Demon Dynasty

6. Tyson - 26 eff disposals @ 81%, 9 clearances, 6 tackles & 6 i50s ... just reduce the clangers and you have a AA game!!) 5. Vince - Hacked it forward too often (lower the eyes Vince!) and too many clangers but 11 clearances. Was in everything though, scragged, tackled and harassed the Hawks, annoying both them and the ump to the point of having to fake a report!) 4. Jones Boy - some horrid clangers and most of his kicking lacked penetration but his numbers/work rate made up for it) 3. Petracca - pretty clean game, 7 i50s and the equal most tackles along with Jones, Tyson and Hunt) 2. Clayton Oliver - Class class, creating time/space for himself and others. The future champ takes another step!) 1. T Mac - over ran the ball a few times but did a ton of work to keep the ball heading our way most of the time (when he wasn't competing on the ground anyways) along with 10 one percenters and 8 rebounds. P.S. Garlett's game the worst i've seen from an MFC player this year. 1 effective disposal and only 3 tackles which were offset by 3 clangers. Hasn't played a decent game since Rnd 7 vs the Sons!

Should have been Dawes in the ruck Grape not Watts. Very poor coaching there IMO. You don't put a rolls royce on a 4x4 testing ground when there was a Prado running around!

Apart from the mark on 50 in the last where we were level or just behind and he kicked to the pocket to Dawes and someone else. Went down the other end for a score i think. Don't know who i was angrier with, Tracc or Dawes and whoever else lead there. Dumb footy all round. We were in it up to our necks at that point. The other part that annoyed me was the celebration after Jones's running goal in the 3rd. You would think we had won or something. Jonesy son i would've thought you'd learned by now. Settle em quickly tell em to head back to their places, head down "we've got a job to do fellas....no celebrating yet!". Hawks pretty much took over from there. Not saying this was solely responsible but will we ever learn?

A pretty good assessment really. For your health's sake I hope she Isnt on here Adam!

Oliver will eventually be A grade. Best ball user/Decision maker/evader of the lot . Vince was fantastic today also. Jones/Tyson got alot of It but decision making/disposal of Jones was (at times) horrid and didnt have the polish/penatration needed to have a huge Impact when he could have. Nice effort from the mid field, especially with Gawn dropping away In the 2nd half. Stretch/Hunt solid. What the hec was Garlett doing today. Admittedly conditions didnt suit him and some of the delivery not great but he was almost unsighted Another dissapointing loss to this mob when the chance was there to get them at a low ebb ( troop wise).

You have my vote

Agreed. Hopefully we learn from The Lions last week who did so

I wouldn't play Frost anyway in this particular game (or many for that matter) but with the weather conditions looking crap are we going in one tall too many with him? Especially with the Hawks not having any Key (tall) forwards at this point. Should adequately cover their 2 mediums in O'brien and Gunston with Tmac/Omac from a height point of view. Grimes for Frost would seem to be the smart play for mine in today's conditions. Could take Puopolo wile Nev covers Cyril. Or Bugg to Puop and Grimes to Sicily.

Along with Omac (who i rated marginally ahead on the day), Garlo was the worst of our key (tall) defenders last week. Bleeding goals out the back against mediocre opposition is hardly a sign that our defence (all of them) is slowly 'getting it'. Gadzooks....can i have whatever it is that some d'landers are on here!??

Jack of all professional sporting clubs (possibly all teams the world over) I would think we are the one who can least afford to throw away a chance at playing finals for the sake of blooding a few youngsters In the seniors with a permanent role at the sake of more seasoned (generally better performing...at this point) veterans, rather than the odd game here and there whilst allowing them to continue their development In a secondary division. None of Mr OMac, Frost or Hunt have demonstrated that they deserve a permament place In this backline (team) yet at the sake of more senior players like Dunn/Pederson. I would expect the same for seniors (eg., Garland's last efforts have been below even Oscar's IMO, albeit very marginally yet he still manages a place!!??). And since when does anyone, other than a club champ/captain, deserve a permanent place just to suit method/style (over poor form!??). That would be news to me...in any form of 'professional' team sport. Happy for them to earn It and receive the odd game with the big boys (or more If they perform to a decent level) and more than happy for them to push the likes of Pedo, Dunn or Garlo out (temporarily or permenantly) provided they earn/deserve it. We would do well to learn from the best In the business, who may well tear us a new one (ie, 8 plus goals wld be a 'new one' in my view given the team they're fielding today). Their model of developing/blooding youngsters at Box Hill for a few seasons or more (injuries allowing...today/recent weeks/coming weeks may be an exception...forcing them to dig a little) before throwing them in the deep end, seems to work wonders. Ty but on this one im happy to agree to disagree By all means play them, but let's only do so (on a regular basis) once they're up to speed at AFL level.

Based on that view, Mr Rawlings (who I assume has the support of one Mr Roos with a big say on selecting the back line) may well cost us a place In the finals this year. I hope we don't to a Richmond! :-S

Finally managed to do a major overall of Rounds 6, 7 and 8 that i missed when i was OS. The following comparative rankings include all players who have played 2 or more games this year. And before anyone hammers me on Big Maxy, i don't have access to the 'hit outs to advantage stat' which would no doubt push Maxy into the top 5 or therabouts (just my view) if i could somehow account for it. This is not intended to be a slight on anyone, especially Big M, who is no doubt one of the major keys to our improvement since his break out match against the Cats last year. I have included the top 22 as i figure we need the best possible (stat based) 'fielded team' of 22 as a highlight, rather than the entire list that has played 2 or more matches (32) so far. And yes, believe it or not Jeffy misses the cut at 27! And yes i realise it would be highly unlikely he would miss the actual 22 in reality (edit: although after this week's match i'm not so sure ). Although having said that he does go missing at times during some matches so maybe the stats are also giving a rough indicator of this factor (edit: on reflection this was spot on....yesterdays game blah). The biggest (but nonetheless pleasing) surprise for me was where Billy, Harmes and Tracc are sitting. Young fellas on the rise! Top 22 rated players from a weighted average of stats up to & inclusive of Rnd 11, 2016 (weighted score in parentheses) 1. N Jones (4.54) 2. J Viney (4.29) 3. D Tyson (4.18) 4. B Vince (4.06) 5. B Stretch (3.73) 6. T Bugg (3.34) 7. C Oliver (3.29) 8. M Jones (3.21) 9. C Petracca (3.16) 10. T McDonald (3.14) 11. J Watts (3.07) 12. J Hogan (3.05) 13. C Salem (2.98) 14. B Kennedy (2.940) 15. L Dunn (2.938) 16. N Jetta (2.89) 17. J Harmes (2.88) 18. B Newton (2.80) 19. J Wagner (2.76) 20. H Lumumba (2.75) 21. C Pedersen (2.65) 22. D Kent (2.48) Stats: Courtesy of footywire.com

I don't know about first pick defender but Matt has picked up his game on last season for sure. Had him ranked 29th to Round 18 last season. This year (to Rnd 10) ranked 11th. A fair jump. I wouldn't put him in the class of Terlich or Michie this season.

Wise, as with Axis, are you aware of the role and what he hasn't done to be overlooked or pushed out of favour by any chance?

Axis are you aware of what the role was that he was expected to play but didn't?

I have no doubt that is the case behind the scenes with all players Lucifer and would be very surprised if this isn't the case. I was under the impression (maybe a false one) that the club writes a review of the player's and their progress at Casey. What the club is expecting and how they are progressing sort of thing.

There's a fine line between blooding the youngsters and playing more experienced (but maybe in Roos' the Fds eyes...a player that doesn't fit into the grand scheme going forward) players Steve. I just hope we aren't cutting off our nose to spite our possible finals chances in favour of the experimental/blooding side. Personally not that fussed at what Roos says or doesn't in the pressers, especially if we're winning I don't think asking for some sort of "what's required fro him to get back" is unreasonable guys. The fact that we don't see/hear it for Dunny would again appear to add weight to the theory that his papers are signed.

Or play Dunn until Pedo is ready to return?

Axis i'm pretty sure if Omac/Frost are up to playing their role down back (many would say poorly outcome wise) in a zone situation then Dunny is capable of, and more than likely, doing the same. I tend to think it's more to do with the way we want to transition out of defence once we have the ball that may have sealed Dunny's fate. He is the lowest hand baller of all the key defenders (Garland/Tmac/Omac) and relies heavily on medium to long up the line kicks or kicks to advantage. May be seen by the FD as a little old school for the "nouveau" attack off HB style that the modern day game is seeing now with heavy use of handball to cut through the opposition's press as well as short precision passing by foot. As Dunny tends to go more medium/long in his kicking he also presents the Coaching dept with another conundrum. That of intercept marks by our opponents and one in which they would be trying to minimise wherever possible. The longer the ball carries through the air the better chance an opponent has of intercepting. Short precision passing, handballing through the press is (so i've heard said) critical in today's slingshot style of defence. My only concern, aside from the handball part, is that the other key defenders here (see above) are also not that adept at short precision passing, albeit some are using handball much more than Dunny, especially Tmac & Omac. How effectively they are handballing however, who knows. Dunny is also a little 'one paced' and the coaching staff might also be looking to increase the speed at which we move the ball with run and carry across the ground. Not sure whether the other 3 are any faster in a sprint though. Maybe OMac. That's just my take on the matter. I may be totally incorrect and barking (mad) up the wrong tree of course.

Lynden Dunn - Season Stat Averages 2015 / 2016 Games 22 / 4 Eff Disp 13.3 / 12 ED% 81.1 / 87 Tackles 2.5 / 2.5 Clangers 1.8 / 2.8 R50s 4.3 / 5.8 1%s 4.6 / 5.6 Stats: Courtesy of footywire.com Would seem to be fairly similar. 6 rounds or so would be a better sample though and stats alone never tell the full story as we know.

Compare the Pairs - 2016 season averages (to & inclusive of Rnd 10) Key (Tall) defenders. Rank in parentheses Dunn / Garland / Tmac / Omac Games 4 / 6 / 10 / 3 Eff Disp 12 (2) / 9 (4) / 14.4 (1) / 10.3 (3) ED% 87 (1) / 80 (3) / 83.7 (2) / 70.1 (4) Tackles 2.5 (2) / 3.2 (1) / 1.1 (3) / 0.7 (4) 1%s 6.5 (2) / 4.0 (4) / 8.0 (1) / 4.3 (3) i50s 1.5 (1) / 0.5 (3) / 0.5 (3) / 1.0 (2) R50s 5.8 (1) / 1.8 (4) / 3.9 (2) / 2.7 (3) Kicks 10.5 / 6.0 / 10.4 / 4.3 H'balls 3.2 / 5.2 / 6.8 / 10.3 Bounces 0.5 / 0.0 / 0.6 / 0.0 Stats: Courtesy of footywire.com

How is Kent still in this team

Didn't see the game Jnr and stats are always fraught with danger on their own but my weighted rankings had them fairly close on the day with Tmac slightly ahead. The rankings include allowance for clangers. Also these particular rankings/weightings are fairly accurate in terms of comparatives as they are both playing down back, rather than completely diff areas of the field. Although you mentioned Dunn playing up forward at some point. Not sure how much TOG he spent the direct comparison might be a little out. Tmac - 14th (2.40*) Dunn - 16th (2.15*) Both were ahead of the other 2 regular defenders on the day in Lumumba 18th (2.05*) and Jetta 19th (1.93*), however all those scores are relatively low and a bit sub par in terms of being a decent game (statistically anyway) which is probably to be expected in a losing team. In his only other two matches after this i had him ranked 9th overall against the Sons (3.95*) and 9th again the following week against the Doggies (3.95). Again, i didn't see either of those matches but he couldn't have been too bad if he was in the top 10 statistically. *Denotes weighted score

If he cant make It In ahead of Omac after that last performance I would suggest his papers are now signed Hellfish

Dunn something wrong Abe?