Demon Dynasty

Looks like we'll be off to Manuka then!

Word is.... Teams playing interstate instructed to head out today ahead of a pending lock down announcement. No crowds at any Vic matches

It's a big loss that's for sure. Hopefully we can get Harmes up to somewhere near his 2019 form from here to make up for this pretty big out.

I agree on that front LN...but you also need a pretty good tank to go the distance yes?

Very much doubt there'll be any crowds now. If the game gets underway we've done well! A bombshell from the G might be about to hit from Sunday's game!

Not sure Maj has the speed off the mark or tank any more to go with fairly quick tall defenders LN. Can probably handle it with ball being bombed in but they'll likely just try and get the match up they favour here.

On the shoulder like a wet rag. Vince did it once to Danger against the Crows in Adelaide with some reasonable success years back. Harmes loves a scrap but would need to curb his urge to hurt going the other way so often and stay right on Libb at the stoppages. Hibb also capable surely?

I don't believe our best intercept player and key defender should be manning the Bont Jaded. Takes away one of our biggest weapons and i doubt he'd be able to go with him for long anyway. Would we consider sacrificing Hunt however? We don't really need the extra runner off HB IMV at the Dome given the confined space. He'll probably struggle to find the gaps he often finds at the G on this smaller ground anyway. Just a thought. That leaves Rivers or Hibb to share Weightman? Harmes sits on Libba for the most part and sacrifices his game also?

Agree re BB's history at Marvel Mr Old. His height alone will be a problem for a shortish/under-manned Doggies last line. Also being a smaller ground vs the G he'll get plenty of high ball coming in which, even if he doesn't mark, he should be able to compete and get it to ground. Giving plenty of opportunity for our smalls/mediums to work off. Something i just don't see the Weid doing much of. Nor worrying them in the height dept in a way that BB would. Unfortunately BB didn't do his chances any good over the weekend against the Swans as you would know doubt be aware. Also having BB playing deep allows Big Maxy to hang out the back looking to mop up pressure bail out / panic kicks from inside our 50 and the kick ins creating another match up headache for the Dogs and hopefully further entries inside 50.

I actually hope there's no crowd now as this will turn a massive spotlight on the Umps to get their decision making right and in addition there won't be any BS "scary home crowd" excuses to fall back on this time. P.S. How about we turn up in Demon masks, horns, capes and tridents at our next home game minions....that's gotta be pretty scary and might win us a match we shouldn't win!

Exactly. We have been the AFL's whipping boy & poor cousin for decades. Kicked to the curb every season in some manner or other. Anyone who thinks this couldn't happen in a prelim or GF think again! Ok so we need to look in the mirror as we dug our own irrelevancy grave over the decades. Hence the AFL couldn't care less about a Demon loss to a wrong decision, yes even in a GF! If it happened again next week or in a PF/GF Gil would just grin his way through it as per usual. We'll have to earn every kick, mark, goal and win/draw the hard way without any assistance from this mob. We have no friends in high places influencing Gil & Co either a la Eddy everywhere when he was President. The only way this might have become an issue would be if there had of been a massive remonstrating by many players some getting in the face of an UMP and incurring a 50 and/or say Big Maxy stepped in as captain in the face of the closest field umpire, grabbed the ball and threw it into the crowd in anger et al! I say either of those would have been worth it in the circumstances. You have to make sure that something like that never happens to the club again by turning a massive spotlight on it at the time and make sure it gets replayed over and over for a good week or so taking the spotlight off pretty much all other aspects of the game for at least 3 to 4 days. Gil would hate that! A bit like a bully in the school yard. You have to stand up for yourself big time to make sure they don't come back for more and seriously reconsider their habits. Ok so that last part probably ain't happening, there ain't too many crazy enough to stand up in this manner, but we seriously lacked leadership at this moment AND... after the goal by Clarry that put us up by 16, the decision to palm deep in the Crows forward line earlier in the game which cost us a goal and the three decisions to NOT attempt to knock the ball through in any of the final ball up stoppages IMV. Everyone reacts to pressure differently but more often than not we need our leaders to make the right decisions in these circumstances and the playing group as a whole to step up and remonstrate in a big way when they see a clear injustice happening. As someone said earlier, it's a bit like a cricket appeal. If hardly anyone goes up there's little pressure on the ump to make the right call or make a call at all. Watch the top rated clubs, they often go over the top with their appealing for a deliberate even if the decision is clearly a 50/50 and unlikely to go in their favour or in some cases there's not even a deliberate there at all and everyone knows it yet they still appeal! A bit too sleepy hollow down at Demonland when these controversial decisions happen. Even at half time someone was in an umps face from the Crows giving it to them over some earlier decisions as they walked off. Was that Tex? Anyone recall this? Maybe the umps had a little chat during the break fellow minions! It pays to speak out!

Default to us as compensation for the fiasco in Adelaide. Seems about right thanks Gil!

I agree with this in general but imv this week is not the week to do that as the Doggy's biggest weakness is their last line of defence. They just don't have the talls to handle some tall options and Marvel is also a shorter field which means there's more opportunity to get the ball in deeper on more occasions vs grounds like the G. Gut feel would be to try and expose their major weakness and go three talls this week. Revert to the former set up from then on.

Or after the game. I noticed that at the start of the second half and thought at the time it was a terrible look. I agree on all fronts. White line fever needed when the game is on.

Brown didn't do too bad at all against the Hawks Beetle and was the only tall who scored multiple goals over the weekend. He also brought more heat at ground level against the Hawks than any of the others put together. While it's pretty obvious he isn't a long term option, it wouldn't hurt to stretch the Doggies deep in defence where they are vulnerable. Weid has had two chances for two fails. You want to risk a third against equally the best team going at the moment? Not for me thanks. And BB didn't give a yelp against the Swans according to all reports and most unlikely he will get a call up. Having said that i still think BB will be back and firing at some point and is the best of the bunch in the medium term. Aside from that i agree with your last point as one option. Go with the original set up up forward. Two talls and four mediums/smalls feeding off them. They don't have many weaknesses though and i am leaning towards the option of attempting to amplify that weakness by bringing in the extra tall up forward (Mitch) and three mediums/smalls. Regardless, if neither of Salem or Viney return, i doubt we'll get the job done this week unless those who were too far off the level last week get back to some very good form ie., Maxy (some major blunders/poor decisions against Port which in the end cost us dearly), Spargo, Kozzie, Hunt, T-Mac, ANB, Jordan & Fritschkrieg (who had a mare).

Ok ill try

Not bad but i still think we can do with another tall forward and neither of Sparrow or Bedford are quite up to four quarters against rated clubs for now. Against the bottom four maybe. We need another mobile tall who can mark on the lead and hit the scoreboard but who's also quite good at pressuring inside 50. Play T-Mac deeper this week against the Doggies and Brown on the lead into the 30/40 meter area. Clear the rest out leaving only Kozzie and Fritschkreig the spoils or alternate / dummy leads out wider. Assuming they are available for me it's... Out: Weid, Melk & Jetta In: Mitch Brown, Viney & Salem If Viney and Salem aren't ready tthm Chunk and Lockhardt pinch hitting for Melk & Salem respectively until the cavalry arrives.

The other critical error was the attempted palm down to one of our boys deep in their 50 towards the end of the third i think. Instead of punching it towards the boundary. I believe Rowe sharked it and ran in for a relatively easy goal. Might have been the difference also.

Weighted Average Scores up to & including Rnd 10 , 2021 vs 2019 Player 2021 Score 2021 Rank 2019 Score % Change vs 2019 2019 Rank Change in Rank vs 2019 Clayton Oliver 5.580 1 4.643 20.18 1 0 C Salem 4.386 2 3.658 19.90 3 1 Steven May 3.982 3 2.446 62.80 14 11 C Petracca 3.915 4 2.616 49.66 10 6 Ed Langdon 3.818 5 Max Gawn # 3.690 6 3.256 13.33 4 -2 Jake Lever 3.608 7 2.313 55.99 17 10 James Harmes 3.500 8 3.850 -9.09 2 -6 Jack Viney 3.450 9 3.068 12.45 5 -4 A Brayshaw 3.075 10 2.894 6.25 6 -4 James Jordan 3.011 11 Jayden Hunt 2.819 12 1.958 43.97 22 10 K Pickett 2.705 13 T McDonald # 2.693 14 2.150 25.26 19 5 M Hibberd 2.679 15 2.124 26.13 20 5 Trent Rivers 2.513 16 M Brown* 2.475 17 A Tomlinson 2.475 17 Luke Jackson # 2.472 19 Oskar Baker* 2.325 20 1.714 35.65 29 9 Nathan Jones 2.214 21 2.711 -18.33 7 -14 Alex N-Bullen 2.213 22 1.984 11.54 21 -1 Bayley Fritsch 2.181 23 2.641 -17.42 9 -14 Charlie Spargo 2.140 24 1.375 55.64 35 11 Tom Sparrow 2.087 25 1.075 94.14 37 12 J Melksham 2.083 26 1.931 7.87 23 -3 H Petty 1.869 27 1.905 -1.89 24 -3 Neville Jetta 1.865 28 2.264 -17.62 18 -10 Ben Brown # 1.575 29 Sam Weideman 1.513 30 1.818 -16.78 27 -3 Kade Chandler* 0.250 31 Average Team Score - Top 22 69.60 59.62 16.73 # Hit outs to advantage not captured # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match not an average score Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Setting a high bar there DS. If he played most games like the best game an MFC player's probably played in the last 5 years per yesterday i'd be in footy Shangri-La!

Has had multiple opportunities and over 5 years to come good Kent. Should have started to come in to the prime of his career by now at 23/24. Was his time to shine/impact at least once on the scoreboard in the last two weeks and show that he's finally coming good. See LJ / Geogiardes. Would rather play Mitch Brown at this point if they aren't bringing BB in.

Mate forget Lever's. Try the instinctive play / attempt by Spargo (i think) in our forward flank/pocket area who under pressure looked to toe poke the ball ahead of him in the hope he might be able to run on to it and we were pinged for intentional in our own forward line FFS. Talk about a bunch of cheaters. They had it in for us all night.

Most clubs usually have multiple players (who are nearest those questionable decisions) remonstrating with the umpires, throwing their hands up and some would even grab the ball and look to go back over an imaginary mark to take the free in that instance. Where were our blokes as you say? I don't think there was one demonstrating? This and also the lack of love for Clarry and pretty much anyone who scored on the night was pretty disappointing for me. It was the most switched off, selfish, non-thinking dumb down the line / bombing game i've seen all year from too many. Ability for our talls to separate and find space on their men on the lead seemingly non-existent. The most disappointing aspect was no possession/momentum option all night, especially after Clarry had seemingly kicked the winning goal to put us 16 up. Zero leadership at that instance. The boys need to be more aware of moments in a game where it's better to slow play momentum and eat up the clock as well as close down zoning space on their opponents. And / or if things are getting out of hand, switch to man on man for as long as it takes to wrestle back momentum earlier in matches. But then are players like Melk, Frittz and Weid even up to this latter option. There'd be loose players everywhere out of our forward 50 with those three playing. On tonight's effort we might make a PF but it will need a serious reset and some dropping of some seriously soft/lazy mature/seniors who appear to be either comfortable or happy coasting along and/or not up to finals pressure footy/not doing the little things needed to play finals footy. BB in for the Weid vs the Dogs pls. I've yet to see him stand up against the tide and/or coming from behind in most of his matches. Appears to go to water. Hopefully Viney back in for Melk who could be anything if he ever knuckled down and got down and dirty for four quarters in and around the packs. Yes, sometimes even the silk needs to play ugly and get some contested ground balls/Tackles on your opponent. If a rookie in Kozzie does it sometimes (ok not so good at much of anything last night) then surely a senior can. Rarely does and rarely looks like he wants to go when it's his turn. Too easily brushed aside at ground contests and will often only put in one good quarter or two then go missing. If he was silk for three or four quarters, ok you might be able to overlook his other difficiencies a little. He isn't a junior. He's played a stack of footy and needs to occasionally dominate up forward but rarely does. Being the best kick coming inside 50, on its own, just won't cut it at this level if you can't find the pill very often and go missing for big chunks in many matches when the heat is on. No finals team worth their salt can afford to have 3 medium/tall mark & kick players in their forward 50 who offer very little at ground level defensively. Fritta probably the best at mopping up at ground level has some credits but needs some further learnings, including not leading to within a meter of the pocket boundary line so often and finding his opponent's shoulder/tackling more often. A few matches at Casey might allow him to work on aspects of his game, particularly the stuff without ball in hand. Having said that i don't see a viable replacement. Possibly Chunk for a few matches? Bedford as a smaller change up to work at the feet of BB, TMac and LJ alongside Kozzie & ANB? Either option probably not ideal but i can see an opportunity to improve here at Casey and hopefully come back a more switched on consistent player defensively at ground level post the bye. He's super handy in the air and at mopping up some spills when on but needs some finishing school in these other areas IMV if we're to play a winning brand up forward in finals. Hopefully last night was an aberration and against a rated club i wouldn't be all that concerned with the outcome at all. But we are talking a bottom four club with 13 rookies on the night. Some adjustments, hard work and smartening up needed on the track, at the selection table and above the shoulders if we're to make and win a prelim from here. Along with a bit of luck.

Rnd 9, 2021 Adelaide Oval - Crows vs Demons Take a bow Clayton! Statistically his highest ranked game since compiling these charts (2017) and also the highest of any MFC player during that period. Let's review this one as i doubt you will see a result on paper like this too often, if ever... ? 28 Effective Disposals running at 73.7% efficiency. The AFL average is approx 73%. Highest on the day (just) with next best Laird on 27 running at 77% efficiency. Not bad either and played a very solid game for the eaters. ? 3 Goals ? 1 contested mark and one mark inside 50. ? 2 x One Percenters ? 13 Clearances (the highest on the field and more than double that of the nearest Crow's player...Laird on 6). ? 3 Rebounds ? 8 inside 50s (Tracc leading overall with 11, best for the Crows Smith with 6). ? 9 Tackles, one of those inside 50. Equal most on the day with Jordan. Best of the Crows Laird & Keays with 7 each. ? 11 Score Involvements. The most on the day with Tracc, Tex & Laird coming in equal 2nd on 8 each. ? 8 Intercepts, the second most on the night. Lever winning this on the day with a massive 17! Has to be some sort of record? ? 626 Meters gained. Third best on the night behind Seedsman 657 and Tracc at No.1 with 731. ? Turnovers 6. To put that in some context Tracc had 11 (way too many even for a high pressure mid role), Ed 8 and ANB 9. Our overall team score of 59.0 was a massive 18% off our season average prior to this match and 1% worse than our entire ordinary 2019 season average! Surprisingly this was not our worst team score however. That occurred against the Swans with a lowly 55.88 However, our bottom 6 score of 6.78 was our worst for the season, 25% lower than our season average. What's the old saying, you're only as good as your bottom 6 players? I'll leave you with one other stat....the Crows had a massive 13 players with under 50 games under their belt tonight. If my memory serves me correctly, very few teams ever win at AFL level once they have 10 or more rookies (who i consider as players with under 50 games) in their team vs a team with around only 6/7 or less. Making yesterday's result even more worrying IMV. Adelaide Games Melbourne 13 Less than 50 7 2 50 to 99 4 1 100 to 149 6 6 150 or more 5 Hope we don't sweep this one under the carpet and review in a big way prior to moving on to the Doggies as there were some significant deficiencies on show tonight vs a bottom four team. A far chunk of it intensity and above the shoulders from too many in that first half IMV which gave them belief. Hopefully only a one week aberration. Plenty of work to do on the track. Need to fix the zoning off issue when a team gets momentum and too much of the ball. Tonight reminded me a little of the 2nd round Geelong game in 2019 where we almost played the game in our own back half, allowing the Cats to skip around the back at will and hit targets on the 45 far too often, then make multiple launches deep inside 50. The Crows stretched us on the switch today and found us out on a number of occasions hitting up loose players with penetrating kicks forward of center, who were then able to launch inside 50. Also our pressure inside 50 just wasn't near our usual this season with only LJ & T-Mac hitting double figures for tackles inside 50. Our small and medium forwards... Fritschkreig, Melk, Spargo, Kozzie & ANB laid only three tackles inside 50 between them! Melk & Fritsch laying zero inside 50 and none anywhere else on the day. Sorry but that's just not good enough at this level and screams lack of effort without ball in hand. Both will be very lucky to keep their spots this week IMHO although Fritsch may have a few credits left in the bank vs Melk. Player Score Rank Clayton Oliver 8.400 1 Christian Petracca 4.800 2 Max Gawn # 4.625 3 Angus Brayshaw 4.300 4 Jake Lever 4.100 5 James Harmes 3.350 6 Steven May 3.350 7 Ed Langdon 3.150 8 Michael Hibberd 2.600 9 Trent Rivers 2.575 10 Luke Jackson # 2.250 11 Sam Weideman 2.075 12 Neville Jetta 1.775 13 Kysaiah Pickett 1.750 14 Jake Melksham 1.650 15 Charlie Spargo 1.475 16 Tom McDonald 1.475 16 Harrison Petty 1.425 18 Alex N-Bullen 1.325 19 Jayden Hunt 1.050 20 James Jordon 0.975 21 Bayley Fritsch 0.525 22 Team Score 59.00 Top 6 29.58 Bottom 6 6.78 # Hit outs to advantage not captured Stats courtesy of footywire.com

Agreed in the first half it was way too lax. Reminded me of old Melb. We were also tentative at the contest and double handling / fumbling alot. The pressure only came in the second half or about 10 minutes in to the second half. Clarry lead the way and some followed but many weren't able to lift towards their best. Gus one of the ones i thought had a much better half but coming off a low base in the first half.