Demon Dynasty

Yep.... i reckon that's a possible 5 goal decision right there. Already involved in that first score.

Some very astute work there Dee.... i agree re the backline looking settled and nicely balanced prior to the Doggies match. Much of the loss was us not locking down on the Bont who had one of his usual day outs againt us plus a horrid effort from the forwards who applied some low level pressure inside 50 and allowed the Dogs to waltz out and transition too easily off HB for multiple score launches. I don't mind Rivers for Lockhart though although with Hibb out i believe he was a must in this week.... not Smith. And you are right, we shouldn't be relying on one player down back to be bailing us out every other week. Not gonna happen against the better clubs.

Via Zoom? Thought about pre-recording your responses? Hit the play button and your away GC!

As if all us southerners aren't aren't suffering enough D11. No work, no footy, no finals here, the GF stolen from our magnificent G, no men's bars (wait, is that an essential service!?) and here you are bringing up the 'perfect one day' factor. May the fleas from Gawny's sacred beard infest your armpits!

Reading this again Ox, are we seeing some similarities (albeit we are still a fair way off their level and obviously with many differences to each list) to the way the Tigers play? It wouldn't surprise me to be reading this article about a scrappy Tiger win a la last night's vs the Dockers as this excerpt demonstrates... ..."Melbourne’s inability to compete with the Saints in the centre proved to be an issue for a lot of Saturday night’s game, but it was able to win the ball back around the ground and lift its intensity after half-time..." Not sure if it's just a one off but maybe losing the mid field clearance count isn't such a bad thing if we are covering the outside and winning it back around the ground (at stoppages) and on the turnover. The Tigers get most of their scores from turnovers rather clearance work. Would be interesting to see some info on which area we had been scoring from in past season or two and even the first half of this one vs the second half of this one or even the last 5 to 6 rounds.

I see there's a bit of MFCSS virus still lurking about Uncle. Nothing a good Shiraz won't flush out! I'd recommend giving it a fair shake well before the bounce. Finished the remainder of my Wolf Blass grey off on the weekend PRIOR to the match and it worked a treat... anxiety quashed!

Yes i stand corrected Bin. Ok so lets call him a medium tall. He has 6cm on Harmes and 15cm (nearly 6 inches) on Pap. Too tall to take Pap (effectively) imv. And an even worse decision if that is the case really. Should be Jay all the way. I still think we win this one (or should) reasonably well but given the tight group/race we are in for a spot in the eight surely we'd want to drive the nails home for percentage!? It might come down to that in our last game against Essendrug. Imagine missing out on the eight by a percent or two and a few goals saved (in this match) might have been the difference! Like many forms of sport, success or otherwise can sometimes be a matter of "inches".

How about 5 LH? Harmes is a VG lock down player further up the field on someone with similar traits / size to him. Papley is a small forward who plays the role with aplomb and one of the slipperiest snakes up forward there is. That's too big an ask for the likes of Harmes who is much more confortable playing on a mid size player (usually not quite as agile as Pap) further up the field, away from the constant danger zone. This could still be a 5 or 6 goal game with the size of that back line and no Lockhart coming in to shut Papley down. And then we'll all blame Harmes and say "wow he needs to go, how bad is he this season!?". If this match up actually comes to pass can we at least not blame Harmes and blame the person who is playing him out of position and who overlooked Lockhart (assuming he isn't carrying an injury that is). Hibb was the other obvious lock down on Papley. We probably still win but we make life hard for ourselves not going in with Lockhart imo and instead bringing in another tall (poor in defence so far) in Smith.

Hibb out is a real bummer. Having a solid season and gave us some real run and fast play transition. Hopefully just the week. Not sure why we wouldn't bring Lockhart in for the lock down on Papley to replace him. Smith in is just overkill (talls) for mine given Sydney's smallish forward line and makes no sense at all unless O-Mac was an omission. O-Mac is def in SG's little black book he was a straight out for Tomlinson (moved down back to cover) and Lockhart the in for Papley. I'm assuming Harmes is taking on AVB's role on a wing / HF and they aren't looking to swing him on to Pap. He'll get smashed on that match up IMO. Fritschkrieg & ANB makes sense for the two other forwards who def needed a rest and a reset.

Yep many of their supporters can be right pains in the [censored] and carry on whenever they happen to be going along alright as if they're the next AFL messiah. Mind you they aren't alone here. There's a few other Vic club supporters with similar traits. The fact they owned us for quite some time with a mediocre side was an even bigger pain! Great to see them holding up the right end of the ladder instead of balancing it in the middle rungs and out performing their list.

There's no DH filter rjay? Could really use one here in Melbourne right about now

Shoenberg looks very handy following on from his promising work in the u18s

2018 final was better but gee i'm enjoying this match. So many arrogant Hawk fans getting to eat some more humble pie

Can't blame him being a tad cautious MNL. He should be able to push through that the more games he plays. Strangely enough a few bumps and bruises (even accidental) might be the tonic he needs to get there.

My bad D11 .... that was overall NOT inside 50! The furthest i can drill down on that stat is... Forward Half Pressure Acts (2020 averages).... Bennell 7.0 Spargo 9.4 They're pretty close in a number of their general stats to be honest.

Not that it matters but i'm on board Mr Leg. If he's fit and ready i'd be bringing him straight in for Kozzy (managed) this week. A touch of flare and poise around the drop inside 50 and just outside the arc would be very nice this week ty.

My lips are sealed OD. He is kicking goals at 100% accuracy at the moment so who am i to judge. But yes, it would be nice if he (and others around him) were kicking a few more of late.

Found them...see edit above D11 ?

I don't have access to pressure acts inside 50 D11 (Bin....anyone?) but.... Tackles inside 50 (2020 season averages) Bennell 0.4 Spargo 0.4 Edit* ... Just found them! ... Pressure Acts inside 50 Bennell 8.8 Spargo 11.4

I stand corrected on RIvers. I'm not convinced with Harmes at HB if he has to for Rivers on a wing. Mind you i think Rivers could do quite well in this posi also as you say. For now i'd stick with Harmes on the other wing for AVB. Hibbo!? Fingers crossed. That really throws a spanner in the works for me. You are lucky to be up there 58 and witnessing live sport. Groundhog day down here at the moment. Enjoy!

On a slightly more serious note 58.... Imho keep the changes to a minimum with a bit of management to lock this match in and let's get a bit more secure in the eight. Yes to Lockhart but not for the run imo. Stay at home on Papley. He is that dangerous he deserves a dedicated lock and i think Jay is the best of the bunch here. Sure, he won't keep him completely quiet but we don't want Papley doing to us what Tracc did to the Saints. Just need to lessen the damage somewhat. Keep Rivers playing as is for the intercept, bit of run and top notch disposal skills coming off HB. Let him do what he's doing well and keep building his confidence. Too early days to play a hard lock on a hardened nut like Papley imv. Kozzy managed for Harley or ANB sounds about right. Actually i would bring both in as Hannan deserves a spell after that ordinary performance. Harmes for a managed Vanders. Harmes coming in to the non-Mr Ed wing allows Tomlinson to push back into the O-Mac role, allowing Lever to remain as the 3rd man intercept role assisting May etc. So for mine it's... In: Lockhart, Harley, ANB, Harmes Out: O-Mac (omitted), Kozzy (managed), Hannan (omitted), Vanders (managed).

Apparently these bubbles 58...allowing full contact but NIL injury. Ok maybe the odd concussion or two

Possibly at some point Bobby. I could be wrong, but 2021 more likely if he is still on the list at that stage (i'm not sure where his contract is at). I reckon he would've needed a run at it before now, especially with the injury issue pre-season but who knows!

Ripping bloke. Owning that wing and sure beats some of the stop gap measures trialled through here in 2019. Challenge now is to find a complimentary cracker jack on the other wing. All power to Mr Ed

If you looked at the baseline stats as an outsider without knowing the result, i reckon 9 out of 10 would've said Saints must have won that Ox. So it's a real strange result that some might refer to as an outlier. If you played it 10 times over the Saints probably win most of them. We got smashed in the middle. Steele had a VG game here. Hill provided great run also. They won the meters gain count by nearly 500 and as you've mentioned the inside 50 count big time and still lost. Maxy a bit flat after the lay-off. So what happened? It's all been well covered in the other threads but a miserly defence (May / Lever), solid rebound off HB and wing (Ed was super), a match turner from Tracc, amazing last quarter from Clarry and solid work from Viney at stoppages. Weid was ok but the rest of that forward line was super flakey and is still a real worry. But yes they might have suffered from a lack of supply on the night.