Demon Dynasty

You guys must be youngens as im heading for my first round for about the 45th time now and im not feeling anything! The only apprehension i have is who's turn it is to shout the first pre-match frothy at the Transport bar

I hear u Dappa but JKH has managed to muster a pretty strong lynch mob of his own with no Watts factor involved and personally i felt Watts hand balled the "King of whipping boys" mantle over about 18 months ago! That doesnt mean he wasnt STILL a whipping until his departure!

Some coaches are starting to put a tagger on some of these big ball winners Earl. It still astounds me how the likes of Heppel, Sam Mitchell (more so in his prime) and others are able to run around into space, get on the end of receives and just waltz around causing mayhem a lot of the time under little or no pressure. No doubt there are some that are harder to tag than others but it's still a lost art. Might be slowly starting to see a bit of a renaissance in the last year or so (depending on the coach). Plough always harps on about this and how coaches are sometimes digging their team's grave by not applying a tagging run with player on some of the more damaging ball getters.

I'm already cringing Brownie. I am still hoping that at some point the number of interchange will be paired back to about 40 and the umps call every dodgy throw and intentionally dropped ball under a tackle for incorrect disposal. The umps deserved some credit on the opening night paying a hec more throws against as well as 50s for encroaching within the exclusion zone. It will break up the rediculous manic pace and sleight of hand movement of the ball where a significant percentage of disposals are simply not legal but which allows players/teams to move the ball super slickly under pressure and in congestion. I'm sure many have improved their methods and are able to legally handball more quickly than in the past but a high percentage just aren't legal. By cracking down on this illegal ball movement and the number of interchange we just might see the game start to open up a little more and see a few more one on one contests around the ground. Player fatigue should be part of the game as it was for decades previously before we destroyed it with 100 plus interchanges that has resulted in manic ball movement from one end to the other just for the sake of TV ratings (& better broadcast deals?).

I am totally on side there D4. Wagner is still a fair way off Nev regardless of the stats but in isolation the stats also tell a story along those lines. Even if the 'stats' story is a fair way from the actual game we watch

I am losing interest by the week bigges. I just laugh at the way the game is umpired both on TV covered matches and live now. I'm at the point where I just can't take it seriously. Soul destroying and cringeworthy as well as being very predictable as to which teams are being favoured most of the time and where.

how about the tackle in the middle.....called holding the ball by Razor then allows an over rule from a junior ump for an unsafe tackle (when it clearly wasn't). Reverses decision back to Essendrug ???

It wasn't even under him. How about the contest up forward both players tugging the jumper, both watching the ball....free kick to the Bombers put them in front. AFL is a serious joke to watch now.

Most matches at Etihad sees the home team getting these Brownie. Nothing in the AFL happens accidentally any more and hasn't for a decade or more now. The whole thing is very carefully massaged. We should consider moving there as our home ground just for that advantage. Without the influence of umpiring decisions the Bombers were pretty much down and out in the early part of the last.

Fair enough RF

Fitness aside I'm more interested in what I see in the heat of AFL matches Demons and based on previous AFL performances I rate Frost a marginal rung or so above Wags when he's on (at this point). Frost also has assets that Wagner doesn't have IMHO that he can impose on opponents as he improves and matures. Height being an important one and something that we are lacking down back, especially vs tall forward line ups.

Another player brought back too early for a game that meant very little? Just saying

Frost over Wags to cover Tomahawk and run off him....every day of the week. You have to have significant assets to handle Tom. Frost has at least three he can bring provided he doesn't kill some of the good work off with the disposal / decision making.

Stop talking sense goodwind.... It's doing my head in!

Wagner needs to step up to justify his spot over Frost unless of course we are choosing him for a specific role they prefer Wagner for in this match. In general I feel we need more height down back now that t-Mac isn't in to assist in ruck (and see Max drop back at times) or drop back himself. Would need to be a very strong argument for mine to be going with Wags over Frost (fitness aside) from here.

Because Maynard has more potential upside than TS Tyson? And will probably be asked to work the inside a little more with Viney out to assist the likes of Jones & Clarry. Early days for Maynard so will need more than one match before judging however. Hope he gets a good 3 games to settle before being cut too early.

Speed and cleanliness of ball movement on the outside maybe MD. Maybe thinking we can cover the inside adequately with Jones, Clarey & cameos from Vince / Tracc / Lewis (to a lessor degree). *Just realised Maynard is in also....

??

Might be kicking longer up the line in general and not finding as many targets, targets on the 45 or looking for the switch as much as Nev MurDoc. Just pontificating though.

Buffalo sorry but there's a fair degree of difference in some of those that has Nev a fair way (albeit not miles) ahead at this point

We don't really have great kicking 'kick in' options do we. It's a serious weakness IMO outside of Nev. Vince will almost always go long to the boundary (right hand flank) and I would suspect most teams would be well prepared for this as soon as they see ball in hand now. If he changes up and decides to go short I'm closing my eyes. Wagner I just haven't seen enough of in this role yet to judge. Watts was pretty much the only consistent kick in I would have trusted to find targets (short &a medium) consistently in this role (when charged with the task).

Sorry but he has been whipped in his own right for quite some time now. Watts had nothing to do with it. No closer to looking like a goer at AFL level than he did 28 matches ago.

Early days but I have yet to see anything that convinces me Weids will be a gun as predicted by Macca a few years back or have a significant impact at AFL level other than a few reasonable camio matches if he gets a run at it. Looks like a potential VFL reasonable quality player but AFL might be a step too far. Maybe this year will prove me wrong. Hope I'm proven wrong as we sure could do with another decent tall forward to assist Hulk or fill in if injured. Lets hope he can begin to show something over the next season or two at AFL level.

Well fat good that did me!

Has either player had a full pre-season McQueen? Tim Smith missed I think yes? How about Weids? My vague memory tells me he has I think. Should be better prepared. I would take Tim every time if he had the pre-season behind him. Starting to get a tad long in the tooth now though if we have to wait till 2019 for a full pre-season look at Smithy.