Demon Dynasty

Both horrible alternatives also WWSW. We also lack another tallish forward who is able to muscle an opponent off the ball and/or agile enough to run into an open space quickly off his opponent to provide a target with some quick burst speed taking the odd solid overhead mark (including the odd hanger). Our two straight ahead lead up talls are pretty easy to defend against...just block their running lanes (if you get enough time and ball's coming in slow off HB or being bombed in). The exception is a ball coming in quickly, usually straight from a centre bounce but occasionally off a fast rebound from a turnover off HB or in the middle where we have a chance to hit up one of them on the lead. For this to be effective though we really need to seriously dominate the mid field, which we did to great effect at times last year. This time around i fear many mid field line ups have either caught us up (maybe we've lost a bit of momentum through surgeries/late starts etc) or some may have overtaken us.

That's why Preuss should be in. Neither Oscar or Frost should be anywhere near a ruck contest

Nice work Steve

Big time. 7 frees to 1 at one stage in the last. And the same throw that should have been paid against the Pies in the same place at the end of the 3rd was paid against the Tiges. Also the blatant one handed scoop / throw by Pendles in the middle which was ignored at one point. Grundy also treated with kid gloves in a few of the throw in ruck contests didn't help either. Game was in the balance and all these little things can swing the pendulem in a team's favour.

Tracc has as much talent but its the fitness/strength/work rate vs the Hollywood that is off skew compared to de goey

The Pies controlling tempo and momentum of the game by accurate passing (must have a very high kicking efficiency in general tonight) and a lot of switching (keeping off) play around the back. Also being VERY patient waiting for the right option to hit up around the back or on a shallow forward entry. Alternatively they kick it low and flat to the hot spot (more so than bombing) if they have to under pressure in a play on situation. They clearly have a game plan, most players know their roles and play accordingly and they are extremely fit and well drilled. Barring injuries to key players they will make the GF IMHO.

A little Jaded then?

After a heart stopping draw at the cattery... ?

I don't think anyone is saying Kicking Efficiency (accuracy) alone is the sole factor re speed on the outside TGR. As we all know there are multiple factors involved in how quickly and efficiently a team moves the ball. But there's no denying accuracy by foot does play a significant role in maintaining possession, control/speed/momentum of the game and finishing (both generally and in front of the sticks) which impacts on the outcome. Regarding the Kicking Efficiency Criticism... In isolation and based on one game i cant agree more. However, looking at averages over a meaningful base of matches (Say 10 matches plus) the stats don't lie. You are either horrible, ok or fabulous at hitting targets vs your peers who play a similar role under all sorts of pressure and weather conditions. Comparing like with like is critical (as mentioned in previous post) with defenders often getting cheapies around the back, mid fielders under more intense pressure etc. Utilising stats on their own is always a bad formula for assessing any performance but in this instance we are talking speed of ball movement and i would think accuracy in hitting targets by foot (in order to maintain possession during that movement and obviously the ball moves faster in the air than any player can run with it) would be a fairly critical element, provided it's looked at over a meaningful number of matches and done so comparing like with like position wise.

Great call Werridee. We certainly [censored] that one up

I was thinking the same WWS. Might be another 4 years before we get ourselves back to a Prelim! The other issue, as WhatWhat has mentioned, was the lack of any leaders out there on Sat, especially down back. With the removal of any live in game messages coming from the runners and no level headed commandeering from Lewis, we apparently didn't correct some major issues down back eg; lack of switching, kicking long to a contest. The OP says we are slack defensively up forward and Port were overheard in the huddle highlighting this, yet we had more tackles inside 50 than them? Maybe not so great with "effective tackles". We also dominated clearances from the middle and matched them around stoppages. So one would suspect it's what happened once we got it on the outside that went wrong. With 6/6/6 being a significant change from here, disposal skills on the outside (along with run/spread & foot speed of course), especially for teams who were more inside built and focussed (like ourselves), is now even more critical to outcomes on the scoreboard. The AFL average on disposal efficiency % (across all teams over an entire season) is roughly 73%. Taking that into account (and noting it is only one match and yes averages would of course be different depending on where you are playing and some players may have had only a handful of disposals and been super accurate and still played a poor game etc) let's look at who didn't make the grade on the weekend by a significant margin (for arguments sake let's say 5%...sub 68% DE) ... - Hibberd 66.7% - Melksham 62.5% - Viney 60% - ANB 60% - Brayshaw 57.7% - Hunt 50% The more important one for me here is disposal efficiency by foot which helps to control the game (Hawks have always done this brilliantly with maybe last year a rare exception). Unfortunately there are no publicaly available foot skill stats other than trawling through each player on Pro Stats which is a pain. Looking at DE % on the weekend overall....The Power ranked 2nd at 75.4% and we came in 7th at 72.1% so overall we arent far off the usual season average but we still have a handfull needing to clean their act up (and yes some who may have a decent DE but hardly getting their hands on the pill will also need to lift!).

What's your brew CF? Might need a change up

If some of those were so NQR was it a wise move to play them then Titan?

Ding fair suck of the sav....it was damn hot out there!

Jaded I've been reading excuses about Oscar on here for so many years now and how "others" need to get in and assist him. In his rookie years and pre 6/6/6 i understood this argument. But with the new 6/6/6 in play the ability of a defender to truly cover off his own opponent is now more crucial than ever and there will be less chances for other defenders to play "off" their direct opponent, as much as they would have previously, to help out. And Oscar is also into his 5th year...no longer a rookie. This will be the year (and a few following this one) that will expose many of the pretender defenders. Oscar really needs to step up from here if he is to justify his place in this line up, especially with Lever returning in the back half.

Boom Boom BAMF! ??

The under done aspect is a little over done here!

My post is just referencing an earlier post from a poster who says we didn't AF....see above

We would be better off at Marvelarse stadium with our present list

Well that was our biggest game of the year against the premiers and we were embarrassing. To not review that match and see where the holes are/were is suicide. If that is truly the case then i don't hold out much hope for 2019. Hope you are wrong on this.

We didn't? ?

Lever is a universe away at this point KDAL and history shows that players coming back mid or late season rarely have much of an impact. Not sure that we want to place so much hope on his return having an impact on where we finish this year. We are going to be exposed by teams that are blessed with a few more tallish rangey speedy players this year with the 6/6/6 coming in. Early days and happy to see how we are fairing about Rnd 6 but might take a few years of recruiting to re-adjust and get back to pushing into the top 4 on a regular basis.

I never understood the blind faith and umpteen games gifted to Oscar (over an experienced and reliable Dunny) and never will. Very poor decision by the FD and remains that way years down the track. Too easily lost and shaken off by his opponent and looks as slow as a wet week when the ball hits the turf. May for Oscar FCS.

It's early days but we have recruited heavily to win the clearances under heavy fire in congestion and try and work the ball forward in workmanlike fashion. You would occasionally get exposed on the outside against speedy teams under the old starting set up. With the new rules you need a few more tallish rangy speedsters with a bit of class/finish that can take advantage of the more open spaces that are now on offer. I'm not sure we have enough of those. However we have so many under done players out there. Let's take a look at where we are at in 5 weeks or so and see how we're fairing.

I have to agree on that. Our lack of run and speed at this point, albeit way early, is a worry. The other factor that will play out under the new set up rules and extra room kicking in is hitting targets by foot. Expect teams who are super at this to do very well this year. Clarko's teams are usually right up there in this regard and wouldn't be surprised to see the Hawks have a very solid season (again).