Demon Dynasty

Don't get me wrong, I love T-Mac's effort and finish when he's on and fit OD. I just think he should be the 2nd stringer behind a genuine KPF. Something we don't have. And yes, replacement very much needed.

Like any team, we give the appearance of looking better when winning the clearances. It's what happens after that and our slow plodders across the park (referring to inside mids...Harmes somewhat of an exception but more outside/inside) that the opposition sweats on. We also tend to overdo the handball in close at times (or have done so far this season IMO) at when either a quick kick forward (when there's no one in the clear for a receive) or taking the tackle and re-setting the stoppage might be a better option. This then brings more heat on everyone around the ball and we are often worried out of it watching the opp run off from our handball errors (often handballing in panic as a result to no one!). All the opp needs to do is put a little pressure on us, sweat on us on the outside and they know we'll mostly bomb or miss targets by hand/foot and turn it over. They tend to play to their trained methods and maintain their structure. Often the opp has a mid or two sitting back behind our mids who tend to get too far (too many numbers rushing forward of the footy) and we forget to maintain any defensive structure / discipline behind the ball to protect the turnover. When the ball gets out the back the opp's stay at home (structurally) mid or mids are in space and off to the races for the easy goal or hit up to a lead inside 50. Again, this comes down to footy smarts, smart decisions and AFL level ball use, especially by foot. Our foot skills are, with a few exceptions here and there, woefully below AFL standard. It's costing us big time and may well cost us the ultimate prize during a premiership window. Foot skills are critical allow you to control the momentum and pace of the game....AND allows you to finish off the hard work up the field more often in front of goal. West Coast superb at it tonight.

I would be interested to hear Drunkn's view on Petty & keilty as alternatives to Frost/Oscar. Would they add something above these two or would we be regressing even further? Early days but weighted stats i keep on both have Frosty ranked 17th out of 26 players played so far and Oscar ranked 21st. Compared to last year's average weighted score over 23 rounds Frost is still 15% down on last year's output and Oscar is a massive 38% down! To put that in some perspective the whole team was down approx 22% in output against the Bombers vs it's average for the entire 2018 season. As you say, both are horribly out of form. But very early days for everyone.

So you're saying we have been consistent at something SW?

After 48 years i have yet to see us recruit the odd champion, or go after rising potential champions and silk...ruthlessly! Our ability to recognise what is missing and where the holes are and recruit to fill in order to take us to the ultimate has been pretty ordinary and in many years abominable until the Roos era. We are RIGHT NOW....in a premiership window. We lack a genuine KPF. This is a must get IMO. We lack some speed on the inside and a stack of speed on the outside. Now more critical since the introduction of 6/6/6. We seem to have the uncany ability to recruit athletes who look good running around with ball in hand but who don't have many football smarts and turnover kings. Outside of Jeffy, when he decides to go, we have no other genuine small forward with genuine zip, finish and defensive two way running/tackling and we also need at least one speedy classy outside mid to join Fritsch on the other wing. We have always lacked classy finishers by foot in general play and in front of goal with a few exceptions over the decades. While we have the odd player developing in this regard such as Fritsch, and Clarry is hopefully on his way to becoming a champion, i can't see us winning the ultimate prize unless this club gets ruthless and goes after key players to fill these roles. We also need to recruit players with excellent kicking skills as a bottom line, especially left footers. One player in mind to start filling the gaps....Jeremy Cameron. He's up in 2020 and offers the opportunity to secure a genuine key power forward with size who can finish off our good work up the field on a consistent basis. I will have more trust IF i see the Coach & FD waking up to these glaring gaps and the change that 6/6/6 brings and starting to recruit/trade accordingly. The longer i see "ho hum, steady as she goes, nothing to see here, we just need to work on this and that" coaching mantra the less trust i will have.

Mid field needs a little extra speed also. Once they lose touch of their opponent and the ball is not in hand we are toast against any inside mids with a bit of intial toe/speed. We have 2 way runners, they are just incapable of any burst speed to catch or run down their opponent once we lose it or guilty of too many getting sucked in to the contest and allowing their direct opponent to sit out and wait for the easy receive and they're off to the races under no pressure! Any opponent is going to look speedy when you overdo the latter. We drew Contested last night and only a couple down vs Port. We did lose considerably vs the Cats by 19. So im not sure we are that far back on contested overall other than the Cats. A more robust public stat as to how your "inside" mid field is travelling IMHO is clearances. We beat Port here by 3 so pretty much a neutral outcome. We won it convincingly against the Cats by 10 (which would make sense as the experts keep telling us the Cats are happy to give up the middle a little and back their ability to rebound off HB). Most scribes say our inside mids dominated theirs on the day. We drew vs Essendrug last night for a neutral outcome. Game arguably lost mostly by poor play down back and possibly the inability of our inside mids to get back quickly and fill spaces/assist. Two way / Tank issue? The difference between this year (so far) and 2018 is when we won clearances convincingly we were winning most matches. In the same game against the Bombers last year, we won the clearance count by 10 and the match by 6 goals. We then got a run on and smashed most teams thereafter winning both contested and clearances substantially. Then we arrive at the big match against another in form team, the Pies in Rnd 12, and lose the clearances badly (-19) while winning contested by 7. To summarise we had the same clearance count last night which means our inside fellas played their part at getting the ball out. But so did the Bombers insiders. So it's what we (and they) did with it after that on the outside IMO that was the difference.

Ok there's the argument he makes us slower. And i agree, but that's only when we don't have possession. Yes we need to find a replacement but all players need replacing at some point. Who do we have that plays "the general / QB" role down back better than Jordy at the moment? Let me answer that for you....no one! The thing that Jordy does bring is great experience and fabulous reading of play across HB, which is even more critical against 6/6/6 with mids running straight out of the middle more often now. Many teams are still launching most of their attacking forays off HB. Jordy is our best intercept player (outside of Lever when he finally gets back) and leads all comers (outside of Lever). Jetta, Joel Smith and Hibberd not far behind. So....he is cutting off many opposition forward entries for us, more than anyone else. And turning the tide back in our favour. Assessing the game before playing on like a donkey no matter where the state of the game, opposition or scoreboard is at (as unfortunately too many of our players seem to do of late) and directing the ball on 45s or the switch to positions / players across the ground that are better placed to launch or to just use up the clock, maintain possession and ice the quarter, game or slow down an opposition run on. Maintaining possession when the opposition gets a roll on or when we need to ice the end of a quarter or match is critical and a key part of the modern day game. If you can't do it for more than a minute or so before turning it over or you just don't stop at any stage to do so and are constantly playing on no matter what the circumstances, you are (at particular times of a match) going to play right into the opposition's structure/set up down field and hand them the match. Jordy brings a wealth of experience and a football brain that many of our younger amatures down back lack. While he is still intercepting better than anyone else (other than Lever) as he did in 2018, i for one am more than happy to see him back as the QB/General and hopefully he can pass on another sinew of his experience and help to turn some of those down back from ugly ducklings in to decent footballers before he finally hangs his boots up.

This is also true in terms of the way we play Rjay. Correct the above among other aspects (3 v 1 going up in a marking contest down back...been happening for years ...Goody & Co. Incapable of seeing / correcting this?) and get some genuine outside talent off the wings and HB and away we go. And let me repeat....as I've said so many times....please can we recruit players with a footy brain who know when to go fast or slow (ie; can assess a situation before playing on and giving off to someone who is under pressure already or running straight ahead into congestion) and can also hit targets by foot consistently.

Some of our astute off field pundits have more foresight than our entire FD & coach. Nice work Elegt. Fritsch is our obvious answer (medium term) on one wing and should have been groomed / worked on (gradually into this role in back half of last year and pre-season). One of our best disposal by foot players and yet he is being wasted deep in our back half? He was lost last night and looked a shell of a player compared to last year. Another foresightful post. So along comes 6/6/6. More 1 v 1s, yes you no doubt still need to get your hands on the pill but our bias towards too many plodding big bodied inside mids was always going to hurt us this season once the ball is clear of congestion. Burst speed, agility and foot skills (finish) are now more valuable than before 6/6/6. In truth they never lost their value but are now almost priceless! Is that a serious post Steve in terms of hearing it first hand? ☝? Sadly we are now going to be ruled by almost any team that has outside mids with a bit of leg/burst speed and even mediocre disposal skills by foot now with the exception of maybe some of the skinnier grounds like Marvel against very ordinary opposition where we might be able to control the game a little more if we can cause enough stoppages. With our current line up we would probably be more successful playing out of Marvel vs the G. 6/6/6 has now made some on our list and the overall make up of our list ...redundant. Big changes needed to it before 2020 if we are to get back to being competitive again and make finals in 2020. Pitty there's no mid season draft.

Oscar is a liability Soi and has absolutely ZERO weapons that might help justify his place. Would be getting May in as his replacement as soon as he's in shape and earned it.

Top 6 ranked players (weighted statistical composite) Rnd 3 vs The Bombers... Bottom 6 ranked players... Note: Composite does not account for hit outs to advantage.

6. Gus 5. Gawn 4. Clarry 3. Salem 2. Hunt 1. Harmes

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?? 3 up in a contest. ?? Defenders occasionally leaving their man to go to help out when we are already 2 to 1 up??? Surprise their loose man is then hit up for a goal!! ?? Defenders ball watching playing in front instead of finding touch on their opponent...that opponent then gets out the back for an easy Joe the goose or mark a d shot at goal. ?? Too many attacking the pill. You only need one or Max 2 ...certainly not 3 leaving us outnumbered when the ball escapes the contest. ?? We are really really dumb with ball in hand and have only one method of play (all ahead break neck) and no patience or poise. ?? We cant control a contest or ice a game at any stage of any match. All other AFL clubs are able to do this, even if it's only for 3 to 4 minutes prior to a clanger turnover! ?? Goody has had 3 weeks plus a decent pre season to get them up mentally but fails again (another poor start after a shithouse performance the week before...WHY???) and we can't even beat a horribly out of form Essendrug.

And that about sums it up PJ. The buck stops with Goody. Failed to take the Prelim debacle seriously and it is now coming back to bite this club and him on the rear end big time. Also seems to have ignored the 6/6/6 which favours a 1 on 1 more than zone and we are paying the price (outside of the limited times we've manned up for short periods). We have not reflected, reviewed or adjusted and have come into the season in a terrible state mentally and in general match fitness wise. No.9 for the Umps was in their top 10 also!

KK isn't up to it at this point.

I disagree with the middle. We no longer control it when either of Viney or Jones go through there. They are turtle paced and just end up giving a handball to a player under even more pressure as a result. The minute neither of them play through there we start looking more mobile. Clarry's also had a very ordinary night by his standards.

Fritsch that was unforgiveable.... left Tippy out the back to make it a 3 on 1 ....So amature !! Who is teaching these guys or Do so many not have a football brain!!??

Goody you are gone bro sorry. If you can't get a team up to take on this cheating rubbish you don't deserve to coach at AFL level mate. Horrid prep horrid start .. SEASON OVER!!!

Another throw from Heppel and 3 Demons see it but wait....yet AGAIN no Ump spots it. Laughable!!

Weid's handballs are just diabolical. As much as he may offer up forward he is a complete liability in general play with ball in hand. 3 up in the marking contest again!! Break neck play ALWAYS....No level headed players that go back, slow play with patience and find the next target or the switch. We just NEVER learn. I know Lewis is SLOW when we haven't got it but at least he offers the slow play level head and poise with ball in hand when the Opp has a run on or we need to ice it.

And the Umps may have sealed it for them with that Shocker!!!

Whats happened to Hibb??? Seems to have lost half a yard?

Weid has played a role tonight albeit a bit of a one trick pony. But he's there to kick goals and doing that from limited opportunities. Frost and Weid have only played a handful of games between them. Frost was crappy in the 3rd term but ok prior. Omac is the biggest worry for mine. After nearly 70 games he still looks like a fish out of water. I would be bringing in a 90% fit May for him pronto as soon as he is fit and put in a propper pre-season. Tmac looks sooo slooow and under done without any power through the hips or legs. ANB was just ok in the first half but ordinary that quarter. I would bench Tmac (he's done for the night) and go with Lockhart and Weid up forward with Harmes / Hunt in there feeding off also. Send Clarry forward a little more also

Slooow slooow slooow! Harmes and Frost about the only ones that have shown some pace but it's all ahead straight. For Christ sake kick a goal ?