Demon Dynasty

100%. Should have been in. Sparrow is a long way off the level at the moment and Dunstan bludgeoned the door down last week. Not saying he'd be massive improvement but at this level you need to take every advantage you can get. With Salem & Hibb back and Bowey still in this frees up Gus to go back to a wing/HF. Would love to see him get a bit of time in the middle with Harmes covering for short stints on the wing to see what, if anything, that change up might bring. Also think we need to see a Bedford/Kozzy change up at some stage through the middle if Kozzie doesn't fire up forward in the first quarter and a bit and if our mid field set up is having another ordinary night. However, with Bowey, Salem & Jordan we also now have an excess of dour types across HB. That is unless Salem can get back on his bike to some run & carry form we saw in 2021. Might've been worth bringing Rivers in for Bowey who's lost a bit of form of late. Rivers could potentially offer a bit more spark/quicker ball movement/transistion off HB, giving the forwards a few more looks vs the pedestrian up the line transitioning we've seen far too much of this season IMHO. Our super slooow predicable transition off HB is a massive momentum killer and i would hate to have been a forward watching the likes of Salem, Jordy & Bowey with ball in hand the last two to three weeks. If we play this way for much of the game tomorrow night and refuse to switch, handball accurately forward to player/s on the move and/or pull the 45 trigger when it presents, this will play right into the Lion's 'you beauty' play book and we'll be in for our fourth dissapointing result.

Recently Sydee? Aside from Max, Macca and May i'd say we really don't have any other talls who can take contested marks consistently and haven't all year. Not sure one outta three is enough against Brissy. Would need all three in and at their best IMV.

You have my vote Layzie. The excitement should be mostly left to the game. Music / shazaam stuff after every goal along with disco lights... ughh. Ok a sprint or kicking comp at half time maybe but FCS turn their mics down. Especially that woman at the G. Voice sounds like two cats caterwauling in the early hours of a freezing winter morning.

I suspect you will be deflecting with the same reasons to keep them going in 2032 RP. By then then the Greatest Waste of Space would've cost the AFL another $250 - $500 million and still underperforming on and off the field and media still questioning the record low crowds/memberships etc That's if i'm alive to see it!

Greatest Waste of Space And Riewoldt's answer is.... “Investment in the game. They’ve got no alternative,” Riewoldt replied. “Just keep the throttle down and keep trying to drive the game up. So after 11 years (?) and probably somewhere around $150 - $200 million, plus 15 or more 1st round draft picks and two coaches, we arrive at... a complete failed basket case of a club that no one wants to go and watch. This Fox chat doesn't cover the TV ratings which i would assume would be off the scale also and not in a good way. Send the team to Tassie from 2025/2026 as the Tassie Giants. No need to fret over a 19th team and the AFL's talent pool isn't further stretched beyond its already weakened state. Winner winner winner chicken dinner

While most likely a marginal issue...i would add... Cashless transactions at most (all?) grounds post Covid (season 2021 onwards?) Many tradies and sole traders do a fair % of cash sales and i would guess a decent number might prefer to use that cash for day to day spending such as game day vendor purchases of food & bev. Keeping banked trade sales/earning $$ in their accounts for mortgage/bill payment, online transactions, SUV/Ute upgrades/superchargers/blow offs etc! Plenty of tradies are avid footy followers. Join the dots...

Apologies to Werridee in advance!... Hibberd May Petty Salem Lever Rivers Langdon Oliver Brayshaw Bedford Jackson Petracca Fritsch B Brown Pickett Foll: Weideman Viney Harmes Dunstan Spargo Bowey ANB Sub: Jordan/Tomlinson

That's how i'm seeing things as well. Add to that... Too many other issues to list #tryingtostaypositivelikelingers

Pure footballler but also has the leap to make him play a little taller. Strength of an ox. Hard to push off the ball and often works his opp off the ball himself. Love watching this bloke, apart from when he starts his sniping off the ball. Talk about footy smarts and clever forward craft. Has more talent on one toe than most forwards and more dangerous than most of them as well. Doesn't miss very often either. What a pitty he signed up again (for life!?) with the Greatest Waste of Space.

He's been in & out of the McGoos over the last three to four weeks or so. I figured it might have been the flu/covid. So, after playing pretty much every match bar the last few weeks and being a chance of getting a call up at a time of need, he's now possibly out for the next four weeks or so!?? Couldn't make this stuff up 🥴

Yeh im also a big fan here. Nice one Syd

I dunno Uncle... he looked pretty lit to me

There's a footy team in Bali willing to pay him $4 mil??

Excellent point. Isn't Bowey another? Also, aside from Salem/Bowey on some occasions (but usually only short kicks... nothing adventurous all that often), we don't have anyone who pulls the trigger and kicks inside (and by pulling the trigger i mean a kick of about 20 meters or further to hit a relatively open receiver) too often? May is about the only player i can recall who is confident at the medium to long 45s and/or switch kicks and he's been missing during all three losses. Our unwillingness and/or inability to pull the trigger (medium or longer switches/45s inside) is telling this season IMV and is backed up by recent stats from the HUN.... ..."Melbourne is ranked No. 1 for kicking down the line and ranked No. 18 for switching the ball across the ground."...

Just head to the nearest pub straight after the game then walk (stagger?) to work from there D4. Problem solved.

So no brown eyes as the oppo is lining up in front of goal then?

Because our forward cohesion/connection is a complete and utter failure and has been most of the season bar Macca dazzle. And he's out for some time. Maybe the rest of the season. We either get the ball inside 50 alot quicker more often or .... we can defend defend defend 8 to 9 goal average scores beautifully, maybe even better than we have all season ....and continue losing. Harmes has come back from a hammy and played two matches against top 8 red hot opponents. He'll be fine. Have faith... bloke's never let this club down yet.

Negative Adonski. After watching him carefully on Monday i saw him glance inside on a few occasions to open receivers but turned back towards the line and instead bombed it long to a massive contest. I agree our movement etc up the field and sometimes inside has been woeful much of the time. So yes the bulk of the time most wingers would do likewise (up the line). He has choices on slim occasions and after watching him on Monday he refuses to take the chance/risk and pull the trigger. Not sure if it's a lack of confidence in hitting a loose receiver over medium distance. I guess he could be under instruction but sometimes it's on the player to pull the right trigger. Outside of that one flaw he's playing the defensive role very very nicely the bulk of the time. It's a tweak that this club needs in my view if our forwards (and mids pushing forward) are to have any chance of converting more often. And not just hitting 45s. He needs to roll and move quickly more often and back in that a forward will be there on a lead or maybe even a few that he can hit up. Kicking up the line most of the time is killing us right now as most oppos are crapping on us in contested marks. Probably at a greater disadvantage in this area now with Maxy out!

Yep..this is what i was hoping we'd be seeing a modicum of from Benny this year 🤷‍♂️

That kick to Curnow just now, and the Pies also executed one or two of those against us on Monday. Perfectly weighted to the fat side lead. Is there any chance we could bring some of that including leading into space on the fat side or pretty much directly in front as we witnessed just now?

You could play that position FT. Gus into the middle for mine! I'd even play Harmes off the non-Lingers wing for a while and see how he goes. Jordy is solid but slow plays far too often for my liking. Harmes will roll out and play on quickly inside 50 more often i reckon and give our forwards a better chance to convert.

In the last five rounds we've obviously ebbed away DZ. In terms of the season as a whole however, the bulk of the list has actually improved statistically vs 2021 to this point. Our problem is that some of those that haven't are obviously critical to our continuing success/winning form. And of course we've now had some injuries to key players in the last four weeks or so. Not really adding anything that no one knows already of course. However if i take my objective qualitative hat off for a moment and look at the numbers alone (Danger Danger Will Robinson!) the players that we need to get back to something resembling 2021 form aren't that many or deep barring injury of course. So lets look at those injured and the others still on the park who are statistically a fair way off their 2021 form... 🌤️ Harmes (-11% on 2021 score) - Struggling since his return from the hammy but came back against two top 8 clubs in red hot form. I'll back him in here as he's done this before, as recently as early last season when i don't think he played till about round 5 or 6 from memory yet went on to make a very sold contribution. Off by about 11% on his 2021 level (statistically) so far. He can make that up if he puts his head down and no further setbacks. Let's see after the buy but i reckon he'll ratchet things up slowly and get somewhere near back to his best within two to three weeks. 🌦️ Lever (-26%) As per Harmes but has had a stack more time to regain match fitness and form. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case and in his last three matches since May went down he's posted some horrible results on these tables. Is it a case of no May no decent form from Lever? Or is he just so far back after his return from injury that it's going to be one of those seasons for Jake? 26% off would appear to be a bridge too far at this point but stranger things have happened. Might be worth considering Tomo for a short stint see how he goes, put Lever back for a spell and an attempted reset with Casey along with a small block of ramped up training to try and lift his fitness / strength levels? Comes back fitter and better for it? 🌤️ Rivers (-8%). No issues for mine. 8% off of last season is an easy number for a youngster with his talent to get back to IMV. I like the reset at Casey approach here allowing him more time / space to find some form and belief / confidence as well as playing the way Goody & Co might feel he hasn't been and fixing a few issues in the way he's going about things. His game against the Swans with Casey was solid and a sign that the reset is on track. Can't be sure how he went against the Pies as i only saw the highlights. ⛅ Tommy Mac (-23%). . IMV and no doubt many others on here etc, a key / critical figure up forward and part of our preferred structure if we're to make something of the rest of this season. Not sure why he's 23% down on 2021. It's a big number and probably worth a deeper look. The one thing i have liked about some of his games is his contested marking ability up forward and higher up the ground and his accurate goal kicking. Hopefully he makes it back but even if he does will he make it back to AFL match fitness with decent form in time? ⛅ Kozzy (-21%) Again another big gap between this season and last. Some weeks he's on fire for a half of footy. Other weeks we might be lucky to see one quarter or almost zero return. If only Kozzy could find some consistency this season. One thing i have noticed in the games he's performed well or quite well in....i see his contested possession numbers are up a fair bit from weeks where he is having an off game. This one's a real mystery to me. Maybe carrying something and every other week he's a bit too sore to get going? Maybe drank a little too much Premiership happy juice in the off season? ⛅ Fritta (-14%) Not sure Fritta's been bringing his A game enough of the time this season. It's just the little things, like the odd missed goal that he'd usually slot. The missing quarters in game. Trying to do it all himself near the goals instead of looking for an open player by hand or foot etc and instead getting pinged. 14% isn't alot but we're waiting waiting waiting for Fritta to get going consistently. It's time to bring the A game son, especially now Macca and Maxy are both out. 🌦️ Benny B (13%) Oh Benny Benny Benny. Whatever happened to him this season. Given his experience, along with Lever, he's probably the biggest disappointment so far this season for mine. Dropping too many marks, getting pushed off / taken out of many contests quite easily. Not leading up enough at the ball carrier and/or doubling back for the out the back mark/goal as he did on occasions last season. Instead sitting back far too often waiting for the perfectly weighted long kick near the goals. I dunno. Another player still basking in the Premiership glory a little too long maybe? Needs a rocket and some grunt! Would want to be a damn good second half of the season from old Benny! So rounding it up there aren't many off their 2021 form...but far too many of them are inside that forward 50 arc for my liking. And the other real concern not inside the arc...Lever. Good luck trying to fix the issues inside 50 and the delivery / smarts coming inside because so far it's been an absolute crappola fest!

Yeh on Dogga's shoulders might do it!

MIght be a D replacing that R in the parentheses if we send him in this early

Spargo the ideal chop out for Dogga