Demon Dynasty

Round 23, 2025 MCG - Hawks vs Demons Our 4th worst Team Rating for the season behind.... 3rd - Rnd 12 vs the Saints 55.48 2nd - Rnd 13 vs the Pies 50.95 Worst - Rnd 3 vs the Cats 50.6 Nearly 15% down on our already horrible 2024 Rating of 65.17 And the bottom 6 players Rating ...wow! 🤮 Good luck trying to even get close with that sort of output. We are now effectively two years into a nose dive with seemingly no sign of pulling up. Apart from honourable mentions of individual performances from big Max, Riv, Bowey and Culley (not bad given he's effectively a wet rookie), i failed to find anything else positive in a 'TEAM' sense about that performance which i thought was bloody putrid. The balloon is now fully deflated with any spirit and fight from this group now a long fading memory of what once was. I expect us to make the Pies appear to return to their flag favourite status with another Friday night fiasco looming. Whoever the the new coach is he will have a massive task ahead of him if he's to resurrect this list as it presently stands into a serious competitor once again and a group that plays reasonably attractive / watchable footy win, lose or draw. Scoring Efficiency Hawks Demons Disposals Per Goal 31.23 47.00 % In50s Goal 26.50 14.30 Conversion % 48.10 50.00 Average Attributes Hawthorn Attribute Melbourne 187.8cm Height 187.4cm 86.2kg Weight 87.0kg 26yr 8mth Age 26yr 8mth 128.8 Games 134.2 Total Games Played Hawthorn Attribute Melbourne 2 Less than 50 5 8 50 to 99 4 6 100 to 149 4 4 150 to 200 2 3 200 or more 8 Player Rating Rank 2024 Season Rating % Change vs 2024 C Salem 4.850 1 3.421 41.77 Max Gawn 4.725 2 4.132 14.35 J Bowey 4.075 3 2.755 47.91 J Viney 3.950 4 3.178 24.29 C Petracca 3.600 5 4.476 -19.57 C Oliver 3.525 6 3.364 4.79 T Rivers 3.475 7 3.391 2.48 S May 3.300 8 3.741 -11.79 T Sparrow 3.225 9 2.517 28.13 J Culley 2.700 10 - 0.00 H Petty 2.500 11 1.701 46.97 J V Rooyen 2.300 12 2.026 13.52 K Chandler 2.175 13 2.223 -2.16 B Howes 1.850 14 2.341 -20.97 J McVee 1.800 15 2.816 -36.08 K Pickett 1.775 16 2.433 -27.04 H Langford 1.550 17 - 0.00 D Turner 1.050 18 1.393 -24.62 B Fritsch 1.050 18 1.746 -39.86 H Sharp 0.825 20 - 0.00 Ed Langdon 0.750 21 3.089 -75.72 T McDonald < 46% 0.525 22 2.967 -82.31 J Melksham > 41% 0.400 23 1.850 -78.38 Team Rating 55.58 65.17 -14.72 Top 6 24.73 22.53 9.74 Bottom 6 5.75 14.04 -59.05 > Subbed out TOG % > Subbed in TOG % Stats courtesy of footywire.com and wheeloratings.com

Reckon Ken would give it a fair crack. Pretty much how i've felt for the past two seasons watching the seniors...

To celebrate 40 years since being kicked off the G by the MCC and not having a home base since, i'll be posting a hit song each week from 1985. First cab off the rank...

We were odds on for this guy....at least up until yesterday

HAWKS MVP - Sparrow, apologies to May but couldn't get him over the line given it was his 250th Hawks training drills & pressure The SC for making sure Melk was the sub, thereby protecting him from his usual slow start to a match (ie: roughly the quarter he came on for as sub) and reducing the chances of pinging a hammy or calf (only the best player management at the MFC right there 👏🏻) Chaplin's forward coaching methods for 2025 season - which i thought continued to shine through in this match and increased his chances of doing same next season. This and the selection of Melk as sub showed that he is ready to take the next step as a senior coach at some point (probably only at the MFC though) The likelihood of Buckley / Other reputable ex senior coach coaching the MFC Gawn 1. Rivers Honourable Mentions ... Tracc, Petty, Bowsa & Langford -6.0 Pressure, Skills, Hardness, Effort, Desire, Will to win, Spirit and Goodwin's coaching methods over the last four seasons that see us mostly head towards the boundary and or bomb it long in straight lines on top of player's heads & also sees most (potential) marking players (bar Gawn) running under the ball and / or mids on ballers being lead to the ball by their opponents ie; not playing in front (old habits die hard!). -5.0 Comtinuation of sloppy zone defence after getting 5+ goals down (Chaplin). -4.0 Pickett continuing on with his recent preference of playing high school / amatures level footy. Hopefully he can step up next week and bring VFL levels!?

I agree to a point but the two looming questions remain.... What if he can't fix the above the shoulders part to start with in terms of full on bull at the contest? AND He also can't improve (substantially to make a difference on the scoreboard more often) his goal kicking? Where to from there? We will be forever 'wishing' but potentially not seeing the best again. Maybe a change of clubs is inevitable and might not be the worst outcome for both. We also have a massive risk going forward with CO's topsy turvy form. I know it was a dead rubber today and only one match but any coach in the wings watching that trash would surely be thinking twice about taking this lot on as they sit now. As Macca said on here a few weeks ago.... "Time to drain the swamp" This is looking like a 5 year plus rebuild ahead. Both off and on the field. And that includes Chaplin who is either sent back to defensive line coach or alternatively shown the door. He can't be the forward coach in 2026 based on this season's debacle in that area. If he is you can also kiss 2026 goodbye. Our forward method / craft / conversion into goals is akin to high school standards at the mo.

His form, both in game and from week to week, has been very patchy to say the least. He simply is not playing the hard / tough committed to the contest footy that we saw pre-injury. Understandable sure but much of what we are seeing in terms of topsy turvy form now is mostly above the ears. Not an easy fix but IF not fixed we are going into 2026 on very shakey ground with Tracc. His body language and frustrations in terms of clearly not bringing his best are also coming out as highlighted on last weeks Sunday footy show. Not a great 'team first' outcome at times. Needs to re-set and assess where he's at over the off season (above the shoulders) if we're ever to see the best of Tracc again from here.

And will no doubt kick 5 or more against us to celebrate Not that i'm judging on one week's performance but imv Viney was a liability for much of the game last week along with Sparrow. I reckon the odd Brown dog wouldn't have hurt on the short breaks to manage Viney on some of the short turnarounds this season. Same with Max on the odd short turnaround (TC). The FD has not 'managed / protected' its older seniors brigade all that well over the last three seasons imv. With some exceptions. There's alot more to the decision than just 'a new voice'. What a dumbass bunch the AFL press are (again with a few exceptions)

There is no 'proving' required for T-Mac & Melk They're not rookies. Both are experienced valuable 'required' players unless they decide they want to hang up the boots at the end of the season which, given their longevity in the game, would be understandable. T-Mac up there in our top two defenders this season bar a few off games about mid way when he probably needed to be managed but wasn't. Melk has been one of our best up forward on occasions and clearly one of the senior voices that knows how to play forward with some of the best forward craft of anyone on the list. Yes he's not the Melk we saw in 2018 and has slowed down / struggling a tad now when the ball hits the deck but he can still turn things on and is a tricky match up for an oppo coach / SC. Melk was managed during the season by Simon & Co. quite well imo. I'm not suggesting we rest all of those i mentioned at once. Just listing those i feel should probably be under consideration.

No it certainly matters but some senior players should be up for 'managed' consideration in the last few matches GW. Not all at once of course, in the sense that you still want to field a competitive team both at senior & Casey levels. Personally i feel we've left the option to do so (if we're being fair to Casey) a little too late. Ie; if we went earlier once any chance of finals were shot we could have done it in drips and drabs without having much impact on Casey or the seniors imv. I also believe in this as a matter of course in-season at senior level in order to rest the odd veteran here and there a la the way the Cats senior vets were managed by Scott (and still are) during their premiership season. He did an impressive job with one of the oldest teams going at the time and i think others have trialled that afterwards. McCrae probably the latest although he may have over done things a tad at one point and they appear to have lost momentum coming into finals. They still have a few weeks to fix it but i hope they don't! Having said all that i'm of the view that a winning Casey is important for the club both in terms of good learnings (i hate that term... apologies in advance), for the up-and-coming rookies and positivity in general throughout the club (pushing for and maintaining a winning culture at all levels).

It's too early to go the crow DZ but yeh those first two matches from JC are a beauty. We might have found one here but keeping a lid on it ... for now 😁

Because the last thing we need is to lose either or both with a serious injury with only two matches left and nothing riding on them. I'd also rest Max for TC in these last few and consider also resting Vines & Tracc with a few ins from Casey. Vines in particular is looking pretty spent of late. Albeit that might stuff Casey's chances of cementing a spot in the top eight so there's that. I would not risk May either. Keep going with Adams. Can't hurt to get a few more games that have no meaning into him.

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 22, 2025 vs H&A Season 2024 Season Team Rating % Change vs 2025 2021 67.23 -3.34 2022 69.48 -0.10 2023 69.86 0.45 Player 2025 Rating 2025 Rank 2024 Rating % Change vs 2024 2024 Rank Change in Rank vs 2024 Max Gawn 4.523 1 4.132 9.5 2 1 C Oliver 4.134 2 3.364 22.9 6 4 C Petracca 3.850 3 4.476 -14.0 1 -2 C Salem 3.746 4 3.421 9.5 4 0 J Bowey 3.721 5 2.755 35.1 13 8 S May 3.588 6 3.741 -4.1 3 -3 J Culley 3.500 7 - - - - K Pickett 3.476 8 2.433 42.9 16 8 T Rivers < 3.369 9 3.391 -0.6 5 -4 Ed Langdon 3.236 10 3.089 4.8 9 -1 Jack Viney 3.156 11 3.178 -0.7 7 -4 T McDonald 3.077 12 2.967 3.7 11 -1 K Chandler 2.961 13 2.223 33.2 22 9 H Langford > 2.837 14 - - - - D Turner < 2.784 15 1.393 99.9 32 17 J McVee 2.675 16 2.816 -5.0 12 -4 J Lever 2.672 17 3.103 -13.9 8 -9 B Howes < 2.613 18 2.341 11.6 20 2 X Lindsay < > 2.591 19 - - - - B Fritsch > 2.525 20 1.746 44.6 29 9 C Windsor > < 2.280 21 2.275 0.2 21 0 T Sparrow 2.236 22 2.517 -11.2 15 -7 J Melksham > 2.130 23 1.850 15.1 27 4 J Billings* 2.100 24 2.430 -13.6 17 -7 C Spargo (vs 2023 Rating) > 1.978 25 1.886 4.9 29 4 H Petty 1.906 26 1.701 12.1 30 4 J Adams* 1.900 27 - - - - J V Rooyen 1.889 28 2.026 -6.8 24 -4 H Sharp > < 1.848 29 - - - - J Henderson < 1.726 30 - - - - K Tholstrup < > 1.681 31 1.898 -11.4 26 -5 T Woewodin* > 1.600 32 2.052 -22.0 23 -9 A Johnson 1.416 33 - - - - M Jefferson < 1.056 34 - - - - T Fullarton 0.925 35 - - - B Laurie* > -0.200 36 2.425 -108.2 18 -18 Team Rating 69.55 65.17 6.7 Top 6 23.56 22.53 4.6 Bottom 6 14.92 14.04 6.2 * Played less than two full matches < Subbed out at least once or more > Subbed in at least once or more Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

A decent outcome. Bowey has composure and generally spots / hits targets inside 50 pretty well and can score on occasions also. If that's the set up from here (Howes in, Sparrow out and a decent impact sub off the bench at some point in the future) i reckon that's a win for us. Maybe the sub is Sparrow? Do we need all of McVee, Howes, Salo, Windsor & Bowey down back? Not that they're all solely playing back there for the entire match but i think you get my drift.

Yep that was perplexing. We needed some leg speed - run & gun out of stoppage in my view. Not that Sparrow brings that either. We really lacked explosiveness around the footy from a sub option (if available but pretty much non-existent at the moment). Bringing Howes on and losing a mid / forward rotation with the game still up for grabs was certainly not going to help our cause late in the game imv. Viney having a bit of a mare didn't help also.

Round 22, 2025 MCG - Demons vs Bulldogs Another impressive game from Culley. Petty's highest rated game for the season beating last week's 2nd highest 3.32 result Not the worst game of his career but also not quite at the usual level for Ed on his 200th. Great effort by the way and has been pretty consistent over the journey. Big Maxy a mile up on the rest. Beat the Doggies in the forward efficiency / scoring stakes but they had a few more shots in the end which was enough to get them over the line. Our two blunders early in the last quarter resulting in goals from turnover where very costly indeed. Scoring Efficiency Demons Bulldogs Disposals Per Goal 25.33 25.87 % In50s Goal 31.90 24.20 Conversion % 62.50 50.00 Average Attributes Melbourne Attribute Western Bulldogs 187.7cm Height 190.5cm 86.5kg Weight 87.3kg 26yr 0mth Age 26yr 1mth 122.6 Games 107.9 Total Games Played Melbourne Attribute Western Bulldogs 6 Less than 50 9 5 50 to 99 4 3 100 to 149 2 2 150 to 200 5 7 200 or more 3 Player Rating Rank 2024 Season Rating % Change vs 2024 Max Gawn 5.825 1 4.132 40.97 C Salem 4.100 2 3.421 19.85 C Oliver 4.050 3 3.364 20.39 C Petracca 3.875 4 4.476 -13.43 H Petty 3.825 5 1.701 124.87 J Culley 3.675 6 - 0.00 J Bowey 3.575 7 2.755 29.76 D Turner 3.500 8 1.393 151.26 H Langford 3.475 9 - 0.00 T Rivers 3.350 10 3.391 -1.21 T McDonald 3.100 11 2.967 4.48 J McVee 3.000 12 2.816 6.53 Ed Langdon 2.850 13 3.089 -7.74 B Fritsch 2.700 14 1.746 54.64 K Pickett 2.525 15 2.433 3.78 J V Rooyen 2.450 16 2.026 20.93 K Chandler 2.050 17 2.223 -7.78 T Sparrow < 54% 1.925 18 2.517 -23.52 J Adams 1.900 19 - 0.00 J Viney 1.850 20 3.178 -41.79 C Windsor 1.800 21 2.275 -20.88 J Melksham < 64% 1.350 22 1.850 -27.03 B Howes > 24% 1.175 23 2.341 -49.81 Team Rating 66.75 65.17 2.42 Top 6 25.35 22.53 12.52 Bottom 6 10.88 14.04 -22.54 > Subbed out TOG % > Subbed in TOG % Stats courtesy of footywire.com and wheeloratings.com

Quite possibly Brownie. We seem hell bent on heading boundary far too often although there are times we look to hit up Max in the middle which Adams did superbly at one point yesterday. But that's a set play. The general instinct (instruction?) seems to be to play everything wide as you say and most players point / move in that general pattern which is sad to witness when you see so much space open in the middle (at times) and a player all on his own that could easily buck the trend and lead there whilst two or three others are all running to the usual skinny side spots and dragging their opponents there as well. One can only hope the next coach is alot more innovative in this regard amongst other methods / way of playing. Another example of how the dare / flare appears to have been coached out of some within the group. Turner outpointing Noughton in a 1 v 1 yesterday. Reads the ball beautifully for the intercept at CHB. Has a meter on Noughton after marking, open field and an immediate 'Play on' rebound option ahead of him to take us quickly into 50 and catch the Doggies out on the sling shot. But instead hesitates, takes a number of steps to get back behind Noughton on the mark, then tries to pick out a player on the switch (angle sees ball going backwards!) which he misses, intercept...Doggies goal. Potentially a draw if we avoid the turnover in that instance in the worst place on the ground and maybe even the win if we take it down and just score a point!! Players second guessing themselves and hesitant to take the game on is not going to win you many of the close matches imv (ie., going into their shell too early). That needs to be stamped out pronto during the pre-season and 2026 by the next coaching group. Would much rather see more of them playing with confidence, dare, flare when they win the ball back wherever possible, hopefully resulting in slick quick transition footy, whilst at the same time maintaining some structure and defensive aspects behind the ball as best as possible for when we cough it up in transition. It's def a hard balance to get right but at the moment i feel we are skewed a little too much to the defensive / conservative side in general.

Out: 🫱🏻 Kozzy's horrid field kicking and lackadaisical high school level intensity. 🫱🏻 Lack of forwards making multiple leads (with decent timing) into space as players break from center / wing contests forward and almost always won't see anyone leading into clear open space on the fat side / in front or 45 angles for easier shots at goal. Instead seeing players sitting back inside 30 and/or pointing leading to the right hand pocket and then having the ball kicked there to see it either go OOB or, on the odd occasion, hitting a player on the boundary and have him try to kick the lowest percentage shot at goal.

He's not alone. Chandler one of the worst offenders here also. Chandler was also on his own in the middle just off the square during one of McVee's kick ins late in the third. Instead of leading and calling for the over the top kick into the middle he points and heads straight out to the skinny side where the ball ends up on top of everyone's heads and turns into a 50/50 at ground level. Luckily Culley ends up with it and runs / handballs our way out of congestion which i think Chin ends up on the end of it giving it to Melk who gets the joe-the-goose goal to Tracc. Chin is a handy player but alot of his good work is undone by his poor decision making / lack of composure / awareness on occasions. That's not to say Chin never lowers his vision or hits targets but he should be doing alot less of the bombing / lack of awareness things now given his experience. Unfortunately they're still happening though and in some cases, costing us opportunities in transition where we have advantage in play and should be punishimg the oppo more often.

He absolutely stays subject to putting in a huge 2026. Tracc is a massive worry (above the shoulders). Constantly fumbling, non-committal at moments when its his turn to go. Hearing footsteps when playing in front or going for ground balls. I understand why he has the yips but for as long as it lasts we are effectively a quality rotation down in the mid-field in terms of where we were at from about 2018 - half way through 2024 (in terms of his levels during this period up to and including the injury). The other issue is Viney who has lost so much leg speed he is under a stack of pressure everytime he gets the ball, resulting in way too many turnovers or missed connections when he does win it. Lots of issues to consider going forward (amongst other factors eg; Picket's horrid field kicking and some forwards not leading up at the ball carrier or into open spaces often enough) for the incoming coach. It will take a pre-season and at least half a season or more just to iron out some of the woeful habits / non-habits that many of our forwards exhibit and some of the woeful field kicking that results in too many easy scores from turnovers to the opp and far too many losses in close games as a result. Windsor and Riv other examples of bog ordinary field kickers alot of the time.

That started last week. Albeit against the worst team in the comp. He's started driving his legs out of congestion again and tank to get from contest to contest plus hassle / tackle / pressure opponents has improved as the season's gone on. Not to 2017 - 2023 levels and plenty of work ahead to get back to that, but it's a start.

Team & Player Ratings to Rnd 21, 2025 vs H&A Season 2024 Season Team Rating % Change vs 2025 2021 67.23 -1.39 2022 69.48 1.91 2023 69.86 2.47 Player 2025 Rating 2025 Rank 2024 Rating % Change vs 2024 2024 Rank Change in Rank vs 2024 Max Gawn 4.458 1 4.132 7.9 2 1 C Oliver 4.138 2 3.364 23.0 6 4 C Petracca 3.849 3 4.476 -14.0 1 -2 J Bowey 3.729 4 2.755 35.4 13 9 C Salem 3.729 4 3.421 9.0 4 0 S May 3.588 6 3.741 -4.1 3 -3 K Pickett 3.532 7 2.433 45.2 16 9 T Rivers < 3.370 8 3.391 -0.6 5 -3 Ed Langdon 3.255 9 3.089 5.4 9 0 Jack Viney 3.243 10 3.178 2.0 7 -3 T McDonald 3.075 11 2.967 3.6 11 0 K Chandler 3.006 12 2.223 35.2 22 10 H Langford > 2.802 13 - - - - D Turner < 2.738 14 1.393 96.6 32 18 J Lever 2.672 15 3.103 -13.9 8 -7 J McVee 2.652 16 2.816 -5.8 12 -4 X Lindsay < > 2.591 17 - - - - B Howes < 2.542 18 2.341 8.6 20 2 B Fritsch > 2.515 19 1.746 44.0 29 10 C Windsor > < 2.316 20 2.275 1.8 21 1 T Sparrow 2.199 21 2.517 -12.6 15 -6 J Melksham > 2.180 22 1.850 17.8 27 5 J Billings* 2.100 23 2.430 -13.6 17 -6 C Spargo (vs 2023 Rating) > 1.978 24 1.886 4.9 29 5 H Sharp > < 1.848 25 - - - - J V Rooyen 1.846 26 2.026 -8.9 24 -2 H Petty 1.781 27 1.701 4.7 30 3 J Henderson < 1.726 28 - - - - K Tholstrup < > 1.681 29 1.898 -11.4 26 -3 T Woewodin* > 1.600 30 2.052 -22.0 23 -7 A Johnson 1.416 31 - - - - M Jefferson < 1.056 32 - - - - T Fullarton 0.925 33 - - - B Laurie* > -0.200 34 2.425 -108.2 18 -16 Team Rating 68.18 65.17 4.6 Top 6 23.49 22.53 4.3 Bottom 6 14.34 14.04 2.2 * Played less than two full matches < Subbed out at least once or more > Subbed in at least once or more Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

Yes from memory i think Rex was a big user of your name back in the day

I agree but he just doesn't get enough of the pill to impact. He plays a small forward role yet has no offensive scoring weapons other than the odd assist. He pops up once in a while and shows that he does have the ability to find time and space even without wheels but aside from that he does not have the weapons to see him ahead of the likes of Koz, Chin, Tracc Hard to argue with TU's assessment. Always a premiership player and MFC legend but i feel the game has well and truly past him by. He had his moment in the sun but injuries and the game see him well off the pace and superfluous to our needs from here imho. There has to be balance with a small forward, offensive balance. Not just dour defensive efforts and a few assists. Unfortunately Charlie doesn't have the offensive side / weapons / spreading ability (as per TU's summary) to justify his place from here. I wouldn't put my house on Sharp making it but he at least has speed and the ability to get from contest to contest quickly as well as closing speed to pressure opponents i50 and up the field that Spargo lacks. I'm not saying he'll be a massive improvement or a better alternative either. But he does have a few weapons you can work on. He also sharks well and kicks the odd goal.

No relation to daisythomas DC?