Demon Dynasty

It's partly a player / personnel issue (lack of outside runners / class / finish and quality smalls) but mostly a coaching / FD lead problem Sydee. I would not be too harsh on the team as a whole. There is effort by most and for me a there was a lift in that effort/output last week and y'day. Some are playing within their own limitations and others badly out of form due to the injuries etc pre-season. Sure some aren't up to it and may never be. Others coming towards the end of their careers. But it is without doubt the limitations of the coach and his panel as well as the list itself (which the players had no say in), which are having the biggest impact on our performances since the Prelim.

No quality small forwards who have crumbing front & square smarts. A bit of burst speed to burn off an opponent or any goal sense. Getting Jeffy back in and performing might help but apart from him that's abaout it at the MFC sadly. Our small forward stocks are shizen houzen. Preuss (when he's fit and in) is handy as he offers a get out deep for smalls to work their craft off and score. The trouble is we have no one to compliment his size and work (getting the ball to ground) so in many ways unless he is kicking around 2 goals or so himself in most matches, with our list, he becomes a bit of a liability (back up ruck relief for Maxy aside)

Our small (small - medium) forwards are a shadow of most other clubs ABG. We have no weapons here at present including any pace to burn off opponents and guys that know where the goals are and can dob a few in traffic. It allows the opp to easily defend, sending an extra number or two to the drop of our umpteen long bombs every time, without fear of the ground ball damage to the scoreboard usually taken by most clubs when the ball is in dispute. Apart from an ageing Jeffy (if he gets on the park and going) and Melksham having a rareish day out, the cupboard is pretty bare right now. Looking ahead, Lockhart's a maybe but not going to have much of an impact in 2019.

The experiment has a 50/50 hit rate. Let's not throw the baby out just because we have 2 out of 3 Key Forwards who aren't performing at an acceptable level. Pruess won't play anyway i don't.think...arm in a sling after the match. Jeffy for Spargo playing at the feet of Pruess (or the other two) for a start would help (needed this yday). Stretch is a must in for Cwags and needs a block of 3 games at least. Might be his last roll of the dice so he needs a fair go, subject to not performing abysmally early.

We have been the whipping boy of many over many decades DB. The club needs to ask for an explanation from the head of umpiring if it hasn't already

Nichols has had it in for the Demons ever since Hawn punched the ball away in 2017 from a crappy Nichols center bounce that went outside the circle.... "what did you do that for!?" Cried Nichols. Razor and him might be super close? It was definitely strange behavior seeing we were the ones receiving the free kicks.

Off seasons in such a tough League are going to happen Ox. Our problem is we just have too many of them. To drop back to bog ordinary again, where we were before Roos came on board, is unforgivable. A highly experienced assistant coach might offer some hope if there's one out there but need to wait till mid season before heading down that route IMO.

It's not easy to defend when there is so little pressure on players coming out of our 50 and we are playing dad's army on the wings. The Opp runs it off their HB and transitions too quickly/easily around either wing and bang, they're into their 50 super quick causing mayhem and panic. The Opp just needs to put a few quick smalls at the drop of a contest if they dont mark it and they're off to the races for an easy goal out the back or around the corner. You can't defend well without sufficient pressure beIng applied up the field.

Lewis marshals the troops from HB. He can't Marshall anyone from a wing as he is perpetually in flux trying to work out how he can cover his opponent when we dont have the ball (or directing others around him to do so).

Has not earned a 4 year extension. A premiership coach? Yes ...3 to 4 years.

Dear MFC.... What was the process, method and reasoning used to arrive at a 4 year extension for SG as opposed to say 1 or maximum 2?

I wish we had a little of that this year FD. Even then, no amount of spirit would make up for the abominable coaching we are seeing unfortunately. The performances so far are a reflection of how effective Goody & Co are on game day. We have now taken over the Aints lowly position last year. 16th on the ladder isn't by accident or fortune. It's by design...and Goody's coaching methods/recruiting (in part) has taken us there.

I would say at least 9 Years. 4 years of downs downs & a bit of up under Goody. Appoint new coach (year 5) ...Renovations and learning new game styles under new coach/FD (takes us to year 8)... plausible shot at it Year 9....roughly 2028/2029 (also assumes alot goes right over the 4 years post Goodwin).

Yup... wasnt sure about who to bring in for T-mac but anyone who has some burst speed and hits the contest hard can't be any worse than old concrete boots. Makes a pretty big statement to the rest as well that no one is sacred....step up or step out (hindered pre-season or not). Edit: one more roll of the dice with Lewis provided he is played at HB and not on the wing. No point selecting him if so. If he plays a similar game to yday across HB against the Toiges then i would sack Chaplin and immediatley appont Lewis (ie, not.an FD decision either....Board / Pert needs to send a shot accross the bows of everyone in the FD...players and Coach/es!!).

We had the chance to "see what he got" yesterday after the Rnd 15 debacle last year Wells. He's had 9 months to work on the how after losing to a lessor rated side at the time, which efgectively cost us a top 4 berth and a sexond chance at the big one. What was the result after 9 mths yday?....a 6 goal improvement to the Saints. 9 months on and we go backwards by 6 goals against a team that didnt play finals. I clearly know where we are headed under Goody now. Unfortunately with the latest mind boggling signing it will now take another 3 plus years of on field debacles like that before those at the top realise they picked the wrong option. At least the MFC has some consistency somewhere though! Roos aside (effectively an AFL appointed coach), we sure know how to pick em! (Yes i know Roos annointed Goody at the time but unfortunately he chose poorly).

Out: Old men being played on the wing handing the game to any team with a few speedsters, Dopey Key Forwards who have no idea where they should be leading to, when to double back (on the rare occasions they do) or where the goals are. In: Anyone who has some dash who can lower eyes and hit a target onto the wing, Crumbers down back and up forward, A speedster or two on the outside who can also hit OUR targets by foot more often than the opposition!

6. Salem 5. Frost 4. Harmes 3. Hore 2. Viney 1. Gawn (& not for his ruckwork! Competed ok otherwise but still not the same dominant Big M of recent years so far)

About the only team we might be able to compete with on the G is the Swans Ox but yes. Can't argue we would win vs many others there at this point. We learned nothing from Rnd 15 last season against this same team and have now gone backwards and yes, lack of speed is playing a massive part. We have been smashed on the fast break rebound at the G now for years (not just by the Aints) and are constantly found out with so many joe the goose goals end to end. We have a massive speed defficiency, we lack instinctive players to score regularly (outside of Jeffy), we lack fast twitch/reaction players with the agility to side step / baulk and create the overlap and run into space bringing others into the game, we lack class/finish issues (coming inside 50 and in front of goal with the exception of Jeffy) and we lack a genuine KPF. We also lack some zip around the drop of the ball up forward and down back. Opp coaches just put one or two zippy players skirting the outside of the drop (at our hot spot roughly 20 meters out or stoppages) and as soon as the ball escapes they're off to the races leaving most of our blokes in their wake linking up down the field at will or running into the square to kick an easy goal. Goody also played right into the hands of the speedy Aints starting our two slowest players in Chunk & Lewis off of both wings and leaving them there far too long. Someone also said we started with Hibb on Membury?? And his answer to one change off a wing after the horse had bolted was CWags for Chunk who went into the middle to give us what exactly? Think i also saw Clarry, Harmes (who i don't mind there) and Gus out on a wing at one point in the 2nd half. We have serious list management issues and now a serious coaching question mark. If we were better coached today i think we would have gone very close to winning had our positional set ups and structures been more proffessionally attended to. Certainly not the reverse where we magnified our weakness and opened ourselves up to them dominating us on the slingshot fast break and/or with their speed / spread on the switch out wide. I think our intensity was there from the get go but Goody stuffed too many set ups as well as too many player's unable to hit targets coming i50. This included poor forward work by key forwards running into each other's lanes (T-Mac & Weids), working back into other's lane's dragging their opponent with them also for another extra body to get in the road and/or spoil the player leading from the goal square (T-Mac) and going up together for the contested mark (T-Mac & Weids) and lastly missing relatively easy shots in front of goal or not making the distance. About the only decent thing we have going now is our inside engine room but even that is slowly starting to come undone with no outside options and too many plodding insiders who don't run with the ball but instead mostly handball to a player (often a loopy hospital one) a few feet away, inviting more pressure/tackles and yet another turnover. Some of these issues can be corrected somewhat in the short term if we were to put some decent runners to the outside and make them play that role, both on the wings and around stoppages and also instruct the insiders to not go in with so many numbers, forwards to lead out on different lanes etc etc. A clever coach and staff could make this happen as early as Anzac eve. If we corrected the set ups and other issues like too many talls up for the mark, no crumbers front and square etc (Jeffy in for CWag or Spargo pls!), this could even result in us having a surprise lazarus win. However, Goody seems too stubborn to see much, if any, of this and instead prefers to play slow plodders out wide much of the time. Have to assume he wants extra numbers at the contest, extra numbers at the hotspot attempting to mark and extra numbers contesting on the ground at the drop as it just keeps happening week after week? Fritschkreig, Salem, Harmes, Hunt and Melksham should be our go to outsiders with the possibly of a bit of Tracc thrown in around the stoppages for some short stints as a change up with a big body running through a pack for the receive from Maxy/Pruess and working out to others on the outside or up forward. Certainly not the likes of Chunk, Lewis and Cwag who have Zero running or burst ability that will see the ball cleared from stoppages more often. We are leaking like a sieve at the moment, especially in the Coaches box.

Is this seriously what Goody & Co. want though? If so then this needs to be added to a book of "How not to coach Australian Rules Football" and each of them forced to read it. Then made to pass an optional choice test to see if they've learned anything before allowing them to continue.

Zone defence only works if you have enough players with decent closing speed and endurance who firstly don't allow their opponent to make too much space on them and secondly, are capable of closing that space down very quickly on their own oppponent or potentially somone elses if the overlaps in play. To close down on somone else's opponent you need confidence that the other players around you in the zone are also capable of doing same to cover yours. Otherwise you are going to be burned too often. Then you go back to just protecting space more often rather than risking an intercept or spoiling play. If that catches on you all start slowly becoming witches hat's for a quick reasonably skilled Opp.

Only after the opposition have taken advantage of this glaring error, posted a solid lead and the game is pretty much over olisik. Anytime after that!!

At this point i would be looking to poach someone with a heap of experience who went ok at AFL level as a caretaker or maybe Viney If no one like this is available. Sorry to say but Goody is out of his depth at AFL level. Might be ok at VFL level but even then i think he would flop unless he manages to pull a rabbit out.

Up there with the worst i have witnessed in 5 decades. Never had a chance from the get go starting Lewis and Jones off of both wings against a quick side who love to slingshot off HB. Swung the changes with the match well and truly gone. Zero faith in this coaching lot. Trade most of them in pls if they can't see basic glaring positional errors before the first bounce.

Tmac Spargo Cwags and a few others for Cameron ?

Hibb Spargo Cwags out for a start pls