Demon Dynasty

I have been calling for May to CHF for some time. Defence is not our main problem. The inability to convert and lock the ball inside 50 for more than 10 or 20 seconds is. I was calling for this at half time yesterday also to take advantage of the fact that most of our playing group, much of the time, plays a straight ahead game. We don't look lateral often enough when coming off HB or through the square and more often than not just kick it blindly to CHF. Usually bombing and shallow kicks where the opp sits a player roughly 40 meters out directly in front. They often intercept then counter quickly on that turnover. We are mostly running forward, out of position, and this often results in a shot at goal or a goal for our opponents. Massive team deflator. If you aren't going to coach this 'straight ahead full steam" approach out of the players ie; look up the field assess quickly, if main outlets are blocked hold up and go lateral (even backwards as a last resort) if needed but try and maintain possession. The solution if you arent changing that method, and it would appear we aren't or Goody can't, is to put a decent marking tall forward at CHF who can compete, clunk a few marks and/or bring the ball to ground. I don't trust either Brown or Weid in this role although happy to see an experiment wIth either for a few weeks but...my preference is May as per post on another thread below. Goody needs to experiment and pull the trigger. Shouldve happened at half time yesterday. This could be a stop gap until Petty returnd or it might be permanent depending on results... ..."Pretty fair summary Poita. I can't see a place for Tomo (on a wing) if Bennell ever gets back. Surely he and or / Fritchskreig goes to Tomo's wing. Tomo trialled at CHB or maybe even CHF? Personally i would trial him at CHB. Push May to CHF and bring O-Mac in for Smith. Bennell to HF or wing. Alternating with Fritsch maybe."

Pretty fair summary Poita. I can't see a place for Tomo if Bennell ever gets back. Surely he and or / Fritchskreig goes to Tomo's wing. Tomo trialled at CHB or maybe even CHF? Personally i would trial him at CHB. Push May to CHF and bring O-Mac in for Smith. Bennell to HF or wing. Alternating with Fritsch maybe.

And that just about sums up our lot SW. Went from a top line coach who didn't stay the course needed, to another untried rookie. 5 years minimum was a must for Roos given the depths we plumbed from 2012 till his appointment. 3 seasons was a band aid fix. It held till the 2018 prelim then the gangreen returned.

Player Score Rank Christian Petracca 4.475 1 Steven May 3.700 2 Clayton Oliver 3.325 3 James Harmes 3.200 4 Michael Hibberd 3.175 5 Max Gawn # 3.075 6 Aaron Vandenberg 3.075 7 Christian Salem 2.975 8 Mitchell Hannan 2.450 9 Ed Langdon 2.200 10 Jay Lockhart 2.100 11 Tom McDonald 2.075 12 Angus Brayshaw 1.850 13 Jake Lever 1.725 14 Bayley Fritsch 1.450 15 Trent Rivers 1.050 16 Jack Viney 0.700 17 Adam Tomlinson # 0.650 18 Jake Melksham 0.600 19 Kysaiah Pickett 0.575 20 Joel Smith 0.500 21 Jayden Hunt 0.250 22 Team Score 45.175 Top 6 20.950 Bottom 6 3.275 # Hit outs to advantage not accounted for Team score was our 2nd best for the season but believe it or not, still a horrid 4% worse than the average team score from the debacle that was 2019. Note that Gawn's hit outs to advantage are not included above and my best guess is if they were he would have finished in the top 3, probably 2nd. Clarry was marked down badly in the above score from 5 turnovers but he wasn't the worst here. Viney with a massive 8 and Fritschkreig with 6 headed the table. Clarry equal 3rd along with Tomo, Smith, Gawn and Hibb. Those turnover stats don't show where they occurred or whether they resulted directly in a score though. I suspect if they drilled down to this level Clarry would be marked down a tad further. A better start matching the Tigers in the first, but unfortunately as we've seen all too often, once the opp turns up the wick a little or a fair amount our skills and composure tend to collapse almost on cue with a few exceptions. Surprise surprise we end up well behind at half time, again! And once more, chasing tail for the remainder of the match. Even with virtually no bench in the last it was pretty clear to me (and no doubt most) that only one team was likely to win this one. Maxy, Tracc & Hibb played pretty solid throughout. Clarry did his usual extraction work but much of it brought undone with some fairly ordinary disposal and panic handball / kicks into neutral territory or straight to the opp on a few too many occasions. Not to mention that last kick of 5 meters or so that resulted directly in a goal. Then there's the ex captain. What can one say. Pretty solid at getting the pill, similar to Clarry, but those turnovers ughh! Who would've thought Jack would put in a bottom 6 result statistically in any match other than when returning from a decent lay off / injury. Gus had a go but not that far behind in terms of ability to impact / halve a contest. We are really lacking some zip, agility and break away soft shoe shuffle from any of our mids at the moment by hand and/or foot, with the exception of Harmes in that 2nd half who i thought gave us a tad more run and forward momentum / impact through the square. Then there's our immaculate forward line. Apart from a handy haul by Hannan, there's not much to write home about in terms of results on the scoreboard or ability to retain the ball inside 50 for more than a few seconds once the ball hits the turf. Front and square? Is that even in the coach's playbook? If it is no one appears to be listening or attempting to position themselves there other than the opposition. The other bottom 5 statistically were Hunt, Smith, Kozzie, Melk and Tomo. Kozzie i'll happily forgive at this early stage. He'll get there given enough time, games and a decent structure / genuine KF inclusion up forward (hopefully!). As for the other four. A little like our season so far, sometimes the less said the better!

Very early days. Plenty of upside. A new coach, a few more pre seasons & experience. Could be a star a la Cyril (similar style not saying he'll reach such heady heights) but not under this regime. Speaking of small and/or medium small forwards, how is it that we STILL haven't learned to get them front and square (forward hot zones) on a regular basis yet our opponents often do and run the ball out of our 50 with relative ease as a result.

He wont be coming to coach this rabble SW. But we certainly need to get our hands on a coach who can coach (Lyon?), along with a genuine KF (Cameron).

Was very good last week also. If only all our blokes played with his manic attack and endeavour.

Clarry.... easily one of the worst games ive seen from him sadly. B&F went to his head a little over the pre - season?

This is saying something but Frost was twice the defender that Smith is.

Hibb, Tracc and Fritta can hold their heads up

Viney is done as a Mid. Sorry but he rarely, if ever, connects with a forward coming inside 50. Too many dumb bomb turnovers.

That's called "Gifting the opposition their most preferred match up" WW. It is also yet another signal (if we needed any more) that Goody hasn't got a clue.

How on earth does anyone, let alone a supposed AFL coach, believe or feel that somehow Smith is worth a stint in the backline. Astounding.

Deestroying it mostly

Me neither. They are literraly laughing at us.

This is THE most obvious move of the day... Thommo covers Lynch and Fritta to Thommo's wing. Goody ....WE NEED A [censored] BIG BODIED MARKING TARGET MATE....WAKE THE [censored] UP!!!!!

Goody has half a match left to try and save his sinking ship. Try something different Goody for once in your coaching career!

We are comedy capers forward of center

When the heat's turned up we can rarely find a target forward. And on cue Fritschkreig marks lol

Goody the game is almost done. Make a change or two FCS

It's time to play a big body ( May?) at CHF and try and clunk some marks to at least keep the ball in there for more than 20 seconds or so. Tommo to Lynch pls.

Fritta ...Clarry ....2 shocking turnovers under little pressure

Disgracefull decision...[censored] off

Doing well. Tracc on fire. We dont ALWAYS have to take the game straight through the middle. Yes if its there....bit if outlets are closed you are allowed to go laterally or backwards to maintain possession / hold the play up. Some cleaner / smarter ball use in the clinches and we're a chance here.

MFM we are in dire need of quality / class ball users and finishers with a bit of run. Especially near the arc and coming inside 50. We don't have Casey and i would fear the likelihood of a rolls royce like Bennell being played in to form at that level anyway. In other words if he is to be played, scratch match or AFL, there's only one level of footy he should be being played into form at. He finished in our top 10 players statistically with only 50% game time in his only match and Goody & the FD don't think he's up to it vs some who obviously came in even more under done like AVB who played a shocker. As LH highlighted in an earlier post, the FD's reasoning for not including him is totally inconsistent and differs depending on who's being asked / interviewed. We have heard at least 3 different versions of why he isn't being played now. Either the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing inside the FD and it is still amature hour down there OR they know exactly what they're doing and will prove me wrong over the next 4 to 5 weeks. The W/L ratio will tell the tale.