Demon Dynasty

Footy's a bloody tough game. Unfortunately as a club we make it look even tougher, outside of about one half of competitive effort and results or, doing really well, we might do it for three quarters. Too easy to beat. I couldn't be bothered going in to the mess that is the MFC for almost a quarter or two of pretty much every match this season, even against the worst opposition. Amateur is about the best way of describing it. Certainly not AFL worthy over four quarters. The first half we actually appeared to be on track for a close contest and, all round, it was certainly a solid effort with some better ball movement, skills, some decent switching, a reasonable team grid/zone defense happening and some hard work to maintain structures around the ball (yes even on the outside!). But i clearly forgot about our ability to maintain this is usually poor and should have realised that as our conditioning, strength, general skills and ability to run both ways dropped away severely, the Tigers would maintain theirs, and the rest is as they say, history repeating. General skills, footy smarts in the wet, intensity and ability to move the ball and maintain possession Shizen in the second half! Thought i saw a substantial change up towards a bit more of a possession / patience tempo game at stages in the first half though. So Goody might already be changing things up a little on the training track. Has someone been having some hard words with the coach outside of the FD? Who knows. Pure speculation. But he's clearly expressed (as have the players in their pressers) a reluctance to change much of anything. One of the best passages was the play that(for me) demonstrated what i thought was an example of this change up, was off HB all the way up the field with some precision and deliberation. Finished with Dunkley converting after marking a short ball from Jones (?) on the lead (i think it was Dunkley). A great example of general skills and decision making working beautifully, WITHOUT the insanity of the usual "play on at every opportunity and hand ball / kick wherever without truly assessing first / numbers numbers attacking the resulting spilled or loose ball" chaos rubbish. Unfortunately we seemed to go into our shells (or the Tiges put us there) in the second half and normal chaos footy began to dominate our decision making once more. I guess it's hard to maintain a change up to method / style after playing with nothing except "numbers at the ball/chaos play on footy" for most of the season. Old habits die hard but unfortunately our very ordinary skill levels reappeared once more. We should see some improvement next year with a decent pre-season and minimal injuries (obviously it wouldn't take much to do so given this year's horribilis) but only time will tell if it is just a dead cat bounce ....or something more. Will Goody finally bite the bullet and realise that major changes/additions are needed to game style and same with the list? He and the FD must be thinking the same re the list surely. As with all things MFC, hoping for the best...preparing for the worst in 2020.

Soldo took up the mark a meter and a half in front of Dusty who gave the free kick away in the middle yet the ump chose to IGNORE AGAIN. Amazing stuff. In addition though Clarry should have gone straight back then called Soldo for the 50 over and over pointing it out! We just don't remonstrate enough to highlight these issues like other top clubs are TRAINED to do like the Cats/Hawks etc. We are an amateur club that doesn't dot the i's and cross the t's. Hec we can't even get the basics right most of the time. P.S. A decent first half, but Jones's second half decision making and disposal has been mostly bog ordinary.

Wow we just get brushed aside in one on one battles of strength as if we aren't even there. This club is playing at a completely different level after half time and once the rain hit. Dr Jeckyll specialists!

Gosh even in Primary school my coach taught me to get the ball moving forward at any opportunity in the wet. Surely all players who reach the AFL and play for us know this by now??? Or is it just the ones that come to our club??

Easily our best half of footy for the year given the quality of the Opp.

No that's the way the AFL want it....the big four Vic clubs mostly winning.

TWO HANDS IN THE BACK.....IGNORED!

Tempo possession ...switching...finding targets on the 45....taking ground by hitting targets as you work your way up the field. Finding a player...SHORT... inside 50. Goal scored. VERY LITTLE CHAOS involved! Amazing how it's not required 24/7 in order to achieve the goal at hand ... ie., Kicking a goal.

Best bit of play all year lol

Viney gives his all on the park no issues there. Maybe it's just me but gives the appearance at times that he just isn't emotionally connected/invested all that much to his fellow players. Like he is playing in a bit of a bubble at times. Or is it that he just isn't enjoying himself much anymore? Probably just my imagination ?

The only difference in the two teams that's making a difference so far is the biased "Tiger's Only'" umpiring

Why did Frost have to take that kick again!!???? Allowed all Tigers to man up with extra pressure for us in the worst part of the ground!!

All tiggy holding frees to the Tigers - SEEN....and Paid!

Melk dragged off the contest without the ball. IGNORED....NO Free!

Corey legged running into goal = IGNORED.....NO Free! Viney kneed in the head while going for a ground ball = IGNORED .....NO free!

Zero pressure and expectations and a few decent "Ins" = a Dangerous Demon

Tracc starting to shine in the middle!!

Extend Lewis for one more in a quasi forward/Casey role. Will need close management but the bloke positions himself seriously well and has forward craft. Kicks straight also! Something different for the MFC!

Should put in a better showing (i'm not sure vs what!) with our best team in for about 4 to 5 weeks. Oscar on anyone is scary however.

Ok thanks BoG

Fair enough Iva ✌?

Are you saying he willngly hasn't (to whatever degree) and that if he did things would have turned out better BOG? or are you saying that he has and it's had a poor or nil effect?

Just a gut feel or a bit more than that Iva? Care to elaborate a little?

WWSW could you please let me know what tonic you are taking of late as i for one couldn't be less excited right now. If we were talking an insane trade with those two (along with some picks) for a genuine KPF and two blistering small forwards then i might be a little more excited. Roll on 2020.

Guys captaincy or no....hang in there for just a tad longer. Jack & the Jones boy should bounce back in 2020. Jones needs to find a role mostly up forward IMO (cant cover a quick player down back). Started his career there and did ok. One of his best games for the year (of a handful) in my op was the match against the Swans where he lead from the front kicking 3 very nice goals. We wont need him down back once May, Lever, Nev and Hibb (hopefully) start hitting some consistently good form. Next year is all about the forward line as well as finding some speed/class & finish on the outside. In the right place / role, with a little less (but focussed) game.time, Jones still has another solid year ahead IMHO. Viney might be carrying a niggle but if so then im not sure why we would play him from here (or even weeks ago). Most players have dropped away significantly as we know, with only a few players maintaining last year's form or better in rare cases. It's a team game, it's a bloody tough game. With the exceptions we're all aware of, the whole team needs to lift in 2020. Many hands make light work and if they do Jones & Viney can still play a solid role. Not necessarily as captains. It only needs one stellar season plus some fixes to maybe pull off the big one. One caveat here.. If Goody gets some major help and comes to his senses adding a tempo possession trait plus major list changes (especially forward) we might be in for a reasonable bounce back. If very little or none of the above occurs and Goody decides to bring more of the same...forget i mentioned any of the above positives and might want to batten down the hatches!