Demon Dynasty

Love the agro and effort. On the improve. Was a big fan since the initial signing and he is starting to repay the faith. Go Kenty!

I agree we don't know what influence the replacement players may have had on the day wise but pretty sure replacing the two witches hats on the day (Gus and Kent) with someone who competed for four quarters may have gotten us pretty close to winning that one. Easy to say in hindsight though.

I think they will provided Gus doesn't cop any further serious knocks Bing. I still think Clarry has an edge over Gus at this point though based on what i've seen both in the seniors and at Casey recently. Gus just doesn't look right (carry over from concussion issues?) whereas Clarry gets into the right places and spaces and his ball use and decision making is mostly of a very high standard. Probably still handballing a little more than some in the FD might like but just a guess. Clarry also has 10 games under his belt, Gus only 3 with Gus's last match at senior level against the Toiges in Rnd 5. Game time Clarry also has the edge over Gus having averaged 67.5% TOG vs Gus @ 64.3% They have both been carefully managed recently so i don't see any issue in that and in fact i think Clarry still has the edge having not had the concussion issue that Gus has had to endure so less of a risk if you like. Looking at the ranking guide i use (which is just a very rough guide/indicator of comparative output) and based on all games played so far i have Gus ranked 31st of 33 players (with 2 or more games played) and Clarry @ 13. Certainly not suggesting Clarry is that much better, nor do i use that ranking system as my sole basis or see Gus that low over the long haul. But it just reminds me how far i feel Gus is off hitting a decent standard (for him at his stage of development) and IMO i would put him in mothballs, give him a full pre season to try and make up the ground he has probably lost with his concussion issues so he can come into 2017 fresh and raring to go. Why risk him further for this year when there's really no point? It also doesn't need to be Clarry either and certainly not suggesting he should be played continuously for the rest of the year. But there are one or two others that are either ahead of or on similar form to Gus at Casey such as ANB and Newton. Again why risk Gus after such a prolonged outage over concussion?

I know. Just a light hearted (but unfortunately poor) attempt to apply a very loose double entendre on your description being capable of applying to either of Mr Dunn, Frost and Oscar Moon. A failed attempt to add a little humor. No offence intended sir

Spot on Rjay. Neither are 'lock ins' yet but Clarry is the obvious choice over Gus. Although i thought Grimes/White were also handy against the Tiges and in our best. Tim Smith probably BOG and Keilty not far behind outside of our blokes. I have to question why we would not wish to select our best possible team every week, provided any youngsters in the mix have been managed well. With the bye there's no reason why they wouldn't be ready to roll.

Looks far from ready, both form wise and physically, for the step up to AFL IMO Might be better to get a full pre-season into him and aim for a return in 2017. The head knocks haven't helped.

May have paid a severe price for that Biff. The capacity for long memories when it comes to non-compliance knows no bounds!

Omac might be picking up part of what the FD are wanting the defence to do better than say Dunn or Frost eg, zoning a little better with a forward press on and looking to hit short targets inside 50 if the ball gets turned over coming out of our forward 50, making the transistion a little quicker from defending deeper in our back half to run and carry/spread off half back. Oscar might also be trying harder to hit up short targets when running from HB. Not sure Dunn is capable of doing the same and seems to kick down the line a la old Melb style more often. The problem here though is that I doubt Omac is hitting many of those attempted short passes. Which may well leave us in a more precarious position on the turnover than if it were kicked longer down the line (Dunn/Garland style?). In other words the idea would be great if we had players who can finish off this transitional run by finding short targets more regularly or kicking to favoured sides to a one on one. Wags & Hunt seem to more adept at this finish or becoming so at a faster rate at this point. Haven't seen significant progress yet in Frost or Omac. Also not sure Omac is any better and may well be worse , at the one on one or chop out stuff when ball's coming in long from mid field. Could be a season or two behind being capable Here (physically) vs Dunn for an entire match. Might look good over a quarter or two (roughly) here, before falling away and getting opened up later in a game. I would still rather see Omac and Frost develop their size, tank and one on one experience, and importantly short passing skills/mistakes/turnovers at Casey before asking too much of them for four quarters at AFL level whilst demanding more from the likes of Dunn on the zone/Transistion/short passing stuff also. White is probably a reasonable example of someone who has done a bit more of an apprenticeship here and come in a little more prepared for the rigours of AFL, although one decent recent game isn't much to go on. Will be interesting to see how he copes over the next few weeks.

Moon this topic is about Dunn, not Frost or Omac

That good day or two in front of goal are now becoming very faded distant memories of what was a flicker of faint potential BZ. Not sure he is up to the contest or the heat at VFL level let alone the next leg up. The game is almost beyond having a pure receiver on the park unless he kicks 2/3 a week fairly consistently aka Jeffy and even he is up and down lately.

Gus is still a fair way off AFL level based on recent VFL showings. Wouldnt be going there. Clarry is a notch ahead of Gus at this point. Would also rather see Newton or ANB in but not before Clarry. Also rather have Hullet in before Gus. Gus wld be close to the biggest selection blunder of the year if he's in.

Like any great team it's probably a combination of elite factors that make up the recipe.... One of the best at pressuring opponents when they haven't got the pill. Probably the best at hitting targets by foot once they get it back. I doubt very few on their list get a regular game at senior level without being elite by foot ie, above AFL average at hitting short targets on the lead and in general play. If they are under severe pressure they still move it forward and attempt to get it inside 50 with quick release long kicking from mid field. They don't like bombing though and prefer long LOW raking kicks that reach the hot spot more quickly with less hang time, attempting to create more chaos and putting defenders under more severe one on one pressure without the ability of others coming across to effect spoils and assist their mates down back. In addition they are pretty accurate when it comes to goal kicking. All in all they don't appear obsessed about winning contested or clearances 24/7 as they know they'll get it back and have the opposition chasing their tail around and up the ground. Meaning their opponent will have spent some of the energy they would have liked to have used on the next stoppage. Eventually all that chasing will wear any good contested/clearance team down. And once that evens out, they are their for the taking as there's no way they will match the Hawks on the elite kicking/ball movement and run late in the game, unless the opponent is also elite in this area also which is rare. The Hawks also seem to be happy to often give the opposition a plus one at the ball in order to have a plus one sitting defensive side of the stoppage to assist with the intercept of a bail out kick or if they gain possession at the stoppage they can go to that plus one. They then shift into run and spread super quickly in a diagonal wave overlap pattern through the middle of the field with most HBs involved. Not a new thing and I've seen other teams doing similar also (or attempting to), including us on occasions, but the Hawks seem to like this give and take plus one set up from what I've witnessed as it suits their style and elite running players off HB and the wings.

Nice work!

6 clangers in there as well. Had 11 effective disposals bt

In: Wagner (if fit otherwise Dunn), Bugg, Clarry Out: Frost, Ben Ken, Tracc (Managed) Wagner - A no brainer for mine. Fresh and just a more consistently better all round player at this point over 4 quarters. Ben Ken - No consistency since returning. Up against the Pies. Off against the Swans. Up a little against the Crows. Patchy at best against Freo. The Saints are also a solid clearance/first use team and we would want to match/better them here with Bugg ranked 8th in clearances / BK 14th. Bugg also has the edge in contested, uncontested, the effective disposal count, rebound 50s and one percenters. Ben probably plays forward a little more having a slight edge on inside 50s but that's about it. All in all Bugg has the better all round game IMO, has the edge going both ways and in general play both inside and out. He's also had the rest which will be handy after the taxing game in Darwin. Tracc - Two or three weeks to recoup and freshen up, especially after Darwin, will do him the world of good. Numbers have slowly but steadily dropped away since the Pies match. Clarry our No.4 clearance getter, 4th in tackles and 9th in effective disposals for player averages this season says that he is more than capable of matching it with our other mid fielders on the day, provided he is well rested. He should be, especially after the bye. Again, we need to match and better the Saints at the coal face. The more the merrier and another fresh man at the contest.

White , Hunt, Stretch not in doubt unless they need managing or come off the boil over a number of weeks I would think Stu. Of the others I believe Clarry Is good to go and offers more versatility and impact than Ben Ken. His size and tank needs more managing than the above 3 probably. I realise they are very diff players (Ie, vs BK) but I think Clarry's ability to roll thru the mid and provide some quality clearances bringing others into the game is a huge plus even at this early stage. Fierce at the contest also. 2 games, rest, 3 games rest ...needs to be managed well but reckon getting a few more games into him at the top end wouldn't hurt. Hullet has an AFL ready bod, is pretty good thru the mid and drifting forward without being spectacular. Maybe bring him in if resting Tracc for a few games. Has a mean edge to him which I like and probably won't take a backward step in the contests. Worth a look over 3 to 4 matches to see where he's at eh. Weeds is a fair way off AFL at present. Maybe a peek towards the end of next year depending on how we're rolling on the ladder. GET Tim Smith in for next year as the medium forward who can play higher up with a mature body and lots of VFL experience. Kicks like a mule, reads play well, runs to the right places, uses body well and dead eye dick also. Would be as effective as the other 2 forwards and also offers us some contingency plan should 'you know who' decides he is heading back home, Lucifer forbid!

6. T Mac 5. Grimes 4. N Jones 3. Hogan 2. Viney 1. Matty Jones

Personally i think that was our best win for the season if you take all the factors into account that in the past would have seen us do an old Melb and turn our toes up. And or where we were truly up against it based on past records/statistics (not just by our club). Yes i thought it would happen this time around also but was very pleased to see myself proven wrong and the boys have a solid win. Factors that were or should have gone against us (Either being MFC or just based on what is/was AFL folklore/history)... Expected to win / Favorites Tag Playing away from the G Playing interstate (although at a neutral ground of course so not technically an away game) A club we haven't beaten for quite some time and since the horror years (2008 onwards?) since 2011 i think. Behind the eight ball big time in terms of average games experience 65.7 v 108.6 ... Freo nearly two seasons ahead here. Behind the eight ball in top end experience. 9 v 4 one hundred plus gamers and 18 v 13 with less than 100 games. 11 players with under 50 games would usually result in a loss (statistically it is said once you have over 9/10 or more you will struggle to win (more than not) if the opposition has about 8 or less). We were challenged by a reasonably seasoned Freo with plenty of finals experience in the 3rd and held our ground to maintain a solid lead for a convincing win. We didn't play a mediocre or poor team (form wise) into form!

A little scratchy but to be expected given the big step up Bombay. He held his own and the effort was never in doubt. Hit many contests harder than the dynamic duo (Frost/Omac) have so far as he has an AFL ready bod and appetite for the hard stuff. Not saying the duo don't have the appetite but the bods aren't there yet, especially Omac. Certainly doesn't shirk a contest and in one spoil effort from behind he reminded me (in that contest only lol) of Gibson with a big two handed punch over the boundary deep in defence. He made a few errors and occasionally a brain fade under severe pressure but personally I think he is a rung or two above the level of the duo at this point. Too early to say he's a keeper though. Let's see how he goes over 3 to 4 weeks and against better opposition.

Only saw one brain fade (old Matty) just before the end of the 2nd. The rest was pretty awesome. He even tried to crash a pack at one point! This was Matty's best game for us IMO although I seem to recall one or two pearlers early on in his career. Some of those handballs were very sweet and squeezy! Cleaned up some other's messes once or twice as well.

Garlett? ?

Yes he definitely improved after an ugly start P. He even started to hit up short targets and one or two chancy ones inside. Something that's been missing from his repertoire until now. Probably his best game for the Demons so far in terms of effort v quality after the first 3 or 4 disposals.

Great Demon there die hard ??

Nothing like a few extra woolies to keep the cold out