Demon Dynasty

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

Balls this club is not in a position to roll the die. Every club is only one or two horrid decisions away from seeing things go awry as we know all too well at this place. We can hardly afford to go 'all in' on youth every match in the hope it will some day pay off. Last thing we can afford is more thrashings. We should be picking the best, most experienced side every single week (injuries/form allowing) in order to give ourselves the best chance of winning and also to avoid a severe bashing. Our willingness to roll the youth die every single week, if we keep doing so (including at the trade table), is eventually going to come back to bite us if we have a few ugly weeks with outs (injuries/tribunal/illness). Footy is a brutal game. We must stay brutal and never accept mediocrity!

The Club will say anything to suit it's "youth" bias policy Bing at the expense of the more experienced out of favour players that appear to have been marked as expendable or NQRs going forward. If this were the case then Hogan would have been out weeks ago to work on his wayward kicking method and Watts this week. Our forward line has been ineffective since the Port match. The omission of the Bear last week in favour of Weids was a huge error. He doesn't just take shots on goal, he plays a variety of roles and can play them reasonably effectively and for most of the four quarters as well. He at least has a tank to do so, tackles hard, leads hard and hits packs hard bringing ball to ground which some on here use as their Hogan defence as to why he continues to get a guernsey each week. If this update from Roosy was anything to go by before the Carlton match....(if close to the truth which may of course have been unlikely... but not like Weids was a powerhouse forward returning from a short spell!).... "Sam Weideman was injured last week so we’ll see whether he comes up as well.” And this..... “[There hasn’t] been a lot of training but more meetings and making sure that the players understand what the expectations are, what the learnings are from last week’s game and how we need to attack this week.” Maybe we played as we trained last week.....which, according to the report (if close to the truth or somewhere near it), wasn't much at all.

Ah gotcha Maldon. I thought it was some abnormally large leg muscle he was suffering from

Weids stays after last week? Common MFC we all know he isn't ready yet. The bear surely should have gotten a call up for this one to give us a show, just as he should have last week (no hindsight either from my end, was calling last week's selections a debacle before the match). A second consecutive week where some weird and wacky choices go down at the MFC selection table. Been doing this to ourselves since i started following (Northey years maybe an exception). And why are we bringing in a seemingly underdone player in Salem for his first game back?? And why risk him with a potential injury stepping up to AFL level in the last game of the year which counts for nothing? Mothballs for mine given where he is coming from this season. Just let him be and get a full pre-season in FCS. From the VFL review..... Salem - was probably another one that had an interrupted preparation due to a bit of illness during the week. Christian certainly provides you with some really composed ball use when he has the ball in hand and he continues to work really hard around the stoppages and his craft. He continues to build and he’s certainly on the right track back from having a decent lay-off. As i forecast in last weeks selections, what the hell did we play Weid, ANB and Michie for last week? There was nothing to gain and it ended up being the recipe for last week's loss..... Posted Saturday at 09:55 AM (edited) · Report post Not at all, just don't play them at this point so late in a season with such a (potentially) critical match looming against the Cats. Ben Ken & Grimes have at least shown they can perform at AFL level albeit not stellar performers. Although having said that Grimes first up game was completely off the charts stats wise. Flopped a little the week after along with most others..out lol. Michie & ANB are too big a risk at this point and do nicely at VFL level but that's where their limitations lie right at this moment (ANB a potential AFL option next year if he can take it to another level). If they underwhelm and need changing out for the Cats match you have then also not given Grimes/ Ben Ken (if Jeffy doesn't get up for the Cats) a chance to adjust to the step up to AFL level. They'll be coming in cold. Not that the FD would ever pick Grimes I realise. By selecting Michie over Grimes (the worst selection table choice for quite some time IMO) Roos/Goodwin/ FD have obviously signed his papers. Grimes is easily our best "AFL ready" option at VFL level right at this moment who has proven he can play a role consistently vs others of a similar ilk playing at Casey. Next year might be different but we don't have "next year". We have two matches and need to win both of them very convincingly on the scoreboard to have a chance of playing finals (assuming the other games fall our way obviously).

Care to expand? Haven't heard of that one

Ah yeh, forgot about that one OD. They also took Petterd though so you never know

Well said Jaded. One of my Idols on the field and has now cemented his place in Demon history as the great revivalist of this club. That win against the Hawks showed we are capable of playing premiership football over 4 quarters. Now we just need to beef things up a little and fill a few holes to bring that level most weeks. Boys will still have to up the ante though to get there. To think 3 years ago we were on the verge of oblivion. What an effort dragging us away from the precipice and setting us on course again. We are still a fair way off being a good team but we aren't that far away either. He has set up a great culture and also for the first time in a long time, shown that this club can attract decent players from other clubs as well as finally develop the youngsters into decent competitors/footballers that play with grunt, flair, skills and determination. They play for each other and the club (occasionaly they don't but at least seem to hurt), something i hadn't seen since the Swooper years.. Once again we have a football team that competes and plays footy the way you would expect any team to do at this level most weeks.. Like all very good coaches it was more about man management and philosophy than other factors like teaching tactics, skills etc. Plenty of assistants/specialists who are doing all that. Thank you Mr Roos. Sorry to see you go

Dub didn't anyone ever tell you about lightning? Oh wait, it is the Toiges i guess