Demon Dynasty

Choco Marciano ... https://www.facebook.com/share/v/166LKTPBjw/?mibextid=D5vuiz

A few thoughts following the GC game... Jesse Craven had a very impressive second half. One to keep an eye on. Very clean hands, puts himself in the right positions (some lovely crumbs) and a number of quality second efforts and pressure acts / tackles. Appears to be super fit as well, heavily involved right up to the closing bell, including some timely clearances. Laurie had some fab moments and a very solid three quarters but also continues to dish up some very ordinary turnovers under solid pressure and a few clangers / basic fumbles in traffic and on the move as fatigue set in late. Not alone of course and not sure they would outweight the good in terms of getting a call up but he is still a worry for mine in a stepping up sense to AFL. One of his better games for Casey though. Possibly the best Casey game i've seen from Fullo who presented well & used his body nicely in some aerial contests. Kicked quite accurately and also very unselfish on a few occasions. Held his own at times as the chop out ruck for Verral when Campbell went down and well beaten on a number of others but he was up against a monster oppo ruck in Moyle. Verral improving but still not sure what assets he is bringing to the table in order to make a difference at the higher level. Will be an interesting watch in 2025 though as he continues to make marginal improvements with his ruck craft and also somewhat improved with follow up ground level stuff. Disco had a day out both up forward and as the loose extra behind play during red time in most quarters. At times he also lurked outside the press with great effect. His follow up work at ground level in a pressure and one percenter sense was impressive. I personally think we should persevere with him at senior level with alot less chopping and changing between seniors and Casey as he gives the impression he is almost ready and mature enough to hold down a role at AFL level. Would offer great swing man flexibility for a coach at senior level too, playing both to aplomb at VFL level. Albeit still alot to learn before cementing himself at AFL which is obviously the toughest gig going. Goes without saying he'll be straight in this week after such an impressive four quarter performance. BOG for mine.

Waiting for the return of knuckles

Yep... individual player's wants and desires need to be balanced out by the coaching crew to roll with whatever is best for the 'team' on the day surely. Match up aspects obviously a core component. My suggestion might be valid one week, and completely arssed up the next. Mind you it could also be arssed up almost always! Sometimes the coach needs to protect the player from their own good intentions and beliefs and just implement what's required. Goes without saying that the season is also a long grind. Player management, particularly the senior fellas, is super critical as we know.

Play AJ & Rooh in the same team? One off the bench to cover the other and share the ruck duties with Max? Max is in severe need of a meaningful chop out imv and resting forward is not his go. Surely we need to maintain our structure up forward with at least one of AJ or Rooh playing the KF role while the other is on the bench or covering for Max in the ruck? Kane is a click baiter but be also does highlight some valid footy issues on occasions. 99% ruck time for Max in 2024 & 2025 (at his age) is just not sustainable... Max ... "the Pseudo Everything" ... https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14u15uNfQvZ/?mibextid=xfxF2i

Very much so. No more injuries pls footy gods... spit spit etc

Melk does take a few games to get going but provided he's well over the injury and managed well on the track mid-week, he has immense upside for us. As you said, we are lacking marking forwards. Melk is a key marking forward with vice like hands and lead up experience, craft and skills. He is exactly the player you want in the team given our lack of dangerous targets of late. Some say it's between him and Fritta. I'm not an expert so not sure if this is the way or not. If it is then on recent form and trust (ie; selecting a player as i know what i'm going to get) im choosing Melk at this point. I'd be sending a long overdue message to Fritta as well that you aren't exempt from earning your spot. You need to perform consistently with only the odd off week. Not the other way round. Leaving Fritta in can only be sending a very poor message to the rest of the playing group imo given his fall away from acceptable AFL performance levels. You simply cannot have an under performing player in a role sense, refusing to chase or give max effort / 2nd efforts when it's his turn to go. No doubt not alone but he is a senior player and one that's consistently under performing in his role of late. If Simon wants to keep awarding mediocrity and poor examples, especially from senior players, then we are probably going to see more of same shizen performances going forward. This is a brutal sport that will eat up anyone who goes in to matches with the wrong mind set or thinking they can just swan their way through unscathed. It will eventually come back to bite the player/s, the Coaches and the club. You can bury your head in the sand and pretend it will somehow miraculously resolve itself if you keep doing more of the same. Or you can address it and look for solutions and alternative ways / means and methods. The game is ever changing and unforgiving. You have to adapt and be ruthless when required and needed.

I would argue that was the case in 2022 & 23. T-Mac going down midway in 2022 and BBB's injury woes plus the exit of LJ (brain exited early 2022 and body followed in the off season) and Smith sealed our fate i think. The 2024 off field shenanigans killed that season off completely. If we had just one medium forward or KF on the park and firing at the end of 22 or 23 we probably make at least another GF. Losing Gus so early against the Pies a huge loss as well. He was in stellar form coming into that game.

Not feeling the love Mr Fence?

Sorry if this is picky Macca but if you're referring to this season so far, early days i realise, but we are presently ranked as the worst clearances team in the AFL. So i'm not sure that we are even 'good' at that aspect you mentioned there. Breaking it down we are ranked 14th for centre clearances and stone motherless last for stoppage clearances.

Sorry D'one... what game plan are you referring to?

I hope the boys don't read this W as they might be tempted to chuck this one just for the entertainment factor at Gosch's on Monday Just be careful as they're playing a bit of soccer at the moment and might mistake yours for....well you know. Things could get ugly!

I took most of the off season off myself. Is that fact or just speculation? If correct surely he only backed it off for the older fellas in the group? That would make sense and pretty sure other clubs manage their senior players this way too.

Ditto on that. And kudos to the way the kid handled it. Showed he has some solid mental fortitude as well which should come in very handy.

Superb entre'. Looking forward to seeing his progress & journey from here. Good luck Langers and stick it right up em mate.

Write away. It won't go where it needs to get to regardless and will end up being screened by someone at the front end of the club and will probably end in the delete bin. The only chance might be via registered snail mail requiring a signature from the recipient if that's still a thing.

Me neither. If anything, the first three weeks have shown that the big fella is in desperate need of a significant chop out when up against two substantial oppo rucks.

6 Bowsa 5 Langers 4 Clazz 3 Riv 2 T-Mac 1 May

2 hours ago, Demonstone said: I can no longer find this last post... Saying "the decision to depart was mutual" might infer that Harmes was also wanting out. Nothing could be further from the truth. Heart & soul Demon through & through. It was well reported at the time that looking at alternatives and leaving was not his preferred course.

Better but only off a very big low against the Roos im afraid DZ. As per 2024, there is so far, just too much being left to too few. And no semblance of any method / manner in which we are trying to play the game. There's just nothing there to hold our hat on and say "i can see what they're looking to build" or "we just need to fill these two or three holes with better players coming back from injury" (or trade them in mid-season or year's end). Also can you tell me one aspect of our game and OF the game of Aussie Rules that we look good / strong at please? I can't see it. Maybe our season starts this week against the Cats and we'll pull off a miraculous upset. There's absolutely zero expectations from anyone so there is no external pressure at all that's for sure.

I would guess most fans don't care about love-ins and whether we are "getting around Goody/Richo" with a Kumbaya Culture Titan. Bottom line, most would probably just wanna see a maniacal never say die white line fever effort from the 22 that run out week in week out for four quarters regardless of injuries, off field issues and any other extraneous factors. The last two weeks have been anything but, aside from a few personal exceptions in an individual sense player wise. Unaccountable, amateurish footy has crept into the group and it's completely unneceptable. Even Simon jumped in there with the nonsense Max comments. Amateur stuff from the leader with the Cap having to cover for him and try to explain it in the press afterwards. The is not presently an AFL footy team. It's a rabble seemingly in free fall looking on. And Brad's still talking finals! My god. Talk about deluded. How about we just try and get this week right!

Why are we (seemingly) not into Matty Rowell big time??

Also ...Guess when Brissy's losing streak ended in a Flag worthy display at the G that showed they were anything but done. The Hawks were also coming off a long rebuild and still putting the pieces together to get off the bottom. You could also start to see a style and method in the way Mitchell was pushing them to play. Some of the comparisons on here are just clutching at straws. Our last 18 weeks have been nothing short of an abomination. We have no strength in any aspect of the game and oppo teams know this. They just play their own game / methods and style knowing we'll eventually capitulate in the 2nd half. There is no fear or respect anymore from them and mediocre teams like GC are actually starting to bully us off the ball etc. I can handle having a sub standard list. That was always bound to happen at some point and a mini rebuild or more needed. But it's the way too many in this team put up the white flag, don't play for each other, play with almost zero care, fail to show g&d and slip into amateur footy too often that's unneceptable for mine. Casey's list is in a similar position at the moment. Actually probably more decimated in terms of top end experienced talent. But you still see them putting their bodies on the line, staying strong over the footy, sticking tackles and maintaining a structure and method that the team attempts to play to. They run in support all day getting numbers to the contest. The attitude is still solid and they stick at it all day.

Mate Greeny's a lovely fellow and was a great player. One of my favs and loved watching him play. But he aint listening and is all aboard. Even offering to give hugs & cuddles to Simon & Richo if they're ever feeling a little bit overwhelmed at any point. Maybe it's just me and my old school ways, but this kumbaya culture (epidemic) that appears to have permeated through the club is def not my thing. At this rate the entire club will end up shutting up shop and having to take stress leave. Maybe they could all head down to Rye for a few weeks of TLC and spas together and just forfeit our next few games. Or send Whitford and the Casey boys in as replacements.... actually you know what

Stating the obvious but you do need to have the cattle with the mindset and often the talent capable of executing under pressure. Surely part of the capability to execute is on the coach and his program? Of course some have a natural capability / talent to bring it from track to game day consistently. While some don't and may need alot of extra work on the track. Others less gifted may not make it at all no matter how much work is done. Alot of this above the shoulders of course. No doubt a very tough gig but they are getting paid to do a job. And so are Simon, Richo, Line Coaches etc. And some of the less talented will make up for this with massive effort that can sometimes see them outperforming even the more innately talented around them. Swooper was one helluva coach in this regard in terms of seemingly getting so much extra effort and performance (white line fever!) out of what appeared to be some meat n potatoe players that may not have made it under a less capable coach.