Demon Dynasty

Surely not Jako! Stinger they said?

If anyone is wondering about whether we should bid on Green or not, please do yourselves a favour and watch the U18s Allies vs VIC M at GMHBA (if you haven't already that is). Does he have flaws? Of course, as all youngsters do while they're developing. Handball? Elite. Kicking? I would say average both field and set shots but occasionelly shows glimpses of above average. Marking? Quite a rangy player above the head so handy in the forward 50. 50/50 set shot, maybe worse so don't expect a stack of goals most of the time. Might have the occasional day out. Engine...seems high level at this stage which sees him in everything and working hard after he gives to get to handy spots up forward etc. Speed...nothing flash but ok. Who is he like? Only my opp but reminds me of another Clarry (potentially) in the making. There's some highlights also of some very good draft players in this such as McGuiness (particularly his last quarter...heading for the Hawks of course), Rowell (seen better games but still mostly very solid when he was on the ground), Anderson, McAsey, Sturgess, Mahony (smokey small forward who, on the ground, looks as good as Weightman at times) etc. The match is pretty high quality and it's a cracking tight final quarter where you will get to see some of these boys perform under heat at their highest level. Definitely worthy of 100 minutes imho. Be wary though, at the end of it it's highly likely you will say "we must bid on Green!" with 3!

Draft discussion with Twomey Live now.... https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=598814430856005&id=63513051416

Fair enough. I'm more than happy with both of those. If nothing else Brown gives us more depth and puts pressure / provides coverage over the likes of Petty, Smith (who i think will be depth down back) and Weid (if he hasn't stepped up by Rnd 6 or so). Petty showed a little in the last few rounds of last year which would have excited the FD. Offered some mobility and marking inside 50 which had been sadly lacking for much of the season. Appears to be reasonably accurate with set shots also. Something to build on especially with another solid pre-season behind him.

ESPN's Doerre latest update.... https://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/28095715/updated-afl-phantom-draft-first-three-rounds

Cal Twomey's 2019 Phantom Form Guide: November update - http://m.afl.com.au/news/2019-11-20/cal-twomeys-2019-phantom-form-guide-november-update

Liam Henry

I'm a gambling (texas holdem & NFL only) / auction man EO. You weigh up the odds vs likely pay out and if it looks like there's a decent pay off go for it! Don't mind the Bennell option at all as i think it's lowish risk with a high payoff given his draft ranking/selection when he came into the system. I guess KK was steak knives with the May deal so as long as we get what was expected from May then anything's a bonus from KK. As you say though, it would be nice for him if he can get on the park and give it a crack.

He hasn't played much of anywhere so far DS. Has another HO fiasco written all over it.

Is he still playing off scratch.

Including Meth no doubt doing their homework and adjusting a few match ups / tweaking game style a tad. Massive cauldron also probably played part. Then there's the Margetts and Dagleesh factor. Did either of those two adjudicate on the day?

Very true R&B. There is much detail we miss in the outer. What's the old saying ..."little knowledge is a dangerous thing". I forget that one myself sometimes.

Fair enough LH. He wasn't a former diplomat then.

Just my stab at it.... No Hogan meant T-Mac was more often getting the opp's number 1 defender. Weid had a shocker and also out at some point with injury so no No.3 tall available. There is no No.2 at this point unless Weid steps up to fulfill the Coaches' faith in 2020. Alot is riding on this one. If it fails i reckon we will struggle up forward again. T-Mac had a great 2018 coming off a complete role reversal vs 2017 and was probably a bit of a surprise packet for many coaches/clubs. No doubt they worked him over more thoroughly in prep for this season and he probably suffered from 2nd year blues as a result plus having to deal with the opp's No.1 and some terrible forward entries, effectively like a brand new very good rookie if you like in terms of 2nd year blues. 2020 should see a big improvement, particularly if we can get better organised and creat a more open forward line for the likes of T-Mac, Weid and Melk to work in. Will hopefully allow T-Mac and Weid to run separate patterns more effectively (doubling back more often in the case of Weid in particular, see work rate) so they aren't both going up in the same contest as often as we've witnessed in the past.

Aside from Hannan who really only came on a little in 2018 we have always lacked outside run and carry out wide DS. It took about two years and a horrible year in that time to finally wake up to the fact it seems. That lack of vision is a real worry given that some scribes/coaches and even rank amatures like myself, could see the obvious flaw at the bigger grounds (ie; our home ground) against most opposition, other than similarly sluggish ones. We are slow learners but at least the glaring obvious is finally starting to be recognised and addressed. Better late than never as they say.

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.