Demon Dynasty

Melk was a turnover king on Weds night probbably as a result of more time in the middle. Would rather he plays HF pushing high (wide) and/or off the wing where he theoretically has more time / space to execute. One of our best kicks coming i50 also so wouldn't hurt. Maynard's the obvious direct replacement as an insider but are we better off bringing in someone with a bit more outside speed and run going to HF if Tracc is playing as the insider? Not sure there's anyone like that (in any decent form) at Casey

All good points Nash. Unfortunately the mob mentality takes over at times. The AFL may have brought this upon themselves to a degree with their 'Nanny State' response to the Ablett "Boogate" a fair last week. Bit of protest booing in there as well?

They were supposedly booing the umpiring generally as well as the Pendles flop after some contact while bending to get a ground ball with a few minutes to go. I wouldn't have been happy either. If you watch the last minute the ball goes deep to the hot zone. Pie player (whose name escapes me) gathers the pill but is immediately tackled by one arm. Gets chicken winged to the ground and then illegally disposes the ball throwing it away with one hand. Free kick to the Bombers....ignored by 4 umps or all blind sided??? That same ball is then in dispute...another Pie player flops onto it and feels some contact from behind. Goes to ground...push in the back? ...called straight away. Time clock ticks down...point. 12 seconds to go....game over. The top 4 Vic clubs ( inlcuding Essendrug when they play us) dont get to the top by accident...

Has some footy smarts and shows some dynamic manic movement. Love the attack and instinctive way he takes the game on. Getting caught is part of the game, no problems with that as long as the awareness evolves over time and it becomes the exception. Give him at least 2 to 3 game blocks until he looks like he's ready to take on more. We need more of these types but taller, if theyre out there, to add some marking / intercept / spoiling ability, and manic gut running with some initial burst speed. The marking side critical since losing Hogan, Howe and Lever (till he returns).

We need to recruit/develop 6 or so at Casey who are pretty much ready made for AFL Sydee. That would help cover off some players who need time to go back and find some form and/or work on aspects of their game before getting a recall.

Again Loges if you can put someone forward on our list who can play a similar role near goal as Jeffy and is better at it right now im happy to give it a rethink. The way the bulk of this team is performing right now im pretty sure Jeffy will be getting a decent block of games from here. Let's see what he (along with and in comparison to the other forwards in the team) delivers. As I've said on many occasions since Prueee was first played out of the square against the Swans with good effect...Jeffy is a perfect foil for him when he's in. Playing them tegother in the same roles close to goal for a solid block of games will allow them settle in and get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses and gain some trust. The big bustling tall and the quick agile small of it will offer a great challenge to the opponents and their match ups on game day. Also minding an in form Jeffy takes one less speedster away from playing higher up the field and splitting us open in a more damaging part of the field on the counter. These are the little things we need to do to test and stretch out opponents and try and make the best of our own strengths. If i was a mid fielder i would much rather be directing my bail out kick under pressure to these two deep, rather than say T-Mac with Weids running into him at the hot zone with no quality smalls at their feet to gather any spills, then watching the opp smalls gather and run off on the counter connecting with my direct opponent on the sling shot over the top. Much more confidence kicking a mung ball to those two than anyone else (outside of Melk) at this point. And once our mids start gaining confidence that their bail outs are getting more results, their trust will grow and confidence in their own ability and game should follow. Confidence is hard to find during tough times...but once the fire is lit it can quickly catch on.

You will scar most younger players for life if they appear in many performances like last night. And if any have true talent they would most likely leave for greener pastures after witnessing that rubbish. Jeffy isn't interested in performing for Casey. If you asked him and he was honest i would eat my hat if he said otherwise other than to brush off the cobwebs after injury or biding his time for someone to get dropped if coming back from injury etc. He's not a rookie trying to make a name for himself in his first season or two on the list.

I know that but he's the only decent small medium forward that has the agility and evasive skills to create opportunities from scraps/ground balls and crumbs off our non-marking talls nearer goal (inside 30) and finish off good work up the field....occasionally. If you can let.me know someone who does this better who also offers the close down speed inside 50 to pressure? The highest i50 tackles in 2018 (averages). The No.1 non-Key Forward goal scorer of 2018 of those still on the list ...ranked 4th overall behind T-Mac, Hogan & Kent (average goals per game). The only player to lay multiple tackles i50 last night. While he may not be the Jeffy of old he still offers some weapons up forward until someone else fills the gap IMO.

My view OD is you never cull your spine, or best players, unless you have a ready made replacement sitting in the Macgoos or ready to fly in on a trade (having ticked all boxes before signing!). And they either need to match what you already had but with more years ahead of them (youth) or they are more than likely going to add something extra (more weapons). Hulk wasn't a KPF in the end. More a roaming tall high HF. But we recruited him as a KPF so yes I would have replaced with a quality genuine KPF if possible OD. He was heading home anyways so we needed to get some value while we could. May would need to make a very solid impact on return given the initial debacle. Our list management and one dimensional game style (with fixation on keeping it and recruiting coal face insiders...without any evasive finishing skills or burst speed) has come back to bite us big time.

Well put LH. I was strong on Watts staying for the the two redeeming features he had....the best delivery man coming inside 50 in the AFL AND he was a very good finisher in front of goal. Why you would give that up without having a solid replacement or two or grooming players that could do the job beggars belief Goody may have thought overwhelming amounts of rubbish bombing inside 50 would get the chocolates as long as we locked it in there often enough. Well other teams have unravelled that plan and we are now devoid of quality delivery. Watts wasn't irreplaceable by any means, but once gone we needed to groom both Salem and Fritschkrieg to the wings. Our two most accurate disposals by foot. Instead we've had both of them playing mostly down back...unable to impact with kicks inside 50. Nice work by the FD. Let the carnage continue! ????

Yes i saw that. Who knows. Victory has many fathers....defeat is an orphan. Maybe they were just mentally spent before the game even started.

He can do all that at Casey SW. Pruess out of goal square pls (if fit) with Jeffy at his feet. Do you return T-mac forward and drop T-Smith for Keilty (back)? Or leave T-Smith up forward and drop T-mac for Keilty?

Pruess for Weids (if fit). Decide on other changes after Casey plays. See if anyone puts their hand up. As a minimum we need to replace ANB whether injured or not. Very surprised he was called on for last night. By all reports he didn't show anything in the match before the under 18s fiasco. Makes you wonder where Goody's head is at bringing back someone completely out of form into a team where so many were already struggling.

Not every game but definately a down hill skier. Yet to see him perform when we are off. Was always an 'Ok' tease VFL player and has been shown he is nowhere near it now at senior level on mutliple occasions. Doesn't handle any amount of pressure, times his leads poorly most of the time. He had many mates performing poorly under pressure last night but even when under zero pressure in the clear (and we were still in the game....just) he still managed to miss a few easy targets. Team killers. Just doesn't have enough basics down or any weapons at this early stage that would indicate he is going to become what is required for a KPF at this level. Too many ghost moments in the heat of matches, doesn't crash packs and rarely takes a one grab mark. Averaging 0.4 goals a game and about 1 mark inside 50 per game before last night. We could get that return from a T Smith plus a few tackles inside 50 on top every match (once he's AFL match fit and finds a bit more touch/form) for the next 2 years for peanuts as a comparison. Yet we're paiying 650k for same output and zero pressure inside 50 and now he wants more!!?? Just play Pruess (Keilty this week if Pruess still injured a MAYBE for T Smith to see what he might have?) & T- Mac up forward (only because we have no other options at Casey) until T-Mac finds his Mojo (If he does!), with Jeffy at their feet Trade at year's end (with plenty of bait....even T-Mac, ANB, Hunt & Gus???) for a genuine ready made KPF. Cameron is the obvious target out of contract at year's end.

and Jeffy at his feet

The cupboard is completely bare at Casey is why. Review of what is happening at Casey and trade table needed ASAP as well as the entire list

Misson

Maxy and Hore can hold their head up. Frosty ok in patches. Other times he joined in as part of the comedy capers. Garlett ok in first half. Nowhere to be seen in second. Bull Smith competed when it was in his area but no good at ground level and zero pressure once his opponent was out and away. Viney tried hard but too slow and takes too long to decide/dispose and is running in concrete like the rest (outside of Frost). As for the rest...cue cricket sound...

A long pointy thing!

Hunt does a great impersonation of a headless chook though. Very entertaining!

Given where we came from at the end of last year that is the worst opening 6 rounds i think I've ever witnessed. Never seen so many core players so badly out of form, so unfit and so lacking in confidence. Murdering the ball by hand/foot and making so many poor decisions. First half was a slog and hung in there but after half time they beat themselves with more of the previous 5 weeks (outside of one blip against an equally sluggish Swans on a smaller oval easier to defend) of rubbish football. We are officially the worst football team (in terms of unforced turnovers and horrid disposal) in the AFL right now. Goody has achieved this in a matter of 7 matches albeit with some degree of unfortunate luck from injuries and surgery etc. Huge dose of the reality cucumber tonight at every level of the FD and club now. If Goody didn't think things had gone completely off the rails prior to tonight then he sure does now. As someone said in the game day thread... Back to the draft and drawing board. Time to re-set and renovate starting with T-mac, the Weid and Fritschkreig off to Casey. Other than a select few, zero confidence from way too many. Can Goody swallow his pride and finally realise he needs to review his game style and coaching methods? At the moment we are the worst in the AFL, outside of playing a sluggish ordinary team on a smaller ground.

Round 6, 2019 Tigers vs Demons MCG (ANZAC Eve) Pure Stats Predictor has the Tigers winning by 26 points Team weighted score (includes best estimate for official Ins/Outs) Tigers 65.58 Demons 60.78 Top 6 ranked players (weighted statistical composite) last round Tigers Demons Bottom 6 Tigers Demons *Omitted this round (6) 2019

Cheers Buck. Contested we are doing fine and are still in the top 2 in the league (dropping only one place since 2018 so far). We have no major issues with inside mid field coal face contested / clearance work (yet) and i would argue we are still right up there with the top 4. Yes we may need to tweak set ups / structures around stoppages which might help a little with our ability to cover the outside mids of the opposition when they escape with their own clearance work (run & spread). Our options to cover impacted by injuries / late pre-season etc impacting in the short term!?? Probably. On the flip side we might also be shizen on the spread eg., too many at the contest, winning the contest but then not being able to escape the contest with decent speed / agile outsiders (lacking!?) resulting in another stoppage or worse, a turnover with the Opp then escaping quickly again and off to the races with their more capable / talented outsiders, our ability to close down poor? So much of the game to work on and get right. Never easy at any point, especially when you lose some of your best troops and start dialing up the rookies. Something that we really need to work on at Casey now that we know our depth is virtually non existent, in particular with the spread / speed / crumb & finish (up forward also). I wouldn't say we are always too slow coming i50 either. Just the method of delivery. We talk about chaos footy. But if we are bombing the ball on top of our forward's heads far too often around the hot spot, that is hardly chaos. That's predictable footy and something the opp coaches would be licking their chops at. Tough comp but Goody & Co. need to be better in so many areas, including the ability to seek out an opponent's weekness/s AND train / play to exploit them (wherever possible)! Example: Port realised they were facing an extremely tough back 6 vs the Eagles. They knew they wouldn't have much time to play precise footy through the middle against the quality pressure the Eagles usually bring. Port also knew that regular bombing wasn't likely to work against such a formidable mark/intercept team. It was also raining (yes this may have happened on the fly!)....but they tried this change of i50 entry method against the reigning premiers on their home turf....and it worked a treat! https://www.afl.com.au/video/2019-04-23/did-port-show-us-a-new-way-to-beat-the-eagles

Interesting to see and, for those players caught by the ratings, a very decent guide as to how they are trending / impacting the game (in a positive way) over the last few seasons vs their peers!

This is one of the great posts of 2019 AF if not THE post of the year! The other point is....under this severely crowded forward line (in comparison to other game styles which don't rely on such an aggressive high press and resulting in more open forward lines like the Saints on Sat)... 1. Your key forwards must somehow perform their role ie; taking marks on the lead, the odd contested mark inside 50 and converting at a decent % OR bringing the ball to ground for crumbers front and square; and 2. Your small forwards need to crumb front and square or occasionally out the back on a fast break from a long chaos ball deep, try to create something and score occasionaly from ground balls and also place pressure on opponents when we lose possession. For various reasons including some poor form, lack of Key Forward talent?, lack of quality smaller forwards (injuries to Hannan / Garlett and no other viable alternatives at Casey) ...our forward line has failed to be effective at No.1 & No. 2 so far. Example re No.1... So far this season our 2 key forwards Tom & Sam have averaged between them.... 1.2 goals per match; and 2.2. marks inside 50. However, the ability to be effective is, as you say, being impacted significantly by an overly crowded forward line caused by Goody's stubborness to review and adjust this part of his game style. The engine room is still running ok on the inside. The outside needs fixing. The defense is leaking badly but IMO only because of the sling shot effect /Joe the goose you have highlighted above. Fixing/adjusting this aggressive press should go a fair way towards assisting our ability to defend until Lever & May (if he makes it back for 2019) return. Goody addresses this and drills the change up into the playing group and we might start to win more often. Other fixes (outside run, zippy small forwards needed who can FINISH) can be addressed in next season or two if we are smart at the recruiting / trade table. Nice work AF