Demon Dynasty

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.

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.

Apparently not BBP. Misson impossible?

Stats Predictor has the Bombers winning by 10 Points Top 6 ranked players (weighted statistical composite) last round Demons Bombers Bottom 6 Demons Bombers Note: Composite does not account for hit outs to advantage.

Thinking we might be a bridge too far in terms of getting enough quality / match fitness & form back within enough time to make up lost ground Wise. Stating the obvious but Friday is break through or bust if we are to have any hope of doing a minor Lazarus.

Chook did you miss Rat's post!??

That better happen soon Wise. At this point the mid field is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They might have to kick a winning score off their own boot this Friday and flood the backline whenever the OP gets the pill!

That's the club's challenge Dazzle. Successful clubs find them. The last truly successful crash pack KF this club had was Neita. That's a fair while ago now. We thought we had one in Hogan but alas another false hope. We don't need 2 lead up tall forwards. I'm backing T-mac here. Has some runs on the board, usually a dead eye in front and shows some mongrel. When fully match fit i know what we are getting ie; maximum effort/impact on game day Including a fierce contest (mongrel/trust).

Agreed. Salem on one wing, Fritsch on the other. Let me proceed the following with the words QUALITY, bit of MONGREL and CLASS (finish). We need a crash pack Kennedy style forward, a fairly quick lead up forward as No.2 / Decoy and a fabulous crumbing forward plus forwards who are able to bring pressure/heat when the ball hits the deck. Jeffy, and at times Melk are our ONLY forwards that go anywhere near fitting the crumbing bills right now and one of them is not playing. Tmac as the No.2 IF we deliver it in alot better and more consistently. I would be trading Weld (and others and throw a bit more if needed ) for that crash pack KPF and one more genuine classy small/medium crumber that has enough speed to pressure the OP inside 50, who can finish and take the odd hanger from behind to worry the OP in the air a little also.

Try VPN Melon also. Used it to break through the great firewall of China when visiting last year with great success and it's free. Has auto fastest server option or you can hunt around and trial your own country for speed and see what results you get.

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.

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!).

I see... so as long as they can run, jump, mark and dispose of the ball ok it doesn't really matter what else they do! They'll keep getting a game ?

So an official declaration from any club that "player X now has a mental health issue and is stepping aside from the game for an undefined period of time" means he is ineligible for testing while absent?

He has all summer to be close to his family and can still transit. No need for cotton wool and so much sugar coating Yes family comes first but options and adjustments can be made in the short term to accommodate and fit in. Including one hour travel time by flight later if needed. It's only as hard as ppl want it to be. Where there's a will there's a way

Barely fired a shot all year (even when he had a chance and knew we were a firm likelihood at finals) and seemed almost satisfied to avoid stepping up. Instead satisfied to play out the remainder of season in the McGoos and allow others playing a similar role (Hannan & Spargo) to get a guernsey. Had a few chances this year and not getting any younger / faster. If we happily trade the likes of Vanders without a fight and instead hang on to the likes of Jeffy we have failed badly this draft.

Thank you for a very good stint at the MFC and the big league Cam. Gave your all and rarely let the club and your team mates down. All class and made the most of your talents. Wishing you a great future post AFL and congrats on receiving your masters at tonight's graduation ceremony in Geelong...

You had no doubt already formed an opinion Clint. Each to their own.

I didn't watch the Prelim and not sure if i can. But up till then Lewis was our best defender for the year. Unless you can find someone better to push him out or he drops off a cliff then he remains. That experience out on the field is invaluable to a young playing group and one more season (or even half if his body gives up) is worth every penny. He deserved more credit this year and should have finished top 5/6 in the Bluey. He also taught some in this club that you don't lie down and just take a beating when a club looks to bully you (any club!!). I know cheap shots aren't great but the occasional socially unfriendly act doesn't hurt. This club lacked back bone in general outside of Chunk prior to the likes of Pedders, Bugg, Viney, Clarry, Kent, Vanders and Vince coming along. This was further bolstered by the arrival of Lewis. We finally put a group of tough nutz together that wouldn't lie down and take other clubs [censored] on us without a fight. There's an old saying, you don't know what you got till it's gone. Lewis has been a ripper acquisition and yes does have his faults without ball in hand and gets caught out on the sling shot (or any sling shot) but i'll take that in the short term until he says (or the club says) time's up or we have a few in the wings that he's holding back. At this stage where are they?

This was one of the great statement games by any MFC player IMO and a line in the sand moment for Bernie and the club that we were no longer just going to sit back and allow players/teams to roll us in an easy fashion. A great replacement for Sylvia (who pulled this off at the club in 2013...Todd??) and couldn't have been a bigger contrast in selfish v selfless in the way these two went about it. Paul Roos must have been well pleased with this acquisition and the response he was able to garner. Although this year saw the game move past him a tad (as it does to every athlete at some point) you will be sorely missed mate. Let's hope you get one more shot at finals should the cards fall your way. Superb job both on and off the field. Take a bow Bernie ??????

That would be a fabulous fairy tale finish. A great guy, a great club man and a super footballer for us during some very dark days. One of my all time favs as he flew the flag when he could've sat back and just eaten the chocolates. Showed white line fever every time he ran out in the red & blue. IMHO he was the glue that held the team together during the dark days along with Chunk and Crossy

That's probably the first game I've seen the Weid look "on" for pretty much the entire match (live). He looked very much at home as an AFL footballer. The "Weid Weid" chant that went around the ground after he took a bit of a speckie over the back at one point must have been a huge confidence booster and was a fantastic moment yesterday.

What a disaster if that's the case. Murphy doesn't offer us anything we don't already have and is coming into his twilight years. Game has gone past him IMO and rarely gets on the park. No thanks.

That is correct. Should never have lost that right and should be part of the deal. Home ground advantage at our original home ground.