Demon Dynasty

History repeating!?? BB was the glaring non pick in this same game last year at the G for mine and on the day we had so many decent entries i50 but there were very few targets on offer for those up the field to kick to. Plenty of holes for leading as well but the leads were pretty much non existent. Perfect conditions for footy that day and prior to the bounce i mentioned to bro "hey the missing ingredient today me thinks... BB!". Who knows if we would have won but for me this was the match that we could've/should've won last season. No fault of the selection committee this time around but BB is about to miss against GWS again...grrr. He was picked the following week and the rest as they say....is history.

Can't see it happening but would it be worth swinging Smith forward and T-Mac back for a stint and see how that goes for two weeks or so? Thats assuming BB comes in for Weid and not T-mac of course.

Would be pretty hard for anyone to cover Lever's role effectively as Lever himself (in best or close to best form) i would think LT. He plays it so well and such a specialist role at that. Petty might be a better foil though (covering the Lever role if / when he is out i mean) which might explain the comments from Maxy re May having some issues with Joel. That might be purely experience / time spent (in game) playing in the system and with the other fellas down back vs Joel (less time spent = less experience = more likely to muck up). If he (Joel) does miss due to Covid outing then yes it would be very unlucky timing for him eh. In terms of similar style / role i would think Joel might be (post Lever's return) more directly competing with Petty & Tomo? Hunt being more a high pressure (ground level) quick rebound type defender and more likely competing with Rivers & Hibb (high pressure sense in the case of Hibb). One stat that i have a sneaking suspicion some within the FD take a bit of notice of is... interceptions. The top five here (on averages) so far... 1. Steven May 7.00 1. Jake Bowey 7.00 3. Gus Brayshaw 6.75 4. Joel Smith 5.67 and 5 Ed Langdon / James Jordon both on 5.50

Chandler's game against Willy was pretty decent i thought. Will probably need to kick the door down to get another look though me thinks after his very ordinary first up performance in Rnd 9 vs the Blues last season. I liked Bedford's first up game this year. Looked more switched on to the high end tempo of AFL and brought some serious pace and reasonable finish at the highest level. However, he pretty much only played half a match so would need to see a chunk more and playing a large part of a match before being convinced he is ready. Laurie i haven't seen enough of of late at VFL level to say. If i had to pick one who is more ready out of the three i'd probably say Bedford but not with a high degree of confidence.

I realise the selection committee doesn't base it's decisions around stats but if you were to look at these four from a purely stats form perspective... So far Joel is running at approx 13.5% higher weighted score (output) than Petty's season average score in 2021, 21% above Tomo's average output (so far this season) and 74% higher than Hunt's average score (this season). Will be pretty stiff to miss out but wouldn't be surprised if he does either.

Average Time on Ground % to Rnd 4, 2022 Player TOG% A Tomlinson 99.00 Steven May 98.50 Ed Langdon 98.25 Max Gawn 89.00 Petracca 88.75 Joel Smith 87.33 Jake Lever* 87.00 C Oliver 85.75 Alex N-Bullen 84.75 Ben Brown 84.50 A Brayshaw 84.00 B Fritsch 84.00 Jayden Hunt 83.00 L Jackson 80.25 K Pickett 79.00 Jack Viney 77.50 S Weideman 77.00 Jake Bowey 76.75 T McDonald 74.75 James Jordon 74.25 James Harmes 71.00 Trent Rivers 69.00 Charlie Spargo 68.50 Tom Sparrow 66.25 Toby Bedford* 55.00 * Only played one match not an average Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Weighted Average Scores up to & including Rnd 4 , 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 4.519 1 5.258 -14.05 1 0 Steven May 4.300 2 3.926 9.53 3 1 J Harmes 4.056 3 3.520 15.23 6 3 C Petracca 4.031 4 4.041 -0.25 2 -2 A Brayshaw 3.981 5 2.836 40.37 12 7 L Jackson # 3.800 6 2.355 61.36 21 15 Jack Viney 3.700 7 3.171 16.68 8 1 Jake Bowey 3.400 8 2.881 18.01 11 3 Alex N-Bullen 3.269 9 2.388 36.89 19 10 Ed Langdon 3.225 10 3.092 4.30 9 -1 Max Gawn # 3.181 11 3.439 -7.50 7 -4 J Jordon 3.100 12 2.908 6.60 10 -2 T Sparrow 2.769 13 2.023 36.88 28 15 Joel Smith 2.367 14 1.375 72.12 32 18 T Rivers 2.267 15 2.658 -14.71 13 -2 Ben Brown 2.175 16 1.855 17.25 30 14 A Tomlinson 1.956 17 2.475 -20.97 16 -1 T Bedford* 1.825 18 - - - - S Weideman 1.750 19 1.055 65.88 27 8 Bayley Fritsch 1.656 20 2.155 -23.16 25 5 T McDonald # 1.613 21 2.516 -35.89 15 -6 Jake Lever* 1.600 22 3.661 -56.30 5 -17 Jayden Hunt 1.363 23 2.597 -47.52 14 -9 C Spargo 1.338 24 2.068 -35.30 27 3 K Pickett 1.263 25 2.378 -46.89 20 -5 Average Team Score - Top 22 64.54 67.23 -4.00 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match not an average score Stats courtesy of footywire.com

BB will surely be an auto in for Weid Smith or Petty for Tomo seems reasonable. Smith making a few errors but still feel there's plenty of upside here. It's probably a tustle between those three for one spot and another arm wrestle to see who stays in out of Hunt, Rivers and Hibb once Hibb returns & gets back to some match fitness. Casey game should will be an interesting watch although the winds at Willy are usually pretty fickle to say the least

6. Gawny 5. Harmes 4. May 1. Jordan 1. Lingers 1. Viney 1. Sparrow 1. Nibbler 1. Jackson

Round 4, 2022 Adelaide Oval - Power vs Demons Harmes at No.1 with 21 effectives, 3 clearances, 3 Rebounds, 4 inside 50s, 1 mark inside 50, 1 one percenter, 3 Tackles (one of those inside 50), 5 score involvements, 4 intercepts, 325 meters gained and 2 goals. All that with only 70% game time. Some of his two way running and chase downs (hunting) was amazing to watch. Fitness seems to have gone up a notch again from last season if that's at all possible and it's paying dividends. Maxy not far behind if you add about 0.75 for hit outs to advantage that puts him at roughly 4.90 Thought he was BOG on the night. Stats included... 15 effectives, 5 contested marks, 2 marks inside 50, 2 one percenters, 6 clearances, 3 rebounds, 7 inside 50s, 2 tackles, 4 score involvements, 6 intercepts, 516 meters gained and a goal. Another super solid game from May. Team score way off the first three rounds average but it was a dour type of game in comparison. Top 5 Meters gained.... May 680, Sparrow 551, Gawn 516, Langdon 483 & Jordan 412 Jordan, Sparrow, Nibbler, Gus & Viney all very good, especially in that first half for mine. Player Score Rank James Harmes 5.075 1 Steven May 4.800 2 Max Gawn 4.150 3 L Jackson 4.075 4 Alex N-Bullen 3.550 5 Jack Viney 3.550 5 James Jordon 3.500 7 A Brayshaw 3.150 8 Ed Langdon 3.025 9 C Oliver 2.550 10 T Sparrow 2.175 11 Jake Bowey 2.100 12 C Petracca 1.825 13 Trent Rivers 1.675 14 Jake Lever 1.600 15 B Fritsch 1.475 16 T McDonald 1.400 17 S Weideman 1.250 18 Jayden Hunt 1.125 19 A Tomlinson 1.075 20 C Spargo 1.000 21 K Pickett 0.400 22 Team Score 54.53 Top 6 25.20 Bottom 6 6.25 # Hit outs to advantage not captured Stats courtesy of footywire

They are too busy minding the likes of Tracc & Clarry in that first half to get enough of the pill themselves and get any momentum.....so far anyway! Big Max is being mauled in the ruck and around the ground....as usual. And of course zero protection but always called for blocking at the slightest hint. Lycett constantly wrapping left arm around Max and over the shoulder on a couple of occasions. The player just in front of their last guy who marked before the siren..... cannons in to Max's neck/head with no eyes/intention of going for the mark....zero protection/favours. Need to put the foot on their neck this quarter. Viney's had a very good half along with Jordan, May, Lingers, Nibbler & Gus (no doubt a few others ive left out). I like Harmes's gut running and willingness to close up on multiple opponents to pressure when we don't have possession. Gus, Bowey & Hunt also here. Tracc started to find some space in the latter half of the second. Whoever his young opponent is, he's about to find out how hard he is to stop (if Port leave him on Tracc that is) P.S. who put the hand in to cause that turnover on our half of the square that quarter (thinking Sparrow, Nibbler or Harmes).

Sparrow with the smarts.... long to the top of the square for the out size advantage. Finally a contested mark from a tall.. deep

Jordan & Gus doing well. Macca having a mare.

Asside from pressure when we dont have the ball (ot he doesnt) Kozzie is in terrible form at present. Hopefully can turn it around this match but its now 6 weeks and 1 quarter long.

Over use of handball Coming inside 50 a dogs breakfast. No smarts so far aside from nibbler. Is any forward leading up hard?? Hard to see on the box. T-Mac getting to some contests but appears to have concrete boots on again Weid no awareness on the wing.... Jackson going up for it in the box....Weid comes in from the side and spoils 🤷‍♂️ Giving a team out of form a sniff...again. No semblance of any decent forward options so far. Fix this part and we would be 4 to 5 up already. Maxy, Bowey, Nibbler, May all doing well

You chose well Uncle. Things could have gotten really grotty had you gone with...

No issues on android here 🤷‍♂️

It could be as simple as the FD giving a chunk more game time to Dogga in the ruck duties and Gawny just adjusting to it eg; as a result of the above he is not in the places he was in (around the ground) quite as often as he was last season .... just sayin 🤷‍♂️ Regardless i dont have any issues with Maxy so far. Far too early to be concerned and has shown glimpses of his 2021 form in the first three matches also.

You can't dish the Weid after a win & a four goal game surely? Just as you can't ignore BB's early season form either and the fact he was only left out against Essendrug for covid reasons, nothing to do with form. So on a form basis (and it's been more than just one week now) surely it has to be BB in for T-Mac!? Not that i'm wishing for this as i hate to see a premiership player being dropped, but it seems the most logical outcome at this stage yes? Having said that i also thought Mitch Brown would have gotten the nod before the Weid given his 7 goal haul at Casey the week prior to last. Which goes to show i have KFI

Thanks TU... they must have stopped the online version and switched over. I'll check this out when i get a chance cheers

Weighted Average Scores up to & including Rnd 3 , 2022 vs H&A Season 2021 Well fellow minions we are already three rounds in and while not a very robust body of work and too early to start making wild assumptions, three rounds (from most players) is still something where we can begin to see some trends developing. The Positives (for mine anyway).... 👉 Most players are either tracking at, close to ....or....well above their 2021 averages. The bulk are tracking well above! 👉 The average team score is sitting pretty much spot on with the 2021 average. I reckon that's a big positive given the early outs down back and the fact we would have started our pre-season a few weeks later than all teams bar the Doggies 👉 Stand out improvers on 2021 average statistical form (for arguments sake shall we say 15% plus improvement?? ie., highly unlikely it's a fluke). A medal indicates outstanding improvement (say 25% plus??)... Tracc, Gus🏅 , Bowey 🏅, Viney, Jackson 🏅, ANB 🏅, Sparrow 🏅, Smith 🏅 and BB. The Negatives... 👉 Early days but Gawny is off 2021 by roughly 17%. I'm not that concerned at this early stage though. Plenty of time to make that up and the better more experienced players can bridge that sort of gap in a few weeks, injuries aside. 👉 Barring Benny Brown (and not making any assesments on Weideman or Bedford who have both played only one match and in the case of Bedford only half a match at that & no prior averages to go on anyway), pretty much every other forward is way off their 2021 statistical form by 20% plus! For me this is an early worry, albeit too early to be too worried. Having said that i must say i'm a little more worried about T-Mac & Kozzie, given that their drop away in statistical form pretty much commenced once the finals started last year. Being three rounds in, this is now 6 weeks of relatively poor form from both and 6 weeks to me would appear to be a bit of a trend. 👉 Again early days but Hunt's statistical form is a mile off (-44%) his 2021 average. This would appear to be a significant drop off. Could his ankle injury last year be playing a part here? Lost a bit of his 'off the mark' burst speed? How was his pre-season i wonder? Any restrictions or did he manage to put in a decent block? Player 2022 Score 2022 Rank 2021 Score % Change vs 2021 2021 Rank Change in Rank vs 2021 C Oliver 5.175 1 5.258 -1.58 1 0 C Petracca 4.767 2 4.041 17.96 2 0 A Brayshaw 4.258 3 2.836 50.15 12 9 Steven May 4.133 4 3.926 5.28 3 -1 Jake Bowey 3.833 5 2.881 33.06 11 6 Jack Viney 3.750 6 3.171 18.26 8 2 J Harmes 3.717 7 3.520 5.59 6 -1 L Jackson # 3.708 8 2.355 57.47 21 13 Ed Langdon 3.292 9 3.092 6.46 9 0 Alex N-Bullen 3.175 10 2.388 32.96 19 9 T Sparrow 2.967 11 2.023 46.65 28 17 J Jordon 2.967 11 2.908 2.02 10 -1 Max Gawn # 2.858 13 3.439 -16.88 7 -6 T Rivers 2.563 14 2.658 -3.59 13 -1 Joel Smith 2.367 15 1.375 72.12 32 17 S Weideman* 2.250 16 1.055 113.27 27 11 A Tomlinson 2.250 16 2.475 -9.09 16 0 Ben Brown 2.175 18 1.855 17.25 30 12 T Bedford* 1.825 19 - - - - Bayley Fritsch 1.717 20 2.155 -20.34 25 5 T McDonald # 1.683 21 2.516 -33.09 15 -6 K Pickett 1.550 22 2.378 -34.82 20 -2 C Spargo 1.450 23 2.068 -29.88 27 4 Jayden Hunt 1.442 24 2.597 -44.49 14 -10 Average Team Score - Top 22 66.98 67.23 -0.37 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match not an average score Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Yes on this particular night his value was much higher than the rating suggests D4 for sure. Goals are actually weighted higher than pretty much every other stat here. But similar to other ratings systems goals tend to get a little less recognition vs what is happening further up the field, especially through the middle, just due to sheer volume i guess. There's also the pressure side that gets factored in when we don't have the ball and you tend to find tall forwards don't rack up as many on this side vs other mediums & smalls so they miss out here a little. Having said that, a score of 2.25 for a forward is actually pretty good when you consider the average scores of our other forwards for the whole of last season (see above). Weid should retain his place this week IF BB is coming back in. I would think T-Mac might end up missing but then again Goody usually doesn't like to change a winning team (which is understandable) so who knows!

Round 3, 2022 MCG - Demons vs Bombers Not the first time Gus has headed these tables. Without going back over the last four seasons i thought i would just check 2018 as he played a bit more through the middle at times in that season and he ranked number one in rounds 10, 16 & 21. Another fabulous effort by Clarry. Just a few too many turnovers on the night to get the chocolates here, leading the team with nine. So how did Gus arrive at number one? Let's take a brief look at a few highlights. 29 effective disposals, 3 rebounds, 5 inside 50s, 7 score involvements, 8 intercepts and 518 meters gained! Clarry topped the meters gained count for both teams with 666 with Gus the next best. Team score only 2% off the 2021 average... Player Score Rank A Brayshaw 6.350 1 C Oliver 5.250 2 Steven May 4.825 3 Jack Viney 3.950 4 Luke Jackson 3.750 5 J Harmes 3.675 6 Ed Langdon 3.525 7 Max Gawn 3.400 8 Jake Bowey 3.350 9 C Petracca 2.850 10 Trent Rivers 2.775 11 Joel Smith 2.725 12 T Sparrow 2.575 13 B Fritsch 2.475 14 J Jordon 2.250 15 S Weideman 2.250 15 Alex N-Bullen 2.025 17 Jayden Hunt 2.025 17 C Spargo 1.950 19 K Pickett 1.550 20 T McDonald 1.275 21 A Tomlinson 0.975 22 Team Score 65.78 Top 6 27.80 Bottom 6 9.80 # Hit outs to advantage not captured Stats courtesy of footywire.com