Demon Dynasty

Tim Smith is a must get IMO. Dead eye dick medium tall forward who can take great contested marks but can also be played a little higher up the ground if needed. Bull body and tackles like one also. Hurts the opposition when he gets to them. Would easily be as valuable as the package if he gets his fitness right and takes himself to another level. Medium tall forwards with talent and finish don't grow on trees and can change the face of a game when it's a tight contest with solid marking and accurate goal kicking. They also cause headaches for the opposition selectors, very hard to match up on. 7 tackles today and most of those were very solid hits. Don't think he missed any shots on goal either. IMO he would make a more valuable forward than Hogan at this point if he's willing/wanting to step up and bring the intensity/tank required for AFL. Hogan has potentially more upside but needs to fix that kicking technique to fulfill his potential. Smith would also be a great insurance policy for Hogan if he gets injured or heads home. Regardless, imagine these 2 running riot in our forward line. Would be hard to stop. Also frees up Watts to play a little more time higher up the ground on occasions and use his smarts and great kicking skills to hit up either both of these 2 more often coming i50 or other targets i50.

I think you'll find Spence generally performs a bit better on a dry deck chook. McInerny did play well though. Reminds me a little of Twiggy at times albeit a tad taller

DUNNY BOY!!

Should recruit Tim Smith!! Needs to get his bod and work rate up for AFl level probably but looks the goods as a very nice medium tall forward option who also applies forward pressure nicely!

I agree CBD, oh and in future could we all please work on getting the spelling of his name correct, it's Melchett... MELCHETT!!

Sue one should never let facts get in the way of an effective proceeding nor the intended outcome!.......

A particular breed of Foxtel is often found lurking around dimly lit corners and corridors of AFL HQ waiting to pounce Jack.

Would love to see Eddie's face. Might blow up enough to float up and out of the G. Seeing us in September action and the Pies out of it next year would also be nice!

The recent walk against the Pies has looked pretty good from this side of the fence SW. Might help to explain Eddie's 'snappy Tom' quick fire response!

Roos/PJ have left a great template, coaching crew/facilities for Goody to step into. Would be a pretty poor coach/man manager who stuffs things up from here. Having said that, I'm a little concerned with his comments on SEN. Sounds like the 'focus on youth' policy is still in play for a while. We're already the most inexperienced team in the AFL. Going to be a very marginal improvement next year at best unless we bring in another 2/3 quality experienced mids. We are also one Key Forward down IF Hulk is unable to improve his goal kicking technique and/or decides he is moving back home in 2018. We also need another nippy small forward IMO. Weids is a great prospect but still 2 pre seasons away (including this one) from having a significant impact. Fix the above at the trade (not draft) table and we take a substantial step up the ladder and almost a shoe in for finals. If we dont my expectations will be a few extra wins (subject to luck with injuries) but no chocolates (ie, finals) in 2017. Here's hoping the Club/Goody/FD/List manager haven't already made their first tactical list management error.

Correct. If you get anywhere near top 6 with this rigged system if you arent one of the last decade's premiers you have done amazingly well. That's about as good as it will get apart from an expansion club who's been given so many early picks they will almost certainly snag at least one flag between them.

I don't think Geelong will pinch it Adz as they rely too heavily on Dangerwood but they might go close. I guess if everyone performs on the day and Danger has a blinder then anything's possible. They sure kicked our ass into next year today.

I agree and i'll keep saying the same. If you can't kick at this level and hit targets to roughly AFL average (approx 68% DE by foot) a good footballer you ain't. We have improved marginally in this area in the second half of this year (some players). Others have not and continue to murder the ball by foot. I'm not going to mention them as i think most here can see it most weeks. I won't be scared if we trade in 3 to 4 senior/mature bodied players from outside who can play a little and hit targets by foot on a regular basis and relatively quick thinkers/runners. If we do this i'm forecasting finals in 2017 and i'm one of the most skeptical posters on the site. If we don't....then be scared....be very scared! I've seen worse than today in the last 5 years picket but agree it was probably the 2nd worst of the year. For me the Bombers/Carlton were equally worser (apologies for murdering the English language but i'm fuming!). I can't forgive our performances and preparation (training intensity for the Blues match!) in the lead up to either of those games, nor the selection of Michie, ANB and Weids against the Blues. Got what it deserved. This is actually a critical post. We should not forget what the AFL's big agenda/picture is. Yes, they helped us out of a fix, but at the same time they have pretty much sealed the fate of most bottom 8 clubs in the next 5 to 8 years with their draft concessions. Then there's free trade. Don't get me started on that!

This is not the litmus test but we have improved but it has not been a success ....wait I disagree with the success mantra titan. You play footy to win premierships. When we do that we have had success. We have definitely improved this year though. As for next year who knows. Fingers crossed but footy is a brutal game. There's no guarantees we will automatically be a finals team unless everything goes well. Even then we will need a bit of luck also. Oh, and some decent off season trades!

Checked out already or just another youngster at the end of a long season?

They are kicking with a 2 to 3 goal breeze i would think

Garlo just screamed at his mates in defence.... "f'ing useless"... got a dressing down from one of the more senior team mates in Clarry !

According to Roosy they didn't want to train them too much on the track before that match as some were a little tired

Makes sense. Saw him trying to run early Tuesday morning and pulling up sore. Thought it might have been his knee

Possibly. Not suggesting a 186 or something that crazy but might not be all that pretty either. Air might have gone out of the tyres last week. Mad Monday beckons....and for Roosy, well something a little better perhaps!

Agree he shouldn't have been dropped after the Saints match. His performance was average but he had many pals on the day. Some of the selection decisions this year, like Michie/ANB last week over Grimes, have been completely baffling Balls. Whoever was watching the VFL games must have seen something completely different going on to what I witnessed in the lead up to those selections/non-selections against the Blues.

It could also work the other way Picket. Some things were meant to be maybe this is one of those moments where Clarry dodges a bullet

Personally I think any chance we had of finishing on a high ended last week but who knows. If they trained anywhere near the low levels of last week this week (according to the coach anyways) then more than likely we will cop a bit of a belting. We will then hear the usual excuses trailed out like..... We are fielding a very young/inexperienced team (ignoring the fact that this is partially because of the FD's own selection decisions) Their experience shone through It's been a long season and some were obviously a little tired The Cats had more to play for blah blah blah

Most of the kids have been great Balls for sure but down back it took them quite some time, maybe half the season or slightly longer, before their numbers and results in terms of hitting targets/Turnovers, started to see improvement vs earlier in the season and that was coming off a pretty low base. Like all inexperienced players, we had some playing out of their skin and having a blinder, some went missing, others played an OK game for half a game, missing for the 2nd half etc. I'm fine with a slight youth bias, it's when we go too far a la last week that IMO sees us pretty much throwing away a decent chance of winning (or getting close to it more often). If we had 8 to 10 players of calibre and experience at the top end (eg; 100/150 plus games) I reckon we would rarely see results like last week or the Bombers. Instead we are lucky if we go in with 3 or 4 max with over 100 games each week. The fact that we haven't got those 8 to 10 and instead usually have 10 plus rookies (sub 50 games) most weeks means we can't just throw an extra raw boned, skinny wet one gamer in to critical contests (finals berth in the offing) like we did with Weids last week. Nor players that have been tried at AFL level and have shown they aren't quite able to take the next step in their previous matches (ANB/Michie). I love the Weids style and reckon he'll also be a solid addition with another pre-season or two. His first half against the Hawks was a great insight into what he might bring for 3 to 4 quarters (eventually) after he gets those pre-seasons under his belt. He was probably playing on adrenalin in that first half and we saw the great potential he offers. But that adrenalin doesn't last through an entire game, nor necessarily through the next one, the one after that etc etc. Only time, effort, lots of gym/strength work/match time and fitness/experience will see him move through that wall that I'm sure most new players hit when first starting out, either during a match or at some stage during a season. Oscar, Frost, Wagner have also no doubt hit the wall at various stages this season. Frost has shown some progress and would want to have vs his early form. Seems to be working his way slowly to an acceptable level but I'm not as bullish or as convinced on him being a lock in HB just yet. The jury is out and a big W.I.P. IMO. I still think he may play a few games up forward at some point and may also need a stint at Casey for a while to work on aspects of his game before returning. In this case we may well need to call on the likes of Dunny (if he's still around) or swing Pedersen down back to cover. We can all see the improvement on the field and we can see that the FD has been developing and bringing a run and gun fast break attack style off HB by moulding and bringing in kids who can do so, as well as work a forward press etc. But you need balance in defence and when an opponent gets hold of your turnovers and starts winning the centre clearance work, as the Blues did last week, you also need one or two very experienced dour types to prevent the dyke from bursting, taking critical marks when needed, playing a "slower" but higher percentage style of possession footy to control the tempo and kill a run on. Poise and a cool head in a crisis if you want to call it that. That only comes with much experience. The key word here is balance, across all lines and in general. When we achieve that we'll start seeing some consistency and a good team that rarely drops matches like last week and the Bombers. Regular finals appearances should follow. The Swans are a great example of never going too far with either youth or seniority and usually have a nice balance preferring to recruit ready made players along with a smaller focus on some youth in the draft. It's no coincidence that they have only missed 3 finals series since 1996 when Eade took over.

Yeh don't mind that. Has had a big year and a taste of finals along with a bit of success (hopefully) would be nice reward