Demon Dynasty

He was incredible SF. Even im sad to see him go and i would usually never say that with our arch enemy.

Rioli announced retirement. So early. Hawks will be in shock.

Chazz that is not this Saturday. Even playing at a similar level to last Sunday (which was horrid) we beat Freo (subject to the Umps tearing us a new one).... Just. Yes they are that bad without Fyfe and Sandi. That's IF we do play at a similar level. It could always get worse i guess so in some ways you are right but we should beat Freo with one hand tied behind our back. I would take no notice of whatever happens this weekend to be honest. And our team is only solid if it works as a team. Stuff that Lewis is not doing in those Videos just has to be ruled out and if he can't bring it i would rather see someone else in that role even if inferior at general play like Frost or Baker? And remember we went with Weids instead of Smith. Smith our best tackler inside 50. I doubt he lets Carlisle run away at will without chasing him down and at least closing the gap. Not saying Smith should play either but i think if we want to improve our pressure i50 (and we have to) then you have to play players who are best at doing so. As Gazza demonstrated we are now the easiest team in the comp to score against once the ball enters our 50. In addition if we are going to continue with so many potatoes through the mid field who can't chase down their direct opponent over short / medium or long runs then don't play such a high press and make sure you have at least two speedsters (who can tackle) behind the press. Also tell them not to get adjacent or goal side of opponents. In the end though we have to find some players with speed (who can also apply manic pressure) in a number of areas across the ground. I personally can't see us playing finals unless we bring this factor into the team in the next 2 to 3 weeks and i'm struggling to see who these players will be at this point.

We are often talking about our kicking skills (generally) and how we would like to see some more accuracy hitting up targets and in general. In some ways i think the dropping away of this skill in the last few weeks and our ability to maintain possession and therefore control the momentum of the game (by foot where you don''t have to play on), has cost us dearly and seen us move away from what we were doing more of and more of successfully in the games we were dominating. Controlling the ball in those matches for extended periods (without turning it over as often) allowed us to halt some of the opp's run ons and maintain and then go on to build on our lead once we caught our breath and reset for the next flurry of attacking break neck play. Obviously pressure from the opponent playing a large part here but possibly the speed (or lack thereof) of many of our potential receivers and their inability to get away from their more speedy opponents (in some cases) also may have played a part. So here's a brief summary of the season so far, broken down into positions so it's a little more relevant. I have not included players who have only played one match so far like Stretch, Maynard & Petty. Note the positions are determined by AFL StatsPro and i don't have time to adjust into more relevant positions in most cases. The two obvious exceptions (for me anyway) were T-Mac where i moved him from a Key Defender to a Key Forward and Spargo from a Mid Fielder to a Forward....

I'm talking about the quality of his finish and decision making in the last quarter overall PD. I'm not saying his whole body of work is ordinary in that period and certainly not a general critic. He wouldn't be the only player to see his efficiency etc drop away in the last. I'm not even sure it is vs other quarters TBH but just going by what i see in matches, particularly Sunday and the last few against Port and the Pies. Just think we might see some better results without some of the extra clangers in the last quarters if we manage his game time with some assistance off the bench.

Easily BOG for us Chook and his best game for the season. Fritschkrieg is certainly all class. I just hope the others start catching a little of his kicking skills and accuracy. Beautiful to watch.

WW if that were the case why play him? Spargo would have been brought in surely. I can't bring myself to watch the replay and didn't notice on the day but someone said he was tagging at one point? Has dropped away badly since the Crows match.

Have noticed Lewis tends to fade pretty badly in the last quarters of a match. Prior to that he's usually in our best 5 players (or thereabouts) most weeks. The writer hasn't watched him closely / often enough and is talking out of his hat. You drop Lewis you may as well have all 6 backmen bend over a barrel and call in the dog squad. The FD needs to manage his game time better IMO and maybe this is where the Vince / Lewis combo could have been handled better. Neither of them are up for 80%+ game time but if they were to share the role a little more off the bench and/or throw Salem in the mix in their role also?

DD he may not have earned it this week but Goody has to take Jeffy under his wing (personally) and try and encourage him to find some form (if he hasn't done so already). He is easily our best pressure small forward inside 50 when he's on as the article below covers. And even this year he is a smidgen behind Tim Smith for tackle averages inside 50 at No.2. And we have neither of them in the team at the moment. He isn't just there for the sneaky ones. Need to get him firing and back ASAP (among many other tweaks) to make finals. He is a key missing link to our run home. Demon is best small forward in the comp: Luff By SEN a year ago Champion Data’s Glenn Luff has used a number of key performance indicators to find the most valuable small forward of the 2017 season thus far, and it is a player that almost no-one would’ve guessed. While talking on SEN’s Pure Footy, Luff has concluded that Jeff Garlett is the most efficient small forward in the AFL at the moment, using measures such as forward half pressure points, groundball gets inside 50, forced turnovers and average goals scored to make his decision. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/05/18/demon-is-best-small-forward-in-the-comp-luff/

Petty for Vince was always going to be an experimental change YB. Do you make that change and make an already inexperienced back line so much less experienced? If you are hell bent on it then surely you go for the height factor but give the nod to someone who has a tad more experience in Frost (58 games). Were we sitting pretty in the 8 and weren't coming into Saturday's match with two losses on the trot....would i consider chancing Petty? Maybe. But he would want to have played a break out block of games at VFL level before i would consider. I go back to the Hawks as they've been the most successful club for decades now and they rarely blood new guys into the team unless they've spent significant time below (sometimes a few years before a call up) and busting the door down.

Pretty sure it was a "pure footy" session on SEN via Glen Luff. Was some time ago. Our game analyst, Craig Jennings, would (or should) be all over it Timbo. I'm not sure anything like that would ever be raised though and doubt the Coaches would put any weight on it even if it was (maybe after the event lol). Some are more into the game's stats / history and others probably can't stand it and it gets totally ignored. Then there's some who are probably in between. And i just checked and we did go from 7 players under 50 games vs Port to 8 vs the Saints. The Saints had 6. (Power had 5). That's 2 too many in my book, even against a bottom 4 team with a horrid %. Never give a sucker an even break or in this case, a slight advantage! (especially when you have alternatives available to choose from eg., Frost instead of Petty).

Fair enough DD. I certainly didn't see an AFL worthy performance against Coburg that justified a 200 plus gamer in Vince being dropped for a debutante. Not arguing he didn't put a good VFL level performance block together.

Based on what i saw in his game against Coburg before the call up and about 3 other matches earlier YB. I also thought it was a huge error from Goody at the time bringing in another debutante just after Joel into what was an already very inexperienced team. I think we went from 15 players under 100 games to 16 and under 50 gamers from i think 7 to 8. I recall a champion data guy saying that once you go beyond 7 (maybe 6!?) under 50 gamers the odds of winning in any scenario (unless the opposition matches you) drops considerably against.

Not sure Petty put in an AFL worthy shift either before getting a cal up Dub. We need to find speed and pressure up forward. Worth a roll of the die this week up north, where he will probably enjoy the atmosphere also and plenty of local support to egg him on. Last roll of the die for the year for Jeffy and potentially us in terms of finals. Ser him some goals and if he gets near them we (and Jeffy) just might be away. Sometimes a player just needs motivating and Goody might need to work on and find the button here. It can sometimes define a very good coach and his career (and the players") vs an ordinary one and potential fail ( maybe for both!)

Having a fabulous debut year so far Timbo. A joy to watch on either side.

That is a great option Mud. Although i'm not sure Bugg is needed as another medium small or is any better than ANB at this point in terms of what either of them contribute. Possibly worth trialing over a few weeks though. Stating the bleeding obvious (and already brought up for weeks) but we are lacking goal kicking crumbers / speed (pressuring opponents / finding space for the receive or on a lead) up forward through the middle of wider grounds. As a result we are unable to shut down the switch / spread at the wider expanses like the G and put decent pressure on the opp's HBs and speedy mids. Your Ins'/Outs go some way (at least on paper) to resolving some of the above. The only tweak i would make to the actual line up is bringing Jones out of a starting mid field role and to the bench. Replaced with Gus who needs to start in the middle. Jones has lost half a yard and unable to escape congestion very often now, Gus more evasive through there. We can no longer afford to keep playing the regular (tried / tested and failed on the wider grounds) 3 meat & potato options in Clarry, Jones & Viney at the same time through the middle. If we do we will continually get taken apart on the outside spread on the bigger ovals. Gus , Viney, Clarry ... Viney, Jones, Gus ... Tracc, Clarry, Viney ... even Jones / Clarry & Jeffy as a change up etc but certainly not the three potatoes as standard. Fritschkrieg goes to the other wing NOT running off the back of square and certainly never played at FB like last week! Stretch on the other. We finally have some options out wide with toe and decent finish (Stretch an unknown at this point i realise). In the case of Fristchkrieg, on both sides of the body! He won't have the tank to last long though and will need lots of flipping to assist here (below) Jones/Tracc rotate off the bench through the middle and off both HFFs sharing this between themselves, Melk and Brayshaw (Tracc/Jones, Brayshaw sharing the HF/Mid Field roles between them in a constant rotation when one is resting or on the bench). Occasionally flipping Fritschkrieg to HF or FP with Tracc / Jeffy to allow Fritschy to rest / maybe impact the scoreboard and throw the opp a different (slightly taller / marking) set up. Goody needs to adjust big time for speed / class / finish / crumbers both up forward and through mid field as well as a taller speedy general in Frost (at least trial him for 2 to 3 weeks) at CHB as per your option. If he truly thinks last week's result was mostly as a result of effort (which it might have been to a degree) then he will only tweak a little meaning we are in for a very ugly finish to what promised to be an improvement on last year and a very good chance at playing finals.

T-Mac easily in our top 5 players for the season and averaging 3.2 goals a game vs Hogan 2.4. I'm wondering with his ability to roam, play a role through the mid field and take the odd contested mark, why not move Hogan to CHB? Might freshen him up and get him back to hitting in hard at the marking contests again also. And he seems to prefer playing from behind like a defender. T-Mac remains at FF crashing packs and a very accurate kick. Problem is, who fills the CHF role? Weids, Bull and Pedders so far not up to holding down a key position.

Fritsch was good Norm and certainly if i watched the replay i might change my view. From where i am sittingbehind punt road goals i missed much of the play up the other end so my votes probably lack accuracy and clarity at times. I just saw Hulk as doing what was expected (mostly in the 2nd half) and getting back to something resembling a CHF role. Regardless of how they were presented him he did kick 3. Missed a few tackles yes but also thought he brought a bit of pressure inside 50 with some tackles that stuck (probably the only one of any note) and got himself involved in a fair number of chains around the ground that also resulted in us scoring. His handballs away from congestion to players free was also pretty accurate vs others who seemed to be selling their team mates into trouble a fair bit resulting in a stack of ruined transitions and too many turnovers.

He dropped Smith, who had the best i50 tackling average in the team till last week and replaced with Wied (ranked 10th). He dropped Spargo, ranked 7th, and replaced with Tyson ranked 22nd (probably isn't spending as much time up forward as Spargo...but probably isn't bringing the heat either when he is). Pressure dropped further as a result. The top 5 players for average tackles i50 (up to last week)..... 1. T. Smith 2. Jeffy 3. Pedders 4. Bugg 5. Hannan

Most fail to impact when we're losing Titan. Harmes at least had a dip and helped keep us in the game, giving us some run and decent link play (6 score involvements) through the middle. He also does a fair bit of two way running. My main issue with him today though was he just didn't get to enough players to pressure and tackle. Had more of the boys brought this the result might have been different (lack of pace generally....need to inject some speed across the turf into this mob). Did a few ugly things along the way but who didn't? We also played a bog ordinary team so not really rating anyone's performance that highly. Just saying he wasn't our worst. The Cap, Brayshaw and Hibb some of our biggest offenders today.

Vince always a better option (even in ordinary form) than Petty. Frost also. Spargo should never have been dropped for Tyson and is easily ahead of Hannan (and was before being dropped) form wise as well. Spargo's pressure i50 and two way running was well ahead of either. - Frost for Vince (if rolling the die) - Spargo (no Tyson) - Bugg / Jeffy for Hannan Two weeks too late even if Goody wakes up and the changes come next week. Asleep at the wheel.

Harsh on Harmes. Easily in our top 5 today. Hannan & ANB tend to be incapable of pushing back when the tide's against us. Harmes, Tyson & Tracc in the same team however, makes us turtlesk and is a huge error by Goody. Spargo (or Bugg or Jeffy) in for Tyson every day of the week.

Bottom 6... 6 Goodwin 5 Petty 4 Melk 3 Hannan 2 T-Mac 1 Tyson Top 6.... 6 Gawn 5 Viney 4. Harmes 3. Hogan 2. Salem 1. Clarry

And lost. Hogan the only multiple goal tall. T-Mac 1 (probably feeling effect of last week and shouldn't have played - poor selection again). Weid didn't impact scoreboard... yet again. A goal (or more) from a Spargo / Bugg or Jeffy wins the match. They also ran it off HB far too easy for too many end to end conversions....pressure in forward 50 super ordinary. Our best i50 tackler in Smith was dropped for Weid.

Frost was the obvious option. Petty not even near it but lets choose him ahead of Frost! So Goody. No crumbing small forward 2 weeks running...still betting eveything on 3 Talls.. joke of the year especially when found out against the Pies and Port (both in the 8). If that doesn't tell you something then you don't deserve to be coaching any team at AFL level.