Demon Dynasty

Kev you sure that's not a subliminal rehash of a performance from an intra practice match you witnessed recently?

So being Demons this is a good omen i assume

Pressure factor is just as critical with the Ins imv, especially up forward. And if i may add to that.... the poise / finish. Can the ins hit targets, kick to favoured side and/or convert at an AFL level for a change? We will know about this time tomorrow evening i guess.

We need someone to bring the ball to ground as it wasn't happening at all in the last match. Also giving a chop out to Maxy who appeared absolutely knackered against the Swans. Maybe Big M is doubtful and doesn't make the cut? Unlikely but who are the emergencies i wonder.

Personally my reasoning is ....the stars might all perfectly align in the next 25 years or so, IF i last that long, and a miracle season occurs a la the Swans in 2005 OD. Each year that goes by i hope for better but expect the usual collapse/fail at some stage or potentially worse. Following the MFC is like being in a ground hog day sports fan movie. Every year is VERY predictable and nothing ever changes. A good year for us seems to be...still being in the finals race post Rnd 6. One thing we are very good at though, is our consistency and penchant for failing. I must look to take out more betting options in this regard and cash in a little more often like some do on here. Clever cookies they are.

GC, personally i believe most are just in it for the ride / coin and actually happy to just be (and when needed try and stay) in the system that is the AFL circus. A few, genuinely passionate about bettering themselves and taking their game to the next level, maybe finals and a GF if lucky. The rest, just do enough to keep their mouths close enough to the trough to get an occasional snout into the swill. It's no surprise the bulk of them pick and choose whether they'll show up on game day. So many of the also rans keep getting a game week in and week out, regardless of how they perform. Why would they bother to turn it on every week when they know it really doesn't matter either way, they'll be strapping their boots on and running out in the next match or worst case the one after, maybe a two week break tops. Who cares what happens on game day. Crocodile tears from those who CGAFF i reckon. Probably also applies to most at top brass admin level as well. A rare exception here or there but most are just in it for the ride / coin (President aside). And that last part would apply to most clubs, we aren't alone there. As i say before every season with this mob... "hope for the best but be very prepared for the worst".

I would not have brought Fritsch back in TBH Pman. A one trick pony that just doesn't get near it once the ball hits the deck and isn't accurate enough to justify a place at this point with just his mark / kick strength. How Melk hasn't been dropped so far is also astounding. I get that he has the ability to hit a pass or a low raking long kick inside. We don't have many that can do so. Very handy with ball in hand. He is also pretty accurate at goal. But with all that he just doesn't pressure or tackle at an acceptable level surely. Averages one 1%er and 1 tackle per match. I hear so many saying "Can't have Bennell back he doesn't pressure or defend enough". Also true, but then his averages are pretty much like for like here with Melk. So why can't he replace Melk? And i'm not saying permanently but surely it's time this bloke was sent a message? He was back to his worst lackadaisical self against the Swans with that awful lazy one armed (don't get down low in the tackle) style he was doing when he first arrived under Roos. I think Roos finally managed to drive that out of him prior to leaving and it seemed to have gone for good. But guess what, it's back! What he delivers on the positive, it's all given back on the defensive side when he/we don't have the ball. This is Melbourne to a T. So many half baked footballers who are almost at AFL level, but just not quite right in enough aspects of their game to cause us grief. Enough to ensure the team/club never takes the next step and is always being shown up by any team that decides to put in a big "team effort" on match day, even bog ordinary ones. Don't think other coaches / clubs and their analysts can't see these weaknesses and know how to expose them? They are drilling down and picking off every player, every weakness, every strength. Devising match ups and strats to try and shut down their strengths and expose their weaknesses both with match ups and team work / methods of exit / entry up forward, middle, down back, blocks, double teaming, 3rd man up, play him on the shoulder, from behind, cover his left side etc etc. More holes than Swiss cheese with too many of our fellas i'm afraid and all the rats are having a lovely feast picking them apart!

The rest of your post is a gooden BD but to me that was May of 2019. He's stood up big time and has the mongrel to lead this group out of the mire IMHO. He's exactly the captain this club needs right now. Hopefully 2021

What a blunder that was. Effectively the Roos appointment 7 years earlier and probably would have stayed for 5 or more. And a great replacement following on from Danners who at least had us up and about every other year before losing any of that bit of momentum. This club has a penchant for picking the worst conceivable options far too often (ie; wet behind the ear newbie coaches), which leads us to, our present horribilis...

We MAY have one of the best backlines going around once Hibbo/Lockhart are back and No-Mac/Smith both out. But that forward line...sheez it's a bloody stinker (Kozzy excluded being a rookie and he at least puts some pressure on even then)! And that's what it mostly comes down to folks. Can't score....can't defend with ball on ground / in dispute. Opp just put a bit of speed down back and waltz it out with ease. We would have to be one of the easiest teams to defend up forward and one of the easiest to rebound off 50. Out: Plapp (or whoever the hell isn't teaching them!) In: A star ex forward who can teach these blokes some forward craft both offensively and defensively. What a bloody rabble. Unless it's given to them on a stick and most rely on others up the field to kick the goals for them. There's the odd cameo here, the odd goal or two there, the odd tackle here, the odd bit of pressure there, the odd connection or two from Melk coming inside 50 once in a while. And we call ourselves an AFL team? Laughing stock more like it. Put May up there if and see if that works FCS. Tomlinson to cover his role for the remainder of the year. Try something as it's a shambles as it now stands with no structure, no method and no consistency. Rant not over!

Weighted Averages up to and including Rnd 15, 2020 Player 2020 Weighted Score 2020 Rank 2019 Weighted Score % Change vs 2019 % Change vs 2019 w/ 20% time adjusted 2019 Rank Change in Rank vs 2019 Clayton Oliver 4.211 1 4.880 -13.71 7.86 1 0 Christian Petracca 3.609 2 2.843 26.94 58.68 9 7 Max Gawn # 3.045 3 3.437 -11.41 10.74 4 1 Jack Viney 2.913 4 3.258 -10.59 11.76 5 1 Christian Salem 2.850 5 3.658 -22.09 -2.61 3 -2 Steven May 2.839 6 2.618 8.44 35.55 14 8 Ed Langdon 2.825 7 - - - - - Angus Brayshaw 2.589 8 3.131 -17.31 3.36 6 -2 Michael Hibberd 2.338 9 2.339 -0.04 24.95 19 10 Jake Lever 2.300 10 2.519 -8.69 14.13 16 6 James Harmes 2.262 11 4.039 -44.00 -30.00 2 -9 Tom Sparrow 2.150 12 1.275 68.63 110.78 37 25 Alex N-Bullen 2.050 13 2.120 -3.30 20.87 22 9 Adam Tomlinson # 2.025 14 - - - - - Braydon Preuss # 1.875 15 1.643 14.12 42.65 33 18 Harley Bennell 1.850 16 - - - - - Trent Rivers 1.758 17 - - - - - Bayley Fritsch 1.687 18 2.809 -39.94 -24.93 10 -8 Oscar McDonald # 1.682 19 1.956 -14.01 7.49 26 7 Tom McDonald # 1.675 20 2.297 -27.08 -8.85 20 0 Jay Lockhart 1.650 21 1.819 -9.29 13.39 30 9 Nathan Jones 1.638 22 2.907 -43.65 -29.57 7 -15 Mitchell Hannan 1.506 23 1.433 5.09 31.37 36 13 Luke Jackson # 1.463 24 - - - - - Sam Weideman 1.420 25 1.895 -25.07 -6.33 27 2 Aaron Vandenburg 1.394 26 - - - - - Charlie Spargo 1.375 27 1.513 -9.12 13.60 35 8 Jake Melksham 1.368 28 2.181 -37.28 -21.60 21 -7 Neville Jetta 1.355 29 2.264 -40.15 -25.19 18 -11 Toby Bedford * 1.250 30 - - - - - Kysaiah Pickett 1.220 31 - - - - - Joel Smith 1.119 32 - - - - - Mitchell Brown 1.067 33 - - - - - Jayden Hunt 0.908 34 2.092 -56.60 -45.75 23 -11 Average Team Score - Top 22 51.821 59.623 -13.09 8.64 # Hit outs to advantage not captured * One match only, not an average Stats courtesy of footywire.com

.... "What was that? No-Mac named in the 22, again!!?"

Aside from these game day issues LH, i'm sorry but as good as Maxy is when he's on (not so on of late given injury im guessing) he makes a really poor Captain. May should be the obvious captain by a country mile.

I doubt it. We would need SG to go to see No-Mac out of the team in a permanent sense i reckon. Him & Macca seemed to back No-Mac in big time over Dunny years back and SG would lose face if this one fails. These two are way too pally for my liking, regardless of how good or ordinary the player might be. And most would know my thoughts on No-Mac here. Not a good look. Why would you put No-Mac up forward last night? If you were gonna sacrifice down back it had to be May up forward and shortly after half time if we were to have any chance of turning it around. Better to pull No-Mac and just play Tomlinson in this place if he had nowhere to hide him surely. Anyone watching till half time could see Weid was having a mare (along with most up forward but he's the focal point and where you generate most of your goals from either directly or off the contested spill...we got neither). As witnessed last night, no matter how good May is as a defender, if you team defence sucks AND your forward line fails to fire you are completely stuffed at both ends, even against mediocre opposition who decide to put in their best effort. Melk, Fritta & Weid ... Zero goals between them! Didn't watch the last 10 min but when did May come on? Immediately we got a result? As much as Melk is handy up the field for hitting a target inside 50, aside from the odd cameo on rare occasions which makes him handy in a downhill sense, if the team isn't flying he can be bog ordinary, especially defensively. Fritta another one trick pony. Both of those blokes the ball hits the deck what do we get 95% of the time? Weid not much better at ground ball gets but not expected to be given the size/position, passable if given the ball on the receive. Very lazy Weid last night? playing from behind and not getting to the drop when players are coming out of the middle under pressure. And not the first time? Wants it on a platter or not at all? Seriously when you have to think about (and in an emergency do) switching your best defender up forward because your forward line has completely failed (and not just once, last week was barely much better aside from a couple of conversions from Weid) means we are still in a world of trouble forward of centre. I've said it before and i still wasn't convinced even after winning 4 of the 5 up till the Saints, we STILL don't have a reliable genuine KF who we can depend on week in week out to kick at least a couple and clunk a few much needed marks up forward. I tell you what though, there is one bloke who can and could do it if we had one more dour defender of his size down back and that bloke is Steven May. This bloke has ticker and can play forward and seems (from what i've witnessed) to be a VN kick. Reads the ball beautifully and knows how to position himself to outmark / outpoint his opponent. This season to me is pretty much shot. What the hell would we do even if we managed to get it in the eight? We'd be straight out with this inept forward line i reckon. Why not consider May up forward and play Tomlinson in his place? Might be the coaching move of the season. Ok so it might fail as well. We would know pretty quickly i'd think. What have we got to lose if it comes off? What have we got to gain if it works? May would be hard to stop up forward imo and also get ball to the drop more often vs Weid (more a lead up forward). Would certainly set the cat amongst the opp pigeons. A few defenders might be hearing footsteps with him running at full tilt. Would also add some much needed leadership and a fabulous focal point for our blokes to get it to, especially if they know he will kick 3 to 4 on occasions and quite possibly be the edge on the day (incentive). Let's face it... whatever we have now aint gonna cut it against most in the eight, bar maybe GWS and/or the Pies IF we get them at a lowish ebb. And after that? We'll get crunched as we stand now with this forward line up.

39% game time

Thanks BN ... bad arvo period.

Rnd 14, 2020 TIO - Swans vs Demons Team score, allowing for this season's 20% less game time, was 3% off the 2019 average and 14% lower than 2018's. Against one of the worst performing team's this season. Abysmal. Seen a few low individual scores over the years but rarely a negative. Weid's performance easily one of the worst (statistically) in the Red & Blue by any listed player since 2018. Jones, well i won't bother checking but that would be his worst since i've been recording these, and by a massive margin. Yet another sad day in the history of this club. Once the going gets a little tough and we are expected to win comfortably, it doesn't matter which playing group or coach is heading them, it finds a new way of dissapointing. Player Score Rank Clayton Oliver 4.350 1 Ed Langdon 3.375 2 Steven May 2.950 3 James Harmes 2.900 4 Adam Tomlinson 2.850 5 Alex N-Bullen 2.850 6 Jake Lever 2.600 7 Trent Rivers 2.525 8 Max Gawn # 2.500 9 Angus Brayshaw 2.500 10 Bayley Fritsch 2.250 11 Jake Melksham 2.000 12 Christian Salem 1.950 13 Joshua Wagner 1.875 14 Jack Viney 1.850 15 Charlie Spargo 1.450 16 Mitchell Brown 1.375 17 Oscar McDonald # 1.375 17 Christian Petracca 1.325 19 Joel Smith 0.600 20 Nathan Jones 0.450 21 Sam Weideman -0.200 22 Team Score 45.700 Top 6 19.275 Bottom 6 4.925 # Hit outs to advantage not captured Stats courtesy of footywire.com

GWS tanking? Some very radical crazy moves by their coach with both Finlayson & Cameron playing in defence and they were already behind on the scoreboard so no, they aren't protecting a lead and there was more than a quarter to go.

ANB, Clarry & for a young fella i'd throw Rivers in there as well. There's a few other try hards and the rest can go fly a kite

Fritta's having another mare. What an awful season in the main so far. One trick pony and nowhere when the ball hits the deck.

Nice switch of play from ANB earlier. And kicked a goal. Finally someone looked like an AFL footballer

No-Mac forward ...thats better than down back!

Clarry wasnt the worst in that 1st half. Not great. Same with Viney. Along with May, can they bullock and drag this lot out of the mud pit to a narrow win?

He stands off his man and rarely gets touch unless it's a long bomb near the goal square. One of the worst defenders outside the hot zone with any half reasonable athletic opponent who has a tad bit of toe/break away burst. He's awful and i would be going through him on the lead as much as possible if i was the opp. I would even switch to get it there as it will pay off most of the time as long as that forward has his kicking boots on. Yet Goody keeps on keeping on. Amazeballs.

I don't usually take any notice of Derwayne but his comment "too much Hollywood" summed it up perfectly