Demon Dynasty

My guess is the FD are looking to share the love around in order to keep their preferred next rung of players up and about and at the level (AFL worthy) in case needed to cover off injuries late in the season. Otherwise the preferences (around the middle anyway) would surely have to be Bedders or Dunstan in most cases. The four in the mix seem to be Melk, Weid, Bedders & Dunstan.

Guys can anyone comfirm if training is tomorrow and if so i assume we are still doing Casey due to Gosch's development?

Fabulous addition for this club. The last loss i saw was against GWS last year at the G and had BBB been brought in a week or so earlier for that match i reckon we probably would have won that as well. Our forward line just isnt as effective without a fully fit and firing BBB. Super hard match up for the opp and means plugga gets the 2nd best defender which is real handy for us. Understands the nuances of forward craft also with a deft hand in to spoil the opp, lovely kicks around the corner, short passes to a free player in a better spot on occasions, doesnt get sucked up the ground as often as some recognising the benefit of holding a tall forward deep for the joe the goose or fat side mark on the lead etc. Draws a few extra frees also because of the height factor. What a way to celebrate his 150 against his old mob. Hope he kicks 10!

All good LDC... ED = Effective Disposals ITC = Intercepts

As we know he really stepped things up last season. Appears he may have taken things to yet another level in 2022 with a 31% overall improvement on last year's weighted (statistical averages) score. Has really blossomed into a reliable key role player who makes a difference on most game days assisting other team mates to carry out their roles more effectively. Interesting to note a significant drop off in inside 50s (hence less tackles inside 50 even though overall tackle average is up!) and clearances. On the flip side rebound 50s, intercepts and score involvements are up substantially. His disposal efficiency has also improved substantially and now super close to AFL standard from a pretty low 63% last season. Could this mean a bit of a role change this season where he is being asked to push back a little deeper to help out down back? Also spending less time at the coal face (clearances down) allowing him to get involved in more scoring chains (score involvements up) and put his energy to good use with more accurate disposals in general? My only worry here is...who (if anyone) is making up the drop off inside 50 from a pressure (tackle) perspective which is quite a substantial average differential (ie; down 1.4 tackles each match)? (Note: take no notice of the contested mark % increase as it's coming off an extremely low 2021 average). #30 A Neil Bullen 2021 2022 % Change CP 6.64 7.13 7.3 UP 9.36 11.38 21.5 ED 9.77 13.00 33.1 DE% 62.97 72.86 9.9 CM 0.09 0.25 177.8 Mi50 0.59 0.63 5.9 1% 1.27 1.13 -11.4 CL 1.91 0.88 -54.2 R50 0.68 1.00 47.1 i50 4.00 3.13 -21.9 T 4.55 5.13 12.6 Si 4.32 6.75 56.3 MG 265.09 252.38 -4.8 TO 3.91 3.75 -4.1 ITC 1.86 2.88 54.6 T50 1.91 0.50 -73.8 TOG% 74.59 82.38 7.8 G 0.59 0.25 -57.6 Weighted Score 2.387 3.138 31.5

Spargo climbing the stat sheet..... https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1129810

Spargo climbing the stat sheet..... https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1129810

I reckon he has the 'want/desire' and shows that in patches (AFL) but may just lack the leap/athleticism and agility/mobility to consistently impact? Not AS critical at VFL level, where he brings enough to do very well at times and occasionally gets on a roll attracting the interest of the SC.

I believe he kicked over 60 in 1972. Was probably his peak. Pretty sure he still holds the record (or did until recently) for most marks in an VFL/AFL game with 24. His kicking style was certainly unorthodox.

Haven't seen enough of JVR yet to say who he is like. TBH i think he is probably so early in his development we may be seeing a young fella who is only about 50% to 60% formed in terms of his style/skills & methods around the big sticks. Still learning his craft and working his way through things. Early days and will probably be his own man, but does remind me (just a tad) of the late Greg Parke. More so than the Ox. The Ox is a tough comparison. Such a natural talent. Had a nice leap, very good overhead mark yet also incrediblly mobile at ground level. Bit of a bull with ball in hand. Beautifully balanced & capable of easily gathering the loose ground ball & finishing on the run even from 40 to 50 out. Quite adept by foot on either side which made it very difficult for the opp to counter. Would have/should have been one of the great CHFs of AFL had he not been crueled so many times. His 1994 finals efforts were something to behold and i really thought we were a show for the Cup that year had Jakovich not been injured. Regardless if JVR ends up being near or at the level of either of these Demons we'll have something very special to look forward to.

Summary of some selective stats from Jack's H&A 2021 season vs this season (up to & inc. Round 9)... The stand outs for mine are... 1. Effective disposals up a massive 34% 2. Disposal Efficiency a lowly 60% last season to now pretty much AFL standard! 3. Uncontested possessions up significantly by 23% (a sign he is able to cover more ground and running more freely?) 3. 1% percenters (ie; ability to impact / effect a contest) up 50% 4. Rebound 50s (indicator of running capacity & ability to get back & help out in defence) up a massive 142%. Contrary to this is less inside 50s (off 31%) and less tackles inside 50 (down 36%) which may also indicate a slight role change vs 2021? 5. Intercepts (again ability to cover more ground and possibly more quickly?) up by a significant 44% 6. Turnovers down a substantial 26% Overall weighted score up a very substantial 29% vs 2021! #7 J Viney 2021 2022 % Change CP 10.33 10.88 5.3 UP 10.50 12.88 22.6 ED 12.33 16.50 33.8 DE% 60.32 73.63 22.1 CM 0.00 0.00 - Mi50 0.25 0.25 0.0 1% 1.50 2.25 50.0 CL 4.33 4.13 -4.7 R50 0.67 1.63 142.5 i50 3.83 2.63 -31.5 T 7.42 5.88 -20.8 Si 4.92 5.13 4.2 MG 266.58 247.88 -7.0 TO 4.75 3.50 -26.3 ITC 2.25 3.25 44.4 T50 1.58 1.00 -36.7 TOG% 77.17 77.88 0.9 G 0.33 0.63 89.4 Weighted Score 3.170 4.084 28.8

Weighted Average Scores up to & including Rnd 9, 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 5.119 1 5.258 -2.64 1 0 C Petracca 4.553 2 4.041 12.67 2 0 Steven May 4.164 3 3.926 6.06 3 0 Jack Viney 4.084 4 3.171 28.79 8 4 A Brayshaw 3.797 5 2.836 33.89 12 7 Ed Langdon 3.636 6 3.092 17.59 9 3 J Harmes 3.431 7 3.520 -2.53 6 -1 Jake Bowey 3.358 8 2.881 16.56 11 3 L Jackson # 3.288 9 2.355 39.62 21 12 L Dunstan 3.238 10 - - - - Max Gawn # 3.228 11 3.439 -6.14 7 -4 Alex N-Bullen 3.138 12 2.388 31.41 19 7 T Sparrow 3.131 13 2.023 54.77 28 15 J Jordon 2.778 14 2.908 -4.47 10 -4 Jake Lever 2.768 15 3.661 -24.39 5 -10 T Rivers 2.494 16 2.658 -6.17 13 -3 H Petty 2.092 17 2.086 0.29 26 9 T Bedford 2.038 18 - - - - C Spargo 1.992 19 2.068 -3.68 27 8 K Pickett 1.959 20 2.378 -17.62 20 0 Joel Smith 1.957 21 1.375 42.33 32 11 A Tomlinson 1.956 22 2.475 -20.97 16 -6 Ben Brown 1.946 23 1.855 4.91 30 7 Jayden Hunt 1.931 24 2.597 -25.64 14 -10 Bayley Fritsch 1.867 25 2.155 -13.36 25 0 T McDonald # 1.863 26 2.516 -25.95 15 -11 J Melksham* 1.825 27 1.853 -1.51 31 4 S Weideman 1.710 28 1.055 62.09 27 -1 Average Team Score - Top 22 68.20 67.23 1.44 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match not an average score Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Dunstan (if not injured) for Harmes (inj). Bedford (medi sub) for Chandler (susp)

Round 9, 2022 OPTUS - Eagles vs Demons Some game from Jack! Very briefly, 24 effectives @ 88.9% (when has Jack ever gone that efficiently!?), 7 clearances, 3 one percenters, 2 rebounds, 12 tackles (3 of those inside 50), 7 score involvements, 5 intercepts and only 3 turnovers. Kozzie finding some good form and loved the game from Plugga, especially his mark against McGovern in the last quarter. ANB BOG in the first quarter? JJ very reliable and overall probably played one of his best games. My only criticism...missed a couple of obvious handballs (over the top) to a free Spargo just forward of the wing which would have seen Spargo running it in to 50. Instead JJ ignored the Spargo option and kicked shallow to a forward flank where the Eagles easily defended. Spargo is our best ball user coming inside so hope the coach reviews this aspect with JJ at some stage. Another impressive game from Gus. Top 5 meters gained (MFC): Jordan 612 (most for either team), Gus 496, Tracc 466, May 464 & Langdon 433. Player Score Rank Jack Viney 6.550 1 C Petracca 5.150 2 C Oliver 4.800 3 K Pickett 4.300 4 J Jordon 4.150 5 Alex N-Bullen 3.800 6 Ed Langdon 3.750 7 Luke Jackson # 3.700 8 Tom Sparrow 3.650 9 Jake Bowey 3.575 10 C Spargo 3.200 11 Steven May 3.100 12 Trent Rivers 2.900 13 Max Gawn # 2.875 14 B Fritsch 2.700 15 A Brayshaw 2.350 16 Jake Lever 2.175 17 T McDonald # 2.150 18 J Harmes< 53% 1.950 19 H Petty 1.750 20 Jayden Hunt 1.575 21 Ben Brown 1.200 22 K Chandler> 13% 0.500 23 Team Score 71.35 Top 6 28.75 Bottom 6 10.80 # Hit outs to advantage not captured < Subbed out > Subbed in Stats courtesy of footywire.com

If that is anywhere near the truth (and i'm not saying it is or isn't) then surely these two rounds (Eagles & Norf) were the time to give him a few weeks off and get the issue a little more right than wrong!?? It doesn't make sense to play him if his issue is that serious. I'm sure the fitness crew are all over this and wouldn't be running him into the ground intentionally but he looks like he's running on the spot at the moment. No doubt the mind is willing but the body would appear to be very unable!

BT is probably the worst commentator going around at the moment. His sidekick JB isn't far behind. And why does Channel 7 insist on three special comments ppl? One person talking drivel after every other contest is more than enough surely?

Only my amature understanding (from what i've gathered listening to players/line coaches, head coach & so called experts).... Team defence and playing the 1.5 style zone means that match ups are not quite as critical as they used to be aside from obviously covering Key Position (KP) players with other KP players that can go with them which is still pretty critical. Re defense, players are given a fair bit of licence to take more calculated risks & peel off their player a little more often now to impact a contest. Providing the assists/1%ers in the back half and where possible intercept and start the rebound chains. If the defensive unit is super tight, the player peeling off trusts that the player he has just left will most likely be covered (to some extent) by a team mate more often than not. Coaches are more likely to favour players who are 'best fit' and capable of slotting into the method of defence and attacking or defesive ball movement being asked. And this is reviewed each week with (fringe) players' performance & ability to meet the requirements being considered over a block of games (eg up to three to four matches or so) vs coach requirements / internal KPIs etc when making future selections.

The Pies are looking like a cold mouldy old pastie tonight

No sympathy for the maid PF??

Just wanna see some great 4 quarter footy. Without losing the basic defensive structures and methods maybe just a very slight "fill your boots" adjustment so a few more players can take a bit of a free swing a little more during the match a bit like Rivers' goal last week. Maintain discipline & respect the oppo without over celebrating but also look to really drive home the win a La the Toiges. We got some really amazing support over there from so many in that finals series. Happy to see us dish out a jolly good thrashimg but no lairising pls fellas. Professional & humble all the way. As Goody says "respect the game & your opponent"....always.

Maybe it's just me but would much rather see .... A realistic chance of getting said player from other club vs a whole lot of player 'wish lists' Could we also add to this mature age (or other top end young talent!??) opportunities that some might be aware of on here that are sitting on secondary lists in the VFL, WAFL, SANFL etc right now and worth considering even as a mid season prospect if that's an option?

Better for Dogga to witness the Eagles at their worst surely? Will be on the phone to his manager on the flight home "get it done mate...show me the money!"

I just heard all AFL umps out west are out with H&S protocols.... Apparently a WC runner will oversee the coin toss but after that the kid needs to get off the ground ASAP where the runner will then toss the ball up....once (after using copious amounts of Swan hand sanitiser) and once only for the entire match. After each goal, Melbourne is then required to kick the ball (torp preferred) as quickly as possible back to the center circle and as soon as the ball lands in the circle the ball is immediatly live again. RIinse repeat after each Demon goal The mercy rule will apply after each 10th goal is scored by the Demons. That is, all Demon players are to start forward of the circle (ie; no one is to start in the back half) after each 10th goal. Under the 10th goal mercy rule, all Demons shall remain in the forward half until an Eagle's player takes possession of the ball in the circle which is the trigger for "play on". Demon players are then able to recommence mowing the Eagles down (ie; Mercy rule ends) and the game then returns to standard 666 starting positions until the next 10th Demon goal is scored. Rinse & Repeat! The game ends either at full time or when the Demons reach 40 goals....whichever comes first.

Would guess that most teams/coaches only have probably one to three (tops!!) genuine run with (cooler) or hard tag players in their arsenal who are capable (trained/skilled/mentally prepped) for taking on these roles anyway. It would probably take a pre-season or at least a 'mini mid season pre-season' being put in to half a dozen or more guys to all of a sudden have a myriad of them at your disposal and attempt this strat. And even if you were to do this you would then have to train the rest of your crew to adjust for the impact of this significant change on the zone/team defence side! Robbo is an out there left thinker of the game and love his passion but boy he does come up with some whacko stuff at times.