Demon Dynasty

Not necessarily DD. When LJ is in the ruck Gawny can rest on the bench allowing a mid like Tracc (or even JJ, Harmes or Viney.... if only he was match fit) to play some minutes at HF in place of LJ. Rusults in two talls, two mediums and two smalls up forward. That's a genuinely balanced line up. You can also play Gawn for miner minutes in BB's role when BB is resting and maintain LJ in the ruck for the same balanced line up. Many ways to skin a cat.

Not if he is replacing a mid who doesn't play big minutes inside 50 DD. Thinking Sparrow here. It comes down to the smaller brigade of Kozzie/Spargo turning up the wick along with some assists from, LJ, Macca and any mids who happen to be pushing forward at the time the ball is turned over. Tracc's pressure inside 50 / around the arc on the weekend was terrible and he may not of been alone. I just happened to notice him on a few occasions from the Punt Rd end and it wasn't pretty. Room for improvement all round to help lock the ball in and/or prevent clean transition off HB a little more often. What his inclusion might allow will be more rest time for a young rookie in LJ and possibly some more time dropping back to assist the defenders (Gawny). As well as a bit more break time on the bench. Also less time pushing forward. Keeping those two (Gawny & LJ) a little more fresh might make them more potent in general.

Why would anyone want to fix the spine and get the basics of footy right D. Stop being silly. Fritta can do all this and more leading to the pocket and flank boundaries!. That's premiership forward craft big boy!

I'm not saying it's a permanent option by any means Mel. I just think he looks on at the moment and playing intense footy. Of course that doesn't necessarily convert to a serviceable game in the seniors but who knows. He has played this role before and I've seen him play it quite well on a few occasions. Other times not so good. But sometimes it comes down to hunger PLUS ability. I reckon he knows what's required from a work rate perspective at senior level and is pushing hard for another crack. He offers intensity, hunger and some experience up forward. He also might bring the pressure inside 50 that's been lacking the last three to four matches. Spargo & Kozzie are officially both off their early season form and neither have hit those heights in the last three weeks. Couldn't be worse than those two given where they're at right now. Both need a spell IMO and in Kozzie's case a decent refresher to try and find some early form again. They are a large part of the reason we are dropping winnable games lately. One.goal a week between the two of them is just not sustainable at this level and neither is bringing enough heat on the opp inside 50. Reckon he is worthy of a chance and who knows, he might have matured and might just take it!

Aside from the backline this would appear to be the case in the last 3 matches especially BN. It was that cold Kent, at one point in the third i stood up quickly (for me) to cheer a goal and my right leg went into a cramp. And that's without kicking any leather! Too funny. I've never felt as old as i did at that match and it sure felt like Melb of old to me which was a bit depressing. FD i would compare the mids (or anyone's) season average score to their match day score and that will give you some idea, at least staistically, how they faired on the day. Some better than others. But as we know you can also look ok statistically on the day, or even not.ok, but still put in a bit of a shocker or maybe not (depending on the role being asked etc). For example Olliver (way off), Harmes, JJ & Viney were either well below or slightly off (Sparrow) their season average whereas Tracc was slightly above. Does this mean Tracc played a solid game? I'm not so sure in this case. Ok maybe but was it one we would rate? Did he cover off his direct opponents nicely when we lost possession? Stats don't account for this perfectly and nor do these weighted scores. I saw some pretty lazy accountability efforts from Tracc in our forward half on Saturday which allowed his nearest opponent (when ball was turned over) to just waltz out of our forward 50 with no pressure on at least two occasions. With ball in hand he might have had a reasonable game which shows up in the weighted score but defensively he was pretty slack from what i witnessed. Ok if he lands a tackle inside 50 or a few this will count towards his score. But the method i use doesn't account for other pressure acts inside 50 (aside from one percenters) so this part is missed. As was his lazy chasing efforts in our forward half or lack thereof on Saturday.

Weighted Average Scores up to & including Rnd 16, 2021 vs 2019 Player 2021 Score 2021 Rank 2019 Score % Change vs 2019 2019 Rank Change in Rank vs 2019 C Oliver 5.297 1 4.643 14.09 1 0 C Salem 4.179 2 3.658 14.24 3 1 Steven May 4.160 3 2.446 70.07 14 11 C Petracca 3.877 4 2.616 48.20 10 6 Jake Lever 3.627 5 2.313 56.81 17 12 J Harmes 3.625 6 3.850 -5.84 2 -4 Max Gawn # 3.525 7 3.256 8.26 4 -3 Ed Langdon 3.391 8 Jack Viney 3.143 9 3.068 2.44 5 -4 James Jordan 3.129 10 A Brayshaw 3.078 11 2.894 6.36 6 -5 T McDonald # 2.683 12 2.150 24.79 19 7 Trent Rivers 2.582 13 Jayden Hunt 2.563 14 1.958 30.90 22 8 M Brown* 2.475 15 A Tomlinson 2.475 15 L Jackson # 2.436 17 M Hibberd 2.423 18 2.124 14.08 20 2 Oskar Baker* 2.325 19 1.714 35.65 29 10 K Pickett 2.322 20 Alex N-Bullen 2.230 21 1.984 12.40 21 0 Nathan Jones 2.214 22 2.711 -18.33 7 -15 Tom Sparrow 2.155 23 1.075 100.47 37 14 Bayley Fritsch 2.077 24 2.641 -21.36 9 -15 J Melksham 1.984 25 1.931 2.74 23 -2 Charlie Spargo 1.983 26 1.375 44.22 35 9 H Petty 1.906 27 1.905 0.05 24 -3 Neville Jetta 1.865 28 2.264 -17.62 18 -10 Ben Brown # 1.575 29 S Weideman 1.055 30 1.818 -41.97 27 -3 K Chandler* 0.250 31 Average Team Score - Top 22 67.76 59.62 13.65 Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match not an average score Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Wouldn't be as worried had we won two out of the last three against teams who are well below us. IMHO the rot started setting in against the Pies and has ebbed through the team since. We were effectively a man down while Weid was in and now with Viney back we've been a man down since his return also. He might get back to his best given enough time but for the moment he is a liability through the middle. We looked a bit better when Harmes played more mid time vs Viney prior to his return. We were one inside mid too many y'day and a KF short with the obvious move (once the radar showed very little chance of rain) BB in for Sparrow. BB was a chance of kicking at least two and there's your over the line win. We would still be sitting two clear of everyone and a loss against Port would not be so critical to ladder position. Instead we now find ourselves up against it fighting for a top four place if we do. It's amazing how much better a forward line clicks and how much incentive you offer those coming off HB/through the middle, at center bounces to extract the pill, run their guts out and link up to get it there when you know you have a tall target who can mark on a lead and overhead vs even the tallest opponents ...AND convert! Same with the smalls crumbing the spills. The selectors / Goody only have themselves to blame for ignoring BB's form the week before, missing the opportunity to stretch the Giants backs and make the most of our entries inside 50. Dumbest non selection of the year and it may cost us dearly. Form is a fickle thing and we may struggle to find it again with only seven weeks left against some very tough opponents.

Rnd 16, 2021 MCG - Demons vs Giants Disposals Per Goal 54.0 % In50s Goal 12.4 Conversion % 35.0 Our worst result in the above three scoring aspects all season. The next worse for over using the ball was last week against the Bombers @42.11 Disposals Per Goal. It appears, in hindsight, this was building. And look at that conversion rate...gadzooks! Tops off our 39.1% last week and 38.7% against the Saints in Rnd 2. May takes the chockies two weeks running with his highest weighted score this season. Salem's second best this year. His best against the Tigers in Rnd 6 with a 6.60 The top four players obviously defenders. Probably explained by the fact they were under the pump with plenty of entries from the Giants but they also performed admirably much of the time. In a worrying sign the team weighted score of 62.58 was only 5% above the average of the (woeful) 2019 season and a massive 10% off our 2018 season average. We will more than likely go out in the first round or straight sets (if we get the double chance) putting in performances like this or close to it. 7 matches left to turn the tide folks or it's going to be a pretty ugly finals series and a sour end to 2021! Player Score Rank Steven May 5.425 1 C Salem 5.275 2 Jake Lever 4.300 3 Trent Rivers 4.000 4 C Oliver 3.950 5 C Petracca 3.925 6 Ed Langdon 3.375 7 J Harmes 3.225 8 Max Gawn # 3.175 9 T McDonald 3.125 10 James Jordon 2.650 11 Bayley Fritsch 2.625 12 A Brayshaw 2.600 13 Alex N-Bullen 2.525 14 Jack Viney 2.300 15 H Petty 1.975 16 T Sparrow 1.950 17 Jayden Hunt 1.475 18 C Spargo 1.350 19 K Pickett 1.350 19 L Jackson # 1.300 21 M Hibberd 0.700 22 Team Score 62.58 Top 6 26.88 Bottom 6 8.13 # Hit outs to advantage not captured Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Selection time at the MFC is often perplexing Bobby

I reckon he is already earmarked based on last week's performance and today's seniors result Bobby. He'll be in against Port.

Don't mind this at all. We are overweight mids and underweight a KTF. Would push Jordan into Kozzie's role and allow Jones to cover Jordan's mid time. Can't be any worse than we saw today. Today was bottom of the barrel this season. Kozzie is due for a two to three week reset in the McGoos . I would go one further and bring Lockhart in for for Spargo for a block of three games and send both the small forwards to Casey for a reset / spell. They are both badly out of form right now and a partly the reason why we aren't posting decent scores of late. Lockhart is playing some decent intense footy at VFL last two matches and him and JJ might be just the tonic we need inside 50 vs Spargo/Kozzie in the short term who both need to find some form again.

What a lovely ending to a great day

Foot has a decent leg

Send White back FCS!

I know he is probably out again with a suspect hammy Swooper but would have been a perfect fit to land Cameron, albeit he was never coming i realise. Personally i think we have to give BB a decent block and run at it from here to test the waters otherwise we probably don't make a PF this season let alone a GF.

Half the problem might be the quality of supply Swooper. The MFC don't have a history of playing with a genuine Key Tall on the lead and i doubt our VFL squad (tonight), Melk maybe an exception, would have the foot skills to even place the ball in the right spots out in front (softly) let alone lower their vision and look for him on the lead very often. I suspect most will just play their usual run and gun style and hope someone takes a clunker or a small starts crumbing off the spillages (deeper vs on the lead). Hopefully the likes of Rosman & DeClase will learn a bit of this and have the skills to do so more often in the next few years. Would we even have this skill set as a desired / key objective within our senior FD teachings given Stafford was a ruckman? P.S. i did see Rosman spot up BB last week doubling back and managed to kick it over the heads of the defenders allowing BB to run onto it and goal....so he already has the potential / brains here.

Prepping for a bike ride to Adelaide oval?

Why is Casey playing White up forward instead of back where he usually plays (of late)? He is taking a KF spot and we need to try and play both Weid AND BB into some form? Perplexing

This and the next few matches could be some of the most crucial in the recent (post 64) history of this club.

I've yet to see a player mark up forward and kick a goal from the bench. Someone might want to pass that on to him. Werridee!?

BB in and Sparrow out today allows additional options BW. You can rotate Gawn and Dogga in the ruck but also allow mostly Dogga to play a higher percentage as a forward but generally less game time so he's playing in bursts. Better option for a rookie? He changes up on occasions with BB for the bench / rest and giving the opp a different look up forward. BB offers the lead anywhere out to 50 and even a tad higher on occasions. He can also go deeper if he and Dogga are both on with Gawn in the ruck. Dogga taking CHF for a bit where his mobility/clever distribution of the pill & ground ball pressure come into play. From there Dogga can also push back to the goal square when BB is taking a shot from long range, offering the smalls a potential crumb/snap if the kick falls short. Or he might take the occasional contested and goal himself (wishful thinking at the mo). Gawn can also drop back for the chop out across HB on more occasions with Dogga taking the ruck and another KF (BB) handling the tall marking target role up forward. Means he is not really needed here and might possibly have more impact. Handy to slow momentum (opp on a roll) and / or keep momentum (icing a lead late in a quarter or end of a match). Macca also gets the opp's second best defender where he seems to perform a little better.

On at least three occasions today (that i saw from behind the Punt Rd goals) players were coming off the wing (southern side) with decent space for someone to lead into within the southern flank hot zone (30 / 40 meters out / approx 45 degrees). And I'm talking very nice grass to run into as a forward. No one lead on those 3 or so occasions or those that did had already made their move into places like true CHF or the deep pockets / flanks (Fritta). I had visions of BB (or any KF) running into those spaces, presenting themselves to said player running off the southern wing taking a relatively straight forward mark on the lead. But alas he wasn't even selected and instead we had one too many mids / mid forwards IMHO in Sparrow, Clarry, Tracc, Viney, Harmes and JJ running around. And due to no lead the said players ended up kicking to tricky targets either towards true CHF (most of whom would have been too far out...see Harmes on one occasion...any turnover sees ball go straight back into their 50 most of time making this a very risky option) or to the deep pockets/ flank southern side which also lessons the chance of converting. Who is teaching / training / promoting these awful methods? Former ruck coach Greg Stafford? This game is all about balance and we fluffed that part at the selection table today. And it may have cost us the match, momentum in the back half as well as a top four double chance. Crazy stuff from Goody & Co this week.

He wasn't but in the time he played forward he didn't impact at all TU and on at least one occasion went up for the same contest with Macca and they both spoiled each other. One could argue they both brought the ball to ground but not a small/medium forward in sight. The forward line and its methods are a dog's breakfast and have been for some time now. There is no fear for the oppo in this present forward set up/method (barr Fritta) and they play accordingly with confidence and belief that if they get the basics right up the field and pressure us, their defence wil keep us to a low score and they'll be in with a chance. Could any of this (in part) also be due to having a ruck coach as a forward line coach now?

P.S. the Kozzie call is correct. Him & Spargoat (to a lessor degree) were bog ordinary. Vanders could come in for Spargoat (not great but couldn't be worse) but who replaces Kozzie? Bedford and Chandler are worse options at the moment IMV.

While i agree he's having little impact up forward it would be best to watch the game first Dazzle. LJ was our best by a fair margin and kept us in the hunt in the first half (from ground level at the ground anyway...wasn't the greatest seat today)