Demon Dynasty

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Haven't seen a thing but just completed stats here. Vince posted the highest (weighted) score for the team for the whole year today. Beating the previous highest effort by the Jones boy on QB! Must have been one helluva game as he was supposedly tagging Blicavs as well

The great tackle i50 on Varcoe against the Pies on QB and the resulting goal HH. Monkey off the back from then (reversing the gang tackle in opening game against same team 7 years earlier and questionmark over physicality)

Agree that the bombs are possibly a little overdone overall SPR but i did see the Jones boy lower his eyes and hit him up on at least 2 occasions last week. Pretty sure the Hulk goaled from both of those lace outs.

Not really JB i was just referencing last year's marking efforts and thought 2 games wasn't enough to judge him on that was all. Wasn't expecting such a turnaround this week! You got your wish though! And then some i think ....

Round 20, 2005. The guy that MN used to rag in his weekly updates kicked a lazy 7! Robbo was his name i think! http://demonwiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=Round+20+2005

Well said Bobby This bloke has carried a heavy weight for a mighty long time and done us proud through so much woe. Great to see him lapping it up. Deserves every accolade and back slap from all at the club! Well done skipper!

Where? I don't have fox

Rivers just tweeted same!

First match i've missed either going to, on radio or tv (other than wen i got hitched/or OS) .... and i get this! I'm staying away more often!! Upset of the year and we break a 10 year hoo doo at 186 ground! So amazing. Monkey off the back boys!

Worth a try pig

Yep. Not like we can afford another injury to a 22 either

Hopefully he lay a coathanger on him.... i want to see Spencil talk some smack and a few face downs! like this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IqxQdTx2hI

I hear you OD but need to keep in mind he's only played 2 games. I'm more basing this on his last season. But he is ranked 6th overall for contested marks. Not enough games to really judge this by i realise but on last year's performance where he had 9 games he was ranked No.1 for general contested marks! Inside 50 you are correct. My statement again pertains mostly to last year. I did say a "few" and he was ranked equal 9th there. You haven't seen it because he hasn't yet Jumbo lol. So my statement is more pertaining to the 9 games last year vs the 2 played this year (see above). Still think he is better than Spencil for marking i50 albeit at least Spencil has 1 mark i50 lol (but from twice as many games as Gawn...so far). My understanding is that expecting tall ruckman to rest or drift forward nowadays and clunk a heap of contested marks is considered pretty much old school by current day coaches anyways. They are mostly just after their ability to get to a contest and bring the ball to ground, then compete once it hits the deck. Any contested marks (by today's ruckman) are considered a bit of a bonus as they have so much work to do at stoppages around the ground now as well as the bounce.

I'm taking a wild stab in the dark and guessing you're reasonably young Moneider. This is what 40+ years of barracking for the MFC does to you!

Couldn't be bothered trying to place them into positions nor do a full on review but this is my best 22 based on weighted average of stats so far this season (ranked on averages so it's fair vs games played). This may include too many talls etc due to the fact it's purely based on stats. Yes i know it's a horrid way of ranking but frankly i CBB going in depth this season given it's all over already (again). 1 Nathan Jones 2 Bernie Vince 3 Tom McDonald 4 Daniel Cross 5 Jack Grimes 6 Jack Viney 7 Dom Tyson 8 Lynden Dunn 9 Jeremy Howe 10 Jesse Hogan 11 Heritier Lumumba 12 Colin Garland 13 Jimmy Toumpas 14 Ben Newton 15 Aaron Vandenberg 16 Angus Brayshaw 17 Jack Watts 18 Cameron Pedersen 19 Christian Salem 20 Jake Spencer 21 Jeff Garlett 22 Max Gawn Outside the 22 are.... 23 Neville Jetta 24 Aiden Riley 25 Jack Fitzpatrick 26 Viv Michie 27 Chris Dawes 28 Jay Kennedy-Harris 29 Matt Jones 30 Mark Jamar 31 Billy Stretch 32 Dean Kent 33 Rohan Bail 34 Sam Frost 35 Alex Neil-Bullen Out of those i would persevere with Jetta, JKH, Stretch, Kent, Frost and ANB.

I've seen enough after 40 plus years to write a short novel Lamash. Only wish it was mostly the former but alas. I'm now following the lead of some on here and instead focussing my efforts on JD & other stuff.... like Bailey's Luxe. Great for warming the heart during the cold of winter!

Gawn can clunk a few contested marks i50 but can't hit the side of a barn door unless 10 metres out directly in front. Spencil can kick a goal (within 30/40 metres) and can hit leading targets but rarely marks, let alone marking i50 to get a shot at goal. The only diff between the two for me is that Spencil loves to tackle and is presently the leading tackler (tackle averages) in the team! The other 2 talls under discussion here up forward are Gawn, ranked equal last in tackle averages (34th behind Hogan at 33rd!), and Dawes ranked 21st. In the match last night, apart from being generally better in their one on ones (quality) and effective ball use (with a DE% about the AFL average @ 71.8% vs the Crows @ 67.4), the Hawks only other big advantage last night was their ferocious tackling inside 50 and IMO a more effective forward press. The Hawks had 22 tackles i50 versus the Crows lousey 7! Pressure acts inside 50 were also massive for the Hawks, lead by Cyril, Puopolo and Roughead. So if it's a choice of Gawn or Spencil resting up forward i know who i would prefer in order to improve our pressure i50 (which is generally horrid), but it's a "just". P.S. that's if it ever gets in there vs the Cats!

That's Roosey's fault for not playing him up forward. At least he would have added to the scoreboard!

I hope the bill wasn't as high as Geelong's score that day dees

Correct. I found the error. Had allocated him to the Hulk against the Power instead of himself for the extra mark lol. He is sitting 14th just below Dawes/Vince on equal 12th for marks i50. So given he hasn't played a big role up forward if we use contested instead of marks i50 to compare, this is the rankings we get out of the 4 mentioned.... 1. Hogan (Ranked 1st); 2. Pederson (Ranked 2nd); 3. T-Mac (Ranked 3rd) 3. Fitzpatrick (Ranked equal 9th); and 4. Dawes (Ranked 12) Which leads me back to the point why i posted. Let's give the best "tall" contested marks a chance at playing CHF and see if we can up our marks i50 given we have very few inside 50 opportunities versus most of our opponents. We've seen what Dawes tries to bring and it isn't very pretty so far. Time to look beyond Dawes. The answer may not lay with Pedo, T-Mac or Fitzy but i still think we should give each of them a fair crack at it (ie., 3 to 4 matches) before seasons end IF available, provided they've shown something in each (ie., not a complete disastor) AND can kick straight (hitting a lead up target/shooting at goal). No point having a a good mark i50 if he can't kick straight or hit the occasional lead up target if playing higher outside the arc on occasions. I agree Dawes should be considered at CHF (for now), given we have so many of the tall options above either injured or carrying injuries. My theory assumes most are available which is of course pretty rare at the MFC! Wherever Michie is played, just let him play most of the match. If the match committe are thinking of making him sub then don't play him at all. He may have had 4 matches but has so far only been given 2.5 matches of actual time on the ground. And all of that was spasmodic coming on as sub or much of it on the bench. Like i said we aren't making finals and some, like Michie, have their career potentially on the line. I'd hate to think a career was decided on a match where they are brought on by Roos as the sub (who hates the idea of a sub and according to some d'landers does it pretty poorly).

Jumbo you do realise this is a blog site for the Melbourne Demons yes?

Sorry, what i meant is... stat is correct in terms of considering the genuine options for a KPF that i was highlighting. That is, you wouldn't put Garlett/JKH etc in as a KPF in at CHF. So out of the options considered as "possibles" we have Pedo as No.1 for Marks i50 (ranked 2nd behind Hogan), Fitzy as No.2 (ranked 6), Dawes is 3rd (ranked 12) and then T-Mac 4th (ranked 18 as you would expect as a backman). So i'm not necessarily endorsing Fitzy as THE option. I was saying we roll through each of those 3.... Fitzy (1st because Pedo is out injured), Pedo on return and even T-Mac for a game or 2 in the dead rubbers against mediocre opposition later in the year just to see if he can give us something and change things up a little. Did the same with Garland last year and did get something from it for a few games so worth a try IMO. We haven't really seen how Fitzy goes as a permanent forward as for 1. he hasn't been able to hold down a regular game; 2. He has only played 3 matches so far this year, and 3. He has played a reasonable amount of that time switching between forward/back roles. What i'm saying is don't switch him. Let him settle for a few games at CHF and see how he and the forward line as a whole perform with him in it. It might be a disaster. But we wont know unless we try. Just my opinion but I wouldn't put michie into a HBF role to replace grimes. Way too slow IMO. We need some run as we are already slow by foot off HB apart from T-Mac and H. Much more suited in the clinches and pushing forward occasionaly. And i think that's michie's problem. Might have some skills but struggles to get run both ways. Bail is an alternative as suggested but he is yet another NQR and we know what we are getting here. Michie really hasn't had a credible consistant run at it so far. If Bail and M Jones have been gifted so many games and really been non-performers in many of those then there's no reason why Michie shouldn't be given that chance for at least 2 to 3 as well before axing. Not sure where your JKH reference is coming from as i certainly didn't suggest him as an "IN" at any point. I presently have him outside our top 22 along with Dawes. As mentioned, i don't believe Dawes offers us any value up forward from here. I would try him only at CHB for the remainder of this year (assuming he makes it back) and look at alternatives if no success. I've seen enough to suggest he is a yard or 2 too slow for the pace of AFL now and unable to make enough contests to impact the game. He was a reasonable decoy at the Pies but that was 4 to 5 years ago now and they were absolutely flying.

It would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall at training this week OD I have visions of Roos dusting off an old VHS of Plough's doggies win against Essendrug circa 2000!

I think you are referring to UP differentials for a match or maybe total UPs for the season deano which is what RP is doing I believe.I was looking at average UPs for the league vs us and the % difference is effectively the UP differential you are referring to vs the league for the season so far. Coming from a long way back at nearly 20% down vs the average and down approx 25 UPs per match which is the average differential. It would seem we need to add some serious outside run and players who can bring a full on quality run/spread/carry game, among other issues of course. Anyone criticising H really needs to have another rethink as he is exactly the style of player required to catch the rest of the league in this area. Might not be the greatest but he is certainly "required".