Demon Dynasty

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

Player Season Rankings (inclusive of Rnd 23) Based on a statistical composite of selective weighted averages. Includes the following statistical averages: Effective Disposals, Contested Marks, Marks i50, 1 %ers , Clearances, Rebound 50s, inside 50s, Tackles, Score involvements, Intercepts, Goals and a reasonable negative adjustment for turnovers. A long way off perfect and no doubt plenty of flaws but a roughish guide as to how a player is sitting vs those around him when comparing like with like (similar role / position), where possible. For Maxy a rough adjustment is required to bring him up to spec overall with "hit outs to advantage" not included. Lets say 0.75 as a very rough stab in the dark. Puts him on 4.045 in 3rd position behind Clarry & Jack. Also i did not include Tyson or Kent's Rnd 23 score as i felt it would skew their results a little too much given how early they departed the match and fewer games played vs most others. Player Ranking Score Clayton Oliver 1 5.131 Jack Viney 2 4.500 Angus Brayshaw 3 3.730 Jordan Lewis 4 3.626 Tom McDonald 5 3.462 Christian Salem 6 3.456 Nathan Jones 7 3.434 James Harmes 8 3.417 Max Gawn 9 3.295 Dom Tyson 10 3.112 Jesse Hogan 11 3.073 Corey Maynard* 12 3.000 Bayley Fritsch 13 2.979 Christian Petracca 14 2.937 Michael Hibberd 15 2.861 Jay K-Harris 16 2.683 Neville Jetta 17 2.676 Alex N-Bullen 18 2.655 Aaron Vandenberg 19 2.581 Jake Lever 20 2.577 Billy Stretch* 21 2.513 Tim Smith 22 2.494 Joshua Wagner 23 2.465 Jake Melksham 24 2.385 Mitchell Hannan 25 2.384 Charlie Spargo 26 2.370 Dean Kent 27 2.363 Bernie Vince 28 2.324 Oscar McDonald 29 2.322 Jeff Garlett 30 2.314 Tomas Bugg 31 2.158 Sam Frost 32 2.073 Cameron Pedersen 33 2.006 Joel Smith 34 1.838 Sam Weideman 35 1.836 Jayden Hunt 36 1.746 Harrison Petty* 37 0.675 * Played less than 3 games hence sample size not large enough for comparative purposes. Posted for interest only.

It's been a mighty long since I've witnessed a decent Demon crowd vs an interstater outside of finals. Wait ...that was also a mighty long time ago! I gave my freebies to a few demons who were about to buy tickets at the public ticket office outside Gate 4 pre match. Stupid lost track of time waiting to give them though and only just got to his own seat, alongside bro, with 30 seconds to spare!

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.

CAMP CHAOS might be a more appropriate headline

6. Harmes 5. Clarry 4. Gawny 3. Salem 2. The Jones Boy 1. Lewis apologies to... > Frost - best game i've seen and had the FD selected him ahead of Petty against the Saints and gone with the 6 / 6/ 6 structure from here as well, we might now be sitting in the top 4 with a double chance! > O-Mac - fantastic all round game, maybe only bettered vs the Saints. > Vanders - great football brain / decision maker / heavy hitter with AFL tank building a little each game! > Shout out to Weids....best game so far for mine.

Couldn't have said it better LH. Great summary. I feel Goody & Co (and hence the team) have finally taken a leap forward, especially in regards to the high zone and re-jigging the running of 1 or 2 players into the middle off the back of the square in favour of the 6 x 6 x 6 structure as mentioned. We have finally said to the opp we are playing this to our strengths, if you can beat us in our key asset areas, especially winning the middle clearances (first use) and the stoppages, you have a chance and well done. But given those strengths, on balance we will win most arm wrestles and the match, in some cases by substantial margins (a la today) just through weight of numbers. Composure and momentum at times was a hell of a lot better then i've seen (in terms of more players doing it more often and across most of the match) all year. Still some fine tuning but it's a massive step forward i feel. Some fabulous "wins" today also in terms of stepping it up in Vanders (not just today more in terms of putting more quality game time in and rebuilding the AFL tank), Weids, Spargo and Tracc (IMHO). We now have a genuine bunch of footballers playing AFL finals brand football as a unified team who are slowly learning to make smarter decisions (in general) as each match progresses. We also have 10 players in the 50 to 100 mark who have plenty of learning & upside to go as they move into top end experienced / veteran categories in the coming decade! Exciting times ahead. Go the Mighty Demons!

Pure Stats Predictor Team Form Comparison (team score last round adjusted for Ins/Outs) Demons: 64.4 GWS: 54.8 Team Differential: Demons +9.60 Pure Stats Predictor: Pure Stats (no umpire Bias) - The Demons by 18 points

I think that's true DV but i also think Hunt is now copping a soft tag as well (ie., opponent playing him much closer than may have been the case previously) rather than his player zoning off a little more for the potential intercept / chop out earlier in his career. Hence he no longer has the luxury of running off so often at will with as much space on his opponent (early into the run) as he probably did in the past.

That was very noticeable DV. On at least one occasion i saw him initially get a rush of blood when he saw an opening ahead and ran a little only to check himself and give the ball off quickly to someone open on the angle. Kudos to Troy Chaplin here

Vanders - Only 12 effective disposals but running at a DE% of 85.7% seemed to make every involvement a winner. A fair way off being fully AFL match fit as you say but another game this week and a rest the week after. Might be just the tonic needed to take it to another level again. Kent - Only 8 effectives & running at a low DE% of only 57.1% but his first game back in months. But sometimes the numbers tell other stories in terms of effort and involvement also... 5 inside 50s, 6 tackles (2 inside 50) and 7 score involvements along with the sealer! Plenty of upside pending. Hannan - Didn't think he was the right selection over JKH but how wrong i was. 10 effectives @ 76.9% with 4 marks inside 50, 7 score involvements and 3 goals to cap all the hard work/running off. Frost - Probably his 2nd best game for the year behind the Suns match. 11 effectives @ 100% DE%. 2 contested marks, Five 1%ers, two R50s, two tackles, 3 score involvements, 3 intercepts and only 1 turnover (free against?)!

6. Clarry 5. Maxy 4. Harmes 3. Jones 2. O-Mac 1. Tyson

JKH would be the only alternative... not sure he adds alot more to justify the switch though. Spargo showed patches of some solid play during the 3rd i thought and appears to be slowly learning a little more each week. Not quick but work rate is up there also.

Given the number of outs we had and that it was interstate against a top rated side, was that our best win for the year so far?? I realise WC had plenty out as well but....

Welcome aboard Sparkle....good timing!

A decent set of choppers on this lot!

That last 8 minutes was nail biting.... i was just glad to be on the other side of a close win in a big match against a rated club. The last i can recall in that situation was QB last year. Super relieved

Deserves a 2nd run!

WE'RE PLAYING FINALS!!!!!!

Eagles have basically controlled the tempo of the game from about the 10 min mark

We have absolutely Zero down front and square or anywhere near a ground ball inside 30...pathetic