does actually play a fair chunk of mid field minutes allowing Tracc to play mostly as a forward. A bit of a win for the opp regardless IMV.

I'll stick with my call bing. Tipping the mid field contest in their favour here IMV. Not the smartest move i've seen but hope im wrong

It's simple Bing... he doesn't. Couldn't think of a worse replacement for Clarry. Dunstan by the length of the Flemington in comparison. If he was replacing Spargo or Bedford i'd be more understanding

Dunstan✅️ Tomlinson 🤷‍♂️ Hunt✅️

Very nice work (again) PF thanks mate. Surely there's someone on here who has a background in forging fake press passes. Get on it D'landers!

Me thinks you've been watching too many AFL 'Saints vs Dogs' ads Mr Fence

Before or after PF's visit??

Agree with much of your post 64 but IMHO Dunstan has been performing at (or near) a level that warrants plausible selection (possibly for Sparrow if he doesn't find some higher level consistency in the next week or two?) even if Clarry was fit. Dunstan is pretty clever at putting himself in the right spots to receive and his handballs i would rate as elite. Not as confident about his kicking but i did notice he found a bit of run last week which i hadn't seen from him prior. Keeps his feet as well which is one area i'd really like to see Sparrow improve upon. Sparrow goes to ground a bit too often for mine at the present. Having said that, Sparrow on a good day is as good or in terms of the scoreboard possibly a better alternative.

Ultimately i would think so Dee

Not sure why Melk & Rivers are even named here. Or Tomo but i'm assuming he's the only like for like replacement for Petty. So we are most likely looking at... Outs: Clarry (inj), Bowey & Petty (H&S) Ins: Dunstan, Hunt & Tomo JVR & Laurie very unlucky.

No doubt for the $$ Jaded but that may only be one part of the motivation behind him potentially returning to North....

Cant argue against much of that LD. The other aspect with Clarkson... wouldn't he potentially make North a somewhat more attractive destination option vs if he wasn't there?

Clarkson or bust? .... at least for another 7 to 10 years anyway. Even with Clarkson they're at least 3 to 5 years away from becoming seriously competitive IMV.