Demon Dynasty

They lived out of a shanty hut/shed for their first few seasons DB. I doubt they'll be moving out to the sticks in Casey

Maj for team balance. Max to cover LJ's forward role and inside 50 rucking duties. Means no need for TMac to share ruck duties with Weid, allowing him to play his usual damaging role. No risk of either of those two (Weid or TMac) getting injured rucking either. Gives Max a slight break vs mostly rucking also. Brutal position to play every week...it's a bloody long season. Keep the big boy a bit fresh! Maj in for the chop out for two weeks only. Simples.

There is also Mitch Brown PO. I'm sure he's just as eager to get back and didn't play too badly against the Hawks at all. I still think Maj is better at this point for team balance. Max covers LJ's role up forward. This allows TMac, who's been crucial to our success this year, to continue in his usual role vs sharing part-time ruck duties with Weid if he were selected. Having said that my gut feel is they will select Weid but i prefer Maj (just) for the next two weeks (assuming that's how long LJ is out).

Don't kid yourselves, LJ is a big out. He offers us versatility that neither Maj or Weid have on the ground, in the ruck (Weid) and up forward (Weid at ground level...Maj would rarely go there if played anyway imv and instead would likely play a major role in the ruck allowing Big M to play mostly forward to cover LJ). Sure we probably aren't taking a huge step backwards as we have reasonable coverage coming in, at least in the next few weeks against lessor rated oppo. But the sooner he gets back the better.

Daw in this instance. Allows Big M to play a forward role much of the time covering for LJ up forward. LJ is pretty good at getting to the contest, bringing the ball to ground and at ground level. I think Max does similar, especially ground level, quite well. Weid is a decent mark/kick forward but not so good in the ruck and very ordinary at ground level (so far). Plus risking him with a fair chunk of game time in the ruck is probably not a great idea as I'd rather see him kept in cotton wool and ready to go as a replacement forward should either of Tmac or BB be injured or need to be managed at some point during such a long season.

This is one of my all time favs by Weg. There's another i think where a similar Demon is running like this but he's stabbed the footy and it's on the end of his trident. As to why we've abandoned the Demon as part of our marketing and general logo beggars belief. We now have a Checker Hughes medal and Tracc wins the first of them yet the legend who came up with the Demon brand / name would probably be perplexed today if he went looking for any reference in our club material / jumpers / scarfs / website etc.

You have my vote AF

So you've also been watching a fair bit of Robbo lately Andy

Reckon it sums up my entire life SW. Most things a leap too far. My sister-in-law tells me her siamese are great indoors and from what you have said about your moggy sounds like they should never venture out!

Talk about tough. Well deserved and earned.

Would rather see Chandler get a run at it for Melk vs Weid ...mostly for team balance up forward and see how he goes in general, especially with pressure inside 50.

Worrying stuff. Is Chunk up to covering as an extra rotation for short stints off the bench? Probably not eh. Alternatively chunk shares the wing role with Gus who spends a bit of time in the middle to assist with rotations? More time in the middle for LJ who is pretty good and mobile at ground level for a big man? Like Deaver, ideally i still feel we are short one very good classy mid fielder. Would have loved to have landed Tom Green in the draft but you can't select everybody.

Choco!

Yes he did Adonski. Faux pas mentioned in my last post ?

Weighted Average Scores up to & including Rnd 8 , 2021 vs 2019 Note: Erratum above ?...Kozzie DID start in the middle. At least for the first bounce anyway. Haven't checked replay further than that! My comments regarding ideally playing him there in bursts against the Swans are most likely null and void! Player 2021 Score 2021 Rank 2019 Score % Change vs 2019 2019 Rank Change in Rank vs 2019 Clayton Oliver 5.266 1 4.643 13.42 1 0 C Salem 4.450 2 3.658 21.65 3 1 Steven May 4.060 3 2.446 65.99 14 11 C Petracca 3.856 4 2.616 47.40 10 6 Ed Langdon 3.850 5 Max Gawn # 3.659 6 3.256 12.38 4 -2 Jake Lever 3.584 7 2.313 54.95 17 10 James Harmes 3.550 8 3.850 -7.79 2 -6 Jack Viney 3.450 9 3.068 12.45 5 -4 A Brayshaw 2.916 10 2.894 0.76 6 -4 Kysaiah Pickett 2.881 11 James Jordan 2.875 12 M Hibberd 2.738 13 2.124 28.91 20 7 Jayden Hunt 2.684 14 1.958 37.08 22 8 T McDonald # 2.659 15 2.150 23.67 19 4 Luke Jackson # 2.500 16 M Brown* 2.475 17 A Tomlinson 2.475 17 Trent Rivers 2.363 19 Bayley Fritsch 2.339 20 2.641 -11.44 9 -11 Oskar Baker* 2.325 21 1.714 35.65 29 8 Charlie Spargo 2.234 22 1.375 62.47 35 13 Alex N-Bullen 2.216 23 1.984 11.69 21 -2 Nathan Jones 2.214 24 2.711 -18.33 7 -17 J Melksham 2.170 25 1.931 12.38 23 -2 Tom Sparrow 2.087 26 1.075 94.14 37 11 H Petty 2.038 27 1.905 6.98 24 -3 Neville Jetta 1.888 28 2.264 -16.61 18 -10 Ben Brown # 1.625 29 Average Team Score - Top 22 69.19 59.62 16.04 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * Only played one match not an average score Stats courtesy of footywire.com

The only forced change that might be likely is Tracc. I guess chunk comes in to cover here if Viney isn't ready but not really a role he would be set to play from here eh? So does this open the door for Chandler? Gus's form appears to be dropping away somewhat last few weeks. Is he due for a freshen up this week? Jones in to cover?

Not a chance for mine. Hibb has done the job on two of the most dangerous forwards in the business two weeks running. Not only does he do the job of a very solid Nev, he offers more in terms his rebound running (meters gained) and long raking penetration down the line or by hand in chains off HB. Nev is a great back up but coming off a 7 day break there's no need to rest piggy.

Sorry DS but that's been Harmes' strength when he was on in 2018. He'd cover off his direct opponent much of the time and keep him quiet and then punish him on the counter when the opportunity arose. Great players are often great one way players (not always), obviously mostly offensively and don't like to chase too hard too often the other way when ball is turned over. One of Harmes best attributes is exposing and punishing this weakness. Where he often lets himself down is decision making with ball in hand and finish. The area you are referring to in part is the instinctive give. Would seem to be room for improvement there as well. Hopefully some of his deficiencies (and most players have them) are being worked on by himself and those involved with his development at the FD.

We had no one playing the defensive sweeper role last night. Hickey won or neutralised many of the contests or appeared to so don't underestimate his contribution. Tapping/knocking forward or diagonally forward. No sweeper and most either at the contest or not goal side of their opponent allowed the Swans to exit front of stoppages far too easily under little or no pressure. In addition they seemed to have a bit of extra toe at ground contests. Adding Kozzie into the mix for short stints, as we've been doing prior to last night, may have helped even things up a little.

Im surprised we did not (from what i witnessed at the ground and i might have missed it) start with Kozzie in the middle at the beginning of the match or seemingly at any stage last night. I think the Swans had us for speed in those center bounces and worried us into playing on the shoulder much of the time instead of being first in more often. The need for speed and the hunt for ball was lacking imv R&B . Kozzie also brings an element of closing speed that may have resulted in a few tighter tussles and turnovers in our favour through the middle had he been played there in short bursts. The above could also be completely wrong ? Would need to watch the replay to be more certain. Regardless it's definitely a red flag that needs addressing. The return of Viney will probably help solve it somewhat. I just wonder why we suddenly changed our tactics (no Kozzie and apparently playing on the shoulder vs see ball get ball more often) from the winning one previously? Match ups no doubt come into it but would be interesting to hear the coaches take on this.

Yes i meant kill joy on the oppo 58. What an amazing game he had in one of the all time great forwards.

Rnd 8, 2021 MCG - Demons vs Swans Harmes, Clarry, Salem, May, Tmac & ANB the stand outs for me this evening. A few of the usual contributors seemed to be out of it for much of the night but this does happen against quality opposition and the Swans need to be given plenty of credit. Probably the best opponent i have witnessed live so far in terms of bringing the heat for almost four quarters and pushing us all the way. Top three for Clearances... Clarry 10, daylight the rest with Harmes & Tracc 5 each Top three for Score Involvements... Tmac with 7, Equal second Harmes & Melk 5 each Top three for Meters Gained... Salem 605, Clarry 534 & Ed 420 Top three for One Percenters... Lever & May 8 each, Big Max 6 Top three for Intercepts... Salem 10, equal second Lever, Harmes & Gus with 7 each Top three for Tackles inside 50... Kozzie 5, equal second Harmes, JJ & ANB 2 each Top three for Turnovers... Tracc 11 (Big number!), Clarry 8, Salem 7 Top three most Time on Ground... Lever & May 100%, Ed 98% Bottom three Least time on Ground... Rivers & Spargo 69%, LJ 70% Player Score Rank C Oliver 4.975 1 James Harmes 4.950 2 C Salem 4.175 3 Ed Langdon 3.425 4 Alex N-Bullen 3.350 5 Steven May 3.350 5 T McDonald # 2.875 7 Max Gawn # 2.600 8 C Petracca 2.525 9 Ben Brown # 2.500 10 M Hibberd 2.500 10 J Melksham 2.450 12 James Jordan 2.375 13 H Petty 2.175 14 Charlie Spargo 1.900 15 Trent Rivers 1.775 16 A Brayshaw 1.775 16 Jayden Hunt 1.750 18 K Pickett 1.425 19 Jake Lever 1.325 20 L Jackson # 1.000 21 Bayley Fritsch 0.700 22 Team Score 55.88 Top 6 24.23 Bottom 6 7.98