Demon Dynasty

We will agree to disagree TA. Gus made the decision to leave Pendles early in that example. Slow mo or not. I say he looked eager, you say he didn't. We can argue the point till the cows come home. Regardless, it was certainly an ordinary decision that ended up in a goal by his direct opponent at the time. (Pendles +1 goal) Ball in our hand i get that you need to spread and run into space. IMV i don't see Jones as generally being a line breaking runner though (he might find space lateral through evasive skills/experience but that's about where it ends for mine). You need to be accountable when the ball's in dispute, especially in defence, closing down on your man or at least finding anyone loose, even if he isn't your direct opponent. If Jones can't get within cooee of an opponent in many of these scenarios (Sidebottom/Varcoe, whoever) and isn't very good at breaking lines / providing run, then why play him in a defensive role at all? His opponent (anyone with decent burst speed) is only going to take advantage of the extra space and time and punish him on turnovers. Jones often the one turning it over as well (ranked 10th in turnovers this season on averages). Varcoe's a gazelle who doesn't like a hard tag (most don't). Initially sacrifice Baker & JKH on Varcoe in a shared lock down and if that doesn't work, Harmes as a final back up. (Varcoe +2 goals) Three goals down from the above and we lost by just under three. Every goal matters. I'm not saying the above prevents Varcoe from scoring at all. We all know he is likely to get off the leash at some stage and probably get at least one of those two. But there were at least two training drill goals, the one from Pendles via Gus and at least one from Varcoe with Jones a mile behind at the Punt Rd end, where there was zero pressure applied. No wonder Varcoe was celebrating. Must have felt like the good Ol' days down at the cattery with youth on his side running on top of the turf. Combine a stack of turnovers with non-accountable footy (poor match ups / decision makers etc)... good luck with winning much of anything other than against the worst in the comp. And let's not kid ourselves, the overall team the Pies put up on the weekend was arguably their worst (or very close to it) all season with a very patched up forward line (similar to ours). This was a very gettable rare win in the offing and we completely blew it (just as we did Rnd 23, 2017 to miss finals....with the Pies having NOTHING to play for but pride).

Yes was referring to the Pies match only Sam. Seen many years of bad injury luck at demonland and this is just another in a konga line of mayhem.

No pre-season plus an ongoing (NQR) foot injury? Might explain the glass ceiling this season. If not i would expect him to be somewhere back to his 2018 form in 2020 but he needs to find some evasive agility not just straight line power to be a permanent inside mid as well as better finishing skills to deliver i50. Add those two bows and he could win the Bluey. Don't and he may end up being just another reasonable B grader. Tracc is slowly overtaking all as the best inside/outside mid now. I think 2020 under Burgess will see some real gains and not just with Tracc. The game.of AFL is all about burst speed/agility to escape congestion/opponent and so many of our guys just don't have this like many opp players do. Whether it's the players themselves (recruiting) or the way they were groomed under Misson i have no idea. Maybe a fail at both ends. Big fix needed here (among a myriad of other factors) or we will continue to dead cat bounce around the bottom 6 positions.

Add to that allowing the Pie's best ball users to run amok, paying them scant respect/attention for pretty much the entire match from what i heard and the little i saw. Some examples (and i've only seen highlights/lowlights!)... > Pendles - Gus's eagerness to leave him on at least one occasion while he waltzes inside 50 for an easy goal... well highlighted. > Sidebottom - Jones starting 30 feet away on the point of square at the bounces, no one else in cooee! The vision is damning. > Varcoe - Jones apparently minding at times? Never a chance of catching him on the burst & starting well off his shoulder from the limited clips i witnessed. Varcoe also allowed free run at the footy. Even though this might appear to smell a little fishy my conclusion is it's yet another wonderful example of "how not to win" from our Coach & FD and why i am very skeptical of Goody's coaching ability. There has been zero cohesion from any of the back 6 all year and Hore is our best defender. There was absolutely nothing to gain by playing Oscar ahead of Hore unless they wanted to put Hore in cotton wool for 2020. Hore in for Oscar. May forward for this match to have any chance of a win. No brainer.

Bing, Ding...anyone seen KingDingaLing?

You must have been on the wrong forum Dr.

Possibly BB but personally i hope we don't need to go there. It would probably mean another 2 years or more of irrelevancy and bouncing along the bottom. Something we are accustomed to far too often. Then there's the three year contract. Would be an expensive payout and we aren't exactly the wealthiest AFL club. Better option might be to add a senior assistant to sit alongside the senior coach...

Special bonus on offer for anyone who can pick which one is Mao

Post match discussion Rnd 23, 2017.... Posted August 26, 2017 And bombing it today was the worst of all options as they had a very tall backline. Pretty basic but clever selection by the Pies Still can't understand why Frost wasn't included to add extra height down back and extra run off HB as well. Playing the 8 man defence would make a little more sense to me if he was included when playing it for the extra run & carry on the rebound off the other flank to compliment Hibberd

Post Match discussion Rnd 22 2017... Posted August 20, 2017 He is a bit over rated by many IMO steve. Viney for Tyson when fit. Frost for Wags. Watts for Stretch. That will be our best line up for finals if we make it.

Was a tad critical and skeptical in 2016 but came around early 2017.... don't usually float my own boat but no one else is going to.... Posted April 25, 2017 That was very impressive WWS. Frost has really gained in strength and his attack on ball carrier the last few seasons. Becoming a pretty powerful athlete.

Lets see how it pans out FE. A huge off season of sorting the draft hats, getting our act in order physically with the injection of Burgess and hopefully Goody making some major changes to his style/methods. I think there will be a turnaround anyway as i doubt we could plumb these depths again if we tried. Even doing much of the same with a better pre-season should see us within the 8 to 12 range on the ladder by mid season which will be a relief .... for some! As for taking us to the next level (finals) and maintaining it consistently for years, i very much doubt that would happen unless he submits and adds some significant defensive and possession / tempo options into the mix. Personally i also think Goody needs to harden up his style and get a few whips cracking...a tad too "brotherly" with the boys for mine from the limited insight i've witnessed so far. We will certainly know by QB whether he can cut the mustard or neh and whether this season was an anomaly.

My guess... I personally think anytime we have Viney & Clarry in the starting four we are limiting our ability to clear the contest more often in the centre and to a lessor degree, the around ground stoppages Viney a long way off his 2018 top five form and not exactly the most agile mid. Gus played more time through the middle last season. Significantly less time in the middle this year and form has dropped right off from his top five 2018 form as well. Gawn is probably getting as many taps but with an immobile starting line up i also feel he is now frustrated with less players hitting the contest on the move to tap to. Lately i've noticed he is often just tapping it anywhere, sometimes straight to the opp's mid over the back etc or just trying to rip it out himself. A lack of leg speed/agility with Clarry / Viney starting and Clarry's hot potato handball obsession means we are also getting caught more often even when Gawn is connecting ok. The opp have probably also done their homework as to roughly where his hit out hot zones were in 2018 and are now picking him off more often. All the reason why its handy to play alternatives like Pruess (if he was more adept elsewhere, which at this point he isn't). While we are far from terrible, without an in form Gus playing more time in the middle we lack a slippery escape option. Having said that, i have enjoyed seeing Tracc starting to play more time here with some impact of late.

I still argue he left too early and positioned himself well forward of the contest alongside two other Demon players GT, Corey & Harmes. He was 10 meters away just as the handball clearance left the Pies player from his ground ball get (see 17 second mark). 20 meters and out of screen by the time Sidebottom had the ball in hand and took his first step inside to handball. Unless we had Greg Williams with some super power there was no way a handball was getting anywhere near Gus given his poor postioning even if we won that contest. If he was lucky he might get an errant kick from a quick bail out if Jones or Lewis were lucky enough to be on the end of an accidental spillage. By leaving so early Gus takes the handball receive out of play, he plays a low percentage option of potentially receiving an unlikely quick bail out AND he leaves Pendles goal side the entire time while the ball is still in our defensive half. I understand the "who was on who" part but at that moment Pendles was Gus's responsibility and he clearly had touch. He new exactly where he was and chose to let him off the leash with the ball in our defensive half. If it was on OUR forward flank i would be more understanding if he went a tad early to try and get off the leash (assuming Pendles was somehow in the reverse situation as minder). Some of our mids (Clarry being one) and Lewis also forgot to stay off the contest and pick up a Pie opponent around HB instead. This allowed the Pies to have three unmarked players on their HF line fat side ready to mop up the receive. Add an off the leash Pendles being set free by Gus and it was four. Training drill. If it was a Pie rookie or poor ball user the risk might make more sense. Certainly not a great idea giving that sort of freedom to the opp's best user and finisher, especially forward of centre.

Are you telling me there was another version of this comp some time back JD? If so i'll be very annoyed at myself for missing it

Well i for one thought it was a very creative thought out design DG! X for Xciting!??