Demon Dynasty

May has also had plenty of sleepless nights during the off season and leading in to matches. He hit the ground running and, aside from twisting his ankle while pirouetting in a contest on the wing vs Lynch on Thurs night, hasn't put a foot wrong so far.

Round 7, 2025 MCG - Demons vs Tigers Well this was either an outlier against a pretty poor oppo or we may have lift off. Maybe a bit of both? Our best Team Rating for two years. Last bested in Rnd 7, 2023 vs North with a whopping Team Rating of 78.8 Tracc also hitting very good form with a Rating up 20%+ on his excellent 2024 Rating prior to his stint on the sidelines. The Capt way out in front and easily BOG with an outstanding No.1 rating of 6.55 Welcome back Knuckles McVee, finishing well within the top 10. McVee's 4.01 Rating this week was well ahead of who he replaced. That being Howes' with a Rating of 2.80 from last week. Not a bad performance from Howes even so but not in the league of McVee. Our top 6 rated players a whopping 37% in front of the top 6 average from 2024 The bottom 6 rating on the other hand, quite disappointing, down 31% on 2024. The worst of those being Kolt -27% on his 2024 Rating and Spargo a worrying-36% vs his 2023 Rating. And although he does not have a comparative Rating, Fullarton holding up the ladder with the worst Rating for us on the night (not counting the Sub). Lifting that bottom 6 a few rungs would be super handy. Question is who have we got in the McGoos that could make a significant difference at this point? The main one at present is Bonner who's cutting it up but he's also not on our list. Given we are trying to get back our pressure mojo inside 50, AJ might be one option to consider for Fullarton. While he may not set the world on fire he does attack in the air and pretty competitive / fierce at ground level also. He can chop out in the ruck to a minor degree. Better than nothing. Had a pretty reasonable match at Casey on Thurs morning. Worth re-considering? Melksham might also be due back. Possibly for Spargo? *AFL average % in50s Goal is 23% Demons < Subbed out TOG % > Subbed in TOG % Tigers Combined Player Ratings Stats courtesy of footywire.com and wheeloratings.com

If my memory serves me correct, this is one of the main areas that apparently all teams strive to be rated at or near the top of the tree and a key trait required for Premiership contention. Lasted only one match unfortunately with the Tiges beating us from this zone last night yes? Our best Team Pressure Rating for the year. We've even won the last quarter although it wasn't at AFL average (185) which might partially explain why the Tigers won the quarter. Max off with roughly 8 minutes to go obviously another big factor

I didn't see much of Fritta without the ball in this one Daz. In a team where we're trying to bring back 2021 type pressure in the F50 is Fritta going to change his early / recent ways in terms of clamping down and bringing serious heat on the oppo when they have possession ? Vs the Tigers (a bottom 4 rated team) Tackles 0 One Percenters 2 Pressure Acts 4 That's one less than Fullo and the worst result of all forwards. Also bottom three for the team. To put that into more perspective, Sharp as the sub had the same number of pressure acts in one third of the time on the ground vs Fritta. While i'm certainly not saying Fritta should solely be judged on what he does / doesn't do without the ball, these numbers aren't exactly awe inspiring. Also disappointing given he was coming back from a stint at Casey after potentially working on stuff (without the ball?). There is also his role in the team which we have no idea what is being asked. Maybe the Coach / coaches are more than happy and obviously have much more info / intel to go on. However i can't see that they'd be in any way satisfied with what he brought without the ball last night. Let's see what he brings in the next few weeks eh. Hopefully he turns this part of his game around significantly.

Bombres trainers handing these out in the rooms post match apparently ...

Sidebottom a meter+ over the mark against Goldstein there. Umps say nothing. Imagine our blokes doing that "50!" which would end up becoming 70 meters and an easy shot at goal

Hobbs 🤮

DeGoey playing like a spud

Might have to eat my words here. Peptides have found a spark

Duursma get ball to ground wtf

2 x Howlers from Howes = 1 Turnover Goal 👏

Could be super embarrassing for the Peptides here. They should thank their very few stars that it's raining or they'd be looking down the barrel of 100 plus defeat imv

Campbell or AJ? Even Turner might be an option once he's recovered. Absolutely....i get the feeling he is also being ignored on the lead at times. Take a look at the Lingers mad angled kick to Kolt in the third. Fritta was leading straight up at him, with oodles of space on his opponent. Hitting Fritta directly in front with a 15 meter kick or so was by far the easiest of the two options. There's no way Lingers could have missed him but instead chose to deliberately hack the ball at right angles, about 25 meters across traffic for a tricky mark to Kolt. That's just one example. There was another from last week as well. Fritta then burns Spargo in the last AND misses the goal also. Strange days indeed. Most peculiar mama

Any chance we could score more than 1 goal in this final quarter?

Kane is spot on. Time to rest the big boy and ruck fullo

Still a fair way off AFL fitness and form? I'd take Culley or Brown dog at this point and just let Spargy find it at Casey. Even if it takes 4 to 5 weeks. Maybe more. Not his fault just been out of it for too long and it shows.

Given we've pretty much only fired up for a quarter you would hope so Sharp on for Spargo pls. Spargs is too often going where the ball aint

Now put them to the sword

IF May isn't done.... Windsor off.... Sharp on!! Ball destroyer

Salom has Riv over the top who can run into a paddock and instead chooses a short dinky 20 meter safe kick to a man covered. Might be time to trial Sestan

Gawn 8 clearances Bowey 3 🫩

Shocking game all round. So many unforced errors. A lack of first use and clean clearances without Max getting so many vs his impact last week. We look slow and clumsy. Bowsa & Salo doing their best not to [censored] the bed. Windsor looks like a duck out of water at HB in this one. His burst into sprint that he offered last season seems to have dried up but might be just lack of match fitness or the foot issue. Fritsch always playing from behind and looking for the cheapy out the back just won't cut it unless the defenders get caught out too high and we're able to punish them on the slingshot. I suspect we just aren't bringing the pressure at the carrier that we did so well last week. Meaning we just aren't getting the ball back as often. Back to guarding grass and rolling back behind the ball, giving the oppo plenty of good link up looks and this super wet rookie team is taking them. Kozzy trying to do too much and and being too cute imho. Just use the ball well son. Give and go.... find your targets etc. Simon's given a poor team a sniff & left the door open... AGAIN. We have the opportunity to take this and win it comfortably but there's just so many players having a mare.

Kicking in straight lines into the 50 far too often. Back to the old bad habbits

Tracc having a shocker. Clazz bah!