Demon Dynasty

I would have thought Garlett firstly. Hasn't performed since Rnd 7 against the Suns. Bottom 4 performer in all rounds since and WOG for us y'day. Averaging just over 1 goal per game since the Suns match and would have thought he would need 2 - 3 on average (at least) to justify his position, especially seeing he is doing little else to contribute. I realise they are diff roles but pretty sure Ben Kenn could handle small forward role in place of Garlett. Need to send a big message here and actually put someone in who who might be willing to work harder to keep the ball i50. Have to try something to improve our forward pressure. Harmes would be next off the block but his recent form (without being acceptable) hasn't been anywhere as bad as Garlett's (until yesterday where he was only 2nd to Garlett for WOG). Yes i know he isn't a stay at home small forward but he does spend a fair bit of time i50 or close to it. Could instruct him to play deeper regardless. Garlett / Harmes averages from Rnd 8 to 11, 2016 Eff Disp 11 / 39 Goals 5 / 4 Tackles 11 / 14 1%s 3 / 3 Clangers 9 / 12

Are you saying me mate Rusty can't sing Biff?

Dawes doesn't choose to ruck or not to i wouldn't think Adam. That's a result of the match day coaches i would have thought. Nothing is left to chance now. A poor decision by them yesterday IMO.

Thx for the link

That's the point though Dee. When our very best/quality kids aren't available or out of form, we bring in more kids. I love the kids and some of them will be our future and it's exciting and romantic. But the difference between their performances on any day and their best (like norf)/worst(like last week etc) is too huge to take so many into matches like yesterday. Might work against similar lists that are as inexperienced like the Lions (66.4 ave games per player v us @ 57.9). We need more of a balance at the 100/150+ game mark to start winning more consistently and finish off games like yesterday and have any chance of a finals berth next year. Even with a few of their gun players out, the Hawks have a great spread... Hawthorn Games Melbourne 6 - 50 11 2 50 - 99 6 7 100 -149 3 7 150+ 2 By the time some of the kids 'begin' to mature (not all will make it past 100 games) we will again be losing our only experienced/mature minded players (from yesterday) like Vince/Jones and will then need to wait years for the next lot of "kid" recruits to mature and by the time they're ready...rinse and repeat. The end of this year needs some serious focus on 'trading in' some experienced older heads and mature bodies (who are AFL standard by foot, can lower eyes and hit targets/kick accurately for goal...no hackers pls).

That's a nice romantic view of it Skin. But it was 2 players running to the same pocket. I understand one of them heading there, but surely they should be splitting and one of them heading to a more dangerous spot? If Trenners was there as you say, i would be even more angry. Are you sure he was anywhere near the goal square? Would need to re-watch this as i can't recall Trenners being alone in the goal square.

I wouldn't be so forgiving Biff Yes, nothing like some good 80s pop lyrics from a Spandau et. al. to get your tastebuds going! ...."These are my salad days, slowly being eaten away".... o.O

Lucifer the kids will be up now! o.O

Our forward pressure Is virtually non existant CBD. Garlett and occasionaly Kent seem to be the only one quick enough to catch anyone and unfortunately neither of those, especially Garlett, have given a yelp recently. Garlett, Kent and Harmes have to spend time at Casey for a while. Would play anyone other than those 3 up forward at present. Harmes plays higher I realise but he needs a spell. I would even consider JKH and Ben Ken up forward for a start, which Is scraping the barrel, but that's how bad our small forwards are at present. I would even try Pedo there over Kent at the moment for a few games and see how he goes when he gets back. Send Watts down back for half a match. Swap them around If the gambit Isnt working at the break.

I doubt we will beat either the Saints or the Blues undee. Can only see a 'maybe' next week and a likely against the Suns. That's 7 for the year same as last year which would mean we are tredding water after 3 years Into another rebuild. While we continue to blood youngster after youngster we will continue to lose. This club now needs to focus on a serious Injection of decent/solid older/more experienced Ex players from other clubs to beef up our stocks and win games that are/were very winnable when the heat Is on, like today's game. We are too skewed to youth at all costs at this point. An average No. of games of about 65 most weeks (Hawks had approx 124 today lol), no mater how romantic/effective some here think It Is "getting games Into the kids" Is, Isn't going to win us enough games to threaten for finals. Winning Is believing, winning builds belief. Time to balance out this list with some quality (especially by foot) experienced talent a la Norf.

I would prefer the players keep playing for them like every other club. But you are correct on the FD part. This club needs to get their big boy pants on and protest against the decisions that just arent going both ways. The Haws get a free hit every time we play and mostly with the throws and deliberates (Plus a very clear out on the full) that werent paid. Every time against this mob Its the same old story. Cant be a coincidence.

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?