Demon Dynasty

Thanks minion. So Clarry, who only completed approx 23% of his programmed pre-season vs Gus for example at 43% , still managed to win the Bluey. Another great example, Viney, who only managed 11% but still managed a reasonable contribution throughout the season. Proving that set backs can be overcome and a fair portion of recovering from them is above the shoulders as Lewis alluded to in his exit interview. I also notice the emphasis on "Roles in which player's STRENGTHS can thrive". In other words don't play guys in positions they aren't so good at (or have very little experience with) or just not suited to, wherever possible. Way too much experimenting here by Goody this season which, along with the lack of cohesion and consistency on the training track and alot of man power out through injury, also added to the mayhem and the overall mega fall from 2018.

Only mv but apart from Lewis none of those names inspire a lot of confidence. After this year's abysmal forward line result i am super dissapointed at the inaction in this area. It was by far the biggest Achilles heal outside of the pre-season fiasco.

The fact that it was raised or the nature of the question LH?

Any chance they have some mail that we are super keen on Young with 3? This move up then gets them Jackson and Green.

That's alot of pondering PO!

Emphasis on 'seemingly' Bin. Who knows. Probably something along those lines as you say.

I tend not to complain about things that are beyond one's control Deefiant. There wasn't much else i didn't complain about thIs season however ?

Watched three matches of the Allies in the u18s DD and while he is tough in the clinches and not a bad distributor on occasions (mostly by hand pretty bog ordinary by foot) and will no doubt make a handy inside mid (hopefully for GWS) i wouldn't be upset to miss him in the draft. I'm sure there's a fair bit of upside for whoever lands him but would much rather target Kemp with 8 (if we are needing more mid type players) who to me appears to offer a tad more mobility, versatility and aerial power. But even then i wouldn't be overly excited. Green a nice player but a slower/ploddier version of Rowell imv and as a result tends to get caught / trapped inside a bit too often (even at u18 level). A poor man's Clarry if you like with even less break away speed. I'm not sure why we would target any mids with 3 in this draft as there are no stand outs by foot or anyone with any outstanding X factor in terms of agility/burst speed or goal kicking prowess outside of Rowell and to a lessor degree Serong (goal kicking forward option). You have to ask why would we want to target sub standard mids who aren't very good by foot to add to an already inside biased mid field also not so great by foot at the moment.

Why is the whole group (apart from a few in rehab & Bennell because he isn't authorised yet etc) going into seemingly full on training more than three months out from the first serious match (ie; 1st rnd JLT)? From what i've heard from experts in the fitness field (over the years when interviewed) it only takes approx 6 to 7 weeks (of full time training) to be cherry ripe for AFL football and any gains beyond that period are (apparantly) so miniscule it is not worthy of further pounding. While i'm certainly no expert and some of those interviews (where that message was loud and clear by experts) were probably 4 to 5 years ago or more, has something changed signifiacntly that we have now added about 5 extra weeks or so?

You speak as if we already have him pencilled DD. I hope he is a very quick and good learner as he is a ruckman. And who would he be learning from i wonder seeing as we (apparantly) have no forward line coach. I guess he could improvise.

Can say that again PF. Throwing good players after bad.

The guy who nearly won (and some scribes said should have won) the NS in Tiges' premiership? Having said that i would liken Ash or Gould (not in height obviously) more closely to Houli than say Young in terms of the manner in which they play and distribute the pill.

Bid on Henry with pick 3 and put Freo in a very awkward place as they will then need to make a call on Henry or Jackson and more than likely won't get both which they might if we don't bid. We don't need Green if GWS end up not countering. We DO need Henry however and imho he will be a cracker and worth every cent of pick 3 when we look back in 5 years.

Green reminds me a little of how Chunk played mid field the last 3 seasons or so.

A fair summary of his impact at this year's Nats DS. Which is why i changed my mind and decided on at least putting a bid on Henry with 3. Personally i think Ash is as good as Young (in terms of defending capability/impact) and possibly a better spoiler / intercept mark, albeit he tends to use his line breaking pace and change of direction to move the pill rather than cutting a swathe through a crowd with pin point kicking as many have no doubt already covered on here. Young certainly a brilliant kick (and handballer) at u18 level. One of the best distributors i witnessed and part of that skill appears to come from a very quick mind/football brain in what for many would be a bit of a crisis, often resulting in another turnover. Does he turn it over and make poor decisions? Like all young fellas of course. Does he lack athletisicm / reading the ball in the air vs say a Day, DeKoning, Gould and to a lessor extent Ash? Sure. But to me it seems he does turn it over less often than some of his peers when he does get the intercept if that is any consolation. What he lacks in pace and burst speed he often makes up for with his lightning decision making and precision disposal. That precision kicking can often open up the whole field and change the momentum of a match, breaking it open with one laser like 40 meter(ish) pass. No better example than the one shown in the highlights reel at the end of the u18 final. But there were a few others in the Nats. He might have an ordinary game at AFL at times but it might be 6 to 8 telling kicks that on the day might help turn or win a match on the death. I suspect he might become the sort of player you might say "well he was ok, didn't really star, but how were those three kicks he sliced the opp up with from HB that resulted in two crucial goals to help us win the match in the third/last quarter". After watching the Nats a second time i vm like the cut of Ash's jib also and would be more than happy if we landed him at 8 if we ended up going for someone other than Young at 3. He is the sort of defender player we will notice in a big way. Plenty of line breaking highlights and might also be involved in a number of significant runs/plays where you will be sitting up noticing and ranking him as a big game/impact defender, but in the end he may have a similar volume of score involvements vs say Young. Similar impact if you like but different ways of getting there. Just my amature take from the armchair which will probably be completely incorrect after we re-assess them in 5 years time!

Done

Much more to a player's make up than just disposals and accuracy but FWIW... From the u18 Nats (numbers in parenthesis - DE% = total disposals, KE% & HB% = average disposals)... DE% KE% HB% Pasini 86.8 (38) 85.2 (6.8) 90.9 (2.8) Sturgess 84.7 (59) 83.9 (7.8) 85.7 (7) B Smith 82.9 (41) 76.9 (4.3) 85.7 (9.3) Day 82.7 (75) 79.5 (9.8) 86.1 (9) Clark 81.0 (42) 75.0 (6) 88.9 (4.5) *DKoning 80 (50) 73.1 (6.5) 87.5 (6) Young 79.5 (88) 75.0 (16) 91.7 (6) *Finlay 78.0 (50) 80.0 (7.5) 75.0 (5) Johnson 77.8 (54) 73.0 (9.3) 88.2 (4.3) Rivers 77.0 (87) 69.8 (10.8) 84.1 (11) *Worrell 76.7 (43) 72.0 (6.3) 83.3 (4.5) Ruscoe 74.6 (59) 73.2 (10.3) 77.8 (4.5) *McAsey 74.1 (58) 76.3 (9.5) 70.0 (5) Ash 73.9 (92) 70.6 (17) 83.3 (6) Gould 69.8 (86) 67.9 (14) 73.3 (7.5) Sharp 69.0 (84) 60.0 (13.8) 86.2 (7.3) *Tall defenders. The rest are classified as medium defenders.

Who knows, we might do Henry @ 3 and Jackson @ 8. Would think Freo grab Jackson @ 7 though.

Imagine him, Langdon and Bennell running around. Great crowd draw cards and excitment machines for the young kids to follow as well. I can hear the turnstiles clicking already.

Not only that, as you mentioned earlier, none of them have experience up forward other than Rooke who's been tried and moved on from that role previously. Doesn't exactly infuse one with comfidence that he's up to it if he returned to the role. Having said that, iirc i thought i saw a pic of Rooke with some players recently in the media or off a website (might have been here) chatting to a number of players who may have been a group of forwards but at the time i didn't take much notice of it. Regardless it is a concern after what happened this year (albeit injuries and compromised pre-season for many played a part) when there's been no new injection to the forward stocks in the trade period.

Going to look very silky and smooth in the red & blue ....you little ripper!.... “But I’ve had the capability to move away from family with boarding school so I’ve got the skills to be able to come to Melbourne or wherever that might be.”

In an outright sense possibly DD. On a needs basis (for us) though, i think he very much is in terms of top 10 from the u18s anyway. Whether that's 3, 7, 8 or 10 etc who knows but personally i feel he will go inside the top 10. There's plenty of talent no doubt but i can't think of anyone else who is significantly better who fits the bill (for us...and no doubt a few others) in terms of a smallish athletic outside runner who can play wing / HF with the class/finish/commitment and tricks of this bloke. I agree he may not go at 3 but that's only because we might not bid on him with 3 and the Dockers get a free shot with their pick 7 (or lower if they split down). He is obviously 95% Dockers bound regardless so yes, if they split 7 they might only need to use 10 to get him which obviously isn't pick 3.

A bit like an Aussie Rules version of a running back MFM. Will be exciting to watch wherever he ends up.

Would love to get Henry with 3. Is there any chance Freo pass if we bid and instead use 7 on Jackson and also keep 10 for say Roberston?

Ash would be a sensational pick up imho. One of the best line breaker come ball users off HB along with Gould. Anderson obviously the pick of the three but no chance for us. Neither quite at the level of Young by foot over short / medium & long range and probably by hand either but still in their own rights very solid users. Ashes read of the play and run would worry many opps even at this early stage i reckon. A few years in the system and could be something very special. Gould and Ash very courageous in the air also.