Demon Dynasty

Bombed it far too often allowing the Tiger's spare to intercept quite a bit. Not enough patience / smarts coming inside. Look for the give off lateral if you cant see a man forward and chip it around / change lanes till you can. The first quarter i understand this is going to happen a bit more but for mine we should have looked to correct this as best as possible in the second but didn't. Sure their pressure was high in the first half but we kicked 16 points in total.... 10 to the right hand side and 6 to the left. Lots of brain snaps....literally This was an 80 point (roughly) deemolition in the offing which we let slip. Happy to take the win but some worrying brain fades / red veils in that first half for mine (may cost us against better opp going forward).

Lever straight in for Smith. Salem coming in for one of Dunstan or JJ once fully fit??

P.S. Dunstan got better in that secomd half. Clarry was a mile in front of anyone IMV

The defence means we can have a very ordinary game forward of center and still stay in touch or lead at half time. Now we need to settle that forward line (fingers crosed BB & weid stay fit) and work much harder on connecting coming inside as well as connecting from the boundary inside 50 more often! Need to work on hitting up leads and/or open targets that have a decent chance of scoring on lessor angles (a little more often) instead of blazing away so often from 50ish and the boundary in hope. Do the above and we'll be almost unstoppable.

ANB having a pretty ordinary night unfortunately

Should be 80 points up or so

We've allowed them a sniff and the umps have also put the whistle away other than deep in our defence.... trouble brewing??

Abysmal in the first half. I'm sure there's others but i"ve only seen Lingers & Kozzie hit a leading target tonight. Reckon the two talls have done ok given the delivery....Weeeed as i type!

Should have been done and dusted at half time. Our second quarters continue to be NQR so far but i blame most of that on our play forward of center and lack of poise / forward craft coming inside 50 and inside 50 itself.

Hunt really dumb coming inside there. Had plenty of time to stop prop and try & hit a target. Instead the red veil continues. Tracc pretty much the same from 50 in the clear earlier

Fritta & Lingers have really stepped up. Bowey i just can't fault this kid. Finally some finish coming inside from Lingers and Kozzie hitting up targets

Should be 10.12 ish (minimum) and over five goals up already

The main leaders need to step up tonight and arrest the BS forward of center.....like Lingers right there

Playing some really dumb / panic & at times very "unawares" non thinking footy tonight. I understand a quarter or so of this but if they don't arrest it soon we may well play ourselves out of form and find ourselves quickly back in the top 8 pack

SPARROW>>>>>TAKE THE [censored] FREE KICK SON!!!!

Harmes is having a mare with ball in hand so far tonight. Effort is there but boy...

Too many boys are well off their best form tonight.... Down back Rivers looks unfit and off the pace. Was he brought back a little too early? Shown patches but just too NQR for mine at the moment. Not sure when Hibb is back but if Rivers continues this sort of level and Hibb can get super fit and looks the goods at VFL level after a few games i'd be bringing him in. Petty is doing pretty well in the air and the contest but with ball in hand his assessment / reaction time is reminding me of Oscar tonight. He's projecting too much and taking forever to execute. Smith ...again as per Petty not bad in the air but once the ball hits the deck or defending an opponent he looks a little lost for mine and too easily shaken off. Dunstan's had a few ok involvements and disposals but his intensity and level around the contest is a fair way off the usual level. I'm not expecting him to be Viney level and would need a 3 to 4 weeks in the middle to get up to tempo and used to the mid field play book but for mine he just looks too far off it to justify a place at the moment. Hopefully he proves me wrong in the second half. Our play forward of center coming inside 50 has been, in the main, a complete dog's breakfast. There's just no system and virtually no one capable (till now) of hitting up a leading target. Now this wouldn't be so bad if we manned up their spare but unfortunately we've allowed their spare to just roam at will and pick our bail out / panic balls off over and over. Then there's the amount of shots at goal that could have / should have or where we probably would have been better kicking to someone in a better position. One thing i would like to see occasionally (when not under severe pressure) is Lingers looking to hit up a target on his right from the boundary instead of the high looping 40 meter kick inside which is very predictable now. Even the odd fake to kick then baulk to the inside looking for that leading target like Fritta. Lots of mids running into each other tonight. Not sure whats going on. Kozzie can't afford to just assume if he plays on quickly and kicks around the body he will kick an easy goal. He gets very limited chances to effect the scoreboard as most small forwards do... he needs to go back more deliberately, do the basics, and get the conversion on the board. Goody just said we are very relaxed....no issues re scoreboard. I'm the reverse and believe we've been to laconic forward of center and most of the time have just blazed away thinking it will all just happen instead of being more deliberate Have we kicked ourselves out of it... And as i write...Smith at ground level.... ughhh

Don't forget the Sunday Press! ...

BB with one of Weid / Plugger is a step up from Weid & Plugger IMHO Will be interesting to see how this combo goes. Given he has been in the system for quite a while, Weid should be starting to find some consistency. However, I just worry about the above the shoulders part, ground ball / pressure side and his maturity in terms of his skills / picking the right options on the angles when shooting for goal. Hopefully this improvement comes with more game time & training at the highest level but we would want to start seeing a fair output from here if he's to hold his spot.

There is no reason Mitch shouldn't be looked at if he kicks the door down at Casey and one or more of the other talls are under performing

I agree re Bedford medi sub. Bettter to rotate with a few others if possible and get more games/experience into Bedford at VFL as well as keeping him match fit ready? Poor bloke must be picking out a few splinters of late

We'll agree to disagree W... Gus is starring in the Winger HB role. No change there imv especially if they bring Dunstan in vs Bedford.

There's no way they will tinker with Gus's role at the mo. Working a treat. Jordan to cover more mid minutes with more TOG or Dunstan comes in. Can't say ive seen/heard anything from Casey that would see Dunstan knocking the door down as a direct Viney replacement. Maybe he's done enough though.

Final teams by tomorrow evening i believe so the starting 18 is still open. Gut feel instincts (ie; throw a dart)... Smith possibly coming in for Lever, Bedford for Viney with Sparrow / Harmes to share more of the Viney role between them? Mostly Sparrow. Harmes still playing his usual hybrid MF/HF role with a little more bias toward MF minutes? Bedford to get a bit of MF time with these two but more as a high HF/Mid when these two are off and or pushing forward.

I saw a Tiger's team close to their recent winning best only 2 weeks ago. I would not take them lightly at all. We'll need to bring our best on the night. Hopefully the boys can maintain the rage and the hunt but quietly confident we can bring it and get over the line for the baker's dozen. Also looking forward to seeing BB back to stretch them a little up forward and hit the scoreboard.