Demon Dynasty

I don't think that's what i was suggesting at all but never mind

Yep it seems that way bin. Sometimes the distance / angle / pressure of the entry doesn't allow a player the luxury of picking and choosing so they're probably going here as their set option but.... Can i take you back to the kick from just on or outside the arc by Harmea last week on the northern flank kicking to the Punt Road end? That kick to me was the ideal placement. About 12 meters out from the boundary pocket but enough space for the big boys to run on to it and hit the contest with Tmac taking a classic pack mark and the angle not so bad . Result....goal. All I'm saying is....surely we can find a better balance when the situation presents? Where we give ourselves the above opportunity or similar (front and square roving off the spillage from such a pack if no one marks) while still having a fair chance of locking it in IF none of the above happens. Let's at least improve our chances of scoring when getting it in there when we can vs hitting that same pocket so often as a default, allowing them to get numbers inside 50 which makes our chances of scoring (especially a.goal) very slim anyway.

My bad....that's just how it pasted ?

One interesting post in their post-game thread.. Mate that is exactly what I said to my daughter on the way home from the game. My observations (was seated behind the goals level 1 behind the Carlton Cheer squad): - Melb mids seemed to track the ball and hunt in packs of 4 or 5 putting pressure on us. They would spread hard when they won it. - Their ball movement from Def to Fwd was very slick, ours was scruffy and inefficient. We have to work so hard for our goals, they seemed to do something creative nearly every time they went fwd. - The value of a gun ruckman was on display today. - Crippa just tries to do too much, gets caught too often and turns it over too often. I think he needs to get back to basics. - I saw 6 defenders at their end who looked structured and made our fwds lives hard. Ours were bit all over the shop. Ol mate Plow was bit ordinary at times with his effort and disposal. I'm note sure what to take out of it other than I can see why Melb are 9-0 and we are 3-6. I predicted a 4-5 goal loss and that's what happened.

Never looked like losing that one. Gritty team effort and we answered all they threw at us. Had it not been for Saad, Cripps & McKay and being a tad top heavy up forward on a wet day (IMHO) i think we probably win that by plenty. What a special first half that was from Tom! However, i reckon the Blues were in the main, better at us with their delivery inside 50 today as well as making space for their forwards to run in to. I feel there's lot's of room for improvement both from a line up / balance point of view, player methods / execution (Clarry & Tracc) and also pressure in terms of recognising when to retain shape in the zone across HB and when to attack the ball carrier coming through the middle (Tracc on at least two occasions which hurt us on the scoreboard both times i think). We also could have pulled the trigger a few times in defence, kicking out from the Punt Road end to a one on one with Ed & Hunt on the Southern wing when well ahead on the scoreboard with plenty of time on the clock. Instead we ignored and played it too safe a little too often, kicking long to a congested well covered Northern wing/boundary or too short to a player hemmed in deep in our 50 on the boundary/back flank northern side. Coming inside 50 we need to clean up delivery and hit the hot zone / higher conversion areas vs the pocket. Looking at Clarry here a bit. Put the opp under more pressure and allow the talls to contest, bring the ball to ground and the smalls to do their work. Instead we far too often hit that pocket and released the pressure valve on the opp's defence IMHO allowing the cavalry to arrive. I know we are looking to lock the ball in our 50 and have repeat entries but with such a tall line up i would hope to give them some more chances to impact by hitting these zones a little more often. Weid & Chandler should be better for the run but from a trust POV a fit Viney (or even Chunk/Melk) & LJ in for Chandler and one of either BB or Weid seems to be a big upgrade. And i'm not convinced with playing both BB & Weid together even on a dry day, but especially in the wet. Onwards to the the City of Churches to take on Tex Dubbo & his mates for a shot at 10 in a row. Go you Mighty Demons!

Yep...two rookie errors there. He'll learn but wouldn't want to make too many more this match

Doesn't Robbo do this at half time as well?

Fantastic option for upcycling furniture vs other options such as Chalk & Mineral. Mind you a good quality mineral is.pretty hard to top but.... Leave the Haymes for at least 24 hours to cure, 48 even better, a light sand in between coats and bob's your uncle

A long way to go ...plenty can happen. Fingers & toes crossed every week from here. Luck plays a fair role also.

I doubt most are happy as such Cards. Melk is a fringe 22 player so he needs to up the ante' to maintain his place. There's always going to be a bottom 6 or so in a similar position who are fighting to do so. Opportunities sometimes then occasionally arise for fringe players waiting their turn at VFL level to step up and see what they can do, provided they've earned it of.course. Provided There's quality depth coming from underneath i would think this is a healthy thing all round. Player in waiting gets a chance to perform and some experience at the highest level. Coaches get to see whether he can play the role being asked and where he's at. I see this as a very healthy situation. Compare this to the alternative of a bottom 6 or less, say 2, 3 or more under-performing and/or few injuries and no one coming through to take their place. I know which position i'd rather be in as a club/FD/coach.

My bad...on the turps. Read that as TMac

If that is the case Mitch & Maj played a full game today. Do players ever back up from the VFL the next day in the seniors? Normally Mitch would be an auto in here if he didn't play today surely.

Nice to know SG is reading this forum... Rusty Nails 6,830 Posted Monday at 04:33 PM 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.

That was as tight a match defensively and in a pressure sense in general as i've witnessed this season by a very well drilled, well coached, confident team with 5 solid wins under their belt with a pretty decent mid field. The Blues are in some ways the antithesis of this, aside from their capability of hitting their tall targets inside 50 (Namely McKay) if given enough time and space to execute. Much of that delivery from the in form Walsh. Both of those will be well covered (my best amature guess) with May to McKay and Harmes to Walsh. They won't be given the time or space to execute on Sunday for the bulk of this match. We don't do shoot outs a la the Dogs. Their defence is simply not as well organised or disciplined as the Swans. Subject to the weather not being atrocious, expecting a solid Demon win by a fair margin with a reasonably close.game up to half time. If it's a big ordinary night then they might get within 5 goals or so.

The mighty Reds put the Gerry & The Pacemakers song to bed decades ago and it's their's to walk alone. Done and dusted. If there was ever a song for the mighty Demons a la that gawd awful rubbish from Port pre-Match then Hells Bells is it. I pushed for this years ago but on reflection this should only be dragged out and celebrated when we win a Premiership Cup as part of the post match celebrations. And only by the real Acca Dacca if they're still going at that point....or a band with Angus in it at the very least! After that maybe as a pre-match thingy but there's NO need to sing the entire song as mooted by the OP... All that's needed is a chant at the start similar to the crowd here at River Plate...then joining in with the "Hells Bells" at each chorus. Easy-peasy fellow minions. The Demons and Hell's Bells are meant for each other (but not till we win the bloody cup!)...

I think you mean 10 or something Sue...he didn't kick 14 in two matches from my recollection.

Hopefully it isn't the 440k India strain which seems to be a step up from all other strains. Albeit early days and still more time/data/study needed before the science community can give a definitive idea. Worry over the 440k strain was probably the main catalyst for the Fed Govt bringing in their controversial ban / fine / jail time on travellers coming in from India before it got howled down.

You can say that again.

I hope so as i seem to recall in past games (when Tmac & Weid have played together) they often tended to get in each other's way and spoil each other in the air. Their goal scoring averages were also very low from memory. Much has changed since then though so fingers crossed.

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).