Demon Dynasty

6. Clarry - nothing to add to what's already been said!! 5. Salem - best game for the year IMO...was in everything - 24 effectives running at 92.3% DE! 5 tackles, 11 score involvements, 8 intercepts and a nice goal from the arc! 4. Gus - amazing mobility and ability to escape from the mid field on both sides, missed this when Viney returned! 8 Clearances, 10 tackles, 8 score involvements & 7 inside 50s. 3. Hogan - Topped the score involvements chart with 14! Work rate unreal. Just needs to take a quick look and assess before deciding to play on almost every time when up the field after working hard for a mark. Sometimes gets himself and team into trouble here, other times (when the cards fall ok) it works a treat and he's hitting short targets etc. One occasion where he needed to be playing in front also with a ball coming in under severe pressure. Might have just read the play poorly on that occasion. Other than that a very polished game from the big guy and confidence clearly returning. Kicking accurately helping here! 2. Jones Boy - the good version. Nice one Cap! Hopefully form is back on track. 1. Harmes - Nice work on the coverage, 10 score involvements and 3 sausage rolls. What more could you want. Just needs to clean up the turnover side a little to grab the all round finish / polish. Apologies to Tyson

Jeffy's effort and endeavour was probably the best for the year so far. Only criticism was he failed to hand off (pass) to a player in much better position for a much more likely goal on at least 2 occasions and instead went the selfish option and missed. T-Mac also had one or two obvious better options available which he missed, more likely just through lack of awareness but no less damaging. We are still messing up a number of opportunities to ice the good work up the field in the forward 50. Whilst in isolation and in the context of a 90+ point win this criticism might seem over the top. But let's consider this was a tight game against rated opposition (Swans next week?), this could well be the difference between a win or loss (and maybe finals!). The run for the eight is that tight, securing our place just might come down to something as innocuous as the above. Regardless of a close win or a blow out, playing this way (a la the Hawks) is also a great team lifter and just might be the catalyst that helps turn the tide for a slightly out of form or struggling player.

Pure Stats Form Guide & Predictor Team Form Comparison (team score last round adjusted for Ins/Outs) Demons: 50.8 Crows: 44.75 Team Differential: Demons +6.05 Pure Stats Predictor: Pure Stats (no umpire Bias) - The Demons by 11 points With Umpire Bias - The Demons by 35 points Last Round Statistical Comparison *Includes this weeks Ins & Outs Top 10 Players Comparison (Last Round)# # Scores do not account for ruckmen's 'Hit Outs to Advantage'

It's not a danger game upstairs IMO. Mentally we found a way to win last week from behind so the effort/desire was there, but we need to remember it was against a pretty poor opponent form wise. The game day analyst would have passed his own match day output/ratings on to the FD from last week also and they wouldn't have been pretty. If we play to last week's standards it's still a very slim marginal win but in order to get an extra percentage boost we will need to take it up a few rungs. We have more than double their number of senior players and they have more than double the number of rookies in their team so if we can turn it on we should post a reasonable win. Smith's butt is surely on the line this week. Another horror or even ordinary game, especially against such a rookie skewed team, and i doubt we see him in a senior role for the remainder of this season (injuries aside). Hunt just has to come in to replace Joel next week if he shows any degree of form with Casey this week IMHO.

T Smith for Hogan (Managed)? No point risking Hibbs for GC even if ready. Save for the big one agaisnt Swans

I never realised soup making was such a serious pastime!

[censored] [censored] [censored].... ^^ Sound of Crows leaving Adelaide Oval this evening

Be a little wary of those. It is surprising re Cotchin I'll admit but really need to strip out some of the dinky short 1/2 handballs that add to the overall efficiency rating. Any chance of stripping out this season's kicking efficiency stats on those players DV and putting those up also?

FE that's been my bugbear at this club for decades. We have Fritschkrieg and to a lessor degree Salem/Big M from middle going inside forward and that's about it. Although I have noticed Clarry getting a little more adventurous / effective? here. I'll say it again for the millionth time...if Goody trains and drills the shizen heusen on this and makes 'preference' selections based on who plays each role at a similar level but generally opts for the player who is more accurate by foot (and uses it more often effectively on game day), it should (in theory) start taking us to another level all together. Both on the scoreboard and our ability to protect a lead and ice close games against rated opponents. He should make it part of the whole team/club mantra... If you can hit targets and do so regularly... your chances of playing (or retaining your place) improve markedly. Two/three players, fairly similar in other abilities / defensive aspects but one gets the nod as he has the ability to hit more targets under many different scenarios (real pressure/perceived pressure/squeezed through traffic on 45s etc) by foot. Same for scoring. And the measurement for doing so is at the coach's fingertips and readily available. Kick Ratings are already well and truly a factor in every AFL club's pro stats arsenal...no excuses. The same method should also be used at the trade selection table when deciding to go after exisiting AFL players (eg, Gaff vs XYZ player etc...provided the difference is meaningful enough)... http://m.afl.com.au/news/2016-02-20/who-is-the-best-kick-in-the-afl-the-results-may-surprise-you

We have dropped so many close games after hitting the front late and nothing changes. What makes you think we'll do things any different from here WW? The way I see it we just hit P for panic every time a game is on the line with minutes to go. I've never seen us stack the backline and go man on man yet. We just seem to play the same manic attacking game and bomb it long. What's the definition of insanity again....I can only deduce that this club must be completely mad! Not unlike this ol' fella....

Ok well that's a potential upside. Fingers crossed but I don't trust anyone when they are umpiring in such a one sided cauldron. I'm gonna stick with the Crows by 14. If we win, by any margin, it will be a fabulous win by the boys and a bit of a bonus given the circumstances.

14 the Crow's way if you take the more than likely home crowd umpire bias into account SF. Last week i just went with what the stats were showing. A 22 point win. Silly me. Adjust for 4 goal bias (my usual adjustment) and it correctly predicted a 2 point loss. As soon as I saw the skull (Nichols) running around i knew we were likely gonna be toast

Pure Stats Form Guide & Predictor Team Form Comparison (team score last round adjusted for Ins/Outs) Demons: 66.77 Crows: 61.67 Team Differential: Demons +5.10 Pure Stats Predictor: Had i included my usual 4 goal umpire bias factor last week this predictor would have been on the money ...Cats by 2 points! So i'll include both the pure result and with the usual likely 4 goal bias (approx). Pure Stats (no umpire Bias) - The Demons by 10 points With Umpire Bias - The Crows by 14 points Last Round Statistical Comparison *Includes this weeks Ins & Outs Top 10 Players Comparison (Last Round)# # Scores do not account for ruckmen's 'Hit Outs to Advantage'

If i see Nichols amongst the umpires it's game over and we can almost kiss our Finals chances goodbye

My memory isn't that kind BBP. Quite possibly. Jenkins is as slow as a wet week but yes does have moments. Frosty on Jenkins might also work with Frosty's speed and run on the counter.

Has to come in for Joel IMO and takes Tex. O-Mac to Jenkins. Frost to Lynch

In hindsight I think T-Mac had to go back with instructions to Frost to play off his man a tad further than usual to kill any long balls coming in or fill the hole DV. I would roll the die and play a reasonably in form Pedders (provided he is in form) for O-Mac against any bullocking type key forwards from here. O-Mac is not a KPD and we will continue to pay the price when played that way. Not his fault, the FD just needs to finally realise he is limited to playing on the next biggest / best defender wherever possible. The longer that match went on on Saturday the more confident Hawkins grew. You could see it with every score or score involvement. He knew he had him beat in every aspect, ground, aerial or on the lead. This is not a blight on O-Mac either who should never have been left on him after the 5th goal. The biggest question mark here is why it took Goody so long to wake up and make the change.

The bulk of that I can relate to but my gut feel says if Jones were ever to face a permanent role off the bench he would probably move on 56. In some ways this is a test of the coach & FD also. Keeping older players fresh and knowing when the time has arrived for them to be managed for a week here and there. I haven't seen Goody take this line with any of the older brigade so far with the exception of maybe Vince in the last 3 weeks (?)

You need to watch the replay again WW. I agree it was much on the lead but he was beaten far too easily at ground level on a couple of occasions also.

Even when he had support around him O-Mac was brushed aside like a fly by Hawkins as if he wasn't there W. Play that game over and over and you will get a similar result with Hawkins kicking 5 or more even with Lever / Hibberd in. O-Mac simply isnt powerful enough to go with the big bustling forwards.

Yes I hear what you're saying golly. You do need some toe playing a HF role. Not sure about retirement. Let's hope not but who knows, I've heard a few stories of pro athletes who wake up one day and they realise everything's suddenly gone to pot and the game's gone past them. Jones would know where he is at here better than anyone I'm sure. He may have just gone through a bad patch. His game against the Cats was at least more like the Jones we know.

The option was clearly in front of him for a few seconds logos. Whether he saw it or not who knows. Looks easy from an armchair. However, over the decades I've tended to find MFC player brains, in general, go to mush in the last frantic minutes of a tight game. Very few hold up under heat, whereas the majority of players from most other teams seem to know what's needed to ice a game and retain possession (barring the bottom 6 or so). We are our own worst enemy here.

If that was the case then they must have felt we had a better chance as a team (at that crucial point) with only 17 men on the field for about 20 seconds AF. As good Ol' Max's enemy's were oft heard to say... "I find that hard to believe Smart". In the end it comes down to the fact that this club probably has the worst history in the VFL/AFL at icing close games which we lose far too often. The fact we haven't been able to turn this around in decades is a blight on the club as a whole and no less on the current FD. We just continue to find new ways of ducking up all the prior hard work over 3.95 quarters. We had 4 to 5 players around that last contest in our forward 50 yet not one was able to gather or trap the ground ball at any stage in the 5 or so seconds it was bobbing around and retain the ball for another ball up. Yet with one clean pick up and handball the Cats whisked it away from congestion in a flash and had it up the other end, hitting a target lace out FTW.

To be fair Tracc does have 2 players sitting just outside the arc that were hittable with a solid pass, one calling for it. There was 90 seconds on the clock. Time enough to score again even if he blows that pass and its turned over for a goal. Sometimes you need to push the envelope a little to win.

Exactly ?